24:35 A theory I heard about this slaughter is that Caesar's men were annoyed at Caesar because he had pardoned so many of his enemies who then betrayed him and resumed fighting him (and by extension Caesar's soldiers). So in order to prevent yet another such a pardoning followed by yet another campaign, the soldiers decided to simply execute all the prisoners and ignore Caesar's orders to be sure that this was the last time they'd have to deal with these people ever again.
If I were in that campaign and I had to deal with the Pompeyans' constant raids, camping, and taunting for months, I'd also want bloody revenge on them.
And this I can sympathize with. The only reason Cesar kept pardoning these people was for his own self interest, he didn't see his comrades next to him die to these people.
Pharmaces: "Alright, there's no way I'm going to be able to out-plan Caesar. He's too good at the slow, carefully-calculated kind of warfare. So how do I counter that? ...I know! I'll force battle immediately, before he has time to plan or prepare, by doing the last thing he'd expect!" _Pharmaces soon learned why Caesar hadn't expected that_
@@jophielswings Absolutely. And word of Caesar's superhuman patience must have been well known at this stage so on paper it's actually a good idea. But in practice, it's still Caesar and his army. Those guys were the most experienced and disciplined soldiers in Europe at the time. Pompey outnumbered him 2:1 and still got soundly beaten. Pharnaces would need 3 soldiers for every 1 Caesar had to stand a chance..
It seemed to me the reason he lost was because of the quality of his troops. Caesar's army was known to be one of the best at that time so when it comes down to just a straight up brawl it would come to no surprise that he had won
Roman Carthage was not build yet. The new settelement was Caesar’s plan (to give land for his veterans as reward) that was finished by Augustus. Gracci (I am not sure which, I think Tiberius) was planning it earlier but it didn’t succeed.
I meant it more in the sense that it was the Roman land over which Carthage used to sit. I do thank you, though, as I am not very familiar with the region after it’s conquest in the Third Punic War.
@@hughg.gaines6027 Politics not so much. He was rather poor politician. Caesar was military genius, but the fact he decided to trust Brutus and the senate was foolish mistake. Octavian would not have spared Brutus in same situation.
@@teemuvesala9575 how you can seriously follow caesar from prior to his first consulship all the way to being assassinated and claim he was not an expert politician is nothing short of insane. He successfully navigated one of the most nasty political jungles in history. A political climate that many many people were chewed up and spit out by. His maneuvering through the first triumvirate, his ability to successfully stave off prosecution for so long, securing term extensions, forcing through significant legislation, and successfully insinuating himself as a populist leader etc etc. Cicero for example always stayed in his place as a senator and never took on the challenges that Caesar or Pompey took on as a possible usurpers of the republic itself. Pompey is maybe the only other person to show the sheer political gumption that Caesar seemed to posses. As you know, one of Caesar's major strategies was showing mercy to other Romans who were previously against him to ensure future compliance.This has proven a worthwhile tactic of his for his entire career, and although he eventually got burned by it, it does not take away from his obvious political genius. Perhaps Caesar felt they would not have the nerve to assassinate him and assure their own destruction as a result. A miscalculation of course, but Brutus et at displayed laughable incompetence after the assassination and were in fact destroyed- where they would go down in history as traitors and clowns while caesar would literally be deified.
@@sarasamaletdin4574 That's exactly the problem. Elephants aren't brave. They can be trained and follow orders well enough, but they break way easier than war horses or camels.
i dont think its that elephants arent brave, unlike with horses that die after a few stabs or arrows elephants can take a large amount more punishment and during that time the probably just dont want to get stabbed anymore
That "trips on the way out of the boat, and says '____, I hold you in my hands'" thing happened twice afterward - William the Conqueror did a faceplant when landing in England and recovered with the same line, and about 250 years later Edward III did it sailing in the opposite direction. Both were either quick thinkers or knew their history. Probably both.
They probably had no idea of the history behind it. The manuscript for Caesar's commentaries on the civil war was quite rare in the medieval period, and William the Conqueror was illiterate. The overall high medieval grasp of Roman history was quite weak.
Its kinda funny to see caesar overestimating his opponent so much that he thought of a big month long game plan only to have the enemy do a full frontal charge
"Alright guys, let's move 3,000 cavalry here, equip these guys with spears, these with swords, and move the veterans here-" From the distance: "CHAAAAAAAARGE!!!"
My HEMA teacher always said "The best swordman needn't fear the second best swordman. He fears the worst swordman, because he doesn't know what he'll do." I think this is the strategic version of that.
To be fair, premodern armies didn't have many logistical options. Everything that can carry food overland eats it, so they had to "forage" food from local communities. Which were sometimes on fire by the time the army left.
Caesar had a strong tactical mind to win battles, and an incredible amount of charisma to earn loyalty. but it's becoming clear that his strongest trait by far is his ability to spin things, he could manipulate EVERYTHING to his benefit, even his own failures.
Who do you think Augustus learned from, he undoubtedly did less in terms of combat (didn’t fight on the front line/was less involved) but had a slightly keener insight on humans and politics
Yes he had charisma. But not charisma alone. He followed up with his words. The soldiers were fiercely loyal to him. Because he at all possible times gave them proper rest. His tactics most of the time and gave victories. And further more he always took care of his soldiers and came to their aid. In the video series you will find Caesar always sneaking out from a tough encirclement only to return with reinforcements to save his soldiers. When Caesar gave up Britain he waited till the last ship set sailed and boarded to that after seeing his soldiers safely off. He would go to battle with them. So it was not just the talk, but walking the talk.
And in mine: "rock ledge 100 feet off the ground, I have hold of you now!", when I fall trying to reach a cliff-forming unit for my research or "derrick, I have hold of you now!" when I'm making money to pay for my research XD
After watching this I watched another video where apparently William the Conqueror did the exact same thing when falling of the boat after landing in England lol.
Man, that first battle felt like my experience playing fighting games. Have a big game plan, know my moves pretty well, plan how to win the matchup and space correctly, but then my opponent just goes full unga bunga and charges me down with reckless abandon.
Honestly when playing fighting games I don't care about trying to do combos or weird highly technical moves, I just push whatever buttons I feel like pushing until I win or lose and it's fun either way.
Looks like he picked the war elephant graphic from Roman City ceremonies over his International symbol. He probably did this as a stylistic choice since it looks cooler to see an actual elephant instead of another square with a symbol.
@@Macieks300 it's not international. That was a joke. In the Battle of Zama video there were elephants and let's say the video did a very creative thing to represent them with a symbol ;). Watch that clip, you'll understand immediately ;).
Makes me wonder how scary it must have been to stand opposite to Caesars unruly veteran legions. These old grizzled bastards, covered in scars and hungry for their final victory, come at you like a pack of starving wolves. One of them looks right at you.He's got more battles under his belt than teeth in his mouth, and his single remaining eye prophetically pierces you with a gaze of bloody murder, as though every breath you draw is a personal insult to him. For a moment, you wish you were back on board your father's leaky fishing boat, pulling in another disappointing catch, before you raise your shield and steel yourself for the inevitable impact. Takes some guts to hold the line.
His legions were incredibly experienced. It's a level unseen since Hannibal. These guys were the kind to fight until job is done. They were so used to perspective of wining or being killed, leaving the battlefield in their mind wasn't an option.
"One imagines the smile fading from Caesar's face." Thank you, Historia Civilis, for your cinematic but factual recounting of these stories that otherwise would be lost to history.
Pharnaces's plan actually makes a huge amount of sense. You almost certainly know of Caesar's strengths in battle, you know he's good at the pre-battle planning and posturing. You know that your army is mostly fresh, while Caesar's has rushed up from Egypt to meet you and is probably tired. You know that the Romans will build a fortified camp whenever they plan to stay somewhere for a length of time. Put like this, taking Caesar's assumptions on how the battle will be fought and turning them on their head? This is probably the best chance Pharnaces had. Bait the Romans into a position where they'll feel secure to make their camp, taking legions off the line to build it. Take advantage of the fact that you've got a plan and they don't. It even nearly worked; if the Romans were less disciplined or slightly slower, they might've been routed from the field before the soldiers on construction duty could reach the battle as reinforcements. If Pharnaces's soldiers had broken through one of Caesar's flanks, instead of calling Pharnaces "reckless" we might be calling him a genius.
Pharnaces clearly didn't hear the words of wisdom from Obi Wan. Heck, even Ceasar didn't fancy his odds of attacking uphill against a tight formation. At Pharsalus he tried to bait Pompey to leave the hill and trust his numbers and the battle-hardened Syrian Legions to beat Ceasar.
In war you must take chances, Pharnaces took his, as did Caesar for most of his campaigns. He probably thought he could push up the hill whilst the Roman were building the camp, and it almost worked!
Pharnaces had time on his side though. It was Caesar who needed the battle to occur as soon as possible so that he could deal with the other situations.
Absolutely not. Do you know why Caesar thought this was a stupid move, that Pharnaces mist think they're idiots? Because charging then attacking uphill like that was an extremely bad move. As we saw, the army was obliterated. It was a massive tactical blunder, such a massive one that Caesar thought it was an obvious decoy So no. He wasn't some secret genius. He was an impulsive dipshit.
DMC12Gauge “Oh, so you’re saying that anybody from this family is can't be defeated? I'll just take some random cousin from that same family and put it in my team.”
These battles are often overlooked in Roman history. We usually just hear, in great detail, about Caesar's conquests in Gaul (battle of Alesia FTW), the Pompaian civil war and then his death. I never knew of the origin of his famous "veni vidi vici". This channel is by far my favourite channel regarding Roman history. Please keep up the amazing work. Also, just want to say that without the defection of Labienus, Caesar would have cleaned up.
I must admit, I had never heard that Ceasar suffered from seizures, my degree isn't specific to this era but my fascination is and I had never read that until stated in this video, and I was diagnosed with epilepsy a couple years ago when I began having seizures, hearing that Ceasar suffered from them too and became so accomplished actually cheered me up from depression (by a lot more than I'll admit to)
K&G videos on Caesar campaign are better described. For someone who read many books about the big guy, i can say that HistoriaCivilis videos have errors. Plus, K&G have better graphics wich helps alot in better understanding of the tactics and strategy
@@austenbin4068 ikr the emu are overpowered as fuck not even modern weapons could beat them, if they ever decided to take over, humanity maybe force to use nukes just to stop them.
“I came, I saw, I came, I saw I praise the Lord, then break the law I take what's mine, then take some more It rains, it pours, it rains, it pours.” - Cæsar when asked about the battle of Zela
I think William The conqueror did the same when he slipped and fell on the ground and stand up grasp a handful of soil and shouted ''England is ours!'' I think this is a coincidence
i am not to sure but i can definately immagine William the conquerer beein well educated on roman history. Or maybe just the chronist who later on wrote the story of Williams conquest. Sure it could be pure coincidence but i tend to think we often underestimate the education medival rulers and scribes had.
Watching the dynamic between Labienus and Caesar play out is one of the most interesting parts of this whole time period. I find both characters very fascinating, it's like the perfect rivalry. Gonna be a real sad day when I finally see who plots first :(
Here's a little secret about IQ tests: you can get whatever value for whatever creature you want by just choosing the right parameters for the distribution.
@@romaliop Yeah man, the parameters have the sample population to be the bull and its 4 captors. Clearly the bull has an IQ of 1 million relative to those 4 human captors.
I heard that the best use of elephants was as anti-cavalry. There was a battle where one cavalry won and chased off the other side's, but when they came back to help, the enemy elephants were lined up in the way to block them, and the horses wouldn't go near. So the other side managed to win. Also, putting the elephants on the flanks to keep them away from your own troops, as well as protecting the flanks.
Hannibal used them to great effect during the Punic wars. It was mostly the novelty of them that made them so dangerous at first, though the Romans learned how to effectively counter elephants, leading to them becoming more of a liability like we see here.
The thing about elephants is that they're used to being able to trash anything they come across; if something does hurt them (such as that wave of javelins), they don't bear injuries very stoically and will panic and run. Elephants are formidable enemies but they can be dealt with: retain enough flexibility in your formation that you can get out of their way, then hamstring them from behind with axes or swords, inflicting a "mobility kill" that neutralizes them.
17:40 lol he says Caesar's reputation was tarnished while I'm in awe at how he survived what should've been an overwhelmingly deadly situation. This is the most impressive skirmish survival on this channel that Caesar achieved. With Caesar, the only loss could be from his death, as long as he lived then victory was just slightly delayed.
Man I just want to say how much I love your videos, they are simplified enough that someone unfamiliar with the time period would understand it and that someone familiar with it would enjoy it. Keep up the great work!
They were tired, anxious to get the campaign over with so they could get on with retirement, and in no mood to have to fight the same opponents all over again. Not saying that they were right, just pointing out their reasons for letting their bloodlust overtake their discipline.
That battle that Caesar “lost” in itself is one of Caesar and his legion’s greatest feats. Sure what got them in that position wasn’t good but any other general loses that’s
He actually overused them and definitely screwed something up. Imagine typing lerooooyjulius into a console or accidentally setting Ferocity stat of his legions to 10.
These videos are so great and detailed. I've listened to Duncan's history of Rome and read plenty. It's so neat hearing Mike Duncan mention something and sort of moving past it, only to see how close a thing it really was to just unraveling completely. If HC made up random anecdotes for 5 minutes, I would really have no recourse. I have mad trust for this creator/storyteller/historian.
Geez I find myself rewatching your videos over and over, its like watching the history channel 20 years ago when it was good. Thank you so much for your hard work.
I love following these stories; I'm watching for the first time the HBO series "Rome", at the same time as I go through these videos. Makes for a very cool collaboration and way better insight into the drama of the show. (For example, S01E08 opens with a dead elephant and the end of the aftermath of the Thapsus campaign; we skipped from Caesar holding a son high in Alexandria at the end of the last episode, to that. Your videos fill in the timeline between these events, explaining how we get to this point - exposition not covered by the TV show.) Awesome work; thanks!
5:59 - Thank you. Nice to see Mr. Historia Kiwilis pronounce things correctly. Now I have to watch your videos I have queued up about that Kikero guy...
I was kind of impressed by Scipios ability to match Caesar's manoeuvers on and around the battlefield for so long. Must have been a talented family, those Scipio's.
There are few channels whose new uploads I will watch at my first opportunity. This is the only one I set new videos aside from, until they can be given my full attention. The expertise and energy brought to each of these videos is an absolute joy to witness. Thank you for doing what you do. Please keep up the amazing work!
So basically a Cato flees to North Africa, raises armies, enlists a Scipio as his general, brings Numidian cavalry as reinforcements and faces of against Roman legions? Am I the only one seeing the whole Punic wars and Cato the Elder "Carthage should be destroyed" thing here? :P
People in Carthage must have liked Cato for him to have been able to seek refuge there. It could be propaganda but their are a lot of stories that say Carthage was doing regular human sacrifices and baby killings before Romans arrived.
@@savvageorge After Carthage was destroyed it stayed as a deserted ruin for a while but the roman themselves refounded it and brought settlers from other parts, if Carthage was already again an inhabited settlement at this moment (I do not remember the date of its reconstruction), most of those people would had not direct conection with the semitic population that once was the mortal enemy of Rome; the human sacrifice thing seems to be mostly propaganda but the Carthaginians were harsh masters, pretty much in the vein of older eastern civilizations (of which they were descedants of) so I would asume that most of their subjects were not exactly sad to see their overlord destroyed so the people of Utica probably would had not had much resentment against Cato even if his ancestor was one of the most vocal proponents of the utter destruction of Carthage.
@@Sealdeam Surprisingly, it was Caesar himself who rebuilt the city in 49 BC (which means he probably told a few architects to go wild), but Rome had settled the area before in 122 BC
@@Badosureinhardt That is actually the main reason I want a video dedicated for him, we know he was very competent at times so I am curious what is Historia Civilis talking about,
DerekGuerrero, when Caesar was in Egypt and elsewhere in this video’s time period Antonius was in charge of Italy and doing a bad job of it, many people were very unhappy with him (the legion rebelling was just tip of the iceberg) it ruined Caesar’s relationship with him. Many historians think prior to this Antonius was Caesar’s heir but even though they made up later Caesar has changed his will. And Antonius did very poorly in Parthia. And while Philippi was a victory it wasn’t very well executed (even if he was best general of the four in the battle) and his politics in Italy (his wife and brother unsuccessfully rebelled against Octavian and he most likely was agreeing with this) and in general how he handeled his publicity in Egypt and the battle of Aticum look bad. Antonius never really was that good by himself on top even though he could work well with under Caesar if it was a battlefield.
I know it probably didn’t happen, but there is a series that describes how labienus got hurt, while he was talking down to the legionnaires, a man from the 10th walked out and demanded to be shown respect as he was not a new recruit, when labienus mocked him, the legionnaire threw his spear at him, killing his horse, and knocking him out of the battle
10:07 imagine tripping over in public and it still being talked about 2000 years later.
Lol
Eternal embarrassment
I don't know what you're talking about. He had hold of Africa, obviously.
Imagine following that up with a joke that still gets a chuckle 2000 years later.
Hahaha
"I came, I lost, I died." -Cato 46 B.C.E.
He died as he lived; stubbornly.
Harsh. True, but harsh.
‘I came.’
- Cato’s dad, 96 BC.
@@Cybermat47 It's I saw I conquered I came.
F me this is to relatable ='d
I love following these stories of Caeser's life. I hope he has a long lasting career afterwards as payoff for all his hard work
I am sure he will take a stab at it!
Lol
@@austenbin4068 Too soon...
@ Andrew Edwards Will the Romans lend their ears to his final request?
"man everything seems to be going great for this caeser guy"
Ceasars life is literally the definition of plot armor
Until the Ides of March
@@jurtra9090 They had to roll a 100 speech check just to get him to fall into their trap, and he still almost got out of it.
@Joe Brown art imitated life until the people who once lived so gloriously became enamoured with art, at which point life imitated art.
@@sobitasadullah4517 Very well put.
He was literally assasinated
24:35 A theory I heard about this slaughter is that Caesar's men were annoyed at Caesar because he had pardoned so many of his enemies who then betrayed him and resumed fighting him (and by extension Caesar's soldiers). So in order to prevent yet another such a pardoning followed by yet another campaign, the soldiers decided to simply execute all the prisoners and ignore Caesar's orders to be sure that this was the last time they'd have to deal with these people ever again.
Seems unlikely. I bet that the battle was hard fought, so the Caesareans were overcome with lust for revenge.
If I were in that campaign and I had to deal with the Pompeyans' constant raids, camping, and taunting for months, I'd also want bloody revenge on them.
@@romanempire4495 lust for revenge and not wanting to come back to fight them kind of go hand and hand if you ask me.
And this I can sympathize with. The only reason Cesar kept pardoning these people was for his own self interest, he didn't see his comrades next to him die to these people.
Turns out it WASN’T the last time they had to fight these people considering Munda.
Nailed it
- Random Legionnaire
That Legionnaire ? Pontius Pilate
*STAHP*
- Gaius Julius Caesar, multiple times from 47 to 46 BC
nah... was Titus Pullo
The old flute as a distraction technique, classic
Good ol' fan dance
Didn't Hope and Crosby use a similar strategy?
Said in the Maxwell Smart Agent 86 voice.
@CommandoDude everyone gangsta until numidian cavalry shows up to the party
Today is a good day
Best january close ever
@@TheGringuish12 Indeed. Literally stopped what I was doing to start watching this.
And I didn’t have to use my Ak
...TO DIIIIIE
@@TheGringuish12 you just might be on to something right there mate
Man this Caesar guy has more Ex Machina moments than most fiction protagonists.
plot armor smh
The author of history is giving Ceasar plot armor and deus ex machina shit. Smh.
It's cause he wrote his own history
It was all to maximize the impact of his death
Audentes fortuna iuvat
Pharmaces: "Alright, there's no way I'm going to be able to out-plan Caesar. He's too good at the slow, carefully-calculated kind of warfare. So how do I counter that? ...I know! I'll force battle immediately, before he has time to plan or prepare, by doing the last thing he'd expect!"
_Pharmaces soon learned why Caesar hadn't expected that_
To be fair, he must have had the most monstrous balls to do that against Caesar. Mad props as it almost worked.
It works sometimes, like the German Blitzkrieg or a hurry up offense in football. If they had been on flat land, it would have worked for sure.
@@caseyb1346 To be fair though if they were on flat land I bet Caesar would have expected it
@@jophielswings Absolutely. And word of Caesar's superhuman patience must have been well known at this stage so on paper it's actually a good idea. But in practice, it's still Caesar and his army. Those guys were the most experienced and disciplined soldiers in Europe at the time. Pompey outnumbered him 2:1 and still got soundly beaten. Pharnaces would need 3 soldiers for every 1 Caesar had to stand a chance..
It seemed to me the reason he lost was because of the quality of his troops. Caesar's army was known to be one of the best at that time so when it comes down to just a straight up brawl it would come to no surprise that he had won
I like how there was a Scipio AND a Cato defending Roman Carthage against an attack launched from Italy.
Roman Carthage was not build yet. The new settelement was Caesar’s plan (to give land for his veterans as reward) that was finished by Augustus. Gracci (I am not sure which, I think Tiberius) was planning it earlier but it didn’t succeed.
I meant it more in the sense that it was the Roman land over which Carthage used to sit. I do thank you, though, as I am not very familiar with the region after it’s conquest in the Third Punic War.
Seeing how Cato the Elder and Africanus couldn't stand each other, it's certainly kinda funny, one has to admit ;).
Didn’t even occur to me. Funny how history works like that sometimes.
Hahaha! That was hillarious!
Seriously, I don't know how this guy survived the last 6 years of his military career.
One of the luckiest generals in History. But also one of the best to capitalise on that luck.
He survived where all other generals might die but died where no one would die lol
@@MrTokesu Certainly. In addition to admiring Alexander the Great, he seems to have inherited his luck as well.
@@satyamstranger idk bro i think getting stabbed 46 times would kill just about every general
@@lollllfol where, not how.
[Video title]; or How Caesar Narrowly Escapes Death This Time Vol. 139
Madden Humphrey love this comment
Or "historys luckiest bastard"
"You will always remember this as the day you almost killed Gaius Julius Caesar."
The amount of times Ceasar got himself into deep shit and miraculously escaped makes me think Fortuna does indeed favor the bold.
Or was drunk
Or the bald
Caesar was just OP at war and politics.
@@hughg.gaines6027 Politics not so much. He was rather poor politician. Caesar was military genius, but the fact he decided to trust Brutus and the senate was foolish mistake. Octavian would not have spared Brutus in same situation.
@@teemuvesala9575 how you can seriously follow caesar from prior to his first consulship all the way to being assassinated and claim he was not an expert politician is nothing short of insane. He successfully navigated one of the most nasty political jungles in history. A political climate that many many people were chewed up and spit out by. His maneuvering through the first triumvirate, his ability to successfully stave off prosecution for so long, securing term extensions, forcing through significant legislation, and successfully insinuating himself as a populist leader etc etc. Cicero for example always stayed in his place as a senator and never took on the challenges that Caesar or Pompey took on as a possible usurpers of the republic itself. Pompey is maybe the only other person to show the sheer political gumption that Caesar seemed to posses. As you know, one of Caesar's major strategies was showing mercy to other Romans who were previously against him to ensure future compliance.This has proven a worthwhile tactic of his for his entire career, and although he eventually got burned by it, it does not take away from his obvious political genius. Perhaps Caesar felt they would not have the nerve to assassinate him and assure their own destruction as a result. A miscalculation of course, but Brutus et at displayed laughable incompetence after the assassination and were in fact destroyed- where they would go down in history as traitors and clowns while caesar would literally be deified.
"Veni Vidi Vici" can roughly be translated to: "Get on my level, nerds."
Actually it translates to: gg 2ez noobs
@@TheGhostbuster1989 2ez 4 JulezCeezy
geti gudi n00bi
He essentially stuffed them in his metaphorical locker.
@@TheGhostbuster1989 julius not being a good sports confirmed :D
HC please never stop using that intro music it always fits the mode of your videos
You should see the vids of the music used by HC. Comments is nothing but tributes and quotes
@@jacobhamselv where can I find it?
@@bottomtext yea where qq
The one that only lasts 5 seconds? It's more than fine anyway.
And outro.
Took under 60 elephants to break an army of thousands. Elephants are no joke.
Hannibal agrees.
Took only an Alps to break dozens of elephants.
Expect here they did more harm than good in the end to their own side like they often did in battles.
@@sarasamaletdin4574 That's exactly the problem. Elephants aren't brave. They can be trained and follow orders well enough, but they break way easier than war horses or camels.
i dont think its that elephants arent brave, unlike with horses that die after a few stabs or arrows elephants can take a large amount more punishment and during that time the probably just dont want to get stabbed anymore
That flute man should have got a triumph.
True. That man was a 20th level bard!
@@maxtree2003
Epic-level bardic knowledge ftw
He's not Roman. Barbarian.
He got likely killed on the spot when they realized that he was a decoy. 🤔
F
That "trips on the way out of the boat, and says '____, I hold you in my hands'" thing happened twice afterward - William the Conqueror did a faceplant when landing in England and recovered with the same line, and about 250 years later Edward III did it sailing in the opposite direction. Both were either quick thinkers or knew their history. Probably both.
Jesse Jordache definitely the latter and a good joke for the situation.
They probably had no idea of the history behind it. The manuscript for Caesar's commentaries on the civil war was quite rare in the medieval period, and William the Conqueror was illiterate. The overall high medieval grasp of Roman history was quite weak.
I think Henry Tudor also did so when he landed in Wales before Bosworth Field
@@willkp50 I think that's right actually - the Edward III line I wasn't sure of.
Ive read in a book that Scipio Africanus started this tradition, is this true or did the author fuck up?
22:55 "Caesar suffered from seizures his entire life"
Name checks out.
Julius Seizure.
Im sorry
@@TheGhostbuster1989 Julius having Seizures.
Patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter
Citizen: Doctor I could barely breathe last night I thought I was having some sort of seizure
Roman doctor: HAIL SEIZURE
Its kinda funny to see caesar overestimating his opponent so much that he thought of a big month long game plan only to have the enemy do a full frontal charge
Then he massively underestimates them by landing behind enemy lines heavily outnumbered and with no supplies surviving through sheer luck.
GardEngebretsen Caesar has max luck points
"Alright guys, let's move 3,000 cavalry here, equip these guys with spears, these with swords, and move the veterans here-"
From the distance: "CHAAAAAAAARGE!!!"
My HEMA teacher always said "The best swordman needn't fear the second best swordman. He fears the worst swordman, because he doesn't know what he'll do." I think this is the strategic version of that.
I think that guy had Klingons for generals.
Who needs sleep when Historia Civilis uploads
Sleep is for the weak.
You, sleep please
Not me. It's 3:12am. I'm binging on Historia Civilis since 11:00pm.
For real. If this guy knew how many hours I've spent rewatching his videos 😂
Not his year
Cato
46 b.c.
Oof.
Ouch
My entrails
A double burn.
Cato: His Last Year 46 BC
Ceasar: Goes into enemy territory with like zero food.
XIII legion: I guess we eat grass and caligae soup then.
More like drink their own urine and eat dead animal carcass bear grylls style.
*nervous mule sounds intensify*
To be fair, premodern armies didn't have many logistical options. Everything that can carry food overland eats it, so they had to "forage" food from local communities. Which were sometimes on fire by the time the army left.
Caesar had a strong tactical mind to win battles, and an incredible amount of charisma to earn loyalty.
but it's becoming clear that his strongest trait by far is his ability to spin things, he could manipulate EVERYTHING to his benefit, even his own failures.
Who do you think Augustus learned from, he undoubtedly did less in terms of combat (didn’t fight on the front line/was less involved) but had a slightly keener insight on humans and politics
Soooo... what you’re saying is that he’s a politician? 🤔
He was absolutely a logistical genius.
@mPky1 The battle of alesia? The battle of pharsalus?
Yes he had charisma. But not charisma alone. He followed up with his words.
The soldiers were fiercely loyal to him. Because he at all possible times gave them proper rest. His tactics most of the time and gave victories. And further more he always took care of his soldiers and came to their aid. In the video series you will find Caesar always sneaking out from a tough encirclement only to return with reinforcements to save his soldiers. When Caesar gave up Britain he waited till the last ship set sailed and boarded to that after seeing his soldiers safely off. He would go to battle with them.
So it was not just the talk, but walking the talk.
"Africa, I have hold of you now!"
I'm gonna use this every time I trip and fall to the ground.
DBT57 And I’ll say “Nailed it” when you do.
In that case, I'd be saying "Stairs, I have hold of you now!"
And in mine: "rock ledge 100 feet off the ground, I have hold of you now!", when I fall trying to reach a cliff-forming unit for my research
or "derrick, I have hold of you now!" when I'm making money to pay for my research XD
Shoelaces, I have hold of you now!
After watching this I watched another video where apparently William the Conqueror did the exact same thing when falling of the boat after landing in England lol.
Supporting this guy on Patreon was definitely a great decision
Yeah he's the first and only channel I've supported in patreon so far and it's so extremely worth it. Unquestionably my favorite channel on UA-cam!
I truly hope you keep making these works of art and carry on well into the age of Hadrian and Trajan !
Perhaps all the way to 1453!
@@DeFrostkill Nah the story gets too depressing after Marcus Aurelius, I don't even want to hear it.
That would be so great if he did that
@@DeFrostkill hahahah i hope so
@@Navak_ He can end in Marco Aurelius. In my opnion there is no Rome afterwards, only abominations using its corpse.
Man, that first battle felt like my experience playing fighting games. Have a big game plan, know my moves pretty well, plan how to win the matchup and space correctly, but then my opponent just goes full unga bunga and charges me down with reckless abandon.
Honestly when playing fighting games I don't care about trying to do combos or weird highly technical moves, I just push whatever buttons I feel like pushing until I win or lose and it's fun either way.
People in Rome: You cant win cuz of a prophecy!
Caesar: Prophecy cancelled out lets go!
8:25
Caesar: “One last campaign and then we can retire.”
Dutch: “One last big score Arthur and then we disappear.”
That legion is gonna run off to Tahiti and grow mangos
Like playing civilization or total war late st night. Just one more turn...
JC: “ I Have a damn PLAN, I just need some legionaries”
@@yungtoolshed251 "HAVE SOME FAITH MY LEGIONARIES!"
this shity made me ugly laugh lol
What happened to the international sign for war elephant?
Looks like he picked the war elephant graphic from Roman City ceremonies over his International symbol. He probably did this as a stylistic choice since it looks cooler to see an actual elephant instead of another square with a symbol.
what does it look like?
@@Macieks300 It was just something HC made up for a battle. It was a square with elephant tusks.
@@Wallyworld30 what does the international symbol look like though because I can't find it
@@Macieks300 it's not international. That was a joke. In the Battle of Zama video there were elephants and let's say the video did a very creative thing to represent them with a symbol ;). Watch that clip, you'll understand immediately ;).
Makes me wonder how scary it must have been to stand opposite to Caesars unruly veteran legions.
These old grizzled bastards, covered in scars and hungry for their final victory, come at you like a pack of starving wolves. One of them looks right at you.He's got more battles under his belt than teeth in his mouth, and his single remaining eye prophetically pierces you with a gaze of bloody murder, as though every breath you draw is a personal insult to him.
For a moment, you wish you were back on board your father's leaky fishing boat, pulling in another disappointing catch, before you raise your shield and steel yourself for the inevitable impact.
Takes some guts to hold the line.
now this is what I call Poetry
His legions were incredibly experienced. It's a level unseen since Hannibal. These guys were the kind to fight until job is done. They were so used to perspective of wining or being killed, leaving the battlefield in their mind wasn't an option.
It's probably like a veteran unit breaking the veteran's limit in a video game.
Globals vs Silvers
"One imagines the smile fading from Caesar's face."
Thank you, Historia Civilis, for your cinematic but factual recounting of these stories that otherwise would be lost to history.
3:30 damn Pharnaces is such a genius, he's totally playing the meta game
5:20 wait what
Legends say the bull is still running for freedom
@Ibrahim Abid no its Zeus chasing Europa
@Ibrahim Abid she escaped and is successfully running away
Ghost riders in the sky. That bull leads.
“There we have a Scipio now it’s cancelled out”
balance is restored
S.S Bathtub “Perfectly balanced, as all things should be”
Pompeins: fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!!!!!! What do we do now that prophecy was our one true advantage!!!
Always wonder why youre gone that long, then you come out with an awesome 30 min long video and I remember why :)
Pharnaces's plan actually makes a huge amount of sense. You almost certainly know of Caesar's strengths in battle, you know he's good at the pre-battle planning and posturing. You know that your army is mostly fresh, while Caesar's has rushed up from Egypt to meet you and is probably tired. You know that the Romans will build a fortified camp whenever they plan to stay somewhere for a length of time.
Put like this, taking Caesar's assumptions on how the battle will be fought and turning them on their head? This is probably the best chance Pharnaces had. Bait the Romans into a position where they'll feel secure to make their camp, taking legions off the line to build it. Take advantage of the fact that you've got a plan and they don't. It even nearly worked; if the Romans were less disciplined or slightly slower, they might've been routed from the field before the soldiers on construction duty could reach the battle as reinforcements. If Pharnaces's soldiers had broken through one of Caesar's flanks, instead of calling Pharnaces "reckless" we might be calling him a genius.
Facts honestly
Pharnaces clearly didn't hear the words of wisdom from Obi Wan. Heck, even Ceasar didn't fancy his odds of attacking uphill against a tight formation. At Pharsalus he tried to bait Pompey to leave the hill and trust his numbers and the battle-hardened Syrian Legions to beat Ceasar.
In war you must take chances, Pharnaces took his, as did Caesar for most of his campaigns. He probably thought he could push up the hill whilst the Roman were building the camp, and it almost worked!
Pharnaces had time on his side though. It was Caesar who needed the battle to occur as soon as possible so that he could deal with the other situations.
Absolutely not.
Do you know why Caesar thought this was a stupid move, that Pharnaces mist think they're idiots?
Because charging then attacking uphill like that was an extremely bad move. As we saw, the army was obliterated.
It was a massive tactical blunder, such a massive one that Caesar thought it was an obvious decoy
So no. He wasn't some secret genius. He was an impulsive dipshit.
Flute man: **ILLUSION 100**
*_"STAHP!"_*
- Gaivs Ivlivs Cæsar, 47 B.C.
Between the taunting, and the hunger, I can see how they'd go into a killing frenzy.
Many of the people Caeser had pardoned from earlier battles, who were told to not fight him again, fought him again at Thapsus.
What is this? Here i thought i was the only one.
"We now both have Scipios...
Prophecy cancelled out!" XD
DMC12Gauge “Oh, so you’re saying that anybody from this family is can't be defeated? I'll just take some random cousin from that same family and put it in my team.”
These battles are often overlooked in Roman history. We usually just hear, in great detail, about Caesar's conquests in Gaul (battle of Alesia FTW), the Pompaian civil war and then his death. I never knew of the origin of his famous "veni vidi vici".
This channel is by far my favourite channel regarding Roman history. Please keep up the amazing work. Also, just want to say that without the defection of Labienus, Caesar would have cleaned up.
you're conquering youtube like Caesar conquered Gual
@Alex Gully If anything we better hope he doesn't end like Caesar.
With mass genocide ?
Gaul
@@lavalampooning i think a betrayal
For the glory of Remo!!
I'm gonna play this at quarter speed so I can savor it
This is objectively the best channel on UA-cam
This has to be the best series
0:26 While Caesar was "busy" in Egypt *wink* *wink*
>be me
>have no Egyptian gf
> why live
@@graysonguinn1943 royal greek*
I think that was the whole reason for the siege
@@josephzanes7334 Caesar just protecting dat ass
@@josephzanes7334 What, is Ceasar a simp? A nice guy?
I must admit, I had never heard that Ceasar suffered from seizures, my degree isn't specific to this era but my fascination is and I had never read that until stated in this video, and I was diagnosed with epilepsy a couple years ago when I began having seizures, hearing that Ceasar suffered from them too and became so accomplished actually cheered me up from depression (by a lot more than I'll admit to)
It was a difficult choice between Kings and Generals and Historia Civilis, but....... who am I kidding there was no doubt in mind!!
@Scuba26Steve Yeah they are good but nothing can beat the spinning squares!!
DerekGuerrero hahah spinning squares
K&G videos on Caesar campaign are better described. For someone who read many books about the big guy, i can say that HistoriaCivilis videos have errors. Plus, K&G have better graphics wich helps alot in better understanding of the tactics and strategy
@@Braila2000 Hehe, you're funny :)
@@Braila2000 I wouldn't talk about errors so lightheartedly, usually there are conflicting sources, or some are just conflicting with common sense.
Why did you not keep your wonderful war elephant symbol?? =(
We the people of Historia Civilis would like to know...
Good question. Petition to bring the war elephant symbol back??
@@aeiou75 I for one, would sign that petition
It's the will of the people to bring the war elephant symbol back!!!
@@pez4 Gather a Quorum, the Senate and People of Historia Civils shall vote on the matter!
When a bull outsmarts the people who conquered most of the known world...
Good thing it wasn't an Emu or they might have lost the entire Empire!
@@austenbin4068 ikr the emu are overpowered as fuck not even modern weapons could beat them, if they ever decided to take over, humanity maybe force to use nukes just to stop them.
IQ: 1,000,000+
You should make a video on the Numidian cavalry. These dudes show up everywhere for a long stretch of history.
It's done now friends
Labinus, taunting while winning the battle: "When I left you I was but the learner, now I am the master!"
Random Centurion of the Tenth: "Master this, you knob!" Throws a javelin, kills Labienus' horse.
* gets his army killed like paper, twice
“I came, I saw, I came, I saw
I praise the Lord, then break the law
I take what's mine, then take some more
It rains, it pours, it rains, it pours.” - Cæsar when asked about the battle of Zela
I cant laugh no more popo dont do this to me
Except he praised the gods not the lord
kinda like in spain, it rains it pours
"Caesar its time to stop playing Civ and do your duties"
"No! Just one more campaign..PLEASEE?"
"Well okay then..."
welp there goes my morning, in a good way.
Ave
ditto for my night
true to Caesar
Elephants in foxhole when?
@@sarahheikel my reputation proceeds me i see.
@@ISawABear I love you're videos by the way -A colonial.
Hey ! I bought foxhole because your videos
I think William The conqueror did the same when he slipped and fell on the ground and stand up grasp a handful of soil and shouted ''England is ours!''
I think this is a coincidence
Luke Ferrer, Patton did it too when he crosses the Rhine River but he didn’t fall on accident he just got on his knees
@@jameskirk1161 it happens pretty frequently. Edward III did so when he landed in France, as did Henry Tudor when he landed in Wales
i am not to sure but i can definately immagine William the conquerer beein well educated on roman history. Or maybe just the chronist who later on wrote the story of Williams conquest.
Sure it could be pure coincidence but i tend to think we often underestimate the education medival rulers and scribes had.
Or the grand Daddy of all memes.
Invoked trope. Or meme.
Watching the dynamic between Labienus and Caesar play out is one of the most interesting parts of this whole time period. I find both characters very fascinating, it's like the perfect rivalry. Gonna be a real sad day when I finally see who plots first :(
Bull IQ of 1 million? Believable.
Bull-ievable.
Here's a little secret about IQ tests: you can get whatever value for whatever creature you want by just choosing the right parameters for the distribution.
Also known as the FREE-EST bull who ever lived! 😁
It got all "turnt up" lmao
@@romaliop Yeah man, the parameters have the sample population to be the bull and its 4 captors. Clearly the bull has an IQ of 1 million relative to those 4 human captors.
I came
I watched
I liked
I subscribed
venny veedee veechy
I came
I watched
I came
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Veni
Vidi
Amavi*
This comment also works in reverse :D
Seems like everytime elephants are involved it led to chaos and the owners losing.
I heard that the best use of elephants was as anti-cavalry. There was a battle where one cavalry won and chased off the other side's, but when they came back to help, the enemy elephants were lined up in the way to block them, and the horses wouldn't go near. So the other side managed to win.
Also, putting the elephants on the flanks to keep them away from your own troops, as well as protecting the flanks.
Hannibal used them to great effect during the Punic wars. It was mostly the novelty of them that made them so dangerous at first, though the Romans learned how to effectively counter elephants, leading to them becoming more of a liability like we see here.
@@shorewall the battle of ipsus
Even Sauron cant win with elephant
The thing about elephants is that they're used to being able to trash anything they come across; if something does hurt them (such as that wave of javelins), they don't bear injuries very stoically and will panic and run.
Elephants are formidable enemies but they can be dealt with: retain enough flexibility in your formation that you can get out of their way, then hamstring them from behind with axes or swords, inflicting a "mobility kill" that neutralizes them.
"...Before the Roman Camp could respond, the Numidian Cavalry slipped away"
Roman Legion: *Angerly Spinning*
17:40 lol he says Caesar's reputation was tarnished while I'm in awe at how he survived what should've been an overwhelmingly deadly situation. This is the most impressive skirmish survival on this channel that Caesar achieved.
With Caesar, the only loss could be from his death, as long as he lived then victory was just slightly delayed.
His legions charging in both directions was genius
It seems like almost every time war elephants are used they end up killing more of their own army than their enemies
Unless they're being used in India.
Aidan Belanger only in Africa
Man I just want to say how much I love your videos, they are simplified enough that someone unfamiliar with the time period would understand it and that someone familiar with it would enjoy it. Keep up the great work!
I found the soldiers growing disregard for Caesars orders fascinating. Their loyalty and discipline seemed to slowly break down towards the end.
They were tired, anxious to get the campaign over with so they could get on with retirement, and in no mood to have to fight the same opponents all over again. Not saying that they were right, just pointing out their reasons for letting their bloodlust overtake their discipline.
That's the difference between volunteering and duty. They weren't obligated to join the campaign.
Even Alexander the Great's troops rebelled when he wanted to keep going into India. Eventually soldiers get tired and want to go home.
One thing that didn’t beak down was their skill.
Shorewall then he punished his army by marching into the Dessert and Plenty men died.
That battle that Caesar “lost” in itself is one of Caesar and his legion’s greatest feats. Sure what got them in that position wasn’t good but any other general loses that’s
He lost, no reason to use quotes lil bro
He doesn't get enough credit for the humor he adds to these brilliant videos, the subtle "Nailed it" speech bubble after the trip is pure gold! 🤣🤣
I think at this point, Caesar is definitely using cheat codes
@Alexis Hazel DeSilva Jesus isn't god. God was there before jesus
@@FSBMateus This cheat codes are hilarious, but seriously Varus gimme mah legions.
@Alexis Hazel DeSilva I know, but you said that god wasn't there because Jesus wasn't born yet...
Pretty funny how the ancient equivalent of hackusations was to attribute divine interference.
And it was a good thing.
He actually overused them and definitely screwed something up. Imagine typing lerooooyjulius into a console or accidentally setting Ferocity stat of his legions to 10.
me: Wow new Historia Civilis vid, time to grab pizza
vid: Cato disemboweled himself with his bare hands
me: .................
Spaghetti!
3 meat
@@teegamew766 sausage!
Pizza falls to the floor right after your jaw 😆
It sounds improbable, but if you start at the belly-button I think you might be able to make some decent headway.
Rip old elephant symbol. :(
I think NATO would have enjoyed it
These videos are so great and detailed. I've listened to Duncan's history of Rome and read plenty. It's so neat hearing Mike Duncan mention something and sort of moving past it, only to see how close a thing it really was to just unraveling completely.
If HC made up random anecdotes for 5 minutes, I would really have no recourse. I have mad trust for this creator/storyteller/historian.
I always pump myself up when the outro music is about to begin, I just start preparing for amazingness
Man what a life. After surviving all these crazy situations, to die like that, trully ironic
Eventually, his luck ran out.
That music at the end is my favorite part of this! Love the vids HC!!
"STAHP!"
-Caius Julius Caesar, 47 B.C.
This killed me 😂😂😂 *Gaius, btw
Geez I find myself rewatching your videos over and over, its like watching the history channel 20 years ago when it was good. Thank you so much for your hard work.
Caesar is like that one main character who always screws up but comes out on top...with a little military skill.
Caesar OP, plz nerf!
His legions are OP
Caesar has a huge administrative skill than
Nah, what your suggesting is he was a lucky buffoon when in reality he was lucky and brilliant.
Marty Moose Caesar was brilliant, I was cracking a joke. Chill.
I love the song you always close with!
Ikr I watch so many of his videos one day until I heard that shit in my sleep.
I love following these stories; I'm watching for the first time the HBO series "Rome", at the same time as I go through these videos. Makes for a very cool collaboration and way better insight into the drama of the show. (For example, S01E08 opens with a dead elephant and the end of the aftermath of the Thapsus campaign; we skipped from Caesar holding a son high in Alexandria at the end of the last episode, to that. Your videos fill in the timeline between these events, explaining how we get to this point - exposition not covered by the TV show.)
Awesome work; thanks!
5:59 - Thank you. Nice to see Mr. Historia Kiwilis pronounce things correctly. Now I have to watch your videos I have queued up about that Kikero guy...
I was kind of impressed by Scipios ability to match Caesar's manoeuvers on and around the battlefield for so long. Must have been a talented family, those Scipio's.
10:08 William the Conqueror, the first meme stealer
Haha true! I wonder whether he knew that the same thing had happened to Caesar before him.
@Ivan RicañaI assume he could understand spoken language so the legend of Caesar was most likely known to him.
Man I got really sad when I heard this because that maybe means the William story or the Caesar story is bullshit
Ave! True to Caesar!
Incredible work on the video, as always, HistoriaCivilis! I can’t wait too see your next video.
This will be my highlight of my weekend when I watch it tomorrow!
There are few channels whose new uploads I will watch at my first opportunity. This is the only one I set new videos aside from, until they can be given my full attention. The expertise and energy brought to each of these videos is an absolute joy to witness. Thank you for doing what you do. Please keep up the amazing work!
Excellent work as always, been wonderful following this all the way through. Already dying for the next!
So basically a Cato flees to North Africa, raises armies, enlists a Scipio as his general, brings Numidian cavalry as reinforcements and faces of against Roman legions?
Am I the only one seeing the whole Punic wars and Cato the Elder "Carthage should be destroyed" thing here? :P
The irony.
People in Carthage must have liked Cato for him to have been able to seek refuge there. It could be propaganda but their are a lot of stories that say Carthage was doing regular human sacrifices and baby killings before Romans arrived.
@@savvageorge After Carthage was destroyed it stayed as a deserted ruin for a while but the roman themselves refounded it and brought settlers from other parts, if Carthage was already again an inhabited settlement at this moment (I do not remember the date of its reconstruction), most of those people would had not direct conection with the semitic population that once was the mortal enemy of Rome; the human sacrifice thing seems to be mostly propaganda but the Carthaginians were harsh masters, pretty much in the vein of older eastern civilizations (of which they were descedants of) so I would asume that most of their subjects were not exactly sad to see their overlord destroyed so the people of Utica probably would had not had much resentment against Cato even if his ancestor was one of the most vocal proponents of the utter destruction of Carthage.
@@savvageorge There have been excavations done near Carthage which strongly suggest there have been regular child sacrifices in that time period.
@@Sealdeam Surprisingly, it was Caesar himself who rebuilt the city in 49 BC (which means he probably told a few architects to go wild), but Rome had settled the area before in 122 BC
Are we going to get a video dedicated to how Marc Antony always screwed things up?
Or several.
@@merrittanimation7721 Hopefully
To be fair, he did great on Alesia.
@@Badosureinhardt That is actually the main reason I want a video dedicated for him, we know he was very competent at times so I am curious what is Historia Civilis talking about,
DerekGuerrero, when Caesar was in Egypt and elsewhere in this video’s time period Antonius was in charge of Italy and doing a bad job of it, many people were very unhappy with him (the legion rebelling was just tip of the iceberg) it ruined Caesar’s relationship with him. Many historians think prior to this Antonius was Caesar’s heir but even though they made up later Caesar has changed his will.
And Antonius did very poorly in Parthia. And while Philippi was a victory it wasn’t very well executed (even if he was best general of the four in the battle) and his politics in Italy (his wife and brother unsuccessfully rebelled against Octavian and he most likely was agreeing with this) and in general how he handeled his publicity in Egypt and the battle of Aticum look bad. Antonius never really was that good by himself on top even though he could work well with under Caesar if it was a battlefield.
Quickly becoming my favorite channel!
T'ch bandwagon fan! :)
Stand in line buddy.
I swear, every time a big battle with elephants happens they end up panicking and destroying their own line
"....Guys?"
- Ceasar
Love the low key comedy under the facts man, keep it up
personally, I don't mind turning into a skeleton as long as I get the juicy details of Roman politics.
I mean really the skeleton army has great benefits anyways. Lots of free milk and cheese 4 Halloweens etc.
Welcome back Historia Civilis and TY for uploading this!
0:46 PONTUUUUUUUUUUUS
Ikr
Are you turkish or greek?
I get so excited every time a new video of yours is uploaded. I have to rewatch your entire channel at least once a year.
I know it probably didn’t happen, but there is a series that describes how labienus got hurt, while he was talking down to the legionnaires, a man from the 10th walked out and demanded to be shown respect as he was not a new recruit, when labienus mocked him, the legionnaire threw his spear at him, killing his horse, and knocking him out of the battle