I.: The Battle of Milvian Bridge — Outside of Rome, Italy — 28 OCT 312
Three years after the collapse of the Tetrarchy — the four-headed banner of leadership in Rome — two of its members meet on the field of battle on October 28, 312. Emperor Constantine, who has spent the last three years consolidating his power base and eliminating his competition (chiefly the other members of the Tetrarchy), has brought his 100,000-man strong army to the gates of Rome to square off against Emperor Maxentius and his home garrison of 75,000-120,000 men.
The day before the battle, Constantine spoke of a vision in which God told him to have his men adorn their shields with the sign of the cross. If they did this, they would find victory in battle. Constantine did so and at the end of the day on the 28th, Maxentius was dead — drowned while trying to swim across the Tiber — and Constantine was the sole ruler of Rome.
His battlefield conversion to Christianity almost instantly changed its status from undesirable cult to major cultural force, culminating in this time in the founding of the Byzantine Empire and the Orthodox Church.
