Ancient-Warfare Expert Rates 10 More Battle Tactics In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? | Insider 

That’s already how it is though

"Good ideas, but no ditch. F."

And your work is the best in the class

@acooknamed_Rishi Not even close. It college it is "This is total crap. Did you even read the chapter? B+"

While laughing

wow, you here? a nice surprise...

YEAAAHHH

@@hamzaalirehan822 Nah, too inefficient. Haven't even managed to start the ethnic cleansing yet... Tsk

rosobmsamt m

oreosoznant. moub te z and blacgse

"I hope this guy is okay, I hope he is still around" He must be 90 for now...

I love that even in the middle of pointing out all the way in which this is silly, he has some concern for the actors. ❣

My favorite part too. I replayed it over and over again.

Ancient Warfare for Dummies

The end semester exam is a scene to behold.

He probably got kicked out because his “hands-on workshop” was ruining the grass. I don’t understand why, he was just fortifying the campus against cavalry assault…

@@nuh_uh210 I AM A HISTORIAN AND I'M DIGGING A DITCH DIGGY DIGGY DITCH DIGGY DIGGY DITCH

Or, in his case, "Digging 101 Ditches" ;)

"sacred ditch" 🤣

@@egorkotkin in medieval combat the ditch is sacred, otherwise why would God himself always reference the ditch

Repent to Jesus Christ!! “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:33‬ NIV

@@repentoryouwilllikewiseper8741 Is Repent the litlle brother of Serpent?

If you Think about ditch tactic..... is actually a good idea

His official Title is Digger of Ditches and Thrower of Rocks.

@@drweb0 0

A hole's evolution is ditch and it's evolution is a trench what will be its mega evolution?

@@akshit_sharma1 Moat

@Repent 😂

you sir, are a genius

It would be awesome because we would basically get free lectures

@sunilpermaul7876 Imagine if we could get credit too!

Best idea ever! I would watch this show😂🎉

Somebody get him on Drunk History

Mark of a great teacher, he’s very knowledgable and very able to teach

Someone should hire this guy to coordinate Hollywood movie battle scenes already

Speak for yourself

Yeah but I think the fusion type would be better, but that’s just me.

sums up the whole bs LOTR D&D type fantasies

@@atomiccritter6492 LOTR is the greatest trilogy ever created, by far. Not a big fantasy fan either but LOTR is a masterpiece on every level.

The last battle in Return of the King - I wish he would give it the lampooning it deserves. Absolutely moronic battle tactics by Aragorn. A rabble gathered in a circular mob, waiting for an army 10x bigger to overrun them. No formations, NO DITCHES, no battle tactics. Just show up and get attacked. Brilliant.

@@fireworks_music That was done to lure orks out of the wall and distract the eye of sauron to let frodo pass through to destroy the ring. By that time they didn't have enough men to withstand a siege of that 10x bigger army, anyway.

@@fireworks_music That was the whole point. They knew they would die if Frodo and Sam didn't succeed.

Sad but true. Although Thranduil and the way he moved and spoke? That was brilliant, he really had something otherworldy to him. Pity the eye brows had me crack up like every five seconds.

@@Julia-lk8jn Lee Pace is always fantastic. Too bad he wasn't given better writing

@@BetterLifeAhead35 yet another sentence which applies to an awful Lot of the Hobbit trilogy. (I feel a bit bad for having such a poor opinion, of course after the Lotr trilogy imy expectations were sky high.)

I love the hobbit trilogy so idc about the tactics but yeah I did wonder how that is possible

The Elves jumping in front of the Dwarves made me loose my mind.

You sir win the internet

The elves just want to show off their parkour skills

Hollywood loves using fire and explosions in battles even though before the invention of the cannon it would only be useful in trying to burn wooden defenses or siege equipment.

Agreed. But like he said, "HollyWood likes fire".

the fireball version is for castle sieges, hoping to create chaos by setting fire to whatever is in the castle. I think he mentioned this idea in another video on fire arrows.

His response "if you get hit by these balls, you have no one to blame but yourself." Seems appropriate. It's also what I tell the missus in bed.

For the same reason terrorists put nails or ball bearings in their bombs. The explosion will do some damage; the projectile shrapnel will do even more.

Underrated comment 😂

I see no error in your logic 🙌

Secretly, your dad wanted you to spend your days moving spears from one end of the camp to the other rather than digging ditches.

Also safe from debt lol, my father didn't even go to college and he is a R&D machinist for Proctor and Gamble. I went to college and am in debt making a third of what he does.

Nice lolololol :-)

Can we PLEASE get this guy on Drunk History?? Ohhh that would so epic!! All the ditches!

I want Robert Pattinson to play this man on a movie where all he does is dig ditches. Innumerable ditches.

Straight ditches!

Agreed. I wish he had a RU-vid channel. Someone please link it if he does.

@@guthax30 dr roel konijnendijk, he has a channel with 1 video, but search his lectures on Oxford's channel

Ditches be crazy

Aye lad, that truly is the ditch that you have been waiting for. (in the voice of James Doohan aka Scotty from Star Trek)

I guess Ancient people didn't have a marketing team to come up with cool names for their battles...

@@vinaly *Medieval people

Truly a professional

@@vinaly Well, usually you name your battles after the nearest village (or the next one, if the nearest got to many Umlauts...) I know this battle as the Battle on the Peipus lake, if this is indeed the same one

@@vinaly You have the "War of 1812" which is a lot less creative, so it's not that they're medieval.

I hope they bring him back for another episode hahaha. He's great

Hah. Never heard the word "corndog" before (not a native). All the time I thought he kept saying "flaming condom".

@@janbo8331 it's a hotdog on a stick with a corn crust which is deep fried. Apparently you can add a cheese filling or even chocolate. It's one of the things that prove that nutrition in America should be categorized as a weapon of mass destruction, even without setting it on fire and rolling it over people.

@@antonnurwald5700 That gave me a good chuckle. I like your style. By that description I would not want one to enter nor exit my body.

@@antonnurwald5700 As an American, I have no issue admitting that I absolutely adore the way you described not only a corndog, but the American nutritional system. Thank you for the laugh my friend 😂

you like how that's the case, huh? I like that it's reasonable for him to be an expert in this field, and I also like how different fields of expertise can be wider or more narrow. I also like that he doesn't necessarily know exactly all of it 🤫

​@@gordonlekfors2708I like that you know less than 10% of what he knows

@@Wall_E. Man, I feel like dude knows less than 1% of what Konijnendijk does. Being able to examine these details with casual confidence and then explain them like a matter of course is not something that can be learned in 1 or 2 days. I have however seen many like Mr. Gordon here who oddly enough would rather get high huffing their own farts than admit that there are those who have dedicated more time than he ever bothered to to learn about this kind of stuff.

No no puppies go in the bad hole - your character

Okay

Didn’t dig the ditch deep enough 1/10.

My group recently defended a fort from a hobgoblin army and they won by digging a big ditch to slow them down and firing missiles from the walls.

Just one ditch?

*Tells you his rating is objective and academic.* But seriously, it really happens that you like or hate an answer to a question but when you rate by standard they scale to equal grades!

I assume it's an editing thing. Theyre just showing us the interesting points he make but he could also be judging things like costume design or the battlefield which may make up the points on the ones he hates or maybe just some other scene within the battle that was better but not interesting for the video

You know, liking something or not AND giving it a score on a precisely configurable scale (which is historical accuracy in this case) are different categories.

The geek within him-6 The nerd within him-6

@@khaoscualdawath exactly. It is the same thing as liking a movie but also thinking its bad. There are a ton of movies i love but will tell people "yeah i love that movie, it's not a great movie but i just love it". Something being objectively bad but you still subjectively liking it arent mutually exclusive, the reverse also holds true.

There was indeed a ditch used so not complete torture

@@StevenGarcia-im8rr ahhh but the ditch was at the back of the formation to prevent retreat. Truly genius

@@DarkSideBrownie Captain Jack Sparrow voice: *But there WAS a ditch*

@@StevenGarcia-im8rr *But where’s the rum gone?!*

The whole Episode and tactics was cringe AF

It was actually used in a realistic way. What he doesn’t mention is that the romans had catapults which had reach to fire over the ditch. Neutralising the enemy wasn’t the goal

Earlier in that season, Spartacus actually does use a ditch properly and outwits the Romans. They used the worst example haha.

There is a depiction of a ditch with spikes in outlaw king and he praises it - watch the video again sir :)

Heh, ditch

I got a feeling that he might be entrenched in this channel 😏

Do not remove the moat from thine castle.

Ahh i see what you did there

i see what you did there

Name? Curious about him and his expertise.

@@f-xr9511 Dr. Jeffrey Stevens. He currently works at the University of Missouri. Easily the most intelligent professor I had through Uni.

@@RyanGambles11 Thanks: will look him up!

@@RyanGambles11 Any anecdotes you remember? Outside of his « official » site can’t find a lot of content. And I guess if I am interested, a lot of other people might be. Thanks!

@@f-xr9511 What exactly are you looking for?

Surely there would have to be some equivalent order at the beginning of the battle so your first volley doesn't go before the enemy is in your effective range. Does anyone know?

@@Crunchy_Punch The unit commander would just tell the archers where to fire and they would just do it until told otherwise or you just fire at the nearest enemy formation that did not risk hitting your own men.

​@@chuckhoyle1211Yeah and holding an arrow especially heavy bows at full draw for a long time is ridiculous, it's draw release soon as you got the aim you looking for

You're right, that was really sweet of him. And the movie scene was perfect because it kind of showed how uneffective the burning street food was: even if you don't manage to jump it, the one man it rolled over got up immediately, and probably in just the right mood to make somebody pay.

Stop making me laugh, damn it!

ya dude really breaks it down makes a lot of scenes i love feel really silly in hindsight

I disagree in many instances though including videos this guy has done. With this one for example tactics do make sense in my head, the hobbit for example, they were jumping goat things not horses, so they might have jumped over anyway, so better to toss the dwarf and disorientate them giving the units behind a chance to surround and kill, rather than them being able to maintain a full controlled charge. In another video he spoke about castle defenders not actually dropping burning tar stuff on attacking forces, hinting if anything boiling water would do the job, but boiling water won't stick to wooden siege weapons to burn them, so if they didn't use whatever they had similar at the time then they were the dumb ones. So just because something isn't historically accurate in terms of battle style or tactics, it doesn't take sense away from some of them.

@@Jamie_D the Hobbit-goats jumping the shield formation: the point he raises is that a cavalry's advantage is the massive force it can create due to the animals they are riding, which only is an advantage as long as the cavalry has the mobility & speed to make use of the force. once you stop a cavalry, make it unable to build speed for a charge and get them stuck in position, the cavalry is at a huge disadvantage - they can get surrounded easily, riders can be pulled off and stabbed to death, or even simpler: just stab them with spear from every direction. the elves formed a shield wall, which is used to try and stop a cavalry charge - letting the goats use your shields as a ramp to jump over and have them charge unopposed into the back rows is a terrible idea. you did nothing to break their speed and force and essentially just let them plow through all your troops. plus the idea that the fully stacked front rows of a formation are just nimbling dodging/moving backwards to "create room" for the cavalry that just jumped over your supposed formation makes no sense either: a formation is extremely dense and tight, because it's designed to stop cavalry. those soldiers don't just move back swiftly without tumbling over each other. and even if they could do that (let's assume cause they are elves or whatever), it still defeats the purpose of the formation: tight, shoulder to shoulder soldiers that use their shields and combined effort to stop a cavalry charge. so the elves give up their shield formation, to let the dwarves jump over to then try and form a secondary shield formation within seconds which is supposed to stop the cavalry charge? yeah, that is nonsensical. they should have just done that to begin with. the only reason it "works" in the movie, is because the choreographers of the fight wrote it that way. it would not work in reality (even if we assume dwarves, elves, their animals etc. exist). I understand your point of some scenes making sense because they are "fantasy" and at times things are possible in those stories/worlds that wouldn't be possible in a historical context, and that is true to an extent, but you cannot explain away logical inconsistencies and errors with "it's fantasy".

@@_claymore one more thing about the goats using the shields as ramps you and almost no one else brings up is how insanely dangerous it is to the guy with the shield. Dwarves might be short but they are very stocky and wear armour that would be heavy even for someone twice their size and the goats are quite large for being goats as well. Even without caring about the momentum and how much force would be located under a single hove when they stomp down we are talking about somewhere around half a ton of weight with rider, goat and armour combined. The elves aren't physically stronger than humans of the same size so the front lines angling their shields are adopting a suicide tactic to let the enemy disrupt the formations over their crushed and dead bodies. Much higher chance of surviving if just lining up and hoping to stop their charge with spears and counting on the charging goats and dwarves having some kind of survival instinct over just giving up and getting crushed. Also the time spent setting up that stupid formation could have been used to fire a couple of more arrows to thin the ranks (they can't use their stupid ballistas that shred arrows that close to their own troops)

That's why we love him

A nerd within a geek? I don't think so.

@@michagorecki8893 yeah more of a geek within a nerd

What is the difference between nerd and geek??

@@26febry nerds are smart. Geeks like dnd

@@adhchopper accurate definition

yeaa but can he clear his throat, maybe?

and use it

@@artski09 and stay behind your ditch...

And build more ditches.

And when you're done, Use more ditches

And after you're done building ditches after building ditches, you build ditches in your ditches.

A hole's evolution is ditch and it's evolution is a trench what will be its mega evolution?

@@akshit_sharma1 see the void between the planets? yeah, that's the ditch you're gonna face in interstellar warfare.

Same!

@@akshit_sharma1 What about its Z-move, or Dynamax? The thought just invigorates Dr. Konijnendijk!

@@akshit_sharma1 ditch and trench has different purpose. Ditch are used as hindrance not fighting inside like trench. Armies used to erect earthen wall before trench. Trench only used by besieger against defenders. Trench instead of earthen wall started to be used in Pitched Battle in Crimean War. I don't know why trenches is preferred over earthen wall with Crimean War. My estimation is that new technology cannons could destroy earthen wall, thus armies had to use trench over earthen wall.

I didn't even watch the show that far, but just looking at the scene I was like, that big troll can't smash through the shield formation? Has he tried?

@@vanyadolly The lack of weapon and armor fails him. he does try and gets stabbed a lot by the pikes Like if there were a bunch of 5 year old with knives surrounding me, and I had no weapon or armor, I would still be reluctant to go swinging into them surely

The silly goofy dead horse wall was trash too

or "ditches everywhere"

Mad lad will be running amok with a shovel, happily digging ditches and cavalry traps alongside the unwashed masses like some kind of weird 3rd world tourism experience.

@@NicholasVernem-GroovyNickyLee He's going to be nicknamed, the Mole

He gave one 9 out of 10

at that point the battle would turn though? he would walk up to the loosers and they would then win because they do as he says?

TV show - Yes. Pay for it - No.

I'd pay too.

@Marcus Middleton Well, I said analyzing ancient warfare. Since it would be real history, he probably wouldn't have to ask the question. He'd be explaining why they were there.

not interesting, he would do 99 episodes of "build a ditch here, now another one here, now put pikes (wooden or real pikes) here, now another ditch" and 1 ep for the battle with the opposite general saying "we can't fight, too many ditches, retreat (or are they too tired from digging ?) ! let's fight them elsewhere ! and first, build 200 ditches !!! we will see if they can fight us across those :D" with him directing the show, there would never be a battle without 200 ditches everywhere ! (plus having to watch 99ep of actors acting like they really dig ditches everywhere for weeks, when machines did it in fact -and they forgot to clean their tracks in the mud)

@@st.jimmy0244 but still, "where are your ditches?!" would be a great title for the show xD

That’s how I want to die...

I scrolled specifically for this comment

Flaming corn dog or Flaming ditches.

I know how I want to die now.

@@mcshach9982 same heh

Next time :)

Ha ha ha! Yeah, dangle on the end of a rope like bait on a fishing line, over an inpenetrable, unscalable wall. Genuis.

Well, as expendable force... It distracts and harms the enemies front line and if they had an orc with a torch 🔦, it'd get stabbed before igniting the powder kegs(maybe). Didn't they penetrate the wall¿?

Actually I would like the castle warfare guy rate the movie

I also want to see him review bahubali

Gladitorial ranks but yes, roman legions would exist of citizens of all the mediterrean

Yes and no, those who weren't true ethnic Romans, the conquered peoples, were just "auxiliaries". Also, these auxiliary troops were used in their own regions, where they were most useful to the Roman legions.

Underrated comment!

I like this. Elves suck.

@@JohnnyWad309 Yes, In LOTR I root for Gondor and in The Hobbit I root for the dwarfs. Elves always act like they are overpowered except they aren´t. Also they leave Middle Earth right in the middle of a crazy crisis.

Then the dwarves started throwing rocks at them!

"That was a tactical ditch that Roel advised us to build!"

Flaming corn dog. " I hope he got his check"

He's Irish,its there thing

@@RAB-om9jy dutch , and thanks it is our thing ;)

@@dashaiku3421 Ah!! I offer my humble apologies,wow his accent honestly had me convinced. He's lost that thing where alot of Dutch sort of talk through their teeth. I've been checking out anything to do with him,he's fascinating 👍

@@RAB-om9jy no need to apologise man , i get it. We both use hard r's and the like

The whole archer volley thing started from depictions of musket formations during the Napoleonic wars, American civil war and other wars of that era, then someone deciding that archers must have operated in the same way since if it worked for muskets it must also work for other missile weapons too. Just like how we still have our soldiers in modern warfare line up in neat lines in an open battlefield without cover and wait until everyone is ready to shoot at the same time in a big volley. Because nothing changes in battlefield tactics over the centuries. (And yes, that was sarcasm)

@@jarrodbright5231 haha I get ya. It irritates me how so many film makers and other people can't understand how things are different in different eras and we're not all the same throughout history.

@@RedFenianPunk1916 Often it's just so the battle action reads as clear and understandable for a modern audience. It's why they changed the thumbs up to a thumbs down in Gladiator.

IMO the historical accuracy of battles in film is usually the most inaccurate part so I see how the historical accuracy of battles guy would go hardest

People often say Dutch people are very direct to the point of being offensively blunt, and I do see that in him. If you don't like something you adress it as clearly as you can.

He is Dutch and real Nederlanders don't keep it in them like Americans, for example. If it is bad - they tell it. No time for sugar coating, get the *ditches*

I will never think about the virtue and wonder of ditches without pre-vita-steroid Captain America's voice narrating it. You have done this to ME! 🤪👈

Please let there be a fanfic of this.......

If there was anything I would spend money for... it's this.

I need this NOW

Underrated comment

Top comment!!!

Your comment needs to be boosted. Hey algo, boost this please!

Repent to Jesus Christ! “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6:33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

He was busy digging a ditch around his house.

Top comment right here

Lmao

It will achieve legendary ratings too..no higher than 7/10

1/10

When the world needed him most.....he dig a ditch

@@david4rancibia34 dug

@@roballister5269 He dig a dug?

Me too

It would be a tad cruel to force the poor man to watch masses of men in silly armour slam into each other and proceed to whack each other in countless individual melees.

I'm waiting for a WW1 film where they forget the trenches

@@warphole0369 that would be a clusterfuck

@@warphole0369 like the eastern front?

@@bindingcurve The eastern front had plenty of trenches (and ditches). How do you think people fought against tanks? Conversely they also dug ditches for tanks themselves to turn them into a hidden strongpoint (with only the gun sticking out).

@@atarkus8 WW1?

You are so right! I suppose that Dr. Konijnendijk probably has a day time job, but still, videos about specific battles and how what they mostly lacked was ditches? RU-vid version of sea-salt chocolate. (I love the element about burried pots. What a smart idea!)

@@Julia-lk8jn I wonder how's his work like

If Shad has his MACHICOLATIONS!, Dr. Konijnendijk would have ditches

@@Julia-lk8jn He has a RU-vid channel actually. He doesn't do movie critiques on it, there's a few presentations on ancient warfare on it though.

@@PeterJavi alter ego super cynic version haha dr ditch persona may need a new channel given he’s an actual respectable academic haha

They don't search hard enough...

Except for Cannons, since so many in 16-19th century were located close to the action. As Napoleon said. Cannons are the King of the Battlefield

You are correct. That being said, Subutai and Batu Khan used catapults in open battle in the the Battle of Mohi where the Mongols wiped out 90% of the Hungarian army (including the Knights Templar). They used the catapults to clear the bridge, then later to break up the fortified Hungarian camp.

@@S0ulinth3machin3 A catapult isn't a trebuchet...

That ammunition was total movie garbage as well. Firstly, no-one would bother chipping a rock into perfect sphere shape, unless they had to fit it into a barrel of a cannon. Secondly, rocks don't explode into fiery shockwaves and shrapnel like the one in the movie. In fact they're quite well known for not being bombs, but a really stable building material.

@@raifthemad "Firstly, no-one would bother chipping a rock into perfect sphere shape, unless they had to fit it into a barrel of a cannon. " Except uh, the Romans. We have archaeological evidence that the Romans had nice round balls for their onagers. It's not perfect, but it's pretty damn round for an Ancient civilization.

yes

This guy should have a whole 30 minute show dissecting one movie or TV show at the time.

The first time it was so great and on point that I wasn't surprised that he was the one to repeat episodes.

Put some respect on Dr Konijnendijk!

I would have blame the commander for make me raise the shield high and tight that i can't see a damb thing 🤣

Also, the aiming of that throwing machine was not easily predicted by the enemy. So they wouldn't know where to be to not get hit, and would just hope to be lucky enough that some forward troops would conquer the artillery position first.

Konijnendijk, which means rabbits' dike

My new pickup line

I like how the first 2 replies just missed the point completely.

This!

The ditch ditched and ditchest

What’s the name of the book?

@@guciowitomski3825 The History of William Marshall translated and edited by Nigel Bryant.

@Fullashit Ministries you better not have ditched that book yet

Without opening the replies, I had a feeling with was Marshall. I haven't had the chance to read the original biography but some of the modern biographies based on that one are really really something cool! I want to get the original to read even more now.

total war is a game and most of its units are downgraded to meet game balance, in a real warfare that kind of mechanics doesnt exist, also theres a huge difference between medieval warfare expert to a general who commands an actual army

You can't dig ditches in Total War. He'd hate it.

@@garrett2439 actually he is very active on the total war subreddit

@@aaaknowkneemoos4811 A lot of the TTP's in Total War you use a player are actual TTP's and they do work for the same reasons they work in real life. Obviously, this is ignoring the fact a lot of the Total War games have magic and wizards and bullshit like that. But as far as using your cavalry and artillery properly, positioning your formations and maneuvering, and getting the right troops into the right positions (spearmen/pikemen blocking cavalry shield walls protecting archers and artillery) it can definitely be used as a solid sandbox. But dude above said it best, you can't dig ditches, but you can garrison in settlements and at least have walls.

It would probably change the outcome because of how the units are balanced

Don't forget the most important ditch: the Last Ditch.

@@oron61 😆😆😆😆 Awesome man! Thank you for a great comment

Yesss

I was solely scrolling through comments until I got to a Robert Pattinson one. Congratulations, I agree.

Yes!!! Literally just typed his likeness to Robert Pattinson on his pt 1 video!

True

YESSSS

@Matías Martínez Ofc I think they didn't know that ancient battle formations, but they actually had the military discipline that helps them to learn it. Kubrick was really smart asking for actual infrantrymen to shoot the scene.

@Matías Martínez at least they do make formations in ceremony

@Matías Martínez sorry dude. Moving in a disciplined manner is paramount to ANY military movement. Coordinated and disciplined movement is key to battle tactics. Large or small. This hasn’t changed for millennium. Twenty year vet.

@Matías Martínez that is the discipline. Knowing where to be under any condition, under any threat. You don’t understand as you’ve never served. To be disciplined is to move as one, in the instant of a command. Knowing how to move is like having a talent for dancing. Once you have a partner you have to be in sync with him/her. That is the discipline of the movements. That is battle. To be disciplined is to know where your fireteam partner is and that he will react the same as you and vice versa. That how you survive combat. Trust.

@Matías Martínez -- When they were filming LOTR, any of the army formations, Gondor, Elves, Easterlings, Uruk-hai, etc. Those extras were our NZDF, the reason was because soldiers know how to stand, and march in a cohesive manner. It's easier to bring in the military, who already have experience in standing and marching together, than it is to train a bunch of extras.

😂😂😂

Another dead soldier = another non-tax paying corpse

@@ar0568 Unless they were mercenaries. Depending on the deal, it could be money saved.

@@janbo8331 mercenaries tended to not take orders they wouldnt survice most of the time , famously for example , condotieri or allied cav.

@@cseijifja Cav allied to who? It also depended on the army and the era. There was also a time when mercenaries would have their heads chopped off for disobedience if that were the case - Roman auxiliaries, for example.

@@janbo8331 the auxiliaries were not mercenaries