I recently got into a debate with another person about this after visiting a local former slave plantation. The place is beautiful, and hosts weddings and business receptions when it's not open to stroll the gardens. The only passing mention to the location being used for slavery was a small plaque.
When I stopped and thought of the tens of millions of slaves who died on these locations, I felt that something more was owed them. In this plantation's case it is even still owned by the same family as owned slaves so many years ago.
Contrast this with the locations of former labor and concentration camps in what used to be Nazi Germany. These are solemn places for national reflection and remembrance. I fully acknowledge several differences in slavery and the Holocaust, I am not attempting to draw a direct parallel. More time has passed, etc. It is only here to provide contrast in it's presentation.
I am only wondering if other historians agree that former slave sites should be presented in a different way other than beautiful locations for photo shoots in Southern Living with a passing reference to slavery.
1 Answers 2014-06-18
I've read a bit on St. Louis and its political problems during the Civil War, and I wondered what effect that may have had on aspirations for moving west. There's a lot of information about Westward expansions before the Civil War and a lot more about it afterward, but how common was it during the war? What were commonly used trails or methods of transportation?
1 Answers 2014-06-18
This question is inspired by the question Why did pila fall out of favor for infantry? which was posted last month by /u/paladin_ranger. The question went unanswered but sparked a small discussion here.
Introduction
Early on in Roman history the pilum (javelin) became one of the iconic weapons of the Roman legionary. By all accounts the way the Romans used them - throwing them at a short distance, before engaging with their sword - was pretty effective. By the time of Vegetius however, the pilum was hardly used anymore. Vegetius says:
As to the missile weapons of the infantry, they were javelins headed with a triangular sharp iron, eleven inches or a foot long, and were called piles [pila - edXc.]. When once fixed in the shield it was impossible to draw them out, and when thrown with force and skill, they penetrated the cuirass without difficulty. At present they are seldom used by us, but are the principal weapon of the barbarian heavy-armed foot. They are called bebrae, and every man carries two or three of them to battle. (Vegetius I.XX, emphasis mine)
So by the time of Vegetius the pilum appeared to be phased out, possibly in favour of the plumbata:
The exercise of the loaded javelins [Plumbatarum - edXc.], called martiobarbuli, must not be omitted. We formerly had two legions in lllyricum, consisting of six thousand men each, which from their extraordinary dexterity and skill in the use of these weapons were discingui.shed by the same appellation. They supported for a long time the weight of all the wars and distinguished themselves so remarkably that the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian on their accession honored them with the titles of Jovian and Herculean and preferred them before all the other legions. Every soldier carries five of these javelins in the hollow of his shield. And thus the legionary soldiers seem to supply the place of archers, for they wound both the men and horses of the enemy before they come within reach of the common missile weapons. (Vegetius I.XVII)
(Thanks /u/Celebreth for the pointer to this quote.)
Actual question(s)
What do we know of the switch from the pilum to the plumbata? Why and when did the pilum, the iconic legionary weapon, fall out of favour for Roman infantry?
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In other words, was there a sort of "proto-christian" Jewish sect waiting for their messiah and then along comes this guy from Nazareth?
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I read that Aristotle considered Carthage a republic (I am aware that this term is problematic in Greek), is there credence to this claim?
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This weekly feature is a place to discuss new developments in fields of history and archaeology. This can be newly discovered documents and archaeological sites, recent publications, documents that have just become publicly available through digitization or the opening of archives, and new theories and interpretations.
2 Answers 2014-06-18
I've always wondered why the South actually invaded Northern soil. Why did they spend the vast amount of resources to invade when they could have simply hunkered down and defended their territory?
How did the politicians of the CSA react to this plan? Did Lee have to go through a chain of approval, or was he acting as a complete commander and cheif of the military?
3 Answers 2014-06-18
Polish leader Josef Pilsudski proposed the creation of a massive federation of eastern and central European states after WW1, essentially to strengthen them against Germany and the USSR. Was this plan realistic, and how was it viewed outside Poland?
1 Answers 2014-06-18
While I am certain Atlantis is just a myth, it is not that hard to imagine the SS leader believed in its existence. I heard some people claim Himmler's Ahnenerbe organization searched for it. There is apparentely a documentary called "Nazi Quest for the Holy Grail" which seems like sensationalist BS to me at first sight but it got me curious about the opinions of actual hisotrians.
1 Answers 2014-06-18
When I say "average person" I'm excluding upper class nobility. I was wondering if, say, a serf or blacksmith would be concerned or informed about the daily happenings of their monarch.
1 Answers 2014-06-18
I know the questions sounds dumb, but i have been thinking about it for a while and unable to come up with a cohesive answer.
What were some major factors that led to development of countries like USA,Canada,Australia,and a few european countries but some countries like in Africa, still don't have sanitation and electricity ?
Also, If governments of all those not-so-developed countries become ideal overnight, What can they do starting tomorrow so that their country can be on par with any developed country in the world ?
1 Answers 2014-06-18
Was it because of all those carrots they were eating? ;)
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I understand that most ordinary people were illiterate back then, so few would be able to write about their lives themselves, but there must be exceptions, right?
I've read The Tale of Genji, and even if it's not written by a Genji himself, it's still interesting to read.
Please exclude religious scriptures. Some would argue that the Bible or Koran are example of real peoples stories, and others would argue that it's the words of God. That's another post.
9 Answers 2014-06-18
How can I be sure that it wasn't just Western propaganda?
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If counties were already in place before the Revolution, why didn't the states then choose to relabel them to something less indicative of the nobility and crown? If counties were formed after the Revolution, why emulate British nobility at all?
3 Answers 2014-06-18
Someone said something about it in /r/Askreddit, but I wanted to ask the experts.
1 Answers 2014-06-18
From what I understand plans like the Seven Days to the River Rhine were always retaliatory in nature. Was there ever a movement or plans to attack the West without serious instigation?
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The Wikipedia article Slavery in Ancient Rome makes this claim about slaves and their ability to testify:
The testimony of a slave could not be accepted in a court of law unless the slave was tortured—a practice based on the belief that slaves in a position to be privy to their masters' affairs would be too virtuously loyal to reveal damaging evidence unless coerced
I'm highly skeptical of this claim, and was wondering if there's truth to this claim at all, or where the authors of the Wikipedia article may have gotten this idea from.
There's no source or cite for this particular claim, and the article doesn't mention any specific time period in Roman history. The reasoning for the law also seems rather suspicious to me as well.
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and how is it compared to before?
1 Answers 2014-06-18