Fall of Rome
What were some political and social problems in rome?
A dynasty of emperors called The Severans ruled rome after the horrid emperor, Commodus, was murdered. When the last of the Severans died, Rome became very weak. Army leaders fought each other for the throne for almost 50 years. During this time, Rome had had 22 emperors. Many government official would take bribes. Fewer people attended schools and many of the wealthy stopped paying taxes. A large number of the empire's people were slaves.
What were some of Rome's economic and military problems?
Rome's economy began to fall apart in the 200s. Law and order broke down. Roman soldiers and invaders seized crops and destroyed fields. Thus the farmers began to grow less food. Artisans produced less and shopkeepers lost money. A plague killed 1 out of every 10 people. Rome also began to suffer from inflation. The roman government could not afford to defend its territories and had to find a way to pay its soldiers and officials. So they put less gold in their coins to produce more coins. The people found out that the coins had lost their value so they bumped up their prices. People began to trade goods instead of using money. While invaders swept into the empire. In the west, Germanic tribes raided the farms and towns. In the east, Persia pushed into the Roman territory. As the fighting increased, Rome could no longer pay the soldiers. Instead it began using the disloyal Germanic mercenaries.
What were the Diocletian's reforms?
In 284 A.D. a general named Diocletian became emperor. To stop the decline, he introduced reforms. Since the empire was so large, Diocletian divided the ruling power into 4 parts. He named officials to rule these areas but kept authority over all. To slow inflation, he created rules that set the prices of goods and wages. He then ordered workers to remain at the same job until they died. These reforms failed miserably. the people ignored the rules, and Diocletian did not have the power to make them obey.