"You can just throw rocks. They cost you nothing, take no preparation and you throw them at people and they get hurt. It's great!" Good lord this guy is hilarious, we need him back again please.
@@vigilantgopher9563 boiling water or oil would not be a good range weapon either, and that is what the rocks are being compared to, not arrows. Its just something to drop on enemies, not something to throw at them. ✌🏼
I appreciate that he drives the point home of how simplicity is key to warfare. You dig ditches, use rocks, avoid fire, stab the guy if he's within stabbing range, you dig ditches, use formations that require the least micromanagement, and you dig ditches.
The greatest warrior in history was not a Bowman or a Swordsman or a Spearman. He was a digger. A digger who dug ditches. When he was done, he dug more ditches. Ditches help you win wars. I learnt this when I started throwing rocks at people because they got hurt and it was great. Thanks Roel!
And then WW1 came, and the Great Generals sat in their clubs with brandy and ordered 18 year olds out of the ditches to run directly into modern artillery. Month after month, year after year. Oh, yeah, they gave these teens little hats. To keep them protected.
The biggest historical battle in Portugal was the battle of aljubarrota, where the Portuguese army, which counted about 6000 men, and 200 English longbowmen defeated the Spanish army of 31000 men. And they did it how - you guessed it - ditches.
One of the most important battle for early Islamic history was called Battle of the Trench. When the confederation of Quraysh and other tribes try to invade Medina with 10,000 people the Muslim dug trenches in the open area where the attackers were coming. They dug trenches for 6 days and lay in wait inside while they were besieged. Eventually bad weather and lack of provisions caused the invaders to lose much of their forces and they turned tail and went back.
I'm not a historian, but in live in the UK within a 10 minute drive from an iron age settlement and you have 2 fortifiable raises to get to the top and 1 entrance way. it's in the shape of an oakleaf. when you're stood on top you can see where the kill zones would be.
That’s kinda stupid because dig ditches need very much man power but your enemies can use ladders or catapult or just wait for ceasing your castle to death
@@Monelinius I'm pretty sure most of the siege in history were waiting for surrender (and creating chaos in the city to help) vs waiting for reinforcements anyway, because defensive position were too strong and the attacker want to avoid the heavy casualties of assaulting a wall
@@Monelinius Would give time for reinforcments or allied to arrive. Like when the ottomans tryt to attack a polish city the wingedhussars arrived and savede the day so to say.
@@Monelinius russians invaded Ukraine in 2014... since then, it's 9 years of non-stop ditch digging. They STILL haven't taken Marinka or Avdiivka, which are on frontline since like 2015. It's just entire region turned into giant trench system. With Starlink internet and even PlayStation in some of them!
“Rocks cost nothing, take no preparation. You just throw them and people get hurt its great!”. Best line ever edit: where tf did these likes come from👁👄👁
True. Hence why when protests/riots that escalate enough to the point of one/both sides (whether it's riot vs riot or riot versus police) getting very physically violent, many simply throw rocks/bricks/whatever. Police are more likely to use guns or water hoses or pepper spray, but yeah.
The Donkey Kong school of philosophy is a simple but honest discipline. The inclusion of barrels was a horrible historical inaccuracy added by the Japanese.
"Camels, always useful, because they scare horses. - They would use camels to scare off enemy cavalry" So that's why Camel Riders in Age of Empires 2 deal bonus damage to Cavalry. ;o
What's funny to me is that the GoT scene with the zombies, the placement of the cavalry, catapults and infantry is _exactly_ how you would want it to be *IF* you were _attacking_ the castle! If all those units did a 180 and faced the castle, that's how you'd attack. Your infantry protecting the catapults and then the cavalry behind so they could swing in from the sides if anyone came out to attack. (Otherwise, cavalry is kind of useless against a castle.) But yeah, you would do much better with 100% of those troops _inside_ the castle. My wife became irritated with me when we were watching that scene because I was saying how awful it was while pulling my hair and nearly scratching my eyes.
@@grondhero Shhh. Many here think you put your army in front of the castle walls. Because the "expert" said so. Ask them to explain why...they don't. Just throw insults at you. Saying how YOU are the one in the wrong because HE'S the expert.
The biggest historical battle in Portugal was the battle of aljubarrota, where the Portuguese army, which counted about 6000 men, and 200 English longbowmen defeated the Spanish army of 31000 men. And they did it how - you guessed it - ditches.
@@wingerding No, I wasn't. I was pointing out a historical battle that you can verify. And yes, Portugal was once a powerful nation and quite proficient in warfare.
Have your ever heard about portuguese biggest defeat?You may want to hear about it.Because it was around 1602 in Sri Lanaka at Mulleriyawa.The whole portugal army was slaughtered in a single combat.I have heard that more than 10000 of portugeses died during the battle
@@delonnilanga7059 Our biggest defeat was at Ksar el-Kebir in 1578. 15 000 dead and captured including our king and costing us our independence for 60 years. We remained in Sri Lanka until 1658 when we were expelled by the Dutch.
Please have a part 2 with this guy. The combination of his general frustration with hollywood's willfull ignorance, expertise and humor is about perfect.
love this guy too... they should hire him for some movies. He can help them create visual spectacle without the nonsensical simplifications that they show battles where people clearly do not behave in a way that will help their survival
I'd like to ask him about the Dothraki in Game of Thrones. Their entire army was cavalry, no infantry, no archers, just a crazy charge of horsemen. Doesn't seem a good strategy.
I love this guy. I am a vet, and military strategy is absolutely amazing. And a lot of people overlook simplicity, just as he said with the ditches. People seem to always ignore the power of flanking. Once you are attacking on one side, you have a 50/50 chance of winning. Once you are attacking on 2 sides, you got more of a 70-80% chance of winning. Once you are attacking on 3 sides, it's over.
On the other hand the group you're surrounding now only has to pick one direction to push at, cover their flanks a bit, and make a fighting retreat. Then again I ain't a military analyst I'm just a dude on the internet.
@@Thornbloom true, but then you are retreating and not much cover of your rear. So, like I said, it's over. I'm no strategist by far, but they do teach you a few things in the military and I love playing Chess.
What he also points out is how difficult it is to keep control over any larger force, which is another reason to keep tactics simple. The more complex they are, the more variables you introduce, the more things can go wrong. Stuff like that is fine on a squad level (provided they are smart to understand it), but anything above that?
@@Shade01982 yep, numbers matter. I don't care how badass the individual is, once to get to a ratio of 1:3 or higher, youre done. Even if you have a great defensive position. The smaller group can't afford to lose anyone, whereas the larger group can use the expendable troops to overrun the position.
@@kevinashley478 2 words: Rorke's Drift. Not an ideal defensive position, barricades made of flour sacks. Ratio >20:1 ~150 Redcoats vs 3,000-4,000 Zulus. There are always exceptions. Battle of Ulundi was a ratio of about 3:1, with the smaller force victorious in just 30 minutes. Tactics are equally important to defeating overwhelming odds.
"But they cost you nothing, they take no preparation, and you just throw them at people. They get hurt. It's great." -- Roel Konijnendijk 2021 Jokes aside though he is brilliant.
fam, rocks were used since beginning of warfare (with javelins too) they were used as slingers and were highly lethal, also Romans respected sling and perfected them with metal balls used as ammo, now imagine being an enemy army when 4200 man start roasting you with metal balls before charge
@@szarekhthesilent2047 Yes, few thousands year before probably (i only wrote how Romans liked them, don't forget David killed Goliath with sling shoot)
Fiction and the public they cater to (that are usually evem worse and dumber, especially larp stuff) would think first about bringing swords into battle, thinking that you could penetrate armor with arrows and placing sticks like the enemy would have horsemen-Sherman tanks landing, and in an Ancient amphibious assault, before even sniffing the thought, empathizing and identification of that basic mechanic and drive (if not shared personal rule, especially as the fight begins or gets even intense) of every single one on the battlefield lol like it has perfectly swapped the order of the priorities, and the fear and care of dying is barely present if not non-existent, sheesh! Pretty strange indeed lol I mean, even as detached as this indeed is (probably the most thing ever: not much could beat trying to depict and simulate Ancient War as a person far from battle and centuries after the periods) one would think that getting that being uncareful, negligent and up to, at best, gambles (usually the soldiers depicted do stuff that is on suicidal or loony levels lol) when it's your life (and your comrade and a whole army around you) on the line + not caring about control and trying to have a grip in a situation when a human would desperately search for it the most would be two easy checks lol. White arms battles were basically the greatest rave parties or greatest sudden mass hysteria that two pile of hundreds of life would gladly and almost naturally partake in.
Maybe, just like armour, formations and care of such mechanical bases and concepts are thought as they were just random, artificial and redundant exercises lol Ironically, so, basically, the commanders, officials and all that kind were more attached and concerned of the soldiers and development of war situations than the warriors on the battlefields themselves, sheesh! Talk about privileged, sheltered, detached from reality/the rank and file and cold! They seem pretty great to me, even almost too concerned for such a basic and simple thing like war and fighting apparently lol can't blame this view though, in a world where you have Napalm or Greek Fire already by Antiquity (and by bow and arrow) and terrain, mechanics, basic concepts and dangers of movements etc being irrelevant not only for infantry but even for literal horsemen. Well, now that I think about it, no wonder it's no big deal to perform amphibious assaults then lol and that helmets are useless and with no incidents, collateral damage, friendly obstruction, shrapnel, fuss generated by those masses moving etc ever happening/included in the film.
11:47 "So again, where is your ditch? Where is your ditch?! You gotta have a ditch!" 12:09 *Deep sigh* "Stop it with the fireballs!" This man is so sassy and I absolutely love it
Oh, another thing, the fort he showed set on fire for fire arrows(A motte and Balley, not sure on the spelling) but they were primerally wood, soooo, ye Now, he was looking at Romen, Greek and English/Scottish and Hammer deep in this video... It would be better if he focused on one time period/World. Grammar has been fixed
I'd add that you can also heat up some sand and pour it over the walls. It's hot, rough, irritating and gets everywhere. The added bonus is you aren't wasting precious water in a siege.
they should have him react to historical/fantasy video games like crusader kings or assassins creed or any other video game with more elaborate military tactics
"In fact, in this period the Greeks were the ones who charged like that. Whereas the persians were much more organized and advanced silently into the battle, which was something that impressed Greeks." That was actually interesting to know.
Apparently Persians were more sophisticated then greeks they had more centralised way of governing an empire and they have a good standing proffesional army with legendary Immortals in Their core infentary...
@@subhamsen5200 well, every polis in Greece was different at that time so it is a bit adventurous to speak about all of the Greeks at the same time. Spartans had a huge ammount of slaves at that time, they even started wars just to get their slaves killed in battle when they had too many to control longterm. This means that they could focus 24/7 into being soldiers. Add that they had a very focused life, not focusing into luxury or things like the Roman nobility. Plus they were not crazy "Never retreat, never surrender" men....
@Fishy Vagina Oh, that was just because if a family is attacked, the first line of defense is the male, because he is usually physically stronger and testosterone increases the level of aggressive behavior as well as risk taking behavior. Apart from that, males are more disposable than females in larger groups. If the male goes down, it is usually the female who steps in to defend the children because the children are the most vulnerable and the least likely to successfully defend themselves. Also, they are the literal future of the family or group. I didn't mean to say that some were better than others.
I love how he actually takes a moment to think about what realistic, effective tactics might look like against the GoT ice zombies. One of my favorite experts brought on for this!
That always gets appreciation from me because many historians just pretentiously ignore fantasy. Actually engaging with it to present a compromise between the fantasy and realistic tactics is what makes the most interesting military moments in fantasy
@@megalexantros The worst thing for me now is the fact that in every movie of that sort where I see someone standing around I will scream in my head: "GO DIGGING YOU MUPPET"
"They just deliberately made them into savages. Why would you make them into savages? They were sophisticated people." How the media treats any civilization that isn't the 'civilized' culture. Movies, TV, video games, they all do it, particularly with the Scandinavians.
There's an annoying divide in modern culture about The Norse. People either think they were filthy savages who ran around yelling, covered in blood and animal pelts, or they basically deify them and act like they were the greatest most honorable and courageous culture in history. There's never any middle ground
Well, Scandinavians in the Viking era burned houses and raped women to death. They also murdered people in the most gruesome and painful ways imaginable so…
@@Tarnished-bn5gq And that means that they should be misrepresented? I'm not saying that the atrocities they perpetrated should be overlooked. Replacing one form of historical inaccuracy for another doesn't correct the issue. All of those things that the vikings did, every other civilization also did to some extant, but we never see the Romans running around in patchwork leather rags covered in mud for example.
@@Tarnished-bn5gq again not always and not more than other societies or civilizations. if you think christian munks, who themselves supported a bloody crusade later on, didnt exaggerate then youre naive. Britons were fighting amongst themselves and celts and germanic tribes were brutally killing other people. ROmans were much more brutal than vikings, if you dont believe that look at carthage and corinth. Dont come here and tell me vikings were worse or did something that other people didnt do. You project your modern ideas about vikings based on works literally written hundreds of years after the viking era. Yes i do think vikings were brutal but not in a way you described it and not as if they were the only ones haha. Celts, britons and greeks, persians, romans etc were not less violent. So youre kinda not right in your statement.
@@jjkrayenhagen they shouldn’t be misrepresented, no, however that is an accurate representation of them. It’s similar to how ancient Romans should’ve been depicted as fascist misogynists.
@@thomasf.9717 same here. Just one of the worst battle scenes in general. Helms deep was also at night but they do a fantastic job with lighting. In got they had dragons that hardly got used catapults that didn't get used at all thousands of dothraki that get sent on a ridiculous suicide mission only to respawn a couple of episodes later and about half a dozen instances where you think a named character will die then it cuts away the next time you see them they are completely fine and doing something else. Terrible tactics terribly written and terribly shot.
i'll never forget watching GoT and seeing Jon Snow, a man who never led an actual military campaign prepare the strategy, while they had Jaime Lannister there, a proven skilled general, just watching and nodding. Makes sense the strategy sucked
It’s more present in the books Jon does much more in them, and I think they tried doing that in the show but with out actually showing his skill so it comes off weird.
Jamie is not supposed to be the best general. He's just supposed to be the best fighter/melee combatant. In the books, Stannis would probably be the best general. Much older and more experienced than Jamie. That's not to say Jamie is not a competent general, his dad is Tywin Lannister, course he's going to be at least competent.
Jon stewarded with Jeor Mormont for a while and had a classic education among the Starks. His strategy was very good until he tried to save Rickon, exposing himself and needing his small cavalry to save him
One of the best videos i've ever watched, i can't thank you enough. I love that you brought a person that was strict with the notes and actually seemed to be following a criteria of evaluation, he teaches very well, have a good sense of humor and all the while being very polite.
this man is absolutely awesome! i love how he actually demonstrated the truly effective tactics he would use against a bunch of imaginative creatures lol
Who could’ve guessed that digging ditches would be the most important tactic in battles? But it’s obvious now, it gives you the high ground. Obi wan Kenobi knew it all along and we just turned it into a meme…
Can you have this guy on again? Such a fantastic blend of eminent historical knowledge, concise breakdowns for the layperson, and humor. Very unhistorian-like, super interesting and I wish I could take his classes.
I agree. But I think this person was way more forgiving of GoT than he should have been. Charging head first into an attack with all your cavalry, well before anyone was engaged, and at least a couple hundred yards ahead from your main force, in a defensive effort, where you can't see anything, was the most idiotic thing I have ever seen in any show or movie's battle tactics. Worse than some of these pike wall charges.
You know the literal subject he teaches is "The evolution of medieval ditch warfare 101" - "The archeological record from digging ditches to ditch victory 102", I'd definitely engage in his courses
You really think an Oxford college would teach a course with “101” in the title? He teaches "Aristocracy and Democracy 550-450 BC” and is the course convener for “Classical Archeology & Ancient History” at Lincoln College.
@@pmc8451he’s also my thesis supervisor on 5th Century BC Athenian Naval strategy! And runs a little ancient warfare circle of his students like some secret society haha!
I love that this guy uses the Battle of Helm's Deep to point out that real fortifications often included ditches, when in the book there is, in fact, a ditch. :D
Because the guy who wrote Lord of the Rings was *actually* in the military and *used* ditches both to move around and to stop or slow enemy advances, unlike the director, who admittedly make cool looking scenes.
@@stormhawkdude well, Tolkien was incredible. And the director fell in the Hollywood curse (I mean, like, everything this guy is criticising). If it looks cool, the better, even if it’s not accurate
The passion in which this expert talks about the effectiveness of throwing rocks, truly makes me buy his credentials. Absolutely a rock can end your day.
People keep criticizing Israeli Defense Forces as fighting nothing but kids with rocks, but finally someone understands that kids with rocks, especially when using slings, are very deadly!
Finally an Ancient Warfare Expert commenting on the Lord of the Rings. One of my ancestors used to fight in the Ring-Wars. I am glad that he clarifies the Uruk-hai weren‘t using ladders back then…
This man deserves a better marker for his white board, given the entertainment value he provides - particularly in explaining how to defeat ice zombies.
I’d watch an entire series with this expert. A) we’re legitimately learning a lot here B) he’s ratings are (finally!) not pandering to popular movies, maintaining a sort of historical rigor and C) I find him entertaining! More, pls. Subject matter expert reviews are just a brilliant idea in general, this being at the top of the heap.
He is a little pandering. He was rather soft on 300 in this video, and in other media appearances (check out the Invicta podcast on TH-cam, it's an hour-long discussion and breakdown of the same scene he comments on here) he's very harsh on 300 and its impact on popular perceptions of ancient Sparta. This type of video prioritizes audience engagement over granular education, which is okay.
@@juanchitaro5380 he was definitely far too lenient on the game of thrones siege, especially compared to other ones in this same video he scored lower, I mean there might aswell have not been walls at all in that game of thrones siege and it would have still gone the same way
Just search for Roel Konijnendijk he has a sample lecture on "War as amateurs" or something to that effect comparing the Greek part time citizen soliders to the modern and ancient professional soldier. Its really interesting!
He's got a great sense of humor and explains things in a really easy-to-understand way. And I've also learned so much about the importance of ditch digging. This video is fantastic!
He demonstrates that many of the Hollywood tropes that look good also just make ancient people seem stupid, which they were definitely not. They were as smart as we are (albeit with less accumulated knowledge of the world).
@@lndestr1234 - yes, I'm always dreaming I go on something called "the internet" or whatever and communicate with people I've never seen and never will. It must be from that chip I got in me when I went to the dentist last time. Say what you will, I know those implants are real and the government uses my unique DNA for something. (Seriously though what would the general public do with the accumulated knowledge of the world? use it to get more likes on social media? invent another tik tok?)
I think people in those times probably were smarter. People have been too distanced from practicality and they have built culture based on marketing lies, fads that somehow stayed alive (blue for men and pink for women) and whatever the government and popular science say. People are a lot less capable and when your physical energy and mental health are lower, you are less capable of learning. On the other hand, I would say our food situation is a dream come true for practical people who know how that energy and nutrition can benefit them. I feel like a super-human compared to how I was with a deficient diet. But then again, there were a lot of dangerous misconceptions back then and government lies that were harder to oppose, et cetera. And the most backwards nations are often closer to the older cultures.
It's easy to replicate knowledge that someone else came up with. For example a lot of the things that were advanced physics and engineering knowledge when my grandfather became an electrical engineer I was taught in highschool. The hard part isn't understanding it - the hard part is coming up with it. It's like Columbus' egg: everybody can come up with it, but only one did. But at the same time, I wouldn't call them smarter than us either. They were just different in their day to day struggles. They needed to know how to skin a rabbit, start a fire, build a wall or carve a spoon, because that was necessary. If I need a spoon, I go to a shop and buy one. Does that make me dumber? No. I just know different things than them that weren't necessary for them.
"You can just throw rocks, they cost you nothing, they take no preparation, and you just throw them at people and they get hurt. It's great." "People don't, y'know, they try not to die." "In real life, if you could get that close to cavalry, why not just stab 'em?" This dude's just a walking quote machine, I love it.
@@JohnDoe-pt7ru Rocks are not suppose to penetrate your armour but impact your body and eleminate you for the rest of the battle. In addition, they could easily find and use big rocks to smash people too.
@@JohnDoe-pt7ru Armors protect the body from sharp impact, they don't lessen the force of heavy objects. You can still get seriously bruised, your ribs broken, internal organs impacted, or just fall on the ground
@@kerimcaglayan4300 right and how many people are going to be able to carry around big enough rocks to cause that kind of trauma on an armored opponent? Other than catapults, how are you going to throw big enough rocks to injure someone to the point of killing them? There's a reason no serious army in history after the bronze age simply used rocks like this fool is saying.
Knowledge is power! Can tell he's read, and if you've not I recommend, Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War'. A keen intellect can a win a fight before it's fought!
Hollywood thinks that people in the ancient past were stupid. I find it funny since military academies across the world teach their cadets about ancient battles to prepare them to fight modern warfare.
@@angelrivera2339 Honestly, if you look at the overall knowledge of humanity the ancients weren't that stupid. In most of the golden ages you'll discover how surprisingly smart people were. The biggest set backs in humanity were the cases where great cities fell and their library's and laboratories were destroyed. I honestly think humans should have invented today's technology a few hundred years earlier if it wasn't for the endless burning and destroying of places dedicated to education in the past.
@@prongs82 Nope knife then spear and shield the shovel. Unless spear head is detachable and can be used as a knife since most humans live near to forests and jungles.
@@hainleysimpson1507 One of the things we got issued in basic is an entrenching tool (aka foldable shovel). If its viable now,it definitely was back then.
"Or you can just throw rocks. They cost you nothing, they take no preparation, and you just, you throw them at people and they get hurt, it's great." I love this guy.
@The Holy Duck: I wasn't fully convinced on why you wouldn't want fire. It's certainly not the only way to hurt people, but it seems to be quite annoying and threatening to deal with. Maybe the fire could spread, or the enemies that weren't hit now have to move around fire and smoke, which is both dangerous to breathe and clouds vision. I assume there were great reasons not to use the fire, but his explanation doesn't seem to fully encapsulate what those are. I don't think fire is so easily dismissed just on its face. I guess the cost-benefit ratio is ultimately bad, but it's not entirely obvious as to why... we have explosives in modern combat, so boiling oil can be some way to get a tiny taste of the benefits of heat and fire. Damage, hurting, fire... not exactly devoid of compatibility there :)
@The Holy Duck: And even the actual ancient generals might have not been quite as pessimistic as this guy is :) They may have thought about it for a while but ultimately didn't find fire to be worth it, but there were probably things to consider at least before making a rash decision about it one way or the other.
Or that it's racist to depict Persians like Persians lol. RACIST, BAD TASTE. RACIST. In the series "the last kingdom." viking danes wear eye liner. Where's the racist outcry on that? oh they're white... that's right. This guy is PC joke. pretending to get upset just to get social points.
@@CombatMedic1O There is nothing wrong with eye liners in ancient times. Many of them used them to look scary and intimidating. But I love his other points, though.
Can we please have part 2 with this guy, he obviously knows his stuff, and rate movies like Centurion, Ironclad, Mongol, Robin Hood etc.. and a lot of Ditcheeesss !! 😁🧡🧡
@ Utwo Comp Oil was actually a pretty expensive thing back then. Yes, there are recorded instances of oil used for defense, but the normal thing would have been water or even sand (which might surprise some). If the curators at the museum say it was used for oil, ask them how they know that for sure. Just because they work at a museum doesn’t mean they know details of ancient or medieval warfare. Of course your museum MIGHT be right, but that doesn’t mean water wasn’t more normal to use.
@@vast634 When Jamie Lannister showed up at the siege of Riverrun, he flipped out on people for not building ditches. And GoT got dinged here for lack of ditches, from another scene. Oh well, lol.
As a kid I used to love these kind of medieval war films but I always wondered... "If they charged that close to each other how did they swing thier swords or weapons without chopping off their mates arm." It seemed obvious even as a child it wouldn't work in real life.
Am I the only one who appreciates the beauty of an Oxford academic opining on the best tactics to adopt in a confrontation against ice zombies? It is a wonderful time to be alive.
im no historian or expert, but i do HATE the fact that they decided to do a blind cavalry charge against the ice zombies. Then dany loses her mind about losing her dothraki cavalry. i bet that melissandre lass secretly laced cannabis on the dothraki swords before she set it on fire.
Yes, Its obvious that we have enough oxford achademics nowadays to make it fun. Otherwise they would be discussing all they about important boring stuff. Anyways as someone already pointed the scene of the cavalry charging blindly to become more zombies was a disgrace.
@@WickederDrake37 don't we all? :) as much as we all like to feel like individuals, I hate it when TH-cam offers to show me a video I have absolutely no interest on and end up watching fifty of them :)
People's main problem with the movie is the story progression which is a mess. The battle against the Persia was done well but it didn't feel epic because it was done in the beginning of the movie.
It's amazing how digging ditches is such an important part of warfare to this very day, where a good ditch can protect you you from artillery and even aerial bombardment. Nothing beats a nice hole in the ground.
@@Obi61248 yeah Ukraine has been using ditches in modern warfare for decades now. Crimea has had ditches dug for a couple centuries now. Looking at civil conflicts in the Middle East they have ditches. The Balkan’s had ditches in the 90s. WW2 had loads of ditches. It was much faster war than WW1 but especially in the pacific theatre.
People ask me, "In a battle like this, how would you know who to stab?" and the answer is "You wouldn't, obviously. Not if a battle went down like this, which is exactly why it didn't!"
i think it’d be better if there were no ditches and said character screams “I TOLD YOU WE NEEDED THE DITCHES!” before getting killed by an arrow or something
you ever heard about warhammer 40.k? if you dont, go check out a faction called 'death korps of Krieg'. admitedly, its about futuristic high attrition warefare, but these guys LOVe ditches, trenches, offensive spas, pillboxes, bunkers etc.
So it's a joke of a movie but look at starship troopers 3, at the start they issue infantry with a gun and shovel (and have a shovel impale a guy soon after)
"Well firstly...that hill is much too steep so everybody would die" 😂 Really hope Insider keeps inviting him for these! His style of good-natured dry humour and wit had me laughing so many times and all the while, his passion still shone through Love this guy!
"You can just throw rocks. They cost you nothing, take no preparation and you throw them at people and they get hurt. It's great!" Good lord this guy is hilarious, we need him back again please.
came looking for this comment, ready to make it myself if I could not find it. Here, have a like.
I don't think rocks would be an effective ranged weapon
@@vigilantgopher9563 boiling water or oil would not be a good range weapon either, and that is what the rocks are being compared to, not arrows. Its just something to drop on enemies, not something to throw at them. ✌🏼
@@maxpowell23 also you could sling rocks with deadly force and accuracy, compared to water. Slinging water would just be a splashfight lol
@@vigilantgopher9563 What? 😂
I appreciate that he drives the point home of how simplicity is key to warfare.
You dig ditches, use rocks, avoid fire, stab the guy if he's within stabbing range, you dig ditches, use formations that require the least micromanagement, and you dig ditches.
You forgot to mention the importance of digging ditches
@@silvertongue_5852 not forgetting "after you dig ditches, you dig more ditches. After that is done, you dig more ditches. Why wouldn't you?"
micromanagement?
Antonio Margheritti
Don't forget also to dig ditches.
If this guy doesn’t have at least two ditches surrounding his house I’m gonna be really disappointed
A man of his class should have at least 3! Any less is heresy!
And catapults and ballistas on his walls!
@@youngtoonfish6891 you forgot the trebuchets
Lots of rock stores up to throw at them.
@@youngtoonfish6891 NO TRUBUCHETS??
HOW COULD YOU FORGET THE SUPERIOR SIEGE WEAPON.
The greatest warrior in history was not a Bowman or a Swordsman or a Spearman. He was a digger. A digger who dug ditches. When he was done, he dug more ditches. Ditches help you win wars. I learnt this when I started throwing rocks at people because they got hurt and it was great. Thanks Roel!
Absolute menace
And then WW1 came, and the Great Generals sat in their clubs with brandy and ordered 18 year olds out of the ditches to run directly into modern artillery. Month after month, year after year. Oh, yeah, they gave these teens little hats. To keep them protected.
Legend says he had no allegiance, he waved no banners, nor sang songs of glory...he just dug with his shovel across the continents throughout the ages
His name was... Shovel Knight.
Spectacular analysis
I love how brutal this guy is in his ratings. Finally someone who doesn't hold back.
he's Mr Laffs isnt he??
Behold the wrath of the history nerd.
Probably should shut up and dig a ditch!
But yeah, this guy was great.
He’s Dutch and it shows. Love our directness
@@mathijsvann yes, I saw his name, heard his accent and thought to myself.. "oh boy, this is going to be rough"
This guy's absolute fury at the consistent lack of ditches is hilarious.
Imagine being an engineer and see someone make a car with square tires :3
Dig lots and lots of ditches
The biggest historical battle in Portugal was the battle of aljubarrota, where the Portuguese army, which counted about 6000 men, and 200 English longbowmen defeated the Spanish army of 31000 men. And they did it how - you guessed it - ditches.
And it's funnier knowing he's right.
One of the most important battle for early Islamic history was called Battle of the Trench. When the confederation of Quraysh and other tribes try to invade Medina with 10,000 people the Muslim dug trenches in the open area where the attackers were coming. They dug trenches for 6 days and lay in wait inside while they were besieged. Eventually bad weather and lack of provisions caused the invaders to lose much of their forces and they turned tail and went back.
I'm absolutely entranced with how unimpressed he is at the lack of ditches and frivolous use of fire. 10/10
I'm not a historian, but in live in the UK within a 10 minute drive from an iron age settlement and you have 2 fortifiable raises to get to the top and 1 entrance way. it's in the shape of an oakleaf. when you're stood on top you can see where the kill zones would be.
@@erwin2869 Is that a joke?
@@abuabdullah9878 has to be.
@@norris667 Some folks legit need to learn how to read.
More ditches! Less Fire! More ditches! Less Fire!
Q: How do i win ancient battles?
A: Dig ditches
Q: How many?
A: Yes.
Sir we’ve finished ditch #5, what are your orders?
Another
That’s kinda stupid because dig ditches need very much man power but your enemies can use ladders or catapult or just wait for ceasing your castle to death
@@Monelinius I'm pretty sure most of the siege in history were waiting for surrender (and creating chaos in the city to help) vs waiting for reinforcements anyway, because defensive position were too strong and the attacker want to avoid the heavy casualties of assaulting a wall
@@Monelinius
Would give time for reinforcments or allied to arrive.
Like when the ottomans tryt to attack a polish city the wingedhussars arrived and savede the day so to say.
@@Monelinius russians invaded Ukraine in 2014... since then, it's 9 years of non-stop ditch digging. They STILL haven't taken Marinka or Avdiivka, which are on frontline since like 2015. It's just entire region turned into giant trench system. With Starlink internet and even PlayStation in some of them!
“Rocks cost nothing, take no preparation. You just throw them and people get hurt its great!”. Best line ever edit: where tf did these likes come from👁👄👁
True. Hence why when protests/riots that escalate enough to the point of one/both sides (whether it's riot vs riot or riot versus police) getting very physically violent, many simply throw rocks/bricks/whatever. Police are more likely to use guns or water hoses or pepper spray, but yeah.
@@moondust2365 Yeah because they're not trying to kill people and cause tons of unnecessary damage.
I read that in an elon musk voice.
He forgot to mention that you can pick the rocks up again and re-use them.
Using rock to Hurt not to kill you use rocks against guy with shield
"just throw Rocks at people, they get hurt, its great"
The Donkey Kong school of philosophy is a simple but honest discipline. The inclusion of barrels was a horrible historical inaccuracy added by the Japanese.
Boiling oil that can light up the entire army underneath? Nah.. throw rocks. They cheap.
Beast titan has joined the lobby
@@hydradominatus3641 cost WAS a huge factor in combat though.... The cost of equipment alone could determine the size and strength of a force
Throw 💩.
"Camels, always useful, because they scare horses. - They would use camels to scare off enemy cavalry"
So that's why Camel Riders in Age of Empires 2 deal bonus damage to Cavalry. ;o
They actually talk about this in the AoE2 guide book that came with the original CDs.
Some really good stuff in there.
Fascinating stuff
I was thinking of total war but AoE is appropriate also
Pshhhh. You mean Medieval Total War 2
That's already a thing in AOE1. It was +4 back then.
"Should you find yourself fighting an army of ice zombies..." - Roel Konijnendijk, Oxford Lecturer
wheeziiing
Dig ditches
😂
That's one time that you should probably use fire arrows.
say what you will, but when the zombie apocalypse comes, I want to be with this guy
"they'd try to disrupt the formation, not slam into it and hope it goes away"
His logic/sarcasm combination game is 10/10
Sorry, but British marking only ever goes up to 9/10. At 10 we turn into Highlanders.
Hence he is at Oxford
That combo of logic and sarcasm is typically Dutch :-).
I agree 10/10
The Game of Thrones writers extensively researched medieval warfare and siege tactics for the express purpose of doing none of them correctly
Sounds like a waste of research lol
What's funny to me is that the GoT scene with the zombies, the placement of the cavalry, catapults and infantry is _exactly_ how you would want it to be *IF* you were _attacking_ the castle! If all those units did a 180 and faced the castle, that's how you'd attack. Your infantry protecting the catapults and then the cavalry behind so they could swing in from the sides if anyone came out to attack. (Otherwise, cavalry is kind of useless against a castle.)
But yeah, you would do much better with 100% of those troops _inside_ the castle. My wife became irritated with me when we were watching that scene because I was saying how awful it was while pulling my hair and nearly scratching my eyes.
@@grondhero Shhh. Many here think you put your army in front of the castle walls.
Because the "expert" said so.
Ask them to explain why...they don't. Just throw insults at you. Saying how YOU are the one in the wrong because HE'S the expert.
isnt winterfel small though, get more outside
@@joetheblu3 No, it's huge.
The biggest historical battle in Portugal was the battle of aljubarrota, where the Portuguese army, which counted about 6000 men, and 200 English longbowmen defeated the Spanish army of 31000 men. And they did it how - you guessed it - ditches.
lmao portugal lmao
@@c_m00 I don't think he was joking mate.
@@wingerding No, I wasn't. I was pointing out a historical battle that you can verify. And yes, Portugal was once a powerful nation and quite proficient in warfare.
Have your ever heard about portuguese biggest defeat?You may want to hear about it.Because it was around 1602 in Sri Lanaka at Mulleriyawa.The whole portugal army was slaughtered in a single combat.I have heard that more than 10000 of portugeses died during the battle
@@delonnilanga7059 Our biggest defeat was at Ksar el-Kebir in 1578. 15 000 dead and captured including our king and costing us our independence for 60 years. We remained in Sri Lanka until 1658 when we were expelled by the Dutch.
"...and you just throw them ('rocks') at people. They get hurt. It's great!" Perfect description, love this man. 😂👌
That was good
Please have a part 2 with this guy. The combination of his general frustration with hollywood's willfull ignorance, expertise and humor is about perfect.
This 🤌🏼
He confirmed on Twitter that part 2 finished filming and will be released soon!
love this guy too... they should hire him for some movies. He can help them create visual spectacle without the nonsensical simplifications that they show battles where people clearly do not behave in a way that will help their survival
Yes please
I've watched this 3 times just for the humor. Hollywood is so terrible.
"People generally try not to die" - that's the kind of incisive analysis I'm here for!
And yet directors still somehow seem to just forget that 💀
🤣
@@PipitLady style over substance.
But how do we know that? It's possible since people just have a thing for dying in the most instinctively repulsive way. 🤣🤣🤣
I want a whole series of just this guy being annoyed at Hollywood battle scenes. This is fascinating.
He sounds even frustrated. So much money was spent on re-creating a certain historical scene and they got it so wrong. I can see his point.
I am all for this!
I'd like to ask him about the Dothraki in Game of Thrones. Their entire army was cavalry, no infantry, no archers, just a crazy charge of horsemen. Doesn't seem a good strategy.
Andrew fry Any force with long, pointed sticks and loud noises: "Yummy!"
@@abeartheycallFozzy It's weird that they did that because the Dothraki had some infantry in the books, though they still focused heavily on cavalry.
I love this guy. I am a vet, and military strategy is absolutely amazing. And a lot of people overlook simplicity, just as he said with the ditches. People seem to always ignore the power of flanking. Once you are attacking on one side, you have a 50/50 chance of winning. Once you are attacking on 2 sides, you got more of a 70-80% chance of winning. Once you are attacking on 3 sides, it's over.
On the other hand the group you're surrounding now only has to pick one direction to push at, cover their flanks a bit, and make a fighting retreat.
Then again I ain't a military analyst I'm just a dude on the internet.
@@Thornbloom true, but then you are retreating and not much cover of your rear. So, like I said, it's over. I'm no strategist by far, but they do teach you a few things in the military and I love playing Chess.
What he also points out is how difficult it is to keep control over any larger force, which is another reason to keep tactics simple. The more complex they are, the more variables you introduce, the more things can go wrong. Stuff like that is fine on a squad level (provided they are smart to understand it), but anything above that?
@@Shade01982 yep, numbers matter. I don't care how badass the individual is, once to get to a ratio of 1:3 or higher, youre done. Even if you have a great defensive position. The smaller group can't afford to lose anyone, whereas the larger group can use the expendable troops to overrun the position.
@@kevinashley478 2 words: Rorke's Drift. Not an ideal defensive position, barricades made of flour sacks. Ratio >20:1 ~150 Redcoats vs 3,000-4,000 Zulus. There are always exceptions. Battle of Ulundi was a ratio of about 3:1, with the smaller force victorious in just 30 minutes. Tactics are equally important to defeating overwhelming odds.
"But they cost you nothing, they take no preparation, and you just throw them at people. They get hurt. It's great."
-- Roel Konijnendijk 2021
Jokes aside though he is brilliant.
same
fam, rocks were used since beginning of warfare (with javelins too) they were used as slingers and were highly lethal, also Romans respected sling and perfected them with metal balls used as ammo, now imagine being an enemy army when 4200 man start roasting you with metal balls before charge
It kills me each time I view this. 😁😂🤣
@@drteska97 lead balls. also these were used way before the romans.
@@szarekhthesilent2047 Yes, few thousands year before probably (i only wrote how Romans liked them, don't forget David killed Goliath with sling shoot)
The "trying not to die" part is sadly overlooked by Hollywood.
Fiction and the public they cater to (that are usually evem worse and dumber, especially larp stuff) would think first about bringing swords into battle, thinking that you could penetrate armor with arrows and placing sticks like the enemy would have horsemen-Sherman tanks landing, and in an Ancient amphibious assault, before even sniffing the thought, empathizing and identification of that basic mechanic and drive (if not shared personal rule, especially as the fight begins or gets even intense) of every single one on the battlefield lol like it has perfectly swapped the order of the priorities, and the fear and care of dying is barely present if not non-existent, sheesh!
Pretty strange indeed lol
I mean, even as detached as this indeed is (probably the most thing ever: not much could beat trying to depict and simulate Ancient War as a person far from battle and centuries after the periods) one would think that getting that being uncareful, negligent and up to, at best, gambles (usually the soldiers depicted do stuff that is on suicidal or loony levels lol) when it's your life (and your comrade and a whole army around you) on the line + not caring about control and trying to have a grip in a situation when a human would desperately search for it the most would be two easy checks lol.
White arms battles were basically the greatest rave parties or greatest sudden mass hysteria that two pile of hundreds of life would gladly and almost naturally partake in.
Maybe, just like armour, formations and care of such mechanical bases and concepts are thought as they were just random, artificial and redundant exercises lol
Ironically, so, basically, the commanders, officials and all that kind were more attached and concerned of the soldiers and development of war situations than the warriors on the battlefields themselves, sheesh! Talk about privileged, sheltered, detached from reality/the rank and file and cold!
They seem pretty great to me, even almost too concerned for such a basic and simple thing like war and fighting apparently lol can't blame this view though, in a world where you have Napalm or Greek Fire already by Antiquity (and by bow and arrow) and terrain, mechanics, basic concepts and dangers of movements etc being irrelevant not only for infantry but even for literal horsemen.
Well, now that I think about it, no wonder it's no big deal to perform amphibious assaults then lol and that helmets are useless and with no incidents, collateral damage, friendly obstruction, shrapnel, fuss generated by those masses moving etc ever happening/included in the film.
In holywood movies 1 guy think he can take all army by him self
Lol, the average Hollywood plot is off course: "dude desperately tries to get killed, but fails at it"
they should just fire actors if they die in a movie to make death more valuable.
11:47 "So again, where is your ditch? Where is your ditch?! You gotta have a ditch!"
12:09 *Deep sigh* "Stop it with the fireballs!"
This man is so sassy and I absolutely love it
Why is no one talking about how he literally caught an actor falling and just proved he was right?!?!
Omg yes 😂😂
Actually it was an extra 😂. Probably some smacky that cleaned up for one so he could get a paycheck to buy more smack 😂
Oh, another thing, the fort he showed set on fire for fire arrows(A motte and Balley, not sure on the spelling) but they were primerally wood, soooo, ye
Now, he was looking at Romen, Greek and English/Scottish and Hammer deep in this video... It would be better if he focused on one time period/World.
Grammar has been fixed
Where
Ayk Z he shows where the actor fell
13:48 "Women, children, old men... everybody does something"
Guess what
*Hands over a shovels*
Start digging ditches
🤣🤣🤣
Lol 😂
You do see this in The 13th Warrior. Pity he didn't do that one.
@@sericarose1828 13th warrior has a few interesting aspects, but was complete fantasy.
😂😂😂
“Use rocks. You throw them at people: they get hurt. It’s great.” This guy has inspiring levels of casualty 😉
but then the pyros ar out of a job :( have some sympathy for professional arsonists
The "It's great" moment really got me
I'd add that you can also heat up some sand and pour it over the walls. It's hot, rough, irritating and gets everywhere. The added bonus is you aren't wasting precious water in a siege.
Thank you I wasn't the only 9ne who noticed that comment
Our ancestors figured that out millennia ago. How did we forget?
petition to have a part 2 this is top tier entertainment
Ditches Part 2: Electric Boogaloo
they should have him react to historical/fantasy video games like crusader kings or assassins creed or any other video game with more elaborate military tactics
This guy likes what I liked which is history battles
give him some more movies about modern wars with canon, matchlock (like the last samurai or the patriot, ect...)
Apparently they did think about getting this guy to do a part 2, but then they ditched the idea...
...anyone...?
...no?
"Where is your ditch? WHERE IS YOUR DITCH! You know this!"
This guy is great.
SHOW ME YOUR DITCHES!
"Where your wok?? Where your wokkkk????"
Why are you running?
Why
are
you
running?
WHERE'S THE DITCH
"Give me rent"kinda vibes
“Just throw rocks at them, they hurt people and cost nothing, it’s great” Sounded almost like personal experience
Lol I thought so too. This dude is great I'd love to see a lot more of him on this channel breaking down and ratings scenes from movies or games
He was totally one of those fuckin kids
Day one mount and blade bannerlord rocks were alot stronger
So the Ewoks were right
I would love to see how much damage those stick arms of his can deal. Chicken neck sitting there talking about physical skills is just lame.
I love this mans way of explaining things. Keep them coming!
"..just throw them at people and they get hurt...its great..." LMAO
"In fact, in this period the Greeks were the ones who charged like that. Whereas the persians were much more organized and advanced silently into the battle, which was something that impressed Greeks."
That was actually interesting to know.
Apparently Persians were more sophisticated then greeks they had more centralised way of governing an empire and they have a good standing proffesional army with legendary Immortals in Their core infentary...
Also thought it was really interesting using camels because they scare horses
@@subhamsen5200 still got conquered by lesser numbers
And in 300 it were the Persians who were civilised and sophisticated people.
@@subhamsen5200 well, every polis in Greece was different at that time so it is a bit adventurous to speak about all of the Greeks at the same time. Spartans had a huge ammount of slaves at that time, they even started wars just to get their slaves killed in battle when they had too many to control longterm. This means that they could focus 24/7 into being soldiers. Add that they had a very focused life, not focusing into luxury or things like the Roman nobility. Plus they were not crazy "Never retreat, never surrender" men....
"You can just throw rocks... You throw them at people, they get hurt. It's great."
This series has so many wonderful out-of-context lines.
I laughed HARD when he said this.
🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😅
I came here to see if anyone noticed this hahaha
lol indeed
I gun is essentially a high speed rock thrower.
"People try not to die"
Funny how in so many movies people fully accept that they're canon fodder.
Lol yeah
@Fishy Vagina Oh, that was just because if a family is attacked, the first line of defense is the male, because he is usually physically stronger and testosterone increases the level of aggressive behavior as well as risk taking behavior. Apart from that, males are more disposable than females in larger groups.
If the male goes down, it is usually the female who steps in to defend the children because the children are the most vulnerable and the least likely to successfully defend themselves. Also, they are the literal future of the family or group.
I didn't mean to say that some were better than others.
The guy should explain WW1 fighting. If i am not wrong soldiers then did charge into the enemies line
@Fishy Vagina I don't have a comment. Just wanted to see your yt name again.
@@sfp2290 The biggest issue is that they are dying unnecessarily, who would die if it could be avoided
This guy is the best expert they've brought on IMO, needs more videos for sure
Meh
Lessons:
1: rocks + gravity = free good weapon
2: ditches And more ditches
3: yeah...horses are crazy expensive
More ditches=more gravity force acting on your rock
And use camels because they scare horses
And skip the fire, unless you want to look cool
@@chris_2714 but who doesn't want to look cool?
@@lianflowers9177 People who want to win
I love how he actually takes a moment to think about what realistic, effective tactics might look like against the GoT ice zombies. One of my favorite experts brought on for this!
true you wouldnt try to make ice zombies lose morale and rout.
That always gets appreciation from me because many historians just pretentiously ignore fantasy. Actually engaging with it to present a compromise between the fantasy and realistic tactics is what makes the most interesting military moments in fantasy
My favorite part is when they show his dry erase board there a tree with a smiley face at the top lol.
Surprised he gave it a 5. I wonder what he thought was good about this fight
I feel like if they actually used those tactics and STILL were overwhelmed, the tension and stress would have been worse
"Once your first ditch is ready, build another one". Dying.
No, no! He's got the point :D
"all these guys standing around, when they could be making ditches"
@@megalexantros The worst thing for me now is the fact that in every movie of that sort where I see someone standing around I will scream in my head: "GO DIGGING YOU MUPPET"
@@yacaran4284 lol. I feel the same way
@@yacaran4284 hahahaha 😂
"They just deliberately made them into savages. Why would you make them into savages? They were sophisticated people." How the media treats any civilization that isn't the 'civilized' culture. Movies, TV, video games, they all do it, particularly with the Scandinavians.
There's an annoying divide in modern culture about The Norse. People either think they were filthy savages who ran around yelling, covered in blood and animal pelts, or they basically deify them and act like they were the greatest most honorable and courageous culture in history. There's never any middle ground
Well, Scandinavians in the Viking era burned houses and raped women to death. They also murdered people in the most gruesome and painful ways imaginable so…
@@Tarnished-bn5gq And that means that they should be misrepresented? I'm not saying that the atrocities they perpetrated should be overlooked. Replacing one form of historical inaccuracy for another doesn't correct the issue. All of those things that the vikings did, every other civilization also did to some extant, but we never see the Romans running around in patchwork leather rags covered in mud for example.
@@Tarnished-bn5gq again not always and not more than other societies or civilizations. if you think christian munks, who themselves supported a bloody crusade later on, didnt exaggerate then youre naive. Britons were fighting amongst themselves and celts and germanic tribes were brutally killing other people. ROmans were much more brutal than vikings, if you dont believe that look at carthage and corinth. Dont come here and tell me vikings were worse or did something that other people didnt do. You project your modern ideas about vikings based on works literally written hundreds of years after the viking era. Yes i do think vikings were brutal but not in a way you described it and not as if they were the only ones haha. Celts, britons and greeks, persians, romans etc were not less violent. So youre kinda not right in your statement.
@@jjkrayenhagen they shouldn’t be misrepresented, no, however that is an accurate representation of them. It’s similar to how ancient Romans should’ve been depicted as fascist misogynists.
"Should you find yourself fighting an army of ice zombies..."
*begins furiously taking notes*
Lmfao
I can't believe he scored this higher than helms deep. It's so bad.
Dig a big hole.
@@greghelm843 it's the worst battle tactics i have ever seen.
@@thomasf.9717 same here. Just one of the worst battle scenes in general. Helms deep was also at night but they do a fantastic job with lighting. In got they had dragons that hardly got used catapults that didn't get used at all thousands of dothraki that get sent on a ridiculous suicide mission only to respawn a couple of episodes later and about half a dozen instances where you think a named character will die then it cuts away the next time you see them they are completely fine and doing something else. Terrible tactics terribly written and terribly shot.
i'll never forget watching GoT and seeing Jon Snow, a man who never led an actual military campaign prepare the strategy, while they had Jaime Lannister there, a proven skilled general, just watching and nodding. Makes sense the strategy sucked
Yea Lannister got shafted in terms of being able to show why he was 'the best'.
It’s more present in the books Jon does much more in them, and I think they tried doing that in the show but with out actually showing his skill so it comes off weird.
Jamie is not supposed to be the best general. He's just supposed to be the best fighter/melee combatant. In the books, Stannis would probably be the best general. Much older and more experienced than Jamie. That's not to say Jamie is not a competent general, his dad is Tywin Lannister, course he's going to be at least competent.
Jon stewarded with Jeor Mormont for a while and had a classic education among the Starks. His strategy was very good until he tried to save Rickon, exposing himself and needing his small cavalry to save him
i also remember stannis army horse charging the wildlings in forest well i guess they are wildlings
If you want to make an expert suffer, make them watch a movie of their specialization.
XD
I regret that I cannot up vote this comment more than once
That is very true.
I believe that's what's called "punishment most cruel and unusual".
And it's frowned upon.
You realize that torture is illegal in most countries now right?
One of the best videos i've ever watched, i can't thank you enough. I love that you brought a person that was strict with the notes and actually seemed to be following a criteria of evaluation, he teaches very well, have a good sense of humor and all the while being very polite.
"Rocks. You throw them at people, and they get hurt. It's great."
- Ancient warfare expert
Hahahhaha
They take no preparation, either.
I went to comments right after he said that
This! this is why I'm in the comments right now.
I love how casually he said that. xD
"You throw them at people and they get hurt. It's great!"
I love this quote from the video, I would rate rocks a definitive 10/10!
rocks rock!
@@vast634 (rocks)²... 😂 Yeah. That was a good quote, what Roel Konijnendijk said.
FHyby5yn5
Another good quote "If you get that close to cavelery, why don't you just stab it"
"Well, firstly, that hill is much too steep so everybody would die"
But they have the HIGH GROUND!!
@@nothke But they didn't stay there
*lightly chuckles*
Horse meat
Imagine if the movie shows everyone charging then ending up dying to the hill, then the credits roll
this man is absolutely awesome!
i love how he actually demonstrated the truly effective tactics he would use against a bunch of imaginative creatures lol
"Sadly all these horses would just slide to their death" killed me
You are a horse?
@@gtrffpi dafuq!?
I’m a horse
@@gwynlordofsunlight5290 are you Juan?
@@gwynlordofsunlight5290 from what I remember you were supposed to be in the kiln. Why’re you on TH-cam man? Don’t you have some casuls to thrash?
"So, again, where is your ditch?"
I suppose the movie makers just decided to _ditch_ it.
I hope you can see yourself out
Bud dum tish
YEEEEEEEEEEAH!
haha, I see what you did there
YYeeeeeeeeaaaahhh!!
Who could’ve guessed that digging ditches would be the most important tactic in battles? But it’s obvious now, it gives you the high ground. Obi wan Kenobi knew it all along and we just turned it into a meme…
Its called .. tactical minecrafting ! *HONK*
you make your own high ground - Unstoppable!
"About a 100 years ago a scholarship at Oxford who clearly had rugby on his mind"... Priceless.
Can you have this guy on again? Such a fantastic blend of eminent historical knowledge, concise breakdowns for the layperson, and humor. Very unhistorian-like, super interesting and I wish I could take his classes.
I just want to see his reaction to a movie that has a ditch
I would like to attend his class, and never be graded by him lol
You can take his classes just try oxford 😂
Seconded; far and away the best of one of these ‘experts react’ videos. Give this man a regular slot. Also, ditches.
I agree. I would like to see him looking at more that might be a but more accurate
Historians: people in real life try not to die
Hollywood: CHARGE THE PIKE WALL
W40k Bayonet charge syndrome
@@vertigo1522 lol, for the Emperor!!
I agree. But I think this person was way more forgiving of GoT than he should have been. Charging head first into an attack with all your cavalry, well before anyone was engaged, and at least a couple hundred yards ahead from your main force, in a defensive effort, where you can't see anything, was the most idiotic thing I have ever seen in any show or movie's battle tactics. Worse than some of these pike wall charges.
Hollywood would love the imperial troops of Krieg
Yeah back then you didn't have a choice lol. Either you charged or died either way
Roel is so convincing that he made me want to start digging a ditch around my garden to protect my house 😱😅
🤣🤣🤣😎
Gotta do what you gotta do to keep those pesky tax collectors at bay, I tell you !
😅😂🤣 Best comment so far 😁
🤣🤣🤣🤣 underrated comment
And when you're done with the first one, you start digging the second one.
You know the literal subject he teaches is "The evolution of medieval ditch warfare 101" - "The archeological record from digging ditches to ditch victory 102", I'd definitely engage in his courses
You really think an Oxford college would teach a course with “101” in the title? He teaches "Aristocracy and Democracy 550-450 BC” and is the course convener for “Classical Archeology & Ancient History” at Lincoln College.
@@pmc8451he’s also my thesis supervisor on 5th Century BC Athenian Naval strategy! And runs a little ancient warfare circle of his students like some secret society haha!
I love that this guy uses the Battle of Helm's Deep to point out that real fortifications often included ditches, when in the book there is, in fact, a ditch. :D
In the original manuscript, if you read carefully, it's actually called Helm's Ditch :P
Because the guy who wrote Lord of the Rings was *actually* in the military and *used* ditches both to move around and to stop or slow enemy advances, unlike the director, who admittedly make cool looking scenes.
@@stormhawkdude well, Tolkien was incredible. And the director fell in the Hollywood curse (I mean, like, everything this guy is criticising). If it looks cool, the better, even if it’s not accurate
He is talking about movies.
@@SimonMolnar Yes. That was their point, that he is talking about movies but the book is different.
The passion in which this expert talks about the effectiveness of throwing rocks, truly makes me buy his credentials.
Absolutely a rock can end your day.
People keep criticizing Israeli Defense Forces as fighting nothing but kids with rocks, but finally someone understands that kids with rocks, especially when using slings, are very deadly!
@@AntonAdelson i hope this is irony
if you think that about rocks imagine what the father of all rocks can do. The rock.
“Absolutely a rock can end your day.”
Yeah, ask Goliath.
@@ehonda7831 What is ironic about rocks being deadly? You know what a rock is yes?
Finally an Ancient Warfare Expert commenting on the Lord of the Rings. One of my ancestors used to fight in the Ring-Wars. I am glad that he clarifies the Uruk-hai weren‘t using ladders back then…
this comment is underrated :D
😂
Lmao I knew I wanted to see a comment about him going through Lord of the Rings, but I had no idea this is the comment I wanted to see. Well played 😂
@@Mr_Jish My favorite is he ranked it higher than some movies about history. I laughed when I saw that.
He is talking as if he has been present during all battles.. funny!
Roel's absolute dispassion for assigning scores gets me every time. "What do you want me to say, 2/10? Who cares. Next."
I had Roel teach me for a year at university. Top class lecturer. It’s awesome to see him on here!
What kind of class?
@@BadasssViking physics
@@BadasssViking Athenian democracy and imperialism
@@seifelbagoury7182 I was going to say P.E. haha
@@joshstones2078 By how he talks in the video, seems like he is that kind of teacher you would listen to for hours without getting bored
“Rocks. You throw them at people, they get hurt. It’s great.” The very essence of warfare since its inception.
Stone Slinger skirmishers: finally... RECOGNIZED
Worked for David.
That would’ve been his elevator pitch if he was in that era lol
@@grahamstrouse1165 get out with your fairy tales
@@pierreo33 See a psychologist.
"The hill is way too steep, they would all die."
This man is so enjoyable to watch.
how does this 1.1k likes comment have no replies
Try
Tru*
@@flutecoc It does now :D
More importantly it has no dislikes, this guy is a freaken genius
This man deserves a better marker for his white board, given the entertainment value he provides - particularly in explaining how to defeat ice zombies.
Today on watchmojo, we count down the 10 times where ditches wouldve saved lifes!
Omg hahaha hahahaha nice idea 😂😂😂😂
You win😂😂
*lives
Or took lives. If you go in the ditch you die hahaa
let's goo
I’d watch an entire series with this expert. A) we’re legitimately learning a lot here B) he’s ratings are (finally!) not pandering to popular movies, maintaining a sort of historical rigor and C) I find him entertaining!
More, pls. Subject matter expert reviews are just a brilliant idea in general, this being at the top of the heap.
My only complaint would be that he was too generous with the GoT one :P Although i did like that he explained why you would put cavalry at the front.
He is a little pandering. He was rather soft on 300 in this video, and in other media appearances (check out the Invicta podcast on TH-cam, it's an hour-long discussion and breakdown of the same scene he comments on here) he's very harsh on 300 and its impact on popular perceptions of ancient Sparta. This type of video prioritizes audience engagement over granular education, which is okay.
@@juanchitaro5380 he was definitely far too lenient on the game of thrones siege, especially compared to other ones in this same video he scored lower, I mean there might aswell have not been walls at all in that game of thrones siege and it would have still gone the same way
Plus he has a lovely accent and speaking voice
Just search for Roel Konijnendijk he has a sample lecture on "War as amateurs" or something to that effect comparing the Greek part time citizen soliders to the modern and ancient professional soldier. Its really interesting!
11:48 “Where is your ditch? WHERE IS YOUR DITCH? You’ve gotta have a ditch” 😂
Haha.. he doesn't really know shit.
@@hydradominatus3641 Actually he does, more than you clearly
@@ShiftJay08 Did he gain all this knowledge while sipping his Starbucks latte while flipping through other peoples research? Yes.
@@hydradominatus3641 Lol ok - so which rating was the one that one that made you mad? LOTR?
@@shrek-is_love-shrek_islife714 Personal experience.
He's got a great sense of humor and explains things in a really easy-to-understand way. And I've also learned so much about the importance of ditch digging. This video is fantastic!
He demonstrates that many of the Hollywood tropes that look good also just make ancient people seem stupid, which they were definitely not. They were as smart as we are (albeit with less accumulated knowledge of the world).
todays mainstream science is a bunch of lies, the accumulated knowledge of the world is not accessible for the general public
@@lndestr1234 - yes, I'm always dreaming I go on something called "the internet" or whatever and communicate with people I've never seen and never will. It must be from that chip I got in me when I went to the dentist last time. Say what you will, I know those implants are real and the government uses my unique DNA for something. (Seriously though what would the general public do with the accumulated knowledge of the world? use it to get more likes on social media? invent another tik tok?)
@@tommykirk3403 not the goverment but yes some organisations have things you cant even dream of
I think people in those times probably were smarter. People have been too distanced from practicality and they have built culture based on marketing lies, fads that somehow stayed alive (blue for men and pink for women) and whatever the government and popular science say. People are a lot less capable and when your physical energy and mental health are lower, you are less capable of learning. On the other hand, I would say our food situation is a dream come true for practical people who know how that energy and nutrition can benefit them. I feel like a super-human compared to how I was with a deficient diet.
But then again, there were a lot of dangerous misconceptions back then and government lies that were harder to oppose, et cetera. And the most backwards nations are often closer to the older cultures.
It's easy to replicate knowledge that someone else came up with. For example a lot of the things that were advanced physics and engineering knowledge when my grandfather became an electrical engineer I was taught in highschool. The hard part isn't understanding it - the hard part is coming up with it. It's like Columbus' egg: everybody can come up with it, but only one did.
But at the same time, I wouldn't call them smarter than us either. They were just different in their day to day struggles. They needed to know how to skin a rabbit, start a fire, build a wall or carve a spoon, because that was necessary. If I need a spoon, I go to a shop and buy one. Does that make me dumber? No. I just know different things than them that weren't necessary for them.
Frustrated historian: "Where is your ditch? You need a ditch - you know this. STOP with the fireballs already!"
I was about to quote this exact statement but just glimpsed your comment and was satisfied. 10/10
@@DeadSezSo happy to oblige!
and you need a ditch in front of another ditch!
The party's wizard "but fireball solves everything "
Yes brilliant, have your troops dig into permafrost ground, that sure wont exhaust them at all.
"You can just throw rocks, they cost you nothing, they take no preparation, and you just throw them at people and they get hurt. It's great."
"People don't, y'know, they try not to die."
"In real life, if you could get that close to cavalry, why not just stab 'em?"
This dude's just a walking quote machine, I love it.
Don't forget the best: "where are the ditches"
The rock thing is stupid. It's called armor.
@@JohnDoe-pt7ru Rocks are not suppose to penetrate your armour but impact your body and eleminate you for the rest of the battle. In addition, they could easily find and use big rocks to smash people too.
@@JohnDoe-pt7ru Armors protect the body from sharp impact, they don't lessen the force of heavy objects. You can still get seriously bruised, your ribs broken, internal organs impacted, or just fall on the ground
@@kerimcaglayan4300 right and how many people are going to be able to carry around big enough rocks to cause that kind of trauma on an armored opponent? Other than catapults, how are you going to throw big enough rocks to injure someone to the point of killing them? There's a reason no serious army in history after the bronze age simply used rocks like this fool is saying.
"I'm an expert in Ancient Warfare"
Expectation: Badass warrior
Reality: Badass intellectual
Knowledge is power! Can tell he's read, and if you've not I recommend, Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War'. A keen intellect can a win a fight before it's fought!
Other reality: professional ditch digger
Hollywood thinks that people in the ancient past were stupid. I find it funny since military academies across the world teach their cadets about ancient battles to prepare them to fight modern warfare.
@@angelrivera2339
Honestly, if you look at the overall knowledge of humanity the ancients weren't that stupid. In most of the golden ages you'll discover how surprisingly smart people were. The biggest set backs in humanity were the cases where great cities fell and their library's and laboratories were destroyed.
I honestly think humans should have invented today's technology a few hundred years earlier if it wasn't for the endless burning and destroying of places dedicated to education in the past.
I love Insider channel.
I've binged a lot of these freaking videos.
This guy has been the best judge, hands down.
Moral of the story: Everything is shit unless it has a ditch.
Shovel is one of the vital equipment after spear and shield
@@prongs82 Nope knife then spear and shield the shovel. Unless spear head is detachable and can be used as a knife since most humans live near to forests and jungles.
@@hainleysimpson1507 tf are you on about
@@hainleysimpson1507
One of the things we got issued in basic is an entrenching tool (aka foldable shovel). If its viable now,it definitely was back then.
@@dam11232 E-tool?
"Or you can just throw rocks. They cost you nothing, they take no preparation, and you just, you throw them at people and they get hurt, it's great."
I love this guy.
Explaining to my little brother how to defend against bullies
came looking for this. actually laughed when i heard it.
@@DoodleDan Bullies at school are not as bad as shooters at school. The worst nightmare for teachers, children and their parents.
@The Holy Duck: I wasn't fully convinced on why you wouldn't want fire. It's certainly not the only way to hurt people, but it seems to be quite annoying and threatening to deal with. Maybe the fire could spread, or the enemies that weren't hit now have to move around fire and smoke, which is both dangerous to breathe and clouds vision.
I assume there were great reasons not to use the fire, but his explanation doesn't seem to fully encapsulate what those are. I don't think fire is so easily dismissed just on its face. I guess the cost-benefit ratio is ultimately bad, but it's not entirely obvious as to why... we have explosives in modern combat, so boiling oil can be some way to get a tiny taste of the benefits of heat and fire. Damage, hurting, fire... not exactly devoid of compatibility there :)
@The Holy Duck: And even the actual ancient generals might have not been quite as pessimistic as this guy is :) They may have thought about it for a while but ultimately didn't find fire to be worth it, but there were probably things to consider at least before making a rash decision about it one way or the other.
Moral of the story: *WHERE ARE THE DITCHES*
Also:
*JOB OPENING*
Blacksmiths needed to make shovels.
Experience a plus, not a requirement.
Or that it's racist to depict Persians like Persians lol. RACIST, BAD TASTE. RACIST.
In the series "the last kingdom." viking danes wear eye liner. Where's the racist outcry on that? oh they're white... that's right. This guy is PC joke. pretending to get upset just to get social points.
@@CombatMedic1O Vikings weren't the only people to wear eyeliner so did Chinese Dynasties and Egyptian Dynasties and Persian royals.
@@CombatMedic1O There is nothing wrong with eye liners in ancient times. Many of them used them to look scary and intimidating. But I love his other points, though.
@@CombatMedic1O You do realize that Insider did the editing?
This video never fails to make my day happier
Finally someone that named like 3-4 things historically incorrect and didn't say, "But I give it an 8/10". I like this guy.
Well most of the time the rest of the stuff is accurate except those 3-4 things.
@@eyesack6845 no..
I don't. He's way too superior and he's never taken part in any battle except with his PhD committee.
@@douglaskingsman2565 So you can't be an expert on ancient warfare if you haven't been in an ancient battle? Boy that's a tough one
This guy is Buzz Killington
Can we please have part 2 with this guy, he obviously knows his stuff, and rate movies like Centurion, Ironclad, Mongol, Robin Hood etc.. and a lot of Ditcheeesss !! 😁🧡🧡
@ Utwo Comp
Oil was actually a pretty expensive thing back then.
Yes, there are recorded instances of oil used for defense, but the normal thing would have been water or even sand (which might surprise some).
If the curators at the museum say it was used for oil, ask them how they know that for sure. Just because they work at a museum doesn’t mean they know details of ancient or medieval warfare.
Of course your museum MIGHT be right, but that doesn’t mean water wasn’t more normal to use.
Well we can all speculate what happened long time ago, but the real truth is the evidence and facts, the rest is history 😉 👍
@@DariussB83 They did give him a 2nd clip
Good job youtube. I searched "ditch guy" and found this as the top result. Proud of you all.
OMG. I TRIED IT AND THIS GUY WAS THE FIRST THING THAT CAME UP
First result lmao
Maybe because he is Dutch
You aren’t kidding!
Wow 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
You know a video is awesome when you come back to watch it again and again.
"Where's your ditch? You should be digging ditches..." His disappointment is like a teacher and a lazy student.
I don't see your ditch! Start digging!
The last season of GoT had way more disappointing things than not digging ditches...
@@vast634 When Jamie Lannister showed up at the siege of Riverrun, he flipped out on people for not building ditches. And GoT got dinged here for lack of ditches, from another scene. Oh well, lol.
loved the video. I do get the impression that if we sent him back in time this guy would rate an actual historical battle at 9/10
I am afraid he would instead form his own army and take over the world.
@@Suraj4m1n you are right, he would know every possible counter of the enemy snd even tactics way ahead of their time
@@mantisguy746 Also, he knows the power of ditches
Bet he wouldn’t he would be angry that none of it is happening like he thought it would
I know one thing for sure. If we sent him back in time, there would be ditches, lots of ditches.
The Art of War last page: "If everything fails, dig ditch."
judging by how this man thinks about it, I think it's the first page
In modern terms "If you fail, just call an airstrike"
Art of war only page
Or throw rocks at them
That’s how we got the phrase “last ditch effort”
As a kid I used to love these kind of medieval war films but I always wondered... "If they charged that close to each other how did they swing thier swords or weapons without chopping off their mates arm." It seemed obvious even as a child it wouldn't work in real life.
Well, to be honest, the nice sword-swinging we see in movies is also quite off. It would be like 99% stabbing. You stand behind your shield and stab.
Am I the only one who appreciates the beauty of an Oxford academic opining on the best tactics to adopt in a confrontation against ice zombies?
It is a wonderful time to be alive.
im no historian or expert, but i do HATE the fact that they decided to do a blind cavalry charge against the ice zombies. Then dany loses her mind about losing her dothraki cavalry. i bet that melissandre lass secretly laced cannabis on the dothraki swords before she set it on fire.
and the way he said to build as many ditches as possible
Yes, Its obvious that we have enough oxford achademics nowadays to make it fun. Otherwise they would be discussing all they about important boring stuff.
Anyways as someone already pointed the scene of the cavalry charging blindly to become more zombies was a disgrace.
@@AsianPaulConrad Maybe Dany just knew they'd magically reappear in the next episode
@@ezet Yup, haha.
Dr. Mike: "chest compressions! chest compressions! chest compressions!"
Roel: "dig ditches!, dig ditches!, dig ditches!"
I was thinking the exact same thing!
I view Dr. Mike's channel as well.
@@WickederDrake37 don't we all? :) as much as we all like to feel like individuals, I hate it when TH-cam offers to show me a video I have absolutely no interest on and end up watching fifty of them :)
I also said that to my self :D
Was looking for it in comments.
Right? As soon as he said it the third time, Dr. Mike.
It's interesting how Alexander which is a movie that gets mocked a lot and not many people like is the most accurate depiction of battle tactics.
In part. What they do with the Indian battle is pathetic.
People's main problem with the movie is the story progression which is a mess. The battle against the Persia was done well but it didn't feel epic because it was done in the beginning of the movie.
Most peoples problem with the Alexander isn't that it's not historically accurate it's that it's just a bad movie
@@alexanderhay-whitton4993 Nah it's ok. They just crammed a lot of battles into it, because why not.
Accuracy doesn't necessarily make a film good, sometimes it may even make it worse.
I just like this guy (first time seeing him). No bs. Straight to the point
I hope you've seen parts 2 and 3 with Noel! All of them just as entertaining and informative ☺️
It's amazing how digging ditches is such an important part of warfare to this very day, where a good ditch can protect you you from artillery and even aerial bombardment. Nothing beats a nice hole in the ground.
Hobbit energy
@@Jamos2100 Tolkien did serve in WW1 after all lol
@@Jamos2100 ukraine trenches moment
@@Obi61248 yeah Ukraine has been using ditches in modern warfare for decades now. Crimea has had ditches dug for a couple centuries now. Looking at civil conflicts in the Middle East they have ditches. The Balkan’s had ditches in the 90s. WW2 had loads of ditches. It was much faster war than WW1 but especially in the pacific theatre.
There's a classic WWII cartoon strip where soldiers tell sailors they should bring dirt onto the ships
“Haha look at the extra, he falls flat on his face 😂”
Brutal
Well, one can hardly expect otherwise from a man studying warfare all day. ;)
adding realism into the scenes.
“I find your lack of ditches…disturbing” - Darth Roel
His joy at the extra falling over in the Troy scene is so awesome to watch 😭😭😭
-ditches
-no fireball
-no boiling oil
-no yolo charging
did I miss anything
Stable but dynamic formations
Artillary on the walls
Don't waste your cavalry
More ditches
No artillery on the ground
No shield wall abuse unless it is absolutely neccessary.
Dont send your calvary at ice zombies that dont get scared
Watching this man become increasingly exasperated by the lack of ditches in these movies has been the great joy of my week
"Rocks. You throw them at people, and they get hurt. It's great."
10/10
"They cost you nothing, they take no preparation."
Indeed the best part of the video :D
@@GyulaHorvathGarijin stopped the video just to check if anyone already commented on this haha
🤣 wise words to live by for sure.
*HELMS DEEP INTENSIFIES*
People ask me, "In a battle like this, how would you know who to stab?" and the answer is "You wouldn't, obviously. Not if a battle went down like this, which is exactly why it didn't!"
"people ask, how did they do this? i tell them, they didn't do this"
Before it got that messy, you'd call a retreat and reform to fill the gaps from the losses.
6:24
I just love his reaction of Braveheart!! Every second of that scene irritates him, we don't blame him! LOVE it!
This has been Robert Pattinson’s best role yet. 10/10
Oscar Worthy
Bruhhh😂😂😂
I was about to say how is no one noticing this?😂
Wait for batman dude
Next battle movie we need a character that randomly screams “more ditches!” And he’d be walking around the wall carrying a shovel
i think it’d be better if there were no ditches and said character screams “I TOLD YOU WE NEEDED THE DITCHES!” before getting killed by an arrow or something
you ever heard about warhammer 40.k?
if you dont, go check out a faction called 'death korps of Krieg'.
admitedly, its about futuristic high attrition warefare, but these guys LOVe ditches, trenches, offensive spas, pillboxes, bunkers etc.
Sometimes ground is hard..... That is why we don't see much Trench Warfare in WW1 Eastern front
So it's a joke of a movie but look at starship troopers 3, at the start they issue infantry with a gun and shovel (and have a shovel impale a guy soon after)
Epic idea! We could call him Captain Spade :)
The best so far. Paired with his humor. Absolutely enjoyable 20 minutes.
The funniest thing is he was like not trying to be funny hahaha.
"Well firstly...that hill is much too steep so everybody would die" 😂
Really hope Insider keeps inviting him for these! His style of good-natured dry humour and wit had me laughing so many times and all the while, his passion still shone through Love this guy!