The Crisis of the Third Century Explained

did you know that there is a specific term used for Roman emperors that Rose to power from the Army [Music] hello and welcome to world history encyclopedia my name is Kelly and today's video is all about the turbulent history of the Roman Empire during what is now known as the crisis of the third Century which saw the Empire split into three separate political entities don't forget the easiest way to support us is by giving this video a thumbs up subscribing to our Channel and hitting that Bell icon for notifications so you don't miss out on any new uploads world history encyclopedia is a non-profit organization and you can find us on patreon a brilliant site where you can support our work and receive exclusive benefits in return your support helps us create videos twice a week so make sure to check it out via the pop-up in the top corner of the screen or via the patreon link down below the crisis of the third Century also known as the Imperial crisis spanned from 235 to 284 CE and was the turbulent period of the Roman Empire when it actually split into three separate political entities the Roman Empire the gallic Empire and the Palmyra Empire and it all began after the assassination of the emperor Alexander Severus of the Severin Dynasty this dynasty of Roman emperors began with septimius Severus who ruled from 193 to 211 CE who made some changes and set some precedence during his rule which would later contribute to the crisis of the third century septimius decided to raise the annual pay for Roman soldiers from 300 to 500 Denari as well as enlarging the Armed Forces but in order to do that he had to debase the currency with less precious metals to have more of it although this didn't immediately have any repercussions it would later give rise to economic problems since other Emperors after him did the same thing not only did he debase the currency but septimius also weakened the power of the emperor because by courting the favor of the military he became more dependent on the Loyalty of the army than any previous Emperor ever had been this shift in power wasn't too much of an issue until the death of Alexander while Alexander was Emperor he was influenced by his mother Julia mamea and his grandmother Julia Mesa and although he initiated many positive policies during his Reign his inability to break free from his mother's influence led to his downfall Julia mamea was unpopular with the military because she had initiated pay cuts to the Troops in order to save money for herself and as it became more clear that Alexander was a puppet for his mother his troops lost respect for him when Alexander decided to pay off the German tribes while on campaign rather than meet them in battle the emperor was seen as cowardly and both Alexander and his mother were assassinated by his military Commanders rather than a son or adopted son of Alexander taking the throne which was the precedent for royal succession the soldier maximinous thracks took control he reigned for three years as the first of the barracks Emperors and was the first of many such rulers during the crisis of the third century the term Barracks Emperors is a name introduced by later historians to describe the Roman emperors who were raised to Power by the army troops tended to bond closely with their commanders and preferred these men they knew and trusted to an upper-class Monarch they knew nothing about rather than an heir assuming the throne through succession the troops chose the next ruler based on his popularity ability to produce results and generosity towards the military if the military wasn't impressed by the results of the emperor he was assassinated and replaced between the death of Alexander Severus in 235 and Diocletian the man who put an end to the crisis in 284 Rome saw over 20 Emperors come and go the first of these Barracks Emperors maximinous thracks ruled for three years before he was assassinated because of his tendency to plunge Rome into both foreign and domestic Warfare he was also a pretty poor leader when Rome was faced with famine plague and social unrest he was followed by Father and Son Emperors gordian the first and second and then the unpopular Bell binus and pupianus who were killed by the praetorian guard then there was gordian III who lasted six years until he was assassinated probably by his successor Philip the Arab who was later killed as well as his 12 year old son by his successor deschous the following Barracks Emperors all died either in battle or of plague or assassinated by their own troops or in the case of Valyrian as a prisoner of this ascended Persians in 253 galenius came to power after the death of valerian and effectively ruled Rome for 15 years he expanded the Cavalry and initiated a few cultural developments too before he was assassinated by his own troops then there was Claudius gothicus who got his epithet from his victories over the Goths but only reigned for two years before dying of plague he was succeeded by his brother quintilus who lasted less than a year before probably being assassinated by his successor aurelian aurelian ruled for five years between 270 and 275 and was one of the few Barracks Emperors to place the good of the people and the Empire before his own ambition while the various Barracks Emperors and others were fighting over who should rule Rome split into three separate Empires and aurelian was the Emperor who was able to reunite them during the time of Rapid successions before aurelian the Emperors needed larger and larger armies and so more and more funds to take and hold power these Emperors continued to debase the currency over and over which ultimately led to economic and social chaos due to rampant inflation since the currency had less purchasing power with the lack of quality leaders it's not surprising that the enormous Empire would split under other rulers who thought they could do better for their people in restoring some stability in 260 CE posthumous created the gallic Empire comprised of the regions of Germania Gaul hispania and Britannia and around 10 years later in Circa 270 CE queens and nobia of Palmyra formed the palmyrine Empire stretching from Syria to Egypt although these two rulers have often been painted as Rebels against the Roman Empire they both assured the Roman senate that they were simply acting in the best interests of Rome by securing and stabilizing their provinces they both knew that Rome was still a threat even with its issues and Zenobia went so far implicating Rome as to display aurelian on one side of her coinage and her son on the other posthumous went another route by establishing his own government and Senate but he still made sure to honor Rome the actions of posthumous and Zenobia could be considered simple common sense self-preservation in the face of the steady degeneration of the Roman Empire they used the guise of acting on Rome's behalf as a way to Vie for independent sovereignty and power over their respective realms the Roman emperors were all far too busy with infighting and Intrigue to give the gallic and Palmyra Empires much attention until aurelian came to power and made consolidating and reunifying the Empire his priority aurelian first secured the borders of Rome through his successful campaigns against the vandals and Goths among other groups before he set his eyes on the east aurelian didn't care for zenobia's professed motives in taking Egypt and he destroyed every city he came across once he entered her territory until he reached Tiana which he was told in a dream to be merciful to if he wanted Victory after he spared Tiana news of his Mercy spread now when he reached a new city they opened their gates for him with no resistance Zenobia and her forces met aurelian at the Battle of M.A in 272 CE and aurelian's battle strategies worked well for him Zenobia and her General zabdis escaped the battle but their forces met Rome's again at the Battle of Amisa where aurelian was again Victorious zabdis was probably killed and Zenobia was taken as a prisoner by aurelian although she has been famously depicted being paraded through the streets of Rome in golden chains this probably never happened as it's unlikely aurelian wanted to give her any more attention than was absolutely necessary after getting zenobia's regions back under control aurelians set his sights on the gallic Empire but by this time posthumous had been killed by his own troops and tetricus the first was ruling the Empire tetricus the first had no desire to meet the Roman emperor in battle after hearing of his victories but the armies met in 274 at the Battle of Shalom and the gallic forces were nearly annihilated there is debate about the Battle of Shalom with early reports claiming that tetricus the first wrote to aurelian asking to surrender or at least to spare himself and his son after the battle tetricus the first and his son both survived and tetricus led the rest of his life as an administrator if the story of tetris's letter is true it would have made a lot more sense for aurelian to have just accepted the surrender since the battle cost him significantly in men and resources even though aurelian successfully reunited the Roman Empire he was assassinated by his commanders and Then followed by six Barracks Emperors over the next nine years until Diocletian came to power Diocletian continued aurelian's work in securing the borders of Rome and took measures to make sure nothing like the crisis of the third Century would happen again he elevated the position of Emperor above the military whilst also encouraging an aura of divinity around the position he worked to decrease the power of the military and established mobile forces within the Empire that would reinforce and rotate with stationary forces garrisoned at the border to prevent armies from getting too attached to commanders or Regional governors he stabilized the economy by issuing a better standard of currency and enacted the tetraki rule of four where the responsibilities of governing the vast empire were divided between separate rulers whose successes were already in place when they assumed their positions finally he famously divided the vast realm into the Eastern Byzantine and Western Roman Empires to encourage stability and easier Administration although he may have hoped this move would ensure Rome's future the two empires competed with each other more than they work together contributing to the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire can you think of any similar periods throughout world history to the crisis of the third Century let us know in the comments below if you enjoyed this video make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to our channel so you don't miss out on our new videos every Tuesday and Friday foreign to you by world history encyclopedia for more great articles and interactive content head to our website via the link below if you like my 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Channel: World History Encyclopedia

Views: 4,125

Keywords: rise and fall of the roman empire, rome, history, roman empire, ancient rome, empire, caesar, fall of the roman empire, roman, colosseum, augustus, christianity, the fall of rome, roman empire collapse, western rome, rome collapse, romulus augustus, roman history, roman religion, roman rise and fall of an empire, history of rome, story of roman empire, Marcus aurelius, Augustus, history documentary, the roman empire, pax romana, history shows, roman empire documentary

Id: gip0QBO3oao

Length: 13min 18sec (798 seconds)

Published: Tue May 16 2023