Barbarians Rising: ROME CRUSHED BY THE GOTHS IN BATTLE | Full Episode | History

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NARRATOR: Previously on Barbarians Rising... Rome grows from a city state to an empire. But its path to power is furious and fatal. (MEN SCREAMING) As the barbarians rise against them time and time again, (GRUNTS) Rome crushes each rebellion. (YELLING) The Empire relies on total domination, but now it faces a traitor on the inside. Arminius, a son of Germany, surrendered to Rome, emerges as the Empire's greatest threat. VARUS: The boy hostaged by his tribe to Rome, what an abomination. NARRATOR: Sent to destroy his own people, he turns on Rome instead. Rome is unbeatable. No, they'll bleed. NARRATOR: Hatching a secret plot... ARMINIUS: They will never suspect me. I know their movements, how they fight. NARRATOR: ...to drive the Romans out... If we can gather enough men, we can beat Varus and his leaders. NARRATOR: ...and reclaim their freedom. (MEN SCREAMING) (HORSE WHINNYING) (BREATHES DEEPLY) (THEME MUSIC PLAYING) (HORSE SNORTING) (BIRDS SQUAWKING) Arminius... These are for you. They were your father's. NARRATOR: Arminius and his army of Germanic warriors wait as Governor Varus' legions march directly into their ambush. Go, go, go. (BREATHES HEAVILY) We can't strike until the vanguard has passed. We wait for Varus. If we hit them too soon, they'll regroup. Do not let them get into formation. (INHALES SHARPLY) (EXHALES) (GRUNTS) (HORSE WHINNYING) (SOLDIERS SCREAMING) (GROANS) (ALL GRUNTING) (GROANS) (NEIGHING) (YELLING) (GROANING) (YELLING) (GROANS) (YELLING) (GRUNTS) ARMINIUS: At last, no viper. You cease to hiss. (BIRD SQUAWKING) NARRATOR: The Battle of Teutoburg Forest rages for three days. The bloodiest showdown between Rome and the barbarians since Hannibal's victory at Cannae 200 years earlier. The Empire loses nearly all of its 20,000 men. Arminius' victory is utterly unprecedented. It should never have happened. For a bunch of untrained Germanic tribesmen to hem in three legions and basically wipe the whole of them out, this should never have happened. The irony here is that Rome created its own worst enemy. NARRATOR: Arminius sends a message directly to the Emperor. Rome is no longer invincible. NARRATOR: Augustus expels all Germans from the capital and withdraws his troops from Germania, retreating south of the Rhine. But the Emperor refuses to accept defeat. He attacks again two years later. This time he doubles his force, to 40,000, to destroy Arminius and bring Germania under the eagle. PETER HEATHER: Rome never forgives and it never forgets. NARRATOR: The barbariansr tw, while their leader, Arminius, evades capture. HEATHER: You can't win a great victory in Germania if the people don't want you to. People are spread out, there are trees everywhere, you've gotta find your enemy before you can defeat them. People can fight a great guerrilla warfare against you, more or less forever. COLONEL FARRELL: For the Germans, there is a larger cause that motivates them. That cause, that reason is freedom. NARRATOR: The Empire unleashes waves of violence against the tribes, but fails to draw Arminius out of hiding... Until its legions target his own family. (DOG BARKING) (FLIES BUZZING) Is this the price of freedom? Is this to be our lives now? Hiding in the darkness, watching our world get destroyed. It will end. Will it? (HORSE APPROACHING) It's Thusnelda. They have found her. Her father struck a deal with the Roman Commander. (DOGS BARKING) (MAN GRUNTING) (BABY CRYING) It was your brother... Flavus. No! NARRATOR: Surrendered to Rome alongside his brother Arminius 15 years earlier, Flavus has proven himself in battle, and is now one of Rome's most trusted commanders. He's among those sent to finally conquer Germania. Capturing Arminius' wife and unborn child achieves the desired result. Arminius comes out of the shadows with a response that is swift and apocalyptic. ERIC L. HANEY: If your opponent has nothing left to lose but their honor and their sense of dignity, he's utterly dangerous. (BIRDS SQUAWKING) (MEN SCREAMING) NARRATOR: When the two sides meet, Arminius commands an army of 20,000 warriors from tribes across Germania. Rome's force of battle-hardened troops numbers 40,000. It's the first time in 200 years that the barbarians face the Empire on an open battlefield. Brother. Where is she? Rome has made you blind. I can still see you're covered in filth, some of it even your own. If only you could see my villas, my baths. Even the slaves are magnificent. What do you have to show for your betrayal, brother? A bed of straw and the loyalty of a pack of beasts. No, I have something you have never known. Freedom. I'm nobody's magnificent slave. A golden cage is still a cage, Flavus. The Empire has taken everything from us, even our brotherhood. But here you sit like some bastard son of Rome. Where is she? She's in Rome... With your son. Oh, you didn't know you had a son? He'll be brought up as a good Roman. I'll raise him as my own. My own Roman slave. I will kill you for this. I will kill you. Then let us begin. (HORSE WHINNYING) (MEN SCREAMING) (ALL YELLING) (GROANS) (GRUNTS) (GROANING) (GRUNTS) Brother. Your rebellion will fail. FLAVUS: Yet here you are, on your knees, before Rome. I will never kneel before Rome. (ARMINIUS GROANING) Germany will never kneel before Rome. Then you will die along with Germany, my brother. (GRUNTING) (GRUNTS) (THUNDER RUMBLES) (BREATHING HEAVILY) (GRUNTING) (GRUNTS) (BREATHING HEAVILY) (GRUNTS) Remember who you are. (STRUGGLING) Cherusci, always. Now, you crawl back to Rome and you tell them this soil is already rich with Roman blood. And if they come back, they will bleed by my hand and for generations to come. (ARMINIUS GRUNTS) (GRUNTS) NARRATOR: For the first time in nearly 300 years, the barbarians are shifting the balance of power against Rome. Still determined to conquer Germania, the Empire launches a series of attacks over the next eight years. Arminius repels them all. But he never reunites with his family. His son is raised as a captive in Rome. His story lost to history. Arminius is murdered in 21 AD by allies who fear he has grown too powerful. But he's forever remembered as a liberator, the first barbarian to expel Rome from his homeland. Arminius was, undoubtedly, the liberator of Germania. He fought the Romans when their power was at its height and decisively defeated them. GENERAL WESLEY K. CLARK: Most accepted their lot, the few don't. They don't wanna be subjected to somebody else's power over them, and they fight back. NARRATOR: Germania was to be Rome's greatest prize, instead, it's their most crushing defeat. The Empire abandons its campaign in 21 AD, forty years after its first invasion. Sets its borders at the Rhine, and never again sets foot in Germania. But Rome must expand to survive. Its strength comes from conquering new lands, resources and populations to fuel evermore growth. This underlying Roman ambition to expand, it affects everything. The entire Roman civilization is built upon it. NARRATOR: Driven out of Germania in the east, Rome turns its eye north to one of the last remaining barbarian strongholds, Britannia. A place unlike any Rome's conquered before. The Romans viewed Britannia as the land beyond ocean, as the place beyond the end of the civilized world that lured them forward. It was a land of mists and mysticism, where supernatural spirits stalked the land. STEVE KERSHAW: It was exotic, it was wild, it was barbarous. And on the other side, they thought it was very rich. It had gold and silver they thought. Hunting dogs, slaves, grain for the army. The price of victory was a good one. NARRATOR: Over the last 100 years, the Empire launches five separate invasions of the island, all of them fail, beaten back by the Celts. Ferocious pagan warriors who ride chariots into battle and fight naked or covered in war paint designed to instill fear. COLONEL FARRELL: For Rome, Britannia represents something very different. The people there are as alien as any they've encountered. They seem, literally, to the Romans, insane. And, of course, they're also going after your head. They won't be content to defeat you until they've got your head. So that's very frightening to the opponent. (SOLDIERS SCREAMING) (GRUNTS) NARRATOR: When Rome invades again in 43 AD, it makes a foothold in the south-east. Emperor Claudius sends 40,000 troops to take the island. The Celts rise up once again, but this time, they are no match for the Roman war machine. One by one the tribes begin to fall. Those not defeated in battle are bribed into peace treaties. Among them are the Iceni, who have been at war with Rome for two decades. Their leader, King Prasutagus, accepts the Empire's peace terms. ARYA: We've already seen this kind of tactic in Germania, it's just what the Romans do. They offer up a treaty in agreement with the tribe, you sign it, you're a friend, you're an ally of Rome. You don't sign it, you'll be destroyed. NARRATOR: But 10 years later, Rome gets a new Emperor, the infamous Nero, who demands the total submission of the Celts. (BIRDS SQUAWKING) Prasutagus, King of the Iceni, we are gathered to speed your passage to the other world. You brought your people peace, now you go to yours. Your daughters will succeed you at the head of this great tribe, guided by your beloved Queen Boudica. They will endure in this world as you take your place in the one beyond. (BIRDS SQUAWKING) (GOAT BLEATING) Guardians of the Sacred Mystery, accept this sacrifice. May this lifeblood ease the journey of this king. (INAUDIBLE) The other world is his. (BREATHING SHAKILY) Sleep well, my king. May the other world love you as I do. (EXHALES DEEPLY) (HORSE WHINNYING) Tell me. VANESSA COLLINGRIDGE: The death of Prasutagus leaves the Iceni in a very vulnerable position. Nero would fully expect the kingdom to be handed over to Rome. Instead of that, he's left half of his lands to his daughters. Now, leaving your kingdom to two female barbarian children is utterly abhorrent to Rome. (DOG BARKING) (INDISTINCT CHATTERING) (EGUS GRUNTING) The King still burns. Whatever you have come for can wait, Decianus. My husband, the King, made a deal! Your husband, the King, lays dead. What was his now belongs to Rome, and so do you. CATHBAD: You dare to insult the Queen! You dare to break Emperor Claudius' deal! Claudius is dead. I answer only to Nero. The Empire is calling in its loans, and they will pay. My husband did what Rome asked. He honored every promise. If Rome betrays our alliance now, know this, Decianus, you will regret making enemies of us! I doubt that, you filthy animal! How dare you! (ICENI MEN YELLING) What are you doing with our Queen? Let her go! The mighty Queen of the Iceni, a woman who thinks herself fit to rule. What a joke! I'll kill you! (GRUNTING) We don't make deals with dogs. Ah! No! Teach her some respect. (SCREAMS) (WHIP LASHING) No! (WHIP LASHES) (GRUNTS) (WHIP LASHES) (GRUNTS) (CONTINUES GRUNTING) Mom! Take her girls! EGUS: Not the girls! No! No! Not the girls! (GIRLS SCREAMING) No! Not the girls! (CRYING) No, no, no! Do whatever you want with me, but leave the children alone. Show some mercy! Mercy is for fools. EGUS: Leave her alone! Turn them into women! (SCREAMING) (WHIP LASHES) (GRUNTS) (GROANING) (WHIP LASHING CONTINUES) Look after your sister. Look after your sister. (SOBBING) COLLINGRIDGE: The Romans grossly misread the situation. Boudica is not going to take this lying down. This is an insult to her tribe, it's an insult to her god, and it's an insult to her and her status. There is really only one way out of this, and that way is to meet violence with violence. (SCREAMING) (BIRDS SQUAWKING) (BREATHING HEAVILY) I promise, I will do this with your sword. We will destroy them all. (EXHALES DEEPLY) NARRATOR: The barbarians' uprising against Rome reaches a turning point. For the first time in 300 years, they roll back the Empire's gains, driving it out of Germania. But Rome's next target is Britannia, where it unleashes a wave of violence to crush the Celts. (SCREAMS) Now, Boudica, Queen of the Iceni seeks revenge for Rome's savage betrayal. You don't know you're a great leader until really bad stuff happens to you. And then you either rise to the occasion or you die. (HORSE WHINNYING) NARRATOR: Boudica sets out to amass an army. The tribes critical to launching a rebellion are the Trinovantes, the fiercely anti-Roman Silurians, and the Catuvellauni, who turned back Julius Caesar's invasion 100 years earlier. KERSHAW: Boudica has a lot of unique challenges. She is untried, she's untested, she has no track record. The British tribes have a long history of fighting one another, so it's never going to be easy for her to bring the tribes together under one banner. NARRATOR: To bring the Celts under control, Rome escalates its war. Emperor Nero installs a new Governor, General Gaius Suetonius Paulinus. Paulinus had a really good record at putting down revolts. He'd fought in North Africa and done that there. So now he came into Britain as the Governor to a territory that was still unstable. NARRATOR: Paulinus' first move is to attack the heart of Celtic culture. The Druids are the tribes' religious and political advisors. (BIRDS SQUAWKING) POWELL: The Druids have a very special place in Celtic societies. They manage the relationship between the gods in Heaven and the people on Earth. The Druids would always feel a great threat coming from the Roman Empire. They'd been dominant in Gaul but they'd been pushed out, and now they were in Britannia. So from the Druids' perspective, the Romans were the big enemy. NARRATOR: The island of Mona, deep in Celtic territory, is home to the Druids. In 60 AD, Paulinus launches a campaign to destroy it. But when he sets out with 10,000 legionaries, he leaves the Roman settlements in the south, virtually undefended and vulnerable to attack. This is Boudica's opportunity. (DOG BARKING) We need you here. I am needed in Mona. Egus and his warriors will protect you if Decianus returns. That won't be needed. I'm not waiting for the ax to fall. I'm already sharpening my own blade. You don't know what you're doing. I know what needs to be done! Don't let revenge blind you. If I need your advice, Cathbad, I will ask for it. And when you ask for it, I will tell you this... Know that the only thing worth living for is the only thing worth dying for. (BIRDS SQUAWKING) FURLOW: Boudica occupies a special status as the leading woman of the Iceni. She'd been whipped, her daughters had been raped, she symbolized the worst of the Roman conquest, and therefore stood as a perfect person to inspire the British people to rise in rebellion. POWELL: But on the oth Meeting like this is suicide. Not meeting like this is suicide. Let her speak! A great darkness has come, and threatens to consume us all. My people will never be cowed. brutality thrust upon me me that none of us are safe from the Empire. Unless we stand now, we will be the last generation of Britons to have known a taste of freedom! We must drive out these demons from our lands! How? Last time we fought them, we were annihilated. You know this. Your Iceni tribe was beaten into submission 'cause your King signed the treaty with Rome. From this day on, the Iceni pays no more tribute DREST: Your choices need not be ours. It was not our children who were raped. The two children raped by the Roman animals may have been born of this body, but they belong to no-one. They belong only to this! Our island! And now, now they send Paulinus and his legions to Mona to slaughter the Druids. And you stand there and talk of treaties! What do you know of them going after the Druids? Cathbad told me. The Empire rides west as we speak. This may be our only opportunity to strike! Where? At their heart. Camulodunum. We burn their capital to the ground. And what of the people there? We slaughter them all. ARTHFAEL: I came out of respect for your husband. But I will not die alongside you, and neither should anyone else. My people will not die for your personal vendetta. This is personal for all of us. Why should we die in war when we can keep what we have in peace? The Emperor Claudius used such words to seduce our people. But Rome... Rome has changed. Emperor Nero is not satisfied with deals. Now is the time to act, not cower. But let us not decide this alone. Let us put this to the gods. For the pagan Britons, their beliefs in the gods are like the air that they breathe. So if she can tap into this and make something of it, maybe even manipulate it to her advantage, she's got something going for her that's very powerful. (CAWING) BOUDICA: Behold the crow! The spirit of our mighty Goddess Andraste. Let us ask her if it is right to expel the Roman magpie from our island. Let us ask her, if together we can emerge victorious. MEN: (CHANTING) Ask, ask, ask. (CAWS) (CROW CAWING) (GRUNTS) (SOFTLY) Look at me, Andraste. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. (GASPING) Look at me, Andraste. Look at me, Andraste. Look at me, Andraste. (BREATHING HEAVILY) Look at me, Andraste. (CAWING) When does the killing begin? NARRATOR: The barbarians' victory in Germania Without the Catavell forces the Empire to find a new frontier to conquer. In the north, Britannia promises a wealth of silver, gold and slaves. But the Celts intend to fight for their survival. Queen Boudica of the Iceni wants revenge, and does whatever it takes to convince the tribes to join in her fight. HERJAVEC: Incredible sacrifice is very difficult on an individual level. For a greater cause, people will give up their life, their money, their family, everything for the cause. COLLINGRIDGE: In ancient Britain, entire communities would rise up and they would all go on to the battle site. This means that if it goes wrong, you're not just facing the loss of a battle, you're facing the loss of, potentially, your entire people. (DOGS BARKING) The tribes are on the move. We have tens of thousands all getting into position outside Camulodunum. We'll be ready to strike in two days. The first kill is the hardest. But like any warrior, you'll cross that bridge when the time comes. How could you? How can you ask me that? You tricked an army, but you can't fool me. (SHUSHING) Look, I have tricked no-one. You want all their blood on your hands, too? What? How many people do you have to destroy? As many Romans as I can. And how many Britonstay at home? need to Home? Home is not a place, it is a privilege. And unless we fight to keep it, it will be taken from us. And if you die? Then I will wait for you in the other world with your father. Okay, come, come, come. Shh. NARRATOR: Camulodunum is the Roman capital in Britain, one in a string of settlements across the south-east that keep the Empire anchored on the island. With Paulinus and his legions heading to fight the Druids in Mona 290 miles away, the town is nearly defenseless. COLLINGRIDGE: Camulodunum is the festering boil for anyone with a grudge against Rome. Not only is it the administrative heart but it's filled with retired Roman soldiers. They're the ones who've extracted the money from taxes, they've insulted the gods, they've violated the people. TULSI GABBARD: The challenges that face any leader are the same whether you are a male or female. What it really boils down to when people look up to this person, who is asking them to risk their lives to go into combat, is what is motivating that person. And do they have my best interest at heart? Can I trust them to lead us? Time to see how you fight. (CLEARS THROAT) BOUDICA: Listen here! Lookouts and sentries first. Cause as much terror as possible. We want news of our wrath to reach Rome. These leeches have gorged on our blood long enough! Tonight, they will choke on it! (MEN YELLING) (YELLING CONTINUES) KERSHAW: Boudica goes into Camulodunum to cause utter carnage. She needs to send a message of utter terror to Roman Britain and throughout the Roman Empire. The Britons are on the rampage. Rome, you have never seen anything like this before. (MEN SHOUTING) (GRUNTING) (MEN SHOUTING, GRUNTING) (GRUNTING) (PANTING) (SCREAMS) (GRUNTS) (BREATHING HEAVILY) Boudica. (MEN SCREAMING) Where's Decianus? I don't know. Where is he? Where is he? Rome. He's gone to Rome! (GASPS, GRUNTS) (GRUNTING) (PANTING) NARRATOR: The Roman Empire controls the ancient world, but 300 years of resistance chips away at its power. (SCREAMING) Now Boudica's Celtic horde strikes a violent blow determined to fight blood with blood. (GRUNTS) (GRUNTS) We've beheaded all their high-ranking men and slaughtered their women, as they'd done with ours. And where are the others? Hiding in the temple they built to honor Claudius. KERSHAW: The Temple of Claudius was a focus of emperor worship, so in many ways a really obvious target. This was everything they hated about the Romans in one place. WOMAN: Please help us. Please. (BABY CRYING) (VOICE BREAKING) There are children here. Please, in the name of the gods, let us out! Boudica, the children. WOMAN: My children! Please! Have you no mercy? (WHIP LASHES) Mercy is for fools. WOMAN: No! No, no, no. (WOMAN SOBBING) (SCREAMING) (PEOPLE SCREAMING) NARRATOR: Boudica's army slaughters tens of thousands of civilians at Camulodunum. They burn it to the ground. A fire so devastating, that 2,000 years later archeologists discover a thick layer of ash where the city once stood. Boudica's beating Rome at its own game through a campaign of shock and awe. There's no way that Rome is going to allow this act to go unpunished, and there's only going to be one outcome. She has in effect, mobilized all of Rome against her and her allies. NARRATOR: Rome gets word of the attack within hours. In response, it dispatches troops from Londinium, eighty miles away. Roman legionaries. A few thousand of them. No more than a couple of hours away. They're heading straight for the caravan, the carts and the children. Head for the hills and cut them off. And you? I'll meet you there. KERSHAW: The shift now between attacking and destroying a poorly-defended city to take on a detachment of a Roman Legion in proper combat, that's escalating things to another level entirely. (SHOUTING) Formation! Formation! (NEIGHING) (SHOUTING) (ALL SHOUTING) (SCREAMING, GRUNTING) (SCREAMING) (GRUNTS) (MEN SHOUTING) (GRUNTING) (NEIGHS) (GRUNTS) (SCREAMS) (GROANS) (GRUNTS) (GRUNTING) (GRUNTING) (GRUNTS) (SHOUTING) (GROANS) (ROMAN SOLDIER SCREAMING) (MAN SCREAMING) (SCREAMING) (CONTINUES SCREAMING) (GROANS) (CONTINUES SCREAMING) (GRUNTING) (BOUDICA CONTINUES SCREAMING) (GROANS) (GRUNTS) Goddess Andraste, grant us vengeance, grant us victory. (GRUNTS) (GROANS) NARRATOR: The barbarians' 300-year struggle for freedom is gaining momentum in Britannia. Boudica's rebellion begins with the bloody attack that leaves tens of thousands dead and the capital in flames. (GRUNTS) The Celts are using guerrilla tactics that the barbarians have adapted to fight Rome. But this rebellion is an escalation, targeting civilians, including women and children, the kind of cruelty usually displayed by the Romans. The capture and destruction of Camulodunum was highly symbolic for the Britons because it was a major Roman center, but it was also an extremely soft target. It was an easy conquest. There were no walls. The inhabitants were Roman veteran soldiers by and large. So now, they could and should expect the full might of Rome to be deployed against them. (BOUDICA CHUCKLES) I knew nothing would happen. (BOUDICA SIGHS) You were right. BOUDICA: They have attacked your people? Worse. Mona. BOUDICA: Mona? The Druids are no. (HORSE NEIGHS) FURLOW: Paulinus' attack on the island of Mona was brutal. He turned loose the legionaries, they slaughtered the women, they went in and murdered the Druid priest. It would be the equivalent of an army marching into the Vatican, murdering all the nuns, killing all the priests and then burning down St. Peter's. The eradication of the Druids was absolutely catastrophic for the people of Britain. It had ripped the heart out of their religion, their politics, their leadership, er, their communication with their gods. It was... It was a true apocalypse for them. (EXHALES) DREST: The gods have abandoned us. We can't go on. We must. Without the Druids, what hope do we have? Without us, what hope do these people have? The Druids were slaughtered to tear us apart. If they succeed and our unity breaks, it ends all opposition against the Empire. We have no choice but to go on. We are the only ones who can carry on this fight. We must answer blood with blood! She's right. Look at what you have done here. The fight has already begun. Their troops lie dead, their city destroyed. If you continue, you can drive them back into the sea. If you give in, Britannia will fall. What is your plan? We give their legions nowhere to retreat to. And then we tear them apart! NARRATOR: The Roman occupation depends on the belt of fortified cities it has established across the Celts' territory. Camulodunum, now in ruins, Verulamium and Londinium, the center of Roman commerce. Boudica plans to destroy them all. ARYA: This is the ancient equivalent of Sherman's March in the American Civil War. It's pretty much slash and burn everything. Burn it to the ground, leave nothing behind, no form of infrastructure is intact. It's a really shrewd move now for Boudica to attack Londinium. It's a major port, it's very strategically located, so now she can drive a wedge between Paulinus and the rest of Rome and cut off his supplies. NARRATOR: The Celts unleash vengeance on Londinium. KERSHAW: Boudica's troops burned, they hanged, they beheaded, they cut throats, they cut the breasts of the most noble and best-looking women and stitched them over their mouths to make them look like they were eating them, and then they impaled the women. If you want to shoNARRs races to Londinium, arriving in time to watch it burn. NARRATOR: Six months into their rebellion, Boudica's Celts have killed 70,000 and destroyed three Roman towns. But they've yet to face Paulinus in battle. They'll have to fight his legions in order to win the war. Paulinus and his men are returning from Mona. Take another rider and find them so we can end this. (SIGHS) Egus will find them. In time? We cannot wait much longer. The people are starving. Then seize more grain. We have run out of places to raid. The harvest is missed. What food there was now rots in the soil. Soon people will die. You can be sure Roman hunger bites just as hard. They must be near, and we will defeat them. Soon we will be able to plant again, eat again, and live again. BOUDICA: Goddess Andraste, please come to me. Come to me, guide me the way. Please, help me. (HORSE APPROACHING) RIDER: Paulinus' scouts caught him. The Romans are close, one day's ride. (BOUDICA SOBBING) Give that to my husband. Tell him, tomorrow we will be free. We must not let them dig in. We leave at dawn. NARRATOR: Rome is the most powerful empire in the ancient world, built on domination through expansion. And now, fighting to conquer Britannia, (WAR CRY) where Boudica is beating them at their own game, waging a guerrilla war with Roman-style vengeance. KERSHAW: We've had tens of thousands of dead. We've got three cities in flames. Rome has never had to cope with anything like this before in its history. NARRATOR: Boudica's Celtic Army outnumbers Rome's forces three to one, as the two sides prepare to battle for the first time. General Paulinus, a master military tactician, looks to even up the odds. GENERAL CLARK: No commander ever wants to go on the battlefield for a fair fight. Why would you ever want a fair fight? You want an unfair fight with all of the advantages on your side. e. Instead, he devises a plan forcing the Celtic warriors into a narrow defile where he can take them out one by one. For Boudica to stand any chance of survival, she must get her troops through the defile as quickly as possible so that they can then spread out and use their tactics, that have worked so well. But speed is of the essence if she has any hope of winning this battle. Your men are ready? Ready. (EXHALES) What would Father say? He would say to you what he says to me. I am with you, my love. (WARRIORS SHOUTING) (SHOUTING) (SHOUTING STOPS) Our enemy believes we are a divided land, a conquered people who are easily made slaves. But we have shown them there is a greater truth in our hearts. We are one battle away from our freedom! One battle away from our destiny! We are one battle away from driving these bastards from our shores! Forever! (ALL SHOUTING) To those who would oppress us, welcome to your death! (ALL SHOUTING) (INAUDIBLE) (GRUNTS) (SOBBING) (FEEBLY) Run. Run! (SCREAMING) Run! Run! (SOBBING) Run! Run. (HORSE APPROACHING) (EXHALES) (STOPS BREATHING) (CROW CAWS) FURLOW: Boudica's final battle was a catastrophe for the British rebellion against Rome. Eighty thousand British rebels died on that battlefield that day. After the battle, Roman forces carried out a policy of annihilation, virtually of genocide. The Roman forces even used famine against the Britons to starve out those they did not kill and did not forcibly subjugate. She led the way she'd been taught and she led with her heart, and it worked for a while. NARRATOR: Boudica's rebellion ends in defeat, but inspires more tribes to rise up against Rome. POWELL: She put a face on what rebellion in Britain looked like. It was a terrifying face. It had taught the Romans that they could never properly trust the Britons. They always had to be on their guard. That somewhere there might be another Boudica planning another rebellion. NARRATOR: It takes another 60 years for the Empire to finally conquer the island. NARRATOR: The campaigns to take Britannia and Germania come at such great cost that the Empire can no longer afford to keep fighting the barbarians. Rome's age of expansion is over. Rome stopped expanding for a number of reasons. One was military. The resistance on the borders was getting increasingly severe. The other was bureaucratic. The Romans couldn't maintain the domains they'd already conquered because they didn't have a sophisticated enough government to do it. NARRATOR: The Empire now builds walls to keep the barbarians out. In Scotland to the far north, along the Rhine River in the west, and in the east, the Danube becomes the dividing line between Empire and eastern Europe. For the first time in four centuries, barbarians living on Rome's frontier are free from its tyranny. The barbarians were essentially enjoying a kind of a peace dividend, there were good opportunities for trade with the Empire. So generally speaking, being just outside the borders was a really good thing for them. NARRATOR: Among them are the Goths, a multi-ethnic people who settled north of the Danube 200 years earlier. O'CONNOR: The Goths were a Germanic tribe who had moved into what is now Romania. They were a settled agricultural society but they were ruled by a powerful warrior elite, NARRATOR: The Goths often skirmished with the Romans, but managed to maintain an uneasy truce along the border, until a dark force rising in the east shatters the peace, (HORSE NEIGHS) Huns. The Huns are a new phenomenon when they appear at the end of the 4th Century. No-one's seen them before and no-one knows how to deal with them. They were a warrior race who lived by plunder and war. NARRATOR: With the Roman Empire to the west and the Huns to the east, the Goths are caught between two deadly threats. (PEOPLE SPEAKING AT A DISTANCE) Alaric, more wood. (GROANS) ALARIC: Father! (GASPS) (CLANKING) (DOG BARKING) ALARIC'S MOTHER: Alaric! (WOMAN SCREAMING) (HORSE NEIGHING) (HORSES APPROACHING) (PEOPLE SHOUTING, GROANING) (SWORDS SWISHING) AVINA: Mother! is a vast superpower, 4th Cente commanding 40 million people. But as Rome's age of expansion ends, a rising threat emerges on its eastern border and catches the Goths in the crossfire. (GROANS) (CLANKING) They have no answer for the Huns deadly raids. (SCREAMING) To save his people, the Goths' leader, Fritigern, is forced to make a bargain with his enemy. O'CONNOR: Fritigern was a military leader of one of the groups of Goths. He certainly had been involved in a number of wars. NARRATOR: Fritigern asked Rome for asylum in exchange for safe passage across the border into the protection of the Empire. He agrees to provide Emperor Valens with an army of Goth mercenaries to help fight the Huns. KERSHAW: Fritigern didn't really have much of an option here. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. He had to get away from the Huns and doing a deal with the devil, in the person of Roman Emperor Valens, was the only option he had really. NARRATOR: Fritigern must gather his tribes before it's too late. (CROWS CAWING) You're safe. Come. (AVINA GASPS) See if there's anyone left alive. Take any grain, livestock. And have them buried. We don't have much time. This was just a scouting party. When the next wave comes, the earth itself will tremble. Take this. You'll live. NARRATOR: Alaric is just a young man when he survives the Hun raids. Fritigern takes him into his protection as they head for Roman soil. KERSHAW: One of the effects that the Huns had was to make people flinch away from them, and the direction that people flinched was towards the Roman Empire. That's where security was. So as all these barbarian tribes moved away from the Huns, it created an absolutely massive refugee crisis, a bit like we're seeing today. We're gonna cross the Danube, and start a new life. Everything will change now. The Romans will help us. NARRATOR: The Goths descend on the Danube like a tidal wave. Fritigern's people number around 50,000, but thousands more converge on the river. Emperor Valens assigns his eastern legions to organize a safe crossing, but they fail to follow his orders. The Goths are walking into a death trap. (WATER SLOSHING) (HORSE NEIGHING) NARRATOR: On the Roman frontier, the growing threat of the Huns is throwing the barbarian world into chaos, driving the Goths into the arms of their enemy. But the Empire's promise of safe haven across the Danube River is over before it even begins. The crossing of the Danube was a disaster from beginning to end. The Romans were in no way prepared for the number of Goths who they eventually had to transport over the river. They wound up bringing them over in rafts that were too small, some of the capsized and went into the river and people drowned. (SLOSHING) (HORSE NEIGHS) (GRUNTS) NARRATOR: Hundreds of Goths die in the crossing. Those who survive, confront the harsh reality (CRYING) of their so-called alliance with the Empire. MICHAEL KULIKOWSKI: The Goths are disarmed, so they have no way to defend themselves. And the Roman officers begin to exploit them the moment they cross the Danube. Hey! Hey! (GROANS) LUPICINIUS: Enough! KERSHAW: They encounter this renegade Roman Commander, Lupicinius. He's just trying to make money out of this process so he treats them like the vermin he thinks they are. And you are? I'm Fritigern. So you're their leader. You don't look like much. And this is your spineless rabble. There'll be no trouble here. I will not tolerate it. Raise your hand again to one of my guards, you'll hang. You'll see that it grants us the right to safe passage. You are careless with your Emperor's words. We can't have barbarians just wandering across the country causing mayhem. We've come in peace. Have you? If any one of you is concealing a weapon, you'd better hand it over now. My men have all complied. And your women? My people are hungry. need . LUPICINIUS: Do you have payment for this food? Or is it charity you want? We have money. (SNIFFLES) They can start on that. You think we're savages? (SWORDS UNSHEATHING) No. No, the Huns are savages. You are, what, cowards, maybe. Parasites. If you don't like it, you can go back across the river and deal with the Huns, like men. LENSKI: Lupicinius was only enacting the kinds of feelings that had been inculcated in him by a Roman system that said, "Scorn all barbarians." These people were, in the Romans eyes, inferior, and they deserved to be fleeced and they deserved to be abused. NARRATOR: The Empire settles the Goths in a string of camps along the riverbank, under military guard. I think is a combination of The Roman soldof the Goths straightforward logistic problems and Roman ill-will. They control food supplies, so they can control the Goths by threatening starvation. UNWEN: We have to send a message to the Emperor. I'm convinced he's ignorant of what has happened here. And how do we do that? The last I heard, he was fighting out in Persia. (SIGHS) We could fight these bastards, but then what? We'd be outlaws. That's not what I brought us here for. What did you bring us here for? For a home, as the Emperor promised, so that you and your sister could be safe. And we will get that, it just... It just may take time. LENSKI: The Romans were more than happy to abuse them, and that began immediately. It was partly because that there weren't enough resources to go around. They didn't have enough food to feed as many refugees as came into the Empire. But it was okay to abuse these people and treat them as slaves (INDISTINCT CHATTER) We've had 12 people die today from hunger. UNWEN: Parents are selling their children. Their selling their children? For dog meat. We can't hold out much longer. (GUARD LAUGHING) Avina? Avina! (HUMMING) Avina! Avina! AVINA: Alaric! Alaric! Alaric! Avina! Alaric! (GRUNTING) What is it? They've taken her! What? (SOBBING) You lied! You said we'd be safe. You said we'd be safe. (CLAMORING) (INDISTINCT) NARRATOR: Lupicinius' arrest of their leader Fritigern, (CLAMORING) provokes the already restless Goths into action. KERSHAW: Lupicinius has made a terrible misjudgment here. The Goths are in fact not the weak, starving, helpless people he thinks they are. They're some of the mightiest warriors in the ancient world. So he's stirred up an absolute hornets' nest. (CLAMORING IN DISTANCE) Your mob brays like a wounded donkey. FRITIGERN: They fear for my well-being. As they should. You hit a guard. That's a capital offense. Is he dead? I should have hit him harder. (SCOFFS) You're a troublemaker. We came in peace and you've done everything you can to make enemies of us. My people are starving whilst you enjoy good food and wine. How will that taste when they tear you limb from limb? Are you threatening me? Not I. But I think it would be wise to let me return to my people so that their minds can be put at ease. LENSKI: The Romans just assume their own superiority because that is what they'd been told since they started their service in the Army, in fact, since they were little infants. They had, I think, no idea how powerful these Gothic forces were going to be. Now is the time. NARRATOR: Fritigern has secretly been stockpiling weapons smuggled into camp or stolen from Roman guards. His people ready to revolt. Like Boudica before him, Fritigern realized that the treaty sign with Rome was worthless. And it wasn't that he was just stuck between a rock and a hard place, he's literally starving. So he has no choice but to take the fight to Rome. (WEAPON SWISHING) (SOLDIERS GROANING) Stop them! On the eastern edge of the Empire,NG)NARRATOR: a 300-year period of relative peace between Rome and the barbarian world comes to an explosive end. Now is the time. NARRATOR: ...when Fritigern and his horde of 15,000 Goth warriors overthrow their military guards and break free inside Rome's borders. (GOTHS SHOUTING) FRITIGERN: We came in peace. We came in friendship. What idiot makes an enemy of me when I come in peace? We'll send a message to the Emperor. Rome now has an absolutely nightmare scenario of its own making. So not only do we have the Huns outside the Empire and all the terror that they're instilling, but now you've got a fully-fledged rebellion inside the Empire, as well, by warriors who could have been used to fight the Huns. LENSKI: Once Fritigern and his forces had overcome Lupicinius, all these other people came flooding over the Danube, joined the Goths, and they took over all the territory of what's today Northern Bulgaria. (SWORDS SWISHING) KERSHAW: Towns, villages, encampments, farms, everything is being burned, pillaged, destroyed. NARRATOR: Occupied fighting a war in Persia, Rome fails to mount a defense against the Goth raids. Fritigern controls the frontier for two years, seizing territory and closing in on the most important cities in the eastern Empire, the heavily fortified Adrianople and the capital, Constantinople. Emperor Valens sends his men back from Persia to stop the Goths' advance. (GRUNTS) (SWORDS CLANKING) (CROWS CAWING) There. Hello, boy! You came back. NARRATOR: If the Goths are going to survive Rome's legions, they need to change their strategy. KERSHAW: Fritigern can't go on the rampage forever. He didn't come into the Roman Empire to go on to the rampage, he came in there to settle. Adrianople is there for the taking. If we breach its walls, there's enough food there for half a year. All the supplies and weapons we could ever need are waiting. We lost good men yesterday. All but one. Alaric, join us. We have a choice. Risk everything and attack Adrianople head-on, or stick to the forests and continue raiding, make life as difficult as we can for the Romans. I saw what happened yesterday. The Saracens can pick us off at will. There's no safety amongst the trees. I say we take Adrianople. And so be it. Kunimund, send out the raiding party. If we're to take Adrianople, we need to be supplied. And send our cavalry men with them. We can't afford to be taken by surprise again. That puts us at risk. Without our horsemen, we're unprotected. Can you see another way? NARRATOR: Adrianople is a large fortified city that serves as a military base for the eastern Empire. O'CONNOR: Adrianople was full of Roman wealth, it had a large population. It was strategically important and it had strong walls. So for all those reasons, it would make a good base for the Goths. NARRATOR: Fritigern's army numbers 15,000 when he moves on the city, a massive wagon train of warriors and civilians. But the Romans know he's coming. Thirty thousand soldiers stream out of Adrianople to take on the Goths before they reach the city. Leading them is Emperor Valens himself. KERSHAW: Valens takes command personally of the Roman forces, and he will be the last Roman Emperor to do that for about 200 years. NARRATOR: Fritigern improvises a plan to circle the wagons as a defensive line to protect the civilians. Between them and the oncoming Roman force, he builds a chain of bonfires. It's high summer, and when the fires are lit, the stifling heat of the sun, the flames and the smoke will assault the Romans head-on. Fritigern knows that the Romans have been marching for about eight hours in the heat of a baking hot summer day. They're exhausted, they're without water. The Romans feel like they're just walking straight into hell. NARRATOR: Struggling to fight off the Roman legion, the Goths are pushed all the way back to the wagons. They suffer heavy losses trying to hold the line. But reinforcements arrive just in time. (SWORDS CLANKING) (MEN SCREAMING) As the cavalry turns the tide of battle, Emperor Valens flees from the frontline, running for shelter as his men carry on the fight. The Goths burn Valens alive. Barbarians have killed an Emperor of Rome. The outcome of the battle was an unmitigated disaster for the Roman Army. They lost as much as two-thirds of their entire force. And to lose a Roman Emperor in battle against barbarians on Roman soil was unheard of. NARRATOR: The victory is so devastating that Rome has no choice but to surrender. The Goths emerge from battle as a free barbarian nation within the Empire. But the fight against Rome is not over. In the struggle to come, a new leader will rise to challenge the Empire as no barbarian has done before. His name is Alaric. Next time on Barbarians Rising. W'ere no longer the underdogs. (SCREAMS) W'ere the rising power. (AHHHH) (SCREAMS) They don't need to respect me. They need to fear me! From today we cease to do Rome's bidding. Today, We go to war with Rome. (WARRIORS YELLING) (HORSES NEIGHING) This, is treason! Nothing can save you now. (SWORDS CLINKING) (EVIL LAUGH)

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Channel: HISTORY

Views: 472,984

Rating: 4.8076539 out of 5

Keywords: history, history channel, history channel shows, strongest man in history, barbarians rising, barbarians rising full episodes, full episodes, carthage, rome, ancient rome, roman empire, spartacus, military history, ancient warfare, Barbarians Rising full episode, Barbarians Rising clips, watch Barbarians Rising, history channel Barbarians Rising, Barbarians Rising new season, Barbarians Rising season, Revenge, Arminius unit, Rome crushed by the goths in battle, ambush attack

Id: 68gsTgThmR8

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Length: 84min 22sec (5062 seconds)

Published: Fri May 29 2020