Three Kingdoms | Oversimplified | History Teacher Reacts

[@JustABoringAsianGuy]

As a Chinese myself, I can't help but noticed the words sang by the bird on 1:07 saids: “永不会放弃你，永不会放下你(*Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down*)".

[@irondolphin9387]

李俊平 A joke that you can only get if you speak Chinese. Nice.

[@zhuchris168]

李俊平 其實我不知道是不是一首歌。

[@Ake-TL]

hell, another level of RicRoll

[@hyhena-gaming9986]

When is the new dynasty gonna replace the current one?

[@thoushallnotpass22]

I was wondering if it was a clever joke. Glad to know it was!

[@iguessmynamesriya7658]

Man your reactions are what reaction videos should be. You provide so many details and lots of interesting commentary

[@rfx1761]

ok

[@rfx1761]

@Blarkey *R FX Liked that*

[@benschwartz8941]

Travis West I agree, people should only make reaction videos if they can make an impact or difference in that video (historical commentary or someone knowing a lot about the video)

[@FozTf2]

exactly, i wish all reaction channels add value like this

[@tiffanyhill-anding8891]

@@FozTf2 yep 50% of reactions channels don't even truly react all they do is sit around not say anything laugh a bit end of the video and they just completely profit off something that doesn't belong to them

[@henryciesla2550]

"you guys following all this?" "there will be a quiz at the end of all this" the way he keeps his face stoic and unemotional is 100% teacher tactics.

[@arandomuser9459]

henry ciesla 🤣

[@mini.k4250]

ikr 🤣

[@lizd2943]

Did you catch Hitler's enraged father punishing him severely in the background?

[@unavailableuser7280]

Yes

[@drewbaaca]

Hidden meme? xD

[@norr0513]

Drewbacca no

[@diegoflores9267]

this enraged his father...who punished him severely lol I did spot it

[@Jartran72]

16:25

[@brickbreak841]

Time traveler 1: What year are we in Time traveler 2: Ask that guy over there Time traveler 1 (to Chinese peasant): Is China in chaos? Chinese peasant: Yes Time traveler 1: Idk

[@cjclow052]

Aleternate ending time traveler1 what year are we in Time traveler2 idk ask that guy over there Time traveler 1 to peasant is china in chaos Chinese peasent yes Tome traveler 1 sometime since forever

[@josephcardwell24]

Apart from the dynasties lasted 100s of years without conflict, who else can say that?

[@yanivgalmor1747]

we are beetwin forever and always

[@apotato6278]

@@josephcardwell24 Not really without conflict. Constant Turko-Mongolic raids, civil wars, uprising etc made China a pretty awful place to live but not nearly as awful as the feudal battle royale Europe descended into after the fall of Rome. Just because there weren't any declarations of war didn't mean China wasn't a tumultuous place.

[@josephcardwell24]

A potato I think you are missing at least 3 golden ages, the Han are even mentioned in this video but, the Qing, while brutal, brought piece, try and name a European country that has been as stable as China, good luck

[@scheimong]

I just noticed a detail in Oversimplified's original video that really impressed me. Look at the eastern coast of China where modern Shanghai is - right north of Taiwan. Notice how the dynasties' borders don't exactly follow the coastline there. That's in fact not a mistake but a very nice touch. This region is known as the Yangtze delta, where said river meets the ocean. Yangtze is a very muddy river, and so deposits a huge amount of sediment on the delta constantly. For example, Shanghai is almost entirely founded on soft soil carried downstream by the river. What this also means is that a great area of what currently is land used to be ocean two millennia ago, which is why the historical border and the current coast don't match. Now I am not sure whether the border is exactly accurate (obviously, nobody is), but Oversimplified's attention to detail is certainly worth commemorating.

[@linggao2602]

Nice one, Shanghai didn’t rise above sea level until about 500 years ago.

[@davidw.2791]

Yup. Meaning if you’re standing in a place like modern Shanghai when you switched on the time machine, you’d end up falling into the ocean.

[@davidw.2791]

Chameleon Scheimong Also, depending on the era, the Yellow River would either go into the sea north of the Shandong Peninsula or south of it.

[@yinnanwang9831]

Hey you didn’t write in Chinese! You will be abolished to the place where people don’t write things in Chinese!

[@QuikVidGuy]

...So is Shanghai sinking like a lot of soft-soil cities are?

[@kevinstede2189]

16:24 Eunuch in the background getting punished serverly by Hitlers father

[@enananannn]

He ran out of children to beat-

[@AlbertCamus-r6i]

That Eunuch is getting punished severely...

[@fangorn23]

@21:28 the way he says 'there will be a quiz at the end of the video' in his teacher voice made me have a minor panic like I was back in school again. "FRICK, I WASNT TAKING NOTES!"

[@jjoe7078]

HAHAHA SAME! but this is a dope ass teacher

[@jjoe7078]

@E you lucky son of a bitch, Ive had more tests cuz of this lockdown haha

[@autumnkokoro_heart_mermaid9975]

@j Joe That must suck

[@anonymousrokstar6455]

When he said “there’ll be a quiz at the end of the video” a cold sweat ran down my back 😂

[@fbiagent6456]

I had the instinct to immediately close down the browser XD

[@lulzdragon7339]

I've played enough Three Kingdoms at this point that I can actually recognize these names as something other than gibberish. Definitely recommend.

[@PACKERMAN2077]

I feel the same way but from Dynasty Warriors so it makes me feel even more special 😋

[@jeremiahwilliams245]

@@PACKERMAN2077 Dynasty Warriors for the Win!

[@RyokoEarth]

Yeah as someone who’s played like 4 dynasty warrior games and has read stuff from that this is one of the few oversimplified vids where I knew most of what they said, though even I learned things from this vid, it’s a testament to how well they deliver info (tho there’s soooo much more detail they could’ve gone into, it’s impossible to give all of it obvi)

[@Auoric]

@@RyokoEarth Good thing battle of Chi Bi got a spotlight though, it's a really important battle. It's my favourite battle together with battle of Wu Zhang plans

[@blainehancock]

I've played them too and they can be a little hard to follow what's going on but this video made it make a lot more sense.

[@diegouy8277]

A History Teacher Reacts is | Oversimplified is more like A History Teacher Desimplifies Oversimplified

[@muza-pe1183]

That means overcomplicated

[@apachers2807]

@Simple Just like all my relationships

[@cheemythedrunkmonke]

@@muza-pe1183 well history is complicated

[@daisybrain9423]

Everyone seems to be talking about Hitler's father, but did you catch the Yellow Vest at 13:12?

[@asserrange2654]

Vid Hahn i have

[@asserrange2654]

French protests

[@wisemankugelmemicus1701]

+Vid Hahn I thought you were bullshitting until I saw it myself.

[@Oxmustube]

ASSER RANGE with a baguette, of course.

[@DreckbobBratpfanne]

oh wow. XD

[@BlueflameKing1]

Total war is pretty fun, the games are different as they go and become more advanced, I recommend Total War Medieval II as a good starting point. It takes place between 1080-1500.

[@lukanovak1492]

Rome 2 is also amazing

[@jurtra9090]

@@lukanovak1492 unless you play it in 2013

[@austinkersey2445]

Then there was me. A sad sap who plays Rome: Total War as well as the Barbarian Invasion expansion, the Warhammer series, and Shogun: 2. How is Medieval II anyway?

[@MSF_Soldier_Alligator]

Austin Kersey If you like RTW you’ll like Medieval 2.

[@austinkersey2445]

@@MSF_Soldier_Alligator Ah, similar set-up, but set during the First through Ninth Crusade. Gotcha . . . I'm in.

[@andrewpark5757]

The Diaochan story at 18:54 is a fictional story from the medieval novel Romance of Three Kingdoms, which was written during Ming dynasty(1300s).

[@gl4re]

Well this video follow the romance version more than the actual one. Since people is much more familiar with the romance version than the actual history that missing a lot of thing.

[@EM-vw7im]

It's Lu Bu!!! Too much dynasy warriors in my childhood.

[@jinzenan1068]

lv bu 吕布.

[@moomanchu608]

Jin Zenan the games dont bother translating it that way. I feel you though

[@soshelp4085]

lv bu lvbu 吕布

[@soshelp4085]

by the way, zhang jue is zhang jiao now.

[@dantevega5103]

Hu lao gate intensifies!!!!

[@Kittycorn115]

“Waaaait a minute! The capitol is on fire! I’m here with my army and I have the emperor! Screw you guys! I’M IN CHARGE!”

[@gdtacos7082]

Good job, you’re not depth

[@mememan2.074]

@@gdtacos7082 *deaf

[@StrawberryPocky11]

I know you're a teacher so it's a given but you are one of the more, if not the most, knowledgeable reactor on these oversimplified history videos I've seen. I learn from these videos and I learn again watching you. Keep up the good work!

[@mrrodgers0]

I see these videos as less like reactions and more like margin notes.

[@AK_-xn1fm]

Interesting the way you described bone writing is actually referenced in Avatar the Last Airbender. Two of the characters get their fortunes told through the burning of bones and the way it cracks tells the fortune

[@zhuchris168]

Sima Yi didn’t claim himself as emperor. He claimed his grandson as emperor.

[@aaronwilson8632]

More like his grandson claimed himself emperor, and made Yi and his Uncle and Father (Shi and Zhao) were made Emperors posthumously

[@zhuchris168]

That’s accurate.

[@forgottenfamily]

The video showed Sima Yan as doing that who was the one who proclaimed himself Emperor.

[@davidw.2791]

Same with Cao Pi being the first emperor of Wei and he made his dad Cao Cao - who of course did all the actual heavy lifting - emperor in death.

[@butterwaffling4492]

When you said “there’s gonna be a quiz on this,” that hit me deep with the quiz feelings.

[@WuYixiang]

Eh... Yuan Shu actually had the Jade Seal, which used to be a symbol of the Mandate of Heaven, when he declared himself Emperor of Zhong. Unfortunately, the other warlords saw it for what it was - a MacGuffin - and murderized him anyway.

[@nathanback2544]

Jonathan Wu what I think you meant was, This enraged his half-brother and the other warlords, who punished him severely.

[@ChildofIcarus]

I come to hear you laugh. And for your input.

[@josephwatkins1190]

So a dynasty created the Mandate of Heaven to justify them killing the previous dynasty and seizing power but they were so good at convincing the people that it became a permanent part of Chinese culture and was used to then justify their fall from power and every dynasty that came after

[@markoerakovic9899]

Yes and no, its purpose was also to remove the right to rule from those who are not fit to rule. It actually created an option to rebel against tyrants and be free on consequences as its not your crime of rebelling its their fault for losing the Mandate of Heaven. Keep in mind most rebellions occur when ruling elite or rulers fall into decadence. As long as the Emperor or whatever ruling system in place is not corrupt or tyranical to the extremes it will hold on.

[@DarkMagicianMan20]

They not created, is not like a casus belli in the west. People of ancient China are follow example of Confucious that the ruler are ruler and the people must obey the ruler, only when the ruler not properly follow the old way and being corrupt, people will rise up to restore the balance by replacing the ruling dynasty. Ancient China belief and culture are theme around balance of the Earth and Heaven

[@スノーハッピー]

Well, if the Zhou was what created the Mandate of Heaven, the Zhou didn't quite get overthrown by a divinely mandated faction quite like the others did. Zhou's political power just sort of became more and more decentralized as it gave power to small feudal states, and then foreign tribes and nations started joining in and before you know it, it's the Autumn and Spring period and the Warring States period, and Zhou became this tiny little state among everyone else. So yea, maybe people did think Zhou lost the Mandate of Heaven, but they sort of lived on as a small kingdom for their local area for about a hundred years after that. Then they got conquered by Qin.

[@markoerakovic9899]

@@スノーハッピー The thing is, if they allowed all that, they would have sinked into obscurity. By the time they were done, id wager most peasants or average Joe-s would not recognize them anymore. I would bet most of people forgot or didnt know about Zhou dynasty existed, especially if decades or centuries passed and their name and influence waned. Chinese have a tendency to re-write history when a new dynasty comes also.

[@taoliu3949]

@@markoerakovic9899 People knew the Zhou existed, but that doesn't mean they recognize that they still had the mandate. Anyone can claim the mandate, but in the end if you can't back it up it's moot. Normal peasants can care less who has the mandate as long as they can just live their life. Mandate of heaven is what's used to give legitimacy to a regime, but geopolitics is what determines who ends up on top.

[@thunder_wolf23]

Imagine trying to convince your general that he's making a mistake and he just straight up smashes a table

[@aaronmicalowe]

History was my most hated subject at school because I was like, life is here today, why obsess about the past? Finally in my 40s I can start to enjoy this stuff. Great reactions.

[@ПреславМаринов-у7г]

There is no future without history.

[@arandomuser9459]

Преслав Маринов That’s what I will always say.

[@TD-sh6wd]

because usually history teachers are lazy and unenthusiastic about it, they teach dates and stuff than what really matters, like what did you learn from history, what is the lesson of the story, why does these things happen etc etc. they more like this happens, question what date did this happen. thus you'll get bored easily especially with so much numbers.

[@nagapandian]

@@TD-sh6wd haha yeah I didn’t like history in school but after I found channels like oversimplified it became my favorite subject

[@eternallyspoopy2238]

*that moment when Mr Terry says that a turtle shell is a bone and you start racking your brain to find that out because you’ve never asked that question*

[@davidw.2791]

Turtle shells and beef bones. But the illiterate people who dug it up and sold it to medicine houses for years before the writing was officially discovered in 1900 thought it was “dragon bone”.

[@ShadowJupiter99]

Seems like Chinese court culture is very similar to the ottomans who also had many very powerful eunuchs.

[@AlimoGuy]

i didn't know that lol

[@ShadowJupiter99]

AlimoHD they were the only ones allowed into the Sultans Harem room other than the sultan, for quite obvious reasons.

[@festethephule7553]

@@ShadowJupiter99 That...would make sense.

[@AlimoGuy]

@@ShadowJupiter99 wowie

[@NostalgicMem0ries]

@@AlimoGuy game of thrones eunuchs were based on middle east story

[@wiegermoll5549]

I'm quite late to the video but I wanna say props for all the added commentary. I have been studying Chinese at uni and history and classical text translations have been a major part of the curriculum so far. Yet another great video from the history teacher we all wished we had.

[@wiegermoll5549]

by the way, I believe the bones and shells themselves weren't put in the fire, but a hot metal stoke would be stuck inside to read the cracks on these will?/will not? questions.

[@kiDkiDkiD12]

I love the history "notes" you provide during the video. Really interesting for people like me who love History

[@piratekrook1183]

I always assumed the eunuchs were castrated so they couldn’t procreate with the emperor’s partners.

[@ChronicRen]

That too. Because they were castrated eunuchs were permitted to work in the harem.

[@nurlindafsihotang49]

Almost all asian empire do it. Ottoman did it, persian empire, judean too, and african like in egypt. In europe, castrato only for opera singer?

[@MagicalKid]

@@nurlindafsihotang49 well, basically any empire with an imperial harem. The Kings in European countries only had one wive, so there was no need for that.

[@nurlindafsihotang49]

@@MagicalKid ..officially.

[@eurrekava4803]

MagicalKid .... ya sure about that?

[@joshbull623]

History was always my favorite class in highschool and when I joined the marines, one of the best parts of it was becoming more intimate with the history of such a historically rich organization. I liked the breakdowns of oversimplified but the knowledge and expansion of the dialogue and presentation that you bring to the videos through your commentary makes for a really great reaction video and takes me back to my highschool classes. Keep them coming please, I am learning and relearning allot.

[@chrisriley2321]

Talking about all the betrayal and power grabbing reminds me of lyrics from a youtube series called RWBY. Specifically, the third season opening "When it Falls": "..they play the part of allies claiming peace their only goal. But once the fight for power starts they'll eat each other whole..." I find it oddly fitting because that's exactly what happened and always seems to in war. People claim to only want peace and unity but once the opportunity to get a seat of power comes along they'll kill each other for it

[@Siptom369]

Mr Terry is definetly more than a simple reaction channel, he contributes so much more to these videos

[@arandomchinese482]

18:50 Diaochan was one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. Unlike the other three beauties, however, there is no known evidence for her existence; she is mostly a fictional character. She is best known for her role in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which romanticises the events in the late Eastern Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. -------------------------------------Wikipeidia

[@tanjinpang]

I keep scrolling down the comment waiting people to talk about Diaochan, and finally found one... Dong Zhuo did have a concubine that made Lv Bu betrayed him, but her name was never recorded...

[@arandomchinese482]

@@tanjinpang Me too lol

[@edwinbrown7179]

Most definitely recommend the Total War franchise, way more focused on the battles than Civilization but you still have the political and state building Total War Three Kingdoms is a very impressive entry in the series as well also Shogun 2.

[@deadlyscorpion1551]

so i know it's an old video now but just to give some more information in 23:49 part Cao Cao's army are strong on lands, but on water (seasick, etc) Sun Quan's army are strong (like really strong) on water. So, it's almost like 50/50 when coming to this war But I forget is Cao Cao himself or his people's idea saying about: "Hey about we linked our ships together, so that our army can move freely on ships on fight on ships like fight on lands?" Hence, Cao Cao's ships (about 10x times more than Liu-Sun alliance) are tied together with a big chain and planks if I'm not mistaken to hold a lot of army and fight. This has annoyed the alliance so much, but Huang Gai (黄盖) one of the Sun Quan's general suggest he will pretend to surrender and ships a lot of flammable objects on the ships to Cao Cao. And the rest is on the video of that part, and because of the linked ships, almost all ships can't escape of the fire and all went down to flames. Thank you for listening to this TED talk, sorry for bad English (not my first language).

[@HairyHillman]

Total war games are kind of like a mix of the older CIV games and old school RTS games. You have a turn based campaign map where you manage cities and move armies around, and whenever there is a battle the game launches a battle map where you can take control of all the armies at the squad level and direct the battle.

[@supersasukemaniac]

Yuan Shu declaring himself emperor wasn't as out of nowhere as it sounds, since b that point, he had possession of the Imperial Seal.

[@bkjeong4302]

The problem was that the Imperial Seal meant nothing by then, and everyone except him knew it. All he achieved was to get himself destroyed by every other warlord.

[@hiyukelavie2396]

4:33 "But that one (Zhou) sort of just fell apart" Bruh There are so much details to go into here For example, the Zhou rulers were feudal kings, whereas from Qin onwards China transitioned into the Imperial era Also, during the Zhou dynasty people identified themselves as a person of Yan, a person of Qi, a person of Zhao, etc aka they saw each other as foreigners, or at the very least outsiders It wasn't until the Han dynasty that a person of Han was a thing Point is, Zhou China was a markedly different society than what came after it

[@laikeatseng]

To understand what "mandate" is, it can be refer as the capability to united china and provide stability, nothing about benevolent but to know how to "rule". For once had said in ancient china : people are like the sea for it can float you also can overthrow you which give mandate to the emperor also taking away.

[@dylanp7817]

The total war games are pretty much civ except you have to fight all the battles using your armies and can use tactics to turn certain defeat into a heroic victory and slowly expand your empire into the others increasing your power and production.

[@-360face]

12:42 what you been explaining is called 天道 in chinese, literally translation= god's way , rather than divine power more like the ultimate rule universe run. So if emperors or dynasty dk what they are doing then the they are no longer representatives of 天道. It is very like religion in a way, but no entity, just a belief that there is a rule everything need to follow. Ref. Taoism & Tao Te Ching.

[@thataxx1534]

that's why Chinese historical dramas as so fun to watch, everyone trying to off everyone else

[@alexthuang6563]

actually eunuchs were not put into power positions. they were used as servants of the Royal family, only based on the purpose of ensuring the purity of the Royal blood( prevent the eunuchs cheat with the emperor' wives) the reason of some eunuchs having high power is because as servents they are the closest people to the emperors, sometimes means they are the most trusted, or the dearest. and the emperor would give them more power than they should have.

[@rumuelnathanael8043]

Wtf that bird Rick Rolled us all.

[@minder01]

The extra inputs and other bits you add in are always appreciated.

[@marvinfok65]

Eunuch history started with simply the kings and emperors having too many wives/concubines. Eunuchs were male palace servants who do the more hard manual work which the palace maids can't handle. In order to ensure that these male servants do not have sex with the kings & emperor's wives and pass on their children as the kings and emperors children who might even inherit the kingdom or dynasty, these male servants were castrated. However, the Eunuch eventually become very powerful first due to the reason they were close to the emperors. Many were in fact the emperor's childhood playmates. They understand the emperors better than any other people. Eunuchs were later given more trust because because of the many rebellions by lords. Emperors thinks that eunuchs were better bets to be given more power than other lords as they cannot have a children and start another dynasty.

[@davidw.2791]

23:18 What really happened is that Sun Quan told his councilmen that “I have made up my mind to fight Cao Cao, and if anyone of you dare mention surrender again, thou shalt go the way of this desk!”

[@Azaghal1988]

Fun fact: Zheng He, one of the most important and influencial Admirals in chinese and possibly world history was a eunuch.

[@qyz3518]

Yeah dude, Ming history is my favourite part out of chinese history, It's so fun.

[@ironichoodies]

Chinese Muslim that travelled to America... Oh man, imagine if he permanently settled there. What would Trump look like?

[@simontheman4337]

Ann Lawson ancient Chinese culture are more about keeping balance and seeking answers in the inside. And colonialism is more like solving problems from outside. And America wasn’t such a good place for people to live at the first place,no need to take that place.

[@simontheman4337]

Ann Lawson Zheng He was giving a lot of things to show their civilization. And I guess that’s probably the reason why Indians were treating British well at the first place.

[@brutustantheiii8477]

5:27 also since the only males, other than the Emperor himself, that were allowed in the Forbidden City (the Emperor’s exclusive court) were eunuchs, it guaranteed that any child born in that court belonged to the emperor himself Smart and Clever, even Brilliant isn’t it?

[@snipeshot1401]

*Throws bones in fire and takes it out* “Ohhhh Bill you died”

[@simontheman4337]

Hahahahaha

[@noquarteratall780]

I always hear history is written by the victor. Fair enough. Take this into consideration. When I'm telling a story about the guy I beat up at the bar or the fish I once caught I don't talk about how small the guy or fish was.

[@lespaullespaul]

Very interesting point on eunuch: as a Chinese I always thought that the reason why they use eunuch in the palace is ensure all the offspring is indeed from the emperor himself since he is the only male living there. Never occur to me that it also make them impossible to establish their own dynasty. Also you mentioned mandate from heaven - there is a saying that "water can carry the boat, it can also sink the boat" - in here water refers to the people & the boat is the ruler, as you said this is how it works in China for thousands of years & this kind of thinking in the sociality in a way forces the ruler to be accountable & make sure his people is happy & content, otherwise the people won’t hesitate to downturn the dynasty, which also explained why there are so many dynasties, unlike other civilization like Japan, UK etc where you always have the same family ruling the country. Thanks for the great video.

[@landofthehazymist]

in the uk it wasnt always the same family ruling the country, just the same system. English history is prett notorious for changes in ruling family and the civil wars. Like the wars of the roses and the glorious revolution

[@chinheghwborjigin5440]

Fun fact that those bones with Oracle words were used to regarded as a medicine in Chinese traditional medicines called DRAGON BONE, and been used for long long times till 1899 it was finally been considered as a kind of ancient word record.

[@jlvv_1]

Three Kingdoms is one of the most famous periods within the massive history of ancient China~ One of the factor might be from the (several) fiction stories around the history.. Liu Bei is one of my fave warlords.. even one of his "brothers" , Guan Yu, (in real life, after he's dead) literally got a Title from Heaven as "Guang Kong" ..and now he's one of the Gods which was worshipped massively among Chinese people.

[@Dovahkiiins]

I find it interesting Guan yu is the only person(not a god) who “deified” by Confucianism, Taoism and Chinese Buddhism

[@jlvv_1]

@@Dovahkiiins Yes God himself bestowed the title of "law enforcer" Deity to Guan Yu. The Buddha , Kwan Im, etc were initially person as well

[@eFatz83]

Excellent video! Few things 1. Your explanation of the oracle bone script was spot on. It was mainly for recording outcomes of divinations,but also, we can confirm the existence of the shang dynasty because of these oracle bone records. They burnt turtle shells and analyzed the cracks to see what the outcomes were.. (i can verify all these because i saw a major exhibition on this in the central national library in beijing) 2. The point on eunuchs gaining power isn't so straighforward though. By right, eunuchs are only active in the palace, which is the personal space of the emperor, while the court officials are active in the court, which is the work space. By right, the eunuchs are not supposed to be active in court, but as the court got weaker, the eunuchs managed to spill their influence there. In this portion of history there were 10 major eunuchs who were involved in the corruptions mentioned here. 3. The "Mandate of Heaven" concept was very well explained. As a native speaker of chinese, i don't think i could have explained it any better in english than you did. Anyway, thanks so much for bringing this most interesting part of chinese history to the english-speaking world!

[@princesendo8309]

Hi, Eunuchs existed is to prevent those concubines having affairs. One Emperor can have up to hundreds concubines. If non eunuchs is to be the care takers, they will have affairs. To prevent non direct lineage of the Emperor.

[@cusousa]

I just started watching your videos yesterday and watched about 7 of them. I've been a history fan as long as I can remember and I have enjoyed hearing your input on the oversimplified videos. One content creator that I have been following and keeping up with for a year now is the group Kings and Generals. They mostly focus on famous battles throughout history and if you are looking for more videos to react to, they have a lot of very well done videos you might enjoy as well. Keep doing what you are doing and hopefully you will do a video from that group some time!

[@cobebosch1454]

I'm a big civ fan myself, I have a couple hundred hours on Civ 5, mostly using Netherlands and Germany

[@fye7785]

I love how you always give credit to the original video's owner and show their ads as a way of support, the world need more people like you

[@copperhamster]

Total War has two 'layers'. You manage the nation-state on a macro level turn by turn, each turn being a season. Battles, while they can be autoresolved, are played out real-time. There's not a lot of research per se but there are trees of 'reforms' and skills your leaders develop. Three Kingdoms has two modes, 'normal mode' and 'legends mode'. Normal mode your generals are just extra units and form your base. In Legends mode it's based on Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and your generals are famous names and powerhouses in combat against 'normal' units. I can suggest a let's play youtuber that is playing through it and really loves the Total War series, he is 'Many a True Nerd', and British. He plays a lot of grand strategy so you might look over some of his stuff and see if there are things you like. Also, he has a classics degree, focusing on Greek history. (He also plays a lot of stealth open world RPG's, like the Fallout games, and has done things like 'no kill' runs and 'you only live once' runs (no healing at all) )

[@Jartran72]

This comment is an ad! Dont let it deceive you guys. It is a tarned ad

[@Anastas1786]

Regarding Liu Bei's ears: Both the Records of the Three Kingdoms and the Romance of the Three Kingdoms insist that his ears were so large that even _he_ could see them. I suppose that's why he _gets_ ears when no one else on the entire planet has or ever had any..

[@jinzenan1068]

3:36 Shang Dynasty nobles and the emperor will write on bronze. There are several bronze artifacts with the praise of the nobles dated back in Shang Dynasty in Shanghai Museum. 6:05 Eunuchs are not all castrated in Qin Dynasty. Eunuchs are all castrated in Han Dynasty because Eunuchs are mainly used in Emperor domestic home duties. In some dynasties, Eunuchs do get a lot more power for their ability, intimacy, and trust of the emperor. For example, Zhen He 郑和, a Muslim Eunuchs leads seven times Ming Treasure Voyages(strange Wikipedia translation) that went to All South East Asia, South Asia, Middle East, Mecca, and part of East Africa; Cai Lun 蔡伦, inventor of papermaking. 8:00 In late East Han, the shown peasant tax is low for 20% of their harvest. But peasants are charged with a double or triple tax on various names. The real tax could be up to 80%. And... That is Zhang Jiao 张角, not Zhang Jue张觉. weird pronunciation, at least it should use Chinese spelling. Same for Lu Bu, wth, should be Lv Bu, for Chinese spelling and pronunciation. Three kingdoms is fascinated for its chaos and heroes. There are two widely read versions of Three Kingdoms, one is "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and the other is "Records of the Three Kingdoms". The previous one is the story written based on the historical record of the latter one. "Romance" is written 1,000 years after "Records". So you may find “Romance" much easier to read. Both have English version online book.

[@davidw.2791]

23:53 A shoddy retreat of Napoleonic proportions.

[@minercreepmc]

Love your video, very knowlegde about history

[@tonymontana9221]

One thing that needs to be corrected is that Liu Bei was not a warlord original. He came from a normal family that was related to the royal family distantly. He gained his power and territory by showing his power on the battlefield, earning support from a local government official, and eventually becoming the legitimate rule of the land.

[@niksneizaks8886]

The way he clicks on the play button in all his videos confirms that he is actually a teacher.

[@rautumn6080]

In Chinese culture, whether the emperor loses the right of ruling depends on if it is a benevolent ruling(whether civilian is treating nicely). For example, if a pandemic like the Corna virus loses control (the focus is on If the government is able to protect its people )and it kills millions of people, then it will lose the right to rule.

[@CJ-fh5xq]

Good thing Dynasty Warriors helped me with understanding.

[@daniellaw4200]

a slight dig at the french yellow jacket protests in the yellow turban rebellion graphics lmaoo

[@SadBirbHours]

Amongst men, Lu Bu. Amongst horses, Red Hare.

[@pengwahchong4708]

人中鲁**布，马中赤兔（his trusty steed) *= typo error

[@xz1891]

吕布

[@derecksheppard5913]

Sima Yi is something that's always stated differently. Like he was scheming since Cao Cao and his Jin plans where part of his grand strategy and all that. It makes you as dubious about it as you almost _have to_ with Lu Bu being a war god that couldn't be stopped in battle and all that.

[@dustfang5422]

The movie Red Cliff makes so mich more sense now. Im sure its overdramatized, but I really enjoyed the 4 hour cut of that. You got any opinions on that movie from a history perspective? Also. Do you enjoy the History Buffs channel?

[@cmdrtianyilin8107]

This is what reaction videos should have been. Very engaging and glued to the screen like an addict. Thanks for this awesome upload.

[@mikeyman2010]

Mr. Terry, you should definitely check out the Total War series. The overarching gamplay is exactly the same as civilization, with tech trees, diplomacy, empire-building, taxes, population/city management, & more. I daresay it's even deeper than civ in that it also has real-time battles that occurs when two armies clash together and you get to be a general deciding on troop deployment, formation, tactics, & generalship. The battles are extremely authentic & realistic b/c the engine simulates literally thousands of troops, their morale, hand-to-hand & missile combat, exhaustion, & maneuvers. History channel even used the Total War engines to create documentaries that some teachers use to teach in class. For an example of what it's like, check out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fpyxYYaLnJ6Ke9E

[@leea8706]

You seem like a fantastic teacher. I swear there’s something about history teachers that make them all brilliant. I’m currently studying history at university and all my lecturers (the American equivalent of a professor because professor in the U.K. is an academic title denoting a higher or highest (?) position) have been really really great too. I bet you’ve inspired so many of your students to pursue history because of your clear enthusiasm for it. My fantastic history teachers are one of the reasons I have such a love the subject. Hopefully I will be able to continue the trope of history teachers being the best teachers.

[@quangphu6787]

hey, hope you read this, i agree with your reason on why there were eunuchs in the kingdom. But, i think there are 1 more reason. Obviously, there were many beautiful young women working as servants in the kingdom. however, they also needed male servants to do the heavy work. So to prevent the male servants from falling in love with the women and to truly focus on their job, they need to become eunuchs, And, they ACTUALLY GET PAID A LOT OF MONEY to become a eunuchs, poor men often sacrificed their life to support their family.

[@davidw.2791]

23:01 Plot Twist: Scholars to this day still aren’t entirely sure where Chi Bi is geographically.

[@predator9424]

Wait a minute at 16:25 isn't that guy behind in the background Hitler's Father beating a Eunuch?

[@arandomuser9459]

HYPER 77 Omg it is 😂🤣

[@jaanc8047]

1:12 "The Yellow River flooded again and destroyed all your crops. Also we're being raided by nomadic tribesman." (commentary) That's basically Chinese history summed up right there.

[@YuxuanXie-nc7hp]

You should definitely try out Total war Three kingdoms if you love games like civilization and such. I as a chinese find it very interesting not only in warfare but also managing economy and research. Art design is great, everything is accurate in history yet you can build an empire your way. It was my first try in the Total War series as well, so there shouldn't be any problem for you.

[@AuroraIceFlame]

3:30 im pretty sure this ritual was in an avatar the last airbender episode

[@jed949]

Fun that you provided your knowledge about the system back then in China. I'm only familiar with the events transpired thanks to a number of video games about the romance of the 3 kingdoms

[@otsa120]

One crucial factor has always been left out in discussing the 3 kingdoms period, which is the local power of each region, which are the powerful houses. Though they are not feudal lords, they always become officials in the governmental system and protect their local benefits. If you take this fact into consideration, you can better explain the infighting in the Yuan Shao's faction, the background of Cao Cao strategists, the struggle between Sun Quan and Lu Xun, and one of the factors why Zhuge Liang have to start war.

[@damiester1]

Several things I want to mention as a Chinese: -We call our emperors tianzi = son of god, so technically they are somewhat deified. -Eunuchs were caretakers of the emperor's harem, so one of the primary reasons is their inability to commit adultery. -Records of the Three Kingdoms isn't a myth, which is what inspired the novels Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

[@LetsGoGetThem]

People say "Chinese people must hate history class" to this vid but I think in the PRC at least they don't really teach Chinese history before Sun Yat-Sen for reasons that happened in the 60s and 70s, if this has changed then correct me because I know that the CCP has very recently kind of reversed their position to the "reactionary past" so to speak.

[@SunnySzetoSz2000]

Chinese need to Remember all the names of dynasties, all important events, all celebrities, all important policies. Then do exams . Know every thing include the 10 years and the tiananmen, these two is just a small passage but teacher will tell the details.

[@ilikedota5]

Conveniently, The loss of the mandate of heaven corresponds well with general mismanagement and poor governance. I think that's why bad dynasties tended to get replaced with better dynasties, until the newer dynasty stopped being better. There were also notable periods of civil war. 3 Kingdoms, Warring States, Spring and Autumn, 5 Dynastys and 10 kingdoms are the 4 major ones.

[@Oddwaffle]

The mandate of heaven is really simple. If the current ruler is ruling well then all is well. If the current rule fails at it then their power weakens and this usually accompanying with other disasters like banditry, plague, foreign invasion, drought, famine...etc. The heaven would select another person to rule. This person will rise up and lead to a new era! He would be victorious and slay the current evil king and become the new king. Of course, if he fails and then he is not selected by the heaven and would just be a regular bandit.

[@simontheman4337]

That’s what our teacher told us. Basically, no matter what the king have done,even if he killed his siblings and father,we as civilians are having a good time,then everything is fine. If the floods comes,or the plague,or anything that makes me having a hard time,that’s meaning the king lost his right to be the king. It’s actually make sense. I don’t care what have you done,as long as you are incompetent to containing people’s lives then it’s time for you to be killed by rebellions.

[@Z020852]

One other way to put it to an informed Western audience is that the "Mandate of Heaven" in China is kind of like European monarchy's "Divine Ordination." The difference though is that, as in Egypt, your bloodline was chosen by god and confirmed by the Pope, BUT pissing off the Pope is one way to lose it. The other ways to lose the mandate to rule in Europe though does not necessarily mean the dynasty loses social status in absolute terms as in the continuation of any sort of respect even to families that are in exile (ex the Italian royals) while in China, the destructive civil wars - war back then meaning "kill all males, maybe keep young women as spoils" - meant that such dynasties don't survive. Pu Yi might have been childless, but that seems like a better outcome than what could have otherwise happened. In Japan, same thing applies, except 300 years later when the regional kings started bickering and the Empire and Shogun have lost control, they start claiming that their great-great-great-great grandmother was a Taira, Minamoto, or Fujiwara (or in the case of the Muromachi-era Hojo clan, they took on the name of the Heian-era Hojo clan).

[@henrichvonruben9114]

You should watch Extra Credits videos on Otto Von Bismarck

[@NacnudPinky]

13:12 One guy arms himself with a baguette and wears a reflective jacket. I assume he lost his turban

[@worldwidewonders681]

16:26 hitlers dad on the stairs

[@fzerowipeoutlover]

"... Eunuchs are people that can be trusted" And it's also a family of operating systems that's been trusted by many since the 1970's

[@cabal_2]

I prefer Paradox Interactive historical grand strategy games, Total War is more about the battles than anything else

[@ERROR_-_404]

The games or the ∞ dlc's?

[@cabal_2]

@@ERROR_-_404 Both tbh

[@ERROR_-_404]

@@cabal_2 (it was a joke regarding Paradox's DLC policy and how theire games have more dlc content than the base game) But sure, If you ignore that they do have good games

[@cabal_2]

I cant say I like it but so long as it's around the same level as an expansion, I can live with it Crusader Kings II being the best example

[@breezywarhead8489]

FurorTeutonicus crusader king ii going be down in 2020 with last dlc. That mean Victoria iii will coming

[@margaritakouzi5630]

I couldn't help but notice the yellow turban member actually wearing a yellow turban and armed with a baguette.

[@TheLibermania]

Why didn't Dong Zhuo had his own eunuchs? He wanted noone Dongless :D

[@Okuni_]

The big Dong hath spoken

[@Squill4]

I’ve been watching so much of this guy and listening to all he has to say and I’d bet if every teacher could teach like him and keep their students interested in the each subject the world would be a better place

[@TheGamer31Fly]

I know this is a bit off topic, but do you think you could react to history videos on the Aztec and Maya? It'd be very interesting to hear your input on cultures that aren't commonly discussed.

[@FaylunaRaRa]

In university I literally just came up with like a jingle in my head to sing China's dynasties in order so that I could remember it for the exams...

[@conservativechristian6132]

At 16:25 its Hitler's dad

[@condrad9449]

that eunuch thing actually helped me thank you sir