Creation of the Medieval Roman Army 

Something smart will be here

Barbarians: can we join your army Byzantines: tell me a Reason Barbarians: we like the color purple Byzantines: you're in

Byzantines when they see something helpful in their enemies: ''Write that down, write that down!''

Byzantine enemy: "My tactics." The Byzantines: "OUR tactics."

Procopius was like: *THE FUTURE IS NOW, OLD MEN.*

Omg we have lived long enough to witness a Byzantine Army and Tactics video!

Having a wallet as a sponsor for the byzantine army episode is oddly fitting

I will say, the armor and outfits of the Byzantines and Sassanids in the 500s/600s is one of the coolest-looking military aesthetics in history. It's got the elegance of ancient and classical times but also the protection and sturdiness of the later middle ages.

“Your tactics and weapons will be assimilated” - Romans/Byzantine Empire probably

Byzantine military: "Improvise. Adapt. Overcome".

I bring my PURPLE SILK as a tribute FOR THE KING AND GENERALS!!!!!!

I love watching the Eastern Roman military and Eastern Roman Empire.

Change in military doctrine (esp. the shift in emphasis from the heavy infantry legions to the armored cavalry archers) didn't make the Eastern Roman Empire less Roman, anymore than the British Army's shift from redcoats to the khaki uniform didn't make it less British.

Those are more horse archers than expected. But one has to wonder, though. Given the influence of nomadic tribes of horse archers in Europe during late antiquity, why it didn't became an stablished practice during the early Middle Ages at least? In comparison with the front charge lance wielding knight that stablished later, I mean.

What’s a Byzantine battle cry?

I just wanted to say, they are still some ΄΄romans''' alive, I am Pontic Greek and i was listening all my childhood from my grandparents that we are Romioi (Romans) as a small kid i never connect the dots Rome and Romioi. When i was going to school and i learned about Byzantium, i connected the dots and i asked my grandparents about it. They never went to school because of the wars and persecutions. you see my great grandparents were born in Trabzon (Pontic Greeks) in early 20th century. They fled the area of Pontus in the end of Greek Turkish war of 1919-1922 after the beginning of the genocide (same era as the armenian genocide) . the closest Christian country was Russia, so many greeks of the eastern side of Anatolia fled there. They lived in today Georgia, until Stalin's Persecutions and the Soviet's atheism plan, many Greeks and Jews well expelled from Caucasus area to Kazakhstan, Uzbekinstan, Turkmenistan. My grandparents saw themselves near the city of Almata (!!!). They came to Greece with the first opportunity, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. They knew they were Greeks, they never learned this in school, cause the never went, but they called themselves Romioi (Romans), when i told them about Roman empire,Greeks, Byzantium, Ottomans etc. they said to me that, ''we dont know much about history, but i can tell you that, my parents and grandparents were calling themselves Romans aswell, actually every christian at that time had the name Roman, and the Turks called us Rum, so we just asume that every greek christian had the name roman.'' ((see modern history of Limnos, Greek island, after the Greek army captured it from the ottomans, Some of the children ran to see what Greek soldiers looked like. ‘‘What are you looking at?’’ one of them asked. ‘‘At Hellenes,’’ the children replied. ‘‘Are you not Hellenes yourselves?’’ a soldier retorted. ‘‘No, we are Romans." the children replied. source Wikipedia.)). They called and calling themselves Romans, without even knowing what it means, after so many hundred of yeas of foreign occupation, they kept their tradition from ancient Greece (see Pyrrhichios dance from pontic greeks,) to the end of ''Roman'' rule and from Ottoman rule to modern Greece. I am sorry for my bad English and for my long post, i just wanted to share it with people instersting about Byzantium.

Fun fact there was never a byzantine army but a late medieval roman army

I think I've listened to three audiobooks now, on the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. I always feel a sense of tragedy whenever I go down the rabbit hole. For an empire to have withheld for so long, against so many existential calamities, it truly is remarkable. So impactful that Tolkien used it as a baseline in developing the story of Gondor in the Middle Earth universe.

I love how King's of Generals subtly and intelligently claps back at people who believe that the Imperial Legions were the ultimate fighting force and all changes made to it, made the Roman army worse. When in fact it was the smarter move I really have been waiting for this one! Please do

Oh my god a Byzantine video from Kings and Generals? The Byzantophile in me is pleased

Thank you for making the byzantine empire known to the world. Although in Greece we studied it extensively, I feel that other nations haven't grasped certain aspects of this part of medieval history and its a shame. And thank you for always being scientifically accurate. Kings and Generals FTW!

I whoud really want to see some movies or tv series about the Byzantium Empire

Greek fire is the most powerful weapon of the Byzantine army🔥🔥🔥

All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

Great video. The Battle of Yarmouk in 636 was a devastating defeat for Eastern Rome. The wealthiest provinces were lost forever. But, there was a silver lining to that defeat. The Theme System was developed in the Eastern Roman Empire. This allowed the empire to have an army that was more Roman (sharing a common language which was Greek) and Christian. The hiring of large numbers of mercenaries was expensive and their loyalty was always questioned. (Eastern Rome continued to have units of foreigners in their armies, but in a smaller number as compared during the time of Justinian.)

The Romans up to the 5th century A.D. relied almost entirely on heavy infantry which used sheer and brute force to massacre in large numbers. On the other hand the Byzantines abandoned these old techniques in favour of strategic maneuvres like avoiding pitched battle wherever possible.They also invested in new cavalry battle styles (horse archery)and equipment which were adapted by the Avars from the 6th c. A.D.

I see Eastern Roman videos and I give it a like.

The byzantine empire, what an underrated and overlooked part of history...

The Byzantine empire definitely didn't just give up on having a strong infantry core, case and point the Varangian guard. Nothing beats a good 'ol Dane axe on the front line.

I just started reading The Strategikon of Maurice... and then I saw this episode. 😍 Please more episodes about the imperium GraecoRomano... we love it. 😁

Am Greek and seeing this is extremely I interesting

The Romans were masters of adaptation but the Eastern Romans were the peak of adapting. Horse Archers (Nomads), Long bowmen (Sassanids), Phalanx (Makedon), Hoplites (Greek ), Heavily Armoured Lancers (Parthia), and so many others.

Hopefully, we'll see a video on the last Roman Legion in service, The 10th Legion.

I hope we will see the post Justinian/Belisarius reforms of the Eastern Roman Military, moving onwards to the Middle Ages, in another vid. Excellent vid on the early ERE Army!

We must recognize the fact that the video makers of Kings & Generals master the art of putting epic music but in a subtle way to make the video 10 times more interesting and memorable

This new series is exactly what I've been hoping to see. Excellent work.

I am just amazed with this topic, keep making more like these. Excelent job guys, we are happy to have you!!!

I'm loving the rotating diamond for showing off troops and equipment. An excellent design choice. Great work as always, I can't wait for the next one!

Looking SO MUCH FORWARD for Strategikon!

Another amazing documentary, great job guys!

Every piece of documentary in this channel in my opinion superior to many tv documentaries, much more easy to understand and fun to watch.

got a feeling this is gonna be my favorite series. Thank you Kings and Generals!!!!

Well chosen topic! Looking forward to more.

i am absolutely looking forward to the next video on this subject!

I love the Eastern Roman Empire I’m so happy you are doing more stuff about it

I'm a greek (hellene) and I would like to express my point of view and how we greeks (hellenes) perceive history of byzantium. First of all Byzantine Empire is a post historic term was used by western european scholars of studying greek history of the former eastern part of roman empire. Either one refers to greeks or hellenes, romioi, yunans are the same term of people living in the current land of Greece and all of those people living previously in Minor Asia (Μικρά Ασία) or nowadays land of Anatolia Turkey. The term ''hellene'' ceased to be used almost from the third century because of the fact that this term meant someone to believe in 12 gods and not in christianity. The term ''hellene'' was revived again by greek and western political thinkers and revolutionaries in 17th-18th century. Instead of ''hellene'', the term ''roman'' citizen had started to be used in order to be self-proclaimed by any citizen of the Roman Empire (but in reality Eastern-Roman-Empire). It could be a greek, a former roman and latin citizen or an armenian or a slav or any other nationality to join the empire. Of course the majority of them were greeks, speaking greek and were christian orthodox and were guided in religioun by the patriarch of Constantinople ( the other pole of power along with the emperor). Most of the western powers at the time already called the realm Greek Imperium or Greek Empire but not Roman. In contrary to this, the greek-phone or ellino-phone people called themselves as roman citizen or ''romioi'' in greek language. Of course my predecessors were not roman (the modern italian people do not accept this term - they are right) but they inherited the roman structure, the roman power and roman continuity of an empire. The crucial historical point was the establishment of the new capital in the eastern part of the empire in the old greek town of Byzantion ( founded by ancient greeks in 7th century before Christ) with the name New Rome. This term was never be used for the descpription of the capital but the term (polis of Constantine - city of Constantine ) in other words Constantine-polis or Constantinopolis or Κωνσταντινούπολη in greek language was dominated from then until 1930 when the new-born country Turkey came up as the continuity of the former Ottoman Empire, had changed the name to Istanbul. Finally I would like to add the words of Helene Glykatzi-Ahrweiler born 1926 who is a Greek academic Byzantinologist of what Byzantine Empire was. Byzantium is divided in 3 periods of time, during 1000 years of its existence. The first period approximately (330AD - 680AD) Byzantium was a roman empire with roman structure, christian population under the dominance of the greek language, the second period approximately (680AD -1100AD) was a empire with christian structure, christian population and greek majority population and the third period (1100AD - 1453AD) was a greek empire with greek structure and greek -orthodox population.

I am consistently in awe of this channel. The quality is 👌

Thank you guys for this series. I've long needed a juxtaposition of the old empire to the western Roman's that followed. I look forward to more videos on this matter.

I LOVE the Late Roman Empire and the Byzantine period so much. Amazing video my friend.

Great video as always. I'm waiting for a video about Ottoman/Turkish armies evolution like in this video.

Excellent Video!!! I've been looking for a great summary of the Byzantine army! Nothing better than getting it from my favorite history channel!

Awesome video!

I hope we get a video on Constantine V, he's a criminically underrated emperor.

Doesn't matter if Rome still existed, I cry over the loss of OG Rome.

Brilliant video! Genuine thanks for the quality and the brilliant exposition of the video. I had been wondering about the subtelties of the change in military doctrines of the Eastern Roman Empire, but had never bothered to properly look into it. If anyone happens to have good extra material on the topic I would love suggestions, the video made me really want to read up further on the topic

how cheeky of you Kings and Generals! I can hear the Civ V Byzantine theme in the background!

The Byzantine Empire is my favorite faction in the Total War franchise. These videos are super enjoyable for me. Thank you Kings and Generals.

“How the Roman army became the Eastern Roman army” there fixed it for you

Another fine quality video, thank you!!

Amazing video! Many thanks! Keep up the great work!

Medieval 2 Total War Players: K&G: "..hippo-toxotai.." Bizantine Players: "heavy breathing" Venetian Players: "battle flashbacks"

I hope you make a reference on the Τακτικά(Tactika) by Nikephoros Ouranos, one of the most underappreciated Byzantine commanders. Great video as always

Wow! Great work whit the rotating table. It gives dynamic during your naration.

Thanks for making this video

Finally we have finally reached the history of the byzantine military. Looking forward to newer documentaries about the themata system, basil's army, the komenian army and the palaogian army.

Great video. The perception that Byzantine armies were weaker than classical Roman ones, is helped by the fact the Empire had plenty of defeats and was mostly one the defence in its later years. Incompetent rulers and limited expansion of the Empire also contribute to this idea.

What a wanderfull surprise was that !! Thank you k&g so much !!!👍👍👍💝

Great as always!

Could shorted this 18m long video to a couple of sentences: "It didn't. The "Byzantine" Army IS the Roman Army."

This was an excellent video. As someone covering Byzantine history now, I really appreciate this. Instead of making fun of the Byzantines for their decline, we should admire them for how they held on to greatness for such a long time!

The videos on Byzantine history are such a great thing to listen too! I would love to hear more about Byzantine naval battles and just naval battles in general during the times of the ottoman Habsburg wars!

Interesting and worthwhile video.

Before you read the comments I must warn you. You have now entered the byzantophile zone.

It’s just something about the Byzantine’s that draws you in and you start rooting for them.

I wanted a video like this for a veeery long time. Thank you.

Good stuff guys! Thank you.

Procopius out here going "ok boomer" 1500 years before it was cool

It has to be noted very importantly that there was never a “Byzantine Empire” but only a Roman Empire which we also say Eastern Roman Empire in order to differentiate it from classical Roman Empire As a historical channel I’d think you’d get that right and strongly stated it They called themselves Romans of the Roman Empire until it fell in 1453 and nothing else " byzant" is a terminology that was invented by German historians in the 16th century

That was so neat. I love K&G and the ERE/Byzantines so this is just a perfect video for me. I'm excited to see this continue. I love the animation style, you guys have terrific artists.

Great video, Byzantine Empire and it's army are often overlooked in modern popular history so thanks for making this video. Hoping you do the whole evolution of the army up to the end of the empire.

The real reason Byzantine empire lasted so long : No Praetorian guard to guard emperor😆

The last time I was this early, Belisarius was still in Italy

another great video!

WOOOOO YEAH BABY! THAT'S WHAT I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR!!

Nice to know the Eastern Roman Empire still had one of the best military system and armies at it's time

Next: Why the Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire

Great video as always! I was actually hoping you guys would create a video covering this very topic, spooky but great.

Great video, can't wait for the next one!

I used to believe that the ERE was a continuation of the roman Empire also, lean alot more to the other side now if I'm being honest 😅 ERE still one of the most interesting periods though

My favorite empire in history.

great work, love this channel!

Thank you , K&G

I love the Byzantine empire. The empire struggled till its last breath against the unciviled hordes.

We want a video about how Kings & Generals became Kings & Generals

Amazing analysis once again and astute observations.

Great video, thank you!

Have been saved Greek folk songs with the achievements of the border guards of the "Byzantine" Empire !

Always wondered what life in italy was like post western empire until justinian's reconquest... As in life, but especially military.

Thank you thank you thank you! Amazing stuff!!!

Come on 2 Million! Can't wait for the next video! The best channel!