Prompt Cast
Decimation in Ancient Rome: A Brutal Form of Military Punishment
TLDR Decimation was a brutal form of punishment in ancient Rome where soldiers who broke ranks would be divided into groups of ten, and the soldier who drew the shortest straw would be beaten to death by the other nine. It was not a common punishment, but was used as a last resort by generals and was also practiced in other historical periods such as World War I and World War II.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
Decimation in ancient Rome was a brutal form of punishment inflicted by the military.
01:34
Decimation was a form of punishment in ancient Rome that required discipline in the military.
02:51
Decimation was a punishment in ancient Rome where soldiers who broke ranks would be divided into groups of ten, and the soldier who drew the shortest straw would be beaten to death by the other nine.
04:08
Decimation was not a common punishment in ancient Rome, but it was used as a last resort by generals, with the first recorded example occurring in 471 BC and the next case not happening for over 400 years.
05:27
Decimation was not practiced by Julius Caesar, but he did threaten to use it against the 9th Legion in the Civil War, while Mark Anthony actually carried out a decimation on one of his legions during the war against the Persians.
06:40
The Theban Legion, a group of Christian soldiers, were repeatedly decimated until all 6,666 men were killed, and decimation was also practiced in the 20th century during World War I.
08:03
Decimation was also practiced during the Russian Civil War and World War II, and in the Middle Ages, it referred to a tithe given to the church.
