Paul Freedman, teaching Yale's course The Early Middle Ages, 284-1000, examines how the Roman Empire nearly collapsed in the third century. He surveys external pressure from the Sassanid dynasty in the east and Germanic tribes in the west, alongside internal problems: a broken system of succession, inflation that gutted the economy, and the decline of the local elites who had long held the provinces together. The lecture then turns to Diocletian's response, including the Tetrarchy, a system of joint rule meant to stabilize succession, tax reform aimed at the currency crisis, and increased militarization of the frontiers. Freedman notes that many of these policies failed, some before Diocletian's own death, but argues that the reforms nonetheless kept the empire from disintegrating. Chapter markers divide the hour-long talk into the crisis itself and the reforms that followed.