What if BRITAIN Remained ROMAN ? | Alternate History

The Roman provinces in Britain are often considered to be the least developed ones in the of the Empire. It is no so suprise that Britannia as it was called by the Romans was the first part of the Roman Empire to fall to foreign invaders. Was this fall inevitable and what would have occured if it never happened? We will explore that in this alternative history vIdeo.

[MartyBones]

A world with a civilized Britannia sounds pretty cool. I can't imagine the tension between the 2 Romes and the "HRE"

[emperorofnothing]

The Western Roman Empire, The Holy Roman Empire, and The Eastern Roman Empire? wow what a weird world.

[internetxxx_plrr_xxx]

I've always wanted to see such a scenario, so thanks for making it. If Basil really did recognize Brittano-Gallia as the most legitimate claimant to the West Roman title, and they managed to hold off the norse better than in our timeline (likely hastening their Christianization due to the faith and it's adherents not seeming quite as weak) I can see them adopting their own form of the Varangian guard. Any Norsemen who proved themselves to have strength of arms and were willing to accept baptism could essentially act as new auxiliaries, frontline shock-troopers that saw the worst of the fighting but perhaps had the first rights to looting and quicker naturalization as citizens compared to the old imperial system.

[wargamesmaster]

I already want a part II of this video. :)

[Autconscipatheonive]

What if Mithraism became the dominant religion of Rome?

What if the Rus' Vikings Scandinavianised Russia?

What if the Gothic empire idea was actually achieved?

What if the Visigoths repelled the Muslims?

What if the Kievan Rus' adopted islam instead of Christianity?

What if Norse Paganism remained dominant in Scandinavia?

What if the Seljuk Turks converted to orthodoxy?

[Kingofportals]

Britannia being the last holdout of Western Rome is a cool idea!

[lord_quasar]

Great now we have an Eastern Roman Empire, a Holy Roman Empire and a Western Roman Empire at the same time, it sounds somewhat chaotic that would lead to great wars!

[TheoneandonlyVaken]

Byzantium: “no I’m Rome!”

British Rome: “NO IM ROME!”

*Repeat with both sides growing louder.*

[eastromangaming]

Basil the second and his new British allies would do a little trolling in the “holy” “Roman” “empire”

[byzantineempire]

A Roman Dual Monarchy with the title of the Western Empire, that is one hell of a time line.

[Goldenslayer]

Ah, it's my lucky day, hehe. Well done, another quality video, and this time, on a rarely covered topic.

[orjelmort]

What if nepos survived, his dynasty then retook the west together with Justinian but then lost the Italian lands from the longobards and having the western Roman Empire remaining in the Balkans surviving the avars and defeating and assimilating the Slavic invaders

[mperorsimonthegreat]

A Romance Speaking British empire is a sight worth seeing

[LegateLynx]

I think Roman Britain would at least still be syncretic with British Celtic culture as it was to a degree in Gaul. In real life, there was the sub Roman period, in which the Welsh and Romans persisted for a time in late Rome and after the fall of Western Rome but before the Anglo-Saxons. They defended against the Anglo-Saxons at Badon mount. King Arthur is sometimes identified with Constantine III iirc.

The exonym Welsh is also interesting because it is related to the Old High German Welsch referring to Italians. One tribe the Germans fought were called the Volcae by the Romans, and this term by extension became any foreigner but specifically Romans. For living among the Romans the Gothic kings of Italy were called the Valagothi. The synonym for Romanian, Wallachian comes from the same root. The Romans who were not assimilated but the Anglo-Saxons likely assimilated to Welsh culture.

A better-conserved Roman Britain would likely speak a patois of Latin and Brythonic. Insular Celtic is quite different from latin whereas the Continental Celtic at least had vague intelligibility to Greek and Latin. I imagine it would sound Latin with some french silent terminal consonants. It would have significant lexical influence from Highland Gaelic, Irish, and especially Welsh.

Even during the Roman period, there was Gallic Religious syncretism with Cernunnos and Lugnus as with Serapis in Egypt and Mithraic mysteries. This was true of the Seleucids, Ptolemaic Dynasty, and Ancient Greece has a significant cultural imprint from the Scythians who bordered their Pontic emporia.

The point is the Romans in Britain would be like Mozarabic Latins in Andalusia, or 7th century Italians who weren’t quite clearly distinct from Romans or Italian cultures. The Celtic Byzantines idea is pretty accurate.

[jerome]

Was looking for a scenario like this for a long time. Looking forward if you decide to continue this

[degamegang]

Honestly if the Western romans only saw how good defendible britain was they could have easily survived they would just have to move the capital from Rome to Londinium build up a good navy and take the rest of the island by force but sadly they never saw that big potential 😔

[fatboibrian]

Great video! really hope we get a part 2

[ri]

this is one of my favorite roman alt history

[micahistory]

A very interesting timeline for sure, you sure love these roman alternate histories

[NeveroOn]

@Bulgarian Empire Mapping What if Justinian named Belisarius West Roman emperor when the goths offered him kingship? Man probably could've managed it if his rule was hands off, and the Byzantine's still could've recalled their forces to deal with Darius.