At its height, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain south to Egypt, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf. But by the end of the 100s, emperors had to give up much of that land. The empire was too big to manage well.

Rome had to defend itself constantly. Attacks came from Germany in the north and from Persia in the east. Problems came from within the empire, too. Disease killed many people. Taxes were high. Food was scarce because so many farmers went to war. To increase food production, German farmers were invited to work on Roman lands, but they were not loyal to Rome. Rebellions soon followed.

The emperor Diocletian took power in the late 200s. His solution to Rome’s problems was to split the empire into two parts. Diocletian ruled the east. He appointed a co-emperor to rule the west.

Soon after the political and economic power of the Western Roman empire moved to the East. Eventually, the capital of the Roman Empire moved from Rome to a new city in the East, Constantinople.

Once the capital moved to the eastern empire, German barbarians started more attacks on Roman territory in the north. During the late 300s, an Asian group called the Huns began attacking a group called the Goths. As the Huns pushed farther into the Goth territory, the Goths were forced into Roman territory. Eventually, the Goths penetrated deep into Italy and destroyed Rome.