Republican Roman Soldiers of the Second Punic War
Вставка
- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Audible one month free trial: www.audible.com...
During the Second Punic War, the Republican Romans used just five kinds of soldier, and here I describe them and their roles.
Support me on Patreon: / lindybeige
Pre-order my book on Hannibal and the Second Punic War: www.InSearchofH...
Buy the music - the music played at the end of my videos is now available here: lindybeige.ban...
More weapons and armour videos here: • Weapons and armour
Lindybeige: a channel of archaeology, ancient and medieval warfare, rants, swing dance, travelogues, evolution, and whatever else occurs to me to make.
▼ Follow me...
Twitter: / lindybeige I may have some drivel to contribute to the Twittersphere, plus you get notice of uploads.
Facebook: / lindybeige (it's a 'page' and now seems to be working).
Google+: "google.com/+lindybeige"
website: www.LloydianAspects.co.uk
/ user "Lindybeige"
"Video about Roman soldiers."
*Interest peaks*
"How they were ranked and elected."
*Excitement mounts*
"I talked for 38 minutes."
*Grabs popcorn*
"So I had to cut it down."
*Popcorn withdraws in disappointment*
All those in favour of feature length Lloyd ramblings say "Pilum!"
Pilum!
Pudge Wolfe Pilum!
Pudge Wolfe Pilum!
Pilum!
Pilum!
And Celtic Berserkers armed with war-picks
'As people got older, they generally got richer' - I still haven't got the hang of that.
Try making more money than u spend.also spend money on things that make/save money :v
Also on campaign you not only got regular pay but also plunder
Try pillaging more
Rome did not yet have banks. In fact archeologists are still finding jars of coins from the late Imperial period buried in different spots.
What's up fellow Velite !
You mentioned the use of trumpets to relay messages and it got me thinking, I'd love to see a video on the use of musical instruments in war.
Definitely, but the Chinese use of bugles has to be included. It's too funny.
I have always loved horns so if they have their place there it would be an awesome video
I did my dissertation on Roman brass music. Even now in Afghanistan, the British used Bugles to get the radio chatter to flare up and triangulate the location.
The Roman Army had three different types of Trumpeter (or Horn Player). The Cornicen, played the Cornu - HORN. (not a Trumpet). Horn in Italian is Corni, they mainly featured with the Infantry. Then you had the trumpeters; Tubicen and Buccinaetors. They played the Tuba (an 4ft-8ft long post horn) and Buccina. The Tubicen main had cavalry roles and general staff, though I believe they did feature with the Infantry. It is possible Buccinaetors were more musician than battlefield. (little is known). At first glance the Buccina and Cornu look exactly the same, but they aren't. I think that clue to their difference lies within the name, and it is backed up by archaeological evidence and the study of the mouthpiece. The Buccina and or Tuba in Latin translates and Trumpet; Cornu translates as horn. Could it be reasonable to suggest that this is the difference and therefore construction?
Now I am rewriting my dissertation....
Lindy, Can we collaborate?
Why is that? What did the Chinese do with bugles?
"Our velites defeated the enemy."
"What the..."
"Punish them!"
If the skirmishers take out the enemy that is exactly how I would have responded followed with a face palm of biblical proportions.
If your velites defeat the enemy, was it really an enemy?
@@Fif0l Exactly. Either you were about to be ambushed or you were purposely misled and the enemy has walked past your forces and is on their way to taking your undefended homes.
They actually had the most "fun" job. Throwing javelins at random elephants and other skirmishers would be very adrenaline latent.
Battered, shattered, but none of it mattered, the Triarii cut down the units that scattered.
Cracking Pear Productions so they wouldn’t wind up plastered.
....covered and smothered.
...bleeding and crying,
eventually dying
What're we doing?
Is it too late to join?
"Nobody expected the velites to defeat the enemy"
Meanwhile in Rome: Total War...
Tbh, I like the velites but after eating one too many frontal charges I kept them on my flanks.
I never use them actually
Thats because in that game the unit strenght its related to its culture rather than actual facts. So logic goes like this: Rome total war = rome OP wins all map with only Hastatii and auto resolve in Hardest dificulty.
I mainly use large numbers of equites or calvaries to lure the enemy to break formation and once they are scattered I smash them in detail with repeatedly hitting from behind and run before they can retaliate.
Then you have AoE II, elephants hard counter skirmishers
I WANT THE 38 MINUTES VERSION TOO!
No ammount of Lindybeige is too much Lindybeige.
+
Will Shellman I'm just more impressed with that now after I was told he doesn't script or cut.
+Loiso Pondohva it is not that hard, try speaking of something you know very well and much of.
SNIperofDARKness02 it's hard to make it so smooth. Most of the people make more mistakes. It could be hard to notice first-hand, and easier to see on the record in retrospect. I don't say it's impossible. I do it for a living in some sence, although in my own language (well, he does too). I just say his quality deserves appreciation.
Speaking as someone with little talent for smooth video performance (look at my few banjo vids, long story made short, I SUCK) I am constantly greeneyed with envy of Lloyd's screen presence.
If RomeTW taught me anything, it is that the most devastating unit in those times was the Arcani - a elite squad of Roman Ninjas. Im surprised Lindy is not up to speed on them.
The time of RTW is over, R2 is the thing now... oh nevermind *cries in DLC
Andrew Input Those were the dumbest units in the game but I still loved them
Harry Pothead Urban fucking cohort. fire man who can defeat heavy roman infantry. seems legit.
Geert Wilders #2017 But at least they were a real unit. The arcani, as they were presented in TW, were completely fantasy. The real Aracni(called Areani) were imperial Intelligence operatives used in Roman Britain during the 4th century, not battlefield Ninja warriors.
NO? Aw, man, I'm crushed! I was so hoping they'd have extra-long katanas with antipersonnel pommels and incendiary throwing stars and and
Btw, Pila is a (somewhat childish) portuguese slang for penis. So, when the enemy was being hit by a load of pila, they were well and truly fucked :/
-And it was the... "tip" of the pila that did the work
-It was also designed to bend upon penetration so that it was hard to pull it out
*snickering*
OMG.
Lindybeige going off the rails and making a much longer video than planned is the Lindybeigiest Lindybeige thing to do.
Wrong, Lloyd, just WRONG. Everybody knows that you need to shoot fire arrows at elephants to make them run amok! It's almost as if you've read an actual book instead of spending your formative years alone in your room playing Rome Total War
The best think is Numidian Cavalary! Fast and throwing Spears kill the elephants when i play even when they run amok their run in my army
Atun-Shei Films Dude just get some pigs, set them on fire, THEN you deal with the elephants.
Except that everyone knows that the real way to defeat elephants is to send your elf buddy skilled in archery to climb up the elephant's back legs, kill anyone riding the elephant, shoot 3 arrows into the back of its head, and slide off the trunk.
OR just get one guy on a horse with a spear to skewer the guy streering the elephant. This will (obviously) make the skewered guy turn the elephant that he is riding directly towards the other elephant and since the elephants themselves are brainless robots, they will smash into each other and kill each other.
I didn't see that joke coming!
The idea of the triares serving as a sort of "command presence" encouraging the first and second line to stay in the fight feels right to me. Any veteran who has known a grizzled old sergeant knows the feeling you can get just from having them around -- they inevitably have a sort of steadying, calming presence that makes you feel like "Oh, yes, it IS all going to be alright, isn't it?"
If the Triarii were hanging around at the back with long spears, maybe they were there to defend the army from outflanking cavalry. Wouldn't that make a lot of sense?
I mean, if the Romans' own cavalry was usually outnumbered by those of their enemies, then putting their somewhat lower-energy (but seasoned, no-nonsense type) people all along the army's rear with long spears would make for a pretty obvious choice, I should think.
Yes it would make sense - total sense. You are spot on! Romans almost never had an advantage in cavalry, and their famous multi-line formation with Triarii at the back is ideal if a flank gets turned. A single line is hopelessly vulnerable to cavalry flanking, and can be rolled up even by infantry if it's broken anywhere along its length.
So it was the younger and fitter men that engaged first as they have more stamina. The heavyweights like Principes and Triarii did the knockout punching. So the enemy attack is disrupted by the Velites and Hastati. Then as the Hastati are holding the enemy the Principes counter attack the line.
I just wanted to say the same thing. Long spears sounds like they were used to guard the rear or - if thing go wrong - the retreating army from a light-cavalry attack. Retreating infantry is defenceless against cavalry.
James Gordley they probably served both as a force to guard the flanks and to form a line in the case of a retreat. That is the idea of reserves, they are supposed to be adaptable
They act as senior warriors, their presence is mainly to prevent any retreat from the less experienced battle lines, or to allow them to reform behind in preparation of a renewed attack. They truly are a pillar. The were able to defend the rear on a few occasions but, most of the times, if they are attacked from this direction, it can only be because the flanks have failed, which most certainly means the battle is lost.
In Cannae, the triarii line was indeed struck from the rear, but what they saw coming at them was not the enemy, but all sort of allied units and attendance that were resting behind, and who were the ones who faced the Numidian cavalry coming back into combat after they had chased the Roman flanks out of the battlefield.
*James Gordley* Nope. The role of guarding the Roman army's flanks was reserved for the Allies. The Allies also fielded decent cavalry. Remember that the Triarii were a leftover of the old Republican, Greco style phalanx army. And how do you fully exploit the rigid solidness of phalanx shield and spear formations? Guess? Alexander. Companion Cavalry. Hammer and Anvill. Alexander the Great's army had excellent, powerfull companion cavalry that would crush the enemy infantry from the flanks or from behind while they were pinned by the Macedonian phalanx.
im gladii i watched your videii
Harshith P.K
You made your pointy point -- or at least you took a stab at it.
Punny.
Gaudeo video hoc videre sum
You fugged it up in 2 languages.
@@davidgormunt9031 yeah lol... Looking back at my teen self, that was kinda cringe 😅
"The most experienced men are qualified to do next to nothing."
So nothing has changed. That's a perfect summary of all but two of the chiefs and one master chief I worked for in the US Navy.
Of course. If you work, you make mistakes. If you don't work, you don't make mistakes. If you don't make mistakes, you're promoted.....
You mean the most effective unit against elephants wasn't flaming pigs, I'm a bit disapointed about that
Or, mice wranglers. "Release the mice!"
Coffeehound "Welease Woger!"
It's a Rome Total War 1 reference
Hey, I'm sure that if you were to actually take a bunch of pigs and set them ablaze before sending them running and screeching towards the elephants that would very much scare the shit out of them.
@@filipferencak2717 hell, if i beheld shrieking pigs set ablaze coming at me, i would be a bit taken aback
Oh, Lindy, PLEASE release that 38 minute vid!
Yes! Please!
we love your long videos loyd
We show up for the sweater and hair. But, we stay for the knowledge. Thanks Lindy!
So reading Asterix is not enough to learn about Roman soldiers?
You might learn something, but Asterix and his companions are fighting against Julius Caesar and his troops, so there's a 150-200 year gap between the army of Caesar and those of the punic wars.During that time the roman army was heavily re organised, especially under Marius. And the lorica segmentata that the legionnaries wear in Asterix were used late in the reign of Augustus up til the 3rd centrury, so they would not have been available at the time of Caesar's campaigns.
Of course it is! Likewise, I got my knowledge of the UK watching documentaries like the Benny Hill show.
@Dieter Gaudlitz the hell are you talking about
@Dieter Gaudlitz They probably didn't have enough time to form up before Asterix and Obelix bashed them, with that magic potion thing.
Psychologically psyching up your troops with placebo magic is just as effective as popping tylenol. Just ask someone with a headache. That shit works.
As a statistical representation of the average sensible consumer you should be advised that I will not purchase your book unless it makes gratuitous use of fire arrows, heeled boots, and dual wielding. You have been warned.
*insert pommel throw here*
That sounds painful.
Jon Trout mounted archers?
Lots of lightsaber moments.
Little did you know, NO ONE would be purchasing that book...
Wish I had a history like you in school, I'm amazed by your knowledge and ideas, keep it up.
Mark Williams you are allowed to read books and teach Yourself, and watch lindybeige.
Lindy: "I'd like, if I may, to talk about Roman soldiers for a while."
Me: "You may not!"
And yet he kept going. How rude!
As time passes I am getting increasingly convinced of that videos of this channel can be watched multiple times provided that they are watched with sufficient intervals.
A lot of videos are like that, you can watch any video multiple times if you leave enough time in between.
When I was in college I had several professors like Lindybeige and I admired their passion for teaching and learning
Republican roman soldiers?... As in.. Banning persians and making pompeii great again? . Not to mention hadrians wall.
Jake Florence ohhh damm the jokes are on fire
The empire grabs back
Well the American political model is loosely based on the Roman one so......... Trump Caesar?
better than the democrat romans who just let the barbarians run amok and rape and kill and pillage
gripe, gripe, gripe...
I love the look you gave to the camera when you talked about the triarii preventing the fall back, what a boost for morale to those guys. I recall that on some phalanx formation the elderly formed also at the back with a similar use.I guess that preventing a rout is a high possibility regarding that they formed on a solid block that left no space between to flee.About the size of a centuria I have heard that the number were less than a hundred due to servants and auxiliary personnel were also counted in the unit size but not in the unit fight duties.
Love to see a channel that shares enthusiasm for Roman history. Please never refrain from giving us long videos in the future. Any content you have to share on Roman history in this format would be appreciated
Did anyone else burst out laughing when he said, "they usefully ran away."
Brave, brave sir Robin
Anyone else laugh when he talks mentions the equites being "very useful for scouting." Just made me think of all the times rome is ambushed by Hannibal and the gauls. Maybe that makes sense though that their scouts are these spoiled rich kids with a ticket to politics and so they don't bother doing their job very well.
@@TheJimmyp427 spot on imo. Definitely they also didn't see this as something "Honorable" as the Romans were just more prone all out frontal battle.
A la MP"s *"The Holy Grail"*
Hahaha didn’t anyone burst out laughing at this part?? ____ BWAHAHA ITS HILARIOUS hahah did anyone else start BURSTING with laughter and joy at this part?
Fascinating. I have just discovered your channel and can't stop watching your videos. Informative and funny. Nice one.
Watched 2 of theese videos in a row, an hour passed, but felt like 5 mins, I love the Roman era.
Man, I'm on a Lindybinge today. This is, at least, video 12 I've watched today. And probably 10 yesterday.
As always, thanks for the entertaining and inciteful video. Three questions:
1. What were the relative mortality rates among the velites, hastatis, and the pricipes?
2. When the velites fell back, where did they go? Through or around the formations behind them? Or?
3. Apparently the hastatis were not expected to prevail, but were they allowed to fall back? And if so, where did they go?
1. Don´t think we have any data on that.
2. Behind the line, through the gaps in the checkerboard formation of the Hastati and Principes.
3. Again, through the lines (or well, the line, in this case) of the checkerboard formation.
Thank you both for your replies. In many portrayals of front-line combat, it seems as if everyone was always expected to fight to the death and retreat was a shameful capital offense.
the whole concept of fighting to the death on the front line is foolish
when their ways to swap out an tired front line with fresh troops
also, the battles most likely involved multiple contacts with the enemy line and disingagements to regroup
They were called Maniples at the time, which this formation was formed during the Samnite wars in the 300s BC. Cohorts originated with Marius during his reforms in 107 BC.
Lindy old boy, you are fooling no one.
WE WANT THE 30+ MINUTE VERSIONS, THAT'S WHY WE ARE SUBSCRIBED IN THE FIRST PLACE!
Keep up the excellent videos, in these times of clickbait, stolen videos and all the other bullshit on youtube, you keep delivering consistently amazing content. Bravo.
Hi Lloyd! I'm so happy that you are interested in the second punic war. It happens to be that I come from the city formerly known as Qart-Hadasht and later on as Cartago Nova. Our ancient history connects us with both Carthage and Rome. Every year on the second half of september many people at home takes upon reenacting some of the important points (mainly the ones afecting our city) of the second punic war. Let me know if you'd like to come and visit the city during the festivites, as I'd be glad to arrange personaly for your welcome. Currently I live in London.
Tunic. Willie taste snot muffin
@@isoperuna2 Beautifully put Puppude. Although I am afraid to say, I think i've missed your point.
Qart hadasht is carthage. Carthago nova is a different city in spain.
@@destruktor_7301 Quart Hadasht is Punic (or Phoenician) for New Town. And just the same way the first founders of Carthage in what's today Tunisia, 𐤒𐤓𐤕𐤟𐤇𐤃𐤔𐤕 was used to name the new town in the Iberian peninsula.
P.S: I come from the city in Spain
@@Mr.BuRGm4nn oh ok. Carthaginians were really creative i see. Thanks for correction!
I don't think i've missed a single one of your videos. In fact, i would be upset if i had. By the nine you're great.
You get a thumbs up for the expletive xD
Watch yo profanity
Argon Zavious I heard the thalmor are looking for you... you filthy Talos worshiper!
sick boy Long live the empire! :D
you re uploaded it in the middle of me watching it.....
Curious Beats same here.
I was able to watch the video but was unable to like it when it finished.
Could this possibly be a sneaky deja-vue experiment?
😆
ya me too
i had this theory all typt out and i was correcting it and i thought i lost all of it hahaha
for what reason was it reuploaded
probably the advertisement
It's shorter than the other one
Noone can ever speak too long about Roman military!
Lindy I just wanna say that you make me very happy with all this talk and all your content on your channel, keep it up!
I honestly consider it a perk of your videos. When you go on tangents its very interesting to see minor bits of a topic dissected in vivid detail.
That little glance of panic @ 6:12 where yet another thing about velites pops into your head (elephants!) and you twig there and then that the video was never going to be a short one :-) Great video, Lindy
Dammit Lloyd! I had just gotten top comment!
"I haven't even watched the video yet, but Lloyd is talking about the Roman Republic and I'm terribly excited about it!"
Upon recent discovery, the blame now falls onto "www.Audible.com".
I always thought the wolves skin might be a 'Award' of some sort to distinguished velites. Otherwise thats alot of of wolves....Poor wolves.
+Lawrence Lai
well, its never trully mentioned that velites must have a full wolf coat for each of them as uniform.
it more likely that while some has that full wolf coat, some will wear part of it like caps of some sort, making 1 wolf can be wore by more than 1 person.
also wolf at 200+ B.C. is borderline "pest" for countryside cattle and vilage, their number was vastly greater than today, and the wolf hunt is quite common without the "mass hunt" image we might think
I seriously doubt they all had wolf pelts.
@CipiRipi00 poor publious was stuck with a poodle pelt. : )
Wolves compete with humanity , kill pets an children . Man all ways takes out the dangerious predators , Dawn of history till , Teddy Roosevelt , 1975 ,
@@garymingy8671 well, not anymore they don't. We are far more dangerous.
Love Lindybeiges videos, even the usually boring sponsorship was great!!!
Been watching matty Easton for years and I'm glad I finally got over to your channel. Appreciate ypur time and your work. Thanks much
I must congratulate you on your marvellous sponsor plugs.
Glad you said that about the Triarii. I've always seen diagrams of their formation and thought they seemed set up to 'motivate' the younger troops.
When Lloyd started a tangent about Latin pronounciation 2 minutes in, I think we all knew we were in for a good one.
I really enjoy your longer videos. You get so much more information across. Ramble on my friend. Ramble on.
Personally I don't mind the longer videos or the 'rambling' at all, in fact I quite enjoy it because it always gives us more information and more to think about and it's also a sign of how dedicated you are to doing your research and transfering as much of your knowledge as possible; which I appreciate a lot. Your new video and audio recording equipment is a nice upgrade as well, I love seeing how much care and effort you keep pouring into these videos. Keep up the good work and I'm definitely looking forward to your book as well as future videos!
I guess enitre ww2 italian army was composed of velites
Z-Key same with the French
Lol
Jerome Vegona nah the French were Gallic levy freeman
Zerg Rush!
You wankers need to grow up and learn some historical facts. Stick your mindless racism up your butts, which where your brains, what few may posses, resides!
This Video was AMAZING. why didn't I know of your channel earlier!!
Your mom ruined your life
i just whatched this and now its been ulpoaded again
necron 1050 I think there's a few seconds cut out?
no i genuinely watched all 30 mins and then went to my subscription feed and it poped up saying posted 1 second ago and to my surprise the oldest comment was about 30 seconds old
I think he may have cut a section where he was sidetracked while speaking about the sponsor :)
I just pro-ordered your book, and just donated to your patreon. You're awesome Lloyd, by far my favorite UA-camr. Keep up the good work!
I love how you even manage to make the sponsored part of the video brilliant :D
A little correction - pronouncing the V as V is "church" latin, and V as W is classical, roman way!
Evocati I didn't want to write it due to a high chance of typos ;D
+Marz Spellcheck is your friend.
In german there is no difference between Veni Vidi Vici and Weni Widi Wici we'd pronounce it the same way.
Thoran666 Yep. Also, the word Kaiser is closer to the latin pronunciation than the Italian and English pronunciations of Caesar.
+Thoran666
...and in the actual "Romance"-language-speaking part of the world, people have messed with the letter "v", and made it into an altogether different sound than it was for their Roman forebears. So odd.
Oh give it to me baby. Talk about it ALL.
Lindy: "Ladies and gentlemen, I like, if I may..."
Me: "You may."
Lindy, don't feel like you need to cut down the length of your videos for our sake. We come here because we love to hear you ramble on about anything and everything.
Makes sense. You go to break and run look around and there's a bunch of more mature men eyeing you. Especially with the youngest soldiers it really does make sense. I just found your channel and I love it. Thanks a lot for the learning
"a load of angry romans going stabby stabby" 😂😂
James Bearpark as opposed to angry Greeks, who go slashy slashy slashy
alright sunshine, get back in there
I already know a lot of this, but he's so immensely entertaining I just have to watch anyway. It's sort of like "Monty Python and Military History".
There might be another purpose to the Triarii: Let's make an analogy with another physical job like construction.
The thing about physical work is that, when you are young you are never tired and you feel indestructible. As you age, all that punishment you took over the years catches up to you. This is why you often see the older guys working a desk job when they are near retirement.
What I'm getting at is that the Triarii is the desk job for old Roman soldiers. It shows the younger folks that the army core will not discard them when they are no longer at the peak of their physical performance and that the state will employ them and give them a cushy job to support them until they can retire.
This does not mean that they are useless. Young folks always benefit from the wisdom of their elders. You can see this when a company lays off all the old employees. What they are left with is usually a big mess of people who do not know what they are doing.
No... their jobs were far from cushy
@@charliebowen5071 is it because you do not know how to form a rebuttal or that you do not have an argument?
''No ...'' is not an argument. You said nothing. The only proper answer to your comment is ''Yes...''
You see how we have accomplished nothing?
@Kanada Dry you schooled him. Nice
I would think of them as standers. They can't run away but they can absorb a charge with those spears or hold off heavy infantry assault with that armor. The velites and remnants of other lines could reform behind them and support them in the last ditch defense if things are going badly.
I love the humor sense of Lindye, is uncomparable, and i loved the last message as always
I wouldn't have minded for that longer video.
Gotta love your style, Lloyd!
Edit:
That kneeling position... In FDF we called it high kneeling, commonly used and can be held for quite a long time, once you learn it.
With grieves I've no idea, but I would suspect that once you learn how to, there's nothing to it.
Would like to see an ultimate warrior match....Velitas versus John Cleese with a pointed stick!
A reason you'd want your skirmishers doing the guard and night watch is because it's such a bother, guard and watch duty is a drag and tiring. Having line infantry in formation where some of the guys are wasted from guard duty seems to me to be a recipe for disaster, these guys needs to be 100% on the ball. The Triarii are the backup in case something goes real shite so you can't use them, cavalry is full of rich fucks likely exempt due to their station. Leaves you with the Velites
When you job is just to chuck stuff at the enemy, leg it then rinse and repeat, your the dogs body for every thing.
Velites were the poor bastards who still had to join the army in times of need because they were just above the level of penniless paupers. Of course they had to do all the shitty jobs.
Just like a modern army, it's a mix of that (You don't want your commanders and leaders doing sentry duty) and what the video mentioned: the velites were essentially privates. The older guys passed off the shit onto the 'kids' with much less demanding jobs
It's also about discipline. Guard duty is about self-discipline because you have to stay alert and awake while tired and/or bored.
Presumably the younger, less experienced troops need this discipline more. Veterans don't need to be told to remain alert because they've faced the consequences of not doing so.
Also, Velites (and Equites) could be used for patrolling/scouting as they're fast and light, rather than garrison guard duty which I'd expect would be ideal for Hastati...?
Would you like to explain that to the British army please so I can get some sleep before exercise
Already played Rome Total War, you know?! :P
Rome 2 Total war sucks. The first part was the best
Lindybeige also played it, I guess this is where he got the information.
Андрей Казакевич divide et impera makes rome great again
I like Total War Attila because the Western Romans get FUCKED... rip
Josh Phoenix Have you played Empire Total war or Napoleon Total war? Those are the best games I've ever played
i love your thoughts on the triarii you are so right
You made me fall in love with the Flashman series lol. Thank you!. My favorite is “Flashman at the charge”. (Charge of the Light Brigade)
Run away! Run away! “Bravely ran the Velite, they bravely ran away.
Never forget the 6 billion wolfes genocided by the Velites
oy vey
Maybe the Romans accomplished two things at once. Outfitted their Velites and controlled the local wolf populations.
Genocide is for people exclusively. But I was thinking the same.
R.I.P.
I was just thinking about it and they all couldn't possibly be rocking wolf caps or pelts. Maybe only a few in the bunch so you can tell it was friendly troops. Or maybe they did just kill a ton of wolfs like humans have done with bears, leopards, beavers, otters, whales and etc.
What confuses me about the Roman three line system is that they rarely describe being outflanked by a wider frontage of the enemy which you'd expect if you put the same number of people in three lines instead of one. That should be a large shrinkage of front line to present to the enemy. Where did all the enemy troops go? Possibly the idea of reserves wasn't that foreign or they resolved it another way?
Terrain is possibly the biggest contributor to winning or losing.
Shrek porn
@@isoperuna2 words of wisdom
They never account for shrinkage.
look at the battle of Watling street, romans tried to use terrain to keep enemies at bay as much as they used their gladius and scutum
You're hilarious! "Stabby-stabby". I love it. Excellent video, as always.
Wow, this could have been broken into 6 videos, that of the 5 unit types and the arrangement of them. Though I do quite like the video being all in one piece.
Ah, to be back in the day, when a 38 minute lindybeige video was considered too long
"I'd like to, if i may..."
You may!
I love these vids cause its awesome to see speculation backed up by actual historical accounts and sound reasoning.
Lindy, I keep getting lost in the pattern of your sweater. It's absolutely mesmerizing.
22:12 "....it's just noticable from reading Roman histories that the Roman cavalry on the wings get defeated almost always and almost immediately....."
Well, this is at best a mixed truth and at worse just blatantly wrong. Yes the native Roman equites were always heavily outnumbered by the enemy's cavalry. But since in practice the native Roman legions were always paired up with at least an equal number of allied or socii legion, the equites always had the assistance of the socii horsemen (numbering 900 per socii legion) as well which greatly equaled the odds against them. Later they were also supported by mercenary and allied cavalry forces of non Italian origins (Numidians, Iberians, Celtic, etc), who eventually completely replaced Roman and socii horsemen alike.
And as to their campaign records, while it was abysmal in the Italian theater of the Second Punic War, was quite decent in other theaters and conflicts of the Republican period, with honors about even with that of the enemy's own cavalry forces. There were even a number of decisive period battles (Sentinum, Clastidium, Telamon, Vercellae, Magnesia) where the Roman cavalry defeated superior enemy cavalry forces and played an important role in winning the day for the Romans. Its just that the general history-reading public and even professional historians didn't tend to read a whole lot about these battles, compared to Ticinus, Trebbia, Lake Trasimene and Cannae, which just about anyone knew about.
The quality of equites kinda sucked against other cavalry or other nations IMO. Numidians had really nice cav
@@Evili555 If you had bothered to read my post I have already listed many battles where the equites prevailed against enemy cavalry and played an important role in the Roman victory.
The Numidians were specialist light cavalry, they could not stand head on against the equites during Marius' and Sulla's war against Jugurtha. Great for raiding or harassing but not for a standup fight. At Cannae the Numidians merely fixed the socii equites with their harassing tactics while Hannibal's heavier Celts and Iberian horsemen defeated the greatly outnumbered Roman equites and before attacking the socii equites from the rear.
What about Roman siege equipment like the ballistae? Were they special units or acted like modern artillery, packaged out to different units
mae brinkyrae wiff fae was avicii xxvi
@@isoperuna2fuk u >:o
Hey Lindey, after you've published the graphic novel about the Romans, could you possibly make one about the Crusaders?
I enjoy your videos very much. I wish you were one of my Professors in college. My favorite Professors had the "gift" of keeping me absolutely fixated. The best often went off on tangents. That's a compliment. I learned a great deal of history from my Astronomy Professor etc.Who one day said he'd be right back. Twenty minutes later he came back and said "My wife said it's OK, you can all come over for coffee tonight." If I may be so bold , you have that passion. It inspires me. Even now.
I attended a naval military camp for a few summers in high school and I found a flashman novel in the library of that place and I have never since heard any reference to the series but I liked the novel so much I, uh, sorta took the book and never gave it back, really brings back memories to hear mention of it again!
So, do we have any information on why Romans did not used bows? I mean, they are reputed to be really effective (be it morally or physically) on a really wide range of situations, and I guess they had the technology to produce at least short bows or things like that.
It just seems to put you at a disadvantage to handicap yourself in such a way, I find this weird.
Pomfinator Ummmm, nothing you said is vaguely true.
Dynahazzar There is an interesting theory put forth by Robert L. O'Connell in Of Arms and Men. Specifically, Romans had a cultural aversion to archery because they writ large the concept of Homeric, heroic combat. To the point that their methodology exactly mirrors the traditional dual of the Homeric age, except with an army of soldiers instead of a single warrior. In short, battle starts off with a spear cast, then close combat starts after both sides charge. There was no use of bows in heroic duals, so, when the Roman army democratized the used of force, the form stayed the same despite the larger scope.
A more modern example of this is the interwar period in Japan. The Samurai spirit of service to one's lord was democratized down to the level of average citizens. Thus, even the average Japanese soldier of ww2 was beholden to a code that developed in an earlier period and dictated their actions.
We have Carthaginian longchephoroi and Numidian archers in an 1:1 mix with a few Balearic slingers fighting the Romans as such effective light troops that they asked Syracuse for help to send them over Cretan archers (which might be Neocretans trained in the Cretan fighting style, but not from the island). Cretan archers were rather a troop type of trained specialist bowmen using expensive composite recurve bows and shooting arrows with heavy bronze! arrowheads at close range (you can shoot in the air during a jump or on the move with lots of training). They were well armed for close combat with a small round shield and a short sword. Unlike standardized modern descriptions, they often mixed their archery with javelins in Crete itself, which gives a combination pretty similar to the one used by Hannibal. During a later invasion of Crete by the Romans, the Romans were defeated in their first attempt, showing that this Cretan archery tick created an effective force. The problem is that these Cretan archers were a product of the elite of this island culture that was Dorian like the Spartans and was very similar to Sparta if you replace Spartan hoplite with Cretan archer. For Rome to field similarly effective archers would chip away at the already low number of equites as high performance composite bows were very expensive and could take a year to manufacture. Using different archers, they would come with hunting equipment which was not that effective against armoured enemies with shields. Javelins with a loop on the other hand were slower than arrows, but they could be employed while using a shield for cover, not needing much more expensive body armour like an equally protected archer. Furthermore javelins were really cheap, they were cheaper than arrows which are more selective on useful wood, plus they didn't require a bow. So you get a munition that is cheap to manufacture and can be handed out to a youngling with little training, unlike an archer who had to grow up with his bow and would have wasted several of these until capable of handling with good speed, frequency and accuracy a device powerful enough for war. And this time was extremely expensive, because it was not available for other tasks as children and teens were put to work.
Dynahazzar Weeb questioned. Weeb answered.
They did... kind of. Late imperial troops, imperial auxilia, anx some socii troops used bows, but the proper Roman troops specialized in a heavy infantry role.
Worth every minute
“Alright sunshine, get back in there.”
"alies" => tactical meat shield? :-)
I love how informative your channel is, thank you for your work.
Real clever with the way you put your sponsors in. Cant really skip em because they are right in the middle of your videos.
Actually, pronouncing "velites" as "welites" is the correct classical pronunciation. True, the Romans had no W, but technically they also had no V, because V and U were identical in their orthography. Thus, the "w" sound.
Yeah, when I started learning Latin I expected a lot of "v" sounds and when I started I realized Latin sounded nothing like what I thought
"No archers, no slingers"
Most likely, the allies had those functions covered
I gotta disagree with one part of your video, the romans were not as traditional as other armies, and were actually quite adaptable, teh moment a system stopped working, they just tossed it, it held no sentimental value to teh romans, that is one of the major reasons Rome was such a great military force.
Generally, yes. But names were held onto beyond their original context.
Kind of like how the word "teh" is spelled, eh?
I think you are absolutely correct that one of the roles of the triari was to prevent retreat. In the 18th and 19th centuries, officers were in the front leaving the unit into battle; the sergeants and corporals were in the rear acting as "file closers", i.e. making sure no one fell back without orders.
Very interesting idea about the role of the Triarii. It's dark, but may very well have some truth to it. Also, really interesting point about how the allies were organized. You make a decent argument for it. In general, your speculation is great!
So, Sir Robin was a velite?
Veles is the singular form of Velites.
Hastati - Hastatus
Principes - Princeps
Triarii - Triarius
Equites - Eques
Legio - Legiones
Centurio - Centuriones
Also... kind of?
willie taste jaw faemae
"going stabby stabby" made me laugh a lot xD
So how much initiative did the individual velite have to have? Were they micro-managed by commanders? Were there even commanders that had the job of dealing with the command of velites?
One might say roman culture itself dictated their actions to an extent
Evening Nikolas, I've been following your videos for quite some time. Especially when you visited Malta!
You seemed very intrigued by its past roles Malta played in History.
There are many "Military time-periods" which can be an interesting topic both for yourself & the audience.
An example being the year '1565 - The Great Siege of Malta".
You're top rank when it comes to explaining subjects. Have a look at us when you got time. Thanks for your time mate
I'm glad you make the point about lack of detail regarding the allied armies of Rome at this time. The human instinct for standardizing was very strong with the Romans so your point about allies sending roman style units despite not being culturally Latin makes sense. It allows operational level decisions easier since each legion could be commanded by any general due to a universal set of rules and regs that developed over time. Makes the Marian reforms more political like I had initially surmised than the reason the Roman army was so dominant like I was taught. I am an amateur historian in the literal sense and your posts are great.
why the re-upload? I never finished watching the first one and now it seems to be shorter
It's only 30 sec shorter
McDonald Trumpepe OK, thanks
did the audible plug vanish?
Nope its still there, its pretty funny too
Connor Smith mild change to ad