The History Thread!

In Hungary we learn intesively about 16th century Hungary, when the country was divided into 3 parts, one under Austrian rule, one under Ottoman rule, and Transylvania, also under Ottoman influence and the country would only be liberated from the Ottomans at the end of the 17th century. We also learn a lot about late 17th and early 18th century Habsburg rule (particularly Leopold I and the Rakoczi rebellion and earlier the Zrinyis).

But otherwise our history education is also focused on 19th and 20th century history. I guess that's just more influential to the way we live today.

Edited by freygrilledcheese on Nov 3rd 2023 at 9:05:32 AM

Does anyone know of any good documentaries/videos about how bootleggers functioned in 1920's New York City? Would appreciate it for research a story of mine.

I don't think there is anyone that focuses on New York itself that I have seen but is part of the broader "Roaring 20's" era. Try looking around for Roaring 20's New York or New York in the 1920's. Prohibition Era New York is also a good general search term. You should find some decent stuff on Youtube these days. If it was books that would be easier.

As befitting the channel's title, Simon Whistler posted some fascinating information and lore about the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Bumping this thread with another historical thought I just remembered. Who started the tradition of a widow taking up her deceased husband's line of work? Which is one of the things the writing team of A Knight's Tale showed correctly in a movie where they otherwise went easy on the historical accuracy.

...You know, that IS an interesting that I can't find an answer to. I can find plenty of examples about socio-cultural practice of a widow being required to marry a male relative of her late husband, but not inheriting the job part.

Belated, but you might want to check out Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent. Either you will get your specific informations, or failing that give you directions to research further.

Edited by dRoy on Dec 7th 2023 at 1:33:52 AM

This is a matter of formal guild membership and inheritance laws since the Middle Ages, until the late 19th century. Traditionally women will have male guardians through their lives, except when widowed. Widows were legally speaking equal to men, which was seen as undesirable and widows were encouraged to get re-married as soon as possible. Anyhow, if their husband was a member of a guild the widow would inherit their husband's position, more or less as safe-keeping, if there were no adult sons to inherit him. There are loads of court records of lawsuits, where a merchant's widow has been sued by local merchants, especially if she did a better job at her deceased husband's business than he did. So women taking up their dead husbands' livelihoods was possible, but not necessarily approved of.

20% of 18 to 29-year-old Americans deny the Holocaust & another 30% are unsure.

Please summarize what that link is from,thank you.

Edited by Ultimatum on Dec 8th 2023 at 7:29:21 PM

Watched a video essay on the Donner Party. What's wild to me is that they probably would have had enough food to survive even trapped for winter... If they hadn't lost dozens of their livestock while crossing the Great Salt Lake Desert, either to dying, runnin away, or stolen in Native American raids.

Also one of the members, James Reed, had been exiled from the Party after getting in a fight with another member that ended fatally, heard about the troubles of the trapped party and tried to raise up a rescue party... And had to go on a "side quest" to fight in the Mexican-American War. (Apparently, he was hoping to get in good with some high-ranking officials who could help him in organizing a Relief Party, which did eventually happen)

One of my favorite YouTubers, Dr. Justin Sledge of Esoterica, recently posted a very fascinating video about the Library of Alexandria. He talks about both the history and the legends of the Library, including some parts I can't quite recall hearing about in the history classes I've taken. As some people on that very website have said, I think I learn more from watching videos on YouTube than I do from going to school.

One of my favourite channels, Modern History TV, made a video on a fruit that was very popular in Medieval times. It also had a very descriptive and crass colloquial name, open-arse, which can probably get flagged on many platforms. Besides bringing attention to changes in culinary habits, as the medlar is quite rare these days, the video also shows how societal attitudes became more prudish over time. I also like the poetic pessimistic nature of that Chaucer quote, because it is a more elaborate way of saying that "youth is wasted on the young".

Bit late to the party, but Mara 999; the archeological dig you mentioned last page is quite close to where I live. I mean, some kilometers away, I don't live in the that part of town.

Meanwhile, history tidbit I enjoyed recently was this video about the First and Last rave in Soviet Union:

This historical question came back to me (which may or may not be motivated by the constantly cold weather I’m having and my longing for the warmer weather that I love ). When did the first humans arrive in the Hawaiian Islands? I read that some historians say the earliest that they showed up might have been 124 A.D., which I admit I like the sound of the most. So while The Roman Empire was enjoying the height of its power, Hawaiian civilization was just beginning.

Edited by Demetrios on Dec 28th 2023 at 12:49:59 PM

So I am looking for suggestions on books that cover the war between the Comanche and the Apache.

Pekka Hämäläinen's Comanche Empire is a classic always worth another read.

Awesome, thanks Eagle.

Fort Huachuca: The Story of a Frontier Post by Cornelius Cole Smith Jr. covers a lot of the Comanche Wars, though it doesn't mention them (the wars) by name for whatever reason.

It might be because for a while the Spanish didn't consider it much of a war until later on. From my initial look into the first they knew of it was supposedly the Apache fleeing their lands and pushing on the Spanish very hard. Some of the Apache groups reportedly were never seen again after a point. I saw something about one of the friendly bands of Ute or some other group that reported what was going on and then Spanish soon after got very involved.

I also am looking for book recommendations, specifically anything good on 18th-19th century sailing and the Napoleonic Wars (bonus points for more information about the man himself).

It's for a Book

Edited by iowaforever on Jan 17th 2024 at 1:42:22 PM

Herman Lindqvist wrote a very entertaining book about Napoleon, partly from a Swedish perspective. This is because of the passionate hatred king Gustaf IV Adolf felt for Bonaparte, going gung-ho into the alliance against him, even when it ended up hurting Sweden a lot. Another reason for the Swedish connection of the book is Napoleon's rival Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who became king Charles XIV Johnn after Gustaf was ousted. Lindqvist is obviously fanboying over Bernadotte, but it is a fun read on the Napoleonic Wars, as well as the many modern ideas introduced during Napoleon's reign.

Bernadotte is one of my favourite personalities from the era. I love tale around his supposed "Mort aux Rois" chest tattoo, even if it turned out to be apocryphal.

Anyway, the Napoleonic Wars are a huge subject, spanning 20+ years across multiple continents and inextricably linked with the French Revolution that precedes it. You could read far beyond the famous battlefields and into their more esoteric corners – like the Indian and Southeast Asian theatres, or the turmoil in Egypt after Bonny's departure, or how the Continental System ended up kickstarting the Industrial Revolution in continental Europe.

If you want to focus on military angle, then Osprey Publishing has a lot of short volumes on the armies and campaigns of the era. Their books are very prolific, and you might be able to find some at a nearby library or secondhand bookstore. I've personally been eyeing Alexander Mikaberidze's Napoleonic Wars: A Global History, which promises to explore the war's impact beyond European soil; other than that, I've been reading Sven Beckert's Empire of Cotton, which doesn't focus on the Napoleonic Wars per se but has some choice bits on their impact on Europe's pivotal textile industries.

As for the naval side of things, I'd recommend Nicholas A.M. Rodger's The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy. It explains in lavish detail the 18th-19th century British Royal Navy, the institutions it's founded on, its seagoing logistics and the people who crewed it.

Edited by eagleoftheninth on Jan 19th 2024 at 12:40:28 PM

"Warlords of Ancient Mexico: How the Mayans and Aztecs Ruled for More Than a Thousand Years" by Peter G. Tsouras (Author)

Is a good book. He goes over a rather extensive history detailing regional conflicts, conquests, political maneuvers, and ambitious leaders right up to the conquest by Cortez.

I've seen Bernadotte's royal uniform at an exhibit of the 200th anniversary of the Finnish War. The man was huge, especially for a time-period where the average Frenchman was under 170 cm tall.

I heard that’s where the cliche and misconception that Napoleon was short came from; he liked to surround himself with bodyguards who were taller than him.