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Section 5: Decline & Fall Targets • Explain why the Roman Empire gained a new lease on life under Diocletian and Constantine. • Analyze how ferocious warriors from Asia and Germany finally brought an end to the Roman Empire. I. The Decline • 180 A.D. a period of conflict & confusion Political Upheavals • From 235 to 284, 22 emperors occupied the Roman throne • 20 of these emperors met violent death • Series of invasions Economic & Military Problems • Invasions, civil wars & plague caused an economic collapse of the Roman Empire • Decline in trade & small industry • labor shortage Economic & Military Problems • Plague (epidemic disease) affected both military & economy • Farm production declined • Financial strains made it difficult to pay soldiers II. The Reforms of Diocletian & Constantine • End of 3rd century & beginning of 4th two emperors helped the Empire • New governmental structure, rigid economic & social system & new state religion, Christianity The Reforms of Diocletian & Constantine • Diocletian divided the empire into four units • Both rulers strengthened & enlarged the administrative bureaucracies The Reforms of Diocletian & Constantine • Political & military reforms greatly enlarged the army & civil service • inflation - a rapid increase in prices The Reforms of Diocletian & Constantine • Constantine constructed a new capital city in the east, the Greek city of Byzantium • renamed it Constantinople • Called it his “New Rome” • built large palaces & forum The Reforms of Diocletian & Constantine • Temporally successful, such policies in the long run stifled the very vitality the Late Empire needed to revive its sagging fortunes III. The Fall • Capital of the Western Roman Empire remained Rome • Constantinople remained the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire • Pressure from invading Germanic tribes Maps and Charts 4 The Fall • The Germanic Visigoths, crossed the Danube River • 378 Visigoths defeated the Romans • in 410, the Visigoths sacked Rome • Vandals poured into Spain Maps and Charts 4 The Fall • 455 the Vandals, sacked Rome • 476 the western emperor was disposed • The Eastern Empire or Byzantine Empire continued to thrive IV. Why did Rome Fall • Christianity’s spiritual kingdom weakened Roman military virtues • Traditional Roman values declined, as non-Italians gained prominence Why did Rome Fall • Lead poisoning in leaden water pipes caused mental decline • Plague wiped out 1/10 of the population • Failed to advance technology because of slavery Why did Rome Fall • Unable to put together a workable political system Analyzing Maps and Charts Augustus Marcus Aurelius almost a hundred years the Western Empire the Eastern Empire Illyricum Byzantium
