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Nice job with the ERE.
 
This wont be much of a spoiler since i already mentioned it in the last chapter. ERE is done for, sadly in this playthru i never had the opportunity to face a strong Rome, its just felt apart in few years after... Even after i modded it adding strong bonuses to keep it togheter. In my previous game, i really did have a very strong Roman Empire, however i didnt survive. Dacia was conquered by barbarians and Cappadocia by the end of 700s... It probably was even greater and more interesting for me to play than this AAR, but i wanted a Dacian Empire no matter what, apparently for that, Rome had to die very early.
 
Good going on defeating Rome!
 
Chapter 8 : The unpious king 131-145
The Unpious King 131-145

Rubbostes consolidated his power in 131, but within a few months, he was steering the kingdom into dangerous waters. On the day of his coronation, he received unsettling news: 15,000 slaves had rebelled all over Maladina due to the harsh conditions they faced. During that period, Dacia was the worst place to be a slave, as they were forced to work continuously on building roads, aqueducts, temples, and fortifications throughout the kingdom.
The new client state was Thracia, a somewhat provisional duchy personally ruled by Rubbostes, before it was integrated into the kingdom in the next decade. Rubbostes considered the cities in Thracia to be too Roman to be directly annexed, and had to maintain the promise of creating a Thracian kingdom to avoid further rebellions.
However, this only partially worked, as thousands of lightly armed militia rose up to overthrow Rubbostes and establish a local king. Many Thracians were not happy with Dacia's involvement, as it was not freedom but merely a change of management. The army brutally suppressed the rebels.

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I was unsure how to proceed with the next chapters, as they didn't include any wars or conquests of significance, but rather internal conflicts. I decided to include fewer images and no screenshots, as I thought it would be rather dull to see a long list of defeated rebels. Instead, I opted for a summarized map of all that happened, making it easier to see their impact and to put more quality into the narrative. These events represent a perfect opportunity to break the unrealistic winning streak of the kingdom and to show the impactful and realistic consequences of unrestricted conquests and expansion, not to mention the careless governance of my rulers.

Just a few months passed before a second rebellion rose again in Maladina, destroying much of what had been built. Almost 20,000 men, consisting of both slaves and free Illyrians, all had one desire: an independent Illyrian kingdom. The new occupation was even worse than the Roman one, with the newly conquered lands subjected to Dacianization. Maladina was a hotbed of rebellions and it was apparently contagious, as 10,000 Gothic barbarians rose up in Pannensis. Following the example of their fellow tribesmen, the Gepids revolted in the directly annexed lands. The situation would only get worse in 135, with rebels fighting against each other across all the client states. The death of Deceneus left a great vacuum of power, and Rubbostes, although a capable man, lacked the talent of his predecessor and was unable to maintain order over the strict boundaries of the kingdom.
In 138, he made a most controversial decision for his time. The king converted to Christianity, which had become the official religion of East Rome a few years prior. The majority of the population was already long-time Christian. He hoped that, by having the same religion, he could arrange royal marriages and easily control the falling empire, making it a perfect puppet.

Chronicles describe him as a greedy, ruthless, and impious man. If he didn't follow the holy practices of Zalmoxism before, he cared even less about Christianity. It was simply something convenient to convert to, a matter of power and politics.
After his decision, royal decrees were made all over Dacia in just one week, making the practice of Zalmoxism forbidden and all the temples were closed. The newest client state, Thracia, was almost entirely Christian.

Maladina and Pannensis, on the other hand, had only recently been converted almost entirely to Zalmoxism, and now they had to embrace a new faith again. The few hopes of finally stabilizing Maladina and making it a self-sufficient client kingdom, capable of defending itself from internal rebellions, were completely shattered. Pannensis, smaller in comparison of land and population, was more stable and had a stronger military.

Dacia was now about to face decades of devastation and civil war, something Rubbostes was not aware of at the moment of his decision. He thought he could manage it by stripping the disloyal Zalmoxist pileati of their possessions. The loyal ones could keep their faith, but in public they would declare themselves believers in the word of Christ and help in the total efforts to convert the population to the new religion. Their children would also be slowly indoctrinated into Christianity. This was a far too optimistic prediction, as the next year over forty thousand peasants, slaves, and armed pileati, refusing to convert to the new false religion, rose to arms. The Dacian army barely numbered twelve thousand men due to previous fights and massive desertions.

The kingdom was in absolute turmoil, with the countryside witnessing continuous bloody battles between the royal army, the pileati fighting amongst themselves, slaves, and comati (peasants). The slaves were the first to be crushed, but not before causing gigantic damages and rising again in the future. The comati were oppressed by both warring factions, making their already hard life completely miserable, and inciting them to rise up and fight against both, resulting in the biggest human losses.

Rubbostes, desperate, took every single able-bodied man and recruited them into his own army, leaving Maladina and Pannensis completely undefendable. Thracia was far more stable, and he did not dare have another rebellion on his hands. The once prosperous and rich treasury was becoming emptier and emptier every day, as paying and equipping thousands of mercenaries was extremely costly.

Outside the borders of Dacia, apparently in 142, the Gepids were subjugated by the Quadia, who themselves were forced to earlier migrate east into Gepid territory by the Vandals and Goths. East Rome had to throw thousands of men against the unstoppable Parthia, which was now reclaiming the legacy of the Achaemenid Empire and against the rebelling pretenders at the same time.

By the same time, Dacia had finally managed to defeat all the rebellions, for the time being. Another huge one was about to erupt soon enough. Over twenty thousand well-armed heavy infantry units were marching into Argidava, a city just a few days from Sarmisegetuza. They were led by a man named Burebista, having the same name as the legendary Burebista who had unified Dacia into an empire a long time ago. For over a year, the two armies bided their time before reaching a conclusive confrontation.

Meanwhile, Parthia took more land from East Rome, leaving its eastern part only in Anatolia. Pontus and Bosphorus took advantage of the empire's weakness to declare independence and ally themselves with Parthia, effectively becoming nominally client states. Parthia viewed Dacia as the biggest power in the region, despite over a decade of continuous civil war. An insult and declaration of rivalry were sent. All commerce was cut with Parthia, owning vital territory, was a heavy blow for Dacia. This was exactly what the Parthian king was expecting. Launching a direct campaign against Dacia would prove risky, but a prolonged trade war would damage the already strained kingdom.

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Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, the rising tribes of Burgundians proved hostile towards Dacia, seeing the kingdom as a potential land to settle and expand its growing power. On the bright side, Roman Egypt, fearing total Parthian domination in the near future, decided to open a new trade route, creating friendly relations. Such a new trade would also benefit East Rome immensely, helping it recover from the biggest civil war it had experienced after its disastrous loss against Parthia earlier. The new trade route would allow the "rotten corpse" of Byzantium to persist for more years, as quoted by a Roman-Egyptian historian. Dacia imported massively from Roman Egypt, from food to weapons, to supply the increasing demand in the continuous civil war. The beneficiary would later use this vast wealth accumulated to wage wars across the region, threatening Parthia itself. After its collapse, Dacia would conquer territories all over Africa and the Middle East. Until the Jewish dynasty took power, creating instability, Dacia later arrived and delivered the final blow to an unstable empire, but that is still centuries ahead for now.

With the new trade open, Rubbostes finally equipped his army with the finest weapons and armor he could import, Roman quality, late Roman quality, produced in Egypt. The peak of Roman engineering was extremely costly to produce and maintain, but sturdy and flexible enough. Burebista, in the meantime, had reached around twenty thousand troops of Dacians. The king had over thirty thousand men, however, less than a third were Dacians, everyone else being mercenaries.

Rubbobostes took the initiative and marched from Sarmisegetuza to Argidava. The battle took place near the city in the mountains. Burebista was an ambitious and capable man, but he couldn't beat the experience of the king, who had been through constant battles for fifteen years now. He split his huge army in half and surrounded Burebista, slaughtering all of his twenty thousand men, all Dacians. Not satisfied, he even sent his Dacian contingent to attack first and later ordered the mercenaries to kill every deserter. Heavy losses were also seen on the royal faction. The first and most brutal war Dacia has seen on its own land has ended, but this would be far from the end.


Argidava was almost completely wiped off the map after months of siege. The capital of the rebels was sacked and burned for days, which was even too much for the times. But Rubbobostes didn't stop there. He paraded the decapitated heads of the rebels' leaders on the streets of Sarmisegetuza along with macabre depictions of Dacians being slaughtered -- not barbarians or Romans, but Dacians. Historians of the time describe this event as surreal. As the carts passed by, the crowd was completely silent. To everyone, it seemed like a surreal moment, but it was not. This was too much even for his most loyal and stubborn supporters. Rubbobostes had crossed the line. Just a day later, he was found dead in his bed, having been poisoned.


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Quite a turmoil. And so, it seems, Dacia's future has been decided to be a Christian one. Or...?
 
Quite a turmoil. And so, it seems, Dacia's future has been decided to be a Christian one. Or...?
Who knows, i've finished my narrative, time to make the map now. Luckily the easiest part now.
 
Chapter 9 : The rule of pileati 146–170
The Rule of Pileati 146 – 170

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A representation of Rubbostes II Aedi, as he gives orders during the night to counter-attack the incoming coalition against him. Half of these men would betray him and desert from his army, leaving him with almost six thousand. He was made a saint during medieval times, praised as a martyr who stood against the hordes of pagans and heretics.

With the sudden death of the king, the situation became very unstable in the kingdom once again. A relative of Rubbostes, more precisely his new nephew, tried to quickly march six thousand troops on Sarmisegetuza and seize the city and power since he wasn't in the capital during the assassination. He had been designated as the successor to Rubbostes. Although this wasn't his name, he declared himself Rubbostes II Aedi, from the tribe they originally belonged to and ruled. In fact, many pileati would take the name of the tribe they used as a second name or from the place they came from for newer dynasties. The goal was simple: assert his rightful rule and execute the traitors responsible for the demise of his uncle. Things didn't go as planned. He was betrayed, and before his arrival, fourteen thousand troops belonging to Dacia and the three client states were expecting him. Many Christian pileati were not happy under the previous administration and feared his successor, infamous for being a cruel and ruthless man like his uncle, would purge quite a few pileati families without much consideration.

Most of the army was quickly routed, but the mercenary contingent fought to the bitter end, and among the dead was Rubbostes II Aedi himself. It was an unfortunate accident since a reasonable compromise had been made between the two allied factions. Defeating the new king would have forced him to negotiate and accept the new limitations to his power. Now that he was dead, everything fell apart quickly, and any reconciliation between the two religions was impossible. Accusations were flying from both sides, each accusing the other of being responsible for the death of the king. The truth is, whether Rubbostes II Aedi died in battle or was taken prisoner and executed will never be known.
For the next few years, a weak peace reigned over the kingdom. Kings rose and were deposed from power from one faction or another. Some were killed, and some just decided to step down under great pressure or just out of fear for their lives, with most of them ruling for only around half a year.
In 150, stability was finally broken by three almost simultaneous revolts. Slaves in Maladina and Pannensis revolted, and being close to each other, they managed to unify, boasting a number equal to the Dacian army. Before the army managed to organize and march on the rebels, a third tribesmen revolt in the north near the barbarian lands, tired of constant oppression and overtaxation, demanding a degree of autonomy.
The zalmoxist pileati decided to use this opportunity to their advantage, using the excuse to deal with the barbarians first, as they were closer to them, they left the chalcedonian army to bleed itself, putting down the revolts. It soon became clear that they did not face the barbarians in the north, and the entire zalmoxist army took a completely different route. The rebellion had to be put down. Marching again all across Dacia, the tired troops finally engaged and defeated them in 151.

Under ten thousand men remained in the Dacian army, while the pileati from the east assembled over twenty thousand men. The Chalcedonians now had to suffer odds two to one. Defeat was imminent.
A hasty recruitment of Pannensis mercenaries made the army reach almost twenty thousand. The Dacian treasury was being slowly consumed. Roman-Egyptian equipment also played a very important role, which the impoverished east pileati could not afford.
The attacking army was caught completely by surprise. With slightly fewer men but better equipment, the Christians defeated them, but failed to deal a fatal blow. It was somehow only a minor skirmish as the attackers decided to quickly retreat. It was a tactical victory but a strategic blunder.
A favorable deal could not be negotiated for one side or another, and a cold white peace was established.
The previous establishment was kept, with more puppet kings, overly increasing warring pileati between them like in the past decades. If one could have been seen it as a weakness in a kingdom, it was also its strength. The highly militarized coalitions inside the kingdom discouraged almost any raid or invasion because of how easily they would ally between them to repel any attack and again fight against each other. It continued like this until in 154, when a new king took power, Roigos Saldense.

Two years later, the same army rose to rebellion again, and this time it was over thirty thousand men. However, before the confrontation, at least a third of the army died of an unknown plague. Near the city of Zusidava, the already collapsing army was routed completely. Unfortunately, the king died of the plague too, only after two years of rule.

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Roigos Saldense, a man who rose to power from humble origins, proved himself as a brave soldier during the reigns of Deceneus the Great and Rubbostes the Tyrant, where he was awarded the rank of nobility for his valorous actions. Described as a tolerant man, ready to settle once and for all the issues that plagued the kingdom.

After his last battle, he planned to pardon completely any side and institute a decentralized kingdom, making the title of king only a supervisor of order and peace and a supreme judge, instituting a sort of loose democracy where each most powerful city would control its surroundings and cooperate with its neighbors. A very ambitious and way-ahead-of-its-time political planning.

Dacia would become a loose federation of smaller city-states bound together by the need to defend each other, making internal expansion impossible, but also any external one too. He has lived his entire life through war and devastation, pushing for prosperity and peace instead of war and destruction. He wanted an isolationist kingdom of city-states overseen by the representative role of the king.

As absurd as it may seem for the time, too many were tired of continuous war and he had many supporters, even among the most powerful ones. The nobles of the old faith saw this as an attempt to completely neutralize them, and another civil war started, short but with strong consequences. For the second time, Dacia lost another chance to tolerate both religions. It looked like one was bound to prevail, and only time would tell. After all, the century of civil war was entering its second half. The troubles in Dacia were far from over.

Uncertain rule by a constantly arguing aristocratic oligarchy followed, until in 160, for the first time in Dacian history, a woman took control. The daughter of Rubbostes II Aedi took control. It wasn't really real control, but an opportunity the east Pileati used against the western counterpart. It was a very controversial decision for the time, not only was she a woman, but she was also very young. In reality, she was nothing more than a puppet the Zalmoxists could control, citing she was a legitimate child of a legitimate heir the Chalcedonians murdered on the battlefield years ago. The reign of Vezina Aedi was short-lived, and she would have a minimal role in her time. Forgotten for many centuries, she was later rediscovered by the monks, and she was made a saint. She and her family would find refuge in the League of Urbinum, and the Aedi dynasty would resist for more centuries, proving at a certain point the stepping stone for the Dacian Intervention in Italy, starting the Italic Wars and triggering the formation of the Holy Roman Empire after a few centuries of oppression.
Four years after her coronation, a combined rebellion in Pannensis, Maladina, and Thrace erupted. The locally appointed Pileati refused to acknowledge the new laws not so long ago enacted. To make things worse, a new emperor succeeded in Egypt, and he was clearly anti-Dacian. All previously friendly relations were cut, and a rivalry status was established again.

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A professional army numbering forty thousand was reduced to mere seven thousand men.

In 167, a new army of twenty thousand well-equipped and trained, mostly comprised of heavy infantry with a few contingents of archers and the rest being siege equipment and personnel, rose up in the east and was again marching to take Sarmisegetuza. The royal army was under seven thousand men, mostly light infantry with some royal heavy cavalry. Such a poorly equipped army would shatter in front of the enemy. The attackers gambled everything on this final war.

In an act that would be described by many historians as the act of shame from both parties, Sarmisegetuza was taken after a long siege before another army could be recruited in time from the south and west of the kingdom. The entire city was cleansed. It isn't clear if it was an order from the beginning or just the consequence of a long plunder and pillage after months and months of harsh siege. Many of its inhabitants escaped, but many more were killed and made slaves. Not even the nobles were spared, most of whom remained being executed as traitors of the kingdom and the only true faith.

A Greek historian who was visiting the kingdom noted that it appeared to be in ad odd state of peace and tranquility after all the atrocities. He wrote:
“Not a living creature was spared in the city, the biggest and most populous of all Dacia and perhaps of the entire known world. Commoners and nobles were all killed, and not even the slaves and animals were spared. They were accused of worshipping a false god or being possessed by evil. Then, the old faith replaced the new, as the original inhabitants were no more, and new peasants were forced to move to the heart-bleeding capital of the kingdom, while the victorious nobles were triumphantly claiming the spoils of war and riches left in the city.”

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After hearing about the massacre in the city, the newly recruited royal army hurried to occupy advantageous key points and maybe ambush the rebels. In 169, the ambush was launched in the forests near Arcidava.

Despite a perfectly executed maneuver to counter the enemy, half the army was lost in action, while the enemy lost slightly more, five thousand men, which was too much for the attackers, who had to retreat hastily. Sadly for them, after a continuous and quick pursuit, highly risky for the attackers because of the almost complete disorganization of the enemy, the enemy could have easily launched a counter attack to crush them, even though heavily outnumbered. However, such thoughts never crossed the mind of the current general, Cotiso the Coward, as he was called by later generations. He needlessly let his troops be slaughtered because of his indecisive tactics. He was too preoccupied with escaping and fortifying himself in a friendly city in the south and hoping a siege wouldn't come. The mastermind behind the ambush died. Uncertain sources claim him to be a relative of the famous general Oroles the Wall. He was caught just outside the city of Arcidava, which refused to let them enter for fear of being all killed, like in Sarmisegetuza, as the news was spreading even outside Dacia. While he was needlessly trying to siege Arcidava to capture the city and finally fortify it, his army perished along with him. Following the spring of the next year, the kingdom was again under the old establishment. Was the old finally triumphing? It could have been so, but something deadly was approaching the city, the kingdom, and the entire continent.


A new plague appeared, rumored to have come from Egypt, and then it spread to East Rome. In a matter of time, all of Europe was hit. Dacia was hit particularly hard, with as much as a third of the population in some areas being killed and the army being devastated. The capital was hit particularly hard, killing as much as half of its new inhabitants. The plague lasted from 169 to 180 in Dacia and as far as 190 in some parts of Europe. Dacia was hit in the earliest date. It was called the Byzantine Plague.

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Finally the chapter is out, halfway making the maps i realized i had serious plot holes and i ended up rewritting it 3 times and im still half content with it. Said this, i will try at least to make the 3rd and final chapter of this bloody civil war more interesting
 
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Chapter 10 : End of the crisis 171–188
End of the crisis 171 – 188

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Having lack of records of the epidemic in Dacia, as they were burried in time, a rapresentation in the city of Urbinum in the League of Urbinum as the city, once small, grew becoming an important cultural and trading harbour. It is comminly agreed that the fall of the league was caused by the plague, as the most important cities were hit particularly hard, the league lost slowly but constantly its power in the region till its ultimate demise in 400s.

The world was about to change like never before. An old era was finishing and a new one was commencing.
The zalmoxist pileati finally achieved the victory they struggled for many decades. It however came at a price, a price that they will have to pay in the next years. A new king was still not elected. It wont be elected till the final showdown between the two faiths, when only one will survive in Dacia and one will become an exiled faith that will survive for a surprising amount of centuries outside the borders of the kingdom.

The winners had their own plans for Dacia. A new king was out of the question. The memories were still too vivid in the collective mind to let another king do whatever he wanted to do. The first one to suffer were indeed the zalmoxist ones, who decided to not take part in the new faith. The oligarchy would remain, the chalcedonian pileati would, also, lose much of their influence and power and become always subordinate. They did not stop here, to make sure the christianity would never rise and become a menace again, the chalcedonian part of the army was completly disbanded. The christians were forbidden to serve in the army or become mercenaries, altought the last one was questionable and rarely respected. They were only allowed to defend their homes from the raids or incoming invasions. The only way to access the military career was to abbandon the new faith swear fedelty to the old one. This was a great mistake. Without realizing what was about to come, thousands were sent to their homes.

The Byzantine Plague would soon cover much of Europe. This plague would profoundly change the balance of power in Europe and re-write history in a total and complete different way otherwise would not have happened.

In the year 170 the kingdom stood at its lowest point. During the civil war travel was delayed or rerouted or aborted all togheter. Festivals, gatherings, sporting events all canceled. The economy plunged and bodies piled up. Then the Byzantine Plague came.
This pestulence spiraled east, west, north and south, crossing borders then seas as it overwhelmed the world. People panicked, doctors were baffled, administrations dwadled and failed.


Where it came from?

Roman-egyptian emperor and co-emperor led the legions in a victorious war against Parthia. Yet they brought home more than treasures plundered from Parthian temples. Most likely the roman-egyptians brought smallpox a disease carried to Parthia by the silk road from far east. As the legions took positions across all the empire and marched into East Rome for some minor concessions. The unkowngly spread the disease.

The soldiers in Dacia, suffered particularly, similarly to roman-egyptian legions, they lived in tighly packed barracks and did not consider hygiene to be a priority. Not surprisingly the plague spread fast.

Especially in Roman Egypt, since there the army did much trade cities and towns the disease spread fast there aswell, reaching Dacia in weeks. Across all the Mediterranean, great merchants who commended whole fleets and shop keepers working in the main streets, found themselves out of business because nobody wanted to go out and trade. Thousands of middle class citizens in Dacia, League of Urbinum, Roman-Egypt aswell Eastern Rome, almost always in defensive wars against the stronger neighbours and even Gallia, the post-roman provinces that mainted a fairly roman style of life there, were reduced to abject poverty. The sub-roman states in Hispania were hit too. The Western Roman empire fell nominally, but states governed in roman style, roman style of life mixed with local customs remained. A strong presence was still there, something the plague was about to change. The epidemic ravaged thru almost all the former half of empire, and eastern counterparts for the next 21 years.
Roman-Egypt and Eastern Rome, being by this time still considered roman and heirs to old Rome. It was said that what remained of the Roman Empire was divided between the weak East Rome and the powerful and rich Roman-Egypt.

It is estimated that 8 to 15 milion had died only of plague. With so many dead the germanic tribes will start an invasion of the western romans states and create new kingdoms, cultures... Only the League of Urbinum will endure the most, preserving the roman culture for a longer time, even after its eventual fall.

At the height of the outbreaking in Sarmisegetuza, one thousand people died each day, in an already devastated and depopulated city not too long ago.

Ironically this saved Dacia. It caused almost as many deaths as the war. Yet the invading forces and raiders brought the smallpox to their lands they were supposed to make bigger and richer and this plague would devastate some tribes that will migrate, this migration would cause a domino effect, like said earlier, that will cause the collapse of the western roman states.

Christianity was only popular in the biggest cities of East Rome and half Dacia. This changed, because christian priests made the special effort to visit the plague victims despite the risk to their health, this deep care for the poor helped spreading christianity in the League of Urbinum and Gallia, Roman-Egypt still resisted the spreading faith and the hispanian peninsula the path of a new religious heresy started some time later. By the beggining of the third century there would several thousands christians within the League, Gallia and Dacian puppets, while Dacia would be almost entirly christian as East Rome. Roman-Egypt would take a different path, a path that later would destroy the empire, but not before fighting against Dacia in Anatolia and almost completly obliterating its army, but thats a tale for another time.


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Four thousand men, remained in the Dacian army in 171. Not only the plague was spreading thru kingdom but also rebellions. Chalcedonian insurections against the new rule, or the old rule being reestablished, either way, rebellions in Maladina and Dacia took place. The total number of rebels being eighteen to twenty thousand men, the kingdom had four thousand...
In 172 the army grew to seven thousand and with further reinforcements, to twenty thousand. A number that would not stay that high for long.

The year 173 came and despite a clear numerical and equipment advantage, little to no progress was made. The rebellions had not been put down, the army was split across all over the kingdom, the nobilty panicked left the cities to escape the epidemic, the army was dying by each passing day and to make things worse fifteen thousand chalcedonian militia rose to arms to opose the incompentent government. Such army rose in east, soon the zalmoxist faith would find itself in minority in the kingdom and during the final battle less than a third of the kingdom would be zalmoxist as the christianity would spread as never before.

This would not mean the end of the old faith, that will survive for centuries outside the borders of kingdom as the exiles left the kingdom for other lands to settle, bringing with them technology and knowledge, having a lasting impact on nearby tribes that would, centuries ahead, slowly submit the neighbours and create something bigger, now back to the current situation.

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Famine was striking Dacia, severe famine in many parts of the kingdom. The army was tiny and ineffective. The recruitment was slow, there was a severe lack of military officers. Many running away from the pandemic, many dead, because of the pandemic.
This volatile situation will continue for years, in 176 the biggest rebel army would be defeated while marching on Sarmisegetuza, to take the city again, after a brutal battle the army that managed to recover in part was again in a state of pity and misery as many died during this brutal battle.
Other rebels kept devastating the area outside the direct control of capital, leading to further tragic loss of lives.

Back to one year, 175, Pannensis “officially” annexed Dacian land, “rebels” demanded the land to be incorporated into Pannensis. It was the on the orders of the governor that was ruling the client-state. A province that managed to avoid the plague, was put under his temporary protection, while he transefered there, justifing it as temporary proction against western raiders and this matter he was actually right. Obviously he build large estates and started the expansion of his personal army. If this would have happened during stable and peaceful times, the responsible would be immediatly court trialed and executed for high treason against the kingdom, if. During the situation of those years, the kingdom was in an almost state of collapse, a central figure lacked, the remaining pileati in power, did what they could to save themselves, their regional power and wealth, no one was there to say anything against, no one really cared.

The overall situation will slighty stabilize in 179, where the last rebel army would be defeated. The lands they controlled simply could not be controlled anymore and simply returned to the kingdom. The peace will reign finally, well no, 180, four new rebellions in one year, the army, could simply not recover fast enough to deal with all the insurections, men were dying like flies. A solution was there, simple enough, but that one had the individual power nor will to enact, resind the law that forbids the chalcedonian to join the army. Soon, soon it would become a disaster, for the governing class, a man was creating his private army somewhere in Pannensis near the border with Dacia in a recently annexed province.


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In 182 a spontaneous chalcedonian rebellion broke in the city of Polondava, once a bastion of zalmoxist faith in the east, the times were changing. The city or Cornidava, soon followed, twenty thousand peasants in total, or what remained of the population of once these prosperous cities, as they were left almost untouched during the chalcedonian raids against the zalmoxists pileati holdings during the reign of Rubbostes the Tyrant. Their proximity to friendly city made them less of a target for the commercial trade routes the cities were bringing, a less fortunate fate for the eastern cities, is well known.

In 184, the army defeated the half of rebels in the city of Nentidava, near Polondava, however the second rebel army suddenly attacked the exhausted army, two third of army were completly oblitared by the rebels. The next year as the army was recovering after the disastrous defeat and lacking any proper commander, after the higher ups have been killed as the highquarter has been stormed by enemies and completly slaughtered. A minor revolt took place in Maladina. By the end of the summer, the army united with a thracian army and marched towards Maladina.

However by 186, while reaching the capital to reinforce an army coming from west launched an all out assault on the zalmoxist remnant of what could barely be called an army.
It was a private army, an army that a man has been recruiting since 175, the future king of Dacia, Spartacos Albocense. The dynasty that would see the transition of Dacia from kingdom to empire, the dynasty that would be brutally murdered in future, but for now is the dynasty that would end once and for all the civil war. The Crisis of the Second Century, that changed Dacia forever.
 
I have a lot of fun writting this aar and making some lore up, very important, since ill have to create a ckii mod from scratch to continue my story. For whose reading but still not have commented yet, please comment, it is always a pleasure to read the comments. As i promised i tried to make the final chapter of this part of the story, better than the previous one, what are your opinions? Was this the most intense one or the previous one ?
 
I have a lot of fun writting this aar and making some lore up, very important, since ill have to create a ckii mod from scratch to continue my story. For whose reading but still not have commented yet, please comment, it is always a pleasure to read the comments. As i promised i tried to make the final chapter of this part of the story, better than the previous one, what are your opinions? Was this the most intense one or the previous one ?

One of the thing I love about this AAR is the map, it really helps the reader understand what is happening and where, and the zalxonite exile are spreading technology into Russia? Or am I simply looking too far and they are just spreading it to the tribes next to Dacia?
 
One of the thing I love about this AAR is the map, it really helps the reader understand what is happening and where, and the zalxonite exile are spreading technology into Russia? Or am I simply looking too far and they are just spreading it to the tribes next to Dacia?
Actually, they are going west, since historically barbarian migrations happened later, i had to find a reason why they would happen earlier, in game after the roman collapse in west and sequentially in east and finally in south, anyway in game the religion really survived in the austro-venetian-bavarian area for quite some time and, i cant really rememeber now, but i will write everything down the road, some nation was zalmoxist indeed. Now that i think, few of what i write did not really happen, i just tend to add a lot of flavour around it, hehe :). Russian regions were very little involved in this timeline, involved at least with Dacia, they sure fought between themselves and with nomands a lot, but that's, thats spoilers for the future.
 
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Chapter 11 : Twenty years of peace 189-209
Twenty years of peace 189-209


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Dacia did not really stay at peace during those twenty years. It had a small border intervention in the south and later one some nobles rebelling because of centralizing policies of Spartacos.
But these were just minor incoveniences looking at what happened a few decades earlier.
A bit of flashback before 189, as the narration stopped at 186, with him defeating the zalmoxists once and for all. What happened during those three years ?

The situation got complicated, sort of, by 180, Dacia was already free of plague and started slowly recovering. Summarizing briefly the events from five years earlier: the chalcedonian most powerful pileati allied togheter to overthrow the unpopular zalmoxist administration. The kingdom was already majority christian, when they decided to strike and they had some popular support, in 175, they mistankenly tought the plague was over. In the cities they tried to set as bases for their military campaign, the massive influx of soldiers facilitated an easy spread of plague, as those cities were recovering, a second wave of plague hit again. They failed, only by weaking everyone, Spartacos was able to undisputedly take over the entire kingdom so fast.

In 187 he consolidated his power in Sarmisegetuza. He controlled most of north-west of Dacia and was “allied” with Pannensis, technically, a client state, subordinate to Dacia, but now was acting like an indipendent entity. He negotiated with the rebels in Pannensis, and allied to them, but they controlled Pannensis, so at this point in time, Pannensis was really indipendent from Dacia. It was a complicated mess. One year later, Pannensis temporally annexed Maladina, a surbordinate state attacking another one, both subordinate to Dacia, normally this would sparkle outrage all over the kingdom and even in the neighbouring civilized states. Normally, the world was changing rapidly, Spartacos was a charismatic and ruthless man and he would jump on the wagon of opportunity.
He adopted the strategy of panem et circenses, a popular method the roman-egyptian emperors were keeping their population in check.

The rebels, now officially, altough only recognized by Spartacos and his supporters, legitimate pannensi soldiers marched into Maladina without spilling one drop of blood and withing two months was annexed. In 188 the south-west and some south estern cities in Dacia, agreed to swear fealty to the new third rising power. During the entire spring and summer, an army of 30.000 men was fielded somewhere near the eastern border. In autumn, Spartacos send an ultimatum, unconditional surrender by everyone, be chalcedonian or zalmoxist pileati he would destroy them all. It obviously was a bluff, to raise such a big army, many towns and villages were emptied to the last man and large part of the army was under equipped. Spartacos instead greatly exagerated the capabilities of his army. He was sure this gamble will pay well and he was right! By the end of 188, Dacia was under his total control, a precarious one, but finally, once again, a single man finally united the struggling kingdom, under one ruler.

He would be praised and future poems and works would be wrote about the one whom saved Dacia, the saviour. Later after his death, he would be santified. Fiction was one thing and reality another, as much as he was described as a pious and virtuous man, he did many things, that at that time would have been easily described as sinful and dishonorable. In the end, he brought stability and peace, he was victor.

In 189 he issued the edict of Argidava where the zalmoxist faith was forbidden in Dacia. It did not stop only there, two years later, the edict was expanded, and it had dire consequences for many. It stated that any zalmoxist believer would be expulsed from the kingdom and their wealth confiscated. Pesants would be able to convert and thus be forgiven, an argument was introduced that they were illiterate and suffered hard years of war and plague and thus could not decide what was good and bad, they were viewed as cattle, only good for collect taxes from and send them into war to conquer more lands for their lords and make them richer, Spartacos was not any different from the previous administration. The pileati were excluded obviously, he orderered the assassination of the most prone to rebellion and confiscated wast amounts of wealth from the submissive ones and kicked them outside Dacia, revoking the status of nobles, they were merely freemen now.

The majority whom left Dacia migrated to Pannensis. Pannensis now was no several times larger and could soon have an army comparable to Dacia, the situation could turn yet into another war at any point now, if Spartacos was to play his cards poorly.

He instead had a great hand and played it aswell. In 192 an internal struggler for power, in Pannensis, occured, an important figure was assasinated and the newly “allied” kingdom to Dacia was having internal problems. From a legal point of view, Pannensis was still subordinate to Dacia, but in reality has become an indipendent entity that gained indipendence, seized the large state of Maladina, without any say from Spartacos, since he needed their support.

In one year he managed to imprison all the powerful figures in Greater Pannensis, as it was started to been called and put an end to the new kingdom, dividing to the previous borders of 175. The indipendence has ended. He had some degree of autority in Greater Pannensis, he used the enemies of his enemies to put the situation under control, legally he was allowed to arrest the ruling elite for treason, because an official statement where Greater Pannensis was a sovereign kingdom was never issued.

In past he promised the rebels that they will keep the power, he now went back on his word and had them all executed within days. After all, he was now the king, the legitimate king of Dacia, as everyone agreed peacefully or... forcefully. They were just dangerous elements he had to get rid of, he needed the taxes of Pannensis and Maladina but most importantly the mediterranean trade.

After this he divided most of Maladina and gave land to his loyal supporters. The kingdom, was still one, but an early form of feudal system was introduced for the first time in Dacia.

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In 194, a suspicious seccession occured, Spartacos remained silent and let events to unfold. More than half of Pannensis secceded in the newly formed kingdom of Gotinia.
Historians suspect, Spartacos was worried of the growing power of Pannensis, the much smaller state, had managed to influence the bigger kingdom and ambitiously took large chunks of land.
The “barbarian” kingdom of Gotinia, as Spartacos implied, had to leave Dacia, rather be allies, than subjugate them and have to worry constantly about rebellions. It was all a fabrication, Pannensis, had been extremly stable in the past decades, the rebellions targeting specifically governemnt buildings, as they have been put down over and over, and indipendentist sentiment was growing in the population, that saw itself, despite many dacians living there, as not dacian. They were tired to constantly fund wars, pay massive annual tributes and provide a costant flow of manpower.
The people of Gotinia were as civilized as the people in Rome, roads and infrastructures were build across all the kingdom. The alliance was officially formalised a year later.

In 198 news arrived that a small kingdom has left East Rome. Spartacos was focused on reviving Dacia and bring prosperity, but this was an opportunity too good to miss. Especially on personal request of the ruling noble in Thracia. Thracia has been relativly neutral during the civil war, suffered mildly during the pandemic and recovered fast. Amadocus of Thracia, the current ruler, requested dacian intervention in Odrysia. He argumented the odrysians were weak and East Rome would not waste much time to reconquer them back.

A jointed invasion of Odrysia started in 202, Spartacos sent two armies and Amadocus personally commanded the thracian army. By the end of the year, despite the valiant effort, most of Odrysia was captured. It took a considerable time to recruit a proper army, Odrysia was no threat, if however East Rome was to object, Dacia would have to fight with the two regional powers, possibly allied against the common foe, a possibility Spartacos did not want to discard.

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Meanwhile a considerable force of 20.000 were sent marching rapidly to the capital to siege the city and kill Spartacos. Pileati from cities in south-east were unhappy with his efforts of centralization. The rise of such a big army worried them greatly, his new laws were now backed by his military power and few now could really oppose him, the last attempt was made, the last battle the pileati, that plunged Dacia in decades of endless war, were willing to try, all or nothing. Nothing was achieved.

Almost as the city was about to be taken, 35.000 stormed the besiegers and defeated them, while Amadocus concluded the campaign on his own. Dacia took the coastal cities, leaving Thracia land locked and dependent on dacian merchant ships. Excluding this inconvinient Thracia doubled its size.

After this incident many nobles fled the kingdom, bringing the riches with them, some being easy pray on the sea, to pirats, but some taking important roles, in the lands they ran, one day they will return and that would be an ugly day for Dacia.

East Rome felt very threatened after such an unjustified conquest, troops just marched and took land. The emperor in Byzantion was very concerned. Should he mobilize and strike back? But in the first place if he was not able to hold togheter Odrysia. The problems were many and the solutions few. He decided to send an envoy to Dacia along with gifts to improve the situation with the dacians. Spartacos, looked like a resonable man and he would be able to negotiate a non-aggression pact. Ioannes V Phouskarnaki, knew that Dacia had finally ended it's long civil war and now was quite peaceful, Odrysia, was indeed a golden opportunity, only fools would have not taken. Dacia was not the only one problem. The empire had lost over and over lands to Cappadocia and Pontus.

In 207, Spartacos enforced christianity Pannensis and Maladina. The dacian army has been reduced to 23.000, but was a professional standing army. Few years earlier, the destroyed dacian fleet, was slowly revived, much of funds being directed to the army, but it was an important step.

In 208 Cappadocia declared another war to East Rome, the emperor sent another envoy to Dacia, the relations were rapidly improving between the two powers. Ioannes guaranteed that Dacia would have more influence over the sea and some parts of the anatolian region, while Byzantion will be able to control again most of the lost lands. It was a somewhat risky gamble for Ioannes since, Dacia could just roll over everything and just take whatever they wanted, but he had no other better options, Cappadocia was invading mainland Hellas. This call for dacian intervention in the Cappadocian-Byzantine war almost took place. Shortly before 209, Dacia declared that intends to protect to sovereigny of the empire, this greatly worried the attackers, the cappadocians, that now were panicking. Dacia was about to enter the war next year.

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The political situation in 209, it was very volatile during those times and the borders would drastically change in few years.

A year before Dacia would enter in the Byzantine-Cappadocian War to avoid total roman collapse. Cappadocia launched an steady and unrelelentless conquest of East Rome. Another short war tht was supposed to gain control over some lands in Anatolia transformed in a war of total conquest. It is unclear the why of such mindset, as the tribute the romans paid to Cappadocia was plenty and brought great prosperity, taking over the empire, would bring immediate problems, but in the long run, it could be beneficial, so beneficial in fact Cappadocia could become a serious threat to Dacia. As the capital was besieged, a successful naval attack, left the mainland Hellas completly exposed, as only garrisons were defending the principal cities the landed army was simply taking over them with ease. East Rome did not have a fleet to defend itself, even decades before the plague the Roman-Egyptian Empire destroyed to the last ship the east roman fleet. Only trading vessels were allowed, piracy was very common as the trade could not be secured by force, on the the many factors of a never ceasing decline of the empire.
As Parthia fell, new kingdoms slowly rose to power, many were dependent on the whim of the roman-egyptian emperors, gradually as the empire declined and powerful persian kingdoms established again after Parthia, costant warfare engulfed the region.
 
Chapter 12 : The Dacian Campaign: first incursions, 210
The Dacian Campaign: first incursions, 210


Events sometimes unfold in an unpredictable way. For example a massive burgundian invasion, that would force Dacia to not intervene in the Byzantine-Cappadocian War, unfortunatly, it was exactly what happened.

The year is 210, combined army force of 33.000 was slowly but coordinatly marching into East Rome to free captured cities on the border, altough Dacia was not at war officially with Cappadocia, the troops, neverless were marching. When a messanger arrived to Spartacos, the horse almost immediatly collapsed dead and the man handed hastly a plea for urgent help from the northern territories. A storm, a huge storm was coming on the shores of Dacia and was not from the sea but from the cold north. Burgundians, Hermunduri, Lombards, Marcomanni and Pomerani, a massive alliance of tribes was invading Dacia. Needless to say, the plan for intervention in Hellas, was scrambled immediatly. It was not all lost, however, the declaration of indipendence made a lasting effect on Cappadocia. The king, worried, Dacia might invade as a third party and gain the most out of this all out war between the two ionic powers. The cappadocian king, did not knew about the barbarian invasion from north, he previously also sent envoys, to get on the good side of king, assuring him, it would not harm Dacia in any way and would only benefit the country.


The times were dire, Spartacos, had his hands tied, he sent his ultimatum, altough could do nothing for now even if the whole empire would fall. A sort of agreement was reached, where Cappadocia was free to take any byzantine land in anatolia but refrain from conquering lands past Byzantion.

The comminacations were made while the amry was marching towards north, somehow the cappadocians caught up to what was Dacia, war, a foreign war somwhere far north. It was strange that the entire army was moving, what kind of enemy was forcing Dacia, to moblize its entire army and recruit on the way more?

Before not long, in autumn, news spread to Cappadocia too that Dacia was at war with a grand alliance of barbarian tribes. The king disregarded Spartacos' ultimatum and invaded past Byzantion, taking the city and few other important cities, but decided it was unwise to push further, a dacian-byzantine retaliation could be a real possibility soon enough. The best strategy for the time being was forcing East Rome to pay heavy tributes to strenghten the defenses in the area and gather allies, while at the same time trying to keep friendly the dacians. The year 210 ended in complete dacian politcal incapacity, imminent collapse of East Rome and the rising power of Cappadocia.

The times of troubles however were only starting, this would be only the first war with the burgundians, defeated, they will still not fail to cause Dacia problems in future centuries.

Back to Cappadocia, towards the end of the year, Sparatcos decided to revoke his commitment to East Rome and instead accept the friendly request and alliance with Cappadocia, it was more of a non-aggression pact instead of a proper alliance but was the first step. For now, their unrelentless conquest has been put to a halt, East Rome was almost a puppet in their hands, that was the pressing issue Dacia could not ignore but unable to deal with. In the time Dacia was biding its time with Cappadocia, the last one, made strong allies with Alans, Atropatene and some few minor power, the region was suddenly becoming a strange sort of powder keg. The Pontic Kingdom and Palmyrean Kingdom were allied between them and Roman-Egypt was backing both of them, sooner or later a war of massive proportion had to happen.

A year earlier, the great chief of burgundians, Sigismund, conquered the venedi slavic traibes, gaining a lot of manpower, he intended to use againsta Dacia. The tribal alliance force of 45.000 light armed soldiers and an impressive 20.000 light horsemen. Dacia on the other hand, had 15.000 light infantry, 20.000 heavy infantry and 5.000 heavy cavalry. With time, the importance of cavalry had fallen out of use in dacian militarly as the civil war dictated strong use of infantry in the mountainous region of carpathians. Not soon after the start of the war, the withdrawal of troops from Maladina caused a massive slave uprising.

Half of the army, was sent to battle the incoming barbarians, while the other half, moslty belonging to the client states was sent to destroy the rebels, the total number of the troops were as well increasing.

Near the city of Petridava the first engagement happened, as the city was besieged, 24.000 were sent to defeat, 15.000 burgundians and hermunduri, the number was supposed to be bigger, numbering 33.000, but the 18.000 men that were supposed to be there, were far too separated to help in time, Sigismund had to witness helpless as the entirety of his army was butchered. Of 15.000 warriors only few more than 4.000 infantry and barely 1.500 cavarly were able to escape.

This first battle was a complete disaster for the invaders. The morale of the troops plumetted while the presence of Spartacos as commander only boosted the morale of the dacians.

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The next battle, happened in the nearby city of Carsidava, 18.000 marcomanni, leaded by their chief, Vithicab, launched a surprise attack on 5.000 thracian reinforcements, Spartacos rushed to help the unfortunate soldiers, before he was able to do anything, the marcomanni retreated fast, dealing 40% loss to the tracian reinforcement. The reorganised burgundians and hermunduri united to form an army of 28.000 while in north-west 14.000 troops comprised of mixed tribes were crossing into Pannensis and launching heavy raids. The situation with the slaves had not been resolved yet also, splitting the army would result in absolute disaster, the number of barbarians was only growing bigger by each day, no matter how many were killed, these were the conclusion of Spartacos, he was right on most thing, except the growing number of barbarians. In fact the ability to get any significant advantage in the war, made many chiefs doubt about the capabilities of Sigismund as great ruler and conqueror.

Not even a year had passed, and most of the barbarians were retiring, thinking, this war was not worth the gain, the dacian army was an indestructible wall. In autumn the last final battle took place, 11.000 hermunduri were reduced to half by the dacians, before an unorganised retreat, chase was not given, it was pointless, by now even the instigator of this war, Sigismund, retreated all his troops from Dacia, only the hermundurians, were stubborn enough to continue the war, but as they were left alone, they had been easily defeated. This had a great negative impact on Burgundy, as many saw this war as treacherous act to abbandon the allies and let them perish by the hand of dacians. This war, would cause in future an even bigger alliance to form, however unrelated to the direct burgundian-dacian conflict, but unrestricted dacian conquest of germanic lands. In the end these wars only brought nothing if not death and destruction to both sides.

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Dacia did not exactly won this war, it was more a decision of Sigismund to retreat. Some tribes paid a simbolic reparation sum for the devastation caused and Dacia convinced the marcomanni to leave their alliance with Burgundy, because nothing good was to be gained.
The first Burgundian Invasion, however was nothing but a testing ground for Sigismund, he wanted to measure the dacian strenght, it was still not over but Spartacos would not live to see the second war but his son, Tarabostes I Albocense.
 
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Interesting stuff...

It seems as if there will be no Byzantium or Sassania here. There is no glorious conflict between Persia and Eastern Rome.

Looking forward to more!
 
Interesting stuff...

It seems as if there will be no Byzantium or Sassania here. There is no glorious conflict between Persia and Eastern Rome.

Looking forward to more!
Yeah, sadly East Rome was destroyed by the time i finished my civil war. Sassanids never rose to power, it took a very long time, in a balkanized Persia for a serious power to rise and in the end i had to fight a bigger alliance instead of one foe. I was so close taking over Persia, until the Caliphate arrived...
 
Chapter 13 : The successor of Spartacos 211-222
The successor of Spartacos 211-222

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Part of the known world in 222
The war with Burgundy was over, but the king knew, this was only the beginning. His frail health started to deteriorate even faster when he led his army for weeks in the open fields. He would die in 214, and his son Tarabostes will succed him. He was a decent ruler and a capable man, but lacked some of the qualities that made his father a great king. Despite a stable succession, Spartacos made many enemies during his reign, while in his early years he was able to destroy any oposition, as he got older, his control gradually fell. Tarabostes I Albocense, was a military man, focusing his youth in martial education, he became famous, troops under his command were very disciplined and considered elite troops.
In 216 he allied with Cappadocia, it was this alliance, that saved Dacia from complete defeat in the Second Burgundian-Dacian War. Allied with Alania, they almost completly destroyed the Pontic Kingdom, that lost the majority of its lands. Such a severe, was rapidly changing the balance of power in the region.
As Cappadocia was busy with a war elsewhere, opportunists armed themselves and once again the endless fight between noblity and aristocracy started. The battle took place near the capital, as usual the same tactic over and over was used by pileati trying to take over the city quickly... Despite great military command, victory came at a heavy price, Tarabostes also lost his right arm, being cut with sword and all, also many capable commanders died in the same battlefield. Responsables or even suspected one were killed all over Dacia, weaking further its commanding chain.
Managing such a big army became very problematic and the new king, earlier, decided to reduce the size of the professional army, this move looked as a sign of weakness and the nobles moved again. Without many skilled commanders, the military command chain would become only more corrupt and inept. He also failed to forsee the next incoming war, his father knew the burgundians will come back, but the son, was a more simple man. He tought the first war was enough and tought a dear lesson to the barbarians, to never encroach dacian land ever again. A very optimistic and rather dull view. This decision, would almost cost Dacia a dear price.
Under his reign, Dacia, finally assimilated any trace of foreign culture on its own land. The ethnicities might still remain, but at that time, they viewed themseles as dacians. The situation of course was different in the client states only the ruling elite was dacian.

Thracian and Illyrian were the second most diffused cultures in the dacian administration and of course minor barbarian ones, altough at the time of conquests the majority were killed and most of the survivors became slaves, reducing further their numbers. Dacia saw them as a threat, in part it was right and in part it was wrong. With the creation of Gotinia the a great number left Dacia to settle in the new kingdom, only the slaves could not very easily escape. In fact many slave revolts, were aimed to escape into Gotinia, it lasted until the barbarian-dacian kingdom was brutally reconquered after the third century.

Burgundy after retreating, had to come to harsh terms with reality, Sigismund, had promised lands, riches, slaves and glory. None of this was achieved, well except the raid of Pannensis, but Sparatocos left it defensless for a reason while dacian mainland remained untouched. Sigismund was assasinated shortly in 212. His son, Guntomar I took power, he was a man that possessed great military skills and learned a lot from the war in Dacia. First he took care of the responsibles for the death of his father, then he waited, the burgundian army was moslty intact. After this war, the way the burgundians waged war, generally changed. Guntomar, introduced the concept of heavy infantry in the burgundian army, soon other tribes started to take note too. This sudden change in warfare and the previous plague were one the pricipal culprits for the fall of the roman successor kingdoms in western europe. He prepaired his army, waged war against other tribes, further allienating once trusted allies. He conquered the Vandals in west, the slavic tribe of Pomeranians in the north with the Rugii and vassalized the remainants of the gothic tribes in the east. He also made the exceptional decision to give limited autonomy to a gothic enclave inside the kingdom to further increase support from the goths in the kingdom. Despite being alone, few tribes were able to openly oppose and even those were not bordering directly the Burgundian Kingdom and had friendly relations, the small neighbouring tribes, were forced to pay tribute.

While Burgundy was preparing for a second war and Dacia was rebuilding the damage sudden raids brought the known world has changed from the situation of the past years.
Gotinia had its own expasionist plans into Italy, as the barbarian alliances in the north were virtually impossible to crack and Dacia revoked any guarantee of help or assistance afer the burgundian invasion, the kingdom was alone. The Venexias, were the only weak and isolated target as they had territorial disputes with all neighbours, they were viewed as an aggressive foe and nobody would come to their help, on contrary, would only join the side of Gotinia to weaken them. Gotinia will indeed attack them before 222 and will reach its biggest size by the end of the third century.

In Cappadocia huge rebellions broke, both from romans and pontic greeks, they were unhappy under the ruthless cappadocian administration, bigger taxes were imposed on them than previous administrations, after a devastating conquest, while cappadocian citizens were even enjoying some months of tax exemption, everything was weighted on the shoulders of the humiliated and conquered. Dacian reports, speak of numbers big as 40.000 total.
The Pontic Kingdom has been reduced many times the previous size and even Sarmatia, on the brink of total collapse, took wealth and land from an undefended Pontic Tauria, reinvigorating the khanate again, they would rise again, until the final war with Dacia, the war that would decide their fate in the region.

In Italy the situation was tense but stable for the time being. The north-west previous administration had fallen and now a chaotic war amongst tribes started. The League of Urbinum, remained neutral in such conflict, having to deal with a bigger threat, internal poor cohesion, too many rival cities were conspiring against the League, wishing own total indipendence and freedom. The League, was in fact not really a league for some time now, Urbinum, the biggest and strongest city now, was absorbing and dictating own rules to the weakest ones. Rome become a mere simbol, still the biggest city in Italy, but rivaled now by few others, especially Urbinum, which in fact controlled Rome and posed the biggest threat to the other cities. The League now, was a loose federation, that slowly centralized in a repubblic again. A common wish for a new reborn Roman Repubblic was shared by many but to even more, it was an old concept that only brought ruin over the peninsula, a new order had to established, this old school of tought had to be left in the dust of history.
The new order many were wishing so, was the Kingdom of Sardinia, a stable, well defended insular kingdom, with its own expansionist ambitions, ambitions that in the end were never realized as a they conquered by Dacia later. Not before fighting great naval engagements with the dacian fleet and almost destroying it. Even before, fighting Dacia, they were the reason, Vasconia, fell, the mighty kingdom tried to conquer the balearic isles, lost its fleet, much of its army and entered crippling debt, ending the vasconic influence on the peninsula. East Rome still owned some lands in south italy, but they were safe, in fact those lands will remain under eastern roman administration till the very end of the empire, except for a brief period of war and confusion in the League, we will leave it for another time.

Gaul was administered by Gallia, or the Octavian Gaul, under the Octavian dynasty, descendants of Augustus Octavianus, the famous successor of a great statesman, called Gaius Iulius Caesar the same man that ironically conquered Gaul, the same provinces the Octavians were now ruling. The kingdom will persevere until the end of the seventh century, having a history countless bloody wars, great and weak leaders, but in the end the sheer pressure from the growing power of Aquitania and the barbarian tribes, that were not so barbarian and technologically on equal foot if not superior will ultimatly destroy the last bastion of hellenic faith in the world and finally spread christianity in the Central Europe. Initially a ramp state of the collapsed empire, Gaul became the roman successor in the West, until its final dissolution, ironically, the most damage was done by costant internal fighting, court intrigues, assassination of key figures, capable to keep a strong kingdom, or even empire, how some historians dared to call it. No power was able to challenge the mighty Octavian Gaul, if not the Octavian Gaul. Even after the extinction of the dynasty foreigners kept calling it, such a strong impact they left. The dynasty ruled until the first half of the fifth century, after this, a slow but costant decline slowly ate the kingdom from inside, allowing a new balance of power. Ironically the fall of Gaul allowed in the second half of the eight century the formation of the Holy Roman Empire, an otherwise unrealizible dream, as whose who took the place of the old power, were not as mighty nor as powerful.
The small kingdom of Aquitania, was almost a vassal state to Gallia, paying heavy tributes in exchange for protection, protection for not being invaded, of course. Clever leaders will take advantage over a self destructing Gallia to increase their own power, land and wealth.

Hispania was mainly divided in two, same as Gaul, but more equally, one could dare to say. On one hand in the south of the peninsula in a union of three roman provinces another roman successor state was born, Mauretania et Baetica.
Originally, the rump state of Mauretania Tingitana, remained still a loyal roman province, however the rapid and imminent collapse of the West Rome, especially under harsh dacian invasion, forced the romance-african province to become an indipendent kingdom, governed by a roman general, that established his own dinasty, sadly his name was lost. Vague descriptions in other sources talk about a local king, so its safe to assume it was a general of african-romance descendance that assumed the rulership of his homeland and tried to expand further in both Africa and Hispania. In the long run, the kingdom failed at both, taking only parts of each respective zones of interest. In its early conquest, a rapid annexation of the province of Baetica, in Hispania, occured, thus the name, Mauretania et Baetica.
Later the third province was conquered thru war, it was another indipendent roman state, Lusitania, that was allied with the Vascones, a indigenous tribe of the peninsula and both launched a conquest of another roman state: Tarraconensis, originally under protection of East Rome, it remained vulnerable as the east romans decided to retreat, having their own troubles, leaving forever the dream of retaking the West. Tarraconensis, was a sub-roman state, with strong barbarian traditions, as a large number of germanic barbarians migrated in Hispania, before Gallia was able to assert itself on all Gaul and stop such migrations, causing borders conflicts. The Octavians viewed the germanic people as a great threat to stability and launched many wars to stop them, in the end they failed.
As one one hand Tarraconensis became a stronger and wealthier kingdom, more people were paying taxes but on the other hand, the newcomers caused strong internal instability and with a failing East Rome, greedy neighbours, the roman-barbarian state fell. The Vascones, now had their own kingdom and they surprisingly did a better job than the roman-hispan counterpart. Peace did not last, alliance was broken and Lusitania was invaded, Mauretania et Baetica invaded too, splitting the peninsula in two, only a small part of Lusitania, remained, becoming a vassal state of the Vascones.
The precarious peace will last not for much again, as both kingdoms aspire to dominate the peninsula entirely. Both would fail.

Brittania, Caledonia and Hibernia were less unified, with the fast roman retreat the tribes took the place again. The biggest tribal kingdom was Icenia, followed by Atrebatia, Novant and Votadinia. Minor tribes were associated to one kingdom or another and rarely were neutral, conflicts were very frequent.
In a similar way, Germany was divided, excluding few great tribal kingdoms, as the Burgundians, Marcomanni and Angles in the far north, the area was divided in many smaller tribes, the political situation being quite complicated.

Africa was dominated by Romanus Aegypti (Roman Egypt) and minor berber kingdoms, many tributaries of the empire. While the situation in Anatolia was about to change quickly.
 
Dacia is saved by alliances...

The Gauls will destroy each other? How very Byzantine of them...

What’s Eastern Rome’s capital right now?
 
Dacia is saved by alliances...

The Gauls will destroy each other? How very Byzantine of them...

What’s Eastern Rome’s capital right now?
Indeed, this campaign could've ended very badly if not for Cappadocia, the next chapter will narrate the war.
Athens, surprisingly the AI, did not disappoint in this case, logic choice after all
 
Chapter 14 : The Dacian Campaign: An abrupt end to a succesful war 223-227
The Dacian Campaign: An abrupt end to a succesful war 223-227


In the spring of 224, Guntomar was ready with all preparations and initated his campaign against Dacia.
A glorious war that will make out of Burgundy a great and powerful kingdom after striking down a dangerous opponent in the south. Sacking the many wealthy cities in middle of important trade routes would bring astronomical amount of wealth to Guntomar, also a lot of manpower and many slaves, transforming Burgundy from a mere uncivilized tribe into a new rising kingdom.
Contrary to other tribe chiefs, Guntomar was higly educated, he travelled across all europe, reaching as far as Mauretania et Baetica and Roman Egypt. After the assassination of his father, he returned and stabilized the kingdom back. He was a knowledgeable man and was especially interested in roman style of warfare. He tried to emulate it, altough unsuccesful he was able to adopt some key features. Obviously it was impossible to copy it entirely, it was more complicated than the pure equipment and martial tactics. Logistics were a very important aspect, Burgundy simply did not have it. It needed infrastructures, developed cities, he understood this and focused only in copying what the burgundian army could exploit. Even the dacians were not able to adopt the roman style of warfare. They relied on mainly heavy infantry armies, which a small part was a permanent standing army, but even so, the art of warfare remained very... dacian.
Few similarities, like an organized army and line marching army was introduced. The dacian sword, the falx, was very effective. It was a weapon with curved blade, that was sharp on the inside blade similar to sickle in form, a tool adapted for war. On a lesser degree, the rhompaia was used too, mainly by thracians, it was a version with even a more curved blade. In the same way, dacian shield, evolved to be a bit bigger than their old counterpart but still smaller than the roman scutum, sometimes was completly absent when the falx was two handed. These troops became shock troops, as the one handed version became the norm, only a small part of the army was comprised of such troops and were used in weak points of enemy army to breakthrough, usually supported by the small but heavy armored cavalry, when was not busy protecting the flanks. Their use in battles was fairly limited since it was a mere simbolical military unit, used more for parades, representing the dacian superiority over its foes. In later imperial years, just a century before the start of the Dark Ages, it assumed more propagandistcal reasons than for martial ones.
The use of such units came completly out of use when the empire would also enter a slow but unstoppable period of instability. The small number of cavalry would be a serious problem for Dacia, in this war and in some of the most decisive wars in future. But, since this war was won, and the wars in between were succesful too, the use of cavalry still remained of very limited use, even during the Persian Wars, where the dacians kept pouring more and more manpower and resources to overcome the troublesome persian cataphracts, until the eventual persian kingdoms collapse.
It was mostly in part due to a double invasion. The Western Satraps, rivals to Dacia, were fearing the empire would become too powerful if it would successfully invade all of Persia. So the two empires began a race to conquer Persia, lenghty and very costly wars both in resources and manpower, would only result in a great disaster down the road, but thats for the future chapters.

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Dacian soldier, heavy infantry, the backbone of any dacian army



Guntomar not only did learn from the romans, he also inspired himself from the scythians. The backbone of his army might have been the new type of barbaric heavy infantry he introduced, but the majority of the army was light cavalry, many of them being horse archers. They were not nearly as effective as the nomadic horse archers, since it was a newly introduced unit in Burgundy, but simply the sheer numbers made up for it. Despite the overall poor combat efficiency, they possesed speed, very important and essential in the new war, Guntomar had planned so carefully. Sadly for him, with the capacity of hindsight, we know, he quite used the cavalry not at the best capacity.


One year earlier he made a visit to the marcomanni chief, an old friend of his father, Vithicab, the old alliance he had with his father was renewed. Despite Being only two tribes invading Dacia, this time the invading armies were another beast. Vithicab, was also considered a strategist mastermind, never losing a single battle against the other tribes. They tried to invade Burgundy in a small alliance, he gained unprecedented prestige and power, as nobody dared to oppose him. Being able to destroy easily any attacking tribe army, using advaced tacticts, fainting retreat, ambushing the overconfindent armies and shattering their morale, was a common tactic for him to use. He fought against other tribes, with a smaller army and always came out victorious. Guntomar was a smart man recongnized for his genial military reforms.


The war for Dacia began in a sudden and dramatic way. The deteriorating health of Tarabostes did not help either, the old wounds did not get that much better and the king, was losing touch with reality isolating himself more and more and leaving the state affair to his trusted few men, that obviously abused the power behind the king's back, increasing corruption in the kingdom, cutting the army payment by a fourth and even reducing the pensions of retired veterans by half and speding the kingdoms money in building luxurious estates for them. The permanent dacian army, was underfunded and decaying, the recipe for disaster. Indeed that disaster, came in the spring of 224, not only the standing army was simply unable to be deployed rapidly on the border, but even the numerous peasant army could not be raised, at all. The answer was simple, this would have caused total economic collapse of Dacia, even for a couple of months. Decades of civil war and a pandemic were still hauting the kingdom. The king, despite his previous passive behaviour, reacted at the war, historians tell, reinvigorated, a new man. Maybe it was time for him to fight the past traumatic experiences. Historians agree that he suffered of post traumatic stress disease. He tought , he would fight back the invading horde and win, little did he realize that would employ old tactics against a new type of enemy, another recipe for disaster. As the dacian army was slowly responding to the invading threat.

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Guntomar, used the cavarly to quickly capture poorly fortified cities and most of all, pillage and plunder, bringing immense wealth back to Burgundy. Pannensis and part of western Dacia were occupied in few months. When the dacian army finally reached the region in summer of 225, a whole year, while the kingdom was completly undefended. The army was met by Vithicab and soundly defeated. Vithicab despite directly controlling a smaller army and not as well equiped, killed a third of the infantry and almost anihilated the dacian cavalry. The sources are conflicting but it is likely that Vithicab himself suffered heavy casualties as half of his foot soldiers and a fourth of his cavalry. It was a costly victory but Marcomannia was able to refill the lost manpower for now, Dacia was not.


After this dacian defeat, marcomanni and burgundian forces started to move south, into Maladina. Guntomar did not want to invade the underdeveloped client-state. He instead wanted for them to revolt against Dacia and join them. Maladina was controlled by men deeply loyal to the previous king, Spartacos and they still remained loyal to Tarabostes, thus they refused. Maladina at this point was helpless and heavy raids were organized to further weaken the unstable puppet. The coastal cities, contrary to the rest, were very developed, since responsible for trade, and in a sense, were direct dacian territory, most of them were heavily plundered and some even destroyed, hurting the dacian trade for years to come. The reason these cities fell so easily it is that there were not any defenses to withstand attacks from mainland. No one ever tought about that, a myth of invincibility was shattered during those days. The kingdom, empire in all but name, after all, could fall as easily as it rose.

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Vithicab did not only stop there but started to push further south, into Thracia.
This greatly alarmed the cappadocians, they feared soon the barbarians will be coming into their land too. Suddenly their empty promises of help, became concrete actions. In autumn 225, in the battle of Malva, near the borders of Thracia, a combined force of dacians, thracians and cappadocians, managed to stop the advance of a burgundian army, the main invading army split, while Vitihicab was busy plundering the west of the kingdom and Guntomar besieging cities in north-east. A less capable commander was unable to achieve victory and the army with heavy casualties had to retreat.
The Second Battle of Malva, saw the combined force, defeated. This time, Vithicab, personally led a quick counterattack with his army and what remained of the defeated burgundian force. The combined armies took different routes, the cappadocians retreated to Byzantion to reorganize, leaving alone the dacian army that was forced to head to the capital, while the small thracian contingent was completly destroyed. Upon arrival small skirmishes took place as several smaller burgundian forces were surveying the area. But since the dacian main force arrived, the best course of action was to retreat and regroup with the nearest army.


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The Two Battles of Turdava, fought bitterly, saw a burgundian attempt to chase away the dacians from the capital or even better force them inside the capital and prepare a lenghty siege while the horse units would capture rapidly key cities across the kingdom and force Tarabostes to surrender. Guntomar, was sure, if the dacian army would collapse, Cappadocia, would eagerly negotiate with him, and in the worst case would immediately cease all the hostilities, while in the best case he would even gain great monetary compensation. He was not wrong at all. The great territorial conquests Cappadocia made, were very hard to maintain. They entered this war, with the conviction that would be the same as the first one. Getting on the friendly side of Dacia was of vital interest for Cappadocia, if they did not want to face threats from all sides, as the entirety of Anatolia was hostile to them. Cappadocia hoped for a limited if not total sphere of influence over East Rome, thus having friendly relations with Dacia, was a necessity. The policies of Spartacos and succedently of his son, have shown to the cappadocians that Dacia was not interested in the remaining part of empire. What was the king interested in, however, was a balance of power, they would never allow Cappadocia to grow too strong, the previous dacian guarantee made to East Rome, was inequivocable proof of that. As hard the peace was mainted the war could erupt in the easiest possible way.


Despite strong assaults, he failed both times, the dacians were able to repulse the enemy each time. Guntomar's army took heavy casualties while the defenders only light casualties. Tarabostes, even ordered to chase the fleeing enemy and even managed to capture in a weak position the rear guard and slaughter them all. After destroying the rear guard, Tarabostes felt confinded and decided to push further, this time, in burgundian lands, the rest of the burgundians did not expect dacians to chase them even in friendly territory and was accamped oblivious of the incoming threat, another slaughter took in just a few hours, even the prisoniers were all killed, not for cruelty but more for a practical reason. Keeping prisoniers in an already losing war would become nothing but an burden, any sudden counterattack could liberate all those men that would join against Dacia, again. Tarabostes could simply not take prisoniers with him nor leave them somehwhere, because it was potentially unsafe anywhere and Guntomar would only had to liberate them while the dacians were busy elsewhere, possibly with some diversion. He had the mobility Dacia lacked.


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It was not far from a disaster for Guntomar, for sure was a heavy blow to his plans, he had lost one veteran army in a risky gamble. It all began with just one small indecision of Guntomar, he was unsure what was the real size of the dacian army entering Sarmisegetuza and if it had any reinforcement or cappadocian army behind it. The defeat of his scout groups, worried him, as he did not expect them to engage in any battle at all. Being unable to tell if it was a single army or more, he slowed his march on the capital. Tarabostes, caught up quickly with his plans and placed his troops near Turdava. He took an advantageous terrain and was expecting the enemy. Despite such a drawback, Dacia did not manage to recapture back any lost territory and was able to barely defend its capital, in the overall picture, Burgundy was winning this war.
Staying in burgundian territory was becoming more dangerous with each passing day. Tarabostes, himself, did not have any proper scouting units and was basically blind in enemy territory. As Guntomar, he too, took a gamble, potentially even bigger than his germanic counterpart. The only advantage he had was the absolute confusion of his enemy, when he engaged them on the different occasions and the fact the he was able to preserve much of his manpower.

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While Guntomar was forced to leave his army and save his life, Vithicab was busy occupying Thracia. It was a lenghy process, as Thracia was protected by a line of fortifications, first built by romans to contain the dacians and later expanded by thracians to protect their kingdom from romans and even dacians, should Thracia one day revolt. The objective was to force Thracia out of the war, he was not a great diplomat to convince them to revolt and decided to just take down Thracia. It was a tactical error, even from the time's point of view. Altough it was not impossible, it would prove to waste a lot of time that could have been used to intercept the dacian army and destroy it definetly. The marcomanni chief decided to not pursue them. He was sure, his burgundian ally would be able to easily destroy the fleeying dacians. What he failed to forsee was the almost destruction in one unfortunate battle, of almost the entirety of burgundian scout units and the consequent tragic defeats. Vithicab decided to wait for Guntomar after occupying the subordinate kingdom. He was sure if Guntomar would come, Cappadocia would leave the war. The cappadocian army until now was waiting for the dacians, to come to Byzantion and literally escort their army. No cappadocian leader would take indipendent actions, without the dacian counterpart to take the most casualties. They were instead hastly improving the already existing fortifications and were preparing for a siege. In the end, it was a justified behaviour, as Cappadocia had manpower to reinforce their army to only a small degree and it already had suffered great casualties and monetary funds were also severly lacking, losing the only army would mean the end of the kingdom.

In the end, Guntomar would never come, he lost one entire veteran army and even a messenger would not make it in time.
With the defeat of Guntomar in Turdava, this event marked the beggining of a series of poor decisions that will undermine every burgundian-marcomanni success and will ultimately end the war in few decisive battles. The final joint push in Thracia never happened, Vithicab was intercepted by the dacians in the worst time possible. He was traversing a river and his army was split. Occupying the capital of Thracia was a hopeless pursuit without any proper burgundian assistance, the sent cavalry proved capable only to take over the newest and incomplete fortifications over the roman border. The older ones has been destroyed by the rebels trying to free themselves from the romans, as we know, only to find themselves defenseless against the invading dacians. Vithicab decided to take Adrianuopoli and march directly on Byzantion and wait there, he was getting impatient by the continous delay of his ally. He hoped to force the Cappadocia out ot the war by threatening its new capital, he had no more time, summer was ending he did not want to fight in bad weather.


On top of that, the cappadocian army, was approaching fast, this time, a joint dacian-cappadocian offensive was happening. Altough the dacians would suffer the majority of casualties, the cappadocians had their merits in bloking any escape route expect a narrow passage and while they tried to escape slaughter a great number and chase the rest with the cavalry killing practically the rest of the marcomanni army. After the battle of Pulpudeva, there was virtually no organized marcomanni army in Dacia except a few thousands under direct control of Guntomar. Of eighteen thousand a staggering 11.000 were killed in the first battle and the rest seven thousand were annihilated near Pulpudeva while attempting a desperate escape towards captured territories. While all this was happening the burgundian cavalry not far stationary not far away from there was totally unaware of this. Before a next dacian-cappadocian attack they were able to retreat safely towards west in Maladina. News of Guntomar were completly absent, some even tought he was killed and a valuable military asset left the dacian mainland barely fighting against the dacians. From that point on, Guntomar would not be able to use his cavalry anymore and would be forced to rely on fresh, inexperienced troops.

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Vithicab was killed too, he was already in his sixties and despite his venerable age for the time, he still was a great military leader, few were better than him, even Guntomar was a less skilled miltary leader, he was more succesful in leadership but in pure military skill, Vithicab was unparalleled. Uncertain records, affirm he fought many defensive wars to preseve his tribe but never expanded. It is possible that Burgundy was saved by him too during the transition of power after the death of Sigismund.
It is unclear, even today, what really happened during that battle, how a commander of his caliber, failed to see not one army but two armies advancing on him. The most plausible answer that can come to mind is the weather. It was november when the three armies engaged and it is very possible that the weather was not one of the best. Recons were sent, but with high probability the heavy rains must have covered the sound of a moving army. In fact, the unusal approach of the dacian king, certainly saved the kingdom from more years of devastating war and conquest. Records write, that the lifeless body of Vithicab was lifted from the muddy ground and shown to the captured prisoniers before they were all killed. It was intended to be paraded on the streets of Sarmisegetuza along with other marcomanni chiefs and obviously later, Guntomar.


Burgundy was large, but was mostly undeveloped and the scythian population was not exactly cooperative, thus only a small part could effectively be mobilized into the army, despite adopting their cavalry methods and developing into a much larger scale of warfare.



The people of the north were at the same time both barbaric and not.


(Attributed to an anonimus pannonian historian)



This would prove a problem for Dacia in future, that would involve itself more and more in germanic geopolitics, first actively and later passively, always supporting a status quo and interviening against tribes that become too big or powerful to be left alone. This support was usually in monetary helps and sometimes even technological help. At the begining advantegous for Dacia, would have disastrous consequences down the centuries...


The death of Vithicab was a heavy blow to the invading forces but was not an unexpected one. Guntomar was aware of this and even Vithicab himself, said to him he would probably not return to Marcomannia and already appointed a successor. The situation would be stable in Marcomannia even with his death, the war would continue and have a succesful ending. Guntomar on the other hand, was heirless, he poured all his time and energies to prepare the kingdom for the Great Invasion, how he liked to call it. The burgundian people will settle in new prosperous lands and rule as conquerors. It was a very ambitious plan, realistically speaking, considering the subjects as part of one entity, could be called empire. Dacia was transitioning to become an empire, at least unofficially, the nation would become an empire only after the total invasione of Hellas and the dissolution of status of empire of East Rome, becoming an insular kingdom. A sort of merchant kingdom, an early version similar to the medieval merchant republics, where instead of a doge, the basileus once emperor that reigned over vast lands, now reigned the greek isles of Sicily, Crete and Cyprus and some other minor islands. With great probability the inspiration for the merchant republics came from this early version.


Upon arrival of news of the death of Vithicab, Guntomar had already another army marching, even with his absence Burgundy could still win this war, its presence in Dacia was still a very real threat. His cavalry was still doing great damage in the kingdom pludering and capturing cities, there was no way to stop them, too fast to be caught and always avoiding direct conflict, ambushing unware reinforcements of peasants or mercenaries, or was what he was thinking, many months of lack of contact between him and his cavalary deep into dacian territory under temporary command of Vithicab was a mistake. Maybe the cavalry itself was rebelling, historians are unsure. But in the his final battle, Guntomar had only two thousand cavalry of the total of ten thousand.


In 227 Dacia with support from Cappadocia, starts recapturing lands both in east and west. Guntomar has failed to destroy the core of the dacian army and capture Thracia and peraphs convince Cappadocia not only to leave the war but switch sides. Historically the most probable choice by the cappadocian king would be to wait a siege in a fortified Byzantion and leave the war if the collapse of Dacia was immninent, switching sides was out of question,the overall situation was too unstable. Having favours from dacians, Cappadocia could request help if the rebellions would prove too much. After all Dacia was still a huge empire and wealth would continue to flow inside, soon again. Guntomar was too ambitious after all.
Dacia managed to recruit a gigantic army of mercenaries, up to ninety percent of the whole army was formed of mercenaries. The costs to keep such an army were unconcevaible for some smaller kingdoms at the time. Despite this, the treasury would allow the king to employ such an army for years and years. It would prove unncessary, soon the fate of both powers would be decided. As Burgundy was left alone in this war, with a couple of thousands marcomanni warriors, the expedionary force of Vithicab has been defeated completly and no other reinforcements would arrive from the now neutral Marcomannia.


He expected the dacians would first try to recapture the lost cities, so he started to build the army for one more, the last battle. As his cavalry proved to be rather uncooperative, or rather no news of the cavalry at all in months. He tought his cavalry was destroyed with the marcomanni. It was not wrong to think so, except such army found itself isolated in Maladina, by the approaching armies of Cappadocia and Dacia. Its commander chose a rather passive behaviour and stayed there. Attacking one the both armies would prove a suicide move, since most of those armies were composed of heavy infantry. On the same hand, dacians and their allies were rather reluctant to attack an army that could easily outmanouver them. By the summer of 227, Guntomar, finally recevied news that his cavalry was stuck in Maladina. He became furious for the conduct of his commander and send messangers urging him to unite with his army. The response was negative, the cavalry refused to move. It is unclear if he saw this as treason or simply was not possible to move the army without significant casualties. As his twenty thousand were approaching, he sent another messanger with a clear order to support his new army to attack the army placed most north, it was the one with the biggest number as Tarabostes was expecting Guntomar would exactly attack that one. Guntomar was desperate and was running out of time. The war was becoming unpopular at home and summer was over already. He could not afford to wait another season and he was alone now.


In a ironic joke of fate, the same unforgivable weather Vithicab was forced to fight, Guntomar had to witness. He tought it was a good sign from the gods, approaching the dacians would be easier and he would lose less men. Also the cavalry would arrive any time, too...
The immediate attack was a success and one day passed, two day passed, the battle soon became extremly brutal. Many casualties on both sides and in the end Guntomar had to retreat hastily towards his territory, thru Pannensis. He had not recevied any support and as he heard the second army would soon approach him, he disheartenly disengaged from the bloody fight.


As the weather cleared a bit, the northen army was in a horrible state. Up to forty percent losses while the germanic army has lost even to sixty percent.
Winning now was out of the question, the most obvious choice was to retreat deeper into friendly land and regroup with what remained of any armies and reorganize and...there was not much hope left anymore. Guntomar, decided to stay and defend, the gate to his homeland. After two days of brutal fighting his army was completly devastated and he sent one last messanger, urging for the cavalry to come to his aid.
Guntomar was killed in the final last battle, his body was never found. He would fight a losing battle, he had already lost the war, his enemies close to home. There was not much more he could have done.


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In the end, the disparity of forces was too great. But the most important question of all, why defend, why fight such a disavantageous battle? The answer was simple, most of all the venedi scythians were still rebellious and other conquered germanic tribes were deeply dissatisfied by his rule. They barely recognized Guntomar as their king. While at peace he was able to assert absolute control thru sheer brutality but he was now in a long war with no apparent end in sight. Him retreating would cause massive rebellions and he would have to fight both rebels and dacians and important supply roads would be cut off. He could see this all, he could even see the other powers aventing themseleves over Burgundy like hungry wolves ready to tear it apart. In that day he decided that he would die like a honorable death in combat.


In hindsight we can see that Guntomar used his cavarly mostly for quick strike operations and avoided fight, it was not the most efficient way to use it. The use in battle of cavalry was limited, he was sure his infantry was enough. It is clear if he had used more his cavalry he would have been able to destroy the core of the dacian army on more occasions than one. But we must look at the fact, that the disrupting operations were made to prevent recruitment of peasants into the army. The peasant militia could raise up the number to many thousands. Dacia was forced to use mercenaries, it was not a problem. Guntomar failed to realise this, he tought the empire was on the brink of collapse in case of a prolonged war and especially an invasion of such scale. There was the last one, the most important occasion to use it, it could have changed the war to a total victory and even cause the fall of Cappadocia by destroying its army too. The commander in charge decided to not act and ignore all orders. Was it a deliberate move, or he knew the war was over and it would prove a futile action that would leave Burgundy truly defensless afterwards, we will never know.