The Formation of the Byzantine Empire for AP World History

Oct 2, 2023

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Are you curious where the Byzantine Empire came from? Maybe you even need to know what the Byzantine Empire is. In this slideshow, I have broken down the history of how the Byzantine Empire arose from the Roman Empire. This is a simple retelling to help you get a basic understanding of the events. I have also included a video that goes through the history of the Byzantine Empire made by experts.

By 285 CE, the Roman Empire was struggling. The empire was basically bankrupt and was constantly being attacked both by outside invaders and uprisings from within. Emperor Diocletian realized the empire was too big to be managed by one person.

In 285 CE, he split the empire into East and West and named one of his generals, Maximian, an emperor of the West. Eight years later, he split the empire again, creating the Tetrarchy.

The Tetrarchy was the system of governing the Roman empire with four leaders. The East and West were each controlled by a primary emperor called the Augustus. Diocletian was the Augustus of the East, and Maximian was the Augustus of the West. Under each Augustus was a Caesar. Two Augustuses and two caesars meant Rome had four leaders.

When an Augustus died or retired, the Caesar would take over and become the new Augustus. He would then choose a new Caesar.

The Tetrarchy stabilized the empire. In 305 CE, Diocletian retired. His Caesar, Galerius, became the Augustus of the Eastern Empire.

Meanwhile, in the West, things got messy. Maximian stepped down with Diocletian but then returned to power. His Caesar was Constantinious.

Constantinius controlled the northern part of the Western Empire, modern-day France, Spain, and England. When he died in 306 CE, his son, Constantine, became the new Caesar.

Constantine consolidated his power and, in 312 CE, took over Rome from Maximian’s son, Maxentius.

The people of Rome and the southern Western Empire were happy to have Constantine take over. Maxentius had been a terrible ruler.

Before his battle with Maxentius, Constantine had had a vision that if he fought as a Christian, he would win.

After the battle, in 313 CE, Constantine met with the current Eastern Emperor, Licinius, at the Edict of Milan. They agreed to have peace between the empires and to respect all religions, including Christianity.

By 320 CE, Licinius’ poor treatment of Christians pushed Constantine to invade the Eastern Empire. On September 18, 324, Constantine defeated Licinius and reclaimed the entire Roman Empire.

After taking control of the entire Roman Empire, Constantine moved the capital to Byzantium and renamed it Constantinople.