Timeline (Forward Byzantium!)

This is a Timeline for the Forward Byzantium! AH. a more detailed TL will eventually be provided.

6th Century

 * 536: POD: the Byzantine Emperor Justinian sends 6000 extra troops to support Flavius Belisarius's invasion of Italy, but doesn't send Narses to undermine Belisarius's authority.
 * 537: Belisarius captures Ravenna, and kills most of the Ostrogothic royalty. in a brilliant political coup, Justinian allowsmany of the remaining Ostrogoths to join several auxiliary units attached to Belisarius's army. this swells his army from 13,500 to 25,000. in addition, almost 10,000 other goths are sent to Syria as auxiliaries, where they are instrumental in repelling a Persian incursion.
 * 540-542: Belisarius leads a amphibious invasion of the Iberian peninsula. after leading a brilliant campaign against the Visigoths, he succeeds in completely wiping the Visigoth Kingdom off the map, and adding the entire Iberian peninsula to the Byzantine Empire. also, one of Belisarius's subordiates iinvented stirrups, after accidentally tangling his leg in his sadle straps, then noticing that it was actually easier to ride.
 * 545-550: Great Frankish War: the Franks lead an alliance of Central European tribes in an invasion of Hispania and Italia. after two years of brutal fighting in the alps and pyrenees, the Frankish alliance is driven back in Gaul and Germania by newly recuited Hispanian and Italian legions, supported by Belisarius's hardened veterans. Belisarius then leads a powerful counter-thrust in Gaul, overrunning Francia several other Germanian territories.