@Leviathan: Indeed, I think the peace terms between the Romans and Germany will be the most interesting part of this whole affair; Will Andronikos truly be able to achieve such a tremendous victory, one that will be capable of knocking the "Roman Empire" bit out of the "Holy Roman Empire"? And if so, what will the Arpad Empire be called then? I know a question regarding a name change seems trivial now, but after this Empire is no longer Roman (even in name, after all the Eastern Romans of this era are Greeks anyway), the Arpad dynasty might have a much harder time keeping it's realm intact, and much duress could follow: The German nobles would, after such a great concession to the Greeks, finally have a new reason to rise up against their liege. Or, who knows, the Empire could, at least in its present state, be abolished half a millennium sooner than IRL, and be replaced with a much more centralized German Empire. Though I don't agree with you on one point: I doubt that, after renouncing their claim on the title of "Roman Emperor", the Germans would be able to get it back very easily:
a) After such a great defeat of the Papacy, France, and the HRE at the hands of the Greeks, would these 3 parties really be on such good terms? German relations with the Papacy are fragile at best even now, let's not forget that the only reason the HRE is not fighting on the Byzantine side is because Hesso thinks they poisoned his sister; and nothing more. After the hypothetical Roman victory, Andronikos will most probably explain to him that this is a lie during the peace talks. For all we now, Hesso might attack the West in retribution, not ask for an Imperial crown from them, and the same goes for his heir.
b) If Hesso were to give up the Imperial Crown, would the papacy truly give his heir another one, even if they were on the best of terms? If the Pope does so, the Imperial title given out by him will lose a lot of its influence and authority if he hands it out like candy to every descendant of an ex-Emperor who loses it rightfully in a peace treaty. Plus, with Byzantium justly dissolving the German claims on the title in a fair fight, would the other Christian nations truly view the Arpad state as an Empire afterwards, even with the Pope's blessing? Let's not forget that the Papacy itself has lost a lot of its authority after losing Rome and Italy. No, for the Pope to renew the lost German claims to a Roman throne, the currently all-powerful Roman Empire will need to be severely weakened, and after beating France, the HRE, and the Papacy at once, that would take a good few years, and maybe a distant descendant of Hesso's.
But most importantly: all this is a valid discussion point only after a
Roman victory. Right now, that seems quite far-fetched.
@Tommy: For the Romans to win, every theatre of war needs to play out exactly as Andronikos has planned it, with particular timing, and that is assuming no new theatres are opened up in the meantime (like Danes or some other nation using the chance to strike). And in the Roman Empire...things rarely work out exactly according to plan
But seriously, I don't think there's much room for wartime improvisation this time around. And even the far-seeing BT stated that the Roman Empire was at its zenith a few updates ago. As an old Balkan saying goes:
"From the top of the hill, every road leads down."