The History of the Roman empire
Rome had started taking over provinces since the 3rd Century BC and it took four centuries to reach it greatest extent. So therefore, in this way, it was an 'empire' where it was still stated as a republic. The position of power during the Empire, was the imperium, meaning 'emperor'. While Augustus was the first emperor, he took the position of saving the Republic. He rejected the title of 'king' and instead used the title 'princeps' which meant a leading citizen. Most of the rules of the Republican government remained but the emperor had the final decisions and could veto decisions of the Senate and he was backed up by the Roman army. Augustus's reign lasted for more than forty years and was referred to as the Golden Age. Augustus laid out a lasting cerebral foundation the first three centuries of the Empire from 27 BC to 284 AD. The first two centuries was known as the Pax Romana (Roman Peace). The coherence of the Empire participated in civic life, economic ties, and shared cultural, constitutional and religious benchmarks. Rebellions in the provinces were seldom and were put down swiftly if they occurred. The sixty years of the Jewish-Roman wars were extraordinary in their duration and violence. Augustus established rules of a dynastic succession of emperors. The Julio-Claudian dynasty lasted for four more emperors: Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero before it succumbed in 69 BC to the Year of Four Emperors where the aristocracy was very strife-torn. Vespasian was raised as emperor in the December of that year and was founder of the Flavian dynasty. This was followed by the Nerva-Antonine dynasty that included the Five Good Emperors: Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and the philosophical Marcus Aurelius. The start of the reign of Commodus in 180 BC, marked the decline "from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron." This marked the start of the fall of the Roman Empire. During the reign of Caracalla in 212 AD, Roman citizenship was given to all freeborn inhabitants of the Empire. Despite this action of generality, the Severan dynasty was boisterous, where nearly all the emperors in that dynasty ended their reign by being murdered or executed. After the collapse of the Severan dynasty, the Roman Empire was overwhelmed by the Crisis of the Third Century. This period involved invasions, civil animosity, economic decline and bankruptcy. This time is also known as the transition from Classical Antiquity to Late Antiquity. Diocletian who brought the Empire back from the brink rejected his title as 'princeps' and was generally called 'domine' which meant master or lord. Diocletian also believed strongly in Roman religion, and made an effort against the threat of Christianity which brought the Great Persecution. The state of autocratic absolutism began with Diocletian until the fall of the Western Roman Empire. But also during Diocletian's reign was the first time that the Roman Empire was divided and was now under four different co-emperors. This was called the Tetrarchy and it shook order until Constantine restored it. Constantine I was the first emperor to convert to Christianity and he established Constantinople as the new capital of the Eastern Empire. During the reigns of the Constantinian and Valentinian dynasties, the Roman Empire was divided into the Western Roman Empire and Eastern Roman Empire where Constantinople and Rome were the two capitals of the Empire. Emperor Julian tried to restore the Classical Roman and Hellenistic religion but only briefly interrupted the succession of Christian emperors. Theodosius I was the last emperor to rule over the East and West Empire and before he died in 395 AD, he made Christianity the official state religion. In the late 4th and the early 5th centuries, the Roman Empire started to disintegrate where the barbaric invasions overwhelmed the defense of the Roman army along the Empire's borders. Most people tell that the end of the Western Roman Empire was in 476 AD when Romulus Augustulus was forced to relinquish to the German warlord Odoacer. The Empire in the east became known as the Byzantine Empire and didn't collapse until 1453 with the death of Constantine XI and the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks.