My question is was Caracalla’s reign a success?
Caracalla was brutal, killing his brother Geta, slaughter 20,000 people in Alexandria, but his father hadn’t exactly set a good example for him. He was raised to think that brutality was the only way to maintain power and as Emperor he tried to stick to his father’s instructions to “enrich the soldiers and scorn all other men.” His reign was marked by some failures like the devaluation of the Roman currency, but also great successes he defeated the Alamanni tribes, built a huge Bath complex and gave all free men in the Empire citizenship. Even the very last campaign of his reign, against the Parthia, had some measures of success. He was able to capture Arbela in a surprise attack and his forces were able to raid widely throughout Media.