The crisis of the Roman Empire was the period between the death of Alexander Severus in 235 and the proclamation of Emperor Diocletian in 284. This period is characterized by an economic crisis, reflected in handcrafts, trade, as well as the instability of state power, internal and external military clashes and Rome’s temporary loss of control, particularly Galia and Eastern territories. Causes of the crisis differ in varied schools of thought historical schools, including the opinion that there is no need to single out the period in history. But this period will serve as a transition from Principate to Dominate and will transform the Roman Emperor completely, from religious, economic and social aspects.
Severan Dynasty and the Fall
After the murder of Commodus, the last Emperor from the Antonian Dynasty, the Civil War of 193-197 erupted in the Roman Empire. Several prominent leaders proclaimed themselves Emperors. But Imperial power was officially handed down to the Senate by the victor, Septimius Severus, who emerged from the war and founded the imperial dynasty of Severus, which lasted from 193 to 235.
Septimus Severus relied exclusively on the army, and the government under him turned into a military-bureaucratic monarchy. Foreign policy was characterized by a number of successful wars against Parthia and the Caledonian tribes. After the Emperor’s death, his son, Caracalla, murdered his brother Geta, took the throne, then started a war with the Parthians, with no instigation, and was killed by conspirators. His successor, the Prefect of Pretoria, Macrinus, made an unsuccessful campaign against the Parthians, that was very expensive for Rome. The army became dissatisfied with Macrinus. His bad habits and effeminacy aroused general condemnation from the people and the army. The mother of Caracalla, Julia, and her two daughters, managed to build an army for the young Elagabalus, son of Caracalla, and he was proclaimed Emperor. Macrinus also assembled an army. There was a battle at Antioch, but Macrinus, without waiting for an outcome, fled and was soon captured and killed. After Macrinus, Elagabalus was the ruler of the Roman Empire. In March 222, he was killed by his own soldiers. Then the Emperor was 13-year-old Alexander Severus from 222 to 235. During his reign, the financial crisis escalated, and the threat increased from the emerging power of the New Persian Kingdom, with which war began in 231. Alexander was killed by rebels, which marked the beginning of an even deeper political and socio-economic crisis in the Roman Empire that marked the end of an Era that lasted for two centuries.
Soldiers’ Emperors
Since 235, the Crisis of the Third Century began, and the Roman Empire was shaken by military clashes between contenders for Emperor, and a number of territories ceased to obey central authorities. Between 235 and 268, 29 emperors, including usurpers, were proclaimed, and only one of them died a non-violent death, from the plague. The year 238 was known as the year of six Emperors, because of the rapid changes of leadership proclaimed by the military.
Emperor Trajan Decius ruled from 249 to 251, as well as Emperor Valerian, who ruled from 253 to 260, and his son Emperor Gallienus from 253 to 268, who distinguished self by his efforts to lead the country out of the crisis, rather than surrender to the delights of the imperial power. However, during their reign, local separatism became more active, leading to the Dynasty of Illyrians. Claudius Gothicus, from 268 to 270, initiated the revival of the Roman Empire, transferring the throne into the hands of Lucius Domitius Aurelian, who ruled from 270 to 275.
Aurelian repulsed the invasion of German tribes that had invaded Italy, restored Roman administration in the eastern provinces and subdued the Gallic Empire in the north. His had absolute power in the Empire, which was a prerequisite for furtherance of imperial dominance.
The End of the Crisis
The Illyrian Dynasty continued through the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius Probus from 276 to 282. That brought order to imperial power in Illyria, Thrace and Asia Minor. His successor, Emperor Marcus Aurelius Carus, from 282 to 283, defeated the Germans, after which the Illyrian known as Diocletian, ascended the throne, marking the beginning of the Dominate Period that lasted from 284 to 476. Under Diocletian, and then after another civil war under Constantine, the Roman Empire strengthened and the state was relatively stable for about 100 years.
The End of the Empire
The last Roman Emperor, Theodosius I, permitted the Goths to settle in its’ territory, thus strengthening the influence of the barbarians against the Roman army. 15 years after his death, Rome, for the first time in its centuries-old history, was taken by the Visigoths of Alaric and subjected to a two-day plunder. In the late 440’s, the conquest of Britain by the Angles and Saxons began. In the early 450’s, the Huns, led by Attila, attacked the Western Roman Empire. In June 455, the Vandals captured Rome and subjected it to a terrible pillaging. They subdued Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. In 457, the Burgundians occupied the Rodan basin, creating an independent Burgundian kingdom. By the beginning of the 460s, only Italy remained under Roman rule. The agony of the Western Roman Empire was put to an end in 476 when barbarians overthrew the last Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus and founded their own barbarian kingdom in Italy.
The Roman Empire has long lost its former power; drained by continuous civil wars, barbarian invasions, economic crisis and the plague that decimated the population. The recovery at the beginning of the 4th century only extended the inevitable decline of the western part that lasted for another century, but it managed to preserve the eastern part of the Empire that would exist for a thousand years after the fall of Rome. Although this is a crisis period in Roman history, it is an important transition from antiquity to late antiquity, and later to the Middle Ages.