Who was Constantine and why was he important for Christianity?

After Jesus and Paul, Constantine is perhaps the most important person for the development of the early Christian Church. That is why I chose him. What is most important to remember about Constantine is that he ascended the throne of an empire Christianity filled Constantine's need for a basis of religious unity quite well. Christians may have been a minority through the empire but they were a well-organized minority. First, Constantine moved to eliminate the external challenges posed by paganism, destroying their temples and books.