Julian the Apostate was a Roman Emperor of Illyrian heritage like 29 Roman Emperors that dominated the Roman and Eastern Roman Empire from 260 AD to 610 AD thus changing forever the Roman and world history, extending the life of the Roman Empire and establishing and ruling the Eastern half of the Roman Empire up to 610 when the Armenian Hercalius took charge. He was the same blood as Decius, Claudius Gothicus, Aurelian, Diocletian, Constance, Constantine the Great, Valentinian, Valens, Anastasius, Justin I, Justinian the Great, Phocas etc. But unlike the most of these Illyro Roman Emperors, he wanted paganism back. He is a very interested and underrated figure.
This man was essentially a book worm - but once at the command of an army he was a ferocious lion. Impressive that his mind and character had that ability. Awesome vid as always gents.
This was awesome. One of the best King and Generals I've seen in a while. That battle... HEARTPOUNDING. Amazing that such an untested leader did so amazingly well, he held himself like Julius Caesar yet had barely any military experience.
Yet I am suprised that his campaign against the Persians failed that much? If he studied old books about former Roman generals, why did he make the same mistakes in Mesopotamia?
@@TheTrajanator His Persian Campaign was pretty well planned. But Procopius failed to meet with Julian forces in Mesopotamia. Just like Barbatio in this episode, he refused to, or failed to do his job, as second side of pincer movement. Even then, Roman army retreat was not a failure. Persian attacked often, but were taking heavy casualties and if Julian haven't died, the army would have great chance of retreating safely to roman lands with small losses.
@@adambarys3190 Further more, when his campaign was that well planned, why did he get it that he did not have enough siege weapons to conquer Seleukeia-Ktesiphon not until he stood right before the city?
@@TheTrajanator Goal of campaign was to invade from both sides. Julian from south, and Procopius had to go north, and join him near Ctesiphon. Armenian king was also pro-roman and promised help. Nnot enough siege machines weren't the problem, but with too small forces to siege and defend against Persian king outside at the same time. Julian needed procopius forces for this, and he never arrived.
@@WarHammer1989 Don't you think killing and death and blood are so awesome? You must be really cool huh? You could make people die and watch people die? You must be really awesome ay? :)
Julian would have had the standard Roman upbringing complete with actual military training. ALL Roman noble boys were trained in the basic military arts starting at age 10. They had to be proficient in horseriding, swordsmanship, use of the shield, and fighting in formation by age 16. This is why bookworms like Julian and Marcus long before him so readily served in the military after a lifetime of studying philosophy, because they'd been properly trained to fight BEFORE they had a chance to study philosphy and become bookworms.
@@WarHammer1989 yeah I bet you have lots of friends. People love making friends with people like you who fantasize about killing large groups of people. Good luck man!
@@benjamingrezik373 the man was making an obviously sarcastic joke about total war and your brain collapsed on itself trying to process the words he wrote down. I understand you're still in your early teenage "I'm smarter than everyone, and will argue with everyone on youtube to prove that" phase but find a hobby or something please.
-Escape a plot to kill all your family -Get Nominated general even if you don’t know anything about war -Learn by yourself about the art of war -Beat the Barbarians multiple times -Be the last pagan emperor -Refuses to Elaborate further
@Heberth R. monotheism and all its trappings should have a special purgatory set aside just for the pain, suffering, and persecution they've wrought upon the world. If Julian is in Hell then a great many Saints and Apostles are right there with him.
@@HodgePodgeVids1 only you and your book makes you think that if people like Julian are in hell I'll be more happy being in hell with people like him than with religious intolerants sitting in heaven
For anyone wondering, Michael Curtis Ford wrote a fucking banger of a novel about this guy, called "Gods and Legions". Its written from the perspective of a close friend, who was christian, and a good slice of it is Julian trying to sneakily word stumble the poor guy into abandoning his faith, to the backdrop of Julian being an all round swell guy. Good content, highly recommend.
I readed that exact same novel as a kid! (though translated to spanish) I got a bit confused at the beginning of this video, since I recall Julian being raised in Athens instead of Nicomedia/Cesarea.
I will say, Julian’s Story is one of the greatest of Rome. Few will understand what he was trying to do for his people. His story is amazing, and I am glad Kings and Generals made a video about The Last Pagan
@@faydulaksono Like it says in the beginning, he was isolated from most the world, and he ended up reading a ton. He also was in Athens; in which, he extensively used their library.
The life of Julian is the first historical biography I've read. I was 13 and had no info of the roman map and cities. Now seeing this video everything is much more clearer and understandable. Great work Kings and Generals. Looking forward for future episodes.
Is must say that Julian The Apostate is one of the more interesting Emperors in history. A man that never even who was meant to carry the purple surley got his light in history and tried to turn the empire back to the old ways. And at the same time was much of a philosopher and a great tactician. Im pretty sure he could have moved the empire in the right way had it just followed im to the cue! And a big shoutout for Kings and Generals for making all this great content. Absolutley astonishing!
The first culture on the Euro-Asia continent, way of life, and religion were Santhana Hindu Dharma. With time tribes and empires modified original Hinduism. This ancient culture has a lot of juice in itself. It was tasty ... something that Judaism and later official Christianity didn't have.
yes, Jesus existed and was real ... but official mainstream Christianity has nothing to do with him ... nobody has its original teachings. He also learned from gurus in India that followed god Shiva. This group in India are called Gorakhnathis
His cult he propagated wasn’t even the religion of old, it was blended with Christian and Greek paganism of the time😂. He alienated himself from Christian’s and pagans alike
The Persian spear that brought Julian down was one of the costliest events in history. It resulted in the almost instant and fatal decline of the Western Empire. A sad event in many ways.
If it was Persian spear at all.Many versions circulated.Actual decline of the west only came with weak Emperors after Valentinian I.Gratian was not yet that bad but Valentinian III never really reigned and then came Honorius(not counting short reign of Theodosius I over entire Roman world).
I always tell people about this when the butterfly effect is brought up. The person that threw that spear would have no idea what they did or the impact behind it.
Nope, lol. He likely would have done another dumb propaganda campaign depriving the rhine from any comitatus troops. His absolute disaster depleted the army, better for him to die and Jovian to pull out the life support that was his Sassanid campaign
@@grantrobinson5046 Yes. Stoicism fascinated me very much so I bought the book. It was somewhat soothing to read and listen to the thoughts of an actual Roman Emperor reminiscing.
Interesting that Julian is considered apostate when the whole of the ‘Christian’ church in his time was wholly apostate itself--having doctrines and traditions fast from Christ’s original teachings to his disciples.
Maaaan! What an incredible battle! I’d never even heard of this guy or battle so I had no idea what was going to happen. The whole battle break down I was like: “Come on! Come on! You can do it!” What an epic battle and video! 👏🏼🧐
The man was highly popular in the west because of what he did for gaul and of course popular with the western army but his reputation with the east was particularly bad. His stance to go with paganism alienated him from the east. The eastern army was also not motivated to fight the persians which julian insisted because he seemed to want to emulate alexander too much. His revived form of paganism wasn’t really paganism. It was a mix of christian and pagan values attributed to it. Christianity had already been too popular. Unlikely julian would have reversed the tide. Paganism was also too divisive. Christianity was just more practical and better at uniting the empire than paganism could. The cult of sol invictus tried but with little success at curbing Christianity’s rise to power.
Realistically, Julian surviving to an old age and ruling absolutely like Constantine would have resulted in an inversion of the effects of Constantine's rule, when being Christian was in the vogue. However, Roman paganism was already doomed anyway. Constantine was a henotheistic worshipper of Sol Invictus and Roman pagan religion itself was well on the way to becoming monotheistic anyway. Julian's long rule would not have stopped the trend towards Christian dominance, but the Christianity that could have emerged from such a rule would have been more interesting. More Arian than Orthodox, perhaps, with the Trinity as a concept abandoned for a triune of divinities, Sol the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Daimon? Maybe saint Mercury the bringer of Evangelium, saint Vesta who tended the hearth, and saint Neptune the patron of sailors? Maybe a more Saturnalian easter festival? A celebration of Jesus' sacrifice with actual blood? The possibilities tickle the mind. It would definitely be a more Roman and syncretic monotheism we could have ended up with.
'Julian' by Gore Vidal (1964) is one of the best historical novels I have ever read. I highly recommend it, a great page turner, well researched and wonderful story telling. Order it online and you will be glad you did.
@@bstr9265 Ho you are right i forgot this one! Well to be fair any emeprors deserve a video on its own because any lived in a time that is interessting to cover up
Julian was an emperor-philosopher, similar to Marcus Aurelius, and he was undoubtedly brave on the battlefield. The story of Julian is great material for making a historical television series.
He could probably be a great tragic hero. He was someone who was clearly intelligent, witty and courageous, with ambition to boot and capable of compassion and mercy, dying with his dream unfulfilled from betrayal and resentment.
He wasnt an augustus at this moment and he clearly didnt won alone this battle, it is not great to claim it was all thanks to him, and also whezn you see how hte did agaisnt the Sasanids you see how its not same to won agaisnt some barbarians and a real empire
THIS....IS....AMAZING!!! Julian the Apostate the military history nerd who won a battle 3 to 1 odds with no prior military training or experince but only knowledge and the ability to implement those knowledge his ancestor has mastered over and over the course of History. Truly fucking amazing he makes my blood boil in excitement and thirst for knowledge. He is now on my list of idols from Alexander the Great, Otto von Bismarck, Manstein, Frederick the Great, Julius Caesar, And lastly Charlemagne the Great
Fantastic video K&G! For me, Julian is like Aurelian in that I'd never learned about him in any of my general history classes in school, but discovered him on my own when I was older and asked myself, "Why the Hell didn't any of my teachers tell me about this guy?!"
Because schools love to make history as simple as possible and if they don't have a big impact then they skip it. Besides Caesar, Nero, sometimes diocletion and Constantine what other romans get taught about? Not even emperors just romans in general
I'm sure this has already been said, but the quality of K&G videos keeps going from strength to strength. The level of detail in this one, and the supremely engaging style of narration, is very remarkable. Plus it's made me even more eager for the release of Rome: Total War Remastered!
Big shout out to the people behind Kings & Generals. You never settle for the status quo. Instead, you are constantly upping the quality, animations and research put into your videos. I salute you: “Roma victor!” ✊🏼
Julian: People of Rome! I'm your new emperor, and I... Roman people: *NERD!!!* Note: The Alamanni people are in the origin of how us in the Iberian Peninsula, and also in France, call Germany: PT - _Alemanha_ ; ES - _Alemania_ ; FR - _Allemagne_ .
Great episode. I first read about Julian in Byzantium the Early Centuries by John Julius Norwich and went on to read Julian by Gore Vidal. Truly an amazing story to be told.
Julian was a great guy and an all around personality with knowledge in many elements his love for the old way of life made him like a black sheep later,very good overall content!
You know you’ve played a lot of Rome: Total War when you recognize the portrait used for Chnodomar as a character portrait for a family member of the Gaul Faction! 😂 Love these documentaries!
Your voice is perfect when telling the stories you do an excellent job my friend I have even had my daughter watch a couple of your videos and she's only nine years of age you do a great job with the detail in the animation please don't stop what you're doing love your Channel
I love the way you create the battle scenes. It's so engaging and exciting. Makes me want to study more and more about each battle! Also shoutout to the big W for the scholar philosopher kings, aka nerd warriors
You do know right that most contemporary pagans hated Julian? He was a weirdo trying to mix Christianity Greek paganism of the time into his own odd concoction.
"He also become what by our standards might be seen as a bit of a nerd" I mean, just because he's intelligent and has a passion doesn't mean he's weak, as the Alemanni learned the hard way :D
You guys should read his satire of all the emperors that came before him in HaDes. The way he paints Augustus and Commodus is hilarious, he praised Marcus Aurelius because he loved Philosophers.
@@cantbetamed2210 Nah more like pure suffering of humans in general. Most people in power since the beginning of human civilization to today have a little nerdy concept.
Julian's military achievements are especially notable as they used the _comitatus_ coming after Constantine abolished the old legions and significantly reduced the size of the army to prevent any single commander having the numbers of troops to usurp political power the same way he had. Gore Vidal's "Julian" is one of my all-time favourite books. Think it's out of print now but well worth reading.
Constantine didn't abolished "old legions"(legions had several forms even prior that during those many centuries),creation of the new system was work of several emperors mainly of Diocletian(who was actually 1st who systematically started with great reform)and Constantine but it took most of 4th century before it gradually settled.Older style legions with late principate era organisation and around 6000 men strong continued to exist for some time together with new regiments already established after new organisation model.It was not something that would change just during one emperor. Constantine(and Diocletian!)also did not "reduced the size of the army".In fact their reforms significantly increased size of the army.You probably confuse it with regiments now being typically smaller in size but not army as a whole.Making things smaller was a typical move of Diocletian to limit power of commanders and also of gouverners who also get their provincies much smaller than previously. "Comitatus" was not creation of Constantine and it is also not optimal using that word when talking about what replaced "old style legions". Vidal's book is exellent but occasionally includes anachronistic details same as for example Count Belisarius by Robert graves.Both authors-especially Vidal did much of research hovewer scholarly support on late antiquity Roman army at the time they wrote their books was dramatically samaller than it is today as it is only in recent decades late antiquity army stop to be so very neglected compared to republican and principate era.
Love your biographies. Hope to see Ranjit Singh someday. Could you create separate playlist for every country and sort videos in chronological order? It will make my life so much easier.
@@AdriatheBwitch Julian definitely goofed when he chose to burn his fleet and advance into the Persian interior, his rational made since, as disconnecting from his supply lines and free wheeling across an enemy country is how he won his wars in Germany, but he should have realized he wasn’t in Germany any more, and that the Persians had a history of resorting to scorched earth tactics when all else failed (just look at Mark Antony). It would have been much smarter to take the victories he had already won over the Persians, declare Amida avenged, and leave. But I think the much bigger disaster was his death, as reading Amminius Marcellinius’ account, it seemed a big factor for Jovian’s decision to negotiate peace was the collapse of morale after the Emperor was killed. Had he survived, I think it probable that he would have been able to make it back to Roman territory, lick his wounds, and prepare for another campaign the next spring. But that of course is pure speculation.
@@dantecaputo2629 I remind you that you had western bordures being overrun by barbarians and that it had to be delt with =p its why i say Julian wasted ressources in this campain, look at what Valentinian I had to do
@@AdriatheBwitch The western borders were only being overrun after the Persian Campaign, with the Alamanni crossing in 365. In 363, they were secure, thanks to Julian’s campaigns of 355-358. However, I agree that it is likely Julian’s stripping of troops from the Rhine frontier to fight Persia contributed to this renewed invasion, but we must remember that in 363, Persia was the greater threat. They had only a few years prior destroyed seven Roman legions and taken the city of Amida, this was not something a Roman Emperor could simply ignore. And while Valentinian’s Rhine campaign was absolutely impressive, and honestly felt in many ways like a replay of Julian’s, things were not quite so bad in 365 as they were a decade earlier.
Amazing video at first I had thought this was a video about Justinian I father, but this was a very interesting emperor that I hadn't known about. Looking forward to more videos on this subject!
Julian's brand of Paganism was to some extent influenced by Christianity though e.g. getting them involved in philantropy, which was very different from the old Paganism.
This was a really fun video. I've heard about this man. But not in full detail. So thanks for the Kings and Generals. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.
Meh. His achievements weren’t long term and he only helped speed up Rome’s eventual collapse. As sole emperor (361-3), Julian succumbed, as many Roman leaders before him (e.g. Crassus, Trajan, Septimius Severus) to "Alexander the Great syndrome": the desire to emulate the Macedonian general and conquer the Persian empire. He invaded Mesopotamia at the head of an enormous army of 65,000.[129] But the campaign was a disaster: Julian lost his own life and his army was forced to retreat with huge losses.[130] Although most of these would have been from the eastern comitatus and from the emperor's own escort army, the comitatus of Illyricum and Gaul would undoubtedly have been stripped of troops to fill the gaps. The result was that in 366 Gaul was again overrun by Alamanni hordes and Julian's painstaking work of restoration undone. This forced Julian's successor, Valentinian I, to spend years carrying out a virtual replay of Julian's Gallic campaign.
@@cartesian_doubt6230 And oh how have the mighty fallen! Now it'sthe christian clergy and its organization that have become hedonistic and sinful! Moral; No religion should get power
I don't know in the long run. The greater culture/society had already changed by his time. He could have been a great emperor, agreed. But he'd have simply held back the inevitable for a few decades. It's like Constantine uniting the empire one last time just delayed the split and fall.
@@illerac84 that’s a common viewpoint shared by many historians, and I respect that point of view as I believe it is a possibility. But if you look deeply into the pagan/Christian divide at the time most of the west was still pagan, especially the Senate and old aristocracy. If Julian was given the same amount of time as Constantine, I think the balance would have shifted back to the old ways. Pagans were a significant force for a full generation even after Julian. It was only with Eugenius’s defeat at Frigidus that the change to Christianity in my mind was irrevocable
@@grantrobinson5046Still, even during the crisis and the age of Diocletian, Christianity was still growing a lot quicker than paganism, it was a simple inevitability.
Something smart, funny, cool and profound
Witty reply
When is Napoleonic Wars ever coming
Ramadan Kareem
😁👍
First
"If I didn't know any better, I'd swear those trees are hiding Germans."
Julian, at some point
The trees are speaking German!!
@@unlucky_2nd897 Germany = Vietnam of ancient world
@@unlucky_2nd897 "Wo bist die tannenbaum????"
Julian the Apostate was a Roman Emperor of Illyrian heritage like 29 Roman Emperors that dominated the Roman and Eastern Roman Empire from 260 AD to 610 AD thus changing forever the Roman and world history, extending the life of the Roman Empire and establishing and ruling the Eastern half of the Roman Empire up to 610 when the Armenian Hercalius took charge.
He was the same blood as Decius, Claudius Gothicus, Aurelian, Diocletian, Constance, Constantine the Great, Valentinian, Valens, Anastasius, Justin I, Justinian the Great, Phocas etc.
But unlike the most of these Illyro Roman Emperors, he wanted paganism back. He is a very interested and underrated figure.
@@torikeqi8710 Illyrians were not Illyrian anymore. They were Latin speaking Romans. Illyria was just a geographical term.
"He also become what by our standards might be seen as a bit of a nerd" - Matt
Devin : * *holds his laugh before moving on* *
...a nerd who forged the respect and admiration of his legions. makes a bit of a difference
"While you were busy feasting and worrying about court intrigue i studied the testudo"
-Emperor Julian moments before tipping his Fedoranum
@@christianjocson5509 the world's first and best otaku!
@@derekscanlan4641 still a nerrd
This man was essentially a book worm - but once at the command of an army he was a ferocious lion. Impressive that his mind and character had that ability. Awesome vid as always gents.
This was awesome. One of the best King and Generals I've seen in a while. That battle... HEARTPOUNDING. Amazing that such an untested leader did so amazingly well, he held himself like Julius Caesar yet had barely any military experience.
Yet I am suprised that his campaign against the Persians failed that much? If he studied old books about former Roman generals, why did he make the same mistakes in Mesopotamia?
@@TheTrajanator His Persian Campaign was pretty well planned. But Procopius failed to meet with Julian forces in Mesopotamia. Just like Barbatio in this episode, he refused to, or failed to do his job, as second side of pincer movement. Even then, Roman army retreat was not a failure. Persian attacked often, but were taking heavy casualties and if Julian haven't died, the army would have great chance of retreating safely to roman lands with small losses.
@@adambarys3190 But Procopius job was to secure Armenia and thereby Julianus' Northern flank not to participate Julians movement in Mesopotamia.
@@adambarys3190 Further more, when his campaign was that well planned, why did he get it that he did not have enough siege weapons to conquer Seleukeia-Ktesiphon not until he stood right before the city?
@@TheTrajanator Goal of campaign was to invade from both sides. Julian from south, and Procopius had to go north, and join him near Ctesiphon. Armenian king was also pro-roman and promised help. Nnot enough siege machines weren't the problem, but with too small forces to siege and defend against Persian king outside at the same time. Julian needed procopius forces for this, and he never arrived.
This is the modern equivalent of someone playing total war for years and suddenly becoming a country's general
@@WarHammer1989 Don't you think killing and death and blood are so awesome? You must be really cool huh? You could make people die and watch people die? You must be really awesome ay? :)
Julian would have had the standard Roman upbringing complete with actual military training. ALL Roman noble boys were trained in the basic military arts starting at age 10. They had to be proficient in horseriding, swordsmanship, use of the shield, and fighting in formation by age 16. This is why bookworms like Julian and Marcus long before him so readily served in the military after a lifetime of studying philosophy, because they'd been properly trained to fight BEFORE they had a chance to study philosphy and become bookworms.
@@WarHammer1989 yeah I bet you have lots of friends. People love making friends with people like you who fantasize about killing large groups of people. Good luck man!
@@WarHammer1989 I really believe you on the internet. Could it be your first comment already made you look foolish and now you are confirming it?
@@benjamingrezik373 the man was making an obviously sarcastic joke about total war and your brain collapsed on itself trying to process the words he wrote down. I understand you're still in your early teenage "I'm smarter than everyone, and will argue with everyone on youtube to prove that" phase but find a hobby or something please.
-Escape a plot to kill all your family
-Get Nominated general even if you don’t know anything about war
-Learn by yourself about the art of war
-Beat the Barbarians multiple times
-Be the last pagan emperor
-Refuses to Elaborate further
He elaborated very clearly about Christianity 😂
Julian, a literary prodigy and a cultural exception, thank you for honoring him with this amazing video.
@Heberth R. meh if julian and other pagan philosopher dudes are there hell would be an agora.
@Heberth R. monotheism and all its trappings should have a special purgatory set aside just for the pain, suffering, and persecution they've wrought upon the world. If Julian is in Hell then a great many Saints and Apostles are right there with him.
@@AnArtInEveryLabor Yeah but Christianity is true and all the gods of pagan religions are humans with limited immortality.
@@HodgePodgeVids1 only you and your book makes you think that if people like Julian are in hell I'll be more happy being in hell with people like him than with religious intolerants sitting in heaven
@@AnArtInEveryLabor Without Christianity, you wouldn't have hospitals, universities, any respect for the poor, or any concept of human rights.
For anyone wondering, Michael Curtis Ford wrote a fucking banger of a novel about this guy, called "Gods and Legions". Its written from the perspective of a close friend, who was christian, and a good slice of it is Julian trying to sneakily word stumble the poor guy into abandoning his faith, to the backdrop of Julian being an all round swell guy. Good content, highly recommend.
Sounds really good. There’s another novel about Julian by Gore Vidal.
i am going to read both of these books, i love Jukian and and i love Vidal!!
Thank. Will check it.
I readed that exact same novel as a kid! (though translated to spanish)
I got a bit confused at the beginning of this video, since I recall Julian being raised in Athens instead of Nicomedia/Cesarea.
Honestly, the catholic church of rome has a way of making people hate Christianity and Christians. I grew up catholic and that church is antichrist
I will say, Julian’s Story is one of the greatest of Rome. Few will understand what he was trying to do for his people. His story is amazing, and I am glad Kings and Generals made a video about The Last Pagan
My favorite emperor ! The bookworm who became a capable and respected commander.
how do you know he was bookworm?any references?
@@faydulaksono Like it says in the beginning, he was isolated from most the world, and he ended up reading a ton. He also was in Athens; in which, he extensively used their library.
@@faydulaksono Lucien Jerphagnon, Julien dit l'Apostat : Histoire naturelle d'une famille sous le Bas-Empire.
You can read it in Julian Lettres too.
what i like most from julian (maybe) he want to reawake glory of roman empire.and overthrow corrupt christian dynasty
@@faydulaksono ikr Christianity was to enslave us Julian good man
The life of Julian is the first historical biography I've read. I was 13 and had no info of the roman map and cities. Now seeing this video everything is much more clearer and understandable. Great work Kings and Generals. Looking forward for future episodes.
Is must say that Julian The Apostate is one of the more interesting Emperors in history. A man that never even who was meant to carry the purple surley got his light in history and tried to turn the empire back to the old ways. And at the same time was much of a philosopher and a great tactician.
Im pretty sure he could have moved the empire in the right way had it just followed im to the cue!
And a big shoutout for Kings and Generals for making all this great content. Absolutley astonishing!
The first culture on the Euro-Asia continent, way of life, and religion were Santhana Hindu Dharma. With time tribes and empires modified original Hinduism. This ancient culture has a lot of juice in itself. It was tasty ... something that Judaism and later official Christianity didn't have.
@@zoranznidaric4518 what! What?! Jesus Christ is Lord.
yes, Jesus existed and was real ... but official mainstream Christianity has nothing to do with him ... nobody has its original teachings. He also learned from gurus in India that followed god Shiva. This group in India are called Gorakhnathis
@@nkdadson9962 And Zeus is the King of the Gods. Whats ur point?
His cult he propagated wasn’t even the religion of old, it was blended with Christian and Greek paganism of the time😂. He alienated himself from Christian’s and pagans alike
The Persian spear that brought Julian down was one of the costliest events in history. It resulted in the almost instant and fatal decline of the Western Empire. A sad event in many ways.
If it was Persian spear at all.Many versions circulated.Actual decline of the west only came with weak Emperors after Valentinian I.Gratian was not yet that bad but Valentinian III never really reigned and then came Honorius(not counting short reign of Theodosius I over entire Roman world).
I always tell people about this when the butterfly effect is brought up. The person that threw that spear would have no idea what they did or the impact behind it.
Lol that's not why Rome collapsed. West recruited lots of unreliable Germanics into their ranks eventually they got fed up and took over
Nope, lol. He likely would have done another dumb propaganda campaign depriving the rhine from any comitatus troops. His absolute disaster depleted the army, better for him to die and Jovian to pull out the life support that was his Sassanid campaign
@@paprskomet 😂😂😂
Woohoo! Julian the Apostate. I only knew the name. He reminds me a lot of Marcus Aurelius (my favorite roman emperor). Thank you for uploading!
Itachi you are a patron of history, I see.
@@Hvllow99 , yes
@@Hvllow99 Definitely!😂
I see you are a man of culture as well...lol I love the meditations...changed my life
@@grantrobinson5046 Yes. Stoicism fascinated me very much so I bought the book. It was somewhat soothing to read and listen to the thoughts of an actual Roman Emperor reminiscing.
If Julian's a nerd, a nerd is what I want to be. Super stoked you guys are covering Julian. Seems he has a big nerdy fan club here. Nerd power!
May the gods forever bless the divine emperor Julian! so glad to see a series about him here
There are sources indicating that He became a folk deity after death. I'm giving offerings to Him today. Ave Divus Julianus!
@Alex Of Kievan Rus keep you jealous god to yourself, pagans have countless more of their own.
@Orthodox Hadrada hail Jupiter!
Interesting that Julian is considered apostate when the whole of the ‘Christian’ church in his time was wholly apostate itself--having doctrines and traditions fast from Christ’s original teachings to his disciples.
Heil bacchus
Maaaan! What an incredible battle! I’d never even heard of this guy or battle so I had no idea what was going to happen. The whole battle break down I was like: “Come on! Come on! You can do it!” What an epic battle and video!
👏🏼🧐
You guys really killed it describing the battle on this one! Has to be one of the most in depth battle coverage on this channel ever made!
This is one of the big "What IF" questions...What if Julian wasn't killed in the battle against the Sassanids?
Spoiler alert please!
The man was highly popular in the west because of what he did for gaul and of course popular with the western army but his reputation with the east was particularly bad. His stance to go with paganism alienated him from the east. The eastern army was also not motivated to fight the persians which julian insisted because he seemed to want to emulate alexander too much.
His revived form of paganism wasn’t really paganism. It was a mix of christian and pagan values attributed to it. Christianity had already been too popular. Unlikely julian would have reversed the tide.
Paganism was also too divisive. Christianity was just more practical and better at uniting the empire than paganism could. The cult of sol invictus tried but with little success at curbing Christianity’s rise to power.
@@chakraborty1989 Eugenius and Arbogast beg to differ.
Realistically, Julian surviving to an old age and ruling absolutely like Constantine would have resulted in an inversion of the effects of Constantine's rule, when being Christian was in the vogue. However, Roman paganism was already doomed anyway. Constantine was a henotheistic worshipper of Sol Invictus and Roman pagan religion itself was well on the way to becoming monotheistic anyway. Julian's long rule would not have stopped the trend towards Christian dominance, but the Christianity that could have emerged from such a rule would have been more interesting. More Arian than Orthodox, perhaps, with the Trinity as a concept abandoned for a triune of divinities, Sol the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Daimon? Maybe saint Mercury the bringer of Evangelium, saint Vesta who tended the hearth, and saint Neptune the patron of sailors? Maybe a more Saturnalian easter festival? A celebration of Jesus' sacrifice with actual blood? The possibilities tickle the mind. It would definitely be a more Roman and syncretic monotheism we could have ended up with.
make the question to alternative history hub...
Julian seems like a prime example of "Be careful who you call a nerd in youth"
'Julian' by Gore Vidal (1964) is one of the best historical novels I have ever read. I highly recommend it, a great page turner, well researched and wonderful story telling. Order it online and you will be glad you did.
Great read everyone wants to be a Alexander as did Julian.
Never thought I'd see a Julian video on Kings and Generals. Please do a Alexios I Komnenos video
Would they ever do a video about an emperor of the middle ages roman empire ever?
@@AdriatheBwitch Basil II
@@bstr9265 Ho you are right i forgot this one! Well to be fair any emeprors deserve a video on its own because any lived in a time that is interessting to cover up
emperor dickus
I have a very good friend named Biggus Dickus
Julian was an emperor-philosopher, similar to Marcus Aurelius, and he was undoubtedly brave on the battlefield. The story of Julian is great material for making a historical television series.
He could probably be a great tragic hero. He was someone who was clearly intelligent, witty and courageous, with ambition to boot and capable of compassion and mercy, dying with his dream unfulfilled from betrayal and resentment.
There’s a novel you can read about him called Julian by Gore Vidal.
A much appreciated topic. Julian is one of my favorite historic figures.
Oh my, that was such an intense battle. Thanks for your work.
Battle of Strasbourg is one of my favourite battles
why?
@@faydulaksono why not?
i mean why he like battle of strasbourg? can he explain , maybe there is interesting point at the battle
He wasnt an augustus at this moment and he clearly didnt won alone this battle, it is not great to claim it was all thanks to him, and also whezn you see how hte did agaisnt the Sasanids you see how its not same to won agaisnt some barbarians and a real empire
Thanks, I was born and live in strasbourg and I agree :-)
THIS....IS....AMAZING!!! Julian the Apostate the military history nerd who won a battle 3 to 1 odds with no prior military training or experince but only knowledge and the ability to implement those knowledge his ancestor has mastered over and over the course of History. Truly fucking amazing he makes my blood boil in excitement and thirst for knowledge. He is now on my list of idols from Alexander the Great, Otto von Bismarck, Manstein, Frederick the Great, Julius Caesar, And lastly Charlemagne the Great
Fantastic video K&G! For me, Julian is like Aurelian in that I'd never learned about him in any of my general history classes in school, but discovered him on my own when I was older and asked myself, "Why the Hell didn't any of my teachers tell me about this guy?!"
because chritstcucks dont want you to know about Julian
Julian was not very important in the long run
Because many teachers do not know much
@@GerardPerry then you have A. Marcellinus' History and G. Vidal's novel
Because schools love to make history as simple as possible and if they don't have a big impact then they skip it. Besides Caesar, Nero, sometimes diocletion and Constantine what other romans get taught about? Not even emperors just romans in general
"Planted the seed of apostasy" God the vocabulary of this channel is amazing
i have not been this excited by a battle like this in a long time
I'm sure this has already been said, but the quality of K&G videos keeps going from strength to strength. The level of detail in this one, and the supremely engaging style of narration, is very remarkable. Plus it's made me even more eager for the release of Rome: Total War Remastered!
Big shout out to the people behind Kings & Generals. You never settle for the status quo. Instead, you are constantly upping the quality, animations and research put into your videos. I salute you: “Roma victor!” ✊🏼
Roma Victrix * since Roma is a feminine word and Victor is masculine
Julian: People of Rome! I'm your new emperor, and I...
Roman people: *NERD!!!*
Note: The Alamanni people are in the origin of how us in the Iberian Peninsula, and also in France, call Germany: PT - _Alemanha_ ; ES - _Alemania_ ; FR - _Allemagne_ .
In Farsi: Alman
I have always wondered when did we start calling them that way.
Well and Germans still call France Frankreich, which literally mean realm of the franks :D
Neeeeerd
@@blockdevsunited4203 NEEEEEEEEEERD poor julian, he was a chad :D
@@TheMoorgoth as for Austria (Österreich), and I think one or more countries also.
Unfortunately Julian was killed during the war with Persia.
Great episode. I first read about Julian in Byzantium the Early Centuries by John Julius Norwich and went on to read Julian by Gore Vidal. Truly an amazing story to be told.
No way!! You guys are covering Julian the Pagan!? The nerd in me thanks you deeply!
Excellent video - Julian had the courage of Germanicus and the intellect of Marcus Aurelius. Every battle is won before it is fought
thanks!
One of my hero's from history.
Nothing beats watching Kings and Generals and learning about history while enjoying a good pizza
Whenever the "Voices of War" or "Hold the Gates" songs kick in, you know you're at the decisive moment of the battle in these videos!
Julian was a great guy and an all around personality with knowledge in many elements his love for the old way of life made him like a black sheep later,very good overall content!
You know you’ve played a lot of Rome: Total War when you recognize the portrait used for Chnodomar as a character portrait for a family member of the Gaul Faction! 😂
Love these documentaries!
Your voice is perfect when telling the stories you do an excellent job my friend I have even had my daughter watch a couple of your videos and she's only nine years of age you do a great job with the detail in the animation please don't stop what you're doing love your Channel
I love the way you create the battle scenes. It's so engaging and exciting. Makes me want to study more and more about each battle! Also shoutout to the big W for the scholar philosopher kings, aka nerd warriors
Ahhh, the Battle of Strasbourg. I've been waiting for this one! Thanks for finally getting to it!
Julian was an amazing person. His writings are still a good read so many centuries later.
Gods bless the divine Julian, a great man and an exemplary beacon of hope to all people working hard to restore our temples
Ave Divus Julianus!
You do know right that most contemporary pagans hated Julian? He was a weirdo trying to mix Christianity Greek paganism of the time into his own odd concoction.
"He also become what by our standards might be seen as a bit of a nerd"
I mean, just because he's intelligent and has a passion doesn't mean he's weak, as the Alemanni learned the hard way :D
Julian, one of the great what ifs. I binge your guys' videos. Keep up the great work!
My boy Jules trying to bring back the good old days. He was born after his time :(
Julian: REJECT MODERNITY, EMBRACE TRADITION
Long live traditions! Death to liberalism, modernity and infantility!
@@ПетрВрангель-т8п
wat?
@@ПетрВрангель-т8п fascist
You guys should read his satire of all the emperors that came before him in HaDes. The way he paints Augustus and Commodus is hilarious, he praised Marcus Aurelius because he loved Philosophers.
Lesson: Never bully the nerd.
Life is the Revenge of the Nerds after all 😁. I'll take up the advice.
Yes and he was the last true Roman for being a Pagan. Christianity is cancerous to progress
@@unclesam5230 , Agreed
@@cantbetamed2210 Nah more like pure suffering of humans in general. Most people in power since the beginning of human civilization to today have a little nerdy concept.
@@hiddenafitlhile8909 Haha. i agree! The so called Big nerds make us small nerds, extroverts and ambiverts suffer! (Lol)
I love the autobiographical videos. It’s really interesting to hear the unique stories that significant people throughout history went through.
He really turned into one hell of a great Commander.
Hardly lol He knew tactics but didn’t know how to think.
Constantius: Julian... I need your help cousin
Julian: Yo no hablo latin !!
Yo*
I don't get it
@@carlosd002 it's Spanish for "I don't speak Latin"
@@benjaminlamptey1867 yeah I'm spanish, i don't understand why julian would say that xD
@@carlosd002 because no hablo is just the generic stereotyped meme format for saying you don’t speak the language
I've read far enough in Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire to know and love Julian. He should really get more credit.
The narration, the graphical presentation, and the entire production of this channel is phenomenal.
Illustrations are often superinnacureate.
Julian's military achievements are especially notable as they used the _comitatus_ coming after Constantine abolished the old legions and significantly reduced the size of the army to prevent any single commander having the numbers of troops to usurp political power the same way he had.
Gore Vidal's "Julian" is one of my all-time favourite books. Think it's out of print now but well worth reading.
Constantine didn't abolished "old legions"(legions had several forms even prior that during those many centuries),creation of the new system was work of several emperors mainly of Diocletian(who was actually 1st who systematically started with great reform)and Constantine but it took most of 4th century before it gradually settled.Older style legions with late principate era organisation and around 6000 men strong continued to exist for some time together with new regiments already established after new organisation model.It was not something that would change just during one emperor.
Constantine(and Diocletian!)also did not "reduced the size of the army".In fact their reforms significantly increased size of the army.You probably confuse it with regiments now being typically smaller in size but not army as a whole.Making things smaller was a typical move of Diocletian to limit power of commanders and also of gouverners who also get their provincies much smaller than previously.
"Comitatus" was not creation of Constantine and it is also not optimal using that word when talking about what replaced "old style legions".
Vidal's book is exellent but occasionally includes anachronistic details same as for example Count Belisarius by Robert graves.Both authors-especially Vidal did much of research hovewer scholarly support on late antiquity Roman army at the time they wrote their books was dramatically samaller than it is today as it is only in recent decades late antiquity army stop to be so very neglected compared to republican and principate era.
Dude, Diocletian was famous for largening the army and Constantine didn’t invent the comitatus.
Love your biographies. Hope to see Ranjit Singh someday.
Could you create separate playlist for every country and sort videos in chronological order? It will make my life so much easier.
Really looking forward to future videos about julian’s failed campaign in persia against the sassanids.
Moral of the story: winning battles is great and all, but don’t forget about logistics.
Really to me this video being in 2 parts is clearly to praise Julian here and hide the fact (for a time) that he failed hard after =p
@@AdriatheBwitch
Julian definitely goofed when he chose to burn his fleet and advance into the Persian interior, his rational made since, as disconnecting from his supply lines and free wheeling across an enemy country is how he won his wars in Germany, but he should have realized he wasn’t in Germany any more, and that the Persians had a history of resorting to scorched earth tactics when all else failed (just look at Mark Antony). It would have been much smarter to take the victories he had already won over the Persians, declare Amida avenged, and leave.
But I think the much bigger disaster was his death, as reading Amminius Marcellinius’ account, it seemed a big factor for Jovian’s decision to negotiate peace was the collapse of morale after the Emperor was killed. Had he survived, I think it probable that he would have been able to make it back to Roman territory, lick his wounds, and prepare for another campaign the next spring. But that of course is pure speculation.
@@dantecaputo2629 I remind you that you had western bordures being overrun by barbarians and that it had to be delt with =p its why i say Julian wasted ressources in this campain, look at what Valentinian I had to do
@@AdriatheBwitch
The western borders were only being overrun after the Persian Campaign, with the Alamanni crossing in 365. In 363, they were secure, thanks to Julian’s campaigns of 355-358.
However, I agree that it is likely Julian’s stripping of troops from the Rhine frontier to fight Persia contributed to this renewed invasion, but we must remember that in 363, Persia was the greater threat. They had only a few years prior destroyed seven Roman legions and taken the city of Amida, this was not something a Roman Emperor could simply ignore. And while Valentinian’s Rhine campaign was absolutely impressive, and honestly felt in many ways like a replay of Julian’s, things were not quite so bad in 365 as they were a decade earlier.
The quality of your videos are amazing!
A commander and a battle in the old Roman fashion, in all the best possible ways.
Long one of my favorite Romans, this is excellent! Well done!
The noise of Julian crying was quite starling to me!
This channel is amazing the way it's brought to life not reading about it seeing it amazing thank you kings and generals keep up the good work
Me: thinks of a Roman emperor
Kings and generals: uploads on the said emperor
*HOW DO THEY DO IT???!?!?*
Idk, sol invictus?
@@adityaanggaisback937 probably. SOL INVICTUS!
HAIL SOL
AVE LVCIVS DOMITIVS AVRELIANVS RESTITVTOR ORBIS! AVE DEVS SOL INVICTVS!
Excellent video. Very interesting, informative and worthwhile video.
I am impatiently waiting for the second episode.
Same
I’ve been waiting for Julian coverage!
Oh how I really want a film on Julian. It would be so epic
A mini series would be better
Amazing video at first I had thought this was a video about Justinian I father, but this was a very interesting emperor that I hadn't known about. Looking forward to more videos on this subject!
Amazing work as usual!
I have been dreaming about this for years, Thank you kings and generals!
Another amazing video kings 👍
The Battle of the Frigidus and the build-up to it would be extremely interesting. :)
NOOO WE HAVE THE POWER OF JUPITER AND HERCULES ON OUR SIDE!
hahaha Constantinople coins go clink and winds go whoosh
Shitty wind and traitors
That Barbatio guy seemed to be a very nice, helpful dude 👍🏻
Yeah. He's truly and admirably reliable.
What a fantastic man! I was really worried that he would lose the battle once the enemies broke through their lines, but he prevailed!
When you tell your army that we're going to stop and rest before battle....and they say that they want to fight now......what a feeling.
Fantastic video! Excellent illustration of the battle. Thank you.
Do one on Philip the Arab pretty please with cherry on top.
:-)
And on alexander severus
Battle of Mursa would be so intresting and is always overlooked!
Julian's brand of Paganism was to some extent influenced by Christianity though e.g. getting them involved in philantropy, which was very different from the old Paganism.
I love the video kings and generals, keep up the great work!
and I cant wait to see the next part about Julian against the Sasanian empire!!
"Premium access to knowledge" is hardly described as "someone else will read the book and give you the rough idea"
Blinkist is for smoothe brains
I love all your videos & was very happy to see you touch on this topic. Can’t wait to see part 2 👍
How nice of you to have julian with his bress plate on in the thumbnail!
I guess he wasn't in much of a rush when posing for the thumbnail
Best channel right now
9:50 - "However, Barbatio instead explicitly elected to burn them all." LOL!
This was a really fun video. I've heard about this man. But not in full detail. So thanks for the Kings and Generals. My compliments to all those who made this video a reality.
Julian would have 30+ stats in every category in CK3 plus the Genius trait
thnx guys, Julian is one of my favorites
"I have spent 20 years a Christian,and 12 in the true way,the way of Helios."
-Julian The Apostate
from where you get this quote?
@@faydulaksono Dovahhatty,The End Nears
@@cartesian_doubt6230 Probably one of the reason why he took off christians special citizenship
Meh. His achievements weren’t long term and he only helped speed up Rome’s eventual collapse.
As sole emperor (361-3), Julian succumbed, as many Roman leaders before him (e.g. Crassus, Trajan, Septimius Severus) to "Alexander the Great syndrome": the desire to emulate the Macedonian general and conquer the Persian empire. He invaded Mesopotamia at the head of an enormous army of 65,000.[129] But the campaign was a disaster: Julian lost his own life and his army was forced to retreat with huge losses.[130] Although most of these would have been from the eastern comitatus and from the emperor's own escort army, the comitatus of Illyricum and Gaul would undoubtedly have been stripped of troops to fill the gaps. The result was that in 366 Gaul was again overrun by Alamanni hordes and Julian's painstaking work of restoration undone. This forced Julian's successor, Valentinian I, to spend years carrying out a virtual replay of Julian's Gallic campaign.
@@cartesian_doubt6230 And oh how have the mighty fallen! Now it'sthe christian clergy and its organization that have become hedonistic and sinful!
Moral; No religion should get power
I was hoping for this! A million likes are not enough for K&G! Thank you!
Wow, Strasbourg was truly a masterpiece.
Thanks for making this video on your emperor.
Some of Romes best emperors are what most would consider Nerds. And they were pretty darn good emperors.
Julian was far from being rome best emperor thought >
this was a great video, cant wait for the next installment
Julian could have been a “Great” if he had lived...what a different world that would have been
I don't know in the long run. The greater culture/society had already changed by his time. He could have been a great emperor, agreed. But he'd have simply held back the inevitable for a few decades.
It's like Constantine uniting the empire one last time just delayed the split and fall.
@@illerac84 that’s a common viewpoint shared by many historians, and I respect that point of view as I believe it is a possibility. But if you look deeply into the pagan/Christian divide at the time most of the west was still pagan, especially the Senate and old aristocracy. If Julian was given the same amount of time as Constantine, I think the balance would have shifted back to the old ways. Pagans were a significant force for a full generation even after Julian. It was only with Eugenius’s defeat at Frigidus that the change to Christianity in my mind was irrevocable
@@grantrobinson5046Still, even during the crisis and the age of Diocletian, Christianity was still growing a lot quicker than paganism, it was a simple inevitability.
Great episode guys, Well done!