Roman Imperial Cavalry - Armies and Tactics DOCUMENTARY
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- Опубликовано: 1 янв 2020
- Our animated historical documentary series on the evolution of Roman armies and tactics continues with a video on the Roman cavalry forces of the Imperial period. As the Roman empire started facing cavalry heavy Germanic, Nomadic and Iranian armies, it became clear that the lack of elite cavalry makes it suspect to defeats, so the emperors started reforming the cavalry units.
Previous videos in the series: • Marian Reforms and the...
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We are grateful to our patrons and sponsors, who made this video possible: docs.google.com/document/d/1_...
The video was made by our friend Arb Paninken bit.ly/2Ow3oC8 while the script was researched and written by Matt Hollis
This video was narrated by Officially Devin ( / @offydgg & / @gameworldnarratives )
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#Documentary #RomanArmy #RomanEmpire
Baby, it is cold outside, so, a Kings and Generals hoodie? bit.ly/2ZSo5gZ
Smart very smart
Cuffing season for history nerds, give your special study partner a warm sweater for the new year 🙌
Looks good!
Yess
Fine , i'll have one , bib me the money first
Faction:Rome
Special Skill: ADAPTATION
@FrankCaputo Up to some point so true!
Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.
@Jack Blade while muslims are definitely benefitting from white guilt in their renewed invasion of the west, I don't think causing it could be attributed to them.
@Jack Blade politicians that good are lying to get votes.
@Jack Blade not really sure, but surely someone with a vendetta on white people. Someone who wants them weakened, declawed, defanged & emasculated through various means as vengeance for past wrongs & crimes against them.
"Its right to learn, even from the enemy" Ovid
@Conker Von Douchebag Well, they did copy carthages ships during the First Punic War, so...
Fas est et ab hoste doceri. God, I love Rome Total War!
@Conker Von Douchebag But they eventually rebuilt Carthage - made it even bigger than it was before.
Ovidius?
@@LMvdB02 *cOvid
Enemies of Rome: "Hey! A new way of fighting!"
Rome: "We are the Romans. Lower your shields and surrender your weapons. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."
@Sam Bowling Alley Actually worse.
Barbarians: "Hey! We use anarchy."
Rome: Oh shit! We should not have adopted that technique.
Sam Bowling Alley *laughs in Hadrians wall*
You have 5 seconds to comply.
The Roman Empire was what the combine was to earth in half life to Europe
Carrying and employing all their offensive and defensive gear and equipment would have made the sheer physical exertion required of Roman cavalrymen definitively and utterly massive. They were seriously some extreme athletes!
Have you paid Kings and Generals to post a comment 4 hours prior to releasing the new video?
Tom Conradson
Yeah, you can do too.
Imagine how much impact that extra weight adds to the charge. Force = Mass x Speed, essentially.
I don't think they weighed as much as the gothic plate armours, and these ones were as heavy as a modern soldier will bear in terms of equipment ^^
Yeah, they were stronger than me or the average citizen of Rome, because they were trained soldiers, not average citizens, but overall they were likely not much stronger than the average modern soldier ;)
In fact, bearing a 40kilos armour is easier than carrying a 40kilos backpack, because the weught is evenely distributed and you use all your muscles to bear it, not jsut the back and shoulders XD
@@krankarvolund7771 gothic plate weighted less. Much less, actually. Some sets of it are incredibly light for the coverage they provide.
The point of armor development was never to simply make it heavier - even the earliest extant full sets of armor from the bronze age are not that far from that human can realistically expect to employ in battle(and even slightly more - since these were chariot armors, instead of horseman ones).
The point always was to give as much protection, do it as conveniently as possible, and as lightly as possible.
"Our series on the Roman army will continue all the way to 1453"
Why... Why did you have to remind me like that...
Where boys cried: 476
Where *MEN* cried: 1453
No, the series must continue to 1461 (fall of Trapezunt).
Those stupid rise of kingdom ads showing the fall of Constantinople can go die in a ditch
@Samuel Kováč Y'all cried at the wrong date. Should've cried when Latin Empire was formed. That was the thing that killed Rome. Only a matter of time since then.
@The Martial Lord of Loyalty Fall of Constantinople is what really helped drive the beginning of the Discovery Age though, thus making Europe the true powers of the world. So it was a necessary event for European domination.
*Roman's Best Skill*
is that they invested a good amount of Skill Points in the Finesse Skill Tree to unlock the ability to steal other Armies' Battle Tactics
Duchi honestly
They invested in the tree of skill points that grants you skill points for skill points.
They’re the Nekro Virus
Anyone who calls adopting tech from other civilizations "stealing" doesn't know how research works
more like adapt faster against any threat that they face. You can only get better by using & improving what others used to get better against others before you
Stealing is irrelevant in history
*but I appreciate your game association jk
the cavalryman with the Chinese sword must have bought it at an unbelievable price and took it everywhere with him
Even in the tomb, sometimes when there is improbable discoveries like this sword i wish we could be able to know what was the history of a person like this roman soldier with a chinese sword.
"Hey is that a straight sword?"
"Yeah we all got one."
"Idk kinda smells like BROKE IN HERE" *Continues to flex Chinese sword*
And he probably never shut up about it
@@kamiloniszczuk9685 I wouldn't
back when stuff from china was extremely prestigious
Roman knights armed like statues and only living for war! That’s the best edgiest and most badass thing I ever heard
It's funny no one actually knows about the magical night goes back to Roman times part of an equestrian order because they can afford horses eventually the franks adopted the Equestrian orders than the Norman Knights and boomed the feudal Knights
I can just imagine an eastern trader who bought a few crates of Indian and Chinese goods from a merchant in Alexandria, is now selling it at a market in Antioch or Byzantium.
The crates contain a variety of goods: spices, silks, so on, and hey is that a sword at the bottom of the crate? No idea how that got in there but I can probably sell it so some Legionary officer for a Solidus.
Eventually a Cavalry officer on his day off is browsing through the market, sees this sword he's never seen before, it seems vaguely eastern, the merchant spins some tale of how it once belonged to some great warrior in a far off land.
Yeah whatever, buys it for a small sack of Denarii.
The officer likes the sword, uses it, and is eventually buried with it.
Meanwhile at some port in China, a hapless grunt patrolling the docks realises he's missing his sword.
Locks at the ship sailing sailing away, who's cargo he had just finished inspecting.
"shit, there is no way my CO is going to believe me about this. I'm going to be cleaning latrines for a month."
What used to be Rome's Achilles Heel went on to become their primary strength by the time of Emperor Julian. A testament to Roman adaptability.
Haters say Rome was lucky
Infantry was still the main decisive arm in times of Julian.
@@paprskomet
Yep. Still nowhere as strong overall as they used to be prior to the crisis of the third century tho.
On the other hand, the cavalry had become so effective that Julian was counting on them against the Germans. Imagine that lol
@@RexGalilae Based on what?They still won absolute majority of wars and battles they went to.Reading Basic and secondary sources of that time is not giving me impression of Roman 4th century infantry being anyhow significantly less effective than before.
@@RexGalilae Roman infantry continued to be the best fighting force well into the byzantine army, they were unmatched in their combat effectiveness. The thing that changed was their ability to raise them, maintain them and keep them loyal.
@@woutvermeulen4883 Speking about conditions of 4th century specifically,problems with loyalty were certainly much smaller than terrible chaos of 3rd century.
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing, Roman cavalry choirs are singing.
Be my mirror my sword and shield!
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know Saint Peter will call my name
Never an honest word
No one:
Romans: ala Gallorum et Thracum Classiana invicta bis torquata civium Romanorum.
Repeat that a few times very quickly and see what happens.
No one: Succeeded
hardest name in roman empire
*inhales* Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus Augustus Herculeus Romanus Exsuperatorius Amazonius Invictus Felix Pius wants to know your location
@@gabrielinostroza4989 ew anyone but him
@@gabrielinostroza4989 much of those were titles
Me: Plays Ck2 with the volume off so I can listen to this video at the same time
Kings and Generals: Puts Ck2 music in their video
Me: wait what the fu-
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
what is the final song name??
The more I hear about the Roman military, the more badass they seem. Awesome work on the video, as always!
Also, if anyone is interested on this minor error; at 18:37, the name of the Greek sculptor is Praxiteles, and not Praxiletes as the narrator seemed to have said.
2:06 I dunno, hearing that the lower ranks were reduced to escort duties? I know its the world's oldest profession, but who would have figured that some of the legionaries would have to prostitute themselves from time to time.
@@BoopSnoot har har
18:45 so this is the inspiration of the adeptus custodes
Wow, you almost reach 1 million subs!
I still remember the earliest episode of the Napoleonic Wars!
Through the arms and tactics shown here you can see how Medieval Knights and Byzantine Cataphracts evolved. And how an army based around heavy infantry would become one based on a heavy horse force. Laying the foundations for cavalry's dominance on battlefields for the next millennium. Well done Sir!
Two millennia really. Cavalry was used even in WW2.
Yes, I know, thank you.
The key word there is DOMINANCE. By WWII cavalry was overshadowed by these things called TANKS, you may have heard of.
18:40 Actually the sculptor`s name is Praxiteles not Praxiletes.
Correct.
I can imagine the confusion of an archaeologist finding a Chinese sword in Bulgaria
'The Medieval cataphract was the ancient equivalent of a modern-day tank'. Indeed, impervious to small arms fire, terrifying to behold and heavy metal as hell!
"Knights are Unbreakable and Unpenetrable..."
The Hussites
"Allow us to introduce ourself.."
@@X.Y.Z.07 now, that was epic
"Noooo! You can't just hide in wagon forts and devastate our warrior-caste trained-from-birth armed and armoured with the latest shit knights! We're having a hard enough time enough with the Swiss! Nooooo!"
"Haha, hand cannon go brrr"
I love that you keep on saying that you will cover the Roman military until 1453.
Thank you.
Heavily armored horse archers sounds like cancer on the battlefield
Mordhau horse map
@B M You chase them to the border of the map, obviously.
@B M If you can get close you chop their legs out from under them. If not, well
Shower em with crossbow. When they charge, use cataphract to counter charge, and kill em with long spear.
@@y.z.6517 Yep, combine the tactics for countering horse archers: Tons of foot archers / crossbows of your own, shielded by dismounted Knights who are pretty much immune to any kind of handheld pre-gunpowder ranged weapons, and the tactics for countering heavy shock cav: Pikemen and a lot of discipline.
You did in 20 minutes what a lot of books could not for me. Roman cavalry was terra incognita for me for a long time. Thank you
Wish this was a series about different Elite Heavy cavalry units across history.
You guys were awesome! Can't wait for the late roman and byzantine army episodes. The music at the end was awesome AF, gave me chills
Odyssey Ahead, by Dream Cave
You guys are awesome, I was looking all over for a documentary about this topic just before!
So from Ceasar having to mount some of his legionaries as mounted bodyguards to the heavily armored cataphrakts and horse archer. The Romans truly were very good in developing their armies and tactics.
3:54
I like how you use Rome total war faction colors in the Cards!
I still can't believe how much your videos have improved. Thank you for instilling in me a love of history
Great video! It’s so interesting how the Romans adapted so many new techniques of warfare when ever they were challenged.
I’m a big fan, been watching for about a half year now and I’ve seen most of your videos, and the Cold War channel. Really fascinating stuff. One of the coolest things I’ve ever learned from you come from this video, the fact that plywood is a material that apparently stretches back to early Egyptians and possibly earlier. Your videos offer truly fascinating view into history!
This is such an EXCELLENT video! I love the graphics, the music, Devin (as always), editing and most of all - the topic. More of those pls!
Never get tired of your videos on Ancient Roma!
There will be more!
@@KingsandGenerals Gratias tibi!
The CK2 soundtrack 🔥
What song is the final one?? I can´t find it
A fascinating report on the Roman use of cavalry and its evolution. Thank you!
honestly, these videos just keep getting better and better
The last two minutes of the vide felt awesome. The combo of the epic music and visuals! I suddenly want a epic movie about these historical badasses! Great video :)
The quality of these videos is amazing I love this type of educational content. Keep up the good work.
I always felt like being a catapracts was a one way trip for most, amazing video!
This was brilliant! Answered many questions about Roman dominance in the saddle, especially in the east! Good Job Devin with that mouthful at the beginning!
I like the change in illustrations for these more technical videos, keep it up!
Cataphract is "Ancient Tank"
Javelin Infantry and Cavalry unit: Guess who got "Ancient Anti- Tank" boi!
cross-bow is ancient ATGM. knight cavalry which dominated the battlefield for a millenium declined into oblivion after that until the tank in WWI. thank china for that.
@@b.griffin317 then Hussite's handgunner (Pistolla) was ancient Panzerfaust... :p
@@b.griffin317 No, crossbows can't penetrate plate-armor deep enough on most parts of the covered area, nor maintain the needed rate of "fire" to stop a cavalry-charge.
Gunpowder was introduced in the second half 14th century in medieval Europe. At least higher quality armors offered enough protection against firearms for the next two centuries.
Mass use of gunpowder-weapons and the change in military doctrine made heavily-armored units cost-ineffective. Although the breastplate was utilized as protection against musket-fire until the Napoleonic area.
@@b.griffin317 as the other guy just said, crossbows are not the bane of armour as video games would make you believe, and heavy cavalry was used even after people stopped using crossbows instead of guns
@@DarkLordOfSweden Even handheld crossbows can have tons of force. Technically, you can have as much force as you want, by trading it with speed.
One of my personal favorite episodes so far. Great way to start the year.
Intresting. I used to think that the reason early Roman and other cavalry units were limited to bow and javelin skirmishing tactics was the lack of the stirrup. Without one, charging into someone at full gallope and sticking him with a lance would throw the rider right off.
Yet as far as i know, the first stirrups in Europe came with the Turkic Avars, long after the Empire in the West fell.
3 years late, but the Cavalry of Alexander the Great would use Spears without Stirups. The key is that they did not use it as a Lance, and instead used a lighter haft for quick stabbing. Lancing was not done until the stirup, though.
I've always known about the Roman Imperial cavalry. But I've known only bits n piece's of it. Now I know a little more about them. Nice job. my compliments to those who made this video a reality.
I absolutely LOVE all your videos about the Roman empire! Keep em coming
Parthia: *laughs in Carrhae*
Rome: *laughs in stealing Parthian tactics and sacks Ctesiphon 3 times.*
Parthia: 😞
Persia: laughs in sacking Antioch and besieging Constantinople
@@someguy1026 Those are Turks not Persians or Arabs
@@cinnamon3578 What are you on about? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman%E2%80%93Persian_Wars
@@donq2957 When did the Persians siege Constantinople and Antioch?
antioch in 253, 613 and on the reign of justinian maybe more. constantinople was put to siege in 626 by both the avars and sassanids but failed
a good start for the new year :) good work as always K&G
I always wanted to learn more about Roman cavalry and this video madenit possible! you guys should do one about the Roman and Byzantine Navies
Once again, fantastic episode from K&G!
The cavalrymen you show @ 6:06 were called Celeres (NOT Celery!:) meaning 'The Swift' and how they evolved is interesting. Originally they were a mounted bodyguard established by Romulus for the kings of Rome, numbering about 3-400. After the Republic overthrew the monarchy these brave and loyal horsemen were without a job, but not forgotten.
During the Jugurthine War, centuries later, Gaius Marius and his legions were confounded and tormented by the light, javelin wielding Numidian cavalry with their hit and run tactics. Their ancestors played a crucial, tactical role in Hannibal's great victories over Rome before switching sides, after being bribed, against Carthage, only to turn against Rome a century later. Marius' Equites (wealthy, minor nobles who provided their own horses and arms) were unable to catch and close with the swift Numidians, who would wear them out in pursuit then wear them down with their javelins. Out of desperation Marius mounted and trained a unit of his Velites (young, inexperienced light infantry) as horsemen. Presumably, they would be fast enough to catch and hold the Numidians until the Equites could arrive. In practice, they did catch the Numidians but were torn to pieces in close quarters melee. So he tried mounting and training a unit of Hastati (veteran, frontline heavy infantry) instead. They were able to catch, close and defeat the Numidians thus helping Marius finally bring King Jugurtha to heel. Grateful, Marius kept this unit of mounted, modified Hastati as his bodyguard, escort and elite cavalry reserve, dubbing them Celeres, a term which had become synonymous not only with speed but courage, loyalty and honor. Years later, while carrying out his reforms, they would become the model for the standard, Roman horse who would replace the Equites and eventually the Italian allied light cavalry as well.
According to Gibbon, 8 of the 10 Cohorts of a legion, had a Turma (squadron) of 30-40 horsemen. The first and tenth Cohorts each had a full Ala (wing) of 120-160, giving the legion a mounted establishment of 480-640, an increase in size over the earlier Manipular legions. These would frequently be detached and massed.
The Celeres would prove generally effective for centuries, able to outfight, or at least outride, most of their opponents. But as, you so aptly pointed out, Rome's borders expanded, they would run up against more specialized types of cavalry, notably light horse archers and heavy armored lancers against whom they were at a disadvantage.
Up armored, up armed and increased in number was the overall trend in Roman cavalry evolution.
Beautiful presentation and awesome research.... you are creating absolutely wonderful material... thank you and have an excellent new year.
Got to love the artwork and the artist of this channel. Keep it up guys.
Fantastic movie! Thank you so much for bringing all those fascinating facts to light.
BRUH YOU’RE POPPING THESE OUT KEEP IT UP!!!
K&G's happy new year, first video of the year, and it's was good, keep it posting
A great video as always. Thank you!
There's an encyclopedia that focuses entirely of the Roman Empire which includes hidden fun facts, military formations & tactics, Roman cultures and etiquettes and more..... If I have enough money and a chance to encounter that book, I buy it without hesitation
What is the encyclopedia called?
Ronald P I have no idea but it's contents is very informative and it's artworks are beautiful as the cover in red and gold brown coloring
@@Manuel-gu9ls I have to know the book! Did you manage to find it?
the info graphics keeps blowing my mind
Your content is so invariably good, I like before watching just so I don't forget
Thanks again for another great docu!
I love this kind of videos. Good job guys keep it up
I'm waiting the "unsuccessful attempt of conquest Arabia peninsula by Roman Empire" video. It will be amazing story to listen from you.
Interesting, informative...and so nicely done, once again!
Yay!!!
Finally some information about the Roman cavalry!!!!!
I live in the Lower Rhine region in the west of Germany.
Back then, the Batavi used to live here.
Because we are western of the Rhine (a major natural barrier), the Romans conquered our area very early on.
As they did with all their conquered territories, they recruited men for their Auxiliary forces.
The soldiers from this Lower Rhine region were very skilled naval infantry and especially good horsemen.
The fun thing:
I am a good horsemen myself.
If I would have been born ~2000 years ago, I would have been part of the roman auxiliary cavallry.
You could have been sent to Pannonia or Dacia with Ala I Batavorum.
@@synkkamaan1331
Exactly.
There is a museum dedicated to the Romans not far away from me (in Xanten).
They have found remains of a batavian cavalry helmet and have built a reconstruction:
tabletopdeutschland.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/xanten-militc3a4r-13.jpg
(the one on the right in the picture)
It is decorated with braided horse hair. Experts think that this is not a helmet used in combat, since the face visor would only be disadvantageous.
There is a reenactment community connected to the museum. I am contemplating to join them some time in the future.
😊
Dudes. Soo Awesomeness.. Thank you for all your hard work and video's.
Beautiful video, as usual!
Really appreciate this video.
We have holidays now, but you work hard, KnG. Great success to you in 2020 !!!
When I was this early, it was still 2019.
Great video as always!
All I remember about cataphracts and clibanarii are that the former uses spears while the later used maces
Rome 1?
@@X.Y.Z.07Yes
Awesomely Informative! would love to see battles involving the same!
Great video as always! Though I would've liked to know more about the Scholae Palatinae.
Excellent doc.
15:13 "only a small degree shorter than the sarisa" , when it clearly seems like it's a quarter shorter
Love this video series!
This is great, so informative.
Always Amazing videos
Rome to Parthian and Samatian: good cavalries, now they are mine.
I believe in ten years Devin would be the most famous voice in history documentaries in TV and other media.
Awesome. What a great video.
You should start a series about Persian armies. That will be something very interesting to watch!
This was fantastic
شكراً
Your videos are very in depth and I applaud you for having such a high variety of subject matter. Just a request but I was wondering if you could do a similar video for the Tang Tiger Cavalry men of Li Shimins personal army or the Samurai / ashigaru during the sengoku jidai
Thank you! Really good
Very interesting, very well done.
The more I learn about Rome, the more I'm impressed by them - not that I ever thought they were slouches. Their honest self-evaluations & willingness to abandon what didn't work for what did, no matter how long/traditional the now failed tactic/unit was employed, is amazing.
Brilliant detail
This video is a masterpiece but I want to point something out. The name of the Athenian sculptor was praxiteles not praxiletes. Such a small detail but I thought that he was a very good artist and made some of the most beautiful sculptures I have ever seen. Look up Hermes of praxiteles and you will see. I have seen this one up close and it was magnificent. (sorry for the long text love you all)
I love it so much when you surprise me with Crusader Kings music
Allow me, just a small correction. The name of the great Athenian sculptor mentioned in this video is not Praxiletes . It is Praxiteles . Thanks in advance.
Love the Crusader Kings 2 music used near the end of the video!
Romans are the borg of the Ancient and medieval world, during the early Republican years the Centuraeii and Triarii spearman were basically reverse engineered from the Greek Hoplites, then during Marian reforms classical corinthian helmet, spear and rounded shield were largely phased out but then during 3rd century AD rounded shields and spears made a huge return, also Neiderbeiber helmet made it's first appearance.
CAN YOU GUYS PLEASE DO SERIES ON THE ABBASSID REBELLION?? It has so many amazing stories and battles
Happy New Year!
To be honest my guy you are the best,
Very soon million subscribers.
Your channel is amazing bro!
Please make a video about the messenians wars and the dorian(spartan's ancestors) invasion of greece. There is very little content about sparta in youtube channels, everyone only talks about the Thermopylae.