Post Soldier-Emperors

In Roman history the era of the "Soldier-Emperors" was a very violent, unstable time period. As it was, the emperors of this time were much more army-oriented. These emperors gained right to the throne by

 murdering the emperor before them and the majority of them had relatively short reigns because of this. The quality of life dwindled in the towns but prospered among those who held power. The year 284 A.D. marked the end of this tragic era and the beginning of the era of Diocletian. His practices seemed to work very well: creating smaller provinces, clearly differentiating between militaristic duties and civil duties, and others. But he made one fatal mistake and that was dividing Rome in half, East and West. While Constantine did appear to reunite these halves for a bit, too many factors were now stacked up against Rome. Germanic tribes had been forced to invade Rome and emperors were being slaughtered. The Empire was yet again divided and half of it met its doom. Rome met its end in a horrible, brutal method of destruction. 

"The Roman Empire (27 B.C.393 A.D.) | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Metmuseum.org. Web. 15 Mar. 2010. <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/roem/hd_roem.htm>.

"File:Young Folks' History of Rome Illus339.png -." Wikimedia Commons. Web. 15 Mar. 2010. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Young_Folks'_History_of_Rome_illus339.png>.