History Student Reacts to The Battle of Philippi by Historia Civilis

Today we watch The Battle of Philippi (42 B.C.E.) by Historia Civilis.

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[kingarthur]

It is actually insane how hard the conspirators fumbled the post Caesar death situation. I think it's easy to look back and think that obviously the successor of Caesar was going to become an Emperor, but honestly the conspirators probably had a better hand, they just fucked themselves over and over. First they completely left Cicero and Decimus out to dry, and by they I mean Brutus being the most passive man alive. Then of course you have this battle which is precisely when you remember how this series has spoiled us with battles that have Caesar, Pompey, Labienus and you realize that not everyone can be an all-time great General. From the completely unnecessary/tragic suicide, to Brutus just not being a good General, to Octavian getting sick, pretty much the only half competent person here was Antony of all people. And of course this is without bringing up how the conspirators had no plan on how to deal with public opinion after killing Caesar. It was a complete disaster from start to finish.
Finally I gotta love Brutus talking about how everyone will remember him for his virtue, as if he hadn't just promised to allow his army to loot two Roman cities LMAO
Honestly this whole situation is a complete mess, but at least now that this is over everyone will come together, there will be peace, the Roman economy will recover and nothing bad will happen in the near future.
I'm sure that there isn't going to be even more Civil Wars right after this.

[LightxHeaven]

Throughout Roman history we can glimpse tantalizing signs of women, usually those of the highest wealth, education and family status, finding ways to claim new powers and rights for themselves. Sometimes they did so through influencing the men in their lives, occasionally by claiming a religious role in society and more rarely by obtaining a degree of legal and economic independence. Their influence has almost always been behind the scenes, but to say that women had no influence at all would be wrong. Emperor Aurelian’s wife apparently ruled in her own right for a few months after her husband’s death, before a successor could be chosen.

[ConkerVonZap]

Brutus a Cesarean crying for the death of Cassius, a Pompeian.

[addickland]

Anybody else missing Caesar yet? We know how it all ends, but to me he's a really singular figure in terms of overall quality in both military and political leadership. I honestly don't think Rome ever saw his like again except maybe briefly with Trajan.

[blakelester]

History Civillis is my favorite YouTube channel. I’ve spent my life reading history and Roman history has become my focus in the past 5-6 years. His videos are extremely accurate even with the conflicting information on Roman history he stays true to what we know for sure and gives great insight on the contested opinions. One of my favorite quotes was during Caesar’s Alexandria campaign concerning the Burning of the Library of Alexandria to say it was “trendy” history to claim that Caesar had caused so much damage when in fact the Library continued to operate for centuries afterward, and the fire had nothing to do with its eventual end. He cuts through the dramatized views and gives us the amazing history as it was…. I love the HBO series Rome even though it has several inaccuracies because it is true to the time period with being a dramatic series. What I cannot stand is the many TRASH documentaries most recently on Netflix and not just Jada Pinket’s horrible Cleopatra “documentary”… I do not know who these historians are that would participate in these outright lies, but I guess they value exposure over being true to history… Rant over.

[AchySub]

Heads up this is not in your playlist for these reactions.

[Derkosson]

There is a legend that during the time of the Roman Kingdom, a guy led a rebellion against Rome, and to defeat him, the senate sent his wife and daughter to scream at him.

It worked.

[LightxHeaven]

Historia Civilis makes an excellent case for why you should watch the Kings and General series on this in the future. Because then you would’ve known that Brutus actually did have a strategy for the Second Battle of Philipi, however simplistic it might’ve been. He actually overloaded his right column facing Antony and tried to win by overwhelming him and driving him off the field, then swinging around hitting Octavian in the flank. However what actually happened is that left his left wing was as a result left exposed, which allowed Octavian to break it before he could break Antony.

I’m aware Historia Civilis don’t like to focus on the military aspects of this period of history so I’d just like to have that mentioned in a desperate attempt to salvage Brutus’s honor. And Octavian’s efforts in this instance is not to be totally scoffed at. Luckily for him Agrippa will take care of the military aspects from now on.