251-300 (Abrittus)

251
Roman Empire: Roman legions triumph over Gothic invasion troops led by King Cniva at Abrittus. Consequent military successes against the Carpi and later, in a joint campaign with several foederati, against another Gothic coalition, which now barely sought to defend its settlement nuclei, secures the Danubian border for a long time. Great numbers of slaves are brought into the Empire, while Rome's allies are supposed to be relocated in the following year.

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

Valerian becomes the first powerful Censor after a long time and immediately begins deep-reaching reforms not only in tax collection, but also in the amount of information Rome gathered about its citizens and the peregrini within its realm and the way it gathered it.

252
Roman Empire: As the renewed Censor office makes itself felt in the lives not only of those groups which are openly targeted by Decius' policies (Christians etc.), but also among the wealthy, senators begin to repent their decisions of last year and criticism is aimed at Valerian - since no senator dares to criticise Decius, the Gothicus Maximus.

Decius intensifies the 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 re-integrate 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.

All Carpi, Costoboci, Bastarnae and Roxolani as well as the largest part of the Gepids and Tervingian (= woodland) Goths are relocated; each single clan is split up upon Roman orders: while half of their members are settled in the Roman provinces of Dacia Superior and Dacia Inferior (the males having to serve in Roman military units composed of older colonists and the new arrivals), the other half is relocated to the region which had been part of Dacia Inferior between 106 an 117, where they are allowed to govern themselves. If they keep the peace with the Empire, Rome would use its (now quite large) military presence to protect its Gotho-Sarmato-Dacian client kingdom, too - but if they make any trouble, their relatives, factually held hostage by the Empire, would have to suffer the consequences (and with Decius the Cruel as Roman Emperor, one did not wish to imagine what these consequences might be).

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.

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 remains determined to root out the Alemannic problem just like he had done with the Goths. Acting on advice from the new Academia Martiana, Decius orders to prepare for war with the Sassanids only in the middle run by training new cavalry units which would be required to effectively beat the threat from the East.

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. Decius orders to re-inforce the limes forts with new auxiliares and restore Roman civilization and infrastructure North of the Alps. 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. Jews, Zoroastrians and people from less Romanised areas who cling to their respective deities also suffer from harassment and persecution.

In Syria Palaestina, an underground Christian group led by a radical named Simon, who denounces the mon-episcopal 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.

254
Roman Empire / Sassanid Empire / Gothia / Bosporan Empire / Lasika:

The Roman Empire comes under attack from two sides. Remaining steppe Goths and / or Sarmatians attack Rome's vassals, the Bosporan Kingdom. Although the latter can defend Chersonesos, a part of their navy is captured by the invaders and used in attacks against Rome's Moesian and Thracian provinces.

Decius sends a considerable detachment of the Classis Romana into the Black Sea, which manages to confront a part of the raiders, while another part manages to escape and withdraws into the hinterland of relatively unprotected colonies on the Northern shore of the Black Sea.

While the navy is still on the Black Sea, the Sassanids attack. Within weeks, they have taken control of Mesopotamia, Armenia and Syria.

Decius decides that the Roman cavalry cannot yet put up with the Sassanids, and prefers to secure the Northern shore of the Black Sea first. This is no longer just heatedly disputed, though. Decius' opponents now take action.

Probus declares himself emperor in Byzantium. He 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 trade in the Eastern Mediterranean and on the Black Sea is highly endangered. This, together with the Sassanid occupation of territories that cut off Asia Minor from Arabia and Egypt, and the harsh quarantine measures imposed by Decius against the smallpox pandemia 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.

After three months, though, Decius' campaign against the steppe Goths and Sarmatians (and possibly also Alani) is concluded successfully. Fresh masses of slaves are deported to Cilicia, but also to the hellenised cities on the Northern shore of the Black Sea, which Decius decides to strengthen with a larger and more permanent Roman naval presence. To this end, he renews Rome's alliance with the Bosporan Kingdom and the Kingdom of Lasika.

255
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, mostly in the Armenian theatre of war, binding more and more resources. Several taxes are raised sharply. The spoiled urban population experiences a dramatic economic depression.

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 and kills many innocents, too.

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

Even though he is not every senators' darling, the Senate endows Valerian, Decius' designated successor, with the powers of the princeps. 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 caesar 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 Syria, 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 renewed 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, both uncontrolled riots and well-organised protest marches of Roman citizens are seen in the streets of Rome, Corinthia, Alexandria, Cyrene and Carthage. The revolutionary banner of the Simonists, the red cross, often flies above the heads of the protesting masses.

Also for the first time since the end of the republic, Plebeian Councils gather spontaneously on large public places in the context of the protest marches. In these councils, the political instability, overtaxation and endless usurpations are denounced, an end to the military counterinsurgency is demanded - and increasingly, opinions to end the Principate are voiced.

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) succeed. Thousands of soldiers, magistrates and aristocrats are slaughtered. While the mostly Gothic and Sarmatian slaves flee back North into the lands from where they had been deported, the radical political faction declares a democratic and egalitarian Republic of Tarsus.

In other parts of the empire, more and more Plebeian Councils form and continue to occupy public places. Increasingly, they demand all the political power, which had gathered in the hands of the military-monarchic complex of the Principate, for themselves.

Under these circumstances, the newly reformed and centralised tax collection system in the provinces breaks down. Even with ever-faster debasement of the currency, Rome has severe difficulties paying its army. The resources allocated to the Cura Annonae are halved, causing even more violent riots on the streets of Rome and a further strengthening of the radical factions in the informal Plebeian Council of Rome.

261
Roman Empire: Across the empire, the entire population seems to be in the streets, and the public administration, which has lost control over much of the empire, faces what may be described as bankruptcy. Rome cannot pay its legions any longer.

Under these circumstances, military commanders take over the entire control in several provinces. Marcus Quintus, who commands the troops who fight against the Celts in Raetia, squeezes as much tribute in kind as he can out of the Alpine provinces, which had been rather quiet before, but now become dissatisfied, too - although the strong military presence prevents any popular uprisings here. Marcus Quintus manages to hold the ground against the Celts in the North-West.

Similarly, Marcus Veracilius Verus manages to establish a military administration in Dacia, Moesia and Pannonia, although the maintenance of his troops does not weigh too heavy on the population of these provinces since many legions had been withdrawn from the Danube and thrown into battle against the Celts.

In Africa and Cyrenaica, the Plebeian Councils in Leptis Magna, Cyrene and Carthage haven taken over the administration, and the few soldiers stationed here have agreed to act under their command and receive their soldes from them. A bloodshed is averted when Lucius Messius, proconsul in Africa, acknowledged the rule of the Plebeian Councils, too. Africa, the Empire's breadbasket, stops sending grain, oil and garum as tribute to Rome, and sells it to wholesale traders instead, who make great profits when selling the grain to the Cura Annonae and to retailers.

In Aegyptus, things have taken a similar turn as in the Africa province: the revolution has taken control and the province acts factually independent from Rome, the Senate or any Emperor. The revolutionaries from Africa to Aegypthus, from Leptis Magna to Memphis begin to coordinate their reconstruction of the public services, their reestablishment of law and order and their defense. But in Aegyptus, things are not so peaceful: In the neighbouring Arabian and Syrian provinces, military commanders of the troops who are stationed there to guard the Empire's Eastern border against the Sassanids, haven taken (more or less) control (there are still permanent bloodbaths: terror attacks on the military administration, retaliation against the rebels etc.), and they must attempt to crush the revolution in Egypt and Africa, too, now in order to feed their troops.

In November, Publius Petronius marches with the Eastern legions on Alexandria. The revolutionaries have erected barricades and put up fierce resistance. Petronius' legionnaires and (mostly Arab) auxiliaries slaughter hundreds, perhaps even thousands of civilians in the insurgent city, until mutinous sentiments spread among the soldiers, too. Emissaries from the Plebeian Councils of Alexandria and Memphis negotiate with leaders of the conspiracy among the soldiers. They promise to cover the troops' costs if they defend the revolution instead.

On December 2nd or 3rd, the soldiers in Aegyptus mutiny against Petronius. They form revolutionary comitia centuriata - but in contrast to those of the old republic, every soldier's vote has the same weight now - and incorporate themselves into the new democratic state that emerges between Carthage and Antiochia.

In Rome, impoverished urban masses begin to starve - and to rebel in earnest.

The noble families and the well-off, who can still afford to buy African produces, begin to panic. On December 10th, the Senate nevertheless makes a decision which would have shocked everyone ten years ago, but which now seems belated and half-hearted: They revoke the separation of the potestas tribunicia, which had served as a republican fig leave for the emperors' unlimited powers since the times of Octavius, from the person of the office holder, and demand that the censor Aulus convoke a Plebeian Council with the duty of electing a new tribune of the plebs. The public opinion considers this move as an attempt to appease the anti-principate mood and domesticate the movement of the spontaneous Plebeian Councils.

The next day, Rome's self-convoked Plebeian Council formulates a declaration that it does not need Aulus to tell them what they're supposed to do. An immediate rejection of the idea of electing a tribune does not find general consent, though.

In the next few days, internal divisions become visible within Rome's Plebeian Council. Should they stand together with the old establishment, accept the limited amount of reforms that the upper class would be willing to grant, and reconquer Africa and Aegyptus in order to acquire the food that is needed to feed the starving masses? Or should they overthrow the old system entirely, extend a hand to the much more revolutionary Plebeian Councils in the South and East, and build a new state, in which Rome would have to cede much of its privileges?

262
In January, the Sassanids break the ceasefire and invade Syria. The new army of the revolutionary provinces undergoes its baptism by fire, and it succeeds in defeating the Sassanid besiegers of Palmyra and pushing the Sassanid army back across the Euphrates. Shahanshah Shapur is forced to negotiate for peace with a junta of elected soldier-representatives who call themselves "collegium militum".

Meanwhile, the revolution succeeds in the Greek cities in Achaia, Macedonia, Bithynia, Asia Minor, Lykia et Pamphylia and Galatia. The democratic poleis revive and reform their koina and send ambassadors to the emerging republic of rebellious urban citizens, former slaves and mutinous soldiers that forms in Northern Africa and Syria.

In February, inner conflicts break out among leading revolutionary groups in Syria and Arabia. The Simonist movement splits up into a more pacifist and separatist faction, which declines fighting alongside heathens against other heathens, and a more integrative faction, which sees the revolution as a chance to obtain religious, social and political freedom alike, and wants to see their communities integrated into the defensive structures of the new republic, even if this means accepting some laws that are not inspired by the Holy Writ.

Meanwhile, the radicals take over the revolutionary movement in Rome and across Italy. The senatorial and equestrian aristocracy becomes the target of manhunts. Large landowners and their families across Italy are killed as impoverished tenants unite with slaves and take over their villae rusticae. Only the Praetorian Guard puts up a significant resistance against the revolution, killing countless rebels and terrorising quarters of Rome where the insurgents are in the majority. After the rebels, badly armed but numerically far superior, finally defeat the Praetorians, the Cura Iulia is stormed, but the senators have already fled. The Quirinal and the Palatin Hills are ramsacked and set on fire. A considerable part of Rome's upper class flees into other Italian cities, and as the revolution succeeds there, too, to the Gallic provinces, where Postumus keeps things quiet so far.

In early spring, civil delegates from the Concilia Plebeia in the revolutionary civitates, which now include all of Roman Africa, Cyrene, Aegyptus, Syria, Arabia, Achaia, Asia Minor, Cilicia, Lycia et Pamphylia, Galatia, Cypros, Sicilia, Corsica et Sardinia, parts of Illyria and the greater part of Italia, as well as military envoys from the Maximum Collegium Militum negotiate the foundation for the new democratic federation, its defenses, its public services and finances. A constitution, written in marble, is planned for next year. For now, the top priorities are to feed the starving masses of Rome without exploiting the provinces, and to defend the revolution against the troops of the old order, which still control Moesia, Thracia, Dacia, Pannonia, Raetia, and the entire Gallic breakaway empire ruled by Postumus.

During summer, the free peasants of Italia, Asia, Aegyptus, Africa and other revolutionary provinces (many of them former slaves) manage to work their (often newly acquired) land. The revolutionary provinces are not entirely peaceful, since especially in Palestine, competing sects attack each other, but overall stable.

In Gaul and along Rhine and Danube, autocrats consolidate their foothold, too, and gather means for an attack. Veracilius slowly advances through the sparsely populated Rhodopes, where the rural population has shown no inclination to join any of the conflict parties yet. In August, Veracilius' troops attack Maximianopolis. Dramatically outnumbered, the revolutionaries must abandon the city and flee. Revolutionary troops across Macedonia and Bithynia organise a rather improvised defense. Revolutionary troops from Asia Minor set sail to support their brethren. But Veracilius defeats the citizens' army at Traianopolis and the landing party at Maronea, too.

Across Macedonia and Achaia, plebeian councils increase the fortification of their towns, while in Antiochia and Alexandria, two great leaders of the revolutionary army, Silas and Atenos, organise the training of huge armies of former slaves, who have joined the cause of the revolution.

Perhaps the boldest step of the Maximum Collegium Militum is to send envoys to Shapur and request his assistance in the fight against Veracilius and the liberation of Thracia, Moesia, Pannonia and Dalmatia. If Shapur sends his well-trained cavalry against Veracilius, the MCM promises that the Sassanids can plunder the houses and vaults of the legates, imperial magistrates and large landowners in all of the above-mentioned provinces.

Before the Sassanids arrive, the revolutionaries must withstand the siege of Thessalonica and suffer the devastation and plundering of their fields and vineyards, which awaited harvest now (in September).

In the meantime, the fleeing Roman and Italian senators and equestrians press for Marcus Quintus and Postumus to settle their differences and join their numerous legions in a coordinated war effort against the insurgent plebs, aimed at reconquering Italia and perhaps later Africa...

In October, the civil war escalates with all-out offensives on both fronts. The joint armies of Sassanids and Roman revolutionaries confront Veracilius' legions in Larissa and defeat them soundly. Veracilius retreats, but he is pursued. At Scupi, he suffers another major defeat and is killed by his own soldiers. While the three remaining legions try to sort out the question of leadership, Silas' large army of former slaves confronts them in several places and slaughters them. Significant numbers of legionaries, especially those of lower rank, give themselves in and join the revolution's troops. With the defenders of the old order gone, Shapur's mounted troops comb much of Thracia, Moesia and Dalmatia and plunder the villae of the wealthy, except for those who openly submit to the new order and lend their means to support the revolutionary troops. MCM envoys accompany the Sassanids and make sure that the peasant population is left unharmed. Across the Balkans, Rome's former elite has packed what it can carry and flees Westward across the snowy mountains of November and December in a desperate hurry.

In the West, things don't go so well for the revolution, though. The legions of Postumus and Marcus Quintus move into Northern Italia by sea and by land on three different routes and join to confront the revolutionary troops near Mediolanum. The battle ends in a victory for the counter-revolution. Without attempting to besiege the smaller fortress towns of Northern Italia, Postumus and Marcus Quintus march on Rome, where they arrive, after several minor confrontations, in December.

263
While the Sassanids ride home with lots of gold, silver and jewellery, the militia of the revolution take control in Thracia, Moesia, Dacia and Dalmatia. In many towns and cities, this process is facilitated by a broad popular support. Throughout the countryside, the integration of the (often heterolingual) rural population is less thorough.

On the Western front, the revolution suffers its worst defeat. In January, the legions of Postumus and Marcus Quintus overcome Rome's defenses, slaughter those who put up resistance, confiscate food reserves for their troops, hunt down the leaders of the revolution and set heavily populated quarters of the rebellious underclass on fire.

The escaped leadership of Rome`s Plebeian Council needs some effort to convince the revolutionary troops in Egypt and Macedonia to fight for the liberation of Rome. They promise complete equality of rights and far-reaching autonomy for all provinces in the future republic. The MCM finally accepts. When the help from the East arrives, the legions, evidently warned of the danger, have already left the devastated capital behind. An unknown number of soldiers retreats to Lucca, while the navy secures another part of the army at Ravenna.

Those rebels who had held out in Rome realise that there is no time and no point in building provisional shelters in the midst of a relatively cold winter. Tens of thousands of uprooted, hungry, homeless, freezing and desperate young Romans join the gradually consolidating armies led by the MCM. They move quickly Northwards through the Latium, incorporating more and more supporters from among small and landless peasants and the urban proletariat into the new military structures, which have adapted to the challenge of quickly integrating relatively untrained masses of men. Structures of political cooperation between liberated towns are significantly improved, and those staying behind engage in fortifying their towns and preparing for another attack from the North.

In March, the huge army of the revolution sweeps away the much better equipped legions of Marcus Quintus in Lucca, securing Tuscany and moving further North. In Anneianum, they are faced with Postumus' legions coming from Ravenna. Both sides suffer heavy losses in the first long battle and several subsequent confrontations in the valleys of the Appenin.

On the Kalendes of June, Gaul's Emperor Postumus and civil as well as military representatives of the revolution finally sign a peace treaty. Postumus would be able to retreat with his legions across the Alps without being attacked. Rome's new republic would recognise his rule in all of Hispania, Gallia, Germania and Britannia, with the Alps and the Rhine as the border between the Second Roman Republic and the Imperium Galliarum. Postumus will not support the property claims of the senators and equestrians who fled into his territories, and both sides will refrain from attacking each other or meddling into their internal business. Further details of the Roman-Gallic relations would be negotiated after the Republic properly constituted itself.

264
Roman Empire: The new republic's constitutive process turns out to be much more difficult than anticipated. Dozens of religious groups try to shape the constitution in the spirit of their faith; civil and military decision-making structures contend for the ultimate control of the republic's armed forces; some politicians of the revolution favour a confederal structure with a maximum of self-government in de facto city states and their federations or koina, while others prefer a federal structure with a powerful imperial army and the safety of the Roman law applying to everyone. Peasants and urban trades- and craftsmen turn out to have different views on how their polity should be structured, and then there are still those at the old empire's fringes who don't see themselves as Romans and would prefer to be left alone. No political institution enjoys sufficient authority to take decisions based on a mere majority, so every single constitutional provision requires a consensus of all the relevant cities in the empire AND the soldiers, too.

In March, after nine months, everything the delegates can agree to carve into marble is a list of individual rights, including life, liberty, corporal integrity, free movement and residence, no detention without trial, free expression, religious freedom, free marriage, and for males also the right to free commerce, free choice of occupation, free choice of education, free vote, freedom to form a political party or collegium (syndicate/guild/union), and the principle that no tax may be introduced without the consent of a majority of the taxed (the consent may be transferred conditionally onto delegates who act under an imperative mandate).

There still isn't a political body with the authority to negotiate with Postumus - but the peace holds, perhaps also because the Celts come under pressure from Saxons.

During the rest of the year, the informal structures both in the civil and the military domain stabilise themselves and develop further, creating a de facto constitution, albeit one with major local differences. The most common structural changes are:
 * the civil power is concentrated on the level of the "civitates" - factually, the liberated part of the Roman Empire has become a collection of city states
 * the civitates organise their own military defenses, often co-ordinating themselves with neighbouring civitates
 * the large standing imperial army, partly remnants of old legions, partly new divisions drafted in the civil war, has in part settled down and become a part of the local defense, while another part, which has to live on the (after the war: decreasing) allotments from the civitates, becomes a driving force behind the constituting process of the republic, pushing for professional structures that could defend the republic against both Sassanids and Celts.
 * On all levels, soldiers act in accordance with what the democratic bodies, which pay them, decide, but internally, they govern themselves, electing the centions who directly command them and who in turn elect a collegium militum, which nominates higher-ranking commanders and elects members of the Maximum Collegium Militum, which appoints supreme commanders and negotiates with republic-wide conventa of civil prepresentatives. Old differences like those between legions, auxiliares, praetorians and limitanei are abandoned.

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Gaul: Two Celtic legions manage to eradicate Saxon footholds in eastern Britannia in spring. When Postumus returns victoriously to Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensum, he must discover that exiled senators and equestrians from Rome have conspired against him and formed a clandestine alternative Senate in Lugdunum, declaring Laellianus as the new emperor. Laellianus promises to lead the Celtic troops into another war against the revolution with the aim to reoncquer Rome, and with the riches of his sponsors, he manages to pay a sizable army. But first he must sort out Postumus, whose support is based on the frontier cities in Germania and Britannia and is not limited to the upper class there. Postumus` and Laellianus` legions engage in several battles in the Alps as Postumus tries to stop Laellianus` attack on Italia, which would violate the treaty he had signed with the leaders of the revolution.

Roman Empire: While in the first months of the year, the confederalists seemed to prevail, and autonomous political structures like the Panhellenion in Pergamon, the Conventum Africanum in Cyrene and the Concilium Foederationis Italiae in Rome consolidate themselves, the federalists finally triumph, with the help of the revolutionary military leadership, in the second half of the year, as the impending attack of Laellianus` troops both in Africa Tingitana, Corsica and Northern Italia forces different regions to stand together. An interim formula for funding and controlling the common troops while preserving local autonomy is developed, which will prove very viable, and civil and military leaders of the revolution negotiate with Postumus to engage Laellianus in a two-front war.

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Roman Empire:  the new constitution of the Imperial Roman Republic (Res Publica Imperii Romani).

The abolition of slavery has brought down wage levels among unskilled workers. Many provincial Conventa react with increases in the resources dedicated to the Cura Annonae, which put heavy strains on their budgets.

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.

266
To protect themselves against the continuously low wage levels of the unskilled, skilled professions like the medics and the architects unite and form their own "collegia", founding "academiae collegiatae". The latter not only formalise professional education and training, but are also meant to restrict access to the job market to those who have a certificate and can thus join the collegium.

267
Roman Empire: Fortifications of the Danube, the Dacian limes and the Rhine-Hilara-Danube limes are increased. Simultaneously, a multi-dimensional, complex and flexible civil protection system is experimented with in Dacia, Moesia, Pannonia and Noricum: even smaller towns are fortified and prepared to outlast sieges, while entire populations are trained in accordance with plans for fast evacuations. The entire concept reflects a republican paradigm shift towards protecting the population and wealth of the border provinces, too, whereas former imperial strategies had focused more exclusively on using the periphery to protect the imperial centre.

268
Roman Empire / Persia: The new republican army begins its offensive against the Sassanids in April. High motivation and a slightly improved (although not yet equivalent to that of the Sassanids) cavalry as well as support from the local population lead to quick successes.

By the end of summer, Rome has regained control over Asia Minor, Bithynia et Pontus, Phrygia, Lycia, Galatia, Cilicia, parts of Cappadocia and Syria.

After Sassanids lose the battle of Palmyra, a peace treaty is signed. South-eastern Mesopotamia becomes a Sassanid satrapy, while Armenia and Iberia are to become neutral kingdoms ruled by Arsakid kings of different dynastic lines. The Northern Caucasus should remain neutral, too; Roman and Sassanid spheres of influence ultimately stop respectively at the Pshavis Aragvi.

The treaty of Palmyra seals a long era of peace between Rome and Persia. The Roman and Sassanid Empires even exchange permanent ambassadors.

Roman Empire: The foundation of new academiae SPQR (in contrast to the collegiate ones) is planned for the next decade.

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

Roman Empire: To fund the reconstruction of cities and infrastructure in its Asian provinces, the Senate expropriates the aristocratic families who had participated in the coup and operates their businesses and estates as public enterprises for the next 21 years.

To broaden the support base of its reformist agenda, more precisely: to secure the support of urban professional elites, the majority in the Senate agrees to legalise the restriction of access to certain trades and professions according to the rules of their collegia.

Desperate for a replacement of Gladiator fights, Italy's population flocks to all sorts of sports events: fistfights, cart races, wrestling and a lot more, mostly imported from Greece. The province's Senate decides to sponsor regular provincial Games after the model of the empire-wide Olympic Games.

270
Roman Empire: To replace the cheap slave labour that is no longer available, more and more watermills are being built across the empire, also using the frequent inventions of cranks and connecting rods.

Gaul: Victoria gathers a significant group of ambitious magistrates and military leaders in the Celtic Empire, who had not been rewarded by Postumus, in a conspiracy aimed at making her son, Victorinus, the new caesar in Gaul. An attempt to assassinate Postumus fails, though.

271
Roman Empire: Another heavily fortified limes is begun to be built along the Euphrates border with the Sassanid Empire.

The Senate and Roman public opinion are divided over the "Armenian question" of how to secure the Empire's Eastern border: Should the limes be continued along the Roman-Armenian mountain border? Or should Armenia be protected against the Sassanids as a buffer state?

Gaul: Langobards invade Germania Superior. Insurgent Alemanni join them. (Some historians speculate about an alliance of the Langobards with Victoria and her conspirators.) Postumus meets the invaders, who march on Colonia Agrippina, with an insufficient army. The Celts are defeated in a battle near Bonn, in which Postumus is killed. Langobards and Alemanni plunder Colonia Agrippina. The Senate flees.

In Lugdunum, Victoria has managed to gather a counter-Senate, which declares Victorinus as the new caesar. The Colonian senators, who have found a refuge in Castra Vetera, choose Marius as counter-caesar.

272
Sassanid Empire / Albania: Shapur invades Albania.

Roman Empire: While the "pro-Caucasians" (mostly Optimates) are in favour of assisting the Albanians against the Sassanid invasion - they also favour a Roman military presence to protect Armenia - the "small but safe" faction (mostly Populares) gathers a majority in the Senate. An intervention in Albania is rejected, and for the next year, workings on the fortification of the Roman-Armenian border are announced.

Gaul: Marius' troops successfully march South-West, but cannot break though Lugdunum's defenses. Victorinus calls the Alemanni and Langobards for help and promises them land and autonomous rule in Germania Superior, if they support him against Marius. Together, Victorinus and his Germanic allies defeat Marius' troops and kill Marius.

273
Roman Empire: The reconstruction plans for the Dacian provinces include countless dams to use the Carpathian mountain rivers' hydropower. Old colonists, Dacians, more frequent inhabitants from Gothia and even peregrini workers from among the Costoboci, Carpi and Roxolani find employment in these projects. Sassanid Empire: The university of Gundishapur is founded.

Albania is entirely brought under Sassanid control.

Gaul: Victorinus burns down Castra Vetera; it is unknown how many senators have died. Lugdunum has become the breakaway empire's new power centre. With Celtic military equipment, the Alemanni begin building their tribal confederate kingdom in the Agri Decumates.

274
Roman Empire / Armenia: After the Euphrates limes is finished, its continuation along the Roman-Armenian border is begun. Castles and difficult constructions across mountains and valleys must be carried out.

Gaul: Members of Postumus' old senate appeal to Rome for help. The Roman Senate decides against meddling in its chaotic neighbours' affairs.

Alemannia: In an althing, the Alemanni elect Huno as their first High King.

275
Roman Empire: Other provinces have followed Italia's example and host regular provincial games after the great Olympic model, too.

Nomadic Blemmyes attack Koptos on the Nile as well as the Roman Red Sea port of Myos Hormos.

The Roman Academia Martiana calls for a military doctrine concerning Rome's extraterritorial troops, which protect allies like Lasika, or important trade routes like the Red Sea. The anti-war majority in the Senate decides to withdraw completely from the non-Roman Caucasus, to secure Egypt's Southern border with fortifications and maintain a small naval presence at Myos Hormos and in Aden.

Gaul: Victorinus dies of poison. His mother orchestrates a wild chase after the perpetrator.

Franks seize the opportunity of the chaos in Gaul to invade Batavia. Celtic troops under the leadership of Tetricus manage to push them back. Tetricus is declared the new caesar by his troops.

Tetricus ends the chaotic years after Postumus' death. He coerces both the Colonian and the Lugdunian Senators into allegiance, condemns a certain Faustinus for the murder of Victorinus, and beheads him, along with Victoria, whom he condemns for high treason for conspiring with the Alemanni.

Tetricus nevertheless signs a treaty with Huno, delineating the borders of the Alemannic Confederacy. The Celtic Empire retains some towns and bridgeheads of its Germania Superior province, to where its settlers are relocated. Tetricus promises the construction of fortified limites similar to the ones their Roman neighbours are building everywhere.

276
Roman Empire: Koptos and Myos Hormos are reconquered by Roman troops. Improvements on the Limes Aegypticus are begun.

Armenia / Sassanid Empire: Anticipating a Sassanid violation of the Treaty of Palmyra, which guaranteed Armenia's independence, as well as Roman indifference towards such an event, King Trdat III "voluntarily" negotiates Sassanid suzerainty of his kingdom. Shapur's local governor, Hormizd, would not interfere into internal Armenian matters and leave Trdat's state intact, as long as Armenia provided the required soldiers for the Sassanids as well as tributes for imperial projects like road building.

Having reached their limit of Westward expansion, the Sassanids would enjoy peace in the West for more than two centuries. They now turned their entire imperial power towards expansion in the East.

277
Gaul: Following the Roman model, the Celts begin massive fortifications of the Rhine.

279
Roman Empire: The Rhine-Hilara-Danube limes is completed. No Alemannic intrusions will occur from now on.

280
Persia / India: The Sassanid Empire defeats the Saka in Northern India. Shapur I expands his empire to the Yamuna, the new satrapies belonging to the Sakanshah.

Alemannia: Huno dies. An althing elects Vilmar as new High King.

281
Roman Empire: Fortifications of the Danube are completed. No Markomannic, Vandal or Sarmatian invasions anymore!

282
Alemannia: Vilmar manages to defeat the Markomanni and forces them to accept him as their overlord.

283
Lasika: Following the Roman withdrawal, their former vassal King Malaz II conquers the lands of the Svani and other post-Kolchian tribes and unites them in resistance against Gothic aggression.

284
Roman Empire: The profit squeeze on agricultural land owners exerted by the abolition of slavery and the increase of the land tax has produced a lot of resentmeng among land-owning families - but also a 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.

286
Roman Empire / Persia: The newly fortified Euphrates-Euxinus limes is finished.

288
Roman Empire: The Limes Aegypticus is completed. In spite of a long period of peace with Garama and various Berber tribes, Consulate and Senate opt for a fortification of the Limes Africanus after the successful models in the North, the East and Egypt.

290
Roman Empire: The first conservative majority in the Second Republic's Senate votes for the privatisation of the publicly run estates and businesses. Progressives denounce the Censors to sell public property below its value to members of influential families.

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

292
Persia: At the solemn age of 77, Shah Shapur I died. He leaves behind a huge, consolidated empire stretching from the Euphrates in the West to the Yamuna in the East and from the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf in the South to Turan in the North. Under Shapur, the crafts blossomed (also due to highly skilled Christian and Jewish immigrants who took refuge from Decius' persecutions in the Roman Empire), universities were founded, and various brands of Zoroastrism, Manichaeism, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism co-existed peacefully (in contrast to OTL persecutions under his sons). Each of these religions developed important new schools of thought at Sasanid universities due to the intense contact with the other cultures. Shapur has made lasting peace with Rome and established good friendly relations with Wei and later Jin China. In comparison to OTL, the Sassanid Empire's / Eranshahr's centre of gravity lies farther to the East. Also in contrast to OTL, the concept of shahanshah-hood does not absorb so much deification and idolisation due to the redefinition of its Roman role model and the constitutional changes in Eranshahr's Western neighbour empire. Instead, Shapur I served as a historical model of the good ruler, who maintains peace, prosperity and justice.

293
Persia: Conflicts between Shapur's sons for the succession are resolved in favour of Narseh with the help of aristocrats.

Gothic Empire / Lasika: Under the leadership of King Malaz II, Lasikan troops can defend Pitsunda and fight off the much more numerous Gothic invaders. The miraculous events will be narrated in heroic tales and songs of Caucasian literature for many centuries to come.

294
Aided by Rome, the Garamants subjugate the Blemmyes and adapt both their military and their civil uses of the dromedar.

After decades of peace on the Dacian - Gothic front, the conservative-led republican government in Rome forges a military alliance with several Dacian, Roxolanian and other tribes neighbouring its Dacian and Moesain provinces and defeats the (eastern) Gothic army, keeping the new enemy in the North-East at bay for another decade.

295
Persia / India: Narseh I cracks down on a revolt by Indian aristocrats in the East of his empire. Indian Kshatriya warriors are deported and employed across different troops where they further enhance cavalry tactics.

296
The North-East African port town of Essina, a former Roman emporium, is abandoned. The end of slavery in the Roman Empire had diminished the town's importance, which had been a major slave market. The withdrawal of the Roman classis led to a lack of security for Roman merchants, while Rahaweyn clans progressively abandoned the hinterland, which was beginning to dry out due to climatic change, and moved farther South.

Gaul: Tetricus is the first Celtic caesar to die of a natural cause (measles). The Celtic Senate, which Tetricus had moved to Lutetia (a neutral third town, after Colonia Agrippina and Lugdunum had fought against each other), elects Constantius as new caesar.

297
Alemannia: After Vilmar's death, Marcomanni chiefs side with Burgunds, Rugii and Langobards 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 is stopped at the Limes Dacicus.

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

Abrittus