By a Single Decision (Alternate History)

[das]

Anyone could make a NES in this setting, if he wants.

Scandinavia is growing depopulated, as many people migrate to Viking England. So no states there. In North America, just as in OTL, there are tribes - not states. I posted the kingdoms/empires/city states of Latin America.

IC:


Chapter Twenty Five.


Much unlike the first one, Divinus Bellum Secundi was a less surprising and more localized matter. Nearly all the fighting was centered around the general Ebro area, the Basque lands and around the Balearic Islands. However, the fighting was fierce.

In 859, Lucius gathered an army again, and invaded Basque lands, hoping to confront the Basque in a battle. Ekada realized that the same old trick was not going to work, and so the Basque did what they always did - retreated into the mountains to outlast their foe. Enraged by their cowardice, Lucius remembered Aurelian only to well, and decided to cut them off from the Arabs first. Having recruited help from the few remaining Asturian Christians, he conquered the remaining lands under Basque control. Ofcourse, the hills and the mountains were still Basque, and rooting them out... well, it wasn't a good an idea.

Nearly in the same time, Arabs decided to launch a counteroffensive. Led by Nephrit al-Ghazna, a fairly competent commander, the Arabs have attained several victories up to the retaking of Barcelona. Lucius decided to pull back and face the heathens, and face them he did. However, his army was tired, and eventually, the Arab swift cavalry managed to outflank and crush the Holy Legions. Lucius was amongst those dead.

As a result of the war, the Western Roman Empire seized the Balearic Islands... but the border in Spain moved back to the Pyrenees. This was a harsh defeat for Julian as well, as after Lucius, Liutprando II came to power in late 861, and he wanted peace and trade. With the Arabs, ofcourse...

 

[Zakal]

This is fun to read. Please don't stop (think of us lurkers!)

 

[das]

OOC: So lurkers DO exist! This is a sensation!

IC:

Chapter Twenty Six.

Indeed, Emperor Liutprando (II as king, I as emperor) was interested in trade and peace with Arabs. NOT with northern barbarians. He himself admired the idea of a Western Roman Empire, and believed that this entitled him to Gaul as well. All of it. Or, at least, as much as could be captured.

Interestingly enough, Liutprando was one of the first emperors to employ "other northern barbarians" - the Vikingr Guard was formed at that time. He, indeed, seemed only happy to cooperate with the Vikings rather then try to, for example, seize Britannia or the Danelund islands. Liutprando's plans were to restore the Rhine-Danube border. Thus his first campaign was aimed at Bavaria south of Danube. It was not too hard - Saxonnia still was in turmoil, and the more-or-less civilized Bavarians happily greeted the Holy Legions.

Further north there was the aging Arlinoe in Brittany and Umbert I in Franconnia. Brittanians, being the Gauls and "traditional foes of Rome", were to be attacked first, besides, they were seen as the weaker foes. Not so. It was near this time that Viking conquest of Ireland was being complete, and thus, many of the Irish followed the ancient Britannians into Brittany, the "last haven" of Celts. Those Celts were NOT eager to lose it.

The "Armorican Campaign" had no decisive battles, nor did it achieve much. The Holy Legions occupied Rennes, but further advance was hindered by a partisan campaign and hit-and-run attacks. In 865, Arlinoe decided that Rennes was not worth fighting for, and Liutprando decided that he didn't need more Basques, and Rennes, along with some border lands, was gained by the Romans.

Wanting a decisive success, perhaps like the conquest of Acquitaine, Liutprando personally led his forces into Franconnia. There, he had much more luck. Different Frankish tribes, palace factions and cities were often disagreeing with each other, and Umbert was used to decisive battles as well, where he was at disadvantage. The Frankish army was crushed from the beginning at Sena, and Umbert surrendered, becoming, de facto, a puppet monarch until his death. However, resistance continued as other Franks retreated to the forests...

 

[Capulet]

More! oore.

 

[das]

Chapter Twenty Seven.

After that, though, Europe begun to live in relative peace.

As of 870, Viking Britain has unified all of Elba and Eire, i.e. Great Britain, with the capital in Yorvick. Sven lived a very long and luxurious life, occasionaly supervising raids on Armorica. His son, Erik, seems to be interested as to what might lie west of the Sea of Worms... and Sven doesn't really think its that impassible, being the firmest believer in the fact that a Viking can achieve virtually anything.

Western Roman Empire has entered a period of consolidation. Albeit there was another attempt to conquer Armorica, nothing much came out of it. There were several border wars with Byzantine Empire and the "Third Sacred War" against Berber pirates who kept raiding Sicily, but nothing grandiose. Julian I, until his very death, kept trying to push for reconquest of Spain, but Liutprando DIDN'T want to go there. He remembered Aurelian, his one-time mentor, all too well.

Western Caliphate was given a very good stimul for technologic development, and though so far, only minor improvements were achieved in military technology, this might lead to something greater one day. Work on fortifications in Catalonia, the Christianiest region of the Caliphate, begun.

The Byzantines are really annoyed at the Western Roman Empire, but couldn't do much against them as the Empire faced a series of coup that saw Irene overthrown several times, come back to power after each coup, and finally to her execution, and rebellion of her military supporters. The reason was, in part, Irene's attempt to decrease Iconoclasm and subjugate the Orthodox Church. Patriarch of Nicea, Sergius, was growing very independant and powerful, and the previous state-over-church Byzantine scheme was being reversed drastically. For that reason, the Byzantines dared not strike at anyone.

In 872, few remainders of Saxonnia pulled themselves back together under Herman II. It was way too weak, though. Further north, in Denmark, another Viking kingdom was established, controlling, as well as Jutland and nearby islands, the southern coasts of Norway and Sweden. Further still, Scandinavia suffered from depopulation as many Vikings moved to Britain, some for the excitement, some for better land and most of them - for both. Amongst those who moved was one named Rurik...

In Rus/Far Eastern Europe, Khazar expansion led to the rise of larger tribal unions. The Khazars dared not expand much further, besides, they soon had to face another wave of migration through their territory, which stopped their expansion for some time.

So, by 896, Europe lived in relative peace. But in 896, from the eastern steppes, the succesors to the Huns have arrived.

The Magyars.

 

[jalapeno_dude]

Yay! It lives!

 

[North King]

The magyars..... How nice and picturesque........ (Have the Hindus conquer the world or something. )

Still reading...

 

[das]

Oh yes. The Magyars ARE picturesque (meaning, ofcourse, their mythical depiction as ogres. Especially two headed ones ).


Chapter Twenty Eight.

Led by their warchief, Arpad, the seven Magyar hordes descended on Europe...

---

Though shielded by the Carpathian Mountains, Pannonnia was always regarded as too dangerous to remain ungarrisoned - it was, after all, the border province. So there were a series of outposts (or, rather, small forts) on the borders of Pannonnia. Commanders there were, most of the time, those who did not please the emperor (or empress - depending on who overthrew whom this time).

Neokrat certainly did not please the current emperor, and even more so the Patriarch of Nicea. He could understand the latter - after all, Neokrat was an Iconist. The former... Neokrat couldn't see how did he displease Emperor Adrian II - why, Neokrat was one of the generals who put him in power at the first place! But Neokrat was also a stoic, and so he did not resist and calmly waited to fall into imperial favor again one day.

Day after day, day after day, the Byzantine garrison was living in the small fort. Life was very dull, but never too uncomfortable. Fair enough.

Time to time, some of the soldiers went to a nearby Avar village to get more supplies and to find out news from Byzantine Empire. One day, Neokrat remembered as he lay in the dirt just outside of his burned-down fort, the soldiers said that there were rumors that a powerful army of Devil's horsemen were heading west, from the Hunnic steppe.

It was very fast. The soldiers barely managed to wake up properly after suddenly, fire arrows filled the night sky. Before they woke up completely, the Huns already broke through the gates, in a way Neokrat never fully understood.

He remembered how he adressed his troops, telling them to stand their ground to the last and sending away ten of them to warn the other forts. It was a mistake, Neokrat realized. Other forts were probably already burned down as well.

The enemy broke into the fort in the midst of the night, something that indeed required a great skill. Howling wildly, the Hunnic horsemen charged throughout the fort. The Byzantine troops tried to make their last stand against them, but with Devil's might, the Huns broke through. Devil's? The Huns were a Scourge of God. There were many sins to be punished in Europe, Neokrat realized and smirked. His troops were the first ones to be punished... for what? For the sin of arrogance, perhaps, for trying to stop the Huns. The Scourge of God. Neokrat smiled and welcomed death.

 

[jalapeno_dude]

Yay! Keep going!

So, in OTL, were the Magyars the same as the Huns? I don't remember the Magyars from my (extremely limited) knowledge of medieval Europe.

 

[das]

No, not really, though many considered them to be the Huns. It would seem that the Magyars (AKA Hungarians) WERE related to the Huns and the Mongols, who then migrated further west. They entered European history in 896, conquering Moravia, a potential South Slavic powerhouse that was fighting off its nominal Frankish overlords. Then, after raiding much of Europe and being defeated by Otto I of Germany, they converted to Christianity, permanently settled in Pannonia and became the Hungarians.

 

[das]

Chapter Twenty Nine.

Arpad and his Magyars quickly overran Pannonnia, burning down Aquinicum and other Byzantine settlements. They dared not move south of Danube, apart from minor raids. Arpad seemed to be smarter then Attila - instead of going for either of the two Romes, he wanted to secure his rear and build a lasting empire.

From their newly-found base in Pannonnia, Arpad sent out minor raiding bands into Saxonnia, while the main army crushed Sorbs, Moravians and other Slav tribes north of Danube and west of Vistula.

Finally, Saxonnia was attacked, overran and pillaged in 901. Many German and Slavic tribes went to hide into the forests and continued the essentially futile resistance. Arpad decided against trying to attack Denmark, establishing friendly relations with the local Vikings - after all, both Magyars and Vikings were big fans of raiding, even if different kinds of, and there really was no reason for either side to attack the other.

Arpad, having secured himself an empire north of Danube and east of Rhine, now rebuild Aquinicum as his new capital, Arpagyr. From there, the Magyars launched raids on Western and Eastern Roman Empires, frustrating both to no end, especially as both, even if they allied, would be unable to do much against it - sure, individual raids could be defeated, but on a grander scale, nothing could be done. As they still opposed each other, Magyar raiders were even better off.

Arpad waited and waited. As his raids tired out various of his enemies, he prepared to strike...

 

[jalapeno_dude]

Yay! It lives.

Thanks for the info. Can you post an updated map?

 

[North King]

It's good to see the Roman Empires collapsing. Hopefully this will lead to a Muslim resurgence. Good to see this continuing.

 

[das]

Since I wrote far ahead, I will probably post the map after I get to the "yet another Western Caliphate chapter".

The Roman Empires will, unfortunately, hang around for a while. If only to allow a Muslim resurgence in a not-100%-unoriginal spot for a Muslim resurgence.

Spoiler the future of this here world :

I want to have Vinlander landships assault the trenches near New Damascus one day!

 

[das]

Chapter Thirty.


...right at Rome. The First Rome.

He struck in the right time, too. Liutprando II (III) just recently came to power in 903. Julian I was dead, but a faction of his supporters was gaining influence, and Liutprando was quite honestly informed that if he proves as “heathen-supporting” as his father, then his brother, Lucius II, would make a better ruler. Liutprando II, was, however, supported by another faction, primarily of the more “reasonable” nobility and the merchants who just wanted to renew the trade and hoped the Arabs would agree to accept the loss of Acquitaine eventually. Both factions were gathering supporters, the army was soon bitterly divided and civil war was about to begin.

In come the Magyars. Arpad was not just a clever commander, but also a good politic. Having secretly assured that he came to support their faction (separately promising that to both sides) and will leave after accomplishing that and getting some reward. Though both sides did not want a barbarian army, they, in a miraculous show of stupidity, believed Arpad really will not attack THEM at the least, and so the brief civil war begun in Rome, where both factions for several weeks fought and massacred the innocents that got in the way occasionally.

Arpad could not believe his luck, but quickly exploited it, seizing Ravenna and plundering it, and from there, attacking Rome. It was then that the factions came to their minds, and barely fought back the attack on Rome. Arpad was not stopped by a minor failure, though, instead he just continued conquering and plundering Italy. His second attempt to take Rome failed as well, but he retreated to leak his wounds, he left behind a plundered Italy. As he retreated, he was engaged by some of the Holy Legions from Acquitaine at Pavia, and pulled off a triumphant victory, making the retreat back to Pannonia seem like simply that of a cat playing with a mouse, and not killing it yet.

In 912, having fought off a massive Byzantine counterattack across the Danube, Arpad decided to attack the Lombards once more. Unfortunately, during the Battle of Mantua, he died, and his horde retreated. Already witnessing many nomad empires collapsing after the death of the rulers, the rulers of both Roman Empires sighed with relief... in vain. Arpad actually took his time building up a government system for his empire, and appointed a competent, if not brilliant, heir. So despite initial strife, the Greater Magyaray (from 909 on, it also included a large part of Transdanubian Pannonia, as it was sometimes called) survived.

 

[Princeps]

some criticism

There never was empire called the byzantium... It was called the east-roman empire. And it was also called creek empire, as an insult becouse calling byzantine citizen as creek was same as calling them pagan.

And, ''byzantines'' always viewed them selfs as romans ...

The name byzantine empire was given to them many years after the fall of constantinopole, by some german historian... if i remeber correctly...

Just a reminder if you didint know...

 

[jalapeno_dude]

Good chapter!

 

[jalapeno_dude]

Now that you've been unbanned, please continue!

 

[das]

OOC: naziassbandit, I know that. But it is commonly known as Byzantine Empire, especially since there is another Roman Empire.

IC:

Chapter Thirty One.

There were several reasons for the Western Caliphate's failure to take advantage of this situation and retake Acquitaine. The Arabs wanted to remain on the defensive. They were not ready to move in. There were some failures in the coordination of the efforts. And most importantly, nobody wanted to seize Acquitaine, which was impossible to defend, which was cold and useless, surrounded by heathens and the pork-eating Vikings.

That is not to say that the Western Caliphate did not exploit this situation. In 913, the Lombard fleet was taken by surprise and crushed in a battle where the Western Caliphate equipped Greek fire. Soon after, the Balearic islands, Malta and Sardinia were reclaimed by the fleet.

The Western Caliphate, at the time, was more of a loose federation of emirates under the supreme authority of the Caliph in al-Iksandriyah. Different emirs had different policies, and often disagreed with each other. Ofcourse, the Caliph's word was final, but Muhammed ibn-Din, the Caliph in that time, was often indecisive and preffered to stay out of it. Western Caliphate often came close to collapsing.

But this also was a great time for science and philosophy in the Caliphate.

Many classic Greek works were being translated in the two cultural capitals of the Caliphate - al-Iksandriyah and Corduva. Numerous advances in mathemathics, astronomy, medicine and so on were made. This is known to some as the Corduvan Renaissance, though science and culture advanced in Egypt as well, only more conservatively and cautiously.

The two afforementioned cultural capitals were in opposition, being the two poles. There were two political schools of thought that were just appearing under the "liberal" (as in decrease in censors) reign of Muhammed: the Alexandrine ("Conservative") school and the Corduvan ("Liberal"). The former used the examples of the Roman Empire and the pre-breakup Caliphate as its main arguments, while the latter supported a "Greek"-style democracy or a "Roman"-style republic.

It was during this time as well that the "decadent" forms of Islam appeared in Andalusia - there were many groups but few followers. Mostly, these were Muslims under the growing Jewish and Christian influences. Aranic Church was gaining certain amounts of followers, though at first, it was quite openly antagonizing Christians and Muslims alike.

As for other advances, architect Hassan Khomeyni (873 - 926) begun to merge Arab and Roman architecture, and also built several magnificent palaces and mosques during his lifetime, such as the famous "Marble Mosque" in Lisboa. Hassan also assisted in the construction of the "Amin Forts", built during the reign of the somehow paranoid - both towards the Western Roman Empire and towards his generals and advisors - Emir Amin Hammudi. Those forts guarded all of the important routes in Andalusia, and the passes in the Pyrenees.

Meanwhile, in Morocco, local shipwrights too begun the work that will, in the fullness of time, affect the history of Islam - and perhaps humanity - greatly. They begun combining Viking and Mediterranean ship designs.

 

[jalapeno_dude]

Yay! It lives!