Podcasts you like

[The Larch]

Our Fake History
This history podcast does a deep dive into the myths and legends surrounding a historical event or figure, such as Robin Hood, the Crusades, the Pyramids, Atlantis, and more. Many two and three part episodes. Only comes out every two weeks and takes long breaks between seasons, but its worth it to go through the full archive at least once.

I'm taking a look at this one and it seems intriguing. Which episodes do you recommend?

[crazy canuck]

They are all good. Pick a topic that interests you and give it a go.

[HisMajestyBOB]

They are all good. Pick a topic that interests you and give it a go.

Yeah, this. I started with "Are the Dark Ages a Myth?" and then just went back to the beginning and went through them all.

[Berkut]

Harris has a pretty interesting podcast about nukes out right now.

[crazy canuck]

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ancient-greece-declassified/id1158506284?i=1000468646648

Something I think languish will like

Rome conquered the Mediterranean world without a professional army, relying instead on its citizens to take up arms when necessary. How did these part-time soldiers defeat all the great powers of the ancient Mediterranean?
Our guest Steele Brand offers an original answer to this question in his new book Killing for the Republic: Citizen Soldiers and the Roman Way of War. Brand is professor of history at The King's College in New York City. His understanding of military matters is informed by his service in the US army as a tactical intelligence officer including a combat tour in Afghanistan.

[mongers]

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ancient-greece-declassified/id1158506284?i=1000468646648

Something I think languish will like

Rome conquered the Mediterranean world without a professional army, relying instead on its citizens to take up arms when necessary. How did these part-time soldiers defeat all the great powers of the ancient Mediterranean?
Our guest Steele Brand offers an original answer to this question in his new book Killing for the Republic: Citizen Soldiers and the Roman Way of War. Brand is professor of history at The King's College in New York City. His understanding of military matters is informed by his service in the US army as a tactical intelligence officer including a combat tour in Afghanistan.

Interesting, thanks for that CC.

[The Larch]

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ancient-greece-declassified/id1158506284?i=1000468646648

Something I think languish will like

Rome conquered the Mediterranean world without a professional army, relying instead on its citizens to take up arms when necessary. How did these part-time soldiers defeat all the great powers of the ancient Mediterranean?
Our guest Steele Brand offers an original answer to this question in his new book Killing for the Republic: Citizen Soldiers and the Roman Way of War. Brand is professor of history at The King's College in New York City. His understanding of military matters is informed by his service in the US army as a tactical intelligence officer including a combat tour in Afghanistan.

I don't think you can call soldiers that enlisted for multi-year tours "part-time".  AFAIK during the Republic infantry enlisted for 6 years minimum, plus up to 10 more afterwards.

[crazy canuck]

I think his point is the transition over time from citizen farmer soldiers being levied to a more professional army is what doomed the Republic. 

[Valmy]

I think his point is the transition over time from citizen farmer soldiers being levied to a more professional army is what doomed the Republic. 

I think the Republic was doomed before that though. The reliance on citizen soldiers is what bankrupted so many families and allowed the elite to get most of their lands and populate it with slaves right?

I mean the Gracchi came along before Marius.

But I guess the professional soldiers were what ended up destroying it and installing what the military considered to be basically a dictatorship under their control. But maybe it would have been something else without Marius, things were not exactly going great for the Republic before then.

But...I should probably listen to the podcast before commenting 

[crazy canuck]

His thesis is not inconsistent.  It was the failure of the Republic to prevent the concentration of wealth and take steps for the citizen soldiers to keep their land after returning from fighting for Rome that led to the downfall.

The podcast is also interesting to hear the author explain why citizen soldiers where superior to the professional armies Rome faces and ultimately defeated.

[Valmy]

The citizen soldiers lost lots of battles, sometimes disastrously, while Rome's professional army very rarely was ever defeated. Yet Rome with the citizen soldiers had a resilience that the professional army lacked. The comparatively tiny Italy only Roman Republic could sustain losses against Hannibal that dwarf (I mean...presuming their casualty numbers can be believed...but even so something like three Consular Armies were destroyed) what happened to Valens at Adrianople that so crippled the gigantic Roman Empire.

[crazy canuck]

The citizen soldiers lost lots of battles, sometimes disastrously, while Rome's professional army very rarely was ever defeated. Yet Rome with the citizen soldiers had a resilience that the professional army lacked. The comparatively tiny Italy only Roman Republic could sustain losses against Hannibal that dwarf (I mean...presuming their casualty numbers can be believed...but even so something like three Consular Armies were destroyed) what happened to Valens at Adrianople that so crippled the gigantic Roman Empire.

Yeah he covers all that

It would really help if you listened to what the author has to say before critiquing

[Valmy]

Yeah he covers all that

It would really help if you listened to what the author has to say before critiquing

Jesus Christ even when I put in a disclaimer you hammer me on this

I wasn't critiquing. I just enjoy talking about the subject. Once I have a moment I will give it a listen.

[crazy canuck]

I tried to be gentle. 

I actually had you most in mind when I posted it.  Would be interested in your thoughts.

[HVC]

The citizen soldiers lost lots of battles, sometimes disastrously, while Rome's professional army very rarely was ever defeated. Yet Rome with the citizen soldiers had a resilience that the professional army lacked. The comparatively tiny Italy only Roman Republic could sustain losses against Hannibal that dwarf (I mean...presuming their casualty numbers can be believed...but even so something like three Consular Armies were destroyed) what happened to Valens at Adrianople that so crippled the gigantic Roman Empire.

yeah republican rome and the ability, and i'd even say tendency, to lose whole armies and just go out and conscript new ones. they just ground down their enemies. Which is kind of odd in a way, plenty of nations had citizen soldiers (I know about mainly the greek cities) but I think the other latins in Italy were the same, but they didn't have the same ability as the romans.

Fore the empire I guess when the army has the ability to replace the emperor they're less likely to take the loses and just say screw it?