Dinin Do Urden Ok... So... As other reviews pointed out, some facts are just plain wrong and important elements totally omitted.However, the worse thing about this documentary is the INSANE political position it takes... I mean... It is worse than Good US and Evil Russians or Germans. Each "Barbarian" (some of which not being Barbarians... Hannibal or Spartacus for instance) is depicted as a Freedom Fighter versus the Roman Empire, the most EEEEEVIIIIIIL empire exiting on Earth.I'm not saying Roman Empire was good and gentle and yes they oppressed various cultures, yes they had slaves (as everybody had during those times... Athens did, Sparta did, Persian Empire did and most of the Barbaric factions), and yes, like any army (even US one) they committed atrocities, but Goddammit! This is supposed to be a historical documentary not a Marvel movie...And Ok, it's focused on the Barbarians, not on the Roman Empire. So I can get there is no reason to mention the insane development the Roman Empire provided to the entire occidental Europe. No need to say that it took almost a millenia for Europe to recover from the fall and get back to the same levels of health, safety, stable governments etc. Ok. It's not the focus and it's not what is driving me insane. No, what drives me crazy is that you can be prepared to ear like 10000 times: "Romans oppressed and raped and killed and raped and oppressed, and raped". "In their arrogance, Roman Empire..." all this in a very dramatic way, always highlighting how bad and evil Romans were..And then: "Boudicca killed 10,000 Civilians". This is a f****g War Crime level of evilness. But no... They say this like just a simple normal fact.. Like, "but yeah. It's OK you know? It's normal, it's again the Roman Empire, so that's fine". No mention of torture for the Barbarians? No rape? No genocide?Give me a break.... Too cringy... Way too cringy...What's the ptoblem? Is the producer / director jealous his country never shine in such a way for so long or what?

ktpatrol Spoiler alert!!! I won't give too much away. This series had me very interested as I'm a huge fan of ancient history,and Roman history. It's well acted but they get basic details wrong from the start.Episode one made me cringe. Hannibal is portrayed as a black man,which he was definitely not. Carthage is not given it's due as a contemporary rival to Rome but portrayed as "barbarians" looking for freedom.the commentary includes prominent African Americans, leading the viewer to surmise that the conflict is somehow relevant to modern American race relations when it was in reality a war for trade and domination of the Mediterranean Sea. Hannibals military achievements are largely missed altogether other than the march through the alps. If you have even a basic knowledge of ancient history you will probably be disappointed. The acting is good, the history is definitely modern post apologetic and why Jesse Jackson is a commentator is a mystery.the production by itself is worth watching imho but historical accuracy is not up to a channel that calls itself the history channel.history is not always pretty or one sided, this mockumentory attempts to give a modern take on complex issues in a modern pussified snowflake sensitivity kind of way

hedge685 I made it 15 minutes into Ep. 1 and could not take more. There are so many untruths in those 15 minutes, plus everything is presented in such an overly dramatic way, I turned it off. Coming back from the first commercial break, the narrator recaps everything that took place in the first 10 minutes...Really, do they have such little respect for the viewer they assume attention spans are so short or is it simple laziness to stretch material? The History Channel should do better than this...Roman history has some arguments going on still, but it is well established Hannibal was not African and neither was his father. These type of shows usually have historians and professionals who make their life about ancient history....this program has a House Rep. from Hawaii telling us '...the important thing about power is who wields it' and as one of the 'Shark Tank' showed up, I was out...done. Terrible, lazy effort History Channel.

grantss A documentary series on the rebel leaders who stood up to the Roman Empire, with varying degrees of success. Through narration, expert opinion and dramatized scenes we see the histories of Hannibal, Viriathus, Spartacus, Boudica, Arminius, Fritigern, Alaric, Geiseric and Attila the Hun and their struggles for independence from Rome.An interesting period of history, with colourful subjects, well told. Well dramatized too - not just basic battle scenes as many military history series seem to consist of, but decent dialogue and human drama, in addition to some great action scenes. Many well known actors and actresses too. On the downside, the dramatization sometimes takes precedence over historical accuracy. Also, the experts that are wheeled out feel very staged, speech-filled, preachy and superfluous. For example, why on earth do you need Jesse Jackson for a series about the Roman Empire? The experts are largely just padding.