E04 Barbarians by Gladio Free Europe • A podcast on Anchor
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Barbarians is a German historical drama that tells the story of Arminus, a Germanic Barbarian, who as a child is raised in Rome and becomes a Roman soldier. As an adult he is sent back to his home in Germania to aid in ensuring Rome’s control over the various Barbarian tribes. We discuss the show, and what we know of the real history that serves as inspiration for this Netflix dramatization. Hosted by Liam, Russian Sam, and Abram.

On this week's episode of Gladio Free Europe, we leave behind the comforts of modernity and pay a visit to the first century. In the year 9 CE, the tribes of the Roman province of Germania managed to put aside their differences to unite and deal the Roman Empire its most serious blow up until that point. They were led by Arminius, the son of a Germanic chieftain of the Cherusci tribe who was taken from his family as a young boy and raised as a Roman soldier. This was a permutation of the common imperial practice of taking the children of one's subjects to be held as essentially hostages, disincentivizing rebellion. Arminius was a hero of war, reaching the rank of equestrian (a very high social class, especially for somebody of 'barbarian' heritage) before deciding that his heart lay with the people of Germania. Arminius' familiarity with Roman military tactics, as well as some deception on his part, allowed the barbarian inhabitants to ambush and kill what were likely 15-20 thousand Roman soldiers.

In this episode, we talk about this event through the lens of the 2020 Netflix show Barbarians, which presents a very dramatic and not entirely historical look at the lives of the characters of this historical episode. We assess the show, discuss the events of the show as we actually know them from our historical sources, and much more. You can expect to learn about the origins of the Germanic peoples, the surprising level of interconnectedness in the ancient world, and the way that Barbarians takes on a very modern nationalist ideology in line with the current German government.

We expect to release a second part to this episode in the near future, wherein we will be taking a comprehensive look into the ways that Arminius, the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, and Tacitus' Germania were used and misused over the centuries as a symbol of German nationalism, so stay tuned for that.

As always, we are very appreciative of any and all feedback you could offer us. If you feel particularly strongly about the show, we ask that you leave us a rating and/or review on Apple Podcasts or other podcasting platforms so that we could get discovered by more listeners. Cheers, and have a great rest of your Wednesday!