The History Boffins Thread

[Elkie]

As you may have guessed, this thread is about history. Please try and keep this thread to the history boffins, or people who have a general interest in history. (Sorry if there is any spelling or grammar mistakes, wrote this quite quickly)

Please, I want serious replies, and not bullshit ones from people saying 'I dont care about history'. I'm actually very interested in peoples favourite part of history; and I'm looking foward to seeing why people love it.

Basically I want you to write one or two stages of history that you enjoy learning about; whether it is from books or films, anything that attracts you to that time of history or why you got into that period of history.

I'll start things off with the two areas of history that I find fascinating and do in-depth research into. If you could write why you like your certain area of history please share.



Rise and fall of the Zulu empire - 1788 - 1879.
The American Civil War - 1861 - 1865.

Why? Rise and fall of the Zulu empire-

When I was very young I first saw the film 'Zulu' which my father showed to me at the age of about 5-6; when watching the film I fell in love with the fact that so few could kill many men, and for that reason from a very young age I researched into the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879. The most fascinating thing about the subject was learning about the battle of Isandlwana where the British suffered a huge defeat (One of the worst in British history) to the hands of the Zulu's. When moving on to further studies about the Zulu's I came across 'Shaka Zulu' and since the age of Nine till present day I have been doing much research into the way's of the Zulu's between the periods of 1788 - 1879. (I would like tons but would get to far into it)/

Why? The American Civil War - 1861 - 1865

Again at a young age of about 9 and my interest in the Zulu empire ever growing, my father showed me the film 'Gettysburg' which sprung a very keen interest in the American Civil War; when researching into the American civil war I came across many books where I would spend hours of my time reading through them and learning more and more about the war. At a later age of about 16 with my knowledge of the Zulu empire already at degree level and my knowledge of the American Civil War hitting a high point, I came across the books written by Shelby Foote, which sprung such a huge interest that I would find myself reading for atleast 2 hours a night into his books with true fascination for every word.

Hopefully this will be a cool thread and interesting; if people can be bothered to actually write lol.

 

[old.Tohtori]

Please try and keep this thread to the history boffins, or people who have a general interest in history.

There's yer problem, that's just an invitation for all the...you know. Us.

if people can be bothered to actually write lol.

*looks around*

*looks under carpet*

lol?

Ok ok, seriously though, interesting fact i've said before:

The UK and other nations such as mhmhmmhmhm and mhmhm declared war on Russia and Finland back in WW2. Nothing there.

War went on, Russia and the Allied joined forces, Finland included, to defeat the Axis.

UK declared peace with Russia, but happened to forget to declare peace with Finland.

Can't remember if it was the Soviet or Russia, but the same point stands;

To this day, Finland and the UK have been at war

 

[Overdriven]

*Throws desserts at Toht* Take that! HA!

 

[old.Tohtori]

*Throws desserts at Toht* Take that! HA!

*takes desserts to Denial*

I win!

 

[Overdriven]

*takes desserts to Denial*

I win!

I've had some seriously bad encounters with Karma over the last week She's been very very mean towards me.

 

[Huntingtons]

the industrial period where farmers moved to the city around 1700 (depending on country etc) is what makes me tickle. really like the late 1700 early 1900 in most cases cept the high society areas

 

[ilaya]

To this day, Finland and the UK have been at war

Great Britain was at war with Germany until 1990.

 

[Levin]

I've always been very interested in history. My attention has shifted a bit over the years. During school and up until perhaps five years ago I was mostly interested in the 1600's. This is the time when Sweden's power was at its peak and we had our own little "empire" engulfing pretty much the entire Baltic Sea. Reading about life back then, not just the wars but how people actually lived - always interested me because it was so very different from now.

Recently, or well, some five years ago, I started to interest myself more in the ancient times, particularly the era of S.P.Q.R (Senatus Populusque Romanus) which ended with Julius Caesar. This interest was sparked from (I'm almost ashamed to admit) playing various Rome: Total war modifications which incluced a lot more historical facts (as opposed to the vanilla game which had silly things in it) not just about Rome but of all the ancient powers back in that time. I had NO IDEA there was a huge empire called the Seleucid Empire before I started getting into this. I also had no idea it was founded by Seleucos, one of Alexander's generals that split his empire after he died. I did not know about the Roman consul Crassus who failed to conquer Parthia and was made to drink gold until he died by the Parthian king (or so the story goes). All these lives, all these fates, all these different civilizations... so long ago they were so very much like us in so many ways, but yet so far removed in time. It will never cease to fascinate me.

 

[Raven]

The industrial revolution has always interested me, i love watching Fred Dibna (RIP ) and the Industrial Revelations programs on Discovery. I am also quite interested in Pre Roman - 1066 Britain.

 

[Golena]

All that stuff that happened a long time ago in a falaxy far far away!!!

Sorry Elkie..

 

[kirennia]

Just prior to 1BC. Whatever government official dreamt up having the bible written to keep the population in line was an absolute genius. 2000 years on and it's still a fantastic guide to keeping peace within neighbouring cities. So long as those neighbours people don't have different views of course

One of the smartest moments in human history. I'd of loved to of known exactly what happened with its writtings.

 

[Jeremiah]

Just prior to 1BC. Whatever government official dreamt up having the bible written to keep the population in line was an absolute genius. 2000 years on and it's still a fantastic guide to keeping peace within neighbouring cities.

The first 5 books of the bible were written 1200 years before 0BCE, know your stuff! =)

On Topic:

I loved the Russian Civil War history, all the politics involved, and all the craziness during the war. Its just unfortunate it paved the way for an evil dictatorship.

Scottish history is pretty interesting too, although it mainly involves us killing each other over a bull or something. We were never too good at being organised, even when we were fighting the English, we were fighting ourselves as well.

 

[Raven]

The first 5 books of the bible were written 1200 years before 0BCE, know your stuff! =).

and heavily revised to con simple folk when the church became the money maker it was


Note: Simple folk, i mean the gullible simple folk of the middle ages who bankrolled the church in return for being told they would go to hell if they didnt.

 

[Megarevs]

The industrial revolution has always interested me, i love watching Fred Dibna (RIP ) and the Industrial Revelations programs on Discovery. I am also quite interested in Pre Roman - 1066 Britain.

The year 1066 wasn't pre roman, but post roman.

The historical periods that intrest me is anything with the Roman Empire, the Vikings, the crusades in the middle east, the 100 year war and the industrial revolution.

 

[Jeremiah]

and heavily revised to con simple folk when the church became the money maker it was


Note: Simple folk, i mean the gullible simple folk of the middle ages who bankrolled the church in return for being told they would go to hell if they didnt.

I dont want to drag this thread off-topic, so I'll be quiet.

 

[Raven]

The year 1066 wasn't pre roman

errr. i didnt say it was pre roman - 1066 (the - bit meaning up to)



(unsure why i need to explain what a - means )

 

[tris-]

i would like to have been alive at the time of 'jesus' to see exactly what this guy did that was so special. i believe its impossible to know now, as the bible is stories etc right? we all know stories are told in a way that favours the people telling them, so how can we possibly know what was going on?

i do like reading about 'sacred' areas though, like the dome of rock.

 

[Raven]

I dont want to drag this thread off-topic, so I'll be quiet.

Why? its part of our history, i will concede the church has done a lot to help develop civilization (as much as it has done to hinder us) but it has also been a corrupt institution, from loan sharking and charging people money for them to pray for them once they are dead to outright theft of land and property. Middle age Christianity bears a lot of similarity with todays islam

 

[old.Tohtori]

Great Britain was at war with Germany until 1990.

Bet if you(general you) look at things/history, you'd realise that there's more wars going on then one could count

 

[Megarevs]

errr. i didnt say it was pre roman - 1066 (the - bit meaning up to)



(unsure why i need to explain what a - means )

pfft
=> this means up to
i saw it as an explanation to the preroman thing

 

[Marc]

I enjoy reading about the second world war. Id love to sit down with an old war veteran and listen to his stories.

Bottom line, the Industrial might of America and an out of work ship designer won the war for the allies.

 

[Elkie]

I enjoy reading about the second world war. Id love to sit down with an old war veteran and listen to his stories.

My Uncle's father served at Omaha Beach it was amazing hearing his stories; at times he would break down into tears but wanted to carry on telling me what it was really like. I think now I realise how lucky I am to have someone tell me about the true horrors of the second world war.

 

[old.Tohtori]

I enjoy reading about the second world war. Id love to sit down with an old war veteran and listen to his stories.

Bottom line, the Industrial might of America and an out of work ship designer won the war for the allies.

Better hurry up, those war vets are groaking faster then paris hilton goes down on a shlong(ok poor P.H. joke, but i'm tired).

Reasons are a many for the loss of Nazi Germany, but one was the amazingly silly idea of fighting two fronts. I believe that was the reason it went t*ts up at the end.

 

[Marc]

Better hurry up, those war vets are groaking faster then paris hilton goes down on a shlong(ok poor P.H. joke, but i'm tired).

Reasons are a many for the loss of Nazi Germany, but one was the amazingly silly idea of fighting two fronts. I believe that was the reason it went t*ts up at the end.

For every bullet the Germans could produce, the allies could produce a thousand. For every tank, the allies could produce a hundred. 4 months before the end of war, a high ranking nazi official was captured, and on route to the allied barracks, he saw fields upon fields of weapons and armour. He turned to the allies and said "there is no way Germany can win this war with the resources you have at your disposal"

But yeah, there were other contributing factors, but overall, the industrial might of america was the biggest influence.

 

[old.Tohtori]

But yeah, there were other contributing factors, but overall, the industrial might of america was the biggest influence.

Well, then we have to dig deeper, since america was(initially) not even gonna bother with the war.

They were a bit "miffed" at supply ships being sunk, but nothing major was gonna come from that.

then came the japanese and, well, pearl harbor and that about did it.

So basically germans lost because the japanese attacked the US.

And that again, was initially started back in September 18th, 1931, when The Japanese invaded Manchuria(china).

Which lead to the whole US blockading japan, why japan attacked the US etc.

 

[Levin]

In my opinion, a big reason why Germany lost the war is that Britain was never defeated. So why were they not able to take Britain? Mostly this was misuse of Luftwaffe who were made to bomb people instead of military resources and factories. The moral of the people was never broken, and thus the effect was nil. While outnumbered, RAF was thus given time to grow stronger and slowly but surely chew at the German bombers until they had to give up.

Had Germany managed to occupy Britain in 1940-1941, Hitler would have had his back free when he started operation Barbarossa. He wanted Russia's oil fields in Caucasus to continue the war so it was not an option to not attack them. In Russia, they lost because of failed supply chains, and of course the idiocy of Hitler when he forbade General Paulus to retreat to avoid being encircled with his 500000+ men.

Stalingrad, Midway and el Alamein were big turning points, but it's indeed interesting to look at the *real* causes behind things.

 

[Naetha]

I'm a sucker for "popular" history, especially if its been written about by Bernard Cornwell or Conn Iggulden. I'm particularly interested in pre-norman Britain, in particular the dark ages until the 10th century.

I also love traditional Greek history up to Alexander the Great, Roman history (although I'm not as hot on this as I'd like to be) and the history of Ghenghis Khan and the Mongolian empire. As time goes on and I read more books, there will be more and more bits of history I'll enjoy.

Programmes on the Discovery Channel (or whichever one it is) such as Engineering an Empire I find absolutely fascinating, and its this kind of detail rather than royal scandals or anything that I find stimulating. I'm intrigued by how and why people for example dug covered aqueducts for thousands of miles to irrigate palaces in the middle of the Persian desert years before the Romans had thought of it.

 

[Levin]

I'm a sucker for "popular" history, especially if its been written about by Bernard Cornwell or Conn Iggulden.

I just discovered Iggulden too! What I like about him is how he, at least in his series about Caesar, notes in the back of the book which things he had to change for the sake of the story. Saves people from being miseducated, and is a very sympathic thing to do.

 

[Naetha]

I just discovered Iggulden too! What I like about him is how he, at least in his series about Caesar, notes in the back of the book which things he had to change for the sake of the story. Saves people from being miseducated, and is a very sympathic thing to do.

Very similar to what Bernard Cornwell does - if you like Conn Iggulden, I'd really recommend anything by Bernard Cornwell - I'm not as keen on his Sharpe stuff, but the hundred years war, Arthurian Britain and Danish / Saxon war books are excellent.

 

[old.Tohtori]

but it's indeed interesting to look at the *real* causes behind things.

And also to realise how "insignificant" matters can turn into world changing events.

Kinda gives a new meaning to "anyone can make a difference".

If a single attack from japan to china changed how the world is today, the actions you take, can easily effect how your town/city is. If not indeed more.