How Did Byzantine Fire Ships Work?

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Did you know how Byzantine Fire Ships worked and became the super weapons of their age?
The Fire Ships of the Byzantine Empire were created shortly after the discovery of Greek Fire in the 7th century AD. Engineers quickly began experimenting with incendiaries and methods of delivery, ultimately creating the famed Siphons which could be mounted on Byzantine Dromons. These fire ships would defeat the Arab and Kievan Rus invasions which sought to siege Constantinople on multiple occasions.
You can learn more about the Units of History through our documentary series:
THE BYZANTINES
Byzantine Flamethrowers and Grenadiers : • Units of History - Byz...
The Varangian Guard : • Units of History - The...
THE GREEK WORLD
Macedonian Silver Shields : • Units of History - The...
Macedonian Companion Cavalry : • Units of History - The...
The Spartan Skiritai : • Units of History: The ...
The Spartan Royal Guard : • Units of History - The...
The Sacred Band of Thebes : • Units of History - The...
Mycenaean Chariots : • Units of History - Myc...
Balearic Slingers : • Units of History - The...
THE ROMANS
Roman Cataphracts : • Units of History - Rom...
Roman Army Spies : • Units of History - The...
Roman Army Scouts : • Units of History - The...
THE NORTHMEN
The Jomsvikings Mercenaries : • Units of History - The...
Viking Berserkers : • Units of History - Vik...
Early Germanic Warriors : • Units of History - Ear...
THE AFRICANS
Nubian Archers : • Units of History - Nub...
The Sacred Band of Carthage : • Units of History - The...
Carthaginian War Elephants : • Units of History - Car...
The Numidian Cavalry : • Units of History - The...
THE NEAR EAST
The 10,000 Immortals : • Units of History - The...
Sources and Suggest Reading:
“Greek Fire” by Linda Alchin
“Byzantine authors: literary activities and preoccupations” by John Nesbitt
“Praecepta Militaria” by Nicephorus II Phocas
“Tactica” by Emperor Leo VI the Wise

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4 май 2022

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Комментарии : 351

@steel5315 2 года назад

The description of the mixture makes it sound like some sort of napalm. Which honestly makes it even more terrifying

@TheScienceTube 2 года назад

Check my channel for actual modern vessels

@zamlightning7341 2 года назад

Nam:Wet and wild edition

@KroM234 2 года назад

yes, reports say that it was sticky and burnt on even on water.

@doomslayer2290 2 года назад

Maybe a mix of oil and some form of flammable sap like pine sap.

@_hunter_hunter1048 2 года назад

Stays lit in water . petrol based

@samwill7259 2 года назад

Huh, the tubing, the pump, the barrel, even the pilot light. It all sounds very similar to World War era flamethrowers just much larger and more primitive. The more things change I suppose.

@FiltyIncognito 2 года назад

Hey if it works. But it's not the same. The weapon carrier, the battlefield, the target and the risks are all different, not to mention the period of use. The flamethrower was useful for what, 50 years? An order of magnitude of difference.

@nateverna3217 2 года назад

Nothing ever changes

@akkoismydaughter3573 2 года назад

I mean ever thought that maybe world war era flamethrower took their ideas and designs from this?

@samwill7259 2 года назад

@@FiltyIncognito I mean, no, obviously it's not the exact same. I'm just saying it's strange that with more than 500 years difference we end up at similar designs. Worse in the world wars though when everyone's got a rifle and you've got a barrel of flammable goo stuck to your back.

@FiltyIncognito 2 года назад

@@samwill7259 Not so strange. After all, the wheel is still the wheel. Boats still boatin. We're still whackin things with clubs. Knives form still unchanged from ye ol' stone tools. Fires cook pots. And we still feedin fools the good ol' knuckle sandwich. Plenty of things are largely unchanged throughout the millennia. Just updated as old tech is replaced with newer tech, and expanded into specializations thanks to growing division of labor and mass production. Heck, even the whole of human society still ebbs and flows at the whims of crop harvests (and the Sun that feeds or fries them according to schedule)

@gustoslapswill 2 года назад

Em, I think it was closer to a thousand years the Byzantines lasted.

@captainsmolletkermit8986 2 года назад

330-1453 AD, or 1123 years

@hassanabdikarimmohamed2505 2 года назад

He said from the 7th century onwards they survived for another 500 years which is true because he is referring to the fact that after the rise of Islam and multiple invasions of early Islamic armies who conquered byzantine lands in Syria Lebanon Palestine Egypt etc, and even after a few sieges of constantinople by early Islamic armies eventually after another 500 years the byzantines were finally fully conquered by Muslims of seljuq and ottoman turkic origins such as alp arslan and conqueror of constantinople Mohamed Fatih aka Mehmed the Conqueror aka Caesar of Rome

@gousgous7734 2 года назад

Over a thousand years actually

@linming5610 2 года назад

@@hassanabdikarimmohamed2505right. Because the restored eastern roman empire after the crusaders and venetian sacked constantinople is only a ghost. I think they are not eastern Roman empire anymore.

@I_hunt_lolis Год назад

Virgins: "Bizantine Empire" Chads: "Eastern Roman Empire"

@themosticonicscenesinmovie8737 2 года назад

I love the smell of Greek fire in the morning...

@cihadsenk6387 2 года назад

I was looking for this comment.

@acenull0 2 года назад

😂😂😂😂 oh no

@user-og8zx2fe4n 2 года назад

Smells like victory!

@napoleonibonaparte7198 2 года назад

All they need was for it to be installed in Turtle Ships.

@namekman01 2 года назад

i assume you mean the korean ones?

@tyrstone3539 2 года назад

@@namekman01 yes

@lancermaza6726 2 года назад

Sound like a floating oven.

@Brother_O4TS 7 месяцев назад

Weren't they also designed to do just that?

@citizen762 2 года назад

I need this mounted on my truck.

@InvictaHistory 2 года назад

I'd back this kickstarter

@SSHitMan 2 года назад

Then you could safely drive through Portland.

@christianlee1151 2 года назад

Why is portland not safe?

@archlefirth2279 2 года назад

@@SSHitMan lmaoo

@Tyshkevich 2 года назад

@@christianlee1151 nope, we are the new Chicago. Several shootings daily.

@TheBigExclusive 2 года назад

Thank you for not trying to loop the video. I really like a normal video with a beginning and an end.

@marshallgrek997 2 года назад

Imagine if the made flamethrowers for infantry. The byzantines would still live.

@SockAccount111 6 месяцев назад

They did have handheld flamethrowers, look it up

@eliasshedd 2 года назад

Did you know we still don't know how to make it?

@stelios-1821 2 года назад

Byzantium lived for 1100 years, not just 500.

@user-ml7dl5fv7r 2 года назад

500 years after the invention of fire ships i suppose Invicta mean

@Tschoo 2 года назад

Kind of crazyto think that most modern countries are much younger than that. Will our countries also disappear into history?

@yorno3691 2 года назад

@@Tschoo yes

@diabelgrogaty1963 2 года назад

@@Tschoo Rome too was changing with time. The culture was different with only the same foundations. That's also true for China where some claim that there civilization has survived for about 5000 years. With all these invasions of barbarians from the north that isn't possible and is an obvious lie. Culture and language is constantly changing

@OldSchoolOriginalGameDogs 2 года назад

@@Tschoo yes All fade

@TheManCaveYTChannel 2 года назад

Roman ingenuity at its finest!

@TheScienceTube 2 года назад

Check my channel for actual modern vessels

@TheManCaveYTChannel 2 года назад

@Black Lesbian Poet cool story bro?

@maxonmathew4557 2 года назад

@Black Lesbian Poet huh

@TheSuperhoden 2 года назад

@Black Lesbian Poet no they weren't; the byzantine empire was an invention of renaissance. They always seen themselves as romans.

@bugzyhardrada3168 2 года назад

@@TheSuperhoden nah they didnt bruh cuz everyone knows that rome was just the invention of the spanish inquisition....duh....no one suspects the spanish inquisition......

@josemartinez-kw2ql 2 года назад

And that is how the flamethrower was invented in the old days

@mohammedwaheeb9325 2 года назад

I read before that it was lost some time after The weird thing is historian actually doesn't know how or when it just magically vanished and the recipe was lost forever It's such a shame because i read that it can keep burning even when it's on water which is something marvelous for that time of era

@shepherddog1199 2 года назад

Probably had magnesium or some other flammable material that can’t be put out with water

@Bhatakti_Hawas 2 года назад

Ancient napalm

@patrickhorvath2684 2 года назад

Greek fire is still an unknown formula, as far as i know

@igor_pavlovich 2 года назад

Subtitles overlayed by video title...

@TheScienceTube 2 года назад

Check my channel for actual modern vessels

@InvictaHistory 2 года назад

will look to adjust this moving forwards

@ayahpinkofficial2769 Год назад

This weapons is far before Gunpowder were invented in china....after Cannon in game everything change....But it really help maintain sea Security of Byzantine for centuries before Gunpowder

@Zeero3846 2 года назад

Curious how the ships avoided catching fire themselves. I imagine that these flamethrowers limited movement.

@tomrowell1558 2 года назад

I bet there were plenty of testing accidents and friendly ships burnt, I definitely wouldn’t want to have been a sailor on a wooden ship carrying a tub of ancient napalm

@thanosofthecommunistdruzhi9107 Год назад

They did. The weapons were super dangerous and was only ever used when wind was favourable, that way it's less likely that they end up scorching themselves.

@michaelclark6941 2 года назад

Now just have to figure out what their Navy's largest expenses were besides people and ships.

@stefanvella9807 2 года назад

They should make a documentary about the byzantines using greek fire on the arabs and other enemies to save Constantinople

@XenophonSoulis 2 года назад

Or a movie. There's a lot of juice in the Byzantine history in several different periods.

@skoronesa1 2 года назад

It doesn't need a pump or a siphon. Look at how old blowtorches work. Not all of them had pumps, those that did only had it for quicker starting. I own one.

@billmoss2877 2 года назад

The amazing thing is that the formula was kept a secret. I used to know it but that was in another life.

@claudebentley4738 2 года назад

Amazing piece of information!!!

@jamesjohno1180 2 года назад

And I don’t care what anyone says it’s still called Constantinople, the Hagia Sophia is still a church too….

@dmr123kkla 2 года назад

So in other words, you're referring to a gigantic FLAMETHROWER.

@vincentgaulin6663 2 года назад

« The way it works… » is that we don’t really know and we can only speculate on the matter- any historian

@BattleHistories 2 года назад

It must have been terrifying for the invaders but equally terrifying for the men on-board these ships... I mean you're spreading fire on top of the water surface. What could go wrong??

@oozyflipchart2479 2 года назад

greek fire wasnt new when the byzantines were around, though that may have been a rediscovery

@thewampire4640 2 года назад

Good video oakley!

@TheVineOfChristLives 2 года назад

Too bad they didn’t figure out propellers and drive shafts.

@cliffordjensen8725 Год назад

This was an amazing feat. Never would have guessed that they could have machined metal to the tolerances required to create this device. You would have to wait until the 1700's to find something comparable.

@franciscolaus6937 2 года назад

Fast forward 2022, we call it hypersonic missle

@spinakerann 2 года назад

This resulted in the development of the concept to generate the old “ iron clad’?

@Why...So...Stupid... 2 года назад

Arms races were a lot slower back then... Squirting fire kept them safe for 500 years?

@TekkaSage 2 года назад

So basically the first flame throwers.

@BigFroggo Год назад

That is surprisingly advanced for the era of which it was invented. Then again, the greeks invented a proto-steam engine that never saw a practical use at the time.

@heyokasamurai453 Год назад

Both was invented by Romans

@SockAccount111 6 месяцев назад

@@heyokasamurai453 *Greeks

@heyokasamurai453 6 месяцев назад

@@SockAccount111 romans, Greek is modern invention

@SockAccount111 6 месяцев назад

@@heyokasamurai453 Greek civilization is older than Roman one thoughbeit

@heyokasamurai453 6 месяцев назад

@@SockAccount111 those are Hellenes and the individual cities, nationalism didn’t exist until the 19th century

@MutantStargoat2000 2 года назад

You forgot to mention that the mixture would spread atop the water since it was an oil mixture, resulting in the fire ships sinking each other sometimes

@Tservator 2 года назад

Fun fact: The fire could also burn underwater

@radixdol 2 года назад

nothing is new under the sun, neither weapons nor human cruelty

@cherrycoyote55 2 года назад

This sounds like it was just oil set alight and shot out of a cannon.

@BlueEyedColonizer 2 года назад

Such a flaming frigate!

@DYKTTATUOBLVD 2 года назад

it actually comes from crimea

@jackslepowron5905 2 года назад

This was always cool to me

@dshock85 Год назад

Imagine Constantine had those built and made for when the main Ottoman forces were at the walls....just melting the forces.... or concentrated at the gate they broke into

@ianmcpherson2171 2 года назад

I mean.... Until they didn't.

@vyranlaise8356 2 года назад

If that can ever figure out how to make Greek fire. It might just change the word as we know it. The story's told about Greek fire were amazing and could be used to make things like fuel to heat home and we can get away from gas for our vehicles. If the story's are true. They had to have made it from what they were able to find laying around. They didn't have the technology we have today to collect it out of the ground. If it was a gift from some out of this world explorer's or from volcano pools forceing pools of oil like fluid. It's hard to say unless we search the Greek Inlands around Greese and see what they may of come up with. I have a feeling it was some kind of plants that were fermented. Like some kind of plant glue alcohol and under pressure could stick to anything and burn at a high temperature.

@newswithdcruz4277 2 года назад

Will Byzantine fire ships still work if we had Supa Hot Fire on them?

@grimdevotee9432 2 года назад

Old school napalm.

@wauliepalnuts6134 2 года назад

*_"GREEK FIRE" IS THE MORE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE NAME._*

@klol3369 2 года назад

No they didn't call it Greek fire because Greek is a term coined in Latin and adopted into other western European languages which was no used by the east Romans at all

@wauliepalnuts6134 2 года назад

@@klol3369 *_YES THEY DID. "BYZANTINE" IS A FAIRLY MODERN TERM. THOSE RESIDING IN THE EASTERN ROMAN EMPIRE NEVER REFERRED TO THEMSELVES OR ANYTHING ELSE AS BYZANTINE._* *_FURTHERMORE, ORIGINAL SOURCES ALSO REFER TO IT AS "ROMAN FIRE"._* *_ONLY THE UNINFORMED AND UNEDUCATED REFER TO IT AS "BYZANTINE FIRE"._*

@klol3369 2 года назад

@@wauliepalnuts6134 I never said byzantine was accurate, that's why I used Roman in my text, Greek tho is a term used exclusively by foreign powers, you used an incorrect term to criticize an incorrect term, and then argued over the term byzantine when I never used that term, I only used east roman, also don't forget to turn caps lock, if you need to, look it up 🙃

@wauliepalnuts6134 2 года назад

@@klol3369 *_I CAN TELL YOU'RE NOT WELL VERSED IN THE TIME PERIOD AND YOUR PRIMARY SOURCES ARE RU-vid CHANNELS (LOL)._* *_GREEK FIRE IS THE CORRECT TERM. YOU'D KNOW THIS IF YOU READ A BOOK._*

@klol3369 2 года назад

@@wauliepalnuts6134 the east Romans called themselves Romans, because Greek is a foreign term coined by the early Romans, and didn't exist in the Hellenic language that the eastern Roman empire used, infact they disavowed being called Greek because it took away their legitimacy, they didn't call it Greek fire, Greek fire is a western term for the fire, the Romans themselves would've used a different term, maybe pickup a book about linguistics next time 🙃

@stephensutcliffe8839 2 года назад

Since when was an example found??

@br00klyngreek13 2 года назад

Greek Fire!!

@puebespuebes8589 2 года назад

The byzantine empire is actually the eastern roman empire, it just was renamed after the fall of rome.

@linhhoang3636 2 года назад

No. It was renamed long after the eastern roman empire collapsed. By western historians.

@Southern_Crusader 2 года назад

I wish the Byzantines hadn’t fallen. They safe guarded Europe and kept many pagan and savage empires at bay.

@manfredschultz9619 2 года назад

Then comes the Olive Oil marinated Basilica :o

@bartfoster1311 2 года назад

This honestly sounds like a bad grease fire..

@mostlymessingabout 2 года назад

Does it need to be heated? Is that because the original fluid was too thick?

@eddiemcboss7080 2 года назад

Damm that’s cool

@davidchristiansen2858 2 года назад

Cool

@evenflow2057 2 года назад

I did know that!

@thanosofthecommunistdruzhi9107 Год назад

Some accounts say that it spit out a liquid rather than fire, and this liquid ignited upon contact with water. Unfortunately this does not make it look was formidable as spitting fire if you put some dragon figurehead to cover the nozzle.

@birgaripadam7112 2 года назад

And we still not know how they made the flammable liquid

@jasonparmele8447 2 года назад

Thats a giant still heated tar or oil thats been pressurized

@jeffreyacevedo1796 2 года назад

Wonder why they didn't last until the iron age

@conniesoulis7521 2 года назад

Whatever it was...we do not have it yet..

@DG-bv5ss 2 года назад

I think it's more than 1,000 years and not 500 years

@_hunter_hunter1048 2 года назад

R.i.p Constantinopole

@davidlarondelle2326 2 года назад

Technology lost. Now of course it seems irrelevant

@starfreakist 2 года назад

Yeah it only really worked against the Russ Vikings who only used longships to transport troops.

@NowStopandThink 2 года назад

Shot 100 feet?!

@AbyssExplorer 2 года назад

But that thing must have costed a fortune to set up

@tamaking86 2 года назад

Pipes that pumped in the Byzantine era? Man, yeahhh right. Pressurised pipes and piping systems were not even s thing during that time...at least not yet.

@patrickhorvath2684 2 года назад

Yes they were.

@viniciusdomenighi6439 2 года назад

how many meters is 100 feet?

@LongHaulTrucker4Life 2 года назад

They also can't figure out the mixture ingredients, it was lost with time... Just like Roman concrete

@krosskreut3463 2 года назад

Roman concrete can be analized The greek fire (sadly) don't

@caeciliusmetellus3038 2 года назад

But fire on a wood ship is not the best idea...

@Damocles54 2 года назад

Istanbul was Constantinople. Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople..... I used to worth 3rd shift on a boring job and i would do spoken word renditions of They Might Be Giants songs. The guy next to me on the line didn't understand wtf was happening. He'd never heard of them lol

@kifflomx 2 года назад

It's fortunate that War Thunder didn't exist back then or it wouldn't have stayed a secret for long.

@Dani-ir3kk 2 года назад

This might have been maybe oil

@patrickcombs3567 2 года назад

Has anyone definitively discovered what Greek fire was yet? I mean what that mixture even was.

@lloydbeattie9370 2 года назад

Nope .😲

@abuzanazri4094 2 года назад

This is Fire Nation territory

@arkokibria1971 2 года назад

Ok. For Age of Empires 2 fans +1 range of fire ship explained property.

@alexs7097 2 года назад

Byzantines were christians not muslims..

@theindo-germanguy8817 2 года назад

Chola navy: well, we are the one told you.

@jackmack6217 11 месяцев назад

It wasn’t called Greek fire it was called liquid fire xd

@kentershackle1329 2 года назад

Until they were routed by a soo called uncivilized tribes which emerged from nowhere in the desert ..

@Rkmangoes 2 года назад

Spartans were the first to use this tech. Tho it wasn't wide used it was still first in ancient greeks

@Rkmangoes 2 года назад

@awpmaster mlg next time do some research for yourself instead of depending on others.

@Rkmangoes 2 года назад

@awpmaster mlg i did but you tube deleted it

@Rkmangoes 2 года назад

@awpmaster mlg go look it up. I youtube wont let me provide the source for you. Its not bs cuz you dont know anything.

@SlaveofGod777 2 года назад

@@Rkmangoes i think he meant to name it, not put the link

@SlaveofGod777 2 года назад

@awpmaster mlg don't worry my friend, it's not that you didn't know, it's just that he's believing someone's words without any credibility, he got that probably from an insta post, posted by a questionable person

@elvisrasak5882 2 года назад

To be or not to be...

@chx4eva 2 года назад

Pressurized by a pump??? 🙄🤔

@pittsburghbob69 2 года назад

Hasn’t Greek fire always been weaponized.??

@Yrkr785 2 года назад

Not originally, Greek fire is a mixture that was used for setting fires they didn’t originally know it could be used as a flame thrower

@gra4279 2 года назад

So secret we can never make it again

@copiusgrimus6671 2 года назад

I think its either tar oil or napalm

@akkoismydaughter3573 2 года назад

Where were these when byzantine was dying

@muqki2178 2 года назад

They probably didn't have enough money

@papazataklaattiranimam 2 года назад

Roman fire ships

@mydogbrian4814 2 года назад

- The Bizantean Empire was the remaining Eastern ½ of the Roman Empire that lasted another 1,000 years after Western Rome was overrun by hordes of rampaging *refugees* from the Russian plains.

@linming5610 2 года назад

Eastern Rome only survived 800 years after western Rome died. Killed by the crusaders. The one killed by the ottoman is just a shell.

@jeraldpablo8644 2 года назад

Yes I know😁

@vitorpereira9515 2 года назад

A good mother's day to you all but Nero.

@user-lv1pv5nb4o 2 года назад

Your map is wrong.

@boblowjones9241 2 года назад

Did you know that the byzantine empire never existed

@marcelpavlik7976 2 года назад

roma invicta

@manserizawa2327 2 года назад

How did they actually lose to the arabs. It doesn't make any sense

@johnlop7763 2 года назад

probably corruption and weak emperor

@TorquemadaBouillon 2 года назад

They were already very weakened by years and years of war with the Persians. In addition to internal disputes that increasingly decentralized Byzantium's military, political and economic power.