The Late Roman, Early Byzantine Infantryman (Fall of the Roman Empire History)

Wow this was a really good video!

I'm on the second book of a series called "Legionary" by Gordon Doherty about soldiers in the Eastern late Roman Empire. If you find this interesting you'll love the books. Lot of familiar terms and names in there. Definitely worth checking out.

I see "Roman". I click

S.P.Q.R.

i wish rome total war had these roman units in the game

Do a video on the limitani border guards! They varied from an elite force to a cheap militia force over their history, and would be very interesting!

A couple of things: Comitatenses varied in discipline and training depending on when and where they were.

A unit in the time of a successful emperor who are likely to see action? Much more disciplined that, say, the last 20 years of the Empire.

Also, calling that sword a spatha is technically not historically accurate. Rome kept calling it a gladius, and many of the finds show their blades to be thinner and more tapered than the earlier cavalry spatha. Some even almost resemble early rapiers. My point is, the sword was still likely primarily for thrusting, they just wanted more range on it.

Good stuff…

Justin was Justinian's uncle, not father. Unless you meant to say that he was adopted as Justin's heir.

OK but why did they stop using those sick ass power shields?

A little but of political cohesion would've done them real good, alas it was too normal for them to be so fractured.

Excellent presentation of a subject not usually discussed

awesome

There was two official Languages of the Roman Empire Latin and Greek . Greek was more spoken in Southern Italy , MAGNA GRECIA and the rest of the East Roman Empire , Greece , HAEMUS Hellenic Peninsula South of the Danube , Crimea and the Coastline of the Black Sea , IONIA , ANATOLIA , PONTUS , The Levant and the Greek Decapolis , Cyrene North Africa , Egypt and Cyprus . The Greek East Roman Empire flourished for a further 1000 Years after Rome and the Latin West were destroyed . The Greeks are the Romans

Well when it started to be more balkan centered then it started declining thats what i realised maybe the balkans is the junkyard of empires all empires that conquered it fell eventually so in other regions we can say that remains of those empires are big in comparison to the ones that were stationed in europe especially the ones that tried to subdue the balkans, anyway how can you abandon the backbone of success who grants peak performance, training how can they think that a non military society will keep them alive by the borders the roman empire had being warmongering was the only thing that made them who they were, isnt anyone that loves the first roman empire imagining those ranks of loyal and obedient triari hastati, and the legendary pretorian guard the equestri and the sagittari an formidable army the best of its time, giving rome freedom to build monuments of glory the romans were the technologically advanced and military absolute superpower, and the continuing empires who were the 2nd and 3rd rome just had its name it wasnt rome anymore it wasn't that rome that made the name what it is now, this is what i think.

I'm curious as to what kind of armor the Palatini are wearing in the artwork. That helmet looks rad as hell and I'd like to find one.

Cool video, I was unaware that the army was reorganized so soon after the Justinian plague.

Totally did not steal this for a totally not Roman Empire in D&D.

I would love to see what would happen if a legion fought with the late Roman army. Their tactics are very different and it is definitely posible that the more flexible units of the later Romans may carry the day against the legions of old.

Please consider doing a video about late 2nd century transition of the legionary towards a more auxiliary style tactic and equipment until at some point in the 3rd century they because indistinguishable from each other. Round scutum, Niederbieber helmet etc…

Tết này ở nhà coi hài cho an toàn

Why do you not include the basques in the visigotic empire? It is well documented the visigotic domination of the region, and its revolts under this domination.

5ft 10 your having a laugh.

As an aside, considering that the Byzantine Empire got reduced to a city-state, it probably should've been demoted in status well before its demise.

As for the later era Roman Infantry, it honestly seemed like their low-paid field infantry probably should've been a bit more specialized, because it seems like their training spread their abilities too thin, which may be part of why the brief time taking Italy was a fluke, why the Eastern Empire decayed like it did, and why the Western Empire crumbled

Great video man, but from your subs and the amount of views your vids get, I'm gonna take a guess that you already know youre doing a great job. I will be following your work. Thank you

Feel like shit just want legionnaire's back :'(

Awesome. Keep going. Thank you for great video!

Good stuff

Like/love your information. Didn't like the " would be " funny-like illustrations. Like the usual more normal drawings. They are more " in tune " with the vocal information. In my opinion.

Kinda cool to see that a lot of the equipment remained similar, the helmets look practically the same as the old one, the shields have a similar structure to the old one they are just ovals instead of rectangles, chain mail was used anyway it just seems to have become more popular and the only difference between the old and new sword is the length.

But the fact that in certain aspects they improved their equipment is great, the newer spears are a lot lighter than pilum, the shelids are presumably lighter, they also seem to have superior leg coverage than the older legionaries did.

Their tactical change was needed, more expansive training in terms of training more men on bows and darts seems to have worked.

I’m not sure how hard it would be to hold Testudo with oval sheilds compared to rectangular sheilds though, it seems like a slight disadvantage seeing that it provides slightly less coverage, but I’m not sure how much the Testudo formation was used in the later period.

Just seems cool anyway.

When Constantine moved the capitol from Rome to Byzantium what were the demagrafic that followed him. How many and for how long was there a movement or diaspora from West to East?

Including the East, Rome lasted millennia, America is on the verge of collapse not even 300 years in lmfao, Britain’s empire effectively lasted a century, spain hasn’t been relevant since the days of Napoleon, France’s empire has been a bunch of wasteland ever since the Seven Years’ War

love it!

@Epimetheus, I suggest you should not use the term "Germans" for the peoples from notrthern Germany and southern Scandinavia, and rahter use the term "Germanic" tribes, as all Germans are Germanic people, but definetely not all Germanic peoples are Germans. Hope this helps, otherwise, I love your channel.
P. S.: And maybe you could make video about Great Moravia, Visigothic Spain and Kingdom of Hungary? In case you have not done yet.

loved the breakdown of the weapons my favorite was the dart :) thank you

Their "Five foot ten inches" would probably have been more like 5'8" because Roman feet and inches were shorter than those used in America today.

Are you dumb? You don't know how to say skirmisher right.

The army reform of Diocletian had also a political issue. In fact the size reduction of the legion to little more than 1000 men was meant to reduce the influence of the legion commanders and avoid rebellions and civil wars. As a matter of fact , this didn't always prove to be effective.

At the beginning you didnt mention that the reason there was a huge barbarian migration / invasion was due to the huns expansion and climate change where much of the northern eurasian and northern european areas became less hospitable which forced barbarians to migrate

GREAT WORK. 😀😀🙃

"Belisarius" is just a random senator in the same mosaic the picture of Justinian came from. I don't actually know if that is actually Belisarius, but I doubt it. Really enjoyed the video!

The helmets shown on the palatini with what looks like a visor, interests me.

The minimum height of 5'10 for recruits is incorrect though. It would have been about 5'5 in modern measurements.

lol warhammer chaos undivided mark

idk why but i love roman arms and armor after the fall so much more. i think its just lingering Conan vibes.

Well you are a proof that historian dont need good visual map animations.

The Welsh people of Great Britain, call themselves the Cymru (pronounced Cum-ree), which means "companion". Now I know why.