THREE KINGDOMS - Oversimplified - A Historian Reacts

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Corrections: Terracotta (as several of you have pointed out) is a form of clay ceramic, like pottery. Not rock. Also, apparently in China, the castration of eunuchs DID involve taking everything, unlike other parts of the world.

[@charliemills6955]

Almost a year since I started watching u an let me tell you that u reignited my interest in history and I have to thank you for that Chris

[@G_Okr]

The guy with the baguette was a member of the "yellow vests", a major anti-government movement in France today.

[@DanTheMan..]

I’ve been I sub and eating you videos since 2k

[@MarkLinJA]

I was just about to point out that castration for Chinese eunuchs was very much a complete amputation of the penis and testicles, but upon some research, removing everything was a much later practice dating to the Ming and Qing. During the period of this video (the Late Han and Three Kingdoms), you would be more than correct in stating that only the testicles were removed.

[@MarkLinJA]

@@G_Okr I still remember running into them and having to walk roughly 200m along their route when I was in Rouen. Wild stuff, but I sadly had to delete the video

[@romulusdraco1801]

The guy with the baguette and construction vest is a reference to the paris riots that were happening at the time that video was made

[@darkdelta3377]

Hmm interesting

[@yondie491]

some things never change

[@AliTahan25]

Pretty sure those riots in France happen every other Weekend

[@Warentester]

It's a reference to the Mouvement des gilets jaunes. They protested in France for economic justice and political reform.

[@kaleb4093]

"Welcome back everybody to another reaction video" has become my favorite line. Thank u for introducing urself

[@0612Crystal]

I didn’t realize that I hadn’t heard his name yet until he introduced himself. Lol

[@PaulGaither]

I caught his name in another non-reaction video and mentioned it. He replied and said he would rectify it, and now he has. :D

[@0612Crystal]

@@PaulGaither One of the reasons I really like him as a content creator, he really listens and responds to his viewers. ☺️

[@bs_coolgames6888]

the guy in the construction vest and the baguette at 11:09 is a reference to the 'gillet jaunes' (translated yellow jacket) protests of France in 2018, which were topical at the time. The protests where about the rise is fuel prizes but soon became about the general rise in living costs. The protests went on for weeks and Paris was massively vandalised (for example graffiti on the arc the triomphe) as police couldn’t get a hold on the situation. The yellow construction jackets where the main symbol of the protest and almost every protestor wore one. I recommend everyone to look up some footage of the protests because it is pretty crazy to see Paris like that.

[@RDA000]

Not really. Paris is one of the most chaotic capital cities in history

[@Dryltd]

You got the highlights.

[@hjrgf]

@@RDA000 well in modern times it is

[@caesar_06]

@@TheCardolan yeah, high viz jackets we call them in the land of tea, the queen and dry humour

[@kingkille123]

Was about to comment the exact same thing

[@KiahWMConnie]

I've never heard the phrase "Is that Adolf Hitler's dad?!" in such a gleeful tone, and I doubt I ever will again.

[@ramonelias5960]

Fun fact: The bird at the beggining is apparently singing the following: Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down... Yup, Oversimplified Rickrolled us..... TWICE

[@rootbeerfloathaspop3301]

when was the other time

[@soumajitsen1395]

@@rootbeerfloathaspop3301 In the Russian Revolution video, IIRC and @King Mac - we're no strangers to love is a line in Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down

[@memecliparchives2254]

In his universe, Henry Viii wrote it 😲.

[@irondude0611]

@@memecliparchives2254 Henry wrote Wonderwall get it right 😂

[@Kriegter]

@@kingmac6638 dude it literally says Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down. I don't know how you got that but I know chinese

[@emilhuseynov6121]

My Grandpa recently passed away and your videos have really helped me out to ease my pain significantly, and for that I am truly thankful to you Chris. God bless you and your family and may you all live a happy life ❤️

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

I’m so sorry about your grandpa, Emil. I’m glad to do some small thing to help in the midst of your pain.

[@emilhuseynov6121]

@@VloggingThroughHistory thank you a lot for your response and just to let you know the yellow west with the baguette is a reference to the yellow west protests which occurred in France in 2018 as a result of numerous policy rules primarily a rise in fuel tax.

[@SRosenberg203]

17:00 That kind of reminds me of Robespierre. Isn't that how he fell from power? He just announced "Yeah, so I'm gonna have a bunch of you guillotined later, but I'm not gonna say who" and then they all just voted to guillotine him first.

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Exactly what happened with him.

[@Orion-yd4dy]

@@VloggingThroughHistory The ruler was named Agha Mohammad Khan and he ordered 2 servants to be killed for some error they made, but spared them for the day because it was a holy day so they were sent back to work. He was well known to keep his promises so, knowing they were dead men anyway, the servants murdered their ruler in his sleep.

[@otakotako2601]

22:13 actually, his confidence had a basis, Dong Zhuo was a well known tyrant, but he treated his subordinates really well, to the point they were still loyal to him even after his death. Lu Bu was among the people he treated extremely well than the rest of his subordinates since he was also his foster son, so, at that time there was no reason for Lu Bu to betray Dong Zhuo, also, the whole thing with the minister and Dong Zhuo stealing Lu Bu's girl was a legend, that didn't actually happen. So, why did Lu Bu betray him then? Well, there was one time when Dong Zhuo mistreated Lu Bu and almost get him killed, this made Lu Bu held a grudge on him, and eventually killed him out of fear after he had an affair with one of Dong Zhuo's maid. This era is really interesting, there are a lot of materials on it, both real and fictional, I think you should react to more of this era.

[@lordofdarkness4204]

that maid thing sounds like the origins to the whole concubine thing, tbh. Makes sense that legend would dramatize what was actually pretty mundane as far as history is concerned. Also that being a legend makes sense seeing that it doesn't really make much sense, although I know very little about it so maybe I don't know of some additional details.

[@otakotako2601]

@@lordofdarkness4204 yes it is the origin, from the maid thing, people began exaggerating the story, when the author of the novel Romance of the Three Kingdom wrote the novel, the whole backstory of the maid had changed into the concubine thing and since the novel was a great hit, it became a well-known legend that were passed to this day

[@BakeinOven]

Where did u get to know that info, Is it from a video like oversimplified ??

[@harecrazy9104]

@@BakeinOven from historical records. There is the "Records of three kingdoms" written by Chen Shou who lived in that era and served Liu Bei(Shu Han) then Jin dyansty. That also became the major reference of the novel, Romance of Three Kingdoms.

[@WildWombats]

I absolutely love Three Kingdoms period. It's so interesting and there's so much crazy stuff that goes on. Not many know this, but the Three Kingdoms period is said to be the most deadly wars in history with the most deaths caused from that time until World War II. Now, a couple other wars may have gotten on Three Kingdoms level or close to it in deaths and casualties, but none really far exceeded. And further, if you go by population at the time and compare to the deaths that are historically stated, the world population suffered more tremendously under Three Kingdoms period, no doubt, than any other period in history to date, even almost doubled that of the black plague death estimate. It was a truly tragic time.

[@deavenswainey6415]

The guy with the baguette is a reference to the Gilets Jaunes movement in France in 2019. They were protests against increased prices and taxation on fuel, as well as disproportionate tax burdens on the working class, hence the yellow vests.

[@NERGYStudios]

Man, so happy that you achieve your dream of being a history teacher. You are not limited to a physical classroom, or a county, state or even a country any more.

[@ryanstebbins3102]

Fun fact: the Terracotta army was hard craft from Terracotta, a type of fired masonry. Each person in the army is unique and would have been beautifully painted at the time of burrial

[@Tm-dn9ob]

when we tome the paint immediately detreated into nothing from exposure to the air, that's why we don't want to open what might be the first emperors tomb.

[@prabhatsourya3883]

@@Tm-dn9ob In the same way the paint on the marble statues of Greek and Roman nobility deteriorated and left a white statue behind. However, I think with X-Ray and other scans, there is a probability that the chemical composition of the color might be revealed, giving an idea of the original color, and artists could probably restore them.

[@Tm-dn9ob]

@@prabhatsourya3883 The tragic part is if they didn’t unseal them they would be fine still

[@prabhatsourya3883]

@@Tm-dn9ob I know, in India, we had a similar situation with the Ajanta Caves, which were a series of Buddhist cave monuments with intricate paintings dating back to around 200 BC, which were abandoned and overrun by nature, preserving them intact for millennia. However, once the caves were opened to tourism, the tourists brought in their cameras and the bright flashes, which began to damage and fade the paintings away (something about the pigments fading out due to the bright flashes of cameras). Thus, the government had to rope in artists to restore the paintings, and also banned any source of bright lights like flashes or torches inside the caves. The caves are only illuminated by soft yellow lights placed, which do not damage the pigments.

[@jacob8565]

Baguette man is a reference to the yellow vest protests in France in recent years. High-vis vests have to be kept in cars so everyone has them

[@voldavkuk]

I dont know if somebody corrected this earlyer, but NO chinese Eunuchs didn't have "Dongs", in China boys had to lose EVERYTHING for becoming en Eunuch, not just the testicles, everything... It is pretty harsh and many small boys didnt survive this procedure, but many more parents where willing to risk it, so that their boy would have a chnace to become a magistrate at the empirial court...

[@TheLibermania]

23:00 So Dong Zhou is dead and the Eunuchs probably were provisional leaders. So i guess the whole government was... dongless.

[@17ethann]

lmao good 1 bruv

[@ShahroozSmith]

The nutty thing is that this story has two accounts. One version is the actual historical telling, while the other is called Romance of the Three Kingdoms.. which is a more romanticized version that most modern interpretations base the Three Kingdoms story off of... Dynasty Warriors is a prime example of this, and they've been doing this for about 10 games now and a bunch of sequel games on top of it. Although it isn't mentioned in this video, one of Liu Bei's generals, Guan Yu, became such an accomplished warrior he was deified as a God of War.

[@corneliali7747]

Guan yu is worshipped as a guardian/wealth/general wellness god worshiped by the majority of chinese now days XD

[@titan133760]

The historical version (written shortly after the Three Kingdoms were conquered and united) served as the basis for Romance of the Three Kingdoms (written centuries later)

[@titan133760]

Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms is considered to be the authoritative history source about the Three Kingdoms period. It also served as the basis of Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is a partially fictionalized retelling of events of the Three Kingdoms period. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is regarded as one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature, and was the reason this period in Chinese history has been retold again and again in various media, from movies, TV shows, and video games

[@shengloongtan229]

2:30 the chinese translate to never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down you guys dude just rickrolled millions without anyone knowing

[@suchtruemuchreal34]

11:20 It's a reference to the Yellow Vest Protests in France 3 years ago

[@101Phase]

at 17:40, those are supposed to be Stone Lion statues, which are a common sight in a lot of traditionally important and wealthy households/government buildings etc. In fact, they're still pretty common just outside major buildings in big Chinese cities "guarding the premises" so to speak. No idea if the weird design in this video is a reference to something else though. Fun fact about the lions: they always come in pairs with one being male and one being female. The male one has one of its paws resting on top of a ball whereas the female one has one of its paws resting playfully on top of a small lion cub

[@sonofhawaii4227]

Aloha Chris! Yet another great reaction video! In the last couple of years, I’ve become a HUGE fan of history! I’ve been binge watching your videos for the past week and especially love your Fredericksburg and Vicksburg travel videos as well as any American Revolutionary War and Civil War reactions. I just wanted to let you know that I really enjoy this channel and will be anxiously awaiting your next videos. Thank you for helping spark my interest in history!

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Thanks so much! My wife and I had our honeymoon in Hawaii...hoping to go back next year for our 20th Anniversary if travel rules permit.

[@sonofhawaii4227]

@@VloggingThroughHistory that’s great! I know you spent your honeymoon on Kauai. I’m here on Oahu and it’s a lot more congested than the neighbor islands but there’s still a lot to do. Maui is also a little congested but not as bad. If you’re looking to relax, you can’t go wrong with Hawaii island or Kauai. Maybe you could do something about hawaiian history before coming? I feel like there’s a lot that people don’t know about the culture and history of Hawaii. Just a thought. Aloha 🤙🏼

[@thomasholmgren85]

Mr VTH sir. One thing I would love to see you do is talking about some of the books about history that you have read/listened to. Maybe do a list of your top recommendations or some other form of top list. Maybe with a little bit of a mix from different regions. That might also spawn a lot of tips for great readings in the comment section :)

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Great idea and something I've been meaning to do for a while. Thanks for the reminder!

[@diegomacara5658]

@@VloggingThroughHistory yeah. History was a hobby for me for a long time and you make enjoy again see videos of this kind.

[@elementrix4651]

This is my Personal favorite Oversimplified video. Love this period of History.

[@joeexorcist2319]

My favorite period of history is the napoleonic era

[@elementrix4651]

@@joeexorcist2319 I like the Napoleonic Wars as well. When it comes to European History I personally prefer Bismarck and the changes in Europe to what became the 20th century and the First World War.

[@Ubersupersloth]

@The History Bruh moment.

[@Basedep]

This video of him is not quite effective in my opinion. Part of what makes oversimplified and extra credits great is their in depth character storytelling/focus as a gateway to the history of said character's era. As a chinese, even i struggle to follow despite being quite fond of that period of china because of the constant contextless character and event shift. Had oversimplified made it into 3 separate part i honestly believe it could've been his best works due to the sheer wildness and game of thrones on steroid nature of the 3 kindoms period.

[@elementrix4651]

@@Basedep I personally think that is more something what Extra History does amazingly.When it comes to Oversimplified I sometimes have a diffcult time with subjects I'm more familiar with because of the rapid pace he uses. I agree that it's not his best work but I really like this as an introduction.

[@loficat4993]

What a wild year man, first subbed under 10k can't believe how big you have grown, always love the videos.

[@CaptainKillroy]

Fun Fact about the clay soldiers: I belive there are multiple other caverns full of them though I belive they can't be opened cause the air may weather or change the terracotta so they stayed sealed. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[@vtsoi4413]

yea i think so aswell, or maybe if the clay statues come into contact with outside oxygen or human exhale moisture it would damage it? like the cave in France drawings from prehistoric times where the real cave is closed from the public because human moisture would melt theink on the walls, so they created a replica.

[@trooololol]

It is not that it would change the terracotta itself but rather the colors and such. Have you ever wondered why all the images of the soldiers you see are colorless? They were originally colored but they faded due to the oxygen reacting with it. There is a lot of research going on currently to try and figure out a way to preserve the color and expose it to oxygen.

[@Dylski.]

@@vtsoi4413 a bunch of anti graffiti people actually scrubbed away a bunch of them in a certian site thinking they were the work of vandals

[@JeevesAnthrozaurUS]

He sort of mischaracterizes Shu when he says their response is to "do nothing" against Wei Shu's problem wasn't just that they had inadequate defenses, a big reason for that was Shu constantly sending unsuccessful expeditions towards Wei that depleted Shu of resources He makes it sound like Shu was too lax towards their northern neighbor when the problem was the exact opposite

[@foreverblue1646]

Yep. This part of China was mainly rainforests/mountains and not heavily populated at that time. Shu held on for so long due to their capable ministers/generals (Zhuge Liang, Ma Chao, Gaun Yu, Zhang Fei, etc.). They slowly all died and Shu went on the decline fast. I loved this time period in world history. Romance of the 3 Kingdoms is such great pseudo history of this period.

[@forgottenfamily]

The common claim is that Jiang Wei was not able to curry the same political favor as Zhuge Liang and was given progressively less resources from the Shu Emperor. There's a lot of problems with this interpretation since, well, everything you said, but it does create this perception that Shu did nothing. Also, blaming Liu Shan's weakness for Shu's downfall was extremely common and I think that's very much the rhyming history they were trying to portray

[@supersasukemaniac]

Actually it was Wu who said "do nothing"

[@nobblkpraetorian5623]

@@forgottenfamily And yet Liu Shan was able to stay as emperor for a long time while Wu and Wei emperors have shorter reigns in comparisons.

[@forgottenfamily]

@@nobblkpraetorian5623 If you want to use that metric the counter is that he's also the earliest of the "weak" Emperors to take the throne, coming to power in 223 whereas Cao Fang came to power in 239 and Sun Liang in 252 (though Sun Hao lost the throne coming to it in 280). He's also the only one who was a direct successor of the founder and so he had all the foundations his father had built. I don't really have a good independent opinion. I think there's a lot of historical revisionism and part of Shu's weakness was, as the OP noted, Shu burning itself out by constantly attacking Wei. After his first expedition, Zhuge Liang never held a numerically advantageous position during his campaigns and it got worse once Jiang Wei took over. The outcome was predictable. But then you have a second problem: when Romance was written, Liu Bei is lionized as the paragon of virtue and so I think they needed to have a reason why there was such an utter failing for how could this worthy crusade have ever failed?

[@wrenchguy2937]

3 kingdoms and sengoku era are by far some of the most fun in history. I would love for you to explore those eras.

[@rtab722]

Really refreshing to hear your perspective - Helps me to gain some new ways of seeing this part of our history. And it’s so touching to see someone who shows respect for Chinese culture these days, it’s just so rare. So thank you. Btw about the original Oversimplified video - it actually amazes me coz in China, Three Kingdom’s best-known stories are probably all about Zhuge Liang (Liu Bei’s loyal strategist), like how he outsmarted his enemies etc. Whilst in oversimplified’s view, he isn’t even significant enough to appear in the narrative. It’s very interesting.

[@jameswatts2003]

There's a PS2 games called Kessel II where you play Liu Bei fighting against Cao Cao. It's incredibly dramatized and uses powers that can't possibly exist. But you can command armies and change their formations over terrains. It's a fun game and one of my faves of all time. Kessen II. Forgot to a add that it revolves around the war of the 3 kingdoms.

[@sordi92]

Gotta try out the Dynasty Warriors games as well

[@Charles-js3ri]

I am glad I found this channel at the beginning of this year. Keep up the great work, it's one of my favorite history channels.

[@miguelpereira901]

if someone likes Japanese manga, there is a manga called Kingdom about the unification of China by the qin dynasty. obviously the story will have real historical points and real characters if you read real information you will know who will win important wars and generals will appear in the story, but it also has fictional characters and events, as it is a period with little information. in any case, it can be considered a fictional story and is excellent. if you start reading and you don't like the art, don't worry because it will improve a lot.

[@waseem__600]

A fellow Kingdom reader nice

[@wuxiagamescentral]

Wang Jian the 🐐

[@tennoz453]

Hello, VTH! Howre you doing, man? Been a subscriber for a very very long time, hope you're doing great in your life and thanks for all the additional info you add, really helpful, thank you for your hard work!

[@jameslafontaine198]

I have been a fan of Romance of the Three Kingdoms since the 90's and never once did I think to check the death stats. That's amazing that such a high percentage of the world population was lost

[@littleman25]

I love how u start the video, introducing ur self, makes u so relatable.

[@101Phase]

Mandarin speaker here: that bird at 02:29 is singing "Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down". That 2nd line is actually mis-translated: it's saying "put you down", as in to place someone down or to let someone go

[@Yora21]

I believe in recent years, there have been some archeological excavations that do fit very well with the place, time, and description that is attributed to the Xia. Though of course nothing to support or refute any specific historic events.

[@LeAnwar1]

@11:20 that's a reference to the yellow vest strikes (Mouvement des gilets jaunes) that were really big in France in 2019

[@normal-potato05]

2:29 just to be mentioned, we got rickrolled in Chinese by a bird

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

That’s awesome. Thanks for pointing it out!

[@normal-potato05]

@@VloggingThroughHistory no problem :) Specifically it says “never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down” Edit: I’m Korean btw

[@SilverFang2789]

Learned that little fact on another Three Kingdom's reaction video. Glad to see others picking up on it.

[@DAAAAAAAAAPH9]

As much as I enjoy learning all the extra details from your vast knowledge, which supplement (or foreshadow!) the original videos, it's ones like these where the topic is relatively unfamiliar to you, that the true value of your commentary shines. 1. you take the info given in the video, pull out the broader concept, make connections with other societies around the world. showing that no matter which society we are part of, we are all human. 2. you consistently urge us to try and understand the situation from the perspective of the people at the time/in "other" cultures. this is so important because it is easy for us to judge the actions and decisions of people in the past through the lens of modern/our own societal norms and technological capabilities, and with the benefit of hindsight. today marks 13 months as a subscriber for me. please keep up the good work, and i hope to get to meet you in person one day!

[@johnnymoreno5065]

Fun fact: Cao Cao's resting place is very hard to find in China despite archaeologists want to find it cuz no one has found it over a thousand years. The problem is that Cao Cao built over 73 tombs in order for anyone to not find his resting place because of grave robbers and such. Till this day no one has found his real resting place whatsoever. They did indeed find his eldest son's who is Cao Ang grave burial place despite his son body isn't there because well he was burned during a night attack on Wan castle. So yeah that's the only thing they found

[@bkjeong4302]

Not only did he build 73 tombs, he also didn’t take any valuables to his grave and left everything to his heir so there would be no motivation for graverobbers.

[@jiachengwu4185]

Cao Cao is Caesar-level legend

[@WallNutBreaker524]

19:01 i can't watch these kinds of videos without your input and insight and explanations 😂👌

[@TheLibermania]

12:40 Just to clarify one thing. We are at the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the video which is the second place in that list.

[@natethegreat8765]

11:13 the guy in the yellow vest is relating to the yellow vest protests in France in recent years hence the baguette

[@SparkamisPrime]

13:00 why do you think Vizzini in the Princess Bride said one of the worlds greatest blunders was "waging a land war in asia?"

[@cosmologicfrog9596]

Fun fact, the story of three kingdoms is only a prologue for what is to come, shortly after the Jin dynasty fell apart and civil wars reoccured for about three hundred years more.

[@Frostwho]

OH MY GOD, the bird at the beginning was singing never gonna give you up

[@arposkraft3616]

@6:30 "ll governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible" Frank Herbert

[@dustinlbarr]

The baguette guy is a reference to the yellow vest protest/ riots in France.

[@corylyon9481]

Another great video VTH! My daughter and I always enjoy watching your videos. Much love from Texas.

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Thanks Cory and hello to your daughter!

[@WiesoNurMistnamen]

11:08 Yes it's a baguette, it's a reference to the french Yellow-vests-movement

[@SilverFang2789]

Been waiting for this one for awhile. Glad you finally got around to it.

[@mattstakeontheancients7594]

Chris love this channel and the amount of content you put out is amazing. Similarly to yourself studied history in college but didn’t end up teaching it. So happy to see your channel expand. Also a possible theory for the Xia dynasty is the erlitou culture. Couple videos on it on KZbin. Congrats on the year and look forward to see you hit 500k subs.

[@matt15]

I’ve been watching the channel for months and just realized I never knew your name until now lol, anyway keep up the good work!

[@forgottenfamily]

A bunch of notes: 1) There's a lot of sources including the journals of a few people and a book called "The Histories of the Three Kingdoms", but the time period is remembered most by a book called "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" written in the 14th century. I'm sure you're shocked to hear that it takes some liberties with history and makes the heroes and villains larger than life. It's considered to be one of the 4 great pieces of Chinese literature and is hugely influential on their culture. BTW: the Total War game also leans into this by having two modes - one that hews more to your Rome Total War style of generals being part of the army that's considered to be more aligned with the real history while the other mode is more Warhammer Total War with the generals being hero units with special skills reflecting Romance. 2) Speaking of the book it's worth talking about the biases of documentation. Much of the history written immediately after the time period is obviously biased towards Jin being the natural inheritors from Wei being natural inheritors from the Han and generally hold that general tone. However, by the time that Romance of the Three Kingdoms is written, Liu Bei is seen as a far more legitimate successor and so his virtue and that of his men is greatly accentuated by later writings. Generally, Romance's view is the more popularly understood in the East. In the west, well... 3) The Three Kingdoms era was popularized in the west broadly by a series of Japanese games called Dynasty Warriors which are Hack and Slash games set in the time period. Their earlier titles very much hewed towards the general ideas pushed forward by Romance of Liu Bei being the paragon of virtue and Cao Cao being a villain but their newer games have evolved that narrative, finding virtues in each faction and their objectives. It's worth noting that part of this was because fans of this series saw Shu as boring and Wei the cool kids and this very much colors western perceptions of the era. I love them but I'm not banking on it being your style of game. Other media of interest are the Strategy Game series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (hmm....) by the same company that does "Nobunaga's Ambition" and published by the same guys who publish Dynasty Warriors and the movie "Red Cliff" by John Woo which focuses on the battle of the same name. For the latter, it's worth noting that there's a 2hr American version and a 4hr Chinese version. The 4hr version is superior but the padding mostly comes from legends found in Romance rather than history. There's also a pretty in-depth Three Kingdoms series that's pretty interesting but the official English subtitles are horrendously bad and fan translations have been made. 4) Dates: the time period has vague date definitions. The broadest definition is being given in this video - 184CE (Yellow Turban Rebellion) - 280CE (Fall of Wu and completion of unification). Wikipedia uses 220CE as the start because that's the official dissolution of the Han (though it does have a section acknowledging the dispute). A lot of other dates are suggested but the other one I think worth highlighting is 192, the start of that Civil War period. The tightest definition is 229AD-263AD, the time period where all three kingdoms all simultaneously existed 5) Almost no woman has a historically recorded name. Most of them are known as "Lady ". So Sun Shangxiang AKA Sun Ren, wife of Liu Bei and sister of Sun Quan, is only recorded in history as "Lady Sun" and the various first names for her are passed through legend. BTW: it is possible that both names for Lady Sun are in fact correct and not contradictory as many people had a courtesy name in addition to their official names - eg: Liu Bei's was Xuande so friends writing in their journals may refer to him as such. Therefore it is within the realm of possibility that it's Sun Ren courtesy name Shangxiang. 6) Zhuge Liang, chief strategist for Liu Bei, is one of the very few notable people from this time period with no documented concubines and only one wife. Documentation centuries after his death suggest that he sought her out for her intelligence in spite of her claimed ugliness, later legends including Romance expanded this to say that her being ugly was a ruse and that she assisted or was the actual inventor of inventions attributed to Zhuge Liang. Also absurd inventions that definitely didn't exist. Not much important to history but I do like the idea that arguably the top strategist of the era wanted and was supported by an equally intelligent and capable wife. Sadly, history only belatedly remembers her as Lady Huang and knows almost nothing about her.

[@forgottenfamily]

Oh, forgot to mentioned, the reason the episode always says to "It's Lu Bu" anytime he shows up comes from the Dynasty Warriors series. In I think the second game in the series during the (mostly but not entirely fictional) Battle of Hu Lao Gate, you break through and find Lu Bu blocking your path who is a god tier boss that you're better off going around rather than fighting head on and they introduce him with a terrified "It's Lu Bu!"

[@neverknowing1]

Finally! Can't wait to see your commentary on this!

[@alyvelez2712]

I found your channel recently and have been binging your videos while working on finals! Thank you for all the great content!

[@charleskimball7058]

Between the Zhou and Qin dynasties is the Seven Warring States period, which is supposedly when Sun Tzu’s Art of War was penned. Also, the movie Hero, starring Jet Li, takes place near the end of this period.

[@haaskilbas23]

Wow I’ve been watching your content for a while now and never knew you name was Chris haha. Great content! Love getting the extra tidbits/perspective.

[@AngelWolf12]

Huh. I've been watching your stuff for almost a full year now, and I never realized I didn't know your first name. Cool. Plus an Oversimplified video is always welcome!

[@Spiz103]

Thing is, ancient warfare, being relatively less dependent on materiel than more modern conflicts, can turn into grinding decades-long bloodbaths that continue until one side literally runs out of men. See the First Punic War as another example.

[@corneliali7747]

Also some additional info: the official(Wang Yun) in the video with the hot daughter (Diao Chan), that's not his real daughter. She was actually a 16 year old courtesan adopted by Wang specifically to drive Dong and Lu apart.

[@justanotheryoutubewatcher5330]

Bro was an S tier instigator

[@treeleaf582]

24:21 the amount of foreshadowing from this statement is crazy (flawless Jin victory)

[@TriggeringOpinionsandFacts]

@ 11:09 it’s funny to see the reference to the French yellow jacket strike from 2018 - 2020 ish? My trip to France was slowed down a lot by it since good portions of the metro lines were shut down. Pretty much had to walk across Paris a lot of the time - which is an excellent way to travel. Either way, I support worker strikes so I don’t mind ! It just sucks to search a public transport line and wait for the bus at night after eating baguettes only to find out it only comes in the mornings due to the strikes.

[@bkjeong4302]

Fun fact; the Jin Dynasty devolved into infighting right after this.

[@jasonladd3682]

I was JUST looking for this, so happy you decided to do it!

[@WallNutBreaker524]

4:33 Ah, The Sin of Lust, Wrath, and Greed.

[@giannaleng1897]

16:42, this is like the whole thing with Robespierre during the French Revolution. He told the people in his party that he had a list of people to execute and some of them were on the list , he just wouldn’t tell then who. They literally just voted to have him sent to the guillotine first lol.

[@sirfatty5068]

11:09 That's a reference to the yellow vest protests that were happening in France at the time the videos was made.

[@TomSchillemans]

I absolutely LOVE Oversimplified! I love the little off topic things like the baloon figure making and stuff.

[@PaulGaither]

So excited to have been with you for a year next week Chris. Your reaction was recommended to me, and I have stayed since. Always a pleasure.

[@OmegaTaishu]

22:12 "Those who survive a long time on the battlefield start to think they're invincible... I bet you do too, buddy."

[@jonasstark7148]

The yellow vest dude with the baguette gets me every time. This is such a brilliant and hilarious reference 😂

[@amu7379]

While you're right that nationhood didn't exist at the time, people were still vaguely loyal to some idea of a "Chinese nation", and in fact Cao Pi and Liu Bei both claimed themselves the true ruler of China as the former received the throne directly from Han while the latter was distantly related to the former Emperor.

[@debrickashaw9387]

11:20 There was a mass protest in France recently in which the protesters had those vests on. AKA yellow vest protests

[@twowheelunicycle8603]

I love the fact that you are a well learned individual who simultaneously did not know what to call a reflective vest😂 I’ve also heard them called “high vis vest” or “safety vest”. I will now be calling it “the thing that construction people wear to help you see them better” from now on👌🏾

[@jordanyoung6486]

Finally some history I know something about before the video! - 《三国演义》(the War of Three Kingdoms) is an epic, about as factual as the Illiad - the teracotta warriors are made from clay, not carved from stone (perhaps even more impressive for this reason) - Xia dynasty is almost definitely an origin tale, probably with as much truth as Noah's Ark - China is called "中国" because 中 means center and 国 means state (before the concept of a country was common); Chinese emperors in history held direct power over their capital city and a large territory around their capital (state), but the further from the capital you got, the less direct power the emperor had, the closest ones generally under the watch of governors appointed by the emperor's cohort and protected at least in part by landowners and their own conscripted militias, followed by tributary states (e.g. Vietnam area, Korea area, etc). All this to say, the emperor did not have to rule directly over the entire area of China. Actually, the emperor tended to have very little power compared to the people around him. The emperor was usually a wealthy face while his teachers, some powerful eunuchs, and some family played politics and held the true power. - Caocao, if real, was supposedly a military mastermind, but he was also a monumental asshole (hence the Chinese version of "speak of the devil" being 说曹操曹操就到, say Caocao and Caocao will be there) - The Mandate of Heaven was a loose concept in ancient China implying if someone usurped the throne that it was because the last emperor was not virtuous and the new self-proclaimed emperor was given that right by the mandate, so when you say "to make yourself emperor, that doesn't sit well with anybody," that wasn't exactly the case in ancient China. When Yuan Shu declares themselves the emperor, it is likely they are under the assumption China is in chaos, the old emperor has lost all real control, and the Mandate is being transferred. Clearly, he is wrong in assuming he will receive overwhelming support for that, but it was just as likely any allies he had would have supported it because the generals would have all been placed in high ranking official positions. It was a mistaken attempt at a power play. Oops. I wrote these while watching the video, so there is a little overlap with points you make along the way, but I thought I'd share anyway.

[@kainashhsu]

The saying "Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao's there" most likely originated from 1. When the Han emperor was on the run from Dong Zhuo's remnant posse around the capital city, someone suggested summoning Cao Cao to escort the emperor. But before the messenger was even dispatched, Cao Cao's army was already there and he ended up "kidnapped the emperor" and really utilizing it to its full potential later on. 2. The fact that Cao Cao had eyes and ears everywhere, and that if you were to conspire against him, he would show up at your house before you knew it.

[@LebanonStorm]

This has slowly become one of my favorite channels to watch. I love your reaction videos and I also love your other videos.

[@beardedgeek973]

As an avid player of Crusader Kings II and III I know all the things about child rulers, making sure no errant claimants are running around and whatnot. As a reviewer said about Crusader Kings II: Never has the Ottoman system of the oldest son inheriting all and the younger sons being executed seemed so... logical. ;)

[@dagpeterlee7240]

Hi, I was looking through this reaction to Three Kingdoms, I got to say, the original video doesn't quite cover the actual event. I would recommend you reading the history of Three Kingdoms (San Guo Zhi) or The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (San Guo Yan Yi). Alternatively, you may wish to hit me up as I am quite knowledgeable about this period of China's history. Cheers.

[@peterepeatepete2845]

Wow almost 1/4 million followers in less than a year. You def deserve it man, keep up the great work, can’t wait to see more from Gettysburg.

[@michaelcartwright1260]

The movie 'Red Cliff' is very good and covers the battle mentioned in this video. I would suggest seeking out the extended version.

[@wannabecartoonist7389]

The way Zhang Jue is described,as well as his influence on the people also remind me a lot of Jean Paul Marat. Idk,"the royals must be destroyed with an unrelenting fury" sounds kinda similar

[@JRX988]

FINALLY! Great reaction as always VTH!

[@ilwdw4717]

Thanks for making this video. After I saw that u had not made a 3 kingdoms ms video I was shocked. So thank u

[@chinahepcat]

Before the Qin, those previous "dynasties" were more like the biggest clan. The Qin were the first to unite all of China. The others before that always had rivals. The Qin and the Han are to Chinese Culture kind of like what the Greeks and the Romans are to Western Culture, as far as lasting impact.

[@OreoMonster70]

At 11:23 the yellow ‘construction worker with the baguette’ is actually a reference to French protestors, also known as the Les gilet jaunes (yellow vests). Think they were protests from 2 years ago against the French government

[@xeno747]

The guy with the baguette at 11:20 is a cit. to a "recent" ( 2018 ) protest in France in which the people were wearing that dress.

[@chriswood4]

A little bit late to the party, this is now video number 10 I watch and I’m hooked ! Love the content, love History above all 😅 cheers

[@ryujibackyeah4189]

16:54 maximillen robespierre and other

[@pattersong6637]

If anyone wants a really fun Three Kingdoms adaptation, the 2010 Chinese TV adaptation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms is really, really epic and well worth watching, though it is a MOUNTAIN of a TV show (95 episodes). Also, there's the 1994 Three Kingdoms, which is more faithful to the novel but isn't quite as high production value.

[@bkjeong4302]

The 2010 version is closer to actual history TBH.

[@DevilboyScooby]

Have to wonder, are the people steering and setting fire to the trap ships considered sacrificial lambs not expected to return?

[@chasechase4138]

I think the one guy you were talking about at 17:55 was a king or an emperor and he didn’t kill two people underneath of him because it was a religious holiday and they murdered him in the middle of that night.

[@MobyMobius]

the surprising thing, and i know this video is old, but the practice of using imperial eunuchs did not end until 1912 and the last palace eunuch died in 1999 at age 94, there was actually a movie made in 1988 called Lai Shi, China's Last Eunuch about him

[@drrakw2432]

I still think It's pretty cool how you have the same first name as a Sabaton member, Chris Rörland.

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Except he plays guitar WAAAAAYYY better than I do :)

[@shadowrfox]

Some things to add: 17:48 I believe those are suppose to be Foo Dog statues. As for Lu Bu, their is debate if Diao Chan existed but what is a fact is Dong Zong had been doing various things to anger Lu Bu such as throwing spears at him in anger. So it gives to reason that Lu Bu would have betray Dong Zong for any good opportunity that came along. 25:48 Yuan Shu declaration of being the new emperor wasn't out of nowhere. Sun Ce had traded the Imperial Seal with him a couple of months/year earlier and he tried to use it as a rallying cry that he had inherited the mandate of heaven to start a new empire. 26:51 While their was these warlord factions, you also got to remember the Han Child Emperor is still alive and recognize as the emperor (he was just in the clutches of Cao Cao at the time). Many of these factions acknowledge Cao Cao as the "protector" of the Han (in reality they knew he was using the child emperor, but was too afraid to challenge him out right because he could call them traitor to the empire and call upon the rest of the realm to defeat, see Yuan Shu). Yuan Shao conquest of the north made him the largest faction with the best chance to defeat Cao Cao in one battle and capture the emperor (see battle of guandu) . But with his defeat in that battle, the writing was on the wall that his faction would fall due to internal strife. Which is how Cao Cao was able to conquer it so quickly after his defeat. 28:04 The smashing of table (I've always heard it as cutting a table with his sword) was basically follow by a speech saying something along of the lines: "Any officer or official who dares talk further of welcoming Cao Cao will share the fate of this table!" This basically put all the officials on the resolution that this would be a fight to the death. 29:00 As for Huang Gai plan, it should be noted that it is said Cao Cao linked his ship together to avoid spy attacks and to allow his ship more stability so his men wouldn't get as seasick. This combine with the fire attack cost his entire fleet to go up like firewood. Personally I recommend the War of the Three Kingdom series if you want to watch a series that capture the mysticism of the Romance of the three kingdom story while setting it in a historic setting. You can find the entire series on youtube.

[@kennywong4239]

There is a very crucial point why there are warlords in the first place. The Han Dynasty had all along a central army. If there were any uprising, it will be the duty of the central army to quash them. However, in the later part of the Han dynasty, there were endless rebellions in the west. Most of the best soldiers were sent to crushed them. This ended up with the western soldiers are one of the best (which eventually was inherited by Dong Zhuo, hence he was powerful enough to threaten the empress dowager). This caused the central army to be severely weakened and were unable to response effectively against any local uprising, in particular, the yellow turban uprising. To solve this issue, someone proposed for the local governors to raise their own army and feed them. This ended up with the local governors started to amass money and military power, which eventually became warlord on their own.

[@chair2930]

Pretty cool to look back 9 months ago when you just crossed 10k subscribers. Proud of you, Chris!

[@amu7379]

The Taiping Rebellion is one of the funniest events we learn about over here in Chinese History. Basically some dude failed an exam so many times he saw a Christian pamphlet from Western missionaries and decided he was the younger brother of Jesus, and started a rebellion against the corrupt Qing Dynasty that makes the American Civil War look like a playground fight.

[@ChristianSirianni]

Chris, a new Oversimplified video was just released. The Pig War

[@me0101001000]

Basically this is: ✨🎶China is whole again🎶✨ . . . . ✨🎶Then it broke again🎶✨