Battles of Utica and Bagradas 49 BC - Caesar's Civil War DOCUMENTARY

[Music] our series on the great roman civil war started out with gaius julius caesar taking over italy and then defeating pompey's legions in hispania caesar was now planning to attack the center of the senate faction in greece but this was not the only region under pompey's control as the province of africa was crucial for feeding rome caesar's lieutenant curio attacked its governor varys leading to the battles of utica and bagradas this video is sponsored by imperiums greek wars the new forex grand strategy game focused on ancient greece and its rich history of conflicts diplomacy and mythology enter the era of philip ii of macedon in a historically accurate 4th century bc setting choose your nation from a multitude of factions including mighty athens powerful sparta upstart macedonia wild barbarians or restless accommodate centrepiece leads them to glory with a mix of bold strategic warfare shrewd alliances and profitable trade vanquish your foes on military economic technological or cultural fronts face new challenges in a hand-crafted historical scenario on the biggest map of ancient greece ever seen in this genre experience the ancient greek world as never before buy now on steam by clicking the link in the description [Music] while caesar was on his way to confront pompey's legions in spain his legates were fighting the civil war in the mediterranean and african theaters before caesar had even reached spain valerius had taken sardinia with the 16th legion and curio had claimed sicily with the 15th and 17th together around the end of april to early may they combined their forces in sicily along with the 20th legion from italy making a total of four legions and about 1500 cavalry and began preparing to invade north africa [Music] alongside sardinia and sicily north africa specifically modern tunis was one of the biggest suppliers of grain feeding the roman republic at the time taking north africa would therefore give caesar control of all of the major grain centers ensuring that he could supply his armies throughout the war and robbing pompey of any opportunity to starve him out of italy command of this invasion was assigned to curio who was a skilled politician but lacked military command experience he earned this opportunity by being instrumental for caesar in the senate to compensate for his lack of experience he was assigned a body of talented leggets including rabilis a leggett who had served with caesar in gaul and fought with distinction at alicia the legions curio commanded were largely raw all having been raised just a few months earlier while caesar was pushing south through italy however caesar knew that pompey's best troops were in spain and the east and so any pompeian troops in africa would be equally raw it was thought that with four legions curio had enough men and talented advisors to invade successfully however curio did not want to invade africa without first hearing news from spain just in case his men would be needed to support caesar so for now he remained in sicily africa was under the control of the pompeian publius atheist varys varys had previously been proprietor of the province and was dismayed to find it woefully unprepared for war with only one legion present in hadromatum he immediately took control and strengthened the province raising another two legions and encamping them outside utica furthermore he requested the aid of the nearby client king juba of numidia juba was an old ally of pompey who owed his kingship to pompey's earlier campaign and had a personal hatred of caesar and curio as both had insulted him in the past he readily agreed to side with the pompeians and would prove to be a crucial ally for varys it wasn't until august after receiving word of caesar's victory in spain that curio began his crossing into africa curio did not think much of his opponents disdaining both varys and juba and so instead of bringing his full force across he only brought two legions likely the 15th and 16th and 500 cavalry along with a sizable navy landing at ankularia between uttuk and hadromatum curio decided to engage the larger force first so began his march to utica reaching the river bangradas two days later here he left rebelos in charge of the legions while he took the cavalry ahead to scout the castro cornelia an old roman fort on a small elevated peninsula that was left over from the punic wars this camp was just five kilometers from utica and from the higher ground curio reconnoited varys camp the pompeian camp was in a strong position using the walls of utica as part of its defenses on one side and the outdoor amphitheater of utica blocking another making any approach to the camp narrow and difficult when observing the town curios saw a large number of supplies being brought into the city on the roads from the local populace seeking refuge looking to hamper his supplies and take some for himself kyrio sent his cavalry to attack them varys was quick to react though and sent his own force of 600 numidian horsemen and 400 numidian infantry to defend the numidian cavalry which had raced ahead of the infantry clashed with the roman horse first but the numidians were lightly armed and best accustomed to skirmishing rather than melee fighting kyrio's men were able to inflict significant casualties in the fight forcing the numidian cavalry to flee back to the town and camp quickly followed by the infantry traders and their goods were seized by curio and taken back to the castro cornelia which he planned to use as his main base for the invasion meanwhile kyrio's navy had moved into position outside the port of utica which harbored possibly as many as 200 merchant ships with no military ships for protection curios sent a proclamation declaring that any merchant ship that did not transfer their supplies to the castro cornelia would be treated as an enemy and boarded by his navy with no naval protection the merchants saw little choice and sailed their goods to the castro cornelia providing the caesareans with a further abundance of supplies curio's campaign was off to a good start leaving a small force in the castro cornelia to guard these supplies he returned to his troops at the bagradas with news of his achievements where they recognized him as imperator bolstered by this success the next day he moved his army to go on the offensive aiming to encamp just outside the town of utica displaying a similar kind of aggression to caesar while this camp was being constructed curio received word from the pickets that a large numidian force was approaching curio had failed to scout the area properly and was surprised by this sudden new force [Music] quickly he ordered his men to abandon the construction of the camp and form battle lines while he sent his cavalry to engage the numidians in a delaying action the numidians did not march in a tight formation and so were vulnerable to cavalry charges as soon as curio's cavalry made contact the numidian cavalry fled to utica followed swiftly by the infantry the roman cavalry harassed the numidian infantry inflicting some casualties but the bulk of the numidian force successfully made it into the camp caesar described the numidians as having been routed but it seems more likely that this was a tactical withdrawal the numidians likely had not been seeking an engagement in the first place and prioritized combining with varys's forces rather than being drawn into a pitched battle [Music] though kyrio had so far been largely successful the following day two of his centurions and twenty-two of their men defected to varys they told faris that curio's army did not have faith in him and that varys would be able to win them over to his side their motivation for doing this is not known curio had performed well so far aside from poor scouting and had apparently been hailed as imperator so it is unlikely that curio's men lacked confidence in him as is portrayed the more likely reason is that curio's men were still effectively raw recruits they had not fought a pitched battle before and some of the officers in varys army had trained and led curio's men at corfinium it is likely therefore that the men were motivated more out of either fear or an unwillingness to fight former comrades than dissatisfaction with curio nevertheless the next day varys marched his force out of the camp curio following suit an officer embarrassed his army sextus varys who had been one of the officers at corphinium appealed to kyrio's men he reminded them that they had previously sworn oath to pompey a henobabus and to himself and that they should not fight the men they trained with and had been prepared to fight alongside though kyrio's army showed little reaction varys withdrew his force back into camp confident that given time this appeal would strike a chord with curio's men though the message had been received in silence at first when curious legions were back in camp the men began to talk amongst themselves oaths held a strong religious connotation and they were not broken easily the more the men talked the more they began to fear that they had made a mistake by switching their allegiance from pompey to caesar rumor likely exaggerated the number of men who were of this mindset though some certainly were and curio was soon worried that his whole army was on the brink of mutiny curio gathered his offices and sought advice for how to address the situation the officers suggested two options firstly that they attacked the pompeian camp immediately thinking that keeping the men busy would be best rather than allowing any rumors to circulate or secondly to withdraw back to cornelia castro and try to calm the men there curio was not convinced of either option he saw an all-out attack on the camp as foolhardy and a retreat as a show of cowardice furthermore he believed the number of men who were genuinely feeling disloyal had been overplayed as such he gathered the soldiers and addressed them he gave a rousing speech pointing out that ahenu barbers had surrendered at cofinium voiding any oaths the men had made to him and that their oath to caesar now took precedent he espoused the achievements of caesar in spain saying that they were on the winning side so why join the losing one finally he listed his own achievements in africa so far and that they had hailed him as imperator the men were moved by the speech and acclaimed curio putting to rest any ideas of mutiny it's possible that not a lot of men felt that way in the first place but either way curio was continuing to show himself as a man with leadership potential with a simple speech he had regained full control of the army without needing to resort to any harsh discipline or excessive time wasting determined to draw varys into a pitched battle curio marched his men out of camp the following day varys followed suit the two armies facing off with each other across a large ditch the ditch was not particularly deep only around 2.5 meters but its sides were steep and would present a disadvantage to any trying to scramble up [Music] varys made the first move sending his numidian cavalry from the left flank supported by light infantry to flank curio's force curio countered by sending two cohorts of the 16th along with all his cavalry the numidian cavalry charged the roman legionnaires but lightly armed they were easily repulsed and routed the light infantry were left exposed and surrounded by curio's heavy infantry and cavalry were slaughtered rebels urged curio to capitalize on this success and charged varys force to instigate a mass route curio heeded the advice and led his men across the ditch but even as they were scaling the other side varys's force seeing that curio now had a cavalry advantage and could easily outflank them had begun to flee the battlefield they did not retreat in good order and varys himself was wounded and almost killed in the retreat as his army tried to push through the narrow path to their camp they became caught in a bottleneck and many were slain by curio's pursuing force indeed more of varys's men died here than in the battle [Music] however when varys's men had made the safety of the camp kirio did not push any further not having the equipment needed to siege the camp caesar gives curio's casualties as being just one man this is surely not accurate but it is likely that his casualties were minimal while varys had lost almost 600 dead and 1 000 wounded this battle might seem unbelievable in how quickly varys's men broke but there were a few points to consider firstly varys misused his numidian cavalry the numidians were light cavalry and skilled skirmishers but due to their light arms and armor were not equipped for melee fighting against heavy cavalry and infantry secondly varys his whole army had only recently been levied less than six months ago likely very few of his men had any military experience which explains why they were so quick to route compare for instance the actions of caesar's legions in spain who when cut off from the army and in risk of being surrounded retreated in order to high ground and formed a defensive square that is the difference between veterans and raw recruits under the cover of darkness varys moved what was left of his force into the city of utica leaving just a small detachment of men trumpeteers and tents in the camp to give the illusion it was still garrisoned curio was quick to discover the ploy and began the creation of earthworks around utica to besiege the city initially the citizens of utica appealed tavares to surrender not wanting to go through the grueling experience of the siege however a messenger arrived in utica with information that juba king of numidia was on his way and nearby to support varys it is not known how large jupiter's army was aside from 60 elephants but given that this was the royal army it surely numbered in the tens of thousands with these reinforcements on the way varys soothed the citizens concerns confident that he would be able to defeat kyrie curios soon discovered the same information initially he did not believe the reports confident that he was on the brink of victory and continues the siege more reports came in however verifying the information and saying that juba was now just 36 miles away upon learning this curio abandoned his plans of besieging utica withdrawing to the castro cornelia instead he began further fortifying the fort and sent word to sicily to send over the two legions and all the cavalry left in sicily this was a good plan the castro cornelia could be easily defended and with access to the sea curio could maintain a supply line and safely await reinforcements juba was a cunning opponent though he sent men from utica under the guise of deserters to curio saying that juba had to redirect his force to suppress a rebellion and that the numidian force was only a small force commanded by his lieutenant sabura curio still riding the wave of his previous victories and keen to prove himself believed these reports and sought to crush the numidians in a pitched battle abandoning his defensive position around 3 am he marched his force to the bankrudas to confront them leaving 5 cohorts in the castro cornelia having learnt his lesson previously curio sent his cavalry ahead of his legions as a scouting party and they quickly discovered sabura's own advanced units curio's cavalry fell upon the numidians who taken by surprise and with no encampment suffered heavy casualties before retreating back to saburo's main force however instead of staying to hold the area or scouting further ahead kyrio's cavalry headed back to kyrio's main force with a few prisoners to tell him of their success curio had already marched 10 kilometers from the castro cornelia when his cavalry returned he questioned the prisoners as to who their commander was and they replied that sabura was confirming in kyrio's mind that he was only facing a small portion of the numidian army determined curio pushed his men to march on in the meantime however sabura had sent words to juba about the night battle and in response jupiter had sent ahead 2 000 spanish and gaelic cavalry part of his personal guard and his best infantry to bolster saburi's army while jupa continued his advance with the main force sabira kept withdrawing his force feigning retreats and pulling the romans after him curio was being lured into a trap kyrio's army has now marched almost 28 kilometers since breaking camp and his men were exhausted from the early start they now found themselves in a large flat open plain this was what sabira had been waiting for he lined up his infantry for battle but kept them at a fair distance from the roman force enough to be a threat but far away enough to not be caught by the romans and left most of the fighting to his cavalry the previous engagements had already depleted curio's cavalry and still more had paws to rest and water their horses leaving curio with just 200 horsemen when the forces engaged and the numidians used this to their advantage their heavier gallic and spanish cavalry could charge the roman flanks and rear while the lighter numidian cavalry skirmished and harassed them curio tried to use his cavalry to chase away the enemy charges but they were too tired to pursue and serbia's men would simply withdraw and then strike in another place when the numidians could draw a cohort into breaking ranks and charging the cohort would find itself utterly surrounded by horsemen and cut down fighting in such a manner and on such open and flat terrain was ideal for the numidians by this point the whole of kyrio's army was surrounded by sabirah's force and more of juba's men were trickling in providing a constant supply of fresh reinforcements against the exhausted romans desperately curio ordered some of his men to take the legion standards and to fight their way out of the encirclement to some nearby hills the numidians allowed them to break through the ring at first but soon quickly surrounded them and cut them down to a man the battle was a disaster curio's men had lost all hope some men broke down and cried to the gods or their mothers others simply abandoned their weapons and waited to die neius demithius the prefect of horse gathered what little cavalry was left around curio and urged him to try and save himself and retreat to the castro cornelia curio replied that he would never be able to face caesar after such a disaster he died fighting alongside his men both the 15th and 16th legions were utterly destroyed around 11 000 men the roman cavalry that had been watering their horses had watched the destruction from a distance and raced back to the cornelia castra to inform the five cohorts and the keister left in charge marcus rufus of the disaster he tried to organize an evacuation by sea back to sicily of the men left but panic had already taken over as rumors spread that varys might be closing in for the kill men pushed past one another to scramble onto the ships and some became so overburdened that they sank the captains of the ships grew equally as nervous and in the end only a few high-ranking officers including rebels and rufus made it onto the ships before the captains set sail the men that were left in the castro cornelia sent centurions to varys and surrendered the african campaign had been an unmitigated disaster africa would remain in pompeian hands caesar who was on his way east from spain to face pompey in greece would have to postpone any invasion of africa for the time being our series on caesar's civil war will continue in the near future so make sure you are subscribed to our channel and have pressed the bell button we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and channel members who make the creation of our videos possible now you can also support us by buying our merchandise by the 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Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 589,381

Keywords: utica, bagradas, caesar, civil, war, 49 bc, roman empire, julius caesar, animated documentary, history lesson, documentary history, ancient history, kings and generals, world history, king and generals, military history, ilerda, massilia, massalia, roman republic, full documentary, history channel, decisive battles, history documentary, animated historical documentary, ancient rome, pompey, numidia, numidians, caesars civil war, documentary film, roman history, gallic wars, pharsalus

Id: HKTijnPauSw

Length: 23min 23sec (1403 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 02 2020