[End of Pax Romana]

My two denarii worth - It ended with the "Year of the Five Emperors" in 192 AD/945 AUC. That was one bloody year.

 

HoC

[Arab conquests would fail if Byzantium wasn't weakened by war?]

Everything I've read on this topic has maintained that 100+ years of war between Persia and Byzantium left both empires exhausted (economically drained and bled white) and ripe for the picking by the arabs. As things turned out Persia went under and Byzantium barely stayed afloat.

 

I have also read that the religious strife endemic to this period of Byzantine history had the provinces of the Levant and Egypt welcoming the invading arabs almost as liberators due to the oppression they were suffering from the Orthodox Church/Byzantine government.

 

So my take on this is that even if the Byzantine Empire was in better shape militarily due to greater success against the Persian Empire (or if a lasting peace was somehow brokered) the religious strife between the central government and the "heretics" of the Levant and Egypt would still have left those regions vulnerable to going over to the arabs.

 

I have also read in this forum the opinion espoused that a healthier economy that allowed the Byzantine and Persian Empires to adequately fund their "Client Arabs" could have prevented the successes the arabs experienced in OTL.

 

That's my 2 sestertii legate.

 

HoC

[Where does the Byzantine Empire begin?]

IMHO the "Byzantine Empire" began after the reign of Justinian. My rationale is that his was the all-out attempt to salvage the WRE and it succeeded in the short-term and failed in the long term. All hope of reunification died with Justinian, hence after his reign the "Byzantine Empire" begins.

 

Hero of Canton

[Welcome to Provincia Britannia forum]

Due to the proportionally large number of active British members of this forum and thus the popularity of regionally targeted discussion, it made sense to give Britain a home of it's own...

 

As a member from Novo Britannia who did his Master's Thesis on Roman Britain and STILL favors the subject, I am delighted to find a category devoted solely to my area of chief interest! Many thanks!

 

Hero of Canton

[Aside from Roman History, what history are you damn serious and Passio]

My historical interests are wide ranging;

 

British History

American History

Pre-Contact Native American History

Post-Contact Native American History

Military History

Japanese History

Chinese History

 

and of course ALTERNATIVE HISTORY!

 

Hero of Canton

 

P.S. I TRIED to teach History to High School students back in the Carter and Reagan administrations.