The BEST episodes directed by Robert H. Gardner
#1 - The First Barbarian War
Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire - Season 1 - Episode 1
It is 113 BC Rome is a Republic, a small empire that clings to the rim of the Mediterranean. Though a democracy in name and spirit, a man must be rich and from the noble class to hold the highest offices, both political and military. The system has worked well for three centuries. But now a barbarian horde known as the Cimbri smashes through the northern imperial border. One humiliating defeat follows another, with losses of hundreds of thousands of Roman legionaries. Terror grips Rome and drives her into the arms of General Marius. Though he is a commoner, he has a brilliant military mind. To defeat the Cimbri, Marius will transform the Roman army and shake the Republic's political foundations to the core. It is a turning point for the Republic. Faced with the savage Cimbri, Rome must decide between dictatorship or annihilation.
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#2 - The Forest of Death
Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire - Season 1 - Episode 4
As the Roman Empire expands its reaches into what is now Germany, its legions are faced with ferocious Germanic tribesmen. In 9 AD, their chieftain, Arminius, raised in Rome as a hostage of peace, uses his Roman military training to slaughter the Roman General Varus' army at Teutoburg Forest. This landmark battle establishes the Rhine River as the frontier between the Empire and its growing barbaric enemies. Six years later, when General Germanicus sets out across the Rhine for revenge, he finds heaps of bones and severed skulls nailed to trees - a reminder of the barbarians' victory. But at the Battle of the Weser River, he faces Arminius and wins. Germanicus captures Arminius' pregnant wife, Thusnelda, and parades her through the streets of Rome, as a symbol of his triumph.
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