Question One
Between the 2 nd century CE and the 6 th Century CE, Rome went through peaceful and tumultuous times alternately and in almost equal measure. The period begun with the last segment of the period called Pax Romana when the powerful military force of Rome ensured that the entire region was dominated by peace. The peace lasted until 180CE when Emperor Marcus Aurelius died, thus resulting in intermittent internal conflict and civil wars. The cascade of internal and external conflicts would continue until the 6 th century CE when Rome finally fell and was sacked for the first time on centuries. Soon after, a valiant effort by Saint Justinian the Great to rejuvenate Rome almost succeeded but was short-lived. This marked the very end of Rome as an Empire but its legacy remained.
Four of the five good Emperors who reigned in this period include Trajan who was the only conqueror in the 2 nd Century. The remaining three mainly played a defensive role but did it well. These are Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. During the reigns of all these emperors , there was no internal strife in Rome, a fact that enabled the Romans to focus on their exterior threats (Halsall, 2014) . This included threats to the Empire and threats to Rome itself. Among the threats that faced the Roman Empire was a massive rebellion by the Jews. The Jewish home country was a small Middle Eastern province called Judea but this community had spread to many major Roman cities. Their rebellion, therefore, affected distant lands such as Cyrenaica, Egypt, and Cyprus. The mighty Roman army was, however, able to stamp out the rebellion.
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A unique fact about the Roman Empire that makes threats on Rome unique is that the Romans had conquered lands as far away as Persia, North Africa, and the Middle East but had not conquered their backyard to the North where Eurasian nomads roamed free and would continually harry Rome (Halsall, 2014) . Their efforts to attack Rome in the 1 st and early 2 nd Century CE, however, failed as it was repressed by the superior Roman army and they were never a threat. It was in the middle of the 2 nd century that the Eurasian nomads would be joined by Gothic tribesmen, thus becoming a credible threat to the Roman Empire. The initial strategy by the Romans was a direct military attack which was not very successful ab initio. The Romans and the Goths developed a very interesting relationship. They would always alternate between fighting one another and fighting together. Whenever the Romans would detect a more credible threat like the Persians, they would sue for peace with the Goths, enjoin them in their armies conquer the enemy then resume their war with the Goths once again (Halsall, 2014) . Between 267 and 269 AD, the Goths continued attacking in great numbers and it is believed that Emperor Gallienus died while fighting them. It was not until the Battle of Naissus in 268 to 269 AD that the Goths would be handed a major defeat in the hand of Emperor Claudius Gothicus.
Within the 4 th Century, Rome began to face the new Western enemy in the form of the Franks, a collection of Germanic tribes that came together in the 3 rd Century CE. The Roman rulers realized that their armies were too weak to take on the Franks in open combat and elected sue for peace. Many of the Franks became members of the Roman army and the Empire seemed to, for the first time expand without actual military conquest. Many Frankish soldiers became powerful Roman generals such as Ammianus Marcellinus. They joined the Gaul segment of the Roman armies and even assisted the Romans in the protracted battles against the Goths with whom the Romans would alternate from fighting to befriending (Brown, 2015) .
The two strongest factors that led to the fall of Rome are political corruption and internal wrangles (Brown, 2015) . Two main things would make an empire powerful enough to be respected and obeyed by its neighbors. The first one is the admiration of these neighbors with the second being the show of unity by the empire as seen and deemed by the neighbors. One of the hallmarks of Roman rule apart from the army was the rule of law and the expansion of economic trade through commerce (Brown, 2015) . When the Romans moved into Franks, their new subjects could not help but admire their new master who brought with them Roman machinery and Roman Road. Franks prospered and Roman hold upon it was augmented. The rule of law, however, became an avenue for corruption and this was among the reasons that drove a wedge between the Romans and Franks. The Franks had well-established laws and systems through which they would solve their disputes, but the Romans would insist that all disputes be solved by their lawyers who were extremely corrupt. The benefits that the Franks got from a trade , Roman order and roads paved in significance compared to insult that came with the corrupt Roman systems (Kaegi, 2015) . This is what led to rebellion in Franks. The Roman Empire had by this time become weak, more so in Rome because of political infighting. After the reign of the Five Good Emperors of Rome, divisions had ensued that eventually created two Roman Empires. The Roman army would at many times be too occupied in an internal conflict than fighting Rome’s enemies (Brown, 2015) .
At two important moments on each side of the infamous fall of Rome, the Eastern and Western Empires got united under one Emperor. The first that was achieved was by Emperor Constantine in the 4 th Century. Constantine was a great military commander who was declared emperor in modern York when his father died back in Rome. The Senate also gave him the title of Augustus, as a symbol of his great military prowess. When Constantine returned to mainland Europe, he became embroiled in the civil and external strive that dominated the Roman Empire in the 4 th century CE. On the one side, he had to face other Roman candidates for the title of Empires who also led well trained and armed Roman legions (Kaegi, 2015) . On the other hand, he had to face the Goths who having alternately fought for Rome, had also developed powerful armies. Constantine proved himself against all enemies winning against all contenders to the Roman throne. He also handed the Goths one of their largest defeats since their conflict with the Roman Empire began. He was able to conquer all, thus remaining as the absolute ruler of Rome, combining the Easter and Western Empires as one under his rule. In a major breach with a tradition that had existed for over a thousand years, Constantine then founded the City of Constantinople which he made the official capital of Rome. The United Rome he created was, however, to end upon his death. This is because he divided the massive empire into three parts and gave each to each one of his three sons Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans (Christie, 2016) .
Much later in the 6 th century, Saint Justinian the Great was to conquer the Western Empire and once again create a unified Rome. Justinian, one of the greatest Roman Empires did not start as a great ruler and was almost the victim of a popular revolt early in his reign as the emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire. He survived the insurrection and began a powerful series of military conquest, in conjunction with Germanic tribesmen (Christie, 2016) . These conquests would see him take over most of the former full Roman Empire, including Africa and Italy and finally Rome itself. In this manner, he was once again able to reunite Rome into one powerful empire. Over and above his military prowess, Justinian also used the Christian faith and the rule of law as unifying factors for all of Rome. Unfortunately, he expanded too fast and too soon thus overstretching his armies which soon started losing conquered territory (Kaegi, 2015) .
The Great City of Constantinople is a constant feature in the lives of these two great rulers who alternately united the Roman Empire for two brief periods. Although Rome would later fall after the reunification of Justinian, Constantinople would survive and live for over half a millennium until it was finally conquered after the invention of gunpowder (Christie, 2016) . These rulers mainly preferred Constantinople due to its natural defense systems that made it possible to defend even against a superior enemy. The city was built by Constantine specifically as a fortress on top of an elevated rocky peninsula. On all sides, it was protected by the sea. The Golden Horn, an estuary lay to its East, the traits of Bosporus lay to its West and the Black Sea to the North and the Marmara to the South (Kaegi, 2015) . Over and above these natural defenses the city also had artificial land and sea walls for extra protection. As long as any semblance of an army was inside the city itself offering some form of defense, it was almost impossible for a marauding army to breach and sack the city.
References
Brown, J. (2015). The architects of Rome demise: The role of Septimius Severus and his successors in the decline of the Roman Empire as a political entity (Doctoral dissertation, University of Delaware)
Christie, N. (2016). Late Roman and late antique Italy: from Constantine to Justinian. A Companion to Roman Italy , 125 , 133-153
Halsall, G. (2014). Two worlds become one: A ‘Counter-Intuitive ‘view of the Roman Empire and ‘Germanic ‘Migration. German History , 32 (4), 515-532
Kaegi, W. E. (2015). Byzantium and the Decline of the Roman Empire . Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
