Diocletian 

Diocletian was born in 244 AD to a poor family. He would never have risen to an important position in the government if it wasn’t for his military accomplishments. Little is known about his early life until he joined the military. During his time in the military in the 270’s, Diocletian was a commander in the Balkan Peninsula. He acted as a commander in the guard in 283.  

When Numerian, the previous emperor, was assassinated Diocletian was the first choice as his successor. Diocetian’s reign officially began on November 20, 284 AD. At the time that he assumed the throne Rome had now been in a state of civil unrest for over 50 years. Diocletian knew he could not pull the whole empire together so he divided it into an East and West side. Dioctetian also realized his inability to govern all of Rome  so he split the empire with Maximian. His plan did help to stabilize the empire  but despite his progress the empire still struggled to move forward.