Units of History - The Balearic Slingers DOCUMENTARY

when ancient warfare gets depicted today ranged combat almost exclusively revolves around the use of archers pop culture too has followed suit by mythologizing the power of the bow with legendary heroes such as legolas and hawkeye such a tradition has come at the expense of its more humble counterpart the sling capable of losing lead bullets at speeds of over 100 kilometers per hour and ranges of up to 400 meters it was actually the true king of ranged combat which dominated the battlefield until the advent of the crossbow and gunpowder weaponry today we will be taking a look at the most famous users of this ancient weapon the balearic slingers this video was sponsored by magellan tv they're an awesome documentary streaming service run by filmmakers with a selection of over 2 000 videos to choose from among the categories of history science nature space and more when it comes to history documentaries magellan tv has the richest and most varied content anywhere ancient modern current war biography and even related genres like science and crime which are historical in nature if you like our content i can highly recommend you check out the documentary series ancient greece the greatest show on earth which covers the fascinating history of ancient greece through the lens of its theater performances magellan tv is compatible with roku amazon fire tv apple tv google play and ios which means you can watch it anytime anywhere on your television laptop or mobile device sign up today to get a one month free membership trial by visiting the link in the description below or going to try dot magellan tv dot com forward slash invicta the balearic islands are an archipelago chain found off the east coast of spain while little is known of their early bronze age inhabitants many legendary tales exist these include foundation stories of shipwrecked survivors or displaced colonists from the trojan war era whose descendants spent their time sheltered in caves and walking about nude while certainly exaggerated these stories do speak to the relatively low level of development on the islands before contact with the greeks and phoenicians archaeological evidence suggests that the early inhabitants suffered from issues of deteriorating farmland which limited their growth rate nonetheless the balearic communities continued to develop over the years with many new villages and towns cropping up across the archipelago these communities engaged in frequent skirmishing and raiding as is evidenced by the presence of numerous hilltop fortifications thus the islanders who often used slings for hunting or protecting their herds became quite proficient at turning these simple tools into weapons of war in fact ancient historians mistakenly credit them as being the first in the world to do so indeed the name balearic comes from the greek verb balo meaning to throw by the 8th century bc the balearic natives would be joined by new arrivals in the form of phoenician merchants and colonists with them came an increase in trade and connections to the wider mediterranean according to ancient historians the phoenicians also imported their culture and gave the islanders clothing eventually carthage would assert its dominance over the phoenicians in the west and extend its empire to encompass the balearic islands like many others within the mediterranean the balearics became subjects to carthage and would have to submit tributary obligations in the form of money and manpower thus the balearics found themselves in a position to start outsourcing their skilled slingers in these matters they proved incredibly successful demand for their services increased and soon islanders could expect to make a good living in the employ of foreign armies according to the ancients these balearics curiously refused to bring gold and silver home with them and so spent all their money on women and goods like wine and food their successes motivated others to follow in their footsteps which led to further specializations in the slinger profession the end result was that the balearic slingers developed both the skill and reputation necessary to become renowned mercenaries of the ancient world and when the romans finally took over control they continued to serve successfully in this capacity for years the defining piece of equipment for balearic slingers was of course their sling it will therefore be worth spending a moment to discuss this often overlooked tool of war what we are talking about here is a basic but deadly projectile weapon a sling is composed of two lengths of cord with a pouch for ammunition in the middle and grips at the ends the user slips a finger into the grip at one end of the cord and uses their other fingers to hold the tab at the other end ammunition is then placed in the pouch with the free hand the user then begins swinging the sling in a circle to their side or above their head when the moment is right the user then releases the tab rocketing the projectile out of the sling when loosed at a relatively flat arc projectiles can reach speeds of up to 100 kilometers per hour by some estimates with speeds like this we are told that skilled slingers in antiquity had the ability to outrange archers and could reach targets 400 meters away art and archaeology reveal many variations in the design of slings for instance you might see different rope lengths pouch configurations and release mechanisms that would have impacted the range and accuracy of the sling most had about the same general handheld form but it's worth at least noting that some larger versions were available such as the staff sling we are told by deodoris sycalis that balearics went into battle bearing multiple slings perhaps they used different lengths for different situations or just carried extras in case one broke the balearic slingers famously tied their slings around their head but supposedly also around the arm or waist when not in use another important aspect to the sling is ammunition necessary slingers could use rocks picked up from the ground however in ideal situations they would use man-made projectiles these projectiles could vary in terms of shape size and material in terms of shape some were circular ellipsoidal teardropped or by conical some even had small holes drilled into them which are believed to have been used to produce a whistling sound for psychological effect many also carried inscriptions on them these could be representations of lightning bolts scorpions or snakes others carried short messages like catch this or ouch such projectiles could be fired into an enemy camp or city to demoralize the occupants in terms of size these projectiles could range anywhere from 50 gram pebbles to huge fist-sized stones weighing 500 grams the most simple projectiles were natural stones found on the ground or smooth stones found in riverbeds other times projectiles were made from baked clay however the best projectiles were cast from lead these projectiles were small yet heavy for excellent aerodynamics and resembled ancient bullets they could be manufactured quite easily in a simple mold and mass produced especially since lead was a plentiful byproduct of mining silver in the ancient world the damage inflicted by sling-fired projectiles was quite impressive rivaling and even exceeding that of arrows according to deodora sycolos the missiles seem to have been shot as if they were from a catapult in their assaults upon walled cities they strike the defenders on the battlements and disable them and in pitched battles they crush shields helmets and every kind of armor while certainly they couldn't penetrate everything they hit the kinetic impact alone could be quite deadly bullet damage on softer targets like leather and unprotected skin was quite horrific causing ruptured organs and shattered bones indeed according to the bible david killed the heavily armored goliath with a sling projectile to the head medical texts of the period include many passages on treating such wounds and extracting embedded bullets so in short the primary weapon of the balearic slingers was quite deadly but that was not all they carried in early times they carried wooden spears or javelins as well their points hardened in fire in later times the islanders would increasingly sport better quality sidearms like iron-tipped spears knives and swords for defense the balearics frequently fought naked or nearly naked using only animal skins and later a tunic to cover themselves in later periods some probably carried small bucklar type shields it's also worth noting that some soldiers who were proficient with the sling went into battle as heavy infantry but remained ready to whip out their preferred ranged weapon when the situation called for it in the use of their main armament the sling balearic islanders trained extensively according to strabo the augustine age geographer balearic children were not allowed food from their mothers until they had learned to hit a target with a sling while this is clearly false it does tell us that they trained from an early age much of this training would have come from civilian use as the sling was frequently used in hunting and animal herding thus by the time the slingers were hired for warfare they were already well versed in the way of the sling other greek slingers were said to have practiced by loosing stones collected from beaches at hoops various distances away in this way slingers could easily engage in target practice livvy states that through this method they learned to hit any part of the face that they aimed at presumably the balearic slingers used similar methods to hone their skills for war in warfare itself the balearic slingers were invaluable as light infantry they were far more versatile than the hoplites and heavy infantry fielded by traditional armies and could be used for a multitude of functions before battle began the balearics were used to screen the main battle line often skirmishing with the enemy and hiding the movements of their allies during this phase their barrages of missiles could seriously damage the enemy army before combat even began as skirmishers they often found themselves first to make contact with the enemy and during river crossings were some of the first forces who crossed in order to protect the main army in a pinch they could serve as melee infantry though this was not ideal considering that light weaponry and gear more frequently they would have been moved to the wings after skirmishing where they could support the allied infantry and cavalry yet they also excelled in ambushes and were frequently hidden behind hills and in rough terrain in order to quickly surprise an enemy force hannibal used his balearics in such a fashion and they were one of the reasons for his many spectacular successes ultimately when virgetius would write a manual on warfare in the 300s a.d he would cite the balearics as an example for why all soldiers should carry slings all this training would be put to good use throughout the mediterranean when the phoenicians first came to the islands they almost immediately recognized the islander skills with the sling though the phoenicians were less interested in warfare and more in trading the later carthaginians were more than happy to enroll these men into their famed army most likely they fought over the mediterranean with the carthaginians and certainly by the time of the punic wars were a staple in the army they served in sicily over the long first punic war and were amongst the rebels who fought in the resultant mercenary war in spain under the barkids these valuable soldiers served in large numbers indeed when hannibal was preparing for the second punic war against rome he had under his control at least 1400 balearics and most likely double that number in reality these 1400 he divided amongst the armies of africa and spain while taking the rest which must have still been a sizable number to invade italy in italy the balearics played major parts in all of hannibal's great victories at tribia they were instrumental in driving off the enemy cavalry after they were moved to the wings and at trazamine they hid in ambush before pouncing on the romans and driving them into the lake at kanai in which the entire massive roman army was slaughtered one of the two roman consuls was even wounded by a sling bullet early on perhaps loosed by a balearic slinger even when the balearic islands themselves gave terms to the victoria scipio near the end of the war their slingers continued to serve the carthaginians in africa and beyond they fought new midians west of carthage and when the romans came they fought them too at the battle of zama they finished the last of their service in carthaginian employment always the faithful ally of the punic state when rome defeated carthage in 201 bc they were quick to make use of the balearics in their wars across the mediterranean for instance we see them frequently mentioned in the 1st century bc under the command of caesar during the gallic wars and they'd likely joined him in the ensuing civil wars as well the balearic slingers remained in service to the legions throughout the imperial era but light infantry were in heavy demand such was their lasting reputation that the writer begetius used them as an example for why all romans of the late empire should carry slings eventually as the centuries rolled by there would be fewer instances where we can point to distinct balearic slinger units serving in antiquity nonetheless the practice of using slings would remain a prominent feature of the islands and is still practiced to this day a huge thanks is owed to our supporters on patreon and the many talented researchers writers and artists who made this video possible please consider contributing to fund future content and let us know what units of history you want to see covered next thanks for watching

Channel: Invicta

Views: 716,668

Rating: 4.9305878 out of 5

Keywords: military history, roman history, units of history, balearic slingers, roman army, carthaginian army, punic war, punic wars, deadliest warrior, sling, mercenary, rome 2 total war, total war, history documentary, roman history documentary, punic war documentary, carthage, carthage army, carthage history, invicta, invicta history, sicily, sicilian war, roman empire

Id: 3uDtrwNY0Zk

Length: 16min 5sec (965 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 08 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/PrimeCedars]

Hannibal preferred Balearic slingers over archers in his army.

He also preferred the falcata sword within his army and likely carried one himself, before the Romans adopted it way into the Imperial Era. Hannibal often fought at the vanguard of his army, and after partaking in battles almost his entire life, he must have been an exceptional soldier!

[u/Mickeymous15]

Great unit in Rome Total War too.