Changes

The recovery began when Claudius II defeated a Gothic invasion and after he died of the plague he was succeeded by his Master of Cavalry, Aurelian in 275 AD. He was a brilliant commander and he defeated several barbarian invasions. He then went on to defeat the Gallic and Palmyrene Empire. However, instability continued after his assassination and it was only with the accession of Diocletian, that the crisis was finally ended. However, it is widely held that the Third Century Crisis permanently weakened the Empire and it ushered in trends that many see as marking the beginning of the end of the world of Antiquity and marking the transition to the Medieval world.<ref> Brown, P, The World of Late Antiquity (W Norton, London, 1971), p. 22 </ref>

In the reign of Alexander Severus, there was a sudden rise in the number of raids by German and other barbarians. These raids were a part of life for Rome’s frontier population but by the 230s, they became more intense and frequent <ref> Southern, Pat. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine (London, Routledge, 2015), p 356</ref>. German tribes became better organized and formed into confederations such as the Franks. The emergence of the Goths who created a large state in modern Ukraine created a major challenge for the Balkan and Black Sea provinces. They were militarily powerful and were especially proficient in cavalry and even took to the sea to launch piratical attacks in the 250 AD. The ferocity of the barbarian attacks can be attributed to two factors. The Romans were weakened by constant war, especially bloody civil wars and this meant that the legions could not defeat raids and invasions <ref>Heckster, p 113</ref>. The barbarians were often desperate. Climate change and rising sea levels had impacted on their food supply and they were forced to raid deeper and deeper into Imperial Roman territories to secure resources and in hopes of seizing arable lands. The continuous barbarian invasion thus weakened the Empire, and this encouraged further raiding by tribal confederations beyond the Rhine and Danube.