Empire's Problems:

Political Instability

• Emp. Commodus spent state money on his own pleasures; bankrupted treasury
• his own troops killed him; troops killed many leaders to follow
• army busy fighting each other- not defending borders
• Germanic tribes attacked empire 

• warfare disrupted production and trade
• profits declined sharply for artisans and merchants-many out of business
• warfare destroyed farmland-food shortages sent food prices soaring
• gov. minted new coins- cutting monetary value
• merchants raised prices-inflation
• gov. increased tax on landowners to pay soldiers-abandoned farms, food shortages 

• a rise in prices corresponding to a decrease in the value of money 

Unsuccesful Reforms:

Diocletian

• to prevent invasions, raised number of legions in army
• traveled through empire to oversee defenses
• empire too large for one person to govern-set up coemperors 
• Edict of Prices to slow inflation-froze wages and set max. prices for goods
• failed-citizens sold goods through illegal trade
• required farmers to stay on land and workers to remain there throughout their lives

• worked by reinforcing Diocletian's reforms
• legal for landowners to chain their workers to keep them on farm
• declared mose jobs hereditary; sons follow fathers
• moved capital of eastern empire to Byzantium- an ideal site for trade and well-protected- renamed it Constantinople 

• civil war and internal problems
•  divided western and eastern parts of empire
• eastern empire-Byzantine Empire; western half- Roman Empire

Barbarian Invasions:

Warrior Groups

• raised cattle and farmed small plots
• little to trade and very poor
• group consisted of warriors, families, and chief
• Romans thought they were barbarians 

• rebelled against Romans and defeated Roman army, killing east Roman emperor
• to buy peace, new emperor gave them land in the Balkans 

• lead by chief, Attila, they came from Asia and raided eastern empire
• moved north into Gaul and Romans combined with Visigoths to stop Hun invasion
• after the Huns, new groups battled at the eastern frontier
• diplomacy, warfare, and bribery could only stop them for so long

• Italy devastated
• Germanic tribes taking over
• western Roman empire ended in late 400's AD
• Roman culture still thrived in west- Latin language, Roman laws, Christian church
•  Byzantine Empire- Roman culture being replaced by Hellenistic culture-Greek replaced Latin as language