5 First Hand Accounts of the Worst Military Disasters in History

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 พ.ย. 2024

ความคิดเห็น • 705

  • @VoicesofthePast
    @VoicesofthePast  11 หลายเดือนก่อน +74

    Enjoy 10% OFF and free shipping on all Hoverpens with code VOTP:
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    • @ORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR13
      @ORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR13 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +11

      How long does it take you to make one of these video's??

    • @orangejjay
      @orangejjay 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      ​@@ORDEROFTHEKNIGHTSTEMPLAR13I love when channels would rather post comments from sponsored vendors than to answer legitimate questions from their fans. 😂😂

    • @lastblueride5
      @lastblueride5 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      rather than advertise hoverpens, make a disclaimer that you got your info and pics wrong. 3:25 Caesar was long dead, you confused Augustus with Caesar.

  • @redeye4516
    @redeye4516 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1913

    Hearing the soldier at Gallipoli compare himself and his comrades to the Romans and Crusaders of old, after hearing the tales from those two already, felt like a grim foreshadowing.

    • @mateocaballo
      @mateocaballo 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +91

      Yes; particularly because they, like many before them, came abruptly and brutally to learn that the primary experience of war is death, horror and waste. Being soldiers they suddenly found thenselves trapped in the hellish nightmare. Whoopsies!

    • @nothere57
      @nothere57 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      This is A.I , it's put the story together , it's from outside the knowing

    • @gracequach6769
      @gracequach6769 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +72

      @@nothere57 As an avid user of ChatGPT, I can safely say this isn't AI.

    • @joelewis1776
      @joelewis1776 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +40

      @@nothere57I definitely trust your perfectly written comment over this established and large TH-cam channel

    • @nothere57
      @nothere57 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      @joelewis6021 you trust anybody hey , except truth , it's too well written to be a australian soldier who landed at on those shores

  • @kaarlimakela3413
    @kaarlimakela3413 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +946

    "Mistakes were made." is one of my favorite historical phrases of all time. Perfect for all occasions.

    • @spaccy6349
      @spaccy6349 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      😂😂😂

    • @17-MASY
      @17-MASY 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      A huge understatement

    • @mississippichris
      @mississippichris 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Haigspeak

    • @candlestyx8517
      @candlestyx8517 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Sometimes mistakes were made despite numerous warnings not to do the thing. Human pride is a helluva drug

    • @ericweiss719
      @ericweiss719 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Rught up there with: "the damnable hands of the damned"

  • @redeye4516
    @redeye4516 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +841

    That Napoleonic soldier had frostbite at the very end, didn't he? The way he described it, it sounded like his whole nose, ears, and hands were afflicted. I really hope he didn't suffer for long, I'm horrified to imagine having to live with the aftermath.

    • @Itcouldbebunnies
      @Itcouldbebunnies 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +257

      He was able to return to his job as a stonemason, married, and had 10 children. He was one of the lucky ones. His account contains many more harrowing tales, and is well worth a read.

    • @gab5853
      @gab5853 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +19

      ​@Outforawalkwitch where can i read the full account?

    • @Itcouldbebunnies
      @Itcouldbebunnies 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +88

      @@gab5853
      You can buy the book, the title is in the description of the video. Maybe you can read it online for free as well. My parents had a copy which I read when I was a teenager.

    • @Raven-qj8xk
      @Raven-qj8xk 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +20

      They had tin belt buckles and buttons amongst other uses,that were gilded to look gold. In Russia the tin changed from white to grey tin which is its powder form( temperature reasons)! Even their trousers were* (where dyslexia/predictive text related edit) falling down.

    • @GleepGlop2
      @GleepGlop2 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +19

      Supposed to be extremely painful when your skin turns black - worst Xmas ever!

  • @AYVYN
    @AYVYN 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1973

    Varus, a General who trusted the civility of Barbarians more than the discipline of his Soldiers.

    • @derrickjenkins2455
      @derrickjenkins2455 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +131

      Must be a distant relative of US Senator Durban.

    • @Alexq79-
      @Alexq79- 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +175

      VARUS. QUINCTILLIUS VARUS. GIVE ME BACK MY LEGIONS!!!

    • @squiglemcsquigle8414
      @squiglemcsquigle8414 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +140

      Where were the barbarians?? The germans had their own civilization one that repeatedly bested the romans and eventially destroyed western rome

    • @user-sc5iv2rp2t
      @user-sc5iv2rp2t 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +261

      ​​@@squiglemcsquigle8414Every person who does not speak Greek is a barbarian. I am sorry but that is the etymology of the word. Your complains to the ancient people.

    • @squiglemcsquigle8414
      @squiglemcsquigle8414 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @user-sc5iv2rp2t then the romans are also barbarians which isnin anyway against his point
      And that still doesnt remove the fact that both the romans and the greeks were racist states

  • @chrishamilton7516
    @chrishamilton7516 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +588

    Varus - the lesson every nation needs to learn. Don’t send bureaucrats to handle your wars.

    • @FrostyGerardo-kr7xs
      @FrostyGerardo-kr7xs 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +44

      The problem is court culture or thinking a class/ work/person is superior to another

    • @JohnLee-jk5ew
      @JohnLee-jk5ew 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      Amen

    • @aspenrebel
      @aspenrebel 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +22

      The politicians start the wars but the military has to fight them.

    • @TheWhiskyDelta
      @TheWhiskyDelta 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +23

      Military education was central to the roman upper class and most famous generals were more bureaucrat then general.
      Based on what little records exist of his prior career, Varus was an incompetent who owed his position in government solely to his friendship with Tiberius. it's thought that anti-roman sentiment in Judea largely originated from his vast mistreatment and poor rule in the area. for example.
      Similarly his defeat was easily avoidable

    • @Batdude36
      @Batdude36 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +14

      Julius Caeser is the best example I can think of for a career politician who was extremely competent in warfare. He was arrogant and made many mistakes, but he was also adaptive and had a firm grasp of logistics. Both skills happen to be very useful in bureaucracy.

  • @Alex-cw3rz
    @Alex-cw3rz 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +76

    My Great Grandfather was in the Lancashire Fusiliers and landed on W beach, where 6 Victoria Cross's were won before breakfast. They were able to take the top of the hill, There were 533 casualties more than half the Regiment my Great Grandfather luckily not one of them. Unfortunately it was only a few days later when he was hit by shrapnel from an Artillery shell, k illing his best friend, he was injured a further 3 times at Gallipoli including losing a finger. He went on to fight at the Somme and at Passchendaele where he won the military medal for taking out a German machine gun nest. After the war he broke the medal in two, as the war had deeply effected him. We still have the broken medal today.

    • @asdf9890
      @asdf9890 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      Wow, great family story! He definitely went through it sounds like.

    • @JoseLopez-fh8tp
      @JoseLopez-fh8tp 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      It mean it would make sense to break it. You go through hell and worse, to get a piece of metal with words on it. But would’ve been cool if it wasn’t broken.

    • @TCook-d3s
      @TCook-d3s 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      My grandfather fought in France in WW1. Although he wasn’t wounded it messed with his head and just never was the same upon return.

    • @JimmyMatis-h9y
      @JimmyMatis-h9y หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      wise man, breaking the medal. sounds like he realized what wars are really for.

  • @SamGray
    @SamGray 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +344

    Every military disaster is also a triumph for the other side. In a sense, nearly every battle is a disaster for half those involved.

    • @tedwarden1608
      @tedwarden1608 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +14

      The only thing worse than a battle won,is a battle lost. ‘Wellington’

    • @BasedR0nin
      @BasedR0nin 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +32

      I see what you’re trying to say.. but no. Most defeats are not “disasters” for the losing side, and many “defeats” are not even straightforward defeats, more like concessions. Not to mention stalemates

    • @Veldtian1
      @Veldtian1 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

      u win some and you experience an apocalypse sometimes.

    • @GanymedeXD
      @GanymedeXD 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

      Thats nonsense … it can easily become s total disaster for both sides! Winning does not mean it wad not a disastrous battle!

    • @Radishindependent
      @Radishindependent 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      what if they are in a 1:4 ratio?

  • @aaron6178
    @aaron6178 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +359

    Great doco. Just a point of order; you had a statue of Gaius Julius Caesar pop up when he mentioned "Caesar" discussing the account of the Teutoburg Forest. It was of course Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus, aka Octavian, Gaius' grand nephew, being referred to in the account. Old mate Julius had been dead for 49 years at the time of the battle.

    • @aspenrebel
      @aspenrebel 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      I was wondering about that.

    • @apexnext
      @apexnext 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +16

      *Give me back my Legions!*

    • @Veldtian1
      @Veldtian1 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      I too was acutely aware of that glaring oversight, and was just about to point it out, never mind.

    • @fenris042
      @fenris042 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      He sure took the news horribly too, weeping it's said, where are my Legions Varus! He never got over that, no matter how well Germanicus came back with a vengeance.

    • @aspenrebel
      @aspenrebel 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Picky picky picky!!

  • @Tsukuyomi28
    @Tsukuyomi28 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +181

    The guy in the Spanish armada that filled his clothes with metal in the middle of the ocean was not too bright.

    • @JaegerMatthias
      @JaegerMatthias 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +21

      No, it makes sense if you can't swim anyway.

    • @loopooillohg
      @loopooillohg 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +16

      metal on boat, boat float, why metal on me make sink?

    • @kira_io
      @kira_io 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      sorry i thought the gravy boat would float 🥺🥺

    • @Beery1962
      @Beery1962 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

      He was smart. The last thing you'd want, in those days, would be to spend days dying of thirst with no hope of rescue.

  • @Becca.91
    @Becca.91 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +20

    Thank you for mentioning the tragedy that was Gallipoli. That mission makes me cry as an Australian

    • @scotsman555
      @scotsman555 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      You can blame Winston Churchill for the disaster.

  • @The_Honcho
    @The_Honcho 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +43

    Fantastic work as usual, these memoirs bring history to life. All the things forgotten to time; comrades’ personality, their small talk, and thoughts are revived through these stories. The closest a human could possibly come to actually going back in time

  • @heyitsbookie
    @heyitsbookie 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +71

    Ok but tell me the the Country Native Horse, sitting, and sliding down frozen hills with both luggage and a mounted rider isn’t the coolest little thing. Lovely creature.

  • @sherry10967
    @sherry10967 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +59

    “Varus, Varus, give me back my legions!”
    -Augustus Caesar

  • @Hesykast
    @Hesykast 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +58

    This channel is a historical gem.

    • @Beery1962
      @Beery1962 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      It's AI-produced garbage.

    • @scaryonyx
      @scaryonyx 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@Beery1962anything to back that up or you just saying shit to say shit

    • @Beery1962
      @Beery1962 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@scaryonyx If you can't tell that it's AI, I can't help you.

    • @scaryonyx
      @scaryonyx 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@Beery1962 ok you can just tell that’s it alright

    • @TemmieContingenC
      @TemmieContingenC 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      @@Beery1962> art credited in description
      > links provided in description
      > asked to prove why its AI
      > “if you can’t see it I can’t help you”
      10/10 deflect

  • @UNUSUALUSERNAME220
    @UNUSUALUSERNAME220 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +15

    The recount of Gallipoli sounds so romantic, until the nightmare begins. Sad to think that once they landed, almost 2/3 of those men would be dead from dysentery, not a very romantic way to go. It's actually the only accurate comparison to the battles of old, disease would generally take the largest majority of every fighting force over time. Just another example of the hubris of men that don't actually do any of the fighting, those in charge show little regard for your life. People's lives are considered incidental, compared to the personal glory of those at the top! That aspect of history never changes.

  • @usefulusinguser
    @usefulusinguser 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +38

    22:00 is such an interesting thing to learn about domestic Russian military horses. The visual I got in my head was so comical despite the rest of the horrid situation being described.

    • @marlino_metab
      @marlino_metab 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Horses are very intelligent. I never had a clue about horses until a girl took me out for a date on horseback and it completely changed my perspective. I agree, I’m sure the soldier was incredibly grateful his horse knew what to do.

  • @gglen2141
    @gglen2141 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +73

    Spanish Armada: I am from Scotland, the west coast, my ancestors hail from Arran. We did a gene swab a few years back and, lo and behold, Spanish blood. This possibly confirms the old family tale of a shipwrecked Spaniard settling down on the island a sireing a few children with local women.

    • @EmisoraRadioPatio
      @EmisoraRadioPatio 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

      Very possible. The Spaniards who washed ashore in Scotland were luckier than the ones who washed ashore in Ireland. There, the English executed all the POWs, and the local Irish robbed and killed most of those remaining.

    • @juanm8582
      @juanm8582 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      Welcome, hermano.

    • @tomfabozzi5353
      @tomfabozzi5353 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      Not all the Spanish fared badly in Ireland. There’s a higher than normal incidence of curly black hair and brown eyes in Counties Kerry, Clare and Galway, particularly. Some of the shipwrecked sailors clearly survived.

  • @Real11BangBang
    @Real11BangBang 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    "Mistakes were made"
    ~Major Benteen when asked what happened at little bighorn

  • @nickthomas9945
    @nickthomas9945 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +67

    Well done. There is an error at 3:20 however. “Caesar” is referring to Augustus Caesar (Octavian). It is he who Suetonius attributes the famous words: “Varus, give me back my legions!"
    The bust shown in the video is of Julius Caesar, however, who of course was long dead.

  • @time_warriors
    @time_warriors 18 วันที่ผ่านมา

    "This video gave me chills! 😱 Hearing those firsthand accounts of such devastating military disasters was incredibly powerful. It really puts things into perspective and makes you appreciate the human cost of war. 💔 Thank you for sharing these important stories. 🙏"

  • @seronymus
    @seronymus 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +20

    Opening with Teutoberg Forest is wild. No matter the day or subject, its a balat when VotP uploads.

  • @peytondagenais479
    @peytondagenais479 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    21:33 I love this bit about the horse.

  • @Barukh
    @Barukh 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +8

    This channel is so underrated. I really appreciate what you're doing. I love discovering the perspectives of peoples from so long ago

  • @oLevLovesLove
    @oLevLovesLove 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +97

    Amazing how few people who entrusted their lives to wooden ships in the past knew how to swim.

    • @RogueReplicant
      @RogueReplicant 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +44

      Swimming is useless in the open sea.

    • @Reignor99
      @Reignor99 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +15

      @@RogueReplicant is that why so many sailors didn't know how to swim? because it was pointless?

    • @shaneomahony5469
      @shaneomahony5469 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +54

      @@user-fg3lt6mo7j Being able to swim is very important for a sailor. If you are on your own in the middle of the sea its pointless but if you are near a coast or friendly ships its very beneficial. It was one of the advantages that Athens had over Sparta on the sea. Athenian sailors whose ship sank where able to stay alive and be reenlisted in another ship while the Spartan manpower died. Sure certain times it was useless but it gave the chance of not having to replace an experienced sailor on a later date.

    • @Batdude36
      @Batdude36 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +21

      ​@shaneomahony5469 Not to mention falling overboard from your ship outside of sinkings or battles was common, especially during storms. So knowing how to swim to keep you alive long enough for your crewmates to rescue you is pretty important.

    • @ximkai8794
      @ximkai8794 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I'm betting that it wasn't so much that they didn't know how to swim, but rather they were not strong enough swimmers. Clothes, leather boots, any weapons they had on them. All of that stuff becomes impossibly heavy very quickly in the water.

  • @The_Mimewar
    @The_Mimewar 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +36

    Did I hear that correctly? Varus marched into Germania and setup COURT!?

    • @omahanprabla3058
      @omahanprabla3058 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      His little slow mind thought...

  • @mixkid3362
    @mixkid3362 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +120

    The Gallipoli Landing will never fail to infuriate me. Especially when I learned of the arse-backward motivation for it. Thinking there was a "backdoor" to Germany. What a waste of life.

    • @jrgingerninja
      @jrgingerninja 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +35

      Blame the British for that mistake and Australians died for it.

    • @sinanermis5541
      @sinanermis5541 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Plan was made for knock the ottomans out of to war and link with russians through straits and the black sea.

    • @MrMaxLions
      @MrMaxLions 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +38

      İf you're on that track, get hold of the writings of Winston Churchill's father. He didn't have much good to say about his son. He was the reason behind Gallipoli

    • @terranaxiomuk
      @terranaxiomuk 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@jrgingerninja I'm guessing you demand reparations 😂. You mean blame politicians.

    • @joecurran2811
      @joecurran2811 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I have read it landed in slightly the wrong place

  • @delskioffskinov
    @delskioffskinov 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +19

    Fabulous narration style! gold tier content right there

  • @elvastan
    @elvastan 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +8

    "He went to this rich province a poor man, and left that poor province a rich man"

  • @davidd6171
    @davidd6171 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +19

    Very well done video as always! These stories make me think there is a lot to recover through archeology!

  • @theCommentDevil
    @theCommentDevil 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +25

    Where is the testimony of Leroy Jenkins?

    • @OrcinusDrake
      @OrcinusDrake 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +8

      Memoirs are written by survivors

  • @thomaswalsh4552
    @thomaswalsh4552 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    The battle of the teutoburg forest was fought during the reign of Augustus (also called Caesar) rather than under the ascendancy of Julius Caesar.

  • @ivory231
    @ivory231 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +45

    I'm Canadian and my family derives from Ireland, I have a LOT of Spanish in me because of the Spanish Armada which surprised me so much when I found out

    • @Uthandol
      @Uthandol 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

      Thats not why you have spanish. Hiberno celts hail from spain.

    • @ivory231
      @ivory231 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      @@Uthandol well still cool!

    • @aspenrebel
      @aspenrebel 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      A lot of boinking going on. I know two women who have no idea who their fathers are.

    • @dannygiles2442
      @dannygiles2442 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      You are what's referred to as black irish

    • @ivory231
      @ivory231 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@dannygiles2442yes ive heard that term:)

  • @mcgeebag1
    @mcgeebag1 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +46

    Can you do more first hand accounts of the napoleonic wars? Thanks 👍

    • @NealBones
      @NealBones 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      "There's a short, angry man on a horse wearing a goofy hat. The end"

  • @_ata_3
    @_ata_3 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    The illustrations are amazing.

  • @bonafidehomicide5742
    @bonafidehomicide5742 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I knew it was going to be absolutely amazing, everything ive watched from you in the short time since I discovered your videos, just fire, fire fire content!!!

  • @gar6446
    @gar6446 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +48

    1066, had a huge effect tearing England from a Scandinavian future ( Cnut etc) into a European entanglement.
    Had Harold won a scandinavian conglomeration may have consolidated from modern day USA to Russia.
    Its only conjecture and what iff but interesting to contemplate.

    • @Dan_Ben_Michael
      @Dan_Ben_Michael 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +15

      History “what if’s” are my favourite thing to contemplate. That’s a very interesting take and a very likely scenario as a Scandinavian conglomerate would’ve been the superpower of the day. Their prowess in shipping and thirst for exploration and conquest would’ve taken them east to Russia, conquering the Kievan Rus, and west to the New World by island hopping from Iceland to Greenland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and down the eastern seaboard of the United States.
      It opens up an entire alternate history which changes the Age of Discovery where my own country of Australia would have a totally different history of European settlement. I imagine the continent of Australia may have multiple sovereign countries in the modern day with different languages, cultures and customs instead of being a predominantly white Anglo Saxon nation which is part of the British Commonwealth.
      It’s something I find quite fascinating to consider.

    • @MrMaxLions
      @MrMaxLions 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

      What makes it even more interesting is that William The Conqueror was the descendent of Vikings who settled in Normandy. William was one of the great great grandchildren of Rollo. So technically the Scandinavian connection continued

    • @LongSeax88
      @LongSeax88 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ⁠@@MrMaxLionsThe Anglo-Saxons were germanic, from parts of scandinavia and northern germany anyway. The scandinavians were germanic.

    • @joecurran2811
      @joecurran2811 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Or if Harold Hadrada had won

    • @farzanamughal5933
      @farzanamughal5933 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

      No, England would not have grown to be as strong if the Vikings had won

  • @Blalack77
    @Blalack77 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +23

    Jeez man.. I don't know if I'm just in a weird mood or if this is just a compelling video or what but I've read and watched about the Battle of Teutoburg Forest dozens of times and I'd say I have a decent grasp on it - Roman history is one of my absolute favorite topics. But for whatever reason - maybe since it was so long ago and seems almost mythical or whatever - I never really thought about the firsthand human experience on a close, personal level. I guess a lot of people do that with ancient stories and war stories - focusing on the highlights and great deeds/feats, courage, valor, etc. and not the gritty, gratuitous details, gore, fear, panic, etc. from the mud and the trenches..
    But what I'm getting at is, listening to this, I'm just thinking how messed up that would be - to be an already superstitious Roman soldier in an army in a foreign land, far from home and familiar sights, environs, culture, etc., deep in the woods surrounded by a massive hostile army of strong, brutal, lifelong, elite warriors with strange gods and forest spirits and mystical, almost magical beliefs and rituals who are perfectly at home in the hostile, unfavorable terrain you find yourself in - and to watch all of your allies being slaughtered, tortured to death or abandoning their honor and loyalty and attempting to flee and seeing your officers abandoning you - and knowing you're very shortly going to die in battle if you're lucky and if not, you're going to be mercilessly tortured with unimaginable and very creative tactics until you beg for death... I'm just really deeply and empathetically thinking about what that would feel like in that moment...
    I know the Romans brutalized the hell out of the Germanic people - and I have ancestry from those parts - but I'm fascinated with Roman history and I always find myself looking through their eyes when hearing their stories.

    • @shaneomahony5469
      @shaneomahony5469 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      I think the same way. When you read that 20,000 men were killed nearly 2000 years ago its easy to just read the numbers and never give it the thought of all the individual men that died, all of whom had families and lives at home and see it from their eyes.

    • @aspenrebel
      @aspenrebel 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Innocent women and children too.

    • @aspenrebel
      @aspenrebel 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Also, they couldn't get a decent pizza or any good spaghetti anywhere.

    • @lavaughnrannow879
      @lavaughnrannow879 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      I know I am "tardy to the party," but don't you see the parallels playing out today? I am referring to one aspect of the Israel / Gaza conflict. I mean, many of the people targeted on October 7th were in favor of better relations with Palestinians, and actively helped Gazans cross the border to work in the envelope communities. These same Gazans (think about Arminius) returned home with Intel for Hamas.
      I'm not saying that we shouldn't help people. I'm saying that we shouldn't expect those who are helped to have our ideals, or be grateful.

    • @Blalack77
      @Blalack77 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@lavaughnrannow879 Damn.. Yeah. That's messed up.. It does seem like it's always the ones trying to help and make peace who get stabbed in the back the most..

  • @brianmarshall1762
    @brianmarshall1762 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    What an interesting topic for a video. I look forward to listening to this all now. Thank you.

  • @TheIrishvolunteer
    @TheIrishvolunteer 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +46

    It's tragic to hear such tales of horror and devastation. It is horrible to imagine how many people befell such horrible fates throughout the annals of history. We are lucky, truly lucky, to be born in one of the most peaceful periods in all of our existence.

    • @pricenaseen
      @pricenaseen 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Today we are closer to this than you might think, you know where I am talking about

    • @Harib_Al-Saq
      @Harib_Al-Saq 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +8

      ​@@pricenaseenChicago?

    • @sean5558
      @sean5558 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      There have been wars all over the world the last 100 years . You may be lucky there isn’t a war going on wherever you are but the last 20 plus years alone we had Bosnia Kosovo , war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan , Ukraine and Israel /Palestine . Not very peaceful times if you ask me

    • @Murdo2112
      @Murdo2112 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@sean5558 And yet, his comment still holds up.
      With 24-hour news and the Internet bringing awareness of wars and conflicts in every corner of the world, it's easy to feel that there's more of it than ever before.
      But the fact remains: the past 50 years has seen fewer people dying to war than at any point in human history.
      This includes both military and civilian victims, and also both death in action and due to the disease and famine that routinely accompanied war, historically.
      According to official figures, the death toll of US service personnel in the conflicts following 9/11, in Iraq and Afghanistan, is 7,057.
      A little over a hundred years ago, in northern France, those sort of figures would have been seen following "a rough morning".
      We hear it more, these days, but the scale is incomparable.

    • @TheIrishvolunteer
      @TheIrishvolunteer 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

      @@sean5558 Between the years 1000 and 1050 there were around 31 wars.
      Between 1973 and 2023 there have been about 20

  • @NPCdeathMachine
    @NPCdeathMachine 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    “Slow in mind as he was in body” 🤣🤣

  • @isocrates0001
    @isocrates0001 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    @5:08 supplant Battle of Hattin (1187 CE) for Manzikert (1071 CE) as THAT failure under ‎Romanos IV Diogenes precipitated a greater change in the strategic situation of the Eurasian world.

    • @ApollonDriver
      @ApollonDriver 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Turks consider the battle of Manzikert to be "the battle that opened the door to Anatolia for Turks"

  • @EddieRicks-i8v
    @EddieRicks-i8v 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    These are good stories to show a great power can lose and hopefully people can learn from them. 😊

  • @BarnabyBaltimoron
    @BarnabyBaltimoron 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    *D A M N !* this channel is so good. I can’t watch them fast enough and then watch some more old ones.

  • @youvebeengreeked
    @youvebeengreeked 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +22

    River Allia 390 BC, The Caudine Forks 321 BC, Asculum 279 BC, Trebia 218 BC, Trasimeme 217 BC, Cannae 216 BC, Arausio 105 BC, Carrhae 53 BC, Teutoburg Forest 9, Abritus 251, Adrianople 378... Ancient Rome took some seriously heavy blows.

    • @EM-tx3ly
      @EM-tx3ly 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

      Romans were like phoenixes well till they fell first in west then in east

  • @bo7341
    @bo7341 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    26:15 "one felt somehow as if one were grasping hands across the centuries with the great adventures of ancient times". Well, yes, but specifically the Romans in Teutoberg Forest, Christians at Hattin, Spanish Armada and Napoleonic French in Russia. All far from home, incredibly brave and doomed.

  • @mattx229
    @mattx229 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Beautifuly written. Enjoy these very much.

  • @fatherofhistory
    @fatherofhistory 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    Very interesting video about 5 of the worst military disasters in history. I've always been fascinated by these events and it's great to hear first-hand accounts of what happened. Thanks for sharing!

  • @homuraakemi493
    @homuraakemi493 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +61

    Undead zombie Caesar must have been pretty angry in 9AD

    • @VoicesofthePast
      @VoicesofthePast  11 หลายเดือนก่อน +44

      Wrong Caesar - woops

    • @bethmarriott9292
      @bethmarriott9292 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

      Doesn't Caeser as a blanket term generally refer to Julius and Augustus because the younger adopted the name of the elder anyway? Like technically his final name was Augustus but he retained the Caesar part and it can be used as a term for Roman ruler as they were codifying the whole Emperor thing, I've found

    • @NamanSharma-rq6bm
      @NamanSharma-rq6bm 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +12

      ​@@bethmarriott9292Yes, but in the video, Julius Caesar's statue was shown, implying that Caesar had awoken from the dead.

  • @BraydenODonoghue
    @BraydenODonoghue หลายเดือนก่อน

    I can say proudly and confidently my friend, that you deserve at least 10 million subs

  • @darthplagueis13
    @darthplagueis13 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

    The off-hand remark about how Varus had entered the rich province of Syria as a poor man and left the poor province of Syria as a rich man gave me a good chuckle.

  • @littleguy6753
    @littleguy6753 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    You can add in mistakes made in the US v Afghanistan (OEF). Many times our troops were deployed to FOBs that were at the bottom of mountains. The movie "The Outpost" illustrates how bad it is to have the low ground.

  • @joeb2955
    @joeb2955 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    Such a good horse that guy had it sounds like

  • @brandonturpin8932
    @brandonturpin8932 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I really enjoyed this. I did find some of it hard to follow

  • @sanjaypindoria4561
    @sanjaypindoria4561 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Hi, I am an Indian that was born and brought up in Kenya, East Africa, I have been such a fan of your videos. They quench my curiosity about how people thought and what they deemed of most important in their time and place. Can I do Swahili subtitles for your videos?

  • @Maperator
    @Maperator 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    great content as usual, keep it up

  • @elblack25
    @elblack25 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    10:40 always gets me, so much sadness

  • @WarHammer1989
    @WarHammer1989 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    Not gonna lie. That meteor pen sounds cool as s***

  • @brandonwalker5011
    @brandonwalker5011 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +24

    Interesting to note that although we now almost exclusively refer to him as Octavian or Augustus contemporaries would have just called him Julius Ceasar after the adoption.

  • @charlotteantiquepowerengin6277
    @charlotteantiquepowerengin6277 5 หลายเดือนก่อน

    There are times this old veteran can barely stand to listen. How did I just discover this channel?

  • @FirsteMann1929
    @FirsteMann1929 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    1st hand accounts of how war is really not so glorious

  • @dinnie20
    @dinnie20 4 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Beautiful video and also I love your channel!
    I have to correct only in a part of the video, when "Caesar" has been nominated it referred to "Caesar Augustus", not Iulius Caesar, in a lot of Latin writings they used to call "Caesar" all the Princeps and Impereor that came after Iulius, in fact I remember from school that also Trajan sometimes would be called Caesar

  • @jvharbin8337
    @jvharbin8337 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Easily my favorite channel on TH-cam.

    • @BreenBreen710
      @BreenBreen710 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      My favorite is Fall of civilizations. This is my second favorite.

  • @matthewbarry376
    @matthewbarry376 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

    Please do a long form reading of Francis DeCuellars time in Ireland

  • @Commonsense_91
    @Commonsense_91 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I been waiting for a new one to drop, this channel is awesome!!!!!!

  • @sloppypapi8886
    @sloppypapi8886 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Shoutout to Marcus Crassus, he's an honorable mention at least.

  • @anarchistangler
    @anarchistangler 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    There are some hectic adventures described here. Though wont do do so, I don't think we could underestimate the gravity of the situations in which the survivors found themselves.

  • @jammyscouser2583
    @jammyscouser2583 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +18

    My Great Grandmas Brothers were at Gallipoli with the NZers, one was shot in the jaw and the other was killed

    • @darknation6174
      @darknation6174 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      So one brother survived the injury with his jaw?

    • @jammyscouser2583
      @jammyscouser2583 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      @@darknation6174 yeah, he spent a year and a half recovering in England, not sure why he didn't come home, and then rejoined the Division in Belgium where a third brother was fighting

  • @gangsterHOTLINE
    @gangsterHOTLINE 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    For some reason I can't quite understand historical accounts of events and battles that took place so long ago when things like "they sent word" or "messengers left/arrived" with simple messages like "continue moving" or "we cannot continue moving". The time it must take for messages and responses to form complete communications has to be sometimes weeks or months. I just can't grasp how armies could be stuck without water, and in these communication loops be able to respond with "we won't go on because we are thirsty".

  • @Drew_McTygue
    @Drew_McTygue 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    I'm listening to tell words of people who's tales have echoed for centuries, and sometimes millenia. But, I feel as though Voices of the Past puts me in a room with these ancient people and I'm hearing from the source personally.

  • @crazestyle83
    @crazestyle83 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    Who tf marches an army into a desert with no water?!

    • @brandonsmith5880
      @brandonsmith5880 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Who marches through Russia in the winter? That's what fucked over both Hitler and Napoleon. This world would be completely different if Russian winters weren't so harsh. I think crossing a desert to battle is just as dumb

  • @ItsJoKeZ
    @ItsJoKeZ หลายเดือนก่อน

    measuring distance in time is so interesting! I assume it's based on march pace?

  • @rhxdi9257
    @rhxdi9257 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I really think Harold Godwinson in 1066 deserves a mention. So many mistakes. He could’ve waited 2 days for 30,000 reinforcements but didn’t, he fought on foot which prevented him from giving clear orders, he used an extremely old and not very effective defence system (Anglo Saxon shield wall) and so many more. No wonder the Normans won

  • @Samreyna1
    @Samreyna1 10 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Such good content it’s insane

  • @vadimpm1290
    @vadimpm1290 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Very strange description of Varus personality. He's known by providing some cruel acts of supression and exproptiations against Germanic tribes.

  • @nolanjohnson7535
    @nolanjohnson7535 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I would love more videos like this

  • @imakalien
    @imakalien 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    listening to this as i boot up Helldivers 2 at 4am, can relate

  • @aspenrebel
    @aspenrebel 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    What about Queen Boudica's defeat by Roman Suetonious, "somewhere", around 60 A.D.?

    • @krle7970
      @krle7970 หลายเดือนก่อน

      A myth apparently

    • @aspenrebel
      @aspenrebel หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@krle7970 supposedly she lost like over 70,000, women included, and her 2 daughters.

  • @sloppypapi8886
    @sloppypapi8886 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    I had absolutely ZERO doubt that the Battle of Hattin would be on this list 😂 fuck Gerard of Ridefort, all my homies hate Gerard of Ridefort.

  • @CaptCanuck4444
    @CaptCanuck4444 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Very well done.

  • @brushrunner
    @brushrunner 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    need this in spotify

  • @colonelkilling2425
    @colonelkilling2425 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Great video!

  • @JamesJohnson-l6y
    @JamesJohnson-l6y 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    The Russian 🇷🇺 Winter ❄️ which stopped Napoleon's invasion of Russia 🇷🇺 (1812). Also stopped Hitler's invasion in 1941-43.

  • @DesertAres
    @DesertAres 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +53

    I'm surprised that instead of the Spanish armada, which the Spanish never said was invincible, you didn't cover the counter armada from England the next year which was a total disaster, costing possibly 15-20,000 English lives at least and over 50 ships. A much bigger disaster that was covered up and still is not taught in British schools and rates only a passing comment in the Encyclopedia Britannica.

    • @follacaravanas69
      @follacaravanas69 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Black legend

    • @DuoMythic
      @DuoMythic 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Wow, i studied history in school and never knew of the british disaster at sea

    • @lucidrians2641
      @lucidrians2641 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      He covered a British disaster in the video, gallipoli. Spaniards are so sensitive.

  • @martijnvanderzee5215
    @martijnvanderzee5215 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +13

    At 3:28 the narrator mentions Caesar, but he doesn't mean the Gaius Julius Caesar that you show, he means Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. Octavianus was of course Posthumously adopted after the death of the original Caesar and also took over his name. While we still call him Octavianus or later Augustus, his contemporaries called him Caesar, just like his uncle.
    So you actually show the wrong Caesar.
    Edit: forgot to add last sentence of comment.

  • @ApollonDriver
    @ApollonDriver 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Ataturk's letter to anzac mothers says, "“Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives …
    You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side in this country of ours.
    You, the mothers, who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears.
    Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.”
    A disaster that forged a friendly connection between three nations.

  • @KombatFlix
    @KombatFlix 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

    This is awesome 🔥✊🏿

  • @Moobeus
    @Moobeus 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I guess maybe there’s not accounts of it but certainly I would have expected Cannae on here and surely there are first hand accounts of market garden.

  • @Maxwellmcawesome
    @Maxwellmcawesome 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    damn thats the coolest youtube sponsor I've ever seen

  • @nobodynothing00000
    @nobodynothing00000 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

    it's always been the best battle plan to wait for the other guy to eff up

  • @d0nKsTaH
    @d0nKsTaH 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    Left out some appalling mistakes in the Prussian-French War of 1870-1871.
    French attacked ONE tiny little town... pulled back and decided to play a defensive war.
    They kept getting surrounded in spite of having better rifles.
    They lost control of all three major cities that had been surrounded and sieged; Metz and Paris were the last two taken.
    Lots of stupid logistic problems like... forgetting to stockpile enough food in the cities.
    There is a full 6 hour documentary about it here on youtube.
    I never knew about this war or how violent it got.
    6 months later France (with a different Government (after their King, Napolean III was captured in the first siege just up the road from Metz).
    Also, France had access to a wheeled Machine gun. First of its kind in a European war.
    They used it ONCE!
    Then never touched it again

  • @mitchellwarren5998
    @mitchellwarren5998 7 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Nice shout out to Minard's graphic.

  • @Sheepdog1314
    @Sheepdog1314 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    “... what’s that noise, Varus?”

    • @DanWinterborn
      @DanWinterborn 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      That time when the trees spoke german.
      😂

  • @colinmccarthy7921
    @colinmccarthy7921 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    It’s not what you do,it’s how you do it.That’s how Wars are won.

  • @Upioornica
    @Upioornica 11 หลายเดือนก่อน

    8:20 the drawing of a lion on the knight's shield is almost Disney-cute

  • @timholder6825
    @timholder6825 หลายเดือนก่อน

    I would have put The Somme 1916 as a bigger disastrous failure. Quite chuffed I knew all of these just from the thumbnail.

  • @John-cr2tn
    @John-cr2tn 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    According to my Irish grandparents many Spanish were taken in mainly because they were Catholic and the Irish hated the English protestants

  • @bigsarge2085
    @bigsarge2085 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Incredible.

  • @Wailot6
    @Wailot6 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Hi sometime I get confused as to what part of the narrative is the actual account and what is framing and introductory narration by you or somebody else. You do have the same tone of voice and similar tone and word patterns

    • @VoicesofthePast
      @VoicesofthePast  11 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      Its all me reading, and its all historical accounts

  • @CuriosityPilled
    @CuriosityPilled 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    This guy made me discover my own fascination with animated storytelling - so I took up the challenge of producing my own channel, and after 90h of strenuous work, the first unhinged, bizzare animated installment is up online! If you're dying to quench your thirst for odd, intriguing topics told in 2D, perhaps stop by and share a laugh with me? :)