The Battle of Cannae: Rome's greatest defeat 

My boy loyd is literally in the middle of doing his laundry and decides to speak for over an hour on the battle of cannae complete with names and dates. Bless you mr beige

50,000-70,000 Romans to 6,000 Carthaginians or what Total War would call a close victory

Does he just walk through his house, stop at a random spot and say, “damn I need to deliver a full lecture, RIGHT NOW”

A reminder that most RU-vidrs can't speak for 5 seconds without doing a jump cut.

The question Hannibal had wasn't "Should I?", it was "Cannae?"

Thank you Lindybeige, for affirming that Cannae was a decisive British victory.

"Steady lads, steady lads" - Possibly Hannibal.

2:30 For crossing the alps, those large mammals really were irrelephant.

You put this guy in front of a terrible camera with mediocre audio and he still manages to entertain you for 76 minutes straight.

"They had to make sure the sack didn't burst prematurely" 4 of every 5 ancient armies suffer from premature sack burstage

Paulus: "Cut off his army, let it wither and die. Great plan!" Paulus, 2000+ years later: "Damn the irony!"

I’m in my 60th year, rarely have I found such engaging and informative talks... wish I’d had teachers like this. Might have done something more interesting with my life. Lol

"They've got a pair of trousers on, because they're barbarians" Come to think of it, we've never seen Lloyd below the belt on this style of video...

If history teaches us anything, it's to never send a guy called Paullus into battle, they always get surrounded. Paullus at Cannae and Paulus at Stalingrad.

"Even if this Hannibal guy does some clever ambushing and stuffs he won't be able to win the battle because we would just overwhelm him" Soviet Rome

I had to give a 7 minute talk in college 15 years ago on a subject of our choice. Some chose a sports hero, some fitness and I chose the battle of Cannae. I used a flip chart and different coloured shapes to illustrate the battle and went on for an embarrassing 14 minutes. When the assessor mentioned it she said I was so into it and really getting it across that she let me go on. Hannibal is my favourite historical figure. Thanks, Jennifer this.

If only there was a graphic novel I could read about this.

I've watched every top history channel on RU-vid cover this battle, but you know _Lindy Beige's_ version is gonna be so embellished with humorous dialogue, it's a must watch all over. 😁

2.1%... Imagine America losing 6-ish million people in a day. For context, that’s around 5 times the number of people actually in the armed forces.

Last night I've had dreams full of ancient Greeks and Romans and people battling in Cannae. When I woke up, I realized I fell asleep with the PC on and YT algorithms brought me to Lindybeige, going through his videos one after another. I now realized I've unlocked a superpower. I can dream about anything I want as long as Lindybeige is narrating them! Possibilities are literally limitless! :D

Why do I need "The Great Courses Plus" if I can have over an hour of unfiltered Lindyness.

Ah yes, the peek-a-boo of Cannae. Where's the Hannibal? THERE HE IS!

Holy history, does he literally give entire lectures that are practically perfectly accurate, passionate and informative without any edits and cuts? I know amazing university professors exist but it’s lovely to see on RU-vid. The fact that a hilarious academic like Beige is out here making free content for us is truly remarkable. What a wonderfully creative dude.

I’m so fucking happy, I remember subscribing to Lindy maybe 3-4 years ago when he had maybe 10k subs and kinda lost him didn’t watch him for a while and now he’s got 1.2 Mil. I’m so fucking proud of you my man. Congrats!

I would love to see lindybeige play/critique the campaigns in all the historical Total War games!

In all their wisdom. The Romans never thought to ask the Scottish if they could win. "can we win this fight Scotland?" "No, you Cannae"

Romans: Our army is so huge, Hannibal simply can't defeat us! Hannibal: Cannae?

Can't help; listen to Lindy's history-lesson, i'm instantly into the life of Brian.

To my understanding the Carthaginian 'pikemen' mentioned in Polybius are probably the result of a mis-translation. The original Greek term used (λογχοφόρους) refers to wielders of the lónkhē, which could be translated to lance or (more likely) javelin. So essentially Hannibal sent a force of light-infantry (both these Javelin-men and also singers who are mentioned accompanying the "pikemen" throughout the text) across the river to screen the rest of his forces as they crossed the river.

"We outnumber them 2 to 1, how can we possibly lose?" A direct quote from: The Persians at Marathon Darius III at Gaugamela. The Romans at Cannae. Vercingetorix at Alesia. Edward I at Stirling Bridge. Edward II at Bannockburn. Herman Goering in the Battle of Britain

"Varro! Give me back my legions!" -Fabius, probably

I like to imagine just one dude goes down and starts looting all the silver left on the ground "Hannibal should we spring the trap?" For just one guy? Nah, he looks so happy.

Have you ever considered putting these podcast style videos on iTunes/Spotify ? You’d rake it in mate, you deserve it

First thought when seeing the notification of this video: This is going to be a long one. When seeing the length of the video: Not as long as I thought. Would have loved to have had Lloyd as a History teacher back in school :-)

Here's a topic suggestion for your next video: Taxes in the Middle Ages. How were they paid, to whom, and what was it actually, and is it true that medieval people paid waaay less taxes than modern, "liberated" people.

I absolutely love these talks. It makes it so enjoyable hearing real passion for history. Actually telling the real story, not what's just been written down. Fantastic stuff. Thank you for this, especially in such raw form. Couldn't have been any better.

I'm still amazed that Rome could sustain that attrition rate and still win the war. Especially considering these were citizen legions.

It looks like name Paulus isn't very lucky for commanders throughout history.

I think that its just such a shame that Lindybeige is not comfortable speaking on camera. Really though I find it remarkable that the man can lecture for over an hour, without a cut in the process that was not caused by a drained battery. Simply amazing and oh so entertaining. Cannot believe that he held my attention for that long, and he did it completely out of his head, with no cuts, pauses or having to refer to his research notes. I only wish that I could have a teacher or prof. this talented when I was in school and university.

I love how you talk about battles in a realistic way. I’m so sick of Hollywood depicting suicidal people going to battle. People wanted to live and most casualties happened at the end of the battle during the rout.

i've literally just finished viewing your video on Zama because i felt the lack of my daily dose of Punic Wars and then this comes up, christmas is early.

I'm convinced Lloyd owns the great courses plus

I love history and subjects like this but would struggle to listen to anyone but lindy for this long without animations and pictures, wish you were my teacher at school great story teller. Makes it come to life. Only just found you few days ago, havent stopped listening since.

Romans: We have the Gods on our side nothing can defeat us! Mars and Minerva: Imma head out

Lindybeige - makes over an hour long video with one cut due to camera battery dying. Enough said.

Is Silius Italius related to Silius Soddus? Are they friends with Biggus Dickus?

24:15 Lindy refuses to digress... WHO IS THIS IMPOSTOR AND WHAT HAS HE DONE TO OUR LINDY!¨?

I've had a weird day, some valves blew up inside a bus I was walking 200 meters from and got a bloody headache. This video will be an amazing gift.

*Romans:* We outnumber them! On a field with no obstructions we will win! *Hannibal:* _Are you sure about that?_

Lloyd, is that you? I almost could not recognize you without the usual fancy photography, souvenir shop tile discs from Turkey, and a giant pencil in the background.

“All in one take” modestly describes these awesome lectures

The role of Viriathus in this tale seems very similar to that of Rollo as a contemporary of Ragnar in the recent Vikings series. Fantastically well done, you seem born for this.

I love this style of video. No fancy cuts, no distracting graphics, just a guy talking apparently from memory about a battle for an hour.

just got home at 10pm from a 12 hour shift, got myself a chinese and I open my computer to this 1 hour 16 minute and 57 second GEM. Ta.

Considering what you were saying about Hannibal's strategy, his personal positioning at the center of the line, and his placement of troops, his secondary plan may simply have been to disengage and continue to harry the romans with his cavalry and skirmishers. Consider the battle, lines spread across almost 2 miles, and impossible to properly command your men except for limited simple trumpet signals relayed by trumpeters in the line. A 2 stage plan, first you engage the Roman line with the Gaelic-Spaniard convex formation, then perform your first signal. The Gauls and Spanish turn and run. Then you stand in the center with your second in command and your trumpeter and watch the Romans. The Romans surging forward to fill the gap is the trigger to signal the trap and have your flanks begin the encirclement. Otherwise, if the Romans simply advance slowly and cautiously, continuing their full engagement on the flanks without pouring into the gap, you signal that the trap has failed. All the sub unit commanders must now disengage and let the cavalry harass the Romans while the infantry pull away. As someone who once was a runner in a war re-enactment, I can confirm that a general could have control of an army 2km across, but he would need at least 20 runners to do it. I ran more on that day than any other day in my life, across a field and back constantly for over 2 hours. At the end of it, I literally collapsed. Anyway, the point is, that strategy works and works well. Encircling a pocket of infantry is an excellent way to panic them. Especially if they believed they had an advantage. I feel certain that Hannibal had a maximum of 2 backup plans. The first to simply run. The second would be to pull the Roman army apart like Napoleon, defeating portions of it time after time until the whole thing had been beaten. I believe this because a general was with each of his cavalry corps. A trusted man was with his cavalry to determine targets and strike at opportunities. A Numidian force running from a Roman Century may hear a trumpet signal and turn to engage the pursuing force as a cavalry charge hits them, then be free to attack similar forces. Lightly dressed infantry, without heavy Roman armor would be able to keep that up for significantly longer than the Romans, and move significantly faster, allowing the cavalry to move between targets and engage them. The Roman generals would be unable to regain effective command over their infantry and would be forced to attempt to signal a retreat. The 3 plans could be implemented with only 4 or 5 different trumpet signals. 1 for the initial retreat, 1 that the trap has worked and the anchor units should encircle the Roman core, 1 that the trap has failed and that the army should disengage, and a final signal that the romans are pursuing individual units and a defeat in detail would now be possible, with the potential for a final signal that the whole army must disengage completely.

"Every household knew someone who'd died" Damn.. that's just hit me in whole another level 1:16:08

First day I have been out early in 10 years. Wife is at work till 6. 4 hours to listen to Lindy videos and the timing on this video is perfect.

Proconsuls: How can we POSSIBLY lose here? Centurion Baldrick: I have a cunning plan. Hannibal: Goody, here they come.

So much chaotic energy, I love it!!! Never stop being who yourself, sir!

This guy is an artist.. Extremely talented

I love your long -rambles- videos about military tactics, battles and such.

*"They had to make sure that that sack didn't burst, certainly didn't burst prematurely"* Oh, Lindy!

At 17:40 "Drat it - rumbled!" and the 99.99 of the world scratch their heads. I enjoyed every second of your animated and "living" narrative.

This channel has 10% of the subscribers of the BBC and there's one guy behind it. I just realized this and it's quite remarkable

"oh and btw did you know im writing a book in search for hannibal" was expecting you to say that

Sir, we just lost 20% of our male population Publius Cornelius Scipio africanus: lol only 20%? Ha INVADES SPAIN AND CARTHAGE

No pictures and I still wouldn't mind this as a bedtime story! Lol Edit: This definitely needs to be made into a tv series even greater than the scale of Band of Brothers, or a series of movies as grand as the LOTR and Hobbit trilogies, or it might warrant a number of movies more than the Marvel Universe... not exactly sure how this should be made, but this massive wartime loss of life must be remembered and recounted time and again!

I can listen to you for hours. And I do!

Romans: Hey we're advancing Hannibal: I am about to ruin this man's whole career

Over an hour of Lindybeige talking about Roman history? Is this Christmas?!

You sound like a student being in front of the class fighting to pass the history class. I give you a 10/10.

Just looked at the page and realized I've somehow managed to miss a good number of videos from Lindybeige. So it looks like I have something new to binge!

Ah yes, my daily dose of Lindybeige

1 hour and 16 minutes of lindybeige. This is a gift.

hannibal took holding a grudge to a whole other level

Not a minute in and this is already one of the best lectures ever. Damn, this guy is golden.

Thanks Lloyd, you can get back to clearing out the attic now.

Any battle without elephants is irrelephant. I'm actually wondering, with such a varied army, on both sides, how did they communicate? Just pointing and shoving?

every time i fall asleep watching youtube i wake up to Lindybeige playing lol

I LOVE YOUR WORK LLOYD!! - This is easily one of my favorite RU-vid channels. Sometimes I just plug in my headphones and listen to the lectures. I always find myself interested, informed and highly entertained. LOVE IT!!

"You fool, you fell for one of the classic blunders!"

Last time I was this early Carthaginian nuts and legumes were always unsalted.

We would all have our degrees if lectures were like this. To anyone new here go check out Lindys lecture on napoleons greatest rival. That was a good one!

I loved each and every minute of this. I can listen to Lindy talking about Rome and ancient warfare for hours. Thank so much for this.

76 minutes of him talking. Ah shit, here we go again.

"If you want to be metric about it..." Oh, I do.

Bulge Sack Burst prematurely You satisfy both my historical itch and my immature humour at the same time. Zeus bless you Lindybeige.

This channel is a gold mine. I drive 12 hours a day for work and have been listening to you most of the week. fantastic work.

Hannibal was actually Scottish. In a speech to his men to boost morale, he famously said: "We Cannae lose!"

My god Lindy, perfect timing on this video. I have been reading and watching videos about the Battle of Cannae for about 2 weeks now as part of one of my classes so this is just the topping on a wonderful history cake for me.

These are the best kinds of Lindybeige videos

"Damn that Varro!" something about that line rings a bell reminding me of my Latin lessons in school.

I just love how Lindybeige manages to teach me about stuff while openly stating that he does not actually know hardly anything, whie others that claim that they for certain know absolutely everything fails to teach me anything, or even keep my interest up. History teaching at its finest!

Lindybeige + punic wars = awesome

I'm really happy you brought the loss of life into perspective proportionally. The raw numbers are extremely difficult to imagine, but when thought of relative to the entire population, it is unimaginable. The only other time I've had to seriously pause, close my eyes hard, is when I hear about numbers relating to atoms or the universe!

Yay! I asked for this a while back. I'm so glad you uploaded

A Lindybeige video over an hour long on Hannibal, Rome, and Cannae? The Gods have truly blessed us this day.

Man if you were my history teacher when I was younger, I would be an historian. You sir can tell a story!

could you make a video about the usage of war dogs/hounds? Very interested to hear your thoughts on them!!

A real tour de force, speaking to camera non-stop for over an hour. And very well done. (I must say, I love it all being done from Lloyd's garden shed with a lash-up lighting rig -- and boxes, a hamper and a dolls cot all piled up in the background!)