The Most Complex Roman Tactic Ever Executed | Battle of Ilipa 206 BC

[@giangargo669]

we are on the verge of AI replacing art and youtubers and here i stumble on a video where the host does something so simple yet outstanding, printing pieces of paper and using his hands to explain in high quality some cool history, thank you for the video and best of luck!

[@battlefieldgenius]

Oh man you're far too kind! Glad you enjoyed it and thank you for taking the time to let me know!

[@technovikingnik]

@@battlefieldgenius You are legend, I am so glad I have found your channel. Your job is outstanding :)

[@battlefieldgenius]

@@technovikingnik I'm glad you found it too my friend! Thank you

[@netdragon256]

That was dumb that Rome's traditional formation put best soldiers in the middle because you could get out flanked and surrounded. They must have been used to having the numerical advantage. or otherwise maybe their enemies always did the same thing.

[@ai-aniverse]

ai isnt replacing this. calm down.

[@SsEe-c2f]

And also he may have taken these formations from hannibal barca because he was one of the survivors of canae

[@battlefieldgenius]

Yeah i'm sure his experience at that battle shaped him a lot

[@steveclapper5424]

I was thinking the same thing he had a great teacher.

[@chrishoff402]

The way I heard it, Scipio and his men were an accumulation of survivors of Rome's defeats against Hannibal. Men who had gone against the tradition of dying with their commanders and not retreating, made outcasts for it. Even after Scipio defeated Hannibal and saved Rome he wasn't allowed to live in his home city.

[@xallstatex2910]

​@@chrishoff402 Wow. I wasn't aware of those details, at all (which surprises me, bc I'm a huge fan of ancient and medieval history - and famous battles, their backgrounds and contexts, and the deeper underlying reasons for the opposing sides doing the things that they did in the heat of the moment, as well as decisions made before and following the engagements)... Thank you for your contribution. 😊

[@chrishoff402]

@@xallstatex2910 After Hannibal offered treaty terms to the Romans for a peace deal, the Romans made it unlawful to utter the word peace. Scipio was really going against the grain of Roman thinking when it came to flexibility. That was probably why his opponents were so transfixed by his tactics at Ipila, they'd never seen Romans do anything so out of character before.

[@Warmaker01]

Ilipa was Scipio's masterpiece. I love that you acknowledged the prior history of the Oblique Order. I knew right off the the top of my head the Thebans successfully did the Oblique against the Spartans. Also, fancy maneuvers on a battlefield require disciplined and trained troops. Scipio had sharpened his army with experience in training. When Hannibal did his brilliant tactics at Cannae, his army was well honed and led. On the flip side of inexperience and lack of training, the much larger Roman army at Cannae was arranged in a massive block. There wasn't much faith in the morale and training of the newly raised Roman army, hence the overly simple battle formation and tactics of simply pushing right up the middle to try to break the Carthaginian army. Hannibal expected this and made the Romans pay dearly. There's also cases in Carthage's own civil war after the First Punic War where Carthage had fresh, newly raised armies quickly sent to battle and were annihilated against their former comrades who were veterans of the First Punic War. While the Roman armies at the time weren't as proficient as the professionalized ones that came later, with enough campaign experience they were just as good. By the time Scipio's army fought at Ilipa, he had been in command and campaigned in Spain for 3 years. He assaulted and took Carthago Nova in 209 BC, and beat Hasdrubal Barca's army in 208 BC as he was trying to move to Italy to reinforce his brother, Hannibal. Hasdrubal lost 2/3 of his 40,000 strong army. In preparation for the final, decisive North African Campaign for the Second Punic War, Scipio gathered his army in Sicily for training. He even brought in the shamed survivors from the disaster of Cannae to be part of his army. Train your men!

[@battlefieldgenius]

Well said my friend. The difference a well trained army makes is incredible. The Prussian (well maybe not the ones who faced Napoleon) are also a fantastic example of this

[@kettelbe]

​​​@@battlefieldgenius but even napoleon. It shows before and after 1812 russia. Or at 1815 waterloo :( or 1814 marie-louise conscripts

[@DarklordZagarna]

Oblique attacks are an eternal tactic, right up through the German advance through Belgium in early World War I and even the American assault on Saddam Hussein's army in the First Gulf War. Why? Cause they work!

[@battlefieldgenius]

@@kettelbe Actually true! Perhaps i should've been more specific and say the Prussians of 1806. Their reforms after the war of the 4th coalition set them straight

[@julianpetkov8320]

Where can I meet at least one member of the "Phoenician" or the "Roman" ethnic groups? The Fantasy Narrative is divorced from reality. Re-branding the Greek Diaspora as "Phoenician" and "Roman" Empires is a thinly veiled fraud.

[@WillnichtRein]

This in it's simplicity is one of the by far best ways to show history. Thank you very much for that kind of visualization.

[@battlefieldgenius]

I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thank you very much for letting me know!

[@Hugebull]

Thank you for using BC and AD. That alone, at this point in time, is enough for me to subscribe. Oh, yea, and the content itself, of course.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Haha i'll take it, thank you!

[@noxplay4906]

Only absolute chads use BC and AD. Praise the Lord.

[@konsyjes]

the organic unevennessof these formations placed by hand feels more natural and authentic than most computer simulations

[@Taima]

Kinda killed me that he didn't straighten some of them out a little (like the Roman right flank)

[@RogerTheil]

Honestly, the slight unnevenness, the adjusting while explaining, the top-down view, it made me feel like someone was demonstrating all of this right in front of me and kept me fully engaged the whole time.

[@infinitejinpachi]

Was befuddled, bewildered, and bamboozled that there was a high quality history channel I wasn't already subbed to Hope you keep putting out more stuff like this Would be particularly interested in battles involving irregular forces (guerillas, partisans, paramilitary, etc)

[@battlefieldgenius]

Oh man you've put a big smile on my face! Thank you my friend. I have wanted to do some stuff on guerilla warfare, probably not any time soon but definitely at some point.

[@phemstros]

Likewise! I subbed after title + thumbnail.

[@battlefieldgenius]

@@phemstros Thank you!

[@ZeroG]

Yes and you are obviously the second coming of former Portland Trailblazers radio announcer, Brian "Wheels" Wheeler RIP. He always said those three word alliteration phrases hehe kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJC9Z3adi7CCh7ssi=Rwt47G3cx5bPK5Jj kzbin.info/www/bejne/pHrQcpWIZ9akpc0

[@syjiang]

Arguably, Sertorius ought to earn a spot on your Titan sheet. The man Romanized iberia while fighting Sulla-controlled Rome.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Yeah i might have to expand it. Someone pointed out Flaminius and Metellus deserve a spot too

[@Yozhk]

Plutarch too… as the great storyteller…

[@alansand1436]

Swetionius told that Caesar drank very little wine and therefore he was the only man among his Roman colleagues from the Senate who managed to overthrow the republic still being sober

[@battlefieldgenius]

Very interesting, i'd never heard that about Caesar before!

[@richardsims1805]

A very understandable explanation of the Corinthian and Roman orders of battle. Very well done and easily understood.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Happy to hear that Richard, thank you for taking the time to tell me!

[@SegzWithTedCruz]

This channel is criminally under subscribed. Will share to all of my military nerd friends, please keep this format it is so good and straight forward and channels focusing on the nitty gritty of military tactics is so rare on here

[@battlefieldgenius]

Man i love getting comments like this! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know!

[@jarehelt]

Glad you're still at it mate. You're videos are improving. Keep em coming I can't get enough. 👍

[@battlefieldgenius]

Oh man i always try to get a little better with each one, so thank you for saying so my friend!

[@thelazyfishkeeper2730]

doing it old school. a nice touch. i have 2 points to make. on the day of battle the roman battle line was already set before sunrise. the raid on the enemy camp was to force them to get into battle formation and be unable to make any changes. you also made the remark that scipio did not have a professional army. he spent a year training before he took his army into the field. and had already seen combat before llipa. you did a fine job recounting the battle, and explaining battle tactics used at the time. will check out some of your other videos. stay well

[@battlefieldgenius]

You make some excellent points my friend! Thank you for the kind words

[@ZeroG]

I majored in Classics and your battle videos are better than any breakdown I got in college from Harvard/Chicago/Stanford/Oxford trained profs. That being said, the imperial period is Augustus and forwards. Julias Caesar and Sulla are late republic.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks for telling me ZeroG! Your comment made me grin from ear to ear haha! Yeah i think i'll end up keeping Caesar on the republican side.

[@erdincdalaran6478]

Halfway in -> subscribed and smashed the bell button !

[@battlefieldgenius]

Love to hear that! Thank you

[@tylermorrison420]

Hey man you do a extremely great job at breaking this topic down. I will be subscribing, turning on notifications and hoping that you keep producing content like this. Thank you

[@battlefieldgenius]

Tyler my guy thanks for letting me know!

[@tylermorrison420]

@@battlefieldgenius I've been watching your older vids, absolute goldmine

[@1BasedAmerican]

Thank you!! I remember the first time I heard this battle my jaw dropped. Such brilliance. It was amazing. Such an under rated battle.

[@battlefieldgenius]

You're welcome! Yep it's a little nutty how little Ilipa get talked about

[@Crazybushful]

I’ll be bingeing all of your videos. Awesome work, sir 🫡🙏

[@battlefieldgenius]

Love to hear it, thank you for the kind words!

[@BiggestCorvid]

Subscribed. Great content. Historia civilis will always be my favorite for getting me to engage deeply with Roman history, but your way of presenting the account and your sticker collection is pretty freakin cool.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thank you! Yeah Historia civilis makes some high quality stuff

[@mossyslopes]

@Battlefield Genius - With the eruption of Mount Vesuvius happening in 79 AD there is a possibly that in some as yet excavated corner of the city of Herculaneum, lies a dense charred roll of carbon awaiting decipher - The Autobiography of Publius Cornelius Scipio😁 New viewer - impressed by your knowledge & passion for the subject. Subbed👍 I quite like the low-tech approach too.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Haha thank you my friend! Can you imagine if we find it! I don't even think it's that crazy that we could. Maybe the Vatican has a copy in the archives and they just forgot

[@JosephKlacik]

​@@battlefieldgeniusThey did forget to mention the exoneration of the knights Templar....

[@zenitae9838]

I'm so glad to have discovered your channel! You explain things very well and I love your format of showing how the battles unfolded. Thank you for putting so much time and effort into making this content :)

[@battlefieldgenius]

Man you've put a huge smile on my face! I'm glad you enjoyed and am thankful you took the time to let me know!

[@phlogistanjones2722]

I *VERY* much enjoyed your use of actual, physical visual aids to demonstrate the concepts you were speaking of. It is *partially* the old grognard in me (I have been playing Napoleonics since the late 1970's) but I do often find the over-use of computer graphics means that the person teaching probably had to spend *more* time on constructing the visuals and may have had less time to concentrate on the teaching aspect. I am reminded of watching videos by test pilots and engineers who still primarily use their hands and small models on sticks to demonstrate flight maneuvers and formations. Oh and of *COURSE* I Liked That Smash Button and subbed. I had no idea another fine history channel had flown under my radar. Kudos and keep it up. Carthago Delenda Est! Peaceful Skies

[@Ironication]

New viewer here. I really like your analog style and the stickers are really fun. Thank you for making this cool educational video.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Love to hear that! Thanks for taking the time to let me know friend!

[@jalbertseabra2283]

A great, intelligent presantation. Thank you for this great video.

[@battlefieldgenius]

And thanks for letting me know!

[@beejls]

Very much enjoyed your video and your way of illustrating the battle. Clean and simple, knew exactly what you were talking about. Good vid.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thank you my friend! I appreciate the kind words

[@lyudmila2882]

Thanks so much for a fascinating and well done video on battlefield tactics, which have always interested me. Others I've seen I don't quite get. Now I'm off to some of your others.

[@Ettubrute-ij1st]

Scipio is a forgotten legend. He supposedly never lost a battle where he was in command He was at the battle of Cannae but others are in command. He was a very very young man when he was given the charge to go to Spain. Which I believe was his plan. Correct me on that im misremembering He knew how to motivate and some might say manipulate his uneducated and superstitious men. It appears that many in Rome were very jealous of him, and tried to stab him in the back through politics and Corruption allegations. He was the first if not, the only man to beat Hannibal. He did not sack and burn Carthage to the ground, much to the dismay of the Roman senate. He returned home and to triumphs, but the behavior of his fellow citizens, and senators to try and destroy him to tearhim down, made him basically leave rome and live at his mansion or plantation, whatever you wanna call it pretty much for the rest of his life. He refused to take an army into Persia and try to destroy the Persian empire despite apparently being asked to quite aggressively. He reminds me very much of George Washington. When given the chance for power and/or glory, he just didn’t seem to have any interest in it. He did what he had to do and when the time was right, he just walked away. He was able to check his ego And that is the mark of a great man, assuming we actually know the truth of the story I laugh when people talk about how great a general Hannibal was, considering that he sucked at siege warfare, and couldn’t figure out how to conquer Rome for nine years while he was on the Italian peninsula. Scipio might be the greatest General of all time for what he did, and for his self discipline and unwillingness to overreach, to achieve unsustainable victories. He seem aware of the empires limits or should I say the republics limits From what we know, he seems to be very much to be admired

[@battlefieldgenius]

Glad you enjoyed the video! Thanks for the kind words!!

[@battlefieldgenius]

Always glad when i run into someone who understands how underrated Scipio is. The man was so smart it's insane he doesn't get talked about more

[@lyudmila2882]

@@Ettubrute-ij1st I appreciate all this interesting additional information. If Scipio had been in command at Cannae, might he have spotted the trap Hannibal had set for them and stayed out of it? Ulysses S. Grant was another great general who checked his ego. We in the USA are SO fortunate to have had him and Washington as generals who saved the country as generals and as presidents, and not someone like Napoleon.

[@Lowlandlord]

@@battlefieldgenius I agree with everything except calling one of the most recognised generals in all of history underrated.

[@rnadome-rt7lj]

80% of Rome's territory at its height was acquired by the Republic. Simply put, the Republic was able to crank out individuals such as Scipios, Sullas, Pompeos, Ceasars, while the Empire cranked out individuals such as Caligulas and Neros. The empire was simply living off the glory of the Republic. Sure you had victories here and there but they were minor in comparison to the victories in conquest of the Republic. Edit - Vespasian was the exception.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Vespasian is such an interesting character

[@obsidianjane4413]

Ah no. Rome reached its maximum extent and power as an Empire. Many of its great monuments were built by Emperors and the society itself was not any worse as an empire, its still relied upon conquest and slavery as it did as a republic. There were plenty of bad generals and politicians then too.

[@xxOmponxx]

imo a republican system rewards merit while an autocratic system rewards loyalty.

[@massimob4588]

The Republic lasted 482 years, the empire 1480 years. Along with the empires of China and Japan the Roman Empire is one of the human political entities that lasted longer, thus influencing a lot more human lives.

[@blue-pi2kt]

I think it's kind of cheating to suggest it was "acquired" as the Republic because the Gallic territories, most of Spain and Arabia were technically acquired by the Republic when they were barely more than allies who paid taxes whilst the Empire consolidated this land into Roman territories.

[@callumc5586]

Fantastic video, explanation, and I love how you show the books used! Thanks for sharing this video.

[@battlefieldgenius]

And thank you for letting me know Callum! Glad you enjoyed it

[@shuruyoshi]

This Channel is something we dont deserve but really Need

[@battlefieldgenius]

Far too kind my friend, thank you!

[@Blaster53]

I accidentally found your channel, and now I'm hooked. Excellent presentation, thanks a lot for that.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Haha glad you did! Thank you for the kind words!!

[@conovan5081]

Incredibly good content. Earned a sub for sure

[@battlefieldgenius]

Ayy thank you so much!

[@johnmarston2616]

Great video dude, you deserve more views

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks Johnny, i appreciate you letting me know!

[@ptonpc]

Very well explained and I like the style. Subscribed.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thank you my friend, glad you enjoyed it!

[@VT-le7xp]

love the content, love the old school presentation even more!! Thank you! Subscribed!

[@battlefieldgenius]

Ayy glad you liked it, thanks for letting me know!

[@jamesstramer5186]

Incredibly well made!

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks James!

[@bakters]

It always amazes me how ineffective the elephants were, yet they were constantly used. It makes me think that they were a sort of a terror weapon, which worked well against low morale opponents, but failed against high morale troops. Caesar deserves to be a republican.

[@qzamap3870]

From what I understand, Elephants are also a prestige/cultural thing. It takes a lot of resources and time to get & maintain war elephants, which is part of why they're ineffective and also why they were prized. A super cool king HAD to have an equally super cool elephant corps to flex on other kings and perform the role of a super cool king to their subjects.

[@bakters]

@@qzamap3870 That could be a part of it, but I kinda doubt that an ineffective unit would become a status symbol. Elephants had to be effective at least sometimes. Why would Hannibal even bother trying to get them through the Alps?

[@Warmaker01]

It helps that the Romans had faced elephants in battle before the Punic Wars. Pyrrhus of Epirus used elephants against the Romans to good effect in the Pyrrhic War of 280-275 BC. The Romans had never seen them before. The First Punic War against Carthage kicked off in 264-241 BC (23 years of war). Second started in 218 BC, so by that time elephants were no longer a big surprise to the Romans.

[@rolandwhittle8527]

Similar to the effect of tanks used in WW1 initially effective as a terror weapon at first on the Somme but by battle of Cambrai the German forces became more familiar dealing with them.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Yes that exactly how i like to think of them too!

[@2tabbybros]

Really enjoyed this presentation style! Keep up the interesting work and hope you have fun doing so!

[@battlefieldgenius]

Man i'm glad to hear you did! Thank you for the kind words, and for that perfect explanation of the term meta!

[@rex8255]

The most interesting thing in this video... the fact that men can match faster in column, than in line.

[@Robbedem]

If you march in a line, you can only go as fast as the slowest in the line. So every obstacle (bushes, rocks, trees, ...) anywhere on the path will slow the whole formation down. By being in a collumn, there will be fewer obstacles and you can even march around them. (which doesn't work well when trying to hold a line). Ofcourse it was important to harass the enemies cavalry first to make them tired. Otherwise, the cavalry would have been able to smash into the sides of the collumn, completely ruining the tactic.

[@jonathanmaxwell9086]

There is that you are correct. Also, it’s very hard to train and drill and actually succeed in successfully marching forward in rows even on flat even surfaces. It usually looks ridiculous 95% of the time. Marching in columns is much more natural, plus faster for us human beings, and far easier to teach

[@lrmunro]

Good video. Underrated channel. Subbed.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thank you my friend!

[@Leahskitchen]

Subbed! I love the presentation, it reminds me of when I used to do mock battle lines using legos and Lincoln logs when I was little. Do you do this for the love of battle history and/or is it something to do with university

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thank you my friend! It's just something i've been doing for fun, the responses i've gotten push me to do more!

[@leadingauctions8440]

He has a fun and passionate way of explaining things.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Aww thanks man, your comment made me smile :)

[@errordump]

You've found a great medium. Love it. Subbed

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thank you!

[@alejandrocasalegno1657]

"A Greater Than Napoleon: Scipio Africanus" from B. H. Lidell Hart is the best book about Scipio....First published in 1926.....still republished in the XXI century...

[@battlefieldgenius]

Hi Alejandro! Yes that was one of my sources for the video. Liddells great

[@jtzoltan]

Man, your collection book is taking me back to the 90s collecting mortal combat cards! Such a great feeling getting those cards dispensed from the machines and then tucking them into the slots in the card carrier pages in my binder.

[@brandonlordbaltimore5182]

Same here with Magic the Gathering.

[@MrGeneralPB]

very interesting, well made and i think you should do more of these ^^, also subbed

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thank you friend!

[@freedomloverusa3030]

Just found your channel, LOVE IT!!

[@battlefieldgenius]

Ayy that makes me very happy my friend! Thanks for letting me know!!

[@David0Izzy]

Such an engaging presentation! Love your content

[@battlefieldgenius]

And i love your comment David! Thanks for letting me know

[@gaspartqueiroz]

this video is brilliant, thank you! this is the only way history should be taught at all! Can I suggest that, before you reveal how the carthagenian army reacted in real life, you explore a bit more why they were mesmerized and what options they really had when faced with Scipio's move. Because, and again this is a testament to how brilliantly you were "conducting the battle", i really felt in these generals' shoes and wondered... what now??

[@battlefieldgenius]

Hi Gaspar! A solid suggestion my friend! and thank you so much for the kind words, i really appreciate it

[@michaelmccabe3079]

This is very similar to the battle of Marathon, where the Greeks put more troops on the flanks than in the center, while the Persians put their strength in the center and were overlapped.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Yeah both battles share the theme of strong flanks and weak centre

[@markcorreale8495]

@@battlefieldgenius The greatest generals study history.

[@Triple_J.1]

The Greeks did this almost by accident. It was an attempt at a bluff. Or to reinforce the flanks to prevent Persia from encircling them. There is no evidence their victory was planned that way.

[@astridvallati4762]

One famous ( and eventually prophetic) saying of one Senator of the period, concluding every speech he made, was " Cartago Delenda est" ( Carthage must be destroyed!) and it was, by Scipio Africanus.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Yeah Cato the Elder!

[@johnwright9372]

Cato said this before getting his way in the 3rd Punic War.

[@rooknado]

Yes. There is another quote about Carthage, also attributed to Scipio, about its downfall. Correct me if I’m wrong, but he realized it would reflect Rome’s.

[@johnofmalta]

Sometimes simple is best. Great presentation. A Scarface “bravo” to you, sir.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Ay, happy you enjoyed it John, thank you for the kind words!

[@dirkcampbell5847]

Love the style. So different from the usual presentation of historic battles,

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks Dirk, i appreciate you letting me know!

[@robertlossing3390]

Fantastic! Love the table top units blocks! .very cool realistic battlefield "sandbox style"...might want to make the table more interesting/attractive with lightight etc...maybe a real sandbox!?

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks Robert! You know i've always wanted to add different elements (esp for terrain) but execution is lacking.

[@jarniwoop]

Caesar would be on the side of the Republic, initially. However he is the transition from Republic to Empire. Thanks for this, I enjoy descriptions of these types of battles.

[@battlefieldgenius]

And thank you for letting me know!

[@raylantz5144]

I watched all your videos in one day, and ordered 4 books you suggested, lol. Good job! I love your sticker album idea. It reminds me of the HE-MAN sticker book i had as a kid. I filled that damn thing! Lol

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thank you so much! Getting people to read more history is THE goal of my channel, your comment brought me a lot of joy. I'd love to hear your thoughts on them once you've read them.

[@x049pig]

Rich in content and clearly presented. Thank you.

[@battlefieldgenius]

You're far too kind my friend, thank you

[@daviddelgado6090]

This was a very good video on how Rome pushed back Carthage from Iberia

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks David! I appreciate the kind words

[@markrowland1366]

Great description of battle and the subtleties of command.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks Mark!

[@stefano7743]

Nice work man

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks Stefano

[@amjonesbones]

I like your content. Interesting topics and a good tactical breakdown

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thank you Jones, appreciate the support my friend

[@wbwarren57]

Nice video! Very well presented. Thank you.

[@battlefieldgenius]

And thank you for taking the time to let me know my friend!

[@wbwarren57]

@ Thank you for the book recommendation. Please keep those coming! I tried to comment whenever someone publishes a nice video because I know that comments help with the algorithms.

[@jackdeespadas]

Would love to see you talk about the tactics and craftiness of San Martín.

[@rolandwhittle8527]

The book you need to read about Scipio is by one of Britains top military thinkers between the two world wars by B H Liddell Hart called Scipio Africanus Greater than Napoleon. You can get it from Pen and Sword publishing great read

[@battlefieldgenius]

Yes i read it! Love me some Liddell! His book was one of my sources for the video!

[@JoeB3]

Nice, looking forward to more of your videos

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks Joe

[@AironSmieciowy-di3qy]

Great video!

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks Airon!

[@BeyondEcstasy]

This guy has the "Historical Military Academic KZbinr" voice. Also love the presentation.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Haha good to know! Thank you my friend

[@NapGod]

Caesar definitely belongs on the Empire side. While Sulla helped pave the way for the eventual Empire, his goals were focused on strengthening the senate and optimates operating within the bounds of the established rules and norms of the Republic. Although he did invoke the office of Dictator, he also reliquished that office according to the norms preserving the Republic. Caesar did not hold similar political ambitions. He crossed the Rubicon not for the sake of a political faction in a conflict within the bounds of the Republic, but for his own ambitions and survival - Republic be damned. It's clear in his acceptance of the title Dictator Perpetuo (dictator for life) which was unprecedented and served as the template for the later office of Imperator. Amazing video btw. This rules. you've got my sub.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Haha thanks for the kind words NapGod! You're thinking on why Caesar belongs on the Empire side very nicely frames my hesitation on putting him as a Republican

[@paulkarrer356]

Absolutely wonderful. Thanks...

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks Paul, glad you enjoyed it!

[@WartimeFriction]

Neat, thanks for sharing your thoughts and this overview

[@battlefieldgenius]

And thank you for letting me know friend!

[@masonhaines5016]

always putting out good informative videos keep it up !

[@battlefieldgenius]

Mason my man i appreciate you letting me know! Thank you

[@jackdeespadas]

Keep it up. Love the style and knowledgeness(?)

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks Jack, appreciate the support

[@moe9196]

"Those who delight in war have no experience of it " -- Desiderius Erasmus , late 16th-early 17th century Dutch philosopher, scholar and humanist

[@Taima]

Whoa wtf, only 3.9k subs? No way, I was expecting more like 300k! Surely a sign of the good things to come to you. Sweet video, Scipio Africanus was bae. Was a little bugged you didn't straighten out a couple of spots like the Roman right flank that had the back row off a bit too much for me, but that's petty shit lol. Out of curiosity, where are you from? (Your accent, more specifically, in case you've relocated and tell me you're somewhere in Canada or some shit now lol). As for Caesar, he's definitely more of the Republic than the Empire. Triumverate and Civl War shenanigans aside, his time looked more Republican than Imperial. Augustus is definitely the first of the Empire to me. Speaking of Augustus, a little light shining on a semi-underrated Roman hero - Augustus' beloved Agrippa. That dude got shit done.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Hey, glad you enjoyed the video! Thank you for the kind words I'm from Egypt! Don't know how Egyptian my accent is though Yeah Agrippa is gonna be the first person on the Imperial side!

[@tomdagan9878]

Wow, you’re great man!

[@battlefieldgenius]

And you're great for letting me know! Thank you

[@claude2243]

Most interesting! Just for info, Scipio is mentioned in the first lines of the Italian national anthem ["dell'elmo di Scipio (Italy) si è cinta la testa"]. Rome also had huge defeats sometimes, like when they lost the 6th (?) legion to the Germans. That would be an interesting story to recount.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks Claude! I never knew Scipio was mentioned in that anthem, how interesting! This definitely won't be my last video on Rome

[@AlessioAndres]

why have you had together out of the box surround discussion from another room echoing?

[@FlorinSutu]

2:33 - I like the vision glasses of Publius Cornelius Scipio / Scipio Africanus. Now I know that time travel is real !

[@andread5560]

Great soneo e that have undestood the greatness of Scipio.

[@houseonahillok]

Great job. Very easy to follow. Subbed.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Awesome! Thank you friend!

[@thegraybeards2568]

For the collection book, i see that the triumphs page is created specifically for Western Roman Empire era. Eastern part was also equally Rome. Battle of Dara, for example was a big triumph just like other triumphs that happened after western part fell.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Yes i want to have an entirely separate page for the Eastern part!

[@olsnes3020]

I like your style. Since you are into graphics and design, perhaps you could print some tokens and glue them into card board, to represent generals. I'm assuming the figurines have nothing to do with Rome or Carthage 🙂

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks buddy, thats a solid idea, and yes the figurines are of ancient Egyptian deities

[@joelcallahan4691]

Republic side. It wasn't an Empire until Augustus. Also - loved the video!

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks Joel! And yeah i think i'll be keeping him on the Republican side

[@alexsie3012]

That’s all so cool and I love the stickers too. 😊

[@battlefieldgenius]

Happy to hear that Alexsie! Thank you

[@ThunderStruck94660]

Awesome show!

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thank you!

[@TheRealForgetfulElephant]

15:00 no Regulus or Cinncinatus? Cmon man

[@battlefieldgenius]

Haha people have been throwing all these names i've missed. Might have to expand the collection

[@joel4535]

Yes this was presented on a level much better for my grasping,

[@battlefieldgenius]

Happy to hear that Joel, thanks for letting me know!

[@peterrodgers2709]

Fantastic video 👏🏼

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks Peter!

[@mogaman28]

The area where the battle took place is 9 miles from where I live. Italica, the colonia (the first one outside of Italy and birthplace of Traian and Hadrian) that Scipio founded for the veterans of this battle, is 5 miles away.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Damn that's pretty cool

[@user-mp3eq6ir5b]

Do you have a sticker of the Carthaginian Elephants?

[@battlefieldgenius]

You know i've considered making stickers for units but i just don't think i could do so in an interesting way

[@bent1208]

My favorite phrase I’ve taken from RTS games referring to skirmish tactics is “skills check”. Prodding the enemy and moving in out looking for weaknesses is a huge part of high levels players. Watching games it looks like nothing is happening but as soon as you see a game with a skill level difference you see how quickly the lower skilled level players defenses can crumble.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Yeah 'Skill check' is a really nice way to think of it

[@BIG-DIPPER-56]

Very Nice - Thank You ! 😎👍

[@battlefieldgenius]

No, thank you Big Dipper! Appreciate the support

[@watchword1354]

Excellent video.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!!

[@N238E]

I got goosebumps from picturing this in my mind.

[@HavanaSyndrome69]

Your audio quality got better by leaps and bounds. If you don't mind explaining, how did you improve your audio quality so much?

[@battlefieldgenius]

I'm very happy to hear this, as i put specific attention towards improving the audio. I've done a number of things. First is use a better microphone, i use a blue yeti snowball now. I also record the audio in a more confined space to reduce echo. I also use software called audacity which helps me clean things up post recording! I hope this helped! Please let me know if you have any specific questions!

[@HavanaSyndrome69]

@@battlefieldgenius I've used audacity many times but only for cutting and syncing audio. I need to look more into "cleaning" the audio. Thanks for the answer. The audio on my own videos is not too great because it's almost always just the phone microphone for my shorts I make.

[@battlefieldgenius]

A simple google search should give you some tips on 'cleaning' things up, and a good mic will give you a much better recording than your phone! Best of luck with your shorts!

[@sylviahofer1246]

How is this guy not at 1 million subscribers yet? ❤

[@battlefieldgenius]

Haha you're far too kind Sylvia, thank you

[@311Bob]

your video showed up looked interesting so I watched,I must say it was simple and well done...so I subscribed looking forward to more. please don't fall into the commercial you tubers trap. keep it simple,entertaining and informative. don't know how many youtubers I stopped watching chasing the almighty buck.

[@battlefieldgenius]

I'll try my best Bobby, thank you!

[@AJ-et3vf]

Great video! Thank you!

[@battlefieldgenius]

I'm happy to hear you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know

[@colinmccarthy7921]

I have seen so many battle plans in video’s.One of the best plans I saw was the Zulu Plan,with the Horns.

[@battlefieldgenius]

i'll check it out!

[@mrquokka4733]

New battlefield genius drop let's go

[@battlefieldgenius]

Haha ayy ty ty brother, love the support!

[@claudioragnedda]

Just a correction: 07:50 "consilium" does not translate to "form of war" - "forma bellica" or even directly "strategia" would be more plausible - it is the "parent word" of what in English is "council", so the correct alternative is to assume of it to be a council of war in this occasion.

[@battlefieldgenius]

Hi Claudio! I went back and checked my sources, and you're absolutely right, council is the much closer word! Thank you my friend, great catch and correction.

[@claudioragnedda]

@battlefieldgenius it is a great pleasure, and I really appreciate your eagerness to corrections, it is not common to have such civilized exchanges with people that stay calm after being corrected