Phew... sorry for being silent the last couple days but I've been busy behind the scenes. Hope you guys enjoy this little treat! Let me know how I can improve the next episode
these videos are pretty great so far, the only thing I'd recommend you to do is to try and take a breath every so often. there's a few times where it seems you're just trying to cram in so much information in one go that your voice starts almost giving out
If possible, ask your older uncle with a storytelling BBC voice to do the voice over. You are somehow gattlinggunning the info over this pretty awsome 3d film.
to me the voice over is just fine. notthing wrong with taking a breath sometimes but I didn't miss any info. I'll try to come up with suggestions to improve your videos but I don't see how it can be done.
That ship manufacturing technique was actually a Carthaginian innovation, the Romans were able to reverse engineer it from the captured vessel they analysed. A very decisive event in the war allowing Rome to build a navy overnight and eventually replicate Carthage's naval skill and innovate it, whilst Carthage was never able to or even tried to learn anything from the Romans on Land warfare. Really good documentary by the way, love the way you used the game in your presentation.
Many of the militarily powerful civilizations like the Mongols, Imperial Japanese, and Arabs were powerful because they reverse engineered anything of even slight use they came across among other people. The ability to steal ideas from others is not to be underestimated.
No they didn't learn anything untill Hannibal, who made every roman strenght into a weakness...the only reason he lost was because Carthage refused to fund his campaign. They officially signed their own demise with that.
Misan7hrope No, the reason Carthage finally lost was because of the fact that winners never learn anything. The loosening side is the one that are forced to learn in order to prevail.
@@shredderly I think Hannibal lost because he miscalculated the Romans will to fight. He did not want to destroy Rome. He wanted to humiliate them, by imposing harsh peace terms, similar to what Rome did to Carthage in the first Punic war., and after Cannae he humiliated them spectacular fashion, which would have brought most nations to the table, but I don't think the Romans got the message that they were supposed to quit after Cannae.
@@bushwhakked That would have been folly, I don't think that Hannibal was quite that naive. He would have been aware of roman history, and he would know romans NEVER quit, they keep coming back, over and over, until you are dead. Humiliation tactics don't work on romans.
“What I find incredible - every time I look at history I find it incredible” This guy genuinely loves his art, he’s not reading a script and I love him for it.
I mean, I don't script my history videos but... that's cus it's part of the gimmick, that I do the videos drunk and ramble a lot. ...Also they're probably not very good.
While I would love it if HE did it, on the 2nd war there are many documentaries and youtube series, so in essence one can watch those (although I think Invicta would do the full FULL job on the war with very intricate details that will leave us fully satisfied, I mean just look at the sheer amount of detail he put into the 1st punic war) however I would love it if he did a quick cover of the 3rd punic war (as it was relatively short it wouldn't take him a lot of time)
Hey man, just wanted to say I'm a bit of a history buff and a huge Total war fan and I think these videos are outstanding! Any plans to do more in the future?
This is so much better than the typical documentaries who keep repeating same shit over and over again, imo to improve this you should be a bit more detailed.
@@god8062 i know, its just funny to me and a joke in general. yet i dont think thats how you would land a ship that you want to use again in the near future :)
There's a lot of tactical & strategical insight that goes into ramming, try coordinating one with 300 galley slaves, bet you it isn't an easy task like you think it is..
+Yusuf Omar, I suppose so, but I don't think the quality of the sea men has anything to do with being able to ram properly. From what I've noticed, all you need is to be at-attention and your wood hard and resilient enough to take the pounding. lol
Tunisia - Carthage is considered one of the most important civilizations known in the Mediterranean in the world before the birth of Christ, as were the Greek and Roman civilizations as well as the Pharaonic. The center of this republic - the empire that has prevailed in the Mediterranean for centuries is the city of Carthage, which is located in the north of Tunisia, not far from the Tunisian capital, which was founded after Carthage about fifteen centuries, but the latter was transformed by urban expansion to one of its suburbs. Legend has it that Carthage was founded by the Phoenician princess Alisa as the Tunisians call her or Elissar / Elisa as it was called in the Levant, or Didon as Westerners call her. Alisa or Alissar from the Lebanese city of Tire came fleeing from her brother who killed her husband, and tells that there is a priest who told her that her fate is to establish a city off a mountain that has two horns, so she wandered in the sea until she reached what is today the Gulf of Tunis, where there is the mountain with two horns ( Jabal Buqarnin as it is called today). The princess offered the local people to buy from them a plot of land with an area of a bull's skin, so she had what she wanted, and it was only that she cut the skin of the ox and turned it into a long thin thread and on the area surrounded by this thin thread, and cunningly only mastered by the Phoenician merchant, she got Alisa Or left on a large area on which the city of Carthage was founded, or "Qarat Hadasht", meaning the modern village or the new city. The new Mediterranean metropolis has grown, grown, prospered, and outperformed the rest of the surrounding Phoenician cities in various fields and has become an economic and military power for which a thousand accounts are read. Conflict with the Greeks and the Persians The history books recount that the Carthage army confronted the invaders from Persia who were changing the Phoenician cities and defended relentlessly on the possessions of Tire despite the distance and the short periods of time. Some likened the Carthaginian aid to the city of Tire with the help the United States provided to Britain during World War II as if it were a beautiful response from the modern superpower to the country of origin. The Carthaginians also fought wars against the Greeks to control the centers of influence in the Mediterranean Sea for centuries, and the Roman Empire actually existed on the Mediterranean scene. At some point, the Carthaginians managed to destroy the islands of Crete and Malta, which speaks to this day the Punic Carthage language, despite the insistence of the Greeks to acquire them as they are the keys to controlling the Mediterranean. In the context of the competition for influence in the Mediterranean between Carthage and the countries of the Greeks, the legend tells the story of the two brothers, Vilene Carthaginians, which remained a title of sacrifice and redemption for the sake of the homeland for generations. The Tunisian historian Mohamed Hussein Fintar says this story: «When Carthage decayed the greater part of Africa, it was a Qurain city rivaled by wealth and power. And there were sprawling springs between the two cities, and nothing limits their monotony. There is no river in them and no mountain separating the two countries, which led to a fierce war that lasted for a long time. The armies wrestled overland, wrestled by sea, and the war remained a contest that exhausted the two opponents' forces without success. And when the two cities were afraid of falling prey among the claws of a third party, taking advantage of the weakness of the victor and the vanquished, they benefited from a truce to conclude the following agreement: On a specific day, the two cities appointed two representatives from each of them departing from the borders of the homeland and the meeting point recognized by the two peoples. Carthage appointed the two brothers, Velin, who hastened to proceed very quickly. The course of the Qureans (the Greeks) was slow. Was this a matter of inaction, or was it an unexpected event? we do not know! In those areas, the storm impedes the walking, as it does in the desert as it does in the sea. When the two Koreas realized that they were too late, fearing the accusation of treason and the resulting punishment, the two brothers, Flynn, were accused of leaving their homes before the specified time, and we appealed the outcome of the debate. And when that was so, the Carthaginians requested that other conditions be set to be fair, and the Greeks left for them the choice between wading the two brothers Vellin in the place they wanted to draw the borders of their countries or letting the Qureans advance in the same circumstances to the place they wanted. The brothers, Flynn, sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country. Conflict with Rome Rome became a nascent young empire emerging centuries after Carthage over the Mediterranean and it was incumbent upon the modern emerging power (Rome) to displace the aging empire (Carthage) that took its time and further. Carthage controlled vast lands that stretched over the whole northwestern African coast, all the way to the Strait of Gibraltar, which was called the Strait of Malqarat, after the Carthaginian leader Abd Malqarat Baraka, the father of Hannibal. Carthage also took control of the Iberian Peninsula, where it established many cities, including Cartagena and Barcelona (relative to the Barca family of Carthaginian, from which Hannibal and his father Abd al-Malqrat came from, as well as Sadal al-Adil) and its influence reached southern France. Carthage controlled important Mediterranean islands such as Greek Crete and Malta, as well as Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia and the Palearians. East reached the Libyan Gulf of Sirte, where it signed a border agreement with the Greeks, who were controlling the Egyptian Mediterranean coast and eastern Libya. Although it was at the end of its reign, Carthage fought three major wars against the Romans that lasted for many years and ended with the burning of Carthage at the hands of the Roman commander Sibiun. These epics were known for the emergence of a star of great leaders who gained wide fame, including Abd Melqarat Barka (Amilcar) and his son Hannibal, who crossed the Alps with his elephant and legions of his armies, and besieged Rome for nearly ten years and fought several battles, the most important of which was the famous Battle of Kannai. Scouts people The Carthaginians paid attention, early and before others, to the importance of the African continent. They sailed in the Atlantic Ocean, which the Arabs feared and called it a "sea of darkness" and established their settlements in West Africa along the African coast. Perhaps the most famous expedition is the journey of the traveling ruler Hanoun, which took place around the fifth century B.C. and was recorded and famous, unlike the rest of the trips. The Carthaginians also reached the British Isles across the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the North Sea, on the outskirts of Scandinavia, in search of tin and all that benefited the empire. These commercial trips were preceded by the famous expedition of Halcalon or the Giant, who opened the door wide to the Carthage merchants to expand their trade circle to include the northern old continent across the sea. He recounts that the Carthaginians also reached the American continent, given what was mentioned in some books of the Greeks that talked about a vast land beyond the ocean that was a source of the wealth of the Carthaginians. Also, Carthage coins were found containing an approximate image of the world map, including a large land area, located directly after the sea, which is supposed to be the Atlantic Ocean.
Oakley, your energy and talent for this stuff is impressive. If I had to guess... you're an undergraduate college student. Yet your presentation skills and enthusiasm would be the envy of many Phd's. I'm passed retirement age and I watch your channel with the same respect I would accord to a college professor. Damn fun to watch too!
Yup haha, I'm an undergrad studying mechanical engineering. Means I have little free time but basically by definition I am a nerd. Actually lately I've been getting more enjoyment reading about more Roman history and putting this together than playing games on the period. Guess Its nice to share my enthusiasm and see that its appreciated
@@InvictaHistory bro literally same, I took Ancient Greek courses for humanities req. for my neuroscience degree, but loved it so much I’m taking Roman history classes for fun
Absolutely spectacular! You are one of the most informative and awesome content creators out there. You put so much quality into your work and the way you wrap it up in game play in a fun and engaging way just astounds me. This is the most fun I've had learning about the Romans and it just really makes my day when you post something like this. Keep up the great work, these videos really are amazing
Wow thanks for the support and feedback its what makes me keep going. I love Roman history and find it infectious. The more you learn the further in you get pulled. If you want book recommendations check this out: Total War: Rome II - My Recommended Books (Road to Rome 2)
Excellent overview of this period of history. You might want to put a link to the video that explains the Triplex Acies formation into the video description. I think a notation link got dropped in this video. Another Total War history video might be what battle techniques were adopted in locations (nation-states or peoples) and times. That might be a pretty daunting task though.
really nice video. well documented. no problems with your voice (I actually like it over all other total war commentary videos out there). keep up the good work ! :D
This was so awesome great job on both your historical research and portraying the First Punic War in this video! =D I myself have wanted to do War or Historical documentaries using videos games. =)
'Hannibal however seizes on the opportunity and sallies out. This catches the Romans by surprise' - Fear not, I am sure this backwater city commander won't catch us by surprise again
I beleive its a diffrent Hannibal this is Hannibal son of Gisgo the Hannibal of alps fame is i beleive the son of Hanno. The Punics really just alternated between like 5 names is extreamly confusing. Hannibal Barca was in Italy in 218 BC this war takes place 40-50 years before meaning he would have still been a child at this time
yes at first and against powerful enemies such as Parthia but their success mainly came (especially in the late Republican era) because they were ridiculously powerful and wealthy, no one had ever come close to their might, they managed to crush the second Mediterranean power (Carthage), the Greeks and Macedon and the Seleucids almost simultaneously. Its hard to exaggerate how incredible that is, to be able to stretch their army/navy and logistical system so far to defeat enemies who were powerful themselves without Rome itself ever being under much threat
I love your historical videos. Its worth watching rather than playing the game myself... Suggestion: Use tactical map to show the actual postion of armies and use pen to draw... Eager to see your upcoming videos... Hope you also make. Ideos like thae for second punic war, pyrrhus war and mithridatic wars...
Incredible, this is on the level of Nat Geo documentary's, only this is more accurate, doesn't repeat every sentence 5 times and doesn't throw wild theory's without enough proof out there to try to captivate the audience
I am always amazed by our ancient ancestors' ingenuity and equally amazed that so many people think they are inferior to modern people just because, as one person put it, "they pooped in holes." I don't think pooping into a flush toilet makes one smarter.
Telsion They acquired a Carthaginian ship which had each beam etc labelled so for easy production. The Romans’ just copied it, they did however invent the corvi or boarding plank so they could use their infantry at sea.
Hey Oakley, since you seem very interested in history I suggest getting a mod from the Steam Workshop which gives roman units historical reskins and makes the manipular legonairies (hastati, principes, triarii and velites/veles) have more varied clothing colours how they actually were based on the drawings of Peter Connolly, a very good (now dead) military historian. The mod is called KLA's Son of Mars.
A trireme doesnt mean 3 rowers per year. It means 3 layers of oars. How many men per year could vary on size of ship, purpose, and available manpower. These ships were taller and the struggle was to make the ship stable as its center of gravity set higher. It also required more a synchronous rowing rhythm so the oars did not interfere with the others. This is when the "drummer" really became important
The ships of Carthage worked like IKEA furniture with pre cut parts, instructions, and labeled tabs. Instead of having to travel to the city of a ship builder, commission a boat ,wait for months while it was finished, then sail it back they could instead wait till the ship merchant came to port. Carthage used the technique for all ships but never sold war ships which were kept in covered secure man made harbors to hide their numbers and design. Many of these harbors had assembly facilities at their centers so that they could secretly build fleets between these conflicts as later treaties limited Carthaginian military ships in areas like Sicily unless they were declared and available per the military cooperation agreements. After the second Punic war the Navy of Carthage was limited to 10 ships outside those used in military cooperation with Rome. It didn't take long till Rome sailed 80k troops to North Africa and the only defense Carthage had were the 50 ships they were able to quickly assemble in secret at one of these facilities. The round Coliseum like structure on water you see on the videos is the Carthage military harbor, the outer wall is guard posts and covered boat hangers (around 180 ships) and the center is the assembly harbors (17 I think) and the Navel command and harbor control above. Strangely enough this basic system was not used again until WW2 German Submarine stations which were modernized heavily armored versions of them.
8:30 swelled population bc 50,000 refugees - can you explain more about the Agrigentum refugees? 19:00 the Carthaginians had elephants but didn’t know how to use them 21:00 had it not been for Syracuse reupping supplies, the Carthaginians’ seizing of the Romans’ supply dump in - would have been the end of the Roman campaign 30:30 pre-Industrial Revolution mass production (instructions and part names for each material part organizes and methodized); Romans able to copy formula from part pieces
The legend of Rome's reverse engineering of Punic ship building is supposedly a myth. The peninsula already had an industry dedicated to shipping as naval logistics were relevant and handed down from native and Greek capability. It takes about 6000 man-days of labor to build a trireme. Since the order to build a navy was given in 261BCE and the first major sea battles with corvi were committed year later, we can safely assume that the Romans continued to do what had been done previously in 264BCE, purchase Greek models of vessels including the quinquereme. The finance needed to do so should be noted however. Additionally, its more likely that Roman naval accountability was caught off guard because there was no mechanism (or need) for the state to acquire naval assets considering the Century Assembly and the Senate were seperate organs with overlapping foreign and diplomatic abilities. I'm asserting this because after the use of the initial Roman fleet and its defeat at Drepana in 249 BC, private donations from citizens were used to finance the reconstruction of a second indicating that despite the obvious need for naval contestation, no state institution existed (in the form of noble enterprise) for shipping construction and management of naval assets.
The corvus was such a bad naval device it was discontinued before the end of the war. There was nothing genius about disfiguring the weight distribution of a ship so that each time it entered tough waters it capsized. Its only advantage was holding down enemy ships which could have been achieved through other more efficient means. Also the private donations weren't war bonds. It wasn't a state investment scheme.
Take a look at the number of ships lost outside of battle due to storms because of the asymmetric volume displacement. It took less than 50 years to forget the idea of a naval drawbridge.
It was scrapped because it was a bad idea that lacked prowess in naval engineering. It was a bad idea because even heavy displacement ships in shallow water were exposed to capsizing events. This and Polybian Rome was drastically different from Sparta, which itself had gone through many stages of existence and internal change. For one thing, the Romans didn't enslave the local provincae of Latins, in fact they were given outright citizenship some time after the Etruscan wars.
Really nice vid !! :) but agrigentum was not phoenician/carthaginian city :-p it just was under carthage s control at first punic war ! Great great vid
Great stuff! Thank you a million times for this! I have a question though....It would be interesting (if you can do this of course) to show us and explain to us how did Rome's economy managed to fund all this armies(both naval and land). To build ships in the ancient world(and not only) was considered a great luxury and very very crafty business...so how did Rome's economy worked and how did it fund its creation of the armada. Thank you
I am not very knowledgeable on the economics of the Roman Republic or exactly how they were able to pull this all off. But large empire's everywhere were similarly paying for huge fleets and armies. For Rome we can assume that a good portion of her wealth came from conquests. Plunder and war loot was what fueled her engines of war particularly in the later days of the republic and into the empire. Also Rome would take slaves who would be ideal for large construction projects. Rome had access to a good amount of land and controlled many cities that were prosperous at the time which helped as well. As we will see in future episodes though this will not cut it. During a particular low point for the Romans, the government had to rely on the wealthy funding the construction of ships with promises to repay them with future gains. There was actually a surprising amount of credit and investment in ancient times
You're amazing. !!!!!! Thank you for all the work you do! Question about romes first navy - is it possible that Rome built its fleet and its knowledge for fleet battles , came from the Greeks? It seems the Romans and Greeks at that time were good friends , maybe the Greeks sent their men to Rome , to share knowledge and help them build and train there men .?
yes there were many Greek intellectuals/soldiers/mercenaries in Rome, many of the Roman elite sent their sons to study in Greece, particularly Athens, the Romans likely utilised them for their benefit.
Bro I wish you would not give away the important plot details so if the Carths are gonna do some surprise attack shit, don’t make it seem so until the last minute so we are as shocked as the Roms and that makes it so much more suspenseful and exhilarating to watch.
I read somewhere that Qart-hadasht (Carthage) used a now extinct species called the African forest elephant which was a bit smaller than Elephas indicus but looked similar. I don't believe that Loxodonts (modern African elephants) were used. I don't see any problem with Qart-hadasht hiring Celtic mercenaries. The Makedonian kingdoms certainly did at this time.
wrong, the Carthaginian Qinquerem were faster and more agile which made them more affective vs the Roman navy. When Rome acquired this new ship design, it was able to reverse the naval disadvantage it had with Carthage.
just a guess for the noob (not too effective) elephants: they were in the 2nd line, then the survivors of the 1st line routed. Those "poor, dumb bastards" obviously ran towards their own troops, so the elephants (noobs themselves with noob riders) saw a bunch of shouting, bloody dudes with terrifying, sharp, pointy weapons. Their animal instinct probably told them, that those soldiers were attacking predators. As a result, Dumbo and friends either fought back (friendly fire, or friendly crush) or tried to escape through the 2nd line of men. Friendly fire, or friendly crush again
Great job!!! The only thing I would suggest is a script for narrative. Great job over all however and very informative. When you take on the 2nd Punic war, what source are you going as reference? Polybius really doesn't supply much information after Cannae. Are you going to use Livy? Look forward to more VLOGS! Salve!
Great video! A suggestion for improvement might be to try and prevent some of the clipping that you see when zoomed down to ground level and having infantry walk past/through the camera. Also, when you were showing naval footage there was one scene were a ship went from ramming speed to a complete halt before reaching a target (game bug). These aren't huge issues, only a couple minor things I noticed. They might not be worth the time to prevent.
Thanks, yeah that clipping this in unfortunate and I try to avoid it for the most part. Also that ramming action was halted when another ship hit it right in the side. Its just off camera sadly
THFE Productions Alright. Wasn't sure about the ramming thing, because I know that in my game sometimes when I order a ship to ram another ship it will simply stop at a close distance. This usually happens after the initial ram, when I order the ship to ram again. That's why I called it a "game bug", cuz that is what it seems to be in my game. And yeah, regarding the infantry clipping, you definitely do avoid it for the most part, so no biggy. I really enjoy your comments on history in many of your videos, and your passion and interest for history really comes across clearly, so keep up the great work!
Its Cat Master's Roman Cohort Mod. Also is your profile picture from "Rome Sweet Rome?" I just found out about that thread on reddit and how its now slated to become a movie... crazy stuff
yeah thats the main problem I think, after listening to this over and over during editing it really made me wish I got one before doing the recording. I'll look into this for the next one of just put the mic at the far end of my desk
Roman Tactics 101 Step 1: Build a Wall around it. Step 2: Who needs Cavalry when you got heavy Infantry? Step 3: Navys are overrated. Step 4: Form up in Checkerboard Pattern and match to war.
The only reason rome could even attempt to copy a ship of that time was because of Carthage's advancements in mass production. I don't know if you know anything about ships, but simple, functional, and easy to maintain. Aren't generally words that are associated with them.
I always thought Trireme meant three rows of oars and Quinquireme was 5 rows of oars. I don't think the name refers to the amount of rowers, since the way I learnedit, not all rows are even manned by the same amount of rowers (depending on which row of oars we are looking at). Maybe you mixed things up a little?
I think he mistated. Triremes had one man per oar with 3 rows of oars. Quinqiremes also had 3 ranks of oars with 5 men per 3 oars (2-2-1 configuation). Some super huge ships actually had 8, 9, 10, or even 40 men _per oar_ though.
I love your video's. I thought Hannibal's father was named Hamilcar, and last name was Barca, Where the name Barcelona came from. Am I wrong? I think I read that in Tacitus's account of the second Punic war.
Great documentary. As you pointed out, the 15k losses for the romans might be exaggerated a bit. From a total force of 40k, that's a bit more than 1/3 of all their forces. They wouldn't be able to hold the earthworks around Agrigentum AND face an pitched battle at the same time with 30k men - I assume their losses for the battle itself to be around 5k by comparing it with carthaginian losses. Usually the victor loses less men in a victory, due to the rout. I believe the posturing event, in which carthaginians surprised the foraging romans by a quick city exit, is nowhere near as bloody as you make it sound. There were probably small foraging parties involved, up to 500 men vs Carthaginian raiding party. I'm curious what source you found for that event.
a possible reason for the 2nd line of elephants is that the general did not trust the first line...whether it is bc of possiblt betrayal or used to threaten the first line to not flee.
