History in the Light

Crassus v. Spartacus: A Duel for the Ages We know what made Spartacus legendary, killing multiple senators and destroyer of Legions. What about Crassus? He was born fantastically rich but fell on the wrong side of the Marius-Sulla rivalry when the Marian faction was triumphant. His father was executed by the Marians, and eventually, in 85 BC, he was forced to hide in Spain, reduced to living in a cave for most of the year. When cracks appeared in the Marian regime, Crassus raised a force of 2500 men and eventually joined Sulla's army, where he served at the same time as Spartacus! They almost certainly never met but were fellow soldiers in the same army. While Spartacus was accused of crimes that put him and his woman into slavery, Crassus thrived. In 82 BC, he commanded the victorious right wing of Sulla's army at the Battle of Colline Gate, which won Sulla Rome. Rutlessly exploiting Sulla's purges, he gobbled up estates all over Italy from Marius's supporters and exploited business opportunities like buying a burning building cheaply before allowing his men to put the fire out. Crassus was battle-tested, ruthless, and tough in a way that no other enemy of Spartacus had been. As one of the richest, if not the richest, men in Rome, Crassus had his estates plundered by Spartacus, and he lost valuable slaves to Spartacus's march. It is easy to imagine a bit of personal vendetta at play because Spartacus and his men hit supporters of Sulla hard. Regardless in Pompey's absence, there was not a more qualified man to hunt Spartacus down and put an end to his rampage! The showdown would live up to the billing!

@Tebow4802 @charlescwcooke @JonahDispatch Legitimacy matters a lot because one day without legitimacy people will adjudicate political difference in only illegitimate ways.

@Historianluce @charlescwcooke @JonahDispatch That’s true, and maybe I’m just jaded but legitimacy ultimately doesn’t matter if nobody can stop you, power is what you can get away with. And i don’t trust voters to hold politicians accountable unfortunately.

This is this week’s lie: Willfully misrepresenting Purcell to invent a double-standard that doesn’t exist. Last week’s lie was that the VA Supreme Court waited until Dems had won to strike down the referendum because they’re partisan, rather than because Dems had asked them to.

@ConsulofRome_ I still think if Justinian had not gone after what seemed like the low-hanging fruit of Italy at the time, historians would be scathing about the missed opportunity of reclaiming Italy.

The economic aspect of Justinian’s reconquest is often not given due attention. When one looks at more than just a clumsy map of territory, it becomes clear that Justinian targeted the most developed and prosperous parts of the west.

@Tebow4802 @charlescwcooke @JonahDispatch Every Court expansion under political pressure threatens court legitimacy. Every expansion of the court in and of itself does not.

@Historianluce @charlescwcooke @JonahDispatch So is the state Supreme Court of Utah and Georgia illegitimate? Because both added judges to the court after frustrations of losing cases.

That is what I am talking about, the memory of them being gone was the old canard that Uriah the Hittite from the Bible was fictional because Hittites aren't real. I am not an expert, but in the book I read on them, it showed signs of surviving Hittite people for longer after the Bronze Age collapse than I had thought before. Not as a political power, just as a people.

@Historianluce @HeraldOfRome Not really, they had a Kingdom after the empire fell, a short lived near the border with Syria and after VII century B.C we do not hear of Hittites anymore, unless you can enlighten us.

Did the Turks find Hittites, Phrygians and Lydians waiting for them when they showed up in Anatolia? Are the Hittites in the room with us right now? Also Phrygian was so close to Greek it was basically Spanish vs Italian.

@Tebow4802 @charlescwcooke @JonahDispatch A court reshaped by who happens to have political power at the time isn't a court.

@Historianluce @charlescwcooke @JonahDispatch Unless what you want is against the law lol, then you have to reshape the court, a trend I fear both sides are heading for, dems already there, but when/if scotus rules against Trump on birthright citizenship the gop may be more willing to go after the court.

@x_Aurelion That early proto-capitalism in republican form was insanely potent for a time. Militarily and economically.

@Historianluce Venice is one of the more interesting naval empires in history, imo. The most impressive thing about them is that they didn't need to rely on individual genius. There is no Venetian Caesar or Napoleon. They built systems that lasted for Millennia.

On this day, a 1,000-year-old Republic Fell Venice had once ruled the seas, humbled empires, and sacked Constantinople. Changes in trade in the East and military threats from the West had eventually reduced Venice to a shadow of herself. For most of the 18th century, Venice had tried to preserve itself through the practice of neutrality, and its military force wore away to practically nothing. There was no rallying around the ancient flag or religion in the face of Atheistic France. Venice arrested the only men to fire a shot in her defense and resigned herself to fight with protest letters, pleading, and passivity to save her. On May 11th, the people in the streets turned on their own city and convinced their own leaders that they "were no longer safe in their own beds." Most of them fled. On May 12th, 1797, less than half of the Maggior Consiglio met and voted to dissolve the 1,100-year-old Republic without a fight. They didn't have a quorum, and so the dissolution was illegal, but no one cared anymore. Napoleon treated the "rebels" who took the city with contempt and looted the city for nearly a year until the Austrians briefly retook the city. Unlike 1204, when Constantinople fell, a crime that still lives in infamy, or the final siege of the Queen of Cities that still lives in legend when Venice fell, few took note.

Charlemagne as "Father of Europe" on steroids. Augustus was a brilliant Emperor of the Romans, and was Charlemagne a brilliant warlord of the Germans. Charlemagne stabilized, but Western civilization and spread it; he did not invent it. Augustus transformed a dysfunctional Republic into perhaps the most consequential Empire in history.

Not certain who was a better and emperor. And all he had to do after adoption was defeat Brutus, Cassius, Sextus and most of all Antony who began as far more powerful, especially after Philippi. Is this just click bait?

Arab energy at the time and wins on other fronts likely lead to longer-term high-intensity conflict whose outcome would be very hard to predict in the case of Yarmouk. In Alexander's case, the way the various powers in Italy responded to his presence, and how he allowed them to respond, is the key to the whole conflict. Macedonian limitations in mobilization, Punic naval superiority, and Roman manpower are also fundamental.

@Historianluce Always the issue with what ifs is all the other factors. One of my faves is the Eastern Romans win at Yarmuk. But what if the Arabs regroup with an Alliance with the Sassanids and a big German tribe?

Republican Rome was made of hard men. Some lunatics. No one would make light work of them.

@twit_grim @Clint_Davey1 I get what you are saying, but it is politically impossible, like France allowing Germany and the Habsburgs to win a brief and bloody war with Russia on their own.

@Historianluce @Clint_Davey1 Germany should have just used the crisis to annex the Austrian-Hungarian empire. So much of what went wrong is that people didn't realise that war had fundamentally changed.

Max Hastings is one of very few modern historians to claim that the First World War was justified and that the Allies had to fight it to stop the expansion of German and Austro-Hungarian militarism and authoritarianism. I tend to think, like most historians, that it was a waste and could have been avoided through diplomatic means. For example, the Allies could have just let Austria have Serbia.

@nonregemesse According to the Acolyte, a live-action show, like a dozen Jedi were killed by a Sith a hundred years before the sequels, so they threw that out a while ago.

Until they decide to add some stupid shit to the next cartoon to undermine this

@twit_grim @Clint_Davey1 True. Real competence from Austria might have saved the situation but sadly they fell short in the competence category.

@Historianluce @Clint_Davey1 Well it was Russia and Austria. If Austria could have had a quick punishment strike before anyone was ready, it would have all been over. Germany failed cos of the blank cheque and France succeeded in pulling in the British empire.

Exactly!

@Tebow4802 @charlescwcooke @JonahDispatch Following the law is better.

@Historianluce @charlescwcooke @JonahDispatch Also would have passed if they did like republicans did in Utah and packed their Supreme Court lol

@Chestolooo Well said and the legacy of his vengeance will reshape Westeros! In the books anyway.

The Young Wolf’s legacy still echoes through Westeros. Tywin Lannister feared him. Walder Frey resented him. The North still remembers the King who never lost a battle. Robb Stark’s life was stolen too soon, but his name and honor will live forever. #GameofThrones

@Lemzy090 With armor Jon. Without armor almost always Drogo.

Khal Drogo and Jon snow who will win a fight?

@nonregemesse Octavian’s lucky break came when both consuls sent to defeat Antony died in battle and a serious army fell into his lap. Octavian’s talent made him Caesar’s obvious heir.

Saying that Augustus merely got lucky by being adopted by Caesar when comparing him to the son of a king is who inherited his realm is a deeply unserious position Augustus had to do more to win his position and achieved more in his position.