Fall of Rome & rise of Byzantine Empire

Understand what factors led to the fall of the Roman Empire

Understand how the rulers and those in government responded to this end

Understand what happened to the two halves of the Roman Empire

They were unable to gain new forms of income

Additionally, the separation between the rich and poor grew even more

The idea of depending too much on slave labor impacted Rome

Large amounts of corruption

Poor education

Civil wars were becoming more common. Commanders were challenging other commanders (or even emperors) for power

If you were able to gain favor with the military, then you could force control

This is similar to ruling like a tyrant

He saw previous rulers try to gain favor with the Senate & people but this always seemed to fail

This time was called the Imperial Crisis

This caused the cost to gain/maintain control to grow

Wars are expensive so trying to raise funds for it impacted society

This caused the government to raise taxes. Reaction by the people?

Bribes were constantly being used to gain favor as well

One of the biggest economic tolls of this situation was inflation. What is inflation?

Inflation is the general rise in the cost of goods and services

This was directly caused by emperors trying to pay for favor

They began to make coins out of metals that were less in value than gold and silver (such as copper)

When merchants realized that the coins had less metal in them, they rose the prices for everyone (regardless if they had the original gold or silver coins)

With everyone still fighting each other, they were neglecting their enemies

Foreign invader raids increased

Communication throughout the empire was extremely slow so trying to deal with invasions quickly was difficult

Example: 260 the Persians captured & executed the emperor Valerian & gained control over the eastern portion of the Roman Empire

Live in an area with amazing living conditions (farmland & climate)

Many of these invaders were part of the Germanic tribes

These tribes adopted several of the Greco-Roman culture

The Romans saw these Germanic tribes as barbarians

Military commander, Diocletian was able to gain and maintain control & named himself emperor

He focused on establishing stability (gain back lost land & reorganized gov.)

However, he did persecute the Christians-used them as a scapegoat

Divided the empire into two parts (East & West)

Co-emperors: Diocletian would rule the west, Maximian would control the east

Big issue to fix: inflation

Reduced the cost of goods to reset the economy

Established the first minimum wage

Focus of rule more on the legal texts, than on human beings (they can make mistakes or be corrupted)

Created provinces to bring governors closer to him

His reforms (changes for good) failed

Some saw it as trying to gain too much control

His death caused history to repeat itself...no surprise

This once again led to a fight for power among the military leaders

As a result, Constantine rose to power & became emperor in the west

One of the biggest things that Constantine was known for during his rule was...

It is believed that his family could have been Christians; even during a time when Christians were being persecuted

Statue of Constantine was said to have him holding a cross and saying "By this saving sign, I have delivered your city from the tyrant and restored liberty to the Senate and the people of Rome"

What do you think this tells us about what kind of person Constantine was?

He had the mentality that through the divine power of God, he had come to bring peace and prosperity to all lands

Legends of him having dreams and putting a Christian sign on the soldier's shields; another one of him seeing a Christian sign in the clouds & took this as an omen

This idea that God "destined" me to do this has been a constant mentality throughout history-will see it very clearly during Medieval Europe

Do you think this all was just a ploy or do you think he really believed this?

Constantine was dedicated to the Church

He believed that any division would cause great problems so it was his mission to practice the religion and set an example

He even refused to partake in a pagan ritual (wasn't outlawed) and those in attendance didn't like this. He never returned to this city

Before his death, he established a new capital in the East "New Rome" and it was called Constantinople (present day Turkey)

After 31 years as emperor, he got ill and died while on a military campaign

With Constantine dead, invaders took advantage and caused it to collapse

How?

• The Huns attacked Rome, China, Persia and India

• The halted the trade on the Silk Road

• Led by their leader Attila-easily be one of the top 10 most ruthless warriors of all time

• Romans defeated them but this didn't stop all of the invasions