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Very interesting battle; I could suggest the battle of the Frigidus River between the Theodosius I and Eugenius often seen as the last contest during the christianization of Roman empire
So much infighting, revolts, civil wars and assassinations...how did the Roman Empire last as long as it did?? Anyway good video I was hoping for another Gallic War installment I guess I will have to wait. Look forward to yall's new content in 2019.
2 days ago i had dinner in a very good pizzeria near Ponte Milvio (MIlvian Bridge, the roman bridge is still standing and you can walk on it to cross the Tiber) in Rome. Looking at the map the pizzeria is exactly where the battle happened LOL. So much history in this beautiful city.
@@TonyFontaine1988 The one still standing is exactly the one that viewed the battle. The stone one replaced the wooden one in 109 BC. It was already four centuries old at the time of the battle. It had been repaired many times, but never replaced.
Honestly, I think its an utter travesty that the Pizzeria didn't capitalize on that. If I owned a Pizzeria at the sight of the Battle of Milvian Bridge, you can bet your ass that everything Constantine related would be the main theme of the place. But yeah, I always love visiting places where you know history was made. In Poland, I recently visited Malbork Castle, and you can see the riverbank where the Poles and Lithuanians placed the cannons that they used to bombard the castle. Its just absolutely mindblowing,
All bridges over the river had been destroyed before the battle. When Maxentius decided to face Constantine in open battle after all, he had a pontoon bridge construced next to the Milvian bridge. It's just that "battle of the pontoon bridge next to where the Milvian brigde had been" doesn't quite roll off the tongue.
Credit to Constantine charging into the battle. It somewhat reminded me of Alexander's charge in Gaugamela. Constantine must've trusted his generals immensely to have charged so deep into enemy lines.
Fortune favors the bold God gave him a vision and used him to spread His Word all over the world. He uses fallen broken humans for great things every day. "We have the treasure in jars of clay"
He was trained in britania and having the leader there means the soldiers are twice as sharp and motivated, it is always a better move to win to have the leader in. However, it is unlikely that he was on the front line. More likely dispatching orders at the back of the cavalary and shouting.
I've just been to the milvian bridge today while on Holliday in rome. It still exists. Nobody goes when they visit rome and it's not mentioned on the tourist maps. Even I thought it didn't exist anymore but it does still exist and I am so thrilled to have visited it.
And there you are in another comment bitching people out like a pussy for not knowing it was made of stone and not wood…you yourself didn’t even know it existed..
*Finally* a video explaining the rise of Christianity in the west! It is strange that this very important, world-changing part of history is mostly left unspoken about.
@@mbogucki1 it was already shit. even before the rise of Christianity. shit emperors like Nero and others, almost killed the Empire. and the third century crisis nearly ended it.
Meanwhile on twitter before the battle starts: Constantine: *Uploads a picture of his army with Chi Ro on their shields* "Hi god İ drew Chi-Ro symbols on my shields idk its kinda dumb but i thought you'd like it idk" Heavenly father replied : Thank you Constantine, very cool ! As always, here are the mods which we used in this video: -Dresden's Constantine Mod -4K Gladius -GEMFX -Petellius' Particle Enhanced -Aztec Lighting Best wishes, Malay Archer ڤمانه ملايو
@@Ayy_Doll_Fiddler So it's jawi Alphabet Thank s for giving me the name Except religious purposes do you use it in daily life ( chatting restaurant menue road signs ..... ) ? royale purposes ? Is it only used in malaysia- Brunei and not in indonesia ?
@Youssef-Ben-TACHFIN It is not widely used but it still taught in Malaysian and (Maybe) Bruneian schools in hopes to preserve it. In some places, building and road signs are written in both Jawi and Latin alphabet. In fact, in east coast of Malaysia primarily Kelantan and Terengganu used Jawi in widely especially billboard adverts. I dont know about Jawi usage in Indonesia unfortunately but most likely, they do practice Jawi in some parts of Sumatra like Aceh , Medan and Riau.
I went to Diocletian's palace in Split this summer. I was hoping you would bring it up but since you didn't, Diocletian was not only the unifier of Rome after the 3rd Century crisis, but also a fierce persecutor of Christians. His persecution was the most organized and bloody of the anti-Christian waves of violence. Funnily enough, soon after his death, the building he constructed in Split to be his mausoleum was converted to a Cathedral, his bones were thrown into the sea and martyrs of his persecutions were buried in the mausoleum instead.
On you tube the non enumerated podcase 21.5 of mike duncans podcast titled.... *Roman History - Happy Saturnalia* After you search for that in the you tube search bar jump to 8:40.
I think you should've mentioned that after this Constantine goes on to re-found Byzantium as Constantinople which defended Christianity until it's fall in 1453.
I see a lot of people saying that Christianity was a major contributing factor in the downfall of the Roman empire, but I would like to negate this. The background to this is that the idea was popularized by a guy named Edward Gibbon. You might have heard of him, he only wrote a small set of notes called "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire". He popularized the claim that Christianity eroded the sense of civic duty of the Roman citizens and hence the decline of their capacity to repulse Germanic invasions. Many of his contemporaries accepted it, but modern viewpoints don’t look too favorably because he omits, the much more diminished form, the ERE, which survived up to 1453. (Also by 453, the a good amount of the Germanic tribes were also Christian, including those who served in the Roman armies during late antiquity.) Like many of his contemporaries, he had an anti-Catholic bias that probably led to his viewpoint, and, ultimately, the establishment of this idea. I'm pretty sure we'll eventually get a video exploring the downfall of Rome. At least, that'd be a dream come true.
Every depiction or interpretation of history is also a portrayt of the time it was made in. One should always retain a critical distance to anything that goes beyond stating the observed facts.
Plus, the eastern half, the Byzantine empire, where Constantine ruled from, didn't collapse until a about a millenium after. If Christianity caused the decline of the empire, it was a fairly slow decline.
@Stephen Jenkins Just seems like an asinine argument to make given he is a primary source. Maybe a bit hyperbolic, it would be like seeing Elie Wiesel's writtings and saying "The Holocaust's wasn't as bad as he says."
Then in the late empire, we have: Flavius Theodosius Flavius Aetius Flavius Stilicho Flavius Gaudentius Flavius Gratianus Flavius Valentinian Flavius Valens Flavius Ricimer Flavius Odovacer And more
Oh this is sooo good, I have always been curious of mid to late Rome's history, especially from Aurelian, the procession of Illyrian Emperors, to the split of the eastern and western empire.
I recommend you to study China’s history during the period you’ve mentioned. It’s like a parallel history of Rome. Death of Aurelian in Rome ended the Golden age in the West, while rise of yellow Turbans in China ended the Han golden age. Rome went through the the troubles of the 3rd century, at one point split into 3 parts (Rome proper, Palmyra, Gallic). China went through the 3 kingdom era during the 3rd century. While Diocletian unified Rome, Jin Dynasty unified China. While 4 generals fought each other in Tetrarchy War, China had its 8 kings in-fights. But Christianity makes a time lapse between the East and West history similarity here. China fell to the barbarians, split into North and South, North was divided up by many barbarian tribes, South was kept by imperial family, all of this over century before Rome experienced the same thing. I have to conclude that Christianity prolonged Rome’s survival, as I compare Rome to China, although most people claim that Christianity brought down the Roman empire.
@@yohanekina19 revisionist history millennial snowflakes desperate to push satans false narrative say that like they try to claim capitalism did also haha 😄
@@justinpachi3707 When a father loves his sons he gives them each kingdoms to rule! thats how you know he's a good dad. all my dad gave me was a shitty corolla.
Christopher G Justinian tried to reclaim his rightful land but the plague destroyed the economic and manpower base killing off a third the population. The plague never went away until the 800’s yet the Eastern Roman Empire survive; the Arab invasions, Persian wars and Slavic migrations.
@@justinpachi3707 Because it did *not* have Gavelkind sucession. Unlike the cases of Gavelkind I was refering too. Yes "not Gavelkind" != "Gavelkind" is something we agree on. But also the only point I can make out.
@@spacemarinechaplain9367 I wouldn't say corrupt Christianity. Early Christianity was diverse (Gnosticism & Marcion's Church for example), and a lot of communities built their own beliefs. You can even see this based on Paul's letters trying to refute certain beliefs about during the formation of the proto Orthodox/"Katholike Ekklesia" church. Now, we can't really say why one person adopts one religion over another, but the proto church was very successful in converting rich people. I'm partial to the idea that a lot of Roman aristocrats had Christian wives, since early Christianity was first widely adopted by Greek speaking women.
Hissam Ullah He didn’t introduce the trinity, the concept of the trinity is thought to have been introduced by Ignatius of Antioch and Justin Martyr much earlier in the 100s while Constantine wasn’t born until 272. Regarding your statement “Christianity had nothing to do with state power until Constantine involved religion with state power”,Christianity wasn’t made the state religion until the reign of Theodosius I.
@@ЦрногорацЛуди The victory archs are built for the glory of Rome, its people and the victorious general or Emperor. Same in France, did Catholic Napoleon build triumphal arc to pagan gods? Are you insane? You build archs to commemorate victories and your soldiers and generally the people of your nation.
@@aleksandersokal5279 in the history books of konstantins victory it is said that he saw the cross in the sky that granted him the victory (as it is said in the video),then he goes to rome ? why hasnt he bult it in honor of the chirstian religion and the new faith? he was never a christian he was a pagan until his death !
@@shmigo.gambino which is more worthy of worship, the creation, or the creator? The ancients named the creation after their gods, using the planets as representations of those gods. The Creator needs no such thing.
@Cynical Skeptic Because the one who created all things existed before those things were created. We did not create the Creator, he has always been as far as we are concerned. That we can conceive of a beginning and an end, which are understandable, it is harder to conceptualize a being which has no beginning. Compare the origin stories of the pagan gods, they all have beginnings; however the God of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, does not have a tale of his origin. Jesus had a beginning, the Bible calls him "the firstborn of all creation" and clearly had a pre-human existence, however God (his name in English being known as Jehovah) was never called anything other than Almighty or Creator. If the Creator had been a mere human concept, as many of the pagan gods were, then Genesis would have likely begun with an origin story, instead of the record of creative days. Which the order of is congruous with the scientific observation of the formation of the earth and solar system.
@Cynical Skeptic Your argument is weak. And when you insult someone by using profanity it shows your lack of a good argument. You are unable to come back with any sort of clear argument to make your point. You are nothing more than an armchair atheist that is trying to justify a disdain for religion and in so doing blaming God. I hold religion in disdain as well, as it has done a great disservice by failing to represent God correctly, however I have read the Bible and as much as a Father who is away from his children might leave a letter, so God has revealed his intent and thoughts on things through his word. The fact that I can respond civilly to you while you resort to insults, is one step that proves the superiority of my position.
Genesis is a Sumerian myth (Abraham lived in Ur) passed from generation in generation of Jewish people until finally written down few centuries before Christ. Remember Abraham's starting point of his voyage, and the tradition (written in the Old Testament) doesn't show us a revealed origin of the world by God. Catholics believe more in Evolution and Big Bang, but still Genesis myth is nice and educative, useful to show in a didactic way how the world was created (though not in days) and the nature of human beings. Other Christian ramifications take Genesis literally. Even though, in every myth (including this one Sumerian) there are shades of true :)
I feel it honestly is a combination of both. He started out agnostic and using it as a tool, favoring Christianity because of his mother Helena. However, as he grew old, he started to take it more seriously. And, thus he choose to be baptized before his death. There is also the story he choose to not get baptized at first, because, "a good emperor had to do unchristian actions."
+Kings and Generals Actually Constantine was Baptized on his death bed, he was probably just using the paganism as a political tool since most of the Empire was still Pagan, but he became even more devout as he got older.
@@marcisorena9358 Yeah. The Pagan religion did not care about a late baptizing (mostly what you did in life matered). While the Christian one was okay with "late repenting" giving you full access, even completely "forgiving anything you did in life". And with the afterlife it is better to hedge all your bets.
I actually haven't looked up what happened to them afterwards, but I guess they were loyal - as, usually, it was the praetorians who killed/dethroned the emperors.
Just because Constantine's right flank pushed through first? By that logic, wouldn't any success on the flanks, planned or not, make a battleplan "oblique order"?
Mercenaru Wait for a second according to the animation made by K&G both of the armies deployed more cavalry one of the flanks. That's enough to classify it as oblique order. Don't believe me? Start studying military history.
@@ahmedbassam400 I got this question all the time. My name is actually not Arabic (most likely) it's a West Slavic version of Latin name Camillus. Although I heard that name Kamil was popular in times of Ottoman Empire and since Poland was greatly influenced by it it is possible that it came to Poland from Ottomans. Maybe with Polish Tatars. I'm not sure about this. I must investigate when the name Kamil appeared among West Slavs.
@@ahmedbassam400 I knew a Lebanese guy called Camille. Although the name is latin in origin as well, there is possibly a correlation or it could be a pure coincidence. In any case it's a name that has many variants in Europe. Kamil is also an arabic name that more or less has reached the same meaning as those in Europe.
Scipio, Sulla, Pompey, Julius Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Marcus Aurelius, Commodus, Trajan, Hadrian, and Vespasian in the Roman afterlife: *Oh great Jupiter!*
@@histguy101 He was the reincarnation of Hercules! Jk, but new historiographical works, like the one made by Oliver Hekster, actualy depicts Commodus on a more favourable light. Commodus actually sought the support of the people instead of the Senate, that`s why the roman literature, wich was written by senators, represented him in such a bad way.
Totalis Bellum actually, Nero wasn’t all that bad, his first 5 years as emperor were possibly the best years in Roman history, due to reforms Nero made. However at a certain point he was driven mad by his mother and wife and started to behave erratically.
@Argyrus 47 Hmmm, no. The Milvian bridge wasn’t the most important battle in history, there are many more equally, if not more important ones. Such as Gaugamela, Alesia, Cannae, Somme, Stalingrad, Magnesia, and many others.
@@jussikankinen9409 Jesus proclaim he was the one god. But I like say all gods equal to Jesus as he’s the one true god. All are small atoms to what he is. The being we should all strive to be.
Freaking sweet! I knew it's going to be great the second I saw the notification. If I may go a bit off-topic though, are you guys aware of what happened to the latest video on the Indy Neidell's World War Two channel? In addition to getting demonetized (which apparently happens a lot) it got age-restricted. I find this ridiculous and very concerning and was wondering if other awesome historical channels such as yourselves could show them some solidarity and support in this predicament somehow?
We get to see (I lost count) how important is to have reserves and know when and how to use it. Kings and Generals, thank you for this video and I want to wish you Happy New Year and looking forward to see what 2019 will bring us in terms of content.
The background to the battle was great! There was a lot more going on in the Tetrarchy then I thought! Seeing how the system was playing out I do wonder how long it would have lasted without Constantine. There was already lots of intrigue going on between the Caesars and Augusta. It is just too bad you didn't cover much of what happened after the battle between Constantine and Licinius. They both signed and agreed to the edict of Milan which officially tolerated Christianity within the empire. This is why Constantine attacks Licinius later. Oh well maybe for another video.
Good stuff. I feel like one could add that our sources about the whole time are very biased. For example, we actually have not much if an idea why Constantine fought Licinius. The Christian historiography believes that it was because of religious reasons, but really, these authors should be read very critically. They did not know Constantine's motifs. All in all Constantine was mildly christian at best, he was quite open minded towards paganism and did not suppress it at. I my estimation he was just a clever statesmen who realized that Christianity needs to be respected as a political force and that's why he accepted it.
SandRhoman even from the Christian side Constantine is often more modernly associated as someone who aided but didn’t become Christian. I think much of the romanticism, and quite frankly bold faced lies, comes from the medieval era where they used religion as the driving excuse to wage war. It shows in much of their artwork of the time as well.
@@RaeSyngKane Authors like Orosius, Hieronymos and Eusebius of Caesarea, who wrote the biography (really more a hagiography) of Constantine may actually have been more important. Nevertheless, you are certainly right that later authors (especially in the eastern roman empire) were quite important for the continuation of that tradition.
7:00 Love the new SFX! Patreon monies well spent! I always liked the story of the Milvian Bridge but I never actually looked into the details. I didn't realize that it didn't actually take place on the bridge itself at any time.
The Battle of The Milvian Bridge is one of THE MOST CONSEQUENTIAL BATTLES IF ALL TIME!!! I would say that it ranks up there with The Fall of Babylon, The Battle of Gaugamela, The Battle of Hastings, The Battle of Vienna, The Battle of Yorktown, The Battle of Gettysburg, The Battle of Midway, and The Battle of Stalingrad. ALL of these particular battles had a long reaching impact upon Humanity.
Is it just me or did a lot of bad asses in history die trying to swim across a river in retreat? Did they really get run down on the bank or shot with arrows while swimming and their buddies just said they drown? How can that many people not know how to float on their back? Must be the armor making them sink... who knows this enigma of history?
I want to say maybe the river was really wide where they were at, possibly a rapid flow too combined with their panic and trying to swim from death, tiring their bodies and simply being overcome by the current and yeah the armor and heavy clothes didnt help either.
@@swissmilitischristilxxii3691 you'd think they'd take that into consideration when jumping into the water... But when you got spears and swords at your back I guess it doesn't really matter what you know or don't know lol
To swim in armor was really difficult even in the best conditions (historically some medieval knight did it to show his proveness, but they were exceptions), and the battle was fought in fall, the Tiber is not a huge river, but it was likely swollen, so that swimming through it would have been really difficult in any case.
@@jessejojojohnson Isildur was able to swim in full armor- he was a Numenorean after all- but the Orcs hunted him by scent, and the Ring decided to abandon Isildur, exposing him to arrows that killed him. His body was never found, but later on Gimli helps Aragorn find his armor and original Elendimir in Orthanc.
Hi Crew of Kings and Generals.First, I want to say that you do a fantastic job.Second ,the guy who narrates does a nice job keeping the viewers' attention.And finally can you do a documentary about the battle of Mohács in 1687 or the biography of the roman emperor Basil the Second or the biography of Jacques Cathelineau?Also can I suggest wars of the 20th century like the Balkan wars ?
Had no idea that this happened at the battle that insured Christianity as the major European religion. My compliments to those who made this video a reality. It was fun to watch.
When will the wars of the diadochi continue? I would prefer series of documentaries. It is now difficult to place the different wars in the total time frame, while there is in series, a clear sequence. However, I love your series. Keep up the good work!
You guys are amazing!!!!!!!!! I watch your videos to get me into the mood to play ck 2. I dont know how the ad biz works but I imagine history games advertising here would be a no-brainer.
Roberto Jr Antonio yes there’s so many fake conspiracies about this period that it seems people want to believe anything except what actually happened.
@@Lopate123 Yes, he did. Sunday, worshipping a dead guy on a stick as a god, eating pork, winter solstice, etc. Very pagan flavor, and totally alien to the Christian communities of the time, particularly the Jerusalem church which was THE definitive Christianity up to that point.
Hi kings and general.s ive been your fan for a long time and i was the one who originally commented ages ago for you to make a video on dhi qar, bro i want you to make a video of the war of Dhubyan and Abs, where they fought over a stupid reason but then united and got an army of 2000 to fight 30 000 invading persians AND defeating them.Id love that
Would like an deep documentary from you about Constantine’s wars. Much like you did with Caesar. I mean only the story about his son Crispus is interesting af
I hope you make more videos about other battles of Constantine, he had some remarkable success as a militar, most of it in civil wars and against German and Sarmatian tribes but he did not get to fight the resurgent Sassanid empire under Shapur II before his death, I wonder how he would had fared against such formidable threat in the East; or maybe you could do one about the Battle of the Hellespont in which Constantine's son Cripus crushed the naval forces of Licinius in two engagements, young Crispus seemed to have plenty of promising traits, one can only wonder how history would had been if he had not been executed by his own father.
An interesting little theory is that a rare optical event, called a Sun dog, happened on that day. It can happen that due to atmospheric conditions two suns appear in the sky, or rarer still four. And when there are four in the sky sometimes two lines can form between them, in the shape of a cross. Ofc even if this was the case it is open to interpretation did Constantine just seize on this rare phenomena do inspire his troops or did he really have a vision. It is these kinds of events that are just crazy unlikely that make you wonder if maybe there is a God or something out there.
i question Constantine act why should he declare Christianity as the official religion when christian is just like 10% or maybe lower of roman citizen and his soldier are almost pagans and what if he still declare roman gods still the official religion Rome should not fall? and the Battle of the Milvian Bridge is a out standing victory for Constantine
Wonder, why Hollywood doesn’t make a movie about Constantine The Great although he changed the course of the world, he changed everything! They made 1 billion movies since, but not even 1 about Constantine
At the same time, Diocletianus was sitting in modern day Croatia banks, drinking his wine and enjoying his retirement. That is why he is my 2nd favorite emperor of all time. Leaving the power is the greatest virtue and the battle in himself. Of course first one is Julian the Apostate with full of ambition and visionary projects about empire. Maybe this wise man could guess what these abrahamic religions can make the world.
Sure there was. During WW2 between US and Japan in the Aleutians, part of Alaska. American forces prevailed but not before a literal 'fog of war' battle between allied US and Canadian troops. It was so foggy that these two forces couldn't tell each other apart and, thinking that the other was the Japanese, commenced to battle. The Canadians killed dozens of Americans before order was restored.
There is a geographical similarity between ancient India and Ancient Italy both are covered with water from three sides and mountains on top but when barbarians found a way in both civilisations suffered
Constantine, son Constantius, and father of Constantius, Constantine Jr., And little Constans, along with Constantia 1, 2, and 3. Romans just weren't that creative with naming.
What many don’t realise is that Eusebius’ first draft of the account of the battle included no mention whatsoever of the alleged vision of the cross. This was added to the final version of the account post hoc
I have a book called "the Battles that changed history" by Smithsonian and DK and it dosen't even mention the Battle of the Milvian Bridge! smh God bless all of you guys and keep up the good work! ☧
I wish more people would watch this video. Most idiots over the internet think real life worked like Eu4 or other game centerred around blobbing and can never comprehend why would the Roman Empire fracture.
It would be interesting if you covered Sicily under Berbers, Norman conquests in Southern Italy and Sicily, and the subsequent wars between successor states in Tunis and Southern Italy that followed.
Boy did I get here fast This may be an unpopular ask but is it possible that you do the history of Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Chola dynasty, The Majaphit(however you spell that)
