Page 66 - All About History - Issue 54-17

What if…

Constantine lost the

Battle of Milvian Bridge?

The landscape of the world’s religions might look very different if

Constantine had not won the Roman Empire under a Christian flag

Written by Edoardo Albert

n 28 October 312, the Battle of Milvian Maxentius also moves the imperial residence to almost all trace of Classical learning is lost. It will
Bridge took place between Constantine Milan. While Rome remains the empire’s titular take centuries longer than in our timeline for stable
and Maxentius, rival claimants for the capital, the need for the emperor to lead his armies kingdoms to coalesce.
Roman imperial throne. Before the battle, in the field against barbarian invaders requires Meanwhile, in the east, the Sassanid Empire
OConstantine had had a vision that led him Maxentius to constantly be on the move between begins to gather manpower for a fresh assault on
to fight under the mantle of the Christian God — he Milan and Trier. the Romans. While under Constantine and his
then won and became ruler of the Roman Empire. Meanwhile, the ruler of the Eastern Roman founding of Constantinople, the empire was able
Attributing his victory to divine intervention, Empire, Licinius, sets about confiscating the to organise and bolster the defences of the east
Constantine determined to repay his debt. property and wealth of the Christian Church in so that Rome and Persia fought off and on for
As a first step, he issued the Edict of Milan in preparation for eventual war with Maxentius. over 680 years, making it the longest conflict in
February 313 that allowed freedom of worship The Church, well used to imperial persecutions, history. Without it, Maxentius’s eastern empire
within the Empire, returned legal rights to endures and strengthens its network among the will certainly crumble much faster in the face
Christians and gave back to them any property empire’s slave, lower and middle classes, but makes of renewed attacks by the Sassanids and the
that the state had previously confiscated. Although little headway with the ruling elite. Maxentius and barbarian tribes moving south across the Danube
always more comfortable himself with Latin than Licinius fight each other to a stalemate, leaving the and into the Balkans.
Greek, Constantine also made the momentous empire weakened.
decision to found a new imperial city, a new Rome, From beyond its borders, the barbarian tribes in
on the straits of the Bosporus Sea and called it modern-day Germany sense the draining of Rome’s
Constantinople. The city became the capital of the military strength. As the Romans descend into civil EDOARDO ALBERT
Eastern Roman Empire, the Greek-speaking eastern chaos, Christians withdraw from civil engagement,
Edoardo Albert is a writer
half of the empire that managed to survive the fall seeking sanctuary beyond the boundaries of the and historian specialising in
of Rome and endured for 1,000 years, only falling empire. Wandering monks begin to make converts the history and psychology
of religion, particularly in
to the Ottomans in 1453. among the tribes along the Rhine so that when
Late Antiquity and the Early
But what if Constantine had lost the Battle of they finally cross the empire’s borders, many are Medieval periods. He has MAs
Milvian Bridge? Maxentius has no reason to change already at least nominally Christian. in the psychology of religion
and theology and has written
imperial policy towards the empire’s Christian However, in the fragmenting empire, surviving for History Today, The Sunday
minority — indeed, since Christians refused to offer Roman cults amalgamate with the Germanic pagan Times and other periodicals, as
public sacrifice to the cult of the deified emperor, religion and provide an alternative to Christianity. well as writing books on Alfred the Great, the kingdom of
Northumbria (the Northumbrian Thrones trilogy) and the
he perhaps has reason, with his throne not yet With significant populations of different faiths, religious history of London (London: A Spiritual History).
secure, to renew the persecutions of Diocletian. the Europe of the 5th and 6th centuries collapses For more information, visit edoardoalbert.com.
To secure his hold of the Western Empire, into a series of bitter religious conflicts in which

How would it be different?

O The Battle of Milvian Bridge O The Maxentian O The Licinian decimation O The flight into the wilderness O Chaos reigns in Rome
Maxentius wins the battle, as persecution Knowing that there will be a Faced with renewed persecution, The civil war between Maxentius and
promised by oracles, and offers To shore up his reign as confrontation with Maxentius, Christians withdraw into deserts Licinius drags into a long, debilitating
sacrifices to the gods. Throughout the western emperor, Licinius, the Eastern Roman and wildernesses, strengthening the conflict and, even when they are
the empire sacrifices are offered Maxentius renews the Emperor, also raids Christian monastic strand of Christianity. Some deposed by their own generals, this
to the cult of the emperor, but persecution of Christians property and sacks churches to monks even establish hermitages in merely heralds the start of a period
Maxentius notes that the Christians begun under Emperor gather funds and resources for Ireland, north of Hadrian’s Wall and of unrelieved civil wars. Contesting
do not take part. 28 October 312 Diocletian. 314-19 his army. 315-20 east of the Rhine. 315-400 armies tear the empire apart. 320-70
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