🚩 Go to bit.ly/thld_cs_historymarche and use code HISTORYMARCHE to save 25% off today. Thanks to Curiosity Stream for sponsoring today’s video. 🟥 HANNIBAL PLAYLIST: th-cam.com/users/playlist?reload=9&list=PLWwyDn76LiH0Cq8lqPuOlZevRlEywpbXf 🚩 If you'd like to support what we do, you can do so on Patreon: www.patreon.com/historymarche - By joining us on Patreon you get to see our videos before everyone else, ads free, and periodically you can vote to choose topics for our channel.
Bro thank you for you hard work, take a week off you realy deserve it, we pledge to restrain from asking when the next video will be released until 2022.
Here are some quotes from the day after the battle. "A few, whose wounds had been staunched by the morning frosts, even rose from among the heaps of dead all covered in blood - only to be slaughtered there and then by their enemies." "Others were discovered, still alive, but lying there with their knees or hamstrings sliced apart, baring their necks or throats and begging their enemies to drain the rest of their blood." "Some were even found with their heads buried in the ground, having dug small pits for themselves and buried their faces in the earth, and then simply smothered themselves to death." "The most spectacular sight of all was a Numidian soldier, still alive but lying beneath a dead Roman, with his nose and ears torn to shreds. The Roman had fought to his final breath, and when his hands could no longer hold his weapon, his anger turned to madness, and he died tearing his enemy to pieces with his teeth.." It really lets you know how horrific it was, Carthaginians becoming exhausted from slaughtering, rather than fighting. The struggles of the inner soldiers, knowing their impending death as the day drags on. 100 Romans being slaughtered every minute. Fantastic series im HOOKED... it's so crazy to imagine yourself in that situation, and what would drive you to take your own life my suffocating yourself in a hole in the ground... the affect it too had on even Hannibal's men. Many dis-agreeing with it's brutality. Which in antiquity must means a lot. ;)
@@gvn010 in defense of hannibal he was recalled back to carthage to defend the city and had little time to prepare his army to face Scipio at zama, all of scipio's legions were actual soldiers ready to die for war whilst hannibal was struggling to build up a defending army when 2/3 of the infantry were new recruits and the small part being his veterans from italy. Another thing is that he didn't have superior cavalry like in cannae
@@raidnotright8089 hannibal's not to blame, i'm just saying it's tough for hannibal since he was the greatest military genius since alexander at the time and no matter what he did he was screwed. it was an a tough fight for carthage to begin with, but general incompetence led to the loss of iberia and with it carthage's economy and the numidians betrayed them, giving scipio much needed cavalry superiority over hannibal
@@raidnotright8089 scipio had a story just like his too. hero of his country betrayed by his government. that's irony. only we know so much of scipio because his city wasnt burned to the ground
In Italy when you fail in something we currently use this expression "you have cannato" that is you have failed, term cannato derives from cannae battle, probably a reminiscence of this event
Damn and that’s probably why they throw tomatoes at you if you suck… at some point in history someone said “they really canato!” And someone thought they should throw a tomato them.
Hannibal was a serious mad lad. -Braved through to the Alps to march through enemy soil -Took the fight in the enemy's home turf -Won almost every battle in Italy, pre-Cannae -Loses for the sake of playing mind games -Was outnumbered but struck a heavy blow to the Romans in multiple ways
@@Skindred727 I think he means hannibals tactic in this video. Hannibal endured most of his losses because of the centre push, which was a mind game to trap the roman infanterie.
@@ksagitarius I do not understand your question quite well. All I know is that this strategy was a huge gamble by Hannibal. I believe to think he had some great captains who kept the centre in order. A pushed back centre is demoralizing and can cause a full rout/collapse to the whole army.
Hannibal is the definition of tragic hero. A man so courageous, intelligent, brave and loyal to his country. Not only did he achieve unparalleled military successes, but he became the leader of the democratic reform after the war that could have reinvegorated the republic and saved the nation. It's just that the task was impossible, even for the great Hannibal Barca.
A hero except for the murdering children for Baal part. By the way, was he part Iberian of the original stock, making him my kin? I think his mother was Iberian.
HBO should make an immense Budget Serie on Hannibal's Legendary Journey and His Great Army if it it,s done correctly it would be way better than Game of thrones
i am wondering , why no one made a good movie or series on him , he was a great man ever lived, i read a book on him long ago , and from that day i am so inspired from this great man ,
I didn't know the outcome when I first watched, and I was really sad when I saw Hannibal losing, as I personally believe he was an amazing general. Then the trap activated and I was amazed.
Watching these video’s i often wondered why an army would not flank with infantry. If they are superior in number. Some ancient leaders like Hannibal and Julius Caesar had some giant balls back then.
22:22 This is a very underrated statement. While his victory seemed inevitable to most of us watching the video in hindsight, you could be 18 minutes into the video and still expect a Roman victory, given the trend things were going in since Chapter 1. It's very reminiscent of the Yarmouk video where Khalid sprung his trap at the very last moment and turned the tide of history. How fortunate are we to witness great men like them and have History Marche document their exploits for us :')
Wow, thanks a lot Rex. I can't tell you how much I appreciate positive feedback from longtime subscribers, who have also been active in the comment section and helping my videos. And yes, I agree, the outcome at Cannae was anything but certain. Hasdrubal had to spend maybe even 1-2 hours resting the horses, and Hannibal had no way of knowing if the cavalry attack on the flank succeeded. Plus, his center routed (or at least part of it). These are just two of many details that could've twisted the outcome had just a few things went differently. It was a close run thing imo, but still brilliant from Hannibal.
@@HistoryMarche I appreciate you keeping tabs on us Triarii in the comments section since the channels inception :') Yep. It's obvious that Hannibal was a pretty ballsy commander. Not only did he take all the aforementioned risks but he put himself in the most dangerous part of the battlefield a Carthaginian could be in. As much as I love Rome, can't help but root for this genius.
He lead from the front, planned a massive all-or-nothing gambit that wiped out a much bigger, more powerful army in an open field battle, hiding his plan in plain sight. What a man was Hannibal. Your best video yet, even though I know the battle well, it sent my heart racing. His brothers deserve credit, too, executing this plan required nerves (and balls) of steel.
@@50shekels Taking absolutely nothing away from Rome. Economy, organisation, scale and citizenry willing to take arms even after a terrific defeat all speaks volumes why they became the dominant power.
it's amazing that some of the Roman leadership at Cannae, such as Marcus Minucius Rufus and Gnaeus Servilius Geminus, had fought or encountered Hannibal before and been defeated through ambush and outmaneuvering (Rufus at Geronium and Geminus shortly after Trasimine), and yet they completely failed to learn from their losses. They still refused to listen to Fabius and his supporters and still believed that Hannibal could simply be overwhelmed through direct confrontation. In a way, Hannibal made Rome better. Hannibal literally killed all the aggressive, prideful, and unimaginative leaders in Rome, leaving only the more cautious, creative, and strategic leadership left. Also, all divisions and factions in the Roman senate were removed and Rome was completely united under decisive and strong control out of desperation.
To be fair hannibal WAS possible to beat in a field battle, it just required a lot of caution. Also the leadership clearly learned from previous failures when they picked the fighting ground in this battle, almost any other leader would have failed to pull off such a daring ambush in an open field.
Hannibal’s legacy goes beyond that. Keep in mind that the root cause of the collapse of the Roman Republic was due to Senate corruption and issues with land and wealth redistribution as an indirect effect of the Punic Wars. That led to the Populares, the Gracchi, Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Crassus, Caesar, Octavian, multiple Roman civil wars, etc.
True this guy doesn't even know how HARD it is to pull off that encirclement. Even I have a hard time doing that in Total War, imagine in real life. Needless to say, he was one heck of a General that Hannibal.
@@Red-90 Khalid ibn waleed destroyed the Roman's and Persians simultaneously. He never lost a battle and fought many many battles. Battle of yarmouk was 40k vs 200k
@@Red-90 I guess you could argue that. Us muslims call him the sword of Allah. One time he told the Roman army. I have come with a army that loves death more than you love wine and money. He once said "I would throw myself onto the enemy lines until I was certain I would not come out alive yet I remain here on my bed dying like the cattle". In islam we believe those who are killed for sake of Allah are alive and they are granted Paradise. Before he died he quoted "May the cowards never sleep"
@@jawadsabih4979 Khalid is one of the greatest generals of all time but the Byzantines didn’t field any army of 200K at a time. Eastern Rome and Persia had been at war a lot. Yarmouk was probably in the 2:1 or 3:1 range in terms of how much the Muslim army was outnumbered.
This is the best and most brillant strategy adopted by a general in a battle in the history of warfare. It surpass Austerlitz of Napoleon, Gaugamela of Alexander and Yarmouk of Khalid.
Don’t forget the battle of Thermopylae..while it wasn’t a victory it made way for the whole 2nd greko-Persian war victory..5000 men in total(roughly) holding off around 100,000 Persians by using the terrain to their advantage is a brilliant strategy..and if not for the betrayal they probably would’ve won..
@@seancascanet3428 they were doomed to fail. They managed to hold off some of the Persians but even if there is no betrayal, they will sooner or later be overwhelmed anyway Leonidas' aim was never to win the battle, but to give example and raise the spirits of the rest of the greeks to fight the Persians off the Greek land..
Interesting take. Most depictions of the battle have the entire Roman army being surrounded by the flanking troops, but your video emphasizes the Roman center being surrounded. I look forward to reading some of your sources. Excellent video 👍
Definitely check out Goldsworthy's book. It is absolutely fascinating. Here's the link www.amazon.com/Cannae-Hannibals-Greatest-Adrian-Goldsworthy/dp/1541699254 It's actually very easy to read and follow, and he does an excellent job at analyzing the battle.
Theadore something dodge has the best book on Hannibal. He looks at polybius and Levy's accounts (although polybius basically copied levy, aside from the "more fantastical liberties he took" also visited all the sites estimated to be the battle sites and tries to pin down a single location (and route, over Alps. Etc) based on all available Intel. And logic. By far the most informative and in-depth look at the 2nd Punic war(although a little dry at times due to the vast amount of info and context. By the way, this version is seriously lacking in detail and facts. Do more research. It drives me nuts that there are so many videos on Hannibal and almost all utterly fail in explaining what a tactical genius he was. This video gets about 75-80% right, (although the rest is of tremendous importance, and therefore...) Hannibal knew the Roman army (officers temperaments, etc) Better than any Roman counsol)
The majority of the Romans were surrounded but the last line of the legions were fighting it out with the Carthaginian infantry and cavalry. The Consul that died lost his life here, sending away his young aide s he bled on a rock behind the lines. The young aide was Scipio Africanus, who would ultimately defeat Hannibal at Zama. Most depictions get it wrong by having the cav complete the encirclement , which was completely done by infantry.
@@craigw6923 wtf dude... Yes Hannibal was a beast but Livy was born around the 60's BC and Polybius was born over 100 years earlier... No way the latter copied the former. Furthermore, since Polybius was Greek Livy had to adapt Polybius' work to a more "Roman" narrative.
Romans: We almost beat Hannibal by overwhelming him with numbers last time. Our heavy infantry can defeat his infantry any day, too. We got this. Hannibal: I almost got my ass beat last time because their heavy infantry crowded my lines. Better be prepared for that. And that's the problem. By the time the Romans realised a few weaknesses of Hannibal's army, he too had realised those and closed the gaps with clever tactics. Magnificent bastard was always a step ahead.
He is a great general in the Level of kings , What he done to rommans with a single army and without reinforcements or any help or supplies from carthage for 15 years and in their country is truly astonishing , Hannibal Diserves a High Budget Serie made by HBO on him , Game of thrones would be nothing compared to it
One of your best works. When center started to route, I thought Hannibal would have used his Libyan infantry to strengthen the centre, but the risk he took, letting the center to route, was beyond plebian understanding.
Agree, I have watched the same battle depicted by many channels too many times and I was still expecting a roman victory after the center had routed. This is the best depiction of the battle I had seen thus far, and the most suspenseful.
I'm watching WW2 week by week, and right now the Germans are doing great. It is strange knowing the outcome, but back then it must have been anyone's game.
Loads. Gallic ambush of the Romans, Longus victory over Hanno, The 3 battles at Nola, 2 at Capu, 2 at Herculaneum, capturing of and loss of Tarentum, the 2 day battle against Marcellus, Marcellus's ambush and death the following year, Nero's limited victory over Hannibal in 207, battle of Metaurus (possibly the decisive battle of the war or at least the end of Carthaginian hopes for total victory). I'm probably forgetting heaps and these are just the Italian theatre.
Hannibal really is the man! The only one who tried his very best to better his country's fortunes even when his own countrymen opposed him. A true patriot.
Even though we know what happens in the battle, you still made me watch in awe and get the chills like I'm watching the real thing before my eyes for the very first time. You, without doubt, make the best documentaries of this kind that I have ever seen in my life anywhere, and you definitely deserve a lot more attention. We all are grateful for your efforts, HistoryMarche, may you live long!
only a true genius could have controlled this multiethnic army from breaking during the battle this brutal, absolutely godlike achievement and one of the greatest victories in history
The romans army were also multi-ethnic. They had allied gaulic tribes. They also had etruscans and people from all over. They just gave everybody citizenship so their ethnicity was overshadowed.
it's no great feat to get a band of people who all share a common enemy to all hate that common enemy. winning the battles was impressive, not getting the soldiers to the battle.
@Harry Paul and on top of that, to hold them in line during those chaotic battles, if those people were a mob, they would have broken after first few impacts of roman meatgrinder that was triplex acies roman line at cannae wrecked havoc at first, drawing fear into its enemies bones, it is outstanding that Hannibal turned that on its head, in just few hours Romans were those in fear, imagine 40k people or so, packed together, their strength failing while they wait for inevitable death, terrifying
@Harry Paul yea yea yea, every empire ever has done that, nothing unique about it. No of you simps salivate over Ceasar's "multi-cultural progressivism" when he was doing the same shit in gaul about 100 years later, they just say 'wow he was a master strategist'. I have never heard a simp talk about the woke-progressiveness of Alexander's army either. But yet, when it's an African, all the 'totes woke' simps, who are totally not racist at all, have to ensure everyone hears them talk about how woke hannibal must have been. What could the difference be i wonder?
Hannibal and the phoenicians had a different approach to war and winning battles than the romans did. The Phoenicians conquered a people they made them pledge a portion of the populace to join in any war effort the phoenicians had going. The romans on the other hand put taxation amongst other things on the populace and requested or conscripted soldiers. There's a video about it on invicta or kings and generals channel. I can't remember which 1 though
Learning about Hannibal is like watching a TV show where writers are constantly writing themselves into a corner. Absolute genius and creativity. You guys are doing great! I can't wait to see what's next
Never heard about the concealed lybian infantry and their rôle in the crushing defeat of roman legion . In fact the battle of cannae was " just" another hannibal ambush in a battlefield not suited for ambushing...... Thanks for the video historymarche 🥰
@@Gwynnbleid95, they did use the Carthaginian fleet, but at this point the navy would need another Hasdrubal to be any effective against the Roman ships
@@Gwynnbleid95, it was quiet hard for Carthage to give any more support to Hannibal by this point considering that their fleet had been destroyed again while raiding Sicily as a preliminary to invading it, Carthage could have used its fleet instead for defending the holdings in Spain which were more important to Hannibal than Tunisia itself. One of the main reasons Hannibal was forced to go back to North Africa was that New Carthage was taken by Scipio in Spain
The Libyan infantry were a throwback to Macedonian phalanx formations but more mobile and able to sprint with spears in hand. This is why the Romans were trapped, their opponents had long spears that hemmed them in.
Oh my god, this video has really taken me to that battlefield. Thank you so much for creating this experience. Hannibal's genius really shone through on that day, the envelopment idea is simply outstanding.
I didn't know what was the outcome of this battle so I didn't read any comments of the first and second chapter because I didn't want any spoils. Man, it was worth the waiting. Thank you for your work. Best history channel.
I think you truly know how great of a General Hannibal Is , His army and Glorious battles are bigger then some kings , To bad there isn't a big Budget Serie by HBO made on him and his journey
Thanks for this. Hannibal in my opinion was the most gifted general in history to have crossed the terrain he did, fight the battles and winning by such a margin. His understanding of people, diplomacy, languages, needs of his soldiers. He was an incredible fighter and a charismatic leader. While brutal at times, even his enemies were silent as to his flaws. To hold together a multi ethnic mercenary army for years unsupported in enemy territory is astounding. Am waiting for more in the series because even in exile after the end of the war his strategy dealt Rome it's greatest naval defeat.
Alexander was better than Hannibal, Hannibal been said himself that Alexander was the greatest general of all time. Alexander also never lost a battle, meanwhile Hannibal lost his war.
@@Vntihero That's idiotic. Alexander had every advantage except Numbers and if the Persian Emperor hadn't been a field mouse in a man's body the Persian Calvary would have succeeded in Killing Alexander the average. His troops spoke his language. Good old Alex couldn't have held a multi lingual and national force together for as long as Hannibal did, especially as, unlike Hannibal, Alex had a loyal supportive base in his home country. Hannibal had every disadvantage but won every battle he fought. He was not there at Zama. Hannibal gave Rome its greatest land and greatest sea defeats in all its years of history. You can't compare the two because Hannibal would have crushed Alex's army in a day.
@@Rathallan Hannibal even said himself that Alexander was the greatest ever, and Darius was known to have won 1 on 1 duels before but still fled to Alexander’s superiority. Hannibal knew himself he couldn’t attack Rome and didn’t. And unlike Hannibal, Alexander the Great never even lost a battle, but Hannibal LOST his WAR! Did you really just say Hannibal was not at Zama?!?! That’s why he left Italy to confront Scipio Africanus, and LOST at Zama, you are crazy if you believe Hannibal wasn’t at Zama 😂Scipio beat Hannibal and lost the 2nd Punic war. Hannibal even Said Alexander was the greatest. You really must be crazy if you think Hannibal wasn’t at Zama 🤣 Hannibal lost his WAR, Alexander never even lost a single battle!
@@Vntihero like I said, you are an idiot. They say Hannibal was at Zama but every battle before this Hannibal was leading his men from within the ranks, he scouted, planned and executed amazing tactics and split decisions. Have you even read about Zama, doesn't it strike you as odd? Even Polybius (which I am rereading again) finds it odd enough to mention. Darius ran from the battles, this wasn't Darius the 1st. The Persian calvary scythed through the companions and wounded Alex but because their emperor retreated they also had to retreat. Did you bother to read about the Persian cavalry and their role in this. If they had stayed and wiped out Alex the average they'd have been killed by Darius. Since he fled, his army had to withdraw. It was a complex obligation. It was also this obligation that made them disgusted with the system. They killed Darius and turned the empire over to Alex. Had there been a better leader Alex and his men would have been fertilizer and forgotten. Rightly so too. Hannibal looked up to the example of a General who could campaign like Alexander did. He ended up exceeding Alexander. The fact is that Roman's crushed the phalanx system, it lacked maneuverability and adaptability. The Romans had 10 times the population, vast resources, multiple armies, many bases. Hannibal couldn't even get support from Carthage because of short sighted political opposition. Yet here he was, conquered Spanish Iberian tribes, fought his way across the alps in snow season, repelling and counter ambushing. Gets across with only half his army, still beats an army. Restores his own and proceeds to rampage across the Roman army including the defeat of an 80000 man legionary army with half the number in ground of the enemies choosing, ambushing them in an open field and annihilating it. Alexander did nothing close to that. Hannibal survived in those hostile conditions beating one army after another. Often outmaneuvering 3 armies. Alexander did not do that either. Now, there was a point where Hannibal could have taken Rome. It was much weaker than he knew after Cannae and he later admitted to this being his biggest mistake. Hannibal also had higher quality enemies. Have you read anything about the Persian empire, it's satraps equipped their troops according to their nations style. You had segments with nothing but slings, or spears , some mounted, some not, some had camels. There were so many fighting styles and languages that the Persian armies were some of the most ineffective in history. GREAT at administrationand logistics, fair rulers but hopelessly poor armies. Only the core Persian cavalry and elephant units were superior to the Macedonian. You need to truly read the history, formation and organization of these empires to understand the reality. All of Alexander's invasions occurred after Civil wars too. Alexander had every advantage but Numbers. Given the same situation Hannibal would have conquered the world I think. The sheer amount of tactics he used was unparalleled. Truly read the accounts of the man and his army.
I find it impressive that Hannibal was able to "see" the battle unfold from his position and was able to maneuver his army in such a masterly way. Even if much of it was pre-planned, it still needed incredible battle sense to get the timing right.
your change in pitch and emphasis elevates the drama so well, it's amazing. Even though I know the outcome it makes it heart pounding even still. Awesome job!!!!!!
Been waiting for the complete Cannae by HistoryMarche for months.. I've never been this excited for a TH-cam video release in my life! literally dropped everything and started watching as soon as I saw that notification. I turnoff my Adblock and press on all links (and ads) to support you, Keep up the good work lads, love your content!
@@IinferusS To some extent yes it does help. I'm not an expert on this topic but I'll try to explain what I know.. If you turnoff your Adblock and watch the full Ads without skipping them (or watch more than 5 seconds) it generates what's called an "Ad Impression" which is a fancy word for "someone watched X Ad". This thing helps the channel a bit by generating profit and at the same time lets the algorithm know that, this channel has viewers that are watching a lot of Ads, which makes the "algo" put even more Ads on the channel. They are better ways though, like purchasing merch or supporting them through Patreon. that being said the YT algo changes from time to time, so what works now might be useless later. But I think that your way of doing the codes also helps a lot in driving the channel forward by attracting more sponsors. Sorry for the long post, and you're welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.
So happy to not be spoiled the thrill. Just about to read Wikipedia for the result of Cannae, but I held back at all cost. Now going back, I really thought this would be Hannibal's end, but in the end I was struck in awe by one of the greatest military genius of history. Thank you so much for this video. 😊🙏
The word "peace" was prohibited in Rome after Cannae, mourning was limited to only 30 days, and public tears were prohibited even to women.1/3 of the Roman male population to dust, just as the ratio of Hannibal's army vs Roman legionaries.
I've never been this excited for a TH-cam video release in my life!! When I saw the notification I literally screamed and jumped multiple times like a child receiving a new toy!!!! The animation was not at all how I imagined it...IT'S EVEN BETTER!!! I watched all the ads and didn't skip it, this video should get every reward possible as it's on a whole entirely new level. You guys never disappoint us!! I thank you deeply from the bottom of my heart, been waiting for over a year but it was worth the wait... You guys are the best :)
@@funfacttrivias2121 how so? Hannibal was a great commander in his own right, only thing that he had an advantage over the Romans was his Calvary. He completely crushed them with a smaller force and in foreign terrain.
@@waynewayne8419 well so does ceasar when he clash with pompey and in battle of munda hes enemies outnumber him and hes fighting uphill imagine that yet he able to win those battle surely luck is a great plus but his skill too made it possible try watching those engagement and your mouth will open in awe of ceasars manuevers and by the way in this kind of face to face clash i always find that cavalry played a great role in turning the tide of battle thier mobility enable them to flank or encircle static infantries in battle
@@davidchicoine6949 Indeed. One thing Hannibal had going for him, is that his troops were, on average, more experienced and more disciplined. And this played a huge part, because basically his officers and troops "knew what they were doing", more so than the Romans.
@@HistoryMarche indeed experience army in antiquity was more preferable than numbers like alexander macedonian army or later veteran roman legions ! Anyway good job historymarche again 😀
Listening to Punic Nightmares by Dan Carlin and got to the Battle of Cannae. He does a great job explaining, but it's a complicated battle so I wanted to see if there was a birds-eye-view breakdown of the battle. This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thank you for making this!
Excellent, masterpiece. It is unbelievable that the Roman Empire could recover from the series of defeats it went through, culminating in Cannae. I can't wait to see the next parts!
At the time it was Roman Republic, not empire, their strength was having solid allies while unfortunately for Hannibal Carthaginian government hesitated and never sent reinforcements. In the end Hannibal outplayed the bejesus out of Rome, but fear defeated him.
2 months later, im hooked in this series, its 6 am RN and i havent slept all night cause i got addicted to the 2nd punic war series. Now i've seen this masterpiece and i cant find the following episodes, are they still coming out or is the series ended?
Fantastic presentation over the past three parts, as always! I normally prefer BazBattles' style of NATO symbols clashing and crumbling, but your method of presenting the units as individual pips gave a much more chaotic feeling to the battle and added "momentum" to the units as they charged, clashed, and routed, which fit the battle's atmosphere perfectly! Quality stuff, well worth the wait.
I always thought that Hannibal's center had held and Hannibal's calvary surrounded far more. Never realized the center had retreated and that there as yet ANOTHER trap as a fail safe. Such a good video! Learned a lot and want to look into this more.
Been waiting for this so long. the discipline which Hannibal commanded was his biggest weapon. Thanks for making this incredibly engaging for us the audience. Legend.
@@HistoryMarche can u make a video about the fall of tyre against the babyloniens it’s really an interesting topic, since no one is talking about it, and it’s just wonderful how the city held for 5 years and also the fight between queen Didon and her brother for the title of king/queen of the city which resulted in a WOMEN creating colonialism and founding the first colony in history, Carthage
@@HistoryMarche I have to admit, after all the wait seeing this episode today was really great! I have seen this battle shown many times over, but never with such detail. Also the fact that it's climax of a great series that showed the situation much deeper than I was previously aware of made this much better. I really like how you went for dots representing smaller size of unit, it enabled you to show the compression and mortal situation of Romans in later stage of the battle. And to think that each such dot represents hundreds of human lives with dreams, hopes and possible future... Thank you for making this series, it really is great no matter how much we had to wait for this episode :)
This channel is so much better than any high-budget history program in a cable TV. The relative short length of every upload and the concentrated information, accompanied by the clean, outstandingly detailed maps and pointers to show the military compositions or a picture of a leader, and those funny, lighthearted, comments they make - all of these makes the understanding of historical events so much clearer and easy to swallow, and compress a lot of information into a relatively short pieces - and you still get so much out of every video! Compare this to, say, a program in history channel of ancient war, where you have hundreds of actors and extras, amazing, historical accurate settings, original, epic soundtrack, panorama shots in HD and a super dramatic narrator - but everything is so unnecessary slow. You watch a program for 10 minutes and most of the time you slag through scenes that try to recreate the visuals or feeling of an age - but you don't get much of the actual history. You watch bits and pieces of the life of people in Rome but you don't get to pinpoint where events actually took place, who was who - you don't get a sense of the whole picture. Just a dramatic feel of it. It really feels essentially like trying to satiate your hunger with junk food - after one hour and a half you feel so bloated but you aren't really fool or inspired. You're just tired. It's like they try to imitate the experience of watching a Hollywood movie and apply it to history as well, but history should never try to imitate a Hollywood movie - it can shine on it's own right.
Brilliant battle plan by genius commander.., but what is even mire astonishing is the level of discipline and execution by all multi-national units. Unwavering trust in their commander, impeccable timing infolding over many hours.., and it is practically without means to communicate and coordinate. I doubt that Hastubal stopped his horsemen to rest twice, knowing and seeing that Roman battle-Ram formation is smashing through Hannibal’s center. Hasturbal undoubtedly knew the plan, and he knew exactly when to launch the attack.., no sooner, no later. And retrieving Center knew the plan and executed it bravely and brilliantly, while suffering large losses and facing real risk of total destruction. And Libyan infantry waited patiently, knowing their perfect timing and executing their attack at perfect timing without means of communicating with each other. Brilliant! Just Brilliant! Arguably, the most brilliant Chest Game of all time on largest scale, and against the most formidable and well organized, well motivated opponent. Alexander the Great achieved great victories against numerically vastly superior, but militarily much weaker opponents. But in this battle Hannibal defied all odds… Bravo!!!
Absolutely agree. Imagine if Carthage had a single nation army like the Romans or Macedonians/Greeks. Hannibal would have been unstoppable even at Zama.
how do you rebuild a government when literally both your heads of state, half of the young guard politicians, and a significant portion of your legislators got killed in one battle. not even mentioning that they still had to deal with 50.000 rampaging enemy soldiers scorching the countryside. I guess the final message here is that the true winner in this war was the Roman state. I really hope you guys go in-depth next episode about how the Romans dealt with rebuilding the chain of command, even after getting their government DECAPITATED and having a critical manpower shortage. as well as the relation with the Italian client states after this cataclysmic loss. All things aside, this video, like many others, was a masterpiece. eagerly awaiting the next one.
Carthage is no match to Rome at all, It was the Barca family alone who raised Carthage's strength to almost the same level as Rome for a short period of time. If Carthaginians back then have half the fighting spirit of the Romans, they could definitely defeat Rome. Unfortunately, they did not, so they were swept into the dusts of history.
Thank you for giving us insight of our history , i am from Tunisia and seeing this battle was a fantastic experience to explore the event the war and love the genius hannibal more , thank you ❤️
This is absolutely amazing. It got me so hooked! I felt the tension of the army even doubting my memory since I didn't remember if Hannibal won or lost that battle. Simply a masterpiece.
Amazing video! I've read and watched much about this battle and was always under the impression they surrounded the entirety of the army. And that there was also an encirclement on Varro's position. And this is the first time hearing about an ambush encircling the army.
If you guys are wondering if there is a game like this, Yes there is. its available on mobile, but I don't know if it's available for PC. The game name is "Carthage:Bellum Punicum But it only focuses on the second punic war.
I didn't know Hannibal's center was broken for so long and that deeply when the Numidians were finally engaged. I always imagined the line stayed united, but only bulged back. Kudos to his center troops for holding on against a much superior force for so long.
One of the greatest battles fought on Earth! Also, the music and the voice of the narrator were so good. Probably the best so far in your videos! This was a royal treat! Or should I say, a consular treat ;))
Fantastic depiction and explanation of the battle. Showed the terrain, the formations and explained the strategy behind the deployments. Greatly helped to see why the battle concluded the way it did.
absolutely fantastic! I highly recommend all viewers to also go watch Invicta's video on Cannae. He does an amazing job in putting you in the shoes of the common legionary, and think about all the thoughts and emotions that they had throughout the day and that eventually ended up in the Roman defeat.
Amazing! everyone now will know why it took u all this time "the best Cannae video out there" Edit: didn't now that u were there fighting in the centre next to Hannibal in 216
Great presentation! What a gutless effort by Varro who as I understand it was the one who instigated the battle that day. He got into no trouble back in Rome while the common legionaries who survived were literally sent to Coventry. It was Scipio Africanus who gave these soldiers the chance to redeem themselves by recruiting them into his army for his expedition to Africa to take the war to Carthage. They would have their revenge on Hannibal at the Battle of Zama. Thanks HistoryMarche.
"3000 tons of human flesh" That is just an impressive stat to show the carnage of the day. That is the same as 30 - 737 jets. Just think of it lying in the hot August sun. The smell would have traveled for miles.
With no doubt, Hannibal is the greatest military general ever. If he had a wise state behind him, our modern day would have been so different that it could not be recognized.
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Bro thank you for you hard work, take a week off you realy deserve it, we pledge to restrain from asking when the next video will be released until 2022.
@@RayanBacha95 Haha, cheers :)
We waited for this too much
Keep up♥️♥️
12 DAYS LATER ITS HERE AT LAST!!! Hannibal took its time to assmeble his biggest ambush yet lmao
Here are some quotes from the day after the battle.
"A few, whose wounds had been staunched by the morning frosts, even rose from among the heaps of dead all covered in blood - only to be slaughtered there and then by their enemies."
"Others were discovered, still alive, but lying there with their knees or hamstrings sliced apart, baring their necks or throats and begging their enemies to drain the rest of their blood."
"Some were even found with their heads buried in the ground, having dug small pits for themselves and buried their faces in the earth, and then simply smothered themselves to death."
"The most spectacular sight of all was a Numidian soldier, still alive but lying beneath a dead Roman, with his nose and ears torn to shreds. The Roman had fought to his final breath, and when his hands could no longer hold his weapon, his anger turned to madness, and he died tearing his enemy to pieces with his teeth.."
It really lets you know how horrific it was, Carthaginians becoming exhausted from slaughtering, rather than fighting. The struggles of the inner soldiers, knowing their impending death as the day drags on. 100 Romans being slaughtered every minute.
Fantastic series im HOOKED... it's so crazy to imagine yourself in that situation, and what would drive you to take your own life my suffocating yourself in a hole in the ground... the affect it too had on even Hannibal's men. Many dis-agreeing with it's brutality. Which in antiquity must means a lot. ;)
Will be covered in the next episode. Thanks for watching!
@@HistoryMarche That's excellent to hear! It's so easy to forget that these historical statistics are made up of people as real as you and me
@@HistoryMarche You are amazing.
I always wonder what happens after, do they just let the bodies rot? Leaving thousands of skeletons behind?
Sitting Bull - I felt that. 😳
If you survived this battle as a punic soldier, you never would have doubted hannibal's judgement again
and yet he still lost zama.. imagine being a soldier living off the land for 15 years in enemy territory just to get beaten in your backyard
@@gvn010 in defense of hannibal he was recalled back to carthage to defend the city and had little time to prepare his army to face Scipio at zama, all of scipio's legions were actual soldiers ready to die for war whilst hannibal was struggling to build up a defending army when 2/3 of the infantry were new recruits and the small part being his veterans from italy. Another thing is that he didn't have superior cavalry like in cannae
@@raidnotright8089 hannibal's not to blame, i'm just saying it's tough for hannibal since he was the greatest military genius since alexander at the time and no matter what he did he was screwed. it was an a tough fight for carthage to begin with, but general incompetence led to the loss of iberia and with it carthage's economy and the numidians betrayed them, giving scipio much needed cavalry superiority over hannibal
@@gvn010 cheers mate, hannibal tried his best and his legacy are still remembered to this day
@@raidnotright8089 scipio had a story just like his too. hero of his country betrayed by his government. that's irony. only we know so much of scipio because his city wasnt burned to the ground
In Italy when you fail in something we currently use this expression "you have cannato" that is you have failed, term cannato derives from cannae battle, probably a reminiscence of this event
haha ok that's a fun fact xD
never heard it
Damn and that’s probably why they throw tomatoes at you if you suck… at some point in history someone said “they really canato!” And someone thought they should throw a tomato them.
"Were you killed?"
Rome: "Sadly yes, BUT I LIVED!"
task failed successfully
Ice age Fan?
@@war_designer8763 the very successful failure
@@lukecc1097
Lol, I even read it in his voice!
@@war_designer8763
Most definitely. Rome is the Eternal City after all.
Totally worth the wait, the unit animations are next-level. You've made a masterpiece.
incredible
Hannibal would approve.
I totally agree
So true!
I can‘t wart for the Battle of Zama
Hannibal was a serious mad lad.
-Braved through to the Alps to march through enemy soil
-Took the fight in the enemy's home turf
-Won almost every battle in Italy, pre-Cannae
-Loses for the sake of playing mind games
-Was outnumbered but struck a heavy blow to the Romans in multiple ways
Indeed
can you explain losses for mind games?
@@Skindred727 I think he means hannibals tactic in this video. Hannibal endured most of his losses because of the centre push, which was a mind game to trap the roman infanterie.
@@vic8497 how he control his army from fake losses? cause there was a history about army losses cause of 1 horse.
@@ksagitarius I do not understand your question quite well. All I know is that this strategy was a huge gamble by Hannibal. I believe to think he had some great captains who kept the centre in order. A pushed back centre is demoralizing and can cause a full rout/collapse to the whole army.
Hannibal is the definition of tragic hero. A man so courageous, intelligent, brave and loyal to his country. Not only did he achieve unparalleled military successes, but he became the leader of the democratic reform after the war that could have reinvegorated the republic and saved the nation. It's just that the task was impossible, even for the great Hannibal Barca.
A hero except for the murdering children for Baal part. By the way, was he part Iberian of the original stock, making him my kin? I think his mother was Iberian.
@@scintillam_dei Roman propaganda.
He was a carthaginian aristocrat
@@MarouenAK So his name is Roman propaganda to you. Baal is in his name, so he honoured the god that demands child sacrifice.
@@scintillam_dei I am speaking of child sacrifice
@@scintillam_dei
how many child ,wwoman ,innocent people had romans enjoyed watching them die and get eaten in the Colosseum ?
HBO should make an immense Budget Serie on Hannibal's Legendary Journey and His Great Army if it it,s done correctly it would be way better than Game of thrones
i am wondering , why no one made a good movie or series on him , he was a great man ever lived, i read a book on him long ago , and from that day i am so inspired from this great man ,
Hannibal Vs Scipio: the last showdown of the free folk.
The Diadochi really deserves a high budget series...it would be better than Game of thrones.
@@barkat500 too expensive. Also hard to get scale and individual suffering on shot,
Vin Diesel has been planning that for years but there hasn't been any recent news since 2017.
Me: Omg Hannibal is going to lose, his troops were broken.
My brain: dude you already know the outcome, chill the f out
HAha
Honestly the video made me so tense, but in a good way
"Look at that formation! The Romans can still win!"
I didn't know the outcome when I first watched, and I was really sad when I saw Hannibal losing, as I personally believe he was an amazing general. Then the trap activated and I was amazed.
Watching these video’s i often wondered why an army would not flank with infantry. If they are superior in number. Some ancient leaders like Hannibal and Julius Caesar had some giant balls back then.
22:22
This is a very underrated statement. While his victory seemed inevitable to most of us watching the video in hindsight, you could be 18 minutes into the video and still expect a Roman victory, given the trend things were going in since Chapter 1. It's very reminiscent of the Yarmouk video where Khalid sprung his trap at the very last moment and turned the tide of history.
How fortunate are we to witness great men like them and have History Marche document their exploits for us :')
Wow, thanks a lot Rex. I can't tell you how much I appreciate positive feedback from longtime subscribers, who have also been active in the comment section and helping my videos.
And yes, I agree, the outcome at Cannae was anything but certain. Hasdrubal had to spend maybe even 1-2 hours resting the horses, and Hannibal had no way of knowing if the cavalry attack on the flank succeeded. Plus, his center routed (or at least part of it). These are just two of many details that could've twisted the outcome had just a few things went differently. It was a close run thing imo, but still brilliant from Hannibal.
@@HistoryMarche
I appreciate you keeping tabs on us Triarii in the comments section since the channels inception :')
Yep. It's obvious that Hannibal was a pretty ballsy commander. Not only did he take all the aforementioned risks but he put himself in the most dangerous part of the battlefield a Carthaginian could be in. As much as I love Rome, can't help but root for this genius.
good job
@@HistoryMarche hanibal had the walkie talkie on which he communicated with other troops
Some of us legit didn't know who was going to win!
He lead from the front, planned a massive all-or-nothing gambit that wiped out a much bigger, more powerful army in an open field battle, hiding his plan in plain sight. What a man was Hannibal. Your best video yet, even though I know the battle well, it sent my heart racing. His brothers deserve credit, too, executing this plan required nerves (and balls) of steel.
indeed ! If Hannibal's commanders and officiers weren't good enough, it would be impossible for him to execute the plan properly
Nah, Hannibal was slow. He couldn't walk properly because of heavy brassballs
Yet Rome perseveres, a testament to their immaculate courage
@@50shekels Taking absolutely nothing away from Rome. Economy, organisation, scale and citizenry willing to take arms even after a terrific defeat all speaks volumes why they became the dominant power.
Hannibal is truly one of the best Generals to have walked on this earth he is so Great His Fame and Glorious battles are even bigger then some kings
it's amazing that some of the Roman leadership at Cannae, such as Marcus Minucius Rufus and Gnaeus Servilius Geminus, had fought or encountered Hannibal before and been defeated through ambush and outmaneuvering (Rufus at Geronium and Geminus shortly after Trasimine), and yet they completely failed to learn from their losses. They still refused to listen to Fabius and his supporters and still believed that Hannibal could simply be overwhelmed through direct confrontation. In a way, Hannibal made Rome better. Hannibal literally killed all the aggressive, prideful, and unimaginative leaders in Rome, leaving only the more cautious, creative, and strategic leadership left. Also, all divisions and factions in the Roman senate were removed and Rome was completely united under decisive and strong control out of desperation.
To be fair hannibal WAS possible to beat in a field battle, it just required a lot of caution. Also the leadership clearly learned from previous failures when they picked the fighting ground in this battle, almost any other leader would have failed to pull off such a daring ambush in an open field.
Hannibal’s legacy goes beyond that.
Keep in mind that the root cause of the collapse of the Roman Republic was due to Senate corruption and issues with land and wealth redistribution as an indirect effect of the Punic Wars. That led to the Populares, the Gracchi, Marius, Sulla, Pompey, Crassus, Caesar, Octavian, multiple Roman civil wars, etc.
True this guy doesn't even know how HARD it is to pull off that encirclement. Even I have a hard time doing that in Total War, imagine in real life. Needless to say, he was one heck of a General that Hannibal.
@@dole-brentbayalas854 dude dont comapare a game where you can micro manage troops to real life
@@proximitive3872 Oh shut up
And suddenly the day got much better
Indeed it does
Yes it did I didn't know Hannibal actually won a battle against the Romans.
Not for Romans though
@@drop883 what?? He won every battle against the romans except the last one
It's here... it's finally here... after all this time!
i feel ascended...
Hannibal really snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in this battle. What a master piece.
He may not be the number one goat but For that specific moment (Cannae) Hannibal reached a prime unmatched by anyone ever.
All in the plan.
@@Red-90 Khalid ibn waleed destroyed the Roman's and Persians simultaneously. He never lost a battle and fought many many battles. Battle of yarmouk was 40k vs 200k
@@Red-90 I guess you could argue that. Us muslims call him the sword of Allah. One time he told the Roman army. I have come with a army that loves death more than you love wine and money. He once said "I would throw myself onto the enemy lines until I was certain I would not come out alive yet I remain here on my bed dying like the cattle". In islam we believe those who are killed for sake of Allah are alive and they are granted Paradise. Before he died he quoted "May the cowards never sleep"
@@jawadsabih4979 Khalid is one of the greatest generals of all time but the Byzantines didn’t field any army of 200K at a time. Eastern Rome and Persia had been at war a lot. Yarmouk was probably in the 2:1 or 3:1 range in terms of how much the Muslim army was outnumbered.
This is the best and most brillant strategy adopted by a general in a battle in the history of warfare.
It surpass Austerlitz of Napoleon, Gaugamela of Alexander and Yarmouk of Khalid.
Certainly
Don’t forget the battle of Thermopylae..while it wasn’t a victory it made way for the whole 2nd greko-Persian war victory..5000 men in total(roughly) holding off around 100,000 Persians by using the terrain to their advantage is a brilliant strategy..and if not for the betrayal they probably would’ve won..
@@seancascanet3428 they were doomed to fail. They managed to hold off some of the Persians but even if there is no betrayal, they will sooner or later be overwhelmed anyway
Leonidas' aim was never to win the battle, but to give example and raise the spirits of the rest of the greeks to fight the Persians off the Greek land..
Yup i agree but yarmouk was genius at that time and this is genius at thier time
@@mamun3031 yes
Interesting take. Most depictions of the battle have the entire Roman army being surrounded by the flanking troops, but your video emphasizes the Roman center being surrounded. I look forward to reading some of your sources. Excellent video 👍
Definitely check out Goldsworthy's book. It is absolutely fascinating. Here's the link www.amazon.com/Cannae-Hannibals-Greatest-Adrian-Goldsworthy/dp/1541699254
It's actually very easy to read and follow, and he does an excellent job at analyzing the battle.
Theadore something dodge has the best book on Hannibal. He looks at polybius and Levy's accounts (although polybius basically copied levy, aside from the "more fantastical liberties he took" also visited all the sites estimated to be the battle sites and tries to pin down a single location (and route, over Alps. Etc) based on all available Intel. And logic. By far the most informative and in-depth look at the 2nd Punic war(although a little dry at times due to the vast amount of info and context. By the way, this version is seriously lacking in detail and facts. Do more research. It drives me nuts that there are so many videos on Hannibal and almost all utterly fail in explaining what a tactical genius he was. This video gets about 75-80% right, (although the rest is of tremendous importance, and therefore...) Hannibal knew the Roman army (officers temperaments, etc) Better than any Roman counsol)
@@craigw6923 what are you saying Polybius copied Titus Livius?!?!? Polybius lived and died like 100 years before Livy was born.
The majority of the Romans were surrounded but the last line of the legions were fighting it out with the Carthaginian infantry and cavalry. The Consul that died lost his life here, sending away his young aide s he bled on a rock behind the lines.
The young aide was Scipio Africanus, who would ultimately defeat Hannibal at Zama.
Most depictions get it wrong by having the cav complete the encirclement , which was completely done by infantry.
@@craigw6923 wtf dude... Yes Hannibal was a beast but Livy was born around the 60's BC and Polybius was born over 100 years earlier... No way the latter copied the former. Furthermore, since Polybius was Greek Livy had to adapt Polybius' work to a more "Roman" narrative.
I never get tired of watching this battle. Absolute masterpiece.
except his overusing that wilhelm screem sfx gets pretty annoying.
Romans: We almost beat Hannibal by overwhelming him with numbers last time. Our heavy infantry can defeat his infantry any day, too. We got this.
Hannibal: I almost got my ass beat last time because their heavy infantry crowded my lines. Better be prepared for that.
And that's the problem. By the time the Romans realised a few weaknesses of Hannibal's army, he too had realised those and closed the gaps with clever tactics.
Magnificent bastard was always a step ahead.
He is a great general in the Level of kings , What he done to rommans with a single army and without reinforcements or any help or supplies from carthage for 15 years and in their country is truly astonishing , Hannibal Diserves a High Budget Serie made by HBO on him , Game of thrones would be nothing compared to it
@@cheriefsadeksadek2108 why did he lose to Scipio tho? Was it a kind of a Waterloo moment
@@fredbarker9201 Cause Scipio was a good general, had more troops, and the superior african cavalry joined the romans.
@@fredbarker9201 he studied hannibal past battle achivement, and he is also there at cannae where it happens, so he is prepared before hand
@@cheriefsadeksadek2108 the can't/won't do it, because he's not European .
One of your best works. When center started to route, I thought Hannibal would have used his Libyan infantry to strengthen the centre, but the risk he took, letting the center to route, was beyond plebian understanding.
Hanni: "Cannae"?
Varro: "No, you can't"
Hanni: "YES I CAN!"
The story has been told and retold many times but this is as good as it gets.
Thank you sir.
Agree, I have watched the same battle depicted by many channels too many times and I was still expecting a roman victory after the center had routed.
This is the best depiction of the battle I had seen thus far, and the most suspenseful.
Omg how many battles until Hannibal returns to Carthage why do I fear for Hannibals defeat? Man this is just like watching cinema. The suspense....
I'm watching WW2 week by week, and right now the Germans are doing great. It is strange knowing the outcome, but back then it must have been anyone's game.
Loads. Gallic ambush of the Romans, Longus victory over Hanno, The 3 battles at Nola, 2 at Capu, 2 at Herculaneum, capturing of and loss of Tarentum, the 2 day battle against Marcellus, Marcellus's ambush and death the following year, Nero's limited victory over Hannibal in 207, battle of Metaurus (possibly the decisive battle of the war or at least the end of Carthaginian hopes for total victory). I'm probably forgetting heaps and these are just the Italian theatre.
@@ronbou4728 Spoiler alert
imagine they make movies about the punic wars...
@@yassinewertani-tn5217 they made I think...they are old....if they did they should make a new one
Hannibal really is the man! The only one who tried his very best to better his country's fortunes even when his own countrymen opposed him. A true patriot.
Even though we know what happens in the battle, you still made me watch in awe and get the chills like I'm watching the real thing before my eyes for the very first time.
You, without doubt, make the best documentaries of this kind that I have ever seen in my life anywhere, and you definitely deserve a lot more attention. We all are grateful for your efforts, HistoryMarche, may you live long!
Wow, that is some kind feedback. Thank you so much.
only a true genius could have controlled this multiethnic army from breaking during the battle this brutal, absolutely godlike achievement and one of the greatest victories in history
The romans army were also multi-ethnic. They had allied gaulic tribes. They also had etruscans and people from all over. They just gave everybody citizenship so their ethnicity was overshadowed.
it's no great feat to get a band of people who all share a common enemy to all hate that common enemy. winning the battles was impressive, not getting the soldiers to the battle.
@Harry Paul and on top of that, to hold them in line during those chaotic battles, if those people were a mob, they would have broken after first few impacts of roman meatgrinder that was triplex acies
roman line at cannae wrecked havoc at first, drawing fear into its enemies bones, it is outstanding that Hannibal turned that on its head, in just few hours Romans were those in fear, imagine 40k people or so, packed together, their strength failing while they wait for inevitable death, terrifying
@Harry Paul yea yea yea, every empire ever has done that, nothing unique about it. No of you simps salivate over Ceasar's "multi-cultural progressivism" when he was doing the same shit in gaul about 100 years later, they just say 'wow he was a master strategist'. I have never heard a simp talk about the woke-progressiveness of Alexander's army either.
But yet, when it's an African, all the 'totes woke' simps, who are totally not racist at all, have to ensure everyone hears them talk about how woke hannibal must have been. What could the difference be i wonder?
Hannibal and the phoenicians had a different approach to war and winning battles than the romans did. The Phoenicians conquered a people they made them pledge a portion of the populace to join in any war effort the phoenicians had going. The romans on the other hand put taxation amongst other things on the populace and requested or conscripted soldiers. There's a video about it on invicta or kings and generals channel. I can't remember which 1 though
Learning about Hannibal is like watching a TV show where writers are constantly writing themselves into a corner. Absolute genius and creativity. You guys are doing great! I can't wait to see what's next
This guy saying "MEEEEANWHILE" never gets old
Right?! SOmetimes it gives me chills...when the timing is perfect.
Never heard about the concealed lybian infantry and their rôle in the crushing defeat of roman legion .
In fact the battle of cannae was " just" another hannibal ambush in a battlefield not suited for ambushing......
Thanks for the video historymarche 🥰
@@Gwynnbleid95, they did use the Carthaginian fleet, but at this point the navy would need another Hasdrubal to be any effective against the Roman ships
@@Gwynnbleid95, it was quiet hard for Carthage to give any more support to Hannibal by this point considering that their fleet had been destroyed again while raiding Sicily as a preliminary to invading it, Carthage could have used its fleet instead for defending the holdings in Spain which were more important to Hannibal than Tunisia itself. One of the main reasons Hannibal was forced to go back to North Africa was that New Carthage was taken by Scipio in Spain
The Libyan infantry were a throwback to Macedonian phalanx formations but more mobile and able to sprint with spears in hand. This is why the Romans were trapped, their opponents had long spears that hemmed them in.
Oh my god, this video has really taken me to that battlefield. Thank you so much for creating this experience.
Hannibal's genius really shone through on that day, the envelopment idea is simply outstanding.
Wow, thank you!
Would love to see in modern day view of this battlefield
Hannibal's victory was a tactical victory for the ages. Wonderful vid.
I didn't know what was the outcome of this battle so I didn't read any comments of the first and second chapter because I didn't want any spoils. Man, it was worth the waiting. Thank you for your work. Best history channel.
I think you truly know how great of a General Hannibal Is , His army and Glorious battles are bigger then some kings , To bad there isn't a big Budget Serie by HBO made on him and his journey
Thanks for this. Hannibal in my opinion was the most gifted general in history to have crossed the terrain he did, fight the battles and winning by such a margin. His understanding of people, diplomacy, languages, needs of his soldiers. He was an incredible fighter and a charismatic leader. While brutal at times, even his enemies were silent as to his flaws. To hold together a multi ethnic mercenary army for years unsupported in enemy territory is astounding.
Am waiting for more in the series because even in exile after the end of the war his strategy dealt Rome it's greatest naval defeat.
Alexander was better than Hannibal, Hannibal been said himself that Alexander was the greatest general of all time. Alexander also never lost a battle, meanwhile Hannibal lost his war.
@@Vntihero That's idiotic. Alexander had every advantage except Numbers and if the Persian Emperor hadn't been a field mouse in a man's body the Persian Calvary would have succeeded in Killing Alexander the average.
His troops spoke his language. Good old Alex couldn't have held a multi lingual and national force together for as long as Hannibal did, especially as, unlike Hannibal, Alex had a loyal supportive base in his home country.
Hannibal had every disadvantage but won every battle he fought. He was not there at Zama. Hannibal gave Rome its greatest land and greatest sea defeats in all its years of history. You can't compare the two because Hannibal would have crushed Alex's army in a day.
@@Rathallan Hannibal even said himself that Alexander was the greatest ever, and Darius was known to have won 1 on 1 duels before but still fled to Alexander’s superiority. Hannibal knew himself he couldn’t attack Rome and didn’t. And unlike Hannibal, Alexander the Great never even lost a battle, but Hannibal LOST his WAR! Did you really just say Hannibal was not at Zama?!?! That’s why he left Italy to confront Scipio Africanus, and LOST at Zama, you are crazy if you believe Hannibal wasn’t at Zama 😂Scipio beat Hannibal and lost the 2nd Punic war. Hannibal even Said Alexander was the greatest. You really must be crazy if you think Hannibal wasn’t at Zama 🤣 Hannibal lost his WAR, Alexander never even lost a single battle!
@@Vntihero like I said, you are an idiot. They say Hannibal was at Zama but every battle before this Hannibal was leading his men from within the ranks, he scouted, planned and executed amazing tactics and split decisions.
Have you even read about Zama, doesn't it strike you as odd? Even Polybius (which I am rereading again) finds it odd enough to mention.
Darius ran from the battles, this wasn't Darius the 1st. The Persian calvary scythed through the companions and wounded Alex but because their emperor retreated they also had to retreat. Did you bother to read about the Persian cavalry and their role in this. If they had stayed and wiped out Alex the average they'd have been killed by Darius. Since he fled, his army had to withdraw. It was a complex obligation. It was also this obligation that made them disgusted with the system. They killed Darius and turned the empire over to Alex. Had there been a better leader Alex and his men would have been fertilizer and forgotten. Rightly so too.
Hannibal looked up to the example of a General who could campaign like Alexander did. He ended up exceeding Alexander.
The fact is that Roman's crushed the phalanx system, it lacked maneuverability and adaptability.
The Romans had 10 times the population, vast resources, multiple armies, many bases. Hannibal couldn't even get support from Carthage because of short sighted political opposition.
Yet here he was, conquered Spanish Iberian tribes, fought his way across the alps in snow season, repelling and counter ambushing.
Gets across with only half his army, still beats an army. Restores his own and proceeds to rampage across the Roman army including the defeat of an 80000 man legionary army with half the number in ground of the enemies choosing, ambushing them in an open field and annihilating it.
Alexander did nothing close to that.
Hannibal survived in those hostile conditions beating one army after another. Often outmaneuvering 3 armies.
Alexander did not do that either.
Now, there was a point where Hannibal could have taken Rome. It was much weaker than he knew after Cannae and he later admitted to this being his biggest mistake.
Hannibal also had higher quality enemies. Have you read anything about the Persian empire, it's satraps equipped their troops according to their nations style. You had segments with nothing but slings, or spears , some mounted, some not, some had camels. There were so many fighting styles and languages that the Persian armies were some of the most ineffective in history. GREAT at administrationand logistics, fair rulers but hopelessly poor armies. Only the core Persian cavalry and elephant units were superior to the Macedonian.
You need to truly read the history, formation and organization of these empires to understand the reality.
All of Alexander's invasions occurred after Civil wars too. Alexander had every advantage but Numbers.
Given the same situation Hannibal would have conquered the world I think.
The sheer amount of tactics he used was unparalleled. Truly read the accounts of the man and his army.
@@Rathallan Hannibal couldn’t conquer the world, he got his ass kicked by Scipio! Hahahaha history denier 🤣
Rome after Cannae:
[ X ] Scraping the Barrel
The barrel was indeed almost completely scraped after Cannae. But hats off to Rome
I will trade 5% professionalism for manpower.
@@doomdrake123 LOL
@@doomdrake123 Ahhh the man of eu4 as well
good thing rome starts with 110% war support^^
with voice of this man, you can feel battle like it was today, or like we are there, in that time...
I find it impressive that Hannibal was able to "see" the battle unfold from his position and was able to maneuver his army in such a masterly way. Even if much of it was pre-planned, it still needed incredible battle sense to get the timing right.
I’ve been checking like 3 times a day since the 7th. Haven’t watched it yet but I’m eagerly anticipating it. Thanks for your quality work.
Hope you enjoy it!
Me too
HistoryMarche thanks It was well worth the wait. Can’t wait for the next one.
Me too hehe
same buddy me too , i was like wtf has the historymarche guy fallen ill or something , why isn't he uploading the video :(
Romans: Yeah we practicly won in the center
Hannibal: Congratulations, you played yourself
ja pierdole kisne ze śmiechu
RIP the Romans😂
If time travel gets invented in the future, I’d love to meet Hannibal.
your change in pitch and emphasis elevates the drama so well, it's amazing. Even though I know the outcome it makes it heart pounding even still. Awesome job!!!!!!
Been waiting for the complete Cannae by HistoryMarche for months.. I've never been this excited for a TH-cam video release in my life! literally dropped everything and started watching as soon as I saw that notification.
I turnoff my Adblock and press on all links (and ads) to support you,
Keep up the good work lads, love your content!
Thank you very much for turning off adblock! And thanks for watching.
Does that actually help? I do the code thingies to support, I liked the audiobooks one
@@IinferusS To some extent yes it does help. I'm not an expert on this topic but I'll try to explain what I know..
If you turnoff your Adblock and watch the full Ads without skipping them (or watch more than 5 seconds) it generates what's called an "Ad Impression" which is a fancy word for "someone watched X Ad".
This thing helps the channel a bit by generating profit and at the same time lets the algorithm know that, this channel has viewers that are watching a lot of Ads, which makes the "algo" put even more Ads on the channel.
They are better ways though, like purchasing merch or supporting them through Patreon. that being said the YT algo changes from time to time, so what works now might be useless later.
But I think that your way of doing the codes also helps a lot in driving the channel forward by attracting more sponsors.
Sorry for the long post, and you're welcome to correct me if I'm wrong.
Romans be like :
Finally we won't get surrounded!
Hannibal:
Hold my libyans!!
@Salim Mosbahi hahahaha yes
@Salim Mosbahi Are you sure, because I thought the term "Numidians" referred to North Africans at that time? BTW Born in Tripoli Libya here!
So happy to not be spoiled the thrill.
Just about to read Wikipedia for the result of Cannae, but I held back at all cost.
Now going back,
I really thought this would be Hannibal's end, but in the end I was struck in awe by one of the greatest military genius of history. Thank you so much for this video. 😊🙏
Thank you for watching. More episodes coming soon.
The word "peace" was prohibited in Rome after Cannae, mourning was limited to only 30 days, and public tears were prohibited even to women.1/3 of the Roman male population to dust, just as the ratio of Hannibal's army vs Roman legionaries.
The scale of hate was total
I've never been this excited for a TH-cam video release in my life!!
When I saw the notification I literally screamed and jumped multiple times like a child receiving a new toy!!!!
The animation was not at all how I imagined it...IT'S EVEN BETTER!!!
I watched all the ads and didn't skip it, this video should get every reward possible as it's on a whole entirely new level. You guys never disappoint us!!
I thank you deeply from the bottom of my heart, been waiting for over a year but it was worth the wait... You guys are the best :)
Wow, that's very kind of you. Thanks a lot man! And thanks for turning off adblock, it truly helps!
The editing on this whole series has been incredible. Genuinely one of the best teams on TH-cam
More episodes still to come.
“Chose the battlefield wisely to avoid envelopment.” Oh yeah how’s that working out?
Chooses battlefield to avoid envelopment: *Most famous envelopment in history*
Chose the battlefield to avoid any ambushes: "Hidden units my lord, treacherously meant to ambush us"
If only ceasar is there hannibal would be crushed if ceasar would have been the one leading this massive army
@@funfacttrivias2121 how so? Hannibal was a great commander in his own right, only thing that he had an advantage over the Romans was his Calvary. He completely crushed them with a smaller force and in foreign terrain.
@@waynewayne8419 well so does ceasar when he clash with pompey and in battle of munda hes enemies outnumber him and hes fighting uphill imagine that yet he able to win those battle surely luck is a great plus but his skill too made it possible try watching those engagement and your mouth will open in awe of ceasars manuevers and by the way in this kind of face to face clash i always find that cavalry played a great role in turning the tide of battle thier mobility enable them to flank or encircle static infantries in battle
"letting the legions out flank themselves" 😂 17:54
Yep, it's true if you think about it :)
@@HistoryMarche indeed but we have to give credit to the carthagenian line because they stick to the plan perfecly
@@davidchicoine6949 Indeed. One thing Hannibal had going for him, is that his troops were, on average, more experienced and more disciplined. And this played a huge part, because basically his officers and troops "knew what they were doing", more so than the Romans.
@@HistoryMarche whelp there is another guy that knew his men as good as Hannibal and you already did his civil war
@@HistoryMarche indeed experience army in antiquity was more preferable than numbers like alexander macedonian army or later veteran roman legions ! Anyway good job historymarche again 😀
Listening to Punic Nightmares by Dan Carlin and got to the Battle of Cannae. He does a great job explaining, but it's a complicated battle so I wanted to see if there was a birds-eye-view breakdown of the battle. This is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Thank you for making this!
Excellent, masterpiece. It is unbelievable that the Roman Empire could recover from the series of defeats it went through, culminating in Cannae.
I can't wait to see the next parts!
At the time it was Roman Republic, not empire, their strength was having solid allies while unfortunately for Hannibal Carthaginian government hesitated and never sent reinforcements. In the end Hannibal outplayed the bejesus out of Rome, but fear defeated him.
Cloudcuckoorocket let’s wait to see the next parts and we will conclude after
2 months later, im hooked in this series, its 6 am RN and i havent slept all night cause i got addicted to the 2nd punic war series. Now i've seen this masterpiece and i cant find the following episodes, are they still coming out or is the series ended?
Green Tuga still coming, lot of episodes scheduled. Patience until that
Fantastic presentation over the past three parts, as always! I normally prefer BazBattles' style of NATO symbols clashing and crumbling, but your method of presenting the units as individual pips gave a much more chaotic feeling to the battle and added "momentum" to the units as they charged, clashed, and routed, which fit the battle's atmosphere perfectly! Quality stuff, well worth the wait.
Thank you sir, that's very kind of you.
And to think this man lived 2 thousand year's ago...Masterpiece...Still studied to this day !
Brilliant job gentlemen, I feel like I've watched every possible depiction of Cannae, yet this one surpasses them all
I always thought that Hannibal's center had held and Hannibal's calvary surrounded far more. Never realized the center had retreated and that there as yet ANOTHER trap as a fail safe.
Such a good video! Learned a lot and want to look into this more.
Been waiting for this so long. the discipline which Hannibal commanded was his biggest weapon. Thanks for making this incredibly engaging for us the audience. Legend.
Lector: "Varro chose to battlefield wisely" Hannibal: "ok, never mind" :)
me :are u seriously uploading the video i ve been waiting for the most the minute i m going to bed ?
also me : proceeds to watch the video with a like
Hehe
@@HistoryMarche damn, first time a youtuber like my comment, u made my night 🥺❤️
@@gmdudafanclub5228 Cheers mate :)
@@HistoryMarche can u make a video about the fall of tyre against the babyloniens
it’s really an interesting topic, since no one is talking about it, and it’s just wonderful how the city held for 5 years
and also the fight between queen Didon and her brother for the title of king/queen of the city which resulted in a WOMEN creating colonialism and founding the first colony in history, Carthage
@@gmdudafanclub5228 Hm, quite possible yes. Though I really need a rest first haha.
It is said that the Carthaginians started taking prisoners only after when their hands were tired of cutting and slicing and killing the Romans.
This definitely was worth the wait. Another masterpiece. But I hope you will pick release dates more carefully in the future.
Fair enough! My apologies for the delay.
@@HistoryMarche I have to admit, after all the wait seeing this episode today was really great! I have seen this battle shown many times over, but never with such detail. Also the fact that it's climax of a great series that showed the situation much deeper than I was previously aware of made this much better.
I really like how you went for dots representing smaller size of unit, it enabled you to show the compression and mortal situation of Romans in later stage of the battle. And to think that each such dot represents hundreds of human lives with dreams, hopes and possible future...
Thank you for making this series, it really is great no matter how much we had to wait for this episode :)
@@HistoryMarche - I remember last year you said Hannibal would be back in August. You didnt say WHICH August. :) lol. I forgive you.
This is better than any Netflix show
Hannibal to the Gauls: 'get in losers we're sacking Rome'
Nice
never got to the sacking part tho
@@kristiansen1012 yeah, sadly 😭
This channel is so much better than any high-budget history program in a cable TV. The relative short length of every upload and the concentrated information, accompanied by the clean, outstandingly detailed maps and pointers to show the military compositions or a picture of a leader, and those funny, lighthearted, comments they make - all of these makes the understanding of historical events so much clearer and easy to swallow, and compress a lot of information into a relatively short pieces - and you still get so much out of every video!
Compare this to, say, a program in history channel of ancient war, where you have hundreds of actors and extras, amazing, historical accurate settings, original, epic soundtrack, panorama shots in HD and a super dramatic narrator - but everything is so unnecessary slow. You watch a program for 10 minutes and most of the time you slag through scenes that try to recreate the visuals or feeling of an age - but you don't get much of the actual history. You watch bits and pieces of the life of people in Rome but you don't get to pinpoint where events actually took place, who was who - you don't get a sense of the whole picture. Just a dramatic feel of it. It really feels essentially like trying to satiate your hunger with junk food - after one hour and a half you feel so bloated but you aren't really fool or inspired. You're just tired. It's like they try to imitate the experience of watching a Hollywood movie and apply it to history as well, but history should never try to imitate a Hollywood movie - it can shine on it's own right.
You perfectly explained why I don't watch TV anymore
It’s time
My body is ready...
I want to like but it's at 69.
Brilliant battle plan by genius commander.., but what is even mire astonishing is the level of discipline and execution by all multi-national units. Unwavering trust in their commander, impeccable timing infolding over many hours.., and it is practically without means to communicate and coordinate.
I doubt that Hastubal stopped his horsemen to rest twice, knowing and seeing that Roman battle-Ram formation is smashing through Hannibal’s center. Hasturbal undoubtedly knew the plan, and he knew exactly when to launch the attack.., no sooner, no later.
And retrieving Center knew the plan and executed it bravely and brilliantly, while suffering large losses and facing real risk of total destruction.
And Libyan infantry waited patiently, knowing their perfect timing and executing their attack at perfect timing without means of communicating with each other.
Brilliant! Just Brilliant!
Arguably, the most brilliant Chest Game of all time on largest scale, and against the most formidable and well organized, well motivated opponent.
Alexander the Great achieved great victories against numerically vastly superior, but militarily much weaker opponents. But in this battle Hannibal defied all odds…
Bravo!!!
Absolutely agree. Imagine if Carthage had a single nation army like the Romans or Macedonians/Greeks. Hannibal would have been unstoppable even at Zama.
How persia is militarily weaker
Finally! Made my day. And I really love the use of little squares full of dots to represent the soldiers. Great job as always guys!
This has been one of the longest waiting times.. And finally it came!
TH-cam needs to add a (5x Like) button - just for precious videos like this!!
Hehe, thanks a lot man!
At 8:40, such an epic line. Imagine 80,000 thousand legionaries moving forward to destroy you.
This and Arausio are Rome's most devastating defeats in its history.
how do you rebuild a government when literally both your heads of state, half of the young guard politicians, and a significant portion of your legislators got killed in one battle. not even mentioning that they still had to deal with 50.000 rampaging enemy soldiers scorching the countryside.
I guess the final message here is that the true winner in this war was the Roman state.
I really hope you guys go in-depth next episode about how the Romans dealt with rebuilding the chain of command, even after getting their government DECAPITATED and having a critical manpower shortage. as well as the relation with the Italian client states after this cataclysmic loss.
All things aside, this video, like many others, was a masterpiece. eagerly awaiting the next one.
Carthage is no match to Rome at all, It was the Barca family alone who raised Carthage's strength to almost the same level as Rome for a short period of time. If Carthaginians back then have half the fighting spirit of the Romans, they could definitely defeat Rome. Unfortunately, they did not, so they were swept into the dusts of history.
Thank you for giving us insight of our history , i am from Tunisia and seeing this battle was a fantastic experience to explore the event the war and love the genius hannibal more , thank you ❤️
This is the most enthralling and informative series on Hannibals conquests that human beings have ever made. ❤️🙏 Keep it up!
Yes finally, been looking forward to this all week:-)
This is the ONLY channel that gives you a link to the other chapters instead of just making you painfully looking the other parts of the video
Many versions of the battle of cannae have been made but the most interesting is your version
Who is here from oversimplified?
mee
I was just about to comment this
Yessir
Me
same, I saw this vid a year ago but didn't bother to watch
This is absolutely amazing. It got me so hooked! I felt the tension of the army even doubting my memory since I didn't remember if Hannibal won or lost that battle. Simply a masterpiece.
Amazing video! I've read and watched much about this battle and was always under the impression they surrounded the entirety of the army. And that there was also an encirclement on Varro's position. And this is the first time hearing about an ambush encircling the army.
The combination of tone of voice, attention to detail, state of the art graphics, music and timing made this 3-part-video your masterpiece.
Thank you sir.
If you guys are wondering if there is a game like this, Yes there is. its available on mobile, but I don't know if it's available for PC. The game name is "Carthage:Bellum Punicum
But it only focuses on the second punic war.
I'm in love with the all Historymarche team.. My unlimited regards to thier whole team. Thank you
I didn't know Hannibal's center was broken for so long and that deeply when the Numidians were finally engaged.
I always imagined the line stayed united, but only bulged back. Kudos to his center troops for holding on against a much superior force for so long.
One of the greatest battles fought on Earth!
Also, the music and the voice of the narrator were so good. Probably the best so far in your videos! This was a royal treat! Or should I say, a consular treat ;))
If I had watched a thousand documentaries about cannae before this, i would still enjoy watching this one!
I quit my job and disowned my family to watch this in peace. Well done
Fantastic depiction and explanation of the battle. Showed the terrain, the formations and explained the strategy behind the deployments. Greatly helped to see why the battle concluded the way it did.
Cannae say this is the only channel where i click the Like button BEFORE watching the video? and the beauty is, im never disappointed of my choice:D
Cannae I say, thank you very much for watching :)
absolutely fantastic!
I highly recommend all viewers to also go watch Invicta's video on Cannae. He does an amazing job in putting you in the shoes of the common legionary, and think about all the thoughts and emotions that they had throughout the day and that eventually ended up in the Roman defeat.
Indeed, I personally love Invicta's presentations.
this is the best youtube video I've ever seen. Mad respect to Hannibal and long live HistoryMarche!!!!
Amazing! everyone now will know why it took u all this time "the best Cannae video out there"
Edit: didn't now that u were there fighting in the centre next to Hannibal in 216
Never clicked on a video so fast. Greatest tactical battle of all time.
In three installments you have delivered the absolute best explanation/description of possibly the most incredibly won battle in all of history!
"Let them taste victory".
-Hannibal Barca.
Varro: "I'll be right back, you guys got this, right?"
Great presentation!
What a gutless effort by Varro who as I understand it was the one who instigated the battle that day.
He got into no trouble back in Rome while the common legionaries who survived were literally sent to Coventry. It was Scipio Africanus who gave these soldiers the chance to redeem themselves by recruiting them into his army for his expedition to Africa to take the war to Carthage. They would have their revenge on Hannibal at the Battle of Zama.
Thanks HistoryMarche.
Rest in peace hannibal we love you
Rome: (wins First Punic War)
“This enraged Hannibal, who punished them severely”
After this video, this battle became one of my most favourite and I can't even wait to demonstrate it myself!
Mind blown! I actually didnt know who would win..
"3000 tons of human flesh" That is just an impressive stat to show the carnage of the day. That is the same as 30 - 737 jets. Just think of it lying in the hot August sun. The smell would have traveled for miles.
Indeed. The scale of it always amazed me - and not in a good way.
I've always said the best thing about history, is you can't smell it.
I hadn’t seen such a detailed description of Cannae before. Placing the reserve troops “hidden in the open” like this was brilliant.
With no doubt, Hannibal is the greatest military general ever. If he had a wise state behind him, our modern day would have been so different that it could not be recognized.