Scene #

Description

Narration

1

A Roman soldier is walking through other soldiers. A statue of Sulla is showing. Roman soldiers are at camp.

BY THE 1st CENTURY B.C., A POWERFUL GENERAL CALLED LUCIUS CORNELIUS SULLA WOULD BE THE FIRST TO CASH IN ON THE LOYALTY OF HIS MEN. AND SULLA WAS FAMOUS FOR COMMANDING THE AFFECTIONS OF SOLDIERS. Man: IT WAS SULLA, MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE, WHO SET THE EXAMPLE. IN ORDER TO CORRUPT AND WIN OVER THE SOLDIERS OF OTHER GENERALS, HE GAVE HIS OWN TROOPS A GOOD TIME AND SPENT MONEY LAVISHLY ON THEM. HE WAS, THUS, AT THE SAME TIME, ENCOURAGING THE EVILS OF BOTH TREACHERY AND OF DEBAUCHERY -- PLUTARCH. IN 89 B.C., WHEN THE SENATE ORDERED SULLA TO HAND OVER CONTROL OF HIS ARMY IN SOUTHERN ITALY, HE REFUSED, AND HIS TROOPS REMAINED FIERCELY DEVOTED TO HIM.

2

Roman troops are marching.

ARMED WITH SIX RENEGADE LEGIONS -- MORE THAN 30,000 MEN -- SULLA THEN DID AN ASTONISHING THING -- HE MARCHED ON THE CITY OF ROME. ONCE IN CONTROL OF THE CITY, SULLA'S SOLDIERS WENT ON A BLOODY RAMPAGE.

3

Professor Thomas Parker is talking to the camera.

Parker: HUNDREDS OF SULLA'S POLITICAL ENEMIES WERE THEN ROUNDED UP AND EXECUTED, AND HE WAS THE FIRST AMONG SEVERAL GENERALS WHO WAS TO USE HIS MILITARY FORCES IN THIS WAY.

4

Sulla’s statue is being shown.

Narrator: SULLA PLANTED HIS OWN SUPPORTERS IN POWER AND QUICKLY LEFT THE CITY IN PEACE, BUT NOTHING IN ROME WOULD EVER BE THE SAME. A ROMAN GENERAL USED HIS TROOPS TO ENFORCE HIS OWN POLITICAL POWER. IT WAS THE FIRST TIME, BUT IT WOULD BY NO MEANS BE THE LAST.

5

Roman troops are running through water, followed by a statue of Julius Caesar.

SOON, ANOTHER ROMAN ARMY WOULD MARCH AGAINST ROME, LED BY A GREAT LEADER, POLITICIAN, AND GENERAL... A MAN NAMED JULIUS CAESAR. Plutarch: HE WAS A SLIGHTLY BUILT MAN WITH SOFT AND WHITE SKIN, WHO SUFFERED FROM HEADACHES AND WAS SUBJECT TO EPILEPTIC FITS. HE WAS PARTICULAR IN HIS PERSONAL APPEARANCE AND DRESS, WAS CLEAN-SHAVEN, AND WAS SENSITIVE OF HIS PREMATURE BALDING -- PLUTARCH. SHREWD AND INTENSE, THE FUTURE DICTATOR CLEARLY SAW HIS PATH TO POWER. ONLY BY VICTORY ON THE BATTLEFIELD COULD A POLITICIAN HOPE TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY AS A LEADER IN ROME. NOW 40 YEARS OLD, CAESAR NEEDED A WAR TO WIN, AND THE OBVIOUS CHOICE WAS TO MAKE ONE OF HIS VERY OWN, IN A PLACE CALLED GAUL.

6

A field is shown followed by a map of Rome. Images of the Gauls are shown as the narrator describes them.

THE SENATE NAMED CAESAR GOVERNOR OF THREE PROVINCES – ILLYRICUM, CISALPINE, AND TRANSALPINE GAUL, THE ONLY PARTS OF GAUL ROME CONTROLLED. CAESAR HUNGERED FOR THE REST. THE GAULS HAD LONG BEEN THE MOST POWERFUL AND SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE OF NORTHERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE. BY CAESAR’S TIME, THEY DOMINATED THE LANDS OF MODERN FRANCE, ENGLAND, AND IRELAND. THE ROMANS CONSIDERED THEM BARBARIANS, BUT GALLIC CULTURE WAS ACTUALLY QUITE ADVANCED. AND YET, WHAT THE GAULS WERE MOST FAMOUS FOR WAS THEIR BLOODLUST IN BATTLE. THEY EXCELLED IN PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE. THEY WORE BODY PAINT AND CAKED THEIR HAIR WITH LIME AND MUD, TERRIFYING THE METHODICAL ROMANS. FIVE MILLION GAULS STOOD BETWEEN CAESAR AND THE GLORY HE CRAVED. IF HE COULD ADD THE LANDS OF MODERN FRANCE TO ROMAN TERRITORY, HE WOULD HUGELY INCREASE HIS REPUTATION AND HIS POWER. IN 58 B.C., ON THE EXCUSE OF STOPPING A GALLIC TRIBE FROM ENTERING ROMAN TERRITORY, CAESAR MOVED HIS LEGIONS INTO GAUL. AND FOR THE NEXT DECADE, THE BOLD GENERAL DOES PRECISELY WHAT HE SET OUT TO DO – CONQUER. [ INDISTINCT SHOUTING ] TRIBE AFTER TRIBE, BATTLE AFTER BATTLE, CAESAR PREVAILED AGAINST THE GAULS AGAIN AND AGAIN. BY CAESAR’S OWN ACCOUNTS, IT WAS A SLAUGHTER.

7

Jeremy Paterson is talking.

Paterson: THE CAMPAIGN IN GAUL OF JULIUS CAESAR IS VERY WELL-KNOWN, AND VERY OFTEN PEOPLE SEE IT AS SOMEHOW EPITOMIZING ROMAN IMPERIALISM. WHAT PEOPLE FORGET IS THAT JULIUS CAESAR WAS PROUD OF THE FACT THAT, IN GAUL, HE KILLED ONE MILLION GAULS. THAT’S GENOCIDE.

8

Roman soldiers are marching.

Narrator: THOUGH HE'S CONSIDERED ONE OF HISTORY'S GREAT GENERALS, CAESAR WAS NOT A TACTICAL GENIUS. INSTEAD, HE HAD INCREDIBLE FORTITUDE AND A GENIUS FOR INSPIRING OTHERS. CAESAR WON THE DEVOTION OF HIS SOLDIERS BY MARCHING ALONGSIDE THEM, EATING THE SAME FOOD, AND SLEEPING ON THE GROUND AS THEY DID. HE FORGED A MILITARY MACHINE DURING THESE CAMPAIGNS, THE LIKES OF WHICH HAD NOT REALLY BEEN SEEN PRIOR TO THIS IN ROMAN HISTORY. HE BUILT AN ARMY COMPOSED OF TROOPS THAT WERE FANATICALLY LOYAL TO HIM, PARTICULARLY THE LEGIONARY INFANTRY WHO FOUGHT ALONG WITH HIM.

9

The countryside is showing. Soldiers are battling.

Narrator: TODAY, IT'S CALLED ALISE-SAINTE REINE IN MODERN FRANCE. IN 52 B.C., IT WAS KNOWN AS ALESIA, THE DECISIVE BATTLEGROUND FOR CAESAR'S CAMPAIGN. THE GAULS WERE UNITED UNDER A LEGENDARY WARRIOR CHIEF CALLED VERCINGETORIX. FOR JULIUS CAESAR, THIS IS THE MOMENT OF TRUTH. HE SURROUNDS ALESIA, BUT HE'S TAKEN BY SURPRISE WHEN GALLIC REINFORCEMENTS ATTACK FROM BEHIND. CAESAR MUST NOW FIGHT TWO ARMIES AT ONCE.

10

General Scales is talking to the camera.

Gen. Scales: HE BASICALLY CONDUCTED A SIEGE IN TWO DIRECTIONS. NOW, WHAT OTHER ANCIENT SOLDIER WOULD HAVE DONE THAT? OR WHAT SOLDIER TODAY WOULD HAVE HAD THAT DEGREE OF SELF-CONFIDENCE IN HIS MEN AND SELF-CONFIDENCE IN HIS OWN LEADERSHIP ABILITY TO CONDUCT, ESSENTIALLY, A SIEGE IN TWO DIRECTIONS 500, 600 MILES FROM HOME? THAT'S THE MARK OF A GENIUS.

11

An image of Caesar’s statue is being shown.

Narrator: HE'S OUTNUMBERED FIVE TO ONE, BUT CAESAR'S TROOPS EVENTUALLY WIN THE BATTLE, CAPTURING THE INFAMOUS VERCINGETORIX. IT WAS THE LAST STAND FOR THE GAULS, AND IT MADE JULIUS CAESAR ONE OF THE TWO MOST POWERFUL MEN IN ROME AND THE WORLD.

12

A statue of Pompey is showing followed by the Roman landscape. A River is flowing.

THE OTHER WAS A GENERAL AND POLITICIAN NAMED GNAEUS POMPEY, LONG A RIVAL OF CAESAR'S. THE AMBITIONS OF THESE TWO MEN WOULD SOON LAUNCH ROME HEADLONG INTO A BLOODY STRUGGLE FOR HER OWN SURVIVAL. IT WAS NEVER A RAGING TORRENT OR A GREAT RIVER, BUT IT WAS DESTINED FOR A PLACE IN HISTORY. ITS VERY NAME HAS COME TO MEAN A BOUNDARY AND AN IRREVOCABLE DECISION -- THE RUBICON. FOR CAESAR, AT FIRST IT WAS SIMPLY THE SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF HIS PROVINCE IN GAUL. IT WOULD SOON BECOME A GREAT DEAL MORE.

13

Roman armies are marching. Roman soldiers are fighting against each other.

THE SENATE RECALLED CAESAR TO ROME, BUT ORDERED HIM TO LEAVE HIS LEGIONS BEHIND. HE WAS BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE. HE HAD TO GO TO ROME, BUT IF HE WENT UNPROTECTED, HE'D ALMOST CERTAINLY BE MURDERED BY POMPEY'S SUPPORTERS. HE BELIEVED HE HAD NO OTHER CHOICE BUT TO CALL ON THE LOYALTY OF HIS MEN. IT WAS A HIGH-STAKES GAME OF CHESS, USING REAL ARMIES. IN 49 B.C., IN BOLD DEFIANCE OF THE SENATE, CAESAR TOOK HIS ARMY OUT OF GAUL, ACROSS AN UNASSUMING LITTLE STREAM. Man: WE CAN STILL TURN BACK. BUT ONCE WE CROSS THAT LITTLE BRIDGE, WE WILL HAVE TO FIGHT IT OUT. THE DIE IS CAST -- JULIUS CAESAR. THE MOMENT HIS ARMY CROSSED THE RUBICON, HIS INTENT BECAME OBVIOUS TO ALL. CAESAR WAS MARCHING ON ROME, INTO CIVIL WAR. THE ARMY OF ONE ROMAN GENERAL AGAINST ANOTHER, LEGION AGAINST LEGION. CAESAR DEFEATED POMPEY, BUT THE BLOODY STRUGGLE FOR POWER RAGED ON. EVEN AFTER CAESAR WAS STABBED TO DEATH BY THE SENATE IN 44 B.C., CIVIL WAR AND ANARCHY TORE ROME APART. FOR TWO DECADES, ROMANS BY THE THOUSANDS DIED BY ROMAN SWORDS AS ONE GENERAL AFTER ANOTHER ENTERED THE FRAY -- AGRIPPA, LEPIDUS, DOLABELLA, BRUTUS, CASSIUS, MARK ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA AGAINST OCTAVIAN... UNTIL ONE MAN EMERGED TRIUMPHANT.

14

A statue of Augustus is shown. Roman soldiers are marching through various parts of Rome.

HE CALLED HIMSELF AUGUSTUS, ROME'S FIRST EMPEROR. THE REPUBLIC WAS DEAD. ROME WAS NOW OFFICIALLY AN EMPIRE RULED BY A SOLE DICTATOR. THE ARMY, AT LAST, HAD A SINGLE COMMANDER, AND ROME, AT LAST, HAD PEACE. FOR A TIME, AUGUSTUS SOLVED THE CRISIS OF THE ARMY'S LOYALTY BY MAKING HIMSELF THE SOLE COMMANDER. ROME'S FIRST EMPEROR UNDERSTOOD THAT YOU HAD TO CONTROL THE MILITARY TO CONTROL ROME. THOR GROWTH OF THE EMPIRE HAD SLOWED, BUT DEFENDING THE VAST BORDERS WAS A GARGANTUAN AND EXPENSIVE TASK.

15

General Scales is talking.

Gen. Scales: WHAT AUGUSTUS SENSED WAS THAT, SIMPLY THAT THE ROMAN EMPIRE HAD SPREAD TOO FAR, TOO FAST, AND THAT THE MILITARY WAS STRETCHED TO THE LIMIT IN TRYING TO DEFEND THAT HUGE EXPANSE OF TERRITORY. SO HE PAUSED. Narrator: FOR PERHAPS THE FIRST TIME, ROME BEGINS TO REALIZE THAT HER EXPANSION IS NOT LIMITLESS.