The Roman Empire reached its greatest extent in the second century AD. It covered the whole Mediterranean region, with 80 million people living there. However, this brilliance also paved the way for its disintegration. Let us examine the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire and the start of the Middle Ages.
The Mediterranean region was under the Roman Empire.
The Mediterranean basin was already economically and culturally unified when the Romans conquered it. The Mediterranean countries had long enjoyed close business ties with one another. Navigation made communication easier. The many rivers made it possible for people and products to enter the hinterland. The Mediterranean region divided its governmental structure into multiple urban centers, with agriculture serving as its central economic activity.
The cities formed an interconnected network in which trade and manufacturing flourished. The city was home to the landowners who controlled the agricultural industry. Roman dominance reinforced all these foundational aspects that made up the oneness of the Mediterranean world.
The magnificence of Roman rule
Between the second century BC and the first century AD, Roman dominance grew and solidified. A large hinterland comprising Spain, Gaul, the Danubian and Balkan regions, Syria, Armenia, Egypt, and North Africa was also a part of the Roman Empire at that time.
The size of the dominions encouraged the development of a land communications network, which made it possible to consistently provide food and supplies to every region of the empire. A single monetary system and an almost universally adopted set of rules and traditions also developed.
The Roman Empire’s political structure
The Emperor led the administration. In the first and second centuries, following a period of severe disagreements with the Senate, the emperor assumed nearly all power. The Praetorians (his armed guard) and the Praetorian Prefect (the leader of the Praetorians) depended on him. As a result, the Senate had significantly less political influence. Its members nevertheless made up the most esteemed and powerful social class.
Apart from the senators, the equestrian order (the knights) occupied the highest position in Roman society. This wealthy yet lower class selected the imperial officials. The senators and knights also possessed vast landed estates, which they used to discipline the masses. The rural mass consisted of the “servi casati,” or slaves, who had a place to live and land to work, and the “coloni,” or free farmers, who held concessions on specific land areas. The “vici,” or small urban towns, sprung up around the estates.
The Emperor
He possessed power in politics, the courts, and religion. As a matter of fact, the emperor was Pontifex Maximus until 375. He appointed representatives from the equestrian class and oversaw the provinces. He imposed his men on all governmental organizations through the “commendatio” (recommended) system, which caused them to lose their prior influence.
The Praetor was reduced to an honorary post, as were the Aediles (magistrates who served as representatives of the whole populace) and the Tribunes of the plebs (who were chosen by the people to assist the consuls during the republican era). Emperor Domitian eliminated the position of censors and curtailed the authority of the quaestors. The popular vote chose the consuls up to 534, but their authority rapidly eroded.
The Mediterranean Region’s economic crisis caused the fall of the Roman Empire.
Roman rule over the Mediterranean and Europe came to an end in 476 with the deposition of the last emperor, Romulus Augustulus. However, fundamental factors preceded the fall of the Roman Empire. In the second century AD, serious indicators of a major crisis began to emerge in the Mediterranean economy. Given that the empire’s core was agriculture, the agricultural crisis put its very survival in danger. Beginning in the second century, the amount of abandoned land increased significantly. Small and medium-sized landowners were unable to sustain themselves due to their extreme poverty.
The declining number of slaves and the impoverished status of the land put large estates in jeopardy. Once-fertile plains transformed into swampy, unhealthy areas, either abandoned for grazing or left uncultivated. As a result, there was less food available, and wealth declined. As farmers increasingly relocated to the cities, the imperial government found itself compelled to assist those in need. The population of the cities increased disproportionately in comparison to the resources available. Food supplies became increasingly scarce, and the abundant battle booty no longer offset the huge expenses associated with them.
Political crises follow economic crises.
Beginning in the third century, political problems also impacted the Roman Empire. The relationship between the government and the major landowners determined the political equilibrium. However, the aristocracies’ interests diverged from the Emperor’s, upsetting this equilibrium. A new class of military officers and top bureaucrats found a place to work in the altered circumstances.
The empire’s bureaucracy was so vast and formidable that it was perpetually in need of officials. The senatorial and equestrian classes were no longer the only places to find them, so it became crucial to seek them out beyond these groups. However, as time went on, the new class of administrators began to yearn for independent political power.
The army’s predicament and the tax hike
Another component of the Roman Empire’s machinery malfunctioned, contributing to its downfall. The soldiers represented the rural classes in the periphery and were from the provinces. Moreover, the army generals were no longer members of the senatorial class as they formerly were and thus had little chance of social advancement. The necessity to find funding to keep the military sector operating led to a gradual rise in tax pressure.
Taxes impacted large landowners, Senate members, and the equestrian order. Tensions with the emperor and the administration remained high as a result. But in this case, the army gained effective control during the period of military anarchy, which lasted from 235 to 284. The commanders of the military selected the emperors, severely undermining the authority of the empire.
The Roman Empire underwent reforms to avoid its collapse.
In an effort to prevent the fall of the Roman Empire, the emperors Aurelian (270–275), Diocletian (284–305), and Constantine (306-337) tried to enact political and administrative reforms. One reform was to strengthen imperial authority by establishing new administrative frameworks that were independent of the army instead of the emperor.
Emperor Diocletian’s command to register all the empire’s resources led to the consideration of a tax reform as a means to accomplish all this. He established two types of taxes based on the census results: the “annona,” a tax on land, and the capitation tax, which was derived from the word “caput,” head. Diocletian also tackled the issue of inflation, but his solutions fell short of expectations. In fact, the devaluation of the currency led to the return of barter.
The decrease in population
The widespread crisis also included a fall in population, which was both a cause and a result of the deteriorating living conditions. Once governmental offices became hereditary, the wealthiest classes in the cities could no longer give them up. To keep them from ceasing to be practiced because of the low economic return, even public interest activities were made hereditary.
The purpose of the new trade associations was to force certain merchants and artisans to work for the state by grouping them together. They fortified the frontiers with additional defenses and restructured the army. The large landowners were required to pay a tax to support their farmers and to supply warriors.
The Tetrarchy of Diocletian
In order to establish more stringent authority over the territory, Emperor Diocletian established the tetrarchy, or “government of four.” This system allowed for two augusti, or emperors, and two caesars, or emperors’ heirs and collaborators. The first Augustus, Diocletian, ruled the eastern region of the empire with his caesar, Galerius. Maximian, the other Augustus, and Constantius Chlorus, the Caesar, seized control of the western portion.
Nicomedia was headquarters for Diocletian and Galerius. Constantius Chlorus settled in Trier, while Maximian remained in Milan and Aquileia. The brief tetrarchy lasted from 293 until 305, the year Diocletian chose to abdicate. Bloody conflicts erupted, culminating in the triumph of Constantine, the son of Constantine Chlorus, who assumed the lone emperorship in 324.
The reform of administrative-territorial
Diocletian and Constantine implemented a more successful reform, which involved establishing a new territorial order. The empire combined the provinces to form administrative divisions, which grew in extent but decreased in number. A vicar then represented the emperor, organizing the provinces into dioceses. Ultimately, the vicar divided the dioceses into four districts: the East Prefecture, Illyricum, Italy, and Gaul. Each district had a “dux” at its head.
This reorganization required the participation of numerous commanders and officials. By now, people of low social status who had become rapidly wealthy—the homines novi—could hold important positions. The Emperor led this new organization. The Emperor received all powers and underwent a deification process to regain his dominance and prevent the fall of the Roman Empire.
The Constantinean Era
The sole and new Roman emperor from 324, Constantine (306-337), saw the growth of Christianity as a way to fortify the empire. Indeed, the new religion stood out due to its extensive spread throughout the region and its cohesive ecclesiastical structure. Additionally, it alleviated state action by meeting the broad needs for charity and the poorest people’s aid.
Over time, the changes brought about by Constantine’s predecessors have resulted in imbalances. The tetrarchy collapsed due to the internal conflicts it fostered. The division of the empire into provinces, dioceses, and prefectures revealed the distinct differences among its regions. Constantine established Constantinople as the new capital in 330 and divided the Roman Empire’s territory among his heirs.
Rome’s crisis
Rome suddenly faced a crisis as a result of Constantine’s new division. As the eastern portion of the Empire grew, its capital city of Constantinople started to stand against the western portion. Not only did the Eastern capital flourish and eclipse Rome throughout the 4th century, but Rome also went through a period of decline as a political center. The ongoing crises that affected every sector caused disarray and weakness, which led to the western region as a whole rapidly exhibiting signs of collapse.
Theodosius the Great’s death in 395 marked the official beginning of the fall of the Roman Empire. The West fell to his younger son Honorius, and the East to his son Arcadius. As protector, General Stilicho guided them both. But the Eastern Roman Empire and the Western Roman Empire had already split apart by that point.
The Barbarians provided another—possibly the main—cause of the Roman Empire’s fall. The barbarian invasions dramatically upended ancient Europe.
The Fall of the Roman Empire Gallery
Fall of the Roman Empire timeline
