Fall of Rome

FALL OF ROME

Decline of the Western Empire

The Empire Falls

Decline of the Western Roman Empire

Unlike previous emperors, Diocletian and Maximian voluntarily retired and gave up their positions as emperors together in 305. For seven years, four powerful generals supported by their armies competed for the position of emperor. In 312, General Constantine defeated his three rivals and claimed the title. Now in Control of both the east and west. Constantine’s reign saw a decline in the power of the Western Roman Empire. Moves Capital to Byzantium (Constantinople) from Rome As a result military, financial, and agricultural power shifted east away from Rome. The Huns and Goths continue to raid the West and the East stays wealthy. After Constantine's death the empire formally split into two. Goths sacked Rome in 410 CE.

Rather than defeating outside opponents in battle, Roman emperors paid bribes to potential invaders to prevent them from attacking Rome. To do this, they also had to make more coins, and the emperors also raised taxes, causing hardship for the populace. As a result, this made the Roman coins/currency worth less over time, inflation! This led to more instability among the populations in the Roman empire, corruption, money problems!

Mo Money Mo Problems

Due to constant economic and military hardship, Rome was sacked again in 455 CE by a group called the Vandals. This event essentially put the empire to bed. In 476 CE, a Gothic chieftain called Odoacer moved on to Rome and removed the emperor at the time from power; the Western Empire was now in control by Goths, Vandals, and other invading groups, and ceased to exist.

Northern Invasions

Rome faced defeat from groups such as the Goths, who attacked from Rome’s north and killed the Roman Emperor Decius in 251. The Goths were part of a larger group called the Germanic peoples, an ethnic group that originated in northern Europe. Elsewhere, towns in Rome’s territory in northern Africa faced raids from the local Berber ethnic group. Invasions from Northern groups were constant and unrelenting after Pax Romana. Often, Bribes were made to keep the peace, and from them, destroying Roman Towns and Cities.

Crisis of the Third Century

Commodus, who was the son of Marcus Aurelius, was not as good of a ruler. As a result, he was assassinated in 192 CE. Civil strife then begins. As Rome’s armies and leaders competed with each other for power, the fighting turned inward and Rome lost the power it once had to defeat its external foes Emperor Aurelian restored the Empire in 275 back into one empire but was also assassinated in 275. Diocletian finally ends the Crisis when he takes power in 284 and makes changes in the Empire CHAOS EXAMPLE: About 31 Emperors from 232 to 284 CE.

Incorporation in the Empire: The legions helped protect the empire and were also a great way of becoming Roman if you were not Roman. This, over time, led to people joining who didn't necessarily care about Rome; they cared more about the commanders who were paying them. that is a problem..

Diocletian's Reforms

In 284, the emperor Diocletian took the throne amidst the chaos of the Third Century Crisis. Diocletian made major changes to Rome’s structure to restore order: He split Rome’s existing provinces into smaller provinces with their own government officials. He broke the army into smaller units, allowing the army to be larger as a whole while remaining organized under his leadership. He carried out a census and used the data to determine taxation, with wealthier and more populous areas paying higher taxes. Diocletian determined that the Roman Empire was too large to rule himself. He split the empire into two sections: the Eastern Roman Empire, ruled by himself, and the Western Roman Empire, ruled by his co-emperor, Maximian.