The Brothers Gracchi - I: How Republics Fall - Extra History

Very entertaining!

No Name

Not actually correct, as far as I understand it. Even the Velites and other support troops (this is before the organized uses of Auxiliaries) had to be of some means (net worth of 400 drachmae), according to Polybius. Remember that even the Velites had to be able to afford their javelins and whatever other equipment they needed. The poorest of the poor could apparently serve as naval oarsmen, though.

Christian Jensen

That's at least partially up to us. At the end of each series (every seven weeks or so), all the Patrons who've pledged at least $5 get to vote on which series comes next. The EC crew do get to decide which series are in that vote - although even there, if you're a patron for at least $10 you can suggest a series. This'll go into a raffle with all the other suggestions from patrons at that level, and at least one of those suggestions WILL be on the vote for "What do we do next?"

Nessf

Please do the Hundred Years War!! Edward the Black Prince and Joan of Arc!! deserves their own video!!! ^^

Edward Kim

Well, I wasn't there (big surprise yeah) but my hunch is the first one to make it over any besieged wall typically gets his head chopped off. Unless they already had "small letters at the bottom" back there and what they actually meant was "first over the wall who actually lived to brag about it". But yeah, your version is the most likely... :)

Porcupine

Funny enough, Marcinus was actually on board with being sent as a prisoner, and even more hilariously, they refused to accept him. That's got to be a blow to the old self-esteem there. The dwindling income of the legionnaire class was important, because in the pre-Marian legions, your position was determined by your equipment. The hastati in the front had less armor than the principes behind him. The brother Gracchi and their ideas would be a major rise behind the Marian reforms, 20 years after the story we're telling right now.

Jim McGeehin

Hmm sounds very familiar. As Winston Churchill once said, "Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it." These repeating patterns sometimes makes me think history is cyclical; similar peaks of evolution, similar valleys of dissolution, same problems arise but in a different manner. Great episode as always. How many episodes this time? Also, will you go over the structure of the Roman government and legislative process? That would give some context for this and any future series on classical Rome.

Marco Honrade

What were the rest of the household of these small farmer-soldiers doing when the men went off to be soldiers? Is this a lack-of-management problem or were they such small holdings that losing one person was enough to make the farm go under?

Lou Hartman

This looks awfully familiar...

Hasan Mahmood

I love how great the team is at summarizing the detail of the events in this one. I finally understood Roman history (I got a really weird version taught in Catholic school), after listening to this podcast: <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-history-of-rome/id261654474?mt=2" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-history-of-rome/id261654474?mt=2</a>

Dani McKenzie

To add to what RMS said - when we vote for a topic, the extra credits crew assume it'll last for seven weeks (six weeks of episodes, one week of lies). When they find they can discuss the topic in less time, they fill in the extra weeks with topics of their choice. Lindisfarne was one such 'filling in some space' topic.

Nessf

Poor citizens were allowed to serve in the Roman legions as well. They formed the velites or light infantry of Rome. They wore no armor and were given javelins to act as skirmishers during the opening portions of battle. Once the enemy would advance they would run behind the heavy infantry (the ones that you talked about).

Sean Sarff

Lindisfarne was a one off episode about the attack on Lindisfarne alone, it was never about the wider Viking Age. It's something to look at in the future

RMS Oceanic

Wait, what happened to the viking age series? is that not continuing? (:S Not that this isn't cool and all...

Maximilian Vermilye

Tiberius: Putting the T in James T Kirk

Bryan (MightyAxeMan)

I wonder how Walpole will be at fault this time :D

Byron Becker

Amazing how history can repeat itself.

grate job guys.

schuyler

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY!!! MORE ROMANS!!! And, One could say, a sort of Sequel to your Punic Wars Episodes from Years ago, because Tiberius Gracchus was a Soldier in the Third Punic Wars and was Present at the Siege of Carthage by Scipio Aemilianus.

Martin Verran

The slavery bit still has a sliver of truth in modern day US. Illegal foreign workers are paid for less that minimum wage. The slaves that the Romans took were foreign and cheaper than Roman labor. I understand that this kind of work is not on the colossal scale that the media would have you believe, but it is still a problem.

Parker

1 issue. The roman soldiers are wearing the wrong armour. :p Lorica segmentata wasn't around till later.

Alex Purchase

I was half expecting a political joke somewhere.

KHMakerD

This all reminds me our modern day world...

Karen Vardanyan

Keep in mind that the US isn't fighting these wars to profit America. The only people really profiting is the industrial military complex. I remember a saying 'That single rocket being fired costs $80,000. That's more then the guy firing it makes in a year and more then the guy it is being fired at will make in a lifetime'.

Bright Ops

Great start, really sets the stage for the crisis that precedes Caesar. The only factor I feel goes unaddressed is the fracturing of Aristocratic Unity. While the Patrician/Plebian divide is still a thing, it's much less important than who has the money (generally called the Optimates) and who doesn't (the Populares) , and it's the Optimates that's been expanding at everyone else's expense, and it was in their interest to remain united so the discontent of the lower orders couldn't overwhelm them. It was also in their interest because hey, Rome has been fighting wars for the last 150 years and the muddled early years of the Second Punic War has shown that they needed to act as one for the very survival of Rome. But with 146BC and the vanquishing of both Carthage and Greece, Rome would not face a real threat from a rival "civilization" - And I use that in the classical meaning because the Gauls are still lurking in Gaul proper - until they start butting heads with the Parthian Empire some 80 years later. So without such an external threat to point to and their personal power growing with their wealth, the Optimates perhaps don't see the value in remaining a tight clique and start letting personal ambition carry them away. The Graachi were in the Optimate camp until Tiberius was rebuked for this treaty, so as we'll see he'll take his upper class education and use it to great effect among the Populares, as will Gaius. Also I think it's rumoured that the "first over the walls of Carthage" legend of Tiberius was an invention by his supporters later in his career. If I recall I think Gaius Marius had a similar embellishment during his third or fourth Consulship, although I prefer the seven baby eagles legend. :)

RMS Oceanic

Different beast. Rome's wars were ones of conquest; America's wars are not concerned with conquest. If they were the Germans, French, and Chinese wouldn't have gotten all the Iraqi oil while the US got zip.

E

Why even bar the constant wars? America is pretty quick to jump into conflict it seems.

Nessf

I find it scary how similar 121 Rome and modern day America are, barring the constant wars and slavery.

E