So sad that in the US, the history channel just shows Ancient Aliens and Pawn Stars. While TLC (used to be known long ago as The Learning Channel) is nothing but modern day FREAK shows. CZcams and CZcamsrs like your self are the last bastions of what is R E A L H I S T O R Y! EVERYONE should learn and know this stuff! Doesn't matter where you live. This is not just European history. It's the history of the world and the human race! Please, I beg of you, don't stop! Keep the real fire of Knowledge burning bright on CZcams!
eurosensazion Oh I know euro. I am ashamed to be a us citizen sometimes. Because of what we put on TV that is considered "educational" and "informative". You look on the wiki page for history channel, you see that DISNEY pretty much owns it. It's like they're trying to dumb down my countrymen to a point they're nothing but mindless consumers. I dont like the time I live in. It's honestly a very depressing age. To think it's supposed to be the age where we should be smarter but looks like it's all going backwards!
I'm Canadian so we watch pretty much the same channels and yes it's sad what's on tv now. Sure miss the past. Yeah, seems that time now is more depressing. It's like a battle who can present the biggest bull on tv or say the biggest bull. People are not like they use to be. I barely watch tv besides for sports these days. Everything else i garbage and degrading.
@@sagivalia5041 Do you even study history? Ok im gonna explain to you about the franks (which is now modern day france) rebelled againt's their monarchy and cut their heads off, because france is broke and the people are starving, so they got angry and rebelled (english is not my first language)
Pretty sure the roman senate used storytellers and historians to spread terrible rumors about all emperors who resigned or were executed if they didn't like them. Same was probably true for Caligula. Caligula got it bad.🤔 And so did Diocletian.
What makes this doc (and others that you have done) so watchable is not just the evenhanded approach to the history, but your excellent use of illustrations/photos to go with it. It makes the subject matter come alive.
It is good for everyone to know about history when compared to the crap of Netflix, no worries we will be the ones who will survive the current dark ages
@Mr Sir Georgia guidestones, I thought they were like a modern 'stone henge' built in America during the 1980s Something to do with the church or a Christian group, or something like that . I remember seeing a story in national geographic or one of those kinda magazines last year, but cant remember the full story about them.
@Mr Sir sounds quite interesting, I haven't heard about a 'beast system, is that an American thing? ( I'm from England btw ) but I'm intrigued to learn more. So I will look for some information that ISN'T from national geographic .
@Mr Sir theres not a whole lot of information about them, the info about the people or person who payed, has apparently been destroyed , so nobody knows. There may be a time capsule buried underneath it But nobody knows if or when it's meant to be opened. Theres a lot of conspiracy theories regarding the stones. Apparently money was no object, when the project began. So the funders had plenty of money. It seems really strange that something so prominent, hardly anything is known about it. It's in several languages, its been attacked and damaged by vandals, apparently done by people believing certain conspiracy theories.. I don't know what to make of it. I agree with some of the things inscribed, Population is too high, but nothing we can do about it, Like you pointed out, it would mean killing millions of people To lower the population to the numbers it gives...
To be fair why would you say it like that. A city Perishing it makes sense for him to think about his chicken. If he said Rome had fallen and he thought it was his chicken that would be pretty sad
2 years late but just wanted to say that this was a fantastic video. I’ve always been interested in the dark ages and this video managed to expertly condense the onset of this period right through to the emergence of the Renaissance and I learnt a hell of a lot throughout it. It’s channels like this that help to keep history alive and relevant today.
There must have been something so eerie about living in a small medieval hut right next to a massive ancient temple. Knowing that whatever civilization that existed there before you was just way more advanced and wondering why no one can build these kinds of structures anymore.
Well, most historians agree that the Dark Ages only encompass the fall of the Roman Empire (476) to Stamford Bridge (1066), after which the High Middle Ages takes place (1066-1453). But yes, this just goes to show how much of an influence the Romans had on Europe, and then how much Europe has influenced the rest of the world.
@@French408 99% of historians would not use the term "dark ages" at all, except for in reference to specific societies, like "Greek Dark Age." It's more of a pop history term. When historians talk about a dark age, they're referring to a gap in the historical record. As far as the Roman world goes, it's mostly just early angle Saxon Britain in the 5th and 6th century.
@@histguy101 Nor did I claim that. But yes, you're right. Historians call the time of 476 to 1453 the Middle Ages. Not really sure what you meant after that. Far more than just Britain was affected and for a lot longer than just the 5th or 6th century.
@@French408 What do you mean by "was affected"? I say Britain, because it's the only place that has a gap in the historical record, with no surviving contemporary sources. In the rest of the Roman world, people continued to write, and there continued to be historians.
@Karna Surya Putra well yeah, it was only in western Europe, too, even Eastern Europe (well, southeastern, because East Rome) was doing okay back then. China and India have had successions of bright and dark ages but both tend to be shorter and less dramatic than what was going on in the north and western mediterranean in Europe.
@Karna Surya Putra do you mean that in India there was a dark age after the collapse of the Indus Civilization but before the arrival of the Aryans, that took place even before the fall of Atlantis (the Minoan kingdom?) If so, good thing to point out but I seriously can't decipher your comment otherwise lol
@@demilembias2527 Even then, not all Europe was "dark". Ireland preserved writing, culture and art, they were a light in these days. The visigothic kingdom was also quite luminous. The Eastern Roman Empire kept the light of Rome too. The Frankish kingdom was... doing okay. It was the land of the Ostrogothic kingdom, aka Italy, that was covered in darkness.
It's always weird when people gloss over the emperors during the crises of the 3rd century and jump straight to diocletian. Aurelian literally saved the empire from collapsing.
@@MegaTang1234 It's also unfair to gloss over Gallienus and Claudius Gothicus, both of whom were more than competent in their own right. Gallienus especially did a lot to stop the bleeding so to speak.
@Some Weeb Not even close. He spent pretty much his whole reign being one of the few people keeping it from falling apart. Ironically, the other big ones were Odenathus and Postimus due to the added stability they all provided in their respective areas. Not to mention Gallienus was also the one who reformed the military to rely more on cavalry, which bought the empire a good bit more time with the added responsiveness. He definitely wasn't as effective as Claudius Gothicus, Aurelian, or Probus after him, but almost everything going on at that point was well in motion before he became emperor. There was realistically nothing he could've done that would've stopped the various incursions or the inflation.
Hi, In the end of the "collapse of Rome" video you recommended this and other video's as they kind of picked up where that video left off. That was really useful and triggered me to keep watching. I would love a video that picks up where this one left off, essentially you'd then have Europe covered from 800BC until modern age. This creates some more structure. I will be watching some other video's from this channel now, and if they end up being as good as these you'll have found yourself another patreon supporter.
This video is so informative/helpful, thank you very much for all of your hard work in making it possible; and a big thank you to the patron who financed it too!
Justin Tupholme only problem is that the comment section is the exact opposite. It’s dismaying to read some of the comments. It’s almost as if nobody learned anything from the video.
Thease history videos are my favorite on this channel and im always excited when a new one is uploaded. Great job with the video, i always learn so much from them. Keep up the GREAT work
Excellent commentary on definitely one of the most intriguing periods in human history. Scintillating and at the same time entertaining and insightful. Good job.
Imagine being born while Rome was still a city. Never knowing how great it would become. They were only a small speck of the greatness yet to happen and all of that still nothing compared to the achievements made in modern times. Really mindblowing stuff.
Yes, but the achievements of modern times are all built on what came before. How many of us, if we were suddenly transported back to the Stone Age or even the classical world, could even survive in that environment, let alone make any advancements? Our civilization may be vastly more advanced than any that came before it, but it's only because those people laid the foundations that more recent generations were able to build on. Their achievements gave rise to ours, and so ultimately our achievements are partly theirs, even if they couldn't have dreamed of how far things would progress over the course of the next two millennia.
Another jewel of knowledge found on youtube. Thank you for educating people that seek this kind of easy learning. Its like a book with great pictures that helps visualising and get a bit of a feel for the times that were so different. This is a great combination the way you did this. Okidoki...enough praise...watch more
A common mistake is that barely anyone could read and write which isn't exactly true, during the middle ages the standard that was used to determine literacy was how many people could read and write Latin because it was considered the most important language because it was universal, a similar thing happened after the Normans took over England, the official language was French and all the nobles spoke french so the literacy level was based on that, but there is evidence that shows that many commoners could read and write at least a basic level but in the common language, but unlike Latin which was the same everywhere, their spelling and grammar could vary from region to region.
Probably a reasonable introduction from the perspective of empires, but "seamless" does not make it realistic. For some people empires are horrible and for others it is a blessing. He is for example touching into some of the newer theories about why the Vikings started plundering, and that it was maybe provoked by Charlemagne. His attempt to block the Vikings from their traditional trade was probably also very provokative. There was other proud cultures around europe that was never wiped out by the Roman empire, and was just waiting for a chance to break free because their position in the empire was not felt as a great reward. The stability of an empire always depend on equality between all members of it that is the only thing that can create unity in the long term. Rome was primitive in many ways even if taxes can bring impressive monuments, so for many it was a relief when Rome fell apart. The Vikings was probaly sad for loosing an important trading partner for their iron production. The roman empire did not have the best education for finding, mining and purifying metals, so they had to trade it or steal it (this is maybe just a theory). It all depends of whose perspective you choose. That said it is still a good introduction from the perspective of empires, allthough it is not clear what is defined here as "education". Was the development of ship technology by the Vikings a result of education over generations? What education qualify to be called "education"? I am all for international cooperation and meaningful regulation, in fact our future depend on it, but it is often empires that makes the biggest mistakes that hurt countless people.
To be honest your narration made more sense why historical buildings were left abandoned and explain what happened to historical figures. I feel like I'm immortal who witnessed the world coming from the dark ages until today. Meaning we struggled but we have gone this far in getting somewhere in life.
I so envy the people who witnessed the golden age of Rome. Just imagine being able to see places like the pyramids or Athens in their full glory not to mention the city of Rome itself.
@@anthroposlogica9379 dark ages 3 actually, the first one (by Eurocentric reckoning at least) was when the original bronze age civs of the Medditeranean (like the minoans) were wiped out without much of a trace. and again that's only in Europe, in China and India it was different. When America collapses, places like China and Japan may decline too, I'm thinking this time it could be India and various African countries like Nigeria that rise up in its place but who knows.
I really appreciate that this video didn't just bash on Christianity the whole time as many other dark ages videos do, but rather gave a balanced and well put presentation
I know enough of history to do this video half asleep. The Dark ages are very mid-late iron age that show some amount of regressing of knowledge, medicine was moving backwards a result of the church inference and wanting to limited the knowledge, The creation of the serf class by Christianity resulted in using cheaper fabrics for clothing with the exception of the noble and church. More types fabrics where more common in early periods, everything from linen, wool, thistle, nettle and a couple other native plants and animals with a few of the other being bought through trade with the better clothes coming from the north where tailoring was a needed for survival. Wool being the most valuable fabric and this even including some of the better methods of raising the temperatures of forges and forging of weapons, the Roman acquired much of the metal working knowledge from the Goth who managed to gain that knowledge from the Swedish. The roman empire could not handle Christian Universalism and it resulted in bad choices by the emperor that resulted in the sacking of Rome. Roman power was very based upon being roman and and preying and oppressing anybody who was not roman. Countries of had to adept to deal with the weaknesses of universalists religious beliefs. Roman fell to migrants who where allowed to own and keep weapons and where allowed entrance for claiming to be Christians. Christian after adapting burned the village of any migrants and slaughtered them for trying to migrate to their territories without their permissions. Roman pagans unadapted a result of the new Christianity beliefs with other people still wanting to end the threat of the roman empire who used Christianity to their advantage. The roman empire could not erase centuries of hate , genocides and abuses towards other peoples and kinds and the tribes who pushed them out of their kingdoms still wanted to fully destroy Rome still being a threat to their freedoms , independence and lives. Their crimes where not erased by becoming Christians. The roman empire was the most hated empire in Europe.
Thank you for all the work you put into this video. I clicked on due to an interest in the title. When I noticed it was a self composed documentary and not a televised "quality" I though "oh no" as so many of the latter are you staring at a small handful of images over and over while the naration focuses on a strongly bias, somewhat "out there" point of view. I was pleasently surprised! Wonderful imagery and content. Thank you.
Concerning Christianity: My father (he is a historian) often discussed this period with me during my school days. And it seems for Constantine the Great there was not only religious, but a lot of economical motivation too. The religious/spiritual institutions of that time consisted of more than a hundred different gods, all with their own temples and rules of worship which of course required funding and would make the benevolence of their gods (i.e. of the people worshipping them) dependent on those contributions. By eleminating hundreds of gods and centralizing religion you could therefore save a lot of wealth and at the same time make political navigation of these aspects of ancient roman culture easier. I think it is a very good indication that Constantine himself converted to christianity only late in his life, even with his visions form staring into the sun and all...
"By eleminating hundreds of gods and centralizing religion you could therefore save a lot of wealth and at the same time make political navigation of these aspects of ancient roman culture easier." That's interesting - I never thought of it that way. I was wondering if by making Rome the center of the Church were they trying to assert Rome's position as a center of religious authority. I know that Constantinople became the counterweight to Rome and developed into the religious center for the Eastern part of the Roman Empire and that the Hellenic Greek culture of the time was regarded as superior in a lot of ways.
@A waterfall one thing you should know about religion, it has always being used in order to give greater power to states/ people via the the common people.
The Christian religion was also very appealing and satisfying to pagans dissatisfied with a complex of ritualistic cults. Moralistic monotheism was tremendously appealing by contrast; psychologically, politically, intellectually, as is very evident in the culturally roman fathers of the church. Platonism for the people, as nietszche said. It combined the moral seriousness of greco-roman philosophy with the story and prophecy and supernaturalism of myth and folklore, specifically and appropriately hebrew who of course had the tradition of one god and a millennial revolution in values conveniently at hand.
This is fantastically informative and well put together. Thank you! There's an aerial painting of Istanbul at 25:45, and I'm wondering where I might find a higher resolution of that image. It's fantastic! Does anyone know where images like this can be found?
Finally get the kids' mom to take them for a bit and I spend my time watching a dark ages documentary. Good video homie. Got me hooked on your channel.
The fall of the western empire in 476 was a political event. The collapse of classical civilization and the onset of the Dark Ages occurred in the middle of the 6th century and had two very different causes. Specifically: the Justinian Plagues (541-750) and a cometary impact event in c. 535, which together created a perfect storm. Europe was significantly depopulated, agriculture collapsed, international trade collapsed, the climate deteriorated, and forests overgrew the farmland (hence all those medieval stories of kings hunting deer and wild boar in dark forests).
All the information presented should be perceived as facts not the truth. As we know it, history is written by those in power and by those who want to flourish and was really driven by greed, unlike those who just want to tell the truth to their children and to keep away from trouble as much possible as and keeping their faith to their creator. That is by the way the history that was passed on by generation to generation. Luckily though we can piece together the fragmented history of our dwelling called earth. This is much bigger and really can accommodate all of us if we know how to share, peace and let’s spread good vibes. From the land of Ophir now known as the Philippines.
@@willylo4090 I cannot stress this enough. Ancient history is written by an enclave of greed driven story tellers. But if you poke around hard enough, you can see what happened.
Its a fact. Remember when the moors invaded, they increased the literacy rate, as reading and writting was usually reserved for priests, even nobles didnt read nor write with the exception of kings.
@** pointless, for those not lettered in Latin, sure. But saying "couldn't read" instead of "couldn't read Latin," communicates something very different to many who will take the first statement as meaning '...were completely illiterate.'
Una parte de la historia que es una de las menos conocidas. ¡Gracias por producir este documental! ¡¡Muy bien hecho!! A part of history that is one of the least known. Thank you for making this documentary! Very well done!!
Fantastic job man. Great documentary - I will be watching the others on your channel now. One thing you could have mentioned when speaking about the Catholics is actually that the Christians (monks specifically) carried a lot of the knowledge and pursued literature whilst the world around them was very uneducated.
Really fascinating!! I just discovered your channel yesterday and I'm honestly so excited to watch all your history documentaries! The videos I've seen so far are really great :)
Don’t agree. I think in the US we’re closer to the end of the Republic Era and ripe for an all powerful “emperor” to step in and make things right. We want instant fixes and are tired of the democratic process.
We only really know a little between the Romans leaving, and the early Saxon kings like Penda or Offa. The history books don’t get much better until Alfred and the House of Wessex, although you might have thought that continental texts might have said a few things to backfill the Anglo Saxon Chronicles.
It’s crazy how advanced the Roman Empire was before it’s rapid decline by the 5th century AD. Compare it to what came after. Art, architecture, and society in general all completely regressed. Just insane how something breaks down like that.
@atilla415 " the real dark age was the collapse of the bronze age" ? What makes you think/say that ? Before the bronze age was the neolithic, the last of the 3 stone ages, which wasn't exactly a *light age * .. The reason why the time after the collapse of Rome and before christianity became established is known as the dark ages simply because Rome was a light* philosophy, theatre, people around the known world within the empire wrote about everything, after the Germanic invasions, an illiterate pagan people who couldn't write, meant nobody got any info or knew what was happening in middle and western Europe. Thsts why those centuries are known as the 'dark ages' , because the lack of info , information is light* no information is being in the the dark. Without a bronze age we wouldn't have had the iron age.
@kev WHUFC hey don’t bash the 3 stone ages, people were talented back then in making everything out of rocks! They even ate rocks, made them into meat and vegetables! No kidding, they even had pet rocks! Took them on walks and stuff!
This was a crash course on European history...I didn't know so much but this was enlightening... Thank you and thanks CZcams for putting this on my feed!
I personally love hearing about Rome, but I feel that you may have spent a bit of a long time on it for some people who just wanna learn about dark ages. You may wanna rename the vid to "the fall of Rome and the dark ages"
Unfortunately, recorded history was not as lush in this period comparatively. You won't ever find the same level of detail about Dark Ages European history as classical Roman history. Less people could read and write, society was heavily fractured, and God knows the amount of history we lost through the constant sacking and warfare that was dominant in the period. To understand the Dark Ages, it was necessary to spend time describing how it came to be which was a huge paradigm shift from Romanization to European successor kingdoms.
@@reidparker1848 Lmao every filthy barbarian that led to the fall of Rome immediately regretted it after. Every single one. They had snuffed out the light and now they were doomed to darkness.
@@porjos Medieval Europe is Roman. The whole continent became Romanized. They practiced Roman law, spoke Roman languages, dressed Roman, practiced Roman religion, etc. There weren't these great changes for the people living. Society did not really change that much. Even the Germanic rulers in the west we're still using Roman titles for their hierarchy, like "Patrician," "Duke," "Count," "Caesar," "Imperator" and so on. Rome, Ravenna, and Constantinople continued to be the most important cities in Europe throughout the middle ages, along with all the other major Roman cities which continued to be major population centers. And it's not true about recorded history. The vast majority of classical writing took place during the Hellenistic period and the late Roman Republic. More people were writing in the 6th century than the 2nd or 3rd centuries. The "Golden age of Latin Literature" begins with Cicero and ends at Augustus' death. The "Silver age of Latin" ends around the time of Trajan.
@@jacob2790 If your blind. How could people not see this coming? Maybe too busy with work to look around so they end up getting their information from government run media.
Amigo, excelente trabajo, de verdad lo haces muy bien, muchas gracias, estos trabajos son necesarios. My friend, this is such a great work, thank you, a lot. This kind of work is so useful
So sad that in the US, the history channel just shows Ancient Aliens and Pawn Stars. While TLC (used to be known long ago as The Learning Channel) is nothing but modern day FREAK shows.
CZcams and CZcamsrs like your self are the last bastions of what is R E A L H I S T O R Y! EVERYONE should learn and know this stuff! Doesn't matter where you live. This is not just European history. It's the history of the world and the human race!
Please, I beg of you, don't stop! Keep the real fire of Knowledge burning bright on CZcams!
There once was a time History Channel did show stuff like this. Pre 2005
eurosensazion
Oh I know euro. I am ashamed to be a us citizen sometimes. Because of what we put on TV that is considered "educational" and "informative".
You look on the wiki page for history channel, you see that DISNEY pretty much owns it.
It's like they're trying to dumb down my countrymen to a point they're nothing but mindless consumers.
I dont like the time I live in. It's honestly a very depressing age. To think it's supposed to be the age where we should be smarter but looks like it's all going backwards!
I'm Canadian so we watch pretty much the same channels and yes it's sad what's on tv now. Sure miss the past. Yeah, seems that time now is more depressing. It's like a battle who can present the biggest bull on tv or say the biggest bull. People are not like they use to be. I barely watch tv besides for sports these days. Everything else i garbage and degrading.
Bro. 600 pound life is an achievement of man. Don't ever discredit that
I seriously gave up watching cable television at the dawn of reality tv.
29:30 - "The Franks felt uncomfortable overthrowing the monarchy.."
*Give it some time.*
I see what you did there😂😂😂
What did he do? I didn't understand@@slightlyexistential1640
@@sagivalia5041 Do you even study history? Ok im gonna explain to you about the franks (which is now modern day france) rebelled againt's their monarchy and cut their heads off, because france is broke and the people are starving, so they got angry and rebelled (english is not my first language)
@@sagivalia5041 they did the french revolution, overthrowing the monarchy in 1769
@@slightlyexistential1640 the French aren't entirely Franks. They are also gauls
You sure know the empire is giving its last breath when an emperor resigns to grow cabbages.
Pretty sure the roman senate used storytellers and historians to spread terrible rumors about all emperors who resigned or were executed if they didn't like them. Same was probably true for Caligula. Caligula got it bad.🤔 And so did Diocletian.
the guy was sane, at least he lived a good live.
ricky sanchez Diocletian did nothing wrong
Egg T the ya why you have to put them to the sword or on the cross upside down.
Fun fact: That same emperor met the avatar multiple times! Although, his cabbages were destroyed every time their paths crossed
What makes this doc (and others that you have done) so watchable is not just the evenhanded approach to the history, but your excellent use of illustrations/photos to go with it. It makes the subject matter come alive.
It's weird that we probably know more about Roman history than the average Roman citizen trying to deal with the collapse of the Western Empire.
@Not Dave's Channel Yea that’s crazy. We know the outlines though, not the everyday life.
It is good for everyone to know about history when compared to the crap of Netflix, no worries we will be the ones who will survive the current dark ages
@Mr Sir Georgia guidestones, I thought they were like a modern 'stone henge' built in America during the 1980s
Something to do with the church or a Christian group, or something like that .
I remember seeing a story in national geographic or one of those kinda magazines last year, but cant remember the full story about them.
@Mr Sir sounds quite interesting,
I haven't heard about a 'beast system,
is that an American thing? ( I'm from England btw )
but I'm intrigued to learn more.
So I will look for some information that ISN'T from national geographic .
@Mr Sir theres not a whole lot of information about them, the info about the people or person who payed, has apparently been destroyed , so nobody knows.
There may be a time capsule buried underneath it
But nobody knows if or when it's meant to be opened.
Theres a lot of conspiracy theories regarding the stones.
Apparently money was no object, when the project began.
So the funders had plenty of money.
It seems really strange that something so prominent,
hardly anything is known about it.
It's in several languages, its been attacked and damaged by vandals, apparently done by people believing certain conspiracy theories..
I don't know what to make of it.
I agree with some of the things inscribed,
Population is too high, but nothing we can do about it,
Like you pointed out, it would mean killing millions of people
To lower the population to the numbers it gives...
“Hey emperor! Rome has perished!” “NO! Not my Chicken!”
💀💀💀
To be fair why would you say it like that. A city Perishing it makes sense for him to think about his chicken. If he said Rome had fallen and he thought it was his chicken that would be pretty sad
@@nulolove but the fact he was relieved is the point
I have 3 chickens i can relate
Lol imagine his guards, like "Screw this douche, where is he living? "
2 years late but just wanted to say that this was a fantastic video. I’ve always been interested in the dark ages and this video managed to expertly condense the onset of this period right through to the emergence of the Renaissance and I learnt a hell of a lot throughout it. It’s channels like this that help to keep history alive and relevant today.
2 years late? this topic show stuff that happened many many centuries ago.
Unfortunately There was no mention of The Moors
Where was Gondor when Rome fell?
In Ethiopia
Where was Gon.....
The walls of Gondor have never been breached....until that one time.
Damn this made my day. Thank you
He was helms deep
There must have been something so eerie about living in a small medieval hut right next to a massive ancient temple. Knowing that whatever civilization that existed there before you was just way more advanced and wondering why no one can build these kinds of structures anymore.
What the hell are you talking about? Medieval houses were a improvement compared to roman building in Central Europe.
Not in the dark ages@@Crshcourse-qy9zo
I love how the fall of western Rome started the dark ages and the fall of eastern Rome ended the dark ages
Well, most historians agree that the Dark Ages only encompass the fall of the Roman Empire (476) to Stamford Bridge (1066), after which the High Middle Ages takes place (1066-1453). But yes, this just goes to show how much of an influence the Romans had on Europe, and then how much Europe has influenced the rest of the world.
wrong the dark ages ended before the fall of eastern rome
@@French408 99% of historians would not use the term "dark ages" at all, except for in reference to specific societies, like "Greek Dark Age." It's more of a pop history term.
When historians talk about a dark age, they're referring to a gap in the historical record. As far as the Roman world goes, it's mostly just early angle Saxon Britain in the 5th and 6th century.
@@histguy101 Nor did I claim that. But yes, you're right. Historians call the time of 476 to 1453 the Middle Ages.
Not really sure what you meant after that. Far more than just Britain was affected and for a lot longer than just the 5th or 6th century.
@@French408 What do you mean by "was affected"?
I say Britain, because it's the only place that has a gap in the historical record, with no surviving contemporary sources. In the rest of the Roman world, people continued to write, and there continued to be historians.
Just so everyone knows, the dark ages only refers to the early Middle Ages, not the entire Middle Ages!
@Karna Surya Putra well yeah, it was only in western Europe, too, even Eastern Europe (well, southeastern, because East Rome) was doing okay back then. China and India have had successions of bright and dark ages but both tend to be shorter and less dramatic than what was going on in the north and western mediterranean in Europe.
@Karna Surya Putra do you mean that in India there was a dark age after the collapse of the Indus Civilization but before the arrival of the Aryans, that took place even before the fall of Atlantis (the Minoan kingdom?) If so, good thing to point out but I seriously can't decipher your comment otherwise lol
@@demilembias2527
Even then, not all Europe was "dark".
Ireland preserved writing, culture and art, they were a light in these days.
The visigothic kingdom was also quite luminous.
The Eastern Roman Empire kept the light of Rome too.
The Frankish kingdom was... doing okay.
It was the land of the Ostrogothic kingdom, aka Italy, that was covered in darkness.
I agree!
oh! i didn't know that! thx
"Diocletian was Rome's first strong emperor in a while"
>no mention of aurelian
Thank you for bringing it up lol. His reign was brief, but "strong" may describe Aurelian better than any other emperor
It's always weird when people gloss over the emperors during the crises of the 3rd century and jump straight to diocletian. Aurelian literally saved the empire from collapsing.
@@MegaTang1234 It's also unfair to gloss over Gallienus and Claudius Gothicus, both of whom were more than competent in their own right. Gallienus especially did a lot to stop the bleeding so to speak.
@Some Weeb Not even close. He spent pretty much his whole reign being one of the few people keeping it from falling apart. Ironically, the other big ones were Odenathus and Postimus due to the added stability they all provided in their respective areas. Not to mention Gallienus was also the one who reformed the military to rely more on cavalry, which bought the empire a good bit more time with the added responsiveness. He definitely wasn't as effective as Claudius Gothicus, Aurelian, or Probus after him, but almost everything going on at that point was well in motion before he became emperor. There was realistically nothing he could've done that would've stopped the various incursions or the inflation.
Thank you sir, for doing your part in trying to prevent a future idiocracy.
One should never give up hope.
Too late unfortunately
nathan moore such as?
What about the current idiocracy?
Future?
Hi, In the end of the "collapse of Rome" video you recommended this and other video's as they kind of picked up where that video left off. That was really useful and triggered me to keep watching. I would love a video that picks up where this one left off, essentially you'd then have Europe covered from 800BC until modern age. This creates some more structure.
I will be watching some other video's from this channel now, and if they end up being as good as these you'll have found yourself another patreon supporter.
I listen to these documentaries again and again just sucking up all the knowledge, thanks so much for making these, hope you make many more.
This video is so informative/helpful, thank you very much for all of your hard work in making it possible; and a big thank you to the patron who financed it too!
Nice to have some balanced and undramatic perspective on a complex story.
Justin Tupholme only problem is that the comment section is the exact opposite. It’s dismaying to read some of the comments. It’s almost as if nobody learned anything from the video.
Advocatus Diaboli
Agreed. The amount of right wing hand wringing is insane.
*Wut part, did dat CocSucker Jesus, play in ALL of this?*
@@ngusumakofu1 As the old saying goes, "Nothing good ever came from reading the comments." 😏
Schechter Arts Lol it certainly feels like that
Thease history videos are my favorite on this channel and im always excited when a new one is uploaded. Great job with the video, i always learn so much from them. Keep up the GREAT work
MelssuperC Thank you, I'm definitely gonna keep it up. Glad you're liking it!
Excellent commentary on definitely one of the most intriguing periods in human history. Scintillating and at the same time entertaining and insightful. Good job.
Imagine being born while Rome was still a city. Never knowing how great it would become. They were only a small speck of the greatness yet to happen and all of that still nothing compared to the achievements made in modern times. Really mindblowing stuff.
Yes, but the achievements of modern times are all built on what came before. How many of us, if we were suddenly transported back to the Stone Age or even the classical world, could even survive in that environment, let alone make any advancements? Our civilization may be vastly more advanced than any that came before it, but it's only because those people laid the foundations that more recent generations were able to build on. Their achievements gave rise to ours, and so ultimately our achievements are partly theirs, even if they couldn't have dreamed of how far things would progress over the course of the next two millennia.
This is one of my favorite channels on CZcams, so thank you and keep it up!
I thoroughly enjoyed this. You did an excellent job of putting together a very interesting overview that helps put things in order and perspective.
Another jewel of knowledge found on youtube. Thank you for educating people that seek this kind of easy learning. Its like a book with great pictures that helps visualising and get a bit of a feel for the times that were so different. This is a great combination the way you did this. Okidoki...enough praise...watch more
Read a book this is very simplified knowledge lacking many many many facts.
A common mistake is that barely anyone could read and write which isn't exactly true, during the middle ages the standard that was used to determine literacy was how many people could read and write Latin because it was considered the most important language because it was universal, a similar thing happened after the Normans took over England, the official language was French and all the nobles spoke french so the literacy level was based on that, but there is evidence that shows that many commoners could read and write at least a basic level but in the common language, but unlike Latin which was the same everywhere, their spelling and grammar could vary from region to region.
Thank you for taking the time to make this.
This is one of my favorite channels now. Keep it up.
These videos are great to listen to in the background while you're doing work. Great work man! Keep it up!
No flashing lights, no loud talking, just the history. A1 sir
Amazing work. Thank you. Pls keep them coming. I have learned so much more from your channel than I ever did in school.
Amazing job with these videos. I love how you explain history through maps and beautiful artwork that tell a seamless story.
Probably a reasonable introduction from the perspective of empires, but "seamless" does not make it realistic. For some people empires are horrible and for others it is a blessing. He is for example touching into some of the newer theories about why the Vikings started plundering, and that it was maybe provoked by Charlemagne. His attempt to block the Vikings from their traditional trade was probably also very provokative. There was other proud cultures around europe that was never wiped out by the Roman empire, and was just waiting for a chance to break free because their position in the empire was not felt as a great reward. The stability of an empire always depend on equality between all members of it that is the only thing that can create unity in the long term. Rome was primitive in many ways even if taxes can bring impressive monuments, so for many it was a relief when Rome fell apart. The Vikings was probaly sad for loosing an important trading partner for their iron production. The roman empire did not have the best education for finding, mining and purifying metals, so they had to trade it or steal it (this is maybe just a theory). It all depends of whose perspective you choose. That said it is still a good introduction from the perspective of empires, allthough it is not clear what is defined here as "education". Was the development of ship technology by the Vikings a result of education over generations? What education qualify to be called "education"? I am all for international cooperation and meaningful regulation, in fact our future depend on it, but it is often empires that makes the biggest mistakes that hurt countless people.
@@bearofthunder q
Absolutely fantastic. A great thumbnail presentation of that era. Concise, and accurate. Kudos.
Awesome! Your history doco’s are the best on CZcams. Thank you for your outstanding work ❤
To be honest your narration made more sense why historical buildings were left abandoned and explain what happened to historical figures. I feel like I'm immortal who witnessed the world coming from the dark ages until today. Meaning we struggled but we have gone this far in getting somewhere in life.
What have we got to? We're still a bunch of warring tribes.
@@ChrisJohannsen Still people hiding wealth and information.
I really enjoyed this. Mustve taken you forever to make. It shows. Great job🤘😎
Thanks for covering this fascinating and often overlooked part of history!!!
I so envy the people who witnessed the golden age of Rome. Just imagine being able to see places like the pyramids or Athens in their full glory not to mention the city of Rome itself.
You are witnessing it right now.
Let's go, dark ages 2!
Eh, would still have been an awful existence, even if you were wealthy, during that time period. Would love to be a fly on the wall for a day though.
@@anthroposlogica9379 dark ages 3 actually, the first one (by Eurocentric reckoning at least) was when the original bronze age civs of the Medditeranean (like the minoans) were wiped out without much of a trace. and again that's only in Europe, in China and India it was different. When America collapses, places like China and Japan may decline too, I'm thinking this time it could be India and various African countries like Nigeria that rise up in its place but who knows.
@@demilembias2527 y'know you make sense, I hadn't considered that. Here's to you!🍻
Thanks for these history vid's, i love em, im learning so much..👍
Very educational. The information flowed in order so that it was easily understood. Great video. Thanks!
I really appreciate that this video didn't just bash on Christianity the whole time as many other dark ages videos do, but rather gave a balanced and well put presentation
The Vatican should be abolished!! It caused and is causing the current destruction!!
Abrahamic Religions deserve to be bashed.
I know enough of history to do this video half asleep. The Dark ages are very mid-late iron age that show some amount of regressing of knowledge, medicine was moving backwards a result of the church inference and wanting to limited the knowledge, The creation of the serf class by Christianity resulted in using cheaper fabrics for clothing with the exception of the noble and church. More types fabrics where more common in early periods, everything from linen, wool, thistle, nettle and a couple other native plants and animals with a few of the other being bought through trade with the better clothes coming from the north where tailoring was a needed for survival. Wool being the most valuable fabric and this even including some of the better methods of raising the temperatures of forges and forging of weapons, the Roman acquired much of the metal working knowledge from the Goth who managed to gain that knowledge from the Swedish. The roman empire could not handle Christian Universalism and it resulted in bad choices by the emperor that resulted in the sacking of Rome. Roman power was very based upon being roman and and preying and oppressing anybody who was not roman. Countries of had to adept to deal with the weaknesses of universalists religious beliefs. Roman fell to migrants who where allowed to own and keep weapons and where allowed entrance for claiming to be Christians. Christian after adapting burned the village of any migrants and slaughtered them for trying to migrate to their territories without their permissions. Roman pagans unadapted a result of the new Christianity beliefs with other people still wanting to end the threat of the roman empire who used Christianity to their advantage. The roman empire could not erase centuries of hate , genocides and abuses towards other peoples and kinds and the tribes who pushed them out of their kingdoms still wanted to fully destroy Rome still being a threat to their freedoms , independence and lives. Their crimes where not erased by becoming Christians. The roman empire was the most hated empire in Europe.
@@masterlee9822 sounds like you have a God-shaped hole in your heart
@@jeffrooturantula2081 In the name of truth such a label should always be embraced.
What a great video! You have answered many of the questions I've often wondered about👍👍👍
Thank you for all the work you put into this video. I clicked on due to an interest in the title. When I noticed it was a self composed documentary and not a televised "quality" I though "oh no" as so many of the latter are you staring at a small handful of images over and over while the naration focuses on a strongly bias, somewhat "out there" point of view. I was pleasently surprised! Wonderful imagery and content. Thank you.
32:05 He said the thing!!!
I don't know if it's just me but I feel like everything immediately after the fall of Rome feels like a fever dream.
I agree
Persecution will happen again before Jesus comes ! Don’t be fooled ! Study your Bible !
@@alittlepieceofheaven9911 um wut
@@alittlepieceofheaven9911 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Because you might not be well versed on 5th -7th century history.
Very well done. I always enjoy a good history lesson and really enjoyed this. Very informative with not perceived bias. Shalom
So glad you made a video, you tackle these subjects really well.
Eggplant Eggs Thank you
Excellent as always...Thank you!
An awesome channel. I've watched more than 20 documentaries of you and not finished yet!
Thank you!
this is a fantastic video. thank you for making it.
Thank you. Well done work. Nice to have a good chronological, knowledgeable tale told. Gives perspective.
Love the accuracy and depth of explanations!
Excellent doc, to the point, not overly complicated and good visuals.... very good
This is a great summary! Thank you!
enjoyed much keep up the great work!
Concerning Christianity: My father (he is a historian) often discussed this period with me during my school days. And it seems for Constantine the Great there was not only religious, but a lot of economical motivation too. The religious/spiritual institutions of that time consisted of more than a hundred different gods, all with their own temples and rules of worship which of course required funding and would make the benevolence of their gods (i.e. of the people worshipping them) dependent on those contributions. By eleminating hundreds of gods and centralizing religion you could therefore save a lot of wealth and at the same time make political navigation of these aspects of ancient roman culture easier.
I think it is a very good indication that Constantine himself converted to christianity only late in his life, even with his visions form staring into the sun and all...
"By eleminating hundreds of gods and centralizing religion you could therefore save a lot of wealth and at the same time make political navigation of these aspects of ancient roman culture easier."
That's interesting - I never thought of it that way. I was wondering if by making Rome the center of the Church
were they trying to assert Rome's position as a center of religious authority. I know that Constantinople became the counterweight to Rome and developed into the religious center for the Eastern part of the Roman Empire and that the Hellenic Greek culture of the time was regarded as superior in a lot of ways.
@Gary York Calm down bro, we're talking about history. Nobody's wondering who the true god is, we're just asking questions about actions in the past
@A waterfall
one thing you should know about religion, it has always being used in order to give greater power to states/ people via the the common people.
The Christian religion was also very appealing and satisfying to pagans dissatisfied with a complex of ritualistic cults. Moralistic monotheism was tremendously appealing by contrast; psychologically, politically, intellectually, as is very evident in the culturally roman fathers of the church. Platonism for the people, as nietszche said. It combined the moral seriousness of greco-roman philosophy with the story and prophecy and supernaturalism of myth and folklore, specifically and appropriately hebrew who of course had the tradition of one god and a millennial revolution in values conveniently at hand.
@@ishmaelforester9825
Nietzche was a fool
Outstanding video! Very good editing and amazing explanation of concepts!
Awesome. Thanks for a legit Dark Ages documentary.
Good work! Very informative
This is really well done. I learned a lot here that I never learned from the "educational" system. Thank you.
@Mr Sir Charlotte Iserbyt, right?
This was awesome. You're a good narrator bro
I just discovered this channel... How did I live without this?
Thank you. I have wanted to listen to history from the dark ages. You put in the leg work. So This was a fantastic video! Thank you
This is fantastically informative and well put together. Thank you! There's an aerial painting of Istanbul at 25:45, and I'm wondering where I might find a higher resolution of that image. It's fantastic! Does anyone know where images like this can be found?
Voiceover Guy: Thanks for such a well paced & non-annoying oration.. really easy to follow along w the info
awesom slides to go w/ as well GJ 👍
Really excellent and even-handed documentary! You’ve got a new fan for sure.
It's crazy to be alive just at the point of our fall.
The Neocons are celebrating.
Beautiful images.
Fantastic documentary. One of the best outlines of history I've ever seen.
Helpful and amazing video! Good job!
This was amazing loved it good job good sir 😍
“Diocletian was the best leader Rome had in a long time.” FoL. Aurelian “Am I a joke to you?!”
Finally get the kids' mom to take them for a bit and I spend my time watching a dark ages documentary. Good video homie. Got me hooked on your channel.
I enjoy the focus measured retelling. Bravo.
The fall of the western empire in 476 was a political event. The collapse of classical civilization and the onset of the Dark Ages occurred in the middle of the 6th century and had two very different causes. Specifically: the Justinian Plagues (541-750) and a cometary impact event in c. 535, which together created a perfect storm. Europe was significantly depopulated, agriculture collapsed, international trade collapsed, the climate deteriorated, and forests overgrew the farmland (hence all those medieval stories of kings hunting deer and wild boar in dark forests).
"Only 1% could read" - The reference is latin, does not mean that they could not read in their own local languages
I assume they did not have yet written language in the latin vocabulary...
All the information presented should be perceived as facts not the truth. As we know it, history is written by those in power and by those who want to flourish and was really driven by greed, unlike those who just want to tell the truth to their children and to keep away from trouble as much possible as and keeping their faith to their creator. That is by the way the history that was passed on by generation to generation. Luckily though we can piece together the fragmented history of our dwelling called earth. This is much bigger and really can accommodate all of us if we know how to share, peace and let’s spread good vibes. From the land of Ophir now known as the Philippines.
@@willylo4090 I cannot stress this enough. Ancient history is written by an enclave of greed driven story tellers. But if you poke around hard enough, you can see what happened.
Its a fact. Remember when the moors invaded, they increased the literacy rate, as reading and writting was usually reserved for priests, even nobles didnt read nor write with the exception of kings.
@** pointless, for those not lettered in Latin, sure. But saying "couldn't read" instead of "couldn't read Latin," communicates something very different to many who will take the first statement as meaning '...were completely illiterate.'
Una parte de la historia que es una de las menos conocidas. ¡Gracias por producir este documental! ¡¡Muy bien hecho!!
A part of history that is one of the least known. Thank you for making this documentary! Very well done!!
WE NEED MORE WE NEED MORE! Love this Channel
Fantastic job man. Great documentary - I will be watching the others on your channel now. One thing you could have mentioned when speaking about the Catholics is actually that the Christians (monks specifically) carried a lot of the knowledge and pursued literature whilst the world around them was very uneducated.
Really fascinating!! I just discovered your channel yesterday and I'm honestly so excited to watch all your history documentaries! The videos I've seen so far are really great :)
You do such s good.job on these videos and make so many of them!
Great video, easy to follow. I feel like I've learned a lot! :)
The beginning sound frighteningly similar to today...
0hn0haha yup strap in...
that's what I was thinking imagine taking one of those Left wing Nut jobs & ( Civilian ) & putting them in power as president / King. scary thought
Don’t agree. I think in the US we’re closer to the end of the Republic Era and ripe for an all powerful “emperor” to step in and make things right. We want instant fixes and are tired of the democratic process.
"Commudus caused Rome to descend from a kingdom of gold to one of rust and iron." He reminds me of Trump!
@@charlestruppi7793 Yup
The Dark Ages were much darker in some areas than others, for sure. The British view is wildly different from the continental view.
How so?
Adrian Bradey The Vikings.
We only really know a little between the Romans leaving, and the early Saxon kings like Penda or Offa.
The history books don’t get much better until Alfred and the House of Wessex, although you might have thought that continental texts might have said a few things to backfill the Anglo Saxon Chronicles.
@@linguatutors he wont answer. Hes just throwing statements around, true or false as they may b
Well, yes but surely not in England. The Byzantine Empyre was doing great.
Wow, great video. Love it. Well done. Thank you! In a subscriber!
Wow, I can't believe I'm just seeing this. Amazing documentary! I love the topic of Rome and the Dark Ages.
It’s crazy how advanced the Roman Empire was before it’s rapid decline by the 5th century AD. Compare it to what came after. Art, architecture, and society in general all completely regressed. Just insane how something breaks down like that.
It was the lead!
It’s happening again now
Was it? Was it really?
The real dark age was the collapse of the bronze age
Thank you for giving me another rabbit hole of history to go down
@atilla415
" the real dark age was the collapse of the bronze age" ?
What makes you think/say that ?
Before the bronze age was the neolithic, the last of the 3 stone ages, which wasn't exactly a *light age * ..
The reason why the time after the collapse of Rome and before christianity became established is known as the dark ages simply because Rome was a light* philosophy, theatre, people around the known world within the empire wrote about everything, after the Germanic invasions, an illiterate pagan people who couldn't write, meant nobody got any info or knew what was happening in middle and western Europe.
Thsts why those centuries are known as the 'dark ages' , because the lack of info , information is light* no information is being in the the dark.
Without a bronze age we wouldn't have had the iron age.
What bronze age collapse ?
do you mean everywhere around the known world ?
or just a certain country or region ?
@@kevwhufc8640 I'm sure he is referring to the Sea People invasion which indeed put us back a couple hundred years.
@kev WHUFC hey don’t bash the 3 stone ages, people were talented back then in making everything out of rocks! They even ate rocks, made them into meat and vegetables! No kidding, they even had pet rocks! Took them on walks and stuff!
That was a very interesting documentary, it kind of sewed together all the bits and pieces of information I had about certain periods and peoples.
Great documentary. Much appreciated.
Literally answered questions ive had for years! Jus been too lazy to research lmao. Great fukn video 👍
Watching the fire of learning channel really is akin to the comfort of sitting by an actual fire. A fire holding of the frigid cold of ignorance.
This was a crash course on European history...I didn't know so much but this was enlightening... Thank you and thanks CZcams for putting this on my feed!
Outstanding and informative. Well done.
I personally love hearing about Rome, but I feel that you may have spent a bit of a long time on it for some people who just wanna learn about dark ages. You may wanna rename the vid to "the fall of Rome and the dark ages"
Unfortunately, recorded history was not as lush in this period comparatively. You won't ever find the same level of detail about Dark Ages European history as classical Roman history. Less people could read and write, society was heavily fractured, and God knows the amount of history we lost through the constant sacking and warfare that was dominant in the period.
To understand the Dark Ages, it was necessary to spend time describing how it came to be which was a huge paradigm shift from Romanization to European successor kingdoms.
@@porjos so you're saying that it's not the true history of dark ages
@@porjos
Don't credit the Romans for everything. "Successor kingdoms" screw the Romans.
@@reidparker1848 Lmao every filthy barbarian that led to the fall of Rome immediately regretted it after. Every single one. They had snuffed out the light and now they were doomed to darkness.
@@porjos Medieval Europe is Roman. The whole continent became Romanized. They practiced Roman law, spoke Roman languages, dressed Roman, practiced Roman religion, etc. There weren't these great changes for the people living. Society did not really change that much. Even the Germanic rulers in the west we're still using Roman titles for their hierarchy, like "Patrician," "Duke," "Count," "Caesar," "Imperator" and so on.
Rome, Ravenna, and Constantinople continued to be the most important cities in Europe throughout the middle ages, along with all the other major Roman cities which continued to be major population centers.
And it's not true about recorded history. The vast majority of classical writing took place during the Hellenistic period and the late Roman Republic. More people were writing in the 6th century than the 2nd or 3rd centuries. The "Golden age of Latin Literature" begins with Cicero and ends at Augustus' death. The "Silver age of Latin" ends around the time of Trajan.
It's kind of terrifying when you think about what's going on in the country now. A lot of parallels
These are some of the things humans do, after hundred thousand years of evolution.
@@jacob2790 the hi 6
It's being done on purpose, that's the worst part
@@rcherLansky everything looks like it was done with purpose in hindsight though..
@@jacob2790 If your blind. How could people not see this coming? Maybe too busy with work to look around so they end up getting their information from government run media.
Amazing, great stuff thank you.
Great Documentary this one... Love it.
32:07 "this fire of learning" I see what you did there :)
Amigo, excelente trabajo, de verdad lo haces muy bien, muchas gracias, estos trabajos son necesarios.
My friend, this is such a great work, thank you, a lot. This kind of work is so useful
Good channel. Keep up the good work.
Great video and content! Congratulations!