 |
The Head and right hand from the colossal statue of Constantine the Great,
of which only pieces now exist. |
Constantine The Great
How One Man Seized Control of the Roman Empire and
Founded a Dynasty
Andrew Knighton
Constantine
the First, also known as Constantine the Great, was one of Rome’s most capable
rulers.
Rising
to power in the early fourth century, he provided a period of relative
stability and turned the Empire toward Christianity.
He
did not do this after inheriting the throne. He had to take it by force of
arms.
The Usurper from the Setting Sun
By 306 AD, imperial power in the Roman Empire was divided.
Separate emperors held sway in the east and west.
Along
with their deputies, the official number of rulers was four. These posts were
not inherited but were appointments made by preceding emperors.
Constantine
was the son of Constantius, who many expected to become an emperor when
Diocletian stepped down in 305.
Constantius
was passed over, creating resentment among his followers.
A
year later, Constantius died while at his post governing Britain, an island
Constantine referred to as the land of the setting sun.
Constantine
was immediately hailed as his successor and as emperor.
Dynamic Commander, Veteran Soldiers
 |
Bronze statue of Constantine the Great outside York Minster, England.
The Emperor looks down upon his broken sword,
which forms the shape of a cross. |
With the backing of his troops, Constantine set out to
take control of the empire.
In
this, he had two key advantages over his main rivals.
Firstly,
he was a dynamic commander, ready to make bold moves for victory.
Secondly,
he had the backing of veteran soldiers.
Based
in Rome’s troubled western border regions of Britain and the Rhine, both
legionaries and officers had experience of war.
War in the West
While other leaders struggled to control Italy,
Constantine remained in the northwest corner of the empire, facing external
threats.
He
continued his father’s work building defenses and fending off barbarian tribes.
His
first campaigns were against the Picts in northern Britain.
However,
it was when the Franks poured across the Rhine into Gaul that he shone. Leading
his armies into Gaul, he defeated the Franks.
They
were driven back. Their leaders were captured and fed to wild animals for the
entertainment of Roman citizens.
Into Italy
 |
| Emperor Constantine, head and fragments from the colossal statue. |
In 310, a former Roman ruler and ally of Constantine’s
family, Maximian, rebelled against him.
Constantine
put down the revolt. It ended the relationship between the two families,
committing them to war.
Maximian’s
son, Maxentius, controlled Italy and the symbolically vital city of Rome.
He
had already defeated other attempts to take control of the peninsula. Following
his father’s death, he became Constantine’s opponent.
Marching
south, Constantine led a quarter of his army into Italy.
It
is probable they consisted of troops who were relatively mobile and not
committed to guarding the borders he had fought to secure.
Many
of his advisors were wary of this strategy, but Constantine convinced them it
was for the best.
They
scattered the armies sent against them by Maxentius. Town after town opened its
gates to Constantine, welcoming him as emperor.
Maxentius and his army retreated behind the walls of Rome,
destroying bridges as they went.
The Milvian Bridge
 |
| Battle of the Milvian Bridge by Giulio Romano |
What followed was a turning point for the empire.
The
discontent of his citizens compelled Maxentius to leave the safety of Rome and
face Constantine.
Having
destroyed the Milvian Bridge to hinder Constantine’s crossing, he was forced to
replace it with a bridge of boats and wood to get his men across.
On
October 28, 312 AD, he formed his army on the north bank of the Tiber and faced
the invaders.
Lacking
the experience of Constantine’s men Maxentius, and his troops were routed.
They
fled back across the bridge, which collapsed under the weight of men, horses,
and armor. Maxentius drowned.
As
so often happened, Constantine thanked divine favor for granting him victory.
Unlike
his predecessors, he gave thanks, not to the pagan gods of Rome but the
Christian God.
Having
supposedly received a vision on the night before the battle, he had converted
to Christianity and ordered his men to mark their shields with Christian
symbols.
The
Battle of the Milvian Bridge, therefore, became a religious as well as a
political turning point.
A Growing Army
Brought to power by the army, Constantine took care to
nurture it.
Fresh
legions were raised. Detachments were withdrawn from the borders to provide a
more powerful mobile fighting force. Armies were reorganized, including the
creation of new cavalry units.
Many
of the soldiers Constantine relied on came from the edges of the western
empire.
Moorish
archers and German cavalry played an important part in taking Rome.
He
also continued to recruit from the imperial heartlands.
When
men tried to avoid conscription by mutilating themselves, Constantine brought
in a law punishing them with civil work within their communities.
Stability Unification Through War
For 12 years, Constantine ruled in the western half of the
empire while another man, Licinius, ruled in the east.
Constantine,
however, was ambitious to rule the whole empire.
In
324, the two rulers faced each other in a decisive struggle. In a battle
on the Bosphorus Straits, Licinius and his army were destroyed.
Constantine
emerged triumphant, ruler of the whole empire.
 |
| Constantinople |
To
celebrate this, he set to work rebuilding the city of Byzantium as his new
eastern capital. He renamed it after himself; Constantinople.
Amid Decay
Constantine continued to rule for another 13 years, dying
in 337.
During
that time, he fought off attacks from tribes on the edges of the empire. He
pushed back the borders, retaking territory lost during the 3rd century.
Near
the end of his reign, he stirred trouble with the Persians to the east, a conflict
which he left to his successors.
Although
it took a war to bring about, Constantine’s rule provided a period of relative
stability and success for the Roman Empire.
The
decline of the preceding decades was turned around, if only temporarily. It had
been achieved by one man’s military skill and ambition.
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