The Roman Empire has been plagued by civil war and border divisions from foreign countries in the wake of the crisis of the third century. Diocletian proposed and implemented the division of the empire into east and west because the local liking became too much.
This time, I will summarize the division of the Roman Empire and the destruction of the Western Roman Empire.
From head of state to tyranny
Diocletian ended the era of the military emperor in 284. (Reigned 284 to 305 years). He is also a hard worker who got up from a soldier.
Diocletian The current situation is due to the expansion of the land and the divide-and-conquer rule by the provinces.
There is no sense of belonging to the country
We will strengthen the power and deify the emperor. To be exact, Diocletian He declared that he was the son of the Lord of the Gods in Roman mythology. This is a technique I often hear in the Orient world.
So, head of state ( Principate ) The political system of the Roman Empire was tyranny ( Dominates ).
What did Emperor Diocletian of the East do under his rule?
In addition, Diocletian Divides the empire into west and east, and governs each region with two emperors and vice emperors. ( Tetrarchy ) ”, He ruled the empire and restored the political order .
Diocletian He has very good qualities and is said to have delayed the destruction of the Roman Empire thanks to him.
However, because the ability was too high, the rule by the east and west was divided into Diocletian . Although it worked well under his reign, it seems that a power struggle has arisen since his retirement.
On the other hand, he was Christian that had spread throughout the Roman Empire by the 3rd century, centered on the vulnerable. We are doing great persecution. As I said earlier, Diocletian Calls himself a child of God emperor worship Because it was promoting. Christianity is the only absolute god, so it was an incompatible view of religion.
This great persecution did not allow Christians to worship the gods that the Roman Empire worshiped (Emperor Diocletian initially accepted Christianity as long as he worshiped), and Christian soldiers escaped one after another. It is said that it was the cause.
What is Constantine's politics? ??
Diocletian Next to the center of the Roman Empire was Constantine the Great . (306-337). For the time being, I was in the form of a four-emperor divide-and-conquer system, but while I was robbed and robbed of the throne (some of them were fighting to lead the army), the last thing that remained was . Emperor Constantine was.
Basically Constantine the Great Is the former emperor Diocletian But the big difference was the persecuted Christianity I took it in the direction of doing it. It was also the first time in the Roman Empire that the emperor himself worshiped Christianity. It has greatly contributed to the subsequent development of Christianity.
By daring to officially recognize Christianity,
- Unify the empire
- Let's reduce the number of escaped soldiers and strengthen the army
I said. At the same time, I did not forget to let him make his own colossal statue and show overwhelming authority. Perhaps he tried to show authority in another way without deifying himself.
Speaking of what he did as his own authority in his achievements, the construction of his capital is also indispensable. There was a town called Byzantium between the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea, which was named Constantinople from my name. It has been renamed to.
Also, Colonus to improve the financial base. As a policy to tie up to the land, we will prevent the loss of tax revenue and hereditary status and occupation of the lower class people. Regarding the throne, Constantine the Great Relatives are now on the throne (again, there are more and more cases of succession to the throne). In addition, bureaucracy As a huge thing, strengthening the power of officials I was allowed to. Using these officials, the emperor came to tyranny the empire.
Here, Rome ended the free society of its citizens and moved to a hierarchical society based on the bureaucracy.
Germanic migration
Germanic who had already emigrated in the 3rd century and had emigrated to the empire as mercenaries and colonus. (Divided into dozens of tribes such as the East and Visigoths), but in 375, another large-scale invasion by the Germanic people began to occur again.
As society changed in the 4th century, the Roman Empire began to impose heavy taxes to support the military and bureaucrats. The migration of ethnic groups is a tremendous burden for the Roman Empire as the heavily taxed provinces revolt one after another. I was in a mess.
In the first place, it is said that the Germanic migration began when the horsemen called the Huns could not stay in the east and went west. It is not known that the lineage and the reason for the move were clear for this Huns. According to one theory, was it the beginning of the division of the Xiongnu people who were in China? It is said that it is thought that the country called Rouran Khaganate has risen and moved due to food shortages.
* As an explanation of the food shortage theory, I think it is easy to understand the "Chinese history that can be understood in relation to climate change and nomads", which was actually the product of cooling in the "Sangokushi" turmoil.
The Huns, who went west, squeezed the area where the Germanic people lived, and the Germanic people entered the Roman Empire in a billiard manner.
After the turmoil, the Roman Empire split into East-West in 395. Unlike the traditional four-emperor divide-and-conquer system, it has become a completely different country.
Birth of the Byzantine Empire and the Western Roman Empire
The Roman Empire, divided by Theodosius I (reigning 379-395) in 395, is
- Byzantine Empire
- Western Roman Empire
It was divided into. The Byzantine Empire , which was relatively unaffected by the Germanic migration The urban economy is still alive, and while it lasted until 1453, the Western Roman Empire was capitalized in Rome, including the Italian peninsula. Was influenced by the Germanic migration.
The Western Roman Empire was so confused in 476 that the Germanic mercenary captain Odoacer Will be destroyed by.
In this way, the history of the Roman Empire ended with the destruction of the Western Roman Empire, which basically inherited the Roman culture, and entered a situation where multiple nations were rife.