Reacting to Alexander the Great (Part 1) | Epic History TV

Hello! I'm an American on a quest to learn more about history, geography and the universe in general. In this video I learn about Alexander the Great for the very first time. I was shocked to learn he's actually from Macedonia and not Greece! He decides to take on the Persian Empire, and conquer the world. If you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe!
00:00 - Intro
01:31 - Reaction
32:42 - Outro
Link to original video: • The Greatest General i...
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#AlexandertheGreat #Greece #HistoryReaction

[@SoGal_YT]

Thanks for watching! Like and subscribe if you enjoyed this video 👍🏻 Follow me on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/sogal.yt/ Twitter: twitter.com/SoGal_YT Facebook Page: facebook.com/SoGal-104043461744742 Facebook Group: facebook.com/groups/238616921241608 Join my Discord: discord.gg/amWWc6jcC2

[@lyonelk3108]

I know this is already early but after this you should check the diadochi wars by kings and generals. Its the sequel to alexander the great its like game of thrones but real life

[@NK-hl8nw]

About the hat maby use the Alexander the Greats helmet, its prety nice loking.

[@steved6092]

The warships, TRIREME's, were the fastest, most advanced and most agile ship of the time, equivalent to the Napoleonic ships of the line. They got their name from the three rows of oars with one man per oar. Oarsmen were free men that were paid to row (approx 170 oarsmen)

[@karenblackadder1183]

Before you get stuck with the pronunciation, Alexander's famous horse is pronounced .Bew-sef-a -lus LOL

[@MarkVrem]

The game of chess is designed on antiquity warfare basics. Developed in India. The Rooks on the flanks represent Elephants. Elephants would be brought in from the side and typically charge straight ahead. The bishops represent Chariots. Chariots can fly diagonally firing arrows. The horse obviously represents cavalry. The horses in chess make the L shape. So like SoGal noticed, they rush in and then sort of stop, make their line, and battle. Thus the L. Pawns obviously your infantry who are vulnerable from flanking (can only take a piece diagonally) and so on.

[@christoskaramanos5141]

11:38 As a resident of Macedonia (Northern Greece) I can assure you that Macedonians were a Greek Doric tribe (like the Spartans) according to Herodotus, and their name derives from the Greek word “Μακεδνός” meaning tall due to them being a taller tribe amongst the Greeks. The modern Slavic state of North “”Macedonia”” has no historical connections whatsoever with the ancient Macedonians.

[@johntom5049]

I'm Greek but born and live in Australia. According to DNA tests, North Macedonians (FYROM) and Greeks are both genetically related to the ancient Greeks. DNA studies show that North Macedonians (FYROM) interbred with the Greeks that were living on the lands that the southern Slavic tribe's settle on during the Slavic migration into Europe. Ancient Macedonians we're not Slavic, but North Macedonians (FYROM) are not entirely Slavic, they have Greek ancestors due to interbreeding with the local inhabitants on the lands that they settled on. Edit: You being from Greece does suggest you are more genetically related to the ancient Greeks than a North Macedonians (FYROM) is, but North Macedonians (FYROM) certainly do have Greek ancestry. North Macedonians (FYROM) are most closely genetically related to their fellow Southern Slavic nations, Serbs, Bosnians, Croatians and ext, but they certainly do have Greek ancestry.

[@starman1144]

@@johntom5049 Actually that is not accurate at all. Only the southern border population of North Macedonia has Greek DNA. That's because Ancient Macedonians did not live in most of North Macedonia. The area of modern-day North Macedonia was mostly populated by Thraco-Illyrian tribes.

[@alexiafillipi9857]

@@johntom5049 ​ Then they should Hellenize and become true Macedonians like the rest of us ;) However it is not that simple i'm afraid, for example. Modern day Turkish people, same say they have a great amount of greek genetics in them, due to the fact that greeks were the majority in Anatolia, even after the ottomans took over. But does it matter to them ? I doubt it. Should it matter to Greeks ? Only if they wish to find their ancestral roots without violating the "tree" of Hellenism. The residents of North-macedonia are trying to do just that, may or may not share genetics with ancient people who inhabited the land(greeks included) , today, they share Zero linguistic and cultural ties with these ancient groups, nor with the macedonians, instead they embraced a slavic language and culture. On the other hand, modern greeks, do share linguistic and cultural ties with the ancient greeks and despite being conquered by others "cultures" over the ages they maintained Hellenism alive, unlike other greeks who lived in Anatolia, Balkans, south italy, etc. Hellenism is not the genetics, but the culture and the language, if these 2 die, Hellenism dies, so far Hellenism has proven to be hard to kill indeed. Let's keep it that way. We are the representatives of that culture today, either we like/want it or not.

[@JapanMonAmourTheJapanHouse]

@@johntom5049 Actually you are mistaken. The people of the Former Yugoslav Republic of North Macedonia are in the majority slavs related to Bulgarians whilst 30% of the population are Albanians. The autosomal DNA of the Slav population of the Republic of North macedonia is the same as that of the Bulgarians of bulgaria and indeed they speak a dialect of Bulgarian. The DNA of the 30% Albanian population of the Republic of North macedonia is related to Greek however because Greeks and Albanians have the same Proto-Balkanic (Pelasgian) roots going back to 10,000 BC. That is both are related to the neolithic farmers who were a pre-Greek people of the Balkans.

[@kartikeyapathak2213]

Hey bro, do they talk about Porus there? the indian one who end the conquest of Alexander the great

[@emperorofrome692]

Those islands ARE inhabited and contain some of the most beautiful ancient cities in the world.

[@vms77]

And are larger that you think, for sure...

[@afpwebworks]

One of those islands is called Lesbos. And a male living there is one of the few men in the world who can say he's a Lesbian.

[@vms77]

@@afpwebworks True... XD

[@PeterBuwen]

The Hellespont is the strait between Greece and Minor Asia. Macedonia is in fact a part of Greece, the macedonians were greek. But the Athenians or Thebians always looked down on the macedonians and looked at them as half-barbarians. Philipp, Alexanders father, coquered Greece and unified it this way.

[@090giver090]

Today Hellespont is called Dardanelles straights.

[@voice0074]

Yes, the “sophisticated” greeks. Always looking down on us SMH lol

[@user-cr4cj1fl8z]

Current day Macedonia tho is not greek at all.

[@090giver090]

@@user-cr4cj1fl8z half of historical Macedonia is still greek. Including place where Pella (capital of the kingdom and birthplace of Alexander) was.

[@PeterBuwen]

@@user-cr4cj1fl8z Of cause. It's 2300 years later and the modern Macedonia ist post osmanic.

[@spyrostrik7934]

11:38 well Macedonia was Greek. They weren't a different nationality or had a different culture than the rest city States. Also a Greek state didn't exist back then, they were divided as city states and were never unified as one state. The first Greek state was created in 1830.

[@MarkVrem]

Macedonia is where Greek people start to blend with Illyrians and Thracians. Typically the cities would be Greeks or mixed people living the Greek culture. Outside the cities would be Thracians and others. This was necessary for economic reasons. Greek cities demanded a lot of resources that places like Macedonia and Thrace would supply. But as Macedonia develops and build more and more cities mostly from timber sale$$$ it becomes more and more Greek.

[@tusidex5228]

Although you could argue that Byzantium, espiecially in the later periods was a Greek state

[@Cteabis]

@@tusidex5228 While heavily Greek ethnically, I would maintain that the Byzantine state was survival of the Roman Empire in it's eastern form

[@tusidex5228]

@@Cteabis I agree but in the later periods of the empire they pointed out their greekness more and more

[@Cteabis]

@@tusidex5228 this is true, however the people still called themselves Romanoi so they believed they were Roman. The word Byzantine was made by a historian in the 16th or 17th century, and Byzantium was renamed in the 4th century AD by Constantine I to Nova Roma then coming to be called Constantinopolis/Constantinople. I’d consider the east pretty romanised

[@josephreuben3643]

The Macedonians considered themselves Greek, linguistically and especially religiously. They basically worshiped the same gods. But most of the other Greek states did not want to recognize them as fellow Greeks. But of course after the exploits and fame of Alexander, Greeks since then including modern ones are more than eager to claim Alexander and Ancient Macedon as one of them

[@MarkVrem]

the difference between Macedonian and Greek did not become an issue until after Alexander. The term Greek was a way to unify this army, bring everyone together. Thru their shared Greek culture, religion etc. After Alexander dies. This is where suddenly being Macedonian became important. If you were just a Greek you were shunned from power. You had to be Macedonian. Was like that for quite some time, then later the situation calmed down again.

[@ArdensSedVirens1]

@@MarkVrem It was an issue *before* Alexander as well. It was an open question among Greeks regarding the status of the Macedonians, Herodutus claimed to have evidence that the Macedonian royal house was Greek, but nevertheless records a story where Alexander I had to prove his Greek lineage so that he could compete in the Olympics. During the reign of Phillip II, Demosthenes believed Phillip II was a barbarian, whereas Isokrates accepted the Macedonian claim that the royal house was descended from Greeks.

[@MarkVrem]

@@ArdensSedVirens1 Right it mattered for the opposite reasons almost. Before Alexander the legitimacy of Macedons as greeks was questioned. ... After Alexander, it flips on its head, suddenly the legitimacy of non-Macedon Greeks in high ranking leadership roles is questioned within the empire that Alexander built.

[@ArdensSedVirens1]

@@MarkVrem Well no, even Plutarch, a Greek who greatly admires Alexander, still makes a hard distinction between Greeks and Macedonians.

[@MarkVrem]

@@ArdensSedVirens1 Makes sense - for context anyone reading this Plutarch came way later during Roman Empire times. --- Even 150-200? years before Plutarch when the Roman Republic is battling Macedon I believe their reason for doing so was to come to the aid of some smaller Greek kingdoms. ---------------- The line gets blurry again when talking about Ptolemaic Egypt, as we refer to them as Greeks, but in Plutarchs mind would they have then been Macedon. No idea lol.

[@jovianr9498]

From what I understand from Classics at school, what we call Ancient Greece was more of a culture than a unified political entity. It consisted of many independent city states, the fortunes of which ebbed and flowed over time until Alexander temporarily unified them into his great empire. Immediately on his death, his empire fragmented into the Hellenistic kingdoms which were again independent politically of one another but unified to a great extent by an evolution of Greek culture. Some of these Hellenistic kingdoms were gradually dominated by the Romans to form their empire. Again, Hellenistic culture was so powerful that the Romans adopted it and combined it with their own - something which contributed greatly to amplifying the effectiveness of Roman power. That fusion is reflected by the modern term "graeco-roman civilisation". Through that of course, it greatly influenced modern Western civilisation.

[@admiralpaco507]

Confirming that yes, Ancient Greece was more a culture than a unified political entity. Similar to describing "Feudal Europe" or "Western Civilization" as even within the "same" culture of Ancient Greece there were wildly different political and social organization (Sparta and Athens being the most well known examples).

[@jacobwalsh1888]

The Romans adopted Greek aspects, but don't fool yourself into thinking that it contributed to Roman power amplification. The things that allowed Rome to expand so effectively were distinctly Roman.

[@danielj7958]

Macedonians were Greek. Also his name was “Prince of Macedon”

[@Luredreier]

27:34 Don't underestimate the *huge* amount of tactics involved in ancient wars.

[@chrisbovington9607]

18:28 The bow and arrow was invented in the stonge age. The earliest arrow heads found to date are about 72,000 years old, which is during the Middle Paleolithic. Humans migrated to the Americas about 35,000 years ago.

[@gertoise]

Thanks for this I was curious aswell.

[@archercolin6339]

Indeed. As a medieval re-enactor, mainly an archer, I often tell people that my weapon is an example of the oldest stored-energy weapon in the world.

[@CruelestChris]

I believe we do have a long gap in our discoveries of arrow-heads, so it's also possible the bow has been invented multiple times in multiple places. I mean we have cases of _evolution_ doing that, nevermind technology.

[@michael_177]

(The verb ford describes crossing a body of water on foot at a shallow point or driving across it in a vehicle. The idea is that you're not using a bridge or a boat to cross the water. Ford also has a noun form, meaning a shallow point in a river or stream.) just thought that might help with the whole ford and how they crossed the river thing

[@fraso7331]

17:50: Phalanx can simply translated with shield wall. They weared the linothorax, made of several layers of linen, as armour. But this is only the most prominent armour of the Greeks. 20:00: Yes, it was more complicated. But they diveloped a system for it. For example the cavalry stood usually on the flanks. 32:00: Darius is latin, Dareios is greek, but Dārayavauš is old persian.

[@Ikit1Claw]

Game is Rome: Total war 2. I dont think people appreciate how powerful Persian Empire was. During reign of Cyrus, Persian empire contained about 54% of world's population - the largest percentage in all of history. Rivalry between Athens and sparta wasnt really a thing until after persian invasions. As for ships, we know from paintings, descriptions and remains of wreckages discovered. Their warships were even more remarkable than it looks like - you probably imagine that a tar of some kind of liquid was painted over the hull to make it waterproof. Well, wrong - ship was built out of tightly packed planks, that swelled when came into contact with water making ship waterproof. When ship was beached, planks dried and any water that might get into ship would simply spill out. When in close combat, it's hard to know for certain how much soldiers lost their lives, but many historians believe that losses during combat in close formations were remarkably low - until one of formations was breached, that's when killing happened. Believe it or not, tactics were quite sophisticated at the time. Soldiers fought primarly to break enemy formation, not to kill each other. Maybe you've seen a riot footage of riot police, to see how effective a close formation of men supporting each other is. These islands are perfectly inhabitable - believe it or not. Whenever macedonia was part of greece is debatable now, but by then most people would consider them greek, if perhaps less cultured ones. By then There was a group of people that considered themselves greek, shared culture and language - but lived in different political city-states known as polis. Much like americans used to feel more loyalty to state rather than USA as a whole. Hellespont is also known as Dardanelles or Strait of Gallipoli - its that strait between Aegean and Black seas. Bow and arrow is a very old invention. It could be invented as far as 72000 years ago. Native americans descend from people that migrated from asia, across the Bering strait when it was completely frozen. A ford is a shallow place of the river, that you can cross on foot. A final word on alexander's brutality - most notably sack of thebes and slaughter of mercenaries - this was done most likely about money. Alexander in order to secure his kingship abolished all taxes - and he had a massive army to pay for. Plundering city and selling its people into slavery was a good way to fund a war effort.

[@omarbradley6807]

yes, althought we must point who at the time of Darius III, Persia was already a declining power, it surely have got back with Artaxerxes III, but after his death and assasination of Artaxerxes IV, Bagoas, and his corrupt goverment officials made Darius, the king, despite his incompetence on many affairs

[@Ikit1Claw]

@@omarbradley6807 well, Darius didn't get a lot of time to prove himself. From what is written, i get the impression he was kind of joe biden - a safe guy that can be expected to not change much.

[@omarbradley6807]

@@Ikit1Claw Yes this is a good way to put it, He was there basically to protect the ruling elites, thus he left the satraps, and ministers to do what they wanted, there was no authority, the corruption went rampage. It is intresting who this fact is barely mentioned in history, but Memmnon of Rhodes defeated Parmenion at Magnesia, and force him back to Europe, before Alexander launched his campaign against Persia. Yet not only the empire was unprepared, they dismissed Memmnon, the armies where disbanded. So we already have a kind of knowledge of how was going his reign, then Alexander happened, and well, it's history

[@Raymoiful]

The sacking of Thebes was primarily done as an example to show other Greek city states what happens to them if they dare to revolt. He could have ordered Thebes just to hand luxuries and money after he defeated them, you know. But he wanted to punish them and make it an example for every city state that thought about betraying or oposing him. He was a young king who needed to secure his position.

[@Ikit1Claw]

@@Raymoiful These are not mutually exclusive though I must disagree.Alexander's financial situation was more dire than it might seem now and thebes were one of major city-states in Greece, a former hegemon. It is unlikely that Alexander would make such decision were it just about the rebellion. I dont think that ever happened before, a major greek city completely destroyed by other greek power. Just look to his treatment of Athens shortly after, who not just encouraged rebellion (and even were expected to join thebans) but also secretly tried to persuade Parmenion to rebel aganist Alexander.

[@donaldb1]

16:55 "You've got a helmet, you've got a shield and you've got a spear and that's it." That's why formation is so important. The Greek hoplites fought in long, disciplined lines, where every man's hoplon, or shield, protected the left half of his body and the right half of his neighbour on the left and he similarly relied on his right-hand neighbour to help protect him. This of course, made the left flank the weak spot and it would often be protected by light cavalry. Because they had such long spears the Macedonian phalanx could be many more layers deep than the hoplite formation, but as the narrator said, this could make them harder to manoeuvre. I think the progress in infantry tactics from hoplite formation to phalanx to Roman legion was about innovations in formation to balance protection and maneouverability.

[@user-cr4cj1fl8z]

I wouldnt say that the roman legion evolved from phalanx. May be i just cant recall the early ears while Rome was forming but i doubt they ever used phalanx as an unit type. Correct me if im wrong , may be they had them while still a forming kingom before they expanded.

[@mmccarty]

@@user-cr4cj1fl8z The Romans did use phalanx/spear formations in their early years.

[@starman1144]

The Macedonians were a Hellenic tribe. When we talk about ancient Greece today we don't mean a nation like modern Greece but a collection of city-states and kingdoms that shared the same language, culture, and religion. Macedonia was in every aspect Greek. Many say that because some Greek city-states didn't consider them Greek we shouldn't either, but that is idiotic because their reasons were political, not ethnolinguistic. Also, Alexander the Great was definitely Greek because he was a member of The Argead dynasty which had its origins in the city of Argos. And if Macedonia wasn't Greek how the f**k did they start the Hellenistic Era?? They literally spread the Greek culture and language on three different continents.

[@KRYPTIA-mp4ol]

Same language culture religion and blood

[@neilmerrifield2281]

The game footage is from the very popular and highly successful Total War series, which has several iterations that deal with different historical periods. There was a Empire: Total war that dealt with the Napoleonic era and the early wars in the Americas. It is both empire building and battle gameplay. Great series of reactions :)

[@marvelfannumber1]

13:48 Well I mean, "Greece" didn't exist before Macedonia conquered them either, right? There were just a bunch of city states and kingdoms fighting eachother, there was no single country named Greece. Greek people, culture, language and religion existed though, and Macedonia was one of many Greek states. Macedonians were still Greek, they were considered a bit different like the video says, because they had a weird dialect of Greek and were more rugged/rustic folk compared to the sophisticated urban hubs in Southern Greece. But they still spoke a variety of Greek, wrote in Greek, practiced Greek culture and worshiped the Greek gods. So on one hand, Macedonia *did* conquer Greece, but on the other hand you could also say they united Greece, as despite being a different type of Greeks, they were still Greeks. Historically, despite the Greek culture and language being strong, there was never a unified nation called Greece (Hellas) until 1821 when the Greeks broke free from the Ottomans.

[@MarkVrem]

Right, in fact, Alexander's mother was Illyrian. The XENA character from that TV series I believe was actually based on Alexander's sister. Cause she left Macedonia for Illyria after Alexander's death. Like the warrior princess of Illyria lol.

[@danielj7958]

Very well written.

[@johnnyjoestar5193]

Fr. It's like germany before unification. The people there were divided by many different countries. But they were still "German" as there was no single german state until later

[@MarkVrem]

@@johnnyjoestar5193 Yup pretty much with Macedonia basically being Prussia. Where half of it is kinda mixed and is somehow a vassal to both HRE and Poland lol. .. But makes the best of its resources and gets the job done.

[@marvelfannumber1]

@@johnnyjoestar5193 Well, sort of. Greece becomes a bit more complicated due to the whole Roman conquest. Because at that point all of Greece gets conquered by Rome, and through centuries of integration, Greeks begin to *universally* refer to themselves as Romans, in Greek. Until Greece became a country in 1821, all Greeks referred to themselves as Romans, and viewed themselves as having a Roman identity. Even the Greek language became known as "Romeika" (I.e "The Roman Language"). Even after 1821, Greeks still part of the Ottoman Empire saw themselves as Romans, this didn't stop until all Greeks in Turkey were deported after WWI.

[@CovfefeDotard]

They found ships like this through archaeology

[@vms77]

Remains and wrecks have been founded alongside the Mediterranean... the salted water preseved the wood/structures very well... Also we have descriptions (text) and paintings

[@MarkVrem]

They rebuilt one in Athens - The big challenge with those ships was making them as long as possible, while as light as possible while still being stable and not roll over. They ended up inventing this rope tension system that ran thru the ship and would pull the front and the back of the ship together. This tension and pulling off the front of the ship into the back of it. I guess made them into nice tight packages that deliver death on the seas.

[@bernardkim8906]

Alexander perfected the combined arms approach by meshing together the phalanx and the Macedonian cavalry

[@slayersam1]

Hammer and Anvil strategy coming from him of course

[@TomasMisura]

33:58 You were not listening carefully where narrator was talking about Granicus where he stated this river was shallow with deep banks.

[@Glund117]

Btw Macedonia was Greek (although outside the major cities the people where generally Illyrian and Paonian) it was just a Greek country as Greece consisted of hundreds of independent country's, mostly small city states, not a unified country, infact Greece only became a country in 1821

[@paulmurphy5648]

Love these educational videos. Most of your comments echo what I am thinking...keep up the great work...

[@chrisbovington9607]

25:17 A ford is a place in the river that is shallow enough for you to walk through the water. Fording a river just means crossing it by walking through it.

[@frenchusquackus5323]

Hi Sogal, the game footage at the start is from Rome 2: Total War, probably with the divide et impera mod Edit: Oh also, tactics from the age of Alexander were... Kind of the same up until the start of Napoleon, with the exception of gun powder, more Manpower and longer battle lines. When Frontlines became a thing, this ended

[@Manu-rb6eo]

I prefer the wars of the gods mod 😊

[@markmorris7123]

Disagree. This erra was filled brilliant stratagists Napolion idolised the tactics used by greats such as Hannibal.

[@frenchusquackus5323]

@@markmorris7123 the tactics were still basically the same, flank them then spank them, attack them in the rear, maneuver Cavalry, organised lines, etc.

[@elinator600gaming3]

600 hours on record, could absolutely destroy my enemies on any difficulty..... Installed devide et impera. Spend 30 turns defending one captured City. Apparently supply lines play a big part if they are not connected to you 😅. Had a grand old time, would recommend!

[@Manu-rb6eo]

@@elinator600gaming3 yo i came back on Rome 2 vanilla version, after 50 turns i was bored, it's so easy lol

[@phraggers]

8:55 Philip, short for Philipos means lover of horses in greek (phil meaning love, like in philosophy meaning love of knowledge) so I can't say if the name is Greek or something else but the etymology is based in Greek language. (Can't point to any references since this is from memory, learned from being a Philip!)

[@aveldpa]

Correct. The Greek language is the only reference you need :) Even in modern greek the words are the same. Most ancient Greek names had interesting meanings in fact. That included the name of Philip's dnasty. The Argead dynasty. It literally translated to "from Argos" which is a city in the Peloponnese(south greece). (the story goes that the founder of Macedon came from there, hence the name Argead) I don't know why the lady on the video claims ancient Macedonians are not greeks when everything points to the opposite. I hope she is doing it out of ignorance and not deceit

[@PeterBuwen]

Sea battles in ancient times were in fact infantry battles on ships. The ships tried to get close to the enemy for the army can enter the enemy ship.

[@michael_177]

I could be completely wrong but i've also heard they tried ramming eachother with their ships, though i'm not sure how this worked or where I originally heard it from

[@michael_177]

I just found this on wikipedia in reference to the Battle of Salamis (480BC) "These battles involved triremes or biremes as the standard fighting platform, and the focus of the battle was to ram the opponent's vessel using the boat's reinforced prow. The opponent would try to maneuver and avoid contact, or alternately rush all the marines to the side about to be hit, thus tilting the boat."

[@michael_177]

Also just remebered 'greek fire' incendiary weapons, used by the byzantine empire (little later in history, i know)

[@PeterBuwen]

@@michael_177 Yes they also rammed each other. But greek fire was much later. Mainly sea battles meant that ships transported soldiers to enemy ships to fight them.

[@Rafael112able]

@@michael_177 , I don't think they actually tried to sink the enemy ships by ramming it. By ramming they only tried to break the paddles and make it immobile. Then they would storm all the ships one by one with overwhelming numbers.

[@rafaelcanosantos3554]

That is because this is Ancient History and you don't have that in the US

[@michael_177]

Well you said it quite bluntly. Perhaps it's more fair to say that the history of the european settlers in the america is not quite ancient, but we cant just forget that the natives lived there for thousands of years. And besides, what about the band of vikings, who 500 years before Columbus, had visited america

[@stevelknievel4183]

You could give.Roger a laurel wreath and make him look like he's won an event at the ancient Olympic games.

[@stevelknievel4183]

Just got to the end of the video and seen that you've suggested exactly that.

[@vms77]

A Phrygian or Corintian helmet will be much better and related to the subject (war, not peace): War was forbidden during the "Olympic days"...

[@estevesfilmandgaming3115]

1:25 that footage is from the strategy game series Total War 5:28 In modern warfare you could get blown up from a distance while here you have armor to protect you from spears and swords

[@asicdathens]

The spears (the sarissa) had a counterweight on the rear so that the weapon was balanced at the point the infantryman was holding it. Also the counterweight was formed as a blunt weapon so that it could be used as a club when the sarissa was broken.

[@Glund117]

Suprised to hear you say that tactics must have been limited due to the style of warfare, as this period allowed for the greatest variety and genius of tactics ever, Although Alexanders army never used anything too sophisticated, the general Hannibal can teach you how advanced and brilliant they could be

[@voice0074]

I think she is more shocked by the business end of ancient warfare. No matter the brilliant strategy and tactics it always comes down to stabbing another man face to face.

[@DraconimLt]

@@voice0074 my archers disagree with you lol

[@Bullet-Tooth-Tony-]

I think Alexander's victories at Gaugamela and the Jaxartes battle against the Scythians were quite sophisticated. the half fake attack on the Persian left, the split of the enemy army and the sudden attack on the Persian centre is a manoeuvre rarely done in military history. Usually a flank attack is performed after the destruction or disbanding of the enemy flank, but in front of a so superior enemy foe, he pinned down the enemy flank and destroyed the enemy cohesion by putting down the command centre, annihilating the enemy in flee, not by encircling or by pure pressure. You must be a genius if you achieve this, a master of maneouvering.

[@hiukas.]

12:00 Even though Macedonia was considered by the rest of the Greeks to be only half-greek, they did participate in the Olympics (something only Greeks were allowed to do) spoke Greek, their architecture was Greek and were also culturally Greek (same pantheon, traditions ect.) Lastly, Macedonia, after conquering the Greek city-states, formed the "Hellenic league" (Hellenic is the word used by Greeks to refer to themselves) which confidently constitutes them as a Greek people.

[@tvf1481]

At that time the concept of a Greek state didn’t exist. The city stars in what we describe as Greece regarded themselves as Hellenes. The Macedonians were also regarded as Hellenes.

[@michael_177]

It's interesting to see how surprised you are about how structured and professional the assembly of these armies are to you. Even though they are in ancient times. I mean if empires can be built, currency minted, and roads laid, then surely a professional looking army isnt too far of a stretch of imagination? Perhaps it's more of a testament towards how interesting ancient history can be, and how many similarities there are from then, to now. I'm still fascinated every day to learn more about it

[@Doorsofprcptn]

That might be so but the fact that she has been through school without knowing about this and other things around the world is slightly worrying to me. I assume she's above 16 years old and I thought you had to already know about basic history around the world by that age. We at least had to have a basic understanding about the world history in the early teens. I'm glad she's eager to learn though, which is making me happy. I just mention this because of what I've seen on other channels in the past and it's repeating itself. Not only that but education overall seems to get worse and worse.

[@michael_177]

@@Doorsofprcptn we should not be high and mighty and thinking we know it all, most of the living world probably doesnt know about ancient history. It's not their fault. I'm sure most people in history do not know about history, because to them it is history and always will be. 21st century is probably a phenomenon in the fact we have all this information at our fingertips, it's only really just starting

[@charlesyanni5195]

Your Yale course was right! Phalanx was Greek, although earlier Middle Eastern people left behind stone reliefs depicting their soldiers also using the square military formation. In Greece, a line of Phalanx was a lochos and a leader of a Phalanx was a "lochoi" while the officer who dressed the rear ranks of a Greek phalanx was an "ouragos." In addition to spears, Greek soldiers used a sword called a "chiton" or "kiton." Spartan swords were shorter and called a "xiphos." Macedonians also used swords, although I don't know their name for theirs. But, again, thanks for letting the rest of us play along. This is really great!

[@nathanofthefranks2955]

Darius is a pre-Latin name so it wouldn't make a difference. As far as I'm aware the narrator gets the pronunciation spot on.

[@ftumschk]

Darius is the Latinisation of a Greek version - Dareios - of the older Persian name Darayavahush. As Darius is the Latin form of the name, the "i" isn't a diphthong (the Romans would have written it something like "Daraius" or "Daraeus" otherwise), so the narrator's "dar-EYE-us" is inaccurate.

[@RWNetworkEX]

Normally I don’t enjoy vids where people constantly pause vids to say something, but not with this video. She’s actually using her head, making inferences and saying what she knows and asking questions since she’s unsure. I enjoyed this

[@RodolfoGaming]

The game is Total War: Rome 2 and the footage was captured by fellow history youtuber Invicta, it is more detailed in its approach to topics but talks about all periods of history. 11:10 - Story about his murder is very much like Julius Caesar's where he goes to the city of delphi to visit the oracle there seeking good ouments for the war vs Persia and gets told that: 'the bull is crowned, all is done, the sacrificer is ready.' - hinting him that someone would get sacrificed however Philip thought that the oracle meant the Persian king was the bull and he the sacrificer. It turned out very differently. 13:15 - The Hellespont, now known as the Dardanells is the straight between Asia and Europe in the end of the aegean sea. 14:00 - In ancient times most cases were not called countries or empires but city states that are normally called (modern country prefix) city states to indicate the region to modern day listeners.

[@archstanton1628]

Have to take modern thinking out of the equation, the idea of countries etc. Macedon and the Greek city states were culturally and linguistically the same people, hence pan Hellenic hegemony. They may have been yokels, but they were Greek yokels 😁

[@CovfefeDotard]

And I’m also glad you are feeling better

[@thusmarshal8815]

Also to those that say Macedonia isn't Greek there is also the kingdom of elimiotis with it's center AIANI which is in today's west Macedonia in Greece and is still in the same place from the prehistoric era and from the 1600bc and it shows early Greek writing and trade with Many other Greek city states and the mycenaeans and stayed there till the Roman empire and then was rebuild in the byzantine empire and was a big state of the Macedonian kingdom and they both sold themselves as Greek.

[@pt9362]

Philippos(Φίλιππος )in Greek...In English you took it and you made it Philip ..Like Alexander His name is Alexandros (Αλέξανδρος). BTW Hellas had kingdoms, Macedonian kingdom , Spartan etc they were fighting each other so Philippos stepped in and united all hellenes... Romans after gave the name Grecos which means Greek .My passport doesn't say Greek my passport says Hellenic. My country is Hellas.

[@randomguy9113]

What exactly makes an island “look” uninhabitable?

[@ftumschk]

I'd assume it's because they look tiny on that small map; little more than rocks. In reality, of course, they're of a perfectly habitable size.

[@ekkachaito7454]

The Phalanx is a formation that is widely used by all of the greek civilisations, the only difference is that the macedonian phalangists used the sarissa pike which required two hands to wield, while the normal greek hoplites would use the common shorter spear. The pikes gave the phalangists much more advantage in terms of pushing power and reach however, because they were a two handed weapon, the phalangists could not hold the hoplon "shield", so they had a smaller rounded shield strapped to their left arms instead. The Macedonian phalanx were more vulnerable to all projectiles (arrows, slingshots, javelin, etc) because of their inability to wield their shields properly, but was virtually impenetrable from the front.

[@Andy_U]

Hiya. Congrats on 15,000 subs. Stay safe. All the best to you.

[@steved6092]

Bows and arrows were used for hunting in Africa 60K years ago, flint arrow heads were used and are still found in archaeological digs.

[@vms77]

I think that SoGal didn't know that this weapon was so "old" and also that his use was so wolrdwide spreaded...

[@Paltse]

The thing about cavalry tactics is that before a motorised mode of transportation the one constant thing was the horse. If it wanted to stay at a distance, it usually did, so commanders would work with it and not against it.

[@k.v.7681]

Hey :) How do we know the ships looked like this? Well, we have drawings and depictions sure, but also preserved wrecks in the sea that have been found! Regarding Macedonians being "barely greek". They were greek, in terms of culture, language, and genetics. The "bad rep" they had was more of a bias in a time city identities were strong. Kind of how all countries today still have that 'red-headed step-child' of a region, but times 100. The Hellespont is what the Dardanelles were called in the Antic World. The straits that link the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea "Not a lot to fight or protect yourself with". You'd be surprised! Spears are very versatile weapons, and they also carried side-arms. And a Linothorax (a common form of light armor made of cloth, and a favorite of Hoplites) was extremely resilient, to the point the cost/effectiveness ratio very much favored it over the heavier counterparts of the time. "It looks like they carge up to each other and then stand there" Pretty much. Past the initial charge, it was melee combat with extra steps (being on horseback). A thing to note tho is that a disengagement can potentially be sounded, and rinse and repeat. The footage doesn't help and combat was most likely more "lively". Still a pretty good game tho! It's from the Total War series, and there is a Napoleon one. The Issue with the Napoleon one is that it's very, VERY, hard to see a lot, because after the first couple shots the battlefield is covered in gunpower smoke. That's most likely why they didn't use footage. And It's more of a pewpew period, less graphic. Oh, and "do they have to do it in slow motion"... Yes. They do sadly. The games aren't always optimised and large battles are a bit laggy. When playing around to create cool scenes in solo battles, you slow the game down to smoothe it out x) As for animals used in War... I get you. But, intresting thing, those animals are bred and trained for war. They have extra vicious personalities. A nasty war horse is as much a soldier as it's rider. If it makes you feel better? x) Great open minded video loaded with refreshing curiosity, as always :)

[@archaeaoris900]

Exactly, war horse breeds were fearsome!

[@markwilliamson2864]

Alexander must have been a huge inspiration to his troops swinging away amongst them with his sword in the middle of the battle.

[@pwitney1]

A ford is a natural or man made shallow area through a river. To ford a river means to cross a river at the shallow point.

[@JapanMonAmourTheJapanHouse]

> Ancient Macedonia (Now modern day Greek Macedonia) WAS a Greek Kingdom on the north east of the Greek peninsula .Well at that time there was wasn't a a unified nation called Greece, but rather a collection of independent Greek city states and Kingdoms, However all these city states had a sense of Hellenism between them way before Philip united Greece. South of mount Olympus the Hellenic states were Democratic Republics or citizen states, However Macedonia, in the north of Greece - north of Mount Olympus was a Hellenic Kingdom that was ruled by a monarch and was feudal in its structure, a form of rule they retained from the Bronze age when Kings ruled Greece. The Greeks of the Democratic citizen states in the south looked down on the Macedonians as being backward and uncivilised because they retained this anachronistic form of rule and so considered them as being not really proper Greeks, this was nothing more than a mental attitude, whilst the Macedonians proclaimed proudly and insistently that they were Greeks.

[@logandance4644]

We have many remains and descriptions of what these ships looked like from Greece itself. And ship designs like this existed for hundreds of years before this. Knowledge of sailing was well known at this time, the type of ships relied on what resources they had, what purpose was the ship built, and the culture preference the design was based on.

[@davidjones332]

The main difference between modern warfare and the ancients is that, however organised they are before the battle, it is virtually impossible to control what happens once combat commences. Generals are expected to lead from the front, and, apart from trumpets, there is no way of signalling further instructions, it's just a case of hacking and stabbing until both sides are too physically exhausted to go on. Most casualties occur once one side breaks and runs as the pursuers can cut them down. In many cases the battle is won when an uncommitted reserve on one side or the other recognises a weak spot in the enemy line and charges without instructions from higher authority.

[@ArdensSedVirens1]

13:48 There was never a 'Greek empire', the Greeks were divided among themselves into city states and various colonies around the Mediterranean and Black Sea. What exactly the Macedonians were is, well, complicated. The Macedonians worshiped the Greek gods, had similar architecture, all of the elites spoke Attic Greek (the dialect of Greek spoken Attica, including Athens), the royal house claimed Greek ancestry, but the Macedonians also spoke either a dialect of Doric Greek or a language closely related to Greek, it is hard to tell for sure because we only have a few scraps of this language/dialect. We do know from ancient sources though, recorded by Quintus Curitius for example, that it does seem that Macedonian was intelligible to a degree to Greeks, but Macedonians would nevertheless often address them in Attic Greek instead of Macedonian. In the reverse, we see an example in Plutarch's Life of Eumenes, where Eumenes, a Greek general of the Macedonians, addresses the Macedonians 'in their Macedonian speech'. How the other Greeks viewed this is also complicated. Demosthenes believed that Alexander's father, Philip II, was a barbarian and not a Greek, whereas Isokrates asserts that Phillip II was descended from Greeks (and thus shouldn't wage war against his fellow Greeks). So, even in ancient times what the Macedonians were was debated. I think the simplest way to put it though, is the Macedonians were within the Greek cultural sphere, but were also at the crossroads of Thrace and Illyria (both considered barbarian peoples), so they had a lot in common with the Greeks in terms of religion, the elites promoted Greek culture, but also had certain practices and customs among themselves that made the other Greeks think of them as uncouth, barbarian, or in a weird in-between space of being not entirely Greek or fully barbarian.

[@Edrigangr]

"Πας μη Έλλην βάρβαρος" - An ancient saying, using modern day Greek. You need not go very further from it to gain some form of understanding as to why things were considered this way. I'm going to do something that is anathemae to History, that is using a modern day term to explain past civilizations. The term is "cultural appropriation". But bear with me, I'll try to make it make sense. Ancient Athens was in it's pinnacle during those times, Sparta as well, so were a lot of other city states like Korinthos, Argos etc. Amazing monuments were being built, Mathematics, Philosophy, Navigation, Theater etc etc - Everything was carried forward and there should be no surprise that 5th century was dubbed the "Golden Age of Pericles". Democracy was birthed during that age. Now, imagine your neighbors looking at it and saying "I wanna be part of that, I wanna contribute to it". It was all part of the politics and status quo of that age. When Athens needed help from its' far away colonies/settlements , suddenly they were "Hellenes" or "Greeks" so they should assist. When others requested assistance from Athens (or other city-states) suddenly you were a barbarian (unless direct monetary/trade/political interests were involved). In a sense, it was the ancient way of people saying "Oh, you want to be part of US now, you better prove it through your culture/way of life". Call it "ancient pride" or "heritage pride" if you will, you'll be on point. I'm not sure about the proper words or vocabulary in English. Everybody wanted to be like the Athenians. And Athens' last bastion was : "Were you born within our walls? If no, then you're not one of us." This also applied to other, equally "prideful" (use a more appropriate word if you have one) city-states, like Sparta. Now, apply this way of thinking more "globally" - unless there's an outside threat imminent. Then suddenly, we got a common enemy on "our" borders, so we're all in the same boat. There's no merit in arguing "Ancient Macedonia wasn't Greek" , as the term "Greek" has taken on different meanings though out the ages, and there was no "Greece" as a country we know now. Its like arguing "Ancient Romans were not Italians". I agree with you with the cultural statement, it's how I view it as well. If, when you were born, you were taught X language, worshiped X gods, lived in X buildings, had X tutors, dressed like X, behaved like X, ate and breathed X - then you're X (where X can be Egyptian, Hellenic, Roman, Maya, Inkas etc etc) regardless if your name is "Alexander" or "Cleopatra" and you were destined for greatness or "Ephialtes".

[@starman1144]

I will correct you by saying that there was never a United Greek Empire. The Macedonian Empire and the Diadochi were Greek Empires. Why they were Greek? Because they had a Greek aristocracy and had ancient Greek as their Official language of administration. That also the reason why the late Byzantine Empire was considered a Greek Empire. Now about if Macedonia was Greek or not I have to say that it was Greek. Same Gods, Same culture (with some regional differences), and a language that is considered by most historians as either dialect of Doric Greek or a different branch of Hellenic (either way Greek). And I don't think that we should take what same ancient Greek leaders believed about the Macedonians into consideration because of their political bias.

[@ArdensSedVirens1]

@@starman1144 You: "I will correct you by saying that there was never a United Greek Empire." Also you: "So anyway, here are a bunch of different Hellenistic Kingdoms, proving there was a united Greek empire." "That also the reason why the late Byzantine Empire was considered a Greek Empire." That, as well as Western bias and Greek nationalism, is why the Byzantines *today* are viewed as a Greek empire. They, obviously, did not conceive of themselves as being Greeks. The Byzantines conceived of their ethnos and sometimes their genos as being... Roman. "or a different branch of Hellenic (either way Greek)" no, that isn't what that means. If Macedonian is a different language, but very similar, that means it is a different subdivision of Hellenic distinct from Greek. I think you are misunderstanding what 'Hellenic' means as a name for a branch of Indo-European, because it doesn't mean 'either way Greek'. "And I don't think that we should take what same ancient Greek leaders believed about the Macedonians into consideration because of their political bias." It isn't just those mean, biased Athenians though. Macedonians would also sometimes see themselves as different from Greeks, or at least they certainly were not fond of the other Greeks, and other times would see themselves as also being Greeks. It depends on the context.

[@starman1144]

@@ArdensSedVirens1 1. There was Never a United Greek empire because none of them considered all of the Greeks. The Macedonians didn't control southern Italy which was majority Greek at the time. And the Diadochi were a divided Macedonian empire so neither did they control all of the Greeks. 2. I didn't say that the Byzantine Empire was Greek. I said that it's considered a Greek Empire. Byzantium is Roman nation with a majority Greek population. The people of the Byzantine Empire called themselves Romans because the word Hellenic (or Greek) was also the name of the pegan Olympian religion and because they were Christians didn't want to associate with that. Even modern Greeks called themselves Romans until they became independent from the Ottomans and re-adopt their old name that now wasn't associated with peganism. 3. I said that Macedonian either spoke the Doric or their own Macedonian Greek. When I said that I mean Dialects, not languages. Dialects are not languages. Also what is the name of the Greek language (Modern and Ancient) in Greek?? Is it maybe HELLENIC. 4. All ancient Greek states had a sense of superiority against other Greeks. Athenians called themselves first Athenians and second Greeks. That doesn't change that they were Greek.

[@ArdensSedVirens1]

@@starman1144 1. yes. i know. that is my point. lol. 2. ok 3. okay, so you're not going to admit you might not know what 'Hellenic' means in the context of it being a branch of Indo-European. lol. that also isn't what you said. 4. i want you to re-read what i said so you can then understand how this response doesn't make sense.

[@michael_177]

I think the groups of sling-shotters in ancient times are quite fascinating. I've also heard that sometimes the stones would be carved or shaped a certain way as to whistle in the air as they was flying towards their targets. Imagine that? Hundreds of wailing stones at high speed at once, must've been scary; and effective too, at that.

[@lm7_gio]

Phillip is a Greek name. It's a derivative of the Greek words philos (friend) and ippos (horse), so it literaly means "friend of horses". Alexandros (Alexander) is a derivative of the Greek words alexo (to defend against) and andras (man), and it literaly means "one who defends against many men", or you could consider it a synonym of the words "brave" and "defender". Macedonians were as Greek as the Spartans and the Athenians, they were just frowned upon. Just like southerners are frowned upon by the northerens in the USA who keep calling them rednecks etc. Modern day country of Northern Macedonia is completly different, it's inhabited by a Slavic population who just like to call them selves 'Macedonians" because it's glamorous. The only relation modern Northern Macedonia has to Ancient Macedonia is geographic cause it's lands were part of Ancient Macedonia. Nothing more, nothing less. And fyi, ancient Greeks considered Greeks everyone who spoke Greek and had Greek customs and upbringing. The word "Barbarian" literaly meant "one that speaks other laguage than Greek".

[@arroe8386]

ancient greek wasn't a nation. It was a collectiv of many small states (Poleis) that pretty much only united in war. I'm no historian, but as far as I know Macedonia was one of this Poleis and it was approximately where todays Thessaloniki is. But the Greeks also shared a similar culture, religion, language and as we probably all know the olympic games.

[@gelisgeo1309]

We must mention that names Alexander and Philip are English version of Greek names Alexandros and Phillipos. Alexandros: alex+ andras means repel the men. Phillipos : Phillos + ippos = friend of horse

[@charlesyanni5195]

Thank you very much again for creating these wonderful videos. In answer to your question about Greek shields: the images are in linseed-oil paint and represent good luck talismans to ward off evil (like Medusa's head), marks of the warrior's manhood (wild boar's head), or the livery of the wealthy family that the warrior is fighting for. For example, the royal livery of ancient Macedonia was the vergina star (a yellow star), the livery of Ptolemy was a red profile horse head on a yellow field. Regarding the Persian ship design, the Persians mostly used Canaanite ships. Greek ships were built with metal nails and Canaanite ships were built with wooden pegs which swelled when wet. One of them built the ribs first, then the wooden shell; the other build the shell first, then filled in the wooden ribs, although I can't remember which was which. But thank you very much for letting us play along. Really enjoying these! You totally rock!

[@moviebad109]

The game is Total War: Rome 2. Specifically the Alexander the Great Mod. The game is set in the Roman era, but this mod is set at the start of Alexander’s conquest of Persia.

[@jonathanwoodhouse1194]

A Ford is a crossing point in a river where it is shallow enough to reliably to allow a crossing. Some fords are seasonal, some more or less permanent. If you look through the map of England you'll see places like Ribbesford, Hereford, Wexford etc. So when you send someone to ford a river, it is to locate and cross in the shallows

[@maaderllin]

5:28 Actually, death rates for ancient battles were quite low and most of the killing happened either at the first shock between the two armies or, most likely, during a rout when one of the two armies finally breaks up and flee, the victorious army sending in cavalry to pursue them and kill the routing enemy. A losing army would have at most 20-30% of their men dying, while the death toll of the victorious army rarely exceeds 5%. So, the death would most likely occur not during the main part of the fighting, but when one of the two sides starts to flee. By comparison, warfare of the XXth century could see whole armies dead. And today, there is very few combat between two conventional armies. Most of the time, it's based on counter insurgency, and this means you NEVER know where the enemy is.

[@BerishStarr]

Bow and arrow originated in South Africa 70k years ago (circa), arriving in North America via Alaska ca. 6000 BC. Also, war in ancient times was brutal on a another level than modern times. What you refered to as two armies coming to a halt as they met, was a brutal hand to hand combat. With bodies pilling up by your feet, blood and body parts everywhere, it was far from "static". 😁

[@andrewclayton4181]

That river was fairly shallow, certainly at that time of year. A Ford is a place where a river is shallow enough to cross, either wading or on a cart. I live in a town on a river, called Hereford, which literally means army crossing point. Oxford, was where cattle would be driven across. To ford a river is also a verb. If the river is deeper, bridges are needed, and that presents more problems for armies crossing, as only limited numbers can be fed across at a time, that'll make the army vulnerable to attack.

[@gbendicion7052]

Game is Rome 2 Total War made by Creative Assembly under the Total War series. Lots of historical titles from that series.

[@innosanto]

Sparta was the inventor of the phalanx. Then there were different versions but the first invention was Spartan. And was a revolution on warfare.

[@damjankrstevski22]

For the complexity of the army when you compared with napoleon, well the reason (in my opinion) is that Napoleon's army was divided into corps, and also, armies of the old regime Europe (18-19 century) had fewer variations in units compared with the pre-gunpouder era. While the corps system was made in a way that every one of them an march and fight for a brief period independently, the macedonian army, being centered around its elite phalanx was created so it was one whole piece. You can't divide this formation into smaller units. You can send detachments of cavalrymen or skirmishers, but you can't divide this 20:30 formation into smaller equivalents. It was meant to fight as one big whole goliath. And that was only able by creating these complex formations around the phalanx so it can be protected from the sides, flanks and rear, being free to unleash it's full potential in the frontlines against the enemies. In short, the napoleonic era armies were organized so they can be divided and fight as small detchments; on the contrary, alexander's army was organized to fight as one whole formation, thus needing the complex organization you see.

[@admiralpaco507]

15:37 Sarissa's typically weighed about 13 pounds, with an iron point on one side and a bronze thick-spike on the other to balance it out.

[@CARLOS62B]

One of my favourite leaders of all time ... he really was very brutal in battle and these battles really were like hell on earth ... in a few books they mention men biting off noses and pulling out eyes with their bare hands while twisting a long spear in some poor mans back or head ... and they would often cut the horses legs off before reaching who was riding the poor horse ... not a happy place to be for anyone. Many of the ships were often three levels high and could carry up to 4000 men into battle plus the men who had the row the boats too ... those battle tactics were far more advanced than what I had been expecting.

[@admiralpaco507]

24:00 Cavalry were useful to have on the flanks as they were the most maneuverable units. On defense they could counter the enemy cavalry attacking you, on offense you could race around to the back of an enemy formation and attack them from behind.

[@stephensinclair3771]

The sarrissa was spiked at both ends. It was in two parts and was assembled before battle was due.

[@Joelwkemp]

It's so graphic! 🤔 That's warfare honey! 😎😁👍 Great reaction btw though, I admire your passion for history.

[@johnkatsaros7340]

The Macedonians were part of the Greek world just like the Athenians and Spartans. Not sure why everyone is so confused about who they were. You don't hear anyone confused about who the Spartans were. A country names itself Macedonia and all of a sudden everyone is confused.

[@sliceofheaven3026]

They had a pretty good selection of weapons available to them even back then but considering that cavalry was the main attacking force those long spears were handy in preventing a full frontal charge since most horses probably werent too keen to ride against a wall of spear tips. Bows had been around for quite a long time at that point since it wasnt only native americans who were originally hunter gatherers.

[@cumbrianBean]

You should check out more ancient and historical battles and campaigns. The lead up to agincourt is great as is the battles of 1066 in England

[@shanenolan8252]

Oh thanks I love this I hoped you would do it. Oh after part four there is a small epic history speech by Alexander ( the greatest ever speech ? )

[@williambranch4283]

Available in English and Greek, search for these separately

[@shanenolan8252]

@@williambranch4283 thanks William

[@mdgarciasa]

Fantastic choice!

[@haraldschuster3067]

"The river must have been really shallow ...". Yes, that's why it's called a ford. So important in ancient times that it often became part of the name of a settlement like in Hereford, Oxford ...

[@tvf1481]

Check out some of the battles in WW1, the pacific, Stalingrad etc and the Faikland’s War for modern hand to hand fighting

[@PeterDay81]

Just for a bit of fun.A cothon is an artificial, protected inner harbour such as that in Carthage during the Punic Wars ... This inner harbour was circular and surrounded by an outer ring of structures divided into a series of docking bays for ship maintenance, along with an ... Altogether the inner docking complex could house up to 220 ships.The first production line for ships shuch as the a trireme. There might be a connection with the Sami and the native american .The Sami are the descendants of nomadic people who had inhabited northern Scandinavia for thousands of years.And the the clovis people used the same flint arrow heads as the ones found in France from the last ice age. An ice bridge migration from Europe to America.

[@tighlun9746]

Please do a series on Alexander's generals and the world they created

[@Rackhark]

Where did you get that cup from? I would like to have one(:

[@SoGal_YT]

Don’t know; it’s really old. It’s a Thomas Kincade painting, so maybe search for Kincade mugs :)

[@Rackhark]

@@SoGal_YT I will try(: its really pretty

[@emperorofrome692]

Greece wasn't a unified country up until this point. Greek was a culture and a language that was spread among many smaller nations and islands. Macedonia was a Greek state but was looked down upon because it was a rural backwater. That's what he meant when he said that Macedonia was considered barely Greek.

[@Simon-hb9rf]

an interesting choice for the next series. modern warfare is all ranged combat, the rules and tactics for melee combat in the ancient world are completely different. also with regards to the boats, there are a number of sources but mostly we know the exact details of how they looked and how they were built because so many of them sank in shallows and were later dug up by archaeologists, a great deal of our modern knowledge of the ancient world comes from small coastal trading boats like these and the goods on board when they went down.

[@aidansmith6464]

Great! To be moving on to Alexander the great.I love the way you like military tactics,as a chess player myself-me too.Looking back in the pink after your illness.Fab x

[@TenaciousNiko]

It’s how there wasn’t an “Italian empire” there was a Roman Empire though. There was no Greek empire or state just many Greek kingdoms

[@krisa990]

Macedonia was basically part of the Greeks,but just as there were many city states with different cultures and traditions,Macedonia also had theirs.They are distinguishing them here to make it easier to differentiate who is where and doing what...

[@liamobrien4985]

Phalanx was general term used to describe a body of spearmen tightly packed together, the term is also used to describe Gallic tribes fighting by classical writers during Caesar's wars centuries later. Generally people refer to it either as the hoplite phalanx or the Macedonian/pike phalanx, the difference being the hoplites having smaller spears but larger shields and the Macedonian's using the Sarrisa/pike and they had smaller shields strap to one arm. I also think the term fording means either crossing at the shallow points and/or creating a ford/shallow point by blocking water further upstream, sending the cavalry through the river upstream of the phalanx would have slowed the river flow with thousands of horses crossing at once allowing the infantry to wade through the water more easily. I believe some armies used troops to build small barricades or earthworks at these natural fords for the same effect somtimes as well.

[@InquisitiveBaldMan]

They mainly found designs and pictures of these ships on pottery. They called them bireme or trireme literally meaning 2 or 3 banks of oarsmen.

[@crimsonfucker4167]

Greek and Macedonian at the time were basically the same people with a similar language (but latter having a different dialect to most Greek). Of course, the Greeks living in south such as Athens, Spartans, and Thebes, would call Macedonians as being barely Greek due to their different customs such as having a king pretty close to an absolute ruler while most Greek either no longer had a monarchy or in the case of Sparta had a duel monarchy which was kept in check by the assembly of elected citizens who could even put a king on trial. Oh and also for the practice of their king having multiple wives instead of just one as most Greek's (not counting the concubines of course).

[@iainmalcolm9583]

Later versions of the Phalanx included the 'Schiltron' as used by the Scottish against the English at the battle of Bannockburn. Other European countries had 'Pikes'. They lasted through to about 1700 when early firearms started to be employed on the battlefield.

[@xenotypos]

Not all the known world, a large part of it. He went to the edge of the known world in the east, but left the west, in which Carthage thrived (and even Rome started to do some stuff), alone.

[@donovanwray5974]

The word _"Ford"_ is any place along a river where you can wade across the river. Many place names end with ford.

[@alansmithee8831]

Hello SoGal and Roger. Some of the pictures are from Osprey books I used when painting Macedonian wargames figures and read to get an initial idea on tactics when I swapped from Napoleonic to play for my university. It is a shame you skipped Sparta and Athens as the Macedonian tactics were developed to beat their hoplite armies, which they did. The long spear became the Macedonian pike which stopped cavalry and drove trough infantry a bit like a French column. The companion cavalry were like cuirassiers and allied cavalry were like hussars. Archers, like Cretan mercenaries were like light infantry. There were artillery throwing stones or big bolts but this was more for sieges. Hope you enjoy learning this like I did. I was doing a science degree at the time so it made a nice change.

[@georgiosomythos6430]

6:52 the greek ship is the one with the paint eye in front.

[@asicdathens]

About the ships. There are vase depictions, we have the Bill of Materials for an ancient Greek trireme, and the dry docks these ships were made and maintained still exist.

[@FLORATOSOTHON]

Macedonians were also Greek just like Athenians and Spartans. Alexander I (not the great) also took part in the Olympic games, where participation was only allowed for Greeks.

[@KRYPTIA-mp4ol]

Macedonia was a separate Greek kingdom. Alexander was Macedonian and like all Macedonians, he was Greek. Like a texan is an American

[@antonymash9586]

Id say the clasical corinthian helmet. Fun fact; Alexander had abolished taxation. He kickstarted his campain on a loan from his nobles and intended to fund his empire on plunder. Denying him battle would have ruined him and macedon. Which would have been pronounced more like Mak-eh-don at the time.

[@wardafournello]

Aristotle was born in the city of Stagira in Macedonia, northern Greece. So even the tutor of Alexander ,Aristotle , was Macedonian i.e. Greek.