It was a lot of bad luck and scouts (who Pompey trusted) that were bribed. Plus, it was not even really a battle. 1. This was similar to Teutenburg Forest. Crassus' main scouts were bribed by the Parthians to lead him into the desert far from water into open terrain. And a lot of other deception by these scouts were required to set up this situation. 2. Parthian armies usually consisted mostly of infantry. Armenia allied with Rome to fight Parthia. The Parthian King decided to take out the Armenians first and took the bulk of his army there. Then he gave his general, Surena, a small cavalry only detachment to harass and stall the Roman army (Crassus), while he dealt with the Armenians. Surena never intended or expected to defeat the Romans...nor were the Romans defeated...on that first day. The Roman army was made up of mostly green soldiers that were freshly recuited. These were not hardened veterans. And they would not have done well in complicated maneuvers. Crassus' idea to deplete Parthian arrows was not the worst idea. Crassus was just unlucky that Surena's strategy was to harass the Romans for days (which would require large supplies of arrows...and logistics and 1000 camels to constantly resupply). It was that endless supply of arrows that created the situation that led to disaster. Crassus' army survived the harassment (wasn't really a battle) until nightfall...and then decided to take up a defensive position in a nearby town. But about 4000 were injured and left for dead...the Partians killed those. Also, some got lost during the night and never made it to the town and were also killed later. At this point the Romans weren't defeated yet, and still vastly outnumbered the Partian detachment. After Surena realized that Crassus took position in the town, Surena offered negotiating a truce. Crassus intended not to accept nor attend this meeting, but his army threatened to mutiny if Crassus did not attend the meeting. Arriving at the meeting, a Parthian pulled on the reigns of Crassus' horse which triggered a conflict in which Crassus and other officers were killed. This event, the death of most officers and the guy that paid their salaries, caused these green recruits to panic and flee towards Syria. This was when the slaughter started, as the Parthian cavalry chased down these fleeing soldiers. Surena intended to negotiate a truce. Because he thought he was at a disadvantage and was still trying to buy time for the king to arrive with the main army. He didn't expect or plan the unusual events that triggered the green soldiers to panic and flee...and get chased down and slaughtered. This unusual victory caused Surena to become overconfident, and he decided to immediately invade Syria...where the Romans proceeded to completely slaughter that overconfident Parthian army as they were retreating after losing some battles against the same Romans (20 000 made it to Syria).
Parthia was a tough nut to crack.. Even Mark Antony who commanded in many battles was forced to abandon his later invasion and fight while in retreat back to Roman territory. Many people attack Crassus's plan and instead say he should've invaded through Armenia like Antony tried later. But this strategy was flawed as well. Armenia wasn't really a determined friend of Rome. The Armenian king basically abandoned his support of Antony and I also think he would've hung Crassus out to dry as well. We would learn later when Trajan annexed Mesopotamia and sacked Ctesiphon that the proper way to invade Parthia was to sail down the Euphrates. But Trajan also had known that the desert March of Crassus and the Attempt at invasion through Armenia were unsuccessful thus making his choice to use ships to sail down the Euphrates an easier decision. Crassus shouldn't have formed the square... That is what doomed his men. The Parthians had far less troops. He should've extended his line. Caesar when severely outnumber by Labienus in Africa chose to extended his line when he was caught out in the open by a superior calvary force. It turns out he was severely outnumbered and was surrounded anyway so he turned around every other cohort later to deal with his encirclement and Caesar escaped doom. He also did this with fresh recruits and only a few veteran soldiers. Crassus was just not the general Caesar was.. Had Caesars lived to invade parthia he would've crushed them..
Crassus's idea wasn't fundamentally wrong, but it presupposed too much. Must have been terrifying to realize that the arrows just weren't gonna stop and that they could easily all be killed piecemeal. On the flip side the Parthian cavalry commander had some balls and was very careful. Too bad he did his job so well that he was killed for it.
What.....go through Armenia just to get an extra 10,000 calvary and what not....and share all the Glory? Nosiree Bob! "I'll march straight to Parthia and straighten shit out myself."
Parthians are a branch of Scythians. These people emerged around the same time the lost Israelites left Assyrian captivity near the Caucus region. The Parthians/Scythians are the wandering Israelites.
@@Iranian_Historian No, this is a common misunderstanding. Both Scythians and Parthians have dominate IJK YDNA haplogroups that are prevelant in Western Europeans. Just because these people were in the area of the Persian empire before they migrated to Europe, they get attributed to being Iranian, in which they are not. Also, the original Persians were light skinned Aryans, they became darker over time due to mixing with their slaves they conquered. I've tested my ancient ancestry and I am r1b with my DNA matching many Scythian samples, my ancestry is Celtic-Germanic.
@@ryanciantar Scythians are Germanic nomadic horsemen, with their origins north of the Black Sea. - Roughly the area that is also thought by many contemporary historians as the actual birthplace ( ~ 10k to 5k BCE) of indo-germanic culture itself: Inventing language, religion, the wheel, et al.
@@Badbentham You are correct, I am related to Royal and Black Sea Scythians, my ancestry is Celtic-Germanic. Many people believe the Scythians are related to modern day Iranians, but this isn't true, they are more related to ancient Iranians and modern day Celts.
In my opinion Crassus although having clear issues is one of the tragic heros of Rome. He spent his whole life (especially in his last campaign) trying to proof himself in front of the eyes of the people because he was once robbed of his only real chance of fame and glory by Pompeius.
Same with Lucullus…. Pompey stole his thunder too. It’s like Pompey was trying to be the last man standing of Sulla’s lieutenants - no matter what he had to do to make that happen - it’s no wonder he had so much senatorial opposition
I love this. Thank you for making these.
Glad you like them!
I usually listen to these while I’m driving but today I saw it on the tv…needless to say,I was surprised to find that Hannibal was a Nigerian lol
I thought that was skipio afrikanas? He got honorary black skin along with the nickname lol
Very interesting stuff. Thanks
This is what happens when you face a true military genius. Crassus' unlimited money meant little.
he really didn't understand what cavalries could do like Alexander did. Alexander was lucky he started of in the cavalry
It was a lot of bad luck and scouts (who Pompey trusted) that were bribed.
Plus, it was not even really a battle.
1. This was similar to Teutenburg Forest. Crassus' main scouts were bribed by the Parthians to lead him into the desert far from water into open terrain. And a lot of other deception by these scouts were required to set up this situation.
2. Parthian armies usually consisted mostly of infantry.
Armenia allied with Rome to fight Parthia.
The Parthian King decided to take out the Armenians first and took the bulk of his army there. Then he gave his general, Surena, a small cavalry only detachment to harass and stall the Roman army (Crassus), while he dealt with the Armenians.
Surena never intended or expected to defeat the Romans...nor were the Romans defeated...on that first day.
The Roman army was made up of mostly green soldiers that were freshly recuited. These were not hardened veterans. And they would not have done well in complicated maneuvers.
Crassus' idea to deplete Parthian arrows was not the worst idea. Crassus was just unlucky that Surena's strategy was to harass the Romans for days (which would require large supplies of arrows...and logistics and 1000 camels to constantly resupply). It was that endless supply of arrows that created the situation that led to disaster.
Crassus' army survived the harassment (wasn't really a battle) until nightfall...and then decided to take up a defensive position in a nearby town. But about 4000 were injured and left for dead...the Partians killed those. Also, some got lost during the night and never made it to the town and were also killed later.
At this point the Romans weren't defeated yet, and still vastly outnumbered the Partian detachment.
After Surena realized that Crassus took position in the town, Surena offered negotiating a truce. Crassus intended not to accept nor attend this meeting, but his army threatened to mutiny if Crassus did not attend the meeting.
Arriving at the meeting, a Parthian pulled on the reigns of Crassus' horse which triggered a conflict in which Crassus and other officers were killed.
This event, the death of most officers and the guy that paid their salaries, caused these green recruits to panic and flee towards Syria. This was when the slaughter started, as the Parthian cavalry chased down these fleeing soldiers.
Surena intended to negotiate a truce. Because he thought he was at a disadvantage and was still trying to buy time for the king to arrive with the main army. He didn't expect or plan the unusual events that triggered the green soldiers to panic and flee...and get chased down and slaughtered.
This unusual victory caused Surena to become overconfident, and he decided to immediately invade Syria...where the Romans proceeded to completely slaughter that overconfident Parthian army as they were retreating after losing some battles against the same Romans (20 000 made it to Syria).
Crassus must of thought he was fighting another slave army. He found out the hard way that he was wrong!
Crassus was defeated by his ego. His trajectory was otherwise on the rise... It cost him his son too. Sad. Pride cometh before.....
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Parthia was a tough nut to crack.. Even Mark Antony who commanded in many battles was forced to abandon his later invasion and fight while in retreat back to Roman territory.
Many people attack Crassus's plan and instead say he should've invaded through Armenia like Antony tried later. But this strategy was flawed as well. Armenia wasn't really a determined friend of Rome. The Armenian king basically abandoned his support of Antony and I also think he would've hung Crassus out to dry as well.
We would learn later when Trajan annexed Mesopotamia and sacked Ctesiphon that the proper way to invade Parthia was to sail down the Euphrates. But Trajan also had known that the desert March of Crassus and the Attempt at invasion through Armenia were unsuccessful thus making his choice to use ships to sail down the Euphrates an easier decision.
Crassus shouldn't have formed the square... That is what doomed his men. The Parthians had far less troops. He should've extended his line. Caesar when severely outnumber by Labienus in Africa chose to extended his line when he was caught out in the open by a superior calvary force. It turns out he was severely outnumbered and was surrounded anyway so he turned around every other cohort later to deal with his encirclement and Caesar escaped doom. He also did this with fresh recruits and only a few veteran soldiers. Crassus was just not the general Caesar was.. Had Caesars lived to invade parthia he would've crushed them..
How do you produce so much content. Everyone else takes weeks and some months.
LOL about 5 to 6 hours every day! Glad you’re enjoying them!!!! :-)
Crassus's idea wasn't fundamentally wrong, but it presupposed too much. Must have been terrifying to realize that the arrows just weren't gonna stop and that they could easily all be killed piecemeal. On the flip side the Parthian cavalry commander had some balls and was very careful. Too bad he did his job so well that he was killed for it.
gotta feel bad for Crassus on this one
👍👍👍
What.....go through Armenia just to get an extra 10,000 calvary and what not....and share all the Glory?
Nosiree Bob!
"I'll march straight to Parthia and straighten shit out myself."
Wasn’t there a devotio?
He set out to fight an army of knights with an army of forced conscripts. Not a good idea.
Parthians are a branch of Scythians. These people emerged around the same time the lost Israelites left Assyrian captivity near the Caucus region. The Parthians/Scythians are the wandering Israelites.
Scythians and Parthians Are *Iranian*
@@Iranian_Historian No, this is a common misunderstanding. Both Scythians and Parthians have dominate IJK YDNA haplogroups that are prevelant in Western Europeans. Just because these people were in the area of the Persian empire before they migrated to Europe, they get attributed to being Iranian, in which they are not. Also, the original Persians were light skinned Aryans, they became darker over time due to mixing with their slaves they conquered. I've tested my ancient ancestry and I am r1b with my DNA matching many Scythian samples, my ancestry is Celtic-Germanic.
@@ryanciantar Scythians are Germanic nomadic horsemen, with their origins north of the Black Sea. - Roughly the area that is also thought by many contemporary historians as the actual birthplace ( ~ 10k to 5k BCE) of indo-germanic culture itself: Inventing language, religion, the wheel, et al.
@@Badbentham You are correct, I am related to Royal and Black Sea Scythians, my ancestry is Celtic-Germanic. Many people believe the Scythians are related to modern day Iranians, but this isn't true, they are more related to ancient Iranians and modern day Celts.
Cataphracts was the first khights of history ( shahsavaran )
🇮🇷🇮🇷🇮🇷
Fantastic battle and victory.
Such a great day.
In my opinion Crassus although having clear issues is one of the tragic heros of Rome. He spent his whole life (especially in his last campaign) trying to proof himself in front of the eyes of the people because he was once robbed of his only real chance of fame and glory by Pompeius.
Same with Lucullus…. Pompey stole his thunder too. It’s like Pompey was trying to be the last man standing of Sulla’s lieutenants - no matter what he had to do to make that happen - it’s no wonder he had so much senatorial opposition