Section 3: The End of the Empire Rome and Christianity Section 3: The End of the Empire

Problems in the Empire Emperors were giving up land because they feared that the empire had become too large to defend or govern efficiently. Tribes of Germanic warriors attacked Rome’s northern boarders Persian armies invaded the east Internal problems in the empire: These raids made people near the boarder nervous They eventually abandoned their homes To grow enough food, the Romans invited Germanic farmers to grow crops on Roman lands Whole German communities had moved into the empire They chose their own leaders and largely ignored the emperors

Disease swept through the empire, killing many Increase in taxes was necessary to pay for the defense of the empire Desperate, the Romans looked for a strong emperor They found one in Diocletian He was convinced the empire was too big for one person to rule He ruled the eastern half and named a co-emperor to rule the west After Diocletian left power, Constantine reunited the empire for a short time He moved the capital to the east – Constantinople (“the city of Constantine”), which is now present-day Turkey Rome was no longer the center of power – power had now moved to the east

The Decline of Rome The source of the raids were the Huns Fierce warriors from Central Asia They first invaded southeastern Europe Among their victims were groups of people called the Goths Made up of Visigoths and Ostrogoths Unable to defeat the Huns, the Goths fled into Roman territory Eventually, the Goths attacked and destroyed Rome This led to many other groups to invade the western half of the empire The Huns raided Roman territory in the east under Attila’s leadership Military leaders took power away from the emperors Conflict among these military leaders gave invaders an opening One of the foreign generals overthrew the last emperor in Rome and named himself king of Italy Many historians consider this event the end of the Western Roman Empire

Several causes of Rome’s decline: Vast size of the empire Communication among various parts of the empire was difficult, especially during times of conflict Political crises also contributed to the decline Corruption, the decay of people’s values, had become widespread in Roman government Wealthy citizens fled to their country estates and created their own armies for protection Rome’s population decreased, and schools closed Taxes and prices soared

A New Eastern Empire Justinian, an eastern emperor, wanted to reunite the old Roman Empire His other passions were the law and church Justinian’s Code – guaranteed fair treatment for all After his death, the eastern empire began to decline The Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople, bringing an end to the Eastern Roman Empire Society in the eastern empire Non-Roman influences took hold in the east People spoke Greek rather than Latin Historians call the society that developed in the Eastern Roman Empire the Byzantine Empire Named after Byzantium, the Greek town Constantinople had replaced

People began to interpret and practice Christianity differently in the east and the west Eventually led to a split in the Christian Church Christians in the east formed the Orthodox Church As a result, eastern and western Europe were divided by religion