Romes fades away

Diocletian
He rules 214-303
it's cool to persecute Christians
Rome needs a big army (400,000 strong)
Rome needs a big movement (20,000 officials)

Constantine
Rules from 306-337
it's cool to BE a Christian
conversion to Christianity
via a cross in the sky (conquer by this!)
313 - his Edict of Milan proclaims freedom of worship
built a new capital in the East
Byzantium, soon to be known as Constantinople

Edict of Milan:
Is a proclamation that gave religious toleration to the Christians in the Roman Empire.
You can practice any religion you want
Returning confiscated land

The struggle of the peasants
Life in the Forth Century
 country dwellers are getting bankrupted by endless tax collection
new farming system: peasants work for elite landlords on large farms
peasants can avoid paying taxes, but they are getting hit just as hard by the landlords
paying off debts and being "allowed" to live on the land, in exchange for endless back-breaking work (such a deal)
Landowners hold power as counts and bishops, wielding more real power than the faraway empire
foreshadowing feudalism

The western Empire crumbles:
Rome's power is decreasing, while nomadic barbarians gain power
Western Empire is too poor, begins to be neglected
Huns migrate from China to eastern Europe
Visigoths take over Spain, and actually capture and loot Rome itself in 410
Vandals control Carthage and the western Mediterranean
other barbarian tribes
Ostrogoths in Italy
Franks in Gaul
Angles and Saxons in Britain

End of an era:
From the beginning...
500 B.C. - the monarchy is abolished
450 B.C. - the Twelve Tables are established

through the glory days..
44 B.C. - end of the line of for Julius Caesar
27 BC - 180 AD: The Roman Peace (Pax Romana)

to the bitter end...
constant fifth century by barbarian tribes left the western Roman Empire shattering and crumbling
the last emperor was a teenage boy installed in 475 by his father
barbarian deposed Romulus Augustus w/o bothering to kill him