 Between 260 and 274 AD, the western provinces of the Roman Empire broke away from the Empire. The territories of Germania, Gaul, Britannia and even parts of Spain for a period broke away and formed a separate, de facto separate state. During a time when the Roman Empire almost collapsed. The Gallic Empire was established by Postamus in 260 AD. During a time of great instability in Rome caused in part by barbarian invasions as well as economic crises. Postamus was a Roman commander of Batavian origin who went on to be the Emperor of the Gallic Empire between 260 and 269 AD, with his rule ending due to assassination by his own troops. The Gallic Empire survived for another five years with different leaders until it was retaken by the Roman Emperor Aurelian after the Battle of Shalom in 274, which took place in the north of modern France. The Gallic Empire arose during a period of great instability and crisis in Roman history, known as the Crisis of the Third Century, where Rome itself almost collapsed. It began in 235 AD when the Roman Emperor Severus Alexander was assassinated by his own troops. This caused a 50-year period in the history of Rome where rival political factions, barbarian invasions, economic crises and various other factors almost brought Rome to its knees. At one point there was at least 26 claimants to the title of Roman Emperor, all vying for power. What could go wrong? In fact by 268 AD the Empire had split into three competing separate states, the Gallic Empire to the west, the Palmyrian Empire to the east, and between them the Italian-centered Roman Empire proper. The Emperor Aurelian managed to unify the kingdom the Empire militarily through a series of victories on the battlefield. The crisis ended when Diocletian enacted a series of imperial government reforms in 284 AD and two years later to further stabilise the Empire in 286. The Empire, the Roman Empire, was divided between two imperial courts, one in the Greek east and the other in the Latin West. The foundations had been laid for the split of the Roman Empire between East and West. The Western Roman Empire would eventually collapse in around 476 AD, yet the Eastern Roman Empire under various forms and various names including the Byzantine Empire would exist until the fall of Constantinople, all the way by the Ottoman Turks, all the way into the 15th century in 1453. Thanks for watching. If you would like to support this work, through Patreon, buymeacoffee.com or PayPal all the links are in the description below. Please subscribe and hit the bell and tell your friends and family about this channel. Thanks again for watching and I'll see you next time.