If Rome was Burned

Prologue
Rome and Carthage fought in a series of wars known as the Punic Wars. In the end, Rome defeated Carthage and burned the city to the ground, killing everyone there. However, what would have happened if it was the opposite way? What would society be like today? This book explains one possibility.

I know that many country and area names would be different since there were different countries colonizing the areas with different languages, cultures, and people. It would be impossible to guess what these areas would have been called, so I've just made them known the same.

1. The Carthaginian Empire
It was the year 146 B.C that the Carthaginians won the Punic wars and destroyed Rome. With it came the powerful Carthaginian Empire. Carthage had no opponents and quickly took over most of Europe. Because of its desert location, they were able to expand across the Sahara and into Saudi Arabia. Unlike the Romans, the Carthaginians were never able to take over Great Britain and really had no interest in it.

Due to the increase in power and territory, civil war broke out and Carthage became an absolute monarchy led by an emperor. It was now around the year 6 B.C when Jesus Christ was born in Israel. His story was a bit different since he wasn't born in Bethlehem because there was no census. Overall, it basically had the same outcome. The population of Christians was rising. Christianity was outlawed since it seemed like a threat, but it just kept spreading. Eventually, all of the Middle East and up into Turkey and Greece had become Christian. Carthage wasn't able to take control of them anymore and the area separated from the empire, becoming the Christian Theocracy of Arabia.

Then came the Huns. The Huns went into Germany and the Germanic barbarians were pressured to move South. Eventually, the Huns and the Germanic tribes became one Germanic culture. This was known as the Germanic Empire. It stretched from Mongolia, into Russia, up into Scandinavia, all the way to Ireland and Germany. Being run by barbarians, it was an anarchy.

2. Post Carthage
The barbarians started to expand into the Carthaginian Empire. Carthage couldn't stop them and they soon took over all of Europe. The Carthaginians had time to prepare and were able to stop the barbarians from entering the Sahara. Carthage's empire was now reduced to only Northern Africa. Eventually, by around 800 A.D, the Carthage collapsed due to nationalism, corruption, and unqualified leaders and was separated into the North African nations we know today. The nations were all absolute monarchies.

Egypt was very nationalist during the time of Carthage. There was no Julius Caesar to fall in love with Cleopatra. Instead, the Egyptians tried to rule themselves with a Pharaoh during the empire. When the empire collapsed, the Egyptians quickly returned to the kingdom of Ancient Egypt.

At about the same time that the empire collapsed, Vikings from Scandinavia took over the Germanic Empire, turning it into the Norse Empire. Lief Erickson discovered Canada and it became a part of the Empire. The Vikings controlled from Rhode Island up into Eastern Canada in the New World. The Vikings lost interest in the Mediterranean area. Portugal, Spain, and Italy became their own feudal countries. The Slavic Kingdom also formed in East Europe.

Since the Dark Ages never happened, technology advanced much quicker. By 900 A.D, Morocco had colonized the Canaries and Western Sahara had colonized Cape Verde. Western Sahara sent out an expedition to find land in the West. Due to a storm, the expedition didn't make it to the New World. Instead, they found the Azores. The people of Western Sahara become very nationalist and soon were known as the Saharan Empire. At around 1000 A.D, a new expedition was sent out and it landed in Georgia in North America. The Saharan Empire sent out new expeditions to the New World and tried to set up colonies more towards the North, only to fail because the people were not used to the harsh winters.

3. Exploration
An Age of Exploration had begun. All of the smaller and land locked countries in North Africa were soon taken over. The Saharan Empire took over Mauritania, Mali, and Niger. Morocco took over Algeria and Tunisia. Egypt took over Libya. Sudan took over Chad.

Soon, the world powers started to argue about colonies. They established a meeting with their leaders and decided that countries could take over land due to their location. The Saharan Empire would keep their colonies in North America, but was now only allowed to colonize South America and West Africa. Morocco was given North America. Egypt got Europe. Sudan got the East.

By 1200, Sahara had colonized from Florida to North Carolina. The rest of North America was colonized by Morocco, except for what was already controlled by the Norse Empire. South America was controlled completely by Sahara. Along West Africa, Sahara had colonies down to South Africa. On the East side of Africa was colonies of Sudan. Egypt was fighting a war against the allied medieval Mediterranean countries and had easily taken over the Viking controlled Northern Europe, reducing the Norse Empire to Russia, Scandinavia, Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, Eastern Canada, and New England.

The Sudanese decided to send out an expedition to the East and landed in India in 1210. With Asia now discovered, the African powers competed to colonize the East. Morocco had taken over Indonesia and Australia. Sudan had from India into Vietnam and Cambodia. Sahara had taken Japan and the Philipines. Egypt was busy fighting in Europe and hadn't sent out any expeditions. China was being controlled by the Song dynasty and were busy fighting off the Mongols. The high population wasn't worth the fight for any of the world powers.

By the mid 13th century, Egypt had defeated the Mediterranean kingdoms and controlled all of Southern and central Europe. Arabia had taken over the Slavic Kingdom and Egypt waged war on Arabia. Arabia was easily defeated due to their peaceful Christian beliefs and lack of technology. However, Christianity was spreading quickly and Egypt soon abandoned the pharaoh and became the Christian Theocracy of Arabia. Figuratively, Egypt won the battle but lost the war.

Arabia then went out further to the East. They conquered Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. The natives adopted Christianity easily and Arabia was easily able to gain their support. Arabia soon ruled all the way up to Russia (they didn't control Russia) and as far East as Tibet.

4. Politics
Morocco soon became  a big provider of gold, tobacco, cotton, coffee, corn, and lumber. Sahara was big provider of lumber, gold, and tea. Arabia had European slaves, cotton, silk, cattle, wool, porcelain, and tea. Sudan had lumber, coffee, sugar, rice, and iron.

It was around the year 1300. China wasn't able to be conquered, but all of the world powers had interest in it. Rebel factions in China were sick of the new dynasty and wanted civil war. Sahara decided to ally with the rebels and together, they defeated the empire. However, Sahara betrayed the rebels and took advantage of their war exhaustion. The Chinese government collapsed and China was annexed by Sahara.

This greatly angered Sudan, who had the most interest in getting a sphere of influence in China. Sudan pressured Sahara to give China independence, but Sahara refused. War broke out between the two nations in 1315. After years of war, Sudan was defeated. Sahara got Sudan's colonies in Vietnam and Sudan had to sell India to Morocco after going in debt from the war. Sahara was also in debt and started to raise taxes in their North American colonies.

The North American colonies had a revolution for democracy and formed the Republic of North America in 1334. Likewise, corruption in Sudan resulted in a revolution for democracy in 1346. Out of money, Sudan sold its Asian colonies to Sahara.

Paranoia of a revolution spread throughout the world powers. Leaders were terrified of losing their country's power or being brutally murdered, such as the leader of Sudan. Morocco was the first to establish a limited democracy, with the king being only a national figure and an adviser. Morocco was led by a prime minister and a Parliament. Sahara soon adapted this system. However, being a theocracy, Arabia didn't change.

The Norse Empire had become more and more technologically advanced. The Vikings traded with the Africans and had received guns, cannons, and rockets. With little government, the Norse were able to focus on military strength and let the rest of the world give them their technology.

Morocco had a goal of conquering all of North America. However, the Vikings controlled portions of the East and the Republic of North America had portions of the South. Morocco declared war on the Norse, thinking that they would be weak and underdeveloped. However, their barbaric nature and warrior life style came to the advantage of the Vikings. Morocco also didn't realize that the Vikings had been purchasing new technology. With the Vikings on the advantage, the RNA joined the fight. The RNA and the Norse not only defeated Morocco, but received all of modern day United States and Canada. The RNA was given all of America, while the Norse Empire got the rest of Canada and kept New England.

5. The Rise of Industry
In Arabia at around 1400, cotton mills were being built. Mills were built in France, Germany, Poland, and Ukraine. Slaves from Europe were shipped to the South to work on the fields. Cotton was sent to the North to be put into the mills.

This worked out fine, until liberalism spread throughout Arabia. Other countries had started to outlaw slavery after the Industrial Revolution began, since they didn't have a slave business or cotton fields. Liberalism also helped in outlawing  slavery in those countries.

Due to less consumers in the slave market, less people sold slaves until the slave trade was outlawed. However, slaves continued to work in the South.

Liberals in the North tried to get slavery outlawed. The leader denied. Europe  soon split from the Christian Theocracy of Arabia and formed the Republic of Europe.

Europe formed a trade embargo with Arabia and started purchasing Indian cotton from Morocco and cotton from North America. Europe was one of the most industrialized areas in the world and was Arabia's biggest consumer of cotton. Then, in 1430, Arabia declared war on Europe.

6. The Arabian Civil War
Arabia and Europe fought for six years. Europe wasn't as technologically advanced as Arabia. However, when Europe separated from Arabia, Arabia lost all of its factories.

Arabia was losing much of its money. Its only cotton consumer was Sudan. Many rebel factions organized in Arabia, wanting an end to the monarchy.

Soon, a revolution started in Arabia. The revolutionaries were allied with Europe and both had the same goal: to bring democracy to Arabia. Arabia was overwhelmed and became a democracy in 1436. The leader was killed and a new leader for the Christian Church was chosen. Although the Christian Theocracy of Arabia was now the Republic of Arabia, the Christian population remained high.

7. New Borders
Imperialistic wars continued and taxes were raised. Revolutions throughout the colonies were continuing to happen. Morocco lost the last of its land in North America due to a revolution. The country became Azteca. Sahara lost South America from a revolution.

Nationalism in Northern Europe started to rise. The people living there hated the barbaric nature of the Vikings. The people there wanted to be a part of Europe and not the Norse Empire. The Norse were from Europe but didn't want to give up their colonies in the New World if a revolution occurred. In 1462, the capital of the Norse Empire was changed from Stockholm to Montreal.

The Norse were right and a European revolution occurred. Arabia also wanted the Norse land in Europe, so they assisted the fight. The Norse lost and their empire and was now just Canada, Alaska, and New England in 1470.

Arabia was now the largest country in the world. They controlled all of Europe, Russia, Mongolia, and the Middle-East. They controlled all of mainland Asia besides China, India, Korea, and the South-east.

8. Pre Great War
In the year 1502, world war broke out. However, there was plenty of conflict before that led to this event.

After the Norse Empire lost its land in an imperialistic war, they became angered with Arabia. The Norse knew they couldn't defeat Arabia by themselves, seeing how they were the most powerful country.

The Norse had a strong alliance with North America. The Norse also had strong ties with Azteca and South America after assisting them in their revolutions. These countries soon formed the New World Alliance.

Sudan had lost most of its power and only had African colonies. In fear, they were able to form an alliance with Arabia. Morrocco also joined this alliance in order to avoid tensions between their Asian colonies.

Ever since Sudan and Sahara had gone to war over China, Sahara had avoided Sudan. Those tensions lasted. Much of the population of North America was Saharan, since it was once a colony of Sahara. The Saharan Empire was easily allied with the New World Alliance.

With Sudan losing power, the people soon started to become poor and starving. Many citizens immigrated to North America, which was now becoming a world power ever since its alliance with Sahara. Those who stayed in Sudan were angered and a Communist Revolution occured. It easily succeeded due to the government's corruption and loss of its democratic principles.

Then, in 1502, a North American passenger ship sank. Onboard were North American families of Sudanese and Egyptian descent who were traveling to Africa to visit their families. Sudan saw this as an excuse to go to war, considering the nationalism from the recent revolution. The Norse Empire, Azteca,  Sahara, and South America quickly joined to protect North America. On the other side, Sudan had convinced Arabia to join the fight. Morrocco soon joined, too. World war had begun.

9. The Great War
Most of the fighting was fought in Niger. In China, due to the high population, the militia fought off invaders trying to take the Saharan colony. South America had a short passage into the Saharan Empire and South American troops, who were used to rainforest environments, succeeded in invading and capturing the Congo from Sudan.

In Northern Europe, although not wanting Norse rule, people preferred Norse rule over Arabian rule since they shared a similar culture. Unable to deal with the revolutions, Arabia gave up their land in the North to the revolutionaries. The countries of Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland became their own republics. These countries were lowly developed and were unfit to fight in the war, but were allied with the New World and let them use their land for ships and planes. It was now 1503.

That same year, Morrocco backed out of the war. They didn't see a good cause for fighting on their current side, but wanted to keep peace with Arabia.

With their enemies weakened, the New World had a plan to get more on the offensive. South America would keep the defensive fight going in Africa along with some Saharan troops. Meanwhile, an invasion led by North America would take place on the Portuguese coast. In Asia, forces from the colonies would attack into Mongolia and Russia. They would then travel West. Once the New World forces met, they would travel South into the Middle East. Mongolia, Kazakhstan, and Asian Russia were barely defended and were easily taken. Portugal, Spain, and Central Europe were taken easily, but Arabian troops had strong armies in the Mediterranean.

1504, the New World tried a land invasion of Italy, but failed to pass the Alps. A second invasion was planned, where ships would surround the Italian coast and planes would guard the air while New World troops entered through the Alps. However, a secret Arabian force in Switzerland attacked the New World troops with mustard gas, which became even more deadly at the high altitudde with a lack of oxygen. This was the first appearence of chemical warfare.

The New World troops were able to take over the rest of Europe besides Greece, Switzerland, and Italy. The troops in the Alps were nearly surrounded. Meanwhile, Azteca had been helping the colonial militaries cross Asia and into the Middle East. The forces were able to get all the way to Iran, but there wasn't enough men to try and attack Iraq or Turkey.

In 1505, the Swiss troops were isolated. They weren't used to the mountain climate and were running out of food. The Swiss surrendered and the New World troops entered Italy. The fight was going well in Italy, but the New World troops were becoming exhausted. Seeing that Asia was under New World control, Morrocco decided to join the New World Alliance and fight against Arabia and Sudan. Troops from Morrocco were sent into Italy and invaded Rome. Morrocco also sent troops from India into Oman and Iran. These troops succeeded in capturing the Middle East along with the colonial troops and Azteca. It was 1506 and the New World had reduced the fight into just Africa. The troops were coming in onto the Arabian capital of Cairo.

In East Africa, the people were revolting against Sudan. They started a revolution to overthrow the Communist government and with support of the New World, they seperated from Sudan. The new country was the Republic of East Africa. Sudan finally was powerless and surrendered. Soon after, Arabia surrendered.

10. Reconstrucion
The New World Alliance was furious with Arabia, even though the main conflict evolved from Sudan. Arabia lost all of its colonies. Europe was rebuilt into the countries of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, Slavia, Russia, and Greece.

The Asian section of Russia was unorganized and simply released as Russasia. The country was isolated from the world and left as an unorganized government. Mongolia and Kazakhstan were given to the Saharan Empire and Morrocco got Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgystan, Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Iran, and Tajikistan, an area which was then known as Indo-Europe. The Middle-East became the Republic of Arabia, but was different from the old Republic of Arabia since it wasn't based in Egypt.

Egypt then became the Republic of Egypt. It was closely monitored by Morrocco and had limits on the size of its military. Sudan was given the same consequences.

The countries of Libya and Chad were given independence from Egypt and Sudan. They were both republics and were given support by the New World Alliance. The New World Alliance also changed its name to the Western Alliance.

The countries of the Western Alliance helped to rebuild the countries destroyed. This way they would prevent countries like Sudan from becoming Communist, Fascist, or any other Totaliterian government that could start a world war.

11.The Norse Revolution
The Norse Empire was now the longest lasting traditional government. Each Canadian province and Alaska and New England was run by a Jarl. The Jarls had their loyalty to the Norse King, who was also Jarl of Quebec. In each city was a mayor. The mayor led a meeting called a thing, where the townspeople would gather and decide the laws. However, the Jarl had complete control over his province and the King had complete control over everything.

Slaves were also common in Norse society and slaves had no rights. Shortly after the Great War, the King died. His heir was lazy and took advantage of his power, not really focusing on the people's needs.

Slave revolts became widespread throughout New England, the most populated province. Slave revolts also occured in Quebec. The King didn't do anything to stop the revolts in his own province and didn't assist the Jarl of New England when he asked for help handling the revolts.

When the slave revolts started to get out of hand, the King tried to fix it by sentencing the slave owners to death. The slaves were left with no owners and started to steal and murder throughout the provinces. The townspeople became upset about the King's unjust actions. In 1520, the King was murdered by the citizens. Anarachy was widespread throu­­­­ghout the country.

Afraid of what might happen to the Norse government, the Western Alliance sent troops into the country. They acted as police while the Western Alliance set up a republic. The country became the Republic of Canada. The Western Alliance helped to dissolve the anarchy and bring Canada back to the way it was before the revolution.

11.An Era of Peace
After the Norse Revolution, there was a long lasting world peace for about 200 years. People were happy that war and imperialism were over. The economy flourished and countries started to release their colonies as dominions. China, India, Australia, Congo, Indochina, Indonesia, Japan, the Philipines, and Mongolia gained independence. Indo-European countries were also given freedom.

Technology was increasing rapdily. Televisions were common in most homes by 1530. In 1546, North America became the first country to send a man to the moon. In 1580, most homes had internet access and smartphones.

Alternative, environmentally friendly sources for energy besides fossil fuels were used by 1600. In 1604, there was a successful expedition to Mars, led by a collaborative project from the Western Alliance. In 1620, the first colony was set up on Mars. Living there were Moroccan families of astronauts.

Faster means of transportation had been developed. Self driving automobiles that traveled at 400 mph were owned by most families by 1630, which boosted the travel industry. In the Arctic, succesfully cloned woolly mammoths and saber tooth tigers lived in the wild.

Technology continued to grow. By 1660, Mars had a population of 100,000. Scientists had successfully made the air more oxygen rich and had given Mars a more safe climate. These same things were done on Earth and were used to stop global warming.

In 1681, spaceports were set up around the world. In these spaceports, people could enter a spacecraft and travel to Mars and the Moon, which had also been colonized. Spaceports were also set up around Mars and the Moon. Travel time was only a few hours maximum.

Since no country had really owned Mars and the Moon, the Western Alliance decided to create governments on each planet. Mars and the Moon became their own republics in 1700.

In 1705, the Western Alliance successfully sent an expedition to land on Venus. In 1715, a colony was established there. By 1740, Venus had become like Mars and the Moon.

Although the world mostly prospered during this time period, there were some issues. The Earth's population had grown to 50 billion due to family's making well incomes, high standard medical care, and no wars. Many ecosystems were destroyed in order to build housing.

Military technology had also grown significantly. Assault rifles and nuclear weapons had been developed. Because of the world's peace, military technology didn't grow too rapidly.

12. Pre World War II
It was 1745. A wealthy scholar in Egypt was studying his country's history. He read about how Egypt was once ahead of the rest of the world in technology and how they used to be the largest empire in the world until the Great War. He was mostly frustrated with Sudan and Morocco, since Sudan had brought Arabia into the war and Morocco had ended the Arabian resistance.

This man was a great speaker and natural leader. When he ran for a presidential election, he was the first liberal Egyptian president since 1640. He helped to boost Egypt's industry, which had been failing ever since the Great War. He also helped to fight poverty. The people loved him and he was continuously reelected until the elections stopped. Egypt was now a Fascist dictatorship.

Although they were responsible for looking over Egypt, Morocco hadn't been controlling Egypt. Peace had came and over time they had just stopped their influence. Egypt also started to research weaponry. They were able to create guns that would insenerate anyone that it shot. They created guns that would temporarily paralyze its victims instantly. Those victims could then be brought to Cairo, where Egypt had developed technology that allowed them to change someone's personality. They would then take these soldiers that once fought against them and make them a part of the Egyptian military.

Egypt was now the biggest military superpower. Their president was now a dictator. He decided that it was time to bring back glory to Egypt. First, they invaded Libya. Morocco was surprised and was going to call on the WA to surpress Egypt, but they wished to keep the world peace going. They told Egypt to stop, but Egypt kept going. Soon they controlled Arabia and Indo-Europe. Turkey and Greece were under Egyptian rule. The Arabian Empire was being restored, only it was the Egyptian Empire.

The WA did nothing and was warning Egypt to stop, but Egypt kept going. The Egyptian people loved their knew dictator and Egypt was becoming very nationalist. The Egyptian dictator decided it was time to get vengeance. They sent a hoard of nuclear missiles towards Sudan and completely destroyed the country in 1765, killing 5 billion people. The WA countries declared war on Egypt. World War II had begun.

13. World War II
Morocco quickly fired nuclear missiles at Egypt. Well expecting this attack, Egypt had stopped the missiles before they exploded. They took them and fired them back at Morocco. Morocco was now completely destroyed, killing 10 billion. The WA quickly gathered a team of scientists to develop a way to stop nuclear missiles. It was developed in about one week.

Egypt was unaware of this and fired missiles at North America, but the missiles were stopped. Egypt sent out a land invasion to destroy the missile stoppers and blow up North America. When they arrived there, an army of 200 million men faced them. The Egyptians, with only 20 million, still defeated the troops with their superior army. The WA was shocked at the technology of the Egyptians. North America was being taken over and could barely resist. The remaining WA countries met together to come up with a plan. North America was the most popular country, home to 20 billion people.

The WA's plan was to set up a secret lab in Russasia. There they would test stronger military weapons to defeat Egypt with. Meanwhile, Egypt had taken over North America. The Egyptian army had doubled in size and now consisted of half the North American army. Egypt then moved South into Azteca. It was 1766.

A year later, in 1767, South America and Azteca were taken over. Egypt's plan was to take as much from the New World as possible, send back the Egyptian troops, and then destroy the continents. However, they were unaware of the WA's secret labratory in Russasia.

Egypt sent troops into space and easily conquered the Moon and Mars, which barely had any military. There, Egypt set up nuclear missiles aimed at the New World.

On Earth, Egypt sent its troops into Canada. To their surprise, Canada's army had improved dramatically. Egypt suffered its first loss in the Battle of Boston. The WA was now on the offensive.

In Sahara, troops were sent into South America. They entered through Brasil and took back the land that had recently been taken over by Egypt. In 1768, South America and Western North America were taken over again. The WA continued to bring back its countries until Egypt finally surrendered in 1769.

14. The Second Reconstruction
Two countries had been reduced in population by 75%. This was partially beneficial, considering that the Earth was very overcrowded. Overall, about 30% of Earth's population was killed in the war. The population was now at about 30 billion.

The WA met in El Aaiún. They had plans to rebuild, , and. was stripped of its entire military. They were forced to pay for much of the reparation costs.

The WA also made every country sign a pact. One part of it was that nuclear war was banned. If any country decided to give up democracy, they would be forced to go back.

There was also space junk all around the planet. While trying to remove nuclear missiles from Mars and the Moon, some were fired at the spacecraft. Nuclear space warfare had caused debris of starships to pile up and orbit the earth. was in charge of removing it.

Another section of the pact stated that war was prohibited in routes of space that were commonly used for travel. This was best in order to protect civilians from all sides of war. At this point in time, it seemed that war had finally come to an end on Earth.

== 15. Space Colonization == With the technology to control the climate of a planet, countries began to move people into space in order to control Earth's population. By 1800, colonies had been established on Mercury and a few of Jupiter's moons.

With civilization spreading so far and people interacting with each other quicker, the Western Alliance soon became a country in 1810. In 1826, Earth became the Republic of Earth.

Earth started to move out of the Solar System. The gas giants remained a resource and weren't able to be colonized. Asteroids in the asteroid belt were colonized. In 1850, the Asteroid Belt Republic formed. Every colonized planet and moon had become its own country at this point.

In modern day 2015, Earth would have been a place with a mostly common culture. It would have been centuries ahead of today's standards in technology. The colonization of space would continue for some time. Overall, people would be happy today.

16. Overall outcome
Even though today would have been much more advanced, its arguable whether the extreme amount of bloodshed would have been worth it. More people would have died in wars than Earth's population today.

Social classes would have been completely different. Instead of white people having been racially superior for a long time, black people would have been instead. The main religions would have been polytheistic and languages would have been based off of the language of Carthage.

For anyone still confused as to why technology would have been centuries ahead, the Dark Ages never happened. Technology continued to develop during that time period. Countries were also larger since colonization happened sooner and cultures had less time to develop.

So, in the end, no one can say if this world would be better. Or if this world would have turned out the way I predicted. Who knows?