This period was known as "The Crisis of the Third Century" and was teh first period in which the Roman Empire was in serious danger of "collapsing." By the middle of the third century, the Empire had split into three parts: the Gallic Empire, the Palmyrene Empire and the Roman Empire. Each was headed by Romans but they focused on fighting each other rather than fending off foreign threats which increased the instability. Part of the problem was that these types of conflicts were self-perpetuating. Each new Emperor was usually only bought to the throne by force and thus created a precedent for succession. It wasn't until the reign of Diocletian that the Empire returned to relative normalcy.