WI: Romans Win The Battle Of The Teutoburg Forest

Rishi

Banned
What would the world be like today if the Romans won the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest?
 
What would the world be like today if the Romans won the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest?

I'm not even sure if that is even possible, I think the best thing is either for Varus to heed the warnings of Germanic allies and not march during winter. Or Varus discovers Arminius's shenanigans and executes him.
 
What would the world be like today if the Romans won the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest?

Too many butterflies to say.

The immediate question is whether it makes any difference to the duration of the WRE. Will this fall sooner (due to imperial overstretch), later (due to a stronger limes) or about the same (due to the amount of sheer dumb luck involved).

Possible big one. This early change to Roman history may well butterfly away Constantine I. While some other Emperor may well still adopt Christianity, would he see the advantages of Constantinople as capital? Without that, quite possibly the East falls as well as the West, so we don't get Justinian's wars, and Italy isn't devastated the way it was OTL.

Another "sixtifor" concerns the British Isles. If the WRE gets an extra century or two of life, by the time it falls the Irish and Picts may well have been Christianised. So instead of calling in Saxon mercenaries against them, the rulers of Britannia may well ally with them against the Saxons (assuming the latter are still heathen). That's going to make a very big difference to Our Island Story.
 
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