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The last good Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius dies and leaves the throne to his selfish son Commodus. After Commodus was appointed as the emperor of Rome, he spent most of the treasury for his own pleasure and this lead to bankruptcy.
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This is the timespan in which the Roman Empire slowly declined in between 184 - 476 AD.
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Commodus's troops plotted to assassinate their leader. He was brutally murdered by his wrestling partner after the first attempt of his poisoning by his mistress didn't work.
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The Roman armies that were lead by different emperors were fighting each other which lead to lowered defence force around the boarders of Rome. This had left Rome open to Germanic tribes who attacked Rome and made unrest.
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General Diocletian is appointed Emperor of Rome. Diocletian promised to calm unrest and help Rome back onto its feet by instituting many reforms to create political stability.
- He increased the amount of soldiers defending Rome
- He split Rome into two halves and appointed himself to rule the East and General Maximian to rule the West.
- He set a cap on prices and setup a wage-freeze in order to stop inflation.
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Civil war erupts in Rome. Citizens fight each other and launch Rome into an unstable state.
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Diocletian retires from acting emperor.
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Constantine takes over the East as acting emperor. He attempts to reinforce laws and reforms that were made by Diocletian. He did this by making jobs hereditary (jobs passed from father to son) and allowed employers to stop their workers from leaving.
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As the new emperor, Constantine moves Rome's eastern capital to a Greek city known as Byzantium. Shortly after the event of the move of the eastern capital, Constantine renames the city to "Constantinople" after himself.
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Constantine dies and once again, civil war erupts in the Roman empire. Shortly after he died, Theodosius took his place as acting emperor. On Theodosius's death he suggested that the Roman Empire be completely split in two rather then sectioned. Each region would act as their own empire and be governed by different bodies.
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Germanic tribes enter the empire and attack, ransack and burn many villages and cities. Most of these tribes attacked because they were in search of better climate, land and wealth. The Romans named these people "Barbarians" because their language seemed to sound like gibberish to the local citizens and military.
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The Visigoths move into Adrianople, defeat prominent Roman forces and kill the emperor of the Eastern section of the Roman Empire. To keep peace, the emperor that followed gave ownership of some of the land in the Balkans over to the Visigoths.
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The Roman Empire finally divides in two. The Eastern Empire became the Byzantine Empire while the Western Empire remained as the Roman Empire.
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The Vandals ransack Rome, sending the empire into a steep decline.
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The current Roman emperor, Augustulus is overthrown by a German soldier named Odoacer. Odoacer declared himself king and did not rename the empire. This is when the Roman Empire was overthrown and where everything ended.
