So Vikings and The Last Kingdom are coming to a close, and for a lot of people, that’s kind of regrettable since even with spinoff shows and new shows it’s going to be tough saying goodbye to favorites and it will be likely that folks will seek out other shows to watch. Personally, Barbarians already looks like it might be the show that a lot of people might gravitate towards since the Battle of Teutoburg is already setting the stage for something that could be another epic in the making. Looking at this teaser it’s already evident that things might not be fully explained right away, and we might be dealing with a lot of subtitles, but the action and the story will no doubt be intense and the historical accuracy should be less of a concern than the actual story. If anyone remembers, and I’m sure many do, Vikings wasn’t entirely correct in its history, but there were many things that were accurate enough to catch the attention of many viewers since the story was told in a manner that drew one’s attention and allowed people to root for those they favored and pray for the ruination of characters they couldn’t stand. But as with Vikings, Barbarians is likely to inspire many people to look up the histories in order to discover just what really did happen and why.
Many people might be thinking back to the movie Gladiator when thinking about history and the fighting that went on between ‘barbarian hordes’ and the Romans. One has to remember that the movies are there to entertain, just as this show will be, and while they do their job wonderfully, it’s important not to always take them at face value since if this show is going to be just as entertaining as Vikings or The Last Kingdom then it will need to be at least somewhat accurate. Keep in mind in Gladiator that Ridley Scott was going for what looked good and what would draw the attention of the largest number of people. A cunning score that was playing while cavalry thundered into the ranks of the somehow disorderly Germanic tribe and catapults and fiery arrows assailed them from the front is great cinema, but it’s not realistic since not only were catapults and fire arrows less than useful, but cavalry charging through a forest just isn’t realistic. Take a look at the average forest today and then think of what it might have been like so long ago when forests were even denser and presented more obstacles to those trying to make their way through them. Then take into account that the tribes that stood against Rome weren’t simply uncultured savages with sharp spears and swords. These were trained and experienced warriors that had been fighting or some time and tended to know the layout of their own domain, as the Battle of Teutoburg would prove. Plus, it did help that the barbarians had a person among their ranks, Arminius, that had knowledge of the Romans and how they operated.
The reason this battle was so important is that it shook the Roman Empire, a force that was insanely dominant, right to their core. Arminius led an army against three legions of the Roman Empire, something that shouldn’t have been able to happen in the eyes of the Romans, but did all the same since he knew their tactics, he knew how they might react, in theory, and the Germanic tribes knew the battlefield far better than the Romans did. In this manner, they were able to attack and fade away as needed in order to decimate the three legions and thereby unnerve the Romans so greatly that eventually, the Romans would come after them due to one man, but they would never dare attempt to cross an established border since the defeat had proved a point, that the tribes, the ‘barbarians’, were far more skilled and ferocious than the Romans had believed. This is why the demoralizing battle at the beginning of Gladiator is misleading, as it points to Rome simply rolling over anyone in their path. This wasn’t always the case, as the Romans sometimes stretched too far without first thinking of the consequences, and the results were often costly.
So far the show looks as though it’s worth watching and will be highly entertaining, but it feels as though we can expect the drama and the story that will be told to be a little off track with the reality that it’s basing its material on, and that’s okay. Just keep in mind that many shows and movies have done this and we’ve been just fine with it, so long as there’s an understanding that history is not being rewritten, but is instead an impressive look into the past with a few embellished ideas that will keep the viewers coming back.
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