I cast my vote in favor for a presentation on Ancient Artillery (pre- gun power). War is gruesome, and never pretty regardless of the level of technology so this presentation was absolutely brilliantly written and discussed with incredible depth of detail and verbal imagery. Hail Metatron.
Yep. Siege ramps are massively undermentioned, saw them just in humankind (game) loading screen while it was quite a primary way to attack walls from times of Rome, so checks out with Metatron's area of interest :)
I've noticed that in alot of battle of Julius Caesar went for Engineer style of tactics. For example race to build a wall in Greece against Pompey. Building bridges in spain. Etc. I think this is what makes the Romans of that time so interesting.
You've seemed to "overlooked" the enveloppement of the town of Alesia... And doubling the work in order to thwart the arrival of a huge Gallic relief-force!
@@bobvanpeborgh6312 Which by the way this particular style of siege working warfare was inspired by Hellenes. And the battle of Alesia is a legit one to one indentical case to the siege of Plataea in the Archidamian War. (Prelude to Peloponnesian Wars) Gaius Julius was a well educated man and studied Hellenic literatute, he most likely read Thucydides work that covered the Peloponnesian Wars. Gaius was a quick learner and adapted accordingly, acting at Alesia just like Archidamos of Sparta at Plataea.
They had to be in order to win against the Celts. There is a great deal to admire, and to learn from the Roman Empire's history, but it seems to me they had to be combat engineers & a bunch of other specialized things so they could continue to conquer and expand. One can study a lot of what the Romans themselves left behind, and that's wonderful, but the unforgivable crime i accuse the Roman Empire of committing is the deliberate and almost complete erasure of a great deal of information related to those they conquered. =\
@@Dack.howaboutyouTo be fair, many of those conquered by Rome didn't write, so, ironically, Rome conquering them and writing about them (however biased the accounts) is the only reason we know about them whatsoever.
Yeah the legion in New Vegas should've been more like poverty stricken BoS than idiots playing dress up. Who made these guys? It's like if the Khans in the previous games were pony riding Asian bowmen instead of proper mad max villains. To think of it the gunners from fo4 are kinda how the legion should've been.
If we're talking about *spies* and *ancient Rome* in the same breath, then I want to talk about Scaevola. Gaius Mucius Scaevola. For some reason, it's not a particularly well-known story and yet it's one of my favourite stories from ancient Rome. I think it would be a FANTASTIC subject for Metatron to make a video on!! Maybe he could pick another story or two from the classical period and just sit down in front of a camera and share some story-time with us...
At 1:00 I was reminded that we were taught as boys in the UK, that Tolkien's description of the siege of Minis Tirith was based on various actual siege events from the middle ages, including when they lop the heads of the fallen Numenorians over the walls. I was pleased in a ghastly way, that stayed in the film haha
Also the charge of the Rohirim. It was a less epic rendition of the real life Polish (and neighboring) Winged Hussars. They snuck onto a mountain, bombarded the Janissaries with canonfire, and charged under the line of fire impacting the encampment just as they ceased firing artillery.
@@alendonvaldor5808 no, they couldn't. One is lop off, the other is lob over. Mix them up and it makes no sense. He could have lost a bit of text between "heads" and "over", which is a common writing error. I've done it, you've probably done it. You only realize later some of what is supposed to be there isn't.
Whenever I think of biological warfare, I always think of that one scene from Monty Python and the holy Grail when the French catapult life stock at King Arthur and his knights. It’s hilarious but also very historically accurate.😂
How to catapult infected meat over walls? Put it into amphoras or some other pot and catapult the pot. It breaks. Enemy proceeds to clean the mess. Job's done. [Edit.] You got the awesomest shield I've seen in my life.
And the fact that you can seal it with wax and let it rot safely and disperse rotten guts when they breaks would make it more terrifying would be fetid and biohazardous hard to clean, a very demoralizing biological weapon
Considering the standard practice in ancient/medieval times for any town or city that refused to surrender, requiring a full seige, was the death/slavery of all survivors & sacking of the city, Caesars chopping off of the weapon hand of all fighting age guys was relatively restrained. Better lose a hand than your life, for those who survived the "operation".
It was more as a tactic rather than a show of restraint. Caesar did kill and/or enslave survivors in previous sieges but rebellions still kept happening. Caesar changed tactics to just chop off the limbs of fighting age males instead and disperse them through the region as a warning to prevent more rebellions. After the same siege where the people have their limbs chopped off, I am not sure what happened to the women and children though...they could still have been enslaved.
Yup. This isn't that bad at all, relatively speaking. Not sure why Metatron thought this was an example of something terrible. It was more a mercy compared to the other common practices. And no, most people would not prefer death over loss of limb. It was a brilliant stragic move of psychological warfare that probably saved more lives than it harmed, AND it was less vicious than many of the contemporary/ancestral outcomes of resistant populations of sieges.
@@Intranetusa I read Caesar's book, it's been a while, but I remember a part about them enslaving the women and children. It might have been that very siege Metatron was talking about, can't recall for sure. It sure was brutal back then.
I just have to say... After a couple days of Twitter, and our current reality outside the Twittersphere, it always gives me a sense of relief, and happiness, to to see a Metatron notification pop up. It's always going to be great content when it's Metatron. Thank you, sir!
Out of curiosity, what nonsense has been perpetuated by twits and news? I don't keep up for the sake of my mental health (may be ignorance, but it's blissful. I already put up with a lot of stress).
I just wonder who in those days would want to approach a plague-infected corpse to load onto a trebuchet, or what army would want to go in to occupy a city they had just spread the plague in?
For the Medieval, it certainly also was a question of who conquers what and how. After such a move, catapulting bodies, people, rotten flesh you can hardly hope for a good reputation. And if morality played no role, this would be a standard tactic to besiege a place with gates and walls.
10:32 what is this green artifacting? I've seen it in your videos before. Doesn't take away from the fact that your videos are amazing. The information they contain, whilst at the same time being super enjoyable to watch, is top notch.
It's an effect from certain types of video and image encoding. It's a progressive error caused by Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) compression algorithms in certain situations when files are being copied or resized. It could happen on your PC when you edit a video to splice in footage which was recorded or saved using one of these compression methods, or when copying the data to a new disk/drive, or while uploading the file to RUclips.
@@boaz08 Only real way is to avoid using footage which was recorded (or converted) using a compression type which can cause it. Which isn't easy because most video formats support multiple compression types, so screening for specific ones which can be problematic is usually more hassle than it's worth.
On throwing bodies: Tod's Workshop has a trebuchet. I’d love to see him toss a weighted dummy with it (with and without bindings). A medical/firefighter one would be extravagant, but one for martial arts throwing practice seems cheap enough.
@@Soapy-chan_old Unless there's some very odd law where he lives, then no... it doesn't. Weapons, especially swords and the like, are quite often tested on dead pigs, including on television shows like Forged in Fire (regardless of what one might think of the show itself) and I can't say I've ever once heard of anyone involved in such tests being charged with animal cruelty since... you can't be cruel to a dead creature. Disrespectful, one might argue, but not cruel.
Another issue with long houses would've been due to the fact that it wasn't only humans living in them. Winters were harsh on everyone, so long houses also housed people's animals like pigs, goats, sheep, chickens and sometimes even horses and cows. Living this close to your animals in a cramped space undoubtedly lead to the spread of cross-species pathogens that sometimes made the human occupants sick.
You underestimate my insatiable appetite for learning about history & resiliency to coping with learning about absolutely horrific things humans have done in the past.
If you are going to do a video on ancient and medieval artillery, don't forget to invite Tod, he has already done a few and had a lot of fun with a trebuchet.
Of course we want to see a video about medieval artillery. Biological warfare was used in the film "Flesh and Blood," as I recall. Totally possible, and also a reasonable tactic to end sieges faster.
It was dark alright, but very interesting. I’ve read about what Julius did after the siege before, and it was brutal to say the least. But did not know of the diverting of the river! Personally I would love a series with videos like this one; from all over the world.
What a great and interesting video! I've just read about John Hunyadi, hungarian military commander and lord of the 15th century, and see he was certainly inspired by Caesar. After winning a siege of a fortress he ordered to cut off both hands, a nose and poking one eye of each defender. Some years later he was laying siege of another fortress where the defendants tried to surrender (as they probably knew what he had done to their comrades before). Instead of accepting their surrender, Hunyadi prepared sharpened stakes and raised them in a camp so the defenders could clearly see what's waiting for them... Well, he was a contemporary of Vlad Tepes after all.
Given how prevalent the argument has been around a few groups of friends I know, I'm mildly surprised I haven't seen a video from you about how to pronounce "Valheim" yet. Not *very* surprised, just mildly so. Seems like a good topic (and if you have done it and I just missed it, I'll probably stumble across it soon...) I mention this in part because the game came up a few times during the video, of course.
Even now indoor air pollution from wood, charcoal and other solid materials burning is among the leading causes of illness and death in less developed countries.
Fascinating video as always. The Metatron is my go to whenever I want to hear about top quality historical facts. I am a history/bible fan and I am also teaching these subjects privately to mostly mid school students. You know what is the best part in my business and overall interest in certain subjects? I always have something new to learn and I never put my ego on if I learn something new. I would love for you Metatron to do a dedicated video on Medieval warfare and siege ingenuity. I knew about biological warfare to a light degree when it comes to ancient times and today I understood a lot better.
I was sure you were going to mention Basil II and his sharing with the Bulgers his solution to the lost contact lens problem. I always wondered if that actually happened or if it was embellished over time, if not outright fictional.
The Caesar story reminded me of one I've heard about Hannibal - something about some of his troops cutting off the right hands of their enemies, because that's where a warrior's strength is" (they believed), so they could absorb that strength by making stew out of the hands. Or lucky charms, or something. The way I heard this story (which may be false, I have no idea), people once thought this was just anti-Hannibal propaganda, but then somebody dug up a mass grave at the site of one of hannibal's battles, and many of the dead were in fact missing their right hands. Or so the story claimed, anyway.
My guess is a lot of those type of things are like "banana phone"... a 2 thousand year long game of banana phone, and more than likely originally, if any truth was to them at all, it was done just one or a handful of times in order to spread fear to make fighting easier in the future.
There's another wholseome one: In 1014, the Byzantines captured 15,000 Bulgar soldiers. Enraged Byzantine Emperor Basil II ordered all the soldiers to be blinded. Only every 100th soldier was left one eye - to be able to guide the remaining 99 back home. In a single day, roughly 30,000 eyeballs were gouged out
@@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan Is there plenty of historical evidence to prove this event actually took place exactly that way? if so then uhg. >.< this is why dictators need harems and good advisors you see... to keep them chilled out a bit LoL. sorry. it's not actually funny. it's awful. i was just trying to lighten the mood i guess
I can't remember who (maybe Tamerlan) but I recall that after winning a battle, a general gathered the prisoners and had his soldiers pierce both eyes of 9 out of 10 of them. He then free them, making the cortege of blinds clumsily go back to their homes with the other guiding them.
During the early Middle Ages, the houses did not have chimneys, because the smoke was able to rise up and through the straw thatching. Also the rafters above the fire was a handy place to smoke and store meat. I believe I found this in "Life in a Medieval Village" by Frances and Joseph Giles. or maybe it was "The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England", by Ian Mortimer. I can see this becoming a problem during the winter, when snowfall on the roof prevents the smoke from escaping.
My guess is just that they just weren't familiar with masonry back then. In my area in Northern Europe chimneys only started to become common in the average person's house in the late 1700's, as strange as it may sound.
I doubt you will see this given how large your channel is. However, I wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your show. I was a Russian Linguist from 84-92 in the US Army. I am from Arkansas, so you can imagine the trouble I had with so many "YOU's and YA's" and my southern drawl. I normally don't follow channels outside of the legal area. I was an engineer, after the Army I went to school and received a B.S. and M.S. in electrical/computer engineering. Later in 2011 I went back to law school, received my JD and now practice law. However, I really enjoy your channel on history and languages. I actually purchased several things just to show my support and seriously considering joining your channel.
Yes, please make a video about medieval artillery!
Год назад+3
Regarding medieval biological warfare - how do you prevent spreading infection in the besieging army, when handling diseased bodies to throw behind the walls?
I assume you're talking about the severed heads of former "good guys" which the forces of Mordor used as psych-warfare artillery during the siege of Minas Tirith?
Hey metatron, a fan from Brazil here!! I did hear about a battle where musslin forces catapults scorpion bags in their enemys wearing heavy closed armors (i think its a christian army, but not sure about it). Its just a cool fact that Id see in a video about ancient biological warfare... Did you ever hear about that?? A calorous hand shake my friend, your work is soo amazing, one of the most honest and "atention locker" chanels on RUclips!!! Sorry for any mistakes in my writing, I learned english by myself.... Kkkk
Ah não precisa se desculpar por nada..a imensa maioria desses gringos não conseguem entender nada além do próprio idioma de nascença e a quase totalidade deles não sabem que na Inglaterra o jeito de falar separa até as castas sociais. Agora tem aquele caso curioso do general americano que mergulhou balas em sangue de porco numa dessas guerras do oriente médio. Tem um livro "In defense of chemical warfare" de Sir Haldane. Tá em domínio público em uma dessas bibliotecas digitais. E tem um outro livro sobre o uso de mosquitos como arma de guerra. Tudo coisa bem recente viu.
Metatron, you can just assume that any video you ask if i'd be interested in you covering that the answer is yes. Your living up to your name by leading me thru the wilderness of historical inaccuracies to the promised land of understanding history
Depending where. The west coast of Norway is mainly wet anf windy, with little snow. However, with only a few hours of day light in winter, there were probably few outdoor activities....
Metatron, if you ever ask us if we want you to make a dedicated video on a discussed topic, you should always assume that we most certainly do want you to make it
Great video! Regarding the Siege of Uxellodunum, "Ancients Behaving Badly" (History Channel), had an episode about Caesar, and in it they mentions this atrocity, but I don't remember if they mentioned Uxellodunum.
I found your RUclips's very interesting. I remember on the History Channel talking about Greeks that poisoned the River to a Village that killed everyone in it. Greek society was supposedly so horrified they agreed that this type of action will never be taken again by any Greek state. I don't know if it's true or not.
Yes please.I see lots of videos about hand weapons and armor but little about siege engines.First got interested when I watched videos of Punkin Chunkin.The hand chopping didn't stop Maedhros but he was a Son of Feanor.
Damn this video is very dark, but also very informative, i didnt even know that Caesar used biological warfare and the fact his troops literally dug under an entire mountain to cut off the water supply from the Gauls, very interesting indeed! As usual, fantastic video, excited for whats to come from you, sir. Valete!
a dedicated video on seige weapons for wall breaching would be very interesting. I'm sure the rest of the community of the sword would have something to add. ..afterall, tod cutler *does* have a trebuchet..
Speaking of catapulting bodies, the Mongols may have done just that at the Siege of Caffa in 1346, according to Gabriele de' Mussi, an Italian visiting there.
That is what Metatron said at the beginning of the video, he said also that there is no proof that De Mussi. was visiting Caffa. If you think about it had he been there, he would have either contracted the plague or been butchered by the Mongols when the town surrendered
If I remember correctly, even many Romans were a bit put off by how far Caesar went with this particular group of Gauls. Of course that might just be what his political opponents were saying. I always wondered about all the smoke in the buildings, especially the long houses. It can't be good for you (he types while taking a long pull off a Marlboro). Well, that and the fact that most of the farm animals are in there with them.
I assume the 'excuse' is the same as always: It would be too expensive to make it better. Surely back then they could think of much better ways to built it and were aware of the fire's harmful effects, but just like today, smart solutions tend to require above minimum investment or they will remain a niche for a long time.
I don't quite get why they didn't build a seperate room, with a barred gate so heat could still get through to it. For the animals to live in I mean. I don't know if they had earth ovens, I would assume so. The Romans had the right idea with underfloor heating, which you can combine with earth ovens. Cooking and comfort in one. But the seperate room could've atleast helped some issues stay seperate.
@@SombreroPharoah He said in the video, the center fire was done to have equal heat radiation across the room, so I deduct that hose old houses were hard to build for good heat retention, so it was basically more like a gathering around a campfire, with significant benefit from direct infrared radiation. A separate heating room or a mantlepiece might have been considered too inefficient. (Especially the latter also because then a lot of useful heat is expelled through the chimney.)
Am i the only who, every time metatron says “i could make a video on that later if youre interested” is like immediately pausing the video to write down in the comments “yes make that video”? 😂
Would be interesting to see experimental archeology on Norse longhouses. I know many replicas have been built, and some have been restored. One theory is that they were higher than first anticipated. This probably meant better circulation.....
Not only circulation, the hot smoke rises up, i have seen a saxon roundhouse where the smoke completely filled the roof, but below that a normal sized adult could stand in clean air.
Before I watch the Video i wanted to show my Respekt for the fact that youre still there. I heard that you had a really hard time when I was having a hard time. Good too See we still out there. Speak fact, speak Truthahn.
A point on pronounciation "Drakar" in Norse. "Drakar" means "Dragons" and the first a is elongated in a way that doesn't seem to be too common outside of scandinavia. The closest approximation I can think of is the video game "Baldurs Gate". You pronounce the first A in roughly the same manner as in the word "Drakar"
Excellent. I read Julius Ceasar's War Commentaries many years ago. The topic of the Roman Empire is fascinating. Thank you so much Metatron. Please go on...
Bearing in mind that, for the time, Caesar's actions weren't extreme [a friend read both the commentaries and Tacitus - in the original Latin - for his doctorate and was more than happy to discuss Roman warfare among other things. Unfortunately my reading of Latin isn't good enough to read them for myself but he was definitely an admirer] my only comment has to be - oh, and I was named for Caesar being born in a Roman town in Britannia - AVE CAESAR, Ave Verulamium.
Hey @Metatron. One thing I would like to see from your videos are links to sources that expand on your video topics in a highly detailed way. For example, If I want to learn more about Caesar's brutal campaign against the Galls, it would be nice if you had a recommendation on hand to point me towards. (Btw, Dan Carlin's Gallic Holocaust podcast series is superb)
One thing I've never thought about is that throwing bodies could pose a devastating effect to enemy morale. I do understand that soldiers are a different sort of people, battle-hardened and not as squeemish as most folk, but the sight of an animal corpse or, worse yet, one of your comrades being flung back at you and literally being smashed over your defences is both gruesome and agitating. Not to mention that somebody has to clear that viscera off! I wonder if there's a record of somebody actually being hit by such disgusting projectile? I'd assume such a kill would be an awful achievement.
@@benjaminthibieroz4155 According to my grandpa, who was a veteran, yes. According to him it was the smell. That's unlike any other "dead meat" Although, it might be partly a psychologic difference. Because they train dogs that search for dead bodies using dead pigs. Because dead human allegedly smells like dead pig. At least to a dog.
History is what it is and we must never flinch from reality, not to mention it was quite a good video, man that was dark. I always think of Kaiser as an enlightened leader and I'm familiar with the story but every time I hear it the magnitude of thousands of men leaving that place with their hands cut off hits me right in the chest
I'm not sure where to put this comment or question so I will put it on the most recent video. I think it would be really a cool idea since Metatron is a self admitted gamer, I would like to see a Historicaly accurate dark souls run! Call it the "Metatron run" ! Take the weapons armor and upgrade paths that most closely fit to history! That's a little different then just breaking down the game! Now if that's something that's been done and already exists please disregard this comment entirely.
Fun fact is that the word "window" comes from Norse and meant literally wind-eye as it was the only opening apart from doors into the air outside. They had no chimneys btw and this was likely meant to make draught and to some extent ventilate the smoke. For those living in milder or hotter climates may not grasp at first that the building style (not much of sides on longhouses as it was mostly roofs down to the sides) did not lend the option to make openings for light there and also the cold air outside. I know it is not scientific and too simplified but just wanted to share my thoughts as I am grateful for modern windows in an insulated house with good ventilation 😊
Thing you don;t mention is that even without fires for warmth and cooking a major danger in long houses were numerous members of extended family congrugated in winter /wet weather is the spread of SARS diseases and more lethally tuberculosis which in Norse housing, and even similar housing in Northern Scotland (Crofts) which were long houses with -one end being used for over wintering livestock (and sometimes in high Norway, Sweden and Lapland "Lofthus" were livestock overwintered below the loft (living space of humans) to giive a form of central heating, tubercular diseases while generally not cross transmisable between spieces are caused by the same stifling poor air quality.
5:04 If they could do it, means absolutly they did it at least once - I mean a bunch of man during a siege so half angry half bored can catapult any object towards enemy... You can bet they tried at least once to catapult EVERYTHING you don't want to be hit by. Dead cow, dead people, content of latrines, stupid YT comments. Simple human nature demands this 😉
I cast my vote in favor for a presentation on Ancient Artillery (pre- gun power). War is gruesome, and never pretty regardless of the level of technology so this presentation was absolutely brilliantly written and discussed with incredible depth of detail and verbal imagery. Hail Metatron.
Yep. Siege ramps are massively undermentioned, saw them just in humankind (game) loading screen while it was quite a primary way to attack walls from times of Rome, so checks out with Metatron's area of interest :)
Same here
We don't talk enough of the uncanny things ancient soldiers did.
Here here
Yes vote.
I've noticed that in alot of battle of Julius Caesar went for Engineer style of tactics. For example race to build a wall in Greece against Pompey. Building bridges in spain. Etc. I think this is what makes the Romans of that time so interesting.
You've seemed to "overlooked" the enveloppement of the town of Alesia... And doubling the work in order to thwart the arrival of a huge Gallic relief-force!
@@bobvanpeborgh6312
Which by the way this particular style of siege working warfare was inspired by Hellenes. And the battle of Alesia is a legit one to one indentical case to the siege of Plataea in the Archidamian War. (Prelude to Peloponnesian Wars)
Gaius Julius was a well educated man and studied Hellenic literatute, he most likely read Thucydides work that covered the Peloponnesian Wars. Gaius was a quick learner and adapted accordingly, acting at Alesia just like Archidamos of Sparta at Plataea.
Metatron, "if you're interested in that."
This entire community, "We will patiently wait for you to produce it and then love it."
^ this, this right here!
Well, maybe not quite patiently.. eagerly?
The Roman legions were not just infantry, but more like Combat Engineers.
Patrolling the Mojave almost makes you wish for a nuclear winter.
I wonder how Roman legions would view modern warfare, and it's rank and file.
They had to be in order to win against the Celts. There is a great deal to admire, and to learn from the Roman Empire's history, but it seems to me they had to be combat engineers & a bunch of other specialized things so they could continue to conquer and expand. One can study a lot of what the Romans themselves left behind, and that's wonderful, but the unforgivable crime i accuse the Roman Empire of committing is the deliberate and almost complete erasure of a great deal of information related to those they conquered. =\
@@Dack.howaboutyouTo be fair, many of those conquered by Rome didn't write, so, ironically, Rome conquering them and writing about them (however biased the accounts) is the only reason we know about them whatsoever.
Yeah the legion in New Vegas should've been more like poverty stricken BoS than idiots playing dress up. Who made these guys? It's like if the Khans in the previous games were pony riding Asian bowmen instead of proper mad max villains. To think of it the gunners from fo4 are kinda how the legion should've been.
If we're talking about *spies* and *ancient Rome* in the same breath, then I want to talk about Scaevola. Gaius Mucius Scaevola. For some reason, it's not a particularly well-known story and yet it's one of my favourite stories from ancient Rome.
I think it would be a FANTASTIC subject for Metatron to make a video on!! Maybe he could pick another story or two from the classical period and just sit down in front of a camera and share some story-time with us...
At 1:00 I was reminded that we were taught as boys in the UK, that Tolkien's description of the siege of Minis Tirith was based on various actual siege events from the middle ages, including when they lop the heads of the fallen Numenorians over the walls. I was pleased in a ghastly way, that stayed in the film haha
Also the charge of the Rohirim. It was a less epic rendition of the real life Polish (and neighboring) Winged Hussars. They snuck onto a mountain, bombarded the Janissaries with canonfire, and charged under the line of fire impacting the encampment just as they ceased firing artillery.
Autocorrect get you? Lop is cutting, lob is throwing.
@@AutoReport1 I mean, in context both could be right XD
@@alendonvaldor5808 no, they couldn't. One is lop off, the other is lob over. Mix them up and it makes no sense. He could have lost a bit of text between "heads" and "over", which is a common writing error. I've done it, you've probably done it. You only realize later some of what is supposed to be there isn't.
@@AutoReport1 I was making a joke. Lopping the heads off, and they fall over the walls.
Whenever I think of biological warfare, I always think of that one scene from Monty Python and the holy Grail when the French catapult life stock at King Arthur and his knights. It’s hilarious but also very historically accurate.😂
King Arthur is historically accurate?
@@janetmackinnon3411 you know what I mean 🙄
@@janetmackinnon3411 100% accurate. It's on film, what more do you need?
Fetch la vache
@@philipglover3295 Quoi?
How to catapult infected meat over walls? Put it into amphoras or some other pot and catapult the pot. It breaks. Enemy proceeds to clean the mess. Job's done.
[Edit.] You got the awesomest shield I've seen in my life.
And the fact that you can seal it with wax and let it rot safely and disperse rotten guts when they breaks would make it more terrifying would be fetid and biohazardous hard to clean, a very demoralizing biological weapon
I don't want to be you enemy!
especially if besieged ones know that it comes from bodies of those of their kinsmen who weren't so quick to hid behind walls.
And the flies would help spread disease about too, though also for the besiegers.
*) "most awesome" - awesomest is not a word
Considering the standard practice in ancient/medieval times for any town or city that refused to surrender, requiring a full seige, was the death/slavery of all survivors & sacking of the city, Caesars chopping off of the weapon hand of all fighting age guys was relatively restrained. Better lose a hand than your life, for those who survived the "operation".
It was more as a tactic rather than a show of restraint. Caesar did kill and/or enslave survivors in previous sieges but rebellions still kept happening. Caesar changed tactics to just chop off the limbs of fighting age males instead and disperse them through the region as a warning to prevent more rebellions. After the same siege where the people have their limbs chopped off, I am not sure what happened to the women and children though...they could still have been enslaved.
If the women did not have their hands chopped off, they could take care of their men and help keep them alive, altho with difficulty.
I'd rather fight and be cut down than live as a cripple for the rest of my life
Yup. This isn't that bad at all, relatively speaking. Not sure why Metatron thought this was an example of something terrible. It was more a mercy compared to the other common practices. And no, most people would not prefer death over loss of limb. It was a brilliant stragic move of psychological warfare that probably saved more lives than it harmed, AND it was less vicious than many of the contemporary/ancestral outcomes of resistant populations of sieges.
@@Intranetusa I read Caesar's book, it's been a while, but I remember a part about them enslaving the women and children. It might have been that very siege Metatron was talking about, can't recall for sure. It sure was brutal back then.
I just have to say... After a couple days of Twitter, and our current reality outside the Twittersphere, it always gives me a sense of relief, and happiness, to to see a Metatron notification pop up. It's always going to be great content when it's Metatron. Thank you, sir!
Out of curiosity, what nonsense has been perpetuated by twits and news? I don't keep up for the sake of my mental health (may be ignorance, but it's blissful. I already put up with a lot of stress).
julius caesar really handled that siege with a rather hands off approach
I just wonder who in those days would want to approach a plague-infected corpse to load onto a trebuchet, or what army would want to go in to occupy a city they had just spread the plague in?
For the Medieval, it certainly also was a question of who conquers what and how. After such a move, catapulting bodies, people, rotten flesh you can hardly hope for a good reputation. And if morality played no role, this would be a standard tactic to besiege a place with gates and walls.
10:32 what is this green artifacting? I've seen it in your videos before. Doesn't take away from the fact that your videos are amazing. The information they contain, whilst at the same time being super enjoyable to watch, is top notch.
It's an effect from certain types of video and image encoding. It's a progressive error caused by Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) compression algorithms in certain situations when files are being copied or resized.
It could happen on your PC when you edit a video to splice in footage which was recorded or saved using one of these compression methods, or when copying the data to a new disk/drive, or while uploading the file to RUclips.
@a-blivvy-yus Ohh interesting. Is there a way Metatron could prevent it?
@@boaz08 Only real way is to avoid using footage which was recorded (or converted) using a compression type which can cause it. Which isn't easy because most video formats support multiple compression types, so screening for specific ones which can be problematic is usually more hassle than it's worth.
@@a-blivvy-yus ah that sucks.
Grab Atlas VPN 3-year VPN plan for USD 1.83/mo + 3 months extra with a 30-day money-back guarantee. before the deal expires! atlasv.pn/Metatron
I'd love a video about medieval artillery. I'd love a series of medieval horrible facts/anecdotes.
On throwing bodies: Tod's Workshop has a trebuchet. I’d love to see him toss a weighted dummy with it (with and without bindings). A medical/firefighter one would be extravagant, but one for martial arts throwing practice seems cheap enough.
Or a pig
@@TulilaSalome that's animal cruelty and would get him into prison 😬
@@Soapy-chan_old
Not a living one.
@@eldorados_lost_searcher I know, it still falls under animal cruelty
@@Soapy-chan_old Unless there's some very odd law where he lives, then no... it doesn't. Weapons, especially swords and the like, are quite often tested on dead pigs, including on television shows like Forged in Fire (regardless of what one might think of the show itself) and I can't say I've ever once heard of anyone involved in such tests being charged with animal cruelty since... you can't be cruel to a dead creature. Disrespectful, one might argue, but not cruel.
Another issue with long houses would've been due to the fact that it wasn't only humans living in them.
Winters were harsh on everyone, so long houses also housed people's animals like pigs, goats, sheep, chickens and sometimes even horses and cows.
Living this close to your animals in a cramped space undoubtedly lead to the spread of cross-species pathogens that sometimes made the human occupants sick.
You underestimate my insatiable appetite for learning about history & resiliency to coping with learning about absolutely horrific things humans have done in the past.
Meta, I can’t think of a more interesting person to have a long, in-depth conversation about history with - such an interesting video, thank you 🙏
If you are going to do a video on ancient and medieval artillery, don't forget to invite Tod, he has already done a few and had a lot of fun with a trebuchet.
Of course we want to see a video about medieval artillery. Biological warfare was used in the film "Flesh and Blood," as I recall. Totally possible, and also a reasonable tactic to end sieges faster.
It was dark alright, but very interesting.
I’ve read about what Julius did after the siege before, and it was brutal to say the least.
But did not know of the diverting of the river!
Personally I would love a series with videos like this one; from all over the world.
Hands down this was the craziest Julius Caesar shenanigan
What a great and interesting video!
I've just read about John Hunyadi, hungarian military commander and lord of the 15th century, and see he was certainly inspired by Caesar. After winning a siege of a fortress he ordered to cut off both hands, a nose and poking one eye of each defender. Some years later he was laying siege of another fortress where the defendants tried to surrender (as they probably knew what he had done to their comrades before). Instead of accepting their surrender, Hunyadi prepared sharpened stakes and raised them in a camp so the defenders could clearly see what's waiting for them... Well, he was a contemporary of Vlad Tepes after all.
And yet Hunyadi Janos arrested Vlad for being uppity... What an age.
@@scipio7837 haha, I didn't know that.
@@EmperorMato I misspoke It was Hunyadi's son Matyas who arrested him. My brain is getting soft.Held Vlad in Visegrad, a lovely city.
@@scipio7837 aha I see. It was Matheus Corvinus, wasn't it?
Yeah, Hunyadi's son.
First read "Horrible Histories"! God i miss that show(s first 5 Series). Good i have found your channel too for my regular dosis of history facts.
Given how prevalent the argument has been around a few groups of friends I know, I'm mildly surprised I haven't seen a video from you about how to pronounce "Valheim" yet. Not *very* surprised, just mildly so. Seems like a good topic (and if you have done it and I just missed it, I'll probably stumble across it soon...) I mention this in part because the game came up a few times during the video, of course.
Even now indoor air pollution from wood, charcoal and other solid materials burning is among the leading causes of illness and death in less developed countries.
Fascinating video as always. The Metatron is my go to whenever I want to hear about top quality historical facts. I am a history/bible fan and I am also teaching these subjects privately to mostly mid school students. You know what is the best part in my business and overall interest in certain subjects? I always have something new to learn and I never put my ego on if I learn something new. I would love for you Metatron to do a dedicated video on Medieval warfare and siege ingenuity. I knew about biological warfare to a light degree when it comes to ancient times and today I understood a lot better.
I love learning about Julius Caesar and the Julio Claudian line
Yeah, I remember the story about Caesar from bonus DVD to one of Eluveitie's albums.
I was sure you were going to mention Basil II and his sharing with the Bulgers his solution to the lost contact lens problem. I always wondered if that actually happened or if it was embellished over time, if not outright fictional.
The Caesar story reminded me of one I've heard about Hannibal - something about some of his troops cutting off the right hands of their enemies, because that's where a warrior's strength is" (they believed), so they could absorb that strength by making stew out of the hands. Or lucky charms, or something. The way I heard this story (which may be false, I have no idea), people once thought this was just anti-Hannibal propaganda, but then somebody dug up a mass grave at the site of one of hannibal's battles, and many of the dead were in fact missing their right hands. Or so the story claimed, anyway.
My guess is a lot of those type of things are like "banana phone"... a 2 thousand year long game of banana phone, and more than likely originally, if any truth was to them at all, it was done just one or a handful of times in order to spread fear to make fighting easier in the future.
There's another wholseome one: In 1014, the Byzantines captured 15,000 Bulgar soldiers. Enraged Byzantine Emperor Basil II ordered all the soldiers to be blinded. Only every 100th soldier was left one eye - to be able to guide the remaining 99 back home. In a single day, roughly 30,000 eyeballs were gouged out
@@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan Is there plenty of historical evidence to prove this event actually took place exactly that way? if so then uhg. >.< this is why dictators need harems and good advisors you see... to keep them chilled out a bit LoL. sorry. it's not actually funny. it's awful. i was just trying to lighten the mood i guess
@@Dack.howaboutyou The numbers are debated, but eye gauging was a common enough punishment in that time in the place. The wild part is the scale
I can't remember who (maybe Tamerlan) but I recall that after winning a battle, a general gathered the prisoners and had his soldiers pierce both eyes of 9 out of 10 of them. He then free them, making the cortege of blinds clumsily go back to their homes with the other guiding them.
During the early Middle Ages, the houses did not have chimneys, because the smoke was able to rise up and through the straw thatching. Also the rafters above the fire was a handy place to smoke and store meat. I believe I found this in "Life in a Medieval Village" by Frances and Joseph Giles. or maybe it was "The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England", by Ian Mortimer.
I can see this becoming a problem during the winter, when snowfall on the roof prevents the smoke from escaping.
My guess is just that they just weren't familiar with masonry back then. In my area in Northern Europe chimneys only started to become common in the average person's house in the late 1700's, as strange as it may sound.
Yes, yes, yes! More dark history stories please. I can't help myself: I just find those stories utterly fascinating.
We need a Tod's Workshop and Metatron collaboration with the TREBUCHET!
I doubt you will see this given how large your channel is. However, I wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your show. I was a Russian Linguist from 84-92 in the US Army. I am from Arkansas, so you can imagine the trouble I had with so many "YOU's and YA's" and my southern drawl. I normally don't follow channels outside of the legal area. I was an engineer, after the Army I went to school and received a B.S. and M.S. in electrical/computer engineering. Later in 2011 I went back to law school, received my JD and now practice law. However, I really enjoy your channel on history and languages. I actually purchased several things just to show my support and seriously considering joining your channel.
Great video, thank you for your efforts! Would love to see this as a series 💪🏻
Yes, please make a video about medieval artillery!
Regarding medieval biological warfare - how do you prevent spreading infection in the besieging army, when handling diseased bodies to throw behind the walls?
The besieging army would already be rife with disease, so it's not a big difference.
Talking about sending plague invested bodies just reminds me of Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King when they, "released" the prisoners.
I assume you're talking about the severed heads of former "good guys" which the forces of Mordor used as psych-warfare artillery during the siege of Minas Tirith?
@@Dack.howaboutyou Yep
Hey metatron, a fan from Brazil here!! I did hear about a battle where musslin forces catapults scorpion bags in their enemys wearing heavy closed armors (i think its a christian army, but not sure about it). Its just a cool fact that Id see in a video about ancient biological warfare... Did you ever hear about that??
A calorous hand shake my friend, your work is soo amazing, one of the most honest and "atention locker" chanels on RUclips!!!
Sorry for any mistakes in my writing, I learned english by myself.... Kkkk
Ah não precisa se desculpar por nada..a imensa maioria desses gringos não conseguem entender nada além do próprio idioma de nascença e a quase totalidade deles não sabem que na Inglaterra o jeito de falar separa até as castas sociais.
Agora tem aquele caso curioso do general americano que mergulhou balas em sangue de porco numa dessas guerras do oriente médio.
Tem um livro "In defense of chemical warfare" de Sir Haldane. Tá em domínio público em uma dessas bibliotecas digitais. E tem um outro livro sobre o uso de mosquitos como arma de guerra. Tudo coisa bem recente viu.
And now I have the Horrible HIstories song stuck in my head. Still very good and fun.
It is awesome how far you have come. More interesting than ever. Thank you
You are so cool and calling us your #1s is nice and makes me feel appreciated. Loved this subject so interesting! Thank u !
Nobles ones...😄
But sure it does.
Yes, to all possible in-depth video suggestions. All of it is fascinating.
Metatron, you can just assume that any video you ask if i'd be interested in you covering that the answer is yes. Your living up to your name by leading me thru the wilderness of historical inaccuracies to the promised land of understanding history
11:36 working in the field. During winter in Scandinavia...
They were hard men
;)
Depending where. The west coast of Norway is mainly wet anf windy, with little snow. However, with only a few hours of day light in winter, there were probably few outdoor activities....
Metatron, if you ever ask us if we want you to make a dedicated video on a discussed topic, you should always assume that we most certainly do want you to make it
Really well done. Enjoyed this enormously. Thanks.
"it's not what you fling, it's the fling itself" Had to do it. Northern Exposure fling of the piano. Carry on.
I would really like you to make a full length video on medieval siege engines.
Thanks for all your content!
Great video!
Regarding the Siege of Uxellodunum, "Ancients Behaving Badly" (History Channel), had an episode about Caesar, and in it they mentions this atrocity, but I don't remember if they mentioned Uxellodunum.
I found your RUclips's very interesting. I remember on the History Channel talking about Greeks that poisoned the River to a Village that killed everyone in it. Greek society was supposedly so horrified they agreed that this type of action will never be taken again by any Greek state. I don't know if it's true or not.
medieval artillery specific video? yes please!
Next video: how to simulate a Viking longhouse in your garage using your car's exhaust...
15:30 Sounds a lot like ”Golodomor”. I wonder, where, and whom, Stalin learned his tactics from 🤔.
Yes please.I see lots of videos about hand weapons and armor but little about siege engines.First got interested when I watched videos of Punkin Chunkin.The hand chopping didn't stop Maedhros but he was a Son of Feanor.
You should 100% do a video on Medieval artillery. I’d love to see that!
Definitely make a video on medieval artillery
Damn this video is very dark, but also very informative, i didnt even know that Caesar used biological warfare and the fact his troops literally dug under an entire mountain to cut off the water supply from the Gauls, very interesting indeed! As usual, fantastic video, excited for whats to come from you, sir. Valete!
I do not know if it is intentional, but is funny how Metatron always changes into Overwatch hoodie for sponsored bits.
a dedicated video on seige weapons for wall breaching would be very interesting.
I'm sure the rest of the community of the sword would have something to add.
..afterall, tod cutler *does* have a trebuchet..
Speaking of catapulting bodies, the Mongols may have done just that at the Siege of Caffa in 1346, according to Gabriele de' Mussi, an Italian visiting there.
That is what Metatron said at the beginning of the video, he said also that there is no proof that De Mussi.
was visiting Caffa. If you think about it had he been there, he would have either contracted the plague or been butchered by the Mongols when the town surrendered
If I remember correctly, even many Romans were a bit put off by how far Caesar went with this particular group of Gauls. Of course that might just be what his political opponents were saying. I always wondered about all the smoke in the buildings, especially the long houses. It can't be good for you (he types while taking a long pull off a Marlboro). Well, that and the fact that most of the farm animals are in there with them.
I assume the 'excuse' is the same as always: It would be too expensive to make it better. Surely back then they could think of much better ways to built it and were aware of the fire's harmful effects, but just like today, smart solutions tend to require above minimum investment or they will remain a niche for a long time.
I don't quite get why they didn't build a seperate room, with a barred gate so heat could still get through to it. For the animals to live in I mean. I don't know if they had earth ovens, I would assume so. The Romans had the right idea with underfloor heating, which you can combine with earth ovens. Cooking and comfort in one. But the seperate room could've atleast helped some issues stay seperate.
@@SombreroPharoah He said in the video, the center fire was done to have equal heat radiation across the room, so I deduct that hose old houses were hard to build for good heat retention, so it was basically more like a gathering around a campfire, with significant benefit from direct infrared radiation. A separate heating room or a mantlepiece might have been considered too inefficient. (Especially the latter also because then a lot of useful heat is expelled through the chimney.)
Am i the only who, every time metatron says “i could make a video on that later if youre interested” is like immediately pausing the video to write down in the comments “yes make that video”? 😂
I used the Caffa Siege as example for my CBRN course as one of the very first usage of Bio Weapons
- "dark biological warfare"
- ha, unit 731...
- No, not this one
- Right, sorry
Yes, please an episode on the medieval artillery would be amazing!!!!!!!!!
"You can only throw heads at a time"- Metatron.
Imagine being a siege engineer and your CO ask, "So how about using some heads for ammo for a bit?"
Would be interesting to see experimental archeology on Norse longhouses. I know many replicas have been built, and some have been restored. One theory is that they were higher than first anticipated. This probably meant better circulation.....
Not only circulation, the hot smoke rises up, i have seen a saxon roundhouse where the smoke completely filled the roof, but below that a normal sized adult could stand in clean air.
@@ulrichkalber9039 Makes sense....
I would absolutely love to hear you speaking about medieval artillery.
I would love a vid on medieval artillery from your point of view. If it comes from you I know it'll be high quality and properly sourced.
this should absolutely be a series on your channel.
Your channel is great; I’m glad that someone can talk about history without relying on what the man says.
Before I watch the Video i wanted to show my Respekt for the fact that youre still there. I heard that you had a really hard time when I was having a hard time. Good too See we still out there. Speak fact, speak Truthahn.
Thanks!
Yes please, would love a dedicated video on Medieval Artillery.
And yes i heard about the last part, the geltic warcrime, i cant find any information about it, love to hear what happend from you!
A point on pronounciation "Drakar" in Norse.
"Drakar" means "Dragons" and the first a is elongated in a way that doesn't seem to be too common outside of scandinavia.
The closest approximation I can think of is the video game "Baldurs Gate".
You pronounce the first A in roughly the same manner as in the word "Drakar"
Excellent. I read Julius Ceasar's War Commentaries many years ago. The topic of the Roman Empire is fascinating. Thank you so much Metatron. Please go on...
Love all your videos!
Bearing in mind that, for the time, Caesar's actions weren't extreme [a friend read both the commentaries and Tacitus - in the original Latin - for his doctorate and was more than happy to discuss Roman warfare among other things. Unfortunately my reading of Latin isn't good enough to read them for myself but he was definitely an admirer] my only comment has to be - oh, and I was named for Caesar being born in a Roman town in Britannia -
AVE CAESAR,
Ave Verulamium.
Hey @Metatron. One thing I would like to see from your videos are links to sources that expand on your video topics in a highly detailed way. For example, If I want to learn more about Caesar's brutal campaign against the Galls, it would be nice if you had a recommendation on hand to point me towards. (Btw, Dan Carlin's Gallic Holocaust podcast series is superb)
The Mongols often sought out the water source of a city under siege to defecate in. It's old hat.
One thing I've never thought about is that throwing bodies could pose a devastating effect to enemy morale. I do understand that soldiers are a different sort of people, battle-hardened and not as squeemish as most folk, but the sight of an animal corpse or, worse yet, one of your comrades being flung back at you and literally being smashed over your defences is both gruesome and agitating. Not to mention that somebody has to clear that viscera off! I wonder if there's a record of somebody actually being hit by such disgusting projectile? I'd assume such a kill would be an awful achievement.
Depends where and when, often soldiers were just farmers given a spear when attacked
@@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan farmers were used to see bloods and entrails, though.
@@benjaminthibieroz4155 human ones? Because animal ones ain't that bad. Speaking from experience (animal ones. I used to go hunting with my grandpa)
@@Josep_Hernandez_Lujan Animal ones of course. Specie kinship aside, is it really different?
@@benjaminthibieroz4155 According to my grandpa, who was a veteran, yes. According to him it was the smell. That's unlike any other "dead meat"
Although, it might be partly a psychologic difference. Because they train dogs that search for dead bodies using dead pigs. Because dead human allegedly smells like dead pig. At least to a dog.
Every time there's a story about the Romans and the Gauls, Asterix and Obelix came to mind
I would love to see ancient artillery! It's so much fun when you talk about medieval stuff.
History is what it is and we must never flinch from reality, not to mention it was quite a good video, man that was dark. I always think of Kaiser as an enlightened leader and I'm familiar with the story but every time I hear it the magnitude of thousands of men leaving that place with their hands cut off hits me right in the chest
I'm not sure where to put this comment or question so I will put it on the most recent video. I think it would be really a cool idea since Metatron is a self admitted gamer, I would like to see a Historicaly accurate dark souls run! Call it the "Metatron run" ! Take the weapons armor and upgrade paths that most closely fit to history! That's a little different then just breaking down the game! Now if that's something that's been done and already exists please disregard this comment entirely.
On this one we agree. People can accept even their own reality, imagine them trying to see history lol
Fun fact is that the word "window" comes from Norse and meant literally wind-eye as it was the only opening apart from doors into the air outside. They had no chimneys btw and this was likely meant to make draught and to some extent ventilate the smoke. For those living in milder or hotter climates may not grasp at first that the building style (not much of sides on longhouses as it was mostly roofs down to the sides) did not lend the option to make openings for light there and also the cold air outside. I know it is not scientific and too simplified but just wanted to share my thoughts as I am grateful for modern windows in an insulated house with good ventilation 😊
Thing you don;t mention is that even without fires for warmth and cooking a major danger in long houses were numerous members of extended family congrugated in winter /wet weather is the spread of SARS diseases and more lethally tuberculosis which in Norse housing, and even similar housing in Northern Scotland (Crofts) which were long houses with -one end being used for over wintering livestock (and sometimes in high Norway, Sweden and Lapland "Lofthus" were livestock overwintered below the loft (living space of humans) to giive a form of central heating, tubercular diseases while generally not cross transmisable between spieces are caused by the same stifling poor air quality.
It's good to know that our society has improved and now we have decided that only half of North America should experience smoke like the Norse.
“They could only throw heads”. This is why I watch Metatron.
Hi Metatron, please do a video about medieval artillery. sounds fun and educational :-)
Well... They certainly never tried that with Asterix and Obelix 😮 recent discoverer of your channel and I'm hooked thank you for all you do!
5:04 If they could do it, means absolutly they did it at least once - I mean a bunch of man during a siege so half angry half bored can catapult any object towards enemy... You can bet they tried at least once to catapult EVERYTHING you don't want to be hit by. Dead cow, dead people, content of latrines, stupid YT comments. Simple human nature demands this 😉
Raf, "meu amigo", you are a piece of work !!!
Great video.
Thanks for your great videos!