The Battle Against Rome - episode 1

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there could be nothing more brutal than that defeat in the swamps and the forests that was the account in the chronicles of Rome three Imperial legions annihilated in the swamps of Germany in the autumn of the year nine ad he slapped by an vendôme the battle was a turning point in European history and collided while missed it missed because Rome failed to conquer the lands up to the river Elbe let alone the lands further east of off from Earth the Romans would withdraw to their defenses along the Rhine and the Danube Europe was split into down the ages to come it was the beginning of a German legend the greatest military power of the ancient world brought to its knees by an iron alliance of freedom-loving tribes 19th century German nationalists made this battle in the swamps the founding act of the modern nation even the search for the battlefield became a national preoccupation 700 towns and villages claimed to be the site of the battle but the archaeological evidence points to this place the title bug forest since 1875 a monument to the victor dominates the landscape Arminius to the Romans or Hermon the first hero of German liberation since then Arminius is all but forgotten in this country this is his story Julius Caesar gave the same name to all the tribes in the inaccessible regions east of the Rhine Germany they were forever making incursions into Roman territory even before the birth of Christ Augustus Caesar decided to protect the exposed eastern flank of the Empire in Gaul in a series of campaigns the Germanic tribes were to be subdued some would have a struggle others like the cheer ski and light themselves with Rome this tribe now live under the Iron Fist of the Pax Romana a young boy lives here later he will be called Arminius when he's about 10 years old his life has changed forever Arminius is of noble blood his father Sega Maris belongs to to respond aristocracy but Sega Maris is firmly opposed to the alliance with Rome the nobles have chosen suggesters as the leader of their clan segimerus must accept his leadership and his decisions but suggesters is not welcome on earth in this company I do suggest des has chosen the alliance with Rome and now he has come to fulfill the conditions of the Alliance he has come for Sega Maris his son they must be handed over to the occupiers at 1rc it is he says a necessary sacrifice that must be made for the good of the whole tribe it means that Sega Maris may never see the boys again they will become heroes taking hostages was a favorite Roman ploy Chiefs like suggesters were their agents with everything to gain from cooperating you fiscal evil actively in issue but before you know relatively little about the early history of the Jerusalem a shrine honk well they certainly turn up in the time of Augustus for a while they were Rome's enemies but then they formed an alliance with Rome if you defeat worth their care what Scott in deserts suggest days was the leading figure among the too risky at the time of the Roman conquest marked you all when a colossal superpower like Rome collides with a relatively small tribe it's not really surprising if part of the clan all the whole tribe decide to form an alliance with the enemy I'll meet him stark and forbidden everything we know about the Germans comes from ancient Roman texts writers like Peter coolest Tacitus or Casio steel used accounts by Roman soldiers returning from Germany the Germanic tribes had no writing so they have left no version of the story of Arminius Arminius and his brother Flavius the fair one will be brought up as Romans so they can return to their homeland one day as representatives of Roman power to the Romans this seems a sure way to consolidate their control who else can they trust when families and clans among their risk and allies are split between the enemies and friends of Rome but it's misleading even to speak of a unified people and call them Germans there are dozens of tribes constantly fighting each other for the Romans this really is a terror incognita an unknown world mancom of whom a society in and from the Roman point of view they were entering the territory of a sort they had never conquered before Parc Guell had a quite different structures was Celtx already had permanent towns and its tribes were much more hierarchically stable than the tribes in Germany an orphan sister file file the Germanic people lived for themselves separated from each other said the Roman historian Tacitus the bigger settlements numbered up to 25 houses with humans and animals living under the same roof towns and cities like those in the rest of the empire are unknown here and for the Romans that people are uncivilized savages living more like animals than humans Tacitus tells us they live in a wild landscape between the rivers Rhine and Elbe a landscape covered with vast dense forests of oak and birch the place Tacitus describes is deeply foreign the marshes that cover this territory are repulsive the forests make one shiver with fear form what disturbed the Romans most was that there were no roads no trade routes this couple kind of poor and there were no fixed points to aim for no castles or strongholds to take just this dreadful forest that took nine days to cross without encountering a single human being it was a nightmare for the Romans the impenetrable forests were totally unsuited to Roman military tactics and logistics being sent to Germania in the freezing north was seen by most Roman soldiers as a punishment and they were scared because they had never seen forests after centuries of building Roman cities and naval fleets they were scarcely any forests left in Italy they were stationed in northern Europe they knew they didn't belong here Julius Caesar wrote even if they walk for 60 days no one can say they have come to the end of this forest and no one can even know where it ends home country in Kazan mittelmeer throughout the Mediterranean region Rome had an urban culture Barney leaves fear deciced they lived in towns and compared to that but they found in Germany it was very primitive it was simple that's why I infer stopped the basic elements of Roman civilization and achievements were missing it was a real collision of two cultures some fun to win for Arminius and Flavius their route towards the Roman world would have taken them first through the forests to the River Rhine this is where the Roman world began we're the first solid evidence of Rome's engineering mastery was a great fortress and a bridge spanning the river from this army camp at veteran many thousands of legionaries protect Rome's frontier along the river it's only one of many camps along the Rhine the Romans founded cities like Cologne Coblentz and mites shop-windows for Roman civilization but the message they give is not keep away they're a magnet for the barbarians who engage in flourishing trade with the Romans long blonde hair is especially valuable the Germans accept coins they've never seen before for their hides and furs it's my asset my name is Gale tribesman with nothing to self-worth as laborers for the Romans it's a tempting new world thus most of Dakar man and in it must have made an incredibly powerful impression on the Germanic tribes man the way the Romans built their towers the complicated organization behind their skill at calculation and measurement the perfect their skill at providing the supply of running water all that would have made an enormous impression you can imagine the tribesmen standing there open mouthed they must have been absolutely astounded when Todd and fartin one August and the separation from his family must have been painful for Arminius but there were plenty of new impressions to distract him and the barbarian brothers will have been an attraction in their own right the sons of nobles get privileged treatment including their first miraculous experience of heated floors this is the journey of a lifetime up the river Moselle through the cities of the Roman province of Gaul then across the Mediterranean to the capital city of the ancient world this wonderfully practical aroma it was a popular tactic for the Romans they brought nobles sons to Rome and educated them at the princes school on the Palatine Hill they served two purposes on the one hand they were hostages guaranteeing the good behavior of their fathers but on the other hand they were brought up as Romans and when they went back to their own people they were expected to behave as Romans it would have been like that with Arminius because when he was a boy the Romans were certainly taking noble hostages in Germany a common one Arminius and Flavius may have reached Rome about 9 BC first they passed the workers stone tenements in the teeming suburbs then they neared the center of the biggest city in the world with its million inhabitants Arminius arrives in a city that is flourishing as never before great parade routes crisscross the city marble glistens in the Mediterranean Sun there had never been a longer period of peace and never had the Roman Empire been as big as it was under the Emperor Augustus this room shall i hadn´t our society under Augustus the Roman Empire had expanded to a size it had never known before and Augustus extended the Roman Empire far further than any single Roman had done before he made to go to market on a day just think about it northern Spain the Alps great swath of territory as far as the Danube in Anatolia Judea Egypt Africa he added all this to the Roman Empire it reached an enormous geographical span where a cruiser a territory ally Austin and yet later the time of Augustus would be associated with peace associate what does he and that's because he made peace in Rome after decades of civil war Roman against Roman Cromer but it is foreign policy Augustus was anything but an ember of peace he waged war non-stop throughout his reign a hot idly Stuart as a young man Arminius becomes part of Rome's gigantic war machine he soon grasps the key to Rome's military success discipline it can't have been easy for her to respond to submit to strict drill and unquestioning obedience Germanic warriors reject firm leadership but Arminius proves an excellent pupil a young man quick to pick things up and unusually talented for a German is a contemporary verdict this churro skin' is turning into the perfect Roman soldier this this education of a Germanic tribes been in the Roman Empire always had two sides a technical side how do I lead an army what weapons do I carry and an ideological side politics and Rome as one and the same thing Rome as the ideal we should worship and the Romans combine them as convenient around 1:00 BC Arminius receives his first posting to Pannonia in the Balkans he's a captain of the auxiliar a mounted force of Germanic mercenaries tribes in this balkan province have risen against Rome Rome hits back hard sending fifteen legions more than a hundred thousand men half the entire army to crush the rebels it's a show of the absolute superiority of Roman military tactics Roman power lies not in the courage of individual soldiers but in the strategic cooperation of military units Arminius will never forget this lesson in open warfare Rome is invincible Douglas I get off at other schools for two different ways of waging war meet head-on here the Roman army is professional and disciplined different ranks have precisely defined skills and roles each man knows he can do this or that he commands so many men and he has the means and equipment to do this or the Germans however this was a relationship that had grown together between Chiefs and Nobles and selected warriors who would cross from tribe to tribe who had sworn allegiance to those chips in their own way the Warriors were professionals - it was a personal relationship and in some ways of course it also instilled this inside of izalith truly discipline that is it was a question of honour and it was a situation in which they were attached to this one man and they owed him allegiance and you folks after the Romans advanced in a closed formation called The Tortoise the barbarians attacked in a wedge-shaped formation called the Boar's Head the force of the impact is only momentarily effective the armored legions can mow down their attackers ranks so tightly closed they function like a single body we don't know exactly what our mineus did in the Pannonian war but he must have fought with distinction back in Rome the Emperor Augustus makes him a knight the highest honor opened to a member of a Germanic tribe a noble son from the forests of Germania has become a respected citizen of Rome fifteen years since he left home impossible to say whether he misses his family the freedom the endless forests impossible to say what ambitions he holds today what a minute we know of many cases where Germanic tribes Minh in the service of Rome learned how to behave in the Roman Way without feeling rose or becoming loyal to Rome and father it's not easy to make people genuinely committed to a system that may bring them great privileges but also requires a change of identity not everyone can do that excellent deer in rehumanize field in the year seven ad or Gus disappoints a new governor forger Manya he's a relative called Publius quintilius Varis he's described as physically corpulent and spiritually complacent and yet Varis has proved himself in a crisis he crushed a Jewish revolt as governor in Syria crucifying 2,000 rebels he came into this rich province a poor man and he left this poor province a rich man they said later in his glory days coins were minted with his likeness a rare privilege Varis had a leaf a chitin and a Flores had the skills and experience a Roman senator selected for that job in Germania would need always give eight would it ha and Augustus would certainly not have sent someone there just because he was a relative nor right a medium for vanta unless he was also convinced that he had the experience to carry out what was expected of him expectant Dutch food but then August us makes a decision with unforeseen consequences he sends Arminius to Germania at lorises side it's a decision that will have pleased virus Arminius has the reputation of being brave disciplined and loyal and he knows the chair risky and their fighting style he speaks their language in seven ad Arminius comes back to his homeland over the past 15 years the Romans have surged on building up their new province constructing camps along the rivers Rhine mine and Lipper to consolidate their control in Germany and magna powder on the liver is their administrative center the capital of the new province close to today's Roman Museum at Houghton they create a base for three legions a total of 20,000 men there are barracks smoothies for making weapons kills for pottery and villas for the high officials and on the nipper is a harbor for the supply of Roman Goods and luxuries that make life bearable in these barbarian lands do Omaha sip right from the beginning the Romans tried to give the impression that they had subdued jimana desire in his last will and testament Augustus wrote I have conquered jimana as far as the mouth of the elf whenever a general one little victory in Germania he would call himself Germanicus as if to say he had the Germanic tribes under control the Romans minted coins showing jimana as a woman sitting on the ground in mourning with a broken spear so ordinary Romans really would have got that impression but Tacitus contradicted that he said that's nonsense jimana has not been defeated the Germanic tribes are living just as they did 200 years ago completely free British fire on his return Arminius may have looked in vain for the signs of Roman domination some distance from the Roman forts the advanced Roman Way of life is nowhere to be seen Arminius will have taken the opportunity to be reunited with his father Sega Maris the time to speak of the greatness of Rome or of his homeland however warmed the greeting his father must have had mixed feelings at seeing his son into the family husks in the uniform of a Roman soldier Arminius must have paid lip service to the advantages brought by Roman by being part of the Empire the wealth skills and justice and an end to the endless civil wars between the Germanic tribes there will soon need roads or cities even heated stone floors instead of beaten clay he but these are two men talking past each other Gardens for Seguin heiress his son is denying the land of his birth the Romans are squeezing the tribes for tributes like the grapes for their sour wine counting them like cattle for levy taxes and forbidding freemen to bear weapons these without a sword a chair Riskin cannot be filled but his people are powerless times have changed the churro scones are condemned to a life of slavery their freedom is lost but not all Germanic tribesmen insists like Sega Maris on freedom and independence on the river LAN near the small town of vote Gear maths archaeologists have made a remarkable discovery when Roman remains were found here in 1993 they thought it was just another army cap the Romans said they'd built proper towns east of the Rhine but the experts had always dismissed it as propaganda but now there was evidence of something more this is a civilian town so far the only Roman town discovered on this side of the Rhine this was planned to be used by Romans and Germans Roman historian Cassius Dio described the strategy behind it by building forums houses and baths the defeated peoples were seduced into peace and then archaeologists put together conclusive proof of Rome's attitude to its newly conquered territory rich dish wash and wash time we were really surprised when we found fragments gilded on one side with gold leaf we soon realized that there must be parts of a bronze statue house but when we found a stirrup a part of a harness and a horse's hoof I know we said to ourselves this is an equestrian statue and of course the size of the parts made it clear how big the whole statue was it was life-size and since it was gilded a statue at that time and at that place could only have been a statue of the Emperor Augustus Tangletown this golden monument stood in the forum thus in roadkill Messiah from the fact there was a gilded life-size equestrian statue inverted Irma's shows the Romans clearly making their claim to the territory above all to the local population you have to imagine how it would have looked to a local tribesman standing in the forum looking at this glistening gold statue of a horse and rider with a realistic portrait of the Emperor it must have seemed utterly amazing to him virus must have expected to find Germania already pacified when he arrived at Halton and met Arminius varis is tasked with turning Germania into a fully fledged Roman province Arminius his assessment of the situation is invaluable Arminius but Emil captain of the auxiliary cavalry would never tell his general what to do the virus insists a German knows how to deal with Germans he knows how to bring them into the Empire the blood in my veins may be German Armenia says my head in my tongue our Roman Missal then æneas must act like a Roman Ferris says and Arminius is given his first mission the legions are about to set out for their summer cattle Arminius is to reckon I to the route to demonstrate their dominance the Romans move troops eastwards every summer from their strongholds on the Rhine and the lippert towards the river visa home to the Charis ski traveling through this uncharted wilderness is a daunting task there are no roads of any kind to transport their troops and keep them supplied the Romans are forced to use the river Lipper they've even developed a special boat for the purpose it's a 30 meter flat bottom barge with a draught of only 40 centimeters it can sail in shallow waters carrying a load of 53 tons with hundreds of these barges virus advances deep into Germania until the river is too narrow the cargo is transferred to land there's massive amounts of material the legions travel with civilian support blacksmiths carpenters tax collectors many with their families then there are the merchants with wine and olives the little luxuries from back home that make life bearable for Romans in the chilly savage north the auxiliar mounted Germanic mercenaries are to scout and secure the route Arminius is their commander a total of 22,000 people stretching for 15 kilometers forcing their way across the play into those motion of Pareto front if you set off along a broad front maybe in several columns and then you come to a river crossing or a gully or a narrow strip of land between a cliff and a swamp where the route is only 20 to 40 metres across then it doesn't matter if I've been advancing along a wide front suddenly everything stops that means to advance along a narrow front right from the start unless they want to create an impossible traffic jam later think of it like a highway when a three lane highway suddenly goes down to one lane you have a fabulous traffic jam and we can take it as read that that's how it was for Voris he was marching his troops through relatively unknown difficult terrain he couldn't advance on a broad front because he would have created exactly it's that kind of jam and so his marching columns became more and more extent linear the soldiers marched in four columns every Legion had a baggage train carrying its equipment the whole column could cover on average 20 kilometers a day the legions were aiming for an area close to today's Minden even today it has a Latin name Porter Westphalia this is where the river visa cuts through the vien and Vaser hills for a long time the exact location of Eris's summer camp was not known but in 2008 archeologists discovered Roman remains in a village near the river Vaser it's early days yet but fines like these suggest this was a military base perhaps viruses summer encampment he has a peg from a legionaries tint from his new forward position virus decides to impose Roman law on the barbarians the people not subdued in battle may be controlled by the strict application of justice but is this really the right time historian Velez particular says his doubts he writes virus gave the Germans orders as if they already lived in slavery he demanded tributes as if they were subjects the tax collectors become notorious for demanding that the exact amounts of the different commodities are paid the rules apply to everyone without exception or delay good but the Roman tax authorities are disappointed by what they can drum up in Germanic villages this land barely provides a surplus the Germanic tribes are subsistence farmers when they're limited produce is confiscated their frustration at Roman rule turns to hatred and Roman law just makes things worse for one person to judge between two parties in a dispute goes deeply against the Germanic sense of justice it has been the privilege of the Old Germanic Nobles to negotiate between themselves matters of justice the worst transgression Varis condemns natives to be crucified for theft in the Germanic world only that gods hold sway over the life and death of a free man theft even murder are atoned by paying a fine known as the where gift but virus ignores the sacred Germany traditions that's working for virus in the way virus behaved in Germania was not so different from Roman policy elsewhere in the empire a must he had to try to introduce Roman law because that was part of life in a Roman province province that's all oh and if the Germanic peoples didn't like it then that was a perfectly normal reaction on their part against normal la acción deca Manan they just think of today how people hate it when they find themselves being judged or imprisoned by a foreign power from I know Obama Pharaoh Tai Tonga phangan gazettes every community will try to resist when strangers come and try to impose their own form of justice when friend a common want such as fish the home in stone baris brutally suppresses any sign of unrest the ringleaders are executed their villages burned what does Arminius make of this he remembers his people as proud free warriors on his return he finds them powerless impotent and demoralized oppressed by the very power he himself represents it's a parting of the ways for this Jerusalem perhaps no other choice is possible he turns against Rome historians still dispute exactly why Arminius did it the Roman sources tell us nothing but maybe it's not difficult to understand Arminius had too often Cicely chef are on the mineus must've had experiences that led him to this change must fund career table ever see Shirley snitched Rome had never completely replaced the kuru second world in his loyalty he would have been turned both ways when he made his decision by the Watson Lipton in EM as assign and try donkey felt hat on the whoever's Chevelle he must have been deeply fascinated by room and he'd absorbed from it everything you'd need to carry out his plan Amin was few sign act well is handled and he used that and he combined it with his germanic shuriken heritage to turn it against Rome DCAM Anushka w'iskey Chevette sue salmon even gigging warmed Subin Rome which he now felt could no longer be the future for his people Miyako Hiawatha Tetsu confessor Nostradamus but maybe Arminius had selfish reasons to betray Rome any claim he might have to the leadership of his own tribe had suffered by his proximity to varus leading a successful revolt against Rome would give him enormous credit with all the Germanic peoples quite likely Arminius had the ambition of becoming king of the Germanic peoples something that had never been according to this theory he acted out of this strange combination of local patriotism and a distinctly Roman lust for power dignity rumor came true if I fight against the Romans with my own people behind me I can build up a powerful independent position that would never have been possible as a follower of the Romans I would always be their public and he certainly had a very strong lust for power so this personal impulse you could say it was a struggle for freedom at the same time if you want to he was using this impulse to create his own Kingdom his own Empire and Arminius Empire then it's certainly no coincidence that he was later murdered by his own people because in some ways he was an enemy of Germanic freedom and forever behind the backs of the Romans Arminius called the Germanic tribes together to test out their loyalty he has to persuade them that he possesses the higher of a successful military leader for the Germanic peoples higher is the highest form of good fortune he who earns it or is granted it by the gods will succeed in whatever he undertakes and his Heil is then shared with everyone who follows him but it won't be easy to unite the Germanic tribes behind one goal they prefer warring against each other the worst enemy of a Germanic tribe is another Germanic tribe there are tribal leaders who have been showered with gold and privileges by the Romans in exchange for their loyalty one of these is suggesters a relative of Arminius sagusti's has been elected leader of the Cherokee sir guests as tries hard to persuade his fellow tribal leaders that it would be suicidal to rise up against varis and the legion arts in every uprising until now the Romans have been victorious the tribes have been crushed the Revenge of the Romans has been terrible to attack them again would only bring the same result again only this time their reprisals will be even more brutal a Roman prefect like Arminius should know better than anyone that the Romans are invincible it's our linnaeus for the Roman who reminds his people that they are living in slavery that the weapons and symbols of occupation the Romans battle axes Reed bundles and togas are infesting their forests and villages the freemen pay taxes and tributes to foreigners and are executed under roman law to convince the last waverers scared they're heading for certain death and their families to slavery our mineus reveals he has a plan a plan that has to be carried out now he promises to lead his followers to freedom Aminu asana carry smarter Chappelle minis must have been a charismatic personality type so corsets how else could he have managed to get so many people on his side so quickly and so secretly without the Romans noticing anything or at least without them noticing enough to make them suspicious yorima fancy oz vodka chef time on a September morning in nine AD the 17th 18th and 19th legions break camp with their baggage train craftsmen merchants and their families they total more than 22,000 people they're looking forward to the comfort and luxury of their winter quarters that the prospect of marching through the Germanic forests fills them with mixed feelings many of the older soldiers just want this campaign behind them so that they can enjoy their well-earned retirement in Rome their automatic right after 25 years service the clattering of armor and the sound of thousands of marching feet to her deep in the forests but the noise will give way to a roaring silence the grandeur of Rome so effective in the intimidation of its enemies is impotent here something will happen in these forests deadly danger is waiting perfectly concealed virus and his soldiers are marching to disaster the slaughter will break on the roads with no warning and with savage fury you

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Channel: Source 1 Media

Views: 769,579

Rating: 4.5996628 out of 5

Keywords: battle, against, Rome, Europe, France, Roman Empire (Country), Germany (Country), imperial, empire, germanic, History, documentary, History Channel, Collapse, documentaire, geschiedenis, romeinen, germanen

Id: npt_Jtn4zxU

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Length: 51min 12sec (3072 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 21 2014

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