Units of History - Early Germanic Warriors DOCUMENTARY

so-called barbarian forces often get the short end of the stick in discussions about ancient warfare we'd like to focus on the self-proclaimed civilized armies while dismissively skipping over their enemies this comes across almost all forms of media today where barbarian forces get stereotyped as mere hordes of poorly equipped brutes capable of victory only through reckless charges or underhanded ambushes while there may be a grain of truth to such generalizations the truth is far more nuanced and interesting in this video we will seek to do justice to one of rome's greatest barbarian foes the germanic warriors who hailed from the dark forests beyond the rhine if you'd like to lead your own ancient army you can do so with our sponsor conquerors blade it's a free-to-play pc game with tactical mmo action set in a vast open medieval world here players customize their own powerful warlords with unique weapon classes and special abilities to then command armies of over 85 diverse units in 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ancient germanic warriors can be traced back to the 4th millennium bc when indo-european peoples migrated into north-western europe here they settled among the earlier populations of neolithic farmers and old stone age hunters morphing into a series of tribal societies that would eventually become the iron age culture of germania which will be the subject of our video today geographically speaking we are looking at the lands of modern day germany denmark belgium the netherlands and some of its peripheral regions admittedly though it's impossible to draw an accurate border around this group the term germanic is poorly defined and even an ancient census would struggle to categorize the shifting web of people who inhabited the lands of northern europe scholars today attempt to do so through an examination of their material culture and linguistic roots ancient authors meanwhile didn't bother with such things and often just grouped foreigners into fairly arbitrary classifications caesar for instance claims that the rhine served as a border between the germanic and gaelic tribes despite later mentioning that the celtic-speaking bowier lived far east of the rhine and the germanic descended belgium laid to its west so how on earth should we go about making sense of all this well we just have to embrace the lack of clear-cut top-down description and instead look at things from the bottom up after all this was the reality for people in the past ideas of nationalism or a unifying concept of german-ness simply wasn't the lens through which they saw things rather their world was built upon social relations this began on the family level such a group of blood relatives would often live on a self-sufficient farmstead with a primary dwelling outbuildings and a fence within a day's walk would be several other of these farmsteads sometimes they might be more closely packed together for cooperation when it came to subsistence or defense over the years we see more and more of this consolidation occur especially around locations capable of supporting more intensive agriculture animal herding or resource exploitation of things like timber iron salt and peat celtic style opida even rose through the southern lands closer to gaul however by the second century bc these appear to have fallen into decline perhaps as a result of unrest in the region broadly speaking though we should note that population density across these northern lands was quite sparse and the germanic people had a low level of urban development this in turn meant that there was no formation of a centralized state or even city-state as might be seen elsewhere around the mediterranean instead such higher-level forms of organizing once again revolved around social networks basically what this looked like is that within a village the leaders were those people best able to forge personal bonds between their neighbors among several villages a similar phenomenon occurred whereby one or more of the local leaders proved better capable of leveraging their social network for political and military means thus empowering them to become a sort of regional shot caller this same thing would repeat itself over and over again creating a rather intricate and dynamic hierarchy at a certain point a collection of these groups would form a clan and a collection of clans would become a tribe their size varied by location but usually numbered in the low thousands leading them might be a king or council of noblemen again who ran the show was highly dependent on that individual's personality and the current political circumstances which might see their fortunes rise or fall those in charge were certainly powerful but there were limits to their authority the social basis of their rule kept them in check and limited the degree to which they could explicitly force their will on others rather in this more egalitarian system you would have reciprocal relationships that necessitated a give and take between the upper and lower rungs of society war leaders for instance didn't hire soldiers instead they enticed people within their sphere of influence to take up arms for them in exchange for gifts glory and favor let us now take a closer look at the individuals who answered the call to battle these men came equipped according to their means in terms of clothing the typical garb often involved a long-sleeved tunic made from wool or linen as well as trousers tied at the ankle and belted at the waist over this the warrior would wear a thick woolen cloak that could have doubled as a blanket on campaign for many that was it in terms of body armor this was largely due to the relative poverty of your typical farmer warrior if tacitus is to be believed it also may have been due to an iron scarcity in the region however more recent archaeology has done much to dispute this in fact one workshop discovered in modern poland contained over 150 smelting furnaces and could have easily been capable of mass producing quality equipment whatever the case much of this higher end gear found its way first and foremost into the hands of the wealthier aristocratic warriors and their retinues for defense these most commonly wore iron ring male shirts scale armor was also present though it appears more popular among the eastern tribes when it came to protecting the head we see a similar pattern where many of the rank and file troops simply went without any armour this may have been a point to pride as it allowed individuals to show off their status affirming hairstyles like the famed swabian knot those who could afford and chose to wear a helmet might have donned a simple cap of hide or metal as noted by tacitus however we also have evidence of some quite elaborate pieces being worn by the upper classes plutarch for instance records that germanic noble cavalry in the kimbrian war displayed helmets with great feather plumes that were crafted to resemble the gaping jaws of wild beasts and monsters the last piece of defense was the shield its adoption was quite common given just how cheaply basic variants could be produced these came in several shapes from round to oval rectangular and hexagonal all were made of wood with iron or bronze rims and prominent metal bosses from our records it seems many of these shield bosses were also spiked reinforcing the likely theory that it could double as an offensive tool as for the shield designs these also varied greatly cheaper ones were blank or painted with a simple die but many took on more elaborate character owing to the importance of this highly visible piece of kit shield patterns were often used to show one's tribal affiliations and social status plutarch for instance mentions how germanic cavalry of the kimbrian war rode to battle with bright white shields other times we hear of entire war bands adopting a particular style as with the hari who were known to paint their shields and bodies pitch black for offense most germanic warriors used the cheap but effective spear its importance was so ingrained in the culture of many communities that when a boy came of age he was presented with a spear and shield as a rite of passage before a tribal assembly the main battle spear was often the conventional type you imagine however the tribesmen were also famous for the use of a lighter spear variant that could be wielded both as a close quarters weapon and arranged javelin by comparison swords were significantly less common some estimate their prevalence at 1 in every 10 warriors around the 1st century a.d which later increased to 1 in every 4 warriors by the 3rd century a.d this increased adoption of the sword is in part due to the higher levels of development that occurred in germania combined with their increased interconnection with the wider world of antiquity for instance we know that the tribes became fond of purchasing swords from private roman contractors and other sources as these appear in large quantities throughout the archaeological record the longer sparta was a particularly popular trade good until roman prohibitions on these armed cells in late antiquity began to crack down on its export besides the sword and spear germanic warriors also used all kinds of weapons for close quarters this meant battle axes clubs and even long knives while for long distance this meant bows and slings now that we've fleshed out the kits of the individual tribesmen we can look at their role within their respective army units when a germanic tribe went to war it did so on a rather ad hoc basis after all there was no standing professional army rather what they had was a call to arms that would mobilize warriors by way of the social web we previously described what this meant is that at the top would be your tribal chiefs and highly influential figures these might choose to lead jointly but more often than not elected a single war leader thus united they would then call upon their own followers to join them tribal chiefs turned to clan chiefs who turned to local chiefs and so on down the line until the master was deemed sufficient for the mission at hand first to answer the call would be the personal retinue of each leader such warriors had the best equipment often provided as a reward by their noble and would be the closest thing to professional troops overall though their numbers were quite small the bulk of those who answered the call to arms would be your everyday commoners at the base of the social pyramid as these armies slowly coalesced they do not seem to have done so according to any tidy unit structure instead they organize themselves roughly according to their familial regional and tribal associations the end result was a force composed of an eclectic group of war bands that mustered in all sorts of shapes and sizes it would be up to the leaders to choose how best to organize these into a proper fighting force for example in his battle against caesar in 58 bc the warlord arieo vistas divided his army into seven contingents separated into roughly even intervals based on their parent tribes who would lead these sub-units remains an unfortunate mystery it is speculated however that they likely would have also chosen their own leaders by way of popular vote yet while most tribal armies may appear rather amorphous in nature we do have some evidence of standardization taking place a prime example was the practice of the 100 employed by many germanic armies this was the title given to a carefully selected body of infantrymen who drew members from each district in a tribe in battle they would be tasked with acting as a close support force for the army's cavalry attacking or defending as needed such horse runners added much needed tactical flexibility to the army and greatly impressed caesar when he encountered them during his gallic campaigns it seems that this 100-man unit system was later expanded to serve as an organizing structure for tribal armies as they slowly became more sophisticated this evolution was accelerated through their interactions with the roman military either in battle or while serving as their auxiliary forces we see this really start to take effect during the germanic wars of the 1st century a.d when arminius led a wide-scale revolt against their invaders for example it's during this period that we hear tacitus praise the chatty tribe in the following terms for germans they have much intelligence and sagacity they promote their picked men to power and obey those whom they promote they keep their ranks note their opportunities check their impulses portion out the day entrench themselves by night regard fortune as doubtful valor as an unfailing resource and what is most unusual and only given to systematic discipline they rely more on the general than on the army their whole strength is in their infantry which in addition to its arms is laden with iron tools and provisions other tribes you see going to battle the chatty to a campaign as the years went on the germanic tribes would continue to become even more organized as they became more enmeshed with the romans many of their sons went to war for the empire and formed core units of its army thus by the time the western empire fell they were in a prime position to take up the mantle of its former military power the organization of such later germanic forces however will have to be covered in another video for now let us move on to a discussion of their training and tactics when it comes to training there is not much that can be said for one we have few sources on this matter furthermore it appears that there was no institutional training system in place by which we might assess how the ideal soldier was prepared for battle it turns out that this was just not necessary as the general population was quite accustomed to fighting hunting was common practice and inter-tribal clashes from raids to all-out wars were fairly common thus a warrior mentality was deeply ingrained in the germanic culture within every family most fathers uncles and cousins would have seen battle there would therefore be many experienced family members capable of training up the young men of the tribe as with most cultures it's likely this would have involved physical exercise in the form of running wrestling and weight carrying as well as instruction on the proper use of a spear and shield in addition this was probably accompanied by an introduction to the basic principles of germanic warfare involving a shield wall however we should note that such collective unit level training was not very common outside of battle in times of peace the focus remained very much on the individual but that isn't to say that higher level training never happened for example velius patuculus has the following to say of the army raised by the marco mani tribe by continuous training murobidus brought the body of troops safeguarding his empire almost to the standard of roman discipline in a short time raising them to such a level that they were feared even by our empire as was the case with the army's organization methods of training were also greatly evolved through increased interaction with the roman military now let us move on to the topic of battle tactics the stereotype of tribal armies like those of the germanic people is that their tactics amount to nothing more than a frenzied frontal charge this idea dates back to antiquity where such enemies of the civilized folk were categorized as wild barbarians whose fervor and bravery was great adverse contact but quickly diminished should they not find immediate success while a gross over-generalization it does speak to some underlying truths about the method of warfare employed by such tribal forces one major aspect of this has to do with the composition of their armies as we discussed they were built upon a mobilized population largely consisting of the working class that could not afford to be away from their fields and herds for long periods of time as a result any massed call to arms had a limited lifespan thus pressuring army leaders to achieve their aims as quickly as possible through a decisive pitched battle admittedly this dynamic was also true for other armies of antiquity however the phenomenon was made worse for most tribal armies as a result of their loose fluid means of organization on a strategic level this hampered their rudimentary logistical systems which could only marginally improve the lifespan of armies in the field on a tactical level it's also made complex maneuvers difficult with only the most simple of operations being practical for instance we hear of several cases where a germanic commander attempted to wield his force more dexterously only to be undercut by army elements that broke ranks on their own accord again though we shouldn't think that this is a uniquely germanic or even tribal problem we are dealing with spectrums here and many other of their contemporaries also grappled with these sorts of issues so with all that said what would be the tactics employed by your typical unit of germanic warriors in a pitched battle well this would have broken out into phases the first phase would involve the armies deploying on the field your average war band would do so by forming up around their standards these were often wooden poles that held up coloured cloth and other tribal insignia the loss of such a prized item would bring great disgrace and it would be closely guarded during deployment these would be moved into a battle line with the numerous war bans forming a single massive front kings chiefs and their retinues would often feature prominently near the front lines the army's flanks would be guarded by cavalry and support troops or anchored by difficult terrain the second phase would involve opposing armies sizing each other up this might include jewels between champions and some light skirmishing however the most important element would be the use of noise to display strength much like we see between rivals in nature the fiercest raw would be a factor of any army's overall size and its confidence this would be communicated using a combination of yells instruments and war gear in this regard the germanic tribes were famous for the unique practice of the baristas tacitus describes it as beginning as a low murmur with warriors holding their shields in front of their mouths to create a reverberating sound this slowly swelled like waves crashing into a rocky shore until it finally escalated into a deafening crescendo those who did not retreat in the face of this intimidation would meet the next phase of battle the charge often this occurred at the very peak of the paritis when the leaders at the front of each warband charged into the fray in a massed attack along the whole front while modern media often depicts this as a chaotic mob-like attack with no cohesion we should be reminded that our sources often point out the good battle order of the germanic armies while not traditionally organized they still understood the value of maintaining a coherent battle line after all the greatest crime for a warrior was throwing away his shield emphasizing the importance of fighting as a part of a mutually protective unit as further evidence of organized germanic tactics during the charge we know for instance that their units often transformed into wedges such formations lent themselves naturally to the army's social structure where chiefs and their heavily armed retinues could form the spears head with the rest of the rank and file falling in behind them wedges seemed to have been made up of anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred men whereas a traditional linear charge would see their force distributed across a wide area a wedge attack helped concentrate their efforts dramatically increasing their chances of breaking through this was made even more true by the fact that many warriors were oath bound to protect their leaders thus once the tip of a wedge became engaged it's only further motivated the rest of the unit to plunge in such tactics went hand in hand with the offensive approach of the germanic tribes however should the attack falter a wedge with its leadership core exposed at the front was particularly ill-equipped for conducting a careful retreat this would eventually be remedied in later years when they began to adopt roman tactical doctrine involving the use of reserves as a final note on tactics i wanted to touch on ambushes there seems to be this common perception that the germanic tribes were masters at it however this does not really seem to be the case yes they pulled off a few spectacular ones against the romans but this really only occurred when they felt they couldn't take them in a head-on fight as history shows again and again guerrilla tactics and asymmetrical warfare are a matter of necessity when facing lopsided odds in war in these matters the germanic tribes were pretty good at it but by no means exceptional we have many examples of their ambushes failing are of their own forces being caught in enemy traps at the end of the day the hit-and-run lifestyle ran contrary to their warrior ethos and as soon as the tribes regained their confidence they almost universally reverted to their preferred approach of the pitched battle it will be hard to speak comprehensively about the full service history of the germanic warrior as this is such a widely defined unit compared to something like the very specific sacred band of thieves we will therefore have to speak generally about the broad strokes of germanic warfare with a few examples along the way much of this history is unfortunately lost to us as the story of the germanic people largely comes from outside sources as a result we can say little about the bulk of their fighting which occurred among the people of northern europe unrecorded tacitus offers us a glimpse into this veiled conflict when he mentions hearing reports of one especially large battle in germania where an alleged sixty thousand warriors perished on both sides as for warfare in the light of the so-called civilized world we first hear of germanic armies in the late 2nd century bc when several tribes migrated into the roman sphere of influence in these initial clashes they seemed unstoppable inflicting a series of crushing defeats against the legions sent to oppose them the battle of araucio in particular saw the kimbri and tutonais wipe out an army of 80 000 romans in the worst defeat since can i they and their allies would only be defeated several years later when gaius marius brought reform and new leadership to the roman army we next hear of the germanic tribes in the 1st century bc when julius caesar intervened to oppose their moves in gaul caesar would clash with king arya vistas of the suebe and his tribal allies in 58 bc at the battle of voskas the battle was fiercely contested with the war bands finding initial success until legionary reserves moved in to turn the tide later caesar would actually cross the rhine in a lightning campaign to raid germanic lands before retreating in what amounted to a mere publicity stunt however it would be a prelude of things to come the next encounter with the germans occurred in 16 bc during the reign of augustus when several tribes crossed the rhine into gaul and defeated the legions sent against them in response augustus would dispatch more forces that kicked off a decades-long struggle to tame the region the effort featured numerous campaigns of intense fighting which include the famous battle of tuterberg forest and its aftermath which we have covered in another series ultimately outright conquest of germania would be abandoned in favor of fortifying the frontier and periodically launching campaigns of intervention or retaliation to keep the region in check the degree to which this was possible varied over time and we see many revolts and invasions spilling out of the area in times when rome's power went yet still throughout most of this period imperial armies tended to come out ahead in pitched battle against germanic warriors thanks to their superior training equipment and support from heavy cavalry however we should also note that this success was also owed to the integration of germanic forces into rome's own armies over the years the scales would eventually tip as the period of great migrations starting around the 4th century a.d saw many germanic tribes push into the lands of the empire it's a fascinating period of history well worth exploring but which will unfortunately fall outside the scope of this particular episode for now i hope this overview of the history of germanic warriors has helped dispel some of the simplistic stereotypes that often come up when discussing barbarian armies let us know what units of history you would like to see covered next a big thanks to the patrons for funding the channel and to the researchers writers and artists for making this episode possible be sure to like and subscribe for more content and check out these other related videos

Channel: Invicta

Views: 264,900

Rating: 4.9353089 out of 5

Keywords: full documentary, military history, ancient history, germanic warriors, ancient germanic warriors, roman army, germania, gallic wars, cimbrian war, roman-germanic wars documentary, history documentary, units of history, invicta, germanic warriors documentary, battle of teutoburg forest, battle of idistaviso, arminius, avenging varus, suebi, total war, roman military, roman army documentary, julius caesar, german history, roman empire

Id: DK1c4Bz01MU

Length: 30min 13sec (1813 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 24 2021