Yulia V. Kulikova

PhD in History, Associate Professor of the Department of Ancient History and Middle Ages of V. F. Semenov

Moscow Pedagogical State University

(Moscow, Russia)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2025-1-20-37

Abstract. The purpose of this article is to identify the factors of identity change in the most difficult period for the Roman state, called in historiography "the crisis of the third century". The state identity of the Roman Empire is defined as a set of interrelations that underlie the management of the state, a way of consolidating society. From the middle of the third century, there was an intensification of invasions by barbarian tribes. The increasingly complicated foreign policy situation in the west and east of the Empire forced them to look for new policy vectors in order to preserve the state, which was on the verge of collapse. However, the instability of the supreme power and the decline in the authority of the emperors do not contribute to this. In this regard, barbarian tribes turn out to be a trigger for the Roman Empire. By destroying the defensive system, plundering and ravaging the territories, they worsened the already difficult demographic and economic situation, the inability of individual emperors to prevent these invasions and the devastation of the population led to a rapid change of power, moreover, to separatism in the provinces, which manifested itself in the formation of the “Gallic Empire” in the west and the Palmyrene Kingdom in the east. To preserve the identity, which was expressed in the usual methods of management and trade, the functioning of the administrative system, the Roman emperors began to integrate the barbarians more actively, concluding alliances with them, creating military units from among them, settling them in free lands, and involving them to protect the borders. However, the settlement of barbarian tribes along the western borders of the Roman Empire changed the specialization of handicraft industries, contributed to the simplification of handicrafts, and the reduction of trade with more distant provinces. In the border areas, processes of ethnogenesis took place, forming anti-Roman coalitions. At the same time, Roman influence intensified the disintegration of primitive communal relations within barbarian tribes, and their desire for plunder and seizure of land was strengthened by the coalitions and alliances created.
Keywords: Roman Empire, The Great Barbarian Invasions, state identity, Barbarian Coalitions, Germanic Invasions, Roman Emperors, Gallic Emperor Postumus, Danube Limes, Rhine Limes, Roman Army, 3rd century A. D.

Full text of the article (PDF)

For citation: Kulikova, YuV 2025, ‘Barbarian Invasions as a Factor in Changing the Identity of the Roman Empire in the Third Century’, Tula Scientific Bulletin. History. Linguistics, issue 1 (21), pp. 20–37, https://doi.org/10.22405/2712-8407-2025-1-20-37 (in Russ.)

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