I appreciate how archaeologists keep pushing back the beginnings of human civilization. Take that, 6000-year Creationists!

What's the real story of the early Roman calendar? (The one that began in March and ended in December.) They didn't actually disregard two whole months, did they?

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Igor Stravinsky's 1913 ballet "The Rite of Spring" sparked a riot by angry theater goers.

A fascinating post. I'm always interested in anything related to the Industrial revolution.

A myth that originated from bad, cliche WWII movies perhaps?

Historical criticism duly noted, but the article was nonetheless interesting; thanks for bringing it to light. Like the movie in the title, fighting sports touch something visceral that's missing in our modern, soft civilization. It's also why so many westerners pursue Asian martial arts.

Fascinating thought! That might help explain why Indian statuary looks somewhat more western than its Chinese equivalent.

Well, it was Truman who said "The buck stops here."

You've hit the proverbial nail on the head. Certain intellectuals single out Europe because they hate Western Civilization, but Imperialism has been around since the dawn of civilization. If you restrict the definition to "spreading one's culture" as the previous commenter said, the archetypes would be China, Islam, Russia, Spain, and the USA. The 19th Century European colonial empires were mostly in the Roman mode, grabbing territory for resources and profit. If the colonized adopted French or English as their official languages, it wasn't from being "oppressed" but because it was a neutral alternative to the various local languages.