Pyrrhic War - First Greco-Roman War
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- When Romans started encroaching on the territory of Greek colonies in Magna Grecia, a capable military commander was summoned to help them. This was Pyrrhus of Epirus, cousin of Alexander the Great. Although Pyrrhus would win several battles against the Roman, each of those victories would put him in a worse position.
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Sources:
Plutarch, "Parallel Lives"
Polybius, "The Histories"
Dio Cassius, "Roman History"
Anthony Everitt, “The Rise of Rome”
Mary Beard, "SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome"
Mike Duncan, "The History of Rome"
Special thanks to:
tjcold
Phyrrus: *is about to make a reasonable decision*
Sicilians: "I don't think so buddy"
Both Epiriotes and Sicilians were iIIyrians, this is just a civiI war
@@supermavro6072dumbest shit I evah heard
@@supermavro6072 Sicillians are greek
@@plamenneykov2512 So were the Epeirotes.
@@supermavro6072They were on the same side
Pyrrhus of Epirus' campaign is similar to how Hannibal's brother Maharbal commented Hannibal's accomplishments : "You know how to win a victory, Hannibal, but not how to use it."
@@AndreLuis-gw5ox - Maharbal was the Numidian cavalry commander, mind you. It's not attributed to Scipio at all and it has an ancient source, so, if apocryphal, it's an ancient "fake news".
Maharbal was right anyhow.
I'd say that's pretty unfair. Hannibal did literally all it was possible to do in an unequal campaign. He and his armies spent two years, alone, in enemy territory doing a hit and run campaign of attrition and basically making life miserable for the Romans, and when that didn't seem to be sapping the Roman willpower enough, he brought his forces into a climatic fight that literally inflicted the biggest loss of people Rome ever took in one battle. Which any reasonable nation at that time would take as the time to sign a peace, Rome was just... Rome.
He knew he couldn't stall to win a siege on Rome itself, because they'd be still get supplies via the sea, and if he sat in place for long enough, the Roman legions would pin him down and smash his smaller force. So when the battle of Cannae wasn't enough to break the Romans, he went back to the attrition war for the rest of the decade.
Like... What else was he meant to do? It isn't his fault Carthage was losing Spain at that time.
@@lucyseverine9907 - The war was probably decided in Hispania and not in the most famous battles in Italy or Africa. I used to be fan of Hannibal but in hindsight all that crossing of the Alps feat was a nonsense: he could have fought and defeated the Romans at Gaul better and thus left a better protected rearguard and save that half of his army which unnecessarily perished in the daring but very inefficient crossing of the High Alps... with elephants (facepalm!)
Beyond Hannibal's limitations, the most serious issue was that Rome had near-endless citizen manpower, while Carthage relied on vassal and mercenary troops.
But in any case what Maharbal meant was that Rome does not surrender unless forced to,and that's something Hannibal and the Carthaginians (and other enemies of Rome like the Samnites, Etruscans and Greeks) didn't understand, hoping for negotiations. Again this is something I only recently understood, inspired by others, and something that happens over and over even today, when my country's guerrilla against one of the heirs of Rome was defeated for the very same reason: focusing on a negotiated peace instead of total victory.
2 of his brothers died while trying to support him with troops btw
@@LuisAldamizHannibal was a beast but he and the Carthaginians lacked proper grand strategy. Hannibal was right that a war on Rome’s homefront was the most assured way to guarantee an absolute victory but failed to take that grand strategy further. He should have solidified the alliances made with the Greek and Dacian states. Using them to reinforce/resupply if Carthage wasn’t capable. They should have built up their fleets to trap the Roman navy before they ever crossed the Mediterranean to Spain or Africa
Carthaginians: We surrender and bring u a very favourable treaty.
Pyrrus : i accept
Sicalians : No
Pyrrus: So u will help me in invade Carthage mainland.
Sicilains: No
Pyrrus: Will u give me troops and money to fight romans .
Sicialians : No
Pyruss : :-[
Pyrrhus: OOOoOoh NOoOoOo
And Cartaghe helps Roman... And then .... Well, they just dispute a island.
an Oversimplified video in this period would be so cool, so many jokes
@@sometingwong2733 there's a tax for this, you know
@@Ziuk1990 Oh no, Oh no, Oh no no no
The story of Rome only gets crazier from here
15:20
"And it is said that at the time of [Pyrrhus' departure from Sicily] he looked back at the island and said to those about him: "My friends, what a wrestling ground for Carthaginians and Romans we are leaving behind us!" And this conjecture of his was soon afterwards confirmed."
(Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus, paragraph 23)
We used that quote in our video on the Prelude to the First Punic War 😅
i thought you made a mistake when one of the senators did not have eyes, but it being caecus shows just how detailed you are and the dedication you have for this channel
How the hell do this people keep doing this, these Romans, not just one time in their history but multiple times have they been drawn into a near collapse inducing war, facing multiple defeats, multiple enemies, wars on multiple fronts, even when they are close to breaking point. Any reasonable nation would've surrendered, yet even at such a condition Romans endured and snatched victory and ends up in a better position than they started with and an enlarged territory... Absolutely unbelievable
I have an unfortunate spoiler alert if you wanna know what ended up happening to the Roman Empire.
Indomitable Roman spirit
@@JJforShie1yeah, but hundreds of years later
@@JJforShie1 nah bro, I know the spoiler... I was just wondering the Roman resilience... It never fails to surprise.
@@JJforShie1 Yes, like 700 years later
Came into this channel to learn about old Roman history, discovered one of the best history channels on UA-cam
The same thing happened to me 2 years ago, I'm so glad he's back
@@supermavro6072 I had a stroke reading that
@@AU_Productions Yeah, it's surprising isn't ?
I did the same, but I just binged all of his videos in 3 days
So much about how the Punic wars would play out could be seen in the Pyrrhic war.
Rome being able to absorb defeat after defeat and still keep fighting due to huge manpower reservers.
The Carthaginian presence in Sicily not being dislodgeable without naval supremacy.
Carthaginian naval prowes being shown.
Alliance with tribes under Roman subjugation being a crucial part of the plan to defeat them.
Elephants and the rapid adaptiveness of the Roman army to new threats.
Of course, Hannibal would later speak about the greatness of Pyrrhus of Epirus, indicating Pyrrhus was much on his mind during his war with Rome.
But just like Pyrrhus he didn't march on Rome directly when he had the chance. Like what Maharbal said "you know how to gain a victory, but not how to use one".
@@silentecho92able it’s a very interesting aspect of these events. The fact these accomplished generals did not march on Rome shows us there perspective of how difficult they thought it was to take the city.
the early roman Republic is like that friend you keep beating at a game. Until he finally wins one game, then he's done playing and acts like you suck.
My only problem is that these “episodes” don’t come out fast enough! Great videos, please keep them coming!
The quality and attention to detail in these videos is truly outstanding, keep up the great work
Just wanted to say this is without a doubt the best series on UA-cam about the rise of rome. Keep up the hard work the videos are awesome and can’t wait to see more from your channel
Ran into your content a week back, very happy I found you !
Those Samnites hill billies are a pain in the toga
Just found this channel not too long ago, and its small size blew my mine, dudes got this small of channel releasing banger videos that are very well made, this will soon be one of the staple history youtube channels I can feel it
I thank the Gods of the algorithm for helping me discover this channel.
Most digestible history content on youtube. I can actually follow and understand. Other youtubers just show a still image and yap, this king shows accurate maps, army movements, numbers, clear and well-paced speech, and easy-on-the-eyes visuals to match.
I just discovered this channel, but both its subtitled videos and the topics it covers have made your channel one of the best channels on UA-cam for me. I wish you continued success.
Awesome! I just finished the entire playlist and now there is the next video. Thanks for your great work!
I found out your channel a weak ago, i have seen all your videos since and i'm starving for more, love your content!
You deserve way WAY more views, this is quality content
Nice style and a very clear way of telling difficult faceted history!
Magistra Vitae: *Drops a new video*
Me: *MORE*
Great video! Really fun videos on some maybe somewhat lesser known Roman wars. I always knew that Pyrrhic victories came from ancient battles but I didn’t know that it was from a guy named Pyrrhus fighting the Roman’s.
Very excited for the vids on the Punic War! Love the content!
Finally another one out !, ive been really enjoying your animation for these past couple days, keep up the good work 🎉
Pyrrhus one of the greatest ancient Greek generals! 🇬🇷
@@marcoluppo5783 Alvane go back to your sheeps. Pyrrhus was 5,000% Greek. He has nothing to do with the Illyrians or turcoalbanians like you.
@@marcoluppo5783 Pyrrhus was 5,000% Greek. He has nothing to do with the Illyrians or turcoalbanians like you.
In my opinion , he is behind only Alexander the Great
Yes yes he was greko-etiopian@@GrecoByzantine1821
@@tony54151 Said, Tony the turcalbanian 🤣
The journey continues! Let's go! This part I'm very interested in so few people know about theses times and wars.
I remember watching the first 10 episodes like 2 years ago, good to see that your channel is still alive
Phyrrus had a few lines in my history book. It was like "he declared war, he lost". So deep
You should get a better history book 😂
@@MagistraVitae nah that's because in school our history lessons starts the first humans and ends with the cold war. It's difficult to give him more than a page or two, he didn't do that much honestly
Another great installment !
Your english is more varied than in previous videos and ease of understanding is in my book now on easy mode, well done!
Also your style and attention to detail is wonderful
13:50 love the lil lotr reference ❤ lovely vid!
Phyrrus lost because he didn't have enough Lavish Equipment.
That bar messages at 10:54 had me laughing.
How many LOTR reference do you need?
Magistra: *Yes*
Found your channel two hours ago and there's already a new video!
This is a very fun and entertaining way of learning roman history. Great job.
how do you not have more subs, these are very well made videos
Can you please cover Sulla's war?
Of course! As soon as we get to it chronologically.
@@MagistraVitae another iconic series after Dovahhatty. Go boys go!
Here's comes the Chad, the Myth, the Legend
PYRRHUS OF EPIRUS ! Napoleon of Antiquity !
quick kinda stupid question that I have not found a reliable answer anywhere. Did Pyrus spoke Hellenic or Illiric or what kind of language? + Why consider Pyrus Hellen, when he was in an area that is not Greece or Illiria?
Ancient Epirus was inhabited by three different groups: the Chaonians, the Molossians, and the Thesprotians. Of these, the Molossians were the greatest and Pyrrhus himself was Molossian.
The area of Epirus was inhabited by the proto-Greeks during the Bronze Age. In that time they spoke the proto-Greek language similar to one spoken in other parts of Greece. After the Late Bronze Age Collapse and the Doric invasion the language evolved into the North-West Doric dialect of Ancient Greek (similar to one spoken Aetolia in the Peloponnese).
After the Third Macedonian War in which the Molossians sided against Rome, they were systematically destroyed, but the Greek language couldn’t be erased from the region.
In short: Pyrrhus and the Molossians were Greek, they saw themselves as Greek, and they spoke the Greek language. Pyrrhus was not Illyrian, and only connection he had to Illyria was that short period he spent there with Glaucias.
Pyrrhus is a greek name and he spoke greek,the romans themselves vjewed the conflict as Rome against the greeks 😂 go and read Cicero
The king is back 👀
While most people focus on the Roman Empire, I find the early Republic history - specifically the 3rd century BC - the most fascinating. You’ve definitely earned a subscription!
Very informative yet easy n simple to follow along
Let's go another video from the GOAT
I cannot wait for you to cover the second punic war.
There are so many events left out by other youtubers between cannae and zama
This channel is underrated, keep it up!
Very well done! The only note Malaventum does not mean bad events but bad wind was and is in fact a very windy place (Mala Ventum). After the battle the wind was considered benevolent and therefore Bene Ventum now known as Benevento
The Magister hath returned, all hail the Magister
This channel has AMAZING potential
Tactically the battle of Beneventum was a draw. it was a major strategic victory for the Romans as after this battle and the casualties Pyrrhus suffered, he was obliged to leave Italy, but they did not actually win the battle in the field. It is a great misconception to present the battle as an easy win for the Romans. The battle lasted the whole day and when the sun fell Pyrrhu's army was still holding its ground. But after the sunset Pyrrhus saw that he had too many losses and decided to withdraw instead of continuing the battle the next day
Let’s go an upload
I know you've answered this a lot, but what program did you use for the animations? The characters are so adorable.
The characters are made as vector graphics in Adobe Illustrator along with the maps. The backgrounds are made in Photoshop and animations in After Effects.
@@MagistraVitae Appreciate it!
I just discovered your channel, love your videos man! This one was greatly informative, I feel bad for Pyrrhus now.
Great video telling about Epirus. Would love to see a movie about Pyhrus now. 💯
AMAZING CHANNEL BRO LOVE FROM TURKIYE ANIMATIONS ARE GREAT WE WILL SEE THE DAY YOU HAVE A MILLION SUBSCRIBES
After Alexander the Great , i consider Phyrrus the best Greek general.If he had cohesion on the interior and the resources Rome had , he couldn even emerge victorious.
This is great! I really like your LOTR references😄
Glad I found this channel! Keep it up!
I never pointed this out last time I watched this, but the old man in the top-right corner at 3:59 missed out on the festivities. Did the wine do something to him?
I think he was the most festive
Just started thinking abt this war too, perfect timing, itd be neat if you made a discord to go along with your channel for non patreon fans
Entertaining and informative!
Great video, and love the art style.
A small comment for the bih algorithm
All hail the algorithm
Woo! New Magistra Vitae video!
Love this channel, just Subscribed.
FYI: Diadochoi = διάδοχοι = heirs, someone who inherits something or descends from someone
Love this channel
All that just to be killed by a tile thrown out a window.
Those Tarentines were really stupid … the way they treated the Roman envoy , knowing that Rome was very powerful , even in those early days .
Bro, are you from Croatia or somewhere else from ex-Yu? Anyways I enjoyed the video
To me it seems like he achieved something he weakened southern italy enough for roman to conqueror them and that gave rise to one of the most influential empire in the world
Maleventum? Sometimes it seems like History is all made up with silly names like this, which sounds like "bad event", although it probable meant "bad wind", bad auspices for Pyrrhus in any case.
No, it was called Maleventum because the name in the osci language was Maloenton (root Mal related to rock and stone, it was a place where it was extracted) and the Romans decided to call it Maleventum (that actually means bad event) because it was the way the pronunciation could be romanised.
@@matteovillosio - Interesting. However I wonder how linguists have found that "mal-" meant stone or similar, when Oscan is poorly attested and should be anyhow close to Latin (Italic). The only possible Indoeuropean cognate I can find is Celtic (mostly Brythonic) *maginos. Does it follow that logic?
this reminds me of the Clash of Clans of Supercell.. a mobile game back in 2014 until present..
You've an error @11:40, the year of the battle of Asculum is 279BCE, not 297BCE which is anyway 17 years prior to the Pyrrhic war ;)
Whoops, good catch there. A mistake from the script found itself on the video also. Luckily the years around that one are all good as far as I can see. And a minute later at 13:12 Asculum is correctly set to 279.
@@MagistraVitae rewatching the first 6 episodes of Rome with my 13yo daughter, she's enjoying it immensely. Kids should know real life lore too, not just gaming one, as the real one is more than often even more interesting (and often more gruesome) than the fictional one :)
Glad to hear that and I agree with you :)
1 little thing I noticed at 8:27 "The Romans had trouble reaching the greeks with their short swords" I assume you're referring to the gladius. The short sword that the Romans started using near the end of the second punic war. Until then the romans were fighting just like the Greeks as hoplites fighting with spears and shields.
No, we are referring to the Greek style xiphos sword. It is somewhat longer than gladius, but still shorter than a Greek spear.
It's true that the Romans started using shorter gladius during the Second Punic War, but it's not true that they used a Greek style phalanx in the time of Pyrrhus. During the Samnite Wars the Romans switched from a Greek style phalanx, to a Samnite style maniple system. Although the triarii in the third line used spears, the first two lines used swords instead.
If you want to learn more I invite you to take a look at our video on Roman military reforms. Cheers :)
i never undertood how did rome do to muster so many armies so quikly so many times along its violent timeline ...
I just have to subscribe because of the cute animations!😂
Yippe an New video! (You should still make an game)
Likes for the likes god. Comments for the comment throne.
Very high quality
Alexander didn't name his conquest Macedonia. The name for this new regions were summed as Oikumene.
The term "Oikumene" (or "Ecumene") derives from the Greek word "οἰκουμένη" (oikouménē), which translates to "the inhabited world" or "the known world." In ancient Greek geography and historiography, this term was used to refer to the inhabited and civilized world as understood by the Greeks, encompassing regions from the Mediterranean basin and the Near East to parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia.
The concept of the Oikumene evolved over time, reflecting the Greeks' expanding geographical knowledge and their encounters with various cultures and civilizations. Initially, it was centered around the Aegean Sea and the territories of the Greek city-states, but it expanded significantly following the conquests of Alexander the Great and the subsequent Hellenistic period.
Oikumene is a concept unrelated to state borders. Sparta and Syracuse were part of the Okikumene, but weren't part of Alexander's realm. Alexander's conquests were incorporated into the Empire of Macedonia.
Pyrrhus was a capable but unlucky commander. He went on a war that wasn't his, got betrayed by those who called him and had to face the only barbarians of his time that weren't just an unruly horde. Also before their contacts with greeks romans weren't that corrupted as society, they were more like Spartans. But after conquering greek territory they systematically fell for riches, pleasures and unfair competition for ranks
0:48 His murdered son hearing you say this: 💀💀💀
11:43 surely this is 279 BC
Personally I think our modern foreign policy needs more clowns farting on the symbols of state enemies
Ohhh so the Sicilians refused to give him boats to attack Africa, while Carthage still had Lilybaeum in their soil. Brain level dodo right there, I would had told them “F u” and taken the deal while leaving them on their own.
this guy was bloodthirsty, sheesh.
Imagine if Pyrrhus had succeeded
I really like the elephants.😍
Greats that never got to be the great:
Pyrrhus of epirus
Charles 12th of sweden
Anyone got anymore?
This war is Foreshadowing Romans how to fight Carthagians Elephant and Macedonian Phalanx
very cool
Historian Civilis core
..and twenty war elephants
imagine your fight and sacrifice being so big, that your ancestors are considered the richest and more prosperous in all of europe for more than two millenia, ave roma
Is this channel made by Eastory? It sounds like him
No, we have no connection to any other channel.
@@MagistraVitae you must be from the same country or something with that accent
We're from entirely different parts of Europe 😅
im gonna take a wild guess and say that the term 'Pyrrhic victory' come from this 'Pyrrhic war', and so i kinda know how this is gonna end
It did
The closest the greeks ever came to defeating Rome. Macedon would get crushed, the Achaean league crushed, the Seleucids crushed, Ptolomaics crushed, Pontics(sort of greek) crushed.
Pontics were greeks! Not sort greeks