Diocletian's reforms and the decline of the Western Roman Empire

Roman Empire

When Diocletian became the emperor of Rome in 284 AD, the Roman Empire was beset with enormous military and social problems and was on the verge of collapse. Complete anarchy prevailed in the Roman army which was no longer controllable under a single command and it was common practice for a succession of generals to declare themselves as emperor. In the fifty years before Diocletian came to power, a similar number of emperors and pretenders to the throne had come and gone, only one of them dying of natural causes. As a result, civil wars and unrest erupted throughout the empire. Roving armies seized whatever goods and food supplies they could find in the countryside and cities while the imperial tax collectors made increasingly harsh demands on the farmers to generate funds for the large armies and a bloated bureaucracy. When the farmers could no longer afford to pay the oppressive taxes they abandoned the lands. The resulting food shortages and poverty threatened the very fabric of the Roman society.

It is debatable whether the Roman Empire (in the west) ultimately "fell from within" or was "overwhelmed from the outside." In my opinion the internal weakness of the Empire was the major reason for its fall. However, outside pressures also contributed to its decline and final eclipse. While Emperor Diocletian arrested the decline through his innovative reforms and laid the foundation of the Eastern Roman Empire which continued to prosper for another 1000 years, the Western Empire continued its downward spiral. The Western Empire had to defend a long border along the Rhine and Danube rivers for which a large army was needed. The Roman elite were reluctant to bear the burden of taxes, and incompetent emperors imposed harsh taxes on the peasantry to generate the required funds.