The History Thread
 

I've been wanting to make this forever. Let's discuss all things history before the 19th century. I know we have a lot of history fans here so let's keep it fun and not bring modern politics into this. I'll start by saying my favorite American historical period is the American Revolution. What about everyone else?

American for me would have to be immigration

Why do I get the feeling this is going to turn into the "Ask CJ, he was there." thread.

I have a feeling you want it to turn into that

I blame Benjamin Franklin for aids.

So CJ, Da Vinci was a cool guy right?

And God said "Let there be light." And CJ said, "Get me another beer or get off my lawn!"

I'm glad this started off on the right foot. :rolleyes:

"and goddamnit, if you get one of them ***** euro beers, I'll kick your ass!"

I'm glad I could help.

Aaron Burr was a real douche.

seriously though, I would love to have a conversation about how I find Columbus Day offensive and disgusting because the guy was a piece of ****.

To help GF a bit here...

Did Catesby really believe the Gunpowder plot could actually be pulled off? I mean as close is it was to happening it probably never would have worked as well as he had hoped and would only have made things worse for his cause.

terrorism isnt about how successful you are in killing, so much as it is about creating fear. if he killed a few people and scared the **** out of the rest, mission accomplished.

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...

Seemed like it had too many moving parts as well. Sort of like the Lincoln assassanation where so many things had to happen.

I always thought more of Catesby and the rest (well not Fawkes) as above a simple act of terrorism.

I agree completely with the Columbus opinion however. He was a psychopath who happened upon a certain area of land and is basically responsible for acts that led to genocide.

For all the education majors at our school almost all C&I200 classes had to read Lies My Teacher Told Me. After that all my friends, mostly girls, came to me with a 'crazy' truth that Christopher Columbus was a real asshole and killed a bunch of people. Made me chuckle.

yeah I am not up on my British history to really discuss this beyond a surface level (looking for BF_51 to come in)

well, many of the early explorers thought they were the **** because natives didnt believe in ownership, and gladly shared what they had. throw in the numbers who died from european diseases & some modern technology, you have men who find themselves to be unstoppable.

I dont see how people wouldnt assume this on their own. European with superior technology + unfamiliar diseases + ownership society = disaster for the natives.

As Brent stated, Columbus wasn't the only explorer to commit genocide. There's a big problem of how we teach exploration to the younger generations.

well, I think there is a giant gap in how we educate kids with the "disney history" of America rather than what actually went down. no one wants to know they live in a country who tried to get independence because a few people realized they could make WAY more money if they didnt have to pay British taxes, and, instead, ran the place where they lived.

He's the only one with his own holiday.

This is definitely true. Almost everything that is taught in schools is censored and kept from absolute truth. Some is redacted because it is not particularly important and there is a limited amount of time, some is not taught because the tests don't need that information, and some is left out because the teachers simply don't know themselves.

This may sound bad, but some of the dumbest people I met in College were Elementary Ed Majors. It made me think about the teachers I had in elementary schools and most of them were not the brightest people.

that's because someone, long ago, decide to celebrate the white man's accomplishments rather than acknowledge the natives who were here 10s of thousands of years prior to his trip.

that's because he discovered America. Obviously we had to give him the holiday.

And I always loved the story of the Lincoln assasination. Not the fact it happened, but the whole plot and that one of the assasins chickened out and got drunk instead of killing someone I can't remember. (Secratary of something IIRC)