The Roman Army Handed The Throne Evolution

The relation between Roman army and emperors' succession plays an important role from Augustus to Constantine in Roman history. However, classical writers and contemporary scholars have focused more on the case analyses and less on the overall exploration. Furthermore, the monographs by domestic researchers have not come out yet. Therefore, the emphases of this dissertation would be placed on the following aspects: the relations between 59 emperors and Roman army, the decisive function of the army in emperor alternations and the subsequent negative effects, in particular, the reasons why the Roman Empire did not form the permanent dynasty.The whole dissertation consists of 6 parts with 11 chapters included. Part 1 (Chapter I) surveys the findings made at home and abroad, introduces the outline and objective bases of this treatise as well as the necessity for the further research on the essential differences between Roman emperors' succession and traditional emperors' succession.Part 2 (Chapter II-IV) involves The Age of Augustus, Julio-Claudian Dynasty and also Year of the Four Emperors from 27 BC to 69 AD. The principate by Augustus paved the way for the intervention of the Roman army in the emperorship alternation with the praetorian as a pioneer, the legions as the followers and the civil war during Year of the Four Emperors as the prelude.Part 3 (Chapter V~VI) covers Flavian Dynasty and Antonines Dynasty from 69 to 192. Flavian Dynasty was rare for its linear descending, it was a dynasty of the adoptive Emperors. Five Good Emperors witnessed not only the expansion of the Roman Empire but also created the heyday of the Pax Romano. In this period, adoptive principle took over the traditional linear descending principle in the emperor alternation.Part 4 (Chapter VII-VIII) spans Severi Dynasty and Crisis of the Third Century from 193-284. In the course of the chaos, Barbarian Invasions and crises, the troops came to be a master of the Empire, even determined the lots of the emperors. Consequently, Barraccks emperors and Military Anarchy became the best mirrors of the times.Part 5 (Chapter IX~X) deals with the history from 285 to 337.Diocletian founded Tetrachy which resulted in many disputes. Constantine took his chances, defeated his rivals, reunited the Roman Empire and carried out a series of military reforms, especially disbanded the praetorian so that the big menace to the Empire was cleared away completely. However, the interference of the troops in the emperor alternation was not removed along with it.Part 6 (Chapter XI) is the summary of the whole dissertation with the focus on the causes and effects of the intervention of the troops in the emperors' succession.