251-300 (Abrittus)

251
Roman Empire: Roman legions triumph over invasion troops led by Visigoth King Criva at Abrittus. Consequent military successes north of the Danube lead to an utter defeat of Visigoths and their allies (Carpi, Hasdinga, several Sarmatian tribes). Visigothic aristocracy captured.

Emperor Decius founds the first Academia Martiana in Rome, a university for military strategy.

252
Roman Empire: Decius intensifies persecution of Christians. Several thousands killed, among them Cornelius, the new bishop of Rome, who had sought to both rehabilitate the "lapsi" (who had denied their faith in the face of persecution) and appease the imperial administration. Cornelius` appeasement had already led to the establishment of counter-pope Novatian, who did not want to reintegrate the lapsi. The Apostolic Church is split.

In increasing numbers, Christians flee the Empire and seek refuge in Arabia and Persia. Those who don`t flee are forced to go underground.

Intense interrogations of the captured Visigothic nobles reveal agricultural failures up north and the attraction of Roman wealth as the main motives for Gothic attacks on Rome´s Balkanic provinces. Decius decides to settle unarmed Visigoths who swear allegiance to Rome in the Dacia province under a loyal pro forma Visigothic king, whose family is held hostage in Rome.

253
Roman Empire: Alemanni intrude deep into Gallic and Raetic territory and raid Argentoratum and Cambodunum. Decius is determined to repeat his successful "Gothic strategy". Against advice from diplomats, spies and senators, who warn him of an impending Sassanid attack, Decius decides to sort out the weaker northern barbarians thoroughly first, so he would have his hands free to deal with the Sassanids later. He gathers eight legions and leads them into battle, confronting the first band of Alemanni in the land of the Raurici. The first quick success is followed by a series of more than twenty extremely one-sided battles, after which Gallia Belgica and Raetia-Vindelicia are cleared of Alemannic invaders, who are either killed or enslaved. Seven Alemannic "kings" had already been captured.

But Decius remains determined to root out the Alemannic problem just like he had done with the Visigoths. His legions march into the Agri Decumates. Decius is outraged at the miserable state in which he finds the last outposts of Roman civilization there, and he is greeted by the remaining Roman settlers (and romanised Germans and Celts) as the greatest hero of all times - no Roman Emperor had bothered to send troops to defend the Agri Decumates for two decades, let alone ride there with his legions himself. Throughout the Agri, small Alemannic villages have appeared, which Decius` legions now plunder and burn, marching the villagers to Roman vici and villae rusticae where Roman citizens "take care" of them. Where there are too few Romans to control the Alemanni, some Alemanni, who swore allegiance to the Roman Empire, are integrated into an auxiliares unit. At Arae Flaviae, the Roman legions encounter a larger group of armed Alemanni under yet another "war king" preparing to defend the land, and annihilate them as well,

The pattern is repeated for over two months, until Decius slowly realises that the Alemanni are less organised than the Visigoths. They do not have a single king or high king; raiding armies seem to form rather spontaneously. In Rome and especially in the Eastern provinces, calls to move the legions to the border with Persia become ever more urgent; the Alemanni, it is argued, have been shown not to represent a serious threat.

But Decius disagrees. He wants to comb the entire province, reinforce the limes forts with new auxiliaries and restore Roman civilization north of the Alps. Acting on advice from the new Academia Martiana, Decius orders to prepare for a war with the Sassanids by training new cavalry units. While his popularity in Syria and Mesopotamia is dangerously low, Decius is celebrated as the best emperor of decades in the Balkans and in the Celtic provinces.

South of the Alps, his administration continues the persecution of Christians. Cornelius` successor as bishop of Rome, Lucius, is also killed.

In Syria Palaestina, an underground Christian group led by a radical named Simon, who denounces the monepiscopal church as "fat cowards" and deems active resistance against the "pagan tyranny" a Christian duty, appears.

Persia: Sassanid shah Shaipur puts invasion plans on hold to build up additional infantry units of exiled Christians, who he lures into fighting for him against Rome by promising to make Christianity the official creed in the conquered territories.

254
Roman Empire / Persia: The Sassanids attack. Within weeks, they have taken control of Mesopotamia, Armenia and Syria.

Probus declares himself emperor in Byzantium and leads several legions into battle against the Sassanids, but they are defeated at Barbalissos, and Probus is killed in the battle. Antiochia falls to the Sassanids.

Roman Empire: Decius stubbornly decides to stick with his plan to bring the Alemanni completely under his control and continue the cavalry build-up for a later attack on the Sassanids.

Roman trade in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Baclk Sea are frequently interrupted by Sassanid ships. This, together with the Sassanid occupation of territories that cut off Asia Minor from Arabia and Egypt, leads to shortages and growing dissatisfaction in the towns and cities of the East.

In the midst of this climate of chaos and decline, the Christian radical Simon finds growing numbers of followers among rural and urban people alike. But his greatest number of followers are slaves, for whom he demands immediate liberation.

255
Roman Empire: After Roman troops are attacked in regions that have been considered "cleared", Decius must acknowledge the inability to regain complete control over the Agri Decumates. He tries to call local Alemanic leaders to an Althing that would decide future coexistence between Romans and Alemanni. Some Alemanni remain doubtful; others want to seize the opportunity of getting rid of the occupation troops. Far from representing all Alemanni, the Althing commences in Arae Flaviae. Its result is the formalisation of an Alemannic Confederacy, to which absent groups are open to adhere, wiho would share control over the Agri Decumates with the Roman institutions in manifold ways laid down in a Latin document (which many Alemanni did not understand and many Roman colonists did not quite like).

Roman Empire / Persia: 16 legions with increased cavalries are sent into war against the Sassanids. Before the end of the year, Antiochia and the entire Mediterranean coast are regained.

256
Roman Empire: The war against the Sassanids drags on, binding more and more resources and decreasing trade and living standards for the spoiled urban populations further.

In a series of suicidal attacks, the provincial governor of Syria Palestina and his guards in Antiochia as well as the priests of Roman temples in Pergamon are killed by Simonist Christian rebels.

257
Roman Empire: In February, a ceasefire between the Roman and Sassanid empires is negotiated, but both sides continue to build up for the next wave in this prolonged and costly war.

Simonist attacks have spread all across the Eastern part of the Empire. Following advice from the Roman Academia Martiana, Decius implements a counterinsurgency strategy that manages to reduce the guerrilla attacks, but heavily restricts civic life in the cities.

Nevertheless, on August 20th, a suicide commando of approximately 50 Simonists manages to kill emperor Decius, their imperailist and anti-Christian nemesis.

The Senate elects Valerian as new Emperor. Shocked by the assassination by an Eastern sect in the heart of Rome, Valerian even toughens the counterinsurgency strategies.

Frankish invaders raid Germania Inferior and Gallia Belgica. Valerian decides that the Sassanid danger and the terrorist threat do not allow a large deployment of troops against the Franks.

Roman Empire / Gaul: After the Franks have reached Tarraco, and Saxons and Angles raid the Eastern shore of Britannia, and Rome still doesn`t react, governors from the mostly Celtic provinces of Germania Inferior and Superior, Raetia, Gallia Narbonnensis, Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Belgica, Britannia, Aquitania, Hispania Tarraconensis, Lusitania and Baetica meet in Lutetia and rally behind Marcus Postumus, the governor of Germania Inferior, as new emperor of a breakaway "Imperium Romanum Galliarum".

258
Roman Empire: The empire descends into chaos.

Simonist guerrilla warfare has started to spread across Africa and into Italy. As public order breaks down, they are increasingly accompanied by slave rebellions.

In spring, the ceasefire is interrupted by a Sassanid attack in Armenia, but restored after six weeks.

Two usurpers challenge Valerian in Italy - first Proculus, then Carus -, both calling for action to regain control over breakaway Gaul. Valerian barely manages to hold on to power.

Saba: The influx of great numbers of (often well-educated) Christian refugees shows its effects: the King of Saba converts to a miaphysitic type of Christianity, and with him his entire beleaguered kingdom.

259
Roman Empire: While Gaul has managed to stabilise itself, restore order and trade, and fend off another Frankish invasion, the situation in the (rest of the) Roman Empire continues to worsen, especially after renews Sassanid attacks.

Since the beginning of the triple crisis of Simonist / slave revolts, Sassanid war and the breakaway of Gaul, trade has more than halved empire-wide, and living standards in the cities have declined sharply.

For the first time in centuries, protest marches of Roman citizens are seen in the streets of Rome, Corinthia, Alexandria, Cyrene and Carthage. Most protesters denounce the political instability and endless usurpations, many demand an end to the military counterinsurgency strategy and a better integration of the rebellious Chrstians, but a growing minority has turned away from the Principate altogether.

They distrust both the emperor and the military, and they demand a stable rule "by the citizens, for the citizens." Some protesters even identify with the goals of Simonist Christians and fraternise with them. Less and less protesters seem to have trouble with marching under revolutionary banners showing the Simonist symbol, the red cross.

260
Roman Empire / Gaul: Valerian is assassinated by a usurper named Iulianus. Iulianus stops the counterinsurgency strategy and gathers legions for an attack on Gaul.

In Lutetia, Postumus plans his defenses. He anticipates a Roman attack in Gallia Narbonnensis and stations most of his troops there.

But Iulianus manages to surprise Postumus. The Roman legions march through Noricum and attack in the South-East of Gaul. In Bratananium, they encounter the Celtic army, and defeat them. Iulianus marches on Augusta Vindelicorum, lays siege to it and conquers the town. The Celtic defense proves too weak for the Romans in Cambodunum and Brigantium, too.

Postumus had to march his legions across the Alps. When Iulianus and his troops approach the land of the Raurici, they are finally faced by the main Celtic army, which manages to defeat the Romans at Vindonissa. In this battle, emperor Iulianus is killed.

While in Rome, Carinus and Herennius contend for the succession, Celtic divisions confront the retreating Romans near Bragodurium and kill several hundreds.

At the same time, a slave rebellion in Cilicia (Simonist and non-religious groups fighting side by side) succeeds, slaughters hundreds of patricians and declares a democratic and egalitarian Republic of Tarsus.

261
Roman Empire / Gaul: While it is still entire unclear who is emperor in Rome, the Roman legions in Raetia-Vindelicia regroup and manage to hold their ground. Roman "duces" secretly negotiate with Huno, high king of the Alemannic Confederacy. They promise Alemannic independence if the Alemanni fight against the Celts. And many Alemanni follow this invitation.

Before Postumus can send Celtic reinforcements to the front, Franks cross the Rhine again, requiring the return of two Celtic legions to drive them off. In the Agri Decumates, Alemanni fight mostly against Roman colonist militias, who feel betrayed by Rome and have sided with the Celts.

Roman Empire: Across the empire, the entire populations seems to be on the streets and demanding different and, as becomes increasingly clear, contradictory things.

Most urban protesters demand a stable and democratic order, an end to the continuous usurpations and infights. Radical groups led by Simonists are united with these urban protesters in their demands for religious freedom and local self-determination, but when the radicals demand a confiscation of patrician property, land reform and the abolition of slavery, they suddenly become enemies of the protesting urban elites.

Further slave rebellions break out in Egypt, but are quashed.

Educated members of the Jewish diaspora confront the Senate with the idea of round table talks, including representatives from all dissident groups, to find a way out of the chaos. The Senate is reluctant at first.

Roman Empire  Persia: The Sassanids terminate the ceasefire, attack Syria and defeat the Republic of Tarsus, occupying Cilicia.

262
After more slave rebellions and atrocities committed by all sides and after several new contenders to the title of emperor turn up and contribute to the chaos, the Senate finally accepts the Jewish idea of a round table. After difficult negotiations, further impeded by the assassination of several delegates by various splinter factions, the round table finds a compromise that changes the Roman Empire deeply. Forging an alliance with those rebel representatives, who are from urban merchant backgrounds and the like, Rome`s upper classes manage to avert a land reform or other limitations to their property rights. Also, to strengthen the Republic`s army in the face of threats from all sides, permanent general conscription is constitutionalised. In return, the Army is constitutionally given a defensive role ("defensor imperii et civum romanorum").
 * Slavery is abolished. All former slaves and other permanent residents of the Roman Empire become free and equal citizens.
 * Religious freedom is guaranteed to all citizens in all provinces. The persecution of Christians will stop immediately.
 * The powers of the Emperor are curbed drastically, de facto reducing him to a figurehead. Emperors, alive or dead, need not be venerated anymore.
 * Power is returned to the republican institutions. All male citizens have equal voting rights for the Senate.
 * Provinces gain relative autonomy from Rome. In several political domains, they may pass their own laws; this is done by renewed Comitia, for which elections are free and equal.

The old Senate, in a joint session with the Round Table (because the organisation of elections will take a lot of time, and the Empire must immediately deal with its Celtic and Sassanid threats, too), elects Publius Marinianus as new Emperor.

Marinianus and a delegation of senators and civil representatives meet with Postumus.and sign a peace treaty. Raetia-Vindelicia falls back to Rome, the rest stays with Gaul; both sides acknowledge each other and their new constitutions.

Gaul: Postumus, who was slightly worried by the nature of the delegation he met, declares Roman, Celtic, Germanic, Jewish and Christian religious practices as "free and protected" in Gaul.

Postumus sends troops to crack down on the Alemanni.

263
Roman Empire: The last pockets of rebellion are pacified in the Eastern Mediterranean. After scrupulous organisation, the first free and equal elections for the Senate and provincial Comitiae in Roman history are held.

Moderate reformists gain a majority in the Senate and codify the reform laws negotiated between the round table and the old Senate.

Although tens of thousands of Christians have been killed in the persecutions, Christian confessions still make up 25 % of the Empire`s population. But among these Christian confessions, power has shifted away from the monepiscopal Apostolic Trinitarian Church, who is still separated over the treatment of the lapsi. In Greece and Asia Minor, gnostic groups have become the majority, while in Syria, radical Simonism continues to grow. In the following years, most Simonists refrain from violent action, though, and try to use the Comitia to implement their ideals.

Gaul: Postumus must realise what Decius had to accept before him: pacifying the Agri Decumates in their current state would bind too much resources. To solve the issue, he starts a settlement campaign aiming at increased Celtic-Roman presence that would make a local control of Germanic people easier.

264
Persia: After repeated internal struggles between Christian sects and continuous instability, Shaipur revokes his promise to the Christians and dictates their subordination under the general Zoroastric regime in the new-gained regions of Armenia, eastern Syria, Mesopotamia and Assyria, too. Gaul: Postumus` settlement campaign proves an utter failure. The Agri Decumates are too ill-famed for their dilapidated infrastructure, wood shortage due to excessive deforestation, and violent Germanic inhabitants. The Celtic Roman Empire offers its citizens an organised relocation across the Rhine and declares the Agri Decumates as abandoned.

Saba / Himjar: The Kingdom of Saba wins a decisive battle against the Himjar and regains control over the entire South-Western part of Arabia, except for a small part belonging to Aksum.

265
Roman Empire: After inner reforms have been implemented, the Senate heatedly debates different plans to restructure Rome`s armed forces (and different plans regarding how to push the Sassanids back). Gaul: Two Celtic legions manage to eradicate Saxon footholds in eastern Britannia.

266
Roman Empire / Persia: The Senate sends half the empire`s legions in the greatest war effort of the century against the Sassanids. In only three months, Cilicia and Syria are reconquered.

269
Saba: Saba reconquers Hadramaut. King Far`am Yanhab starts maintenance of the dams and irrigation systems.

Roman Empire: Desperate for a replacement of Gladiator fights, Italy's population adopts a trend from the Christian East, where martial Games had been replaced by a Renaissance of Greek sports. In Rome, though, team sports are all the rage now, especially one where two teams try to put a ball in the other one's porta.

270
Roman Empire: After several Comitia not only in the East have leaned to the far left, the Senate passes a land tax and increases welfare services by the Cura Annonae.

271
Gaul: Another Franksih invasion stopped at Toxandria.

272
Persia: Shaipur`s son and successor Hormizd expels all non-recanting Christians and Manichaeists from Assyria. Most of them flee to the Arabian peninsula.

273
Persia: The university of Gundishapur is founded.

277
Gaul: Beginning of massive fortifications of the Rhine against the Franks.

282
Alemannia: Huno`s son, Vilmar, manages to defeat the Marcomanni and forces them to accept him as their overlord.

284
Roman Empire: The profit squeeze on agricultural land owners exerted by the abolition of slavery and the introduction of the land tax has started a first desperate search for measures to increase profitability. So far, the most promising outcome appears to be the introduction of the three-field crop rotation.

285
Gaul: Fortification of the Rhine is completed. No successful invasions in the next 90 years.

288
Roman Empire: Following Gaul`s example, the Romans fortify their Vindelican province with a new and strong Rhine-Hilara-Danube limes.

291
First major battle between Franks and Alemanni ends in Frankish defeat. The Franks must not cross the Moenus.

293
Roman Empire: During the first period of conservative majorities in the Senate, aimed at consolidating Roman tradition and imperial power, and under the outspoken Emperor Diocletian, Rome gathers its legions and attacks Persia. The investment in equestrian forces pays off. After a thorough victory at Satala, Rome wins back Armenia and Mesopotamia.

296
Gaul: The first Celtic university is founded in Lutetia.

297
Alemannia: After Vilmar´s death, Marcomanni chiefs side with Burgunds and Vandals and attack the Alemanni. Alemannic control beyond the old Roman Limes Germanicus breaks down.

298
Saba / Aksum: Following intense contact with Christian Saba, the Aksumite kingdom converts to miaphysitic Christianity.

299
Roman Empire: A small and ill-fated attempt at invading Dacia by mounted Sarmatians backfires brutally as a Visigothic legion of the Roman Empire slaughters thousands of Sarmatian civilians in retaliation.

Salvador79 (talk) 01:13, February 28, 2014 (UTC)

Abrittus