Guns, Paper, Printing, and Steel : The Guns of Byzantium

[General_Finley]

I've been thinking about this TL for a while and now that I have compiled more information of the Byzantine Empire I think I'm prepared to do it. I've always been fascinated with the great 4 inventions of China and have been thinking for a while what the impact on Europe might have been had they been discovered by the Europeans independently, or at least many centuries earlier than OTL. I'm hoping that this TL is a realistic take on such a world. The updates styles will be mixed up and vary considerably, some (like this first post) may center around a Roman point of view while others might center around the point of view of the Arabs, French, Germans, etcetera. The first of the inventions independently created in Europe is actually the last of the great four that were invented in China, gunpowder, which ITTL will be known as firepowder. The TL won't be updated regularly (just like most of my TL) and may go a month or more without a post. I sincerely hope that you enjoy the TL and am thankful in advance for any critiquing of the work that you put forward.

Guns, Paper, Printing, and Steel
By: E.T.R. Finley

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856 AD


Bardas Besieging Chandax

Bardas gazed from his vantage point upon the besieged city of Chandax. The reconquest of Crete would mark his greatest military achievement, and it looked that this would be achieved sooner rather than later. The screeching of hundreds of Roman Fire Arrows roared through the night, each illuminating the night with raining sparks and flashes of explosions. Every once and a while a thunderous explosion roared out with deafening strength. These massive explosions ate away at the wall of the defenders and placed the fear of god into the hearts of the infidel. These thunderous explosions came from large hollow balls of iron filled with firepowder. The oversized grenades were hurled from the naval based Onagers which acted in concert with the land based besiegers.



Roman Fire Arrows, fired at the Islamic city of Chandax

Traditional siege tools were still quite apparent on the battlefield, but Bardas’ pet projects took center stage. The success of the siege would prove to all that the future of siege warfare lay in firepowder. No longer would firepowder be relegated to a minor role on the battlefield. As the sound of manmade thunder roared through the night, Bardas envisioned more powerful and larger weapons that would be able to cleave through the walls of a city with minimal effort.

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The explosions that had died down as night went on had once again picked up with dawns first light. The deafening howls of the Roman Fire arrows tore into Emir Shuayb I ibn Umar’s very being. The unnatural weapons had done something to the men that defended the city that could not have been done by the weapons that the Romans normally wielded. The weapons had aided the Roman fleet in dispatching the fleet with unnatural speed and now tore into the walls that defended the city. Reports had come back to the Emir that the Roman troops wielded weapons that belched fire and iron pellets in a spray of death. The Emir had seen incendiary grenades before and even a few that made loud cracking noises, but never had he seen such unnatural and unnerving weapons as those that the Romans now used to besiege his city. It was as if the Romans had made a pact with a demon to master thunder itself and now used it as a weapon.


Roman Fire Vasi

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The air was ripe with the smell of blood and smoke as Abdul-Badi brought his great blade down upon one of the Roman soldiers who were pushing through the breech. The great blade struck the Roman where his neck met his shoulders and cleaved into him. In a flash the Arab defender pulled his blade from the fallen Roman and swung again, this time striking one of the Romans in his calf. Abdul was not alone, many of the other defenders of the city had been directed to the breech to try and prevent the Romans from streaming into the city, Emir Shuayb I ibn Umar was amongst the men fighting in the melee. As Abdul’s blade clashed against the blade of a Roman the Arab pirate saw a pomegranate shaped object fly through the air landing somewhere behind him. A sound of thunder roared out and Abdul fell to the ground. A Roman grenade had sent splinters of iron spraying outwards and a shard had struck Abdul’s lower spin. Abdul should have been in great pain from the fragments imbedded in his legs, but he felt nothing, not pain nor discomfort. Abdul was able to hear the cry from behind him that the Emir was dead. Though he could not feel the pain in his lower half he felt the pain of knowing that the Emir had fallen, and that the city would fall. Blood loss and shock took Abdul just moments before the Romans renewed their push through the breach. The Romans that made their way through the gaping wound in the city walls were not the first to enter, the Emir had sent to many troops to defend the breech and this had allowed Roman troops to ascend the walls and breech the city.

The city had fallen to the Romans and with it the other cities and forts of Crete that remained under Arab control would capitulate to Bardas. The Romans were not kind to the Arabs and Islamic Greeks of Chandax and indeed they laid waste to the city. Perhaps it is a great irony of life Bardas, Conqueror of Crete, would in short order be killed by the Emperor Michael III and the future Emperor Basil I, for it was fear that Bardas’ success and his popularity that led the Emperor and Basil to fear the great general and ultimately conspire to bring about his downfall.

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The Roman Empire is the oldest state in European history, founded in 27 BC it survives to the present day as one of the mightiest Great powers. The long history of Roman Empire is the history of an empire that has expanded and receded with time. By the end of the 5th century the Roman light had gone out in Western Europe and only the Eastern half remained. Under the Emperor Justinian I the Empire would regain North Africa and Italy, and even part of Southern Spain. The rise of the Islamic Caliphate would shrink the Empire to its smallest extent since the Roman Republic. Until the 9th century the Empire would largely be on the defensive against the Arab Caliphate in the East and the Slavs and Bulgars in the West. The ninth century would see the empire once again expand and reclaim lands lost. Perhaps one of the most effective tools put to use in the Roman arsenal during the Roman reconquest was firepowder. The explosive substance that would later be independently discovered in China holds its roots in the Roman Empire during the rule of the Emperor Theophilus . Like the formula for Roman Fire, which would sadly be lost to history, the formula for firepowder would be a closely guarded secret. After seeing a demonstration of the firepowder in the form of firefountain and minor explosives the Emperor Theophilus poored a great deal of money into the further development of the formula. One of the earliest uses of firepowder as a weapon was in the form of grenades.

These explosive grenades were quite different from their incendiary counterpart, and were more stable and more easily employed. These primitive explosive grenades, while certainly lethal made little difference in the great struggle between the Roman Empire and the Arab Caliphates. The Arabs attempted to replicate Roman Grenades, but their incendiary petroleum-based grenades were as close as they would come to replicating the effects of the firepowder grenade. Firepowder would not truly come into its own until the early 9th century. This is thanks in no small part to Bardas and Emperor Michael III. The last member of the Phrygian Dynasty to rule over the Roman Empire, Michael would rise to the throne at the age of three, and a regency would govern over the Empire until a coup put an end to the rule of his mother and Theoktistos. After an incident in 844, where a storage room filled with firepowder exploded, killing at least a hundred, Bardas became evermore attracted to the destructive potential of firepowder. The study of perfecting the formula and creating a better delivery system became heavily subsidized by Bardas and the empire. Where Greek fire had failed to become a wonder weapon that would make the Roman Navy invincible, Bardas hoped that firepowder would succeed.

In 846 the Roman Fire Arrow was borne. The Roman Fire Arrow was the first rocket in mechanism and design and this primitive design consisted of a pouch of firepowder with a stick attached; the arrows being launched from a stand. This primitive rocket was primarily used against the Bulgarian barbarians but would see action against the Arabs in the East and in Sicily. The Roman Fire Arrow, was first used as a single projectile, but soon it was determined that in order to be effective the weapon needed to be deployed in salvoes from launch platforms such as arrays of cylinders or boxes which could hold as many as 1,000 fire arrows each. The Roman Fire Arrow was not the only early firepowder weapon. With the increase in the explosive capabilities of the formula for firepowder oversized iron grenades launched from Onagers became a logical step forward as a siege weapon. Another early firepowder weapon that would give rise to the great siege cannons as well as hand held firearms was the Fire Vasi. The Fire Vasi was a bronze or wood tube that once the fire powder was ignited would fire out iron pellets. The weapon was not that effective in practicality, but its role as a psychological weapon and a stepping stone marked it quite important in the grand scheme of things.

In 859, the nineteen year old emperor and his uncle Bardas decided to campaign against the Paulicians and the Emir of Melitene, Umar. When they arrived in enemy territory, they came before the city of Samosata. The Saracen forces that defended the powerful city feigned cowardice and shut themselves behind the walls of the great city to catch the Roman off guard, but they had not counted on Burdas’ siege weapons. Trapped within the walls of the city, the Saracens faced an onslaught of Roman Fire Arrows and Onager tossed explosives. The Roman force’s overconfidence would almost lead to its own downfall when three days into the siege the Saracens threw open the gates and charged out, fully armed, attacking the Romans. The attack by the fought off barely, and was likely only turned back because of the confusion and psychological fear factor of the Roman fire arrows used against the Saracen warriors. The failed attack depleted the forces defending the city and resulted in the Emperor Michael III taking the whole matter much more seriously. A relief army of Saracens and Paulicians numbering nearly 10,000 strong and led by Umar’s son forced Michael and Bardas to withdraw back to the confines of the Empire. Though firepowder did not give the Romans victory it had proved that is was a useful tool in battle and would gain more support from the Emperor. Bardas’ firepowder siege weapons would prove invaluable in his last great achievement, the reconquest of Crete, the adoption of the Roman Fire Arrow as a naval weapon and a defensive weapon would also aid in staving off the attacks by the Varangians in June of 860.

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Basil the Great

With Bardas dead, the time was swiftly approaching for Basil to achieve the height of his imperial power. Lacking any Children of his own and all but completely incapable of running the affairs of Empire, Michael adopted Basil as his son and honored him with the dignity of magister and not long after this made him Co-emperor. This was likely a way of granting legitimacy to Basil’s son Leo, who was suspected of being the child of Michael. Once Basil was in power he tried to reign in the Emperor and keep him away from the more detestable vices that were enjoyed by the Emperor. Michael grew intolerant of Basil’s reprimands and turned against his former friend and turned to an oarsman of an imperial barge by the name of Basilikinos. After narrowly avoiding assassination, Basil moved against the Emperor one night after he had drank a copious amount of unwatered wine. Once Michael was out of the way, Basil secured sole rule of the empire for himself by appointing to the leading positions men who could not be corrupted and who had the reputation of keeping their hands clean from all bribe-taking. Basil set about internal reforms to institute greater equality amongst his subjects.


The coronation of Basil I as co-emperor

Basil styled himself a second Justinian I and a great legislator, and was an important factor in the drawing up of the Epanagoge and the Procheiron. These handbooks were a drastic recasting of Roman law, which was to embrace the corpus of Justinian I supplemented by the enactments of later emperors. Along with his hopes of emulating Justinian I as a great legislator, he pursued an active policy of reconquest. In the fall of 869, the Roman fleet arrived in support of the Frankish troops of Frankish Emperor Louis II. The Frankish ruler and his subjects were astonished and amazed by Roman Fire Arrows and grenades, as this was their first introduction to the new firepowder based weapons. The Frankish reaction and envy of the weapons would lead to the coffers of the Roman Empire gaining an influx of Frankish gold and silver. Though it was forbidden to reveal the secret of firepowder production, it was not forbidden to sell fire powder to anyone who wasn’t and Saracen, and while the Franks may have been a lot of things they were most certainly not Saracens. Along with negotiating the sale of firepowder to the Franks it was negotiated that Louis’s daughter would be bride to Basil’s son, the future Emperor Constantine VII. The conquest of Bari was an important step in Roman expansion into the west. With a more stable hold on Southern Italy and with Roman Crete as a staging ground, the Romans were preparing to retake Sicily, but first he needed to deal with the constant raids in Anatolia by the Paulicians and their Saracen allies. In 872, Basil and his brother-in-law Christopher destroyed the Paulician base of operations, Tephrike and wiped out their leadership. With the destruction of the Paulician threat Basil concentrated against the Sarecens in the East and the Reconquest of Italy.


The Iron Crown

In 873 Basil established suzerainty over Adelchis of Benevento and launched his invasion of Sicily. Curiously in August of the second year of the reconquest of Sicily the Frankish Emperor died. The Frankish Emperor had no direct heir, and in the curious Frankish policy of dividing up ones titles and territories, left the title of “Roman Emperor” to his cousin Charles II of West Frankia, but the Iron Crown of northern Italy to his 10 year old son-in-law Constantine. Basil was enthusiastic about the acquisition of the title for his son and immediately pulled troops from the Dalmatian Themata and from Southern Italy to secure the Iron crown for his son. Though the Emperor love his son dearly he knew that the Northern Italians and the other Carolingians would not tolerate a distant boy king, and so the boy, who had hardily left Constantinople in his life, was whisked off, first to southern Italy and then to the North. Of course in the time it had taken for the Constantine to reach southern Italy the Frankish Emperor Charles II and the Bavarian King Carloman had both launched invasions of the Kingdom of Italy and several Lombard lords had risen in open rebellion at the idea of being ruled by the child-king. It was instrumental for Basil and Constantine to gain the support of the Pope of Rome, to aid in the legitimacy of Constantine’s claim. Though tensions between the papacy and Constantinople existed, the constant wars of the Carolingians, the Pope ill relations with his German enemies, and the occasional rise of upstart nobles were led Pope John VIII to make a side strongly with Basil and the legitimacy of Constantine’s rule. Of course this was hardly enough to change the minds of the Charles or Carloman and the war continued for another two years before both Carolingian claimants died. When Charles III was elevated to Emperor of the Franks he ruled a vast state that he never anticipated ruling. Already facing Viking and Magyar invasions (or at least raids), Charles had no interests in waging an expansive war with Basil over the Kingdom of Italy and recognized Constantine as King of Italy. Even after the Carolingian recognition of Constantine, several powerful Italian families maintained a state of rebellion. Lambert of Spoleto controlled much of the Kingdom and declared himself king of Italy and moved to capture the city of Rome. 15 year old Constantine and Nikephoros Phokas met against Lambert’s army not far from Rome.


Roman Vasitoi assault troops
On the fields near Rome Constantine’s advanced against the Italian forces, two chiliarchiai assaulted the Italian front lines in a wedge formation; Roman Vasitoi firing their short ranged weapons against the Italian forces, sowing fear as the Kontaratoi pressed the attack and began to break the Italian line. The mass of troops began a kind of strange dance as the Italian troops attempted to flank the center mass only to be pushed back and flanked by two more chilarchiai which had held back to protect the center mass and envelop the Italian forces. The Italian lines were broken as the center two chiliarchiai punched through the disorganized mass of troops. The Italians broke rank and many began to flee, only to be picked off by Ippotoxotai. The battle became a rout and the rout became a slaughter, the Italian “King” Lambert was captured and beheaded by Constantine; the rebel’s head was placed on a spike at the gates of Rome and with Lambert’s death Constantine wore the Iron Crown as the uncontested ruler of the Kingdom of Italy.

Constantine had been Co-Emperor with his father since he was but a little babe, but after his victory over Lambert and his saving of the Papacy, Pope John VIII bestowed upon him the title Imperator Romanorum Occidentalis. With Italy firmly under his rule Constantine began the process of bringing Roman civilization back to Italy. One of his first steps was to enact the themata system upon his lands, as a means of centralizing Italy under his control. Constantine had the Epanagoge and the Procheiron translated to Latin and began reforming the law of his Kingdom to be the mirror image of the legislative reforms that his father had been enacting in the Empire. The wide sweeping reforms did not make him popular with the Italian nobility, but garnered support from the Italian peasantry. By early 886 Constantine’s Italian army and Nikephoros Phokas Roman Troops had unified the entire Italian peninsula under Roman rule (the exception being the nominally independent Papacy, but even after series of short lived Popes, the Romans and the Papacy still enjoyed good relations). Though the Saracens still maintained control in part of Sicily, Basil’s recovery of the West had been a resounding success.

In the east the Emperor had finally crushed Samosta, along with several other strongholds in the Euphrates Valley. Along with these successes was the capture of Melitene after a lengthy siege that succeeded in part because of bombardment from firepowder weapons. The momentum of the Roman advance eastwards was only increased after the capture of Tarsus. Basil hoped to recapture all of Cilicia, but passed away during the Siege of Germanikeia in 888. The elderly Emperor had risen from nothing to become the greatest Roman Emperor since Justinian I; his rule saw the conversion of the Serbs and the Bulgars to Orthodox Christianity, the reconquest of Italy and the dawn of Roman resurgence in the East. A brief power struggle would emerge after his death when his second son Leo (who was likely the son of Michael) attempted to become the sole Emperor while his brother returned from Rome. His rebellion was ill received and he was killed leaving Constantine VIII the sole Roman Emperor. With Constantine’s rise to the status of sole Emperor, he dissolved the kingdom of Italy and the Western Roman Empire and declared there to be a single united Roman Empire.

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The Empire

889:The Imperial Royal Family arrives in Constantinople after their long journey from Rome and after the brief clash between Leo and his older brother, Constantine solidifies his rule over the empire. Constantine has not seen the great city of Constantinople since he was ten and his wife and children have never seen the city. Amid the splendor of the capital, the Royal Family finds that not all the Roman aristocracy are quite so happy about their new monarch and his family. There are whispered taunts of Constantine the Italian and vicious tales about the Empress, some even going as far as to call her the Frankish whore. The Empress Ermengard speaks very little Greek though and so chooses to shut herself away from the court most of the time, spending most of the time with her two young daughters Zoe and Engelberga and her Lady-in-Waiting brought over from Italy. The Empress loves the beauty of the City, but longs to be amongst people who speak her tongue and do not slander her so openly. In the arena of combat against the Arabs the year harbored both good news and bad. In September, the Emperor’s longtime friend and ally Nikephoros Phokas completed the Roman reconquest of Sicily. The failure to capture Germanikeia from the Tulunid Sultanate proved a setback to the reconquest of Cilicia. The massive economic and military exertion put forward by the Tulunid Sultan Khumarawaih in the failed counter offensive against the Roman Empire have proven to be economically disastrous for Egypt, which was becoming ever more reliant on its Turkish and sub-Saharan slave soldiers.

890: Nikephoros Phokas having been called from the west in November of the previous year is tasked with leading the invasion of Cilicia. In the west continued piratical actions by the Arabs of Ifriqiya have led to a naval heavy campaign tasked with crushing the Arab raiders. With naval superiority it is hoped that the Arab attacks against Italy and Sicily will be brought to a halt, but by the end of the year it is increasingly clear that in order to put an end to the Arab pirates they must evict them from their bases of operation in Ifriqiya. General Andronikos Doukas was tasked with capturing Kairouan, Carthage, and if possible the coastal regions of the Aghlabid Emirate. In mid-October Doukas’s forces landed near the city of Justinianopolis, which was at that time known as Sūsa. A makeshift army led Emir Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya meant to prevent the Roman army from besieging the city by land. The Emir planned to ambush and encircle the Romans, using a force of Berbers to block their advance and engage them, while 2,000 men under his sonAbdullah Abu l-Abbas would attack their left flank, and the Emir himself with the main army would attack from the rear, and completely annihilate the Roman army. Unfortunately for the Emir his plans fell apart when the Kutama Berber army that was meant to block their advance deserted, taking the opportunity to rebel. Without the aid of the Berber contingent the Emir’s attack turned into an utter disaster, with Abdullah Abu l-Abbas’s forces being intercepted by Roman Kataphraktoi and annihilated.



Roman Kataphraktoi charging Abdullah Abu l-Abbas’s forces

Emir Ibrahim II had no choice but to retreat and a try and gather a more powerful force to try and repulse the Romans when they moved against Kairouan. Doukas besieged Sūsa in coordination with the Roman Navy, which had already started besieging the city, Doukas’s land forces captured the city after a four day siege. With Sūsa under Roman control Doukas had a choice to make, march north on the relatively poorly defended Carthage and then wait for reinforcements from Sicily or move east to capture the capital and the Emir while the city was still disorganized. Doukas decided not to wait and marched eastwards with his troops to take the capital of the Emirate. With the Roman army marching on the capital, the Kutama Berbers in a state of rebellion a coup was launched, deposing the Emir. The situation was anarchy as various factions attempted to gain control and marshal the troops against the approaching Roman army. The Rustamid Imām, Muhammad Abul-Yaqzan ibn Aflah, looked at the situation with great delight and launched an invasion of Ifriqiya; his hopes were to drive the Romans into the sea and capture Ifriqiya in one great swoop.

891: After capturing Kairouan, Doukas moved to secure the Roman holdings in North Africa first before expanding along the coast and defeating the Rustamid forces. By the time that the Rustamid forces were prepared to attack Kairouan and try and wrench it from the Romans, Doukas had shored up the cities defenses and had been supplied with fresh troops and Roman fire arrows, grenades, and Fire Vasi. The Rustamids had been in military decline since the rule of Imām Abdu l-Wahhāb, and it showed. The Romans and the Berber rebels repulsed the Rustamid forces across Ifriqiya. With it clear that the Rustamids would not be defeating the Romans as long as they had to deal with the Berbers the Rustamids stopped their attempts to advance and attempted merely maintain what they had managed to carve way. Doukas began his yearlong campaign to conquer Ifriqiya. The heavily divided nature of the region now that the central government had broken down made it easier to pick off each major city one by one, but it also made the task of conquest longer and more arduous, as the conquest of one city had little to no bearing on its neighbors.

As General Andronikos Doukas reconquered Byzacena, Numida, and Tripolitania, replicating the feats of Belisarius which would gain him eternal glory in Roman history, Nikephoros Phokas and the Emperor Constantine campaigned against the Tulunids in Cilicia. The Emperor and his long time friend capture Adana in May. Cilicia has largely been returned to Roman hands and the Emperor and Nikephoros Phokas end the campaign and begin preparing for the invasion of Cyprus. Constantine plans to expunge the Arabs as a naval threat completely so as to launch a naval and land based siege of Antioch without needing to worry about any kind of substantial Arab threat.

While the Empire continues to expand on all fronts, dark forces are brewing in Italy that threatens to bring the Roman Summer to an end, for winter is coming.


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Guy of Spoleto


The various Italian lords and their representatives looked around the colossal room at each other. They had gathered here not out of any love for one another, rather they were gathered together in common hatred of the Greek invader that held all of Italy. To attest to the seriousness of the conference of lords the goblets that were in front of each of the Dukes and representatives were filled with water and not wine.

At last the man who had organized this little function stood spoke to address his contemporaries, it was Guy of Spoleto.

“My dear friends, I have invited you here to -”

“Cut the horse shit Guy. We know why we are here.” Interrupted the northern Frank, Berengar of Friuli.

“I merely wish to make it understood to all that this meeting is the first step in the formation of a league to expel the Greek stink from our glorious Italy. This Greek Emperor rules over Italy in far off Constantinople and seeks to destroy our power bases, he disrupts are ways of life and uses our taxes to fight against the Saracen in far off Anatolia.”

“How do you propose that we do this?” asked the Duke of Naples.

“The Greeks are tied up the east and I have quite reliable sources that the Khan of Bulgaria grows restless under the Greek’s religious domination of his country. Should the Bulgar Khan and the Saracens make war with the Greek Empire we would have the chance to rise against the Greeks, as a united Italian confederacy.”

“But the Papacy has invested Constantine the title of Emperor of the Romans. You would go against the Pope of Rome? Proclaim yourself Emperor of the Romans?”

“The Papacy is a tool, one that is used and abused by the Greeks. I do not want the ostentatious title Emperor of the Romans; I am not a Frank of Greek trying to validate my rule by assuming the title of a long dead state. With the aid of all of you I hope to create a new Italian Empire-”

Once again Berengar of Friuli cut in “And am I correct in assuming that you would be this Emperor?”

“My dear Berengar, I would indeed take the title of Emperor of the Italians, but I would not hold the title Emperor as the Greek do. No, I would be merely be Primus inter pares. Join me my friends, so that we may rule ourselves once again.”

Most of the dukes agreed with Guy that something needed to be done about the Greeks, even Berenger, but the Frankish Duke saw Guy’s planned rebellion as a way not to create a new Italian Empire. No, Berengar sought to gain his birthright, the Iron Crown, and if assisting the central Italian in his flight of fancy aided in the reconstitution of the Kingdom of Italy then so be it.

In the coming years all of Italy would be ravaged for a Clash of Kings was coming.


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[Raymann]

Very intersting, I like how you make sure the effects of gunpowder weapons are mostly psychological at this point. As for the future, I can see the Romans going after the Levant (the Silk Road's Mediterranean ports) then pushing east along the Silk Road itself. If they can grab Alexandria later then they would dominate Eastern trade with Europe.

BTW: how easy is it going to be to occupy North Africa at this point? I know Christianity fell fairly quickly, especially in Tunisia (except in Egypt which should still be largely Christian) but at least half to most should still be Christian.

[General_Finley]

Originally Posted by Raymann

Very intersting, I like how you make sure the effects of gunpowder weapons are mostly psychological at this point. As for the future, I can see the Romans going after the Levant (the Silk Road's Mediterranean ports) then pushing east along the Silk Road itself. If they can grab Alexandria later then they would dominate Eastern trade with Europe.

BTW: how easy is it going to be to occupy North Africa at this point? I know Christianity fell fairly quickly, especially in Tunisia (except in Egypt which should still be largely Christian) but at least half to most should still be Christian.

I saw a number of discussions on AH.com about what might have been the impact if the Romans had discovered gunpowder and people automatically talking about Roman legion fighting with muskets against Germanic tribes and I really wanted to avoid this. Having read several papers on the advances of early gunpowder weapons I knew that they were mostly psychological weapons used to frighten horses and frighten men into braking their lines, so I wanted to make sure that I didn't skip over this step and go strait into muskets and cannon.

Occupying Tunisia will be a task by virtue of it being far away, adding to that the substantial Muslim and the Romans won't have an easy job. That's not saying that they will lose it or that it will be incredibly difficult to maintain as at this time the local military powers were kind of a joke (still haven't decided if I'm going to have the Fatamids still rise to power in another part of North Africa, but if I don't then their won't really be any militarily competent power to threaten the Romans). The Christian and Jewish populations are still quite large in the North Africa at this time as the Islamic elite were very tolerant of the the other people of the book, plus some events that are still to come will lead to a larger Christian population (though perhaps not a more Roman friendly one).

[Chris]

Cool! I look forward to seeing more.

Chris

[General_Finley]

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892: Constantine’s father had invaded and restored Cyprus to the Roman Empire, but had been unable to hold onto the island. Constantine means not only to take the island but to hold it. Once against Constantine’s most reliable military commander and personal friend,Nikephoros Phokas, is placed in charge of the fleet. With the Roman navy already dominating the Eastern Mediterranean the task of landing troops on the island was made vastly easier.

In Constantinople, the Empress gives birth the Emperor Constantine’s first son, Bardas. Though is Constantine’s first son, he is his third child and his birth brings a great feeling of relief on Constantine, knowing that he now has an heir to the throne other than his sickly younger brother. Constantine celebrates the birth of his son with the first recorded use of fire arrows in a celebratory fashion. The night skies of Constantinople glitter as explosions of firepowder echo through the night. The Empress hold her new born babe tightly against her body as she tries to coo the child into sleep; her eyes still turned upwards at the spectacle of lights that her husband has used to announce the birth of his son. The Empress had not wanted to name the child Alexander; she had hoped her first born would hold the name of her father Louis, but again the perception of the aristocrats of the Empire had to be taken into account, and the babe was given the name Barda after his grandfather.

Though the Emperor rejoices over his son’s birth and the early victories in Cyprus, he grows weary of the Buglars and the pagan Vladimir. The threat fears that the Bulgarians will against try and assert themselves, which could have disastrous consequences if they manage to gain the upper hand. With this in mind, Constantine orders Nikephoros Phokas’ return from Cyprus and sends General Leo Katakalon to continue the conquest of the island. The Fortresses of Macedonia are shored up and in August the Emperor sends a message to Vladimir of Bulgaria that the persecution of Christians. The rise in tensions between the two Border States leads to Constantine pursuing the Magyars as allies against the Bulgars. There will be no war between the Bulgarians and the Romans this year, but it is clear that something will have to give, because the Balkans are not large enough to accommodate two powerful states. The Arabs continue to raid the Eastern portion of the Empire, most of the attacks being based out of Hamadanid governed Mosul and Diyarbakir. These stinging attacks prevent Constantine to concentrate entirely on the Bulgar problem.

In Italy the Duke of Naples faces a dilemma expose the plot of the Italians dukes, or rise against the Romans. Athanasius has had good relations with the Roman Empire throughout his life, but the fact that the Romans are imposing themselves upon Italy disturbs Athanasius, but he not sure that this is enough of a reason to rise against the Romans. If he does not rise with the other Italians and the prove successful in excising the Romans the other Italian Dukes may chose to take his domain, but if it fails and he does side with the Italians than the Romans will do the exact same. Athanasius makes the decision to do nothing, at least for the time being, when the Italians rise against the Romans He will aid neither side, until he feels that the situation will turn one way of the other. He decides the Romans need not here of the plot at least for the time being. At the beginning of the year the Italians begin amassing firepowder, by skimming small amount every month.

893: The campaign in Cyprus goes well, but Arab raids on the Eastern regions of the Empire are causing growing discontent from more short sighted aristocrats who want the Arabs dealt with before the Emperor engages the Bulgarians in war. They underestimate the power of the Bulgarians and the threat that they pose. They believe that firepowder will be all that is needed to scatter the Bulgarians to the wind. The Emperor responds to this by attempting to court Smbat I of Armenia into a military alliance, but Smbat is locked in a bitter struggle with Muhammad al-Afshin Emir of Azerbaijan. Smbat uses Constantine’s offer to try and get the Empire to sell Armenia firepowder and Roman fire arrows, claiming that with these tools he would be able to aid the Emperor. The Emperor declines, he isn’t stupid and knows that the Armenians are still too closely tied to the Caliphate to be trusted with firepowder. The Emperor is forced to allocate troops to combating the raids in the East. The Emperor raises his son Bardas to the status of Co-Emperor.

In Bulgaria, the Bulgars continue to separate themselves from Constantinople more and more, even after Vladimir is deposed and his brother Symeon is raised to the throne. The expulsion of Roman clergy from Bulgaria and the official replacement of Greek with Old Bulgar do not mark good tidings for the Roman Empire. When they are followed not long afterwards with Symeon, who spent more of his life in Constantinople than Constantine did, demanding to be granted the title Basileus of the Bulgars and the opening of Bulgaria to the firepowder trade. Constantine cannot grant the Bulgarian either of these things. When Symeon get the news he is not entirely displeased; he desires to exert Bulgarian power and smash the Romans and perhaps even conquer them and take the title Emperor of the Bulgars and the Romans. A state of war now exists between the Roman and Bulgarian Empires.

This is the war the Constantine has been preparing for and he hopes to smash the Bulgars quickly and decisively. Once again Nikephoros Phokas and Emperor Constantine move together against an enemy, though they do not know that this will be the last time. Nikephoros Phokas leads his army to relieve the city of Philippopolis, which has been under siege for several days by Symeon. Roman Fire Arrows aid greatly in fending off the Bulgar attacks, but these are hardly enough to hold back the might of the Bulgar army. As Nikephoros Phokas march northwards to relieve the city a Bulgar force led by Theodore Sigritsa ambushes the Roman General and he is struck down in the attack. With the Roman army disorganized Symeon’s forces end their siege of the city and move to annihilate the Roman troops, amongst the dead is rising star Romanos Lekapenos. With the death of Nikephoros Phokas the Emperor became demoralized, but was determined to avenge the man who had been like a father to him for so long, but as the Roman navy prepares to aid the Magyars he gains word that Italy has risen in revolt.

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Themata of Lagoubardia

Strategos Andronikos Doukas walked down the halls of his administrative palace. The Roman General had had a good life since conquering North Africa, as award for his victory he had been made Strategos of the Lagoubaria Themata and the general certainly enjoyed Southern Italy. Word that the Bulgarians and the Empire were locked in another war disturbed the general. Even through his concerns for the Empire, his mid drifted to the thought of glory and the possibility of taking advantage of the situation and reviving the Western Empire with him as its ruler. As these delusions of grandeur grew in his mind he saw several men, not far off, blocking his path.

“What is the meaning of this?” The general barked out at the Italian men who obstructed his path.

The men drew swords and the general reached for his own, expect his Latin Guard, which had been generously donated to him by the Duke of Salerno, to do the same. Yet they didn’t and he raised his blade against the men that stood before him.

He looked to the Latin Guard barked an order “Draw you sword, you must defend me!”

The soldiers that he thought were meant to protect him drew their swords, but instead of pointing their blades at the men who had raised their blades to the general they encircled him.

From the shadows a voice spoke out in Greek, but with a thick southern Italian accent, “My men do only what I tell them Greek.” Emerging from the shadows was Guaimario of Salerno. A deadly smirk grew across Guaimario’s face as he saw the look of horror and shock that emerged on Doukas’ face.

“But why?”

“Why? Your Emperor decreases our power and seeks to eventually do away with our hereditary claims to our land, and you ask me why? I am a pragmatist and it is clear to me that you and your Emperor are in my way of gaining power. If that is all, by the authority invested in me by God and the Emperor of the Italians Guy I, I place you under arrest for crimes against the Italian people.”

Doukas attempted to make a run for it, but before he moved two steps a sword plunged into his side. The world seemed to move slowly for a few moments as his legs gave way and his knees crashed to the ground. Doukas registered the pain of his knees smacking against the hard tile, but the pain from his side overwhelmed all other feelings. Then another sharp pain as a second blade passed in between his ribs and punctured his right lung. It soon became frenzied as the rest of the Italians plunged their blades into his body. It was not long before Doukas’ body crashed to the floor, blood spilling from his gaping wounds and seeping from his mouth. The Italian Duke looked over at Doukas’ corpse and with a grim sort of smile spoke again.

“I wish you had let us take you some place to do this. It is most unfortunate that we will have to clean up this mess before I move into you humble abode, selfish Greek.”

Across Italy, the Italian nobility was rising against the Roman Empire, the War of Crowns had Begun.

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February 7th 894, Castle Friuli


In the several months since the rebellion Berengar had consolidated his power in northern Italy and the Romans had been excised from most of the region, with the notable exception being their maintenance of control over the Romaña and Pentapolis. The doors into the great hall that Berengar resided in opened and two men walked in carrying a third. The man was bloodied and beaten, his right hand had been smashed and his naked back showed deep gashes from a series of vicious floggings. The man’s chest did not appear to be in any better shape; burn marks peppered his upper torso and a long scabbed over wound ran from the top of his sternum to just above his belly button. This wound had been inflicted by the slow dragging of a hot coal down the man’s body. The man could hardly walk most of his toes having been clipped off by his sadistic captors and the soles of his feet had been scorched with fire.

The two men dropped the bloodied and broken captive to the floor, kicking him and demanding he get up and knee before Berengar. Berengar simply waved the men off.

“Are you ready to speak my dear monk?” Berengar asked, his interpreter repeating the question in Greek.
The monk raised his head and replied “Yes”

“Good, I had started to think that we were going to have to start the process all over again on one of you brothers. So go one, tell me what is so secret about you monks mixing shit and wood ashes?”

The monk struggled to speak for a moment; he had sworn that he would never divulge the secret of what he and the other monks did, but the pain was too much and could not take it any longer. “The piles are tended because they produce one of the ingredients that make up firepowder.”
Berengar smirked slightly he didn’t know whether the monk was telling the truth of whether there really was a way to make firepowder from shit and ashes. He finally decided that the monk was telling the truth.

“I’m going to believe that you aren’t lying to me monk because I recognize a broken man and the story you just told me is so outlandish that not even an excellent liar would have thought it up. So tell me, how does one make firepowder from shit and ash?”

The monk struggled to speak, but after a few moments the words came flooding out. “The piles aren’t just made of manure and ashes they also contain earth and straw to keep the piles porous. We keep them moist with urine collected from the animals and turn the matter in the piles regularly to accelerate the process. After about a year we leach the piles with water to remove the dissolvable lime salts. It then filters through the ash to produce fire salt which goes into making firepowder.”

Bernegar was astounded by this, he had more questions though, “but how do you get lime from manure and straw?”

“We do not know exactly how it happens, but the ammonia from the manure changes overtime and becomes lime salt. We’ve observed it in dung heaps, but at a much slower rate than in the compost piles.”

“Quite incredible, the secret of Roman Firepowder is shit, straw, and ashes. No man on earth would have guessed this.”

“It is the secret of but one part of the mixture. No monk in the monastery knows what the other ingredients are, for we do not produce them.”

Berengar looked a bit disappointed by this, but said ‘No matter, I’m sure there is a monk somewhere in Italy that has the knowledge I seek.” And with that he waved to his men to take the monk away. The monk would be beheaded not long afterwards.

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In early 894 the War of Crowns was not going well for the Roman Empire, but certainly its enemies were not enjoying the successes they had hoped for. In Italy the initial successes of the Italian nobles has not continued into the more firmly held Roman territories. The Romans maintain control much of southern Italy, as well as Rome, the Romaña, and Pentapolis. The Italian Emperor struggles to maintain his support base as other Dukes, spurred on by Athanasius of Naples’ open declaration of neutrality, have shown signs of becoming less supportive of an aggressive war to throw the Romans out of Italy completely and look more towards consolidating their control over the regions the Romans have already been excised from. Guy is not content with this and on April 22nd he and his army being laying siege to Rome. Roman rule has been good for the city, and the cities defenses lead to a protracted siege that suddenly and abruptly comes to an end when Guy unexpectedly dies. Guy’s remaining son, also named Guy, tries to rally support to gain the title of Emperor, but the Central and South Italian nobles are conflicted. The nobles recognize that the boy is neither his father nor his older brother and is weak in comparison, which bodes well for their independence, but they also recognize that the need for a more powerful leading figure to continue to wage the war is needed. Almost immediately the Central and Southern nobles agree that they will not Berengar of Friuli. The Frankish Duke commands massive support in the North and is a centralizing figure that would threaten the autonomy of the various Duchies. Two other claimants rise to obtain the title “Emperor of the Italians”; Prince Guaimario of Salerno and Duke Radelchis II of Benevento. Prince Guaimario was clearly the senior of the two and commands the largest military in the South and because of this the nobles decided to rally behind him proclaiming him Emperor Guaimario I. Guaimario meant to renew the siege of Rome, but made the error of sending a message north to Berengar asking for military support.

By the time that the message reached Berengar, he had slowly excised the Romans from the Romaña and reduced Roman controlled North Italy to the area surrounding Pentapolis. Upon getting word that the Southern and Central Italians were asking for his help, Berengar flew into a rage. The Frankish lord told the messenger to return to the so called “Emperor of the Italians” and tell him that no southern Italians had aided him in throwing out the Romans and that he had had made not pledge of fealty to Guaimario. Berengar made it clear that he and the Northern lords recognized no Italian Emperor and that he claimed the Iron Crown for his own as the King of Italy. Berengar decided that with the Roman position in North Italy so weak he was free to invade Central and South Italy. Leaving Pentapolis in Roman hand, Berengar moved southwards but was soon halted, but not by the southern Italians or the Romans. The Romans Magyar allies had launched their main attack against the Bulgars, but had launched heavy raids into Northern Italy. The Magyar raiders had sacked the northern capital of Friuli, the very seat of Berengar’s power base. With the Magyar raiders sacking the countryside Berengar was forced to call of his attack and defend the northern frontier against further Magyar incursion. As Berengar moves back to defend the north he continues his quest to discover the secret of Roman Fire powder. The King of Italy already know one of the three ingredients and how to produce it, but after a half a year of searching for knowledge of the other ingredients has come up empty.

The Magyar raids have bought the Southern and Central Italian nobles more time. Emperor Guaimario sees that the forces marshaled by the Italian Empire won’t be able to turn back Berengar and his North Italian armies once they have dealt with the Magyars. Guaimario decides to send an envoy to Arnulf King of Provence and Bavaria; he is inviting a lion to kill a wolf. Traveling by see the envoy reaches the Frankish King in early 895. The Italian envoy invites Arnulf to march his armies into Italy and take the Iron crown Berengar and add the kingdom of Italy to the list of domains he rules. Arnulf had already been planning on invading Italy to take advantage of the political situation, and the invitation by the Southern and Central Italians nobles is only the cherry on top. Arnulf and his main armies marched southwards from Bavaria, while two armies from Provence invaded crossed the Alps in the west, invading the kingdom in spring of 895. Berengar’s forces denied Arnulf’s forces open battle as often as possible, but in the West the Frankish troops stopped their opposition into the dirt. Berengar looked for an ally, after all there had to be someone that feared the power Arnulf would wield if he controlled all the territory between Provence and Bohemia. Berengar looked to Mojmir II of Moravia for aid. The Moravian king had lost Balaton Principality the year before and Bohemia had recently seceded and become a vassal of Arnulf. With Mojmir II’s November invasion of Bohemia Arnulf was forced to withdraw temporarily to fight off the Moravian invaders and raiders.


Arnulf and his army ravaging northern Italy

As the Italians and the Franks fought in Italy the Roman Empire regained momentum in the Balkans against the Bulgarians thanks to the Serbs and the Magyars; the entrance of the Serbs forcing the Bulgarians into a three front war. In the East, Al-Mu'tadid, the Abbasid Caliph, launched a series of heavy raids against the recent Roman conquest of Cillia. As the Caliph had hoped that with the Romans heavily involved in the West the region would fall quickly, but this was most certainly not the case. Met by Fire arrows and grenades the Islamic invasion was turned back at Germanikeia. In the west the Bulgarian boyars were growing ever more restless over the war and the threat of open rebellion loomed over Symeon who in December sent an envoy to Constantinople to discuss peace terms. Symeon was granted the title Basileus, by the Patriarch in Constantinople. The recognition of Symeon as Emperor of the Bulgars horrified some of the Roman aristocracy (in fact more than some), but the alternative was a continued struggle that left the empire vulnerable on other fronts. A ten year peace treaty was signed by the two parties and the war in the Balkans came to an end.

In 896 the full weight of the empire crashed down upon the Southern Italian nobles. Athanasius of Naples took the opportunity to now declare his Duchy in support of the Roman Empire. With calamity befalling the Italian Empire several nobles assassinated Guaimario of Salerno and his son Guaimar. With the Italian Emperor murdered many of the Italian nobles attempted to make peace with the Romans, groveling at the feet of Emperor Constantine. The Roman army, largely made up of veterans of the Bulgarian war smashed what resistance they came up against and once again reconquered Central and Southern Italy. Northern Italy would not fall to pieces as Central and Southern Italy had. The Bavarian forces of Arnulf and the North Italian forces of Berengar still maintained positions of strength and their armies were still relatively powerful. With Arnulf having laid claim to the title “Emperor of the Romans” and with considerably more power behind him, the Romans chose to make a friend out of Berengar and the Northern Italian lords. Constantine offered recognition of the Kingdom of Italy as a vassal of the Roman Empire for aid with excising the Bavarians. Berengar held little love for the Romans and despised that he needed their aid, but he could not defeat Arnulf on his own and would never be able to form an alliance with the Bavarian King. Berengar took what he could get, and the Iron Crown and Imperial aid was what he received. Together Berengar and the Romans pushed the Bavarians out of the Kingdom of Italy, and forced a treaty out of the monarch.

The Empire was at last at peace again, but in calling upon the Magyars for aid the Romans had shown them a feast was to be had of Europe, and in but two years the Magyars would set upon the land as a wolf upon an deer.

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Perhaps one of the most interesting states to make use of Roman firepowder was one of the farthest away, the Kingdom of Brittany. The hefty price of firepowder forced the Brentons to be vey inventive when it came to the use and deployment of the firepowder weapons. King Alan I the Great saw the potential of the grenade as a weapon of war and was the first Western European monarch to make the grenadier an official type of soldier. Initially these early grenadiers threw the grenades by hand, but the adoption of the fustibale as a means of delivery changed this and added significantly to the reach of the Brenton Grenadiers. The grenadier was instrumental in Alan’s military achievements. Taking advantage of the poor leadership of the Frankish Emperor Odo and his war with the Bavarian King, Alan chose to make war with the Norseman controlled city of Rouen. Rouen’s importance as a trading hub would guarantee the Kingdom of Brittany the kind of income that would help Alan build up his kingdoms military and fortifications. In 896, Alan forced the Frankish Emperor to allow him to pass through Frankish lands to put down the pagan Rollo and his Norsemen. Alan’s military was far superior to the Frankish troops that Rollo had faced before; his disciplined grenadiers shattered the Norsemen ranks and Alan conquered Rouen for the Kingdom of Brittany. In 898 Odo died and Charles III came to power. Charles was not a friend to Alan and hoped to put the upstart king down, and declared war in an effort to regain Rouen. The two armies met not far outside the city of Évreux, here Charles’s considerably larger army was routed by the more modern army of the Brentons. Though Charles’s military employed grenades and fire arrows they didn’t know how to use them properly. Alan’s grenadiers were like storm troopers smashing the Frankish lines and allowing Brenton cavalry to flank the pierced lines and destroy the Frankish forces. With the Frankish army destroyed Alan decided to march down the Seine Valley as the Vickings had done before and capture Paris. Alan had no fantasies of holding the city or claiming the Frankish throne; he was intent of looting Paris and using it as a bargaining chip to build up on his domain. Charles’s war had backfired like few before it and now Alan marched on Paris. Charles knew full well that he could not prevent the sacking of Paris through military, with Alan’s force just a few days away and the Bavarians breathing down his neck he could not afford to make a gamble that could lose him everything. Charles treated with Alan, recognizing him and his decedents as “King of the Brentons” and ceded the lands of Anjou, Maine, and the coast connecting Brittany to Rouen to Brittany. Alan would die in 907 having added massive territorial gains to his kingdom and centralizing the Brenton state. Further centralization was achieved indirectly, as no single lord had the money or power to construct the massive fortress castles that Alan had pioneered to defend against the Viking raiders, it took the income of the state to maintain these fortresses and the new military that Alan had built to defend his kingdom. Of course one cannot make waves and expect them to go unnoticed; Alan’s revolution in European military would eventually spread, but wouldn’t catch fire throughout Europe until firepowder lost it secrecy and to a larger degree with the introduction of the cannon.

Wars between Francia and Bavaria continued after nobles in Lotharingia attempted to revolt against King Louis [1] in 900, calling Charles for aid. Charles was unable to take Lotharingia, but his forces held much of Provence. In 906, Charles and Louis treated with Charles recognizing the integration of Lotharingia into Bavaria and Louis recognizing Charles as king of Provence.

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[1]: This is not Louis the Child of OTL, ITTL Arnulf had a legitimate heir back in 871. His sole legitimate heir Louis gained dominion over both Bavaria and Lotharingia.

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Comments? Questions? Criticisms?

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map of Europe in 906 AD

[Alex]

Just caught up with this. Excellent stuff, and I am liking this a lot. Looking forward to more!

[AJNolte]

I'm subscribing, and look forward to more.

[Valdemar I]

I can only second AJNolte and Alex, it's one of the realistic early introduction of new technologies.

[General_Finley]

Thanks for the praise you guys, I'll be updating later this week after I have finished off my finals.