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.
On a different note, I've uploaded my MA thesis and one of my term papers on WW1 doctrine from during my Master's degree at Royal Military College, both of which rely heavily on primary sources. The links are:
Thesis on WW1 British Cavalry doctrine: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CRXmV7pRr8Q9wQvzjaWJNooz7yI-5NR0/view?usp=sharing
Paper on WW1 British infantry and trenches: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sy04uweQ45s5GFY0E2F_O7UfQ8vYRhWm/view?usp=sharing
For those who are interested in naval history, the Naval Institute Press is offering their 20% member discount on their books to all customers along with free shipping in the continental United States until the end of this month.
(I ordered a set of Morison's operational history of the US Navy from them yesterday.)
Every week some discord buddies and I have a movie night. A different person picks a movie and we all gather to watch it, roast it, celebrate it, and just generally have a good time. Last week we watched Akira and ended up having a really good chat about the 'history' of classic movies. A big part of the talk was the fact that a pretty big majority of the group generally didn't like the movie at all, but thought that its still the kind of thing everyone should see because its historically important for anime and sci fi. Turning it over in my brain space for the week, there's a ton of movies that I think people should watch despite being bad, outdated, or that I'm just not that crazy about.
So I turn to you redditors for your thoughts this Friday. What are some movies that you think deserve to be watched for the 'history' behind them? What is that history? What about stuff that you think is overhyped but still good to see?
Your Weekly /r/askhistorians Recap
Friday, June 12 - Thursday, June 18
###Top 10 Posts
| score | comments | title & link |
|---|---|---|
| 9,376 | 144 comments | Christopher Columbus was arrested and ostracised for a long list of well documented tyrannical and brutal acts in the New World, and for incompetence as governor of Spain's earliest colonies. How did he go from a disgraced figure to one who is celebrated by statues, and even his own holiday? |
| 7,748 | 315 comments | Despite representing only 4.4 percent of the world's population, the U.S houses 22 percent of its prisoners. What are the historical reasons for the U.S's incredibly large prison population? |
| 7,289 | 158 comments | I've heard that "hunting accident" is code for a monarch or noble having an undesirable son quietly disposed of (or more generally assassination). Is this true? |
| 6,649 | 215 comments | In a game as ancient as chess, why is the queen the most powerful piece, considering the fact that women were not allowed to fight in any capacity? |
| 4,841 | 123 comments | Did Roman soldiers ever fatten themselves up to carry extra calories for long marches? |
| 4,205 | 143 comments | Who came up with the idea to make chinstraps too short to actually go under the chin? |
| 3,975 | 23 comments | In 62 B.C. Cicero bought a huge house from Marcus Crassus for 3.5 million sestertii. How did the money change hands? |
| 3,735 | 48 comments | Alexandre Dumas' father Thomas-Alexandre was descended from a French noble and a slave of African descent. He also became the highest-ranking man of mixed African descent ever in a European army, during the French Revolutionary Wars. What do we know of attitudes/discrimination towards him in France? |
| 3,722 | 40 comments | I'm a tailor in Regency London and Sir Richard Dastardly, a rakish baronet, is ignoring my bills. How would I as a small business owner deal with this? |
| 2,707 | 156 comments | How did Winston Churchill become so revered in the modern UK? |
###Top 10 Comments
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Anyone have a fear for an ancient culture or something? It's super weird but I have that with Ancient Egyptians though I find them fascinating af. I'll flip through wikipedia or a podcast and bam, I'll see some old relic of a face or something and get the shit scared out of me.
On the same note, I'm really loving Dominic Perry and his history of Ancient Egypt podcast, he makes great use of sound effects in the background, and has a very soothing voice. I might be inclined to buy some books on the matter or study it more in college, if only it weren't such a saturated field of study. I guess I'll just play some Assassin's Creed to compensate.
My brother is spewing out politics like a good majority of people today and one of his latest takes is that since Abraham Lincoln was a republican and abolished slavery, slave holders wishing to secede from the south are therefore Democrats and Democrats from today are the same as slave holders who wanted to secede, i.e. the people that put up confederate related statues.
Is a political party from 200 years ago similar at all to a modern political party?
Can anybody recommend some good Anglo Saxon historical fiction?