Ancient Kungfu War Fantasies Debunked and the Universality of Feathered Flying Serpent Dragons

[@steffanofumo]

Even in the days of gladiators they understood this concept, gladiators were trained in specific single combat and treated like a prized race horse for a reason, because it takes a lot of time and resources to facilitate the raise of such a specialized combatant, unlike the majority of general soldiers.

[@Reflectionmaterial]

Lol, I googled that stuff. A ton of gladiators died. Only a few lasted more than 7 matches.

[@DesCoutinho]

​@@ReflectionmaterialGoogle has its uses. Perhaps they are better compared to film actors loads of them around most poor unemployed narcissists but the few who become suprstars.

[@shalevsaada7596]

​​@@Reflectionmaterial I have no idea what you goggled but the fact here is that very rarely the gladiators would fought to death. 10 to 20 percent of them would die from matches which the majority would happen unintentionally. That because the have a lot of value so kiling there right and left would be dumb ‏‪

[@Reflectionmaterial]

@@shalevsaada7596 go do some matches with metal weapons and let me know how safe it is. If the did not want the slaves to die they would not let them fight with metal weapons.

[@shalevsaada7596]

@@Reflectionmaterial brother I don't understand what there is to argue about. This is what the historians are saying and they know better than me and you

[@kevintse2870]

To be fair, based on Wikipedia, the formations in ancient China were much more dynamic than the phalanx. In a single chariot was an archer, a pikeman and a swordsman and it was protected by about a dozen foot soldiers, so war probably looked like the cross between American football and Mario Party.

[@TimothyAdams-ln2jr]

chariot warfare is very ancient and apparently extremely widespread from Britian all the way to Southeast Asia

[@KuyVonBraun]

I practice Wing Chun Kung Fu because it’s fun & I enjoy it. At 42 years old I’m extremely unlikely to be involved in a street fight so what’s best for self defence or whatever doesn’t really interest me. I am into stage combat though, Kung Fu looks cool & that’s what matters to me 😉💜

[@jaredberryman-hivelead]

The exploration of ancient warfare and its relation to ritual combat was eye-opening. Your visit to the Wudangzhao temple added a unique layer to the discussion. Great content as always!

[@turtlesage28]

Shaka Zulu proved what you were saying. His army surrounded the enemy and stabbed them with pointy sticks. The bull horn formation.

[@DesiRush1]

Based.

[@44SWAGNUM-MAGA5]

there's a free documentary called Zulu on youtube that has micheal caine

[@vollkerball1]

Imagine people like Shaka living in todays day an age warfare with modern weapons... It would be scary

[@DesiRush1]

@@vollkerball1 Shaka was a warrior, and had some sense of honor as well as responsibility to his own tribe. I think it's way scarier to see the kind of "warlords" today who wield these modern militaries, they aren't warriors and have no honor and no sense of patriotism to their own people, just little sociopathic narcissists. They're way scarier than a real barbarian warlord from the olden days. I'd rather meet Shaka as friend or as enemy.

[@TimRHillard]

US army veteran here, thanks for the Audie Murphy call out.

[@shaftsburry1773]

Now, that guy was a legend.

[@ernstbusch2052]

To answer the last question: I found it fascinating that the word 妈妈 "mama" and 爸爸 "baba" for mother and father are the same in chinese as in european languages. I think the similarities between cultures are there because we all have the same cultural background as humans. Under sun and sky there is but one family.

[@kevingray4980]

In Georgian they're flipped: mama=father, deda=mother

[@anastasiya256]

For me, “baba” means grandmother (my family is Russian) But it’s close enough anyway

[@meanmanturbo]

Hand to hand combat training in modern militaries are really there for soldiers not to freeze up in case of a hand to hand combat situation suprisinglys arising so that they will at least do something, anything. Secondary purpose is agressivnes and confidence training.

[@richardpictures7522]

Great hearing you riff on broader topics RD. I really appreciated this video. Cheers from NZ

[@TimothyAdams-ln2jr]

It wasn't until the Romans came on the scene that professional armies, as in armies consisting of paid, trained and regular soldiers began. The Greeks had professional soldiers, but the majority of their armies were still conscripts with little training and even armed slaves. European armies through the early 19th and 20th C consisted mostly of barely trained conscripts led by a cadre of professionals ie: Napoleonic and Imperial European armies like the Brits. Let's not forget that the knights of the medieval period, whether Asian or European, were less than 1 percent of the military power of any given nation state.

[@dbbdbdbdbd599]

Knights were really well trained and even educated

[@TimothyAdams-ln2jr]

@@dbbdbdbdbd599 Well trained, but at least until the modern age 1500AD, most were illiterate.

[@gobihoukou1]

Came for kung fu fantasies, stayed for an essay about parallels between mongolian temples, aztec deities and the book of genesis.

[@UnKnown-k6p1g]

Thanks for pointing this out Mr. Dewey. Many people who have never been in a real fight or in war combat have wild and dangerous fantasies about warfare or fighting. Very good point bringing up Major Audie Murphy. Major Murphy was a real standout wherever he went, from Italy to France. Not only was he highly skilled and experienced, he was also very lucky. And I am very sure he would tell you that. It reminds me of a very humble Vietnam Vet who also received the Medal of Honor. He said, "I am not brave, I am lucky." Modern warfare is really anyone's game and modern weapons can strike from anywhere at any time. This is not very different from ancient warfare if you think about it, where you have distance weapons and a lot of worked up soldiers. Warfare has always been a giant meat grinder, modern or ancient. Only those who are well prepared, well planned, well executed, and lucky make it or are declared the victor. But still, in any war, on any side, thousands are sacrificed to the meat grinder. That's why I say in warfare, ancient or modern, you are lucky or you are not. It's that simple. And wild ideas about being the super soldier "skating" through the battlefield with ease and glee are unfortunate fantasies and sometimes fantasies that people believe. Reminds me of the scene in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen where the Baron is just gliding through the battlefield as one man cavalry laughing and proclaiming. But people still believe this about warfare. Somehow you can be this untouchable super soldier taking on tens or hundreds by yourself. Uh, no.

[@christophervelez1561]

The romanticization of what wins war is hilarious as a guy who has been in the military for 18 years. Logistics and communications have a far greater effect on warfare over superior skilled warriors or technology.

[@kevingray4980]

Makes sense why officers in China and Japan regarded their signal fans with equal/greater respect than swords. Coordination beats strength.

[@terencejeffries5359]

true. e.g.d day ww2 rommell wanted 2 extra tank divs for normandy coast but not given and all kept 60 k inland. most of generals at a party in berlin and rommell having 6 days r and r with family

[@HeiniSauerkraut]

“They may be called the Palace Guard, the City Guard, or the Patrol. Whatever the name, their purpose in any work of heroic fantasy is identical: it is, round about Chapter Three (or ten minutes into the film) to rush into the room, attack the hero one at a time, and be slaughtered. No one ever asks them if they want to. This book is dedicated to those fine men.” ― Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

[@temmy9]

exactly. well said. the manuscripts describe training for duelling or perhaps tournament fighting. In actual battle, drill is more important than individual skill.

[@ModernTangSooDo]

You ever read Joseph Campbell? His whole thing is comparative mythology. Really cool to see how similar themes come up in the stories people tell across the world. The human condition is the same across cultures.

[@House_Of_Cards_]

What an amazing video Ramsey, I am studying Tibetan Kung fu and I find your views on the parallelism with the ancient temple of Salomon quite intriguing. Thank you for sharing that.

[@ethanhunt8632]

This is why I love this channel lol Starts off discussing the differences of battlefield combat vs ritual combat and ends after a cross culture analysis on religious symbolism 😂

[@Xzontyr]

This is too nuts. What a crazy coincidence. I spent the afternoon with a buddy of mine, and we usually get into some deep discussions about things. What we discussed raised coincidence in 2 things in this video. First, we somehow got into Celtic lore, and about a tragic story about how a tribal leader at the time in England found some hard times against the Roman's, and was slew by them. His wife than rose up and pushed out the Roman's twice by uniting as many people as possible together to go up against them. However, the Roman's came back and were more prepared this time, and though they didn't have nearly as many troops, they utilized their weapons and strategies masterfully, and sadly overtook the armies. In my friends opinion, it's probably one of the worst one sided wars no one really talks about, that may have had the most casualties in that time. The battle however, was an example of how strategy can overcome unplanned force when it's executed flawlessly. We than got talking about something else that was globally recognized long ago, and with that, we got talking about dragons. Than we somehow got talking about why Welch dragons were known to be the only nice dragons in Europe according to legend. Than we assumed that dragons didn't breath fire, but if their relative the kamodo dragon can smell a fresh wound from kilometers away, then a flying dragon would to. A really bad scenario would be a smoke house, which was used by many Europeans long ago. We than assumed that if a story of a dragon in a mountain full of treasure was true, like in LOTR, what if the dragon just went there because he jnew his kind were being hunted down, so he wanted to barter with the humans, and knew there treasure was precious to them. Plus it be a funnel defense situation if they were attacked. Than we went on to how its funny that dawrves alwaya habe scottish accents and are mountain people. While hobbits are obviously irish. woods there's a city with a store that has a smoke house, and rhey had to make it bear proof because big bears kept getting into it. There's no doubt that if a dragon knocked over the smoke house/hut, it catch fire. Last thing people see if a dragon flying away and somethings on fire. Makes you wonder if the legends of aquatic serpents in the Athabasca region are real. Alot of tales of them from up in that area, that aren't that old. Couod just be an unidentified species of fish that very elusive. Not long ago here in Canada, a Jack fish tried swallowing a woman's leg it was so big. Could be some big fish in the deep lakes. Heard one story about an underwater welder working on a dam, many feet deep, and whioe working, he felt a strong brush of water against him that unbalanced him. He was use to the welding light attracting fish, and none of them produced enough of a current to shake him. He figured it was a very large fish that came to see what the light was. Deep fresh water isn't explored often. It'd be curious to send down a drone with bait to see what sort of fish dwell down in some lakes. Some people wonder how me and this guy remain friends. We can be like ice and fire at times. We can turn debates into sub arguments that get slightly aggressive and emotional, a d neither of us are very egotistical a d refuse to be wrong, it's just when one of us knows they habe a better point, or closer fact, we don't back down. He's a history, military, astronomy, and star trek nerd. I'm a biology, archeology, geology, and star wars nerd. Doesn't help that we both have a similar form of adhd, but luckily he's able to stay more focused. He usually helps me finish talking about something in a straight line before talking about bad drivers turns into questions about what sorts of metals they use in space crafts and why. That's happened before. Things just got even odder. About to post comment, but than steffanos. Mentioned gladiators. We talked about those to. He figures the battles weren't as epic and brutal as the media shows them to be. Sad reality, but alot of money was invested on them. They were serious assets

[@cyborgchicken3502]

The Celtic wife you're referring to was Queen Boudicca

[@Xzontyr]

@cyborgchicken3502 I believe so. I wasn't sure how to spell her name, but that sounds like what he said.

[@thepants1450]

Paragraphs man lol

[@doaimanariroll5121]

Thinking ancient warriors were martial art gods is as dumb as thinking navy seals are better fighters than ufc fighters. No, navy seals are operators not fist fighters. I’m sure that there were some hand combat practitioners over the ages that could go rounds with ufc fighters today. But that’s just statistics, history is tens of thousands years. Having a few genetically exceptional people who specialised in hand to hand combat seems reasonable. I’m sure there might have been some Ancient Greek wrestlers just as good as wrestlers today for example.

[@DouglasGomesBueno-jw9lh]

Human Body doesn't evolved we are still the Same what changed in modern society are the combat sports evolved because the rules and are much more safe today, In modern Sports you can lose, Train more your skills and return as a better fighter in Gladiador times loss means death and no chance of return.

[@doaimanariroll5121]

@@DouglasGomesBueno-jw9lh it was pretty rare to be killed as a gladiator. But a lot less rare than in ufc. Most trained full time for decades using sparring in training with wooden weapons. I get your point. But many cultures had grappling, wrestling being one of the oldest. The actual moves haven’t really changed just the rules and context change altering the style. Grappling can be done full contact in a safe and controlled environment no problem and really, so can striking. Sparring with no boxing gloves is fine. Your really think people 1000 years ago didnt figure out - Hey seems we are just training can you please not pull my eyeballs out and beat me to death with a rock.

[@jestfullgremblim8002]

​@@doaimanariroll5121 exactly, gladiators knew their shit, they actually sparred and so on as you said. People have this misconception that people that trained for to-the-death combat, didn't spar in a safe enviroment beforehand haha

[@pyronicdesign]

I wrote you a long post about this some months ago. So I'm not going to repeat the entire point. But it bars repeating, The large majority of combatants in these days of lore we are talking about, we're peasant conscripts. The had little to no training outside of. "Here's a spear, you hold it like this, pointy end goes into the other guy" and "move where your commander tells you to, listen to orders" Most of the war was not melee combat, but maneuvering units, cutting off retreat, protecting your archers, and repositioning at the correct time. Only the wealthy and the veterans of war got any sort of formal combat Training. And veterans who managed to survive might have taught their children a thing or two, but most did not know what they were doing.

[@cyborgchicken3502]

And let's not forget the medieval firearms, explosives, cannons and siege weapons like ballista or catapults... Ooh and the charging mounted cavalry with the long pointy sticks either on horseback or chariots and strategising to use the terrain to your advantage.... So many Hollywood films tend to leave out these parts as well.... These would actually do majority of the work before the footsoldiers even engaged each other

[@WadeSmith-oe5xd]

You have no idea what you are talking about. For almost 2000 years spear and pike dominated warfare, with the only exception being mounted archers of the Mongols. People understood formation warfare and pike beats sword going back all the way to Alexander the Great and earlier time periods, which is why the Greeks massacred the Persians pathetic sickle sword army on land and beat them almost as badly on sea.

[@flamezombie1]

It really, really depends on WHEN you’re talking about. By the late 1400s in Europe, peasant conscript armies were largely not a thing and being quickly replaced by well paid, well trained, expert mercenaries like the landsknecht.

[@ransakreject5221]

Mostly it was about intimidating your enemies. When an army thought thought they were gonna lose, like when the numbers turned against them.. troops would retreat. When a leader saw his army was scared he knew if if didn’t retreat that they’d break and run anyways. Then it reflects on him. He lost his troops and the battle. My readings show me that the focus was morale. In truth no one wants to die or get caught. When they think they’ll lose.. or even that the odds are 50/50 it’s rare that troops are willing to advance. There are stories sure, Thermopylae, the charge of the light brigade, pickets charge. But they are remembered because they are exceptions. In truth if William Wallace spoke to his troops as he did in the movie.. basically saying that we will fight to the death and probably die… It only takes a few guys to go “fuck that. I’m going home.” And when u lose just a small about it’s like a crack in a dam. Soon everyone is gone. This is rarely seen in fiction. Guys did not expect to die in battles. If they did they would desert and frankly not even join the army.

[@DesCoutinho]

​@@WadeSmith-oe5xdthere were more greek mercenaries in Darius army than Greeks in alexanders army.

[@MasterZhang]

If you're on an ancient battlefield, and you're 1v1ing people with your bare hands, something has gone horrendously wrong. Formation, terrain, whether or not your generals made sure people were pooping downstream of the camp and not upstream, all of those things have a much greater impact on how a battle turns out than the individual training of individual soldiers. Speaking of a guy who's been there, that romanticized idea is because there's a lot of people who are unable to thrive in modern society and want to believe that people would love them if only we were thrust back into the world where they could be the main character, for while the others were partying, they studied the blade.

[@Reflectionmaterial]

Bows, spears, swords/axes, daggers/tanto, Jiujitsu/wrestling systems. The more armor you wore the more likely the chance you ended up in a struggle. When fights were in formation it was just spear vs spear. When it became a melee that wrestling and ability to stay on your feet became kinda important.

[@cyborgchicken3502]

​@@Reflectionmaterial the melee would literally only happen once formation probably broke and one side started running...but that melee probably ended very quickly

[@Reflectionmaterial]

@@cyborgchicken3502 melees started when cavalry flanked a group. When cavalry attacked each other. When people lost formation. When taking a castle. During raids During ambushes When fighting on the streets or in alleys while taking a city. While taking towers against defenders standing on the stairs. When going house to house to kill the men and children and r**e the women. It was not always one perfect and prepared formation VS another. Hence why they had a ton of different weapons for different situations.

[@5snakeCQT]

From "Soldiers and Ghosts" by JE Lendon, a historical view on the inconsistent practices of ancient battlefields: "Pullo, the centurion...left the rampart and charged the enemy all alone...a Gaul advanced to fight him in single combat..Pullo struck him down with his javelin..and fought his way back unhurt within the Roman fortifications" pp218 this an a excellent book which turns many concepts we hold about ancient warfare on their head . BTW according to this, Roman centurions died at a huge rate: at Gergovia 1 in 15 who died was a centurion, but they made up only 1 in 80 soldiers...

[@sergioestrada7459]

Chris Kyle the American sniper is another example of romanticized warfare.

[@intergalacticchicano]

Apparently he was a known liar and trampled on American civil rights

[@garland336]

There's a fantastic book called Uriel's machine which basically discusses how flying serpents show in nearly every culture on the planet, around the same time - and they all instructed the people. Moreover, that this particular being or set of beings warned of a coming cyclical calamity and a means to prepare for it. Give it a read. I really enjoyed this video, lots of superb, intelligent thought on the concepts of war fighting vs ritualistic combat. I mean figure look at nearly every warrior culture - their primary combatives revolve around some form of grappling, which almost invariably ends when the other guy is on the ground. In karate, you 'punch' the guy to finish him and that makes no sense - unless you have a knife, which literally everyone did. So yeah. Great video, great points.

[@cyborgchicken3502]

Graham Hancock spoke about this in his Netflix documentary series Ancient Apocalypse and how the flying serpents could represent meteor showers that caused devastation on early human civilization such as in the Neolithic Younger Dryas period between 14000 and 9000 BC

[@Reflectionmaterial]

Bows, spears, swords/axes, daggers/tanto, Jiujitsu/wrestling systems. The more armor you wore the more likely the chance you ended up in a struggle. When fights were in formation it was just spear vs spear. The formation that broke first lost. When it became a melee that wrestling and ability to stay on your feet became kinda important.

[@andymax1]

The battle of Stamford bridge had one heroic viking berserker armed with a Dane axe hold up a whole army on the bridge, apparently he singlehandly killed 40 before they floated a boat under the bridge and speared him from underneath. Maybe they didn’t want to waste arrows or maybe they weren’t working!

[@MA-ji1iz]

Hi Mr Dewey. I just started learning martial arts (judo) and i'm interested in learning dance in the future- specifically trying out Tango and Ballet. Is there any chance you could also talk about your journey with modern dance and your own personal philosophies and thoughts about it? Honestly I'm interested in dance just as much as martial arts- the idea of having the ability to move your body to commit violence (for whatever reason, hopefully responsibly), while also being able to make something beautiful with yourself or another human being. Keep up the good content!

[@bradleysamson7325]

The first part of your vid brought to my mind - The defeat of Queen Boudica by Suetonius in AD 60/61.

[@dorkangel1076]

Specialised units like mounted armoured knights or skirmishers may engage in more hand to hand than main battlefield units who made up the bulk of the fighters. Knights tended to be nobility so would have been trained in it more. People who like the idea of living in those times imagine life as a knight or noble but the majority of population were poor peasant farmers and trades people.

[@Hasdrubal_Barca]

Regarding Lt Murphy's Medal of Honor actions, you could say that he broke the German formation- that is, they were advancing with armor supported by infantry. By attacking the German infantry with machine gun fire and artillery he called in, he split them off from the armor and forced the armor to retreat. Even if much looser than a phalanx, infantry and armor work together in a way that makes it very difficult for either to survive without the other. Similarly, he ordered his men to retreat into the woods, knowing that since his own vehicles had been disabled or destroyed early in the action, they would not be able to stand up to the German combined arms attack- his formation had been broken while the enemy's was still intact.

[@TalentDanceTV14]

Hey Ramsey I’ve recently managed to get back into karate and judo 🥋 and I’m loving it It amazes me now at the judo club , so many bjj players have started to come because they like to cross train in the stand up that judo 🥋 gives as they predominantly ground. Sometimes have to stop them and tell them not to do leg locks and heel hooks as that’s not allowed in judo ahah, and in competition don’t give away your back , which so many do, but it’s good to see the cross training going on Time to reach my black belts 😊

[@TimRHillard]

Bow and arrows been around for like awhile. Spears. Shields. Remember the Spartans, the 300. Seemed like they were fighting as a group. I can imagine that sometimes hand on hand happens, or has happened in war. But I think groups fighting groups is like you said pretty different. All soldiers actually fight for those next to them, their brothers. Regardless of what the Kind or Queen might say, or make them say.

[@milofitness7726]

The thing i learned from this video is that we should make 1 on 1 fights look like this: 1 both fighters perform an impressive looking stance 2 one breaks the others guys posture 3 the loosing guy starts to run away 4 the winning guy kicks him in the back

[@varanid9]

I searched for images of the ark of the covenant; they invariably show some version of the stereotypical angel rather than a winged serpent. I wonder how many people would feel offended if, say, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" had featured an accurate depiction of the ark as you described.

[@GemieeSilliest]

Hi I’m the daughter of one of your students and I just came to say hi lol btw your vids are really amazing, keep up the good work 👍

[@RamseyDewey]

Hey, thanks!

[@tayslaywift9361]

Hi Ramsey I hope you'll do a video paralleling buddhism and other religion that you 're aware of, your familiarity with Christianity and your long time access to Chinese religion is so interesting to listento

[@TheFox-d3x]

Something I've noticed across cultures is the idea of cursed weapons or manufacturers of weapons everybody knows war is horrible but it always struck me as odd that that people would blame the weapons or those who build them for those for horrors of war

[@RamseyDewey]

Psychologically that makes sense. Nobody wants to live with the guilt of killing. It's much easier to blame the weapon than the killer.

[@DesiRush1]

"The blade itself incites to violence." -Homer (The Greek poet, not Homer Simpson, people.)

[@TheFox-d3x]

🦊

[@TylerINDY1]

Hey Ramsey, excellent video! If you're in for a real head scratcher I'd love to see you look into Shang Di and some of the meanings behind Chinese characters possibly referencing things like Noah's Ark and the Garden of Eden. It might make for an excellent video on your other channel!

[@Krixxed_]

3:03 "Make the other guys turn, staby staby" The #1 statement of 2024 But honestly this video makes a lot of sense. Keep up the good work 👌

[@ajshiro3957]

This all sounds so awesome! My mind is blown.

[@peterpancik5176]

Damn Ramsey! What a video! 👍🙂 What a video! 👏

[@antonioflores425]

Hi Ramsay Sir, thankyou for the video, I have a QUESTION, Have you ever imagined a grappling ruleset wich would allow to grapplers from different styles mesure their skillset against eachother? I ask this because I tHINK we already have mma for that scenario but BJJ guys usually challenge other styles such as sambo under nogi grappling ruleset and I think is unfair, do you think there culd be another ruleset besides mma that would be useful for this grappler vs grappler duels? tahkyou

[@Non_Descript_Individual]

True that SIngle 1v1 combat and open battlefield wars differe greatly as do their tactics. TRUE. But, as for 1v1, there's an 1100-page purely instructional book (and its companion belt-ranking books, 9 in total) that I challenge you to read, analyze and review; The author was Marc Tedeschi, and in this book he instructs the entire curriculum of his brand of Hapkido. The first 1/4 to 1/3 of this book covers the history and the art's philosophy, sure enough. But then the bulk of that first 3rd of the book also gets into the hard physics of Hapkido - from the sciences of momentum to leverage to rotational forces at both close and extended-limb range, etc. He also gives a healthy address to human anatomy. There're also sections describing in precise detail the proper forming, employment and intended function of each kind hand, foot and other limb weapons of the body. ...and then there's the remaining 3 quarters to 2-3rds of the book, which focuses on the 2000+ stand-alone techniques taught in his Hapkido school. Every technique is described in highly detailed text that coincides with the robust number of step-by-step black & white photos per technique. Next, he has a 9-volume set of companion books, each of which give more detailed instructions and exact requirements for achieving each belt color; The Belt colors are (from lowest to highest that he has published ranking manuals for) yellow, green, blue, red, and then 4 more such manuals for the black belt ranks up to 4th-degree. Then the final book in this series is simply the "Promotion requirements" book, for those who should progress to any extent beyond 4th degree black belt - this one refers not to achieving additional degrees in black belt, but in progressions recognized by what you then contribute to the author's version of Hapkido (and finally to the overall world of Hapkido itself). Every book he wrote is purely instructional and highly detailed both in text and step-by-step photo work, and all of them are for sale on Amazon. All you need to do to find them there is type in the same keyword combo I did: "Mark Tedeschi Hapkido." And you'll find them. I in fact do practice and self-train from this author's incredible works. And while I don't do competitions (note also that Marc Tedeschi 's Hapkido is predominantly self-defense oriented and not geared toward sport) I will say that the skills I've honed with training partners out of this author's various volumes are proving quite effective now. One of them is a seasoned army vet (I too am former U.S. Army, by the way - with a 15-month Iraq deployment to speak of) who's exact words to me once, were "Dude, I'd hate to be the guy in the alley against you." He said that after a lengthy and highly taxing (for both me and him) freesparring session. Not trying to brag, but that actually is what he said. lol Also, when one augments those skills with other detailed books on human anatomy as I've done (so as to learn where all the human body's vital targets are and what the hard-science medical effects of attacking them by various methods are), one can then fully back-engineer Hapkido into a full blown combat-grade fighting art with strong lethal results (my lethal strikes being practiced on the infamous Body Opponent Bag, not on my training partners - though in our spars, we do simulate what WOULD be the kill strikes by employing the 'stop an inch short of actual contact' method). Anyway,I challenge you to acquire, study and then video-review these books by Marc Tedeschi. I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the at-home learning value to be found in them. Thank you.

[@ernstbusch2052]

As an experienced historical fencer I recently found out personally that none of the fine technique is any help in the sport of Buhurt, where group tactics, teamwork and different roles on the battlefield are the key to success, not individual duelling skill. Most sources for HEMA I am aware of depict duelling scenarios but a (sport)battlefield is a completly different thing. I suggest to every fellow HEMA enthusiast to try out the scenario you think you are skilled in before making assumptions. It was a pleasently hard awakening for me. Buhurt is love. : )

[@shaolinshadowsoldier]

Great content. Food for thought.

[@waifuconnoisseur4789]

Coach Ramsay, what do you think about octopus wrestling? It was a sport in the 1960s where you had to wrestle an octopus to the surface (the 1963 record was a 57 lb octopus). Should it be brought back? What would be the optimal strategies and martial arts?

[@nagyzoli]

@Ramsey Dewey Small correction: Skill always was important, just not wide spread. An experienced, elite spear platoon could reliably defeat a similar sized platoon of peasants, even a larger one, almost all the time. The thing is, not many platoons lived enough to become elite

[@RamseyDewey]

What’s the correction?

[@nagyzoli]

@@RamseyDewey Spear fighting is not inborn. They still needed training in that. In equal battle formations, the skill difference did manifest.

[@RamseyDewey]

No one said otherwise.

[@nagyzoli]

@@RamseyDewey My mistake then, I misunderstood

[@matthias_funayama-thordsen]

I watch your videos regularly and just wanted to say thank you for the great content! If you have a deeper interest in comparative mythology, you might like the work of Joseph Campbell ("The Hero with a Thousand Faces") . Based on C.G. Jung's psychology, he concludes that myths (like dreams) often have similarities because the psyche always works the same and therefore generates the same symbols.

[@mmercer48]

Ramsey, can you make a video about the apparent paradox that combat sports such as wrestling, boxing, juijitsu, MMA, etc. are the best proxies of no rules fighting because these sports can be trained full contact at 80, 90, and even 100% against a fully resisting opponent as opposed to seemingly more dangerous techniques like groin striking, eye gouging, etc. cannot be trained in a real way/overly complicated "McDojo" moves (grab his wrist, now use your left toe on the secret pressure point...) are not trained against real resistance YET improving at combat sports (especially striking) is better done with light sparring, drilling with a cooperative training partner, etc. (I believe you ascribe to this philosophy, correct me if I am mistaken.) Some context: I recently returned to cage fighting after a 10 year hiatus and was surprised that the gym I returned to (known for being very tough) now rarely sparred super hard and instead did a lot of light sparring with maybe one day a week hard sparring. I feel like in the last 6 months I have become a better fighter than ever whereas 10 years ago I sparred hard most days but was slow to improve because getting hit with big shots is not fun so I stuck with what I was already good at. Sparring hard did not seem to expand or refine my skills so much as display what was already proficient at. Contrast that to "deadly " techniques and "McDojos" which have a light sparring element that does not seem to translate into true fighting like combat sports do. What is your assessment of these two truths which seem to contradict each other: combat sports are great fight training because they are practiced near 100% against resisting opponents but light sparring and active drilling is what truly makes a person better at combat sports.

[@Sbv-25]

Hi coach. I don’t remember where you said it, but what’s your least favourite thing about living in China?

[@flamezombie1]

I would love to do a podcast on this subject or similar Ramsey! I teach HEMA at Oklahoma State University and am constantly reminding students of the difference between a duel and formation combat. War for the individual fighter in most historical periods is… pretty boring actually lol. Of course, if you’re not actually dying.

[@kwanitaheie2968]

Are you going review ultimate self-defense championship season 2?

[@RamseyDewey]

No. I’m not even going to watch them.

[@grailknight6794]

You are correct but i would like to underline that single combat was indeed something praised by warrior cultures of old, we have many mentions of that…did single combat win battles no, but it was still important, i mean the first way anyone would train would be one on one, talking about HEMA , we know exactly that knight did spend alot of time training since a very young age, with lances,swords,daggers,wrestling and horse riding…. We know that for a fact its mentioned hundreds of times. So in short yes you are of course correct about the points you made , with a small note that single combat was although not instrumental in large battles and wars, however still an important point

[@davidchorley3241]

If you want to rely on the authority of a guy who was REALLY good at personal combat and a soldier, Miyamoto Musashi generally advocated to have the right weapon and tool for the job. Miyamoto Musashi, arguably the most famous swordsman of all time, with a huge number of personal duels to the death with swords... advocated shooting people if you had a gun in a siege. Notably, Musashi also got injured during a battle because some random person dropped a rock on his head. If Musashi can get bonked by a rock in a mass combat, anyone can get it.

[@DouglasGomesBueno-jw9lh]

That's because humans have a blind spot in the back of the head where it's impossible train.

[@sensam6155]

RIP Ramsey Dewey. They got him because he was starting to realize we all serve our serpent overlords.

[@bravelilspidey]

Haven't seen a video from you in a few weeks. Hope youre doing alright. ✌️

[@justin8865]

Really good video, i agree with alot ima former marine infantrymen who fought in Afghanistan in 2013. I will say this youre absolutely right about warfare being about team work, every part of the infantryman sqaud is designed to work with each other. Also as for martial arts for the .military its usually trash, although i feel like they should drop alot and focus on wreslting and pinning more for policing actions. In the corps it was often just spazzing around and "hard sparring" with teqniques that didnt work and werent taught properly. Though i will say this there is something to boldness. Somtimes you have to be bold go supprise the enemy. Theres a marine who charged a talibans position with his machine gun (marchine guns jam being an open bolt system so you dont room clear with them) and beat them to death with their own rifle. Also looking how warfare is changing its more smaller teams and speed. Otherwise you get drone striked. Check out civ div on youtube. Really interesting stuff.

[@chrismathers8223]

Hey ramsey, what's your option on Dermot O'Neil.

[@finncullen]

"Big animals are really dangerous. Fire is really dangerous. Imagine a big animal that could set things on fire!" - Doesn't need the existence of real life dragons to imagine why stories would be told like this. That said, please excuse that quibbling point, I really enjoyed the video and the discussion - a lot to think about in this.

[@RamseyDewey]

While dragon myths are as old as recorded history, the idea of fire breathing dragons is the most recent version.

[@lilbearbjj]

In the Marines, we use the buddy system. "Where's your battle buddy"

[@franchottwoodjr6181]

Legendary as always, sir.

[@CoffeeManiaTV]

Could you please make a video on something I saw Tom Aspinall talk about... He told a reporter, that he dips his knuckles in gasoline to harden them up, what do you think? Is this something that works?

[@TimothyAdams-ln2jr]

Modern America, perhaps the most modern and effective military state ever: 1.3 mil military servicemembers in all branches of service. 400million citizens plus. 2/3rd of that number are not combat troops.

[@TaijDevon]

The legend of the duel on the field of battle got cemented by Homer with the Illiad. Everybody stopped until Achilles got his heel cut. Pretty early in human literature or fiction of any kind. Possibly history but Homer was a poet.

[@aphidbowler7027]

i disagree. ritual combat and 1 on 1 combat have similar principles. the techniques are different but the principle of war is the same. i quote this: " … If you master the principles of sword-fencing, when you freely beat one man, you beat any man in the world. The spirit of defeating a man is the same for ten million men. … The principle of strategy is having one thing, to know ten thousand things. "... The spirit of fire is fierce, whether the fire be small or big; and so it is with battles. The Way of battles is the same for man to man fights and for ten thousand a side battles. You must appreciate that spirit can become big or small. What is big is easy to perceive: what is small is difficult to perceive. In short, it is difficult for large numbers of men to change position, so their movements can be easily predicted. An individual can easily change his mind, so his movements are difficult to predict. You must appreciate this. The essence of this book is that you must train day and night in order to make quick decisions."

[@comso3632]

I have a question: what weight classes in boxing and MMA produce the most KO's, anecdotally I believe its the lighter weight classes, can you explain why that is?

[@jeredfarrell9963]

Bokh goes back a long time before Shuai Jiao does. Fairly good evidence shoes Shuai Jiao came from Bokh, even the jacket is similar. Bokh being probably the oldest martial art in the world, or very close to it. Some Chinese Martial Arts do go back quite a while though. Xinyi Liuhe Quan is projected to have started in the Ming Dynasty, which would make it close to 600 years old, while Liuhe Quan was started in the Song Dynasty, and is somewhere between 750-1,60 years old.

[@badwerds]

recently had a lot of videos recommended to me that point out some parallels between christianity and judaism and eastern religions. some of them suggest that jesus even had a pilgrimage down to india at some point in his adult life.

[@kwanarchive]

We don't need to go that far. We know that the Greeks and Indians had cultural contact because of Alexander the Great. And then there's just thousands of years of trade along the Silk Road.

[@EvosBasics]

I do think the ancients were much more connected than we have been taught. We’re always taught that globalization is a “modern” thing but we have all been connected and trading forever. It’s just human to do so

[@zer0tzer0]

Yes, it's uncommon, but it happens. You mentioned Audie Murphy, but there was also Sergeant York in WWI who captured over 100 enemy soldiers. Also Léo Major who captures almost 100 enemy soldiers in WWII, as well as the Real War Daddy, Lafayette Green Pool who accomplised more with his tanks, not named FURY, but In The Mood, than the rest of the battalion did. So, not common, but does happen.

[@songoku8627]

TLDR Summary for those who didn’t have enough time to watch this one: Coach Ramsey explains the history of the nature of battle and how when in gym, for realism, it’s encouraged to have less hitting of the pads and more of using the pads as fake shields while you and your homies practice battle formations in the gym together.

[@RamseyDewey]

😂

[@christopherburns6403]

Please do a review of coach kajan Johnson’s new grappling rule set

[@FredyTirannion]

It was said that a knight is worth dozens of foot soldiers. There is a reason why, for a long time, knights formed the hard core of feudal armies. They were much more individualistic bunch though. So when the infantry started to be better organized, better armed and armored, they were basically screwed. But let's not undersell how much of a terryfying opponent even a single armored knight on a horseback could be to the people who did have short blades, sticks or low power hunting bows for most of the medieval era. And trust you me, even in Larping event, if armor grants immunity to most weapons you will double evaluate the need to mess up with a heavily armored dude😅

[@ERNEST-i8h]

hand to hand combat was the last-ditch effort to survive, on the battlefield.

[@unstoppabletigertalukan6710]

I like the fact ,that martial artists are just called insert martial art guys

[@fireeaglefitnessmartialart935]

All native Americans are descendants of asians from the ice age. Which is pretty interesting. I learned of it roughly 6yrs ago from different videos ive watched as well as my own ancestry. I had no idea about the copper trade pre Columbus.

[@muhammadibnmusaal-chorezmi7240]

To be fair, they are descendants of Siberians, the Ural race, which was exterminated by whites and Pacific Asians over the past 1,000 years. There are still a few of those people left near the Ural Mountains, but not many.

[@fireeaglefitnessmartialart935]

@muhammadibnmusaal-chorezmi7240 the .05% asian I have, last I looked, was southeast asian, like around thailan/vietnam etc. I don't think anyone in my family really knows they have that in them, and I get it from my dad's side which is where I get the native American from. It's about the same percentage as my Scandinavian and south asian(indian) ancestry.

[@aphidbowler7027]

what ii meant to say in my last comment but i was too tired: there are differences between street fights, professional fights, and feudal and modern warfare, but they share a common thread. The specifically trained techniques are different but they are the same in principles and in spirit. The body is a pot of clay. You train it for your specific circumstances. For one opponent you might drill 1 technique and a different opponent you'll drill a different technique. It ties in with the shared principle of 'know your enemy and know yourself'. Yes, it's true that fighting in formation and fighting in 1 on 1 ritual combat have vastly different techniques and require a different skill set to be trained, but the principles of the art of war apply to both of them regardless of the techniques used. To fight in modern war you must be trained in the use of modern weapons, tactics, formations etc. but someone who is skilled in the principles of war will make better use of those weapons and that training.

[@aphidbowler7027]

This is why bruce lee and sun tzu said 'be like water' because if you become rigid in techniques then you won't be able to adapt and improvise. This is why musashi also said that technique or specific styles are not important but rather the basic principles of fighting and war. This is how I interpret it. Wars were fought in formation until napoleon decided to change the rules of war and use guerilla tactics, and he conquered most of europe as a result. It's not about adhering to certain techniques but gaining the victory and defeating the enemy by any means necessary, and ensuring your own survival.

[@varanid9]

Jabby jabby with pointy stick is a gross over-simplification of ancient warfare, though. The conditioning needed to wear many pounds of bronze armor and last throughout the day marching and fighting in the sun, as well as the discipline to move in unison with hundreds or even thousands of others is something else. Also, the spear required subtle fencing skills; remember that the guy opposing you also had a pointy stick. Your point that massed warfare is very different from dueling is well taken, though, there were times when dueling did appear on the battlefield. For example, bronze-age Greek heroes calling out their opposite number as depicted in Homer's Illiad as when Achilles calls out Hector. My understanding is that similar incidents occurred between Samurai in feudal Japan.

[@Reflectionmaterial]

Formations broke, stuff could into a melee in the blink of an eye. The more armor peoople wore the more likely it could turn into some kind of struggle. People could get flanked. There were a ton of reasons Samurai trained with a ton of weapons at different ranges instead of just picking up a spear and learning to march in formation.

[@TaoistSwordsman]

I think there’s a misunderstanding where in it is assumed that us HEMA guys are attempting to recreate the war of 100 years or something, when in actually the context of HEMA is in the author and the individual authors lifestyle and experiences, to which there’s several different choices. Sure these same tactics were likely still taught to “knights” or “men at arms” or whatever you’d like to call them, but the context is not a large scale battle for 99.99% of HEMA guys, the context is a civilian duel, which is sort of reminiscent to Olympic fencing when compared next to a large scale battle reenactment

[@TaoistSwordsman]

Champion combat did not “never happen” my friend. “Spoila Opima” is a Roman term for that very concept.

[@vollkerball1]

14:23 as a portuguese myself I can confirm that is most likely the case.

[@RK-fz1fk]

Could you review Warrior, season 1 to 3? Its based on Bruce Lees vision of a show that was stolen from him. Great actors, action and storytelling! Andrew Koji and Dean Jagger are standout stars.

[@GrouchyOldGeezer]

Brett Devereaux would be a good person to reference on this subject.

[@FallaciesDetective]

What about King David ? His high body count can just be explained by formations, right? 🤔🙏🏻

[@unifedgongfu]

1. there were historical or historiographical combat won by champion one on one, such as David Vs Goliath. 2. what does translate from warfare to hand to hand combat, are the principles of war, such as "surprise" and "stratagem", not the tactics. that's why hand to hand combat training is important in military, to embed the move forward mentality, the aggression in front of danger, the principles. great video, like the way you stray to other subjects such as paralleling old religions. very interesting. dont you think you over simplifying old battlefield? dont you think that in the chaos stage after formation breaks, the broken side gave all they had to give. some times unskilled peasants, and sometimes skilled knights (etc) and sometimes the formation was breaking on both sides, and during this chaos, personal skills did came useful?

[@RamseyDewey]

1. That is called “ritual combat”. We discussed this.

[@unifedgongfu]

@@RamseyDewey wasnt arguing, just emphesizung this excactly point, that ritual non-sportive combat, was a rare occasion :)

[@tomstimpson1308]

Tips on streetfighting. If I'm in a boxing ring or octogan I can fight well but as soon as the gloves come off I just freeze. Do I need to be braver

[@RamseyDewey]

You need to be smarter. Don’t get into street fights.

[@tomstimpson1308]

@@RamseyDewey no I meant like getting attacked and there's nothing I can do to avoid it

[@chopsueykungfu]

Over three weeks with no word from you is ominous.

[@TonyOcasiowingchunpressure]

Yeah, I used to believe in those magical shaolin monks who have magical powers and flying on dragons as a little boy, but overtime when I seen more realistic fights, it's more about strategy, positioning and a fighting roster in martial arts. A youtuber called KFG debunked how yim Wing chun created the system by watching a fox and Eagle fight, but the COLD HARSH REALITY is wing chun was developed by Chinese mafia triads to protect their brotherhood against outsiders...

[@cyborgchicken3502]

Besides formation, people often forget the use of gunpowder based weapons such as early firearms and explosives and cannons which if I'm not mistaken date back to at least around the 12th century, being first used in Song Dynasty, China... Or the use of seige weapons and mounted cavalry etc, strategising to use the terrain to your advantage and a whole lot of stuff that seems to always get left out of Hollywood movies or modern discussions of ancient warfare Some things I've noticed across cultures, the fact that literally every culture had the spear and the bow and arrow, in terms of religion... Hinduism also has the concept of a holy trinity just like many Christian sects do, in their case it's Shiva the destroyer, Brahma the creator and Vishnu the preserver.... Fun fact, and I only learned this recently, the reason Hindh gods are depicted as having many hands, isn't because they actually have that many, it's because the many hands are supposed to represent that gods power, different aspects of that god and all the many tasks and abilities they can perform, at the same time... So for example if a god has a weapon in one hand and maybe let's say book in the other, it shows that they can both be a god of war and a god of wisdom.... Was pretty interesting to learn that As for the seraphim serpent thing, there's a fringe theory I've seen circulating among religious scholars etc of the Hebrew god Yahweh (in Christianity and Judaism) being a dragon or being represented by a dragon... Mr Mythos here on KZbin did a video about it

[@RamseyDewey]

The Mongolians were using hand cannons in 1368. I just recently got back from a trip to Inner Mongolia and saw some huge collections of 14th century firearms, cannons, projectiles, etc. Super interesting stuff. I haven't heard of Mr. Mythos yet, sounds like a good recommendation!

[@cyborgchicken3502]

​@@RamseyDewey he has a relatively small channel with only a few videos, but his topics are usually centered on folklore, mythology, UFOs, cryptids and that kind of stuff

[@LimDulm]

Amazing rash guard BTW!!

[@nickolasdesouza3610]

Yes Ramsey, yes. You dropped the.mic on these NERDS

[@WildBillCox13]

Glad you covered this topic, Ramsey. It's a big deal for me, as I know more swordsmen* than spearmen-including two legitimate master instructors. Though I love the sword- best exercise tool ever- I am happy to see you working to debunk its supposed superiority to other battlefield tools. On topic- here's my 4 minute approach to the paradigm: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fKOXe3uXg8Sjr6M I've got a new vlog on the subject, but have yet to post it. *I've practiced and exercised with katana or okatana for fifty years and am still a tyro. As with karate, I have applied the techniques learned and/or improvised to the improvement of my soul; I'd make a crappy fighter. At 70, fighting is not part of the "why" for me. The coordination and balance attained, however, very much apply to my daily existence.

[@deenmeah2162]

Can you start with MMA private lessons? I know the basics of boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing, and jiu jitsu. Or should I try to master one by one then mix my martial arts? I’m doing MMA for fun, not because I ever want to compete.

[@jscudderz]

The HEMA manuals don't even claim to teach you warfare, they're advertisements to noble courts from guys offering lessons in fighting, fencing was a skill that was valued largely for the same reasons being good at fighting is now, cuz it makes you look stronger and cooler than those who don't know how to do it. People who say otherwise probably aren't engaging with those historical texts seriously or honestly. The majority of people fighting in medieval battles couldn't read and had little use for a manuscript of poetry that muses on fighting.

[@davideverett1587]

Ramsay! Who would win in a fight, Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali? It’s a fantasy match up as old as time but would absolutely love your insight

[@RamseyDewey]

Ali. I usually avoid this question or dance around it, but there’s my answer. What’s yours?

[@BlackMartialArtsSociety]

18:10 oh wow that the temple I was referring to in my previous comment the Romans wrote about how an Israelite rose up and dueled and defeated people mid battle then got killed but they stopped and commend his might and regretted having to kylt such a warrior

[@ramqi6239]

Yeah the modern warfare is also romanticizing, many people think of a soldier like Rambo going alone and killing all vietnamese army but in reality modern Warfare battle ends very quickly before even the enemy knowing what s going on

[@jonathanhaynes9914]

While I agree with most of what your saying, we do know cultures from the Greeks to the Japanese had periods of duels prior to the general melee.

[@RamseyDewey]

Are you referring to the concept of two opposing armies choosing a single champion to engage in ritual single combat to decide the battle? (eg: David & Goliath, The ancient Russian Czars)

[@jonathanhaynes9914]

@@RamseyDewey yeah, but also high ranking officers calling each other out and dueling before the assembled armies prior to the actual clash of armies. The Iliad illustrates the activity, as does Japanese history off the top of my head.

[@Danetto]

cant argue. dragon stories are prevalent all over the world and surely not simply made up

[@muhammadibnmusaal-chorezmi7240]

The great majority of hand-to-hand fights in feudal Europe involved 10 by 10 knights, if not 3 by 3. It was a time of never-ending skirmishes between small groups of knights or between knights enforcing their power over peasants, robbers, and rebels. Many knights were also part-time robbers and thieves. When you are stealing your neighbor’s lambs and virgins, you need to be able to defend yourself if caught, which is why they were trained in fencing. Additionally, you should be able to fend off 4-5 peasants if they see you kidnapping their daughter.