What did Caracalla do well for the roman empire?

Answer 1

He didn't increase Roman loyalty. He was a tyrant and everyone hated him for his barbarous ways. They wanted him dead and were dreadful in his presence. He did have 20,000 Romans murdered in the city of Rome itself just to get rid of his deceased brother's followers, in which it didn't work. He murdered anyone who didn't agree with him on anything. The only people who liked him were the Roman soldiers because Caracalla acted and lived like a soldier, in which that includes walking on foot with the soldiers and grinding wheat with them. He wasn't a suave dandy man but harsh and brutish. He had always wanted to live like a soldier since childhood. In the big picture, no one liked him and after he was assassinated by his own bodyguard while he was relieving himself, his body was left rotting in the desert (he was killed in a desert, obviously). And he was killed four days after his birthday while on a birthday trip. After knowing all this, you would almost feel sorry for him. Goodness, no one deserves to die on their birthday celebration.

Answer 2

Caracalla did not do much of good for the empire. He was just interested in his personal power. His reign is viewed negatively. He had his brother Geta, who was his co-emperor, murdered. He fought against the Alemanni who had breached the fortified frontier in Germany, but fielded to defeat them and bought a peace treaty. After that he left Rome and never returned. He stayed in the eastern provinces. He raised the pay of the soldiers, favoured the army and tried to endear himself to the military to maintain its loyalty. His father told him that all he needed to rule was to be mindful of the army. Caracalla forced the Senate and the wealthy to undertake construction projects at their expense. He imposed heavy taxes on the population and additional ones on the wealthy. He devalued the denarius by decreasing the silver content of this coin so that he could mint more coins to finance his lavish expenses and the increased military expenses.

Caracalla issued the Edict of Antoninus which extended Roman citizenship to all free men in the empire. It was speculated that he did so to increase the number of people who could be taxed, as non-Roman citizens did not have to pay most of the taxes. Previously only the people of Italy and Romans living in the provinces were Roman citizens. Another intention may have been to increase the pool of soldiers available to the Roman legions, which were open only to Roman citizens.

The extension of Roman citizens was to create difficulties with recruitment later on. Prior to the edict the main way to acquire Roman citizenship was to join the army as auxiliaries (troops on non-Romans which supported the Roman legions). On completion of military service these soldiers were given Roman citizenship. Thus this edict made joining the army less attractive.