All language subtitles for Butterfly.Effect.S01E11_English

- [Narrator] Our history
is no more than a series

of incredible events.

Each one of us can
influence its course.

The tiniest of our decisions

can influence the
future of mankind.

To know the past is to
anticipate the future.

The ninth of August, 378,
the Battle of Adrianople.

The Roman army has
been annihilated.

A few years later,
stripped of its defenses,

Rome is sacked.

The city had remained
inviolate for 800 years.

Fourth of September, 476.

The last Roman emperor
of the West is deposed.

The Roman Empire
no longer exists.

These three events, although
occurring over a century

are intimately
connected and will lead

to the fall of the
Western Roman empire.

Let's see why.

(dramatic instrumental music)

Today, the
Mediterranean is divided

and is often a
theater of conflict.

However, under the Roman empire,

it formed one single state.

It consisted of more than
40 contemporary countries,

not just Italy,
France, or Spain,

but including Egypt,
Kosovo, Israel,

and even a part of Iraq.

A single currency,
common laws, one ruler.

For the first and the
last time in its history,

the Mediterranean is at peace.

This is the age of aqueducts,
of emperors, and legionaries.

The empire is immense and
ruling such a vast entity

was practically impossible.

Today we can fly over
it in several hours.

On horseback, it
could take months.

That is why it was
separated into two.

To the east, the Eastern empire.

To the west, the Western empire.

One territory, two
thrones and two emperors

who worked together for
the good of the empire.

At the time in which
we are interested,

375 AD, there happened
to be two brothers.

Valentinian, the elder, a
dynamic general rules the West

with an iron fist.

His brother Valens,
less assertive,

struggles to impose his
authority on the East.

Valentinian is charismatic

and dominates his
younger brother.

This difference in character
between the two brothers

will prove crucial in the
events that are to follow.

- [Narrator] Welcome to
the memory of humanity.

Here we can control time,

analyze and compare
billions of events

and alter them to rewrite
history endlessly.

For example, let's imagine
that we could recreate

the Roman empire in our day.

Where Palestine and Israel
would be united in one
country.

France and Germany.

A sort of United States
of the Mediterranean.

From London to Jerusalem,

its citizens would all
speak the same language,

travel without passports,

and obey one system of laws.

All religions would be tolerated

on condition they did
not trouble civil rule.

This federation would possess
vast hydrocarbon reserves

and its armies would rival those

of the United States or China.

This country would be the heirs

to the founders of
democracy, the rights of man,

of philosophy and
the Enlightenment.

It would be the
nation of algebra,

of the metric system,
of medicine, physics,
and astronomy.

Seen against current conflicts,

all that may seem impossible.

However the truth is
that these tensions

already existed in Roman times.

Let us continue.

(dramatic instrumental music)

- [Narrator] The empire is
rich and beyond its borders,

the barbarian
peoples are watching

for the least opportunity
to join in the feast.

For a Roman, the word
barbarian applies

to any person living
outside its borders.

A barbarian is an
un-Romanized foreigner.

To the north and the
east, the empires borders

are under constant pressure.

To defend the empire,
successive empires developed

an ingenious system requiring
the minimum of soldiers.

By utilizing natural
obstacles,
such as rivers or mountains,

the Romans fortified
their borders

and organized their
troops into mobile forces.

These often Pharaonic
enterprises are
still evident today

such as Hadrian's
wall in England.

By way of comparison,

the imperial forces
numbered roughly the same

as the modern day French army,

but they protected a
much larger territory.

The system is
formidably efficient.

A dynamic emperor, Valentinian
devotes his whole time

to restoring the
empire's fortifications

and he does it well.

He restores discipline
with an iron fist,

reinforces walls and
mercilessly
punishes any barbarians

who dare to challenge him.

Both feared and
respected by his enemies,

he is the strong
man that Rome needs.

But when he receives a
barbarian delegation come

to bargain a truce, the fate
of the Roman empire is decided.

The emperor listens to
the barbarian chiefs

but the meeting goes badly.

Valentinian loses his temper,

falls into a rage, insults
the barbarian chiefs,

and suddenly in the
middle of a sentence,

the emperor collapses,

struck down by a
brain hemorrhage.

(gentle instrumental music)

Valentinian I, defender of
Rome dies during the night.

- [Narrator] We have just
reached a turning point.

A turning point is a key event,

a cross-roads in our history

where the world swings
one way or the other.

Valentinian I, defender
of Rome, has just died.

Trajan, Caligula,
Nero, Commodus.

The history of Rome is written
in the blood of its emperors.

Valentinian is far
from being the first

to die tragically and yet his
death at this precise moment

will have dramatic consequences.

In a dangerous age where the
threat of a barbarian invasion

is ever-present, the
death of a capable emperor

is serious to the empire.

His brother Valens
possesses nothing

near the same
military abilities.

His son, Gratian,
is still young.

Valentinian's death
leaves the empire

without any real leader.

Sometimes in the
history of humanity,

it happens that the
decisions of one man

can turn millions of
lives upside down.

In 1942, Hitler
dominates Europe.

One man has the courage
to stand up to him.

Winston Churchill, the
English Prime Minister,

categorically refuses the
peace offered by the Nazis.

Throughout the war, he will
prove an unshakeable bulwark.

Without him, no
Normandy landings, no
liberation of Paris,

and probably a German victory.

Let's go back to our story.

- [Narrator] With
Valentinian dead,

it now falls upon his son,
Gratian, a young adult

and especially upon his
brother, politically weak

and a mediocre soldier,

to face the problems ahead.

And the problems are the Huns.

(dramatic instrumental music)

Nomads from Central Asia,

the Huns live and
fight on horseback.

(arrows whirring)

They are excellent archers.

Their enemies are dead
before they can fight.

Living exclusively from
breeding and hunting,

they need wide,
virgin territories.

They don't want to
conquer the world,

they want to turn it into
their hunting ground.

Along their way,
they meet the Goths,

a Germanic barbarian people.

At this period, the
Goths form a great realm.

Through contact with
their powerful neighbor,

the Roman empire, they
have developed their trade

and their art of war.

The skill of their warriors
is well-known to the Romans

who often enlist
them as mercenaries.

But no one can resist the
horsemen from the Steppes.

Formidable in hand
to hand combat,

the Goths are totally unprepared

for the long-range warfare
waged against them by the Huns.

Riddled with arrows, the
Goth forces are decimated.

The Goth kingdoms
resist for a while,

but finally the whole
nation must decide.

Flee or become slaves.

Driven south, they finally
reach the frontiers

of the Roman empire.

Caught between the
hammer and the anvil,

they ask for political
asylum in Rome

which is granted.

The empire is short of manpower
and these refugees are seen

by the authorities
as manna from Heaven.

An incredible humanitarian
operation begins

and whole tribes, tens
of thousands of Goths,

cross the Danube
on makeshift rafts.

Men, women, children,
and the old.

The Goths have one hope,

to become part of the
empire and live in peace.

History will decide otherwise.

Corrupt Roman officers
ignore the emperor's orders

and dump the Goths
in refugee camps,

where they then
hold them to ransom.

Money for food.

(dramatic instrumental music)

Roman historians recount
scenes of horror.

Parents starving in ruin
are forced to sell a child

into slavery in order
to feed the others.

Driven to desperation, the
Goths
finally act for themselves.

They massacre the
Roman garrisons

and pass the point of no return.

Riot turns into revolt

and revolt into invasion.

- [Narrator] To
govern is to choose.

What would have happened if
Valens had refused access

to the empire?

If he had ordered his troops
to prevent the barbarians

from crossing the Danube?

For the Goths huddled in
their tens of thousands

on the banks of the river,

such questions would
have been soon answered.

They would have been
massacred to the last man

or for the fortunate,
reduced to slavery.

The Huns were not
the most merciful

to those they vanquished.

The story of the Goths
might have ended there

and the world would
have retained no more

than a vague trace of them
in the byways of history.

No Ostrogoth kingdom in Italy,

no Visigoth kingdom at Toulouse.

For the Romans, the drama
would have gone unnoticed.

The empire would have
gone on as normal

for a time, at least.

The Goths were only
the advance guard

of a formidable
migration of peoples

that is to flood
upon the empire.

In December 406, the
Vandals cross the Rhine,

followed by the Franks
and the Burgans.

This is the period known
as the Barbarian Invasions.

The empire will be shaken
to its foundations.

The Europe of today
is deeply marked

by this fusion.

Thus the Burgans
will create Burgandy.

The Franks and the Alemmani,
two related Germanic peoples

will be the founders of France
and Germany, respectively.

The Angles and the Saxons
will cross the North Sea

to become the Anglo-Saxons,

forcing the Britains
to flee before them

and seek their
refuge in Brittany.

Let's go back to our story.

(dramatic instrumental music)

- [Narrator] The Goths ravaged
the north of the empire.

Valens, the brother
emperor, decides to act.

He recalls his veterans,
musters all available troops

and sets out to restore
imperial authority.

(dramatic instrumental music)

However, they are too numerous

and so Gratian also
musters an army

and sets out to
assist his uncle.

But when Valens reaches
the meeting point first,

he starts to think.

Having lived so
long in the shadow

of his powerful elder brother,

he needs a military victory
to restore his image.

If Valentinian were still alive,

Valens would have waited
quietly for reinforcements

and victory would
have been assured,

but he has great difficulty

in accepting assistance from
a child, albeit an emperor.

Against the advice
of his generals,

the battle is engaged and
the aim is nothing less

than the outright
extermination of the Goths.

The Roman army consists of
15,000 hardened veterans,

well-equipped and disciplined,

ready to lay down their lives
in the defense of the empire.

Opposite them are
countless Goth warriors.

They have lost everything
and are fighting

for their lives and
those of their families.

Under a leaden sky,

the two armies observe
each other for hours.

Instead of attacking at once
and making an end of it,

Valens commits an error.

He hesitates.

In battle, the least
hesitation can prove fatal.

But Valens is a
politician, not a soldier,

and he appears not to
know one simple fact.

Leaving your army in full
sunlight without water

and with empty bellies is
something you do not do.

The Romans are losing
their patience.

They are thirsty, they
have been subjected

to the barbarians provocations
since early afternoon.

Discipline slackens.

Suddenly, without
any order given,

the Roman light cavalry,
exasperated with waiting,

launch their attack.

At the worst possible moment,

Valens loses
control of his army.

Leaving their families
in their fortified camp,

the Goths charge to the attack.

Professional soldiers,
the Roman legions regroup

and receive the charge.

(dramatic instrumental music)

Then, a surprise.

At least 5,000 barbarian
cavalry suddenly appear

on the heights over
the battlefield.

The Romans never
saw them coming.

Cavalry is a formidable weapon,

a combination of mass and speed.

1200 pounds hurtling
at 20 miles per hour,

concentrated in
the tip of a spear.

What descends upon the
Roman army is a tsunami

of 3,000 tons of
flesh and steel.

Under normal conditions,
a troop of infantry

has a chance against
such an attack.

Using pikes and spears and
forming a wall of shields,

they can break the charge
and repel the adversary.

But you have to face them.

The Roman army in mid
battle is disorganized.

It's soldiers are already
fighting hand to hand.

Sweeping down the slope,

the Goth cavalry attacked
the unprotected flank

of the legions.

Against all expectations, the
legions withstand the shock.

Despite their losses,

the defenders of the
empire close ranks.

The charge is broken.

However, the Goth cavalry
is already regrouping.

The legions withstand a
second charge, then a third.

In such a compact mass,
every arrow hits its target.

At the end of the day,
their lances shattered,

their shields
bristling with arrows,

the legionaries are on the
very verge of breaking.

Surrounded, at the
limit of their strength,

they watch as the enemy
prepares a final attack.

The imperial ranks collapse.

It's a massacre.

- [Narrator] There's
a time for doubt

and a time for action.

Although accepting the
Goths into the empire

was not a mistake in itself

and was even a perfectly
defensible strategic

and economic choice,
Valens' attitude

in the months that would
follow the Goth invasion

will be disastrous
for the empire.

First, he starts by
underestimating the gravity

of the situation, allowing
the Goths to reinforce

when he sends insufficient
powers to deal with the
problem.

Then, he decides to attack

without having received
reinforcements from the West.

Militarily, the Romans have
always ruled the battlefield.

However, the legions,
through having recruited

among the barbarians
have lost cohesion,

and the Goths, through
contact with the Romans,

have learned their tactics.

So we are far from
the relative power

that Caesar encountered in Gaul.

If Valentinian had not died
a few years previously,

Valens would most certainly
have waited patiently

for his elder brother,
the Western army

being traditionally
stronger than the Eastern.

The joining of the
two would have created

such a tactical
advantage that victory

would have been within
the grasp of any general,

even of Valens.

The Goths would
have been massacred

and things would have
returned to normal.

The empire would even
have emerged stronger

and its image of
invincibility
would have remained intact.

- [Narrator] Only
nightfall will bring an end

to the massacre.

Two thirds of the elite
of the Roman armies

will be left upon
the battlefield.

Armor will be replaced more
easily than veteran soldiers.

The power of Rome collapses
along with its army.

Emperor Valens will himself
disappear into the night.

Legend has it that
he was burned alive

in a farm where he
had taken refuge.

The Romans told themselves
that they had seen worse

and that they had survived.

But this time, Rome found
itself with an entire people

on its territories.

Not wishing to risk
a second disaster,

Gratian turned around
with his troops

and left to protect the West.

With his uncle dead, he
had to choose a new head

of the Eastern empire.

Having only just assumed power,

the new emperor received
the heavy responsibility

of having to negotiate
with the Goths.

And the bargain
was a simple one.

Peace in exchange for gold.

They tried everything to
make the Goths go away.

Promises of lands,
titles, and kingdoms,

and in one of history's ironies,

from one bargain to another,

the Goths moved slowly from
the East towards the West

which took them
directly onto Rome.

(dramatic instrumental music)

The sack of Rome by the Goths
in 410 was not the only cause

of the lingering
death of the empire,

but it sends out a strong signal

to all its predators.

The Roman army is no
longer invincible.

Attacked from all sides,
gnawed
away by political intrigue,

the Roman empire of the
West will lose its provinces

one after another,
and finally disappear.

The end of the empire marks
the beginning of another
period

of our history, the Middle Ages.

The eastern part will survive it

by more than a thousand
years under the name

of the Byzantine empire.

But that is another story.

(gentle instrumental music)

- [Narrator] Could the
empire have survived?

What caused its fall?

What determinant
event precipitated it?

How could such a vast
empire have disappeared?

There are many factors.

Political intrigues,
military defeats,

climate issues leading
to major invasions,

the loss of the
feeling of citizenship,

the waning of
Roman civic virtue.

But the empire had already
known some grave moments.

Several centuries earlier,

the Roman legions had been
annihilated in a huge battle

by Hannibal, the
Carthaginian general.

The two superpowers of the
age waged a terrible war,

a war for control of
the Mediterranean.

To put an end to
the sworn enemy,

Hannibal led his
army across the Alps

and carried out a surprise
attack on the legions.

It was a massacre.

Hannibal was at
the gates of Rome.

But that time, Rome
was to pick itself up

and finally win the war.

The fall of Rome was harsh.

The chaos that followed proved
traumatic for many people.

Populations shrank all
over the Mediterranean.

Cities demolished their
theaters to build defenses.

The Pax Romana was no more
than a distant memory.

However, once the storm
passed, calm returned.

Slowly at first.

There were difficult centuries,

but the Middle Ages was
the time of renewal,

the age of cathedral building.

The barbarian invaders
certainly destroyed

the existing empire but they
also brought in fresh blood.

By settling in the empire,
they merged with it.

As after a forest fire,
civilization got the upper
hand

and set off once more
with fresh vigor.

(dramatic instrumental music)