The First Punic War - OverSimplified (Part 2) - Historian Reacts

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#history #reaction

[schizomonika]

I ALWAYS watch oversimplified THEN these reactions for the added commentary, because it's... Nice.

[georgepigstan]

Its nice to see a commentator on oversimplified who isnt just trying to find mistakes but his added his own thoughts and facts onto it..

[paoloadam]

I thought we'd have to wait until tomorrow for Part 2. Thank you so much!

[Galaick]

Interestingly one of the reasons why Regulus went back to get tortured was exactly so that he would be remembered. Having failed to seize Carthage in his period as consul, ending his own career with "glorious death" was basically the next best thing.

[VLSG]

As a graduate student studying Roman history, words cannot describe how happy I am to see Oversimplified’s videos occupying the #1 and #2 top trending spot on YouTube.

Can we all just appreciate how awesome that is? Historians unite 😂

[HistoryNerd]

Roman society was too bullheaded to die. Their adaptability was legendary too but that is truly why they were as great as they were.

[Tzilandi]

I think Regulus realized he wasn't getting any statues after losing to the Carthaginians, so he went for broke and martyred himself - and got a bunch of statues out of that instead.

[mudnarchist]

The parallels between the 1st and 2nd Punic War and the World Wars are pretty fascinating.

[scriptos]

I think the fact that Xanthipus wasn’t Carthaginian was a major factor in his success, mainly because he wasn’t beholden to politics in Carthage, so he was free to use their valuable military assets as he saw fit, thus being able to fully bring forward the war elephants and Numidian cavalry

[glynquigley]

Regarding war elephants. There are a couple of issues. firstly, they were an expensive aspect of the army. The now extinct African Forest Elephant was quite plentiful enough but you also needed specially trained mahouts who had bonded with the creatures. That is one thing, the more important thing is the fact that elephants were very much a one shot weapon. They could terrify horses and had terrified Roman infantry when used by Pyrrhus some twenty years earlier. The problem was that they got easily spooked themselves and when they panicked, they were as liable to crush your battle line as the enemy. This is why Scipio Africanus modified the classic Roman chessboard battle formation at Zama, to give teh war elephants clear passages to "eescape" through as his light infantry harried and killed them. By starting them behind the battle line you lessen the chance of them pacicking and destroying your own army.

Fun fact about Appius Claudius Pulcher, the incompetent chicken drowning admiral. About a year after he had cost maybe 50, 000 Roman lives, his sister (Appia Claudia Pulchra) was prosecuted and found guilty of treason when she was overhead loudly complaining about how the plebs of Rome were blocking her palanquin's easy progression through the city. "I do hope my brother loses another battle so we can clear the streets of these people" was her tactless comment

[jonasdybro]

According to Polybius and Livy, Hamilcar made Hannibal swear an oath, when Hannibal was 9 years old, over an altar to Baal. Hannibal promised that he would never be a friend to Rome. Polybius also says that Hannibal used this to gain the trust of Antiochus III, the Seleucid king, saying that he had always been and would always be an enemy to Rome, since he swore an oath.

[makkroww]

"A lot of people don't succeed, not because they don't have the ability, but because they give up too quickly" - Vlogging Through History 2022

[chaosXPRT]

33:00 The determination reminds me of a quote by Ulysses S. Grant:
"In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins."

[reygonzalez]

I can never understand why people complain about people reacting to oversimplified especially when the people reacting are people like vlogging through history or Mr Terry who actually add more information and even educate people on the videos they react to. But whatever some people just had to find something to complain about I guess

[G_Okr]

The difference of perspective between Rome and its enemies is truly fascinating. Romans saw themselves as givers of civilization and culture, and frequently gave medallions with the encryption "Bringers of Peace" to their soilders at the end of campaigns. But when a Gaul chief was brought as a prisoners to Rome, his testimony told a different story. "They rape, they slay, they conquer, this they falsely name empire, and when they make a wasteland, they call it peace". This is most evident when we see sources not made by the romans, like the Greeks or the Egyptians. Then we learn that, mostly, people viewed them as barbarians.

[IowanMatthew]

36:03 Going with the WWII analogy further, John Maynard Keynes, the famed economist who was the British Treasury's representative at the Versailles negotiations in 1919, called the Treaty of Versailles, especially the reparations placed on Germany after WWI, a "Carthaginian peace."

[a.ricole]

19:40 Speaking of honor in ancient times, I remember learning that honor mattered to Romans so much that during the Pyrrhic war, a Roman named Fabricius visited Pyrrhus for negotiation and Pyrrhus's physician offered him to poison the king for money, and Fabricius outright refused the offer and informed Pyrrhus, claiming that he would not dishonor Rome by defeating her enemy through treachery

[UsaSatsui]

The first Punic war is always glossed over because of the whole Hannibal and elephants and stuff that happened during the second one. It's nice to see some info on it and that Oversimplified gave it its own series instead of making it a footnote in a story about the second like you usually see

[samrevlej]

7:26 Thank you for referencing that comment! I added in an online source corroborating this because I couldn't find an academic or historical source for it in my notes; it was probably something my professor mentioned in passing and that I remembered because it was so fascinating to me.

[HappyMan]

The first Extra History series was actually on the Second Punic War, so if you wanted to get an understanding of it before Oversimplified, it's a great series.