Ancient Warfare Expert Rates 10 Battle Tactics In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? | Insider
Roel Konijnendijk, who has a doctorate in ancient history and is a lecturer at the University of Oxford's New College, rates 10 ancient-warfare scenes in movies and shows for realism.
Konijnendijk rates the realism of tactics portrayed in films such as “300" (2006), "Alexander" (2004), and "Braveheart" (1995). He breaks down the martial arts prowess of stars such as Brad Pitt in "Troy" (2004), Orlando Bloom in "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005), and Russell Crowe in "Gladiator" (2000).
He also looks at some fantastical scenes such as the battle of Helm's Deep from "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (2002) and the battle of Winterfell from "Game of Thrones." Konijnendijk analyzes the historical accuracy of scenes from "The Last Kingdom" (2015) and "Red Cliff" (2008), and he rates the realism of the military formations, tactics, movements, and weaponry of each scene.
Find out more about Konijnendijk here:
/ roelkonijn
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Ancient Warfare Expert Rates 10 Battle Tactics In Movies And TV | How Real Is It?
If this guy doesn’t have at least two ditches surrounding his house I’m gonna be really disappointed
A man of his class should have at least 3! Any less is heresy!
And catapults and ballistas on his walls!
@@youngtoonfish6891 you forgot the trebuchets
Lots of rock stores up to throw at them.
@@youngtoonfish6891 NO TRUBUCHETS?? HOW COULD YOU FORGET THE SUPERIOR SIEGE WEAPON.
"You can just throw rocks. They cost you nothing, take no preparation and you throw them at people and they get hurt. It's great!" Good lord this guy is hilarious, we need him back again please.
came looking for this comment, ready to make it myself if I could not find it. Here, have a like.
I don't think rocks would be an effective ranged weapon
@@vigilantgopher9563 boiling water or oil would not be a good range weapon either, and that is what the rocks are being compared to, not arrows. Its just something to drop on enemies, not something to throw at them. ✌🏼
@@maxpowell23 also you could sling rocks with deadly force and accuracy, compared to water. Slinging water would just be a splashfight lol
@@vigilantgopher9563 What? 😂
Q: How do i win ancient battles? A: Dig ditches Q: How many? A: Yes.
Sir we’ve finished ditch #5, what are your orders? Another
That’s kinda stupid because dig ditches need very much man power but your enemies can use ladders or catapult or just wait for ceasing your castle to death
@@baohungpham8271 I'm pretty sure most of the siege in history were waiting for surrender (and creating chaos in the city to help) vs waiting for reinforcements anyway, because defensive position were too strong and the attacker want to avoid the heavy casualties of assaulting a wall
@@baohungpham8271 Would give time for reinforcments or allied to arrive. Like when the ottomans tryt to attack a polish city the wingedhussars arrived and savede the day so to say.
@@baohungpham8271 russians invaded Ukraine in 2014... since then, it's 9 years of non-stop ditch digging. They STILL haven't taken Marinka or Avdiivka, which are on frontline since like 2015. It's just entire region turned into giant trench system. With Starlink internet and even PlayStation in some of them!
The greatest warrior in history was not a Bowman or a Swordsman or a Spearman. He was a digger. A digger who dug ditches. When he was done, he dug more ditches. Ditches help you win wars. I learnt this when I started throwing rocks at people because they got hurt and it was great. Thanks Roel!
Absolute menace
And then WW1 came, and the Great Generals sat in their clubs with brandy and ordered 18 year olds out of the ditches to run directly into modern artillery. Month after month, year after year. Oh, yeah, they gave these teens little hats. To keep them protected.
Legend says he had no allegiance, he waved no banners, nor sang songs of glory...he just dug with his shovel across the continents throughout the ages
His name was... Shovel Knight.
Spectacular analysis
Why is no one talking about how he literally caught an actor falling and just proved he was right?!?!
Omg yes 😂😂
Actually it was an extra 😂. Probably some smacky that cleaned up for one so he could get a paycheck to buy more smack 😂
Oh, another thing, the fort he showed set on fire for fire arrows(A motte and Balley, not sure on the spelling) but they were primerally wood, soooo, ye Now, he was looking at Romen, Greek and English/Scottish and Hammer deep in this video... It would be better if he focused on one time period/World. Grammar has been fixed
Where
Ayk Z he shows where the actor fell
"People try not to die" Funny how in so many movies people fully accept that they're canon fodder.
I think you would need some serious fanaticism in order to overcome your fear of death, when it stares you in the eyes. Unless you risk your life for your family, because in that case, we are biologically determined to want to. Especially if you're a man.
Lol yeah
@Fishy Vagina Oh, that was just because if a family is attacked, the first line of defense is the male, because he is usually physically stronger and testosterone increases the level of aggressive behavior as well as risk taking behavior. Apart from that, males are more disposable than females in larger groups. If the male goes down, it is usually the female who steps in to defend the children because the children are the most vulnerable and the least likely to successfully defend themselves. Also, they are the literal future of the family or group. I didn't mean to say that some were better than others.
The guy should explain WW1 fighting. If i am not wrong soldiers then did charge into the enemies line
@Fishy Vagina I don't have a comment. Just wanted to see your yt name again.
"Should you find yourself fighting an army of ice zombies..." - Roel Konijnendijk, Oxford Lecturer
wheeziiing
Dig ditches
😂
That's one time that you should probably use fire arrows.
say what you will, but when the zombie apocalypse comes, I want to be with this guy
"...and you just throw them ('rocks') at people. They get hurt. It's great!" Perfect description, love this man. 😂👌
The Game of Thrones writers extensively researched medieval warfare and siege tactics for the express purpose of doing none of them correctly
Sounds like a waste of research lol
What's funny to me is that the GoT scene with the zombies, the placement of the cavalry, catapults and infantry is _exactly_ how you would want it to be *IF* you were _attacking_ the castle! If all those units did a 180 and faced the castle, that's how you'd attack. Your infantry protecting the catapults and then the cavalry behind so they could swing in from the sides if anyone came out to attack. (Otherwise, cavalry is kind of useless against a castle.) But yeah, you would do much better with 100% of those troops _inside_ the castle. My wife became irritated with me when we were watching that scene because I was saying how awful it was while pulling my hair and nearly scratching my eyes.
@@grondhero Shhh. Many here think you put your army in front of the castle walls. Because the "expert" said so. Ask them to explain why...they don't. Just throw insults at you. Saying how YOU are the one in the wrong because HE'S the expert.
isnt winterfel small though, get more outside
@@joetheblu3 No, it's huge.
“Just throw rocks at them, they hurt people and cost nothing, it’s great” Sounded almost like personal experience
Lol I thought so too. This dude is great I'd love to see a lot more of him on this channel breaking down and ratings scenes from movies or games
He was totally one of those fuckin kids
Day one mount and blade bannerlord rocks were alot stronger
So the Ewoks were right
I would love to see how much damage those stick arms of his can deal. Chicken neck sitting there talking about physical skills is just lame.
I love this mans way of explaining things. Keep them coming! "..just throw them at people and they get hurt...its great..." LMAO
11:47 "So again, where is your ditch? Where is your ditch?! You gotta have a ditch!" 12:09 *Deep sigh* "Stop it with the fireballs!" This man is so sassy and I absolutely love it
“Rocks cost nothing, take no preparation. You just throw them and people get hurt its great!”. Best line ever edit: where tf did these likes come from👁👄👁
True. Hence why when protests/riots that escalate enough to the point of one/both sides (whether it's riot vs riot or riot versus police) getting very physically violent, many simply throw rocks/bricks/whatever. Police are more likely to use guns or water hoses or pepper spray, but yeah.
@@moondust2365 Yeah because they're not trying to kill people and cause tons of unnecessary damage.
I read that in an elon musk voice.
He forgot to mention that you can pick the rocks up again and re-use them.
Using rock to Hurt not to kill you use rocks against guy with shield
If you want to make an expert suffer, make them watch a movie of their specialization.
XD
I regret that I cannot up vote this comment more than once
That is very true.
I believe that's what's called "punishment most cruel and unusual". And it's frowned upon.
You realize that torture is illegal in most countries now right?
I love this guy. I am a vet, and military strategy is absolutely amazing. And a lot of people overlook simplicity, just as he said with the ditches. People seem to always ignore the power of flanking. Once you are attacking on one side, you have a 50/50 chance of winning. Once you are attacking on 2 sides, you got more of a 70-80% chance of winning. Once you are attacking on 3 sides, it's over.
On the other hand the group you're surrounding now only has to pick one direction to push at, cover their flanks a bit, and make a fighting retreat. Then again I ain't a military analyst I'm just a dude on the internet.
@@Thornbloom true, but then you are retreating and not much cover of your rear. So, like I said, it's over. I'm no strategist by far, but they do teach you a few things in the military and I love playing Chess.
What he also points out is how difficult it is to keep control over any larger force, which is another reason to keep tactics simple. The more complex they are, the more variables you introduce, the more things can go wrong. Stuff like that is fine on a squad level (provided they are smart to understand it), but anything above that?
@@Shade01982 yep, numbers matter. I don't care how badass the individual is, once to get to a ratio of 1:3 or higher, youre done. Even if you have a great defensive position. The smaller group can't afford to lose anyone, whereas the larger group can use the expendable troops to overrun the position.
@@kevinashley478 2 words: Rorke's Drift. Not an ideal defensive position, barricades made of flour sacks. Ratio >20:1 ~150 Redcoats vs 3,000-4,000 Zulus. There are always exceptions. Battle of Ulundi was a ratio of about 3:1, with the smaller force victorious in just 30 minutes. Tactics are equally important to defeating overwhelming odds.
Watching this man become increasingly exasperated by the lack of ditches in these movies has been the great joy of my week
"just throw Rocks at people, they get hurt, its great"
The Donkey Kong school of philosophy is a simple but honest discipline. The inclusion of barrels was a horrible historical inaccuracy added by the Japanese.
Boiling oil that can light up the entire army underneath? Nah.. throw rocks. They cheap.
Beast titan has joined the lobby
@@hydradominatus3641 cost WAS a huge factor in combat though.... The cost of equipment alone could determine the size and strength of a force
Throw 💩.
“Use rocks. You throw them at people: they get hurt. It’s great.” This guy has inspiring levels of casualty 😉
but then the pyros ar out of a job :( have some sympathy for professional arsonists
The "It's great" moment really got me
I'd add that you can also heat up some sand and pour it over the walls. It's hot, rough, irritating and gets everywhere. The added bonus is you aren't wasting precious water in a siege.
Thank you I wasn't the only 9ne who noticed that comment
Our ancestors figured that out millennia ago. How did we forget?
You know the literal subject he teaches is "The evolution of medieval ditch warfare 101" - "The archeological record from digging ditches to ditch victory 102", I'd definitely engage in his courses
It kinda sucked to have him shred so many of my favorite movies, but this was still fascinating to hear him dismantle and explain proper historical tactics. Kudos.
but i actually like how he keeps up the fantasy in the movies and how he includes the fact that there are basicly things which could work in a world of magic and dragons. just like gandalf breaking the clouds and using the sun to shine on the urkuks, which do not like sunlight. - even tho this can be a common tactic used against humans too.
@@deformiertergolfball4847Using weather to your advantage is, was and will be an important part of warfare
@@maotisjanof course but expecially in this case the wizard used magic to break the clouds just as the opponent wizard used magic to create the clouds. - been a while that i wrote the comment but i think i remember dark, that he mentioned it. and i said it can be a common tactic used.
This guy's absolute fury at the consistent lack of ditches is hilarious.
Imagine being an engineer and see someone make a car with square tires :3
Dig lots and lots of ditches
The biggest historical battle in Portugal was the battle of aljubarrota, where the Portuguese army, which counted about 6000 men, and 200 English longbowmen defeated the Spanish army of 31000 men. And they did it how - you guessed it - ditches.
And it's funnier knowing he's right.
One of the most important battle for early Islamic history was called Battle of the Trench. When the confederation of Quraysh and other tribes try to invade Medina with 10,000 people the Muslim dug trenches in the open area where the attackers were coming. They dug trenches for 6 days and lay in wait inside while they were besieged. Eventually bad weather and lack of provisions caused the invaders to lose much of their forces and they turned tail and went back.
"Once your first ditch is ready, build another one". Dying.
No, no! He's got the point :D
"all these guys standing around, when they could be making ditches"
@@megalexantros The worst thing for me now is the fact that in every movie of that sort where I see someone standing around I will scream in my head: "GO DIGGING YOU MUPPET"
@@yacaran4284 lol. I feel the same way
@@yacaran4284 hahahaha 😂
"They just deliberately made them into savages. Why would you make them into savages? They were sophisticated people." How the media treats any civilization that isn't the 'civilized' culture. Movies, TV, video games, they all do it, particularly with the Scandinavians.
There's an annoying divide in modern culture about The Norse. People either think they were filthy savages who ran around yelling, covered in blood and animal pelts, or they basically deify them and act like they were the greatest most honorable and courageous culture in history. There's never any middle ground
Well, Scandinavians in the Viking era burned houses and raped women to death. They also murdered people in the most gruesome and painful ways imaginable so…
@@Tarnished-bn5gq And that means that they should be misrepresented? I'm not saying that the atrocities they perpetrated should be overlooked. Replacing one form of historical inaccuracy for another doesn't correct the issue. All of those things that the vikings did, every other civilization also did to some extant, but we never see the Romans running around in patchwork leather rags covered in mud for example.
@@Tarnished-bn5gq again not always and not more than other societies or civilizations. if you think christian munks, who themselves supported a bloody crusade later on, didnt exaggerate then youre naive. Britons were fighting amongst themselves and celts and germanic tribes were brutally killing other people. ROmans were much more brutal than vikings, if you dont believe that look at carthage and corinth. Dont come here and tell me vikings were worse or did something that other people didnt do. You project your modern ideas about vikings based on works literally written hundreds of years after the viking era. Yes i do think vikings were brutal but not in a way you described it and not as if they were the only ones haha. Celts, britons and greeks, persians, romans etc were not less violent. So youre kinda not right in your statement.
@@jjkrayenhagen they shouldn’t be misrepresented, no, however that is an accurate representation of them. It’s similar to how ancient Romans should’ve been depicted as fascist misogynists.
This guy is the best expert they've brought on IMO, needs more videos for sure
Meh
"Rocks. You throw them at people, and they get hurt. It's great." - Ancient warfare expert
Hahahhaha
They take no preparation, either.
I went to comments right after he said that
This! this is why I'm in the comments right now.
I love how casually he said that. xD
"they'd try to disrupt the formation, not slam into it and hope it goes away" His logic/sarcasm combination game is 10/10
Sorry, but British marking only ever goes up to 9/10. At 10 we turn into Highlanders.
Hence he is at Oxford
That combo of logic and sarcasm is typically Dutch :-).
I agree 10/10
this man is absolutely awesome! i love how he actually demonstrated the truly effective tactics he would use against a bunch of imaginative creatures lol
Roel's absolute dispassion for assigning scores gets me every time. "What do you want me to say, 2/10? Who cares. Next."
Historians: people in real life try not to die Hollywood: CHARGE THE PIKE WALL
W40k Bayonet charge syndrome
@@vertigo1522 lol, for the Emperor!!
I agree. But I think this person was way more forgiving of GoT than he should have been. Charging head first into an attack with all your cavalry, well before anyone was engaged, and at least a couple hundred yards ahead from your main force, in a defensive effort, where you can't see anything, was the most idiotic thing I have ever seen in any show or movie's battle tactics. Worse than some of these pike wall charges.
Hollywood would love the imperial troops of Krieg
Yeah back then you didn't have a choice lol. Either you charged or died either way
"Well, firstly, that hill is much too steep so everybody would die"
But they have the HIGH GROUND!!
@@nothke But they didn't stay there
*lightly chuckles*
Horse meat
Imagine if the movie shows everyone charging then ending up dying to the hill, then the credits roll
This man deserves a better marker for his white board, given the entertainment value he provides - particularly in explaining how to defeat ice zombies.
One of the best videos i've ever watched, i can't thank you enough. I love that you brought a person that was strict with the notes and actually seemed to be following a criteria of evaluation, he teaches very well, have a good sense of humor and all the while being very polite.
"Should you find yourself fighting an army of ice zombies..." *begins furiously taking notes*
Lmfao
I can't believe he scored this higher than helms deep. It's so bad.
Dig a big hole.
@@greghelm843 it's the worst battle tactics i have ever seen.
@@thomasf.9717 same here. Just one of the worst battle scenes in general. Helms deep was also at night but they do a fantastic job with lighting. In got they had dragons that hardly got used catapults that didn't get used at all thousands of dothraki that get sent on a ridiculous suicide mission only to respawn a couple of episodes later and about half a dozen instances where you think a named character will die then it cuts away the next time you see them they are completely fine and doing something else. Terrible tactics terribly written and terribly shot.
"I'm an expert in Ancient Warfare" Expectation: Badass warrior Reality: Badass intellectual
Knowledge is power! Can tell he's read, and if you've not I recommend, Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War'. A keen intellect can a win a fight before it's fought!
Other reality: professional ditch digger
Hollywood thinks that people in the ancient past were stupid. I find it funny since military academies across the world teach their cadets about ancient battles to prepare them to fight modern warfare.
@@angelrivera2339 Honestly, if you look at the overall knowledge of humanity the ancients weren't that stupid. In most of the golden ages you'll discover how surprisingly smart people were. The biggest set backs in humanity were the cases where great cities fell and their library's and laboratories were destroyed. I honestly think humans should have invented today's technology a few hundred years earlier if it wasn't for the endless burning and destroying of places dedicated to education in the past.
I love Insider channel.
As a kid I used to love these kind of medieval war films but I always wondered... "If they charged that close to each other how did they swing thier swords or weapons without chopping off their mates arm." It seemed obvious even as a child it wouldn't work in real life.
I love how brutal this guy is in his ratings. Finally someone who doesn't hold back.
he's Mr Laffs isnt he??
Behold the wrath of the history nerd.
Probably should shut up and dig a ditch! But yeah, this guy was great.
He’s Dutch and it shows. Love our directness
@@mathijsvann yes, I saw his name, heard his accent and thought to myself.. "oh boy, this is going to be rough"
I'm absolutely entranced with how unimpressed he is at the lack of ditches and frivolous use of fire. 10/10
I'm not a historian, but in live in the UK within a 10 minute drive from an iron age settlement and you have 2 fortifiable raises to get to the top and 1 entrance way. it's in the shape of an oakleaf. when you're stood on top you can see where the kill zones would be.
@@erwin2869 Is that a joke?
@@abuabdullah9878 has to be.
@@norris667 Some folks legit need to learn how to read.
More ditches! Less Fire! More ditches! Less Fire!
This video never fails to make my day happier
I love that this guy incorporates fantasy elements of the plots into his analysis. A lot of experts, while giving overall great commentary, just say "this is historically inaccurate, this is unrealistic", sidestepping the supernatural circumstances. Like some commentators on Pirate of the Caribbean movies don't take into account that the pirates were undead, et cetera. But he actually makes a point that fighting ice zombies is not the same as fighting regular humans.
"Camels, always useful, because they scare horses. - They would use camels to scare off enemy cavalry" So that's why Camel Riders in Age of Empires 2 deal bonus damage to Cavalry. ;o
They actually talk about this in the AoE2 guide book that came with the original CDs. Some really good stuff in there.
Fascinating stuff
I was thinking of total war but AoE is appropriate also
Pshhhh. You mean Medieval Total War 2
That's already a thing in AOE1. It was +4 back then.
"People generally try not to die" - that's the kind of incisive analysis I'm here for!
And yet directors still somehow seem to just forget that 💀
🤣
@@PipitLady style over substance.
But how do we know that? It's possible since people just have a thing for dying in the most instinctively repulsive way. 🤣🤣🤣
"You can just throw rocks. It hurts people. It's great." This guy is ruthless. I love it!!! 😊
You know a video is awesome when you come back to watch it again and again.
I appreciate that he drives the point home of how simplicity is key to warfare. You dig ditches, use rocks, avoid fire, stab the guy if he's within stabbing range, you dig ditches, use formations that require the least micromanagement, and you dig ditches.
You forgot to mention the importance of digging ditches
@@silvertongue_5852 not forgetting "after you dig ditches, you dig more ditches. After that is done, you dig more ditches. Why wouldn't you?"
micromanagement?
Antonio Margheritti
Don't forget also to dig ditches.
11:48 “Where is your ditch? WHERE IS YOUR DITCH? You’ve gotta have a ditch” 😂
Haha.. he doesn't really know shit.
@@hydradominatus3641 Actually he does, more than you clearly
@@ShiftJay08 Did he gain all this knowledge while sipping his Starbucks latte while flipping through other peoples research? Yes.
@@hydradominatus3641 Lol ok - so which rating was the one that one that made you mad? LOTR?
@@shrek-is_love-shrek_islife714 Personal experience.
I've binged a lot of these freaking videos. This guy has been the best judge, hands down.
His commentary is refreshing; straightforward and intelligible to all viewers. The most important thing to take away is simple: if there is no ditch, the scene is not real. 😅
Frustrated historian: "Where is your ditch? You need a ditch - you know this. STOP with the fireballs already!"
I was about to quote this exact statement but just glimpsed your comment and was satisfied. 10/10
@@DeadSezSo happy to oblige!
and you need a ditch in front of another ditch!
The party's wizard "but fireball solves everything "
Yes brilliant, have your troops dig into permafrost ground, that sure wont exhaust them at all.
"Where is your ditch? WHERE IS YOUR DITCH! You know this!" This guy is great.
SHOW ME YOUR DITCHES!
"Where your wok?? Where your wokkkk????"
Why are you running? Why are you running?
WHERE'S THE DITCH
"Give me rent"kinda vibes
This man is a legend for keeping his composure when watching a scene from 300
I love he added a weirwood tree with a smiley face on his drawing
"Sadly all these horses would just slide to their death" killed me
You are a horse?
@@user-bk9sc9mq9b dafuq!?
I’m a horse
@@gwynlordofsunlight5290 are you Juan?
@@gwynlordofsunlight5290 from what I remember you were supposed to be in the kiln. Why’re you on KZhead man? Don’t you have some casuls to thrash?
Lessons: 1: rocks + gravity = free good weapon 2: ditches And more ditches 3: yeah...horses are crazy expensive
More ditches=more gravity force acting on your rock
And use camels because they scare horses
And skip the fire, unless you want to look cool
@@chris_2714 but who doesn't want to look cool?
@@lianflowers9177 People who want to win
Once your first ditch is ready, build another one. This man is fabulous.
I too felt that the Dothraki were COMPLETELY WASTED during that battle. Like I get they generally prefer to fight mounted, but if they had just been used as infantry along with everybody else they would have had much better numbers. They literally just sent all of the Dothraki to their deaths and gained very little from doing so.
I imagined them shouting "filming scenes with horses is too expensive!" as they rode into their doom.
The only thing gained was an inspirational scene when the Red Woman ignited the swords. Something to get the viewers pumped up before the main clash.
It pissed me off, even the back story of the Dothraki being skirmish fighters, good on an open field, shooting arrows from horse back, then they all just suicide in the dark. All this build up over 6 seasons for that in the 7th :l
I want a whole series of just this guy being annoyed at Hollywood battle scenes. This is fascinating.
He sounds even frustrated. So much money was spent on re-creating a certain historical scene and they got it so wrong. I can see his point.
I am all for this!
I'd like to ask him about the Dothraki in Game of Thrones. Their entire army was cavalry, no infantry, no archers, just a crazy charge of horsemen. Doesn't seem a good strategy.
Andrew fry Any force with long, pointed sticks and loud noises: "Yummy!"
@@abeartheycallFozzy It's weird that they did that because the Dothraki had some infantry in the books, though they still focused heavily on cavalry.
"So, again, where is your ditch?" I suppose the movie makers just decided to _ditch_ it.
I hope you can see yourself out
Bud dum tish
YEEEEEEEEEEAH!
haha, I see what you did there
YYeeeeeeeeaaaahhh!!
Amazing video, a lot of knowledge from Dr. Roel. Thank you very much for this moment of teaching.
I just love his reaction of Braveheart!! Every second of that scene irritates him, we don't blame him! LOVE it!
The "trying not to die" part is sadly overlooked by Hollywood.
Fiction and the public they cater to (that are usually evem worse and dumber, especially larp stuff) would think first about bringing swords into battle, thinking that you could penetrate armor with arrows and placing sticks like the enemy would have horsemen-Sherman tanks landing, and in an Ancient amphibious assault, before even sniffing the thought, empathizing and identification of that basic mechanic and drive (if not shared personal rule, especially as the fight begins or gets even intense) of every single one on the battlefield lol like it has perfectly swapped the order of the priorities, and the fear and care of dying is barely present if not non-existent, sheesh! Pretty strange indeed lol I mean, even as detached as this indeed is (probably the most thing ever: not much could beat trying to depict and simulate Ancient War as a person far from battle and centuries after the periods) one would think that getting that being uncareful, negligent and up to, at best, gambles (usually the soldiers depicted do stuff that is on suicidal or loony levels lol) when it's your life (and your comrade and a whole army around you) on the line + not caring about control and trying to have a grip in a situation when a human would desperately search for it the most would be two easy checks lol. White arms battles were basically the greatest rave parties or greatest sudden mass hysteria that two pile of hundreds of life would gladly and almost naturally partake in.
Maybe, just like armour, formations and care of such mechanical bases and concepts are thought as they were just random, artificial and redundant exercises lol Ironically, so, basically, the commanders, officials and all that kind were more attached and concerned of the soldiers and development of war situations than the warriors on the battlefields themselves, sheesh! Talk about privileged, sheltered, detached from reality/the rank and file and cold! They seem pretty great to me, even almost too concerned for such a basic and simple thing like war and fighting apparently lol can't blame this view though, in a world where you have Napalm or Greek Fire already by Antiquity (and by bow and arrow) and terrain, mechanics, basic concepts and dangers of movements etc being irrelevant not only for infantry but even for literal horsemen. Well, now that I think about it, no wonder it's no big deal to perform amphibious assaults then lol and that helmets are useless and with no incidents, collateral damage, friendly obstruction, shrapnel, fuss generated by those masses moving etc ever happening/included in the film.
In holywood movies 1 guy think he can take all army by him self
Lol, the average Hollywood plot is off course: "dude desperately tries to get killed, but fails at it"
they should just fire actors if they die in a movie to make death more valuable.
“Rocks. You throw them at people, they get hurt. It’s great.” The very essence of warfare since its inception.
Stone Slinger skirmishers: finally... RECOGNIZED
Worked for David.
That would’ve been his elevator pitch if he was in that era lol
@@grahamstrouse1165 get out with your fairy tales
@@pierreo33 See a psychologist.
There was an even better way of using the cavalry in GOT : you're facing zombies that are on foot, don't have ranged attacks, don't have shields, and are extremely vulnerable to obsidian weapons. Meanwhile at least some of the cavalry is trained to shoot on horseback. Make every one of them who can shoot, do it while staying at range, and the ones who cannot use a bow, mount baskets full of arrows on the horse to resupply the horse archers. More or less what the Parthians did at Carrhae. This means you can cause heavy casualties to the enemy, while staying at a perfectly safe range, so long that your cavalry has arrows. Once it no longer does, use their superior speed to retreat to the castle.
It could work, if the battle was during the day like at the Carrhae, but during the night it would be very difficult to shoot them accurately.
Yep, Mongols did that all the time. Very effective
@@TheKML777 the enemy is a compact mass. You don't need to aim at any individual target. If you're going to use flaming arrows as it seems to be the default projectile in movies, it also helps see the targets easier.
@@fabioa.8008 the Mongols had a very complex and modern command structure. There is no scenario in which the Dothrakis can be trained to that level, better keep a simpler model.
This guy needs his own channel
"You can just throw rocks... You throw them at people, they get hurt. It's great." This series has so many wonderful out-of-context lines.
I laughed HARD when he said this.
🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😅
I came here to see if anyone noticed this hahaha
lol indeed
I gun is essentially a high speed rock thrower.
The Art of War last page: "If everything fails, dig ditch."
judging by how this man thinks about it, I think it's the first page
In modern terms "If you fail, just call an airstrike"
Art of war only page
Or throw rocks at them
That’s how we got the phrase “last ditch effort”
I appreciate this video, right now I am writing a fantasy book, but I have been studying actual ancient tactics to make the battles more realistic, and this guy taught me, no fire because it's impractical, ditches are your city's best friend, and formations should be simple and easy to manage
Same! And use rocks!!!
@@nellicosta7701 LOTS of rocks.
I just like this guy (first time seeing him). No bs. Straight to the point
I hope you've seen parts 2 and 3 with Noel! All of them just as entertaining and informative ☺️
“Build a ditch and when you finish that ditch build another”
And thus we got the military saying: 'last ditch effort."
@@khamjaninja. And that would eventually lead to the technology of trench warfare that was made infamous by WW1.
Side benefit from lots of ditches....lots of rocks to throw
@@budmeister You are absolutely right! But think about how amazing that fact is. We were still digging ditches even when we were shooting bullets or even artillery shells at each other!
It worked for Belisarius at Dara.
The biggest historical battle in Portugal was the battle of aljubarrota, where the Portuguese army, which counted about 6000 men, and 200 English longbowmen defeated the Spanish army of 31000 men. And they did it how - you guessed it - ditches.
lmao portugal lmao
@@c_m00 I don't think he was joking mate.
@@wingerding No, I wasn't. I was pointing out a historical battle that you can verify. And yes, Portugal was once a powerful nation and quite proficient in warfare.
Have your ever heard about portuguese biggest defeat?You may want to hear about it.Because it was around 1602 in Sri Lanaka at Mulleriyawa.The whole portugal army was slaughtered in a single combat.I have heard that more than 10000 of portugeses died during the battle
@@delonnilanga7059 Our biggest defeat was at Ksar el-Kebir in 1578. 15 000 dead and captured including our king and costing us our independence for 60 years. We remained in Sri Lanka until 1658 when we were expelled by the Dutch.
15:10 This is part of why I enjoy David Eddings' fantasy books; his descriptions of battles are surprisingly good, like the time an army overwhelmed another by outflanking it and attacking from both the front and the rear at the same time. IIRC the front lines were Roman-type legions and heavy cavalry, the west and east flanks were harassed by light cavalry hit-and-runs, and the rear troops were infantry and archers (no army is going to survive an encirclement like that). In another book, instead of digging a ditch in a densely populated city, they pull down houses beyond the walls to make advance by siege towers impossible (wheels are difficult to roll over rubble). While in a third book, a siege ended prematurely because one guy noticed the walls of a town were built over an underground river and muddy ground... so they set their catapults to hit the inside of the far wall (to weaken the supports), then tossed some grappling hooks and simply pulled the walls over. It was mentioned in-story that the walls were pretty badly built, which may explain why that was possible.
I love this guy, please do more materials with him!
Roel is so convincing that he made me want to start digging a ditch around my garden to protect my house 😱😅
🤣🤣🤣😎
Gotta do what you gotta do to keep those pesky tax collectors at bay, I tell you !
😅😂🤣 Best comment so far 😁
🤣🤣🤣🤣 underrated comment
And when you're done with the first one, you start digging the second one.
you can tell he's the real deal: not only because he hates it all and prefers the really simple obvious tactic, but because he draws the worst diagram ever on a whiteboard which we can't see
You have a point, sir.
@@OkurkaBinLadin And you, Mr. Jones, win this week's Best Internet Comment Award.
Unfortunately a lot of things he says applies to medieval times in the northern countries and early antiquity tactics. However, to state a very obvious thing, thermal weaponry was used since antiquity against attackers, and at some point he states oil was never used, which isn't completely false, it was rarely used, and as he says, boiling water could be used, but still, there were concoctions that have regularly been used to defend castles once ditches were crossed. Heated sand was very frequently used in the middle east. And ditches might be easy to build theoretically, but some regions, especially sandy ones would require a lot of maintenance, as the wind would blow the sand to cover up said ditches. If you look at Templar castles, very few had ditches, however they had inclined walls which made it hard for enemies to climb, no matter whether it was built on tiny islands, on top of mountains, inside cities or even in sandy areas. (I guess visiting different types of castles and forts has its perks).
@@frederickschneider979 boiling oil was never used, but they used oil to set siege equipment on fire. There are real historical accounts of it happening but he is right that they never boiled it before setting it on fire. It's a complete waste of time and it is indeed a sign of desperation because oil was important for many reasons so spending them on warfare would have been the last thing you want to do.
@@gustaf3811 ever heard of the siege of Orleans? Oil (well, boiling animal fat/tallow if I'm not mistaken) was used during that battle, making your statement incorrect. We're quite proud of it in France seeing as it's related to Joan of Arc. But as I said, I never talked about setting the oil on fire (which probably didn't happen, or at least, would have happened very rarely), just that the boiling oil was used. Oil isn't just petrol, often, we frenchmen apparently (since most templar castles I've visited were built by the french I can only talk about things I've seen first hand) would heat up fat, tallow, and most things that could come in handy as a last resort (even using coals and hot burning stones, which, against people in armour, can make it even harder to approach closed gates in order to break through). Aforementioned templar castles all have hatches right above the gates btw, that was their last defense at the gates, before the fights properly started. However, fun fact about oil or other profucts set up on fire, there are accounts of greek ships, during the roman times, using fire as a weapon though... That's quite interesting because we still don't really know exactly how they did it. Oil might have been a very scarce resource in many regions, but not all around the world. That's why we can't make statements such as: It didn't happen, it couldn't happen. Stating something as a fact is very dangerous in science, because as soon as anyone would find a counter example, it proves he who stated something, wrong.
It is a *real* shame that "copyright law" ruins videos like this.
"About a 100 years ago a scholarship at Oxford who clearly had rugby on his mind"... Priceless.
"You can just throw rocks, they cost you nothing, they take no preparation, and you just throw them at people and they get hurt. It's great." "People don't, y'know, they try not to die." "In real life, if you could get that close to cavalry, why not just stab 'em?" This dude's just a walking quote machine, I love it.
Don't forget the best: "where are the ditches"
The rock thing is stupid. It's called armor.
@@JohnDoe-pt7ru Rocks are not suppose to penetrate your armour but impact your body and eleminate you for the rest of the battle. In addition, they could easily find and use big rocks to smash people too.
@@JohnDoe-pt7ru Armors protect the body from sharp impact, they don't lessen the force of heavy objects. You can still get seriously bruised, your ribs broken, internal organs impacted, or just fall on the ground
@@kerimcaglayan4300 right and how many people are going to be able to carry around big enough rocks to cause that kind of trauma on an armored opponent? Other than catapults, how are you going to throw big enough rocks to injure someone to the point of killing them? There's a reason no serious army in history after the bronze age simply used rocks like this fool is saying.
Please have a part 2 with this guy. The combination of his general frustration with hollywood's willfull ignorance, expertise and humor is about perfect.
This 🤌🏼
He confirmed on Twitter that part 2 finished filming and will be released soon!
love this guy too... they should hire him for some movies. He can help them create visual spectacle without the nonsensical simplifications that they show battles where people clearly do not behave in a way that will help their survival
Yes please
I've watched this 3 times just for the humor. Hollywood is so terrible.
I would love this man as my teacher .. he answered in one video about 10 questions I always asked myself about ancient warfare, a bit of this I already knew as I am an advent reader & student of ancient warfare & history in general. This man is a teacher I would have loved to have had I would’ve probably never missed a day of school rain, sleet, snow, sick, flu etc etc I would have showed up to class no matter what👌🏼 this is what a great teacher & mentor looks like you get excited & happy learning from a man of this caliber, I would’ve went all the way to college if I knew he was gonna be my teacher till the very end lol 😂👌🏼 would love to see more videos of him & learn more things from him he seems like an immensely knowledgeable man & you can just tell he knows his stuff💯 thank you Roel hope to see more videos of you, you seem like an amazing person to have as a mentor or friend‼️🫡👌🏼
As someone who's only experience of medieval battles is through movies. this has opened my eyes, as to what battles were really like.
13:48 "Women, children, old men... everybody does something" Guess what *Hands over a shovels* Start digging ditches
🤣🤣🤣
Lol 😂
You do see this in The 13th Warrior. Pity he didn't do that one.
@@sericarose1828 13th warrior has a few interesting aspects, but was complete fantasy.
😂😂😂
"But they cost you nothing, they take no preparation, and you just throw them at people. They get hurt. It's great." -- Roel Konijnendijk 2021 Jokes aside though he is brilliant.
same
fam, rocks were used since beginning of warfare (with javelins too) they were used as slingers and were highly lethal, also Romans respected sling and perfected them with metal balls used as ammo, now imagine being an enemy army when 4200 man start roasting you with metal balls before charge
It kills me each time I view this. 😁😂🤣
@@drteska97 lead balls. also these were used way before the romans.
@@szarekhthesilent2047 Yes, few thousands year before probably (i only wrote how Romans liked them, don't forget David killed Goliath with sling shoot)
Awesome. I was really hoping you'd have nice things to say about Gaugamela. Whatever people think about the rest of that film, that battle sequence was amazing and I can't think of many scenes like it that are anywhere near as good.
I like how he explains the point he is making; I like listening to him talk about this stuff
Everyone is talking about the ditches and the rock throwing, but "Camels...always useful because they scare horses" is a pretty great takeaway.
Or elephants ... because they scare everything
@@donkeysunited If maintaining a horse isnt expensive enough....
@@donkeysunited yeah apparently even the smell of elephants would scare horses in ancient warfare.
I learned this one from R:TW 😃
@@donkeysunited only problem with elephants is they get scared easily. And if they start running away from the battle... Well, guess which army is in their way
This guy doesn't talk like a historian, he talks like veteran of the crusades or something😂😂😂
Historians try to be very informative which can get boring. This guy straight up just says, “just throw rocks” “just stab then” “dig more damn ditches” which is great
maybe he is the reincarnation
Can be his way of teaching. Students mostly read and have great access to information source nowadays so if you get them interest they will look up for the source with proper guidances.
That's probably one of the best compliments you can give a historian xD
My professor of church history talks of the church fathers and popes and saints as his friends because he's researched them so thoroughly, read their letters and knows their life story. So maybe this historian has researched the wars so much that he feels like they're a part of his life as well.
First time I'm coming across one of your videos. Love it!
Brilliant. I love Roel Konijnendijk. Also you can't have a more Dutch name. 8 out of10 🙂 But his analysis 10 out of 10
He seems so likable, the entire time I was like 'you wanna go grab a beer and tell me about ancient warfare for five hours straight?'
This guy was my teacher at UCL on archaic and classical Greek module between 2015-16 if I remember correctly.. He was good but not the best teacher ever tbh other actual Greek female teacher that was with him usually (yes we had 2) was better , he was rather passive in class.
@@jimmyfingers227 He was probably thinking about ditches.
@@tstststs those sexy ass ditches ;)
@@jimmyfingers227 I have no trouble believing you on this. He seems knowledgeable enough but does not seem like he would be a very animated teacher/prof. Having the information is only half of it - it still needs to be delivered. I found him difficult to understand half the time as he's just mumbling and snickering to himself and this is an edited video as opposed to a live performance.
@@nickh5081 it is a pretty common way in the Netherlands to speak that way. Most teachers i know mumble and talk a bit to themselves.
"How real is this, Battle Expert?" *plays video of Wizard blinding army of Orcs with magic staff*
that was a good move, it momentarily broke the orc formation. Aragorn should have know about the ditch thing.
It's actually the rising sun that blinds the Uruks and not Gandalfs staff. Which is waaay more epic!
Lol, feels like something better suited to Joe Rogan podcast.
I believe there are historical battles where the blinding of the sun was used. The army purposely choose their approach direction so that the sun is behind them. I mean it's usually not used to disrupt melee force, because you won't actually go as far as lowering your weapon to shield your eyes. But it was advantageous for arrow fire as one side can shoot aimed and the other side is shooting half blind.
@@justanoman6497 Well, in Battle of Grunwald in 1410 we've got records saying that Teutonic Knights were left to stand in the field for hours waiting for Polish and Lithuanian forces to attack. The battle took place on 15th of July, so it was real damn hot, and they weren't exactly wearing summer clothes - so using sun and weather to your advantage isn't exactly surprising. The thing with Gandalf is that becaus he's a wizard he could time it perfectly so that the sun just peaked out as they charged in.
this guy is hilarious. what a fire video. no ditches in this content
best how real is it guest. id buy this man a beer and prod his brain even more. glad yall brought him back for more episodes
"Where's your ditch? You should be digging ditches..." His disappointment is like a teacher and a lazy student.
I don't see your ditch! Start digging!
The last season of GoT had way more disappointing things than not digging ditches...
@@vast634 When Jamie Lannister showed up at the siege of Riverrun, he flipped out on people for not building ditches. And GoT got dinged here for lack of ditches, from another scene. Oh well, lol.
petition to have a part 2 this is top tier entertainment
Ditches Part 2: Electric Boogaloo
they should have him react to historical/fantasy video games like crusader kings or assassins creed or any other video game with more elaborate military tactics
This guy likes what I liked which is history battles
give him some more movies about modern wars with canon, matchlock (like the last samurai or the patriot, ect...)
Apparently they did think about getting this guy to do a part 2, but then they ditched the idea... ...anyone...? ...no?
"Well firstly...that hill is much too steep so everybody would die" 😂 Really hope Insider keeps inviting him for these! His style of good-natured dry humour and wit had me laughing so many times and all the while, his passion still shone through Love this guy!
Loves history, you can tell. And he tells it like it is. He's awesome. Bring this guy back
Moral of the story: Everything is shit unless it has a ditch.
Shovel is one of the vital equipment after spear and shield
@@prongs82 Nope knife then spear and shield the shovel. Unless spear head is detachable and can be used as a knife since most humans live near to forests and jungles.
@@hainleysimpson1507 tf are you on about
@@hainleysimpson1507 One of the things we got issued in basic is an entrenching tool (aka foldable shovel). If its viable now,it definitely was back then.
@@dam11232 E-tool?
“Haha look at the extra, he falls flat on his face 😂” Brutal
Well, one can hardly expect otherwise from a man studying warfare all day. ;)
adding realism into the scenes.
I love how he explains the simplicity that most of us wouldn’t think of as war tactics in history. P.S. I think he likes his ditches 😂
I think that comes because the Romans more or less set the standard for armies. When they stopped for the night, they dug ditches, erected barricades, etc.
I loved this. Both for the entertainment, but also for writing and D&D purposes.
D & D? What is that?
@@adamoneil5317Dungeons & Dragons
Today on watchmojo, we count down the 10 times where ditches wouldve saved lifes!
Omg hahaha hahahaha nice idea 😂😂😂😂
You win😂😂
*lives
Or took lives. If you go in the ditch you die hahaa
let's goo