History of Rome - Documentary

the Roman Empire is there another Empire quite like it in Western history the nations of the Western world looked back on Rome as a kind of forefather many of the empires which followed Rome from Charlemagne to Mussolini even the empires of Britain France and Spain which were much larger than Rome ever was in many ways modeled themselves in Rome's image the word Keizer Caesar even remains the word for Emperor in many languages today with a similar connotation in English and that is not the only work of the Romans gave us many European languages in general are in fact echoes of the Latin language which the Romans spoke including partially English and language is only one aspect of our daily lives that originated in ancient Rome what was Rome everyone has heard of at least some parts of Roman history but how often is the whole story told from its origins as a humble maybe despicable city state to its rise as a magnificent and unparalleled Empire to its catastrophic collapse in this video we are going to tell that story this is the full history of the Roman Empire before we begin I would like to thank Jeff carpenter Darwish Ariat and Stefan Malika for being our most recent supporters on patreon they join these supporters who help make videos like this possible and I would like to thank all of you for joining us in our first documentary of 2019 as we now add Rome to the list of peoples and nations whose history we have fully covered the story of the foundation of Rome is one of both myth and fact which historians still endeavor to separate many of the names and events crucial to Rome's early foundation may be lost forever but the legend perhaps contains important elements of truth legend tells of two twin brothers Romulus and Remus descendants of the Trojan Aeneas and Sons of the god Mars and the princess Reyes Silvia who were ordered to be drowned by a jealous uncle who had seized power from their grandfather the king of a city called Alba longa the twins were secretly spared however inset the drifts in the Tiber River in a basket where they were later discovered by a she-wolf who nursed the twins back to health they were then discovered by a shepherd who raised them into adulthood as adults Romulus and Remus discover their true origins and would eventually kill their uncle and restore their grandfather to his throne but would then go on to found their own City where this city was to be founded however and who its King would be quickly became a matter of debate Romulus won the debate by killing Remus and as legend states on April 21st 753 BC he built his city on the Palatine Hill and as its first king named it after himself Roma Romulus eager to attract a new population and invited all whom he could to settle in Rome but it quickly became a city filled with the dregs of society thieves outcasts criminals and runaway slaves Romulus then formed a government which included 100 men from the city's leading families the Padres or fathers and thus established the Roman Senate though the population was growing it was overwhelmingly male obviously a problem in the long term but the inhabitants of Rome were so undesirable that women from neighboring lands were entirely uninterested in marrying them accordingly Romulus would organize a massive kidnapping of women from the neighboring towns and cities this led to Wars that could have potentially destroyed Rome had the women themselves not intervened to avoid becoming both widows and fatherless it's a fascinating story but it's unclear what truth there is to it much of it is very obviously fable including even Romulus but the Romans somewhat knew that the events in character the story however as I said may be representations of the real work of the early Roman people's and their interactions with the italic people's around them it's also a surprising story in that the Romans who would later think so highly of themselves would claim to be descended from reprobates whose actions were a criminal and shameful what we do know factually is that the area around Rome was inhabited for thousands of years the earliest discovered habitations may be from as far back as 1000 BC in the 8th century BC Rome was a smaller city-state frankly more like an unimpressive town the Romans were surrounded by other Latin people's and more broadly other italic peoples such as the Etruscans Sabine's Umbreon and samnites with Greek colonies having been established in the south the Greeks a more powerful and advanced civilization at the time were very influential to Italy's early development things like their religion their system of writing their trade technology and culture would be adopted by the peoples of ancient Italy and slowly become Roman the true regional power at that time however was not the Romans it was the Etruscans a people mysterious to us still though not a single nation they were a common people who at times worked collectively it is likely that the Romans did not simply mimic the Greeks but they mimicked the Etruscans who had partially mimicked the Greeks the very location of Rome furthermore in the center of Italy along the Tiber River was likely chosen apart from its natural defensive miss it would benefit from the trade between the Greeks and the Etruscans from the 8th to 6th centuries BC Rome remained a small city-state inhabited by a simple people ruled over by what Roman historians say were a series of seven kings keep in mind this period too however is very unclear and probably partially fictitious as as much of the history until around 390 BC but we'll get to that in a moment Rome was indeed likely a kingdom in the 8th to 6th centuries BC the last king was the tyrannical king Tarkin who is said to have ruled from 535 to 509 BC in one incident his son is said to have raped an important noblewoman named Luke Radia in response the and sparked rebellion under Luke ewis Yuna's Brutus Brutus and his comrades succeeded in banishing the royal family but instead of appointing a new king vowed to never have another and formed the Roman Republic in 509 BC who was the real Rome now say not to us Papa Lucic way Romano's the Roman Senate and people abbreviated s P Q are much of the Republican design such as the Senate was already in place from the beginning even under the Kings but this was still a major step at the head of the government were two elected councils who would serve a term of just one year the Senate consisted of as was previously mentioned men of the aristocracy at least 30 years old younger politicians were seen as too brazen and in fact the word senator comes from the Latin sanics meaning old a Senate is therefore according to the Romans anyway in assembly of elders not everyone born in Rome was a citizen and of those citizens only a minority were patricians the highest class the majority of Roman citizens were born into the class known as play be ins who held little power in the city at this time the majority of the population however consisted of non land owning men and women slaves and a sort non citizens upon its foundation the Roman Republic would resume his conflict with its neighbors and very slow absorption of the lands in central Italy this is not the glorious Rome with which we are familiar Rome was still just a city on the edge of the known world ruling over about 10 square miles of land Rome would remain a city-state for the next century and a half in this time there would be important social developments as the plebeians fought for greater influence in the government of Rome in struggles which would last for over 200 years known as the conflict of the orders during this conflict a number of play bein consealer Tribune's were established and Rome came up with the idea of appointing a dictator in times of troubles the word dictator did not have the negative meaning it does today dictators were to take on the full authority of Rome's government during times of crisis but resign after around six months by the 4th century BC the Celtic peoples of northern Italy in France known as the Gauls began moving south it is recorded that in 400 BC a group of Gaulish Celts called the cenotes under King Brennus crossed the Alps and began attacking the northern Italians eventually they reached Rome the Romans mounted a defence but at the Battle of alia the romans were crushed and the Gauls then moved into Rome itself and sacked the city this is the affirm mentioned incident which destroyed many of the prior historical records the Gauls would not stay however sacking the city was sufficient for them legends say they were later fought off by a general named Marcus foody with Camillus who boldly told them that the Romans defended their city with iron not gold however many historians today do believe that the Gauls were bribed with Gaul to leave either way this event reshaped the Roman mindset and the recovery period is sometimes referred to as the second founding of Rome the Romans developed a fear of the barbarians of unknown lands and rediscovered the importance of the defence of the fatherland Rome soon returned to becoming the foremost city in italia and its neighbors started to notice from 348 BC to 290 BC a series of conflicts were fought in Italy most notably the three Samnite wars against Rome's neighbors the Samians after whom these Samnite wars are named were among Rome's earliest great rivals the two would fight for dominance over all of central Italy the Samians would be able to count on many other allies including the Umbrian Etruscans other Italian peoples and even the Gauls yet by 295 BC the conflicts started to wind down with the Battle of Sentinel in which the Romans defeated a combined Gallic and Sam the enforce the odds were against the Romans from the beginning whether success is here it could be owed to their unwavering persistence and spirit following Rome's victory they would control the majority of the peninsula and we begin to see that these are indeed a people who have the potential to build a mighty empire yet Rome was not really operating like a real Empire at this point for much of the history of the Republic and into its later years as an empire conquered territory not always fully annexed at least not right away often they were turned into client states retaining some autonomy while owing some tribute or service to Rome what each state owed varied from situation the situation but in these early days Rome usually simply sought military support in times of war Rome was now a true power but great power often attracts powerful rivals to the south stood Magna Graecia the Greek colony is in Italy and on the surrounding islands of Sicily Sardinia and Corsica were the Carthaginians a Phoenician people who built a wealthy and powerful Mediterranean empire from their capital of the same name and modern-day Tunisia Rome and the Greeks would be the first to combat each other the Greek colonies at this time were disunited and Greece itself was not a unified nation at this time either the Romans would exploit this division a tactic they would use frequently as time went on leading to conflict with multiple Greek Italian cities Rome now a military machine could have easily rolled over the Greek city-states however the colony is called upon allies from Greece itself coming to the rescue was an ambitious King Pyrrhus of Epirus a second cousin of Alexander the Great he arrived in 282 bc beginning what is remembered as the appear at wars this was a monumental classical showdown the Macedonian phalanx would soon face the Roman legion Pyrrhus would engage the Romans in two major battles heraclea and ask Willem his soldiers and command proved superior as he won both times with no small thanks to his war elephants which sent the Roman men and horses many of whom had never seen anything like an elephant fleeing in panic but these victories had come at great costs Pyrrhus lost crucial chunks of his army in both battles he planned to rely on recruiting new men from the countryside and defeated army but he found few volunteers the loyalty the Romans had surprised him this was a problem he knew that whatever losses the Romans took they would be able to replenish their troops faster and easier and thus this is the origin of the phrase a Pyrrhic victory referring to a victory which has cost so much that it is a actively an effete such was the case with Pyrrhus who had beaten the romans but lost his army in the process and in 275 BC at the Battle of benevento m-- the Romans would attack the Greeks and finally defeat the withering forces Pyrrhus returned to Greece and the Romans nx2 Greek colonies Rome had beaten agrees but they would not stop here and would soon seek out new conquests transforming from a humble Republic into an imperial republic an empire which the Western world had never before seen however for the time being standing in their way was the mighty empire of Carthage soon Rome and Carthage would clash in a series of wars which would last for over a century and haunt Rome for the rest of its existence the Romans referred to the Carthaginians as Phoenicians or Puneet II they were at this time like their Phoenicians ancestors the dominant Mediterranean trades people but Rome feeling quite confident after its string of victories had its eyes on some prominent Carthaginian Holdings both empires had their eyes on Sicily and disputes here would lead to the First Punic War in 264 BC this would last for 23 years it was fought on both land and sea and it would become one of the largest conflicts ever fought up to that point on the face of the earth Rome saw a number of successes here against Carthage on land but learned early on that it was behind Carthage at sea and thus it is in this conflict that emphasis is first placed on Rome's Navy an important step on the road to Empire the Romans simply lacked the Carthaginian naval technology the Queen queer Karim's massive ships with five rows of oars destroyed Roman vessels repeatedly historians believe that eventually the Romans happen upon a destroyed Quinn theorem and learned to reverse-engineer it to create a Navy which could finally challenge Carthage in 247 BC the famous Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca entered Sicily and used guerrilla warfare and clever tactics to hold the Romans off for years but finally at the naval battle of a god ease in 241 BC the Romans scored victory and the First Punic War came to a close Carthage suffered a heavy defeat and faced with financial difficulties soon fell into civil war Rome took advantage of the situation and nx-- the islands of Sardinia and Corsica Carthage crippled by instability could not prevent this and allowed it but they would not forget it eventually the rebellion was ended and Carthage under Hamilcar Barca moved to claim new territories in Iberia before he left however he made his nine-year-old son swear that he would Harbor eternal hatred for Rome and its people that young boy would grow up to be one of history's greatest generals and thus one of Rome's greatest adversaries his name was Hannibal Carthage and Rome remained at peace for some time each focused on other affairs Rome focused on the northern garlic lands Carthage was recuperating and rebuilding US Army by 220 BC Hannibal had become a commander himself still retaining his sworn hatred for the Roman people and planning revenge he had developed plans to enact that revenge slowly but effectively and got to work in 219 BC his first move was to besiege the city state of Sagunto a strategically important Greek city-state in Iberia allied to Rome to Rome the Carthaginian assault was a casus belli not long after war broke out which would be much more draining and devastating to Rome than the first kinetic war this would be the second Punic War this is one of the most important Wars of Roman history and frankly one of the largest and most important wars in ancient history Hannibal had already shown signs of becoming a talented and effective commander and was greatly dedicated to realizing his ambitions for now though the question remained how exactly was he to reach Rome the Romans had control over the islands of the Mediterranean and had usurped Carthage's role as the major naval power the Romans confident and how they expected Hannibal to act would send some forces to assist li and would send other forces to Iberia under a general named Publius Cornelius Scipio the elder daringly Hannibal would not resort to using a navy to reach Rome instead he would move around through modern-day France to attack Italy from the north by crossing the Alps it was a treacherous journey many men and animals perished on the March some lost their footing and fell others died from the harsh cold this was especially the case for the war elephants others died in combat with some of the local Celts in total sources claim Hannibal would lose over half of his army but he successfully arrived in northern Italy at the end of October and 218 BC catching the Romans completely off guard Hannibal replenishes forces with local Gallic support and a number of battles soon ensued each of them going very poorly for the Romans at the Battle of Trebbia and at the Battle of Lake Trasimene the Romans will lose thirty thousand men both times the Roman people have become greatly concerned they were clearly dealing with a commander of considerable skill thus they appointed a dictator Quintus Fabius Maximus where kosis known as Fabius Fabius wanted to take on a new strategy against animal sometimes referred to as conked out or little layer because of it he would not pursue direct glorious battle he knew all too well how capable Hannibal was of handling that he also knew hannibal supplies in the region were limited and his Gallic allies were not interested in a drawn-out war therefore he began a war of attrition avoiding direct battles and scourging his own country's food supplies in an effort to wear his enemy out a tactic now known as the Fabian strategy not all of his commanders would see eye to eye with him on the strategy though the Romans were a proud and brave people they viewed this tactic as cowardly and dishonorable eventually Fabius resigned from the office object hater and new consuls who would change the tactics were elected these more aggressive consuls put together the largest Roman army ever assembled up to that point at over 85,000 men this massive forest smithy Carthaginian army of around 50,000 men near the city of Kenai on the 2nd of August 216 BC Kani should have been the deciding Roman of victory it did not turn out that way the Romans recklessly attacked the Carthaginians Hannibal quite simply uh Nile ated this force after cleverly managing to surround them at least 50,000 men but quite possibly even more were destroyed by the Carthaginians who lost only around 6,000 men panic spread across the country not even the mightiest Roman army ever assembled could beat Hannibal to make matters worse King Philip of Macedon began to support Carthage at this point only a few battles in Roman history could compare to what happened at Kani the Romans nevertheless scrambled to rebuild their army and quite wisely decided to reemployment strategy all the while the war on other fronts went favorably for Rome in Iberia command had fallen to the son of skippy or the other Scipione younger later known as skip EO africanus skip EO the younger had volunteered to become command after the deaths of his father and uncle he would soon prove to be the right man for the job he would take the important city of New Carthage the regional capital and would drive the Carthaginians south back into Africa itself Hannibal was a military genius his government however did not share this genius the Carthaginian government failed to reinforce Hannibal's army after cannae and then failed to respond when Rome turned the conflict around in the years afterward sending troops to reinforce other areas instead by 207 BC Rome had retaken its lost territories and invaded Carthaginian land at the Battle of elihpa skip-bo africanus would deal a crushing blow to them effectively a reverse of cannae in 202 BC at the Battle of Zama near Carthage itself Hannibal was defeated by Skippy o africanus one of the few men who could challenge him and Carthage finally surrendered in 201 BC this defeat was a crushing blow to Carthage it was not destroyed but lost the vast share of its territory and became a Roman client state Rome despite all it lost came out of this war with clear profound gains it was now in control of the East of Iberia and was becoming a true empire one which now that its greatest rival had been knocked out was master of the Mediterranean Hannibal would eventually be forced out of his own country and sent into exile where he would fight the Romans on the side of other armies until he committed suicide in 180 200 BC to avoid capture one might expect at this point for Rome to rest on the laurels of its victory the second Punic War was greatly strenuous and Rome now had the opportunity to exploit its successes but to the east Macedonia under Philip v was supported Hannibal remained a threat to their newfound dominance Rome would attempt to stamp out this threat by exploiting the division among the Greeks a lying itself with Pergamon and Rhodes Greek city-states who were under attack by Philip this would lead to war with Macedon in 200 BC only a year following the Second Punic War Rome entered into the region declaring that it was doing so on behalf of the freedom of the Greeks the Altieri motive however was curbing Macedonian expansion and power the war would last for three years and ended in a Roman victory following the Battle of Caen assembly but the larger greco-roman struggle was only beginning this struggle would be another major event in world history as a whole the light of Greece was fading and that of Rome was burning brighter with Philips defeat Rome declared Greece was free but in practice still retained forces in the region seeing what was happening some of the Greeks thus looked to yet another foreign power to liberate them from foreign rule this time the seleucid empire of Anatolia an empire which was a Greek successor state to Alexander's Empire division emerged among the Greek cities some favored Rome others a Seleucids tension would soon break into conflict Sparta had been the most resilient to Roman influence and met the Romans at the Battle of Gotham and 195 BC Rome and its allies would be victorious here in 192 BC the Italian league invited the Seleucids under Antiochus the third into the region as liberators Rome was joined by the akheon League and other allies and thus began the Seleucid war within the first phases of the war the Romans scored an impressive victory of the infamous ancient battleground of Thermopylae at the Battle of magnesia and 190 BC the Seleucids faced another crushing defeat and the war easily ended in Roman victory with the conclusion of this war Rome was beginning to catch a glimpse of its future it had beaten his regional competitors and was indirectly in control of their lands Macedon would make another attempt to resist Rome in 179 BC under Philip successor Perseus and what is called the third Macedonian war Perseus was joined by many of the Greek cities which had opposed Rome in the past and for a time it seemed as though Macedon was going to truly defeat Rome but at the Battle of pigna in 168 BC Perseus his ambitions fell apart here his failings encountered its historical arch enemy-- uneven terrain and the more flexible Roman legions tore them apart killing perhaps around 25,000 of them while losing less than thousand with opposition falling apart Greece was now completely subject to wrong though peace followed this conflict many Romans were still anxious of the threat of potential rivals across the horizon one such anxious Roman was Cato the Elder who finished every speech he made in the Senate regardless of what it was about with a short phrase Kay Tatum can say Oh Cartagena si de Landa and furthermore I believe Carthage must be destroyed Carthage was certainly not what it used to be its military prowess had diminished with the loss of Hannibal and the Romans would soon take advantage of their situation both the fourth Macedonian war and the third Punic War began in 150 and 149 b.c respectively both engagements were smaller than their predecessors the fourth Macedonian war was a Greek uprising that ended in failure and 148 BC and the third Punic War was focused mostly around three-year long siege of the city of Carthage Carthage --is last stand and 146 BC the adopted grandson of skip EO africanus skippy ome lianas took the city of Carthage piece-by-piece once the walls were breached the Carthaginians fought for every block once taken the population of around 400,000 was either massacred or enslaved and the entire city was burned to the ground despite common legend the Romans likely did not actually salt the earth around Carthage part of the motivation for invasion was after all Carthage's agricultural abundance Rome was now the undisputed master of the Mediterranean and that is following the year 146 BC that the Roman Empire with which we are familiar becomes recognizable following the defeat of its enemies the tremendous energy of this new Empire would turn inward as the focus came to be on the competition between rival politicians two of the most famous figures of this era are the grotty brothers Tiberius Tiberius and Gaius Krakus both of them were populist in nature and worked to better the Roman lower classes the most famous of their attempted reforms was the redistribution of land the aristocracy to Roma's urban poor and veterans both of them would overstep the boundaries of their offices and even run for multiple terms in a row remember of course at a council had just a one-year term and could not run again for another ten years both of them would die in the process the groggy brothers while only somewhat successful in themselves highlight at the beginning of changes to the Roman Republic that would alter it forever though the waters of the Mediterranean were now more tranquil the Romans never ignored the threats which could come from the mysterious north and that is around this time that the Romans encounter another hostile European people who would in time prove themselves to be as fearsome and more challenging to the Romans than even the Celts that garum on e the Germans around the Year 113 BC three Germanic tribes in particular with Celtic mixture the Cimbri to Tony's and an bronies began moving south in search of more hospitable lands as they approached Roman territory they soon proved willing to actually turn around the tribes had likely heard of the great power of the Romans and when they were asked to negotiate by Naya's populace carbo they did so and agreed to leave foolishly carbo either believing his invaders to be a threat or eager to obtain a glorious victory in battle planned an ambush around the paths through which the tribe said they would be leaving the tribes learned about this however and were prepared for the ambush when it came the resulting Battle of nuria was a disaster for the Romans the majority of the Roman forest was destroyed and carbo barely escaped in 105 BC there Germani returned and the Romans sent an even larger force to the northwest to deal with them under two generals Kai Pio and Maximus these two men were from different social classes and often did not see eye to eye when it became evident that Maximus of a lower social class was planning to negotiate a truce with the German tribes Kai Pio of the upper class ordered his half of the army to attack the Germans the resulting Battle of Arras EO was a disaster for the Romans like at Kenai bravado was to blame for the egregious error that caused the Roman to be divided and annihilated the Romans lost around 120 thousand men here maybe even sixty thousand more than I can i with the Germanic tribes losing only around 15,000 in terms of total men lost the worst defeat in Roman history yet Rome would recover and put a man named Gaius Marius on the scene Gaius Marius had recently proven himself as a commander in North Africa and had already served as consul once the Roman Senate however desperate for strong leadership allowed Marius to serve again as consul in 104 BC he would be reelected four more times consecutively and would in total serve as consul seven times in his life why well simply put he knew what he was doing surprisingly the germani did not attack Rome after a ratio instead they moved off to a spaniel re is capitalized on this luck and used it as an opportunity to reorganize the Roman army down to its very basic structure he made it a standing army as opposed to one which was called up during times of war but perhaps more importantly we organized the laws surrounding entrance into it prior to this an individual had to hold a certain amount of land to join the army the intention here was to ensure that the interest of the army were aligned with the welfare of the state Marius soon removed all property requirements allowing the poor to enter he would also have these soldiers begin carrying their own supplies prior to this slaves and animals did this job though this would lead to his soldiers being called muli ma Gianni maurices mules it made them much more mobile and put them in better shape he promised land grants and pensions to these soldiers who completed their term of service in 103 BC the Germani returned their intention was clear to sack Italy but at the Battle of Aquos xti Marius proved his reforms were successful and dealt a crushing blow to them killing 90,000 and enslaving another 20,000 two years later they met at the Battle of work Li where Marius was again greatly successful taking very few losses but killing perhaps 60,000 Cimbri and effectively ending the Cimbri in war marius was a hero and bore this title proudly in his political life but though successful in his military pursuits he was less successful on the field of politics he sought to retain his power at times resorting to bribery and assassination to do so ironically his behavior in the political arena would set the stage for the downfall of the very Republic which he had served perhaps one of the most worrying signs of things to come was the mindset of Marius as soldiers he may have served the Republic but his soldiers served him because generals were now responsible for the welfare and the ventral pensions of their men Marius had created an army more loyal to their generals than the government in Rome in the 90s BC a rebellion in the land surrounding Italy erupted as the peoples of Rome's client states fought for Roman citizenship after pointless fighting the Senate caved and granted citizenship to the Italian people's willing to lay down their arms many agreed but the Sam nian rebels led the group still resisting intending to found their own state pursuing them was the Roman general Lucius Cornelius sulla sulla as he is known was primarily responsible for bringing the social war that is called to a close and was made consul as a result in 88 BC that same year the first Mithra Dadich war broke out in the East sparked when the king of Pontus a Persian state in modern Anatolia Mithra Dottie's invaded a Roman territory and began to kill all Romans in one of history's first genocides sulla as consul prepared to lead an army to deal with this threat but he was pushed aside by the now elderly Marius who intended to lead one final campaign sulla would not stand for this and would end up doing the unthinkable he gathered his forces and marched into the city of Rome itself to depose Marius it was illegal shocking and sacrilegious even but at work and Marius fled to Africa sulla then took a man of the army again and moved east to deal with the Pontic King while away however marius and his ally kena marched on Rome themselves and overthrew his solo supporters however marius died of old age within a few weeks of his seventh consulship and kena will be stoned to death later on fortunately for silla as well the war in Anatolia was going favorably and he was able to claim a glorious victory and then returned to Rome to take power by defeating his rivals once again in a brief civil war once his rivals were defeated in SOLAS 2nd march on Rome silat Agha a title which none in Roman history had ever before received dictator for life Silla now effectively held absolute power for as long as he wanted though he ruled cruelly in the end much of his work as dictator was spent trying to prevent someone from doing the same thing he had again and he would resign his dictatorship after just one year service councilor for another and then retire but his intentions would fail ironically he and Marius had already set the precedent for a new form of government to arise and the man who would bring about the end of the Republic had already been born this man is perhaps the most well known Roman in history Gaius Julius Kaiser Julius Caesar the language segment for this video usually included in these documentaries in which we'll talk about Latin will be made separately after this documentary so stay tuned for that the first century BC was an eventful time in Roman history two more Mithra Dedic wars were fought in the modern-day Middle East they were quite draining and to make matters worse in 73 BC a slave uprising led by a former Thracian gladiator named Spartacus took place which spiraled out of control becoming a genuine rebellion and was only put down by Marcus Licinius Crassus in 71 BC a separate revolt occurred in Iberia around the same time which was put down by a general named Gnaeus Pompeius better known as Pompey both Crassus and Pompey were making names for themselves the two would both service console in 72-69 BC the Mithra Dedic warriors in the east finally came to a close in 63 BC and Rome subsequently expanded further and to Anatolia and the Middle East having defeated pontus and Armenia from Pei furthermore was active in the region and took the city of Jerusalem that year this was also the same year that the great Roman orator ki Cato or in English Cicero was made consul though a controversial figure of his day he would spend his career defending Rome and even protected it from a takeover by a rival named Catalina this was as we've seen not the first coup d'etat in Rome nor the last the political situation we have been discussing was creating a hostile environment in Rome bribery corruption assassinations of violence Street gang violence and general disorder were all common it is in this turbulent environment that the aforementioned leaders Crassus and Pompey join forces with another political star Julius Caesar Caesar was from a family of minor nobility he was well educated and had a talent for writing and oratory and was involved in politics and the military early on by 60 BC he was around the age of 40 and seeking higher political office it is in this year that he joins forces with Pompey and Crassus in a political alliance known as the first triumvirate as Rome's most powerful figures the Alliance quickly saw some success and Caesar was made console alongside Marcus Calpurnia's people loose the Caesar soon held full authority Caesar was just getting started in 58 BC the infamous Gallic wars began it is here where Caesar truly made a name for himself as he waged war and expanded into the territory of the Gauls of modern France while also encountering a number of Germanic peoples along the way these wars would last for eight years and he would even venture into Britain anger manya though his gains there would be less permanent throughout these Wars Caesar would find a number of competent and trustworthy allies including Marcus Antonius that are known in English as Mark Antony Caesar success here is largely owed to his skill as a commander he was an excellent commander and motivator and often entered battle not from the back as an observer but from the front alongside his men I've mentioned before that this was a period where the armies sort of had more loyalty to their own generals than the nation because of the roles their generals would play but this was a more personal loyalty consider what it would mean to you as someone enduring the life of a soldier campaigning in a colder mysterious land against armies of ferocious larger men who oftentimes fought naked seemingly without a fear of death and brutal up-close-and-personal and the hand combat and standing there right by her side in the heat of battle is your commanding officer facing the struggle with you not willing to send you into something that he would not also endear that spoke volumes to his men in the latter half of these Wars Caesar suffered a string of bad luck his success in foreign lands brought concern back home a man who could wield so much power and authority could pose a serious threat to the welfare of the Republic in 53 BC the triumvirate itself began to break down Crassus died while campaigning in Syria at the Battle of Carr high against the Parthian x' caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife Julia had died shortly before this and Pompey's seemed now to be less interested in Alliance and more interested in furthering his own career making him caesar's rival political tension erupted into violence and even the roman senate building burn in a fire Pompeii would become sole Consul in 52 BC meanwhile Caesar still caught up campaigning in Roma's frontier suddenly found himself up against a new opponent the great Celtic leader person get uruk's originally a leader of only a single Gallic tribe vercingetorix would form alliances with numerous others and led a united rebellion against the Roman occupation vercingetorix was initially quite successful and pursued a war of attrition against the Romans which wore them down he would even defeat Caesar at the Battle of gergovia however in 52 BC Caesar would defeat the Gauls once and for all at the Battle of Alesia following this the Gallic Wars started to come to a slow halt and modern-day France was incorporated into the Roman Empire Caesar then returned to Rome to deal with matters there the Senate demanded Caesar disband his army before returning to the city but Caesar had other intentions upon crossing the Rubicon River in northern Italy he had broken the law by marching into the heartland with his forces before the fateful crossing he is said to have said Alea iacta asked the die is cast Caesar knew where this would lead yet another civil war on the opposing end his old friend Pompey who flooded Greece upon his arrival Caesar met Pompey there at Pharsalus where despite being outnumbered two to one Caesar defeated Pompey Pompey then fled to Egypt but he was murdered by Caesars Egyptian supporters before he could catch up to him it is here where Caesar met the Egyptian queen of the Ptolemaic dynasty that is to say a descendant of the Greek rulers of ancient Egypt Cleopatra Caesar and Cleopatra would develop a close relationship here of a political and intimate nature and she would even bear him a son Kazarian in 46 BC with his rivals aside Caesar would become more than just another general who had marched on Rome he would be named dictator for life and was content to remain as such but much of the Roman elite including Caesars former friends such as Marcus Junius Brutus were firmly against him fearing the return of a king on March 15th 40 for BC a date known as The Ides of March 40 or so senators led by Brutus acted on their fears of the new dictator and surrounded and stab Caesar to death those shakespeare claims otherwise historical sources say Caesar fell silently in shock covering his face with his toga instability followed Caesars death the Republic would not return to its prior state rather different factions arose to claim succession Marc Antony Caesars former comrade had effectively taken control of Rome following the incident however it soon emerged that Caesar had named an heir to his fortunes Gaius Octavius toward eNOS in English Octavius his grand nephew whom he had adopted as his son and his will Octavius posed a significant challenge to Mark Antony briefly they fought it out however with a Senate trying to under them both in 44 BC they joined forces with Marcus Emilia slabby doiis to form the second triumvirate the second triumvirate would take control of Rome and the three would share power has dictators Octavius a frail 19-year old boy was initially the weakest of the three but he would soon prove to be much more ambitious and cunning than his counterparts had imagined in 42 BC Octavius and Anthony defeat of the Senate's forces at the Battle of Philippi in Greece here Brutus and Cassius Caesars main assassins died in battle they would also pursue and kill other hostile senators such as Cicero with the Republican leaders out of the way the three divided the Empire between themselves Antony took the east Octavius the West and Lepidus Africa though in 36 BC Octavius would take control of lay produces territory himself meanwhile in the east Antony prepared to take on Parthia to do so he had secured the support of local client leaders one such client leader was Cleopatra much like with Caesar the two fell in love and would later have children by a 32b see the larger inevitable conflict started to brew as Octavius and Anthony became hostile toward each other and each saw total absolute control of the Empire the war that erupted is often known as the final war the Republic it would last for two years and would come to its conclusion at the naval Battle of Actium where Octavius defeated Antony and Cleopatra forces the two lovers later committed suicide and Octavius took on full control of the Roman Empire now in his thirties with this great victory Octavius would soon be known as a useless Augustus Caesar Rome's first emperor Rome is now in 27 BC to be exact a true empire with a true Emperor yet it retained its Republican psychology it was Silla nation of the Roman Senate and people working in unison that's the image Augustus wanted to display anyway Augustus never dared to call himself a rex a king rather he simply perpetually held multiple powerful offices and stacked the Senate in his favour which gave him absolute power he preferred the title Prien cabe's kiwi Tottie's the first citizen a formerly senatorial title along with being the first emperor he would also be the longest ruling over a united Rome anyway and would have one of the most eventful and important reigns in Roman history his reign marks the beginning of what is known as pox Romana the Roman peace this was a period of relative peace and stability in Roman history which would last for over 200 years it was not a time of complete peace and stability there were regular conflicts and Wars but they were primarily fought outside of Rome and without much damage done to the Empire within it is under Augustus that in the modern nation of Israel Jesus of Nazareth was born though his birth is what traditionally divides the calendar between BC before Christ and AD Anno Domini he was actually likely born around 4 BC Jesus Christ is easily one of the most important figures in human history his followers today would say the most important I plan to cover his story and other religions in future videos for now though it will suffice to say that his teachings would go on to become the religion of Christianity which would shake the Roman Empire to its core however Caesar Augustus would never hear his name for the moment the only son of God and the Roman Empire was Augustus his adoptive father Julius had essentially been deified by now Jesus Christ was crucified around the year thirty ad and died shortly after though of course central to the Christian religion is the belief that he rose from the dead three days later despite being regarded as the bringer of pox or mana Augustus would fight a number of wars throughout his life it was his belief that Rome would be a natural nation which ruled the whole world and expanded into the Balkans the Near East Africa and the rest of Iberia his most famous force however were fought in Germany Romania was the frontier of the known world to the Romans it was in this age mysterious undeveloped and alien likely much more so than even Gaul in 12 BC campaigns into magna got ammonia began Rome began a process of aligning themselves with the Germanic Chiefs and bringing them under Roman rule and law to accomplish this some dramatic Chiefs sons were taken as hostages in a sense to be raised in Rome as Romans and returned to guerre manya as leaders sympathetic to Rome one such German was a boy who the Romans would call Arminius who grew up in the Roman army climbing the ranks quickly with a reputation of being a fine soldier when Arminius was asked to accompany the Roman general Puglia is quintilius wadis into gear Manya on a campaign in seven AD he was suddenly forced to choose between his Roman life and his German life in September of 980 his choice was made Arminius secretly became a military leader of his people and tricked the Romans into passing through a swampy heavily forested route to suppress a fake revolt here Arminius and his men were able to ambush them and defeat them decisively in the Battle of the Teutoburg forest known to the Romans as Claudius wadi anna the variant disaster whadya sand 20,000 of his men were killed the survivors were tortured and ritualistically sacrificed when Augustus heard of this defeat he evidently began to bang his head on doors and screamed Queen Tilly what a leggy Onis ready quintilius Varis give me back my legions why all the losses here were major they were only a fraction of what was lost at Kani or a ratio in comparison nevertheless some historians placed a Teutoburg forest as Rome's greatest defeat because of the that had on the Empire the frontier was set at the Rhine River the Romans would cross it but never really rule the land beyond Augustus died in August of 14 ad aged 75 his reign was profound but who would succeed it the Roman emperors would not always behave like the later European monarch who often left their rule to family generally the eldest son leaving rule to a family member was common but there was never a single clear way in which the Roman emperors were chosen largely because the Romans never stopped seeing themselves as a republic a fact which would become a huge problem in the future leading to a number of civil wars and general political strife the rule did often go to a family member the approval of the government and military was also crucial in this instance the succession did peacefully fall to Augustus adopted son Tiberius he in the next three Emperor's were all family and thus this is regarded as the Giulio Claudian dynasty by historian Tiberius was a skillful commander in the past but quite noticeably did not enjoy the position of Emperor and achieved much less than his predecessors he would die hated by the people as a paranoid frugal and ineffective ruler in 37 ad probably killed by his successor his successor would be even worse in fact insane Emperor Caligula is known to many as one of history's most absurd rulers it is uncertain which stories about him are true the sources aren't always reliable but according to stories brought his horse to a dinner and threatened to make him a consul impregnated his sister claimed to be a god killed innocent people for amusement and declared war on the god Neptune having his soldiers collect seashells on the coast as a war bounty Caligula is often portrayed as an incoherent madman but modern historians suggest there was a method to his madness the horse console incident was likely a way to humiliate the Senate which challenged him a way of showing how unimportant they were to him the seashell incident was likely to humiliate his soldiers for resisting his ambitions to cross into Britain and his sexual relations with his sister may have been influenced by the thinking of the Egyptian pharaohs where incest was common Polly was killed by his own bodyguard the praetorian guard when he announced he would be moving to Alexandria after just four years of his reign the Praetorian Guard would later find Caligula's uncle Claudius hiding behind a curtain and made him Emperor as we started to see the Roman emperors are a list of very colorful individuals to put it simply Caligula was not the only Emperor to behave erratically as we will see and I think that it is important to point out that for every great Roman Emperor who held the empire together there was another terrible one who nearly tore it apart Claudius intended to finish what Julius Caesar had started and Caligula failed to do conquer the mysterious island of Britannia and 43 AD an invasion force was sent to the island that year the Romans likely established a settlement that they called Londinium compared to past conquests the invasion of Britain would be a slow process taking around forty years and nearly ending in defeat Claudius had made important conquests and political alliances in Britain he died in 53 AD possibly poisoned by his own wife and was followed by Emperor Nero Nero Nero would be remembered as yet another corrupt insane Emperor he inherited and continued to the conquest of Britain there in the year 60 AD the king of a tribe known as the e Kenny a Roman ally Prasutagus died and left half his kingdom to Rome and the other half to his daughters the Romans ignored this and annexed all of the territory from Prasutagus his wife protested she was beaten and her daughters were raped his wife would not forget this treatment and she rose to challenge Romans in revolt her name was Boudicca more properly pronounced Boudica Boudica would rally not only her eat Kenny tribe but also another tribe Petrino vantes to rebellion around the year 60 ad they would attack and burn a number of Roman settlements including Londinium but in 61 AD her forces were defeated at the Battle of Watling Street shortly after Boadicea died possibly from suicide were also sickness in 64 AD a great fire devastated much of the city of Rome many claimed Nero started the fire it is uncertain that this is true but I way he blamed the fire on an emerging religious minority Christians many were tortured and executed as a result this was not Nero's only act of cruelty and his behavior would lead to him being forced to commit suicide to avoid assassination in 68 AD thus came an end to the Giulio Claudian dynasty as Nero had no clear air the year 69 subsequently became a year of the Four Emperors as for Emperor's each tried to secure a stable rain until titus flavius way Spaziano nose better known as the persuasion accomplished this Hispania was a respected commander known for his service in the initial invasions of britain and victories over the jewish revolts in syria though a pragmatic and frugal man who never dreamed he would become emperor when he did he brought stability back to rome which had been lost in the past year of competing emperors and past decades of psychopathic emperors he introduced new taxes built a number of structures including the still astounding called cm in Rome and reignited the war in Britain Vespasian died in 79 AD after his 10-year reign he was followed by his son Titus though Titas ruled for only two years it was an eventful two years it was under him that the great eruption of Mount Vesuvius occurred he died from fever and 81 AD and rural pass to his younger brother Tommy giana's emission commission would rule for 15 years completing the works of his father and brother under him the Roman general Agricola pushed further into Britain even briefly ruling over much of Caledonia modern-day Scotland importantly he ruled Rome during the first dock in worth the dog Ian's were in ancient people living in modern-day Romania in 87 a be led by a king named Decca ballast in the war of 86 to 88 ad the Dawkins would actually end up defeating Rome Daka gained Roman recognition and became one of the most powerful kingdoms on the Roman border partially because of the aid in funding Domitian provided them to keep them off Rome's back in 96 ad the mission was assassinated his successor Nerva died two years later and in 98 ad a man named Triano's Trajan became Emperor Trajan had been a successful commander and servant of the mission who had put down a revolt in Germania and had even served as consul as a reward upon becoming Emperor it was clear he would not have the same false as Domitian and got to work to secure the Empire's integrity his first target dock iya and 101 AD Trajan defeat of the Dockins of the Second Battle of 2/pi the same location were a decade earlier the mission's generals had been defeated by Kabbalah's soon surrendered the former treaty between Daka and Rome was ended that Kabbalah's became a subordinate client king however that Cavazos would use this piece to reorganize and prepare for another war with Rome by preparing for war and inciting rebellion Trajan attacked again at 105 ad and at the Battle of Sur michiga tuza defeated them once and for all and deca bolas committed suicide Trajan has secured a great victory and it would be the first of many much of his reign was spent expanding Rome's borders and in a sense neutralizing hostile threats in 115 AD Trajan would embark on the conquest of parthia his victories there would win Rome control the territory surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates rivers a great accomplishment but they would not last Trajan died of old age while still expanding into the Middle East the Roman people would refer to him as optimum cream capes the greatest ruler he was a strong ruler who came to power in the middle of Pax Romana and brought the Empire to its zenith and 117 AD the Roman Empire was powerful glorious wealthy and ruling over its greatest territorial extent from Scotland to Egypt to Crimea to Morocco the generation of Romans living under Trajan would continue to enjoy this Golden Age even after his death living under the reigns of other great Emperor's like Hadrian who concerned himself with building walls and other defenses around Rome and stabilizing Rome internally and Marcus Aurelius the philosopher Emperor however it was not destined to last forever in the 180s BC a series of corrupt leadership will begin to drag the Empire down putting it in critical condition and beginning a series of events that will eventually lead to the fall of this mighty empire altogether in the next video we will pick up with the reign of hadrian and explore the fate of Rome the Emperor's and events which sicken the Empire and the Emperor's who would try to save it I would like to thank you all for viewing the first fire of learning documentary of 2019 it is the first of many documentaries and other videos to come as 2019 is the year that this channel enters the 5d if you enjoyed this and found it informative I'd invite you to come check out some other cool content we have here on fire of learning like these videos shown here and to subscribe to not miss out on future videos to help with the cost of production fire learning does take donations on patreon the link to which you can find in the description you can support the channel with as little as a 1 dollar contribution however simply subscribing to our YouTube channel for free is also a large help special thanks once again to our patreon supporters listed here we are also on Instagram and Facebook so come check us out there to karate ah Steve Iago for watching him [Music]

Channel: Fire of Learning

Views: 1,247,377

Rating: 4.8423452 out of 5

Keywords: Roman Empire, Rome, History, Pax Romana, Roma, Trajan, Augustus, Caesar, Mithridatic war, Roman invasion of Greece, Rome vs Greece, Early Rome, Roman Kingdom

Id: WKpQRXdvAqM

Length: 58min 23sec (3503 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 21 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/whatthefunkmaster]

The entire history of Rome in 44 minutes?

[u/DaytonaDemon]

its, its.

[u/RicksterA2]

It's = It is.

[u/coffee-wine]

And 0 comments about the documentary itself. Anyone watched it yet and if so what did you think?

[u/vik8629]

It's fucking "its".

[u/LoneKharnivore]

Its. "It" does not take a possessive apostrophe.

[u/sunghin]

its not it’s

[u/shadowaway]

It's 58 minutes...

[u/[deleted]]

Its*.......