Summarizing the Third Century Crisis

[Theodosius the Great]

I think the Sassanids should be much more emphasized in the summary. Their rise was the greatest and most dangerous external change that the empire had to deal with. The Persians were hellbent on expansion whereas the Germanic tribes were merely raiding on an unprecedented scale.

The old empire simply wasn't organized to repel large armies on two fronts. Or three fronts for that matter - i.e. the Rhine, Danube, and Euphrates.

The author Peter Heather cites the rise of the Sassanids and the Huns as two primary reasons the Western empire eventually fell. Both peoples appeared almost suddenly and the empire took decades to adapt to their new circumstances. To adapt to the Sassanid invasions and the Germanic raids the Romans felt the need to adopt a Dual Monarchic principle, as mentioned earlier. To adapt to the Hunnic pressure in Europe both the Western and Eastern emperors admitted larger groups of barbarians into the empire and settled them on the frontier provinces (e.g. Gratian, Valens, Theodosius I, etc..)

As for Constantine's fortress building program, I thought he was merely completing Diocletian's plans. Besides, Constantine belongs in the fourth century (post-Crisis). :wink:

~Theo