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The decline of the Roman
Empire begins at 15,000 feet,

on some of the world's
most unforgiving terrain.

Fifty-thousand barbarian warriors
from across the ancient world

have united against
a single enemy.

Leading them is a general,
bound by blood,

to avenge his family honor,

and destroy Rome

before it consumes
everything in its path.

History may regard the
Roman Empire as inevitable,

but its rise was neither
swift, nor guaranteed.

To achieve its goals,

Rome blankets the continent
in blood and tyranny. ets the t

Pillaging resources from the land
and the people who live there,

dividing the
ancient world in two,

Roman and barbarian.

From the hordes,
emerge the unlikely leaders

who will challenge
Rome's domination.

Bandits,

slaves,

warriors, rebels.

This is the story of their rise.

In the 3rd century B.C.,

Carthage is the most powerful
state in the Western world.

It builds its wealth
through trade,

and uses its advanced naval force
to dominate the Mediterranean.

Carthage really was Rome's
only competitor as an empire

in the central and
western Mediterranean.

There were no other great states
that could compete with it.

Rome is a small but growing
republic with outsized ambition.

It knows that to defeat Carthage
is to control the ancient world.

The conflict between
Rome and Carthage

escalated into a
life-and-death struggle

between the two principle powers
in the western Mediterranean.

When the two sides
clash over Sicily,

Rome is the rising power.

And it's also adaptable, building
a navy from the ground up

that deals Carthage
a shocking defeat.

Rome forces Carthage to sign
a crippling peace treaty

in an attempt
to break its enemy.

It's implications for
Carthage are pretty stark.

Uh, among other things, Carthage
is effectively de-militarized

or de-navalized.

Uh, it is also subject to
paying a substantial indemnity.

The defeat
is a personal humiliation

for the Carthaginian General
in Command, Hamilcar Barca.

His oldest son, Hannibal,
is only nine years old.

Hamilcar forced his
young son, essentially,

to dedicate his entire
life to one purpose,

the destruction of Rome.

The oath, Hannibal.

I swear by the deathless Gods

that I shall not rest
until the heart of Rome

bleeds dry on the
sword of Carthage.

Again!

I swear by the deathless Gods

that I shall not rest until
the heart of Rome bleeds...

Again!

I swear by the deathless Gods

that I shall not rest until
the heart of Rome bleeds dry

on the sword of Carthage!

Hannibal waits nearly two decades
for a chance at revenge.

In 219 B.C., Rome makes
an alliance with Saguntum,

a fortified city on
Carthage's northern border.

Hannibal sees the move
as an act of war.

Our neighbor has been turned.

Saguntum is on our
side of the border.

Forget borders.
They're for politicians.

Rome's alliance with Saguntum was
designed as a deliberate insult.

And if we don't respond?

Who are we?
Cowards?

You know the answer to that.

Then we fight!

And avenge the vow
we made to our father.

We take the city.

Rome will have no choice

but to fight for its new ally.

We call her out.

Draw her here, to Hispania.

Hannibal besieges
Saguntum for eight months.

When the city falls,
he launches his master plan,

to unite the barbarians of the
ancient world against Rome.

Outside of the great empires,

the people of Europe are organized
into small tribal groups, essentially.

They don't really have an overarching
national or ethnic identity.

They are tribal societies,

and often spend a lot of time
fighting amongst each other.

Hannibal faced an enormously
difficult challenge.

How to build an alliance with
disparate groups of barbarian tribes,

who spoke different languages.

And they really saw no distinction
between Rome or Carthage.

It's safe to say they hated
both of them equally.

He had to give them
a good reason

why they should fight with him.

And the good reason was,

if we win, then
you will be free.

If we lose, then
you will be slaves.

Hannibal g calls to arms tribes

from Iberia, to Gaul,
to North Africa,

and the Lusitanians
of western Hispania.

The Lusitanians
were great warriors.

They were fantastic fighters.

And, um, they were
used to independence

for centuries and centuries,
so they would never give up.

The Lusitanians will
complete our army.

It is said they have
no word for truce.

They've never needed one.

Well, they'll either
listen to us or kill us.

The last time your people were
foolish enough to come here,

they tried to conquer us.

They failed.

So, why have you come back now?

We face the same great enemy.

Rome.

And it will not rest
until it's consumed us all.

Rome is your enemy, not ours.

And even if it were,
we fear no one.

A good warrior never underestimates
the might of its enemy.

Or himself.

Carthage cannot
defeat Rome by itself.

So if we fall to her
legions, you will be next.

It already has eyes
on Hispania and Lusitania.

But Rome can be stopped
if we fight together.

Then perhaps we should fight with
Rome against you and Carthage.

Go ahead.

And see what happens, when
it uses you to destroy us,

and then turns on you
and Lusitania.

And you?

And Carthage?

Would reward you.

With, uh...

The riches of a republic

whose wealth is
beyond imagining.

When you pay tribute
to our honor,

understand this,

you are not buying it.

Then it is settled?

You are their creature now.

And soon, they will be ours.

Let us hope.

They will join us.

If they do not,

they'll all be dead.

As Hannibal
waits for allies to respond,

Rome gathers an army of its own.

The senate calls on the most feared
military family in the republic.

Wealthy, powerful and ruthless,

Publius Cornelius Scipio commands a vast
army of highly-disciplined soldiers.

Scipio is the greatest
general of the Romans,

and has the full support
of the Roman Senate

to take on and destroy
the army of Hannibal.

The Roman fighting
machine was, um,

an incredibly disciplined
and organized body.

People were trained
systematically,

they were formed up in cohorts.

Um, they knew how
to fight by system.

They practiced their weapons.
These were professionals.

Within seven months,

Hannibal's barbarian army
grows to 30,000 men.

But still, he waits
on the Lusitanians.

Without them, Hannibal's favorite
kind of war is mobile war.

He's not much given
to static warfare.

And the Lusitanian's
epitomize mobile warfare.

They're fast,
they have light cavalry,

they're good at ambushes.

So Hannibal and the Lusitanians
are made for each other.

If you're right,

and Rome is the greatest fighting
force the world has ever seen...

I am right.

Then you'd better have
something they don't.

I do.

And his name is Cumelios.

The empire that will one
day rule the ancient world

begins as a small but
ambitious republic,

with designs on absolute power.

Power can either be good or bad.

Uh, what really matters is
who is wielding that power,

what motivates them
and how they use it.

But as Rome
spreads its culture by force,

some rise up to fight back.

Among them is
Hannibal Barca of Carthage.

To challenge the Republic,

he unites an army of disparate
barbarian tribes under one banner.

And gambles on a bold strategy that
has never been attempted before.

Military leaders who have become
great captains in history,

have done so because
they had the ability

to visualize several moves ahead

and plan for them.

Each move is like
a separate game of chess.

Rome will cower

when they dock at Saguntum

and see thousands of us waiting.

They won't.

They won't come
ashore at Saguntum?

They won't see thousands.

We're not fighting in Saguntum?

We're going to destroy
them on their own soil.

I don't understand.

We're going to march on Rome.

Impossible.

You only say that because
it's never been done.

You're going to march an army
more than 2,000 miles?

Have faith.

Hannibal's force
sets out for Rome.

But 700 miles into the journey,

his plan is disrupted

when Scipio decides to resupply

on his way to intercept
the barbarians in Hispania.

Hey!

Romans!

Half a day to the south.

They have discovered our scouts.

They've smelled their prey,

now they want to hunt us down.

We can face them now.

Tell the lookouts downriver
and call out the men.

Prepare the cavalry and get provisions.
We must leave tonight!

No.

We must strike camp

and head east
into the mountains.

But, Han...
Now!

Strike the camp!

Leadership is about confidence,

sometimes, self-delusional
confidence.

I always think that
you've got to believe

with such an unshakeable
amount of confidence

that others might
think you're crazy.

If you insist on
sticking to the plan...

We'll look like cowards!

If we stay and fight
Scipio's army,

we'd win a great
and glorious victory.

Exactly! But it
would mean nothing.

We'd win the battle
but not the war.

They'd come at us
again and again.

But, brother... We strike
at the heart of Rome.

We scale the walls
of the Republic.

Rome believes the mountains
are an impenetrable fortress,

a natural barrier
protecting it from attack.

Hannibal's plan to invade
by land is a blind side.

And crossing through the Alps is a move
calculated to intimidate the enemy.

The crossing of the Alps is
spectacular because it's unique

in the ancient time.

Nobody before him
had ever dared,

not even to imagine
to do something like that.

Hannibal's willingness
to take on this challenge

to cross the Alps,
to go into the unknown,

tells us volumes
about him as a leader.

It's why he's recognized as one
of the greatest military leaders

in all of human history.

Hannibal seems to have completely
outthought Scipio at this point

by the speed of his advance.

The fact of the matter is
that Hannibal alludes him.

Um, and had he not alluded him,
uh, the dream of invading Italy

uh, might have been
prematurely halted.

The mighty Alps.

Carved out of the landscape more
than two million years earlier,

are the gateway to Rome.

To this day, the Alps stand as a
synonym, as a shorthand if you will,

for an impenetrable barrier.

Hannibal's force begins its
ascent in October, 218 B.C.

Thirty-eight thousand
barbarian warriors,

twelve thousand African
cavalry and their horses

and 36 war elephants,

prized as Hannibal's
signature attack weapons.

It's apparently insane.

And strange enough,

he didn't wait for spring.

He started the enterprise
in the fall.

So he got ready
to cross the Alps

in the worst
conditions possible.

What begins as a grand
and glorious campaign,

quickly becomes a nightmare.

When Hannibal gets to
the high passes of the Alps,

he's dealing with an environment

such as he's never faced before.

It's winter in all its fury.

It's ice, it's snow, it's wind,

It's avalanches, it's ravines,

it's frostbite.
It's just terrible.

How many more men have to die

before you admit your mistake?

You and your arrogance.

Your visions of glory.

You can't eat glory, Hannibal.

We've not lost yet.

They'll sing songs about us.

I promise.

And what if we're dead?

Especially if we're dead.

For Hannibal,

the darkest time of his career,

without a doubt, had to be when
they were bogged down in the Alps.

Even when you have doubts,

you cannot reveal them

because doubt could
become contagious.

The leaders must use
a light of hope

in the darkness of despair.

It looked like he had led his
army into unmitigated disaster.

Two titans of the ancient world

are battling for supremacy.

By 218 B.C.,

Rome has set out to conquer
the continent,

but Carthage is determined
to stop its advance.

Hannibal recruits
a massive barbarian army

to execute
an audacious strategy,

an over-land attack
through the Alps.

Caught in the high passes
of the mountains,

Hannibal's bold gambit
is becoming a disaster.

He loses 25,000 men
in a single month.

When you look at these, um,
examples of strong leadership,

it's not about them, it's about
the people who they are leading.

It's bigger, um, than any
one of them as individuals.

Mago was right.

Who was I to think I could

do the impossible?

You won't find the courage
to lead in yourself,

you'll find it in the belief
of those who follow you.

The great leader is able

at the worst of conditions, at the
worst of times to continue on.

The man who can conquer his own
feelings, thoughts and emotions,

can conquer the world.

Mago!

Cumelios!

Seven months
after leaving Hispania,

Hannibal escapes the Alps.

But he arrives in Italy
with half of the army

that marched into the mountains.

Only four of his 36 mighty
war elephants survive.

Once Hannibal arrives
into the Italian Peninsula,

uh, he's in a bit of a bind.

Because on the one hand,
his forces are depleted

and he needs to recruit new
allies to supplement his forces.

But in order to do this,
in order to build up his rep,

he actually has to start beating
the Romans on the battlefield.

The crossing of the Alps had an
amazing effect on the Roman psyche.

They didn't see this coming.

He's taken them
completely by surprise.

So now, they have
to face, unexpectedly,

a hostile army
in northern Italy.

Hannibal
sets out to conquer Rome.

His barbarian army
leaves a trail of death

as they head
for the capital city.

They rout the Romans
in battle after battle.

At Ticino,

Trebbia, Lake Trasimene.

With every victory, Hannibal
is one step closer to Rome.

Determined
to press his advantage,

Hannibal seizes a critical
grain supply at Cannae,

to starve the Republic
into submission.

The move forces a showdown.

On the plains outside the city,

the armies meet for
an apocalyptic clash.

I swear by the deathless Gods

that I shall not rest

until the heart of Rome
bleeds dry

on the sword of Carthage.

Sixteen legions.

Eighty-five
thousand men.

We're outnumbered
almost two-to-one.

Good.

Let them bring their
remaining men to this field.

They'll fall right
into our trap.

It was the barbarians who sought
to protect their own freedom.

It was the barbarians,
so called,

who opposed slavery.

It was the barbarians
who refused to succumb

to the efforts of Rome
to make them slaves.

They were the earliest
freedom fighters.

Two thousand miles ago,

we could have stayed
and fought Rome in Hispania.

But we didn't want to fight
just an arm of Rome.

We wanted to wrap

our jaws around her neck
and bite off her head.

A thousand miles ago, we could
have fought Rome again,

but we fought the
mountains instead.

And the thousands
who stand here today,

won that battle.

Here,

on Roman soil,

we are finally ready to fight!

No more waiting.
No more walking.

No more dreaming.

Today, we will be victorious!

Today, we will take our revenge!

Rome's power is on the rise.

But it has one formidable rival
for control of the ancient world,

Carthage and its
great general, Hannibal.

His barbarian force
scaled the Alps

to strike directly
at Rome's heart.

Now, two ancient armies
stand ready for an epic clash.

On one side,

eighty-five thousand
Roman soldiers.

On the other,
50,000 barbarian warriors

determined to stop Rome's
advance across the continent.

Scipio imagines
a glorious victory,

but he's underestimated
the barbarian commander.

Hannibal has set a trap.

Hannibal's plan for the Battle of
Cannae is absolutely brilliant.

Strategists, tacticians,
ever since,

have striven to copy
what he achieved

because it represents
tactical perfection.

Hannibal's battle plan hinges

on three key moves.

First, he concentrates
his infantry in the center,

to attract the Roman advance

and pull them inside
the barbarian line.

It's extremely important

to Hannibal's plan

that the frontline holds.

If they break,
if the cohesion is lost,

the entire plan is undone, and the
Carthaginians will be defeated.

Then, two bands of elite troops

advance from the flanks,

boxing the Romans inside.

Finally, a surprise cavalry
attack from the rear

surrounds them on all sides,
cutting off their escape.

If Hannibal succeeds,
Rome will have nowhere to run.

Hold the line!

Hold!

Hold!

Now!

The Roman Army is designed
to steamroll forward.

That's what it does best.

And that's going to work fine,

unless, you deal with an
enemy who practices jujitsu.

Who knows how to turn your strength
against you, and turn it into a weakness.

And that's what Hannibal can do.

The result is slaughter
on an unprecedented scale.

While only 6,000 barbarians
fall in battle,

Rome loses
a staggering 70,000 men,

more than 80% of its troops
in a single day.

The Battle of Cannae
was a bloodbath.

And there were more people
killed in one battle,

than all the Americans
killed in the Vietnam War.

Such a defeat
on the battlefield,

should lead to the
Romans seeking terms

and the Carthaginians
imposing them.

The Senate sends word to
Hannibal, seeking to negotiate.

But Scipio has other plans.

Why are we talking of peace?

We lost.

Now we await their terms to...
You dare...

Dare speak of
surrendering to Hannibal

and his army of animals,
of barbarians?

It need not be over yet.

A negotiated treaty is very different
from unconditional surrender.

We agree to neither.

Hannibal is waiting for us to
bow our heads in obedience.

Well, we let him wait

while we beat this great
general at his own game,

by taking the fight to Carthage.

For the next 15 years,

Hannibal and Scipio
battle for control of Italy.

The rival powers fight
themselves into a stalemate.

Hannibal never reaches
the capital city,

and Scipio must constantly
keep the barbarians at bay.

The Romans are very fast learners
when it comes to their military.

They are very adept at taking the
best bits from their enemies,

of analyzing their tactics and
their formations and their troops,

and assimilating those
into their own tactics,

and to turn the
enemy's strengths

into Roman strengths as well.

Scipio breaks
the standoff in 204 B.C.

He invades North Africa,

forcing Hannibal to chase him

across the Mediterranean
to defend Carthage.

Their final showdown
takes place at Zama,

where Scipio
defeats his nemesis,

using the maneuver
Hannibal unleashed on him,

at Cannae, 14 years earlier.

One of the sad ironies of
Hannibal is that in the end,

he ends up being Rome's
military schoolmaster.

It must have been incredibly distressing
and frustrating for Hannibal

to see that Scipio
had been able to use

his own tactics against him
in this final conflict.

It is Hannibal's
first and only defeat.

If you look at
the record of great captains,

um, they may win two times,
three times, four times,

but they don't necessarily
always dominate forever.

They have their day.
Someone else comes along

and can do the same thing,
with more resources,

better troops, new technology,
and their day's over.

After his loss,
the great general retires.

But Rome continues
to see him as a threat,

long after he
lays down his sword.

Hannibal is one of
the few figures

who actually knocked
the Romans down.

And he is the one that
comes closest to winning.

He shows the world that it's
possible to take down this empire.

In 195 B.C.,

the Republic demands that Carthage
hand over their old enemy,

but Hannibal
refuses to surrender.

He volunteers to be exiled.

Now in his early 60s,

the man who is perhaps the greatest
soldier the world has ever known

deals his mortal enemy
one final defeat.

Hannibal's united army
won some battles,

but not the war.

And the next time the
barbarians stand against Rome,

they'll need a new tactic
to defeat an enemy

that's becoming unstoppable.

With Carthage defeated,

the Republic is free to
conquer the Mediterranean.

By 150 B.C.,

its borders stretch
from Greece in the east

to Hispania in the west.

But as the barbarians continue
to resist the Roman way of life,

they learn the consequences of
rebellion against the Republic.

Those barbarians that had aligned
themselves with the Carthaginians

have to pay a price, and they're
gonna pay a terrible price.

Tribes that allied
with Hannibal against Rome

are the first to come
under the sword.

The Lusitanians,

Celtic warriors of western
Hispania are Rome's next target.

The Roman action
had to be so terrible,

so cruel to dissuade, uh,

the rest of the Spanish
nation from resisting.

Twenty-eight years
after Hannibal's death,

Rome invades western Hispania.

Governor Servius Galba
is granted authority

to use force against
the Lusitanians.

But he does far more.

Galba summons the tribes to hear
the terms of a peace treaty.

A deal that promises to
resettle them to new lands.

What follows is a brutal
lesson in Roman diplomacy.

Father!

Viriathus!

The barbarians of western
Hispania are under siege

as Rome invades their homeland

seeking revenge for their
part in Hannibal's war.

Lured by the promise of peace,

the Lusitanians instead become the
latest victims of Roman treachery.

He gathers them together
and massacres them.

Uh, it's an act
of great brutality.

It's an act of betrayal.

And it shows how little
respect he has for them.

Thousands lie dead.

The survivors are running
for their lives.

Among them is a shepherd
named Viriathus.

Thirty thousand are butchered or
enslaved in Galba's massacre.

The few Lusitanians who survive

are hunted by
Roman death squads.

When a military force rounds
up the women and children

and eliminates the population

or attempts to do so,
that's genocide.

Genocide can never
be 100% effective.

And if it isn't 100% effective,

it will simply generate
the desire for revenge.

The overreaction of the
oppressor to the oppressed,

removes fear.

When their back's
against a wall,

the oppressor
removes all options.

Then the poor lash
out and they rebel.

They promised new lands.

Said the soil was rich.

Yeah, it is...

with Lusitanian blood.

You cannot stay here.

Galba's murder squads
will return.

But the children
need food, water.

Scavenge what you can from here.

Use the cover of night.

Keep to the low lands.

You're coming with us?

But we need you.
You're a fighter.

I am a shepherd.

I'm no fighter.

Yet you fight?

Do as he says, Reburrus, go.

Go!

If you leave,
these people will die.

We all die, old man.

We all die, shepherd,

but not today,

not here.

Will he live, Tagus?

He will.

Only wish he hadn't.

The Republic now occupies

more than 100,000 square miles

of barbarian territory
in Hispania.

Roman roads begin to
cut across the landscape,

part of the
transportation network

that ferries plundered
resources back to Rome

and carries death squads
to put down any resistance.

The Romans
built forts, encampments.

Establishing roads,
lines of communications,

buying supplies from
the local population.

That's what enables
the transformation

of a wilderness into a territory

Isn't much.

You need it more than me.

Galba has these
territories surrounded.

We are prisoners
in our own land.

His men will return.

They will not stop hunting us.

We strike camp,
move forward again today.

Head for the mountains.

We took what we could
from the village.

No food, no blankets.

No tools, weapons.
Nothing of use.

These people will die, too,

if we don't find food
and shelter for them.

Then don't go forward.

Go back to Galba's
killing field.

Take what you can
from the bodies.

We can't!

You must.

We must.

Did you find your wife and boy?

Soldiers on the new road.

Get them to the lowlands.
Follow the river west.

I will find you.

Where are you going?

Hunting.

Barbarian tribes

living on the borders of the
Republic are thrown into chaos

as the Roman killing machine
descends on their lands.

But Viriathus, a shepherd,
decides to make a stand.

Lusitania has a
message for Galba.

Viriathus'
message to Rome is clear.

Lusitania won't surrender
without a fight.

Get that bound again,
and get some rest.

We move on at first light.

Is this what we've become?

A nation of refugees?

We must fight.

If Rome wants this land,
then let us bury them in it.

The sources tell us that
Viriathus was a shepherd.

To survive as a shepherd, you
had to be a bit of a bandit.

You were out there in the mountains,
you had to deal with wolves,

uh, and other predators, and you
often had to deal with real bandits.

So I think that Viriathus
has exactly the skills

that the surviving Lusitanians
desperately need

in order to continue
the resistance against Rome.

Viriathus begins to transform
his band of survivors

into an organized resistance.

They use the forest as cover

to launch small-scale raids
and escape undetected.

Viriathus knew very well
how to attack and retreat.

And run away.

This can be converted
very easily

into a very effective
military action.

This is what we call today
guerilla warfare.

It's perhaps the
most ancient form of warfare,

revived and rebooted
to play to the strengths

of the outnumbered and
under-equipped tribes

fighting for their freedom.

The enemy was invisible.

It would attack and disappear.

Hit and run.

He's going to their very psyche.

He wants to create
the impression

that the Romans are not operating
in friendly territory.

This will become the signature
weapon of the barbarian resistance

in the battles to come.

And in Lusitania, it's a strategy
that catches the Romans off guard.

Viriathus starts to
build a name for himself,

and Rome takes notice.

A rebellion is like a virus.

You know, if you can get
it right when it starts,

when it's in its infancy,

you have a good chance
of eradicating it.

But if you ignore it
or you allow it to grow,

it's gonna continue to spread

until it reaches a point
where you can't handle it.

Who is this Viriathus?

This ghost?

And still the sound of
silence is deafening.

Three years
into Viriathus' rebellion,

Rome appoints a new commander.

Gaius Vitellius is
Galba's former enforcer.

He's handed control of Lusitania
with one simple mission,

end the barbarian uprising.

You're the last of your people.

Tell me where
I can find Viriathus,

and I will let you go.

We take their weapons,
we take their land,

we take their lives,
and still they fight back.

They are a proud people.

Then we will take their pride.

Let the men have him.

When they've finished, cut off
his sword-hand and let him go.

If Viriathus unites the tribes?

I cannot go back to Rome
without the head of Viriathus.

The head of your ghost, sir?

We don't even know who he is.

Someone does, Marcus.

And I will find him, and hunt that
bastard to the edge of the earth.

You do not need to fear us.

We're not bandits.

It's what they've
made us become.

Scavengers?

Survivors.

My name is...
Viriathus, the shepherd.

And you are?

Ditalicus, last
of the Igeditani.

The others?

There are no others.

Gaius Vitellius,
there were repercussions.

From what?

From your so-called rebellion.

Something we see again
and again in Roman history

is the tremendous dilemma
that faces rebels.

Every success against the
Romans will lead to a reprisal.

Every victory will lead to bloodshed
on the part of the innocents.

So, those fighting against
Rome face a paradox.

I am responsible for the
massacre of his tribe.

Vitellius has murdered
his people, not you.

My actions.

How many more people has
your rebellion saved?

It is a path that Rome

has forced
you to walk, Viriathus.

And there will be more Lusitanian blood
on your hands before this is over.

Despite the danger,

Viriathus must convince
new allies to join him

to keep the fight going.

The oppressed must never
surrender to suppression.

They must resist.

And that becomes
a great temptation

when you become weary and tired.

"Maybe we can't win."

And that's where leadership

has to merge against
all these odds.

"Yes we can,
we will, we must."

I know what many of you
think of this fight.

This war.

I do not want war. I do not
crave it, but we need war.

We cannot stop what is coming.

We cannot hide any longer.

We cannot run or watch as our
people starve at the hands of Rome.

Do nothing as our children
die, as Lusitania dies.

So I stand here
asking you to fight,

not for me, but with me.

Look at us.

We are an army of refugees.

How are we supposed to take
on the entire Roman Army

with a handful of
weapons between us?

If we fight Romans
like Romans, we will fail,

so we must fight them
as Lusitanians.

Without our fathers' swords?

Yes, they took our
fathers' swords,

but we still have their weapons.

The weapons our fathers
left us are here

and here.

We know this land.

This terrain,
it is in our blood.

Rome took our blades,

but we still have the most
precious weapon of all.

The barbarians
of ancient Hispania

have defended their homeland

against invasion for
hundreds of years.

But Rome is unlike any enemy
they have faced before.

In Lusitania, Vitellius
cracks down on the population

in order to crush
their rebellion

and flush out
its leader, Viriathus.

He intensifies
weapons collections,

tortures captives

and hunts down
refugees in hiding.

For Vitellius, the pressure
is enormous.

He has no alternative.

There is only one
acceptable outcome.

And that is, he returns
with the head of Viriathus.

But despite the danger, survivors
flock to the rebel cause.

The Romans expected that the
Lusitanians would give up, terrified.

Instead, it was the opposite.

They were eager for revenge.

With followers
now numbering 10,000,

Viriathus escalates his guerrilla
raids on the Roman occupiers.

Viriathus seems always to be

one step ahead of Vitellius,
one step ahead of the Romans.

He's a natural at this.

He's been trained

in dealing with the countryside

and living off the land
his whole life.

Viriathus is
putting in motion a plan

to deliver Rome a death blow.

But success depends on his
ability to evade Vitellius,

who has now launched
a full-scale manhunt

to find the rebel leader.

And he calls us barbarians.

Is what we've done any better?

There are more hidden
throughout the village.

Vitellius chases
Viriathus for months,

but is outsmarted at every turn.

When they're chasing a
fugitive or an escapee

and they're in
their own backyard,

you know, from our perspective,
it's like chasing a ghost,

I mean, these guys,
they disappear,

they get help from
people on the outside,

they know the environment,

they certainly know,
you know, their own backyards

and where they feel
comfortable in hiding.

Bribes of food and shelter
fail to entice the barbarians

to betray their leader.

Brutality also fails.

Vitellius changes tactics and offers
the refugees a chance at peace.

He travels from camp to camp
to spread the word.

And you are?

Gaius Vitellius, Praetor
of Hispania Ulterior.

Supreme authority
in these lands.

And you?

Rome's aggressive
expansion provokes an uprising

in the Lusitanians' homeland.

Deep in the forest,

Viriathus comes face
to face with the man

who has been chasing him
for four years.

If he's identified, it will mean
the end of the barbarian rebellion

and of the Lusitanian people.

And you are?

Gaius Vitellius, Praetor
of Hispania Ulterior.

Supreme authority
in these lands.

And you?

A shepherd.

A Lusitanian.

And a poacher?

A free man.

A shepherd?

And yet...

You lead these people?

I do not lead these people.

You may need to tell
them that, shepherd.

What do you want, Roman?

I can grant these people,

your people,

lands in our territories.

They are not your lands to give.

Galba murdered our families,
he stole the land from us.

Praetor Galba is
no longer in charge.

I am.

And now I'm offering
the lands back.

At what cost?

Silver.

Iron.

Whatever these
lands can provide.

The Republic is expanding.
It needs grain.

To feed the army that
comes to kill us.

War is an expensive business.

We require your people
to farm the lands again.

And the Republic
will take a small tax.

These are our lands.

These are Rome's lands now.

You have a choice.

Stay in these camps
and watch your nation

and your people die.

Or take my offer and live again.

Speak with the other tribes,

many of them have already
agreed the terms.

You have until dawn to decide.

And if we do not?

You have until dawn.

Ditalicus led them here.

I saw him.

You've endangered us all
bringing them here.

No more than you do
attacking them.

You've heard them,
Viriathus, they offer...

They offer death!

We are already dying.

They offer life.

They bring more food
than can be said for your...

My what?

rebellion.

I fight for these people.

These people follow you
because they are lost!

They are not soldiers.

We cannot win this war.
You cannot win this fight!

Are you going to kill me
for speaking the truth?

You are more Roman
than they are.

I know Gaius Vitellius
cannot be trusted.

But what they offer us
is survival for our people.

They offer us nothing.

These lands are our birthright,

yet Rome takes them.

They murder our people,
our traditions, our culture.

This fight is a fight
for our freedom.

You say you don't believe
in this rebellion,

yet you did not tell
Gaius Vitellius my name?

He would have
slaughtered us all.

You do as you must,

but I will make
no deal with Rome.

Gaius Vitellius
wants an answer by dawn,

we will give him one.

I have a message for Vitellius.

This was my father's.

As long as that bastard
lives or breathes,

this is the last silver
he will take from these lands.

There is a fire coming.

Who are you?

Viriathus, the shepherd.

The barbarians' battle for
control of the ancient world

rages on in western Hispania.

Where after four years
of fighting in the shadows,

the rebel leader Viriathus,

has finally revealed himself to the
Roman who is out for his head.

Crude, isn't it?

The shepherd is my ghost.

And you allowed him to escape.

We will hit their
camp at first light.

That camp is already gone.

I want you to double my guard.

Burn every refugee camp...

But many will be camps we've made
deals with. We can't just...

I'm renegotiating our terms!

We will burn them anyway.

Send word to Rome.

If Viriathus
wants a war of fire...

I shall give him one.

With the elusive barbarian
leader finally revealed,

Vitellius raises two legions, as many
as 10,000 men, to hunt him down.

The Romans are playing right
into Viriathus' hands.

He's planned
a full-scale assault

designed to give his
fighters the advantage

against Rome's superior numbers.

It's an evolution of the
barbarian's guerilla war.

The campaign's
reached a crucial point now,

and Viriathus wants to end this.

To annihilate his enemy is
basically the way that he thinks

is the best to go forward.

The paradox of guerilla warfare

is that you can cause
the enemy great pain,

but you can't win a war
with simply guerilla tactics.

At a certain point,
you have to switch over,

and put everything on the line

and risk everything
in a big engagement.

The Lusitanians won't face
Rome on an open battlefield

or in small lightning raids.

Instead, Viriathus engineers a series
of coordinated guerilla attacks,

using the natural terrain
as a gauntlet

that will give Rome no escape.

This is the third
camp. Nothing.

Tracks lead off
in every direction.

The shepherd gathers his flock.

There has been another
Viriathus ambush.

Only one guard dead,
the rest, they maimed.

He pushes me, Marcus.

He's evaded us for all these
years and now he shows himself.

Why?

He's trying to distract me.

What is it he doesn't
want me to see?

The warrior shepherd
and his guerrilla army

draws Vitellius and his force of 10,000
legionaries deeper into the forest.

He aims to spread
the Roman line thin,

like a snake winding through
the ravines and gullies.

Viriathus will target the head.

And 9,000 barbarian allies will
push the tail towards a deadfall,

over the edge of a high cliff.

The plan depends on
Vitellius taking the bait

and chasing Viriathus
without let up.

Viriathus let you live?

Why?

I do not fear death.

Perhaps you should.

Where is my ghost?

Where is Viriathus?

He runs for Tribola.

The mountains.

Where?

I don't know, but he
knows you will follow.

If this is true.
If...

If this is true, Viriathus
will be forced into the open.

We will lead both
legions on Tribola.

Crush the insurgence before he
can unite any remaining tribes.

Viriathus is no fool.

Even he would not lead his men
against an army of 10,000.

You will lead the advance
party, lure him out.

The legions will
back up our rear.

And Ditalicus,

shall I kill him?

No,

he may be of some use.

Set him free.

Forward!

Formations!

Formations!

We cannot wait for the legion.

We must take the auxillia!

Hunt that bastard down!

Stay together!

Vitellius leads his men
directly into a narrow gully...

The Roman forces are
stretched into a thin line,

two miles long, on the
edge of a deadly ravine.

Nine thousand barbarian warriors

are poised to
descend from the forest

and push the Roman line
into the abyss.

Formations!

In western Hispania,

Viriathus and his
barbarian rebels

launch a coordinated guerrilla
attack against the Roman legions

that have brutalized them
for four long years.

It is the most ambitious battle
plan they've ever attempted.

Formations!

Testudo! Testudo!

The barbarian attack
descends from the hills,

pushing the Roman legions back
towards the edge of a deadly cliff.

Have you come for this?

No.

Keep it.

My father took that from
a dead Roman at Zama.

Rome will pour men
onto this land

until ever corner of every field

is ripped from your hands.

Let them come.

For it is Rome who have united
us, and we will not be defeated.

Rome will never fear you...

shepherd!

It is not I they should fear,

but the generations to come.

Viriathus and his guerilla army

slaughter 4,000 Romans
in the Battle of Tribola.

Thousands more are wounded.

Viriathus' ambush at Tribola
is a great shock to the Romans

and it's a great achievement
for him and his army.

Lusitania became

the Roman Empire's Vietnam.

- Formations!
- Testudo! Testudo!

They were on an
unknown environment,

unknown landscape,

unknown way of fighting.

This defeat of the Romans

at the hands of what were
effectively a small bandit nation,

sends a message to the rest
of the communities there

that they can make it
on their own.

The barbarians hold the upper
hand for the next eight years.

Being a successful guerilla warrior
is like walking a tightrope.

You know that it's very
difficult to keep your balance,

and you know how easy
it is for the enemy

to get to you
and how vulnerable you are.

Viriathus understood that he couldn't
keep fighting against Rome forever,

and that's why he eventually
decides to seek peace terms.

But Viriathus
makes a fatal error.

The Republic cannot be trusted
to make peace deals.

Using gold
plundered from Lusitania,

Rome bribes Viriathus' own men
to betray their leader.

Eight years after
his victory at Tribola,

he's assassinated.

Lusitania falls to Rome less
than a year after his death.

The Republic seizes control

of all of the trade routes
across the Mediterranean.

It's now the unrivalled
superpower of the ancient world.

Rome uses the riches it plunders
from across the continent

to build its
wealth and influence,

while it slaughters and enslaves

the barbarians in its path.

The tactics that Viriathus
used to defeat the Romans,

these guerrilla tactics, this
mobile nature, the hit and run,

is something that will
become part of the way

that the barbarians take on
the Romans in the future.

But every time
the barbarians rise,

it chips away at Roman power.

Freedom is inevitable.

The arc is long,
the journey's long,

but it bends towards freedom.

Next time on
Barbarians Rising...

You will regret
making enemies of us!

From today, we cease
to do Rome's bidding.

From today, we go
to war with Rome.

I have something you have
never known, freedom.

They don't need to respect me,

they need to fear me.

We're no longer the underdogs.

We're the rising power.

Nothing can save you now.

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