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The Fallen Eagle: A Byzantine Empire AAR

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Btw Sean is the wareffort limited to the amarican continent and the west indis or are you aming to strengthen your grip in india aswell?
 
The Iroquios did inflict quite serious casualties on the Byzantine Expeditionary Force. The reaction of the veterans to such losses that resulted in the atrocity at the end of the war with the Confederacy is understandable in such circumstances.

This war seems to me to be about helping the Americans throw off the British yoke rather than gaining the Empire new land.
 
Oh no its been so long since the last update! Please? just a little bit more? with a cherry on top? This story is too good, and your addicts need their fix
 
Oh dear God nooooo!

We will be left in a terrible vortex of nothingness! We can't accept the reality of Byzantium falling in 1453, we need the Great Empire of Rome bashing Brits in 177-something now!!!!!
 
American War of Independence: The Global Conflict​

While the primary theater of the war was the North American colonies of Britain, the Empire also had a vested interest in seizing the Caribbean islands that Britain lay claim to. The Caribbean had been divided between several powers, and ownership of the islands shifted rather often throughout the 17th century due to privateering.
Generally speaking however, Spain, France, Rome, Denmark and Britain all owned one or more islands in the region. Both France and the Empire had their eyes set on the British owned Caribbean, which included such notable islands as Trinidad & Tobago, Dominica, Antigua, Curacao and Jamaica.

I would not be at all a stretch to say that Britain was the dominant power within the Caribbean, and controlled the majority of the Cotton and Sugar Cane trade. The wealth of these two important resources had allowed them to build a vast overseas Empire that easily rivaled that of Constantinople.
Whereas the Roman Empire had at one time been the sole world superpower, able to projection its influence and authority over nearly every part of the globe, the growing power of the British Empire had began to eclipse it. This could most clearly be seen in India, where the well-established, centuries old Roman colonies were overshadowed by rapid British conquests and expansive trade networks with the natives.

The Caribbean had been no exception to this rule. Starting in the later half of the 17th century, England had began expanding its power within the region, competing with the likes of Spain, France and the Empire for dominance of the pirate infested seas that surrounded the wealthy island colonies.
Armed with some of the best privateers in human history, England and later Britain carved out a prosperous and rich set of Sugar Cane plantations to supplement their already dominant cotton trade that had been established on the broken backs of the North American colonists and their slaves.

The British colonists themselves had relied heavily on the Imperial Slave Trade, importing more slaves from the Imperial Colonies in Africa than from the Portuguese or French colonies combined. Whereas the British made their largest profits from Sugar Cane and Cotton, the Empire received it’s from the Spice and Slave trades.
When the American Revolution broke out in North America, the colonies had continued trading with the British Caribbean island much as they had before, under the nose of the British government. In particular Antigua was notorious for defying the Navigation Acts and trading with American ships that came into its ports.

This was because of a loophole within the Navigation Acts, which stated that no foreigner, directly or indirectly were permitted to carry on trade with the British island colonies. However, the American vessels, still having the old registries that had been issued to them before the Declaration of Independence continued to trade with the Caribbean islands, causing much grief for the British government.
These ventures were aided by naval support from the Romans and French, as well as the Spanish who entered the war on the Franco-Roman side in June of 1779. This helped to diminish British naval power in the region, and in turn allow a more steady flow of supplies to the United States.

The battle for the Caribbean was one of the most important theaters of the war, second only to the former British colonies themselves. It was one of the Roman Empire’s three main objectives with the war, which were as follows: To secure American independence, to weaken the British presence within the Caribbean and to keep the Royal Navy occupied defending Britain’s worldwide possessions.
This was the strategy devised by Emperor Nikolaos III himself. The overall goal of the war was to severely weaken British power with the independence of the American colonies, as well as the loss of their Caribbean possessions. Across the world the Royal and Imperial Navies clashed with each other in a battle for dominance of the high seas.

Though Britain was greatly outnumbered by the allies in terms of ships, its sailors were considered the best in the world, and this allowed it to maintain a stern defense despite their disadvantageous position. The real truth of the matter was that the Empire, though it truly wished to weaken Britain’s power, was weary of crippling them too much and potentially giving France a new avenue for expansion.
It would be a worthless victory if Britain were defeated so decisively that France was able to recover its former “New France” colonies, as well as its other global possessions. All they would do is exchange one powerful enemy for another, as today’s allies are tomorrow’s enemies, or so they believed.

Still, the Emperor knew that a compromise would need to be reached. From the Caribbean to Indonesia, the Roman Empire’s colonies provided it with all of the natural resources it needed to be the dominant world power. It was only through careful diplomacy and an apparent lack of aggression that the Emperor’s of the past were able to avoid coalitions forming against them in Europe in the name of balance.
In 1780 the Roman Empire’s population within just its European/Middle Eastern/Mediterranean holdings was at least 50 million, far larger than any other European nation excluding Russia. And unlike Russia, the majority of this population was in relatively close proximity to Europe, allowing potentially millions of soldiers to be deployed, had the Empire enacted a universal military draft amongst its Arabic and Slavic populations.

Though outmatching any one state in Europe, it was the fear of a united coalition that had kept the Roman Empire in line for the past 200 years. Though powerful, it was still not strong enough to challenge all of Europe. The days where men once dreamed of rebuilding the Empire of Trajan were long gone by the time of Nikolaos III, who had by then recognized that the state he ruled over was a different animal than the Rome that had existed nearly 2,000 years prior.
It was an Empire that’s Hellenic Roots were just as strong as its Roman ones, and Nikolaos dreamed of spreading Greek culture and art to the furthest ends of the earth, if not through outright conquest then through trade. Already such exotic regions like the Caribbean, Africa, and the Far East had been exposed to Constantinople’s glory.

By freeing the American colonies from British rule, Nikolaos III wished to establish a powerful alliance between the Empire and the fledgling United States, mainly for trade purposes, but also with the intention to monitor and check British power in the post war years. He hoped the Americans would come to embrace Greek ideals, which would hopefully eventually subvert and replace those of British Common Law.
It is even suggested that the Emperor wanted to impose a joint trade embargo on Britain with the United States, thus becoming the US’s primary trading partner, and also severely crippling Britain’s economy. If necessary he would do the same to France if it began to threaten Imperial interests.

In contrast to France, whose economy was in disarray already by 1778, the Empire literally had more wealth than it knew what to do with. But such a ready flow of resources from its colonies had its down sides as well. As the people grew use to having both essential goods and luxury items in abundance, their demand for them only increased with time. This was slowly but surely causing inflation.
Previous Emperors had combated inflation for various reasons and with various solutions, but Nikolaos III was unable to figure out a way to solve the problem that now faced him. The war had temporarily slowed the rate of inflation, as the people understood that some restraints on luxury goods were natural during war, but once it was over, the demand would return…

Despite the Empire’s wealth of resources, they were not limitless. Nikolaos III knew that if his people’s demands for goods continued to increase, the Empire could eventually face crippling inflation, and the possible exhaustion of its gold and other limited resources. Yet though Nikolaos was a capable ruler, he could not devise a solution to this seemingly inevitable event.
The Empire’s peasant class lived quite well compared to their counterparts in the rest of Europe. While most lived in relatively poor standards, especially those in France, the Empire’s lower class was fairly wealthy, again in relative terms. They rarely had to worry about having enough food to last the winter, and could even afford basic luxuries not usually available to people of their status.

This extended up the Social Ladder to the ever-growing Bourgeoisie, the majority of which were quite well off, many even owning property. The most well off of the Bourgeoisie could even rival their supposed social betters, the Dynatoi, in terms of wealth and power, a fact which many of the nobles found intolerable.
The Roman Bourgeoisie contributed greatly to the American War of Independence however; as it was they who controlled the vast Roman trade fleets which constantly supplied the colonials with new weapons and supplies. Without them and their constant flow of resources, the war would have likely ended in defeat for the rebels.

The war was not won on resources alone however. While the supplies funded to the rebels inevitably helped to decide its outcome, it was through decisive victories in battle that the outcome of a war would ultimately be decided. However, in late 1779 and early 1780, these were few and far in between.
The disastrous attempt to retake Savannah with the aid of the French ended in a decisive victory for the British. Thanks to this failure, commanders such as Benjamin Lincoln became somewhat reluctant to make use of foreign troops, including the Romans. This did not extend to other higher-ranking commanders, such as George Washington however.

Metochites would be given the opportunity to fight once again before the main Roman force arrived however. On August 16th, part of his army participated in the battle of Camden. Roughly 800 Roman troops fought with the American army under Horatio Gates, with Metochites taking personal command of them during the battle.
Their army had been sent with the objective of taking South Carolina from the British, but under Gates inept command, the attack quickly faltered. Gates fled the battlefield at the first hint of trouble, however the more disciplined Roman infantry held their ground, with Metochites allegedly riding between his men and the enemy’s fire, barking encouragement whilst deliberately putting himself in harms way.

Despite much of the American army retreating, some regiments remained, both embarrassed and inspired by the Roman’s bravery, even though they weren’t fighting for their own soil. Though it in the end was not enough to win the battle, it did allow the majority of the army to safely retreat in good order.
The Battle of Camden ended a lot better than it could have, with British losses being some 250, and about 500 being wounded. Neither side took many captives, and though Horatio Gates failed in his objective, the British army was too battered to follow up its victory.

When the main Roman army of 15,000 men arrived in America on October 16th of 1780, Colonel Metochites was awarded with a promotion to Major General, and given command of a section of the army under General Adrianos Phokas. He was never trialed for his alleged massacre of the Iroquois.
With the main Roman army having now arrived in the Americas, it offered the colonists the manpower it desperately needed to defeat the British in the South. The humiliating defeats of late 1779 and 1780 would have to be reversed, if the fledgling nation was to be saved…

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Okay! Okay! The update is here! :p Enjoy it! I'm sorry it took so long, but I've been having a lot of personal problems this month. My next update will deal entirely with the war itself, so look forward to that. :)
 
Holy crap. So complaining for an update can actually work?! :p

Thanks. This is good. Very interesting to see Nikolaos evaluating the economic state of the empire even during wartime. After all, we already know that the economic state of the empires population will be crucial as the mighty Roman Empire industrializes and modernizes (that is... in the years 1836-1936 ;))

Elsewhere it looks like Metochites has been given the opportunity to set his name in history. I look forward to seeing how and whether he can indeed do so.
 
I don't think most people realized there was an update, so here is a bump. :)
 
Ahhh i can't believe i missed an update! We know how the french got left out of the equation in OTL Treaty of Paris, lets see if the Empire can get some actual gain out of this...
 
Like Maximilliano said... How the heck did I miss an update?

Anyway good to see some mutch neaded troops arive on the american continent. But I wonder why are you not trying to puch the britts out of india (if I understood the update correctly you where focusing on the carrabien and american continent)?
 
The Empire might be better advised trying to squeeze the British out of India and maintain the status quo in the western hemisphere. Additional troops about to arrive in North America will do very well. Another army in India to take out the growing British holdings there would be better than addiytional troops in the Carribean.
 
Hmm well I guess taking more land in India might be a good idea as long as that new territory can be consolidated and fortified to the extent of Mangalore and Goa.

However I have to agree that the Long Game of weakening Britain by helping the Americans will work too :D But more rich Indian land can't hurt......

After Yorktown it should be plain sailing until Napoleon arrives, and what a show that will be!
 
i would like to add my voice to the crowd requesting an update... the forums are just not the forums without this AAR.
 
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