Idistaviso 16 AD - Roman-Germanic Wars DOCUMENTARY

[Music] this video was sponsored by the great courses plus go to the great courses plus.com today to start your free trial in our previous videos we details the catastrophic Roman defeat in the Teutoburg forest and its aftermath this calamity had resulted in the loss of all territories east of the River Rhine and had annihilated three entire legions while their revered aquila were lost however the Romans would not accept this humiliation sitting down and revenge would soon be meted out on the treacherous Arminius culminating in the battles at a disturber and the angry ovarian wall it is 9 ad and as the news of the clad is very honor the Varian disaster radiated throughout the roman empire it became obvious that reinforcements had to be sent to the Gallic border the closest commander to the area Tiberius marched north towards the Rhine he found its defenses almost unmanned he garrisoned the forts and ordered guard details to be posted as strategic points along the Rhine to prevent any possible Germanic crossing of the river with these arrangements made he departed for Rome and left his adopted son Germanicus as commander in the area the boy who would become Germanicus was born Nero Claudius drusus in 16 BC he was the nephew of Tiberius and great nephew of Augustus himself his father another Nero Claudius drusus was killed when he fell off his horse in 9 BC the Senate granted the family the honorific Germanicus as a battle honor despite his lack of experience young Germanicus proved himself brilliant and recruited trained and marshaled his own army from scratch as the illyrian situation deteriorated in 6ad with his army assembled from freedmen and conscripts in rome Germanicus crossed the adriatic to the war zone in Illyria at this point in the conflict many professional commanders were bogged down by the insurgents guerrilla tactics but Germanicus enjoyed much success he conquered the illyrian mazhai II people in whose territory his army wintered as the conflicts dragged into 8th AD Germanicus rejoined his army and moved south to takes plenum a prosperous mining Center after some difficulty he took the city followed by radium and many other rebel strongholds along the way after these many successes he was given command of an entire army group with which he helped turn the war in Rome's favor during 9 ad after the illyrian surrender Germanicus received triumphal honors in addition to the position of praetor as a reward for his great courage and prowess before the war he was a naive civil magistrate with a talent for writing and now he was a battle commander this is what Germanicus had accomplished before taking the office along the Rhine in the aftermath of the Teutoburg catastrophe in 980 after a brief stint as military commander in the region during which he stabilized the regional defenses he returned to Rome where he performed his duties as a praetor expertly in 1180 the responsibility to deal with the possible Germanic threat was given to Tiberius and Germanicus they passed across the Rhine border marching with impunity through Germany due to the cautiousness of both sides there was no pitched battle and in late 11 AD Germanicus returned to Rome upon his arrival at the start of 12 ad he became a consul at the age of 27 one of the youngest ever to receive the honor after his year as consul had expired Germanicus was appointed the Gatiss August appropriate or a or deputy and governor for the three Gallic provinces and Germania the very Saint position which his father drew says the elder had occupied the new legate's duties included nation-building in the new regions ensuring internal stability and promoting Rome's economic interests in the area in late summer of 14 ad at the old age of 75 augustus the creator of the roman empire and adopted son of Julius Caesar passed away while visiting NOLA the succession of Augustus had been a prime concern throughout his reign eventually Tiberius was chosen by the late Priene caps to inherit the Empire while Germanicus and his family were now permitted to take the name Caesar in Rome Tiberius consolidated his power among the military Senate and aristocracy while his heir apparent posthumous Agrippa perished with Germanicus ascending to the role instead at this point it is possible that Tiberius became paranoid about his popular nephews power and feared he might attempt to overthrow him however Germanicus was unswervingly loyal to the new emperor and proved it by his actions not at all thinking of usurping imperial authority a test of this loyalty was put to the vibrant young general in mid 15 AD when the legions on the Rhine and Danube revolted they were angry about pay conditions and the cruelty of their Centurions dissatisfied as Tiberius responds they attempted to proclaim Germanicus the Emperor but he angrily refused instead he proclaimed that he would rather die than betray the Emperor and threatened to commit suicide the legions stopped him and they eventually came to a compromise seeking to focus the legionnaires energy on a common foe to restore their unity Germanicus sent 15,000 men across the rhine to devastate the marcy nation ruthlessly ordering that everything in a 50-mile radius of their city should be burned and destroyed while all enemy civilians in the area were murdered when this was done other Germanic tribes attacked as the Romans were marching back to the Rhine Germanicus rallied his troops to victory then traveled back to Rome word of his exploits in crushing the mutinies and invading Germania reached the Eternal City before he did and the people of Rome as well as the Praetorian cohorts came to meet him upon his return applauding his achievements as a reward for his services Germanicus received the privilege of a triumph Germanicus then returns to modern-day Cologne where he began to plan that year's campaigns across the river lived a tribe called the chatty as they were close to the sphere of Roman urban influence they had urban settlements engaged in lengthy military campaigns and even elected their leaders their power represented a large threat to Roman interests in the region and so Germanicus launched a brutal two-pronged attack against them many Chatty villages were burned and countless men women and children were killed in this campaign which drew the attention of the cirucci the tribe of Arminius and the remnants of the marci the latter were quickly defeated by Germanicus the Romans even captured Arminius his pregnant wife thus Nelda hearing of his wife's capture Arminius rallied his Cherokee tribe and their Germanic allies Germanicus knew that he needed to launch a preemptive strike before the tribes could launch their own attack and planned a massive three-pronged attack to surround the Cherokee aiming to cut them off from their Brook Terry and Angra vari allies while two commanders led the legions on land Germanicus himself headed an amphibious invasion up the river m's the central column reached the main brook Terry settlement and pillaged it managing to find the aquila of Leggio 19 the three army groups then joined together and Germanicus diverted their route into the area in which Pharisees legions had been slaughtered Roman remains and equipment still littered the area and in an emotional experience the Roman soldiers buried their massacred comrades and honoured them with a tumulus a sacred mound as he retreated Germanicus his army was attacked and suffered badly but the campaign's of 1580 had largely been a success the next year Germanicus decided to launch a decisive campaign against Arminius a massive amphibious invasion of 52,000 soldiers and 1,000 ships again thrust up the MS and disembarked on the left side of the river his legions marched east until they met the Germanic forces on the opposite side of the vessel River the two armies drew up for the coming conflict in an area of the channel in which there were forged but no bridges Germanicus decided that without safe crossing points he would be exposing his legionaries to unnecessary danger if he forced them to cross and so came up with a new plan while the majority of his army stayed where it was he commanded the left and right wing cavalry units under start Aeneas and emelius to distract the Germanic infantry on the flanks while the elite battalion cavalry under cherry valda crashed into the enemy's centre the italians made progress against our mini assist front-line and almost broke through to the enemy leader but he had served with the roman military during the years before Teutoburg and was familiar with this diversionary tactic he had laid a trap of his own and at this point his teruki cavalry swept out of the forest and surrounded cherry bounders forces killing the cavalry commander their horsemen began to melt away under the charge but the two flanking cavalry forces turned inward and attempted to rescue their battalion counterparts they succeeded and a small amount of the surviving central cavalry managed to escape seeing that his initial strategy had failed Germanicus sounded a retreat across the river and returned to camp the Roman commander wanted to campaign against Arminius further but he was unsure about the morale of his soldiers he was soon reassured when the taunting of a Germanic Warrior was replied by the Legionaries angrily cheering and shouting back that they would take their lands and wives as spoils of war confident in the high spirits of his soldiers Germanicus marched out once again to engage the enemy on the plane of a disturb ism his army consisted of Gallic and Germanic auxiliaries as well as Foot archers in the vanguard for Imperial legions were behind them followed by Germanicus himself accompanied by two Praetorian cohorts and some hand-picked cavalry next came four more Roman legions lightly armed troops some horse archers and the remaining allied cohorts Arminius assange grove ree and sharru ski infantry forces began on a hill slope and charged viciously down at the Roman frontline to open the battle seeing the Germanic infantry making their charge Germanicus ordered the cavalry understood tinniest to attack Arminius his flank and rear holding his infantry back for the being he waited until the cavalry made contact and then ordered his auxiliaries and the first four legions to advance at the charging Germanic infantry as the Legionaries through their to pillar the enemy began to immediately suffered casualties and they eventually started to flee however Arminius himself along with the second line of Germanic warriors charged towards the exposed Roman arches which were then reinforced by the allied cohorts gradually the tide of battle turned against the Germans and they as they had done to the Romans seven years earlier were utterly slaughtered no prisoners were taken while Arminius escaped after his victory Germanicus constructed a victory monument and this angered the Germans enough to fight once again Arminius and the tribal war council decided to retreat to Angra very heal and to prepare for the next battle the warriors of this land erected an earthwork barricade between a swamp and a forest with Arminius wishing to draw the Romans into attacking the barrier while the churu ski cavalry and infantry' laid in ambush however Germanicus his Scouts had seen the Germans constructing their defensive fortification and he developed a counter strategy he drew up his army in front of the barricade with himself commanding the battle group assaulting the more difficult terrain on the right flank accompanied by the Praetorian cohorts meanwhile say es tubero commanded the left flank on more level ground the battle opened when the left battle group attacked the wall facing difficulty and drawing Germanic reinforcements to them at the same time the Roman cavalry on the right engaged the Germanic forces in the forest who Germanicus knew were there nevertheless they still suffered losses in order to soften the enemy up the Roman archers slingers and artillery rains down missiles on the wall Germanicus decided this was the moment and he led his Praetorian cohort forward up the slope toward the barrier after some brutal combat this elite formation managed to break through the barrier and then swung right attacking me guru Steve forces from the rear in this brutal fighting Germanicus himself slew the enemy's inspiring his soldiers to victory after hours of intense fighting the Romans drove the enemy from the battlefield and the remaining Germanic leaders fled the Romans psychological wounds from the Teutoburg disaster had been avenged but Tiberius decided that conquering Germania was not worth the cost and recalled Germanicus to Rome where he again was awarded a triumph and the consulship in 1880 after this he was sent to Asia and reorganized the provinces there however he either died of disease or was poisoned in 1980 the Roman Conqueror was dead similarly in Germany Arminius lacking the Romans as an active enemy began to war against the other Germanic tribes and was eventually killed by opponents in his own tribe he thought that he was becoming too powerful when we create our videos as a source we often use the series of lectures called the decisive battles of world history from Professor Gregory alt reti provided by the sponsor of this video the great courses plus this excellent 36 part series covers the crucial battles of history across all periods from the Bronze Age to modern Wars you can subscribe to the great courses plus to get access to the vast library of over 11,000 lectures on history science literature and other subjects from the top-notch professors from the best universities in the world the great courses plus is giving viewers a great offer of a free trial support our Channel and learn more about the decisive battles of history by subscribing to the great courses plus through the great courses plus.com slash kings and Generals or the shorts link in the description the Roman succession system is very confusing and so we have recorded a podcast explaining the details of how it works in the period of the principal and you can listen to it via link in the description or the pinned comment the Romans and the Germanic tribes will meet in many more battles on our channel so make sure you are subscribed to us 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 V link in the description this is the kings and Generals channel and we will catch you on the next one

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 950,128

Rating: 4.9417381 out of 5

Keywords: roman empire, full documentary, germanic tribes, ancient rome, kings and generals, history lesson, history documentary, ancient history, history channel, publius quinctilius varus, world history, documentary film, decisive battles, military history, animated documentary, teutoburg, idistaviso, augustus, angrivarian wall, historia civilis, animated historical documentary, roman republic, teutoburg forest, roman army, historical documentary, armies and tactics, julius caesar

Id: S1cfOydQ5No

Length: 17min 58sec (1078 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 04 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/mandy009]

It's always amazing to me how Rome was just constantly at war. This is just over 50 years after Caesar crushed the Gauls.

[u/Augustus_Trollus_III]

That’s some pretty awesome hair to the right

[u/bartu_neg]

Our revenge for teutoburg