Fall of Roman Empire

Fall of the Roman Empire.mp4

Fall of The Roman Empire...in the 15th Century_ Crash Course World History #12.mp4

The period of the Pax Romana, or the Roman Peace, lasted from 27 BCE to 180 CE. During this period, the Roman Empire reached its largest size. Look at the map of the Roman Empire during the Pax Romana.

Controlling the Mediterranean

During the period of the Pax Romana, the Roman Empire became the first and only empire to control the entire Mediterranean Sea! Controlling such a large area made it easy to send goods from one part of the empire to another. Because Romans relied on ships to transport these goods, they became talented shipbuilders. After the fall of the Roman Empire, people in Europe weren't able to build ships that were as good as Roman ships until the 1700s!

During the period of the Pax Romana, the Roman Empire was ruled by strong and fair emperors who protected the empire. But, in the year 180 CE, the empire started to be ruled by weak emperors who fought for control of the empire and were sometimes cruel to the Roman people. This situation caused a major crisis.

Five good emperors ruled, then things got bad

During the Pax Romana, the Roman Empire was ruled by a series of leaders known as the "Five Good Emperors." The first four of these emperors did not have sons. So, they chose the most qualified man to rule the empire after they died. This meant that, for almost 100 years, the Roman Empire was ruled by men that had the experience needed to rule.

But the fifth good emperor did have a son named Commodus. The last good emperor chose Commodus to rule the empire. But Commodus didn't have the experience needed to rule. Also, he was violent and cruel to his people. Many historians believe that Commodus's rule caused the period of the Pax Romana to end.

The emperors that ruled after the Pax Romana faced many problems because of their actions. Some of these problems were external problems, or problems that related to groups outside of the empire.

The Roman Empire also faced internal problems, or problems that came from inside the empire.

Trade crisis!

During the period of the Pax Romana, trade was easy and safe because Roman officials built roads and the Roman army protected traders. But during the period of crisis, there were a lot of rebellions and invasions that made long-distance trade dangerous. So, people had to start only using goods that they could get locally. The Roman economy suffered during the crisis because people could not easily trade their goods.

During the third century, it seemed like the Roman Empire was about to fall apart. But in 284 CE, a military commander named Diocletian (die-uh-KLEE-shun) helped save the empire.

Diocletian claimed the role of emperor. He believed he had been chosen by the Roman gods to rule. In the past, Roman emperors listened to the advice of the Roman Senate and tried not to seem too powerful. But Diocletian ruled the empire through an autocracy.

Why was Diocletian's autocracy such a big deal?

About 800 years before Diocletian, Rome was ruled by kings who abused their power and were cruel. According to ancient writers, most Romans hated even hearing the word "king." So, many emperors tried to avoid looking like they had too much power.

But Diocletian wanted to have all of the power so that he could try to save the empire. So, Diocletian became the first Roman emperor to rule an autocracy. Unlike earlier emperors, he didn't try to share his power with the Senate or Roman citizens. Instead, he told the Roman people that he had been chosen by the Roman gods to rule the empire.

By transforming the Roman Empire's government into an autocracy, Diocletian was able to use his power and military experience to solve many of the empire's external and internal problems. Look at the list of the Roman Empire's external problems.

- Groups attacked the Roman Empire's northern and eastern borders.
- Regions in the western and eastern parts of the empire revolted and formed their own kingdoms.

Diocletian's forts

Diocletian completely changed the empire's plan for defense. He built forts all across the empire. Some of these new forts were large, like the ones shown below. But many of the forts that were built during Diocletian's rule were much smaller. While these small forts could only house small groups of soldiers at a time, they were located in good places to guard the frontier.

Diocletian also used his power as emperor to try and solve some of the Roman Empire's internal problems.

Diocletian's Edict on Prices

One way that Diocletian tried to solve the Roman Empire's internal problems was by creating a law called the Edict on Prices. This law set a maximum price that merchants could charge for certain goods, such as food and clothing items. Diocletian hoped his law would help poor people buy the things that they needed.

Unfortunately, the Edict on Prices did not work. Historians believe that Diocletian set the limit too low. This meant that merchants could not make a profit from selling goods. So, the merchants started to barter instead.

When Diocletian came to power, another problem that he wanted to fix was the way Roman emperors were chosen. Before Diocletian, the Roman Empire did not have laws or rules for selecting new emperors. This meant that there were often several people who wanted to be emperor, and they had to fight wars with each other to decide who would rule.

The emperors of the tetrarchy did not live in the city of Rome. Instead, they lived in different cities near the empire's borders so that they could protect the empire during attacks.Diocletian wanted to help the Roman Empire come up with a plan for choosing emperors in the future. So, he established a tetrarchy, which meant that the empire was ruled by four emperors. Two of the emperors were senior emperors, and two were junior emperors. When the senior emperors retired, the junior emperors could take over as senior emperors and select new junior emperors.

How did four people share power?

Each of the four emperors of Diocletian's tetrarchy lived in a different part of the Roman Empire and oversaw things in their region. In their own region, each emperor had almost total control. But the emperors didn't want it to look like the empire had been divided into four different empires. So, they tried to make it look like all four were equals by working together to solve the empire's problems.

In addition to making political and economic changes to the Roman Empire, certain events caused Diocletian to make some religious changes as well.

Historians disagree about whether the changes made by Diocletian were good for the Roman Empire. Read two arguments made by historians about Diocletian's changes.

Historian A: Diocletian's changes solved many of the empire's internal and external problems and allowed the empire to continue for another 150 years. His rule was good for the Roman Empire.

Historian B: Diocletian's changes hurt common people in the empire. His rule was not good for the Roman Empire.

How do people remember Diocletian?

Diocletian managed to save the empire for another 150 years. But he is often remembered as a cruel ruler because he ordered Christians to be killed.

In 305 CE, Diocletian and the other senior emperor became the first Roman emperors to retire. But the tetrarchy that Diocletian had created to decide who would rule next didn't work the way that he had planned.

Why did Constantine think that he should have been a junior emperor?

Constantine's father, Constantius, was a junior emperor during the reign of Diocletian. Most Romans thought Constantine would replace his father, since the sons of rulers often took over from their fathers. When Constantine was not chosen by Diocletian and the other senior emperor, people were very surprised, especially Constantine and his father!

In order to become emperor, Constantine had to fight many battles. Some of the events of these battles were recorded by the ancient historian, Eusebius (yoo-SEE-bee-us). Read the passage from one of Eusebius's books.

Constantine said that he saw with his own eyes a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the words, "Conquer by this."

Then in his sleep, Jesus appeared to him with the same sign which he had seen in the heavens and commanded him to make another version of that sign and to use it as protection in all engagements with his enemies.

The emperor constantly made use of this sign of salvation as protection and commanded that others similar to it should be carried at the head of all his armies.

Jesus: the most important person in Christianity

sign of salvation: a cross

Adapted from Eusebius of Caesarea, The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine

Constantine's mother

Constantine's mother, Helena, is an important figure in many Christian traditions. After Constantine started worshipping the Christian god, he sent Helena on a pilgrimage, or a religious journey, to visit places that were important to Christians.

Constantine hoped that his mother would find ancient objects that were important to Christians. Helena claimed that her trip was successful. Some Christians believe that she discovered the remains of the cross on which Jesus was crucified and the nails that had held him to the cross.

The following timeline shows some of the important events that happened during Constantine's reign as emperor.

Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Eastern Empire, which was also called the Byzantine Empire, until the Ottoman Empire conquered it in 1453. After World War I, Constantinople became part of the country of Turkey.

Turkish officials wanted to use the Turkish name for the city, which is "Istanbul." In order to force other countries to use Istanbul instead of Constantinople, the Turkish postal service stopped delivering mail that listed the city's name as "Constantinople."

After the death of Constantine, the Roman Empire was split into two empires. Look at the map that shows some of the external problems that the empires faced.

Who were the groups invading the Western Roman Empire?

There were many different groups that invaded the Western Roman Empire during the 400s, but most were descendants from a group of people that the Romans called "Germanic." At that time, Germanic people lived mainly in northern Europe. Sometimes Germanic people and Roman people got along and helped each other. But sometimes they fought over territory and political power.

All of the different groups that invaded the Western Roman Empire slowly succeeded in conquering most of the empire. Finally, the city of Rome itself was conquered by an invading group in 476 CE. This event marked the fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Around 300 CE, the Roman Empire had many external and internal problems. The emperor Diocletian solved many of those problems and saved the empire for awhile. But he also made some bad changes, such as ordering many Christians to be killed because of their faith. The emperor Constantine changed some of these laws and moved the capital of the empire to Constantinople. But after Constantine's death, the Roman Empire split into two empires, and the Western Roman Empire was invaded by many groups. Eventually, the city of Rome was conquered in 476 CE, which ended the Western Roman Empire.

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