Emperor Constantine

             In this week’s history essay, I will write about emperor Constantine. I will explain his life and accomplishments, as well as a little bit about his family.

              Constantine’s father was Constantias, a popular general, so he grew up in the military. Since he was wise as far as war, he used his great military skill to defeat other parts of Rome and combine the empire. In fact, since Constantias was such a good general that the current emperor put him in line to be the next Caesar after him.

             If his father was the emperor, that would mean that Constantine was next in line after his father. Because of this, Constantine had a great education, learning everything he needed to know about being emperor and more. This education greatly helped him when he grew up and succeeded his father.

            While his father was at war in Brittan, Constantine stayed with Galerius. Galerius was the emperor at the time. However, as Constantine moved up in status, the more dangerous it became for him to stay there.

            When he was finally allowed to visit his father, he left that night to go and find his father in Brittan. He found his father, but during that same war, his father unexpectedly died. Help from Constantine was called for him to come and restore order in Rome, for a lot had happened since he left. They begged him to come back and defeat the other rivals in Rome.

           This is what Constantine did, and he was successful in reuniting the Roman empire. You see, before Constantine, there was a devised way of how the empire was set up. There would be an east side and a west side, and each side had an emperor and a junior or semi emperor. This set up worked well for a few emperors, but not for most, so Constantine came and reorganized the empire into one big city.

              Constantine accomplished many things.  He moved the Roman capitol from Rome to Constantinople; he made Christianity the main religion in Rome; he reunited Rome into one empire; and he made Byzantium a long-lasting, wealthy part of the empire.  He did much more than this, but these are just some examples to show his greatness as an emperor. Emperor Constantine was a great leader, and he accomplished many things. Although Rome eventually fell, he reminds me that I can do anything, as long as I believe in myself and try my best.