Serious archer here... Not "compound bows" composite bows.. I'm looking down at my compound bow in it's case right now and it's a highly tuned piece of modern engineering. My recurve which is a composite bow is good and fun, but no where near the power of the compound system with it's large cams (pulleys) on each end which would eat their bows for breakfast even at the same draw weight..
Crassus: How the hell do they even have that many arrows? *cut to way back at the Parthian line, a bunch of Parthian guys are squatting with a pile of sticks and pointy rocks* Parthian messenger: Boss wants 500 more arrows, stat! Parthian arrow makers: Come on...we just sent 500 arrows a minute ago. Give a guy a break already!
Guy kills 30k romans and inflicts the most severe defeat on them since Hannibal, and get rewarded by having his head chopped off by his king. So much for loyalty.
if king gives you all of his army, you should use it against him, if king gives you small portion of his army, you should use it to make your own country somewhere else, but never ever return this army, that was a mistake, Surena was too innocent for his time
Important figures keep stumbling and dying in History Matters. Meanwhile in King and Generals there's always someone throwing gladius on important figure's portraits. That's why it's so hard to find what they looked like.
Jorge Espinoza The fact he had the same might is right attitude... As a scion of a rich family and a real estate mogul, the anti-hero of this story met his end when he rashly tried to invade Iran. However before that, his illustrious exploits included shady real estate deals, building a wall to hem in some very bad people from the south, and engagement in incredibly public affairs with women behind his wife’s back. Sounds familiar? What if I told you that this happened over 2000 years ago in a galaxy far away? Well, not really far away, actually on the same planet that we are on now. And the man we are talking about is Donald J. Trump. My mistake again, we are talking about Marcus L. Crassus, and the L. stands for Licinius. You might be familiar with the name if you watched the series “Spartacus”. He’s the Roman general who battled Spartacus and his army. In real life, Crassus was quite the character. Ambitious, greedy, and power hungry, there was no trick too sleazy when it came to making a buck. Money, money, money One of his major achievements was creating the first fire squad in the city of Rome. At that time, Rome was growing rapidly and since many of its buildings were not built with the greatest of care, fires were ever-present. Crassus saw a hole in the market and decided to fight these fires. However, if you think it was for some altruistic purposes, you are in for a rude awakening. Whenever a fire broke out, the men on Crassus’ fire squad would rush over to the burning building and proceed unto… They would proceed unto doing nothing. Actually, what they in fact did was go to the owner of the burning house and ask him to sell for cheap. Then they would go to the owners of the houses nearby and ask them to sell as well. If any of them refused, then they would just let the houses burn down to the ground! In this way, Crassus managed to buy up significant real estate. However, this was not enough for him. He had other tricks up his sleeve. Marcus allied himself with Sulla, Rome’s dictator of the moment, and took advantage when Sulla decided to kill off his enemies in a series of proscriptions. The way these proscriptions worked is that Sulla started off with a small list of his opponents that he wanted killed. However, the list kept getting larger by the day, and many guys sensing an opportunity added some other juicy names on it as well, not for any political stance in particular, but just because they had some nice property that these unsavory characters wanted to get their hands on. One of the guys who profited handsomely from the proscriptions was Crassus. Whenever a guy got executed, there was Crassus, waiting to snap up his property for cheap. Crassus was also linked to a very public sex scandal. Apparently, he bedded Licinia, one of the Vestal Virgins. Now, this was a big deal since the Vestal Virgins were considered sacred and sworn to keeping their virginity as a sign of religious devotion. The thing about this sexcapade was that Crassus did not sleep with Licinia because she was hot, but because he wanted to get his hands on her house! Building a wall and making Mexico pay for it As previously mentioned, Crassus was also the general who was tasked with bringing down Spartacus and his rebellion. How would he do it? His brilliant idea was to build a wall! Yes, a wall came into play. Spartacus and his army had retreated to the Bruttium Peninsula of Italy. If you look on a map of the country, this is the boot trying to kick Sicily away. Crassus decided to build a wall from sea to sea in order to hem these bad hombres in. Unfortunately, it didn’t work and Spartacus managed to break through. After defeating Spartacus, Crassus set his sights on the highest offices. In order to do that, he formed what later came to be called the First Triumvirate with Julius Caesar and Pompey. After 10 years of hanging out with these two guys, Crassus decided to go mess around in Syria. However, this was not enough for him, and he set his sights on places a bit further out, like Iran. Well, actually back in the day, it was the Parthian Empire, a state ruled by the Parthians, who are related to Persians, who are now known as Iranians. The Parthian Empire stretched over vast areas of land in today’s Iraq and Iran, and Crassus thought that he could win eternal glory if he just crossed over and lobbed some missiles. Boy was he wrong! At the first significant battle of the conflict, the Battle of Carrhae, not only was his army soundly defeated, but Crassus also lost his life. There is a story that after his death, the Parthians cut off his head and poured molten gold into it, just to make fun of his greed. I got my hands on the button Fast forward two thousand years to 2019. What happened a few days ago? The story goes that Donald J. Trump (the J. stands for John) wanted to lob over a few missiles into Iran. However, the order was rescinded before any of the airstrikes could proceed. What we now have is another real estate mogul, greedy for money, and hungry for fame, leading a country and messing around in the Middle East. Donald Trump has been elected the President of the United States, and he ain’t kidding around. What will the future bring? Maybe what we should remind ourselves is that Crassus was living in the dying days of the Roman Republic. Kind of like now...The republic is dead.... And we have Empire
@@marysunshine2027 I suppose you are writing a history doctoral dissertation? Do you have proof that Donald Trump has committed the extortion Crassus did in his time? Or is it just convenient to paint every billionaire with a broad brush, or only a chosen few due to their worldview, as the media does? 🤷♂️ You think people got the point when Trump fired John Bolton? You do know Bolton was trying to get us into a war with Iran right?.... That's the real reason why he's lashed out against Trump lately. Actions speak louder than hate.
Well still wasn't necessary : as long as they kept close to the river (to defend flanks and insure supplies) and did not venture fearlessly onto open ground... I mean what the heck was the plan ? Even if the Parthians had lacked ammo, what then ? catch back horses on bare feet will you ? I feel so sad about that battle :(
Apparently the offer to pass through Armenia may have been a trick by the Armenian king to get the Romans to fight off the Parthian invasion of Armenia, because the Parthian main armies were invading Armenia at the time.
@@Intranetusa You mean a win-win situation? Instead Crassus takes 3 insignificant towns, waits out the winter while Armenia is taken out, and the Parthains build a standing army specifically to counter the army Crassus had.
@@ProtomanButCallMeBlues No, you're confusing the chain of events. Armenia wasn't defeated until AFTER Crassus lost at Carrhae. The Parthian king was invading Armenia at the same time when Surena fought Crassus at Carrhae. The Armenian King basically wanted Crassus to defend Armenia and fight off the bulk of Parthia's forces. Crassus decided to invade Parthia instead because most of the Parthian armies were distracted in Armenia. Furthermore, the Parthians didn't "build" a standing army specifically to counter Crassus. This isn't Rome Total War where you can train an army in a single season. The Parthian King took the bulk of the army to invade Armenia, while Surena was left with a small atypical cavalry army of horse archers and cataphracts (both of which involved men with years, if not decades of training) to merely "delay" Crassus.
Working with this documentary made me realize how strong the Parthians were ever since the beginning of their establishment. The early Parthian kingdom became a vassal state under Seleucid king - Antiochus III after his conquest in Parthia but a few years later, the Parthians managed to beat the Seleucids afterward and transform the small Parthian kingdom into a mighty Empire. As always, here are ROME II and Attila mods which we used solely for this video: - Caesar in Gaul reskin - Divide et Impera - Benjin's AAA Roman General - Avetis Eastern Culture Overhaul - Mobjay's Golden Emblem - GEMFX - Petellius' Enhanced Particle Attila TW: - Ancient Empires Best wishes, Malay Archer ڤمانه ملايو
Indeed Caesar knew how to play allies and enemies off one another. He held the world record for pitched battles fought *till Napoleon.* I've read "Caesar life of a colossus" and what that man was able to do while not only winning battles but out maneuvering his domestic enemies politically was mind blowing. I honestly think he qualifies as one of the world's first true geniuses.
@@CrazyNikel Is there a comparison of how many pitched battles people fought? Other generals such as Khalid ibn al-Walid, Alexander, and Subutai were were undefeated, with generals such as Subutai iirc overruning more land and more kingdoms than any other commander.
To be fair, Caesar likely wouldn't have been succesful even if he fared better than Crassus at Carrhae. Caesar's best general Marc Antony launched an invasion of Parthia with 100,000 troops and that invasion also failed. Trajan launched an even bigger invasion one and a half century later that was temporarily successful but ultimately resulted im a stalemate with conquered territories given up. The Romans and Eastern Romans would continue fighting the Sassnids for the next several centuries to a stalemate.
@@Intranetusa Comparing Antony to Caesar is like comparing a -amateur- street fighter to the world's foremost battle expert. Antony was never close to Caesars genius. But Antony did somehow managed to smash a Parthian army before he blundered into lands he didn't know. And would continue being Antony's way in life. A loud brash soldier, not a great general though. *Caesar knew how to use allies and enemies on the political level,* unlike Crassus or Antony.
@Zayed Haroon "Your man are fleeing the field the field of battle!" Aniway, if I could replentish my ammo like that in Rome 2 with the Partians i would never lose a battle.
11:15 Jesus, that envoy has balls of steel to goad them like that 20:00 Wtf Also, thank you for maintaining that graphical roll-call of the units. It looks outstanding!
the political situation in kingdoms and the like are always fragile and surenas with his great victory became a threat to the king. if the king's political rivals would be able to seduce surenas into rebelling or him wanting the thone for his own, He likely could raise enough support to overthrow the king
People underestimate how much work and research are behind this video. Thank you very much for this amazing history telling and graphics. All the historic details are accurate and neutral. Best to you!
@tikletik I know this comment is quite old. But some sources say it was because Orodes II was threatened by Suranas' growing popularity. And executed him likely out of jealousy. Don't outshine the king as they say.
In terms of losses, this battle was years away from the Roman disasters at Cannae and Arausio but it remains one of Rome's most devastating defeats during its existence as a Republic and Empire (before the splitting between the Western and Eastern Roman Empires).
@@frankieseward8667 this was double the losses of teutonberg forest and right before some of caesers campaigns so he couldve used those troops. also the romans got revenge for teutonberg by and were about to conquer it before germanicus was recalled to rome for some reason. also crassus was killed at carrhae, an event that helped cause the roman civil war that changed history as it left a massive power vacuum in the first triumvirate. teutonberg was still significant just nowhere near as signicant as this
@@chezburger1781 Agreed! Just because more soldiers died in another battle it doesn't make it "more significant", but rather the repercussions of said defeat is what makes it more significant. This is why Cannae, in all of its undoubted fantastic tactical masterclass, is not more relevant than other battles that cascaded into far more extreme consequences. While rome definitely panicked in horror after Cannae, the Senate and the republic didn't crumble into a violent civil war that changed its political landscape as a direct result in the way this battle did. I still think Cannae is awesome, though
@@LeicaFleury my reply was more geared to teutonberg but i agree, smaller battles can be more significant than larger ones. cannae was defo a major blow but the romans could still draw upon more recruits and it didnt spell the end for the republic while a battle like stamford bridge (random example ik) was smaller but far more significant, ending the viking age in england
It was more devastating than Cannae and Arausio. At those battles Romans eventually eliminated the enemy,but at Carrhae the Roman advance in general stopped,Republic toppled,and Rome went from offensive to defensive mode, followed by domestic wars and conflicts,which eventually caused its fall.
Surena: "yes I've defeated the undefeated Romans now I returned to my king for the good news" Orodes II: "capture him and kill him for treason" Surena: "oh"
despite being ordered by the king himself the fact still remained that Surena defeated his brother in battle and arrested him in the capital, he was a "King maker" which is dangerous in the eyes of the King.He was also ordered only to harass the Roman army not defeat it until the king arrives (thats why the king only gave him 10,000). all this paired with Surena`s huge popularity and charisma scared the king and made him move. It was a wrong move but typical by Rulers of these period to secure their throne.
Orod did the right things surena was popular in armys and it was dangerous for all parthian cause when he taken the power many dies and he was just a commander not king who could rule persia
@@viraloracle5151 well, whatever reason Orodes had it was obviously stupid b/c they not only threw away one of their greatest commanders (seriously, besides hannibal, who else could do this?) they basically made it clear to anyone else with talent and ability that the penalty for saving the nation is death. Orodes might very well be the single most worthless king any nations was cursed with.
@@tikletik oh you sweet summer child, history is long and full of blunders. It's not that uncommon of a thing to happen, Roman Emperor's and Ottoman Sultan's alike would execute, undermine, or banish their best leaders to secure their throne. It's especially poignant when we have such clear records showing how foolish the move is with hindsight: Valentinian the 3rd executing the undefeated Aetius doomed western rome.
Great video! minor correction, Parthians used "Composite" bows with composite material not Compound bows which are modern tech and have pullies utilizing compound effect and let-off.
It wasn't so much "mistakes" but a complete miscalculation of the enemies capabilities. Getting into a noob box makes sense if you are assuming that the much smaller force you are facing will run out of ammo within an hour.
@@lolwutyoumad I agree. That is one of the most important factors. I just put mistakes as a general, encompassing word to include what went wrong, what they did in response and what they could have done to mitigate or prevent failure. Such as more emphasis on scouting ahead or potentially sticking with the conventional tactic of extending the line to prevent flanking as they were going to do before Crassus changed his mind.
For some reason, I prefer Invictus' video on this battle. It's easy to focus on the Roman defeat, but Invictus took a different look at it. Plus, this video says the Roman Morale broke when they saw Publius' head on a lance, but then they held until nightfall. Doesn't sound like their morale broke. The Parthians had a great strategy and executed it to perfection.
@@shorewall yes, he has three videos about this battle and things related, one to explain Crassus logic (What Was Crassus Thinking? - The "fool" of Carrhae), other about possible roman prisioners reaching China and "Avenging Crassus" about Parthian and Roman expeditions years after Carrhae. "Fool" of Carrhae was probably the best video ever made about this battle. PS: BTW, the Channel is Invicta, isn't it?
Wow Surenas is such a cool commander!!! I would like to see how he fought the Romans in the up coming battles *watch til the end of the video *N E V E R M I N D*
Emperor Aurelian is what i think of everytime. Saved the collapsing empire, brought it to such heights again. And is murdered while taking a piss by his troops.
Or Aetius who, after driving back Attila the Hun, was murdered by his emperor Valentinian III of the collapsing Western Roman Empire. It's said after Aetius' murder, an advisor of Valentinian III scolded him: "Know that you have cut off your right hand with your left."
@@codysing1223 Your thinking of Caracalla emperor from 198-217 AD he got stabbed by one of his soldier stopping to take a piss on the way to a temple in Carrhae coincidentally, dudes name was Justin Martalis and he was pissed that Caracalla didnt promote him to centurion so he walks up like a coward and stabbed him in the back
The case of Arminius is only superficially similar, though - Arminius was not executed shortly after his victory to prevent rebellion (from the king's perspective) but was killed after long years of internal struggle and wars between the Germanic tribes and various factions within them.
I think the whole part where the Parthians remove their robes as they charge to reveal their armor probably has to be one of the most badass episodes in history. Imagine, you're a Roman legionary and you see these guys charging up to you in silk and linen robes. You're heavily armored in hamata and shielded by your big scutum. The whole time, you're thinking this will be easy, that these are just regular, unarmored barbarian horsemen, no match for your superior armor and weapons. But then, just as the Parthians are about to charge, they all rip off their robes in unison and then, to your horror, the truth of the situation becomes apparent. These aren't just regular barbarian horsemen, this is a powerful empire on its own, that these horsemen you face are unlike anything you've ever seen before. You realize in this moment that the enemy you're facing is encased head to toe in armour. Its at this point, you realize, that this battle may not entirely go your way. If I was a Roman legionary, that's the point I'd be shaking. I guess it says something about their discipline that they were able to hold together as long as they did.
@ابوالفضل مازنی Romans called barbarians any people without written language but there were others factors as well. They probably considered Parthians barbarians at first who took over the falling Seleukids before they saw how organized they were. Parthians came from the northern steppes, that region was considered uncivilized. Civilization was from India, Afghanistan, Iran then directly west from Iran to Egypt and then all the way west to Tunisia. Northwest from Persia, Turkey then Greece and finally Italy. Everything else was considered, barbarian, uncivillized and savage. You can be offended all you want but that's how they classed countries back then. Today it's first world, developong, third world.
@@abcdc197 Technically that's incorrect for the second part, the classification system for 1st/second/third world meant something entirely different and was related to western propaganda about communism, and people use it incorrectly through misnomer now. Greece used a term of Occidentalism and Orientalism, anything to the east was the Orient, and anything to their west was the Occident.
@@mb5616 Greeks saw Persians as barbarians... Aristotel called them barbarians. They saw anything non Hellenic Barbarian. Romans had different views based on timeline. In late Empire from what they understood civilization is Roman Empire, Sassanid Empire and far away India. So i basically nailed the countries. Everything else they consider barbarians. Were there civilizations beyond those? Ofc there was China, East Africa, todays Yemen and Oman but Romans which left most records hardly knew anything about those. Regardless that's their view. Chinese saw British as barbarians. It took British to raze of Emperor's palace to the ground and blow up Emperor's armies with modern weapons of the time for China to realize they were superior and stop calling them barbarians. Like no kidding British had in peace terms as one of important things for China to stop using that term for Europeans. It's really all individual view of each nation not a fact.
@@abcdc197 Romans considered Parthians as barbarians, it's noted in their own history. Cassius Dio even notes how foolish Rome is for its wars with historical Iran.
A story later emerged to the effect that after Crassus' death, the Parthians poured molten gold into his mouth as a symbol of his thirst for wealth. Thus the Parthians avenged the death of Spartacus.
@@marvinsilverman4394 well it's like hugely more complicated than that but to make it short he was (politically) the equal of Caesar and Pompey Magnus. To remain at their level he thought an easy and quick victory against the Parthans would make him as popular and much richer than the other two
"Crasus, you fool" Iulius Caesar. The battle gave an expression used even today in Spanish: "Craso error" ("Crasus error") which basically means "screwing it up big".
One of the long term changes brought about by this war was that Rome stopped using chain mail, Lorica hamata, for its soldiers as arrows could penetrate it much more easily. Instead they wore armour made up of metal strips called Lorica segmentata. Though it gave better protection it was heavier and not as flexible as chain mail.
Yes, just like the conquest of CTESIFONTE, capital of Parthia' empire, by the Romans with Traiano, Marco Aurelio, Settimio Severo (116, 175, 197 AD). Noukaretam.
Lol 2000 years later and still no one can think of a more badass comback. It's definitely a top tier roast 👌. You can only use it if your balls drag on the floor tho
Achaemenid Dynasty - kings Cyrus,Darius and Xerxes Parthian Dynasty - kings Mehrdad(Mithridates) and Farhad (Pharaates) Sasanian Dynasty - kings Shapour and Khosrow ( Great king of kings of Persia )
Honestly Ismail the Great of Safavid dynasty and Nader Shah of the Afsharid dynasty were great kings too, tho not Farsi Persians they still ruled a Persian state in the Persian way
Orodes probably manufactured some phony accusation and since this is said to be treason I would have liked to hear exactly what the charge was. "You disobeyed my plans to sacrifice yourself when delaying the Romans" Or "You were"nt supposed to defeat them,only delay them which is treason"
@@yulusleonard985 Parthia was"nt even an Empire 650 years before and the rest of your statements are either Historically incorrect or pure speculation.Good day to you sir
According to some historians, the Surena family was also very influential during the Sassanid era, they lived in Tabaristan (current day Mazandaran province) where many of the Iranian historical famous generals are from including Rustam.
Baradar, they were from Sistan and they were awarded Mazandaran and Armenia for their service to Parthians/Sassanians. They are not Mazandarani, they are Hephtalite/Kidarite in origin. Look up Gondophores and the indo Parthian kingdom, they are not related to any Mazandarani at all The Parthians killed St Thomas for spreading christianity in their empire
Orodes II: "Congratulations on your victory over the Romans at Carrhae, Surena! The reward for your services to the Parthian Empire is a painful and agonizing death."
this battle was though the worst defeat for the Romans in terms of Kill Death Ratio, according to Roman Historians themselves 20,000 Romans died and 10,000 got captured while parthians lost only between 35-50 Cataphracts and Horsearchers and all this while outnumbering the Parthians 4.5 to 1, in my idea Crassus defeat was the most humiliating his only defence is that Romans never faced such an enemy.
@@skkhammuansangngaihte4989 Mongols weren't even around. They've had this tactic since fighting alexander. It could have originated from the Scythian, or nomadic Iranians in the north.
@@skkhammuansangngaihte4989bro we didn't have turks on that time . The places you. Call it turks country they were iranian people on there . And this tactics is coming from scythia & parthians . They were iranian
"There is a question that I have always wanted to ask you. When your old friend Crassus was captured by the Parthians is it true that they poured molten gold down his throat? Because that would really sting". - Mark Anthony to Cicero HBO Rome.
@@the_rover1 It is a scene from the second season already after the assasination of Julius Caesar where Mark Anthony puts his request to the Senator Marcus Cicero about being Governor of Gaul rather than Macedonia. In which Cicero originally rejects the notion saying to Anthony that the Senate would not like it as he would be postioned under arms in close proximity to Rome and that he Anthony should just make his threats now as Cicero states he does not like to give in to mere implication. And so Anthony threatens Cicero with the above quote which was the alleged real life fate of Marcus Crassus at the hands of the Parthians after the disastrous battle of Carrhae.
It's so hard to express how amazing this documentary was, wow! definitely in the top 5 K&G documentaries. The envoy part was the best :) Keep up the great work.
Marc Antony threatening Cicero: "Tell me, when your friend Crasus was captured by the Parthians, is it true they poured molten gold down his throat before cutting his head off? I'd imagine that would really sting..."
yea i always loved the idea about a movie based on this battle, could start showing Crassus rise and Parthian power struggle for the throne later half the battle itself ending with the death of crassus and the betrayal against Surena.
Hi kings and generals One thing i like your channel is you use bc and ad instead of bce and ce... Nice way to learn history... Never heard of surena... Thanks to you for learning history with great animation... I like your channel...👍
"Now, with new video game technology, you are about to see this great battle as never before, the vast numbers of soldiers, the troop formations, how they fought, and how the battle was won. Get the view the Generals wished they had"
I've been watching this channel since 2017 or so- it's absolutely wild the quality that y'all continue to put out and I feel as though this may be the best one yet. Keep it up 👍🏻
Well yes, but no... Crassus tactics would have carried the day if the Parthians didn't have so many arrows, and I don't think that a line would hold as much as this "noob box" as people are calling it.
Thanks for a great video! I have seen and listened to many recountings of the Battle of Carrhae. I was pleasantly surprised by how much more complete and informative this one was. The usual narrative focuses on how badly Crassus blundered, ignoring his advisers and achieved little successes during his campaign. But here we see how he had some initial success, and was simply outgunned and unable to improvise effective counter tactics. It would be interesting to see how Cesar would have dealt with such a Parthian army, or whether he wrote anything about this defeat.
I found Surena's execution less surprising and disappointing than I found Crassus' abandonment of his wounded on the battlefield. They weren't just faceless drones and servants; they were tough and loyal Roman legionaries, when that meant considerably more than it did in the later days of the Empire. He and his subcommanders just left them behind, to suffer horribly through an endless night and then get destroyed like sick cattle in the morning. "Loyalty" only goes one way, when you're dealing with rich men; no matter the flags they fly.
7:30 one thing you didn’t mention is that if Crassus had gone through Armenia, the Armenian king would’ve given him around 40,000 troops for his invasion, including a good deal of cavalry which would have gone a long way towards saving his army.
@@ammarhaziq919 i mean. They offered cavalry which is what he lacked. And most sources I’ve read say that Antony overstretched his supply line and that it was attacked. Regardless it’s almost certain that Antony’s claim of betrayal was propaganda to cover for his own blunder.
That's shameful. Marc Antony would not make that same mistake on his campaign as he desperately needed the Armenians as well. You have to control the South Caucuses and the Carrhae (Syria), if you want to Invade Persia (Modern Day Iran. Also, your supply routes have to be well fortified and secured. Crassus did not do this right at all and paid for it in Blood.
Please more vids from Persian battles (Achamenids, Parthians and Sassanids). They were such interesting armies. Unfortunately in the age of information they are still not well known in the western hemisphere. For example people still do not know that the first medivals and medieval warfare find their origins in Parthian warefare Tradition later during the Sassanids dynasty. This happens 1000 years before first medival tradition appears in Europe.
Just an amazing presentation of past history battles. You know man just cannot govern man seems like an impossible task even now. Thank for sharing love all these videos that have come out.
You say the Parthian horse archers used compound bows, but compound bows are bows that use a system of pulleys for mechanical advantage, and I'm almost certain that they didn't have them around this time. What they probably used were composite bows, made of layers glued together, which were probably either recurved or reflexed. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe this makes more sense. Great video though!
Crassus _sweating_ : flips helplessly through the strategy manual while the legions are being shot down: "There's no tactic or formation against Bitch Fight and Bitch Moves in here! ..."
@@kippesnikkel5217 Firstly I said one the greatest generals not the Greatest, secondly the greatness in war is determined by the odds that you face and how one maneuvers out of it to emerge victorious. If one gives a final blow to an already declining empire which might be strifed with a civil war wouldn't be regarded of as much value as defeating a strong well organized & well trained force of a powerful empire. That's what i meant to say. At the end everyone is free to have their own opinion.
Suren Kalantarian yeah parthians were iranians but belong to Armenians history too and Armenians undrestood their Justice more than iranians,i love Armenian people and Armenia 🇦🇲❤️💜🇮🇷(i like lion and sun flag 🦁 🌞)
Ok but Surena was Parthian not Armenian, Armenians just took name of famous man and use it through generations .. It is like someone to be proud because his name is Alexander, it is silly
Orodes “rewarding” Surena was quite a game of thrones move: he obviously saw Surena’s formidability as a threat to his throne, esp. given that the Suren nobilities had the power to dispose kings through Iran’s Mahestan. But (in a plot twist that we would never know of for sure) there’s also a chance that Surena was in fact conspiring against Orodes in a game of thrones move of his own, and was caught in middle of that.
This is probably the best video covering Carrhae anywhere on UA-cam, so goo job keep up the awesome work. But I enjoy the recent videos about “the birthplace of history”: ancient Mesopotamia more than anything else on this channel. Please continue with those.
unknown fact, the original Parni were actually not more than a Scythian nomadic ruling elite. The actual Parthians were predominantly composed of the local Median population as we know from remnants of their language which is descended from the Northwest Iranian branch. And Roman sources also confirming this in their description of the Parthians as describing their language and culture like a mix of Median and Scythians but much more shifting towards Median with the time. Media Atropatene was merely a small religious province (Atropatene basically meaning place of fire or fire temples). But the core Median population was still more widespred around the whole Western and Northern regions. Also Surena is described as being clothed and his hair being parted in the Median fashion. Which indicates his origin. For more informations read "Roman Description of the Parthians"
Exactly Parthians were combination of Medes and Schytians and in achaemenid persia they were heroic individuals protecting eastern borders from nomadic forces as Pahlavans like Arash(Arsacids legendary ancestor)did in Shahname(book of kings)
@@arioarashdadkhahaseman1889 yes pretty much but people seem to assume Parthians were Persians or Scythians while in reality they were a Median core enriched with some Scythian tribes.
I guess the Persians finally learned from their defeat in Gaugamela. HAHA if DariusIII only employed this tactic, the Macedonian's wouldn't have a chance
Kings and Generals, I truly enjoy watching and learning from your fabulously created documentaries; however I would really be interested in seeing videos on the history of of African empires both pre and post the colonial scrabble for Africa. Again I say that I absolutely love the work that is done on this channel, prey you continue...
@@b.emirzadeh No. I mean Rome and Persia were the two powerhouses of the ancient world, just like United States and Soviet Union in the post WW2 world.
Wow! I’m late to this party. My car AND internet broke down so it took me some time to get here. It seems as though the Parthian general was somehow familiar with the Total War games and cheat commands due to the fact that his archers had unlimited ammo. 😁 On a serious note, I think Crassus was screwed no matter what he did. His army was not formed to fight an all cavalry army. A Roman soldier carrying 50 lbs. of armor is NOT going to catch up to someone on a horse, so it wouldn’t matter what shape he turned his army up to. He had only 1,000 cavalry which was the only force capable of coming to grips with the enemy. Even then, they were light cavalry, and still drastically outnumbered and under equipped. Last, I read an excellent book on this battle and the events leading up to it. I forget the name of the book, but somewhere in there, the author recounted a story where a city in the region had been attacked by a Parthian force. The witness to that story said the Parthians used “Strange looking arrows that passed through everything.” These were obviously arrows equipped with armor piercing tips. The Romans had little experience dealing with armies like this, and even hundreds of years later with the arrival of the Huns, mounted armies still caused Roman troops major problems. The only thing Crassus could’ve done, in my opinion, was to withdraw and make changes to his army, or at least, risk accepting a corps of Armenian cavalry offered to him earlier, who’s loyalty was questionable to him. Regardless, Crassus killed my good buddy Spartacus, so I’m glad he’s dead. And to this day, I still own the Spartacus pajamas my parents gave me when I was 19.
It's understandable how Crassus lost. I mean, the dude didn't place a limit on cav for the battle so how was Serenus supposed know to not spam horse archers. Edit; Serenus was probably executed for that very horse archer spam
Some Roman swag for the fans of Rome, join SPQR: bit.ly/2HVQNHB
+Kings and Generals
*#SwagOfLydia**!#* :)
Make a series about spartacus.
Pls do the battle of Plassey
True Roman swag for True Romans
Serious archer here... Not "compound bows" composite bows.. I'm looking down at my compound bow in it's case right now and it's a highly tuned piece of modern engineering. My recurve which is a composite bow is good and fun, but no where near the power of the compound system with it's large cams (pulleys) on each end which would eat their bows for breakfast even at the same draw weight..
Messenger: "Caesar! Crassus had been defeated in Parthia!"
Caesar: "I bet he didn't build a wall."
@@dolfyhilter577 it's a reference to caesar building a wall at Alessia when fighting the gauls.
Messenger : No sir he tried to use the NOOB Box and Parthians have "unlimited Arrows" and "GoD arrows" enabled.....report them to UBisoft SIRE !
Gaudencio Azarcon pfffffft.
His second mistake, was not building a second wall.
@@shadow-monger5189 EXACTLY!
Crassus: Don't worry they'll run out of arrows eventually!
*2 hours later*
Roman: They're not running out of arrows!!
Never count on your enemy running out of ammunition when they have you surrounded and also possess logistical dominance.
Crassus: How the hell do they even have that many arrows?
*cut to way back at the Parthian line, a bunch of Parthian guys are squatting with a pile of sticks and pointy rocks*
Parthian messenger: Boss wants 500 more arrows, stat!
Parthian arrow makers: Come on...we just sent 500 arrows a minute ago. Give a guy a break already!
Rip
Crassus: NANI!!!
@Jared nah more like the polish Calvary going up against German tanks and vehicles in ww2
Even to this day children in Iran are named after Surena , that's how much of a legend he is among Iranians.
Cars,Robots,Streets many stuff in Iran is named after General Surena.
I'm not sure that that name brings luck
I hope they don’t become too great in the future or else they will meet the same fate as the original
PrimalForlorn
Don't worry italians aren't assassinated because of julius name.
PrimalForlorn XD
Guy kills 30k romans and inflicts the most severe defeat on them since Hannibal, and get rewarded by having his head chopped off by his king. So much for loyalty.
Imaginează ți ce pericol ar putea avea un asemenea om pentru coroana ta daca ai fi fost în locul lui Orodes.
As the saying goes, don't over do it and make the King look bad.
He outshone the king himself
if king gives you all of his army, you should use it against him, if king gives you small portion of his army, you should use it to make your own country somewhere else, but never ever return this army, that was a mistake, Surena was too innocent for his time
@@rnkishi The funny part is that many otherwise loyal generals turned traitor simply because they feared they'd be killed if they didn't act.
Parthians: Open console
Unlimited_ammo
Romans: wtf hax
lol
Lmao
i think it's fair. The Romans always used `Unlimited_manpower`
@@karimm.elsayad9539 Just gave the parthians more targets to shoot at
Somebody off screen keeps throwing gladii at important figures. It’s very dangerous pls stop D:
At least it's not Cassandra stabbing maps.
"UwU whats this?"
*is kill by gladius to head*
It’s Maximus decimus meridius throwing them why of course!
Important figures keep stumbling and dying in History Matters.
Meanwhile in King and Generals there's always someone throwing gladius on important figure's portraits. That's why it's so hard to find what they looked like.
I love it when you guys cover the Parthian wars
There will be more, probably :-)
Kings and Generals it would be an interesting comparison of this war verses Donald Trump's current actions
Uh.... I'm trying to see the connection with a 21st century billionaire..... There's none.
Jorge Espinoza The fact he had the same might is right attitude... As a scion of a rich family and a real estate mogul, the anti-hero of this story met his end when he rashly tried to invade Iran. However before that, his illustrious exploits included shady real estate deals, building a wall to hem in some very bad people from the south, and engagement in incredibly public affairs with women behind his wife’s back.
Sounds familiar? What if I told you that this happened over 2000 years ago in a galaxy far away? Well, not really far away, actually on the same planet that we are on now. And the man we are talking about is Donald J. Trump. My mistake again, we are talking about Marcus L. Crassus, and the L. stands for Licinius.
You might be familiar with the name if you watched the series “Spartacus”. He’s the Roman general who battled Spartacus and his army. In real life, Crassus was quite the character. Ambitious, greedy, and power hungry, there was no trick too sleazy when it came to making a buck.
Money, money, money
One of his major achievements was creating the first fire squad in the city of Rome. At that time, Rome was growing rapidly and since many of its buildings were not built with the greatest of care, fires were ever-present. Crassus saw a hole in the market and decided to fight these fires.
However, if you think it was for some altruistic purposes, you are in for a rude awakening. Whenever a fire broke out, the men on Crassus’ fire squad would rush over to the burning building and proceed unto…
They would proceed unto doing nothing. Actually, what they in fact did was go to the owner of the burning house and ask him to sell for cheap. Then they would go to the owners of the houses nearby and ask them to sell as well. If any of them refused, then they would just let the houses burn down to the ground!
In this way, Crassus managed to buy up significant real estate. However, this was not enough for him. He had other tricks up his sleeve. Marcus allied himself with Sulla, Rome’s dictator of the moment, and took advantage when Sulla decided to kill off his enemies in a series of proscriptions.
The way these proscriptions worked is that Sulla started off with a small list of his opponents that he wanted killed. However, the list kept getting larger by the day, and many guys sensing an opportunity added some other juicy names on it as well, not for any political stance in particular, but just because they had some nice property that these unsavory characters wanted to get their hands on.
One of the guys who profited handsomely from the proscriptions was Crassus. Whenever a guy got executed, there was Crassus, waiting to snap up his property for cheap.
Crassus was also linked to a very public sex scandal. Apparently, he bedded Licinia, one of the Vestal Virgins. Now, this was a big deal since the Vestal Virgins were considered sacred and sworn to keeping their virginity as a sign of religious devotion. The thing about this sexcapade was that Crassus did not sleep with Licinia because she was hot, but because he wanted to get his hands on her house!
Building a wall and making Mexico pay for it
As previously mentioned, Crassus was also the general who was tasked with bringing down Spartacus and his rebellion. How would he do it? His brilliant idea was to build a wall! Yes, a wall came into play.
Spartacus and his army had retreated to the Bruttium Peninsula of Italy. If you look on a map of the country, this is the boot trying to kick Sicily away. Crassus decided to build a wall from sea to sea in order to hem these bad hombres in. Unfortunately, it didn’t work and Spartacus managed to break through.
After defeating Spartacus, Crassus set his sights on the highest offices. In order to do that, he formed what later came to be called the First Triumvirate with Julius Caesar and Pompey. After 10 years of hanging out with these two guys, Crassus decided to go mess around in Syria. However, this was not enough for him, and he set his sights on places a bit further out, like Iran.
Well, actually back in the day, it was the Parthian Empire, a state ruled by the Parthians, who are related to Persians, who are now known as Iranians. The Parthian Empire stretched over vast areas of land in today’s Iraq and Iran, and Crassus thought that he could win eternal glory if he just crossed over and lobbed some missiles.
Boy was he wrong! At the first significant battle of the conflict, the Battle of Carrhae, not only was his army soundly defeated, but Crassus also lost his life. There is a story that after his death, the Parthians cut off his head and poured molten gold into it, just to make fun of his greed.
I got my hands on the button
Fast forward two thousand years to 2019. What happened a few days ago? The story goes that Donald J. Trump (the J. stands for John) wanted to lob over a few missiles into Iran. However, the order was rescinded before any of the airstrikes could proceed.
What we now have is another real estate mogul, greedy for money, and hungry for fame, leading a country and messing around in the Middle East. Donald Trump has been elected the President of the United States, and he ain’t kidding around.
What will the future bring? Maybe what we should remind ourselves is that Crassus was living in the dying days of the Roman Republic. Kind of like now...The republic is dead.... And we have Empire
@@marysunshine2027 I suppose you are writing a history doctoral dissertation?
Do you have proof that Donald Trump has committed the extortion Crassus did in his time?
Or is it just convenient to paint every billionaire with a broad brush, or only a chosen few due to their worldview, as the media does? 🤷♂️
You think people got the point when Trump fired John Bolton? You do know Bolton was trying to get us into a war with Iran right?.... That's the real reason why he's lashed out against Trump lately.
Actions speak louder than hate.
Cassius: The King of Armenia says we can pass through his Kingdom. Crassus: Ohhhh, all those hills.....
Well still wasn't necessary : as long as they kept close to the river (to defend flanks and insure supplies) and did not venture fearlessly onto open ground... I mean what the heck was the plan ? Even if the Parthians had lacked ammo, what then ? catch back horses on bare feet will you ?
I feel so sad about that battle :(
LoL. That's the historical fact he didn't mention.
Apparently the offer to pass through Armenia may have been a trick by the Armenian king to get the Romans to fight off the Parthian invasion of Armenia, because the Parthian main armies were invading Armenia at the time.
@@Intranetusa
You mean a win-win situation? Instead Crassus takes 3 insignificant towns, waits out the winter while Armenia is taken out, and the Parthains build a standing army specifically to counter the army Crassus had.
@@ProtomanButCallMeBlues No, you're confusing the chain of events. Armenia wasn't defeated until AFTER Crassus lost at Carrhae. The Parthian king was invading Armenia at the same time when Surena fought Crassus at Carrhae. The Armenian King basically wanted Crassus to defend Armenia and fight off the bulk of Parthia's forces. Crassus decided to invade Parthia instead because most of the Parthian armies were distracted in Armenia.
Furthermore, the Parthians didn't "build" a standing army specifically to counter Crassus. This isn't Rome Total War where you can train an army in a single season. The Parthian King took the bulk of the army to invade Armenia, while Surena was left with a small atypical cavalry army of horse archers and cataphracts (both of which involved men with years, if not decades of training) to merely "delay" Crassus.
"They should be running out of arrows about now" last words of centurion Naughtius Maximus
Damn
Mrkabrat “I had a great friend in Wome called Biggus Dickus”
@@jruth77 *snickers*
Arrows can't pierce armor, we'll be fine
-Deadius Minimus.
@@JonatasAdoM Parthian Arrows can't penetrate Roman Armour, Carrhae was an inside job!
Working with this documentary made me realize how strong the Parthians were ever since the beginning of their establishment.
The early Parthian kingdom became a vassal state under Seleucid king - Antiochus III after his conquest in Parthia but a few years later, the Parthians managed to beat the Seleucids afterward and transform the small Parthian kingdom into a mighty Empire.
As always, here are ROME II and Attila mods which we used solely for this video:
- Caesar in Gaul reskin
- Divide et Impera
- Benjin's AAA Roman General
- Avetis Eastern Culture Overhaul
- Mobjay's Golden Emblem
- GEMFX
- Petellius' Enhanced Particle
Attila TW:
- Ancient Empires
Best wishes,
Malay Archer ڤمانه ملايو
Anyway we can get your Gemfx preset, noble sir?
You are awesome, Malay Archer.
I love your work and hope to be as good as you one day.
Greetings from Perú.
Aleksa Petrovic It is 1600AD mod for Empire Total War.
ediscool9 it is default setting.
Juanfrancisco Costa thanks!
Crassus take a snickers . You are acting like you have caesar's military genious mind when you are hungry.
Indeed Caesar knew how to play allies and enemies off one another. He held the world record for pitched battles fought *till Napoleon.* I've read "Caesar life of a colossus" and what that man was able to do while not only winning battles but out maneuvering his domestic enemies politically was mind blowing. I honestly think he qualifies as one of the world's first true geniuses.
@@CrazyNikel Is there a comparison of how many pitched battles people fought? Other generals such as Khalid ibn al-Walid, Alexander, and Subutai were were undefeated, with generals such as Subutai iirc overruning more land and more kingdoms than any other commander.
To be fair, Caesar likely wouldn't have been succesful even if he fared better than Crassus at Carrhae. Caesar's best general Marc Antony launched an invasion of Parthia with 100,000 troops and that invasion also failed. Trajan launched an even bigger invasion one and a half century later that was temporarily successful but ultimately resulted im a stalemate with conquered territories given up. The Romans and Eastern Romans would continue fighting the Sassnids for the next several centuries to a stalemate.
@@Intranetusa Comparing Antony to Caesar is like comparing a -amateur- street fighter to the world's foremost battle expert. Antony was never close to Caesars genius. But Antony did somehow managed to smash a Parthian army before he blundered into lands he didn't know. And would continue being Antony's way in life. A loud brash soldier, not a great general though. *Caesar knew how to use allies and enemies on the political level,* unlike Crassus or Antony.
Wow, that's an old one
VARO GIVE ME BACK MY LEGIONS! Ops... wrong battle.
As for Arminius, the Romans shall have their revenge !
@@Cancoillotteman well, actually the Roman had their revenge against the german tribes by the expeditiin of Germanicus.
@Zayed Haroon "Your man are fleeing the field the field of battle!" Aniway, if I could replentish my ammo like that in Rome 2 with the Partians i would never lose a battle.
@@Gaetano2005 Exactly, this what I said, Romans never forget a grudge ;)
Unlikely that happened as it was only 3 legions
11:15 Jesus, that envoy has balls of steel to goad them like that
20:00 Wtf
Also, thank you for maintaining that graphical roll-call of the units. It looks outstanding!
Joden Paolo Peroy Thank you for your feedback :)
Surenas was becoming too popular and powerful. Orodes feared his betrayal
@@lorisuprifranz figured it out as well. The comment was just a general reaction of mine.
Surenas was supposed to distract the Romans, not take all the glory of the king XD
the political situation in kingdoms and the like are always fragile and surenas with his great victory became a threat to the king. if the king's political rivals would be able to seduce surenas into rebelling or him wanting the thone for his own, He likely could raise enough support to overthrow the king
People underestimate how much work and research are behind this video. Thank you very much for this amazing history telling and graphics. All the historic details are accurate and neutral. Best to you!
the last part of this, the murder of Surena by his ungrateful king left me in utter shock.
@tikletik
I know this comment is quite old. But some sources say it was because Orodes II was threatened by Suranas' growing popularity. And executed him likely out of jealousy. Don't outshine the king as they say.
Am I the only one who enjoys more all the prologues to the battle than the battles itself? Great work!
Dang, Crassus got destroyed. But only you guys could make me enjoy a video about a Roman defeat. As always an awesome video.
I always enjoy a good Roman whooping.
I always enjoy munching on people. Rawr!
@@TyrannosaurusRex5027 Well said, Tyrant King.
Deserved end for what that greedy fook did to Spartacus and co.
In terms of losses, this battle was years away from the Roman disasters at Cannae and Arausio but it remains one of Rome's most devastating defeats during its existence as a Republic and Empire (before the splitting between the Western and Eastern Roman Empires).
don't forget teutoberg
@@frankieseward8667 this was double the losses of teutonberg forest and right before some of caesers campaigns so he couldve used those troops.
also the romans got revenge for teutonberg by and were about to conquer it before germanicus was recalled to rome for some reason.
also crassus was killed at carrhae, an event that helped cause the roman civil war that changed history as it left a massive power vacuum in the first triumvirate.
teutonberg was still significant just nowhere near as signicant as this
@@chezburger1781 Agreed! Just because more soldiers died in another battle it doesn't make it "more significant", but rather the repercussions of said defeat is what makes it more significant.
This is why Cannae, in all of its undoubted fantastic tactical masterclass, is not more relevant than other battles that cascaded into far more extreme consequences. While rome definitely panicked in horror after Cannae, the Senate and the republic didn't crumble into a violent civil war that changed its political landscape as a direct result in the way this battle did.
I still think Cannae is awesome, though
@@LeicaFleury my reply was more geared to teutonberg but i agree, smaller battles can be more significant than larger ones.
cannae was defo a major blow but the romans could still draw upon more recruits and it didnt spell the end for the republic while a battle like stamford bridge (random example ik) was smaller but far more significant, ending the viking age in england
It was more devastating than Cannae and Arausio. At those battles Romans eventually eliminated the enemy,but at Carrhae the Roman advance in general stopped,Republic toppled,and Rome went from offensive to defensive mode, followed by domestic wars and conflicts,which eventually caused its fall.
Surena: "yes I've defeated the undefeated Romans now I returned to my king for the good news"
Orodes II: "capture him and kill him for treason"
Surena: "oh"
More like : "pikachu face" Surena
despite being ordered by the king himself the fact still remained that Surena defeated his brother in battle and arrested him in the capital, he was a "King maker" which is dangerous in the eyes of the King.He was also ordered only to harass the Roman army not defeat it until the king arrives (thats why the king only gave him 10,000). all this paired with Surena`s huge popularity and charisma scared the king and made him move. It was a wrong move but typical by Rulers of these period to secure their throne.
Orod did the right things surena was popular in armys and it was dangerous for all parthian cause when he taken the power many dies and he was just a commander not king who could rule persia
@@viraloracle5151 well, whatever reason Orodes had it was obviously stupid b/c they not only threw away one of their greatest commanders (seriously, besides hannibal, who else could do this?) they basically made it clear to anyone else with talent and ability that the penalty for saving the nation is death. Orodes might very well be the single most worthless king any nations was cursed with.
@@tikletik oh you sweet summer child, history is long and full of blunders. It's not that uncommon of a thing to happen, Roman Emperor's and Ottoman Sultan's alike would execute, undermine, or banish their best leaders to secure their throne. It's especially poignant when we have such clear records showing how foolish the move is with hindsight: Valentinian the 3rd executing the undefeated Aetius doomed western rome.
Great video! minor correction, Parthians used "Composite" bows with composite material not Compound bows which are modern tech and have pullies utilizing compound effect and let-off.
Historia Civilis made a great video about this a while ago. It is an interesting battle to analyse the mistakes made.
It wasn't so much "mistakes" but a complete miscalculation of the enemies capabilities. Getting into a noob box makes sense if you are assuming that the much smaller force you are facing will run out of ammo within an hour.
@@lolwutyoumad I agree. That is one of the most important factors. I just put mistakes as a general, encompassing word to include what went wrong, what they did in response and what they could have done to mitigate or prevent failure. Such as more emphasis on scouting ahead or potentially sticking with the conventional tactic of extending the line to prevent flanking as they were going to do before Crassus changed his mind.
For some reason, I prefer Invictus' video on this battle. It's easy to focus on the Roman defeat, but Invictus took a different look at it. Plus, this video says the Roman Morale broke when they saw Publius' head on a lance, but then they held until nightfall. Doesn't sound like their morale broke. The Parthians had a great strategy and executed it to perfection.
@@shorewall yes, he has three videos about this battle and things related, one to explain Crassus logic (What Was Crassus Thinking? - The "fool" of Carrhae), other about possible roman prisioners reaching China and "Avenging Crassus" about Parthian and Roman expeditions years after Carrhae. "Fool" of Carrhae was probably the best video ever made about this battle.
PS: BTW, the Channel is Invicta, isn't it?
True they are superb
Wow Surenas is such a cool commander!!! I would like to see how he fought the Romans in the up coming battles
*watch til the end of the video
*N E V E R M I N D*
:-D
Do not regret 😂 if it was not cool, then the pressure of Ruth would not be
19:51 reminds me of when Arminius was killed by his own people :(
Also of when Flavius Aetius was murdered by Emperor Valentinian III as his reward for defeating the Huns under Attila at Chalons.
Emperor Aurelian is what i think of everytime.
Saved the collapsing empire, brought it to such heights again.
And is murdered while taking a piss by his troops.
Or Aetius who, after driving back Attila the Hun, was murdered by his emperor Valentinian III of the collapsing Western Roman Empire.
It's said after Aetius' murder, an advisor of Valentinian III scolded him: "Know that you have cut off your right hand with your left."
@@codysing1223 Your thinking of Caracalla emperor from 198-217 AD he got stabbed by one of his soldier stopping to take a piss on the way to a temple in Carrhae coincidentally, dudes name was Justin Martalis and he was pissed that Caracalla didnt promote him to centurion so he walks up like a coward and stabbed him in the back
The case of Arminius is only superficially similar, though - Arminius was not executed shortly after his victory to prevent rebellion (from the king's perspective) but was killed after long years of internal struggle and wars between the Germanic tribes and various factions within them.
I think the whole part where the Parthians remove their robes as they charge to reveal their armor probably has to be one of the most badass episodes in history. Imagine, you're a Roman legionary and you see these guys charging up to you in silk and linen robes. You're heavily armored in hamata and shielded by your big scutum. The whole time, you're thinking this will be easy, that these are just regular, unarmored barbarian horsemen, no match for your superior armor and weapons. But then, just as the Parthians are about to charge, they all rip off their robes in unison and then, to your horror, the truth of the situation becomes apparent. These aren't just regular barbarian horsemen, this is a powerful empire on its own, that these horsemen you face are unlike anything you've ever seen before. You realize in this moment that the enemy you're facing is encased head to toe in armour. Its at this point, you realize, that this battle may not entirely go your way. If I was a Roman legionary, that's the point I'd be shaking. I guess it says something about their discipline that they were able to hold together as long as they did.
@ابوالفضل مازنی Romans called barbarians any people without written language but there were others factors as well. They probably considered Parthians barbarians at first who took over the falling Seleukids before they saw how organized they were. Parthians came from the northern steppes, that region was considered uncivilized. Civilization was from India, Afghanistan, Iran then directly west from Iran to Egypt and then all the way west to Tunisia. Northwest from Persia, Turkey then Greece and finally Italy. Everything else was considered, barbarian, uncivillized and savage. You can be offended all you want but that's how they classed countries back then. Today it's first world, developong, third world.
@@abcdc197 Technically that's incorrect for the second part, the classification system for 1st/second/third world meant something entirely different and was related to western propaganda about communism, and people use it incorrectly through misnomer now. Greece used a term of Occidentalism and Orientalism, anything to the east was the Orient, and anything to their west was the Occident.
@@mb5616 Greeks saw Persians as barbarians... Aristotel called them barbarians. They saw anything non Hellenic Barbarian. Romans had different views based on timeline. In late Empire from what they understood civilization is Roman Empire, Sassanid Empire and far away India. So i basically nailed the countries. Everything else they consider barbarians. Were there civilizations beyond those? Ofc there was China, East Africa, todays Yemen and Oman but Romans which left most records hardly knew anything about those. Regardless that's their view. Chinese saw British as barbarians. It took British to raze of Emperor's palace to the ground and blow up Emperor's armies with modern weapons of the time for China to realize they were superior and stop calling them barbarians. Like no kidding British had in peace terms as one of important things for China to stop using that term for Europeans. It's really all individual view of each nation not a fact.
@@abcdc197 Romans considered Parthians as barbarians, it's noted in their own history. Cassius Dio even notes how foolish Rome is for its wars with historical Iran.
I would love to have a time machine just to sit and watch this kid of thing
A story later emerged to the effect that after Crassus' death, the Parthians poured molten gold into his mouth as a symbol of his thirst for wealth.
Thus the Parthians avenged the death of Spartacus.
Doubt the story is true but yeah I've heard it
You do a great job bringing History alive, thanks!
My favorite battle, thanks for covering it. please continue the series of Roman-Iranian conflicts;
with Regards from Persia
One of the most painful to my eyes, as I love the Romans. But I guess this is what comes of disrespecting your opponent, Crassus had it coming.
Also cover the conquest of CTESIFONTE, capital of Parthia' empire,by the Romans ( Traiano, 116 AD - Marco Aurelio,175 AD - Settimio Severo 197 AD)
@@Cancoillotteman far as I know
Crassus was a rich man in Rome who wanted to have fame as a Roman general leader, right?
@@marvinsilverman4394 well it's like hugely more complicated than that but to make it short he was (politically) the equal of Caesar and Pompey Magnus. To remain at their level he thought an easy and quick victory against the Parthans would make him as popular and much richer than the other two
"Crasus, you fool" Iulius Caesar.
The battle gave an expression used even today in Spanish: "Craso error" ("Crasus error") which basically means "screwing it up big".
Lulius Caesar? LoL
@@AliHasan2-v9e Iulius, with I.
@@AliHasan2-v9e
IVLIVS
Crassus means "big", so craso error means "big mistake"
One of the long term changes brought about by this war was that Rome stopped using chain mail, Lorica hamata, for its soldiers as arrows could penetrate it much more easily. Instead they wore armour made up of metal strips called Lorica segmentata. Though it gave better protection it was heavier and not as flexible as chain mail.
as an iranian i was excited in the whole duration of the video . please cover more roman-persian wars
Yes, just like the conquest of CTESIFONTE, capital of Parthia' empire, by the Romans with Traiano, Marco Aurelio, Settimio Severo (116, 175, 197 AD). Noukaretam.
@Águila701 don't cry. they were persians. you can't change our histoty sorry😉
Águila701 Iran
@Águila701 dude we say persian(fars) in farsi(persian language) to all of Arians(medes,persians,parthians,sekaha...)
iam baloch from parthians, iran symbolic name is persia our holy country
Actually we Iranians still use the embassador's statement to say something is impossible
In Arabia they say. Hair will grow on my tongue in the same context
law ming same thing but for implying that you have emphasized something before
Lol 2000 years later and still no one can think of a more badass comback. It's definitely a top tier roast 👌.
You can only use it if your balls drag on the floor tho
@Stephen Bidgood have you checked?
@@SupremelyFly well it depends, already long before that i did enjoy very the Spartan "If" answer to the Persians ^^
Thanks for yet another great video. As an Iranian, I appreciate your coverage of the history of that part of the world.
Achaemenid Dynasty - kings Cyrus,Darius and Xerxes
Parthian Dynasty - kings Mehrdad(Mithridates) and Farhad (Pharaates)
Sasanian Dynasty - kings Shapour and Khosrow
( Great king of kings of Persia )
@@rolex1231 yes thats true 👍
Šâhanšâh (King of Kings) basically means Emperor and Šâhanšâhi means Empire.
And two of the greatest in this list shapour and cyrus the great😍😍
Honestly Ismail the Great of Safavid dynasty and Nader Shah of the Afsharid dynasty were great kings too, tho not Farsi Persians they still ruled a Persian state in the Persian way
Was Xerxes really that great ?
Nice that you found some actual footage of the armies. This is quality content.
Actually its a game. Whats more its mod for a game
Surena: Sir, I defeated the Romans!
Orodes II: You won?! That's treason!
Surena: *Visible confusion
Orodes probably manufactured some phony accusation and since this is said to be treason I would have liked to hear exactly what the charge was. "You disobeyed my plans to sacrifice yourself when delaying the Romans" Or "You were"nt supposed to defeat them,only delay them which is treason"
@@yulusleonard985 Parthia was"nt even an Empire 650 years before and the rest of your statements are either Historically incorrect or pure speculation.Good day to you sir
@@yulusleonard985 Thats an oversimplification but whatever.Have a nice
@@ethericboy😂😂😂😂 one word from the air.
These videos are getting better and better. Great work Kings and Generals.
According to some historians, the Surena family was also very influential during the Sassanid era, they lived in Tabaristan (current day Mazandaran province) where many of the Iranian historical famous generals are from including Rustam.
"Rustam yali bood dar Sistan
manash kardam Rustam e Dastan
A famous man at the start and at the end
Baradar, they were from Sistan and they were awarded Mazandaran and Armenia for their service to Parthians/Sassanians. They are not Mazandarani, they are Hephtalite/Kidarite in origin.
Look up Gondophores and the indo Parthian kingdom, they are not related to any Mazandarani at all
The Parthians killed St Thomas for spreading christianity in their empire
@@mb5616 My origin is Aturbadgan
“Greed is but a word jealous men inflict upon the ambitious.” -- Marcus Licinius Crassus.
"That's a nice quote Crassus. I think I'll share it with my living children."
Too bad the parthians heard that and used it for their arrows. LOL
@@TheSecondVersion oof
That's true only above certain level of wealth & personal success. Otherwise, it is just GREED.
Parthian soldier: Allright crassus that's enough quotes for today *pours molten gold into his mouth*
Orodes II: "Congratulations on your victory over the Romans at Carrhae, Surena! The reward for your services to the Parthian Empire is a painful and agonizing death."
I am from Iran , i like history and study war in between governments.
So thanks your team.
I newly find it but so useful.
Cannae - When the ground speaks Carthaginian.
Carrhae - When the desert speaks Parthian.
Teutoburg Forest - When the forest speaks German.
That cavalry charge must have been the coolest looking military action in ancient history
Rome most epic bruh moment
😩👌🏻👌🏻
Nope adrianople
Erik Hunt nope Edessa
this battle was though the worst defeat for the Romans in terms of Kill Death Ratio, according to Roman Historians themselves 20,000 Romans died and 10,000 got captured while parthians lost only between 35-50 Cataphracts and Horsearchers and all this while outnumbering the Parthians 4.5 to 1, in my idea Crassus defeat was the most humiliating his only defence is that Romans never faced such an enemy.
The Romans lost over 100k troops at Arausio and 60-70k troops at Cannae.
@@Intranetusa arausio is definetly exaggeration
Parthian had one of the most fearsome cavalry and tactics of history.
@@pongangelo2048 actually the polsi copied the Mongol war tactic
@@skkhammuansangngaihte4989 Mongols weren't even around. They've had this tactic since fighting alexander. It could have originated from the Scythian, or nomadic Iranians in the north.
@@thegodofthegods1084 turks and mongol or any nomadic have that tactiv
@@skkhammuansangngaihte4989bro we didn't have turks on that time . The places you. Call it turks country they were iranian people on there . And this tactics is coming from scythia & parthians . They were iranian
@@skkhammuansangngaihte4989dickhead
"There is a question that I have always wanted to ask you. When your old friend Crassus was captured by the Parthians is it true that they poured molten gold down his throat? Because that would really sting". - Mark Anthony to Cicero HBO Rome.
@@the_rover1 It is a scene from the second season already after the assasination of Julius Caesar where Mark Anthony puts his request to the Senator Marcus Cicero about being Governor of Gaul rather than Macedonia. In which Cicero originally rejects the notion saying to Anthony that the Senate would not like it as he would be postioned under arms in close proximity to Rome and that he Anthony should just make his threats now as Cicero states he does not like to give in to mere implication. And so Anthony threatens Cicero with the above quote which was the alleged real life fate of Marcus Crassus at the hands of the Parthians after the disastrous battle of Carrhae.
It's so hard to express how amazing this documentary was, wow! definitely in the top 5 K&G documentaries. The envoy part was the best :) Keep up the great work.
Surena was a smart and brave Iranian General, he considered every thing before starting the battle
Surena Kürdish?
@@rayzinlgdyeattigibizonumNo he was from Khorasan, east of Iran.
Another excellent video. Please make one about Anthony campaigns against Parthia.
By the gods! This channel has always good surprises. Thanks man.
Marc Antony threatening Cicero: "Tell me, when your friend Crasus was captured by the Parthians, is it true they poured molten gold down his throat before cutting his head off? I'd imagine that would really sting..."
This would make for an absolutely amazing movie!
yea i always loved the idea about a movie based on this battle, could start showing Crassus rise and Parthian power struggle for the throne later half the battle itself ending with the death of crassus and the betrayal against Surena.
Hi kings and generals
One thing i like your channel is you use bc and ad instead of bce and ce...
Nice way to learn history...
Never heard of surena...
Thanks to you for learning history with great animation...
I like your channel...👍
Agreed 100%, I prefer BC and AD.
Me: "Why don't we know Surana as one of the greatest generals of antiquity?" (19:56) "Oh."
His tactic in this battle is being teached in the war academies.
@@taghavibalatarin6543 really where?
@@nebsam7137 United States Military Academy West Point
"Now, with new video game technology, you are about to see this great battle as never before, the vast numbers of soldiers, the troop formations, how they fought, and how the battle was won. Get the view the Generals wished they had"
History Channel's Decisive Battles
I've been watching this channel since 2017 or so- it's absolutely wild the quality that y'all continue to put out and I feel as though this may be the best one yet. Keep it up 👍🏻
So Parthia invented both the cataphracts ( precursor to European knights) and the hit and run tactics of mongols
Parthian Tactics give +4 dmg to Cavalry Archers
Such an epic channel, thanks for always providing tons of context!
When you're a noob who just figured out the box formation,
But your opponent is a Chad Eastern faction expert and a real life Genghis Khan.
@John the Armenian and dead. I guess I should've written "Genghis Khan reborn".
@@sakshampandey7342 Well the guy was also born earlier than Genghis
Not only that but he was also a cheater haxor who used the unlimited ammo exploit.
Well yes, but no... Crassus tactics would have carried the day if the Parthians didn't have so many arrows, and I don't think that a line would hold as much as this "noob box" as people are calling it.
Genghis Khan preborn.
Thanks for a great video! I have seen and listened to many recountings of the Battle of Carrhae. I was pleasantly surprised by how much more complete and informative this one was. The usual narrative focuses on how badly Crassus blundered, ignoring his advisers and achieved little successes during his campaign. But here we see how he had some initial success, and was simply outgunned and unable to improvise effective counter tactics. It would be interesting to see how Cesar would have dealt with such a Parthian army, or whether he wrote anything about this defeat.
I'm a simple man. If I see Romans, I click.
Although when it comes to this channel I click every notification. Great video as usual
one of my favorite channels,Your voice just makes history better my friend
Parthia against Rome in Carrhae: “I call this, the pro-gamer move”
I found Surena's execution less surprising and disappointing than I found Crassus' abandonment of his wounded on the battlefield. They weren't just faceless drones and servants; they were tough and loyal Roman legionaries, when that meant considerably more than it did in the later days of the Empire. He and his subcommanders just left them behind, to suffer horribly through an endless night and then get destroyed like sick cattle in the morning. "Loyalty" only goes one way, when you're dealing with rich men; no matter the flags they fly.
7:30 one thing you didn’t mention is that if Crassus had gone through Armenia, the Armenian king would’ve given him around 40,000 troops for his invasion, including a good deal of cavalry which would have gone a long way towards saving his army.
Armenia itself was under attacked by the King Armee himself.
@@taghavibalatarin6543 Which is why Armenia asked for Crassus' to invade through there.
@@ammarhaziq919 i mean. They offered cavalry which is what he lacked. And most sources I’ve read say that Antony overstretched his supply line and that it was attacked. Regardless it’s almost certain that Antony’s claim of betrayal was propaganda to cover for his own blunder.
That's shameful. Marc Antony would not make that same mistake on his campaign as he desperately needed the Armenians as well. You have to control the South Caucuses and the Carrhae (Syria), if you want to Invade Persia (Modern Day Iran. Also, your supply routes have to be well fortified and secured. Crassus did not do this right at all and paid for it in Blood.
ty so much for this amazing video man well done.
pls make more videos about parthian-roman wars
Mohammad Ghezelli are you Iranian?
@@suren2313 yeah I am Iranian
and you maybe an Armenian
Please more vids from Persian battles (Achamenids, Parthians and Sassanids). They were such interesting armies. Unfortunately in the age of information they are still not well known in the western hemisphere. For example people still do not know that the first medivals and medieval warfare find their origins in Parthian warefare Tradition later during the Sassanids dynasty. This happens 1000 years before first medival tradition appears in Europe.
Just an amazing presentation of past history battles. You know man just cannot govern man seems like an impossible task even now. Thank for sharing love all these videos that have come out.
Thanks, more on the way!
I love these videos about Iranian history! Thank You.
I just sat down. Haven't even watched it yet, but I know I'm going to love it.
We appreciate your trust!
@@KingsandGenerals I loved it.
You say the Parthian horse archers used compound bows, but compound bows are bows that use a system of pulleys for mechanical advantage, and I'm almost certain that they didn't have them around this time. What they probably used were composite bows, made of layers glued together, which were probably either recurved or reflexed. Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe this makes more sense. Great video though!
"We bring from the mountain
A tendril fresh-cut to the palace
A wonderful prey". from the bacchae uttered while Crassus' head was used as a prop.
Crassus _sweating_ : flips helplessly through the strategy manual while the legions are being shot down:
"There's no tactic or formation against Bitch Fight and Bitch Moves in here! ..."
Realy nice! Keep the good job going! I could view all of your videos about ancient rome during any moment of the day.
Thanks! :-)
This is *PARTHIAAAAA*
🌋🌋🌋🌋🌋🌋🌋🌋
One of the greatest Generals in history was Parthian General Surena, sadly he met a bad fate.
Shame that he was executed soon afterwards because he became far too popular.
@@somerandomguy4812 True
@@kippesnikkel5217 Firstly I said one the greatest generals not the Greatest, secondly the greatness in war is determined by the odds that you face and how one maneuvers out of it to emerge victorious. If one gives a final blow to an already declining empire which might be strifed with a civil war wouldn't be regarded of as much value as defeating a strong well organized & well trained force of a powerful empire. That's what i meant to say. At the end everyone is free to have their own opinion.
@Huvishka Οοηϸκι
Well said
@@ashwaryp facing roman infantry with horse archers and infinite arrows isn't "overwhelming odds"
keep up the great work!! i love your videos they are the best
Great content! for the first time i disabled Adblock to support a channel. Keep it up.
We appreciate it!
This documentary is fantastic. K&G your videos are always like that. THANK YOU !
Thanks for watching!
Now I’m proud of my Name
And proud that I’m an Armenian 🇦🇲
That's messed up.
Suren Kalantarian yeah parthians were iranians but belong to Armenians history too and Armenians undrestood their Justice more than iranians,i love Armenian people and Armenia 🇦🇲❤️💜🇮🇷(i like lion and sun flag 🦁 🌞)
Are you still alive, or did the Azeris kill you?
Ok but Surena was Parthian not Armenian, Armenians just took name of famous man and use it through generations .. It is like someone to be proud because his name is Alexander, it is silly
But u are not from iran
Orodes “rewarding” Surena was quite a game of thrones move: he obviously saw Surena’s formidability as a threat to his throne, esp. given that the Suren nobilities had the power to dispose kings through Iran’s Mahestan. But (in a plot twist that we would never know of for sure) there’s also a chance that Surena was in fact conspiring against Orodes in a game of thrones move of his own, and was caught in middle of that.
Thank you for posting more iranian history
It's soooo good. When I think of great empires in history, I think of Rome, China and Persia.
This is probably the best video covering Carrhae anywhere on UA-cam, so goo job keep up the awesome work. But I enjoy the recent videos about “the birthplace of history”: ancient Mesopotamia more than anything else on this channel. Please continue with those.
unknown fact, the original Parni were actually not more than a Scythian nomadic ruling elite. The actual Parthians were predominantly composed of the local Median population as we know from remnants of their language which is descended from the Northwest Iranian branch. And Roman sources also confirming this in their description of the Parthians as describing their language and culture like a mix of Median and Scythians but much more shifting towards Median with the time. Media Atropatene was merely a small religious province (Atropatene basically meaning place of fire or fire temples). But the core Median population was still more widespred around the whole Western and Northern regions. Also Surena is described as being clothed and his hair being parted in the Median fashion. Which indicates his origin. For more informations read "Roman Description of the Parthians"
Exactly Parthians were combination of Medes and Schytians and in achaemenid persia they were heroic individuals protecting eastern borders from nomadic forces as Pahlavans like Arash(Arsacids legendary ancestor)did in Shahname(book of kings)
Also Pahlavan(known as heroic nowadays in Iranic)is Parthian in Parthian language or middle median language.
@@arioarashdadkhahaseman1889 yes pretty much but people seem to assume Parthians were Persians or Scythians while in reality they were a Median core enriched with some Scythian tribes.
Thanks for the video,
So after 200 years our comments will be a history like this😭😭
Hopefully not all of them :-)
Crasus: I'm ready to sacrifice my hole army to save my son
Parthian cathapracts: yeah about that...
I can’t believe this channel stil has no 1m followers. Awesome job again👏👏
We'll get there!
I guess the Persians finally learned from their defeat in Gaugamela. HAHA if DariusIII only employed this tactic, the Macedonian's wouldn't have a chance
the macedonians were defeated by Darius III's forces. Read and you will know. Iran won.
Finally the video i have been looking for!!!
Great video, Battle of Edessa would be a great follow up video, is it coming?
Kings and Generals, I truly enjoy watching and learning from your fabulously created documentaries; however I would really be interested in seeing videos on the history of of African empires both pre and post the colonial scrabble for Africa. Again I say that I absolutely love the work that is done on this channel, prey you continue...
I was waiting for this battle one of my favourite
@@the_rover1 yeah the peak of nomadic tactic
So far the best video with best animation and length is similar to a episode of tv series.
The Romans and the Persians were like the United States and Soviet Union of the ancient time. Except, the war was very much hot.
Of course not, do you compare Persia with the Soviet Union, which was hostile to its people, a dignified country with a dictatorial country?
@@b.emirzadeh No. I mean Rome and Persia were the two powerhouses of the ancient world, just like United States and Soviet Union in the post WW2 world.
Some of the best videos on this platform
"Crassus, give me back my legions"
- Rome
Wow! I’m late to this party. My car AND internet broke down so it took me some time to get here.
It seems as though the Parthian general was somehow familiar with the Total War games and cheat commands due to the fact that his archers had unlimited ammo. 😁
On a serious note, I think Crassus was screwed no matter what he did. His army was not formed to fight an all cavalry army. A Roman soldier carrying 50 lbs. of armor is NOT going to catch up to someone on a horse, so it wouldn’t matter what shape he turned his army up to. He had only 1,000 cavalry which was the only force capable of coming to grips with the enemy. Even then, they were light cavalry, and still drastically outnumbered and under equipped.
Last, I read an excellent book on this battle and the events leading up to it. I forget the name of the book, but somewhere in there, the author recounted a story where a city in the region had been attacked by a Parthian force. The witness to that story said the Parthians used “Strange looking arrows that passed through everything.” These were obviously arrows equipped with armor piercing tips.
The Romans had little experience dealing with armies like this, and even hundreds of years later with the arrival of the Huns, mounted armies still caused Roman troops major problems.
The only thing Crassus could’ve done, in my opinion, was to withdraw and make changes to his army, or at least, risk accepting a corps of Armenian cavalry offered to him earlier, who’s loyalty was questionable to him.
Regardless, Crassus killed my good buddy Spartacus, so I’m glad he’s dead. And to this day, I still own the Spartacus pajamas my parents gave me when I was 19.
It's understandable how Crassus lost. I mean, the dude didn't place a limit on cav for the battle so how was Serenus supposed know to not spam horse archers.
Edit; Serenus was probably executed for that very horse archer spam
@DiscordChaos I mean, if its a land battle, its probably good? If sieges they can sally if they are defense
I almost confused between Cannae and Carrhae
Well, Romans were slaughtered in both....
Yeah,thats why it confusing
Doesn't it?
Cannae and carrhae both battle roman defeated
@@isakhanofbengal5936 it's a sarcasm
@@Dondingdingding ?
Imagine beating romans for the 1st time in 150 yrs and ur king kills u lmao
@Death by Cross bruh indeed
Bruh I want to cry each time i read your comment.🤦🏻♂️why life of young successful person should be ruined because of kings fear.
@@aradsstates9584 fax
They had been defeated in the last 150 years, just not so crushingly.
@@Masv1pevs Parthia. It was 1st time in 150 years. Check your eyes again
Wow this video was extremely well made. So good. 10/10.
Thanks!
@@KingsandGenerals درود مرد شریف