I know I am making broad strokes, but was the dominate a more effective government system than the principate. It seems like it was able to respond to disasters quickly, but it was a military dictatorship that often ignored the rest of Roman society.
Its distancing of the Emperor from the all of Roman society allowed for obscene amount of manipulation and corruption. The role of emperor as semi-divine god/god's representative took the idea of deposing or killing emperors that should have been, off the table. It functioned well if the ruler was strong but when the shit really hit the fan, it was a huge hindrance.
>>949533
This and a principate of an empire that spanned continents removes some of the fast disaster response benefit of the system.
If you want to talk Roman military dictatorships this mother fucker right here is where its at. He was an artist at ruling through the military and still keeping in touch with the rest of the Empire
>>949577
Yeah unfortunately his son managed to focus even more on military matters
>>949627
With dying words like "Be harmonious [with your brother], enrich the soldiers, and scorn all other men". Coupled with him essentially giving no shits about them for most of their lives, you can't really be surprised that his sons turned out be complete and utter ballsack
>>949644
Yeah they were probably the worst dynasty that lasted more than a decade
>>949533
Dominate was necessary reaction to crisis of 3rd century