Battle of Magnesia 190 BC Roman - Seleucid Syrian War DOCUMENTARY 

Holy shit, that treaty was absolutely crushing. Wow

One of my favourite Roman legends is that of Antiochus' son Antichous IV's attempted invasion of Egypt, which was stopped when he was confronted by the Roman senator Gaius Popilius Laenas who had been sent as an envoy by the senate and did not have an army. According to Livy, Popilius handed Antiochus a decree from the senate and then drew a circle in the sand around Antiochus and said he had to issue a reply before stepping out of it. Some speculate that this is the origin for the term "drawing a line in the sand". Either way, Antiochos agreed to the terms of the senate, withdrew from Egypt and demonstrated that Rome could exert influence solely through using the threat of its military power.

A shockingly overlooked battle that opened the gates of the East and its rich lands to the Romans, money which would provide the financial backbone of the Empire. The world would be a very different place if Antiochus had beaten the Romans here.

Rome's greatest generation. Survived the Hannibalic War and was apart of the rapid expansion of the Republic into the Greek East, taking on powerful and established superpowers like the Antigonids, Seleucids, and Greek confederations.

Ah, a cold beer and a good documentary. This made my day.

I never made the connection that the Seleucids and Carthage coexisted around the same time.

When you are larping as Leonidas so hard, you loose the same way at the same location

That moment when you try to zoom the screen and realize that you are in youtube and not in Crussaders Kings 2.

You guys are the greatest thing ever happened to us, the history nerds! Thank you so much! Keep on with the excelent work

Empire for sale, in bad condition, needs new king and army

As promised, we are remaking older documentaries to be on par with our current standards. Don't worry, the new one should be released on Sunday. :-) You can support our work via Patreon: www.patreon.com/KingsandGenerals or Paypal: paypal.me/kingsandgenerals

Love your graphic displays and unit IDs, so much easier to follow the narration of these battles

In case anyone's wondering, this is Antiochus III, aka The Great. The bad guy from the Hanukkah stories was his son, Antiochus IV.

I love the Seleucids man, they're the most interesting empire to me. Their east meets west fusion of art, religion and culture is fascinating. Look at the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms that were spawned from them for instance.

Great video, but there is a mistake on the map... After the battle at Cynos Kefales, Rome pushed Macedonia out of Thessaly and generally of all its positions gained by Phillip II, in South Greece. Even the region of Orestis in western Macedonia declared independent. That was inslulting for the Macedonian kings as this region with the city of Argos Orestikon was considered the crandle of the Argead dynasty who built Macedonia in the past. So the political vacuum that Antiochos found and tried to exploit was the independent Thessaly and Euboia (and not Macedonian possesions anymore as depicted on the map in this video at the time Antiochos arrived in Greece).

Remaking your own videos due no longer being satisfied by its quality. High standards, right there.

I remember reading somewhere that as the Seleucid phalanx retreated, it formed pike squares and was in good order until the elephants, positioned in the center of the squares, panicked and caused the formations to break. If they hadn't, I imagine Antiochus might have been able to extricate the core of his army mostly intact, and might have been granted a reprieve to try again later.

The Phalanx was one of the most effective military formation if done correctly (High risk, high reward). What baffles me the most is.. The Greek states had plenty of years to at least revolutionize the Phalanx, they had the time to make it less risky and yet, the main weakness was still there. It seems that Alexander was the only one (I might be wrong of course) who at least tried to make it a bit flexible by extending and bending his extreme left or right flanks . For example in Gaugamela, he made a semi arc in his extreme left to avoid being out-flanked and even had reserve phalanx at the rear.

Love that you guys are redoing these!!!! So much better quality

This was a fantastic video Devin! This critical battle is often overlooked: it signaled the fact that Rome was the unrivaled global superpower.

Yo greece couldn’t you be united for just ONCE. I mean come on, destroying yourself like this?

Hi guys thank you for all of your efforts its been fun to watch.Just wanted to give extra information.Magnesia city is in Aydın not Manisa.I can say it is closer to Ephesos(in a city called Selcuk between Aydin and İzmir provinces) than it is to Sardes(in a city called Salihli belonging to Manisa province but really close to the other side of the İzmir border) just to give you guys the idea.Just trying to add little extra i hope you guys keep enjoying what you are doing:)

Your videos are amazing! Your documentries look very professional! I like Roman history. Thanks for uploading!

Great choice on doing the remakes, really worth the additional effort you put in.

Can you guys make a video or a series of videos about Cyrus the great? That will be very interesting. Great job once again we really enjoy your vids !

Antiochus the third was a vainglorious cavalry commander and as i have gathered from multiple sources understandably overconfident in this battle considering the size of his forces. On a more positive note for the Seleucid right, three thousand cataphacts smashed an entire legion. I'm quite sure if Aniochus was as gifted Megas Alexandros he would have sent the romans packing.) It was said that the Seleucid Army was an extraordinary sight to behold with their exotic regalia and wide variety of units.

Love the visual maps. Shows the strategy of both army's.

Great remake!

Veni, Vidi, Vici! I hope that such high quality material continues to exist from this fantastic channel. I am impressed with the improvements that you have made, though I still love the original version.

I love how many documentaries use footage from the Total War Series. Check them out if you havent already

You guys are a gift for history buffs.

Love your content always looking forward to new video's even if its a remake.

Kings and Generals, Love your channel! 15 years ago I'd be much more interested in high school history class...

Together with you l learn history again Thunk you so much

I so love this channel…one of my favorites!

You guys are really amazing.Keep up that fantastic work.By the way I love Cornelius Scipio.One of my most favourite Roman generals.

Exellent video!

could you imagine the sight of those two massive armies forming up? Wish I could have been there to watch from a safe distance.

Love finding Battles I missed!

Love this channel..very informative

Thank you very much for remaking old content! I was very interested in the previous videos but as a non-native english speaker the previous narrator (the one with the strong accent) made it very difficult to understand some parts (no offense for the accent guy =P).

I’m reading Livy’s account just now when I stumbled upon this:-)

Excellent video.

Nailed it. Awesome video!

Best historical chanel of youtube Way to 100.000 subscribers🔜🔒❤

Can you please do more polls? They're cool and it's nice to see other people's view on them

This was an interesting video. Always nice to know more about the conflict Roman had with the Seleucid Empire. My compliments to those who made this video a reality.

It's really nice to remake the old videos, and replace them with a higher quality ones, thanks.

What I don't really understand but seems to be their strongest factor is the Romans seemed so good at recovering from devastating defeats that cripple other kingdoms/empire.

Can you cover the Bulgarian-Byzantine war of 917?I forgot the name of the battle but it’s very interesting and the first of its kind.

I hereby request more Roman battles and campaign's, including early Republic history. I know you are all very busy so I won't be irritating. Damned good stuff as always.

omg your videos are amazing... keep up the great work!!!

Well, school starts in 23 minutes and I'm beginning to question whether I should be here. Then I hear Senpai Devinu's voice, and I know I made the right decision.

Battle!!! Please do the battle of lützen

Love the remakes!!

I'm so proud of the progress Kings and Generals has made throughout the year. If I weren't such a poor bastard I'd definetely support your channel on patreon.

Cool story, there is a large town right outside the city of Thessaloniki called Nea Magnisia (new magnesia) and yes they originate from minor Asia from the city of Magnisia

Alexander would have been COMPLETELY ashamed of the Diadochi.,, He would have definetely taken on the Romans, on the flat terrain northern to Larissa and not flee to Euboia like a coward. What a shame.

Another amazing video

This is fantastic work! Reminds me of the documentary series that was made with RTW1 on the History Channel.

Do you can make a video About Bactrian Kingdom or Kushan Empire Thanks 🌹

I'm pretty damn sure the Bosphorus is not where you seem to think it is. Nice animation thought.

Great remake product! Very high product!

the best channel on youtube imo

If only Hannibal had been at the height of his strategic powers during this war. Just imagine Cannae Hannibal, commanding this army.

It's wild to think how one battle can end an empire of such land mass, though I suppose the Seleucid Empire was never built to last such an organized and tough opponent

Awesome content. Loved it.

Well done..nice work...

Imagine though if the Greeks were united as one instead of helping Roman's and fighting each other

syria of stronk remove pizza

I thought I recognized your voice. Keep up the good work on both channels

Best channel ever.

What the video kind of skipped over on why the Romans easily won the Battle of Thermopylae was due to political subversion of Greece. Antiochus did not want to be seen as a tyrannical conqueror of Greece as that would throw the rest of the Greek states right back into Roman arms. He came with a limited advance force believing he could rally fellow Greeks to his cause and supplement his army from the Peloponnese. Antiochus's Seleukid army (The pronunciation is "Se-loo-kid", not "Sel-you-sid") paused at the battlefield of Cynoscephalae where the Romans had defeated the Macedonian king Phillip V earlier and found the dead still unburied. He made a magnificent funeral for the fallen Greek troops on the battlefield and made it clear that HE was the true rampart of Greece. This pompous act turned Phillip V over to the Roman side. Antiochus' decision to withdraw was due to intentional obfuscation and false reports by pro-Roman agents. The 2,000 man Roman advance force lit hundreds of fires and made a loud show of their camp to inflate their perceived size. The larger concern to Antiochus was that he believed that Phillip V had arrived with the Romans and would supplement the Roman legion with a Macedonian phalanx. He did not feel that his relatively small force could hold up against such a combined attack on the flat Thessalian plain. After this, Anitochus and his men withdrew to the island of Euboia and spent the fall and winter months in luxury at the city of Chalcis. The allure of the culture and atmosphere was strong. There was so much lack of discipline due to the relaxation and pleasurable women they kept the company of that the men's morale had withered away. Antiochus himself fell in love with a local girl. It was almost more of a spring resort than a regrouping. When the campaigning season started again, Antiochus broke off his engagement to a young woman and tried to discipline his men. Thereafter, he chose deliberately to make a defiant stand at Thermoyplae, juxtaposing the Romans as the barbarian Persian invaders. His tactics were sound and his main force was beating the Romans back. The only mistake he made was trusting the defense of the important passes with unreliable allied infantry instead of his own and did not utilize enough lines of communication to maintain contact with those isolated units. The force that Antiochus was with lacked discipline and began withdrawing believing what happened two centuries earlier would repeat despite still having an advantage. This withdrawal ironically is what got them all killed or captured. At Magnesia, Antiochus' position was sound. But he unfortunately made the same mistake he made against Ptolemy IV at Raphia. He personally commanded his right wing on an epic Alexandrian charge that sent the enemy reeling back. But he allowed himself in his confidence and blood lust to wander too far from the battlefield as his left wing was being overran by panicked animals that threw them in disarray. Once he realized his mistake and began to wheel left and counterattack the Roman center, it was too late. He won his glory but lost the battle as a result. If he had followed Alexander's example and focused on wheeling left to break the center from their flank, he might well have clutched victory from the jaws of defeat in the same Alexander had done at Gaugemela. This is one of those occasions where I really wish the opponents of Rome had succeeded. There was literally every justifiable reason for Antiochus the Great to win and unite the Hellenic world finally for the first time 140 years. Rome was like Russia, using double agents and subversive political tactics to create conflict and division politically in the lands they were invading to obfuscate the situation and took advantage of. The Romans never really respected the Greeks, believed themselves far superior while engaging in full cultural appropriation, using Greek myths for their own gods and imitated many of their customs without ever really respecting their advances in philosophy and literature. Really was not until the far later under the Emperor Hadrian that Rome ever looked back on Greece with any respect.

if antiacus listened to hannibal barca results may be different

Such a great piece of history I have wanted to know more about after first playing Rome Total war (1) - thank you.

Awesome! I would love to see more content! Glad to hear! Specially Greece content! Haha

I have a question, in minute 2:53 i think, it says battle of sparta, or something like this. In that battle, Sparta was conquered? Goood video

The Romans would have never conquered Hellenic lands if the the Greeks didn't have the habit of fighting each other!

Very good video, I would appreciate if you could enable Spanish subtitles in the rest of your videos, the content is very good indeed and that is why it is valued even more. Greetings from Peru from a passionate about Ancient History.

Officially devin making history, makes my day

Why the heck didnt the Seleucids charge with their elephants?

Funny, never heard about this battle ^^

Excellent job guys ! As an absolute fan of ancient Rome and as a French, your current contents are delightful for me 😉

you guys should consider a best of: featuring the triarri or any other elite ancient units. a series including the best actions each were involved in and there roles in said actions

You ignored everything about why Romans conquered the Illyrians

Ahh yes BC and AD the correct terms.

I love this channel

Gotta love the strategic study of Warfare. It's beautiful~

Parthians (an iranian eastern tribe) later freed Persia from Seleucid control and defeated roman expansion into middle east, romans experienced a warfare they werent used to and got destroyed at Battle of Carrhae. The battle was seen as one of the most crushing defeats in roman history. Parthians outnumbered four to one used horse archers which forced romans into an advancing testudo formation which limited their melee combat ability and Parthian cataphracts used this opportunity to charge in and inflict heavy losses, it is said a cataphract was able to kill multiple romans in one go and had great protection in melee combat, romans didnt know how to counter them efficiently.

Seleucid is pronounced "Suh-loo-kid". C's in latin/Greek are pronounced like K's.

Great! this was fun to watch. The music volume was perfect this time :DDDD could perfectly hear your voice. I like that you give all the context before the battle and do not just focus on the battle but gives a more broader picture of history. Also, i think it would be really nice if you guys do your videos in series, i would love to watch what happened next after this period of time. This would be more fun than game of thrones xDD

Awesome videos 👍

You know, back in my day, we didn't resolve our Syrian wars with dronestrikes 'n crap. We got down there, sacked some cities, and really showed 'em what for! Now we got these sissies saying "OH, THAT'S A HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION." Well I say that's stupid.

WOW, this guy is still called ' Antiochius the GREAT ' ! L O L !!!

Keep up the good work

Very well done

Antiochus is a garbage commander If I were him, I'd wait for the Romans to attack due to numerical superiority. Regarding the triplex acies, you will have to have concealed flanking units. With 70,000 troops, he should not stretch his infantry into one full line. He should rather stagger them to create enough width frontally to match the legions, then as the legions force themselves inwards, double up and engage the overflowing roman ranks with new rank and file of phalanx coming from the second line. If fought defensively, he had a better chance of victory. However he thought of his own escape plan and would gamble on flanking attacks first to see if he can escape any encirclement.

Good job, Keep it up

the best history channel

Is this one of the best channels on youtube or what? Optimis Optimus..