I SPOKE TOO SOON! Reacting to "Alexander the Great vs Ivan the Terrible" Epic Rap Battles of History 

Like for Catherine The Great

Like for Frederick The Great

2:03 - "Terrible", as a title given to Ivan, originally meant "awe-inspiring, powerful, and formidable". He earned the OTHER meaning of the word later on.

Like for Alexander the Great

Like for Pompey The Great

The Gordian Knot was a supposedly unsolvable knot, unable to be untied. According to legend, Alexander took one look at it, and sliced it in half, rendering the impossibility of it null.

The best multiple person battle they’ve done. The flow, the execution, the reference to each of their deaths, it’s incredible

Like for Ivan the Terrible

Quick rundown. Some theories say Alex was poisoned, Frederick died after falling asleep in his chair, Pompey was assassinated while traveling somewhere to make a speech, so he died before really getting to say anything, Catherine died from a stroke but a false rumour was spread that she was crushed while having "intimate relations" with a horse and finally, Ivan died from a stroke while playing a game of chess.

In case anyone is wondering the reason Ivan tried to give Catherine a horse is she supposedly died trying to sleep with her horse but that’s a story made up by her enemies she actually died by a stroke

Ngl this is *easily* one of my favorite ERBs. Not only is it great if you're a history buff, but everything is just executed perfectly. The verses, the disses,the flow, the transitions. Its just a *treat* They've proven that they can have multiple suprise contestants jumping into battles and making it work, but this one is just a cut above the rest.

Kyle: "There's gonna be two comments down below..." Us: [Spongebob smirk]

Definitely a tossup for me between Alexander and Frederick. Freddy had an amazing flute solo and verse, but HOT DAMN those opening lines from Alex were straight verbal murder.

Let's go over some historical death, since that's what this battle's all about! Ivan the Terrible, after a long life of poisoning himself with mercury, died before finishing a game of chess with one of his advisers. Famously, he had a habit of trying to humiliate people in death, with things they were afraid of, or that had hurt them before, so he's trying to get rid of his opponents by using the things that killed them the first time. Also, as mentioned, he was the first tsar of Russia, meaning we have the beginning and end of tsarist Russia on ERB; Ivan as its beginning, Rasputin as the monk who hung around the last tsar's wife. Alexander the Great's death is the subject of debate, actually; after a fast, brutal military campaign where he literally did not lose a battle (hence, "Here to hand you your first loss, Alexander"), his soldiers genuinely too exhausted to continue, he returned to lands he'd already conquered for a party. As mentioned in the battle, he was a bit of a lush- loved his wine, and this is the times when Greek wine still had psychoactive drugs in it. He was discovered dead the morning after the party, and people debate whether he just overdosed on Greek wine or was actively poisoned by one of his field commanders. Hence, we never actually see Ivan poison him during the battle, just pouring the glass a little suspiciously. Frederick the Great was a Prussian leader (a country that includes parts of modern Germany and Poland) most famous for utterly kicking Russia's ass in the Seven Years' War. Actually, that "ain't exactly straight" bar applied both to his famous bisexual tendencies and his incredibly weird battle tactics that somehow always worked. Anyway, he was old by the time he was done doing his warfare (74!), and peacefully died in his sleep in his chair. That's why Ivan doesn't actually choke him out in the battle; he goes to, checks his pulse, and laments about the missed opportunity to kill him personally. Pompey the Great is hilarious because he was one of the "Triumvirate" Ceasar was boasting about in his battle, a military man, a wealthy senator, and a crafty statesman working in a trio to make Rome do what they wanted. Naturally, like all team-ups, they betrayed each other, and when Pompey fled to Egypt because he was getting his shit kicked in, he was beheaded and had his head wrapped in his banner before Ceasar even got there (hence Shaka Zulu's threat in that battle finally making sense!) Last, Catherine the Great, the Russian Empress . . . you may have noticed the sexual lines she got; she's pretty infamous for having a room dedicated to sexual fantasies, up to and including furniture designed with hidden genitals all over them. She was brilliant and powerful, to the point where a lot of people were vying to destroy her reputation, and when she died in her secret sex room, people spread rumors that her death was because she'd brought a horse in there and fucked it. Historians nowadays are in agreement the story was made up ("That horse story is a pile of shit!"), but given that Ivan was repeating the well-known stories of how the Greats died to get rid of them, of course he'd offer her a horse and miss that.

Fun Fact: On the ERB subreddit, out of all of the rap battles, this battle was ranked #1 by the community there with the Philosophers battle being a close second!

0:32 "Alexander the Great was I'm thinking Roman emperor." As an archaeologist, history nerd, and half-Greek, I have to say that nothing you had said in your videos up to this day had pissed me off as much as this ;p Here's something to show off how amazing Alexander the Great was: Julius Ceasar visited his tomb in Alexandria when he was in Egypt, 300 years after his death, and remarked "How little I have accomplished in the 50 years of my life in comparison to his 30" (more or less, too lazy to look up the actual quote). Later on, several of the Roman emperors would come to visit Alexander the Great's tomb. That's how epic he was, that hundreds of years after his death the most powerful people in the world would come to see his tomb! (sadly it became lost since then) It's unsure HOW he died, actually. He MIGHT have been poisoned, but last time I checked the most accepted theory was that it was a sort of "medical accident". He fell ill, and his medics gave him a medicine that, in large doses, acts like a poison. Ivan's nickname, "the Terrible", is poorly translated. It should be more "the Dangerous/ the Ominous". 4:39 "Macedonians, Prussians and Romans (...) It takes a Russian to take down a Russian" Alexander the Great was Greek; ancient Macedonians - not those Slavs from North Macedonia - were Greeks (or "Hellens" if you will) like Spartans (Laconians) and Athenians (Atticans), had the same culture, language and gods; Alexander's great-great-grandfather (don't quite remember how many "greats" should there be, I know it was like 80 years before Alexander) took even part in the Olympic Games, and they only allowed Greeks there. Frederick the Great was German; the actual Prussian were a Baltic tribe that was killed off and assimilated by German Teutonic knights, they took their land and eventually (400 years later) they formed the kingdom of Prussia. After that the term "Prussian" was used for ethnic subgroup of Germans. Catherin the Great was German; she married the Tsar of Russia Peter III but later overthrew him and became the empress. 5:06 "Russia?" Um, Russia settled Alaska, they sold it to USA in XIX century (before anybody found out there was gold there).

This is a toss-up for me. Frederick had the sickest flow with amazing bars, but Catherine's "this whole battle's like Alaska 'cause I settled it" bar? Fucking EPIC! (Can you TELL I've been eagerly awaiting your reaction to this battle?!)

5:13 - When Catherine died, her male detractors decided to smear her name with a rumor that she died while, uh... "Knowing" a horse, in the Biblical sense. >_> I won't say more than that.

Frederick the great, a man who historians often foundly reference as "Napoleon, if he knew when to stop." Not unfounded praise, as Napoleon have openly stated that Frederick was a better commander, doing a visit to the laters grave. But admittedly Napoleon was also a bit of a simp for the guy, which is frankly shockingly common thrait in world leaders if you go looking. Like Napoleon died in a room with a portrait of Frederik on the wall, something Hitler would also mirror, who was also a giant fanboy. Not surprising as Fredericks actions was what put the German state of Prussia on track to unify Germany a century later,. George Washington was also a big fan, having a bust of him in his home. Even the leader of Russia doing Frederik great reign,a tsar named peter was so much of fanboy, that he ruined Russia's best chance of actually winning a war against Frederik. Which ended up getting the russian tsar overthrown by his wife, Catherine the great.

The Gordian knot was a knot that is was prophesied that whoever undid it would be a great conquerer. Alexander chopped it in half. Also he never lost a battle but died young at like 34

It’s time like these that I kinda realize You’re basically an embodiment of what I wanted to be as a RU-vidr I just wanted to entertain people and you do that awesomely

Ivan clearly won, his first verse is on fire and his reactions and interactions with the other characters is hillarious! it's the best role Nice Peter's done!

The Seven Years-War is what you americans more commonly refer to as "French and Indian War". Frederick The Great led Prussia (the area that is now Berlin-Brandenburg as well as parts of Northern Poland), one of the participants, during that war. He is remembered as a great leader for Prussia, both militarily as well as domestically.

Frederick II (German: Friedrich II.; 24 January 1712 - 17 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786.

The horse bit refers to the rumor spread about ol Cat that she liked....fooling around...with horses. Proven false, but the rumor was meant to shame her.

As far as the deaths go, Alexander either drank himself to death or was poisoned by his men cuz they were tired of conquest, Fredrick died in his sleep sitting in a chair (which is why the garrote didn’t do much), Pompey was assassinated before he could give a speech (thus him getting cut off before he could rap), there was a rumor that Catherine died because she was doing it with a horse which is why Ivan brings it up and Catherine says it isn’t true (I can’t remember how exactly Catherine died), and Ivan died during a game of chess which Alexander and Catherine both have chess bars about. The ERB team definitely did their research for this one.

Another fun fact about Alexander the Great (I'm currently reading "Anabasis of Alexander", a book written in 2rd century AD by Arrian of Nicomedia that survived to this day almost completely - I think only parts of one of the chapters were lost - so kinda obsessed with Alexander right now; the book's chief sources were writings of Ptolemy, Alexander's general and later king of Egypt, as well as Aristobulos, another officer of Alexander): After first major battle with Persians, he helped tend to the wounded and listened to them as they told them how they got their wounds, released the families of soldiers who died from paying taxes, and few months after the start of the campaign, after they captured a major Persian city in Asia Minor, he allowed the soldiers who had recently married to go on leave back to Greece for a few months.

given catherine didn't fall for his tricks and lived she wins

7:11 I think you're thinking of Caeser, not alexander. caeser was the guy that was stabbed by his friends, and he was roman, so it's common they get mixed up. funnily enough 60 people swore they would participate in the murder, and he was only stabbed 24 times

1:51 - SULEIMAN wore an onion hat! You need to do a refresher course on that video. XD

This is one of the best erbs in my opinion. A great mix of comedy, great rapping, and historical references

So, all of them died the same way they did in real life. Alexander the most accepted theory of how he died is that he was poisoned during one of his many conquests Frederick had a stroke on his chair, so it looked like he just sat and died there Pompey was just went to Egipt, and got assassinated as soon as he got there, that's why he says nothing Ivan had a stroke while playing chess, which makes Catherine's finishing line even greater. Cathereine died of a stroke while riding a horse, but to taint her name, her enemies said that she died while having sex with a horse, since when she died she fell from the horse.

Here's how each figure passed Ivan died in the middle of game of chest Alexander might have been poisoned but also could have died from ulcers (holes in the stomach) the gordian knot is meant to be this knot that cannot and couldn't be undone and who ever undoes the knot is destine to rule asia so the story goes that people challenged Alexander to undo the knot but he just took his sword out and cut it in half. Fredrick just sat on his favorite chair and passed away but here's some fun facts: most likely gay or at least bi and was friends with the tsar of Russia. Catherine passed from a stroke or horse fell on her after she got off it but the rumor spread by her political enemies Is that she was having an "adult fun time" with her horse and she passed during the act.

Like in life, Pompey the Great really didn't do anything. Was sent to Egypt on behalf of the Romans and was immediately arrested and beheaded then returned to Rome. Honestly after you finish all of ERB, I recommend watching some people's breakdowns of the battles. Most of these have deep cuts to history and/or pop culture and complexity to the verses. Knox Hill (potentially a distant relative of yours) goes a great job. Teacher Eddie History and Mr Terry History do excellent historical breakdowns as former educators (I think Terry may still be a current teacher). I have over a decade of experience in the music industry, even I learned a ridiculous amount from watching breakdowns building my appreciation for ERB even higher.

Also fun fact, Alexander the Great died on 10th or 11th of June, so if this came out a week earlier you would have posted it right on the anniversary of his death

Fredrick the Great was the German leader in the first Sid Miers Civilization game Alexander the Great was the Greek leader in every civ game so far Ivan the Terrible is the Russian leader in the Civilization Call to power games Catherine the Great is Russian leader in most civ games, missing in 1 and 6 Extra History has episodes on Fredrick and Catherine

"Did she fall off the horse and die because of it?" - Oh sweet summer child

Ghordian knot was a knot a empire in asia said if somone could fix it he would be king of all of asia so aristitle cut it in half instead of trying untie it winning by technicality

For me, it's a tie between Catherine and Alexander for who won.

2:00 - I heard that the translation of Terrible is not correct His Russian title descripes him more as "efficient"

Fun fact: Julius Caesar wept at the statue of Alexander the Great because at the age where Alexander had conquered most of the known world, Caesar himself had done nothing noteworthy at the time.

Yes... She Fell off the horse... and nothing else.

5:09 "What, did she fall off a horse?" Ummm...not exactly...

This rap battle sure was Great

Most of the Greats just bragged. I feel like Catherine was the only one who really went on the attack.

Here’s my opinion of who won: 1. Catherine the Great 2. Alexander the Great 3. Fredrick the Great 3. Ivan the Terrible Not a contender: Pompey the Great

If anyone says the winner wasn´t Pompei, they are out of their minds and you should keep a safe distance

3:37 Frederick the Great was king of Prussia and was a great military leader.

As a greek, him calling Alexander the Great roman hurt me

It's a fairly common belief in Europe that sovereigns were ordained by god to justify their authority. The myth of a sun king is quite common, and notable instances of divine monarchs are the monarch of England, which is also the head of the church of England (fun fact, if a member of the royal family is catholic they are declared "naturally dead" and are excluded from succession), and that the pope of the catholic church is the king of Vatican city. Yes, there is a Vatican king and Vatican city is the worlds only non-hereditary absolute monarchy. It's also the smallest country in the world.

Ivan was known for assassinating his rivals

Frederick the Great was the gay king of Prussia during the Seven Years War(1756-1763), sometimes refered to as World War zero, the French and Indian War was part of this war. During this war Prussia had to fight of France, Austria, Saxony, Russia, and Sweden all at the same time, while their ally Great Britain mostly focused on the American and Indian theaters of the war. But Prussia and Great Britain won, leading to Prussia being the powerhouse that would eventually unify Germany.

Genuinely think Alexander has the single best verse in the series

The fire 🔥 that my boy Pompey was gonna spit would've engulfed the entire world 🌎 Thank goodness Catherine stopped him, cause we weren't ready.

it is a crime that you've never heard of frederick the great. the education system has failed you.

nope got F't by the horse or so the rumor goes...

One of my Favorites ! I love the Music of Friedrich II Part But not my favorite Friedrich II in german history 🦅

0:31 bro said Alexander the Great was a Roman emperor 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ American education for yha

Ouch, Duck your lax knowledge was a bit painful today, but at least you know a lot more now. Just never say Alexander is Roman again, because Macedonians might shank you otherwise.

But wait... THERE'S MORE!

Alexander is not from Rome, he's from Macedonia which is Greece's Northern neighbor. At this point, Rome was a small country.

Pompey is in third right now😂

Was Frederick the Great really a great flute player?

Bricky

so please forgive me if i sound rude. but why react to these if you don't know the material behind them? i thought during one of the videos you said you were a history major in college or something, so i have watched all, but this one is soley just history puns that i thought you would get. so now i'm confused. again not trying to be mean just want to understand

To me, "Terrible" ment like merciless

You need some history lesson bro.. We learned about those people in class 6

It's Alexander or Catherine for me

If you want answers on any queyou have a am a history major so ask away

Alexander the Great was from Macedonia not Rome, and it's note sure how he died, poison is a theory but I think he was offed like that to show Ivan's ruthlessness Frederick the Great sided of natural causes while sitting. I think you misinterpreted what happened in the battle: Ivan meant to behead him but then stopped and checked his pulse because Frederick had already died. Also I'm pretty sure the "flute busting" part may be a slight joke/nod to the fact that he was homosexual Pompey was assassinated before giving a speech lmao. I'm sure people told you about the...rumors about Catherine the Great and her horse, and all I'll say is....she probably didn't but she was a FREAKY lady so it would not surprise me at all if she did.

day 97 of asking for a martincitopants reaction

fred was fire

.... try to serv IVAN there is no surv IVAN frederick just for the flow

But murders drones no? You forget?😂😢

Friendeick the great was the leader of prusia dueing seven year war

Alexander was Macedonian