So I was thinking about the repercussions of Valentinian, after becoming emperor and promoting Valens as his co-Augustus, decided on taking the eastern provinces, instead of the western ones, leaving Valens in the west.
What I was thinking of specifically was this: How would this effect Procopius' revolt? Assuming Valentinian has to go east to ward off Shapur II like Valens had to, conveniently leaving the opportunity open for Procopius to seize control of Constantinople, can Valentinian possibly slip up, or can he crush the revolt quicker? In the west, how will Valens handle the Alamanni and Saxon problem? OTL, Valentinian seemed to be high handed in dealing with the Alamanni, which may have been the reason they invaded in the first place.
Another thing, and this is what I find most interesting, what happens after Valentinian dies, assuming he dies in 375, ala OTL? Gratian seemed to be promising at the start of his reign OTL, and I feel would handle the Gothic situation much better than Valens handled it. The butterflies of no Hadrianopolis, would be huge in and of itself. Not to mention, Gratian won't fall increasingly under the influence of Ambrose of Milan and some other senior western advisors, so it's unlikely there will be a Magnus Maximus of the east.
Speaking of Maximus, how does his fate turn out this time around? Assuming Valens is still alive when he revolted OTL, I find it hard to believe he would have the support he had OTL, due to the fact that Valens is not Gratian. If Valens is dead by then however, who succeeds him, and whenever he does die, is there a chance Magnus Maximus might revolt then, and have a better fate than OTL? And if he doesn't revolt at all, this leaves the Britain itself in a much better position militarily, because Maximus drastically weakened the British legions in his bid for power.
Thoughts?
What I was thinking of specifically was this: How would this effect Procopius' revolt? Assuming Valentinian has to go east to ward off Shapur II like Valens had to, conveniently leaving the opportunity open for Procopius to seize control of Constantinople, can Valentinian possibly slip up, or can he crush the revolt quicker? In the west, how will Valens handle the Alamanni and Saxon problem? OTL, Valentinian seemed to be high handed in dealing with the Alamanni, which may have been the reason they invaded in the first place.
Another thing, and this is what I find most interesting, what happens after Valentinian dies, assuming he dies in 375, ala OTL? Gratian seemed to be promising at the start of his reign OTL, and I feel would handle the Gothic situation much better than Valens handled it. The butterflies of no Hadrianopolis, would be huge in and of itself. Not to mention, Gratian won't fall increasingly under the influence of Ambrose of Milan and some other senior western advisors, so it's unlikely there will be a Magnus Maximus of the east.
Speaking of Maximus, how does his fate turn out this time around? Assuming Valens is still alive when he revolted OTL, I find it hard to believe he would have the support he had OTL, due to the fact that Valens is not Gratian. If Valens is dead by then however, who succeeds him, and whenever he does die, is there a chance Magnus Maximus might revolt then, and have a better fate than OTL? And if he doesn't revolt at all, this leaves the Britain itself in a much better position militarily, because Maximus drastically weakened the British legions in his bid for power.
Thoughts?