431-452 CE (Superpowers)

Emperor Scipio I (431-448)
As eldest surviving son of Emperor Antonius, Gaius Scipio Sapiens was named as his immediate successor. The new Emperor Scipio I is widely considered to have been the most successful emperor of the period following the death of the first Sapiens. His many reforms corrected an area that had been much ignored of late by the emperors, the Roman Navy. He was dubbed by many at the time as Imperator Nautici (Emperor of the Sea) and his name has been remembered as such, being adopted by one later emperor due to his love of the sea.

Civil Events
Having spent a good portion of his adolescent years in Carthage, even having been there by the time of his father's death, the Emperor took a great interest and believed that if strong naval outposts existed at strategic points in the Mediterranean, the entire sea could be further stabilized. The old Phoenician city was, from 431-434 brought back to a glory which it hadn't seen for nearly half a millennium. The Great Port of Carthage was built on the location of the old commercial port, greatly expanding its capabilities. The port's total capacity was increased by more than 6 times and over two dozen docking and construction sites were built for military and commercial vessels alike. The military harbor as well was expanded alongside the commercial one. Later, in 439 CE, the Academia Bellica Nauticus was built in the city nearby to the military harbor. This structure would serve as the primary Naval School for the Empire as a whole, training virtually all of its greatest admirals and ensuring that a steady supply of naval commanders would never be a problem.

Another two cities which received similar expansions to Carthage, though not quite as significantly, were Massiala in Harbonensis and Tyrus in Syria. This was all a prelude however to his real vision, the foundation of a perfect port city, built from scratch, at the Mediterranean's very center. Though the province of Sicilia was considered as the location for his project, a far more suitable location was found in the islands of Melita (Malta). To begin, the island's original inhabitants were relocated, to grand estates, in the Harbonensian countryside in 435. Then demolishing all of the structures in current use of the main island, keeping all of the extremely old structures, the emperor's workers now had a virtually blank slate to work with.

Building on the peninsulas of the island's Northeast side, the site for another Grand Harbor was lain out. Covering an area of roughly 14 km2, the entire infrastructure of the harbor itself was incredible. Estimates at the time estimate that, once complete, the new harbor would be able to service more than a thousand ships at any one time. Then, the Bay of Sirocco was to contain a harbor designed solely for the transport of vital materials, water and food mostly, to sustain what the emperor planned to be an island city. In the mean time however, the Port of Sirocco became simply another massive harbor for the island. While this was all being built, another team constructed the primary arteries for the city's road system, which was planned to be as perfect in design as possible with all roads being required to run North-South of East-West, except under certain circumstances.

Around the main harbor, the finest market place was constructed. The primary market was a multi-tiered structure covering almost a quarter of square kilometer, with over a hundred shops built inside of it (essentially a mall). External markets were also built and the entire harbor district was considered complete by 445 CE. General expansions to the city would continue apace, making it so that by the end of Scipio's reign, the island would have a population already numbering at 20,000.

The Roman merchant fleet was also expanded under the emperor's rule and tying into the postal network of the Empire, an emergency response system was created that would allow for supplies to be brought by sea at an incredibly efficient rate in the case of food shortages anywhere under Roman rule. Mediterranean trade grew by over 190%, an increase not seen since the Emperor Benedictus had expanded the merchant fleet. This gave Mediterranean trade a share of about 46% of world sea trade, approached only by the Silk Fleets which accounted for about 35% of world trade by sea. Asa a whole, Roman control of sea trade was at an all time high during the Emperor Scipio's rule.

Military
As much as Scipio was spending on civic reforms, that had no effect on how much he was willing to spend on the military at the same time period. Despite his incredible amounts of spending, the Empire was no worse for wear by the time of his death. The treasury may have shrunk, to about 105% what it had been at Sulla's death, but government income had never before been higher and the empire was experiencing the largest trade surplus in its entire history.

In one of his many reforms, the Classis (Navy) was split into five distinct fleets, each let by a single Magistrassis, or Chief of the Fleet. A new high fleet position, the Ad-mirabilis (The Admired) was also created as a supreme commander of the Roman Navy.

The five fleets were, the Black Sea Fleet, the Arabian Fleet, the Britannian Fleet, the Western Fleet and the Eastern Fleet. The latter two were given dominion over one half of the Mediterranean Sea, now officially known as the Mare Nostrum, the old Mediterraneum name having fallen out of use. The creation of these fleet divisions in 432 was an important part of the Emperor's grandest plan of all, to separate the Mediterranean from all foreign bodies of water, finally giving the Roman's absolute control over all of its waterways, essentially making it their own Imperial Lake.

This was achieved by shutting off the two major points of entry into the sea through a combination of artificial defenses and naval presence. At the Bosporus, just north of Constantinopolis, a wall was built to cover approximately 40% of the strait, equally on both sides. Completed in 434 at the same time as the defense towers built between Iberia and Africa, the emperor commemorated the event with the grandest procession of ships ever witnessed, through the new defenses at the Bosporus, a ceremony which passed first through the city of Constantinopolis, to the great pleasure of all who saw it.

In 437 three defense towers were built between the Bosporian Wall and on top of the central one the massive Colossus of Christ our Savior was built (very similar to the Cristo Redentor statue). This was done to ensure that any foreign traders entering the Mediterranean "know exactly by who's grace such a mighty Empire could exist". The monumental statue's construction was an extremely popular measure to both the local population, and the aristocracy of the Empire as a whole. To foreigners, it was a frightening sight, due to its sheer size, that would keep them in awe for the rest of their journey in Rome's private basin.

In 444 something which the Romans had been dreading for nearly a century occurred, the Huns invaded. Led by their great King Attila I, their invasion was even more significant than could have ever been anticipated. Not only had he united all the Hun tribes, but due to the incredible resentment towards Rome within virtually all of Eastern Europe he had brought together virtually all the major Germanic and Sarmatian tribes into his fold. With an enormous power base, a population of over 24 million, an army of more than 800,000 men and a level of technology nearly as great as the Persians, the Huns were the greatest threat Rome had faced since the First Punic War.

With the ultimate role of taking Constantinopolis and making it their new capital, the Hunnic Empire made an attack on the Dacian Wall with the full force of their armies. Absolutely overwhelmed, the Roman defenders could do little against the incredible onslaught being brought against them. Were it not for the use of a new discovery of an old invention, Greek Fire, the wall would most certainly have fallen. Thankfully, the civilly primitive people were still easily awed and this display of power sent them fleeing in fear. Though this gave the Romans some breathing room till their next attack, it was only a minor consolation.

Renewing their efforts in spring of 445, the mighty army was now immune to any of the tricks the Romans could have used. Though the Huns attacked in Pannonia this time, the Legion was still able to arrive with four days of the start of the "siege" and through their imposing presence, and ease at fighting off the Huns, were able to cause them to flee in fear once again. Attila decided it would be best to consolidate his power and strengthen his troops before attempting another attack, and so there was peace along the border for the next two years.

Returning with an army of 1.1 million, all of Germania being either allies of the Huns or already exterminated by them, the barbarian horde was as prepared as ever for an attack. Striking this time from the Raetian Wall, they finally succeeded in completely crushing the defenses and so penetrating the wall into Roman land. Faced with an enemy army more than 4 times larger than his own, Scipio knew that strategy would be key if he intended to protect Rome. Quickly, he ordered for all the legions across the Empire, and many of the auxiliaries, to be moved to intercept Attila. Only two legions were kept in Arabia to defend the Empire from the Sassanids, who had been growing more militant now that the treaty was invalid and neither side was making any attempts to renew its conditions.

In mid-448, over 200,000 Roman soldiers met the army of the Huns in battle. With the legionaries attacking from the west, utilizing a wedge tactic that was specialized for fighting the massed formation of the Iceni tribes in 60 CE, and the auxiliaries attacking from the east, Lucius Camius Venerus, the general of the combined Roman army, believed that the Huns would be devastated in the grip of this pincer. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of the tactic relied on both sides of the army being able to maintain an advance. The auxiliaries however, who were using a different primary tactic than the legionaries, were overwhelmed by the Huns and were completely overrun within two hours.

Though the legionaries kept up their advanced, only having suffered about 40-60 casualties, one legionary death to every 600 Huns, the Huns were liberated to now surround them. In one of the most incredible moves in military history, the commander of the enveloped legionaries was able to issue a change formation order to everyone. Fighting through the thick horde, all the soldiers were able to reform into a circle defense and steadily advance out of the Huns. Though they were assisted only by their own sagittae (archers) they escaped and managed to flee the battle, having suffered in excess of 8,000 deaths for the legion alone. Since the battle had a combined death toll of, for the Romans 72,000 and for the Huns 68,000, the Battle of the Horde is known as the greatest Roman defeat in history, the deadliest battle in European history from the Classical Era and earlier and the second deadliest battle in all of history up to that point.

Though still shocked at their unbelievable loss, the Romans were not discouraged. The Senate enacted a program of conscription, hoping to amass a single militia force of 400,000 men. In the mean time, Roman archers on horseback, using an invention bought from the Chinese in 410 CE, harassed the Hunnic Army, even having some control over where it would move within the Empire's borders. This was only a temporary measure and by March of 449 a Roman army of 650,000 conscripts, 100,000 auxilia and 80,000 legionaries was armed and ready to fight the Huns, which was expected to arrive at Mediolanum (Milan) within about a week.

General Camius, who was now Quaestor by appointment of the Emperor and who was personally leading the army from within Mediolanum's walls, had devised a new strategy that would guarantee a Roman victory. The outline of his forces for the battle was as follows:


 * 50,000 Auxilia are stationed directly in front of the wall, luring the barbarians towards it. 10,000 Sagittae were also stationed on both sides of this army.
 * Within the wall about 4,000 Sagittae and 100 ballista emplacements were also stationed, killing the barbarians from afar for the entire battle
 * On the east side, obscured by the wall, an army of 40,000 legionaries, 50,000 Auxilia and 200,000 conscripts were waiting for their signal to attack
 * On the west side, also obscured by the wall, an army of 40,000 legionaries and 450,000 conscripts were also waiting for their signal to attack
 * 4,000 horse archers were to circle the Hunnic soldiers and constantly fire arrows into them while avoiding direct confrontation as well
 * An army of 10,000 archers was at the ready, away from the battle, to be called in for an attack on the Hun army's rear. Mobility was key here as they were expected to retreat at the same time as the Huns did
 * Finally, an army of equestrians (knights really) numbering in the 15,000's, was prepared to wipe them out once they began their retreat

The general's plan went off perfectly. The Huns went straight for the wall and were quickly softened up by arrow fire. The east army then attacked them before they could reach it, concentrated the enemy forces to the east. It was then that the horse archers came in for their harassment tactic, sending one of their own off to give the signal to the west army, which attacked the weakened side of the Huns. Only minutes after this had gone down, the flanking archers arrived on time, destroying the Huns' rear. Squeezed from the front, the horde backwards in their attempt to flee. Still, the Roman foot soldiers kept at it, never once trying to run after them, something which they had learned from the Chinese. Archers were however permitted for this role, giving chase in moderately disordered fashion. To top things off, the Roman main cavalry force arrived and cut off the escape route of the barbarians. This allowed the slowly advancing Roman infantry to catch up to them and bring untold devastation upon them.

Within an hour and a half the battle was over, a clear Roman victory. Virtually the entire barbarian army was killed or captured, with casualty estimates at 600,000-750,000. When compared to Roman casualties of 12,000, this victory completely offsets their loss from the year before. All prisoners of war were ransomed back to the Hunnic Empire, a nation still in mourning from the loss of their great King Attila I, whose son Attila II now lead them.

Celebrations in Rome were of the grandest kind since the turn of the Millennium, and March 14 was declared a national holiday, Day of the Defeat of the Huns, a name which sounds far better in Latin than in English. Though the celebrations of that year were held the next day, most Romans ignored the irony of holding such grand celebrations on the Ides of March.

With the signing of the Treaty of Rome, the Hunnic Empire was forced to relocate to as far away from the Roman borders as possible, thus beginning the Hunnic Diaspora, a population movement which wouldn't come to an end until they found a new home in 473 CE. Several members of the army, mostly non-Huns, who were horrified at the sites of the Battle of Mediolanum, remained behind in violation of the treaty, to enact guerrilla warfare against the Romans.

Though Scipio had died a year before, in 448 CE, his successor, the Emperor Romulus Augustus (448-452), chose to lead an advancement of the borders of Roman Germania since the entire region was now sitting at a native population of around 120,000+ people, most of which were the remainder from Attila's army. Romulus Augustus made one grave error however, he chose to personally go with his legions for the war and although he made himself indistinguishable from other generals, the risk was high. And so it was, that in 452 CE, a lucky shot from a guerrilla struck him in the eye, killing him in seconds. Because Romulus Augustus had no children, and named no successor, the Law of No Succession enacted by the Emperor Sapiens went into effect. The Senate spent two months, with the war still ongoing, unanimously deciding upon a new successor. The Senate's final decision, a decisive yet cruel man who had earned his name of Gaius Julius Draconius.

As for the war in Germania, a month after Romulus' death the Roman army had arrived at the Vistula River and decided upon this barrier as their stopping point. Through an expansion of both Germanic provinces and Dacia and the Pannonian provinces, as well as the creation of the new Imperial Province of Gothia in 453, the wars started by Attila the Hun finally came to a close.

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