Roman Emperor most likely to end the 3rd Century Military Anarchy?

Best Contender to end the Military Anarchy?


  • Total voters
    51
As the question asks, did anybody before Diocletan have a chance of ending the Crisis of the Third Century early, or was it too complex a problem to solve whilst it was still ongoing?

Edit: Crap, forgot Quintillus, if anyone wants to vote for him just vote for Claudius Gothicus.

Edit edit: You can vote for multiple candidates if you wish.
 
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Sorry if it's a stupid question, but didn't Aurelian actually do that? As far as I understood the matter, the stage was well set for Diocletian by Aurelian who had a huge bit of stabilisation done, for example with the Palmyran empire?
 
Sorry if it's a stupid question, but didn't Aurelian actually do that? As far as I understood the matter, the stage was well set for Diocletian by Aurelian who had a huge bit of stabilisation done, for example with the Palmyran empire?
As can be clearly seen he didn't have a smooth transition to the next ruler (ergo, he got killed by his own troops, same old same old), and he had no say in the succession whatsoever (the Senate elected Tacitus), so the Crisis of the Third Century is still traditionally dated as ending with Diocletan.

The Military Anarchy is generally quantified by both breakaway states and poor transitions between rulers and handing-over of power structures.
 
Maybe Aurelian if he'd lived longer, but I'm not sure.

I wobble between Aurelian and none. Does anyone know how Diocletian managed to avoid being killed by the soldiers as all the others were? Did he know something they didn't or was he just lucky?
 

scholar

Banned
Aurelian, undoubtedly. Galienus comes in a somewhat distant second. After that, there are a few people that might have, but had the deck stacked against them like Trebonianus and Philip.
 
It appears we have a nice distribution curve centred on Aurelian.

Did Gordian III ever have a shot, even if his advisors were the true power behind the throne?

Furthermore, not a single contender between Florian and Carinus?

BUMPDATE: I see a lone vote for Maximinus Thrax; could he have gained enough popularity with Rome to avoid the election of the Gordians?
 

scholar

Banned
BUMPDATE: I see a lone vote for Maximinus Thrax; could he have gained enough popularity with Rome to avoid the election of the Gordians?
In a way, he was doomed. The downfall of a dynasty was always treated with a brief period of emperors rising and falling. All precedent made Maximinus basically a dead man. It was this idea that ultimately led in the third century crisis spiraling out of control, and the ultimately ruinous nature of these rebellions played a pivotal role in the transition of military power in Rome.
 
Maybe Aurelian if he'd lived longer, but I'm not sure.

I wobble between Aurelian and none. Does anyone know how Diocletian managed to avoid being killed by the soldiers as all the others were? Did he know something they didn't or was he just lucky?

He just got lucky, is what it amounted to. This was not a job for the faint of heart in ANY Era.
 
Claudius Gothicus could have done it. He was kind of a proto-Aurelian. I also think if things went his way, Gallienus + Valerian, or Phillip The Arab could have had a shot.

Though by far the most likely was Aurelian. Even the way he died-which was basically a secretary terrified he was going to face punishment from Aurelian completely falsifying a list of people whom Aurelian was going to get rid of, and the widespread "oh fuck" moment when everyone realized the scam-lends credence to the idea that he had the best shot at not getting offed.
 
He just got lucky, is what it amounted to. This was not a job for the faint of heart in ANY Era.

You sure?

If it was just Diocletian I'd agree, but he wasn't just a one off. The same seems to hold for his successors. You still get Emperors overthrown in civil war, but not, as a rule, just knocked off by mutinous soldiers as had been commonplace in the previous century. Something seems to have changed.
 
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