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History and Evolution:
By William E. Steinman:
Part 33, The First Decline:
November 10, 2003:
After the death of Commodus the praetorians and the provincial armies got into a struggle about who would be emperor. The praetorians even went so far as to assassinate the senate's first choice. After it all shook out the one who persevered was Septimius Severus who had to fight a few battles to make his ascendency stick. This began what is called the Severi dynasty which lasted from 193 to 235. It was a time of struggle, unrest, and excesses. We can go over this quickly.
Although there was continuing dissent, Severus remained in power by quickly defeating anyone who rose against him. For sure, there were executions and the confiscation of properties along the way. It helped his cause that he was able to carry out successful foreign campaigns. He finally died during a campaign in Brittan.
There followed a series of short term Severi emperors. There was Caracalla who murdered his own brother, Geta, and was in turn assassinated after a five year rule. In 217 Macrinus came to power and lasted about a year before he was defeated in battle and killed. Macrinus was followed by Elagabalus, a 14 year old crazy kid with the standard teenage excesses. The praetorians killed him in 222 and set Alexander Severus up as emperor. Later, in a campaign against the Teutons the soldiers revolted and killed Alexander. Maximinus the Thracian, succeeded him. Thus ended the Severan Dynasty.
The excesses of the leadership and the infighting among the various factions was taking it's toll. The empire was beginning to come unglued. Barbarian invasions and internal struggle were increasing and not even a strong leader could last in the political situation in Rome. This first decline evolved from the time of Maximus in 235 to Claudius Gothicus in 268. Again, let us cover it briefly.
Maximinus I (the Thracian) tried to defend the empire. He fought vainly against the incursions of a Germanic people, the Alemanni. He lasted from 235 until 238 at which time a landowner revolt in Africa brought Gordianus I and Gordianus II to power. That didn't last long. Still in 238 the senate named Pupienus and Balbinus as joint emperors. When that didn't work, they named Gordianus III to the dangerous post of emperor. In 244 he was murdered by his soldiers in a champaign against the Persians.
in 244 Philippus (the Arabian) came to power. He was a soldier who the senate disliked and replaced with Decius in 249. Decius was also a soldier who tried to restore the Roman traditions. He also persecuted the Christians while in power. In 251 he was killed in battle by the Goths. This brought Gallus and Volusianus his son to power. Again, Gallus was killed by his own troops in 253.
In 253 Aemilianus, an army commander who fought the Goths, rebelled against Gallus and became emperor for a short time until his troops killed him. At this time another commander, valerianus was also vying for power. While they were squabbling, the Goths regrouped and invaded Greece. Valerianus and his son Gallienus finally ascended to power.
Valerian seemed to enjoy persecuting the Christians. He managed
to execute a few, including a couple of Bishops. Meanwhile, with
all of the internal struggle and the barbarian pressure, the empire
was getting out of control. To handle that Valerian appointed
his son Gallienus to rule the West while he took an army to the
east to deal with the Persian invasion. He made one big mistake
when he tried to negotiate in person with the Persian king. Instead
of making a deal, he was captured. He died in Persian custody.
He had tried to preserve Rome's dominance, but the fissures in
the empire were too large.
His son continued on, dealing as best he could with invasions
and a disintegrating empire. He stopped the persecution of the
Christians and instituted other reforms. There were some victories,
but the combination of forces against him were too much. During
his rule, Gaul was lost to the usurper, Cassianius Postumus, and
Palmyra was also separated. Some of Gallienus' reforms did nothing
but create more enemies, especially in the senate when he moved
to exclude them from the army. In 268 he was killed by his staff
while fighting against an insurrection in Milan. Claudius Gothicus
became emperor to succeed him. Claudius won a battle against the
Alemanni, a Germanic tribe, on the Garda lake. Then he overwhelmed
the Goths in Naissus. What else he might have accomplished is
moot since he died of the plague in 270.
This was a desperate time for the Roman Empire. The German Goths came rampaging down from the North followed by some other barbaric tribes. These invasions continued on to the Black Sea. Territories were lost, Athens was invaded and sacked, and Dacia, the area of the Carpathian Mountains and Transylvania, was abandon. In the west the situation was even worse. Gaul and Spain were overrun. Gallienus, was betrayed by his trusted general Postumus. Postumus declared himself emperor and took over Gaul. In fact, the entire empire was fragmenting.
The causes of this chaos were many, but the problem of orderly succession was a dominating one. There were just to many bad emperors and too many tin horn potentates setting themselves up as emperors of one sort or anther. Add to that, the impudence of the Praetorians, the intransigence of the armies, and the prettiness of the senate and you have a formula for disaster.
Let us compare the issues of succession in Rome with the same issues in America. We can see why things did not go well in Rome. There was no established tradition of orderly succession. This problem dated from the time of the first emperor Augustus and was never resolved. Of course succession does not always work well in a democracy either. We are currently at a crisis point in America because, in spite of our procedures, we are unable to promote competent leadership. We do have an orderly form of succession wherein a leader, if they have a clue, can do some good.
We have had a few assassinations, but, for the most part, a
leader once elected can count on a four year tenure. What they
do with that four years is still the question of the day. Too
many simply waste it campaigning for the next election. In that
way we are not much different than the Romans. Instead of service
it becomes about power. Duplicity and betrayal rule just as they
did in Rome. While Rome took 1000 years to rise and fall, we may
manage it in less than 300.
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