Barbarians
They were the dreaded forces on the fringes of civilization, the bloodthirsty warriors who defied the Roman legions and terrorized the people of Europe. They were the Barbarians, and their names still evoke images of cruelty and chaos.
But what do we really know of these legendary warriors? From the frigid North Sea to the Russian steppes, this ambitious series tells the fascinating stories of four of the most fabled groups of fighters in history, tracing 1,000 years of conquest and adventure through inspired scholarship and some of the most extensive reenactments ever filmed. Mongols rides with Genghis Khan and his descendants as they sweep from Asia to the heart of modern Germany in a frenzy of expansion.
They came in waves from out of the dark forests of Europe and over the course of a millennium they drove a mighty empire to its knees. Relentless unmerciful and united only in their hatred for Rome each of these warrior tribes had its own violent agenda dark rites savage tactics and secret weapons.
This documentary follows eight of history's most fearsome tribes: The Goths, Mongols, Huns, Vikings, Vandals, Saxons, Franks and the Lombards as they cut a swath of destruction through the world. BARBARIANS recreates the world of these invaders through even more intense stunts large-scale battle re-enactments and a fast-paced exciting narrative.The whistle of the war axe and the clank of the shield will ring in viewers' ears as these four programs bring the epochal clash of civilizations to life as never before.
Did anyone else notice the painted water cooler jug in the wagon?!?! Somebody must have forgotten the prop and switched that in! LOL
I can't comment on the accuracy of the other episodes, but the episode that covered the Saxons was so badly researched I have my doubts.
So it was the Britons defending their culture against the Saxons?
Although the British isles have existed much as they are since the end of continental drift (one has to assume :)), Britain is a unitary state created through the 1707 Treaty of Union, which joined the parliaments of Scotland and England. A political union made for the economic gain of English trade, and which will face its first democratic test in September, 2014.
Credit for spotting that Scotland is not part of England, despite what Whitehall civil-servants might say.
So who were these heroic defenders of what would be called England now, though I suppose England only became a nation when it was conquered by the Normans. Though that might be debatable.
the britons were the celto-roman people of southern great britain. they were not britISH, they were britONS. their modern descendants are the cornish and welsh.
There's a lesson for us moderns in this tale of the Goths bringing down the enfeebled Roman Empire. Look at the Third World; note its rising populations of have-nots and note our own reluctance to defend our borders....
The whole reason they got attacked was that they did not allow foreigners into their culture. It was their policy of defending their borders that resulted in the Goth rebellion.
barbarian is what greeks used to call anyone who wasnt greek or roman. they called them that because thats what their language sounded like.BAH BAH BAH
you are sounding like bah bah bah lol… jk couldn't resist but yes you are right!
I find it disturbing, that they dont represent the danes as vikings. Denmark is also a part of scandinavia... Embarassing
I can not say more than agree,,,
although there was a difference between the Vikings of time which the origins had ...
It is said that the Norwegian was the most barbaric, while the Swede was more traders (especially towards East), the Danes had probably both, when they had good contacts to Scania, but also went on raid down the north sea ..
Common to all the Viking expeditions is that they after a vile went far. Very far away ....
the swedish vikings was the ones that got "christianized" last, like 100 years after norway and denmark. great faith in odin
Barbarism has not disappeared from this world yet , unfortunately enough :
See the western & israeli barbarism in Plaestine, Irak, Afghanistan, Hiroshima Nagazaki , Vietnam & elsewhere ....WWI , WWII , nazism, fascism, communism , The cold war , the former world wide western imperialism, the western neo-imperialism slavery ...
Great docu
Yeah and along with Taliban and Iranians etc. I agree.
You forgot about the boy raping and clitoris cutting hordes of loons from the Islamic Middle East and the savage butchery of African cannibals.
and the barbaric racists that apply gross stereotypes to entire continents of people.
Great documentary!
really good doc . tied up a lot of loose ends for me
lesson learned: authority is just a matter of dates and who has the most power at the time. it is merely a means to control people and keep their loyalty. trusting in authority figures can lead to your death
why do people think Norway and Sweden were the vikings and the kings of battle when Denmark was the power in Scandinavia putting the fear of god into nations and using fire and sword to it. Denmark had conquered most of the UK, France, Norway and Sweden during the time of King Canute the Great. I guess I know more than the historians who produced that farce of a film.
Once again Denmark got screwed over, our days of glory vanish slowly into the distance because we failed later. Thank you for kicking it into us again. I'm not surprised though, just disappointed. Seems like we have to think of something brutal and bloody so people outside Scandinavia might actually know we exist in ten years -_-
WHAT THE FUDGE?
The mongolians were not caucasians with bad nose jobs. They STILL aren't. They're not magical made-up people. Mongolians are still around, living in mongolia and china where they preserved 80% of their culture and practice 100% less massacre.
Well under white historical revisionism, everyone from the ancient egyptians, greeks, mongolians, carthagians, persians, indians,natives and every other multi cultural and colored society is white. You are jus tlucky they don't portray all of ancient china as blonde hair and blue eyed. Mongolians conquered all of Asia and almost all of Europe that wasn't controlled by the moors. They went right through Germany up to Poland, were they were stopped by the french and vikings and met up with the moors in spanish amsterdam. But under white revisionism you can't have asians in the white homeland of germany. They completly ignore that Germans have broad flat noses and slanty eyes like Asians, and how this phenotype is present all over north europe (Finns, Norwegians and Swedes often look more Asian than white, with slanty eyes and flat noses and dark black hair the polar opposite of the so called aryan, they ignore how Greenland is Asian).
White historical revisionist love to exclude non whites from the multicultural societies of Europe. romanians hardly look white, most of them have slanty eyes and are clearly mixed with Asian. Hungarians, the word HUn is from the hunnic tribes of asia. It is racism. The same reason they deny black in ancient greece, rome and spain and england and france.
"Finns, Norwegians and Swedes often look more Asian than white" Thats pure BS!, stop googling s*it and visit some real swedes instead ./100%swedish
@Phil Atio --In large societies,the lowly ,poor and oppressed pockets of that society are exploited as Slave labour or soldiery.Captured or defeated enemies and desperate fringe dwellers also filll the lowest castes.However I hypothesize that White European dominance began at the time of Exploration and Conquest starting in the late 15th century.With terrifying modern weaponry.,ravenous diseases,ruthless cruelty and insatiable greed,the native societies were crushed and enslaved under the various crowns of Europe and the Holy Christian Church>.Later americans,once colonists from Europe,embraced Manifest Destiny as a sacred duty to displace Native peoples and claim their land by force,if necessary.Today,in most developed western countries,the economy and government is still controlled by a small elite white minority with non whites and impoverished or uneducated of all races filling the bottom of society.Therefore inasmuch as exploitation of the poor and weak(like the Goths of Eastern Europe) was not so much a colour or racial issue long past,It became so starting with the Conquistadores and Global Colonization.What is the future of Greed,do you think?
LOL, they get westerners to play Mongolians? FAIL. Other than that, good documentary but I can only bear listening.
this film about vikings, is highly iregular, and just plain wrong, im from Denmark, and aparently we are not a part of scandinavia in this movie, even though we are and always have been, we have viking writings and settlements, and even "castles" here, and evedence that the first king of vikings lived and ruled from Denmark... nothing of this is mentioned and all glory is given to Norway... its like whoever wrote this documentary only took some of the available material and disregarded the rest.... BAD
The vikings ataced the christians because the christians were making genoside against there religion. In north mythology the christianety is the worm, the enemy of man.
In Christian mythology the Norse Gods are the enemy of men. Funny how that is.
I think this maybe is more rigth.
In norrøn mythologi, the midgaard worm was an Jotne (org). someting dangerus which surrounded Esenes (gods) and the humans world who lived in Midgard (middel) of the nine other world`s of the norse mythologi... you can say he was the ark enemy of Thor.
the vikings bellived this Gigant to be many things. Not only a big snake, but also such as an big poverful storm, the case of a avalanche aso... as you say The enemy of man..
Midgaard ormen is org. cald J?rmungandr. and actual lived whit odin and the other gods in Midgard before they threw it out.
the myth. around jormungandr is before man in north know of jesus..
@Reason Voice
'"“for reasons unknown to me the great kingdoms of Africa had fallen to decay shortly before European arrival”
The reason is slavery and European invasion and genocide.”' "Hey lets zoom in a bit “kingdoms of Africa had fallen to decay shortly BEFORE European arrival” so you are saying that white men were enslaving and murdering people before they even got there? White men are not only the devil but quite talented as well."
Nice try, you misquoted me or misread what I said, I think youq uoted erik and then attritubed his quote to me and cleverly snuck in your own little tid bid there. I said African kingdoms were collapsing as a result of european arrival and wars. Europeans have been invading africa from the roman in carthage and greeks/alexander + macedonians in egypt.
"LOL As to whites being oppressed I am not underscoring the oppression suffered by any other race when I say that yes they have been. As mentioned before the Irish by Brittan. Also the Scottish by Brittan, Almost All of Europe by Rome-The Mongols the (every group shown in all of the above docs.) Europe has been fought over and ruled by so many racial and or regional groups most of whom absolutely oppressed the natives who you guessed it were white. Yes people life can suck for us white folks too sorry to burst your bubble."
The white on white crimes and oppression is not even comparable to what the white folks have done to black people. Killing of 600 million people according to doctor khalid muhammad in lecture at templeton university, not even close. It was a genocide.
I wonder if history is showing us that in a brutal world,It is after all,might makes right.The factor that seems to decide who becomes the oppressor or oppressed is the will to become Death.Destiny achieved thru ferocity and violence.Do unto others before they do unto you.Is modern warfare ,in the end,any less barbaric than the Hastings?
Go read 'Beyond Good & Evil' by Nietzsche, this is preeeetty much his 'will to power' theory - if they don't agree with you diplomatically, kill them. problem solved. winner is the most violent (or the one to threaten the most violence).
I shall.Thank you,Andrew.I am tending to feel that Nietzche (apart from his writings on existential thought)was a socio-political realist reacting to turbulent times.Like us.Thanks again
Ah, history channel... the bane of real history. Cover says it all. There marketing to kid-like minds.
I thank you for a great doc.
@ryan; You are correct. I abhor the diamond industry. I refuse to purchase any diamond for any reason. how about you?
Reasons Voice, you don't really sound like the voice of reason.
Yes, African slaves work hours upon hours extracting diamonds and minerals with little pay FOR WHO?
While the immediate slavers may be Congolese or Angolan, the people at the top are white men. White men in suits who may not actually cause the slavery, but they don't stop it, do they? It's cheap...it's efficient, so whatever, right?
I can't get over that all the Mongols are white. I can't stop laughing...and the acting is so hilariously bad.
Kim u r dumb
Erik Thorvaldsson (Old Norse: Eir?kr Þ?rvaldsson; 950 – c. 1003 a.d), known as Erik the Red (Old Norse: Eir?kr hinn rauði[1]), is remembered in medieval Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first Nordic settlement in Greenland. The Icelandic tradition indicates that he was born in the Jæren district of Rogaland, Norway, as the son of Thorvald Asvaldsson, he therefore also appears, patronymically, as Erik Thorvaldsson (Eiríkr Þorvaldsson). The appellation "the Red" most likely refers to his hair color.[2] Leif Ericson, the famous Icelandic explorer, is Erik's son.
Can we say, that baltic tribes from the East Coast of Baltic sea was barbarians, also? Those tribes was attacking Denmark, Poland, old russians (everything, what was arround them) somewhere between X - XV centuries. XIII - XV centuries they had a crusade from Europe. One of them, lithuanian tribe, created a state without becoming christians and even tried to unifide rutherian principalieties in XIV - XV centuries (someting like vikings, who created Kievian Rus)...
P.S. sorry for my english ;)
We can say for shure. Balts resisted to cristianity longer then any of europian tribes.
@da truth hurtz; I am afraid you are wrong sir, in your assumtion that I am biggoted. Or misinformed and perpetuating the blindness in the world. You are correct in your statements about De Beers and Oppenheimer. But understand that the corporations are not doing this by force of arms. The African nationals, in the form of armed militia groups are selling the souls of their own people. Without the cooperation from these native groups the corporations would be stopped in their tracks. I will be the first to say that it is due to the European domination of Africa that things are as they are today. When the whites dominated the continent the forced tribes who had been at war for centuries to coexist within one nation. Now without a powerful governing power the peoples are once again splitting into tribalistic groups and fighting. I do not detract from the greatness of the native peoples but in my opinion it is their infighting and failure to unify as nations that is costing them. Not once in my previous comment did I refute white involvement in past days in fact I mentioned it. I addressed todays issues and stand by my statements. The truth, no matter how much you don't like it, is still the truth. Mentioning those truths does not make me a biggot.
Thank you
@Reasons Voice, one should do some kind of research before hitting their computer keyboard. Your comments are bigoted in every way, It's people like you who continues to hide the truth from the public.
You stated "Slavery is still happening and it is being perpetrated by essentially every race EXCEPT whites these days. Not saying whites wouldn’t do it too if they could get away with it but they are not". The correct statement should have been, whites have gotten away with all the hideous crimes committed to other race on earth... Are you attempting to shift the blame on these rebels who are committing these hideous crimes for all resources found in Africa needed by BIG Corporations? foreign support been there always for BLOOD DIAMONDS and COLTAN Etc. I'm hoping you know who are the De Beers & Oppenheimer. They've own every diamond mines in Africa literally, and please find out how they accomplished such a task. Once you conquer a country and outsource it's resources you are inviting poverty, which will eventually lead to a rise in crime. Africa's history was intentionally buried for many reasons, the main purpose was to keep the slave offspring around the world from ever regrouping. Africans today are nothing more than brain dead ZOMBIES, following a Europeans GOD they think will give them everything in a place called paradise. What a bunch of SPOOKS. To me that's serious brainwashing on a very high level of ignorance. Nothing good has came out of European Christianity for Africans, it was meant to make us inferior and continue with the enslavement by worshiping a white GOD. Not all blacks are racist, we just want the world to acknowledge us for the people we were, and therefore it comes across to those who are white as racism in the end. Many great civilizations of the past and even the present have borrowed and stolen from African culture. In conclusion, indigenous people were and are still great people till the arrival of BARBARIANS in the name of their Kings & Queens. These crimes has escaped punishment because European writes the LAWS. Sincerely I hope you get the big picture as to what's facts from fiction.
Peace.
wow... I am actually frankonian and I didn't know that we were such a savage people! Without culture, war-hungry and bloodthirsty! And that we took the land from the civilized Romans, how could we? AHAHHAA
This is one of the most brainless and i@#$%ic documentaries I have watched in a while! It's completely one-sided... I would say its a shame that trash like this series is actually financed by anyone and then aired on TV. A history- documentary should teach people and make them think and not present banal statements that regurgitate the same old cliches over and over again.
I thought we have passed the state of considering the germanic tribes as the evil that brought down the poor roman empire. If the director/writer would have actually looked into his research he would have found some more interesting facts to talk about. But that of course wouldn't make an exciting documentary with lots of wars, blood and sword-clattering.
its funny how they make a speculation into absolute fact..
thats probably what happenned so lets say that..
I am reviewing 'Mongols'.
This documentary is an overview of 'the Mongol phenomenon' from the perspective of a very small number of European and North American scholars who seem to have either retired or are employed by relatively minor academic institutions.
It is not intended as a 'definitive history' of the subject (if such a thing were possible). It does not claim either authority or originality but just gives a basic introduction in a workmanlike way. Given its unambitious aims it does a good enough job.
If it has a historiography then it seems to be the quaint C19th sort along the lines of 'great men of history: builders of empire'. Its philosophy is more 'Boys Own Annual' than textbook. It seems to be for kids and certainly not intended for adult audiences (- I hope). Thus we may have to forgive the over-simple presentation. Actually, its obvious flaws are excellent teaching material along the lines of 'what's wrong with this approach and what would you do differently?'
Goodness knows who the intended audience is - given the half-hearted attempt to derive lessons on military tactics from the material and apply it in wildly improbably ways to the American Civil War and World War II, I would guess it was made by/for American military schools. They seem to have chosen the cast from amongst the pupils and school faculty. Whoever they've hired can ride horses (American horses ridden in an American style) better than they can act.
Made on a tight budget with poor quality re-enactments that have a sort of naive charm.
How we tell the story of others often reveals more about ourselves than them: watch closely for a fascinating insight into the wonder and mystery which is contemporary USA culture.
These docs are as historically accurate as 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights' was.
I can forgive white Americans playing Mongols in reenactments (budgets suck), but surely they could have found even one educated Mongolian to do analysis. That, and the descriptive weasel words the narrator uses, makes me sceptical of anything I hear, whether that's warranted or not. Good looking battles, anyway.
Slavery is still happening and it is being perpetrated by essentially every race EXCEPT whites these days. Not saying whites wouldn't do it too if they could get away with it but they are not. Look at the African blood diamond and child soldiers..slaves, The South American narcotic gangs abducting and enslaving children, The Asian traffickers of people who then have to work in brothels etc. to pay off exorbitant sums to the cartels. All slavery being perpetrated by every race EXCEPT whites. I am not excusing the past but yes it is the past and the whole time we yell and scream about early American slavery these atrocities are sneaking under the radar. All I can say is I see a lot of people with a fist full of rocks standing in front of their shiny glass houses.
As far as I know the whites learned about slavery because it was already happening when they got there.
...that could be a lie spread by the whites of course.
@Phil Atio
"for reasons unknown to me the great kingdoms of Africa had fallen to decay shortly before European arrival"
The reason is slavery and European invasion and genocide." Hey lets zoom in a bit "kingdoms of Africa had fallen to decay shortly BEFORE European arrival" so you are saying that white men were enslaving and murdering people before they even got there? White men are not only the devil but quite talented as well.
LOL As to whites being oppressed I am not underscoring the oppression suffered by any other race when I say that yes they have been. As mentioned before the Irish by Brittan. Also the Scottish by Brittan, Almost All of Europe by Rome-The Mongols the (every group shown in all of the above docs.) Europe has been fought over and ruled by so many racial and or regional groups most of whom absolutely oppressed the natives who you guessed it were white. Yes people life can suck for us white folks too sorry to burst your bubble.
"Also the Scottish by Brittan"
Wtf?! Have you checked a map lately? Scotland is part of Britain! How can it be oppressed by something it's part of? Britain is an island, the island isn't oppressive.
In 1707 and English and Scottish parliaments merged BY MUTUAL CONSENT. Scotland had tried to establish a Scottish colony in America (the Darien scheme) and it had failed miserably. Scotland was facing bankruptcy. England could have stood by and watched Scotland die, but it didn't. It offered to unite with Scotland and pay Scotland's bills for it.
You still seem to focus on Europeans oppressing people. I encourage you to research the long, bloody history of Islam. Muslims exploded out of Arabia in the 7th century, and they hacked and slashed their way all the way to Egypt (639 AD), India (664), Spain (711) France (732), Constantinople (1453) and Vienna (1683). Every country that we now think of as being "the Muslim world" was originally Christian for the most part.
Study the histore before 1707 and what was the price of the "mutual consent"
@patcha, yes I was also expecting the goths to be depressed pasty face white kids who claim to have issues and abusive parents because they tell them to clean their room, and wear a bunch of make up and black lip stick.
pronounced gouths not goths like goth kids. wonder whats the relation.
I am curious about the viking part because I got the impression that vikings were basically all danish in origin and that norway swedes and fins were colonized by danes (from readings of hamlet) one would think that denmark was the centre of the viking world exspecially with copenhagen and all. However it looks like it is norway instead.
Fair series overall, rather interesting to be quiet honest.
As for why there are no African barbians here, well thats easy all the barbarians come from europe. That is to say there did not exist any african cultures who were people without a land wandering around pillaging people for fun but had no culture. This is why Rome or Greece is not up there are barbarians, they are not barbarians they are civilized societies.
"for reasons unknown to me the great kingdoms of africa had fallen to decay shortly before european arrival"
The reason is slavery and european invasion and genocide.
@Erik, I'm also in Norway-Oslo, and it is laughable to try to compare the "oppresion" of Norwegians to that of African Americans who had the largest forced migration and genocide in recorded history done against them.
@robert you just have a huge ignorance of African civilization to be claiming that africans either did not write down their history or did not develop writing, the alphabet was made in africa.
The accurate thing to say would be that Europeans did not give a shit about african history and often tried to erase it like they did in egypt by burning down the world greatest library or they did in zimbabwe and nigeria.
"The alphabet was made in Africa"
Hahahahaha. Hahahaha. Hahaha. Haha. Hah. Hah.
No it wasn't. The earliest alphabets are to be found in Asia and Europe, 6000 BC.
I was surprised to see the goths weren't all wearing black and looking depressed.
Just ignored to congratulate Vlatko at this one; loved it every bit and goes straight to my faves, will watch it with my child once her history classes start.
Racism will be there forever (even if I sound a lil rude), it might not always be what's your skin color kind, but maybe what country you are from, and if we conquer mars/planets, then it will survive as which planet you are from, we will never outgrow the racism. But maybe more interracial marriages and we can expect it to get it less significant if not erase it.
My family has been traced back to viking invaders in Scotland and my son's mum is descended from mongol invaders in France.
So my boy's got some good blood in him.
Looking forward to watching the rest of the series.
the best work u people doing ,this research and convaying to people thnks sir,
Uh, I love this series and this website. However, 'Saxons' is missing...can it be put back up, please?
As far as I can see everything is OK with Saxons.
What was incorrect? Been a while since I saw it now, but feel free to enlighten me:)
Seems to me that they mostly focused on Norwegian vikings, although danish vikings were important in the british isles, hence the name "Danelaw".
I’m from Denmark – a country that is part of Scandinavia and furthermore has a well-documented Viking prehistory. I strongly believe that big parts of the documentary about the Vikings are oversimplified, one-sided and some places it’s simply incorrect. I’ll highly recommend interested people to seek knowledge elsewhere – this could for example be in sources from some of the many excellent Scandinavian experts existing in this field of work.
These films are all overviews of history. Its impossible to make a doc that will cover all the nuances in the story of any nation. It is a starting point. In depth knowledge will take a great deal more study.
Allen: "I did my own study of ethnic populations in the U.S. and we as African American were only at 11%… We are STILL at 11% while every other race has increased even with Asian – Pacific Islanders increases of 5%. "
Here he is implying that african americans in the usa are oppressed because they haven't had a relative population increase. I know whites aren't oppressed, that's my point, but according to this logic they are..
I'm not saying african americans in america aren't oppressed, just pointing out that your argument doesn't show that.
Also I'm from Norway and we have been oppressed earlier in history, and so have the Irish, by the Danes and the English respectively. Not like slaves, but still.
Erik, what are you talking about White man being oppressed??? White man has never in history been oppressed. Your full of spuff.
the reason that there are no African records is due to several reasons.
First off they didn't leave much written evidence in Africa. Therefore it is hard to fully understand the history. If you look at the likes of Egypt, they left huge amounts of information that historians and archaeologists are still trying to unlock. It wasn't until the discovery of the Rosetta stone that people began to understand Hieroglyphs.
History isn't like paleontology, you cant find a bone and give a complete history of an ancient civilization. Look at what the Romans did to the Carthaginians. A case of genocide and propaganda result in Carthage being labeled as a culture of mass offering of children to the gods and infanticide. I'm surprised many historians are still not trying to convince people that Carthaginians ate their young too.
Secondly as soon as African slaves were kidnapped by White slavers and sent to the colonies no one cared about their rich heritage or culture. It wasn't until Rosa Parks that black people were officially seen as humans in America and still they are persecuted by white Republicans and Democrats.
You may say the emancipation proclamation freed the black slaves but that is totally incorrect as in many parts of america killing blacks was legal and hick sheriff and police officers condoned it such as the killing of 4 black students in Mississippi.
Black history is not important enough it seems. After all White America doesn't want to its history compared to that of Nazi Germany and have all future descendent's of White Slavers and slave owners apologizing for past crimes as is the vogue in Germany.
I am a white male from Ireland, we study real history here and not propaganda. I'm sorry if the truth offends you but get used to it. Racism is a fact of life. However its not the producers fault of this program for a lack of history from Africa. Simply put where are the sources, the written evidence, the cities of these African civilizations. They don't exist in the amount needed to create a picture of life in African Civilizations
I'm a white male from Canada and we study real history here. So there.
Also, if the percentage of africans have stayed the same, it is impossible that every other group have enjoyed growth. That would be mathematically impossible.
Allen, if you measure oppression by growth in population, then whites are the most oppressed since their share of total population has fallen the last century. From about 25% in 1900 to roughly 10% now. While Africa and asia has seen a population boom. It is of course the other way around. Modern societies with high living standards tend to hem population growth because of several factors: Birth control, longer education, women having careers and also the fact that people don't need 10 children to be sure 2 survives to procreate/take care of their parents.
It is true that we learn little of african history, but this is partly because europeans in africa had no interest in building a historic record africans could be proud of, and for reasons unknown to me the great kingdoms of africa had fallen to decay shortly before european arrival, perhaps because of the shift in traderoutes incurred by portuguese trading posts along the coasts.
In short, your analysis is superficial and erroneous, even though you might have some points.
great series, thanks. I've enjoyed it very much. I agree that Africa and Americas could be also covered but hey, nothing is perfect!
The one thing I find EXTREMELY BOTHERSOME is how there seem to be NO documentaries or a history of Africa and what happened. I mean iit's not a SECRET anymore we all know the basics of what happened. The they got the nerve to teach black history just 1 time a year... Which is the shortest month out of the year on top of that. And if you think abouth it, 1 month a year for 12 years = ONLY 1 YEAR OF BLACK HISTORY! Seems like a major cover up to me.
I am now 28 but in the 8th grade I did my own study of ethnic populations in the U.S. and we as African American were only at 11%... We are STILL at 11% while every other race has increased even with Asian - Pacific Islanders increases of 5%. Beware of the CASTE SYSTEM that exists here as well. Felons, the homeless and in certain cases RACISM STILL EXISTS! Thats RIDICULOUS. Its 2010. And why does Colorado have MORE prisons than California???? PAY ATTENTION PEOPLE!!!!
its funny watching the mongol video they describe them as brutal savages, when even the high society of Rome and Greece were even worse. At least in Mongol empire there was far more safety to practice any religion you want, follow your own customs and culture and basically do what you want. Tolerance was the watch word of the mongol empire. They never interfered with local practices. Romans were one of the first civilizations to practice genocide and killed every man woman and child who descended from Carthage because of Hanibal. Greeks were liars, no honor and even more brutal to their victims them any other "barbarian" tribe. I think its rich for the presenter to keep spouting certain morals when today were are just as savage as back then with legalized torture in certain countries. Also at one point one of the guests says why were the mongols so barbaric and cruel, no one knows why. Thats rich coming from a Brit whose country killed millions of irish people in nearly 1000 years of oppressive rule that continued into the 1920s and who still butcher innocent people today in arabic countries.
@wayne LOL your comment made me laugh. :)
is it just me or does anyone eles find it odd that everyone outside of rome was a barbarians
i love this site ;) i could stay here forever .. keep up the good work
Good series and lmao @ Yavanna
Nice documentary except the fact that the mongols
were east asians.....So i find it strange they'll cast
an all white cast. Its not like they couldnt find east asian
actors..
I call this white washing lol
Actually I think the narrator of this, or the mongols any how, is the evil crazy immortal in Highlander, not CHristopher Lambert, but the 'Its better to burn up than to fade away' character. I guess I could google it, but I'm tired. Peace.
Wow! Great documentary and a great website, I really hope that this website last for as long as possible.
@ Michael
The moment the Saxons stepped on Briton soil
they became Anglo Saxons.
True, they should have explained this though!
No Celts!!!
Why were the mongols all white? Genghis Khan was white? Weird.
This docu. series is awesome. Thx Vlatko.
It's cool that Clancy Brown is narrating, it's almost like having The Kurgan recite all the events that he himself witnessed.
To Kim:
You are wrong. Erik the red is indeed from Norway... He was born and raised in norway. Erik the red goes to Iceland at the age of 14 because his mother has died and his father gets expelled from Norway. He then kills some Icelanders and gets expelled from Iceland, that's when he discovered Greenland and possible America...
WTF!!! Erik the reed whas not from Norway but from Denmark!
the histori of Viking there was babarians is not true!
can tell its kritian pepole there haff made this documentari
what kinde off Bull-Sh** to tell.
History channel, all roads lead to WWII.
To claim that the digging of a Mongols grave somehow heralded the invasion of the USSR by the Nazis is absurd. However it clearly shows the level of analysis is equal to the reenactments.
Blitz Kreig was not a cohesive military tactic. To whatevery level it was a tactic, it failed.
Who was the ghoul with the skull as decoration?
Nothing like an expert to talk of the Saxon invasion as the Anglo-Saxon invasion, nothing like an expert at all.
It was the Frisian invasion.
Awesome series, well made and well collected too. keep up the good work.
Eeh, the Viking docu fails to mention the major role Denmark had in the history of the vikings...
Just finished reading a sci-fi exploration of alternate worlds that included one in which the Mongols had taken over first Eurasia and eventually the entire planet, so this caught my eye. Very interesting - thanks for the film and the site!
This is great stuff, even better than I thought it was gonna be. The narration gets a little annoying, but this is still very educational. I had no idea the Mongol Empire was so huge! I've still got more to watch, but I love it so far. I'm watching the Huns next.
Rock on, Vlatko.
A wonderful series. Thank you. I will show this to my children as we explore history this year.
THANKS a lot for YOUR great work and this amazing documentaries VLATKO, without any exception I developed a lot my knowledge thanks to YOU.
Thanks to you I have enough energy and enthusiasm to continue expanding this site. Thanks @Nzungu.
I have to add my thanks also. The docs are excellent and have an opportunity to learn how people think through the comment section. Surprising sometimes but a chance to hear what the average person is thinking.
It's an easy to follow, entertaining series, giving a very basic understanding of medieval history, however my main complaint (and suffering mid-way at saxons) is that I demand Budweiser! Why is it American narrators sound like they're straight out of a beer commercial!
Alfred lead his army to the fray yelling "Wazzzzuuuuuuuuuuuuup!"
Amurikens talk funny.
This is a good series, and the links work well.