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Thread: History channels.

  1. #1
    Roma_Victrix's Avatar Call me Ishmael
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    Default History channels.

    I've been watching a lot of these lately and it's a shame the channel doesn't get much attention, because it has potential. I have found faults in a few of them and some of them give a few omissions that could be very misleading, but overall they provide accurate accounts of what happened. They include a wealth of political and societal background information, along with events leading up to the battles before showing how they played out on the field. From what I can tell they do not cover any East Asian, Southeast Asian, or Central Asian battles at all and only one South Asian battle I know of involving the 16th-century Mughals. They do have some battles that occurred in West Asia and North Africa, most of them in ancient times. Most of the videos focus on Europe, though, from Antiquity all the way until the Modern age.

    Perhaps unsurprisingly they use Rome II Total War type maps and graphics, even some of the same music.

    Here are some examples that you might enjoy; feel free to critique them too:

    BATTLE OF SALAMIS, 480 BC


    BATTLE OF MAGNESIA, 190 BC


    ROME'S CRISIS OF THE THIRD CENTURY
    '

    BATTLE OF AD DECIMUM, 533 AD


    BATTLE OF LAS NAVAS DE TOLOSA, 1212 AD


    BATTLE OF CRECY, 1346 AD


    BATTLE OF KIRCHHOLM , 1605


    BATTLE OF MARENGO, 1800


    BATTLE OF TRAFALGAR, 1805
    Last edited by Abdülmecid I; June 18, 2020 at 02:13 PM. Reason: Title changed.

  2. #2
    Lord Oda Nobunaga's Avatar 大信皇帝
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    While I do watch their videos this is my first time seeing their Marengo video.
    I have a few criticisms of the video so lets get this over with. Except this time I will be merciless.

    They have too much exposition about the French Revolution, which is unnecessary for a video about Marengo, at this point the only back story we need is French positions in 1798, the events of the Second Coalition War and Napoleon's return to France and assuming power as the First Consul.

    I complained about unnecessary exposition about the First Coalition War but they made some clear errors in this as well, it could have been avoided by not talking about this portion but they made their bed so now they have to lie in it. The French made an offensive in 1796 with three armies, an army was sent to Italy under the newly appointed general Napoleon, two armies were sent into Germany under the hero of Fleurus Jean Baptiste Jourdan and the up and coming Jean Victor Moreau, these two armies were defeated by the Archduke Charles and chased back across the Rhine.

    They seem to imply, at the very least visually, that Prussia is not part of the Holy Roman Empire. This is false and one could also separate Austria as being it's own political entity as well, at this point the Emperor only controlled Flanders and the surrounding duchies (as part of the Austrian Netherlands), large part of Lombardy in northern Italy (especially Milan) but they did not control Venice since Venice was an independent state which was actually conquered by Napoleon during the 1797 campaign and after taking their wealth, navy and possessions in the Adriatic he ceded that territory to Austria as part of the peace that ended the First Coalition War, within Germany proper the Austrians only controlled the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Archduchy of Austria, to their east they controlled the Kingdom of Hungary and their dependencies the Kingdom of Croatia and the Principality of Transylvania, in addition to all of this the Austrian ruler also had the Imperial title since the reign of Frederick III in 1440. Visually they also indicate that Napoleon took over the Papal States as a result of his victory in 1797, this is false although Napoleon did invade the Papal States and forced the Pope to sign a peace, cities in Romagna actually chose to secede to the French puppet republics in Italy as a result of this. Near to the end of the war the French would send two more armies into Germany as part of a larger effort, an army in the north commanded by the promising Lazare Hoche and another army in the south commanded by Moreau. Both of these armies experienced success but their string of victories was cut short when Napoleon entered Austria and negotiated an armistice.

    At the start of the Second Coalition they imply that Moreau defeated Suvorov at Zurich. This is untrue as well, it was actually Andre Massena that defeated Suvorov's flank (under Korsakov) at Zurich, now that Suvorov foolishly chose to detach a large portion of his army in an attempt to carry out a wide flanking maneuver against Massena's position at Zurich. Moreau for his part declined command in Italy and when the army commanders were defeated by Suvorov, Moreau was forced to take command and withdraw. One could say that Massena had actually demonstrated himself a superior general to Moreau and Moreau would not get back on his feet until he won the victory at Hohenlinden, after Napoleon had won at Marengo and appointed Moreau to command that campaign into Germany.

    While their presentation of the operations on the campaign map is not too bad they have the severe problem that it is mostly represented as individual armies. The Marengo campaign itself was actually not crowned by the tactical engagement at Marengo but rather the operational maneuvers carried out by the French. As such their visual representation should be through showing us these operations and maneuvers on the Division level.

    They also skipped over the fact that this war had much emphasis on information gathering and manipulation. Napoleon purposely spread false information, sent out false reports and staged events to make it seem that he only had two armies. He even appointed the untested Alexandre Berthier to command the Army of Reserve (the very name "Reserve" makes it sound like it is a non-factor), then quietly Napoleon traveled to Switzerland, took command of this army and slipped through the Alps directly behind Melas' army and taking Milan without a shot being fired. But the Austrians also tried their hand when they had a double agent give to Napoleon the false information that Melas was planning to retreat from Alessandria. This scheme was done by Anton von Zach, Melas' chief of staff, and provided the impetus for the engagement at Marengo itself. For this reason Napoleon made a faster march to Alessandria and saw what he believed was Melas' rear guard defending the retreat. However Zach's strategy was a double edged sword because it led to Napoleon arriving to the battle field before the Austrians even expected and he took control of the better ground, allowing him to essentially bottle the Austrians through that terrain. In addition to this he had various Divisions advance from the west behind Melas' army, namely Massena's divisions which escaped from Genoa, he also sent a division to try and outflank Alessandria from the north and threaten the Austrian flank (which did not take part in the actual battle).

    Now this is their first video on the subject apparently, but if they plan to take the same approach to all of their videos on the Napoleonic Wars then my opinion will not change and I can just copypasta this exact post for every video of this kind which they will make.
    Last edited by Lord Oda Nobunaga; January 08, 2018 at 04:44 PM.

    "Famous general without peer in any age, most superior in valor and inspired by the Way of Heaven; since the provinces are now subject to your will it is certain that you will increasingly mount in victory." - Ōgimachi-tennō

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    Roma_Victrix's Avatar Call me Ishmael
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    That was brutal, Oda! Good, solid criticisms, though. Perhaps you should take their production team hostage, storming their headquarters in an armed assault, and force them to produce videos that are up to your standards!

    It's a shame that they're not professional about it or entirely historically accurate, because their production quality is fairly decent and they know how to keep things entertaining and engaging.

    That being said, they have some videos that are total crap, not just punctuated with a few glaring mistakes here and there. My jaw almost dropped at how stupid this one was, a very poor choice indeed:


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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    Simplistic in its analysis and description, overly wordy ("and now, without further ado..."), and containing basic factual errors.

    In the Magnesia video the narrator describes the Seleucids as "another empire rising in the east" during the late second century, then later (correctly) states it was well established prior to the first Punic war. One might say Antiochus III led a renaissance of Seleucid fortunes but the presentation is bland to the point of nonsense. "Freedom for the Greeks" was no new slogan, rather a hackneyed political trope that predated Salamis.

    Likewise the Salamis video makes basic errors (Croesus is pronounced Creesus, not Crow-sis), Xerxes' invasion was not "amphibious" (it was a combined arms force), although Datis' was. I was unwilling to finish watching either so my criticism is incomplete. I guess its good the subject is being discussed, but the narration is clumsy and the fact checking poor.
    Jatte lambastes Calico Rat

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    Lord Oda Nobunaga's Avatar 大信皇帝
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    I'll watch that Fall of Rome video at some point. Dis gun be good.

    Cyclops your criticism seems to be one that I share as well. Antiochos was called "the Great" because he restored the Greek world in the east. I would also add that the Marathon campaign saw the Persians stage a naval landing (I'm assuming you mean that when you say Datis) but it's kind of hard to make a naval landing using the technology of 490 BC when the Trireme was considered a novelty and when Xerxes is claimed to have millions of troops. USA couldn't pull that off in 1942 (considering that the largest force to land at one time was like 200,000 men) it sure as heck ain't possible in 490 BC.

    Though I do recommend BazBattles, their scope is more focused and seemingly much less ambitious, which is good because it causes one to make less errors.






    I also recommend this website here, you can download their maps and view them on Powerpoint. They have videos for some of them as well. Make sure to click on "Battle Animations" up top, you can sort through time period.
    http://www.theartofbattle.com/battle-animations/
    Last edited by Lord Oda Nobunaga; January 08, 2018 at 05:17 PM. Reason: Videos fixed.

    "Famous general without peer in any age, most superior in valor and inspired by the Way of Heaven; since the provinces are now subject to your will it is certain that you will increasingly mount in victory." - Ōgimachi-tennō

  6. #6
    Roma_Victrix's Avatar Call me Ishmael
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops View Post
    Simplistic in its analysis and description, overly wordy ("and now, without further ado..."), and containing basic factual errors.
    Yeah, somewhere there's a healthy balance between providing background info and getting to the point, and these guys seem to goof it up a lot.

    For instance, at the end of the "Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa" video they only make a few terse statements about the Reconquista following this momentous battle, but they somehow managed to make it sound as if it was just continuous fighting until 1492 when Granada finally fell. The emirate was actually a vassal state of Castile for roughly two centuries before that point, with short interrupting periods where the emirs rebelled against their Spanish liege lords. You wouldn't know that from watching the video! Yet they bothered to give a rundown of the entire history of the Reconquista before the aforementioned battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, starting with Pelagius of Asturias in the 8th century.

    In the Magnesia video the narrator describes the Seleucids as "another empire rising in the east" during the late second century, then later (correctly) states it was well established prior to the first Punic war. One might say Antiochus III led a renaissance of Seleucid fortunes but the presentation is bland to the point of nonsense. "Freedom for the Greeks" was no new slogan, rather a hackneyed political trope that predated Salamis.

    Likewise the Salamis video makes basic errors (Croesus is pronounced Creesus, not Crow-sis), Xerxes' invasion was not "amphibious" (it was a combined arms force), although Datis' was. I was unwilling to finish watching either so my criticism is incomplete. I guess its good the subject is being discussed, but the narration is clumsy and the fact checking poor.
    Their failure to pronounce names correctly is a problem that plagues a good amount of their videos, now that I think back on it. Again, it's a real shame, because their production quality is decent and with the funding from Patreon they could produce great videos if they so desired.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Oda Nobunaga View Post
    I'll watch that Fall of Rome video at some point. Dis gun be good.
    Basically the Romans were genocidal slavers, Oda, so it's a good thing genocide and slavery didn't exist in Europe afterwards!

    Also, somehow the Eastern Roman Empire really benefited from having the western half of the empire collapse...or something. It must have really benefited their economy at the time! Who knew? The video also makes the absurd claim that smaller European states were better equipped to defend themselves than the Roman Empire, because clearly there were no invasions of Europe afterwards! You know, because Arabs, Magyars/Hungarians, Mongols, and Ottoman Turks were all a figment of your imagination, silly-head.

    Cyclops your criticism seems to be one that I share as well. Antiochos was called "the Great" because he restored the Greek world in the east. I would also add that the Marathon campaign saw the Persians stage a naval landing (I'm assuming you mean that when you say Datis) but it's kind of hard to make a naval landing using the technology of 490 BC when the Trireme was considered a novelty and when Xerxes is claimed to have millions of troops. USA couldn't pull that off in 1942 (considering that the largest force to land at one time was like 200,000 men) it sure as heck ain't possible in 490 BC.
    We could beat the dead horse of conversing about how ancient army sizes were usually heavily inflated in historical sources, especially naval invasions, or we could just leave it there and call it a day.

    Though I do recommend BazBattles, their scope is more focused and seemingly much less ambitious, which is good because it causes one to make less errors.

    I also recommend this website here, you can download their maps and view them on Powerpoint. They have videos for some of them as well. Make sure to click on "Battle Animations" up top, you can sort through time period.
    http://www.theartofbattle.com/battle-animations/
    I've been subscribed to BazBattles for a long time now, it seems, so I figured everyone already knew about them. This Kings and Generals channel seems to be relatively new, since I haven't seen a video of theirs predating 2017. BazBattles is great, but you should also check out a similar channel called Historia Civilis. Although they unfortunately don't have the same production quality, the analysis is rather good:


  7. #7
    Lord Oda Nobunaga's Avatar 大信皇帝
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    I have seen a few Historia Civilis videos but I have not subscribed to them. Might as well I guess.

    My point was that Cyclops is correct that Xerxes did not carry out any landings because even an army of say 50,000 men would have been extremely hard to move via the sea. That is why both Xerxes and Alexander both went over the Hellespont, Alexander with 30,000 men and Xerxes with many more.

    Turns out Kings and Generals made more Napoleonic Wars videos so this is going to get interesting.

    BazBattles made a video about the Onin War, going to have to watch this.

    You know I considered doing a YouTube channel about stuff like this but I decided not to cause... meh too much work. Besides if I did that I would never finish my Oda Nobunaga history.
    Last edited by Lord Oda Nobunaga; January 08, 2018 at 07:35 PM.

    "Famous general without peer in any age, most superior in valor and inspired by the Way of Heaven; since the provinces are now subject to your will it is certain that you will increasingly mount in victory." - Ōgimachi-tennō

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    Roma_Victrix's Avatar Call me Ishmael
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Oda Nobunaga View Post
    I have seen a few Historia Civilis videos but I have not subscribed to them. Might as well I guess.

    My point was that Cyclops is correct that Xerxes did not carry out any landings because even an army of say 50,000 men would have been extremely hard to move via the sea. That is why both Xerxes and Alexander both went over the Hellespont, Alexander with 30,000 men and Xerxes with many more.

    Turns out Kings and Generals made more Napoleonic Wars videos so this is going to get interesting.

    BazBattles made a video about the Onin War, going to have to watch this.

    You know I considered doing a YouTube channel about stuff like this but I decided not to cause... meh too much work. Besides if I did that I would never finish my Oda Nobunaga history.
    I'd watch and subscribe to your channel. That's one guaranteed fan!

    The Onin War video from BazBattles is awesome; I watched it about a couple weeks ago. I just finished watching their Battle on the Ice video for the Teutonic Order versus the Republic of Novgorod. It was pretty awesome. I wonder how Kings and Generals would manage to screw it up. Perhaps by starting with Lithuanian, Estonian, and Russian history going back to the Neolithic period?

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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    It goes a long way to show our state of affairs, that these youtube videos are way better than many documentaries on the History Channel. Whatever criticism you could have of the former, I'm sure you can think up more for the latter.

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    Roma_Victrix's Avatar Call me Ishmael
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    Quote Originally Posted by HackneyedScribe View Post
    It goes a long way to show our state of affairs, that these youtube videos are way better than many documentaries on the History Channel. Whatever criticism you could have of the former, I'm sure you can think up more for the latter.
    Well when you put it like that! I guess these videos are at least more historically accurate than Ancient Aliens, but that's a pretty low bar to overcome.

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    Lord Oda Nobunaga's Avatar 大信皇帝
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    It is true that these indie historians seem to be much better than a lot of real historians and things like the History Channel, even PBS has slipped up sometimes. At this point I get my documentaries almost exclusively from decades ago (cause I can time travel using the internet) or from Spanish television (because I'm a true Iberian and the Sun Never Sets).

    I am honestly thinking I should offer my services to Kings and Generals as a soldier of fortune er I mean a writer. But then I would have to do things and that always sucks.

    Might as well shill for someone else who deserves it. Go listen to the Samurai Archives podcast it is pretty good.
    http://www.samuraipodcast.com/

    "Famous general without peer in any age, most superior in valor and inspired by the Way of Heaven; since the provinces are now subject to your will it is certain that you will increasingly mount in victory." - Ōgimachi-tennō

  12. #12
    bigdaddy1204's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Roma. The problem I have with a lot of historical programs on YouTube and TV in general is that they tend to focus on the same narrow repertoire of subjects over and over again. Videos about ancient Greece (invariably Athens and Sparta, as if no other Greek history existed) ad nauseam. Videos about Roman battles I've seen many times before, e.g. Teutoberg forest. Then there is a bit about the crusades, the Normans, Henry VIII, Napoleon, WW1 and then death by a thousand Hitler videos.

    It's all rather repetitive and gets frustrating when what I really want is videos about the Arab caliphates, the Persians, the Seljuks, the Ottomans, the Byzantines, the Safavids, etc. I found a video about the Ottomans which was quite good and one about Achaemenid Persia, but in general my areas of interest are much harder to find good content about.



    And here's one on Persia. There are a couple of videos about the ancient Persians, but nothing on their Sassanid or Medieval history.

    Last edited by bigdaddy1204; January 09, 2018 at 07:05 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Adar View Post
    I am quite impressed by the fact that you managed to make such a rant but still manage to phrase it in such a way that it is neither relevant to the thread nor to the topic you are trying to introduce to the thread.

  13. #13

    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    Quote Originally Posted by Cyclops View Post
    Likewise the Salamis video makes basic errors (Croesus is pronounced Creesus, not Crow-sis),
    Technically, it's "Kroysos". But yeah, the pronunciation is shaky in many videos of this kind that I've stumbled across. Pronunciation is one of those things even smart people often get wrong, or don't pay enough attention to.


    Quote Originally Posted by bigdaddy1204 View Post
    Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Roma. The problem I have with a lot of historical programs on YouTube and TV in general is that they tend to focus on the same narrow repertoire of subjects over and over again. Videos about ancient Greece (invariably Athens and Sparta, as if no other Greek history existed) ad nauseam. Videos about Roman battles I've seen many times before, e.g. Teutoberg forest. Then there is a bit about the crusades, the Normans, Henry VIII, Napoleon, WW1 and then death by a thousand Hitler videos.

    It's all rather repetitive and gets frustrating when what I really want is videos about the Arab caliphates, the Persians, the Seljuks, the Ottomans, the Byzantines, the Safavids, etc. I found a video about the Ottomans which was quite good and one about Achaemenid Persia, but in general my areas of interest are much harder to find good content about.
    I feel your pain. The problem is, who's gonna do these? I mean you can lobby the creators accordingly. Or there's someone on TWC with video editing skills (not me. Though I might be available for constructive criticism and feedback), who could compose such videos...

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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    Quote Originally Posted by athanaric View Post
    I feel your pain. The problem is, who's gonna do these? I mean you can lobby the creators accordingly. Or there's someone on TWC with video editing skills (not me. Though I might be available for constructive criticism and feed back), who could compose such videos...
    We need a new history channel: "The other History Channel", where one presents tons of previously unheard cultures / events from Asia or Africa with tons of research, epic music from movies or games, a rememberable art style and some narrator with sexy voice.

  15. #15
    Roma_Victrix's Avatar Call me Ishmael
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    Quote Originally Posted by athanaric View Post
    Technically, it's "Kroysos". But yeah, the pronunciation is shaky in many videos of this kind that I've stumbled across. Pronunciation is one of those things even smart people often get wrong, or don't pay enough attention to.


    I feel your pain. The problem is, who's gonna do these? I mean you can lobby the creators accordingly. Or there's someone on TWC with video editing skills (not me. Though I might be available for constructive criticism and feedback), who could compose such videos...
    Quote Originally Posted by LinusLinothorax View Post
    We need a new history channel: "The other History Channel", where one presents tons of previously unheard cultures / events from Asia or Africa with tons of research, epic music from movies or games, a rememberable art style and some narrator with sexy voice.
    Well, there is an appetite for it judging by the fact that most of these videos posted to this thread thus far, including Kings and Generals as well as BazBattles and Historia Civilis, have hundreds of thousands of views. I think the potential audience is there, but the "History" channel made the cynical calculation that in the morning and afternoon they could get more views and better ratings by appealing to unemployed goobers who want to watch Ice Road Truckers and Pawn Stars instead.

    Quote Originally Posted by bigdaddy1204 View Post
    Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Roma. The problem I have with a lot of historical programs on YouTube and TV in general is that they tend to focus on the same narrow repertoire of subjects over and over again. Videos about ancient Greece (invariably Athens and Sparta, as if no other Greek history existed) ad nauseam. Videos about Roman battles I've seen many times before, e.g. Teutoberg forest. Then there is a bit about the crusades, the Normans, Henry VIII, Napoleon, WW1 and then death by a thousand Hitler videos.

    It's all rather repetitive and gets frustrating when what I really want is videos about the Arab caliphates, the Persians, the Seljuks, the Ottomans, the Byzantines, the Safavids, etc. I found a video about the Ottomans which was quite good and one about Achaemenid Persia, but in general my areas of interest are much harder to find good content about.

    And here's one on Persia. There are a couple of videos about the ancient Persians, but nothing on their Sassanid or Medieval history.
    Well, for what it's worth the Kings and Generals Youtube channel has a bunch of videos on the Sassanids in relation to their conflicts with the Eastern Roman Empire, but nothing on the Parthian Empire. In fact, from what I can tell from doing a search just now, Youtube doesn't have any significant documentary on the Parthian Empire, only a bunch of "let's play" videos for Rome II Total War that involve Parthia, and a couple mouth-breather, pimple-faced high school kids who uploaded videos for class projects they were forced to do In fact, the only video I've seen that's worth watching is this one by Historia Civilis, unsurprisingly about Crassus and the Battle of Carhae (of course), but the production quality of their channel is well below BazBattles and for that matter Kings and Generals.



    Here are the Sassanid videos from Kings and Generals that I mentioned above:







    BazBattles did a great video on the Onin War of 15th-century Japan, but as far as I know their channel and Kings and Generals avoids East Asian and Southeast Asian historical battles like the plague. I'm assuming this has something to do with the cynical calculation that kids in Europe (or the West in general) watching this stuff will only care about European history or something. The Onin War video was probably a canary in the coal mine, so to speak, to test and see if it would get any significant amount of views at all given how it doesn't include anything about European history. Of all the Asian cultures, and I'm even including West Asian/Middle Eastern ones here, kids in the West will most likely only care about Japan, and we all know that's because of Anime and proliferation of Japanese shows/music/food/culture abroad, combined with the persistent fascination we tend to have with samurai warriors and katana swords (which perhaps became a mainstream thing in American culture following WWII and the various GIs who took home Japanese swords looted from dead Japanese soldiers and officers).

    For instance, China has a much longer martial history than Japan stretching back to the Bronze Age with the Shang dynasty, yet in the popular mind Japan is given way more emphasis and attention, despite there being a number of decent documentaries on Chinese military history floating around on Youtube.

    Also, I know I've said this before in the OP, but notice how the graphics in the Kings and Generals videos, plus the logos for factions, mirror the stuff found in Rome II Total War, Attila Total War, and the various mods made for them. I swear these videos are only generating significant amounts of views thanks to total war games and kids wanting to know a bit more about the factions they're playing with. If that's what it takes to get them interested in history then screw it, I'll take it.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord Oda Nobunaga View Post
    It is true that these indie historians seem to be much better than a lot of real historians and things like the History Channel, even PBS has slipped up sometimes. At this point I get my documentaries almost exclusively from decades ago (cause I can time travel using the internet) or from Spanish television (because I'm a true Iberian and the Sun Never Sets).

    I am honestly thinking I should offer my services to Kings and Generals as a soldier of fortune er I mean a writer. But then I would have to do things and that always sucks.

    Might as well shill for someone else who deserves it. Go listen to the Samurai Archives podcast it is pretty good.
    http://www.samuraipodcast.com/
    Thanks for the link!

    Also, I'll say it again, I'd watch whatever content you threw up on Youtube, because I know for certain it would be quality content.

  16. #16
    Lord Oda Nobunaga's Avatar 大信皇帝
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    Quote Originally Posted by bigdaddy1204 View Post
    Thanks for bringing this to my attention, Roma. The problem I have with a lot of historical programs on YouTube and TV in general is that they tend to focus on the same narrow repertoire of subjects over and over again. Videos about ancient Greece (invariably Athens and Sparta, as if no other Greek history existed) ad nauseam. Videos about Roman battles I've seen many times before, e.g. Teutoberg forest. Then there is a bit about the crusades, the Normans, Henry VIII, Napoleon, WW1 and then death by a thousand Hitler videos.

    It's all rather repetitive and gets frustrating when what I really want is videos about the Arab caliphates, the Persians, the Seljuks, the Ottomans, the Byzantines, the Safavids, etc. I found a video about the Ottomans which was quite good and one about Achaemenid Persia, but in general my areas of interest are much harder to find good content about.
    I feel your pain my dude. I want tonnes of material on Middle Eastern history, Japanese history and Chinese history as well as anything else I can throw into the mix.
    I also get totally triggered when I see Latin spelling of Greek and Persian names. Perikles not Pericles, Kyros (Kurosh in Persian) not Cyrus, Lysandros not Lysander etc etc.

    Here are some channels you can all watch, let's start a revolution.

    Knightsquire - a hilarious tuber who talks about knights and swords, he specializes in making fun of awful swordplay from shows and movies




    Medieval Review - another of these Medieval Youtubers, he talks about weapons and armour and anything medieval, he also does sword reviews


    Scholagladiatora - this guy is similar to the above but his thing is more melee combat in general since he does videos about ancient weapons, medieval weapons and modern era swords and the like


    Knight Errant - as the name implies his thing is knights so weapons, armour and HEMA


    Shadiversity - our boy here makes videos about everything apparently from fantasy to weapons, I think he is best known for his "what weapon would they use" where he has gone over things like wizards and centaurs among others


    Lindybeige - he makes videos about whatever happens to be on his mind, judging by the scope he has a lot on his mind, he is in fact a historian and a trained actor and I swear I saw him on TV one time


    Metatron - a YouTuber near and dear to my heart not only because we have the same name () but also because he speaks Japanese and is as big of a samurai fanatic as I am, his channel specializes in history and combat and speaks English, Italian and Latin as well he is a professor in Italy


    EmperorTigerStar - our buddy here likes maps, lots and LOTS AND LOTS of MAPS (as an aside he once asked me to help him make a Sengoku Jidai map )


    History Buffs - Jeremy's channel is all about reviewing historical films for their historical accuracy, think of a historical movie and chances are he has done it, History Channel even got him to do a Vikings podcast and took him to Ireland to meet the cast


    C&Rsenal - Othais and his friends talk about historical weaponry and put it to use, I really find their small arms history to be fascinating (mostly the Franco-Prussian War and WW1)


    Forgotten Weapons - GUNS GUNS GUNS! What are you looking for? Austro-Prussian War? WW1? WW2? Vietnam War!? Ian probably has it.


    InRangeTV - more guns more Ian, mostly he and his friend put these weapons to the test including assault rifles


    Skallagrim - end him rightly, what more can I say?

    "Famous general without peer in any age, most superior in valor and inspired by the Way of Heaven; since the provinces are now subject to your will it is certain that you will increasingly mount in victory." - Ōgimachi-tennō

  17. #17
    Roma_Victrix's Avatar Call me Ishmael
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    Great videos, Oda!

    I've posted plenty of videos of Scholagladiatora on TWC before, but mostly in The Arts sub-forum where I was showing flaws in Game of Thrones. Lindybeige is also massively entertaining, but even he has some quirky ideas and makes mistakes, despite his academic background. Thanks for sharing that KnightSquire stuff, that dude is legit hilarious. He does a consummate impersonation of virtually every Weeaboo I've seen on Youtube.

  18. #18
    Lord Oda Nobunaga's Avatar 大信皇帝
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    Remember boys and girls, swords are real weapons and can be used to kill. Do not try what you see in anime at home as it can result in serious injury, regardless of how many times you have folded your katana.

    Finally saw that "Fall of Rome Was Good" video. I can kind of see where they are coming from but damn if some of those points made any real sense. Without any source or specific details being given I am led to assume that most of their reasoning is based on X thing came after the fall of Rome and so it has to be connected.
    Last edited by Lord Oda Nobunaga; January 10, 2018 at 12:48 AM.

    "Famous general without peer in any age, most superior in valor and inspired by the Way of Heaven; since the provinces are now subject to your will it is certain that you will increasingly mount in victory." - Ōgimachi-tennō

  19. #19
    Axis Sunsoar's Avatar Domesticus
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    Seems like sound logic to me... here's some events in chronological order

    1. Rome fell

    2. I was born

    Conclusion: Rome's fall was a good thing (except for anyone who's ever had to deal with me)

  20. #20
    hellheaven1987's Avatar Comes Domesticorum
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    Default Re: Kings and Generals, Youtube channel about historical battles

    Quote Originally Posted by bigdaddy1204 View Post
    It's all rather repetitive and gets frustrating when what I really want is videos about the Arab caliphates, the Persians, the Seljuks, the Ottomans, the Byzantines, the Safavids, etc.
    No because that would show the world the violent nature of Islam and displease leftists.

    Quote Originally Posted by Roma_Victrix View Post
    Well at least it got one point right.
    Last edited by hellheaven1987; January 10, 2018 at 09:05 AM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Markas View Post
    Hellheaven, sometimes you remind me of King Canute trying to hold back the tide, except without the winning parable.
    Quote Originally Posted by Diocle View Post
    Cameron is midway between Black Rage and .. European Union ..

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