Emperor Constantine divided the empire into two halves. He declared Constantinople the new capital of Roman society claiming rule over all Eastern provinces. The Western Roman Empire lost its power over towns in the East, causing a great reduction in profits from the treasury and weakening them dramatically in warfare. Now their strength had been shrink.
In remote locations under lenient Roman governing, it was common for soldiers to marry and adopt local customs attitudes values and beliefs instead of keeping their original Italian heritage. This caused disloyalty hesitation and disillusion worldwide among legions facing the same problems. Southern Britain is a great example. Oak tablets found by archaeologists show how most of the Roman army deserted or refused to carry out orders when fighting Pictish tribes in Scotland. They didn't want to destroy the culture they had integrated with.
Rome depended on its empire for funds, (farming practices and mining) it became very poor and had trouble coping economically. Rome had nothing to trade, and couldn't rebuild itself. In any war you need money to be victorious. Soon enough, other cities within the Empire stopped sending funds to Rome.
During certain Imperators regimes, they debased the currency. This meant that a coin didn't have a default value. Instead, it was represented by the amount of silver it contained. When Emperor Claudius was in power coinage wasn't even made up of 1% actual silver. As a result severe inflation occured.
Comments