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From the middle of the 2nd century CE, the Roman Empire faced increasing invasions by Germanic tribes along the Danube and Rhine borders, as well as internal political chaos. Without an efficient system of imperial succession, Rome saw a series of military generals fighting for the title of emperor throughout the 3rd century, overthrowing each other in their desires for political power. This continued until the reign of Diocletian from 284 to 305). He and his successor Constantine (reigned 324-337) both administratively reorganized the empire, creating an absolute monarchy. With this absolute power in hand, Constantine further changed Rome by patronizing Christianity, particularly within his new city Constantinople, founded on the ancient site of Byzantium. Christianization in cities proceeded with imperial support, with Christianity eventually becoming the state religion under Theodosius (reigned 379-395).
In the meantime, Germanic tribal invasions continued, as did battles with the Sassanids in the East. The Gothic tribes, in particular, began invading en masse from the east, mostly in the Danube and Balkan areas. As Roman imperial armies suffered defeat after defeat, Germanic migration into Roman heartlands increased, even going so far as Iberia. As a result, the Empire, both militarily and bureaucratically, became increasingly Germanized. Following the death of Theodosius, the Eastern Empire followed its own course, evolving into the Hellenized Byzantine state by the 7th century. The Western Empire, in the meantime, struggled, facing repeated sackings of Latin Rome (410, 455), dwindling food supplies, and the deposition of the last Western Emperor (Romulus Augustulus) by the Eastern Goth Odovacar in 476. Thus ended any hope of recovering Pax Romana in the Mediterranean basin.
Though the Empire itself no longer existed, its influence would not die with it. Carried on by the Christian Church, the idealized memory of glorious Rome, and the political structures it left behind, the Empire played a vital role in the formation of the early Medieval European world.
