2.  Began to decline during reign of Marcus Aurelius  Future rulers not sure how to fix problems  Economic Trouble  Foreigners (pirates) ruin Roman trade opportunities  People began buying from luxury items from Asia  Gov’t raised taxed to pay for military debts  Suffered inflation  Agricultural decline  Overused soil led to decline in food production

3.  Faced many attacks by Germanic invaders  Persia threatens Rome in Syria and Anatolia  Capture emperor Valerian  Lack of discipline and loyalty within the military  Mercenaries were recruited

4.  Citizens begin to lose their patriotism  Holding a political position was an honor and way to gain wealth  Leaders now lost money -> not a desirable position any longer  Changes to who served happened often

5.  Diocletian  Became emperor in 284  Restored order and increased Rome’s strength  Governed as an absolute ruler  Limited personal freedom  Doubled the size of the army (drafted prisoners + mercenaries)  Set fixed prices for goods  Ordered farmers to remain on lands and people to remain in jobs for life

6.  Claims rule from gods  Views Christianity as a threat (persecutes them)  Divides empire into 2 parts  Greek speaking East (Ruled by Diocletian)  Included most of Rome’s “great” cities, trade centers, and wealth  Latin speaking West (Ruled by Gen. Maximian)  Both picked successors for their halves  Diocletian retires for health reasons and civil war breaks out

7.  Gains control of Western Empire  324 gains control of Eastern part  Moves capital from Rome to Greek city of Byzantium (Turkey)  Now located in West + surrounded by walls  Renames capital to Constantinople  Constantine dies  Rome’s divided again -> East survives, West does not

8.  Germanic invaders locate themselves on Northern border of empire  Begin to settle into Northern part of Rome  Overwhelm area and force emperor out of his throne  Huns invade Europe -> push people out of their homeland  Fierce Mongol nomads from Central Asia  Quote (pg. 161)

9.  Germanic people flee the Huns to Rome  City of Rome susceptible to attack  Group of Visigoths led by Alaric attack city  Attila the Hun  Had 100k + soldiers  Attacked both parts of empire  Reduced Roman population and caused widespread famine

10.  Emperor in West becomes powerless  Fighting occurs for who controls it now  Romulus Augustulus  14 yrs. old gains emperor  Last known Roman emperor -> forced into exile by Germanic invaders  Eastern half becomes Byzantine Empire and flourishes  Lasts until 1453 until it falls to Ottoman Turks