The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire

hello every welcome back to another episode of megaprojects this one is all about the rise and fall of the roman empire are we pushing the definition of what a mega project can be well yes absolutely and thank you for being here for it this video is brought to you by magellan tv take advantage of a month-long free trial of magellan tv and discover a new type of content experience with its binge-worthy documentaries and non-fiction series more on them in just a bit [Music] empires they come and they go but for some their legacy leaves an indelible footprint on the land over which they ruled our story today concerns one such emperor an empire that grew from just a few scattered villages on the banks of the river tiber to one of the largest and most powerful empires of the ancient world the roman empire at its peak was colossal stretching from the english scottish border in the north portugal in the west egypt to the south and modern syria and turkey to the east it encompassed the entirety of the mediterranean sea and at its largest it was home to some 70 million people not a huge number by day standard but 2 000 years ago that was enormous over the years its size has been eclipsed by much larger empires and in fact several chinese empires rivaled it in terms of size during the same period but over 1 500 years after its collapse the memory of the roman empire remains vivid but how and why did a small state in italy of which there were many by the way end up controlling land of such proportions why did the romans succeed in building such a vast empire while many others around them failed the rise and fall of the roman empire is a tale of ferocious imperialism and at times acts of violence that would be considered nothing short of genocidal by modern standards but the story is much more than just utter domination by the feared legionaries the spread of the empire brought technological and social enhancements the likes of which had never been seen and it's no coincidence that the fall of the roman empire coincided with a period in europe that's known as the dark ages [Music] the romans may have spread much of their culture and way of living out across their empire but much of it was learnt from the group who dominated the area before the era of rome the etruscans it would be far too simplistic to simply label the etruscans as the forefathers of the romans they were in effect one of many groups of people that at the time were vying for power on the boot-shaped piece of land that we know today as italy but they were certainly one of the most powerful and evidence suggests that significant parts of roman culture such as the alphabet and numerals along with architecture art religion and dress the toga was in fact an etruscan invention first came from them at its peak the etruscan's land stretched from close to venice in the north to the coastal region of campania in the south and included the area that is modern rome but if the etruscans were the major players on the italian mainland the powerful city-states of ancient greece dominated the region by the 6th century bc athens sparta corinth and thebes had emerged as the most significant but apart from the odd foray west to establish colonies much of their expansion remained close to the shores of the mediterranean and eventually headed east all the way to india with alexander the great in the 3rd century bc if we start somewhere around the 8th century bc rome was little more than a series of small villages spread along the tiber river if the legend is anything to go by the city that we call rome today was founded in 753 bc by romulus and remus twin sons of mars the god of war who had been found floating in a basket in the river as babies by a wolf who nursed them both to adulthood after killing his brother in 752 bc again if we go with a legend this was down to a disagreement over where rome exactly should be built which sounds a little minor for an act of fratricide but okay romulus became rome's first king and the settlement was named after him slowly these villagers began to form into a much more cohesive unit and soon marketplaces bridges and other community projects were being built but this was just one of the dozens of competing groups in the area and while they may have shared a common language in latin and indeed many cultural aspects it wasn't exactly all peace and love in the early days small-scale fighting was common but a far cry from all-out warfare much of the fighting was tit-for-tat raids to gain lands and slaves but it didn't take long for the romans to begin flexing their muscles the first town to fall was kanina a few kilometers to the west followed by anthemnae to the north defeated were typically granted full roman citizenship which sounds great but also meant that you were then liable for military service over the next few decades rome's sphere of influence grew slowly but steadily and by the 5th century bc the romans held sway over roughly half of the latin communities in the area thought to total around 35 000 people rome had a series of kings up until this point all of which were chosen by the senate rather than through succession but a concept that had originated in ancient greece now found its way into the young roman dominion [Music] rome 7th king lucious tarquinius superbus was overthrown in 509 bc the exact details are a little hazy and considering the romans had a habit of whitewashing or manipulating the past to fit with their own growing prestige the story of the rape of a virtuous woman by one of the king's sons which instigated the revolt sounds perhaps a little too convenient but without a question there had been decades of resentment against the ruling class rome was suddenly transformed into a republic the word taken from res publica meaning for the people the new political situation called for two annually elected magistrates called consuls to hold the majority of the power but before you start thinking of this like some sort of socialist utopia the magistrates were almost exclusively chosen from the senate which was itself dominated by the patricians the rich powerful descendants from the early days of rome yes the everyday citizens of rome now had a saiyan who ran rome but their position in society remained rooted very near the bottom the earliers of the republic were fraught as the plebeians common people demanded a great role in society leading to several concessions and in 450 bc the first roman law code was inscribed on 12 bronze tablets and placed on display in the forum these codes which covered a range of issues including legal procedures civil rights and property rights are considered the very basis of all future roman laws and we'll have more on the romans in a second but first here's a quick word from today's fantastic sponsor magellantv magellan tv is a new documentary streaming service founded by filmmakers who love history their mission is to tell the great stories that have defined the human experience and with more than 3 000 excellent programs available on magellan it's hard to stop watching once you start they've got everything from the greeks the great war plus modern history biographies scientific profiles true crime and so much more and every week their team is adding more content and what's one thing you love about paid streaming services of course no adverts now of course if you're a fan of greco-roman content as you probably are if you've made it this far into the video then magellan has you covered they have entire playlists of content covering both macro and micro facets of antiquity and the roman empire including titles like rome empire without limit so if you've already been to all of my stuff about the romans i've done a lot of them over on my other channel biographics and you're looking for even more content then of course you need to go and give magellan a try right now you guys can get a one month free trial with magellan by clicking the link in the description below and let's get back to the glory of rome except now we're about to talk about the early years of the roman republic saw a rapid expansion of territory first with the remaining latin lands followed by a decade-long battle to take the well-defended etruscan city of bay this led to a huge increase in size and cemented rome's place as the dominant force in central italy but the danger of any lavish expansion is that it often stirs the greed within others and in 390 bc that greed brought rome to its knees an army of three hundred thousand gaulish warriors led by king brenes swept down through northern italy wiping out all before them it was at a spot on the river alia north of rome that the roman legions and every able-bodied warrior in the area marched out to face the massive gall army the roman army was crushed on the battlefield but worse was soon to come the ghouls then turned their attention on rome itself mercilessly sacking the city and leaving it a burning ruin most of the city's inhabitants had either managed to flee beforehand or had barricaded themselves inside the citadel eventually as food ran out the romans were forced to negotiate with the gauls and a ransom of 450 kilograms of gold was agreed upon as the gauls departed north once again loaded with more golden wealth than they would ever have imagined they'd left a city and a people horribly scarred had things gone slightly differently at this point the glorious tale of the romans may well have never even existed [Music] if rome had been brought to the brink after the sacking of 390 bc what came next was truly remarkable under the guidance of military hero camillus rome not only weathered several uprisings within the traditional latin region but grew even stronger than it had been before the sacking it's almost miraculous that by 264 bc 126 years after its near annihilation remed effectively expanded across almost all of modern italy their legions fought a long bloody campaign against the samnite tribes to the south spread across three major conflicts and a period of about 50 years before turning north and in a matter of decades that brought much of mainland italy to heal the romans were now undisputed rulers of the italian peninsula but in the grand scheme of things they were still small fish within the large and dangerous pond that was the mediterranean sea [Music] between 264 bc and 146 bc three wars were fought that would redefine the political landscape of the mediterranean not only would one empire emerge as a true heavyweight but it would also mean the complete extermination of the other if rome was a small fish at this point the sharks were the carthaginians based out of carthage in modern day tunisia the carthaginians had built a considerable empire around the mediterranean including almost all of northern africa southern spain as well as corsica sardinia and sicily the naval expertise was second to none and they were very much considered the preeminent naval power at the time rome on the other hand had almost no navy to speak of but things changed quickly after they were able to retrieve a beached carthaginian warship at the time the equivalent of finding a ferrari with the keys left in the ignition it got even better for the romans when they disassembled the ship and found that each piece had been carefully coded the mighty carthaginian ships were early examples of mass-produced vessels that ikea would certainly have been proud of and once the romans reverse engineered the design they began building the ships like there was no tomorrow the first punic war was fought almost exclusively at sea over 23 years costing both sides hugely in terms of manpower and financial means eventually the romans prevailed and sicily fell under their rule followed by sardinia and eventually corsica but in 218 bc one of the most daring military strikes in history took place as carthaginian general hannibal led a force up from southern spain across france over the alps and into italy the very definition of sneaking quietly through the back door no doubt you'll have heard about the elephants that were within hannibal's army though their effect may have been slightly exaggerated as many died on the journey and the romans eventually found a way of combating them by simply standing aside to let them charge through while pelting them with spears a series of major victories led hannibal to the gates of rome but his decision to not attack the city immediately and instead chase several roman armies throughout central italy would go on to haunt him and the carthaginians slowly the tide turned against the carthaginians who were eventually forced out of italy but what was left behind was a level of hatred that would spell the end of carthage in 147 bc the third and final punic war saw a complete role reversal from the first war now it was rome's turn to dominate carthage which had lost its entire empire in 149 bc 50 000 men set sail for italy for the carthaginian coast and so began a two-year siege where rome slowly turned the screw in 147 bc the roman legionaries entered carthage and systematically began killing and destroying everything in their path it took a week to fully subdue the city but several months until their destruction was complete out of a population of a hundred and twelve thousand sixty thousand were killed outright with the remainder rounded up as slaves the once glorious city of carthage quite simply no longer existed [Music] the fallout from the three punic wars may have cemented rome's place as the major player in the mediterranean but it was far from a satisfied place the gap between the wealthy and poor exploded and with it came internal struggles and attempted power grabs in 60 bc three of the most powerful politicians and military leaders at the time julius caesar marcus crassus and neues pompeii formed the first tromboras an informal alliance that appeared set to hold the roman republic together if things were shaky in rome its legionaries were dominating further afield first the gauls in modern france were swept aside before julius caesar himself invaded britain twice in 55 bc and 54 bc caesar was an all-conquering champion and some in rome didn't like that one bit he was ordered to relinquish control of his army and return but the man was having none of it instead he marched his troops down through italy sparking a civil war that lasted four years once again the conflict swung back and forth until only one man remained in 44 bc julius caesar was given the title dictator perpetuo dictator for life so much for the republic but such titles mean little when you have so many emperors caesar was murdered less than a year after being bestowed the title that effectively eliminated the roman republic it's hardly surprising that what followed was bitter inviting between those who backed the assassins and those who followed mark anthony and caesar's great nephew and adopted air octavian though just to confuse matters further marc anthony and octavian eventually themselves fell out with anthony ultimately committing suicide along with his egyptian lover queen cleopatra octavian had cleared the deck of any would-be rivals and set about establishing himself as the rightful ruler of rome but he wasn't stupid about it many aspects from the republic remained including the senate but the power was consolidated in such a way that once again there was only one ruler of rome in 27 bc adopted the name augustus and officially became the first emperor of rome what came next was known as the pax romana roman peace in which for the following two centuries rome itself was relatively calm and stable but that certainly didn't mean the rest of the empire was with such a vast area now under their control there was always a skirmish or revolt that needed to be put down and broadly speaking the empire was almost always expanding under augustus egypt was annexed while his legionaries moved up into spain parts of central europe and even parts of the middle east this was also the time when rome's massive trading network really took off and eventually an astonishing 400 000 kilometers of roads were built around the empire augustus rule was a popular one and after his death in 14ad the roman senate elevated augustus to the status of a god but well difficult years lay ahead augustus was followed by several deeply unpopular emperors tiberius caligula and nero things got significantly better with the next group and under emperor trajan who ruled from 98 to 117 a.d rome expanded its border as far as it ever would this also sparked a golden age roman emperors in which the four good emperors succeeded one another peacefully one of these you probably already know is emperor hadrian who came to paran 117 a.d and was of course responsible for building hadrian's wall which essentially acted as the limit of the roman empire in modern day britain the last of the great emperors and perhaps the most hallowed was marcus aurelius who ruled between 161 and 180 a.d emperor aurelius was a stoic philosopher whose works are still red to this day his reign was fraught with difficulties ranging from numerous overseas wars to a plague that began spreading around the empire 165 a.d eventually killing five million people again that number might not sound particularly huge to modern ears but at that time it probably represented about three to four percent of the entire population of the empire [Music] unfortunately we don't have anywhere near enough time to go through everything over the next three centuries but it was certainly a long and drawn out decline to give you a good idea of the political instability that ensued during the first century rome had 12 emperors and in the second it had just nine by the end of the third century the roman empire had rattled through no fewer than 29 emperors many killed by their own supporters or soldiers the demise of the greatest empire the world had ever seen took several centuries but the writing was on the wall for a long time the empire had grown so big it was becoming difficult to manage and in the 3rd century a.d emperor diocletian took the extraordinary decision to split it in two with the eastern section ruling from constantinople and the western from what is modern day milan this new system also came with dual emperors with maximilian ruling the eastern empire for 19 years until his death in 305 a.d and diocletian in the west the empire's borders were also under threat and in 260 a.d ghoul france britannica britain and hispania spain formed an independent gaelic empire and by 273 a.d the romans had been ejected from modern-day france though they did reclaim the territory it was to be short-lived roman rule in britain began crumbling around 388 a.d and by 400 a.d they had scarborough back across the english channel after briefly reuniting as a single empire the roman empire once again broke apart in 395 a.d and this was to have two vastly differing outcomes for the two sections while the eastern empire remained relatively strong the western part began imploding under the relentless pressure from the barbarian tribes to the north in 410 a.d rome was once again sacked this time by the visigoths and again in 455 a.d by the vandals in 476.80 a large-scale revolt led by the germanic tribes led to the deposing of emperor romulus augustulus and that was the last time an emperor remained in control over the western half of the empire but as i said things were very different in the eastern half what soon came to be known as the byzantine empire continued for another thousand years or so before finally being defeated by the ottoman empire in 1453. under justinian the first who ruled between 527 and 565 a.d the byzantine empire reached its zenith even capturing rome and parts of the old western empire the empire's borders were in constant flux over the coming centuries but generally speaking it was a slow shrinking until only the city of constantinople was left if you're interested in what happened in constantinople then you're in luck because we have recently done a video on its famed wall which is worth a watch if you're eager to see what came next [Music] the roman empire was far from simple bloody minded military domination though there certainly was plenty of that culturally speaking it was a high point for europe that it wouldn't truly get back to until it emerged wearily from the dark ages from roads to sanitation from art to language we have an awful lot to thank the romans for how an empire that peaked at roughly 4.4 million square kilometers was able to grow from a group of simple villages on the river tiber is one of history's greatest success stories and over 2 500 years after it began it's an astonishing story that we still can't get enough of so i really hope you enjoyed today's video if you did smash that like button below don't forget to subscribe please do check out today's gloria sponsor magellantv i'm linking to them below and thank you for watching you

Channel: Megaprojects

Views: 879,971

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Id: bTEAVBNc4DU

Length: 20min 35sec (1235 seconds)

Published: Mon May 31 2021