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.
The Second Battle of Bull Run is often brought up as notable because of the fact that it attracted spectators who expected an easy Union victory. I've always wondered how common spectators were at other battles throughout history. Are there any other notable instances of this kind of thing happening?
I didn't see the person's name to tag them u/Howling_puppy42 but I wanted to share my thoughts on their question; How would castles adapt to flying creatures or dragons, and other magical weapons in fantasy settings since they take so much from medieval Europe.
I've always thought there would be a greater focus on building hoardings and hoards along castle walls and towers, possibly building them as inclosed stone archways, with arrow slits in the roof of course. They would be built with thicker timbers in any case.
There would probably be an increased focus on massive bergfrieds or donjons with theirown hoards on top from which to shoot down and up from a higher level.
Your average fire breathing dragon still has to swoop in to burn the town. That means getting within arrow shot of the walls and towers.
AND I have a near perfect real world example of the design I'm looking for; Château de Coucy
Your Weekly /r/askhistorians Recap
Friday, May 28 - Thursday, June 03
###Top 10 Posts
| score | comments | title & link |
|---|---|---|
| 5,979 | 112 comments | [Meta] Say Hello to Our Little Friends! Introducing William Snoollace and the Empress Dowager Snooxi! |
| 4,120 | 132 comments | [Monday Methods] “Who is This Child?” An Indigenous History of the Missing & Murdered |
| 4,096 | 69 comments | Why are Greek/Roman ruins so much better preserved than Persian? |
| 3,907 | 133 comments | Is Noam Chomsky's claim that all postwar US presidents would be guilty of war crimes under the Nuremberg principles accurate? |
| 3,735 | 73 comments | A 1944 comic in which Lex Luthor uses an atomic bomb was delayed until 1946 upon request by the War Department to protect the secrecy of the Manhattan Project. How would the US government know what comic storylines were in the works? |
| 3,211 | 32 comments | In The USSR, even during the height of Stalin's repression, they did not dare to censor or to suppress pre-revolutionary masterpieces of Russian poetry and literature. How much do we know about availability of classic Korean literature in North Korea? |
| 3,141 | 25 comments | In 1500, a traveler from Venice in England found it striking that children of all social classes were put to work from early ages, in jobs of different status to reflect their wealth. Was the childhood of the English children very different from that of children in the rest of Europe at the time? |
| 3,009 | 114 comments | Were there any 'losers' in the Columbian Exchange - vegetables or fruits that ended up being dropped from popular consumption in either the Americas or Europe because they were replaced by something better in their culinary niches? |
| 2,375 | 129 comments | Where does the stereotypical skull and crossbones flag actually originate? Pirates or Hollywood? |
| 2,134 | 50 comments | Caesar's German cavalry were accompanied by light infantrymen, "who were accustomed to engage among them." Caesar famously employed similar tactics at Pharsalus, when he surreptitiously embedded infantry amongst his cavalry. Was this tactic as unique as Caesar portrays? Did it become a new norm? |
###Top 10 Comments
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Hello historians!
I have a question that seemed a little too broad, current and political to be its own post in the subreddit, so, after asking the mods, this seemed like the best option.
If there's anyone here with knowledge of US Presidential history, elections, and succession, could you offer some perspective on the historical veracity of some of these claims? Found these on Reddit yesterday. Some of them seemed potentially dubious — absolute statements with words like "first ... ever" are especially a red flag. The one about "First ever to accuse his predecessor of not being an American," is one that stood out. (I feel like there are a lot of shocking examples of political backbiting in the first 100 years of American history.) Also, "First ever elected with the help of a foreign nation," seems like it could be vulnerable to some sort of technical or semantic objection.
Are there counterexamples to any of the things on the list? I have no real agenda here; I just want to be careful not to blindly accept facts from a meme.
Meta: Hey mods, can we get a link to RemindMeBot in the stickied comment? Please?
Edit: nevermind, I'm an idiot
In braveheart, Mel Gibson talks about going on a pilgrimage. What would the status of Jerusalem been at that time? Could he have gone or had the Christians lost it at that point? Also. What are the odds someone makes it from Scotland to Jerusalem and back at that time?
Well, this question has been bothering me for a while now so let's see what happens...
There is a debate in early United States History going on right now between the 1619 group and their rivals, the 1776 group I believe. Now then, all the opinions I'm hearing are coming form non historians ( journalist and politicians) and while I have asked my historian friends what they think, I wanted to know what the larger sect of historians think about it. Wether you agree with one side or another, or of you think both are wrong or that they are right.
I personally think that they are both wrong only because they are highlighting certain parts of the history, the birth of the nation. Or removing parts of it, or changing the date of 'events'. This is doing a disservice to the whole picture.
Well, what do you all think about it?
Also, if you don't know what is being discussed I'll post a link to the 1619 project and it's rebuttal, with the mods permission of course.
Hypothetically how would contemporary medieval warfare adapt in response to high fantasy elements such as flying mounts and magic explosives?
When people in the West Indies took up a collection to send Alexander Hamilton to school in New York did they expect him to comeback and put his education to use?