I hope you enjoy the latest episode of our Belisarius series! The great Roman general has returned triumphant from his war against the Goths in Italy, but there is bad news from the East, and an even greater catastrophe lurking on the horizon.. Big thanks to our video sponsor Endel, first 100 downloads gets a free week of audio experiences: app.adjust.com/b8wxub6?campaign=epichistorytv_march&adgroup=youtube And don't forget you can get ad-free early access to all our videos at Patreon www.patreon.com/EpicHistoryTV

The deeper we go into this series, the further I'm convinced that Justinian did not deserve Belisarius' loyalty.

“I’m surrounded by idiots” -Belisarius

This series has impressed me so much, I was not expecting such a great story! Thanks for all your hard work, cannot wait for the next episode.

“I become dizzy as I write about such a great calamity, and transmit it to future times to remember.”

Hello everyone! I am your friendly series consultant and professional historian of Belisarius. I hope you all enjoyed the episode. From war with Persia, to climate events, to plague and political intrigue, there is a lot to take in! In this comment I provide a few bonus thoughts on the history behind the documentary. We begin with the great Persian invasion of the Roman Near East in 540. At around 4:25 in the video, we are told that after Justinian signed the Eternal Peace with Persia in 532, he stripped the East of its best troops. It is likely that the Army of the East, the mobile field army responsible for defending the frontier with Persia, was raided of its soldiers to provide the campaign armies for both Africa (533) and Italy (535). Poor planning by Justinian, or clever use of his peace with Persia? At around 5:42, we hear Procopius' praise of Belisarius from Wars 7.1.4. Belisarius was at this point at the height of his power, wealth, and reputation. It is likely that he was the most important man in the empire aside from the emperor. We have zero concrete evidence on the size of the army Belisarius was able to scrape together in the East in spring 541. The order of battle presented ca. 7:00 was created with educated guesses based on previous groups of soldiers that Belisarius commanded. The lack of concrete evidence from Procopius on the size of this army is one of the reasons I think it likely that the author had left Belisarius' service in 540. Other historians date that break to 541/2. See ca. 13:10 for discussion of Procopius' departure. Although we cannot be certain on the number of soldiers, I am relatively confident that Belisarius must have been able to scrape together at least in the neighborhood of 15,000 in 541. It seems unlikely he would have been willing to risk invading Persian territory with fewer. We are introduced to the insubordinate commander Peter ca. 8:25, when he camps too close to Nisibis and invites an attack. Fun fact: the same commander Peter is the snitch who reported to Theodora about the discussion of Belisarius regarding the throne in 542 (ca. 22:30). In 542, Belisarius made a rapid trip using the imperial post system to get from Constantinople to the eastern front (described ca. 11:30). The calculation for the length of this trip was derived using this excellent tool: orbis.stanford.edu/ The Late Antique Little Ice Age may have impacted the growing season of 536 and the next couple of years, as noted ca. 16:40. This could have contributed to the famine described in "Belisarius: Defeat of the Goths" at around 13:50: ukposts.info/have/v-deo/noKrk2Zsoo2KwqM.html The bubonic plague that emerged around 541 is known to history (rather unfairly) as the Justinianic Plague. The episode does a great job of discussing its horrors. It rejects the minimalist view that the plague had only a small impact on people and economy. The episode's interpretation of the plague is based partly upon the recent, excellent article of Peter Sarris, "New Approaches to the Plague of Justinian." It is well worth a read: academic.oup.com/past/article/254/1/315/6427314 The disgrace of Belisarius in 542, described ca. 23:00 is complete. He went from the heights of success in 540 to the depths of despair in 542. It is one of the features of his career which makes him so compelling. What an excellent depiction of the interrogation and disgrace of Belisarius and Bouzes at the hands of Theodora, created by series illustrator Miłek Jakubiec. I can feel the unpleasantness of the situation! We learn at the end of the episode (ca. 24:30) that Belisarius is restored to favor and given a new commission in 544. Justinian rarely gets credit for his mercy, but he exercised it regularly. If you are interested in this, read more here: www.researchgate.net/publication/343050126_Justinian's_Clemency_and_God's_Clemency If you wish to view this comment on Twitter, complete with screenshots to illustrate some of the points, you can check it out here: twitter.com/byzantineprof/status/1505166636399177730 That is all I have for now. What did you think of the episode? Do you think Belisarius and Bouzes actually discussed the throne during the plague outbreak of 542? Was it appropriate for Justinian and Theodora to disgrace them when they heard this rumor?

We need more ancient histories like the one you did on Alexander and Belisarius! This is simply amazing.

What an amazing man Belisarius was.. Even after all this disgrace, even after of being accused of treason multiple times, and yet, he once again marched his army in the name of his Emperor! Truly a marvelous feat! His place should be next to men like Caesar, Hannibal, Khalid ibn al-Walid and such. Great job once again Epic History TV! Thank you for this amazing series!

Khosrow took the Antioch prisoners and forced them to build a city that look just like Antioch and then named it Khosrow's Better Version of Antioch. Dude's pretty funny.

This has to be the best Byzantine history series out there so far. The visual and sound are excellent and so is the history behind it and the quotes.

It seems even Belisairus can't avoid the "worthy rival" trope. Khosrow deserves his own series!

Plague fascinates me - no matter how powerful as a species we think we are, nature can always find a way to trim the herd. Nicely done video!

After Khosrow destroyed Antioch and deported the citizens, he built a new city in his empire called "Wēh Antīōk Khosrow" or "Better than Antioch." Mod used is 555 Age of Justinian

History marches released video: "You made my day" Epic History releases at the same day: "Best day of my life"

The entire reign Justinian of can be best defined as a struggle. Ever since he took up the purple he had to fight against his own subjects,his enemies,his inner circle and even life itself. Yet, despite all setbacks he still never gave up;a weaker ruler would have just abdicated and let the empire rot.

If only Justinian realized how loyal and valuable Belisarius was to him and the empire.

The plague part was terrifying. It must had been a terrible experience for the ones that survived, not knowing why nor how 😢

Legend has it that the chair Belisarius used (15:42) had to be re-enforced to carry the weight of his iron balls while he met with the Persian ambassador.

The Belisarius series may be your best work to date. This is just superb writing, has great pace and is visually exciting. Great work!

I've been using belisarius as my alt "gamertag" on some games for some time right now. A random wikipedia article introduced me to this unique general, but your series is the one telling me (almost) everything about him. Big ups!

Epic History TV is my favorite channel because their high quality content.

I like to imagine the emperors of old where looking down at Belisarius in pride. He the perfect icon of Rome. Intelligent, confident , resourceful, loyal and manages to solve what seems like an impossible obstacle, just like Caesar. But another thing I noticed is even though Rome still has an impressive militarily at this point it’s also uncoordinated at the worst of times. Everyone seems to try and do their own thing at the same time and it leads to great catastrophes. Justinian I believe was just to be wary of Belisarius because I’m he didn’t have the hindsight we have now ,but it seems all his actions where done because of his wife making things sound worse than it actually is. Even though Belisarius was sent to defeat the barbarians, his greatest enemy was his fellow Romans and their ambitions clouding their thoughts

17:49 The dark, ominous soundtrack.. The picture emanating a sheer desperation of trying to understand what this terriifying disease is... The dark room, the hopelessness in the eyes of that writer... I rewatched this video more than 10 times, it is absolutely brilliant... I mean the plague part is terrifying but absolutely brilliantly presented..

Khosrau making Justinian's team lose is the kind of petty shit I vibe with

Give credit to Procopius. One of the most underated greek historians.

Belisaurius I think was a slight reincarnation of alexander the great. Almost always out manned and resourced but gets it done. Wasn't born a prince but wasn't fanatical either, very level headed in almost every instance. Wonder how he'd fare against Hannibal

This has quickly become one of my favorite UKposts series of all time

Everybody gangsta till Belisarius is recalled to service

Great continuation on the series. Looking forward to the finale!! 😄

he bribes the emperor's favorite team to lose talk about petty 😂

The more I hear about Belisarius the more it becomes obvious that he is not just one of Rome's greatest generals but arguably the greatest general of Rome, tell me what other Roman general was able to accomplish what he was able to accomplish with what little he was given and what little support he had which was almost non-existent, now imagine had he been given full support with everything he asked he would have been able to reconquer all of the Western Roman empire if only Justinian had showed the same loyalty and trust that belisarius showed him, great video epic history I love your videos and I can't get enough of watching them over and over I look forward to the next video in this epic series with Rome last greatest general .

Before this serie I didn't know much about Belisarius, you opened my eyes, thanks

This series is so bloody good! I’m so glad this episode finally came! Thank you for all the work that goes in to this!

*Nailed it again, EHTV!* This has been THE history UKposts series where I've been most eagerly waiting for the next episode. *AVE BELISARIVS*

Thank you so much for this! Unbelievable video once again, the whole Justinian/Belisarius documentary is mind-boggling, they were always among my favorite Romans and you really did them justice! Although knowing what comes next I just cannot wait for the final episode!!!

This is exactly how history needs to be shown to the world. Thank you Epic History TV for making history fun and interesting.

He served the emperor and his empire with his whole but instead he suffered the utmost disgrace

This channel is gift to humanity. Thank you!

I think one of the reasons Belisarius is one of my all time favorite military commanders is just how different he is to other great military leaders. Others would’ve tried to carve a kingdom for themselves, overthrow their leader, or hold grudges that lead to death. Belisarious though, no, no matter how many times he gets dragged through the mud or insulted still gets up and fights for his nation. Other characters from history get much more recognition because their larger than life personalities dictated that their own needs came first under the shadow of duty for country. If I could choose one general from history to support me if I was a monarch it would be Belisarious, because I know loyalty and duty would always come first and that is very much a rarity in history’s great military leaders.

Belisarius' biggest weakness was the idiots around him who didn't take him and/or his orders seriously

The final image of an unjustly punished Belisarius, standing contrite before the Emperor, ever loyal despite having been deposed under false pretenses; made me feel the anger, resentment, pride and satisfaction of knowing that somebody whom actually dislikes you, absolutely cannot do without you.

Man, what avideo, what a series - what a channel! I love the way you capture the emotion, drama and importance of every event as it would have appeared at the time rather than just a dry recount. The music used to convey the horror of the plague was excellent. What a cliffhanger ending! Cant wait for the next video

Amazing content as always! Thank you to everyone who makes these videos possible. The internet needs more content like yours! ❤️

With all the previous episodes, you have showed your mastery in retelling the campaigns and the military actions of the past. But in this one, you have showed that you can make an episode just as gripping by telling us of the horrific drama of the plague and the cutthroat intrigues of court. Bravo.

This is my FAVORITE series ever, I've been rewatching the other videos over and over.

Oh my God this time period is so interesting, it was the last real time that recovery of the empire was within their grasp! I've got goosebumps guys gj.

Man, you're killing it with this Belisarius series. Keep em coming

These videos have been so amazing to watch. The reigning of Justinian feels like 1 century because of all the things that happened. Keep up with the great work. Wish there was a Tv series on Belisarius.

This has to be one of your greatest series. So far, my mind has been captivated very much. Thank you for all your hard work.

Wow this series is so well made and amazing the art the way you prepared the story, I've seen other videos about this time period and I know what is going to happen but damn you guys are making me excited to know next.

I am utterly enthralled by this channel, the production and narration is orgasmic to history nerds such as myself. Thank you all and keep up the amazing work, please! If I may, I would like to wish for a series on the Swedish Empire. It has great history and is often neglected here, not being thoroughly taught in school an often seen as a disgraceful imperialistic Era. It has everything of excitement and I believe you could make it just perfect.

Absolutely fantastic series. The visual, the story, the sound is fantastic to. Thank you very much!

Another magnificent work 👍❤️ It’s a great pleasure to watch your series Excellent artworks, story telling and objective historical facts

I'm Pretty sure that Khosruw didn't massacre populace of Antioch, rather built a city for them as an exact replica of Antioch naming it " Khosruw's better Antioch "

This has got to be my favorite series thus far in Epic History TV's awesome series!!!

Finally I’ve been waiting so long for this I love this series

Best history channel on yt every second of the video is priceless . I wish the videos were more frequently thanks for your hard work keep it up

This was amazing! Great natarrator and music and visuals. I learned a lot!

Learning a lot about history. Awesome content! Keep up the good work! 👍💯

thanks Epic History TV for this wonderful story of general Bellisarius' rise and fall, truly Roman. Nicely written and animations as always are great.

I can’t believe we get such epically narrated,and expertly created/researched material like this for free. Another amazing video!

Ah yes part 5, worth the wait loving this series!

These videos are so incredibly well done another great job, I'm glad to see others interested in history as much as I've always been.

Hard to believe these stories are real. That there was a time men went to fabled battles like these and had epic titles like "The Last Roman" or "Restitutor Orbis". MAKES MY LOINS MOIST......

Great work ! , feed us with more of this material, can't wait for more.

By far the best history series I have seen. This stuff is so good. Only problem I have with it is the anticipation for the next video. Big fan.

Simply marvelous as always! great work guys!

This series was the best thing I have seen in 2022. Absolutely amazing. You are doing God's work in bringing this history back to life

The Belisarius series is one of the best !!! Great work.

Man my favourite series so far. Cant wait for the next one

Very informative. I'm grateful for the insight, honest historical references and taking the time with presentation. I don't know much about the Eastern Roman Empire, let alone Belisarius, but I am glad an amazing channel like this one catches one up on much history. Keep up the great work!

This has been a spectacular series! Thanks.⚔❤⚔

really love every episodes by epic history tv, the narration by Charles Nove and the music is wow..awesome

Truly great work - so entertaining! Thank you so much. Will sub forever.

Incredible quality as always. The narration us unparalleled. Does he have any other work? I'd love to watch/listen!

I've been waiting for this for weeks! And now I can't wait for the next part😬😬

Dude! The narrator, the art and history are astonishing! What a great series we have to watch for free

This background music and voice of the narrator are like time-machine, allowing me to travel back to middle ages. Thank you very much. I am deeply deeply honored to click on like on this video.

This is by far the greatest historical story telling masterpiece I have ever had the pleasure of watching!!! Thank you so much my 11 yr old son loves it too. Absolutely fantastic 👏👏👏

Belisarius overshadows Justinian in merit and greatness.

The video and content, not to mention the narration is of excellent quality. What a time to be alive.

My man Belisarius is simply amazing. I never thought someone could still be so faithful despite many accuses of treason and was repeatedly mistreated by the emperor itself. Good job, looking forward for the next videos.

Great video. I'm learning so much about the Eastern Roman empire by watching these videos. We sure didn't learn about it in school.

I truly believe that generals like Belisarius, Khalid, Zizka, and Davout would hold their own against generals like Hannibal, Caesar, Alexander. Belisarius had as much talent as Scipio or Auralien and he was loyal unto death to the man he believed in most other than himself.

Khosrow and Shapur the Great series please :)

nothing better than a new video from epic history after working hard all day

I love the background music, it compliments narrators voice. i could never get tired of it.

Belisarius is sooo much underated At least in Poland. I've never heard a word about him in our school system on every lvl, primary school, highschool, gymnasium. If not you I would be unaware of this great man second only to Ceasar himself ! Thank you for your work

Love it. cant wait for the next one to see what happens, of course I guess i could look it up but im going to wait for your next episode.

Before This series I have never heard of Belisarius before , But he was truly one of the best Generals Ever , too bad he is underrated probably More underrated than even Hannibal Barca

Really great vid, looking forward to more!

The music and the graphics are top class as always.

Just got back from the Catacombs. Took the English audio tour. Can't believe just a few hours later I'm listening to the same dude do Belisarius his due diligence.

This is fantastic work as always.

This episode is the fruit of your hard work Epic History Team. You can put Belisarius on the table with Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon.

Literally these videos are pure gold!

Charles Nove , the golden voice is back . Still present in Epic Moments . I did not know Epic History , but your voice lead me to Epic Story before . I am a great admirer of you Sir , respect to you and the channel .

I love how you turn real historical battles into easy to visualize strategy game format.

All stories are well documented and written but I like the diction best. It's the best in business. Can't forget the series on Napoleon. Keep up the good work. Thank you.

Such an appropriate video for our time.. Great job, EHTV.