Posted on 11/02/2011 8:30:47 PM PDT by DogByte6RER
their primary weapon was smallpox.
Germanicus being removed from the rhine by tiberius may have altered the long-term outcome there. Rome, at the time, seemed to view the loss of varus legion as a setback which they quickly set to making right, hunting down those involved, recovering eagles, etc.
lol
Ranks of Bronze, about survivors of crassus army. I liked it quite a bit. Birds of Prey was set in roman-era almost as a placeholder. Poul Anderson wrote a great deal in this general time-frame, both from the roman side and stories set in germania during the roman era.
One of my “what-ifs” is if Julius Caesar’s daughter, Julia, had not died birthing Pompey Magnus’ son?
First, the schism between Pompey and Caesar would not have happened and, thus, no “Crossing the Rubicon” Civil War.
Second...can you imagine a rightful heir with the blood of Caesar and Pompey running through his veins?
The marines would ultimately prevail, but Titus Pullo would single-handedly take out half of ‘em!
I thought I had read all of anderson’s saga/viking-era stories, but I haven’t seen this one. Buying now!
That reminds me of another 'what-if?'.
What if Caesar (a friend of the Jews) had not been assassinated and had left for his invasion of Parthia (Iran) and consequently made a province of the Middle East? (He was scheduled to leave two days after the Ides of March)
No Roman sack of Jerusalem and no rise of Islam.....ever.
A man can dream, can't he?
And if there were any female grunts, Titus would conquer them in his inimitable way with his knowledge of their ‘button’.
Interesting - I was waiting for someone to bring up the Byzantines. I always wondered what would have happened if Constantine XI had a couple machine guns or even a good sniper with rifle in 1483.
The Turks would have been finished and the M.E. would be a very different place today.
The Marines would take olive oil and turn it into bio-diesel. The tanks would continue to operate. Rome would fall in a week....
There really aren’t any new ideas in MovieLand are there?
While we are at it, I believe that one could run an Abrams on alcohol. Mileage would suck.
Okay the very sight of the tanks and helicopters would frighten the Romans, let alone the explosions. It would be like they were fighting dragons or something.
Although the Marines won’t be tall compared to the Romans like they would if it were WW2 Japan. The Roman Legions wanted their soldiers to be at least 6ft tall and well built, at least in the early days of the Empire.
Control Rome?
Can you imagine the abject terror of being surrounded by tanks, buildings exploding around you and seeing unknown attack helicopters for the first time sending down its own dragon-like flame on the city?
They’d be begging for terms of surrender.
even their spotlights at night would be frightening to the Romans.
Good luck with that. They might have forged guns and cannons far earlier at the least though. For much of the technology though, they'd be able to do little more than a cargo cult.
I just got passed the part where Messalina made the arguement why monopoly was best. I'm facinated by the whole issue of why Claudius failed.
My question. Why would the Marines want to take over the Empire or even fight them? They might come to terms with Agustus—trade a few things for food and wait to reverse anything and return home. They might join the Roman to seize China and crush Germany? It wouldn’t take much—just show them how to make gun powder and crude cannons. An interesting idea.
I thought of one alternative history idea. What if Mexico won the battle of BuenaVista and the Mexican War? California stays with Mexico—they find the gold and become a great power. or
What if a time traveler went back to Germany in 1943 and gave Hitler the history of the war, and ways to improve his V-1s & V-2, Jets and tanks maybe even the A-Bomb! In exchange he ends the Holocaust? Would he do it?
Can you imagine watching the Detroit Lions about to win the Super Bowel, and the Emperor decides to thumb down a play on the field?
That means the player at issue has to commit suicide in front of the entire audience - immediately - before the game can commence.
I’m pretty certain that people do NOT understand how far we’ve come...
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