Simple/Short/Silly History Questions Saturday!

Submitted by AutoModerator t3_xsti7j in history

Welcome to our Simple/Short/Silly history questions Saturday thread!

This thread is for all those history related questions that are too simple, short or a bit too silly to warrant their own post.

So, do you have a question about history and have always been afraid to ask? Well, today is your lucky day. Ask away!

Of course all our regular rules and guidelines still apply and to be just that bit extra clear:

Questions need to be historical in nature. Silly does not mean that your question should be a joke. r/history also has a discord server where you can discuss history with other enthusiasts and experts

27

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

Larielia t1_iqn6wne wrote

I started reading "In the Name of Rome" by Adrian Goldsworthy. What are some other good books or lectures about the ancient Roman military?

5

wjbc t1_iqosvg5 wrote

Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon, by B. H. Liddell Hart. This focuses on the war with Carthage, particularly with Hannibal. Scipio Africanus was the Roman who defeated Hannibal.

Caesar's Legion: The Epic Saga of Julius Caesar's Elite Tenth Legion and the Armies of Rome, by Stephen Dando-Collins. As the title suggest, this focuses on a much later period, during and sometime after the career of Julius Caesar.

2

getBusyChild t1_iqmg6l9 wrote

After he defeated Prussia, Austria, and Russia. Why did Napoleon not restore the Poland-Lithuanian commonwealth?

4

Thibaudborny t1_iqnnsvk wrote

Grand Duchy of Warsaw was a move in that direction, that is not the PLC itself, but a 4th political power between the other 3 Eastern European powerhouses. Keep in mind doing so was antagonizing these. Napoleon defeated them, sure, but not completely. That is not how war worked unless you are Napoleon after Moscow and Europe has had enough. If you want geopolitical stability & not war after war each few years, then at some point you want to create a stable political context. Messing with Poland was one of the (many) reasons that served to perpetually antagonize in particular Russia & caused Napoleon to get in too deep.

5

Phokasi t1_iqpju7g wrote

I would argue that geopolitical stability actually depended on creating more powerful counters to Prussia, Russia, and Austria. He needed a more powerful Poland than just the Grand Duchy, and he needed to split Hungary off from Austria and make it more powerful.

Otherwise you would have to believe that Prussia, Russia, and Austria would just accept the geopolitical situation with France as a hegemon and not fight France again. I don't think that would be possible. French hegemony was inherently unstable unless Napoleon could pit other European states against each other.

1

Thibaudborny t1_iqpy7dt wrote

While I follow the sentiment, the contemporary reality was that Napoleon had done something no previous French monarch had even done: he tied together the eastern & western European spheres. By creating the Polish satellite he ensured that Russia for example would forever ‘haunt’ him till the end of his days. Russia had been generally lukewarm about what was happening in France up until then, no more so after that point.

1

yeah_yeah_therabbit t1_iqn9xbj wrote

Were flaming arrows and those big, spiky wooden balls they always set on fire, really used in battle?

It seems like every medieval battle in movies has flaming arrows being sent at the enemy and those big fiery, spiky things rolling thru the battlefield.

4

Thibaudborny t1_iqnnh3c wrote

No, not at all, this is really peak hollywood fantasy to make things flashy. Fire arrows were seldom used, and only in specific contexts, certainly not in battle.

But cinematically it is ‘nice’.

12

yeah_yeah_therabbit t1_iqorr8f wrote

What would be a context flaming arrows would be used? To set fire to rooftops?

3

jrhooo t1_iqp9bxs wrote

That's my understanding. Basically a two part tactic.

Small benefit, you could hope the fire arrows actually start fires in the enemies area, but

Bigger benefit, when you're talking about siege warfare, you start shooting firestarters over the wall, someone has to go put them out before they actually do cause a real problem. So all the people having to run around dousing out these stupid arrows are people that AREN'T helping defend the wall.

4

Bashstash01 t1_iqr2lku wrote

It seems to me that fire arrows aren't very helpful, as you can't just take a regular arrow and light it on fire. You have to add things on there, usually a cage-like tip, to have any flames. This decreases range, accuracy, and rate of fire. I think your analysis is correct, just adding on.

7

jezreelite t1_iqryncx wrote

Incendiary weapons were most often used in three situations: naval battles, sieges, and pillaging.

I'm not an expert on medieval warfare by any means, but you generally don't see any type of fire weapon being used much in pitched battles.

2

skyblueandblack t1_iqoskc7 wrote

Incendiary birds work better, at least if you're Genghis Khan.

1

yeah_yeah_therabbit t1_iqowstn wrote

W-what? Was this a real thing?

1

FinelyFudgedFancy t1_iqpor35 wrote

Where did the rumours that Margaret thatcher was 1/4 Ugandan originate?

Even when asked in the commons she didn’t deny it.

Perhaps it was a mere rumour around the area I grew up. Any help would be great!

4

Bashstash01 t1_iqr1c9x wrote

It may have just been where you grew up, as I've never heard of it, nor can I find it. Can you perhaps link me to some sources about this rumor?

8

Delta_Mike_Sierra_ t1_iqm6pzw wrote

Are there more examples of the funny graffiti found at Pompeii, not just in the Roman empire but worldwide

3

phillipgoodrich t1_iqqrlqf wrote

Along the lines of your question, Bart Ehrmann, who reads classical Greek and Latin fluently, comments about the margin notes in various early manuscripts of individual New Testament books, along the lines of "Do not alter this, it is important" and "I had to alter this because they used the wrong word," etc. This accounts for the 85,000 word discrepancy in a compilation that comprises 110,000 words.

5

calijnaar t1_iqmb235 wrote

As far as Roman graffiti goes, the best preserved examples are probably the one from Pompeii, for obvious reasons. But there are also examples from Hadrian's Wall and visitors to Egypt basically already wrote "I was here" on all kinds of monuments in Roman times.

I can't tell you anything about non-Roman acient graffiti, unfortunately (except that I'm very sure that it existed)

3

Spacecircles t1_iqmflwo wrote

Maeshowe is a large Stone-age burial chamber in the Orkney Iskands (off the north coast of Scotland) from 5000 years ago. When antiquarians broke into the chamber in the 19th century they found they weren't the first such visitors. The walls were covered in runic graffiti from the 12th-century -- the islands having long been under Viking/Norse control. You can read some of them here. Some highlights are:

  • "Tholfir Kolbeinsson carved these runes high up"
  • "These runes were carved by the man most skilled in runes in the western ocean"
  • "Ingigerth is the most beautiful of all women" (carved beside a rough drawing of a slavering dog)
  • "Thorni f*cked. Helgi carved"
3

PhilHeller t1_ir6kmlo wrote

There is a graffiti on the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. There's a legend going there that says that it was made by Michelangelo (there's actually a drawing he did in the Louvre's collections that looks a lot like it). Not exactly funny though. Still, imagine a graffiti being drawn by Michelangelo !

1

MillsysView t1_irenqlt wrote

I heard about a rune inscription from the Varangian guard in the Hagia Sophia that could either be a name or the word “bored” 😂

1

plaidtattoos t1_iqmqvx1 wrote

Can anyone recommend a good book on the overthrow of the Shah in Iran? I know pretty much nothing about the time period, except for watching the HBO documentary.

3

bangdazap t1_iqnmnv1 wrote

Stephen Kinzer- All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror

2

Eminence_grizzly t1_iquxuot wrote

Was the Chinese currency named after the Yuan dynasty?

3

Nyx_Valentine t1_ir0p17m wrote

Would there be any way for a black person in France to have any form of status in the mid to late 1700s? (Auvergne, France, in case the area of France matters.)

2

kaysea112 t1_ir0v93y wrote

Thomas-Alexandre Dumas.

Was a French general for Napoleon. But he is half and born in haitii. His father a French aristocrat and his mother a slave.

5

calijnaar t1_ir6hvaf wrote

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, is another example of a son of a French planter and an enslaved African woman. He did suffer from racial discrimination, but I would not say he did not have any form of status. He is the first known classical composer with African ancestry, and he became a succesful conductor. However, when he was proposed as the conductor of the Paris opera, this was denied after a petition of the opera singers to the queen asking her to prevent this. He later fought in the first all-black regiment in European history, the Légion St-Georges during the revolutionary wars. (There's an excellent YoU're Dead To Me episode about him, if you're interested)

2

PhilHeller t1_ir6jm7p wrote

I read in "les mondes de l'esclavage" (a sum on slavery that was published last year in France) that 90% of black people in XVIIIth century France were based in Paris (and especially in the aristocratic neighborhoods). Auvergne being a pretty remote region at the time, it is unlikely. However it is not impossible.

1

GOLDIEM_J t1_ir68pb9 wrote

What was the most successful propaganda campaign in history?

2

AngryBlitzcrankMain t1_ir6xtmm wrote

The German "knife in the back" myth. Convinced generations of Germans that WWI ended badly because of jews and ruling parties rather than military screw ups. Propaganda prevalent very much to 1930s and 1940s with obvious impact on Germany as a whole.

3

Smirnoffico t1_irexylx wrote

Where does the image of pirate with parrot originates? When did it become a trope?

2

nanoman92 t1_irf6cev wrote

Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island from 1883 is the origin of most Pirate tropes.

3

Bayley78 t1_irh0nqx wrote

What is the word for when medieval peasants were forced to work for periods of time? Governments would enlist them and force them to help construct infrastructure.

2

Kobbett t1_irhzq2e wrote

Corvée labour

>The word "corvée" itself has its origins in Rome, and reached the English language via France. In the Late Roman Empire the citizens performed opera publica in lieu of paying taxes; often it consisted of road and bridge work. Roman landlords could also demand a number of days' labour from their tenants, and also from the freedmen; in the latter case the work was called opera officialis. In Medieval Europe, the tasks that serfs or villeins were required to perform on a yearly basis for their lords were called opera riga. Plowing and harvesting were principal activities to which this work was applied. In times of need, the lord could demand additional work called opera corrogata (Latin corrogare, "to requisition"). This term evolved into coroatae, then corveiae, and finally corvée, and the meaning broadened to encompass both the regular and exceptional tasks.

2

Bayley78 t1_iri7rqe wrote

Yep this is it. Dang i even remembered it was french. Thank you!

2

[deleted] t1_iqroyhj wrote

[removed]

1

elmonoenano t1_iqs4v7b wrote

Things like that are to multicausal to lay at the feet of any one thing. The cassettes were important in giving people a figure to focus on, but there wouldn't have needed to be a figure if there wasn't so much dissatisfaction. If the Shah wasn't so flagrant in his profligacy, if he wasn't in power due to the US assistance, if the SAVAK weren't so brutal, etc, would people have looked for an alternative to the Shah? I would say the cassettes were more important to establishing the Ayatollah as an alternative to the Shah than being responsible for the revolution itself. I think the Shah's mismanagement was the driving reason for that. How it played out is a different story.

(For people who haven't heard about this aspect of the Revolution there were cassettes of the Ayatollah's sermons that were widely distributed throughout Iran before the revolution. One of the ironies was that the US's support of the Shah had allowed the Shah to put in a modern telephone system which allowed Khomeini to call in and deliver these sermons with enough clarity that they could be recorded, duped and distributed.)

2

skyblueandblack t1_iqrrpqn wrote

... the revolution in Iran in 1979? I've not heard that myself, but I'd question it. Cassettes were just coming on the scene, and the Walkman was a few years in the future, so it's not like everyone had a cassette player yet.

1

cold_toast_n_butter t1_irfjms2 wrote

How can I learn more about what my relatives did in the U.S. military during WWII? Growing up I was very close with two of my great-grandfathers, both of whom served in WWII. Both passed when I was a teenager. I know a little about what one of them did in the war, and almost nothing about the other one (he didn't talk about it.) I'd like to learn more about what my great-grandfathers did during the war, but I'm not sure where to start.

1

Bashstash01 t1_irgu5d7 wrote

You could try going to the National Personnel Records Center and Military Personnel Records in St. Louis, Missouri. The National Archives also has and Access to Archival Databases resource that you can search through.

1

Sh0ck45212 t1_iqrmudx wrote

Noticed a similar pattern after finishing 'The Last Kingdom' while being Reconquista buff

Wessex/Asturias

Alfred the Great/Pelagius

Vikings/Moors

Danelaw/Calphate of Cordoba

--->England/Spain

0

nanoman92 t1_irf6yye wrote

If you want a pattern with Cordoba, Byzantium is the answer.

10th century: Golden age for both (Caliphate/Macedonians)

11th century: Big crisis (Fitna/Manzikert)

12th century: Partial recovery (Almoravits&Almohades/Komnenians)

13th century: Bigger crisis (Navas of Tolosa and New Taifas/4th crusade and Frankocratia)

14th century: Survival despite the odds (Granada/Palaiologos)

15th century: Final fall (Fall of Granada/fall of Constantinople)

1