WI Secession of a separate Southern Roman Empire?

During the Crisis of the Third Century, two separate empires seceded temporarily and held out quite a while: the Gallo-Roman Empire in the West, and the Palmyrean Empire in the East. Both were threatened parts of the empire, and not exactly the economic powerhouses of the empire.

What if (instead - or, if you like to, additionally) a usurper secedes with Aegyptus, Cyrenaica, Africa and Mauritania instead? As far as I know, Egypt and Tunisia were the breadbaskets of the empire, and Egypt was populous as hell.
Rome wouldn`t let that pass?
But who would be strong enough to win back the South?
What would aid the defenders? What would be their weaknesses?
 

GdwnsnHo

Banned
The issue with such a secession is that those are essentially two totally different strategic areas - divided by the thin desert of Leptis Magna - it will be incredibly vulnerable by sea.

Now that doesn't make this impossble to acheive - if such a secession was to succeed it should first make a play for Sicily, and try and control/destroy the Imperial Fleet. After that logistics become less of a problem. Crete and Cyprus might also be worth capturing.

However, the S.Empire would still have 3 very different concerns. Africa would be vulnerable to Spain (and Desert Raiders), The Islands are going to be fortresses to control Mare Nostrum, and Egypt is vulnerable to the East.

You'll need a strong army in the East to protect Egypt, and an unmatched navy/marines for the rest.

Now there is a huge economic advantage - the Southern Empire can completely control the food supply to its trade partners, and also has control over the Indian Ocean trade - so finances are not a problem - the biggest problem will be the sheer avarice of its neighbors. The wisest foreign policy will be to play (for example) an Eastern Empire against the Western Empire - supplying one and not the other, encouraging them to fight, and undercutting them. If the goal is to reclaim the empire, then I'd probably recommend they take over Hispania in its entirety before anything else - and whilst risky, it may be worth taking the Levant - although the entire region will be much more exposed to Persia.

Non-Imperial expansion might be worthwhile (if based in Egypt) if they expand down the Red Sea - taking all the lands around it, and building a strong Arabian following would help with protecting Egypt - Arabian Desert Cavalry will be a boon for raiding Syria, and cutting off overland logistics.
 
During the Crisis of the Third Century, two separate empires seceded temporarily and held out quite a while: the Gallo-Roman Empire in the West, and the Palmyrean Empire in the East. Both were threatened parts of the empire, and not exactly the economic powerhouses of the empire.

What if (instead - or, if you like to, additionally) a usurper secedes with Aegyptus, Cyrenaica, Africa and Mauritania instead? As far as I know, Egypt and Tunisia were the breadbaskets of the empire, and Egypt was populous as hell.
Rome wouldn`t let that pass?
But who would be strong enough to win back the South?
What would aid the defenders? What would be their weaknesses?


The Gallic Empire had a very good economy and a currency in better condition than the coins minted in Rome itself. Palmyra also had a decent economy.

For Africa, you would need a really competent leader. It's large, but it's also pretty thin compared to the Gallic and Palmyrene Empires. Egypt would be under threat from Palmyra, (who took Egypt in OTL) Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria would be under threat from the Roman Empire, and there's always the possibility of the Gallic Empire jumping over the Rock to take Morocco. It would need good relations with either Gaul or Palmyra so it can focus on defense from the Roman Empire. Even then, a competent Emperor could very well split the African Empire in two by taking Carthage/Tunisia.
 
It would be interesting to see a surviving Roman Empire spanning North Africa to African Horn with Egypt as a lynchpin. Maybe then, they wouldn't be so vulnerable to the Islamic invaders.
 
Top