Throughout its existence the Roman state lived through many periods of troubles,
but none of them were as dangerous as the crisis of the third century.
The Empire was being torn to pieces by internal strife and enemies from all sides were eager to steal its lands.
In this video, we are going to talk about the crisis of the third century, how it occurred, what happened, and the aftermath.
After a series of civil wars that shook the foundations of the republic in 31 B.C.,
Gaius Octavian defeated Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium and became the first emperor of Rome.
Although we call him the Emperor, his real title was princeps,
which means the first citizen and a quasi-republican rule continued.
The Empire was living in relative peace until in 68 A.D., a coup forced Nero to commit suicide.
This resulted in a crisis that was later called the year of the Four Emperors,
and in the summer of 69, Vespasian became the emperor and established the Flavian dynasty.
Three representatives of this family and five members of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty, collectively known as the five good emperors,
ruled during the following period of stability.
During the rule of Emperor Trajan, the Empire reached its greatest extent territorially.
His heir Hadrian decided to stop the expansion and built a number of defensive fortifications.
The next emperor, Marcus Aurelius, had to fight a prolonged conflict called the Marcomannic wars against the barbarian tribes,
but despite this, his reign is considered to be a golden age for Rome.
His son, Commodus, started his rule well, but later on his paranoia led to his assassination, and in 192 the year of the five Emperor's began.
The winner of the ensuing struggle for power was Septimus Severus.
His Severan Dynasty ruled for the next four decades providing seven emperors.
This time was marked with an increase in the size of the military.
The regular army was doubled in size and had been promised 50% higher pay.
The Severan emperors had to decrease the percentage of silver in their coins to be able to pay for this bigger army,
and that started a protracted economic crisis.
The role of the military increased tenfold, while the Senate lost its privileges
In 232, the last Severan emperor, Alexander Severus, had to fight against the newly formed Sassanid Empire,
which had toppled the Parthians.
We know very little about this war against Ardashir I,
But it seems that despite some setbacks, the territories of the Empire were preserved.
However, casualties had been very high and the military had become insubordinate especially towards Alexander.
When he seemed reluctant to fight against Germanic invaders in 235, he was murdered by his own legionaries.
Thus started the crisis of the third century.
The monetary crisis ramped up and the army became the only real source of power.
Around 30 so-called barrack emperors or soldier emperors were crowned in the next fifty years.
At the same time, the empire was facing a greater number of foreign enemies than ever before.
The Goths, Vandals, and Alemani started raiding the provinces along the Rhine-Danube frontiers,
while to the east, the Sassanid empire was eager to exploit Roman weakness to take control over the Levant.
In 252, Shapur I seized Nisibis,
and during the next year defeated the Roman army sent to the area at Barbalissos and conquered Antioch.
Emperor Valerian had to march against the Sassanids to keep the eastern territories intact, while his son Gallienus was left in charge of the West.
Valerian's troops arrived in Asia Minor in 259, but at that moment Gothic tribes invaded the region.
Sources do not provide any information on the ensuing battles,
and it is possible that the Goths rampaged through Asia Minor, and then returned beyond the Danube.
Valerian continued his march towards Edessa which was under siege by Shapur I.
Once again, We don't know the details, but Valerian's 70,000 strong army was utterly defeated by the 40,000 soldiers of Shapur.
Valerian became the first Roman emperor to be captured in battle. He passed away a year later.
His son Gallienus claimed the throne, but he had to quell a rebellion against his rule in 260.
At the same time the Allemani, and other Germanic tribes invaded northern Italy.
The emperor was forced to march back to stop them. His troops intercepted the enemy near Mediolanum.
It is said that Gallienus only had 60,000 troops against the 300,000 barbarians, but his cavalry won the day
However, rebellions against him continued and in 216 Roman commander Postumus declared his independence,
and formed what was later called the Gallic Empire in Gaul and Britannia.
He used the fact that Gallienus was off fighting other usurpers to also take control of Hispania
Thankfully for the Romans, their eastern provinces were saved from the Sassanid invasion by a noble from the city of Palmyra Called Odaenathus,
who sources claim was the governor of Syria during the Battle of Edessa.
He defeated a number of local usurpers and was able to pacify the Roman East.
in 262 and 263, Odaenathus took back all the lands lost to the Sassanids and even reached their capital Ctesiphon.
Odaenathus, then declared himself the king of kings, thus challenging the Sassanids legitimacy whilst remaining a Roman vassal.
Details are obscure once again, but we know that in 267, Odaenathus was assassinated in Anatolia and his widow Zenobia became the regent of their son.
Meanwhile, to the west, Postumus managed to defend his new realm against Gallienus in 265 and 266.
This probably caused discontent among the legions of the Roman emperor, and in 268 he was assassinated and Claudius II took the throne.
Claudius needed to regain the Gallic provinces, but a Gothic incursion into modern-day Serbia forced him to move against them instead.
In 269 he defeated the invaders at Naissus.
Sources assert that more than 50,000 Goths were killed, and that was the reason why they were only able to attack Rome a century later.
Claudius also managed to stop another Allemani raid at the Battle of Lake Benacus in 269.
In the same year, Postumus was killed and was succeeded by Marius.
Claudius exploited the Gallic empire's weakness and took Hispania back
However, he wasn't able to conclude the reconquest as he succumbed to a plague in 270.
Aurelian became the Emperor shortly after.
In the east, Zenobia decided to take advantage of Claudius' death and declare her son the Emperor.
By 271, Egypt and most of Central and Eastern Anatolia became part of the Palmyran Empire.
Aurelian was under pressure from all sides.
He started by expelling the Vandals from Northern Italy,
and then defeated another Allemani incursion at the battles of Fano and Pavia.
At the same time, he decided to abandon the province of Dacia as it was exposed to attack, being beyond the Danube.
The Palmyran conquest of Egypt created a grain crisis in Rome.
Aurelian needed to deal with Zenobia, so in 272 he marched to the east.
In less than a year, Palmyran forces were defeated and the eastern part of the Empire was reconquered.
Some sources claim that part of the Library of Alexandria was burned during this campaign.
Aurelian then returned to the west.
Initially, he attempted to use diplomacy to reclaim the Gallic Empire.
This failed and in 274 he attacked them and won the Battle of Châlons.
This once again brought Gaul and Britannia under Roman control.
Although the Roman Empire was reunited, the death of Aurelian in 275 started a new round of the crisis.
Six emperors came to power in the next nine years, until Diocleatian defeated all opposition and became the empire's ruler in 284.
Diocletian's reign is considered to be the end of the crisis of the third century.
Although it was as full of warfare and violence as the previous five decades,
Diocletian managed to stabilize the empire with his reforms.
A general census was conducted that helped with taxation.
The Emperor also attempted to enact an edict setting maximum prices, but it backfired as the black market effectively took over.
His most important reform was the creation of the Tetrarchy. The Empire was divided into the eastern and western halves.
Each got an emperor, Augustus, and both Emperor's appointed their heirs, Caesars.
The goal was to create a stable inheritance system.
Despite the fact that the Tetrarchy failed shortly after the death of Diocletian,
The Western and Eastern Roman Empires became the standard division and that prolonged the existence of the Roman Empire.
Thank you for watching our documentary on the crisis of the third century
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The video was narrated by me officially Devin. Don't forget to stop by my channel for my narrative Let's Plays
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