The decline of the Roman empire came after the reign of Marcus Aurelius, he was leader from 161-180 AD. The new emperors would be brutal and incompetent, and they made the empire very weak. In the third century, after the Pax Romana, all prosperity evaporated. barbarians started disrupting trade, and the expenses of Rome build up so they had to raise taxes. They started making coins with less silver in hopes of creating more money with the same amount of silver. But then inflation had started in Rome. farming had started to decline to with bad harvests because of over used land and lack of fertility. eventually disease spread and killed a good portion of the population. Discipline and loyalty had faded away in the army. Then Rome relied on mercenaries to protect Rome. In 235-184 AD 50 generals we emperors of Rome of that 26 had won very little senate approval and 25 died violently. In 284 AD Diocletian divided the empire into two. when Diocletian was no longer emperor there were 4 people fighting to be his successor. Constantine gained control of the west in 312 AD, in 330 AD he moved the capital to Byzantium. the city was renamed Constantinople. after his death the west side of the empire fell and the east stayed alive. from 376 to 476 AD Germans slowly began to over populate the Romans, then they drove out the last Roman emperor from the throne. the eastern half of the empire fell in 1453 AD when it was taken over by ottoman turks.