Today:
You know the drill: this is the thread for all your history-related outpourings that are not necessarily questions. Minor questions that you feel don't need or merit their own threads are welcome too. Discovered a great new book, documentary, article or blog? Has your Ph.D. application been successful? Have you made an archaeological discovery in your back yard? Did you find an anecdote about the Doge of Venice telling a joke to Michel Foucault? Tell us all about it.
As usual, moderation in this thread will be relatively non-existent -- jokes, anecdotes and light-hearted banter are welcome.
I was chatting briefly with someone who's in the process of completing an undergraduate degree in history, and he was lamenting that a fluke of circumstance will see him forced to take at least one very intensive course in a subject that is totally alien to his interests and expertise. Think something like a specialist in the modern British armed forces having to suddenly learn all of the theory behind -- and write a pile of essays about -- something like 15th c. French culinary history.
It makes me wonder: have you ever had to take a class that was wildly outside of your initial comfort zone? What did it involve, and how did it go?
In case anyone wants a cool poster, I leave here a tweet by Ruta Elcano which contains a link to a digitisation of the Juan de la Cosa map from the year 1500. The image is some 100 MB. I'm going to have it printed and hang it in the living room.
Hello everyone! I'm currently in a game of Crusader Kings where Ireland (despite being an AI player) has conquered all of Europe and deep into Africa. What are some of your favorite "That's not historically accurate..." moments? Either in games, books, shows, whatever! What moment is great, but also so totally wrong.
I recently gave a presentation on how the Embargo of 1807 was a key factor regarding how mercantilistic policies were viewed in the US.
Your Weekly /r/askhistorians Recap
Friday, May 22 - Thursday, May 28
###Top 10 Posts
| score | comments | title & link |
|---|---|---|
| 6,361 | 214 comments | A common trope in RPGs is very aggressive fauna. as in if you come across a wolf. that wolf will fight you to the death. How concerned would a medieval traveler be of encountering aggressive wildlife? |
| 5,501 | 43 comments | After the US elections of 1876, I understand that both sides claimed victory and that the incumbent (Grant) was prepared to declare martial law out of fears of two competing inaugurations. How close were we to having a second civil war? |
| 5,174 | 91 comments | In the film 'A Knight's Tale', on two occasions, Edward, 'The Black Prince' reveals his identity to the surprise and shock of crowds who know him immediately to be the Prince of Wales. How identifiable were Kings and Queens, would your everyday Peasant be able to recognise their Monarch in a crowd? |
| 5,110 | 87 comments | I'm a young disaffected Irishman in Derry in 1970. How do I join the IRA? What was it like to be in it? |
| 4,798 | 174 comments | I apologise if this is a stupid question, but how could the Nazis tell the difference between Jews and everyone else? And why did the Jewish people identify themselves during the breakout of the Warsaw ghettos? Could they not have worn the star of David and blended in/survived? |
| 4,050 | 64 comments | I’ve seen photos purporting to be women wearing strap-ons in the 1920s. What’s the history of strap-on dildos? How old are they? [NSFW] [Serious] |
| 3,988 | 51 comments | How did Asia (specifically the east i.ie China, Korea, Japan) react to the introduction of coffee into their respective commerce and societies, particularly for countries who have such rich culture and tradition surrounding tea. |
| 3,822 | 153 comments | Why is salt & pepper so universal across American diners? Was this a result of a adversting campaign or a national restaurant culture? When did it began? |
| 3,742 | 151 comments | It's not uncommon for dreamcatchers to be sold as souvenirs to tourists to prevent nightmares. They are marketed as Native American. Did any Native American groups actually use dreamcatchers or are they a misappropriation of NA culture? If legit, what did these objects mean for indigenous people? |
| 3,508 | 79 comments | Before the invention of anything to prevent pregnancy, were prostitutes just pregnant all the time? What happened to their babies? |
###Top 10 Comments
If you would like this roundup sent to your reddit inbox every week send me a message with the subject 'askhistorians'. Or if you want a daily roundup, use the subject 'askhistorians daily'. Or send me a chat with either askhistorians or askhistorians daily.
See my wiki to learn how to customize your roundups
####Please let me know if you have suggestions to make this roundup better for /r/askhistorians or if there are other subreddits that you think I should post in. I can search for posts based off keywords in the title, URL and flair. And I can also find the top comments overall or in specific threads.
I have a question that I don't think merits its own thread... I'm still a student and currently have to start planning my thesis (Argentina licentiate thesis - would be a bachelor's I think). I live in a small touristic town that could 100% be considered periphery, so I'm leaning towards a local take on the development of rock & punk during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. Having said this, I'd love to have more information about the development of anti-establishment musical genres during authoritarian regimes around the world. Can anyone suggest related bibliography?
For Argentina specifically I think I'm covered, but any suggestion is more than welcome.
Thanks!
Ok so not a question really but I have always been interested in the viking berserkers. I heard diffrent accounts that they wore bear skin and others that say they just wore very little. Most of the accounts I read say they would enter in a primal rage. Does anyone have anything more on these guys?
This may be a silly question. Or there may not be any reason idk.
I was wondering why they used African or black slaves in early America instead of the native peoples?
British colonists were killing off the native peoples but then paying and going through the trouble of bringing people from a whole other continent.
I've always wanted to pursue a history Degree and have a minor in modern warfare from 1865 to present (it was the minor you got for doing the ROTC program at my college) but was constantly told, even by history advisors, that it's not a good field to get into unless you just want to teach. Is the myth of the sexy history or researcher just that, a myth? For context I graduated college in 2009 which did not exactly have the hottest job market.
Second history related question from my own research but I was afraid to start my own thread about it, I studied this extensively in my history classes in college even though it wasn't really related to my work at the time but everything I can find seems to point to the fact that the current crop of Islamic extremist leaders in the middle east all point back to Mohammed Amin al-Husseini or "The Nazi Sheik" as he was known. All of the older extremist leaders of today were either taught directly by him or his disciples and the younger extremist leadership was taught by those peoeple. Prior to the Nazi support of the Sheik and the weapons and propaganda campaign they helped him with he was little known and marginalized and Muslim/Jewish relations were not anywhere near as tense as today. Even today in random battlefields all over the middle east you can still find caches of Nazi weapons, we were personally fired at by an artillery piece with a Nazi stamp on the barrel and there are some famous photos floating around showing the large cache of STG-44's they found and used in Syria.
My question was do you think it's fair to place the blame mostly at the feet of the Nazi Sheik and the Nazis in general for the current middle east state of affairs or do you think its just one factor and how big of a factor do you think it plays into the instability of the region? (And secondarily does it even matter).
Thanks, love history.
Does anyone know if it's possible to read both Nietzsche's original works, as well as his sister's edited versions?
It would be interesting to compare.
His sister famously edited his books to fit her nazi ideals.
In norse mythology, Thor has a chariot pulled by goats... dog sleds are a thing...
Do you think there was an enterprising herdsmen who tried to strap a couple of sheep to a cart to get around town?
This is probably the most common question on the sub so I'm not gonna bother making my own post about it but can someone break down exactly how close the Civil War was? Was the south the plucky underdog that held their all or did they (or really we, in my case, I guess technically lol) soundly get their asses kicked for being in over their heads?
I'm looking for an old style chat room where I can post History related topics.
Links welcome.
I am a union bricklayer and stone mason in the United States. Almost everyone I work with signs their initials on their tools in a very similar style which I would describe as ligature or a very plain monogram. For instance if someone’s name was Andrew Ericsson I could almost guarantee their wooden levels and stone hammers would have Æ written on them. I use this example since I can type that A-E glyph on my phone but it would look exactly the same with any two letters. They are always written in plain uppercase block script with the two letters joined together in a way that reminds me of Germanic bind runes.
I have never been able to gain any reasoning beyond tradition for this phenomenon and I cannot find info or figure out a proper way to search for this online. Does anyone have any clue of what I am talking about or possible conjectures into this tradition? I have not noticed it in other trades but considering masonry is such a old and traditional trade I’m wondering if there is deep historical roots here.
Early 19th Century Economic history... oh god, how I loathed it. I'm... not good with numbers... That's why I became a historian of antiquity; all the numbers are taken with a pinch of salt! Which is your wages. But not in numbers.