Did Ancient Battlefield Booby Traps Like This Exist? DOCUMENTARY
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- Опубликовано: 18 июн 2022
- Just how deadly were ancient booby traps in battle? Thanks to Kingdom Maker for sponsoring - Download Kingdom Maker on iOS & Android and start ruling today: pixly.go2cloud.org/SH3EO
Hollywood battles often culminate in the use of some clever trap used by the underdog in an attempt to turn the tide of battle. This includes the pit traps of Spartacus: War of the Damned, the hidden pikes of Braveheart, the flaming logs of Spartacus, the flaming balls of Centurion, and the flaming fields of King Arthur. Such battlefield traps are certainly quite effective on camera and seem relatively easy to pull off. But did they ever exists? We explore the fascinating world of ancient battlefield booby traps in this animated history documentary.
The video begins with a discussion of the sorts of impressive fortifications which typically accompany permanent and semi-permanent positions. We then turn to field battles to see what sorts of practices were carried over. The documentary begins with the smallest form of trap, the caltrop, which was first used by the Persians at the Battle of Gaugamela but was soon being deployed by everyone from the Macedonian Army to the Roman Army. We then move on to traps of ever increasing size and deadliness.
What traps from history of Hollywood do you think are the most deadly?
Sources and Suggested Reading:
“Roman History” by Cassius Dio
“Commentaries on the Gallic Wars” by Julius Caesar
“Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World” by Adrienne Mayor
“The Poison King: The Life and Legend of Mithradates” by Adrienne Mayor
“Syriac Chronicle” by Zachariah of Mitylene
“Anabasis” by Xenophon
Credits:
Research = Invicta
Writing = Invicta
Narration = Invicta
Artwork = Penta Limited
#history
#documentary
#rome
Thanks to all who helped crowdsource these amazing examples of ancient traps! Craft you own realm's defenses by downloading Kingdom Maker on iOS & Android and start ruling today: pixly.go2cloud.org/SH3EO
Ok
Can you do units of history
The battle of Bannockburn where the Scots dug spike pits and caused many english knights and their horses to get alot of spikes up teh butt.
I watched a movie about the Siege of Vienna, by the Turks.
And the movie SHOWS the Austrian Troops, physically throwing 'Caltrops' onto the field of battle in front of their positions.
All for dramatic effect.
But, wait, here's the best part....
THE MOVIE NEVER SHOWED THE TURKISH CAVALRY RUNNING INTO THE SPIKES NOR SWERVING TO MISS THEM !!!!!!
Chinese where the masters of battlefield traps. Look at China history.
Maybe an episode about field carpentry, logging and engineering, like how a Roman army rolls up and just knocks out a palisade and ditches after a days march. Or how to source hundred spikes and holes, or practically get a pile of caltrops deployed on operation.
Also what happens with those temporary camps afterwards? Do the locals raid it for lumber?
In most of the cases,after a conquest they were turned into watching posts,further developing into proper cities...See the various Limes that Romans built like the Rhine or the Hadrian wall(best examples i can think of...)that were based on pre existent camps.Yes some of those may have gone into decay but as far as i know any Castrum(Roman military camp)was an important way of controlling border or conquered territory so yeah i don t think that too many of them were left to decay since they hold strategical advance...
@@andreic.7903 That makes a lot of sense. A lot of towns in the US midwest and western areas were spaced out along trails a day's walk or horse ride. Horse ride being at a trot and walking, not at a gallop. Same with the early railroad trains. They had to stop at set intervals for water and wood. This became less important as coal fired engines became more numerous. Many of the little towns that formed around stops are now gone, nothing left of them.
The suffix -chester or -caster indicates a British town that started as a Roman castra.
@@j.a.b.nijenhuis8124 Marius mules, carried a Palisade stake with each man, getting to a camp site, half the legion would stand watch then the other half would dig ditch and build palisade, next morning it's dismantle and continue
@@j.a.b.nijenhuis8124 Dude I have cut and carried a lot of logs in my life....carrying a palisade? One man? I seriously hesitate to believe that
One legendary booby trap from 1050, Häme, central Finland.
Last viking raid of Finland had been going well for swedes, and they grew so confident they split their forces in half, sending them down 2 different river paths.
The finns had gathered a fighting force still smaller than either of the swedish forces, so they came up with plan to crush both forces decisively without proper battle.
First fight, finns lined shallow parts of river with stakes.
Second fight, finns pulled an iron chain accross deeper river and pulled it up under the viking ships.
Both times entire riverside was lined with stakes and rocks that crushed the swedish ships bottoms.
In total, 3 ships escaped out of 40.
Swedes lost both of their leaders, Jarl dying from infection and his commander in charge struck by javelin after his ship was stuck.
The 3 ships that escaped were led by brunhilde, a shieldmaiden, who ordered everyone to run to the front of the ship before they toppled over from the chain.
In the, roughly 85% of 2000 invasion force were slaughtered by 500-700 finns.
There was also a viking force that managed to fight their way trough finnish lines, and they were forced to march back to Sweden trough land.
Sisu
Finns, the Scandinavian Scot’s 👍
Do you know any links to this battle of the Finns on the Web? You've got me curious about it. Thank you in advance.
@@BayStateObserver Rune Stone of Gunnar(?) and runestone of brunhilde, The two surviving commanders on swedish side
War, war never changes...
Well, technology changes but war is still same: maim, kill, loot when one is an attacker and maim, kill, made opposition running away when one is a defender.
Rogal Dorn would shudder at the lack of fortifications portrayed in media
Why? Traps are just fortifications crossed with stealth :)
@@christopherg2347 not for rogal, no. Hahahah jk
My dude! 😂🤝🤝
Jaghatai would argue the best fortification is a good counter attack! Lol
@@fmbrown8566
Angron of the world eaters would counter argue and insist spike's belong in ones own head not hidden on the battlefield.
One example of a crazy trap is the Hussite Wars. During one battle, the Hussites were on a hill, and they filled some spare war wagons with stones and dirt, and then rolled then down the hill to disrupt the enemy's formation.
the hussites in general were pretty nuts
didnt this exact same thing happen to alexander the great before the persian war? some barbarian tribe saw alexander comming up the hill, so they dropped wagons on him. But alexander just told his army to lay on the ground and hide behind their shields. This effectively ruined the barbarian wagon plans
@@wizard680 Alexander didn't tell his army to lay on the ground and hide behind their shield, he told his formations to move aside and place themselves in the gaps between the wagons
Can a shield protect you from being run over by a tonnes weight wagon, idiot?
@@mondaysinsanity8193 I think Jan Zizka is up there with Hannibal, Caesar, Alexander, and the other greats of history for the fact that, even blind, he never lost a battle despite leading a peasant mob against some of the most renowned knights in Europe, and outnumbered no less!
@@huntclanhunt9697 oh absolutely its sad hes so little known. I really hope kingdom come deliverence 2 centers around hussites its hinted in the first game and would bring more recognition
One ancient booby trap that I found to be quite ingenues was what the the Boii did to defeat a Roman army at the Battle of Silva Litana. During the Second Punic War, several Gaulic tribes had sided with Hannibal, chief among them the Boii. In response Rome sent an army of 25,000 strong to punish the Boii.The Boii had prepared an ambush for the Romans in the Silva Litana. But unlike any old fashioned ambush, the Boii had a wicked surprise in store for the Romans. They had sawed partway through the trees that lined the main road in the forest. As the Roman column marched deep into the woods, the tribesman would push the trees over and they would topple on top of the unsuspecting Romans, crushing many beneath them. What's more was that the trees fell on each other from bode sides of the road, and most of the Roman troops were killed by the falling trees, and those who weren't were trapped underneath fallen tree trunks and branches.
Personally I find this example of a bobby tramp to be very simple yet clever. It required a lot of preparation, setup and coordination to pull off yet it didn't require the Boii to commit a lot of resources, and unlike several of the other examples shown here such as pit traps and incendiaries, it didn't result in any friendly fire, yet alone require the Boii tribesmen to do much direct fighting.
I’ve heard of similar traps used by loggers against forest defenders today
bobby tramp?? Sounds like an ex-girlfriend of a mate of mine!
Blunt force trauma for the win
Yeah boii!
Excellent video as always. As for the firetraps, that is fireships being used, there is one example in Roman history that I can think about. In 468AD Eastern and Western Roman Empires decided to once and for all crush the newly established Vandal kingdom in North Africa in what ultimately came out to be the last joint military operation of the Western and Eastern Rome. So they sent what is probably the biggest fleet that Mediterranean had seen all the way since Actium half a millennium earlier. It was reported that the fleet was consisted of 1.113 ships carrying a massive army of 100.000 men. These numbers that ancient historians give us are of course probably inflated a bit, although the whole operation was still huge for its age. On the head of the operation was the brother-in-law of the Eastern Emperor Leo I, a general named Basiliscus. So after the fleet was assembled in 468AD it sailed from the harbours of East and West down to Sicily and then landed at Cape Bon, some forty miles from Vandal capital Carthage. However, Vandal king Gaiseric (the same one who plundered the city of Rome itself in 455AD), clever as he always was, asked Basiliscus for 5 days of truce to discuss negotiations for peace, which Roman general naively accepted. Procopius tells us that that request was "supported" by a chunky bribe that Gaiseric sent to Basiliscus. For these 5 days while the negotiations were under way, Gaiseric gathered his fleet, took some of his ships and loaded them with combustible material. The night when attack was ready, Gaiseric quietly sailed his fleet right behind Roman one, which was anchored at the shore, springed his trap and set alight his fleet of fire ships, letting them sail towards the Roman vessels. What ensued was a total catastrophe. Fire ships crashed into the Roman ships, burning hundreds of them, while the remaining part of the Roman fleet tried to without order get out of the harbor, only to be intercepted with the Vandal fleet. In the ensuing fight demoralised, disorganized and leaderless Roman ships were easily boarded by the Vandals and either destroyed or captured. And where was Basiliscus in all of this? Well, he bravely fled the scene on his ship in the beginning of the battle, abandoning his army and running straight back to Constantinople, followed by whatever was left of Romans. In total, about half of the entire Roman fleet was gone, burned sunk or captured. So with the use of fire ships and clever tactics, Gaiseric achieved a decisive victory in what many historians today think was a point of no return for the Western army and the Western Empire itself, since without grain from North Africa, Rome could not be sustained.
On the other hand, shamed Basiliscus returned straight back to Constantinople and then immediately going to Hagia Sophia to hide from the angry Emperor and populace. He was pardoned though and would later even start a civil war to overthrow the next Emperor Zeno in 475-476, even managing to take the throne for a couple of months before Zeno defeated him, and yes, if you are wondering, his stupid civil war coincided with overthrow of Romulus Augustulus by Odoacer in the West, which is exactly why East was prevented in stoping the overthrow of the last Western Emperor.
You lived up to your name . That's alot of good information
@@Kruppt808 he did study during his early years about history
@@Kruppt808 Thanks man, I appreciate it. Somehow as a historian you simply feel obliged to share interesting facts with the public, I guess. 😄
That was really interesting read thank you
Medieval Roman military manuals discuss the use of caltrops against cavalry-heavy enemies. IIRC they're linked by chains so that they can be easily rolled out and then gathered together again after the battle. They were dispersed ahead of the infantry, with lanes left clear for the cataphract wedge to move through. Roman heavy cavalry also had metal shoes on their feet designed to protect against caltrops.
@@TheLycanSubscriber The horses, and they were fully capped I think. One assumes that they would include textures and whatnot to limit problems with traction.
@@TheLycanSubscriber My impression from the manuals was that they were specially issued when armoring up for combat. One assumes that, much as a horse wouldn't be running around everywhere with mail or lamellar, it also wouldn't be wearing hoof caps full time.
What is medieval Roman military manuals?????
You mean Byzantine military manuals?
@@Fjodor.Tabularasa No such thing as "byzantine" anything. Medieval Roman means anything associated with the Roman army after the rise of Islam. I usually include Maurice's Strategikon in the medieval manuals even though it's more properly on the tail end of Late Antiquity.
@@matthewneuendorf5763 I guess you don't know, which is ok, that the Eastern Roman Empire is called BYZANTINE. Noob.
Fall of the Roman Empire=Middle ages begin. Or do you want to redifine that....
Hats off to the illustrators of this episode! They did exceptionally well! Absolutely beautiful visualizations!
Not sure why there was a flag marked "Wu" for the pictorials depicting the battle of Bach Dang (it looks like one meant to depict the battle of Chibi but got swapped around).
I always feel really sorry for elephants and horses that were caught in traps in battles. They're already terrified and confused. Then suddenly they step into things designed to cause them great pain and anguish through no fault of their own.
You don't feel for men wounded and screaming themselves to death because their king wanted more land and stuff?
Each to their own.
@@julianshepherd2038 He never said that. You're schizophrenic.
@@julianshepherd2038 Men in these times were much more savage.
Often the slaughter of the entire towns was not a result of some commander order even when someone tried to hold his soldiers at bay.
So I don't know why you would be pity for something like that.
@@diabelgrogaty1963 humans are still humans, ethics, morale and emotions are all the same. Today we are not even better. Look at the genocides that happened.
@@julianshepherd2038 men can choose a horse cannot
Emperor Maxentius: "My trap for Constantine is just perfect. I will lure him and his men onto the Milvian bridge. Once they arrive to the center, the Bridge will be destroyed and those bastards will drown. How smart you are, Maxentius..."
Bridge: *Gets accidentally destroyed just when Maxentius was goading Constantine into fighting him.*
Maxentius: "H-how could that thing fail...?"
Constantine: "Surely because you sided with the wrong God" 😎 *Proudly shows a Chi-Ro sign and chops Maxentius' head off*
The Sassanids might've fallen way sooner if it wasn't for Peroz I wuzurg framadār (something like prime minister), Sukhra, who quickly regrouped and avenged Peroz by invading Hephthalite territory and inflicting a major defeat on them and preventing a Hephthalite invasion
They already lost 3 times to Hephthalites and what Sukhra did truely saved the Sassanids
he was kavadh's prime minister though , he was a commander during Peroz's reign
Gardner here, what is described in the video is most likely (thou not definitive) is the common yellow azalea, known sometimes as Pontic Azalea (ironic). It is indeed quite poisonous(entire plant) to humans but the bee's are not affected by the poison which carries over into the honey, how much is carried over is hard to say depending on how much of the nectar originates from the Azalea plants nearby. I have eaten honey from Azalea and felt no ill effects, proceed at your own risk Id say.
In this case it was probably "mad honey", or as it's known in Turkish deli bal. It's honey from the nectar of a species of rhododendron that grows in Turkey and Nepal. It contains grayanotoxin, a neural toxin that in small doses has an inebriating effect, in slightly larger doses a hallucinogenic effect, but it can also cause a drop in blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, seizures, and death.
Guess I should have waited and continued watching the video before replying to you because a moment later he brought up mad honey.
In the sengoku jidai (warring clans period) in japan, during a siege of a fortified temple on a hill, the warrior munks of that temple dug in clay pots in the muck. The enemy would step in them, get their feet stuck and would be an easy target for the arquebus fire of the defenders
Also there is a source of a siege by the romans against a city of pontus where the defenders would drop bears and other wild animals in the tunnels the romans where digging underneath the walls.
In hindsight those wild animals were just food for the Romans.
The original drop bear
The smartest thing oddly to prevent Calvary encirclement was just digging two parallel trenches along both flanks of one’s army. Make the trenches unwieldy for any horse in testing and you’re good. I love these videos!!
Interesting.
I imagine this could also be used against defenders; a trench that keeps “them” out also keeps “us” in!
The enemy could then encircle us easier, since they could use those two trenched sides as their own trenches, and stop us from crossing easier than open ground
@@socialist-strong Digging encircling trenches was a common tactic in protracted sieges.
Sulla was a master in preparing the field against Mithrydates and Archeolaus. He understood that those war chariot were just lethal in full charge so he prevented this by setting a system of spikes to halt those chariots and borrowing the field with earthworks on the sides in two majestic battles in Greece. Orchomenus and Chaeronea.
As a working Teamster I can testify to the continuing modern day use of crow's feet against trucks during strikes. We make them by welding nails together and call them spikes
that’s interesting
on another note, i hope this account is not linked to you in any way, because google will share this comment and your IP address with cops in a heartbeat :p
just a lil reminder on the benefits of vpns and other internet security when discussing such activities
You're an menace, I hope you were fired and never hired again.
One of my favorite examples of 'practical' siege engineering was in Leo Frankowski's Conrad Stargard series, where he built a fortified settlement, and put the facility's septic tanks outside the walls up against them. The payoff wasn't until much later in the book, when an invading force's siege engines broke through the ceiling and drowned in the offal.
Its not weird roman soldiers didnt see the hidden stake trap. When i was in the army we built a tactical post overlooking a crossing and a field. We had to go other stuff when it was finished and went back a few hours later. We couldnt find it - to the point we literally walked over it. At least it was a strong post lol. We ended up looking for it for over half an hour.
Really appreciate the hard work you and the team put together in making quality content!
I would say that battlefield traps cause more morale damage than actual casualties.
And considering how important morale is, I'd say they are far more devastating than they are given credit for.
*The Battle of Silva Litana is an example of a battlefield booby trap being used to wipe out an entire army. In the late summer/early autumn of 216 BC, inspired by the breathtaking defeat of the Romans at Cannae, the Celtic Boii of northern Italy rebelled against Rome. The Boii conceived an ingenious plan to trap and destroy the army of Consul-elect Lucius Postumius Albinus in a single move.*
*Livy reports that the Boii laid an ambush along the route of the Roman army's march in the dense Litana forest. The Boii cut as many trees as they could along the forest road in such a way they would remain standing, but topple over with a good push. As the Romans marched passed the Boii's concealed positions, the tribesmen on both sides of the road pushed on the nearest trees causing them to fall on the neighboring trees in a cascading pattern until it seemed as if the whole forest was falling down on the heads of the Romans.*
*Many Romans, along with their horses, were crushed and killed immediately, their equipment and baggage train destroyed, while the survivors were left confused and befuddled. The army could not organize and form ranks on account of the many tree trunks now littering the road, when the Boii emerged to slaughter the dazed Romans piecemeal. In total, the entire army of twenty-five thousand Romans was annihilated. Postumius Albinus himself was captured, stripped, and beheaded. The Boii gilded his skull, after peeling the skin and removing the brain, which served ever after as a libation cup for the Boii's gods.*
Another example in probably the most important battle in the history of my country, Portugal, where the Portuguese Army managed to repel the larger Spanish army was the Battle of Aljubarrota.
They used spiked ditches like those you show in 04:20 and trenches and caltrops to good effect.
Invicta, you should really do a video on the Martial Soldiers of Wei (魏武卒) from the Warring States era of ancient China.
They were heavy infantry that undergoes rigorous training and have fantastic battle results, in one of them besting an army 10 times their size. According to historical records they numbered 50,000 a their greatest extent. They, like mediterranean troops of that age, also used a shield and spear as well as the standard crossbows for Chinese elite soldiers of that age.
I was binge watching your Historical Unit videos and figured commenting under your newest video would be the best way to reach out to you. Cheers!
Happy Father’s Day to me
Thanks
I hope this all exists for my son when he’s older
It’s a great style of going over what’s learned or learning new things
I seem to recall one battle in antiquity which used flaming goats/pigs to scare off elephants, but I can't for the life of me remember which battle it was. Great video, @Invicta!
Wow! My first time seeing any of your videos, subscribed!!! Very informative and well researched!
In the 14th century wars between Scotland and the invading Norman English( 14th century Putins) massive pits lined with spikes were used - obstacles were placed at the edges of the selected battle fields to drive the English invaders into the traps
This was deployed at Bannockburn and Louden hill and destroyed the invaders heavy Calvary leading to Scot’s victories
There is a record of King Roberts army watering the grass that covered the pits at Louden hill so the English wouldn’t notice the pits if the grass dried out
You mean 14th century America
@@nhienleminhhue6605 no ! America theoretically didn’t exist as far as Europe was concerned , with the exception of a few Norse or Scot’s ocean wanderers , no one knew it was there except the natives
Excellent as always!
Right as you brought up pits, I was going to mention sometimes as combat engineers we do obvious obstacles to force the enemy a direction when there is not time for concealment
The tide one is something I haven't heard before that is really genius!
Excellent video mate? Very well researched and presented
I love the discussion from this video, really brought forward obscure tactics, some not traps but fascinating all the same.
I'll give example just cause, not a trap but cool.
China, don't know who, but durring a siege the defending commander sent a message to the enemy "please don't desecrate our burial mounds, if you do my ppl will surender" 🤣 so of course they did and this galvanized the defenders to fight to the death.
Then the commander had holes dug in the wall ready to collapse and put women and children on the walls, which gave the enemy the impression there were few soldiers.
The night before the final assault the enemy got drunk thinking victory certain, but the defending commander had hundreds of bulls which he strapped spikes and blades to their heads, painted them like dragons and attached oiled rags to their tails. At the signal, the walls were caved in and the bulls sent forth, tails on fire to drive them forward. The chaos and mayhem was devastating but what came next won the day, 1000 picked men dressed in black, gags in their mouths as to not make a sound and coal darkened weapons not to glint in moonlight, swept through the camp like invisible ghosts slaughtering everyone with out being noticed as the foe was too busy and terror stricken from fire and burning "dragons" destroying their camp to even notice the relatively small group of hidden soldiers.
This video was great as it really brought the community together for discussion of all kinds of crazy stuff, love it and love you Invicta.
The clay pot traps were used by fortified cities where the walls had flat open stretches and siege towers to fall into but not affected by cavalry so to give the enemy the illusion that the ground up to the fortified walls would bare the siege towers weight....
@Invicta Splendid coverage on an interesting topic. Have there been any three-way battles recorded in history?
Oh my God, they actually did it! Pictures of cavalry falling victim to spike pits! Thank you, Invicta, thank you!
The last battle on the movie “Outlaw King” is an excellent demonstration of using the right terrain to pin a larger force in and the use of traps to win the the day I suggest anyone into history to watch it… nicely done in my opinion
That ship inpalement tactic was also used in WW2, the D-Day invasions.
Transports would get caught up in metal cross braces at the beach heads and low tides, and were sitting ducks for the German mortar/gun crews
Excellent vid! Good ideas to use when they come in their trucks to round us all up!
Great video with tons of information. I know a few traps but I don't know much details on them. I know fire ships were used a lot in the early modern period. There is an 18th century song call The Fire Ship which is an allegory to an STD. The other trap I know is the use of flaming pigs to scare elephants. I'm not sure when and where this was done but I've seen it reference where they would cover a pig with grease and light them on fire as they send them to the elephant forces. The sight and sounds would terrify the elephants and cause them to flee.
Great presentation! Thanks.
Very interesting Video. Didnt think that they would be used to such great effect on occassion
During the battle of Nicopolis in 14th century the Ottoman sultan planted ranges of pikes at the top of a hill and lured the francs heavy cavalry to pursue his light cavalry. The pikes weren't seen before it was too late (hidden by the curve of the hill) the francs empaled themselves on the trap and were pinned down by ottoman's archers before being surrounded
I love how this opened with Spartacus
That was an amazing video, Thanks
it all depends from location, on location and to a location. The battle of Teutoburg Forest comes in to my mind where romans where driven from one trap in to another.
Adding 'fire' to a large rolling object holds no purpose and adds complexity. Sure it's SCARIER to have a log that's on fire roll down... but you know what's already scary enough to make people run? A log that's rolling down at you. Therefor, most things that would be rolled would not be on fire.
Now of course, when we are discussing the infamous defeat of Cao Cao where fire ships were sent his way, this was intentionally to use fire FOR fire's effect. See, Cao Cao was a very able tactician and leader but he and his massive army lacked one huge skill. Naval combat.
His men became seasick and he had a lovely great idea to chain his armada together to prevent them from rocking so much.
This of course, was noticed by his opponents who thought 'there's no fucking way... holy shit he actually did it, that mad lad.' and waited for a particularly dry wind to take notice before sending ships to engage. These ships had a huge pile of dry leaves, straw, and other flammables available, but wouldn't be lit until it was too late. Thus, the chained ships were suddenly covered in a lot of light flammable objects that swarmed over and set the entire fleet on fire.
Therefor, fire in most movies are just an 'ooooh aaaaah' factor, but realistically no one would waste the effort and risk to set an entire LOG on fire for effectively attempting to do what a log is already going to succeed at, where in Cao Cao's legendary folly, the entire purpose of the ships ramming into the fleet WAS to spread fire. Not to ram ships.
Ships are much more flammable than humans.
Humans are much more squishy and smush-able than ships.
Therefore, kinetic smushing is effective against humans, and fire is effective against ships and other wooden structures.
@@socialist-strong This is indeed, why fire attacks are more often used in naval combat at some capacity.
In the battle of Ager Falernus (Second punic war) Hannibal was trapped by Maximus but tricked the roman troops with cattle with logs in fire on their horns sending them uphill to simulate his whole army moving.
I live near by to Antonine's Wall. There are the remnants of a fort called Roughcastle, where the Lilia pit traps are still very visible
There is a very famous celebration throughout Spain, “El Toro de Fuego”. You should make a video about this almost mythological battle of the Middle Ages
5:30, man the guy REALLY liked his poisons huh?
As far as i know Dacians used viper filled baskets against the Roman forces assaulting their forts...Now i can t remember exactly the source about use of poisonous baskets, but poison is mentioned by Dio Cassius in the suicide of Gnaeus Pompeius Longinus-a Roman general captured by Decebalus and intended to be used as a bargaining chip or a source of intelligence about emperor Trajan plans...Dio Cassius is mentioning that the personal slave of general Longinus managed to sneak a viper poisoned arrow into the cell before being allowed to carry a message to emperor Trajan in behalf of his master. Longinus kills himself in order to prevent revealing military information under torture and thus leading to an escalation of Roman war efforts against their foe,since Trajan deemed unfit the return of his body in return of conceding the land already taken..
battle of Hattin when King Saladin used "fire" against the crusaders , strange that you did not mention it . anyway keep up the excellent work ...
17:05 That was my suggestion!!! YES!
I know the Song dynasty used a ton of landmines against the Mongols. Like... a ton. Enough to hold them off for years. Do those count as booby traps?
Hope you make a video on the battles of Charonea and Orchomenos in 86 B.C (First Mitridates war).. as far as I know this is the first recorded use of trenches and stakes on a battlefield.
No doubt incendiary traps were as popular in our ancestors' imagination as in modern Hollywood. In the Shahnameh, Ferdowsi says that Alexander used fake camels with oil and set them on fire to frighten Porus' elephants as Hydaspes. A similar tactic is described to be used by Tamerlane against the Delhi Sultanate, but with real camels.
Oh, the romans did the same with pigs against the carthagens.
FLAMING PIGS! by god what a mess lol
@@chasecharland1160 bacon on the trotter!
I bristle with irritation when I watch movies that show such traps in silly ways.
They are often conceived by movie makers who's main goal is to wow fourteen year old boys who are easily fooled and excited.
It's not that they didn't use elaborate traps back then. I'm sure they did, even in unfamiliar terrain. But the movie makers love to establish the idea that the army the viewer is suppose to root for is somehow super inventive and clever. That would be fine too but the movie makers don't bother to actually put in the work or make things feasible.
Probably the absolute worst example of this would be one of the horrible Joan of Arc movies from about 15 years ago where the English were scaling the walls of a French castle and the French had a ten foot wide L shaped tube in the walls into which they rolled a ten foot wide solid stone ball. Down it when then curved level and shot out of the wall killing only one climber as it shot out of frame. The idea they would build that to kill one person is juvenile in the extreme and this is a movie that wanted to be take seriously.
We see it in just about every movie sent in pre gunpowder times. Same with the constant use of 'flaming arrows' or them taking absolutely any opportunity to have roman infantry form the 'TESTUDOOOOOOOOO'.
When a viewer sees some elaborate trap or defence in a movie, the contraption should be feasible in terms of resource deployment, chance of the enemy coming in that direction, effort to effect (kills) ratio and just plain engineering.
Most directors think that viewers are either stupid or will be so desperate to support the 'good guys' that they willingly suspend disbelief.
Well done!
need follow up....was awesome...add more castle def and siege too
These were good examples of traps.
One example of the use of rolling burning things to disrupt attacking formations was the Knights of Malta who used burning wickerwork hoops soaked in oil - rolled them into attackers to break up attacks and occasionally set some poor sod on fire.
Thank you for this history. Something they're not teaching in schools anymore or we wouldn't be in this predicament we're in.
Rolling firy stuff downhill is sure nice looking in movies, but i guess even if someone would have had the technology and resources to light and get stuff burn that much in the needed time, this might ...well..backfire, since the rolling fire thingy might ignite other things , grass bushes or even your own soldiers and shroud the view. Problems that became very common with the use of gunpowder btw.
I love all the content. Of this Chanel. It its educational. With the ability to teach how to if one. Found themself
In the posssion. Of the
Attacker or defender
Always wondered about the actual value of a lot of the fire type traps used in movies. Anything on fire going downhill made no sense to me. Fire is rarely controllable, and loves to go up. So, unless you were using such trap to cover a retreat, the best you'd back able to hope for is it burning out before it got back to your lines.
Well oily fire and simple chemicals that burn must have been scary to people that were just used to wood fire.
the value is hollywood entertainment
Have to be sure the wind is in your favor!
Excellent.
Traps are not only effective if there isn't another way to attack a position, but also to limit the viable approaches for attack. Thus, traps can be effective even if the enemy never triggers them.
At the Battle of Loudoun Hill, a force of about 3000 English were taunted into a fight uphill in a narrow pass where a small army of Scots (about 600) had dug 3 lines of ditches, the knights charged and tripped into the ditches and were slaughtered by spearmen, and the army routed. The film Outlaw King depicts this tactic quite well, if a little small scale due to budget limitations. These tactics were then encorporated into English strategy against the French to great effect, such as the Battle of Crecy 40 years later, where the English dug pits in front of their position to thwart the French cavalry's charge.
Maybe try the Records of the Three Kingdoms instead of the Romance. Records is the actual historical text, while Romance is a historical novel.
The Battle of Salsu was the most epic trap. The Goguryeo army with 30,000 men beat the Sui army with 300,000. Because they gave a false retreat over a shallow Salsu River when The Sui army was half way across they blew up a damn holding back a flood that killed almost all the Sui Army then they calvary charged them. Only 2700 Sui army survived. It’s beautiful
Regarding the Battle of Red Cliffs, by my understanding the account in RotK is highly embellished (it surely didn't involve a better part of a million men, nor Zhuge Liang's sorcery-like stratagems), but the use of fire ships does seem to make sense given the circumstances and I wouldn't be at all surprised if they really did play a role in the historical battle as there are much better-attested accounts of fire ships being used to good effect, such as Thomas Cochrane's use of fireships against the French in Battle of the Basque Roads during the Napoleonic Wars.
5:00 Nice Gwent card art
An exemple of booby traps used to a massive scale that turned the tide of the war is the swiss throwing a lot of rocks on the habsburg’s army at the battle of Morgarten
beautiful.
can you produce an episode on bar kokhba revolt in 132 against the romans?
Early in the american war for independence, when Washington seized Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston, he had hundreds of barrels filled with dirt and rocks ready to be rolled down upon the British troops, should they attack the position. The British did not want to risk another pyrrhic victory like Bunker Hill, so they decided to withdraw instead. The agreement was the Americans would not fire on the evacuating Brits and royalists in exchange for the Brits not burning the city. Had the British decided to attack the heights, they would probably have won because the Americans were severely short on arms and munitions at that time. Most men only had enough powder for a few shots, and there was even a portion of the army equipped with wooden spears in leu of muskets.
i have also heard and seen rope traps in forst parts being used to trap riders. but i dont think its the same as on a big battle field. its more mines are to like make a few soldiers be crippled and need a lot off help. but very good video. (sorry for bad english)
Do you have a citation for the herodotus bit? I was trying to recall just this story the other day to someone.
For anyone (very) interested, the 95 part Chinese TV epic production of The Three Kingdoms is worth a deep dive. The Battle of the Red Cliffs is in episodes 41 and 42 (main event).
English subtitled version at: ruclips.net/p/PLd7LptFYgU82gryIhclybPnfyBMyEsC-i
For information on more reliable records from the three kingdoms period. You might want to refer to the "Records of the Three Kingdom" rather than the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
Off the top of my head Saladin creating a dust storm in front of the marching Crusaders was quite brilliant.
The byzantines used "Greek fire" and also used fire ships plus they had A bad ass harbor chain that could be used to trap fleets or stop them from entering.
The Vietnamese have been a very stalwart adversary for centuries. It just proves that heart and cunning battle tactics can beat any enemy, no matter the time period.
There is a natural Honey in some country I can`t remember that does the thing you mention, I guess it wasn`t poisoned just gathered from there. There is a documentary about it here on YT somewhere. Peace!
The Norwegian folk-song "Sinklarvisa" is from the 1600s when Sweden hired a Scottish mercenary army to iad the war between Sweden and Norway, and the Norwegian peasents laid an ambush rolling logs down a steep hill as the Scots were marching on a path by the river, then rusing them for the finish. Great song too!
How about a episode on ancient biological weapons? War dogs, hornet nests, flaming pigs etc?
At the Battle of Acoma Pueblo .. the Natives baited the Conquistadors up a known trail and threw down huge rocks that are still there today. You can see where the rocks were broken off the cliff of the Mesa. New Mexico is home to the 1st Revolution War of North America in the Pueblo Revolt
All I can remember is the mine once used in deadliest warriors. It simply used a treasure, such as a good spear, prepped with a smoldering match that fell onto early black powder pot and was essentially a proper booby trap.
I hate how I can't find any quick sources on it now, but I believe it was a Mongolian invention
I cannot find any direct source about this, but legend states that Romans even deployed Lego pieces on the battlefield! Think of this cruelty!
Before watching, I know in the medieval times, armies would dig shallow holes to try and trip/break the legs of horses, it wouldn't be hard to imagine this happening from the beginning of cavalry defence tactics
I used to live in a neighborhood where meth-heads would bust out car windows to steal loose change and cigarette butts from the ashtray so I would leave my doors unlocked. Well they smoked the butts and put them out on the seats of my car so I made something similar to those elephant nail boards spray painted them black and left two whole cigarettes on the dash but way up by the windshield... When I went to work my door was left open and there was meth-head blood in my car with the the board laying on the ground. Lol he still took the cigarettes.
What a painful way to go.
The Lusitani wars against the Romans are quite famous for their ability set traps and ambushes, it was in the same area where centuries later the Christian Kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula were created, for the same reasons.
Interesting
You didn't mention the most dedly use of hidden trenches; that of the Hephthalites against the Sasanid king Peroz and his army in 484 AD. It is said that Peroz and his whole army were destroyed by falling into a huge trench which was full of sharp shafts (or perhaps lances and javelins):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peroz_I#Third_war_with_the_Hephthalites_and_death
Its in the video
Kingdom maker is kind of fun actually
At the battle of Bannockburn near Stirling in Scotland in 1314, the Scots dug small pits or pottes and placed sharpened stakes in the bottom to deny ground to the English cavalry, a fact which is mentioned both by the poet Barbour on the Scots side and the Carmelite friar Roger Baston on the English in a poem written immediately after the battle:
'A device full of mischief is fashioned for the feet of the horses - hollows armed with stakes
- that they may not proceed without downfall. The common soldiers dig pits that the
horsemen may fall through them and that the footmen - should they see any pass across -
may perish.'
They also dug out post holes to stop the English cavalry.
It would break the horses legs if they tried to run over the ground and put their hoof in one of the holes.
@@NPC-st7zv I think you’re referring to the same holes.
The art is excellent, please keep the same artist.
nevertheless, surprisingly a very interesting video based on real knowledge, many thanks
Don't remember which battle exactly but there was one in Balkans against Ottomans. Where the naphta was poured in the field, and when the Ottomans entered it was lit on fire. Think the Ottoman losses were huge because of this.