Rome’s Largest Invasion | The Dacian Wars (Part 2)

Sources:

- Charles, B. “The Flavio-Trajanic miles : the Appearance of Citizen Infantry on Trajan's Column” in Latomus, 61, Fasc. 3, 2002, 666-695.
- Florea, G; Pupeza, P. Les Dieux tués: La Destruction du chief-lieu du Royaume Dace” in Die Römischen Provinzen: Begriff und Gründung Colloquium Cluj-Napoca 28. September - 1. Oktober 2006, Editura Mega: Cluj-Napoca, 281-295.
- Neamtu, C; Bârcâ, V; Buna, Z. “Promoting and Capitalizing on the Vestiges from Sarmizegetusa Regia by Modern Multimedia Methods” in Plural, Vol. 8, no. 1, 2020, 150 - 173.
- Oltean, I. A; Hanson, W. S. “Conquest strategy and political discourse: new evidence for the conquest of Dacia from LiDAR analysis at Sarmizegetusa Regia” in Journal of Roman Archaeology, 30, 2017, 429-446.
- Oltean, R. Dacia: La Conquista Romana. Desperta Ferro Ediciones: Madrid, 2016.
- Oltean, R. Tracios, Getas y Dacios. Desperta Ferro Ediciones: Madrid, 2021.
- Pupeza, P. “To see or to be seen: The Dacian fortresses from the Orăştie Mountains” in Annales d’Université Valahia Targoviste, Section d’Archeologie et d’Histoire, XIV, 2, 2012, 81-85.
- Richmond, I. A. “Trajan’s Army on Trajan's Column” in Papers of the British School at Rome, 13, 1935, 1-40.
- Rossi, L. “Dacian Fortifications in Trajan’s Column” in The Antiquaries Journal, 30-35.
- Soria Molina, D. Las guerras dácicas de Trajano Antecedentes, desarrollo, geopolítica, estrategia y consecuencias. Universidad de Murcia: Murcia, 2016.
- Stefan, A. S. Les guerres daciques de Domitien et de Trajan: Architecture militaire, topographie, images et histoire. Ecole Française de Rome: Rome, 2005.
- VV.AA. A Monumental Effort: Trajan’s Dacian Wars. Ancient Warfare Magazine VI.2, Karwansaray Publishers: Zutphen, 2012.
- Wheeler, E. “Rome’s Dacian Wars: Domitian, Trajan, and Strategy on the Danube, Part I” in The Journal of Military History, 74, 1185-1227.

The Storm Arrives (0:00)
The Dacian Army (5:12)
The Eagle and the Wolf (10:57)
The King’s Gambit (15:50)

[HistoriaMilitum]

We chose to write this script in a different way to Part 1; in a way that puts you in the shoes of Emperor Trajan, and makes you understand the same fear and responsibility for the lives of thousands under his command while dealing with problems concerning communications, steady logistics, water supply, and even terrible news that demand his immediate attention; all under limited time! I think this is the best way to understand why Trajan marched along rivers, took specific detours, and made the mistakes that they did. Part 3 will retain this style, and Trajan’s biggest mistake is still to come!

[ursucodrutza]

As a Romanian, not even in school we learn it so detailed. Great job! 😍

[davidhughes]

After studying Roman military history intensively for 60 plus years I must say that these documentaries of Trajans Dacian war is are the most detailed and interesting that I have seen so far.
Thank you the great work. Looking forward to more!

[psaucez]

This has to be the most detailed video series on the Second Dacian War until we find De Bello Dacico. Seriously incredible work guys.

[JosephVoda]

Part 1 was amazing this was worth the wait, as a Romanian I have a vested interest in this series!

[aandrei]

As someone who was born and raised in Deva, I'm glad to see that one of the few mentions of my hometown by a foreign youtuber is in such an interesting video series. As someone in the comments also said it, we do not even learn about this in such detail in schools. Thanks for the videos!

[antoniplebanski]

It was the most masterpiece YT video about Roman times I've ever seen. And the topic is rare indeed so it's even more precious. Huge plus for covering the Dacians in detail. You just have won a new patreon - good luck with future projects.

[Daniel-esqq]

The best Dacian War docu Ive seen ever, so much detail and most importantly unbiased.

[dasameizing]

What an incredible video. I think the tactics used by Decebalus say a lot about his mentality, the invasion being his sword while the stronghold in the mountains was his shield. The opportunistic attack in the weak spot of the Romans almost like striking between the armor plates of the opponent where he least expects it.

[olmaned]

it's amazing how much this war gets overlooked by those showing Rome's history and might. And when it does it's in a manner simmilar to a show I saw on discovery channel once: Rome was invincible, the dacians were small and unimportant and the conclusion of the war was a done deal from the start. When in reality Rome used its largest army fielded up until that point, led by one of it's greatest emperors at hight of it's imperial might and won a phyric victory. Some geologists in Romania analized the soil and apparently the summer of 106 was one of the hottest and driest in a century and this led to a reinterpretation of the scene on the column with dacians surrendering a fort and coming out with bowls of water as offerings to the Romans - it's now believed that they were begging for water and the siege wouldn't have been won without the weather annomaly. SO the dacians were probably one of the most formidable adversaries the romans had encountered. Not to mention the importance of the war in terms of spoils with the dacian gold and silver revitalising the roman economy. Truly makes this conflict criminally underrated.

[truckersforfreedom]

Im Romanian and this is a fine description of the war even learned a few new things. The presentation is excelent and i can tell you the propaganda in Romania is to bash the Dacians because it doesnt seem so impressive but it is. My relatives are from the region Trajan besieged near the Orastie and i can tell you even now people there are tough. it wasnt a cakewalk at all this war but a battle in the mud. Trajan was a very good tactician and made all the correct steps. He even constructed very good positional fortresess but this was at stage 2 in the years 105. In Romania for example the history is not studied like this but your clip should be presented. We, meaning me and a few passionate heroes learned from many sources of the Dacian Roman wars. Dacians obviously had the positional advantage and Decebalus was also a good tactician but yeah it was nearly impossible to defeat the whole roman empire, he was close though. The Dacians just had less men, less armour less of everything material, the Roman empire was just 20x bigger. Its impossible to fight and win against a determined Roman army at its peak. The Romans also behaved brutally because the war was very brutal the Dacians were not willing to give up. In the end the Dacian Campaign was the last major campaign of Rome and sealed the deal of the Roman Empire. What is unique about the Dacians is yes they had very good military equipment, an advanced society, a developed state and even some inventions the romans didnt have. They also had all sorts of fortifications and yes knew some siege war. The fortifications were many with all sorts of walls and contraptions and sarmisegetusa fell also because the romans conquered wells to the city. The walls were quite big they were on a hill and it was not easy.
And yes the Dacians had helmets too, they had everything in equal quality as the romans as the Dacians were very good metal workers. Of course and you are correct not every Dacian had good armour in fact many didnt have armour or they had light armour, because Dacia just didn't have enaugh men to make armours for everyone in the army. Imagine making 100.000 shields, 100k chainmails, swords...Dacia just didnt have enaugh population to make armour for everyone. And yes its good that you said that Dacians had helmets. Of course they did. Its crazy to think you can just fight the roman legionares in their prime with no armour, its suicide:) Sure, the problem was ultimately that the Roman Army just had more of everything including armour which made a big difference in the field. When it comes to fighting the Dacians were equal to romans in courage, discipline, skill with the falx (its btw called Sica in Dacian) but i do think the romans were better in open fields with large armies having more experience while the dacians were fighting an ambush type of war with strikes and retreats, positional war. The changing of the roman armour i do think its real because tests were done and with the standard roman armour the Sica Falx was just too deadly in blunt force.
The Romans were not good people but they kinda are presented in Romania as bringers of civilisation bla bla. The Dacians didnt really need it and they were open to new ideas, the Dacians could have advanced on their own. Although i do agree there were always skirmishes at the border and the Dacians were never happy of Romans in Moesia because that was before Dacian land too and the Dobrogea where the Sarmatians atacked

[erockstoenescu]

Yes! I’ve been patiently waiting for part 2 for months. Checking your channel twice a week even though I set notifications haha I love your content so much. I discovered you from part 1 and you deserve many more subscribers.

[Theoneuknow]

This series on the Dacian Wars gave me a lot of inspiration for the book I am writing. Thank you for the awesome videos.

[ancaudaniel]

please do not rush, this material can last eternally, so why not take the needed time !!! we need QUALITY in this age, above all, forget speed.

[BiakSkull]

Waiting a handful of months for these videos is totally worth it

[NewsRedial]

It's criminal that they have left Trajan's column out in the open air to get worn down to nothing by the weather.
They should build an elegant glass structure over it to preserve it.

[SomeIdiotLUL]

I've heard other ppl cover this, an it was described not much information was given. remarkable how detailed this campaign is

[martijnvanderzee]

Love the detail again, hardly anyone speaks of the great raid into roman territory when discussing the dacian wars of Trajan. They sometimes mention the siege at novae, but that is all. Good stuff!

[metalman]

There is a lot of history content on Youtube, but this is by far some of the best I have seen. I can't wait for part 3!!

[jonbaxter]

It is odd, I always though the Dacians were little more than barbarians. But I am gobsmacked at how carefully and expertly they built cities, infrastructure and art.