Foot Soldiers Diary-Antiquity

Foot Soldiers Diary-Antiquity Story Arcs

"It is an inescapable fact that war has dominated and influenced humanity more than anything else in history.  At once it repulses and inspires.  It fills us with horror and wonder.  It has given birth to mighty states and cast them down.  We may not remember all of the events, but there are the names: Agincourt, Gettysburg, Stalingrad, Thermopylae, Sekigahara, Constantinople.  Now, see the dark side of the human story as never before, through the eyes of the ordinary men and the minds of those who led them.  This is the story of humanity, in all it's bloody horror and epic glory.  This is the Foot Soldiers Diary."

"From Bronze to Iron.  From barbaric tribes, to mighty empires and back again.  This is Antiquity, the era of legendary heroes.  A time when the first civilizations began carving out a place for themselves in a world of savage violence.  From the dusty plains of the Middle East to the walls of Eternal Rome, this section will show how these peoples, and those they fought, would lay the foundations of civilization for millennia to come."

Battle of Kadesh 1274 BCE-oldest “accurately” recorded battle in history, Ramses II of Egypt vs. King Muwatallis of the Hittites, results a bloody draw though Ramses spun the story as an overwhelming victory, proving that politics haven’t really changed in 5000 years.
Siege of Jerusalem circa 701 BCE-Sennacharib of Assyria lays siege to Jerusalem, whose capture would destroy the nation of Judah, but fails due to an epidemic, supposedly sent by God according to the Bible.  Will emphasize the siege techniques used by the Assyrians to crack open cities like walnuts between their freakishly jacked biceps.
Battle of Chengpu 632 BCE-Duke Wen of Jin defeats the army of Chu, biggest battle of the Spring and Autumn period (approx. 771-476 BCE), a romantic name for three centuries of unrelenting arterial blood spray.
Battle of Nineveh circa 612 BCE-joint Median and Scythian army sacks the capital of the Assyrian empire, archaeological records show that the entire empire was depopulated and de-urbanized soon thereafter
Battle of Boju 506 BCE-according to legend this is the conflict on which Sun Tzu would use as the basis for The Art of War.
Campaigns of Cyrus the Great-Birth of the first great Empire of the Western world, Thymbra 547 BCE in which camels play a surprising role in military ass kicking  and Opis 539 BCE, where the Babylonians are weighed, measured and SERIOUSLY found wanting.
The Greco-Persian Wars: Marathon 490 BCE, Thermopylae 480 BCE, Salamis 480 BCE, Plataea 479 BCE-ultimately resulted in the defeat of the Persian Empire by the united Greek city states.  Main character at Thermopylae will be a Thespian soldier (sorry to disappoint you 300 fans but there were more than 300 Spartans that day, there were 700 Thespians and 400 Thebans).
The next section will alternate between the Samnite Wars (343-290 BCE) in which the Roman city-state conquered all of Italy and the Wars of Alexander the Great (334-323 BCE).  Highlights include (Samnite) Saticula, the Caudine Forks, Latuluae, Bovianum, Tifernum, and Sentinum, (Alexander) Thebes, Granicus, Issus, Tyre, Gaugamela, and Hydapses.  
Nanda War-321-320 BCE-pariah Chandragupta Maurya takes over India and founds the largest empire in the history of the subcontinent.
First Punic War 264-241 BCE-Rome vs. Carthage Round 1-resulted in the Carthaginian navy being crushed and Rome establishes dominance of the Mediterranean.
Qin Wars of Unification-Qin Shi Huang Di unites all of China under his tyrannical rule for the first time in history.  This arc will emphasize standardization and mass weapons production, which enabled the Qin to conquer the other states (Han, Zhao, Yan, Wei, Chu, Yan again, Dai, Wu, and Qi)
Second Punic War 218-202 BCE-Rome vs. Carthage Round 2, will follow Hannibal in his epic journey across the Alps and nearly brings Rome to its knees, but nearly never won a game of Russian Roulette
Chu-Han Contention 206-202 BCE Shi Huang Di’s empire didn’t last long after he kicked the bucket and the nation descended into chaos.  This arc follows the story of Liu Ji, drunken peasant, turned bandit leader, turned revolutionary, turned war hero, turned emperor of China’s most successful dynasty.
Maccabean Revolt 167-160 BCE-A group of Jews revolt against the Persian Empire when their religion is declared outlawed, proving as always what Jews are capapble of when they are forced to suffer fools for too long.
Third Punic War 149-146 BCE-Rome beats Carthage Round 3, results in the final destruction of Carthage and Rome’s complete maritime dominance
Cimbrian War 113-101 BCE-German Barbarians nearly bring the Roman Republic to its knees.  Roman general Gaius Marius institutes reforms that create the first professional army in history and sets in motion the events that will give birth to an empire.  
Gojoseon-Han War 109-108 BCE-The Han Dynasty dukes it out with the Korean Gojoseon regime
Caesar’s Gallic Campaign 58-50 BCE-The story of how Caesar tore the Gauls a new one up and down modern day France ending with the climactic Siege of Alesia where the Romans were outnumbered over 3 to 1
Battle of Carrhae 51 BCE-Marcus Licinius Crassus thought he could take on the Parthians, they soon taught him otherwise
Roman Civil War 49-45 BCE-How Caesar’s Palpatinian ambition resulted in the death of the Roman Republic and the birth of the Roman Empire.  Unfortunately he did not live long enough to see it.
The Teutoberg Forest 9-the worst defeat in Roman history, German barbarians slaughter 3 whole legions and forever destroy the idea of Roman invincibility
Roman Conquest of Britain 43-96-The Roman invasion of Britain under Emperor Claudius, succeeding where even the mighty Caesar had failed.
Boudicca’s Uprising 60-61-A joint Celtic army under Queen Boudicca of the Iceni faces an outnumbered Roman army under the battle-hardened Suetonius Paulinus in an attempt to rid Britain of Roman tyranny.  Despite an overwhelming numerical disadvantage, the superior tactics of the Romans ultimately triumph, a piece of definitive proof that the “good guys” don’t always win.
The Three Kingdoms 184-205-The most famous period of Chinese History tells the story of the 3 way power struggle between peasant hero Liu Bei, ambitious Sun Quan of Wu and ruthless warlord Cao Cao.  Concludes with the renowned naval battle of the Red Cliffs.
Fall of the Western Roman Empire 410-for so many years Rome had ruled the Mediterranean world, but now Alaric the Bold and his horde of bloodthirsty Visigoths are knocking on the gates, determined to show the Romans who the baddest mofo’s in Europe REALLY are.