Spartan to his Army: "What is your Profession?" "War!" Roman to his Army: "What is your Profession?" "War, Carpentry, Building, Hunting, Cooking, Logistics, ..."
-Sir the Gauls are attacking the inside wall *2 Minutes later* -Sir the Gauls are attacking the outer wall! Caesar: "Send in the cavalry in a flanking maneuver"
He's hammering it straight! But considering how weakly he swings it, it'll probably take all day. Right around the same time those guys lifting the pickaxes with their back and arms will be hospitalized.
"Hey look, buddy, I'm a legionnaire - that means I solve problems. Not problems like 'what is beauty,' because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. I solve practical problems."
@@MaiDKHOA-ly1tc they raped the male prisoners to humiliate them and to underline the fact they'd been defeated. Male slaves were raped for this reason also.
It took them 3 hours actually. They'd build one every evening after a march and take it apart every morning before a march. That's why its called a marching camp. If the army remained in place for longer the fort would be gradually upgraded with stone, mounted ballistae, deeper moats, thicker gates etc. But even the basic 3 hour version would've been a better defence than most barbarian (celtic and hermanic) permenant forts.
@@zuuzuuka The one in the video isn't a marching camp, but a something between a temporary and permanent camp. For example when you build a wall during a siege (eg. Alesia), this kind of wall would be build. A marching camp that they created daily is much more simplified. Basically this ditch with an earth rampart from the dug earth right behind in and stakes to form a wall.
To be fair when you have workers in the thousands it may not be THAT impressive, still pretty neat for an entire army to know these skills instead of a select few.
@@ScurvyBoi True, the fact they all knew how to build and could contribute to the making of these forts only make them a more capable and unique fighting force to deal with.
@@thalmoragent9344 I recall one instance in which the Roman army and its engineers were put to the ultimate test. I forgot the name of the battle, but I believe Caesar was leading it. He was besieging the enemy, surrounding them and building walls and fortifications to keep them in. Soon, reinforcements for the Gauls arrived. Instead of abandoning it, he build walls and fortifications on the other side. Placing the Romans between the Gauls they were besieging, and the Gauls that were besieging them.
Marius had long ago showed us that the legionary has a weapon that is the bane of the civilized world, one more formidable than the dual-edged Roman short sword, more affective than the bronze-headed javelin, of greater defensive strength than the concave bronze-sheathed shields. It is a weapon in which the legionary is trained from his first day of induction and which he uses daily, in peacetime or in war, on the march or hunkered in camp under siege from flaming missiles. And upon their arrival at Themiscyra, every able-bodied Roman immediately whipped out this most fearsome of all weapons: The Legionary's shovel. Before even breaking to rest or scouting for supplies, the Roman troops had unpacked their shovels and commenced digging, and the dirt flew, and the dust rose. In the space of an afternoon, a Roman camp for thirty thousand men had been constructed just beyond range of our catapults. Before dark it had been ringed on all sides with a trench twelve feet deep and three feet across, the dirt thrown up into an embankment ten feet high inside the ring. Topped with a thick palisade of sharpened stakes. Inside, four sturdy walls were constructed of felled trees, guarded by squat log towers twenty feet high, stationed every fifty feet and surmounted by bolt-hurling field catapults. Inside, a space of a full two hundred feet was left between the walls and the tent line, a distance calculated to prevent our missiles and burning arrows from reaching the tents. This space was occupied by prisoners, cattle, plunder and supplies. Withing a few hours, the Romans had constructed a stronghold that would be the envy of a lifetime's work of many civilizations poorer then theirs. A fortress impregnable. Yet this was not a permanent stronghold they had built. This was the Roman's usual daily campsite, Every day of a legionary's working life he would dig such a trench, construct such an embankment, hew trees, and build such palisade. All to be torched at sunrise, when the legions marched off to their next encampment. Javelins, when thrown, may miss their mark entirely. Shields may cave upon impact with a Scythian battle-ax; and a sword, though reliable at close quarters, still dulled, broke upon ribs. Or shivered if struck upon armor. But the shovel...the shovel was the legionary's best friend, his most faithful protector, the one weapon that allowed him to sleep soundly at night, behind his magnificent trenches and embankments. The shovel could stop a cavalry charge cold, stymie hordes of barbarians. Rome conquered not with its brutal leaders, not with the strength of its soldiers, not with the ingeniousness of its weapons...but with the most rustic, pigheaded, inglorious, gods-bedamned tool of them all...the shovel. Michael Curtis Ford “The Last King Read one of the best books you'll ever read; Gods and Legions”
Roman and Greek History, Etc. If you're into “Roman” stuff Michael Curtis Ford's “Gods and Legions is the book to read. If you're into history I suggest you get Ammianus Marcellinus' History. The ass kicker here is that Marcellinus actually went to battel with Emperor Julian. The Loeb Classic is almost an adventure novel all by itself. As far as Gladiators go a couple of “difinitive” books are The Way of the Gladiator by Daniel P. Mannix and Spartacus by Howard Fast. Here are books from my library. Ass kickers every one. Ammianus Marcellinus History The Battle for Gaul by Julius Caesar The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon The Way of the Gladiator by Daniel P. Mannix Spartacus by Howard Fast Julian by Gore Vidal Gods and Legions by Michael Curtis Ford The Ten Thousand by Michael Curtis Ford The Last King by Michael Curtis Ford The Sword of Attila by Michael Curtis Ford The Fall of Rome by Michael Curtis Ford Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield Tides of War by Steven Pressfield The Virtures of War Steven Pressfield Alexaneder the Great by Paul Cartledge The Spartans by Paul Cartledge Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem The Eagle and the Raven by Pauline Gedge
Conor Beggs I'll try again. (Google: a total pile of stinking dog crap.) The Legionary's shovel II Marius had long ago showed us that the legionary has a weapon that is the bane of the civilized world, one more formidable than the dual-edged Roman short sword, more affective than the bronze-headed javelin, of greater defensive strength than the concave bronze-sheathed shields. It is a weapon in which the legionary is trained from his first day of induction and which he uses daily, in peacetime or in war, on the march or hunkered in camp under siege from flaming missiles. And upon their arrival at Themiscyra, every able-bodied Roman immediately whipped out this most fearsome of all weapons: The Legionary's shovel. Before even breaking to rest or scouting for supplies, the Roman troops had unpacked their shovels and commenced digging, and the dirt flew, and the dust rose. In the space of an afternoon, a Roman camp for thirty thousand men had been constructed just beyond range of our catapults. Before dark it had been ringed on all sides with a trench twelve feet deep and three feet across, the dirt thrown up into an embankment ten feet high inside the ring. Topped with a thick palisade of sharpened stakes. Inside, four sturdy walls were constructed of felled trees, guarded by squat log towers twenty feet high, stationed every fifty feet and surmounted by bolt-hurling field catapults. Inside, a space of a full two hundred feet was left between the walls and the tent line, a distance calculated to prevent our missiles and burning arrows from reaching the tents. This space was occupied by prisoners, cattle, plunder and supplies. Withing a few hours, the Romans had constructed a stronghold that would be the envy of a lifetime's work of many civilizations poorer then theirs. A fortress impregnable. Yet this was not a permanent stronghold they had built. This was the Roman's usual daily campsite, Every day of a legionary's working life he would dig such a trench, construct such an embankment, hew trees, and build such palisade. All to be torched at sunrise, when the legions marched off to their next encampment. Javelins, when thrown, may miss their mark entirely. Shields may cave upon impact with a Scythian battle-ax; and a sword, though reliable at close quarters, still dulled, broke upon ribs. Or shivered if struck upon armor. But the shovel...the shovel was the legionary's best friend, his most faithful protector, the one weapon that allowed him to sleep soundly at night, behind his magnificent trenches and embankments. The shovel could stop a cavalry charge cold, stymie hordes of barbarians. Rome conquered not with its brutal leaders, not with the strength of its soldiers, not with the ingeniousness of its weapons...but with the most rustic, pigheaded, inglorious, gods-bedamned tool of them all...the shovel. Michael Curtis Ford "The Last King" Read one of the best books you'll ever read; Gods and Legions" Roman and Greek History, Etc. If you're into "Roman" stuff Michael Curtis Ford's "Gods and Legions is the book to read. If you're into history I suggest you get Ammianus Marcellinus' History. The ass kicker here is that Marcellinus actually went to battel with Emperor Julian. The Loeb Classic is almost an adventure novel all by itself.
Conor Beggs I just refreshed the page and the whole thing magically appeared. Gawd! I hate Google. I like Roman history and like to share the neat stuff I've read.
The Roman Legionary was an engineer as much as soldier. That centurion would be yelling, cursing, and hitting slackers with his grape-vine stalk 'discipline stick' designed to inflict pain-not any debilitating injury. The Roman foot soldier was more scared of his centurion than any enemy as almost all veterans bore more scars from beatings than combat. Of course the centurion lived in fear of a mutiny, where the most sadistic centurions usually had their throats cut. The Romans learned keeping soldiers busy with engineering projects served a double purpose-the building improvement and busybodies don't have time mutiny. So if there was no campaign going on, soldiers were set to work building roads, aqueducts, and other permanent structures. Hadrian's Wall was more a way to keep soldiers occupied than anything.
I think you'll find they were "Labourers" rather than engineers...A small cadre of specialists in every Legion were engineers / Surveyors etc. Most were just labourers.
Actually the correct rank would be an Optio, who was similar to an XO. He would convey the Centurion orders and carry and stick to emphasize his authority. By law he had the power of life or dead over the enlisted men and punishment could go from a broken knee to a cracked skull.
The section leader of the 7 men under him would have kept order if not he would be replaced with a more suitable or ruthless section leader. There would have been a cohort commander to keep check and command the 8 or so sections commanders. Then a major ( Opto ? ) Cohort commander in charge of the 8 or so cohort commanders.Above them the centurion. Command and control order and authority as well as discipline. Very much like today's army. Each rank from the bottom up would have total respect for the ranks above. Thus a deadly formidable FIGHTING force
Yeah! Just like how Genghis Khan took one look at the Great Wall, and said "Nope!", and promptly fled back to Mongolia where he and his sons stayed for like forever.
+Shix Lo They were usually left built with a few garrison men to lookout as an outpost for the romans, they create a perimeter and each garrison is what they are called help each other out the ones in close proximity
+moonhorse100 thers marching camps and outpost, marching camp is build every day and taken down everyday(its a marching camp they build in this video) , outpost is usally garrisoned by half a centuria of legionarys or axulliarys.(thes camps where usally close to fortreses or citys to serv as a deterent and so they could see the enemy comming and fall back to thier legion
This is a more permanent wooden fort built over several weeks and not a marching camp fort that the Romans built everyday. The palisade of their daily marching camp was protected by smaller wooden stakes (sudes) they carried while marching. Only the more permanent forts/outposts had towers and wooden walls, and those took much longer to build. In the book "Roman Legionary Fortresses 27 BC-AD 378" by Duncan Campbell, the author talks about different types of temporary and permanent fortifications. The more permanent forts (compared to their daily camping forts) were still often made of wood, while the biggest and most permanent ones evolved into rammed earth, stone, & brick fortifications.
@@saneman8147 they spent 3 hours before dark on the night's fort. 10,000 men woirking for 3 hours is a TON of labor hours. 30,000 man-hours to be exact. for instance if you work EVERY DAY all year for one person ...is only 2,000 man hours.
I love all these videos about Romans. They were brilliant. So far ahead of their time. With running water, bath houses, beautiful architecture. Thank you for sharing with us. Sending much Aloha from Honolulu. ❤️🌺
It never ceases to amaze me how they could get these things built within a few hours. That rivals the time our troops can get a modern firebase setup using Hesco bastions and heavy equipment.
I suspect the pallisade was quite primitive for the marching camp but actually digging the perimeter is impressive in itself. For an army on campaign it seems they built one of these things every evening after a day's march which also means pulling up the palisade every morning. They were super fit which must have given them an edge in battle too.
"Caesar we're outnumbered, outskilled and surrounded. we're running out of supplies and the enemies over the horizon, what should we do?" Caesar - "Build a wall."
2000 years ago, the average man was much stronger than modern man our genetics progressively get weaker as we live easier lives and rely on technology more
@@samspade2657 I'm not sure what you are responding to really. Like ok so some roman soldiers lived slightly longer then non soldiers. Like so what? they did not live longer on average then people born in modern times. So you do have to explain it as it seems to not be addressing anything
Good video, but I suspect there's far too much sawn timber in it. Cutting wood along the grain with a manual saw takes a huge amount of labour and is only done when finished appearance is important. They'd cut trees that were already of the desired thickness and square them off a bit with an adze if necessary, or they'd split the wood lengthways with wedges. The wood that wall was built with came from a timbermill. Understandable compromise though.
The legionaries are not building a field but a strong fixed in some strategic point. The encampment of the legion camp was formed by a two-meter long dirt rampart at the top of which two-meter stakes were planted which the legionaries carried with them. The fields always had four doors and the tents for eight legionaries were always planted in the same place. Most of the European and British cities have arisen around these camps.
I was thinking the same thing.... Also those tools are probably not bronze-made... otherwise I would of used the pickaxe as my weapon because of the durable iron head.
This is a more permanent wooden fort built over several weeks and not a marching camp fort that the Romans built everyday. The palisade of their daily marching camp was protected by smaller wooden stakes (sudes) they carried while marching. Only the more permanent forts/outposts had towers and wooden walls, and those took much longer to build. In the book "Roman Legionary Fortresses 27 BC-AD 378" by Duncan Campbell, the author talks about different types of temporary and permanent fortifications. The more permanent forts (compared to their daily camping forts) were still often made of wood, while the biggest and most permanent ones evolved into rammed earth, stone, & brick fortifications.
They didn’t fell because they was conquered, their army lose some battles, but they stil the more powerful soldiers and army of the world. The roman empire wasn’t never conquered. It only collapse alone for internal conflicts and anarchy, then without ma army because the empire was dead the italian lands was easy for be conquered by the germans tribes.
I would have liked to see how the wood was cut, prepared, and moved. The planks in this video, looked like they came from B&Q. Still a very interesting video. Thank you Marc Sanders.
I was always led to believe through reading books on the history of the Romans and their own people or slaves that you would not find trees, especially hardwood trees of that length to cut and carve/plane down to make enormous beams for bridges, walls etc in the geographical areas where this would take place 2,000 years ago or so......I will say one thing though,,,even to this very day I was and always will be so fascinated as to how they made such fascinating structures like the Coliseum in Rome for instance , pyramids and so much more out of stone!! So fascinating to think of the skill these stone cutters had and the craftsmanship involved and what blows my mind is that so many of these ancient artifacts are still standing to this day!! Funny thing is, with all the technology we have in the world today with machines, tools, high priced architects designing homes, factories, bldg's etc... and after a few years you can see cracked foundations, bowed out walls, well u get the idea how mankind knew what they were doing thousands of years ago compared to our "building" society of the current world...sorry, didn't mean to rant here, just, like I said so amazed at what was done the right way and a spectacular piece in the end,,,don't even get me started on the craftmanship of the Sphynx, LOL....
I know this is an old comment, but I'll reply anyway. A lot of the really big roman structures are made out of concrete, not quarried stone. They were the first to discover it, and the knowledge of how to mix it was largely forgotten when the empire fell.
The structures still standing today have been maintained... you can't get roman structures sitting there and not decay. Someone had to be there to preserve it. Its always been this way. Always will be. The fascinating stuff is the parts of those buildings that have not required any maintenance. But to say that Roman and Greek architecture hasn't had any preservation modifications made to them is a folly statement.
boondoggle1000 northern Europe was nearly all forest when the Romans conquered it Britain too. That's why it has some of the best farmland in the world and possibly why the birthplace of farming in the middle East has so little good farmland anymore.
The Coliseum used iron bars in the construction to hold it together. However after the collapse of the empire and the rise of Christianity, people no longer cared about these structures, and so would remove the iron to make weapons. What's left of it is actually very fragile with all these structural components removed.
What's the guy on the wall hammering for? Nudge that post into alignment the several inches they were off by? If putting in nails, would take ages to build a wall by tapping them in millimeter by millimeter each tap. Swing that hammer and drive them in.
In decent weather, soldiers doing manual labour strip. Loincloth is all they wear. Those guarding them are in full battledress and are at a distance towards source of possible danger.
Interesting, but where did they get all that even dimensioned sawmill ready cut wood from? At least a brief viginette of tree felling-splitting-shaping should be included.
Briseur De Lance Probably. But the upkeep would keep the men busy when the surrounding tribes had been subdued. After all, there’s a limit to how much raping and pillaging the natives will put up with, so best to keep that to a minimum once the initial shock and awe is done. No sense making the natives restless.
arkham781, actually, not always. While on the march, fortifying a campsite for the night, or raising walls in hostile territories, yes. But if so - they would've put up a stockade first and then go for a wall itself. While putting on more permanent defences on secure ground, they worked without armour. And i wonder, why these 'romans' are carrying their weapons with them... Centurion - okay, but leggies?
+VasilyKiryanov If you wonder why they are having their weapons with them during making this defencies I have historically correct answer for you-because it was normal practice to have it even at such works when in enemy territory and constant danger of being attacked.Even armour could potentialy be worn in such situation.During siege of Jerusalem Titus ordered at one occasion when his soldiers camped very close Jewish rebels to sleep in their armour.Corbulo reportedly executed some of his man when after he saw they were not having their swords with them when constructin a camp in enemy territory.
Interesting to see they used dovetails for their cross braces, it is a very strong joint. To produce that much lumber for the wall of a Fort wood have been an enormous undertaking. Are their any videos on the saw mill techniques used by the Romans. Also the wooden walls could have been easily set on fire, couldn't they. Did the Romans coat their walls in any way to prevent fires. Love your videos by the way, very educational and enlightening.
I've read about Roman's building forts on the march, would they all be this well built? Did they have much simpler designs or did they actually build these things every time they stopped? Insane if they did
But remember that every soldier was doing it ;) The standard Roman legion consisted of about 5000 soldiers + 1000 civilian servants. Every single one of the soldiers was trained to construct these kinds of fortifications, and I would assume that at least some (if not all) of the civilians were trained to do it as well. Julius Caesar started his Gallic campaigns with 6 legions. That's an army of 30,000 to 36,000 engineers.
@@Simpson17866 The numbers make sense but didn't they march all day and stop at night and build? Like would they actually build a fort like that every night and tear it down in the morning?
@@cron1165 Not all day, no. The famous requirement was that a soldier be able to march 20 miles with heavy gear in 5 hours - in a summer day with 15 hours of sunlight and 9 hours of darkness, this would leave 5 hours to tear down the previous camp at sunrise, 5 hours to march 20 miles, and 5 hours to construct the next camp by sundown.
Why is the Centurion wearing his torcs and phalerae for work detail? His helm and vicus are symbols enough for his rank and his men know exactly who he is. No point in it. For those who don't know, the array of nine discs over his armor are phalarae. These are the equivalent of a medal for bravery [they're awarded as one unit, not nine separate medals, btw]. They are *not* any kind of protective device. The vicus is the grape vine cane he's got in his hand, and is the symbol of a legion centurion. It symbolizes that centurions alone are allowed to mete out corporal punishment.
Romans: “These barbarians don’t know how to build good walls, let’s show them.” Gauls: “Thanks guys, in fact, we are so grateful for your work that we will let you keep the settlement :) “
They're using pre-cut lumber; from where did that come? I mean, one starts w/ cutting-down a tree, then... and it takes a long time to turn fresh lumber to being pre-cut...
Unless they've been churning out thousands of these over the years on campaign. The specialists on this would have had the tools to make short work of it, and would have the experience to likely create these on an almost assembly line kind of setup.
@@whiteknightcat The technology existed but lumber like this wouldn't appear until after a campaign was over and more permanent buildings were going up.
@@damionkeeling3103 So you're thinking something more along the lines of an "old West" frontier fort in North America, with upright logs facing out as the primary wall, with rough hewn lumber behind for structure and support? OK, I can see that.
It would have been a major project involving hundreds of specialists just to get and prep the timber. Trees need to be cut down and prepped with all sorts of tools. Either that, or baggage trains of hundreds of wagons and mules to bring timber in.
A roman legion was around 4000-6000 men. Each one with the ability to cut, prep, and carry timber, tools etc. Not to mention the civilians with the bagage train. The engineers were the "specialists" your reffering to, and like stated would go ahead of the army, and start prepping the build site. Once the rest of the army arrived, the men would go out to cut wood for fires, and palisades. Now im sure they also brought wagons to assist in moving the timber, but regardless of if they did or not. Half the legion would be 2000-3000 men out gathering timber, food etc. Think about those numbers...2000 men out gathering wood... even if each man cuts down one tree in 30 mins and dragged one tree back to camp an hour later. After an hour and a half your would in theory have 2000 trees cut and ready to be used for consruction or whatever else. Each tree probably able to be split and provide multiple palisades, or an hour of fire wood etc.
imagine doin all these work while being underattack by barbarians at the same time? i wish i can literally transport my soul back and watch how they did it lol
Love the dedication to spreading history, but why is the centurion wearing his armor and helmet? Wouldn't it be hot and uncomfortable. I can't imagine wearing it all when not strictly necessary.
I doubt they wore their sword while working. It will get in the way and might even get the scabbard damaged. They had scouts ranging the area around while they dug and they had the weapons stockpiled in several central areas so all knew where to go to get armed if an attack was reported. The enemy wont spring on them unless the scouts failed. Even then, the guards would start the engagement and the workers would quickly get into formation. Even soldiers today are not carrying their main arms when doing chores. Guards do and scouts do. Besides, this is a fort, not a makeshift camp. You dont build a fort unless it has to last a while or control a region. And you dont build it before you have cleared the vicinity. And in late Roman time, they didnt build it themselves. The train of contractors and workers following the legion did. Ofc, they could have helped, but there were masters doing the major parts.
They would definitely do often wear their sword and sometimes even armour when danger of anemy attack would be significant.In fact famous 1st century general Corbulo had two legionaries executed for not wearing their swords while engaged in this very activity.But it also depended on each commander as not everyone was as disciplinarian.Titus ordered his soldiers sleeping very close to lines of revolted Jews to sleep in their armours-hardly comfortable thing but risk was considerable.
If that fortification was for a legion of 4500 soldiers and given that a legionary camp had about 44 acres, that would give them 4 soldiers for every 5 feet of wall. That section seems to be about 20 feet long, so there would be 80 soldiers available to build it. Problem is the materials. They are too heavy to be carried on the back
Stakes were often carried with the legion. Plus after the engineers found a suitable place near by for a Fort to erected, and the army arrived. Half the men would go out and gather wood. Like you said, a legion was 4500 (it varies from 3000--6000+) half of that would be 2250 out gathering wood. You dont need massive trees, nor do they need to be fancy or perfect at first. Were talking at most a shitty wooden fence on a dirt mound in the first stages of building. The Romans often built these forts while under attack as well.!!!
Spartan to his Army: "What is your Profession?" "War!"
Roman to his Army: "What is your Profession?" "War, Carpentry, Building, Hunting, Cooking, Logistics, ..."
so true xdxdxd
One had an empire, the other one was conquered.
@Free Spirited Cat rome destroyed itself then it's vacant lands got conquered.
And that´s why the romans were more powerful
Rime wasn’t never conquered.
First the empire collapse alone, then the germans arrived
-Sir we finished the wall but the Gauls are coming.
-build another one.
Julius Caesar 52 BC Alesia.
Yes, Julius Caesar was a mastermind strategist when it came to siege warfare, and the gauls paid dearly
-Sir the Gauls are attacking the inside wall
*2 Minutes later*
-Sir the Gauls are attacking the outer wall!
Caesar: "Send in the cavalry in a flanking maneuver"
*BUT THIS TIME IS GONNA BE BIGGER*
@@twitchstaff4226 same shit nerd
@@twitchstaff4226 B.C. don't start up with that revisionist history nonsense
That guy hammering the pole for no reason at the start reminds me of age of empires.
Lol!! You can just imagine the director saying..” look! Take that hammer and look busy or I’ll get another extra instead!”
He's hammering it straight!
But considering how weakly he swings it, it'll probably take all day. Right around the same time those guys lifting the pickaxes with their back and arms will be hospitalized.
Adam Metcalf love to know how they managed to do those machined bits of 2 by 4
Union Labor
@@StoutProper I'm sure they had hand planes to make the boards back then.
Crazy how soldiers were builders, farmers, engineers, soldiers and conquerors.
Also professional basketball players
@@FFFFFFF-FFFFFFFUUUUCCCC they didn't have basket balls those days instead they used barberians heads
Spanish villagers after Supremacy
"Hey look, buddy, I'm a legionnaire - that means I solve problems. Not problems like 'what is beauty,' because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. I solve practical problems."
Sought of like a barber in India
"Join the army" - they said, "It will be fun" - they said...
no soldier complains when they get to rape female prisioner
Looks fun to me
@@MaiDKHOA-ly1tc they raped the male prisoners to humiliate them and to underline the fact they'd been defeated. Male slaves were raped for this reason also.
@@davidegaribaldi1503Varus ! Dont listen to Arminius!
Lowlife. Not everyone had the existing purpose of a chimpansee
Props to the camera man for going back in time to film this
Rarity indeed
props to the producer for cutting expenses by using the same Broll over and over again. Same tools in same dirt.
>Romans build these massive forts in less than a week
My god... they're like the Amish on steroids.
It took them 3 hours actually. They'd build one every evening after a march and take it apart every morning before a march. That's why its called a marching camp. If the army remained in place for longer the fort would be gradually upgraded with stone, mounted ballistae, deeper moats, thicker gates etc. But even the basic 3 hour version would've been a better defence than most barbarian (celtic and hermanic) permenant forts.
@@zuuzuuka The one in the video isn't a marching camp, but a something between a temporary and permanent camp. For example when you build a wall during a siege (eg. Alesia), this kind of wall would be build. A marching camp that they created daily is much more simplified. Basically this ditch with an earth rampart from the dug earth right behind in and stakes to form a wall.
To be fair when you have workers in the thousands it may not be THAT impressive, still pretty neat for an entire army to know these skills instead of a select few.
@@ScurvyBoi
True, the fact they all knew how to build and could contribute to the making of these forts only make them a more capable and unique fighting force to deal with.
@@thalmoragent9344 I recall one instance in which the Roman army and its engineers were put to the ultimate test. I forgot the name of the battle, but I believe Caesar was leading it. He was besieging the enemy, surrounding them and building walls and fortifications to keep them in. Soon, reinforcements for the Gauls arrived. Instead of abandoning it, he build walls and fortifications on the other side. Placing the Romans between the Gauls they were besieging, and the Gauls that were besieging them.
Marius had long ago showed us that the legionary has a weapon that is the bane of the civilized world, one more formidable than the dual-edged Roman short sword, more affective than the bronze-headed javelin, of greater defensive strength than the concave bronze-sheathed shields. It is a weapon in which the legionary is trained from his first day of induction and which he uses daily, in peacetime or in war, on the march or hunkered in camp under siege from flaming missiles. And upon their arrival at Themiscyra, every able-bodied Roman immediately whipped out this most fearsome of all weapons:
The Legionary's shovel.
Before even breaking to rest or scouting for supplies, the Roman troops had unpacked their shovels and commenced digging, and the dirt flew, and the dust rose. In the space of an afternoon, a Roman camp for thirty thousand men had been constructed just beyond range of our catapults. Before dark it had been ringed on all sides with a trench twelve feet deep and three feet across, the dirt thrown up into an embankment ten feet high inside the ring. Topped with a thick palisade of sharpened stakes. Inside, four sturdy walls were constructed of felled trees, guarded by squat log towers twenty feet high, stationed every fifty feet and surmounted by bolt-hurling field catapults. Inside, a space of a full two hundred feet was left between the walls and the tent line, a distance calculated to prevent our missiles and burning arrows from reaching the tents. This space was occupied by prisoners, cattle, plunder and supplies. Withing a few hours, the Romans had constructed a stronghold that would be the envy of a lifetime's work of many civilizations poorer then theirs. A fortress impregnable.
Yet this was not a permanent stronghold they had built. This was the Roman's usual daily campsite, Every day of a legionary's working life he would dig such a trench, construct such an embankment, hew trees, and build such palisade. All to be torched at sunrise, when the legions marched off to their next encampment. Javelins, when thrown, may miss their mark entirely. Shields may cave upon impact with a Scythian battle-ax; and a sword, though reliable at close quarters, still dulled, broke upon ribs. Or shivered if struck upon armor. But the shovel...the shovel was the legionary's best friend, his most faithful protector, the one weapon that allowed him to sleep soundly at night, behind his magnificent trenches and embankments. The shovel could stop a cavalry charge cold, stymie hordes of barbarians. Rome conquered not with its brutal leaders, not with the strength of its soldiers, not with the ingeniousness of its weapons...but with the most rustic, pigheaded, inglorious, gods-bedamned tool of them all...the shovel.
Michael Curtis Ford “The Last King
Read one of the best books you'll ever read; Gods and Legions”
Roman and Greek History, Etc.
If you're into “Roman” stuff Michael Curtis Ford's “Gods and Legions is the book to read. If you're into history I suggest you get Ammianus Marcellinus' History. The ass kicker here is that Marcellinus actually went to battel with Emperor Julian. The Loeb Classic is almost an adventure novel all by itself.
As far as Gladiators go a couple of “difinitive” books are The Way of the Gladiator by Daniel P. Mannix and Spartacus by Howard Fast. Here are books from my library. Ass kickers every one.
Ammianus Marcellinus History
The Battle for Gaul by Julius Caesar
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
The Way of the Gladiator by Daniel P. Mannix
Spartacus by Howard Fast
Julian by Gore Vidal
Gods and Legions by Michael Curtis Ford
The Ten Thousand by Michael Curtis Ford
The Last King by Michael Curtis Ford
The Sword of Attila by Michael Curtis Ford
The Fall of Rome by Michael Curtis Ford
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
Tides of War by Steven Pressfield
The Virtures of War Steven Pressfield
Alexaneder the Great by Paul Cartledge
The Spartans by Paul Cartledge
Eagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem
The Eagle and the Raven by Pauline Gedge
why did you post this?
Conor Beggs F-ing Google; they cut 3/4 of my damn comment.
Conor Beggs I'll try again. (Google: a total pile of stinking dog crap.)
The Legionary's shovel II
Marius had long ago showed us that the legionary has a weapon that is the bane of the civilized world, one more formidable than the dual-edged Roman short sword, more affective than the bronze-headed javelin, of greater defensive strength than the concave bronze-sheathed shields. It is a weapon in which the legionary is trained from his first day of induction and which he uses daily, in peacetime or in war, on the march or hunkered in camp under siege from flaming missiles. And upon their arrival at Themiscyra, every able-bodied Roman immediately whipped out this most fearsome of all weapons:
The Legionary's shovel.
Before even breaking to rest or scouting for supplies, the Roman troops had unpacked their shovels and commenced digging, and the dirt flew, and the dust rose. In the space of an afternoon, a Roman camp for thirty thousand men had been constructed just beyond range of our catapults. Before dark it had been ringed on all sides with a trench twelve feet deep and three feet across, the dirt thrown up into an embankment ten feet high inside the ring. Topped with a thick palisade of sharpened stakes. Inside, four sturdy walls were constructed of felled trees, guarded by squat log towers twenty feet high, stationed every fifty feet and surmounted by bolt-hurling field catapults. Inside, a space of a full two hundred feet was left between the walls and the tent line, a distance calculated to prevent our missiles and burning arrows from reaching the tents. This space was occupied by prisoners, cattle, plunder and supplies. Withing a few hours, the Romans had constructed a stronghold that would be the envy of a lifetime's work of many civilizations poorer then theirs. A fortress impregnable.
Yet this was not a permanent stronghold they had built. This was the Roman's usual daily campsite, Every day of a legionary's working life he would dig such a trench, construct such an embankment, hew trees, and build such palisade. All to be torched at sunrise, when the legions marched off to their next encampment. Javelins, when thrown, may miss their mark entirely. Shields may cave upon impact with a Scythian battle-ax; and a sword, though reliable at close quarters, still dulled, broke upon ribs. Or shivered if struck upon armor. But the shovel...the shovel was the legionary's best friend, his most faithful protector, the one weapon that allowed him to sleep soundly at night, behind his magnificent trenches and embankments. The shovel could stop a cavalry charge cold, stymie hordes of barbarians. Rome conquered not with its brutal leaders, not with the strength of its soldiers, not with the ingeniousness of its weapons...but with the most rustic, pigheaded, inglorious, gods-bedamned tool of them all...the shovel.
Michael Curtis Ford "The Last King"
Read one of the best books you'll ever read; Gods and Legions"
Roman and Greek History, Etc.
If you're into "Roman" stuff Michael Curtis Ford's "Gods and Legions is the book to read. If you're into history I suggest you get Ammianus Marcellinus' History. The ass kicker here is that Marcellinus actually went to battel with Emperor Julian. The Loeb Classic is almost an adventure novel all by itself.
Conor Beggs I just refreshed the page and the whole thing magically appeared. Gawd! I hate Google.
I like Roman history and like to share the neat stuff I've read.
The Roman Legionary was an engineer as much as soldier. That centurion would be yelling, cursing, and hitting slackers with his grape-vine stalk 'discipline stick' designed to inflict pain-not any debilitating injury. The Roman foot soldier was more scared of his centurion than any enemy as almost all veterans bore more scars from beatings than combat. Of course the centurion lived in fear of a mutiny, where the most sadistic centurions usually had their throats cut. The Romans learned keeping soldiers busy with engineering projects served a double purpose-the building improvement and busybodies don't have time mutiny. So if there was no campaign going on, soldiers were set to work building roads, aqueducts, and other permanent structures. Hadrian's Wall was more a way to keep soldiers occupied than anything.
I think you'll find they were "Labourers" rather than engineers...A small cadre of specialists in every Legion were engineers / Surveyors etc. Most were just labourers.
Kinky
Actually the correct rank would be an Optio, who was similar to an XO. He would convey the Centurion orders and carry and stick to emphasize his authority. By law he had the power of life or dead over the enlisted men and punishment could go from a broken knee to a cracked skull.
The section leader of the 7 men under him would have kept order if not he would be replaced with a more suitable or ruthless section leader. There would have been a cohort commander to keep check and command the 8 or so sections commanders. Then a major ( Opto ? ) Cohort commander in charge of the 8 or so cohort commanders.Above them the centurion. Command and control order and authority as well as discipline. Very much like today's army. Each rank from the bottom up would have total respect for the ranks above. Thus a deadly formidable FIGHTING force
02:05
Centurion! That man is slacking off, his basket isn't even half full!
you will not last too much with that big tongue michael, i guarantee that.
Where's the general!? 1:07 those aren't the hands of a Centurion!
10 lashes to the slacker and 20 to you for selling out your brother
@@zerogbot23 I am the Mars-be-damned _Tribune_ , Foderatii dog
Hahaha true
The Centurions were basically modern day US Marine Drill sergeants without restrictions on steroids when it came to discipline
Marines have Drill Instructors, not Sargeants. That's the army.
@@mosesmarlboro5401 sergeants*
No be cause marine DIs didn’t whip kill or beat there soldiers
And they made the barbarians pay for it!
Yeah! Just like how Genghis Khan took one look at the Great Wall, and said "Nope!", and promptly fled back to Mongolia where he and his sons stayed for like forever.
@@Mr.LaughingDuck didnt he go around it or something?
@m. rude Not if you can fly over it.
@@Mr.LaughingDuck Didn't the mongols end up conquering china though?
@@LordBruuh 1400 years after the wall was built
Imagine doing that everyday and taking it down
+Shix Lo but didn't the romans leave them so if they go down the road they built they could stay?
Im not so sure myself
+Shix Lo They were usually left built with a few garrison men to lookout as an outpost for the romans, they create a perimeter and each garrison is what they are called help each other out the ones in close proximity
+moonhorse100 thers marching camps and outpost, marching camp is build every day and taken down everyday(its a marching camp they build in this video) , outpost is usally garrisoned by half a centuria of legionarys or axulliarys.(thes camps where usally close to fortreses or citys to serv as a deterent and so they could see the enemy comming and fall back to thier legion
There were 1000 men in one legio sometimes more depending on what period but they all took turns building
This is a more permanent wooden fort built over several weeks and not a marching camp fort that the Romans built everyday. The palisade of their daily marching camp was protected by smaller wooden stakes (sudes) they carried while marching. Only the more permanent forts/outposts had towers and wooden walls, and those took much longer to build. In the book "Roman Legionary Fortresses 27 BC-AD 378" by Duncan Campbell, the author talks about different types of temporary and permanent fortifications. The more permanent forts (compared to their daily camping forts) were still often made of wood, while the biggest and most permanent ones evolved into rammed earth, stone, & brick fortifications.
Correct, was thinking the same, even still there was a huge amount of work building a daily camp ie dirt moat, mound and palisade etc
@@saneman8147 they spent 3 hours before dark on the night's fort.
10,000 men woirking for 3 hours is a TON of labor hours.
30,000 man-hours to be exact. for instance if you work EVERY DAY all year for one person ...is only 2,000 man hours.
Gee, the actors sure seemed to be working really hard simulating the work they weren't doing.
I love all these videos about Romans. They were brilliant. So far ahead of their time. With running water, bath houses, beautiful architecture. Thank you for sharing with us. Sending much Aloha from Honolulu. ❤️🌺
It never ceases to amaze me how they could get these things built within a few hours. That rivals the time our troops can get a modern firebase setup using Hesco bastions and heavy equipment.
I suspect the pallisade was quite primitive for the marching camp but actually digging the perimeter is impressive in itself. For an army on campaign it seems they built one of these things every evening after a day's march which also means pulling up the palisade every morning. They were super fit which must have given them an edge in battle too.
boss my back hurts.
Boss: *Whiplash to back*
Legionaries were not slaves, they were not whipped indiscriminately.
@@jurisprudens it a joke.
"Caesar we're outnumbered, outskilled and surrounded. we're running out of supplies and the enemies over the horizon, what should we do?"
Caesar - "Build a wall."
“Now build another”
1:08 those aren't the hands of a Centurion.
LOL. So soft-looking. He's really the cornu player, or worse, the double flute. ;)
Incredible. These people were brutes! To be able to march 25 miles then build this fort, EVERY DAY! Just astonishing!
this is how they conquest all mediterranean countries and most of europe
they did not build this every day those are far simpler ones
2000 years ago, the average man was much stronger than modern man
our genetics progressively get weaker as we live easier lives and rely on technology more
@@samspade2657 Ok... so what?
@@samspade2657 I'm not sure what you are responding to really. Like ok so some roman soldiers lived slightly longer then non soldiers. Like so what? they did not live longer on average then people born in modern times.
So you do have to explain it as it seems to not be addressing anything
God dam the Romans where good at warfare and construction
Rome wasn't built in a day, these boring tasks made Rome magnificent
and mighty.
After 2000 years we are still amazed by their great achievement.
Which documentary is this out of ? These type of documentaries that show actors performing the actual setting are the most enjoyable :)
Myrdin it's not from a documentary. It's a self made clip. You may also enjoy The Wooden Sword, at www.hethoutenzwaard.nl
Myrdin You should watch Roman Empire on Netflix then, they hired real actors and settings to replicate what happened in real life
@@elijah-he975 What's a "real actor" and how can you hire a setting?
@@594-d9b or.....idk just an idea.....you can google it
Once again, the greatest weapon ever: the Infantry trooper.
Man, such enigmatic creatures.
When you see stuff like this, it really isn’t surprising that their legions conquered so much.
The guy just mindlessly hitting that wood with a hammer 😂😂😂😂
01:47
Pretty sure that's veneer particle board...
The Romans were really advanced.
Good video, but I suspect there's far too much sawn timber in it. Cutting wood along the grain with a manual saw takes a huge amount of labour and is only done when finished appearance is important. They'd cut trees that were already of the desired thickness and square them off a bit with an adze if necessary, or they'd split the wood lengthways with wedges. The wood that wall was built with came from a timbermill. Understandable compromise though.
Even in today's war, our entrenching tool, was our second best weapon besides our rifles.
The legionaries are not building a field but a strong fixed in some strategic point. The encampment of the legion camp was formed by a two-meter long dirt rampart at the top of which two-meter stakes were planted which the legionaries carried with them. The fields always had four doors and the tents for eight legionaries were always planted in the same place. Most of the European and British cities have arisen around these camps.
Excellent work.
Once again your group has produced an outstanding video.
Very interesting! Thanks for uploading!
looks like milled lumber. how did the Romans get that in the field?
Did they also develop the concepts of Prefabricated constructions?
I was thinking the same thing.... Also those tools are probably not bronze-made... otherwise I would of used the pickaxe as my weapon because of the durable iron head.
no mate the first ensample of prefabrication in the west is from Carthage about one hundred years before the Punic wars.
Vyse Arcadia Romans used iron and steel tools and weapons
Homus Depotica?
The romans did their fortification in full armour
It's more challenging that way.
because they were inside enemy territory
Only when making their on the march camps
Movie Jose nope always when I’m enemy territory it was to react fast and when I’m friendly territory it was training
This is a more permanent wooden fort built over several weeks and not a marching camp fort that the Romans built everyday. The palisade of their daily marching camp was protected by smaller wooden stakes (sudes) they carried while marching. Only the more permanent forts/outposts had towers and wooden walls, and those took much longer to build. In the book "Roman Legionary Fortresses 27 BC-AD 378" by Duncan Campbell, the author talks about different types of temporary and permanent fortifications. The more permanent forts (compared to their daily camping forts) were still often made of wood, while the biggest and most permanent ones evolved into rammed earth, stone, & brick fortifications.
Great video! The romans are truly unbelievable
Centurion with cane in hand to ensure dicipline was maintained
"The soldiers get to work". Reminds me of my days in the Marine corps. Plenty of working parties.
@Al Strider They had alot of disiclipine up until late antiquity, then they were a gaggle fuck, hence why they fell.
They didn’t fell because they was conquered, their army lose some battles, but they stil the more powerful soldiers and army of the world.
The roman empire wasn’t never conquered.
It only collapse alone for internal conflicts and anarchy, then without ma army because the empire was dead the italian lands was easy for be conquered by the germans tribes.
I love how the one dude picked up like 1/10 of a basket of dirt.
The Roman army must have been in very good shape.
Shoulder like rocks and oak like legs
I would have liked to see how the wood was cut, prepared, and moved. The planks in this video, looked like they came from B&Q. Still a very interesting video. Thank you Marc Sanders.
Leuk gedaan! Misschien een beetje laat na tien jaar om het te zeggen, maar het herinnert me eraan dat ik Nijmegen zeker wil bezoeken :)
I was always led to believe through reading books on the history of the Romans and their own people or slaves that you would not find trees, especially hardwood trees of that length to cut and carve/plane down to make enormous beams for bridges, walls etc in the geographical areas where this would take place 2,000 years ago or so......I will say one thing though,,,even to this very day I was and always will be so fascinated as to how they made such fascinating structures like the Coliseum in Rome for instance , pyramids and so much more out of stone!! So fascinating to think of the skill these stone cutters had and the craftsmanship involved and what blows my mind is that so many of these ancient artifacts are still standing to this day!! Funny thing is, with all the technology we have in the world today with machines, tools, high priced architects designing homes, factories, bldg's etc... and after a few years you can see cracked foundations, bowed out walls, well u get the idea how mankind knew what they were doing thousands of years ago compared to our "building" society of the current world...sorry, didn't mean to rant here, just, like I said so amazed at what was done the right way and a spectacular piece in the end,,,don't even get me started on the craftmanship of the Sphynx, LOL....
boondoggle1000 its all money mower days, budget houses means poor material and building material.
I know this is an old comment, but I'll reply anyway. A lot of the really big roman structures are made out of concrete, not quarried stone. They were the first to discover it, and the knowledge of how to mix it was largely forgotten when the empire fell.
The structures still standing today have been maintained... you can't get roman structures sitting there and not decay. Someone had to be there to preserve it. Its always been this way. Always will be. The fascinating stuff is the parts of those buildings that have not required any maintenance. But to say that Roman and Greek architecture hasn't had any preservation modifications made to them is a folly statement.
boondoggle1000 northern Europe was nearly all forest when the Romans conquered it Britain too. That's why it has some of the best farmland in the world and possibly why the birthplace of farming in the middle East has so little good farmland anymore.
The Coliseum used iron bars in the construction to hold it together. However after the collapse of the empire and the rise of Christianity, people no longer cared about these structures, and so would remove the iron to make weapons. What's left of it is actually very fragile with all these structural components removed.
What's the guy on the wall hammering for? Nudge that post into alignment the several inches they were off by? If putting in nails, would take ages to build a wall by tapping them in millimeter by millimeter each tap. Swing that hammer and drive them in.
Молодцы! Всё очень хорошо показали, натурально, исторически! И кирка Долобра, Фалеры и военный ремень Балтиас. 👍
At school I’m learning the Romans so imma watch dis
Can i know your country?
Feb. 4, 2019---Thanks for the video. Imagine the work needed to get all those trees ready to be used.
Watching these actors dig is painful
Lucky for them they decided to build near a lumber yard to obtain all that nice finished lumber
Good video Marc
Whered they find the home depo to get that lumber?
In decent weather, soldiers doing manual labour strip. Loincloth is all they wear. Those guarding them are in full battledress and are at a distance towards source of possible danger.
Another excellent presentation
Legatum - civil engineer
Centurion - foreman
Legionnaire - laborer
So where exactly did they get the clean and planed timbers? B and Q????
and imagine they have to build miles of these in just merely days is crazy
Interesting, but where did they get all that even dimensioned sawmill ready cut wood from? At least a brief viginette of tree felling-splitting-shaping should be included.
Where did they get those nice wooden planks?
POV: You're besieging Alesia with the lads.
02:51:
They would put earth between walls of untreated wood?
Wouldn't that make the wood rot?
Briseur De Lance Probably. But the upkeep would keep the men busy when the surrounding tribes had been subdued. After all, there’s a limit to how much raping and pillaging the natives will put up with, so best to keep that to a minimum once the initial shock and awe is done. No sense making the natives restless.
Gotta hand it to these Romans they even put up UA-cam tutorials. Pretty handy if you ask me
The perfectly squared lumber - a fine invention by the Romans !
That looks like perfect made lumber you get in modern times... Perfect shape. No way it looked like that.
3:01 There's always been that one guy wearing a helmet that just stands there and commands.
Imagine doing a days work like this and then fighting a battle at the end of it !
arkham781, actually, not always. While on the march, fortifying a campsite for the night, or raising walls in hostile territories, yes. But if so - they would've put up a stockade first and then go for a wall itself. While putting on more permanent defences on secure ground, they worked without armour. And i wonder, why these 'romans' are carrying their weapons with them... Centurion - okay, but leggies?
why did you say 'roman'
Because they are 'romans' not romans absolutely for sure.
VasilyKiryanov emmm okay...
+VasilyKiryanov If you wonder why they are having their weapons with them during making this defencies I have historically correct answer for you-because it was normal practice to have it even at such works when in enemy territory and constant danger of being attacked.Even armour could potentialy be worn in such situation.During siege of Jerusalem Titus ordered at one occasion when his soldiers camped very close Jewish rebels to sleep in their armour.Corbulo reportedly executed some of his man when after he saw they were not having their swords with them when constructin a camp in enemy territory.
paprskomet that's right they can do without the armour but they must never ditch the sword, never. even go to sleep with it.
I learn about this in case of zombie apocalypse.
Did they get the tools from Ace Hardware?
Looks like they used their legion discount on those 2x6's at home depot
So, the legions carried as many nails as grain, good thinking there Phalera.
The video suggests they had somebody beating a drum all the time they worked. Must have driven them nuts.
That one dude just hammering on the support for no reason 🤣🤣🤣
Join the Legions, they said. You'll see the world, they said. It's man's life, they said.
This must've been hell to reenact.
Interesting to see they used dovetails for their cross braces, it is a very strong joint. To produce that much lumber for the wall of a Fort wood have been an enormous undertaking. Are their any videos on the saw mill techniques used by the Romans. Also the wooden walls could have been easily set on fire, couldn't they. Did the Romans coat their walls in any way to prevent fires. Love your videos by the way, very educational and enlightening.
I've read about Roman's building forts on the march, would they all be this well built? Did they have much simpler designs or did they actually build these things every time they stopped? Insane if they did
But remember that every soldier was doing it ;)
The standard Roman legion consisted of about 5000 soldiers + 1000 civilian servants. Every single one of the soldiers was trained to construct these kinds of fortifications, and I would assume that at least some (if not all) of the civilians were trained to do it as well.
Julius Caesar started his Gallic campaigns with 6 legions. That's an army of 30,000 to 36,000 engineers.
@@Simpson17866 The numbers make sense but didn't they march all day and stop at night and build? Like would they actually build a fort like that every night and tear it down in the morning?
@@cron1165 Not all day, no. The famous requirement was that a soldier be able to march 20 miles with heavy gear in 5 hours - in a summer day with 15 hours of sunlight and 9 hours of darkness, this would leave 5 hours to tear down the previous camp at sunrise, 5 hours to march 20 miles, and 5 hours to construct the next camp by sundown.
@@Simpson17866Impressive to say the least, Roman soldiers were not slacking
@@cron1165 Indeed ;)
When you flex on the gauls by building a wall around their wall
I did not know romans had power drills.
I also did not know there was a edge of the earth and that romans built on the edge of the earth...
mmmm gotta lov the industrial Wood They get there
Why is the Centurion wearing his torcs and phalerae for work detail? His helm and vicus are symbols enough for his rank and his men know exactly who he is. No point in it.
For those who don't know, the array of nine discs over his armor are phalarae. These are the equivalent of a medal for bravery [they're awarded as one unit, not nine separate medals, btw]. They are *not* any kind of protective device. The vicus is the grape vine cane he's got in his hand, and is the symbol of a legion centurion. It symbolizes that centurions alone are allowed to mete out corporal punishment.
Is this camp for one night or for one winter??
Leaves more questions than answers. Is this more than historical fiction? How long was it occupied, what is the archeology of the site?
So where did all that finished lumber come from?
Romans: “These barbarians don’t know how to build good walls, let’s show them.”
Gauls: “Thanks guys, in fact, we are so grateful for your work that we will let you keep the settlement :) “
Since when are Legionary Officers’ helmet crests white instead of red?
What kind of fortress is this the ones they build fast during a battle or no
What series is this?
…Where did they get the 2x4s?
They're using pre-cut lumber; from where did that come? I mean, one starts w/ cutting-down a tree, then... and it takes a long time to turn fresh lumber to being pre-cut...
Unless they've been churning out thousands of these over the years on campaign. The specialists on this would have had the tools to make short work of it, and would have the experience to likely create these on an almost assembly line kind of setup.
@@whiteknightcat The technology existed but lumber like this wouldn't appear until after a campaign was over and more permanent buildings were going up.
@@damionkeeling3103 So you're thinking something more along the lines of an "old West" frontier fort in North America, with upright logs facing out as the primary wall, with rough hewn lumber behind for structure and support? OK, I can see that.
I'm fairly sure a troop of engineers and scouts ranged ahead of the column and started the process before the army got there!!
It took like like 10 hours or even a day to do this, but the Romans completed their entire fortifications in like 3 days.
It would have been a major project involving hundreds of specialists just to get and prep the timber. Trees need to be cut down and prepped with all sorts of tools. Either that, or baggage trains of hundreds of wagons and mules to bring timber in.
A roman legion was around 4000-6000 men. Each one with the ability to cut, prep, and carry timber, tools etc. Not to mention the civilians with the bagage train.
The engineers were the "specialists" your reffering to, and like stated would go ahead of the army, and start prepping the build site. Once the rest of the army arrived, the men would go out to cut wood for fires, and palisades. Now im sure they also brought wagons to assist in moving the timber, but regardless of if they did or not. Half the legion would be 2000-3000 men out gathering timber, food etc.
Think about those numbers...2000 men out gathering wood... even if each man cuts down one tree in 30 mins and dragged one tree back to camp an hour later. After an hour and a half your would in theory have 2000 trees cut and ready to be used for consruction or whatever else. Each tree probably able to be split and provide multiple palisades, or an hour of fire wood etc.
In some cases Legions carried their lumber with them, ready made. Essentially a pre-fab, "insert peg-I into slot-IV" kit.
I never know who to root for at the ambush of teutoburg forest... im a fanatic german patriot, but i deeply admire the romans 😥
2:00 the man wearing purple puts the basket on his shoulder like he is carrying some weight, but we can see the basket is empty.
imagine doin all these work while being underattack by barbarians at the same time? i wish i can literally transport my soul back and watch how they did it lol
Surprisingly simple design.
Love the dedication to spreading history, but why is the centurion wearing his armor and helmet? Wouldn't it be hot and uncomfortable. I can't imagine wearing it all when not strictly necessary.
I doubt they wore their sword while working. It will get in the way and might even get the scabbard damaged.
They had scouts ranging the area around while they dug and they had the weapons stockpiled in several central areas so all knew where to go to get armed if an attack was reported.
The enemy wont spring on them unless the scouts failed. Even then, the guards would start the engagement and the workers would quickly get into formation.
Even soldiers today are not carrying their main arms when doing chores. Guards do and scouts do.
Besides, this is a fort, not a makeshift camp.
You dont build a fort unless it has to last a while or control a region. And you dont build it before you have cleared the vicinity. And in late Roman time, they didnt build it themselves. The train of contractors and workers following the legion did. Ofc, they could have helped, but there were masters doing the major parts.
They would definitely do often wear their sword and sometimes even armour when danger of anemy attack would be significant.In fact famous 1st century general Corbulo had two legionaries executed for not wearing their swords while engaged in this very activity.But it also depended on each commander as not everyone was as disciplinarian.Titus ordered his soldiers sleeping very close to lines of revolted Jews to sleep in their armours-hardly comfortable thing but risk was considerable.
No wonder the romans could build an empire when the barbarians where stopped by that little wall
If that fortification was for a legion of 4500 soldiers and given that a legionary camp had about 44 acres, that would give them 4 soldiers for every 5 feet of wall. That section seems to be about 20 feet long, so there would be 80 soldiers available to build it. Problem is the materials. They are too heavy to be carried on the back
Stakes were often carried with the legion. Plus after the engineers found a suitable place near by for a Fort to erected, and the army arrived. Half the men would go out and gather wood. Like you said, a legion was 4500 (it varies from 3000--6000+) half of that would be 2250 out gathering wood. You dont need massive trees, nor do they need to be fancy or perfect at first. Were talking at most a shitty wooden fence on a dirt mound in the first stages of building.
The Romans often built these forts while under attack as well.!!!