An Age of Miracles: The Revival of Rhomanion

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What about imports? Granted, Rhomania would not be in the top 8 to industralize (and would most likely lag behind everybody because of it), but don't they have allies and the so called Despotates to help solve the coal issue?

There is a fuckton of coal in OTL Eastern Ukraine. I am sure that Russia would be willing to trade it. I don't know how useful that kind of coal is or when it was first used but it's still there and served as the backbone of Russia's (and later Ukraine's) Industry up to and including the modern day with a nickup from occupation during wwii.
 
There is a fuckton of coal in OTL Eastern Ukraine. I am sure that Russia would be willing to trade it. I don't know how useful that kind of coal is or when it was first used but it's still there and served as the backbone of Russia's (and later Ukraine's) Industry up to and including the modern day with a nickup from occupation during wwii.

Donets Basin coal is probably of sufficient quality for industrialization. As for getting it to Rhomania, could be, but transportation will be a bitch. Pre-steam engine, which will only come about from the industrial revolution, the fastest way to transport stuff from mines will be river barge. OTL Britain built a shitton of canals, but that option won't be fully available as they'd have to transship to larger vessels for the trip across the Black Sea.

You still also have the problem of what they're shipping to. If you look at the industrial clusters that popped up from the OTL industrial revolution, they were generally located close to the site of one strategic resource (e.g., coal, iron ore, wool/cotton) and had the rest shipped to them. Since Rhomania lacks both good sources of iron and coal, it just wouldn't make sense. In fact, now that I think about it, it's more likely to be a major supplier of wool to early textile industries.

Actually, come to think of it, industrialization is more likely in OTL Ukraine itself than in Rhomania, given that it has lots of rivers (Bug, Dnieper, Don, Desna, Inhulets, etc.), coal, and iron... but what it needs to industrialize the most is a large population.
 
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Asia Minor and the Balcans have a lot of coal reserves in various qualities.Oil and natural gass exist in abandance in the Aegean,Ionian and Cretan seas,the greatest in Europe;however,having fossil fuels is one thing,denying the control of sources to others, is another.You either have the technology and know-how to extract such fossils.

Russia never had eyes on Vlachia but in Bassarabia and Bucovina.
 
What about imports? Granted, Rhomania would not be in the top 8 to industralize (and would most likely lag behind everybody because of it), but don't they have allies and the so called Despotates to help solve the coal issue?

Since Europe industrializes first,what is the reason that holds Rhomania back in industrializing?As a strong healthy well organized state with resources to support industrialization I can't see the reason why not...
 
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Since Europe industrializes first,what is the reason that holds Rhomania back in industrializing?As a strong healthy well organized state with resources to support industrialization I can't see the reason why not...

Because they don't have the BEST resources. The statement was that Rhomania would industrialize later than the best guys of Europe, not that they would never industrialize.

There is a reason the Industrial revolution started in Britain and then spread into Belgium before any other country. That reason is coal, both places have been mining coal since pre-Roman times, it is abundant and it is cheap to mind. Just how easy is it to mind coal in Rhomania? Can you use medieval technology to get it? If not, then they will never be the first country to industrialize.
 
the Balkans and Asia Minor have a lot of lignite resources, which are easy to get. Of course, with around 1500 cal/kgram is rather poor in quality, but I think is enough for the primal period of industrialisation, i.e. for fueling simple and relatively small steam engines.
I guess most of the people here are refering to the second industrial revolution (after 1850 otl) when high quality coal is a must for fueling train engines and steel production.
 
Egypt sees a lot of trade; Alexandria is one of the top five ports in Christendom (Constantinople is the largest, with Antwerp, Smyrna, Venetia, and Alexandria all jostling for second). However the Egyptians see very little wealth from that since almost the entirety of that trade is owned by others. They are just the way station. The Romans are to the Egyptians as the Italians were to the OTL Byzantines in the later Middle Ages. The current Egyptian setup is certainly not the most conducive to long-term stability.
The Romans like the current Egyptian setup a lot. They still get most of the trade duties, eastern goods, and grain shipments that they would get if they controlled the place, and they don’t have to deal with the Copts or the still quite large Muslim population.

The Copts of Cairo mostly went back north. Being a Coptic island in a Muslim sea isn’t the kind of neighborhood to induce peace of mind, and economic opportunities for them are greater in the Delta. The Coptic magnates of Upper Egypt prefer Muslim tenants/serfs since they have greater power over them and the only other work is maintaining Andreas’ Canal, dirty, back-breaking work with no safety guidelines whatsoever.

Historically, while the Byzantines wanted a religiously ‘pure’ empire, they cared little about the religions of their vassals and allies, having Catholics, Muslims, pagans, and Jews (the Khazars) in those categories. A Muslim Egypt as a province would be a problem in Constantinople. A vassal Muslim Egypt, provided it was loyal, would not. That said, a mass Muslim revolt would be a sure-fire way to guarantee a Roman ‘intervention-in-force’ and the War Room does have plans to that effect.

Kongo is a Coptic Christian state, although with strong native traditions. Slave trading is a major part of the economy, and Ethiopians, Portuguese, Triunes, and Germans are all customers. Modern weaponry, some purchased and some made locally, provide the firepower for the slave raids into the interior. The plan is that Kongo will be a modern, second-tier power (think Australia in WW2).

By this point, the Osmanli name has a strong cultural resonance with the Turkish element of the empire and cannot be ignored. The best way is link the first and second Ottoman Empires is ‘First Ottoman Empire: Classical Roman Empire; Second Ottoman/Khomeini Persian Empire: Byzantine Empire’.

I’m debating whether or not certain segments of the despotates will revert to direct Roman control at some time in the future, but I have no plans for a full re-conquest. Controlling all those truculent minorities would be a giant headache for Constantinople, while right now the Empire directly controls a mostly homogenous and loyal Greco-Turkish-Armenian bloc with a diverse (Albanians, Vlachs, Bulgarians, Kurds, Arabs, Georgians) but comparatively tiny ‘add-on’. The re-introductions of Italians/Sicilians, Copts, and Egyptian Arabs would largely restore the Imperial dynamic of 1520 with all its issues.

That said, there is no reason that the threads linking Constantinople and the despotates cannot be tightened or loosened.

The Romans didn’t kill very many Muslims in Egypt, but were responsible for virtually all of the slaughter in Syria-Palestine.

Any advisor seriously suggesting an attack on Vlachia would be sacked. It is a quite useful and inoffensive buffer state, which supplies a good deal of grain for the Empire and is a good customer of Roman silks. Also remember that the Drakoi are themselves only 200 years removed from minor Vlach nobility and that the occupants of the Dragon Throne are some kind of cousin (the King is Andreas Niketas’ grandson via Theodora, David’s little sister).

German will be the court language of Prussia; Anastasios’ German is about as good/bad as his Russian and the capital is in Riga, which is primarily German-speaking. That said, Prussian law-codes will be issued first in German always contain a second Russian translation.

I’m still debating the extent to which I want to elaborate the Sicilian ‘Holy Fire’. I am considering to have a couple of variants, one of which is still considered part of mainstream Christianity if a little odd, and the other considered a separate religion akin to Mormonism’ relation to Protestantism.

The plan is that Rhomania, through efficient use of its iron-working and especially textile industries will achieve a proto-industrial Song China state around 1620, but will stall at that point due to a lack of coal, no comparable agricultural revolution to the OTL eighteenth century one, and a corresponding lack of the necessary demographic mass to achieve industrialization. The Triple Monarchy will be the first to industrialize, followed by the HRE and then Russia.

Rhomania will be somewhat of a late-comer to the industrialization game (indeed the last of the current four great European powers), but will compensate much like Germany with good organization and impressive skills in chemistry and physics. To use OTL dates, they will be behind from 1820 to 1860, start catching up and then match the others by 1890.

Thanks for the high praise. :)
 
Rhomania will be somewhat of a late-comer to the industrialization game (indeed the last of the current four great European powers), but will compensate much like Germany with good organization and impressive skills in chemistry and physics. To use OTL dates, they will be behind from 1820 to 1860, start catching up and then match the others by 1890.

i really hope the military wouldn't be stuck in the past because of the lack of industrialization for forty to seventy years...
 
With permission of B444 I repost the map of Eurasia with the following changes:

I put in the Bernese League and Savoy (which previously were both HRE grey) and put Franche Comte in Lotharingia (as specified by the peace treaty).

I slightly changed the border of Saluzzo (took a little something to the west since Nice controlled a bit of coast and little more than the Var Valley, and to the north-east, since Saluzzo is estremely near the Po).

Changed the border of the Duchy of Marche (I gave Abruzzo to Sicily and move the northern border nortward including also Pesaro) which may not have Romagna, but has got a significant chunk of Umbria).

changed quite a bit Tuscany. Pisa is directly west of Florence and was out of place. I gave Florence also Livorno and Elba. Siena still control Grosseto and most of Maremma (so Florence and Siena split in half the region). From the look of things I left Massa in lombards hands.

Included also Matyas' principality (he basically control everything west of the Piave river) as specified by B444 through PM.


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i really hope the military wouldn't be stuck in the past because of the lack of industrialization for forty to seventy years...

No more than everyone else. IOTL nobody was prepared in 1914 for the changes in warfare that had accrued because of the Industrial Revolution and technology advancements.


"It is to be expected that the Angeloi make good sailors. After all, as Emperors they were all out to sea."-attributed to the Kephale of Chonae, 1575

1580: In his capital of Texcoco, David Komnenos, last son of Andreas Niketas, dies at the age of 78. His eldest Mexican son Michael Adhemar Gabriel Komnenos, by his mother Maria/Teotlalco the grandson of the last Aztec Emperor, takes his throne as Emperor of Mexico but immediately faces a crisis as the Tarascans invade the west and Cholula rises up in revolt. At this time Tizoc, governor of Tenochtitlan and scion of the old Aztec nobility, asks for Michael’s eldest daughter Maria in marriage. In his situation Michael does not want to anger such an important figure and gives him his fourteen-year-old daughter.

But Tizoc is the leader of the Aztec faction of the Mexican Empire, who strongly resent their relegation to a secondary role to the Tlaxcalans and demotion of their city and who fiercely desire the restoration of their old ways, religion, and empire. David’s policy of sending their most boisterous and troublesome members to decorate Tarascan weapons with their guts unsurprisingly did not endear the group to his descendants.

So when Tizoc gets his hands on Maria, he has her heart cut out in an old-style blood sacrifice, then flays off her skin and uses it to decorate a statue of the Virgin Mary in Tenochtitlan as mockery of the Christian faith. Practically all of Tenochtitlan rises in revolt behind Tizoc, acclaiming him Aztec Emperor, whose first official act is cutting out the hearts of those few who did not join in the rebellion.

Michael’s initial response means nothing to the Mexicans, although it strikes a terrifying chord amongst the Europeans in Mexico: “I will be a Timur to the city of Tenochtitlan.” Then he follows up with a statement the Mexicans understand clearly. “I shall turn the city into the outhouse of Mexico.” It is a sentence greeted with acclamations across the breadth of the Empire. The natives have not forgotten the harsh hand of Aztec rule and here, now is their belated chance to make the Aztecs drink every bitter drop of their cup of wrath.

The Tarascans and Cholula will have to wait as Michael brings to bear the entire armed might of Mexico upon the fifth most populated city in the world. Twelve thousand infantry, Europeans, mestizos, and natives (95% are of the latter), are full-time professional troops armed with the latest weaponry, and three thousand cavalry of similar quality support them. There are also the numerous militias, but only those of the Tlaxcalans, Totonacs, and Texcoco have significant quantities of modern arms and cavalry. A Portuguese observer estimated that out of 110,000 men (his number) there were only 4,000 cavalry, 9,000 arquebuses, twenty five thousand steel-bladed weapons, and thirty seven artillery pieces. Except for the cannons the numbers are similar to the standard inventory (including replacements) of a single Roman tagma.

However the Portuguese are there to help, showing up exceedingly quickly to offer their assistance to Michael. In fact Tizoc had been intriguing with the Portuguese and counted on their aid, but they have no qualms in backstabbing him. The Portuguese sell weapons, powder, shot, and horses to Michael who in his present mood is not haggling as his father did under better circumstances. Receiving payment in bars of Zacatecas silver stamped with the Mexican Imperial Eagle (which is identical to the Komnenid family crest) they see a profit of over 40%. Also Michael agrees to recognize their base in Panama, which the small but powerful and modern Mexican navy has the endurance to attack.

With his host Michael blockades Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs cutting the causeways. As both sides skirmish with canoes upon the lake, Michael gathers a more formidable navy. At Veracruz, the Mexican navy’s chief base, sections of brigantines are fabricated, carried overland by work crews, and reassembled on the lake. Within a month, six are in action and eleven more three weeks after that. Armed with 6-14 cannons (mostly recent Portuguese purchases) they sweep the lake clean of the Aztec ‘navy’.

With their naval and gunnery support, the city is taken, each block bloodily contested by the Aztecs. For six weeks the two sides fight, inflicting immense casualties on each other. Those Aztecs who are not killed are taken away as slaves, usually to be worked to death in the Zacatecas silver mines. In the end the Aztecs are wholly ruined; Tizoc is flayed and disemboweled on the summit of the Pyramid of the Sun, the temple and what is left of the city blown apart by gunpowder shortly afterwards. Terrified Cholula submits without a fight, although the Tarascans fight and lose two battles before they withdraw.

Meanwhile, in the Imperial Arsenal, Alexios of Adramyttium pays his respects at the grave of Andreas Angelos, the bastard son of Andreas Niketas traditionally known as the Salty or Pirate (in the east) Prince. It is a tradition amongst squadron and fleet commanders setting out from Constantinople, but there is an extra meaning for Alexios. The Pirate Prince is his grandfather.

He is the illegitimate son of Isaakios Angelos and a tavern owner’s daughter in Adramyttium, half-brother to Demetrios of Smyrna, the ‘Bane of Cathay’ and one of the premier ship lords in the east. Working his way up through the ranks, he commanded the ship that most distinguished itself in the attack on Fort St. Barbara during the War of the Rivers. Alexios now has the rank of Doux, commander of one of the squadrons in the Imperial fleet.

However unlike his eastern sibling, who lives where the social rules are much looser, Alexios desires to remove the illegitimate ‘stain’ on his character and officially take the patronymic Angelos. His first wife, a cloth merchant’s daughter, died in childbirth along with the infant, and his attempts to marry up are still hampered by the nature of his birth, despite the moderately high station to which he has climbed.

He then goes to his flagship, the fifty-gunner Nike. Under his command are a total of twenty four ships, all gun-armed sailing ships. The expedition he commands is a historic one, the first Roman Mediterranean naval expedition in which all the initial warships (the Maltese galleys will join him when he arrives there) are sailing vessels. The warships are a mix of heavy galleons and a new type of ship, the fregata.

Derived (in Roman eyes; copied is a more accurate verb) from Iberian designs, this light warship is faster than older caravels, perfect for use as scouts, couriers, and pirate hunter-killers. Armed with ten to twenty two cannons, they would be hopelessly outmatched against ‘battle-line ships’ (the Roman naval term for the heavy modern warships that have taken over the position of the obsolete purxiphoi), but are capable of running down and destroying Barbary xebecs and barques.

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Painting of a Guard-class fregata off the Pontic coast. The Guard class, initially appearing in the middle stages of the First World War, would be one of the most successful ship classes in history. The earliest Roman fregatai of the late 1500s were its direct ancestor.

The expedition’s target is the island of Djerba off the coast of Tunisia to the southwest of Malta, which despite a spirited fight is soon overwhelmed. A small force is left to garrison the island as workers and materials recruited from Sicily are brought in to improve the fortifications, while the main force continues on to the African mainland to invest Mahdia. Alexios only has a handful of marines after garrisoning Djerba, but as planned a Carthaginian squadron and army rendezvous to make up the loss.

After a four-week siege in which most of the attackers’ casualties are caused by bad rations rather than battle the city surrenders. This time it is the Carthaginian flag that is mounted on the ramparts and a Carthaginian garrison placed in the citadel. To help secure the city 1200 settlers are brought in from Calabria, the finale of a textbook operation.

Alexios gets the Order of the Iron Gates and the Angelid patronymic, while the Roman Empire gets the prestige of driving the Barbary corsairs out of the central Mediterranean, the intended goal. However it is in the western Mediterranean and in the Atlantic where most of them operate and the fall of Djerba and Mahdia mean nothing to them. But the former along with Malta are to be used as bases for 6-10 fregatai that are to operate constantly in the west.

Previously Roman tactics against the corsairs had been to conduct massive fleet sweeps through the area; these were expensive, time-consuming, and only caught the stupid and slow pirates. The remainder just stayed in port. The other was direct attacks on pirate ports, which were even more expensive, bloody, and difficult. Against the victory at Byzerte can be weighed the debacle at Algiers. With the fregatai on constant patrol though, the corsairs will be forced to run greater risks on their raids while putting much less of a strain on the Roman exchequer.

The fregatai are also to seek ‘restitution’ for Guernsey. Many of the dynatoi lost money in the destruction of that convoy, including both Theodora and Alexeia. Diplomatic efforts to gain compensation have failed, so the ships are directed to ‘attack and seize all Triune vessels encountered between Gibraltar and Carthage’. Half of the prize money goes to the crew of the fregata, the other half accruing to the crown. Of that half, fifty percent is set aside to reimburse the crown for the expense, with the remaining quarter of the total set aside to compensate the dynatoi. The fregatai are to continue until all the dynatoi have received full value for their losses, plus an extra thirty percent. To help speed up the process, the Hospitalers are subcontracted to also carry out the ‘re-appropriations’.
 
I seems to me that the Romans and Triunes are gonna be in a cycle of continously raiding each other's commerce. Also, could there be a list of who owns what colony? It's hard to remember who possesses what in the New World now.
 
Hopefully we'll get an update on what's happening in the east next, I really want to see how Roman-Japanese relations are developing.
 
wow. tizoc was just that stupid. never piss off a komnenid.

on another note, let's see the OTL spanish east indies. hoping they become a despotate. :D:D:D:D:D
 
So Eastern Mediterranean has been cleared of Barbary Corsairs? Nice. I wouldn't call that a small victory; it's removed the only obstacle in the way of making the area a Roman Lake. The entire E.Mediterranean coast other than some small stretches in the Adriatic, which are in themselves dominated by Venetia, are Roman or Roman-Despotates owned.
So screw the pirates. Let's see how they like having the Romans pirate them in return.

Also, are the Fregatai OTL 5th Rate Frigates?

EDIT: which is the 4th largest city in the world?
 
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With the splitting of Djerba and Mahdia we can assume the border between the direct roman territory (vassals at the moment) and the Despotate will be somewhere along the Chott el Djerid (the huge salt lake in southern Tunisia)?

Nice to see the pirates being kicked out of central mediterranean and to see the change of policy against them.
 
Hopefully the destruction of Tenochtitlan will solidify Komnenian control of Mexico, it'll be interesting how much they can grow and expand.
And it's good to see some payback against the Triunes.
 
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