Barbarians Rising.

I really enjoyed the first installment of "Barbarians Rising".

The first episode was mainly on Hannibal.


He came from the North African city-state of Carthage.

However, he united with several other "barbarian" tribes against the overarching fascism of the Roman Empire.

Eventually his coalition crossed the Alps, and they defeated the Romans at Cannae.
en.wikipedia.org...

Seventy-thousand Romans died in one battle.
As many as US soldiers during the entire Vietnam War.

Many Romans wanted to surrender.
But Scipio refused.
Instead he attacked Carthage from Rome's strategic position.
It would take a few more attempts...

But, what I like about the series so far was that they had US military historians, as well as civil rights leaders.
And for the first time I heard it said:

The European "barbarians" were the first to fight against slavery and a tyrannical Empire.
My people were the first to fight the system.
And oh boy, did we fight.

The war didn't start in America, Australia, Asia or New Zealand.
It began in the forests of Europe.

Our tribes wanted to keep their autonomy and pristine forests.
But the colonial exploiters came ...

It's not about "race"; it's about a system called "Empire".

History didn't care much about us before then.

They call us "barbarians"; but we were freedom fighters.

Hello,

Thanks for this, looks interesting and will half to check this show out. Nice
to see a show with this perspective.

Since it's on History, i'm sure it will be on a couple times during the week.

However, he united with several other "barbarian" tribes against the overarching fascism of the Roman Empire.

Quick question, and not a snark, though it could be taken that way.
Do you know the definition of fascism? If so, please share. There are so many people now days that use the term yet have no idea of what it means.

Thanks

The Arminius and Boudicca episode were pretty good too.

Arminius:

Barbarian warriors:

a reply to: halfoldman

Carthage was depicted many times at the coloseum as it
was depicted here. Freedom fighters you were.



THE BARBARIAN HORDE!

Varus - you who abused us so much.
I hear in hell they cry: "Varus, Varus, give me back my legions!"

Gigi - Hauen.

a reply to: halfoldman

He also won at Trebia and Lake Trasimene before Cannae and campaigned for over 10 years on the Italian peninsula. In the end though, the Romans had too much. Whilst fighting in Italy, the Romans also invaded Sicily (opening up 2nd front) for Hannibal and the Carthaginians.

Bear in mind also this wasn't the days of Empire, this was the days of the citizen soldier in the Roman military so i don't really agree with the fascist statment - Rome took all sorts from its conquered enemies and only really imposed taxes and a demand to follow Roman law.

As to Arminius, it didn't really work out well for him. Germanicus took Arminius wife (Thusnelda) in a daring raid on Arminius home settlement prior to a huge punitive expedition (over 100'000 men). Interestingly enough, at the Battle of the Bridges, Arminius almost managed another Teutoberg Forest but ended in defeat. He was then attacked by the Macromanni tribe at the behest of Tiberias and Germanicus, who later got client status as a reward. Arminius ended up being murdered by his own tribe.

I wouldn't really call Arminius and the Allied tribes freedom fighters though. Most of the time, they were at war with each other. Following Germanicus's punitive expidition, most tribes knelt before Rome and reneged on any agreements with the Cherusci. And even within the Cherusci, there were varying factions. For example, Arminius Uncle was in charge of almost a third of the tribe - and he was pro Rome.

They are only called barbarians, because their civilization level wasnt on the same level as Rome's which was the archetype of civilization back then, which took most of its influence from the greek culture, very interesting.

originally posted by: Substracto
They are only called barbarians, because their civilization level wasnt on the same level as Rome's which was the archetype of civilization back then, which took most of its influence from the greek culture, very interesting.

Depends upon how you define Civilization. For example, women had much greater rights and autonomy in "barbarian" lands than in the "civilised" world. Their metalwork was far superior. For example, some Celtic metalwork examined recently was likened to nanotech because of the impossibly small sizes of chain links and carvings, etc. All done by hand, learned from a very young age.

a reply to: Flavian

No one is saying otherwise, to the eyes of the romans, everyone else that didnt fit their own customs was considered inferior and barbarian, thats where I was aiming, doesnt mean it is true when seen from an outside perspective. The germanic tribes proved their superiority in the battlefield, Rome was decadent by that time, weakened from the inside, by scandals, corruption and all the likes, serves them right.

Poster earlier here
www.abovetopsecret.com...


Please add further comments to the ongoing discussion in the above linked thread.
Thanks

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