The Brutal Disaster Of 536 AD, That Changed The Course Of World History.

[@Maiorianus_Sebastian]

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[@Craftworld_patriot]

The VIth century is so criminally overlooked by mass culture and popular science

[@timothylee2772]

Instead of Gladiator 2, why can't Hollywood make a movie about Belisarius and Justinian.

[@bretrohde7300]

I 100% agree, the VIth century AD is my all-time favorite (I’m especially interested in the era “from Constantine to Charlemagne”), certainly for European history, but even worldwide, such a fascinating century. I just wish it were more smoothly spoken aloud - it’s a bit of a tongue-twister.

[@undergroundman4646]

There's a great novel by Robert Graves, "Count Belisarius". Allegedly it was popular among the US troops invading Italy in WWII.

[@track1949]

They'd have watch actual documentary channels like this one first.

[@stanleyrogouski]

Amazing they managed to finish Hagia Sophia in 536 and 537. They built a monument for the ages in the shadow of the apocalypse.

[@Hahahahaaahaahaa]

Forced labor isn't usually affected by the end of the world.

[@pl33]

Profound

[@elvolvasky69]

This ended the west roman empire unification for sure Poor justinian all for nothing His song is definitely in the end of linkin park

[@priatalat]

😂

[@michaelfisher7170]

Heraclius and Justinian. Two Roman emperors who beat the odds to preserve the Empire, only to have all they'd accomplished stripped away by intervening history.

[@agenthunk5070]

Or bad management... to hold territories, fixing walls and defenses to like new and adding the defences of this cities, and garrisons ,should only stay in cities while legions march.... Money, management and wise rulers could have kept the reconquered territories had they focused on what each region and its defences needed. And maintaining field professional legions. That, is why they lost territories.

[@PrivateSi]

Christianity and schism was already taking over, changing and dividing culture so much it would still have declined pretty rapidly. Islam would easily have finished it off.

[@ianweir3608]

Justinian was a demon. Read _The Secret History_ by Procopius.

[@johnschuh8616]

Opening the way to the creation of the vast Arab Empire held together mainly by a belief in a faith, one derived from sectarian Christianity and Judaism and Zoroasterism and most congenial to barbaric horsemen from the steppes and deserts.

[@catnhat1117]

Makes sense. When Mt.Pinautubo in the Phillipines was erupting in 1989-90 (if I remember correctly) particulate matter carried by the jet stream to the West coast of the US resulted in unusually cold winters, with freezing temperatures where they rarely occur, and crop failures during that time period.

[@kerneywilliams632]

Teotihuacan in Mexico also went into decline at this time. Also, the disparate settlers of Anglo-Saxon England went from small disparate communities of Germanic settlers to Proto-Kingdoms.

[@jansundvall2082]

In northern Scandinavia the death toll might have been between 50 and 60% and places which have had been populated since late Stone Age became depopulated during the “fimbulvinter”.

[@johnschuh8616]

The age of Arthur?

[@ale_s45]

It stopped the reconstruction of the Empire but it could have started again in the 600s, The Eastern Roman Empire was still much richer and powerful than the western reigns and it remained so for centuries before slowly consuming itself having to face Invasions from Avars, Slavs and most importantly Arabs and later Turks. The loss of Egypt and middle east was probably what deprived the Empire of the biggest chunk of tax revenue and control of the Mediterranean

[@c.coleman2979]

Irish Tree-Ring Climatologist Prof. Bailey dismisses the Icelandic volcano as the cause and argues for a series of Earth-grazing comets starting in AD 536. A New World archaeologist has argued that it was caused by a super-volcano explosion in Central America and found C-14 evidence to back it up. However, it's not an either/or kind of issue. Near earth comets and asteroids can, due to their strong gravitational pull, can not only cause the atmosphere to become dulled for years but also set off earthquakes and volcano eruptions. One thing is sure: the AD 536 Event was a major environmental and ecological catastrophe which brought an end to the Classical World and set off the Dark Ages.

[@zimriel]

*baillie

[@Novusod]

The Volcano theory is of course just a theory and there isn't a whole lot of proof that anything erupted in Iceland in AD 536. There is also the possibility that the sun itself may have dimmed based on what people witnessed. The sun was not as bright in those years according to what people witnessed and what was written down.

[@OlympusKnight]

I agree that the Roman Empire probably wouldn't have fallen. This was their true nail in the coffin.

[@augustcanyon3438]

The true Roman Empire had already fallen long before this event; it was all christian-marxist multicultural dystopia at this time.

[@johnschuh8616]

Actually the Empire was reconstituted by the Ottoman Turks. but on the basis of an Islamic fundamentalism developed during the middle ages.

[@arassadeghi3998]

if this crisis didnt happen, it could also not only have prevented the fall of rome, but also it could also have prevented the fall of the Sasanids to the muslims.

[@ronb7189]

If Maurice was not deposed, then the 26 year gruelling slugfest between the 2 Empires would not have occurred and the 2 Empires would have been in far better shape to face the new Islamic armies. However, we would never had gotten the story of Heraclius who was dealt with a bankrupted Empire, the lost of much of the Balkans to the Avars, Syria, the Levant and Egypt lost to the Sassanians, Anatolia constantly ravaged by the armies of Shahin for close to a decade and the Empire arguably facing their greatest adversary since Hannibal in the Mihranid Shahrbaraz. Heraclius with the last Roman army would go on an epic 6 year campaign, and with both diplomacy and his armies, he would topple Khosrow and destabilize the entire Sassanian regime, isolate Shahrbaraz from his Persian allies who still controlled Egypt (and perhaps the Levant as well), finally enact revenge on Shahin by inflicting a devastating defeat on him that would lead to demise of the great Persian general and force the new Shah to pay war indemnity and evacuate Persian troops from Syria and previously controlled Byzantine territories in Mesopotamia. Had it not been for the rise of Islam, Heraclius would have been the 2nd Aurelian, I would even argue that the situation he found himself in after the lost of Egypt was a lot tougher than any point in Aurelian's reign. His use of diplomacy and propaganda to not only prevent any usurpation after constant defeats and lost of territory during the first decade of his reign but actually convince both the nobles and Church to unite under him and give him their full support is actually astonishing, if only the late Western Roman Emperors had that Heraclian charisma.

[@SpaceReptilioid]

Fall of Rome had already occurred, in 476, not in 536 or after it.

[@arassadeghi3998]

@@ronb7189 wow, this is intresting to know! feel free to tell me more about heraclius, because I am a history nerd as well and would apricheate it to learn more.

[@B88-h6n]

And it is not far-fetched to think that the memory of an event like this caused directly or indirectly the rise of a new faith.

[@RTXti-ez6ye]

Fall of rome which was under byzantine control ​@@SpaceReptilioid

[@jamesgrey1227]

I remember seeing a documentary on this topic about 30 years ago. They claimed then, that the source of the catastrophe was Krakatoa, a volcano between the islands of Java and Sumatra. Maybe new evidence has come to light since it was made.

[@zimriel]

They were looking at Ilopango in El Salvador for a moment but then that got redated to the 400s

[@bohemianwriter1]

Old Norse legends spoke of this winter as "Fimbulwinter"

[@paulcapaccio9905]

The evocative condition of ancient Rone in the 6th and 7nth centuries would have been poetic to the human mind and sight ! The Circus Maximus would still be there but in such a broken state that it would look so haunted of centuries past. The palaces of the Caesars over looking it would have been an eerie sight well past its prime splendor when the earlier emperors inhabited them. So haunting and evocative. More information of the gradual decay if the city should be published. We need to experience the emptiness of the center of the known world.

[@30035XD]

"Conquered unlawfully" I don't think you understand the word "Conquered" mate.

[@Foster-hm2sh]

Brilliant! Simply brilliant work!

[@TransVangal]

This is tragic 😢

[@EdwardM-t8p]

The Roman Year without a Summer 😢

[@vitorpereira9515]

This climatic event changed not only Rome but the world. A book written by David Keys speculates that the climate changes contributed to various developments, such as the emergence of the Plague of Justinian (541-549), the decline of the Avars, the migration of Mongol tribes towards the west, the end of the Sasanian Empire, the collapse of the Gupta Empire, the rise of Islam, the expansion of Turkic tribes, and the fall of Teotihuacan. In 2000, the 3BM Television production (for WNET and Channel Four) capitalized upon Keys' book. The documentary, under the name Catastrophe! How the World Changed, was broadcast in the US as part of PBS's Secrets of the Dead series. Rome was shaken but survived and this is a testament to the resilience of the Empire and its people.

[@js70371]

Slava Rossiya 🇷🇺🙏

[@palacehaunter5442]

Fun fact. Byzantium lost its romaness once Justimian came to power. 4th and 5th Century saw major pagan persecution in the east and the cultural nature of Rome was forever gone in the West.

[@DeanStephen]

The event in question is now thought to have been the result of one of the many super-violent explosions of Krakatoa.

[@Sandouras]

8:27 "I have a particular set of skills. I will found you and i will build the Hagia Sophia with you!".

[@Ηράκλειος-μ2μ]

u got some really nice videos man. u should try to make some late byzantine history stuff i would really love to see those

[@piotrwojdelko1150]

I don't agree but .From my point of view Eastern Europe was always tracking constant wars .Big empires derived from little bit from isolation like the UK Japan .or Western European civilisation .To be able to continue Byzantine empire they could have tried to assimilate Turkish society by building infrastructure fortress other big cities not only Constantinople. Eastern Church has lost dominance because they haven't had space for expansion from east you had constant treat from wild tribes and Genghis Khan. As a Pole I would say that Constantinople had fought for having influences there ,however Poles decided to accept suzerainty of the Roman Empire and Latin alphabet .Ukraine was devastated by Genghis Khan .Byzantium empire could conquer north and expand to Crimea .Civilisation can from from a tiny isolation like Italian peninsula,surrounded by waters.Eastern peoples deliberately isolated Poland from the Byzantine world

[@ronb7189]

10:18 The estimation of 341k soldiers prior to the plague may have been an exaggeration, as it assumes AHM Jones estimation of 195k Limitanei troops was accurate but Jones himself said that estimating the size of the Limitanei during this era is quite difficult, other estimations supported by archeological evidence gives a drastically lower size for the limitanei troops, around 2-5 times lower compare to Jones initial estimates. -That estimation also assumes Justinian have managed to increase the size of the Comitatenses units from 100k to 150k soldiers when he created the Army of Italy, Army Armenia and Army of North Africa prior to the plague, however recent studies by the premier Byzantine historian today, Anthony Kaldellis, reveals that Justinian actually did not do a massive recruitment program prior to the plague rather, he dismantled the 2 praesental armies (20k men ea) which acted as a reserve force for the Empire, typically being deployed in troubled frontiers and used that to officially create a new army of Armenia in the Eastern front while Bellisarius the Magister militum of the East took a chunk of the Eastern troops and the Praesentals to North Africa, and later on, more Praesental units would be further deployed to the West as the wars went on. -After the chad, elderly Eunuch Narses campaign in Italy when he crushed the resurgent Ostrogoths (who undid much of Belisarius work under the competent general Totila) along with their Frankish and Alanic mercs, the Praesentals would just disappear from contemporary sources all together.However the title of magister militum praesentalis was still used as an honorary court title a practice the Emperor have already done even during the reign of Zeno when he bestowed Theodoric the Great with that title in order to justify the hefty payment he was giving him so he would direct the Ostrogoths living within the the Empire's Balkan province at the time to behave and serve the Empire.

[@pher38]

Majorianus, you must do a review of gladiator 2! This might be a good time for your channel

[@johnschuh8616]

Yet so little about this appears in our world history books. Thus Gibbon can spout his personal about the negative effects of Christianity, projecting really his own personal experiences.

[@elitepctech]

I heard it was a volcano around Indonesia, probably around where Krakatoa erupted in 1815.

[@ronginther1986]

Long overdue an analysis. Excellent presentation of genuine climatic change not the hoaxes promoted today. Thanks

[@aaronkurz864]

Belarius the gigachad.

[@walterfijn3586]

WAAAAAAAA!!!!! The Dark Ages was REAL!

[@paulgaskins7713]

1:58 holy hell. Never knew mairorianus is a gray haired daddy. And that black peppered through, like a reverse rogaine ad. No homo; my guy just has great hair

[@frank-y8n]

And perhaps the empire would have reestablished power over the bishop of Rome and Roman Catholicism would not now exit?

[@JBF-g1w]

While Europe got dried and and cold, the Hadley circulation might have simply stopped, and the Arabian peninsula could enjoy more moisture With more water, the landscape got greener around the Mekka. Better crops allowed a growth in the Arabian population and stronger forces against the surrounding empires

[@jamesparker4471]

Also technology may have progressed much faster ,who knows I can see Roman legions in space kicking but in Andromeda . .

[@davidbuchanan5232]

14:51 "maturing the corn" Wasn't corn introduced to the European continent after Columbus returned from the Americas back to Spain in the late 1400s?

[@matthewneuendorf5763]

Corn historically is a generic term for any grain. Maize is the specific plant to which we usually refer when we say corn today.

[@fiddleback1568]

​@matthewneuendorf5763 Beat Me to it.

[@andywomack3414]

Informative video, well done. I like alternate history. How certain is the hypothesis, famine = weakened immune systems = plague? I think the evidence that volcanic eruptions caused abrupt cooling of Northern Hemisphere leading to famine is convincing. I skied during the El Chicon and Pinatubo volcanic winters, SO2 being the climate change culprit.

[@CharlesOberonn]

Where did you get the factoid of the eruptions being "likely from Iceland"? According to Wikipedia the most likely culprit(s) were a series of eruptions from the western coast of North America. I think a North American origin would best explain the lack of documentation we have of the eruptions themselves, since the people who lived there at the time had no written record, and any oral memory would've been wiped out following contact with Europeans.

[@davidhughes8357]

Thank you as always my friend. LONG LIVE THE GLORY AND MIGHT OF ROME!!!!!

[@arianebarnes]

Another video on this topic points to an Indonesian volcano, probably Krakatoa being the culprit. With the fall of Teotihuacan also happening around this time, this was a world wide event. We are seeing how Covid-19 is still changing the world as around the world, people in charge during Covid whether left or right wing, are getting tossed out of their power.

[@justinhoward5556]

This is the Phoenix event, next one 2040

[@ixlnxs]

I am beginning to love your channel so much I find myself not skipping the commercials as with other channels. You manage to make videos where the voice-over is even more attention-grabbing than the visuals. This video in particular is pure poetry.

[@el_chico1313]

some guy onhistory of byzantium used exaclty this event to explain why the eastern rome failed and why the islamic caliphate rose meteorically since this was an entire society living in huts and deurbanized regions

[@tml721]

the Volcano was in Indonesia, not Iceland

[@teslaoliveira2195]

Super!

[@SPQRTejano]

Martin Padway saved the day in Lest darkness falls

[@nealwickham2865]

The cities, especially in the West, were largely depopulated by the end of the 3rd century. Once pathogens like Smallpox, Measles, Malaria, and Typhus had been introduced into the Mediterranean, they didn't leave. There were pandemics or "plagues" when these pathogens first entered the population but the pathogens continued to kill, at a lower rate, after the "plagues" ended. They were spread in the cities at the amphitheaters, theaters, public fountains, public baths, and markets. Over time, the urban West depopulated. People in rural settings fared much better. The documentary sources for the Justinian Plague, only indicate high death rates in the cities of the East and is silent on effects in the West. It may have been that the effects in the West were comparatively small due the lack of urban life in 541 AD. The East recovered and the West continued its decline. Why is the question. The West may have recovered their population but that recovered population included many German Barbarians controlling the society in place of Roman aristocracy and Roman government. The barbarian replacements were not so urbanized and drank ale made with boiled water, did not use public baths, did not attend the shows, etc.

[@JonathanBresnihan77]

The worst year in history. Led to global famine, plague and the utter decimation of the Eastern Roman Empire.

[@denisehorner8448]

Great video! 😊

[@MikeHunt-fo3ow]

you have a cool hair cut sir

[@Nom_AnorVSJedi]

Did the acronym ‘SPQR’ still mean anything for the Romans of the Late Empire? If yes, what did it mean to them?

[@RemusKingOfRome]

Rely on one food type and pay the price.

[@liberatumtaiwanae3580]

Love from Taipei. I'm starting to wonder if Justinian's later paranoia and subsequent removal of Belisarius from post of command a result of catching the plague. Covid been proven hurt certain brain parts more, maybe cognitive functions too, so the Emperor Justinian would feel less secure than ever as he lost grasp of reality on a daily basis. Any record of Justinian life routine change?

[@hiskakun2276]

It seems it was Theodora’s influence. When Justinian was sick for the plague, there were rumours and talks about succession if the emperor would die. It seems some people were pointing Belisarius (even though he would be loyal to Justinian till the end), and Theodora, hearing the rumours was suspicious of him, that influenced his husband. Btw, I’m going to Taiwan next month.

[@android65mar]

Volcaninc winter?

[@almartin4]

There is a site ( Archaix ) that says the catastrophes occur every 140 years going back to BC The most recent was in 1903. Annunaki and Nemesis kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZWVk5uhnrelgtk Nemesis and Phoenix kzbin.info/www/bejne/aZWVk5uhnrelgtk Comet hit Britain and Brazil (562 AD) kzbin.info/www/bejne/gZjCc6mKa6Z8Z5o kzbin.info/www/bejne/nIu0fKOprpeCna8 Regards

[@geordiejones5618]

It's easy to see why the cultural heritage of the early Caliphates have only ever been pushed back in Spain, and spread into both Asia and Africa. The Arab Muslims exploded onto the scene after a century of increasingly destructive conflict between the Romans and Persians that seemed to be judge by God himself given the crop failures and disease. The frontiers of the Romans and the entirety of the Persian realm all fell so easily because it didn't seem like God favored them, and that would have been simple enough for everyone across Afro-Eurasia to understand.

[@Sassari2930]

AD 536...

[@BrendanRiley]

You should make a video on Romans and UFO encounters and in Antiquity.

[@js70371]

I wonder what path the Carthaginians would have taken in their dealings with the Germanic tribes had they not been destroyed by the Romans. I like to believe they would have maintained a mainly peaceful and prosperous relationship with them.

[@anthonymichaelwilson8401]

The collapse of the Roman Empire

[@Lilguy1066]

Sources? Thank you

[@IsengardMordor]

There are plenty of sources you can look it up on google, these including period sources translated into english

[@Maiorianus_Sebastian]

I normally don't use Wikipedia that much because they're unreliable, but they at least have a pretty good collection of sources for 536 AD: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanic_winter_of_536

[@SvetlanaTsoiKR]

The most important thing, if the Roman Empire had not collapsed, is that the Russian Empire would not have been formed, and the world would have been much better off without it. Russia would have remained a Tsardom of Moscow on the margins of civilization in a subordinate position.

[@TomSeliman99]

Nobody cares about your Russia seething, butt hurt belter You losers can't go two seconds without talking about Russia

[@SvetlanaTsoiKR]

@@TomSeliman99 I am not from Russia. I am from Korea.

[@TomSeliman99]

@@SvetlanaTsoiKR I didn't say you were Russian. Saying to stop talking about Russia

[@SvetlanaTsoiKR]

@@TomSeliman99 What else can I do? Aren't you taking on too much, huh?! Russia is a voluntary disciple of the Eastern Roman Empire and, in fact, even a legal successor, whether someone likes it or not, but it is so. But personally, I believe that the Russians failed to fulfill their role and brought more negativity than positivity to the world. The world would be better without the Russian Empire. If Eastern Rome had not collapsed, Moscow would not have received a powerful ideological stimulus in the role of the only stronghold of Orthodox Christianity and would not have formed into an empire. But perhaps, as the disciple, so was the teacher? Eastern Rome is not "Rome" after all.

[@henkstersmacro-world]

👍👍👍

[@user-pp4lx3bt1o]

💙

[@JenniferAllen-o4m]

Thanks for sharing such valuable information! Could you help me with something unrelated: My OKX wallet holds some USDT, and I have the seed phrase. (alarm fetch churn bridge exercise tape speak race clerk couch crater letter). What's the best way to send them to Binance?

[@prosto_potomuwto]

This completly disproves the existence of middle ages. Then they tried to add "high middle ages". But the span of each is inverted. Deboonked again.

[@xanshen9011]

This event was nothing less then divine intervention. The timing was just too convenient, why during the reign of Justinian and not before or after?

[@elitepctech]

God doesn't exist and if he does, he is a malevolent SOB.

[@WorthlessWinner]

GigaCUCK Belesarius (going by Procopius)

[@PoetofHateSpeech]

Lol Rome conquered those lands unlawfully as well

[@maciejpomianowski8390]

Yes. But the time from roman conquest of Gaul to 536 is almost 600 years. That is 3 times as much as USA exist or 1/3rd more as the time distance to first colonies in modern US territory. In fact there is more time between Caesar and Justinian than between today and Columbus.

[@PoetofHateSpeech]

@maciejpomianowski8390 What's that got to do with the price of tea in China? You practically replied to me that the grass is green...your comment makes zero sense

[@maciejpomianowski8390]

@@PoetofHateSpeech Simple. The fact that Romans conquered Gaul against will of the people living there do not change the fact that 18 or so generations later people living there were Romans, so Franks invading and conquering the area were there against the will of the people, and as such, unlawful. If there was some remnant Gallic kingdom reclaiming the land we could, maybe, somewhat, call that "taking the land back", but Franks were outsiders, culturally different peoples.

[@PoetofHateSpeech]

@maciejpomianowski8390 lol It was still an illegal invasion when the Romans did. Stop simping for them

[@alaricboyle-poirier6931]

The ASS PQR shop

[@grampajim1595]

This reminds me of the catastrophic plague of 1315, which weakened the European population and foreshadowed the Black Death in the 1340s ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_of_1315

[@bohemianwriter1]

Consider the eruption Mother Earths way of saying "you're screwed up enough for this time, so I'll destroy you completely".

[@bohemianwriter1]

If you ask me, Rome met its own end by Karma... What goes around, comes around... When your entire ideology is expansion at the expence of others, it will eventually come back to bite you in your back side.