Liu Yuan grows ill in 310, and he creates his second wife Lady Dan empress and his oldest son Liu He (by his first wife Empress Huyan—who appears to have died by this point, although her death is not mentioned in history) crown prince.

When he dies later this year, Liu He becomes emperor.

However, only a week later, he is overthrown and killed by Liu Cong, who now becomes emperor.

The various agrarian rebel generals who are resisting Jin rule, whether ethnically Wu Hu or Han, often choose to come under Liu Yuan's Han banner as years pass.

Chief among these are the Han general Wang Mi and the Jie general Shi Le (both of whom had declared loyalty to Han Zhao in 307), who generally only nominally submit to Liu's orders while maintaining separate power structures but who also so appear to genuinely respect and fear Liu.

As for troops under his own control, Liu largely entrusts them to his son Liu Cong the Prince of Chu and his nephew Liu Yao the Prince of Shi'an.

The four generals, while unable to hold cities, are generally able to rove throughout northern and central China unimpeded by Jin forces, defeating most Jin generals who oppose them.

Constantine annexes Maxentius' Spanish territory in 310.

The Han Zhao forces capture Luoyang in 311, and with it the Jin emperor Sima Chi (Emperor Huai).

The Wu Hu forces commit a massacre when entering the city, killing the Jin crown prince, a host of ministers, and over thirty thousand civilians.

They also burn down the palaces and dig up Jin mausoleums.

Maximinus succeeds his uncle, Galerius, in 311, occupying Asia Minor.

The aged Diocletian has been living in retirement in the neighborhood of Salonae, on the edge of the Adriatic, where he has had a magnificent palace built (the modern town of Split, in Yugoslavia, occupies the site of its ruins).

He has seen his Tetrarchic system fail, torn by the selfish ambitions of his successors.

He has heard of Maximian's third claim to the throne, his forced suicide, his damnatio memoriae.

In his own palace, statues and portraits of his former companion emperor are torn down and destroyed.

Deep in despair and illness, Diocletian may have committed suicide.

The death of the former emperor on December 3, 311, occurs almost unnoticed.

Galerius, a ruthless ruler, has imposed the poll tax on the urban population, maintained the persecution of the Christians that Diocletian had initiated, and managed to hold together an empire riven by civil war in the West.

In the winter of 310-311, however, he becomes incapacitated with a painful disease.

On April 30, 311—perhaps fearing that his illness is the vengeance of the Christian God—he issues an edict grudgingly granting toleration.

Shortly afterward, he dies.

Licinius takes over Galerius' European dominions.

Maximinus had grudgingly accepted Galerius's edict of toleration for Christians but still endeavors to organize and revitalize paganism.

Cities and provinces are encouraged to petition for expulsion of Christians from their territories, and the Acts of Pilate, an anti-Christian forgery, is taught in the schools.

In the autumn of 312, Maximinus relaxes his persecutions somewhat, and shortly before his death in the following year will grant full toleration and the restoration of the confiscated church property.

Construction had begun in 308 on the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine (sometimes known as the Basilica Nova 'new basilica' or Basilica Maxentius).

Completed in 312 by Constantine I after his defeat of Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, it is the largest building in the Roman Forum.

A marvel of Roman engineering work, it is at the time of construction the largest structure to be built and thus is a unique building taking both aspects from Roman baths as well as typical Roman basilicas.

At this time, it uses the most advanced engineering techniques known including innovations taken from the Markets of Trajan and the Baths of Diocletian.

Similar to many basilicas at the time such as the Basilica Ulpia, the Basilica Maxentius features a huge open space in the central nave, but unlike other basilicas instead of having columns support the ceiling the entire building has been built using arches, a much more common appearance in Roman baths than basilicas.

Another difference from traditional basilicas is the roof of the structure.

While traditional basilicas were built with a flat roof, the Basilica Maxentius is built with a folded roof, decreasing the overall weight of the structure and decreasing the horizontal forces exerted on the outer arches.