Early Access to Next Video
Added 2022-12-03 19:08:39 +0000 UTCFOLKS,
BIG DAY.
ACTIUM.
I made a real effort in this video to be as charitable as possible to Antony, which...in the end it didn't come out to be all that charitable. Maybe medium charitable. Room temperature charitable.
Antony did have a bad brain, and there's no getting around that, but I do think that the commentary about him making blunder after blunder in the lead up to Actium is kinda overstated. In the video I show (or I try to show!) that his decision making was...if not perfect, at least REASONABLE, but that the circumstances on the ground slowly limited his options as time went on.
On a related note, the research for these videos have only made my opinion of Agrippa go up and up and up. I'm sure that comes across loud and clear in the video, lol.
Enjoy!
Comments
????? Please explain
Zane Sufi
2022-12-17 21:44:07 +0000 UTCLooks like the story is heating up. Time for the “Can inanimate objects commit crimes?” video.
Peter Vincent
2022-12-15 02:41:00 +0000 UTCI've decided that my personal guess is that it was a plan, but that Antony didn't want/expect for it to be executed at that particular moment. The plan was always to flee if things went badly- not unreasonable, if you couldn't forsee the mass defections. Antony thought the battle was going through a rough spot but still winnable, while Cleopatra, probably more reasonably, though it was time to GTFO. Antony was in an inappropriate ship because he didn't think the time to flee had yet come, and his three days of silence wasn't merely out of a sense of betrayal or a sense of failure, but a heady mixture of both, which would take anyone time to sort out. He had probably already lost when the decision to flee was made, but whether Antony saw this even after the fact is...questionable, and the *decision* as to when the battle was lost was, in any event, taken from him.
Eric Robbins
2022-12-12 21:56:54 +0000 UTCsecond it, I thought the music choices were not good in this video
Gintaras Valentukonis
2022-12-11 01:48:37 +0000 UTCI bet Caesar would have forgone setting up camp at Actium and went straight south to assault Methone (the furthest southern port was most important as he could use his fleet to nab Egyptian supplies before Agrippa could from the northern ports). Once he heard of Octavian's approach from the north, Caesar would have built a wall around Methone and prepared for a siege. Ironically, as Antony was present at Alessia, he would have been very much in his element with this strategy. This way, he retains his supply line, pushes Agrippa out of Greece and back into the sea, and denies Agrippa such a huge naval advantage. Once the siege began, he would have been in a fortified position with steady supplies, the complete opposite of what had actually happened. This strategy still depends on the reliability of Antony's navy, but it's a better chance than is two to one at sea, and he had his army doing something productive as well. This didn't play well at all into normal Roman strategy, though, and while Octavian was mostly capable of following Agrippa's orders and thus enabling complex multi-pronged maneuvers, Antony only had himself, with no parallel command structures to effectively manage land and sea operations simultaneously.
Jemolk Ervich
2022-12-11 00:48:22 +0000 UTCHard to believe Marcus Antonius was betrayed so brazenly by that Egyptian Witch.
Reidlious Bombeidlious
2022-12-09 18:46:32 +0000 UTCIts been a long journey watching the end of the Roman Republic, It'll be sad to say goodbye to all these characters once we reach the end......
Emperor Claudius
2022-12-07 12:01:46 +0000 UTCEveryone needs a friend like Agrippa
Svennie
2022-12-07 09:35:58 +0000 UTCNooooooo!!!! Octavian was not a military guy, absolutely, but he totally ran the country he took over. He was a very skilled politician, administrator, propagandist, and was very tactically minded when it came to politics. There’s a reason he was AGRIPPA’s boss, and a reason he was the one who became emperor, even though all his competitors(Antony, Boat King, etc…) and predecessors (Basically the stars of caesars age) were much better in the military.
Zane Sufi
2022-12-07 02:47:47 +0000 UTCI also must say I absolutely love the hovering sound + animation you've been doing whenever Agrippa enters the story. It's a great running gag
Jacob Conley
2022-12-06 10:47:46 +0000 UTCAlways a great day to see a new HC video!
Jacob Conley
2022-12-06 10:44:16 +0000 UTCWhen it comes to antony escaping the naval battle. I think cleopatra was on standby, just in case things didnt go antonys way.
Ethan Thompson
2022-12-06 08:46:05 +0000 UTCI think this is one of those videos where its solely about the battle. Next video will probably be about what’s actually happening in Rome
Cythris
2022-12-06 01:50:50 +0000 UTCI have question: since the videos have covered agrippas military skill so much, what did octavian actually do in the meantime? was he considered a skilled politician and administrator, or did agrippa carry the whole show?
Siru Johansson
2022-12-05 23:25:34 +0000 UTCFantastic video. Keep up the good work ^-^
Max Henricson
2022-12-05 20:57:13 +0000 UTCWhat would Caesar have done? If he was dropped into the situation without any context or input, he probably would have left a garrison strong enough to oppose Octavian's army in a highly defensible location. Then, he would have set up positions around Agrippa's fleet and forced him out of Greece. Don't forget Bibulus basically tried to do the same thing with his fleet. Caesar usually thought about logistics as the number 1 priority. Getting starved into submission wasn't his MO. Then, play for time and find the advantages to exploit. Don't let others take the initiative.
Mike
2022-12-05 20:11:09 +0000 UTCI think that the idea of a defeat is self-perpetuating at that point. Telling your army to get ready to flee and preparing the Egyptian ships for flight gives everyone else with a brain a bad feeling. Why prepare for a loss? Caesar never prepared for a loss ever. He would take control of a situation and squeeze every advantage until there was nothing left except for luck. Anthony might not have meant to abandon his fleet, but positioning yourself for the "what if" scenarios can look like you don't think you are going to win, which is contagious.
Mike
2022-12-05 19:59:09 +0000 UTCI think that people don't realize how much Caesar gambled on this decision. If Pompey wasn't forced into battle by the senators around him, Caesar's troops would have started to defect and he most likely would have lost.
Mike
2022-12-05 19:47:55 +0000 UTCFrom my analysis I think Cleopatra choose to betray and abandon the fight but it wasn't Antony's plan. Antony planned to stay and fight. I think that explains everything.
James Calum
2022-12-05 11:43:18 +0000 UTCAmazing video as usual HC! Don't know why so many fictional drama-shows exist when stuff like this is largely untapped.
Ethan Ludwig
2022-12-05 05:43:41 +0000 UTCThis was a goddamn masterpiece, and I have never been more emotionally invested into the affairs of squares. I only wish there were 300 more episodes to binge
Wakaran
2022-12-04 23:03:35 +0000 UTCI think there was little chance that a hungry demoralized army could defeat a well fed army with a strong position
Uri Kenan
2022-12-04 22:22:31 +0000 UTCwow only two months! almost missed it lol
Gintaras Valentukonis
2022-12-04 20:24:26 +0000 UTCThis is one of your best videos
Ashtavius (Bibulus award nominee 2023)
2022-12-04 19:52:08 +0000 UTCGreat video! Love the music choices.
Cobby Caputo
2022-12-04 18:28:56 +0000 UTCI think Antony's decision making strategically is not terrible. He was simply locked in the thinking of how most Roman generals approach things. How can you fault someone for doing what they know? Agrippa was able to utilize some creativity that would not come to your stock generals. Making a surprise crossing to seize a naval outpost from Sicily to the Aegean just defies any prior expectations. It would probably surprise me too if I was in Antony's shoes - in the two prior engagements in Greece, the way soldiers crossed into Greece from Rome was via Apulia into like Epirus/southern Illyria. From anywhere else would feel foolhardy.
Alexbond
2022-12-04 17:15:06 +0000 UTCI think withdrawing inland would have absolutely made sense from a logistical perspective: An army on the march can supply itself by either plundering or by buying food below market rates (with the threat of plundering). And army that stays in one place will eat through the food stores available at its location and thus needs supplies from outside. And it doesn't seem all that different from what Caesar did after Dyrrachion: withdrawing inland and then seek a decisive battle. The drawbacks to these idea is that Mark Antony would have likely lost his fleet, while the plan he took had a chance of preserving army and fleet. Well, instead he lost the army and most of his fleet. As for a third option, that's actually pretty straight forward: Attack Octavian's army with his own army. Maybe not a better option, but it was an option.
Maaruin
2022-12-04 15:54:12 +0000 UTCI thought the music was great!
Henry Shelton
2022-12-04 15:22:41 +0000 UTCI thought it fit the narrative quite well, and HC used it to good effect.
Athanasius Kirchner
2022-12-04 14:58:30 +0000 UTCI would agree to the sentiment that he sucked millitarily that is definetely true. but he became quite the good leader if not the best in the history of the roman empire.
Andrea Voigtländer
2022-12-04 10:48:45 +0000 UTCHello!!! I'm new here, but not new to the channel. Pleasure to be amongst you all x
Josh Woodford
2022-12-04 10:16:59 +0000 UTCPerhaps my favorite aspect about how you tell this story is that you take us back to how people at the time must have felt. Specifically here I get the sense that there’s a general feeling of depression on both sides. It feels like everyone’s just going through the motions and even in victory in Octavian’s case there’s no real celebration happening. Very different from the liveliness in politics during the 50’s BCE
Stilluetto
2022-12-04 07:27:45 +0000 UTCI thought Octavian spent the battle on shore laying on the beach, refusing to watch it until he was told the belt was won
aspjr2013
2022-12-04 07:19:05 +0000 UTCdamn, i was loving the new music. Glad to know i couldve been a lounge lizard in a past life.
Sharkie
2022-12-04 06:07:29 +0000 UTCI love these videos so much! Can't wait for the Egyptian campaign.
Mateo Betancur
2022-12-04 05:32:06 +0000 UTCDoes anyone get the supplying from Egypt joke ???
One of the Caesars
2022-12-04 05:12:26 +0000 UTCI love you dearly HC <3
Henri Loshouarn
2022-12-04 04:50:16 +0000 UTCI love the return of Jahzzar - The Wrong Way, thanks for introducing me to it!
Norwalk
2022-12-04 04:19:25 +0000 UTCI feel like Agrippa is the closest we'll come to a new Cicero
Danos
2022-12-04 04:13:15 +0000 UTCLove the vid. But I don't like the 1970's lounge lizard music. What's wrong with the music you've used all along? It's great!
Andy Weir
2022-12-04 02:51:45 +0000 UTCsorry babe not now new Historia Civilis just dropped
Smallbusinessman
2022-12-04 02:50:24 +0000 UTClove the videos, my favourite ones were the English civil war ones i really loved the historical analysis u did about it, made me think of the conflict completely differently from the way that my English school system led me to believe
Thomas Dalzell
2022-12-04 02:02:41 +0000 UTCI am actually surprised that people would criticise Antony at the very beginning. Greece has always been the best place to fight, and it's so obvious that both Pompey and Brutus failed because of their own issues rather than choosing Greece to fight. Octavian was just lucky to have Agrippa *and* had the ability make the best with his luck. And of course, Antony and Cleopatra kept underestimating Agrippa. That and just that. I actually believe Antony and Cleopatra would have fared better had Antony been successfully kidnapped. Last but not least, I believe escape had always been Antony's plan, but Cleopatra probably did it poorly which resulted in the blunder. Also we might have some (deliberate) errors in the records.
Patrick Siu
2022-12-04 01:56:14 +0000 UTCsame error here
Khitiara
2022-12-04 01:48:50 +0000 UTCVideo says that due to privacy setting it can't be shown here but I also can't open it on the actual website does anyone know how I can watch the video?
KidneyAutomata
2022-12-04 01:08:25 +0000 UTCGod these videos are like crack to me. I crave them and 22 mins seems so short, but the quality is totally worth the time between releases.
Nelly
2022-12-04 00:54:46 +0000 UTCAfter you're done with Octavian, it would be great if you could focus on the *start* of the Late Republic. By that, I mean start with the socio-economic changes in Rome following the Third Punic War, the Gracci Brothers, influx of slaves, rising inequality, erosion of the independent farmer middle class, failed land reforms, Marius and Sulla, the Numidian, Cimbrii/Teuton, and Mithridantic Wars, the Social War, the professionalization of the army (and the shift of its loyalties from the state to its generals), and all the other things happening after the end of Carthage but before Caesar and Pompey. These events don't get as much attention from casual observers as either the earlier periods (up to the Third Punic War), or the later ones (Caesar etc.) but they are cruical to explain what events and conditions allowed Caesar and Pompey to rise to begin wtih. Your videos have the kind of "the bigger context" that other, purely military videos, don't focus on, which is what makes them great.
Eugene
2022-12-03 23:31:41 +0000 UTCI wonder... could a valid third option have been to do what Caesar did at Dyrrhachium? as in... send patrols up and down the coast to raid ships and weaken Octavian's blockade while supplying his own troops. I don't know much about this campaign other than your video that I just watched so I don't know if this would have been valid, but it seems like most of Agrippa's captured ports were south of Anthony's position, which meant that Octavian's army would not have been in a position to intervene.
Nadav Sagir
2022-12-03 23:18:11 +0000 UTCExciting episode! Hoping your gonna make a vid about Octavians (Augustus') reforms to Roman politics, I think it's one of the most interesting bits of Roman history.
FakkaJohan
2022-12-03 23:09:31 +0000 UTCYEAH
Kiran Singh
2022-12-03 22:54:19 +0000 UTCHERE WE GO! ITS ENDGAME TIME!
Naomi Skilling
2022-12-03 22:38:45 +0000 UTCGreat video! I hope you can circle back to Alexander's campaign soon!
Russell Watters
2022-12-03 21:33:03 +0000 UTCYour videos always make my day! Thank you!
Peter A
2022-12-03 21:30:51 +0000 UTCargentina won and you send me this.
Juan Agustin Garay
2022-12-03 21:29:06 +0000 UTCFor all of Octavians flaws, his ability to select and trust others to carry him at his weakest points is something you see in very few leaders of any stripe.
Some dude
2022-12-03 20:35:59 +0000 UTCBoats. its Agrippa time
Lukas
2022-12-03 20:35:58 +0000 UTCIT'S TIME
Zitronay
2022-12-03 20:13:38 +0000 UTCAs 'divine' as Augustus was, he was a hopeless military commander. Agrippa had enough skill for both of them. Without Agrippa, Octavian would not have been able to shore up his position so easily. And that's not even talking about the public works Agrippa has his name attached to.
Ryan Lucas
2022-12-03 19:56:15 +0000 UTCLet's Go!
Jonathan C
2022-12-03 19:56:03 +0000 UTCGood Video again.
Andrea Voigtländer
2022-12-03 19:52:47 +0000 UTCThere would be no agrippa without Augustus
Andrea Voigtländer
2022-12-03 19:51:41 +0000 UTCSomewhere in the afterlife Cicero smiles. The drunk has been bested, and he can no longer guarantee his safety!
Some dude
2022-12-03 19:49:16 +0000 UTCI am more excited for this video than for my wedding.
Charles Wood
2022-12-03 19:47:11 +0000 UTCI learned so much I hadn't heard of from other people's coverage of this story!
Daniel L
2022-12-03 19:46:03 +0000 UTC“That’s Bad Brain Antony for you!” (canned laughter)
Douglas McLean
2022-12-03 19:46:02 +0000 UTCsaturnalia came early!
s10w10rr1s
2022-12-03 19:29:29 +0000 UTCthere would be no augustus without agrippa! ...but he also gave us agrippina.
Ryan Lucas
2022-12-03 19:25:37 +0000 UTCThis is huge.
Gabriel
2022-12-03 19:20:53 +0000 UTCRoom temperature charitable is my new favourite phrase
Tom (Gallalad)
2022-12-03 19:18:41 +0000 UTCLET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO
Adam Washington
2022-12-03 19:15:00 +0000 UTCWHOOO
Yes
2022-12-03 19:10:10 +0000 UTCI KNEW IT!
Mason
2022-12-03 19:09:22 +0000 UTC
