Caracalla Transforms the Roman Empire - The Pax Romana Podcast 066

Caracalla rewarded his soldiers, and scored all other men--as his father Septimius Severus advised him. He stole property, murdered elites, put in new inheritance taxes and debased the Roman coinage. The temporary windfall allowed him to pass out a huge salary increase to his soldiers, but the long term effects of these policies would be greater economic pain in the future. Caracalla then stunned the Empire by unilaterally declaring universal citizenship to all free inhabitants of the Roman provinces.