The Parthian Art of War | Mobilization, Units, and Manpower

This video is a collaboration with HistoryMarche! Watch his video on the legendary Battle of Carrhae here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-UGsSkJgaE This documentary delves deep into the Parthian Empire's legendary military system, which was poorly understood even by contemporary Romans. We cover Parthian units, manpower, organization, and tactics that made it a superpower, allowing it to defeat several Roman Legions in one of the most decisive cavalry victories in human history, at the Battle of Carrhae (53 BC). Today we seek to analyze the system of this revolutionary force: from the horse archers who mastered the devastating "Parthian Shot" to the heavily armored cataphracts that served as the ancient world's most feared heavy cavalry. Discover how the Parthian Kings of the Arsacid dynasty structured their army, mobilization, and the logistics that powered its conquests. How did Parthian tactics counter the Roman military? What was their warfare doctrine? Sources for this video: Farrokh, K. (2007): Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. Hauser, S. (2006): “Was there no paid standing army? A fresh look on military and political institutions in the Arsacid Empire”, en Markus, M.; Jürgen, T. (eds.): Arms and Armour as Indicators of Cultural Transfer: The Steppes and the Ancient World from Hellenistic Times to the Early Middle Ages. Wiesbaden: Reichert, pp. 295–319. Nikonorov, V.P. (2005): “On the Parthian legacy in Sasanian Iran: the case of warfare”, en Nikonorov, V. (ed.): Central Asia from the Achaemenids to the Timurids: Archaeology, History, Ethnology, Culture. Materials of an International Scientific Conference dedicated to the Centenary of Aleksandr Markovich Belenitsky (St. Petersburg, November 2–5, 2004). St. Petersburg: Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, pp. 141-179. Olbrycht, M. J. (2016): “Manpower resources and army organization in the Arsacid Empire”, Ancient Society, 46, pp. 291-338. Overtoom, N. (2017): “The Parthians unique mode of warfare: a tradition of Parthian militarism and the battle of Carrhae”, Anabasis: Studia Classica et Orientalia, 8, pp. 95-122