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Seems very interesting and I'm going to be tuning in. Saw some previews on tv and it looks cool. Here is a little review of what it will cover.
Barbarians at a glance
Conan the Barbarian was a pussycat compared with the Mongols, who built towers of human heads. But then, the term barbarian is a subjective one according to Robert Gardner, who made barbarians, a documentary chroniciling history's bad boys. The producer says he takes the opposite of the Ken Burns approach, using reenactments to keep the story moving. And like all stories, it has at least two sides. The Goths thought the Romans were barbarians, he poionts out. IN fact, one reason the Roman Empire collapsed like a wet paper sack was becasue they underestimated their opponents. If we are having a clash of civilizations now, he says, it's becasue we don't underestimate the culture.
Barbarians to be covered:
---Vikings---
-Period: 9th-11th century Scandinavia.
-Killer app: Long ships, from which they colonized Greenland and invaded Europe.
-Historic leader: Eric the Red.
-Claim to fame: May have reached North America 500 years before Columbus.
-Claim to shame: Made brutal raids on English Monasteries.
---Goths---
-Period: 4th-7th century Germany.
-Killer app: Weapons hidden from the Romans.
-Historic leader: Alaric the First.
-Claim to fame: Sacked Rome in 410 A.D.
-Claim to shame: Bartered their children into slavery in exchange for dog meat.
---Huns---
-Period: 5th century north-central Asia.
-Killer app: The reflex bow, which they fired from horseback.
-Historic leader: Attila the Hun.
-Claim to fame: The Chinese built the Great Wall to keep the Hun's ancestors out.
-Claim to shame: To take full power, Attila murdered his own brother.
---Mongols---
-Period: 13th-14th century Mongolia
-Killer app: Terror (They beat huge drums to signal that they were coming.)
-Historic leader: Genghis Khan
-Claim to fame: Created the world's largest land empire.
-Claim to shame: Killed everything, including cats and dogs
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Yup, I'm gonna try to tune in.
BTW, the History Channel is also running Terry Jones' Medieval Lives. I've only seen part of a episode last night on troubadors, minstrels and jesters but it seems very similar to his Crusades show - informative with some light humour tossed in.
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yeah i've been planing to watch this for a few weeks, if they don't get carried away with their historical liberties, you know bending the truth, it should be fine.
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In the U.S., it was on yesterday night and the night before. What I saw of it was pretty cool.
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If it is like every other show on cable, you'll have at least 4-5 more chances to see it. Here's the link to The History Channel I'll bet they will replay all four shows this weekend.
I saw most of the Mongols and parts of the Huns and Goths. I missed the Vikings completely. I enjoyed the shows but they seems hurried. Perhaps two hours per show would have been better. The only thing I wonder about is how accurate were the shows. I liked the use of the maps and the re-creations of villages and camps, if accurate, gave a visual of life with the barbarians while the narrator talked about other things. My one gripe was the re-use of some footage. I think in the Goth show, they showed the footage of the Goths pushing over a Roman statue 3-4 times.
Anyway, that is my mini-review.
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I think they keep replaying it like every day. I've seen the Goths one about 3 times now. Saw the Mongols one last night twice. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cg...ns/gc-toff.gif
