The Second Punic War - OverSimplified (Part 2) Reaction
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
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Just a touch on the information about the roman legion, that cohort formation was after the Marian reforms in 107 BC, the system used at this time was the maniple formation which was significantly different with each army having 3 divisions (hastati, principes and triarii).
And Velites as skirmishers and Equites as cavalry
Depends *when* pre-Marian you’re talking about. The Equites largely held a nominal roll as cavalry and Rome hired out a lot of its cavalry and even its skirmisher troops VERY early in the Republic’s life. Ever the pragmatists, there was a lot of political and tactical benefit to be had by Rome pulling superior cavalry from Italians and friendly Celts. The ranking of Equites and all that served a primary roll for taxes and the organizing of the Centuriate Assemblies going way back to the monarchy. Please note, that I did not say that Equites and Velites disappeared altogether. Both continued in larger or lesser degrees. Equites are still around in Social War, despite Marius having banished them in 107BCE. Velites continue on well into the Principate. Well past Marius, the "hastatii/principii/triarii" distinction for the ranks remains, if in name only for some time, probably in the old sense to some degree for a long time. It sounds like the whole Marian Reforms never...well, hey, just read other comments on this thread for the end of that sentence. I don't want to spoil anything.
Though the legion still existed, just not the modern version that we know of today, but as the Polybian Legion
@@samgott8689 Pre marian still relies on the word marian and the marian reforms, actually, dont exist. THe roman army changes a lot over a reasonable period of time, some of which marius was in charge but theres no evidence of a reformation programme and much of what is attributed to these 'reforms' happened outside of marius' window.
Oversimplified doesn't go into it, but his depictions of the legionnaires actually follows suit. The guys with just the bronze breastplate would be the hastati, while those with a proper shirt of chainmail would be the more senior principes.
That Mr. Terry shout-out was actually very touching because Mr. Terry actually cried by how moved he was by it.
Yes I saw that ! So wholesome ! Im happy for the guy
@@DarkLobster69where is mr beat shout out?
@@alfredovillalobos7481cringe
@fahimfahim624 when does he shout out mr terry
@@MarvelandStarWarsProductions 11:40 here
"When he approaches, we run away"
A reference to Oversimplified's Napoleonic Wars series
Go further back. The emus had that tactic in the Emu War.
Which was in reference to the Emu Wars video
It's from the emu war video
Not just napoleon. He's been doing it since the emu war
So he does it in oppositie chronological order
Just for a little perspective: 70,000 men at cannae were killed in an area around twice the size of Central Park in New York. All of them killed with swords and spears. One. At. A time. In a single day
Reminds me of Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield, talking about a lot of ancient fighting as running the mill of Ares
The equivalent of two small cities. Obliterated in one single day.
Even more mind blowing:
20% of the male, combat-aged populations is a higher demographic loss than any of the World Wars caused to any participating nation.
The US for example only lost 0,3% of its population in World War 2.
Again, just *one battle*. Compared to years of industrialized warfare with tanks, machine guns, artillery and warships.
This makes it more understandable why Hannibal was convinced that Rome would surrender after that.
He wiped out a fifth of their combat-aged population in one single battle.
Any modern nation would surrender after that.
And any nation before Rome would have surrendered too.
The only thing more mind blowing is that even with this percentages of losses, Rome *didn't* surrender.
I heard 50000 men were killed in the span of an hour
for me, it's not about the cities, it's about the fact that it's 20% of their population. In a SINGLE day. When else a massacre like this could happen@@johnmcmanus2447
I do love how at 7:35 when the Celts join him Hannibal says "Yeah boii!" The Boii were a Celtic tribe in northern Italy. Got a chuckle out of me.
So you're saying that Hannibal cracked a cold one with the Boii's?
@Jamhael1 Given what happened at the battle of Trebia, him and the Boiis were about to crack a lot of cold ones.
@@Kimmolito 🤣
that's such a nice joke and the writers definitely knew almost mo one will get it haha
I would've gone my entire life never knowing this reference if not for this comment. Thank you.
There's a reason that Hannibal was nicknamed "the scourge of Rome." He didn't just defeat the Roman Legions, he mercilessly obliterated them.
The Scourage of Rome vs The Hero of Rome
“Unmerceilessly” is not a word.
shutup mr grammar
@@fairtoki1685
@@alfredovillalobos7481to be fair, it should be known to everyone unmercilesly isn’t a word. The original commentator probably meant “unmerciful” or “mercilessly”.
In English ofcourse
I listened to a book written by Adrian Goldsworthy, "The Fall of Carthage", and he helped explain why Rome never surrendered. In its early days Rome was sacked, and after that the Romans treated every war they fought as a matter of life or death. Carthage on the other hand, followed the Greek philosophy that you fight until one side gains the advantage and then you make a fair peace. That is why Carthage did not follow through when they won a victory, because they had gained the advantage and now was the time to make peace. Carthage seems to have never understood that Rome saw anything other to total victory as a defeat, and defeat would mean death.
Carthage is penicion Lebanon
That’s illuminating. It’s also now on my TBR
Goldsworthy imo is peak roman historian. His biographies on Caesar and Augustus are by far the best
okay so they didn't sack Rome after Cannea because of overconfidence then... BOLOGNA... that is what you are saying pretty much... BS... But I don't think he could have sacked Rome because of the numbers and I think that had more to do with it. also clearly the Greeks did not subscribe to that philosophy after Leonidis lost at Thermopoly (I know I butchered the spelling there). also before this there was a Greek king (Pirius of Epierus) that invaded Italy from the south. he ran into the same problem, I'm winning these battles killing all these troops but they won't give up, I can't sack Rome because I don't have enough troops...He also made the mistake of going to Sicily which really upset his allies on the boot. also this is where we get the term "PIRIC VICTORY" for when you win the battle but at so high a cost you can't really continue your campaign. sorry I don't think 35,000 men would be enough to sack Rome and end this war, which is why he had sent feelers out to King Philip of Macedonia (not Alexanders dad... I can't remember the number) as an ally and reenforcements. this event caused the Romans to really start looking east Greece like "wow these guys could actually be a threat to us...* also even if they did sack Rome I'm pretty sure any survivors would not just give up due to their history (maybe offer him the possition of Ceaser... this is a joke obviously, as they did this shortly before the fall of Rome. I just can't remember the sackers name... I think he was German...lol) Also Hannibal had to have known he didn't have the numbers to sack Rome. Also any Allies on the Italian boot would have remembered Pirius of Eprius and been slow to support Hannibal against Rome because of the aftermath of Pirius of Eprius.
Not sure how true it is, but I've heard it said that the 'tradition' of warfare in the so-called classical era was akin to "best of three", or if one side scores that many wins against the enemy honour dictated that the losing side had to seek peace. It was ingrained into their theories and principles of warfare so much so that it would have been inconceivable to think, much less act, differently.
As the concept of "total war" is in this day and age. Ever since WW2 we regard industrial sites, road/rail infrastructure, etc. all as legitimate military targets... regardless of any civilian utility or use at the time of being attacked, in ways that those who came before us would find confusing. Even attacking hospitals is "justified" where it is claimed enemy troops receive treatment... because it is a military utility it is immediately a military target.
The similarities between Napoleon vs Wellington and Hannibal vs Scipio are really uncanny, including a campaign in Spain where the enemy makes a name for himself and defeats their brothers (Joseph and Mago/Hasdrubal) and a very close final battle.
Big difference though: If Scipio lost in Africa, there was a chance for Hannibal to win (or at least sue for peace on favorable grounds). If Wellington lost waterloo, Napoleon would have merely bought himself a few months at best.
literally I had to pull my dad in and show him I was so caught off guard by the similarities. But I guess history always repeats itself
Spoiler : Napoleon was already finished when first he lost in Russia and later at Lützen(and when I'm saying even in the second he lost look at the deaths ) .
I know is wasn't exctly the same, and it's true that the elephants were defeated early on, but when the battle became just infantry against infantry it was really close, the decisive turn came when the numidian cavalry returned to the battle to defeat Hannibal, kinda like the prussians at Waterloo.
Both were also hobbled by the Fabian strategy although the Coalition believed in the tactics vs Rome being too arrogant to not face their enemy in battle.
It's so weird that Hamilcar loses to Rome then has a son that ends up threatening Rome. Hannibal first fight against the Romans in Italy is against Scipio. And then Scipio son ends up beating Hannibal. God definitely has a sense of humor LMAO.
"history doesn't repeat, but it rhymes"
Funny thing Hamilcare never lost a battle and Hannibal lost only 1
@@Diogene1936Reminds me of the USA in Vietnam. The USA never lost a single medium to large scale battle but still lost the war.
I think you mean Jupiter and or Baal at the time since the Christian God wasn't created yet.
@@xavierwhitcraft1310 The Christian God is basically 100% identical to the Jewish God. Hell, Christianity itself is still quite similar to Judaism.
Remember that Christians only exist because the life of Jesus Christ caused a split among Jews with the Jews who believed Jesus Christ to be the promised Messiah from God going off elsewhere and renaming themselves 'Christians' to honor Jesus Christ.
Much the same thing happened with the Protestant Reformation where Christians were split by the teachings of Martin Luther.
One thing to take note of, of which that Oversimplified had placed as a footnote, but is quite important to understanding the psyche of the Romans and the worries that Hannibal had. It was how the Roman Infantry kept coming up on top when fighting head to head. @19:00 , the Romans' center broke through the Carthaginians center at the battle of the Trebia. At the battle of Lake Trasimene @31:31, the Romans' vanguard broke through the Carthaginians' blockade. These successes by the heavy infantry was a contributing factor to the Romans' strategy at Cannae, to capitalise their infantry's capabilities. So it was not a case of the Romans being incompetent, but Hannibal being really good at using his enemies' strengths against them.
"So it was not a case of the Romans being incompetent"
Eh, many of Hannibal's tricks would have not been possible or at least much less effective if the Romans weren't so arrogant in the first half of the Punic wars. Just proper scouting alone could have prevented many ambushes and encirclement maneuvers from Hannibal. Even after the Punic wars most of the few Roman losses were caused by incompetent leaders. See Crassus in Parthia or Varus in Germania. As good and effective as the Roman legions were, a bad general could waste all their potential.
And all Roman generals during the 2nd Punic war before Scipio Africanus were just bad and arrogant. I mean, most of them were more politicians than actual full-time generals in their life. The performance of their generals in the Punic wars is one of the many reasons that lead to the Marian reforms because it came clear that politicians who only care about fame and quick victory (since their leadership roles had a time limit) are bad generals.
It was a flaw in the pre-imperial era, that ensured the Republic remained well, a Republic by limiting the power generals could consolidate - but it caused the pre-imperial generals to be hot-headed and always trying to force a decisive battle as fast as possible to boost their career. This worked against celtic tribes and greek states close to the roman border, but showed clear issues against capable enemies like Hannibal or even just more distant enemies that required longer military campaigns in order to be defeated. Ofc this caused the Senate to lose their legal power to the generals who wielded more and more effective power, but this is another story.
Still, without the lessons learned from Hannibal and the Marian reforms that followed it later, Rome would have never become the lasting superpower as we know it today.
The republican, short-termed and hot-headed generalship during the Punic wars simply didn't work anymore.
@@LegioXXI Wouldn't that make it more of the Roman generals simply not being flexible enough to counter Hannibal rather than them being incompetent?
After all, their strategies and tactics did work against their usual enemies like the Celtic tribes, Greek states, other Italian city-states, or even the Carthaginians themselves in the first Punic War.
@@beohelitsmore yhe fact that the generals didnt learn from the first battles.
and when one of the generals did have a good idea the others ridculed him because they cared more about PR then strategy
I remember hearing that at Trebia, the Roman contingent that broke through the center ended didn't stop going; they ended up arriving in a town and announced their victory whilst the rest of the army had been annihilated by Hannibal.
Edit: Reading up on it, I misremembered; by the time they stopped their pursuit of the fleeing soldiers, they came to notice that the rest of the battle was already lost. They had to re-cross the river and took shelter in a nearby Roman settlement while the rest of the army was being finished off.
@@LegioXXI There's a century between the second Punic war and the Marian reforms (to the extent that those were a thing). And the "golden" era of Roman dominance vs all comers was before the reforms.
Shoutout to Vlogging through history for providing good context on Oversimplified videos. I always watch oversimplified first to support the source, but then I come to VTH right afterwards for his input!
Glad it’s not just me! Lol I watch quite a few videos at source then come for VTH take on things 😂
Don’t worry about how to say “Cannae”. As the great Dan Carlin says, “there’s no wrong way to mispronounce Latin”!
If you're interested, Historia Civilis has videos on all 3 of those major Hannibal victories: The Trebia River, Lake Trasimene, and Cannae that go into more depth about the intracacies of the battles. That's actually where he started with his channel and what originally brought him to my attention years ago.
I blame Historia Civilis for my Total War addiction (and my reignition of fascination of history)
or even history marche with 18 episode on the second punic war
HistoryMarche has done it better imo @@kajolet
I would not recommend Historia Civilis's videos on Trasimene, Trebia, and Cannae, as I honestly feel like they give very surface level information on the battles. History Marche is a way better alternative.
@@christophernakhoul3998 Another TH-camr Lindybeige does an excellent job on these battles as well.
I think we can all agree the best part of these two parts was seeing Mr. Terry's reaction to seeing his name on the vid. If you haven't seen it, go watch it.
Yep
that was so wholesome bro
In the disastrous Battle of Cannae, according to Livy, Scipio served as military tribune and that's where he learned and studied Hannibal's tactics that he will use to finally defeat Carthage with the veterans of Cannae, and he admired him as well.
Most Rivalries in history respected their adversary. Wellington and Napoleon, Alexander and Darius III, Patton and Rommel, Saladin and Richard I, and so on...
@@griffionwyvrus9063 in the case for Napoleon and Wellington, Napoleon was generally bitter towards Wellington for his exile and told his soldiers that he was a bad general, while Wellington publicly showed respect, in private he was critical of him.
I know he was saying this out of spite, but if you compare Wellington to him - he was indeed bad. Which is not an insult. Just it is not even close, hell, nobody during this era was even remotely close. Waterloo was lost before it happened - virtually no experienced, if any cavalry, scrapping the bottom of manpower, little to no veterans. Pretty sure if Napoleon had his best marshals who could operate on their own, they would've fend of coalition what 5th? 6th time? Running around with their corps, wreaking havoc. He was close himself to route 2 armies on his own with way smaller force before Paris capitulated.
@@Proph3t3NNot to mention the guy wasn't even in his prime at that time. Wellington is nothing compared to the him. Viva la Emperor.
When I read this, I drew a blank and thought it was the Scipio from earlier in the war, but then I remembered, this video ended with Scipio the Younger (or Scipio Africanus).
It's fascinating that Cannae is remembered for how genius it is but because we're in the West most people don't know a Qin General used the same strategy 50 odd years earlier to enact one of the largest massacres in pre WW1 military history (we're talking 300K - 400K casualties, though the vast majority surrendered and were buried alive around Changping). Hannibal was a beast, but Bai Qi was truly a monster
Thanks to ROTK 11 I know who that is!
Kingdom reference
Historia Civilis has some breakdowns on the Trebia River, Lake Trasimene, and Cannae battles. Stumbling upon those videos reignited my love for history (and more than a few Total War purchases).
Some fun facts: 30:34 Flaminius, the consul at Trasimene, was widely known for fighting the Gauls and taking their land. He also wore a Gallic scalp attached to his helmet. He more than stood out. The Gauls all knew who he was and wanted him dead.
At the Trebia River, the Roman middle managed to breakthrough the Carthaginian center and then...just kept going. Some sources say they realized that the battle was lost so they left. Others say they were always ordered to continue forward, so that's what they did. One account says they just kept going til they hit the nearest town talking about how they beat the Carthaginians. They ended up getting rescued and made it across the river at another time.
Also @ 35:30 that strategy was also employed by the emus in the Great Emu War. Brilliant strategists those birds were.
Just a little correction, Africanus was a cognomina ex virtute (like Germanicus, Persicus, Gothicus, etc) so even though the literal meaning of the word was “The African” in this context it meant “The conqueror of Africa/The African slayer”
can't wait to see Scipio and Hannibal battle! I know many people praise Hannibal as a great general like they should, Scipio Africanus is also an incredible general.
No doubt, people sometimes only talk about Zama with Scipio but his battles and conquest in Spain is maybe more impressive than Zama.
Hello
I feel bad for Flaminius honestly. He was one of those rare cases like Napoleon where he started being lowish-born pleb. Through his skill, politics, and planning he was able to rise to the very top of pleb society enough to be accepted by the patricians to join their ranks. Then he climbed even further to be consul. I'm sure since it was Roman society that hot headed nature really helped. It just was the worst thing to use against the crafty Hannibal.
To put into perspective how much of a catastrophe Cannae was for the Romans. Roughly 21.25% of the US’s Population are aged 18-50. There are around 331 Million People in the US. So around 70.44 Million People. 1/5th of that would be 14.088 Million people! Around 407,316 Americans died in the Second World War. The bloodiest battle in human history, Stalingrad, saw 1.2 million people die. This would be a catastrophe in modern day warfare.
By the way, Scipio Africanus was so important in the history of Rome and the following millennia that he is mentioned in our (Italy's) national anthem, which literally says "*Italy* wore the helmet of Scipio" as to mean that the current Italian culture and modern nation wouldn't be there if he hadn't defeated Hannibal
A story he didn’t bring up but was mentioned in Historia Civilis’ video about Trasimene (probably mentioned in one source but not in others so OS decided not to include it) was that Flaminius made a name for himself as a killer of Gauls and wore a Gaulic scalp over his helmet. So every single Gaul in Hannibal’s army knew his face and wanted to kill him
One of the reasons im not a fan of a lot of these TH-cam history content creators, is that at times they just add in fanciful things and say well someone mentioned it so i dont need to put a context to it.
The story about the scalp is from Silius Italicus’ epic poem “Punica“ the Poem is not written as historical evidence, and includes all kinds of mythological stories such as Mago being instantly healed by a snake charmer, the river attacking Scipio, until Vulcan shows up and burns the river, and ohh Trebizond took place during an earthquake.
Honestly if History civilisation included, this account without making it clear that its from a poem full of obviously untrue accounts, then id call it directly emberrasing.
Fabius was actually the one who started this, he was the diplomat who told the Carthaginian Senate that "The Folds of my toga hold both Peace and War."
Small detail, but you used a late republic example to showcase Legion numbers. During the Punic Wars the Romans still used the tiered infantry Manipular system, which divided men into units based on combat experience. I believe the numbers are mostly similar, so this is mostly a useless quibble, but the famous cohort system that everybody knows was not yet in use.
If I'm not mistaken, the legion of the mid Republic would be slightly less than 5000 men since it lacked some of the logistics and support elements that were added to the late legion. Technically 1 cohort > 2 maniples, and the Triarii maniples were smaller.
But overall, 1 army (Roman legion + allied legion) would come up to about 10000 men give or take
A guy named Paulus getting encircled by a supposedly weaker enemy? Never saw that one before...
technically the first time
Fabian Strat is also the type of approach that eventually crippled Napoleon. The "we RUN AWAY" line by Fabius is also a Direct reference to Oversimplified's vids on Napoleon.
And his Emu War video.
More of an Oversimplified running gag.
i cant imagine walking THREE DAYS Straight without being able to sit crazy time, a diffrent breed of human
in filthy water that sometimes comes up to your neck while wearing roman armor
Of course I love the original oversimplified video, but I do love all of the insight you give! You constantly add information and details I very much appreciate!
I love the “300” style animation when the Celt warrior fired his spear at Flaminius. Oversimplified does such an amazing job.
I think that celt has to be Ducarius.
Just wanted to add a comment in addition to the element of control: The armies actually angaged in a skirmish that was about to escalate the day before but Hannibal was quick to pull his troops back in that engagement since he had no interest to commit to a battle that he couldn't influence or control. Speak volumes about his leadership amd ability as a general.
Just watched Mr Terry’s reaction to his shout out. It was great because he was so happy, first laughing then it made him tear up. Pretty much the definition of wholesome content 🙂
Can i just say that i've started watching your reaction videos about 6 months ago and you're truly a gift to the history community. Well mannered, Well versed in the topics and most importantly: Passionate about history. I just wanna say thank you and keep it up!
If you remember from the hundred years war, that guy Fabian, his tactics for later, used by Bertrand du Guesclin to fight the The Black Prince. Coming full circle here.
Roman fans: The Roman’s were unstoppable and only fell after 2000 years of internal conflict! Hannibal: Be a shame if I wiped out 20% of its male population in one battle.
Well, Hannibal won the battle and still lost the war. Even with the horrendous losses he caused at Cannae.
If anything, it's even more impressive that Rome still stood after this and had the (will) power to come back.
Most modern nations would surrender if they lost so much of their population in a war, yet alone in a single battle.
So yep, im gonna remain a Roman fan.
@@LegioXXI absolutely agree, despite losing so much they were still unstoppable in the sense that they just don't give up
Rome is a stubborn anime protagonist confirmed
You can be both a Rome fan and a Hannibal fan. These two aren’t mutually exclusive.
@@LegioXXI Many Roman Fans and Hollywood build the Roman Empire up as a highly advanced near unstoppable army, meanwhile irl the Romans only got strong because they fought those who they could learn from fighting. Hannibal did make Rome his punching bag, but Rome managed to survive and with the lessons learned from Hannibal’s campaign Rome was strengthened both strategically and tactically. So, many of Rome’s strategy’s and strengths were learned from its enemies and its Japanese-esque psychology of no surrender.
Oversimplified deserves an oscar for these vids
Theres something to be said about Hannibal himself aswell, imagine facing 80,000 men and leading 40,000 men IN THE FRONT RANKS, all the while having TOTAL CONTROL over the entire army throughout the battlefield, if thats not the most skilled general in human history, I genuinely do not know who is.
There are many accounts of significance regarding where in formation he rode his elephant
Through Gaul he rode it proudly in front and inspired the Gauls and anyone who wasn’t a friend to Rome to follow the guy on the elephant
In harsh marches like the Alps or the swamp he would ride in the back ensuring that any man attempting to desert would have to face him to do it.
By putting himself in front he let every soldier know that he had absolute faith in this plan and they should too
It’s impressive that even when massive death such as the aftermath at Cannae is portrayed by a silly cartoon, it still gives the chills
30,000 gallons of blood
@@hailarwotanaz5848 right? There’s no way to hear that and not be impacted
I think it helps that every character,both Roman and Carthaginian, are equally shaken by the events. The Roman's in fear for the slaughter to come. The Carthagians "shell-shocked" by the carnage after.
ITS HEEEERREEEE
If I had a penny for every time a guy named Paulus had his army destroyed in a major historical battle I'd have two pennies which I think is pretty cool
What was the second?
@@varlaamthecreator4325 stalingrad
These two videos were incredible from Oversimplified, but the build up to, and the set pieces of the Battle of Cannae segment was truly truly epic. Incredible work from Oversimplified.
As always, a great reaction video from you too. We were really treated to something special with this one.
Just imagine an oversimplified video with history teachers and reactors as guest voice actors
Have you ever heard of Drawn Of History?
His video on King John has quite a few people including Chris himself as one of the barons who signed the Magna Carta.
That battle of Cannae for modern us would be around seven and a quarter million dead....... just imagine the population of Massachusetts all gone in an afternoon that's horrific
Mr. Terry wears nice hats 😆
That was the first time I felt sick to my stomach watching one of over simplified’s videos. Usually the numbers from the battles are just that, figures in the screen. I never get any sense of what they mean, but the description of the battle of Cannae made me shudder, that must have been truly horrific. I have to imagine even the Carthaginians were slightly traumatised by what took place
For those interested in Hannibal. There is an excellent old tv movie with Alexander Siddig as Hannibal. It is really good
Side point: the example you use for the size of Roman legions is a later formation. You used the organization introduced by Marius (hence called the Marian Reforms). At this time, Roman legions were considerably smaller (roughly 1-3K). The legionnaires weren't standardized as they would later be, consisting of hestati, principes, and triarii, supported by velites and equites.
I have one question about this war, did Hannibal ever get support from Africa? Because Carthage just seems to not do anything while Hannibal does everything.
50:40
This reminds me of the our Battle of Grunwald in 1410 Poles/Lithuanians vs Teutonic Order
In the aftermath Teutonic Order lost 217 high ranking officials who were the ruling class only 1 saved himself.
This is why in short term Battle achived nothing, no territorial gains, but it enabled the total anihilation of Teutonic order in 1460s.
I did the math. If The Battle of Cannae happened today (adjusted for population) it would be around 2.765 MILLION dead…
i am not very educated with war strategies, but upon seeing that encirclement movement, I immediately got reminded of the Battle of the Bastards from GOT, and I love that Chris mentioned it aswell. Wow.
Edit:
I just realized that the Roman's strategy in Battle of Cannae kind of resembles their strategem in Battle of Cape Eknomus during the 1st Punic War. And that 3 Generations of Scipios had been part of the 1st and 2nd Punic Wars
Yesssssssssss thank you so much Chris and let’s all take a sec to appreciate oversimplified!!!!
I never thought id see myself as a history geek but there are lessons to be learned from these events that can apply to your life. Cheesy as it sounds but rome never giving up is a concrete example that not giving up can n will lead to success.. and good planning can over power brute force etc..
By far the best reaction channel on TH-cam.
i admire how appreciative and courteous you are to those you react to. ive been subscribed for a minute and your content keeps getting better and better. keep up the good work Chris!!
14:05 Privacy is dead, but like Hannibal we can exploit that. I, a cisgender man, downloaded a period tracker app and tell surveys I have no idea what a tomato is, because if there's one thing I love it's causing chaos in the data broker's consumer profiles.
To put Cannae into perspective, it's roughly as if the Soviets were to have lost 10M men in one battle in 1941.
Which is roughly what they lost in the entirety of WWII. Considering that they're the nation who suffered more military deaths than all other nations combined in that war. So yeah, pretty bloody battle.
It might actually be an even bigger ratio because I doubt the Soviets were conscripting up to 50 years old.
I love how History OverSimplified when the Celts come into the equation. It's 60,000 Conor McGregor's.
After watching this video and the whole Historia civilis series on Caesar, it’s just scary to see how good the romans were at learning from defeat and keeping the knowledge around. One of the most important battles in roman history, Pharsalus, happened over 150 years after Hannibal’s shinenigans in Italy and even then we could see Pompeii pulling a mix of trebia and cannae by trying to overrun Caesars’s flank with his chivalry and then pushing Caesar’s men downhill into a river. Just to find that Caesar had put a legionnaires group right behind his horses precisely because of this.
It doesn’t seem like much, but think about it. We are talking about two guys well over 50, with a long and successful career behind them, as arrogant and proud as the romans come, pulling strategies and counters out of something their people went through several generations before. There’s more time between Caesar and Hannibal than there’s between Napoleon and WW2 and look at how the latter went in comparison.
Cheers to both the romans for a lesson well learned and to Hannibal for traumatizing them that much.
31:18 reminds me of the First Punic war Video when Rome kept sailing into storms. "sir, don't you think we should have learned our lesion by now." "Yes Steve, we ought to have, but we haven't."
You have to feel a bit sorry for Fabian, as he was the only Roman commander before Cannae who seemed to understand what he was dealing with, making him a legitimate threat to Hannibal. His strategy was just too ahead of his time and wasted with the impatient Romans. Hannibal hated Fabian's strategy; and if your enemy hates what you're doing, odds are you're doing something right.
3:18 Another instance that comes to mind is Tariq ibn Ziyad supposedly burning his ships after he landed with his 7,000 man army in Iberia for the conquest, telling his men "behind you is the sea and before you is the enemy". It's disputed but it's a pretty awesome legend that I heard growing up.
burn the boattssss
Wow! Perfect timing!
Just watched the original. 😊
Some notes because this is a war I've done personal research on.
- It's believed by some sources that Flaminius was "pushed" into his consulate position because Fabius Maximus knew of his inexperience and hotheaded nature and wanted Rome to suffer a devastating loss to the point where they'd see the threat that is Hannibal-
- One of Hannibal's other trump cards in his army were his Balearic Slingers. Capable of accurate and fast shots to as far as "A stadium" away which in modern terms is around 150-210 meters away.
Stories say that the Balearic Mothers would place pieces of breads on top of hill for their children and not allow them to eat it before they hit it with their slings.
It's absolutely insane how Rome just comes back after having entire armies destroyed. The same thing also happened in the First Punic War.
One thing that Oversimplified touched on was the Gaul that killed Flaminius, the Gauls actually hated Flaminius because he was renowned for his battles in the Po Valley (Northern Italy) against the celts and Gauls. When Hannibal learned that Flaminius was chasing him to Lake Trasimene, he told the Gauls who couldn’t wait to get there hands on him. After the ambush was successful, Hannibal tried looking for Flaminius to give him a proper burial but never found his body. According to legends, he was torn to pieces by the Gauls.
If you want to look more into Hannibal Barcas campaign, look up the channel Historymarche, they have multiple episodes on Hannibal Barcas campaign and his opponents like Fabius Maximus. I strongly recommend looking at there videos.
2:41 the UK version of Gladiators has been rebooted by the BBC and just started in the last couple of weeks, so at least over here a whole new generation will now get that joke.
Came here to say this. And according to Wikipedia, Australians also have a 2024 reboot.
woah, I literally just, while on youtube homepage thought "i wonder if VTH has uploaded part 2 of his reaction yet", typed in your channel and this literally uploaded 2 minutes ago haha
i just realized, roman tactics really just consisted of bumrushing the enemy
And again I need to mention that Hannibal achieved his successes as a leader of (majority) Barbarians - and not a trained army. Which makes it so much more impressive.
@11:00 Good point VTH. We even fell for it again fighting against the Germans when we fought at Kasserine Pass. Underestimated the German forces there. Never underestimate an enemy, I believe Sun Tzu said.
Everytime i watch videos of VTH, i am questioning myself why my history teacher wasnt this passionate about history as this guy and the people making the videos.
Thank you for bringing history to people like me, that found it "boring" before.
This has been amazing! Can't wait For the third part🔥🔥🔥🔥
49:42 The Romans were forced into the Cannae smile of encirclement. It's a dentist's dream.
The detail about Hannibal specifically sparing Fabius' farms always stuck with me. It's just so cunning, especially when Roman politics is taken into account.
Sure, when it comes right down to it, other senators might not actually believe it, but the plebiean masses might. It also gives opportunistic political enemies a weakness they can exploit and sows doubt in the Roman mind. That single tactic shows you just how existentially dangerous Hannibal was.
Love your commentary, one of my favorites.
I subscribed your your WW1 story channel a day or two ago as well and as always - great videos.
Anytime I feel kind of anxious or just not "too great", your videos always ground me.
2:10 Adding to the confusion. We have Publius Scipio and his son Publius Scipio (Scipio Africanus), then there is the adopted grandson of Scipio Africanus, named Scipio Aemilianus ( also named Scipio Africanus). Scipio Aemilianus was the grandson of Paullus that were defeted at Caenne. The Greek Historian Polybius that is mentioned, was a close friand of the second Scipio Africanus
Make's me kind of mad that the general who didn't wantes to fight yet ended up dying on the battle and the general who got them into the battle in the first place ran way
Finally
9:52
Once you get past age 13-14 you realize how sick naps are
This was great! It's so much easier to learn about historic events in this format.
I love your channel! Your insight, voice, and material brings me much joy. You fill a particular niche of history media which you do so well. I am so grateful for your hard work and dedication. TY
So where is Carthage in all of this? Just sitting at home? Seems like this would be a good time to take some of them islands back
As far as I know It is called a century even when it has only 80 soldiers because it had roughly 20 logistics and maintainance men with it to make it a full 100
felt like such a tease to watch these two vids only to end with part 3 coming soon
While we’re on the topic of Roman history, are you planning on going back to Historia Civilis’ series on Caesar. Ik you started it a few years ago but I was thinking you could attack it in the same way you do some of the longer EH series like Justinian so it doesn’t take as long to get through? Thanks!
Hanbali's Tactics give Creedance to a sang that the US military has. Information Is Ammunition.
After the first batlle between Hannibal and the Double Consuler Army, one if the Consul's involved got the name Asina for it. I think Scipio. Literally meaning Scipio the Ass.
Dan Carlin’s podcast is by far the best podcast out there. Only one I pay money to be able to listen to.
You know, every time I see these massive battles in the western world, I find myself even more morbidly fascinated and horrified by the death tolls in China in the same general time period. The Battle of Cannae was in 216 BC and involved 90,000 losses in total at the maximum. During the Qin conquests to unify China, there was one battle in particular that stood out as being particularly bloody: the Battle of Changping in 260 BC. The Qin lost 250,000 men while the Zhao lost 400,000 men, with most executed after the battle by the general of Qin, Bai Qi. Almost 3/4 million dead from a single battle in that time period is absolutely mind-boggling, even if it wasn't in a single day like in Cannae.
Changping is less a battle and more a campaign, though. The bulk of those losses were over the course of two years' campaigning (262 BCE - 260 BCE). It's like me calling the first two-three years of the 2nd Punic War "The Battle of Cannae," even though it involves Ticinus, Trebia, Placentia, Victumulae, Trasimene, Ager Falernus, Geronium, and the actual Battle of Cannae, as well as all of the manoeuvring and actions in between.
@@doritofeesh That's true. I was using Changping primarily because it's a spectacularly large number not because it's the best comparison. Cannae involved 20% of the working male population of Rome, so Changping alone involved more men than all of Rome, and Changping was only one, albeit major, part of the Qin campaigns. That kind of scale was what I was trying to convey.
Unfortunately, Chris cut the video before seeing the End Credits.
It’s also mind blowing just how massive the death toll was in all the battles in the Punic War.
Have you ever listened to The History of Rome podcast by Mike Duncan?
I’d highly recommend it for anyone interested in the history of Rome.
I waited so long for this reaction
Can’t wait for part 3 !!!!!
The best history commentary TH-camr IS HEREEE
It makes you wonder. What would have happened if Hannibal had marched on Rome following the battle of Cannae. There may not have been a Roman Empire.
That ‘we run away’ plan is a reoccurring thing in the oversimplified series and they always called it genius but here it’s seen as stupid by the other officials
16:01-18:34 This is the section of the video I keep coming back to, because I enjoy it so much.
Man, I get goosebumps every time I watch the part about Cannae and the end with Scipio. Absolutely amazing video, and great hearing your thoughts on this topic as well!
Its crazy how important a good general is. These incompetent roman consuls coudlnt even touch Hannibal with a million men but Scipio won with a smaller army than Hannibal.
Never clicked on a video so fast! I love your videos!