Fascinating Events in History

[Lirael]

I've searched for a topic that encompasses history in the way this one does but could only find specific discussions about certain events, history classes and historical figures...so here goes.

I am absolutely fascinated by history. Reading about how people used to live, how society used to work, what existed and what didn't, is intriguing. Furthermore, major events - revolutions, wars, the Titanic - often capture interest because they reflect what it means to be human. Events may touch upon our mortality; they may prove man's potential to be heroic and/or tyranical; they relate to morality, status, and heriachy.

I thought it would be interesting to share the things we have learnt about the past, whether through school or independent reading. I have a few questions too, which you can use to shape your post, but feel free to discuss historical events more in depth! If possible, please do give detail in your responses so we can learn about them too!

1. Which period of history fascinates you the most?
2. In your opinion, which historical event is the most important?
3. Why?
4. Did you read about any notable minor details from the event?

 

[Richard B Riddick]

1. Which period of history fascinates you the most?
2. In your opinion, which historical event is the most important?
3. Why?
4. Did you read about any notable minor details from the event?

1. There are a few eras that fascinate me. Or that I think are cool, anyway.

• The rise of break dancing. When gang leaders encouraged people to settle disputes with dance offs as opposed to violence. It impresses me how idealistic and progressive the concept is and also the fact that they were able to implement it to a certain degree.
• Feudal japan pre gun era. It doesn't interest me so much right now, but the idea of there being samurai who would engage in honor duels to the death and things like that used to intrigue me. Historical figures like Musashi Miyamoto intrigue me.
• Eras in human where people had more time off I can't remember specifics, but I do know that during one period of history commoners had as many as 189 days off a year. Assuming there are 52 weeks in a year and a normal person has saturday and sunday off, that comes out to 104 days off a year in the current era. It interests me how some who lived before science developed had more free time and days off than people do now.

There are others, I just can't think of them.

2. I don't think historical events are important because we don't necessarily learn from history. The Titanic could sink due to a set of specific reasons & ships today would still sink for the same reasons, if not worse ones.

The latest concordia incident could serve as an example, I s'pose.

link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304636404577298061515984568.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

the titanic was sunk by an iceberg. the concordia was through sheer stupidity of one individual. had the titanic not sank, i don't think that would have changed the mind set of the concordia's captain 100 years later.

and of course we learn from history. everyone learns from mistakes, whether from their own or the mistakes of others. to claim otherwise is ridiculous.

i've always been attracted to medieval history, mostly the post-roman era. i find it quite interesting how after the romans left, the british isles basically went backwards through sheer stubborness to try and remove all traces of the romans. the quality of living dropped and for all intents and purposes so did the general society. even the military suffered because the romans were such brilliant tacticians and they didn't want to use their previous evil master's battle strategies.

i've also always had an interest in the ancient greeks and egyptians.

 

[SaShman]

2. I don't think historical events are important because we don't necessarily learn from history. The Titanic could sink due to a set of specific reasons & ships today would still sink for the same reasons, if not worse ones.

I disagree. History helps us understand why the present is how it is. It helps us critically examine the world we live in. It is very important. Also we do so learn from mistakes.

Personally there a few periods of history which I find quite interesting.

Soviet history; particularly up to the death of Stalin.
European Medieval history; the conflict between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope among other things.
As well as general 19th and 20th century stuff.

I can't be stuffed answering the other questions.

 

[Donald Trump]

1. Which period of history fascinates you the most?

None. Which is slightly troubling as I'm a History Major and I want to do post-grad.

There's two things which I think are more important than any other, though I can't say that with any degree of certainty.

The first is the French Revolution, liberte egalite and fraternite and all that.
They tried to restart society, they changed the calendar and tried to make everyone equal, except for women ofc. Even the famous example of Athenian Democracy wasn't as equal as they tried to make France. They made it illegal to call people monseiur or madame as they had connotations of power, everyone was citoyen or citoyenne. Even though it failed, such an attempt to completely restructure society is important. There's also the impact it had on politics. This is very well known, but left and right in terms of politics came from where people sat in the National Assembly.

The second is the Industrial Revolution. It would be impossible to imagine what life would be like today if it had not happened.

There's two minorish details about the French Revolution which interest me.
The first is the libellistes and all the other failed intellectuals of Grub Street. They were all the people who were inspired by people like Voltaire, d'Alembert, Rousseau and Montesquieu, who for various reasons, failed to make it into Le Monde. So some of them wrote libelles which were incredibly venemous and barely contained a true word. They also hated le monde and that hatred was reciprocated, although there was some sympathy for them. Some of them worked as spies as well. After the revolution they revived le monde and were its principle members, the ones who were spies erased most of the evidence that they had been spies.

The other interesting thing, though it's relevant to the 1848 revolution. When Haussmann redesigned Paris' streets he made them much wider, so that they could not be blockaded and so they were wide enough for troops to move through easily.

 

[Richard B Riddick]

and of course we learn from history. everyone learns from mistakes, whether from their own or the mistakes of others. to claim otherwise is ridiculous.

I disagree. History helps us understand why the present is how it is. It helps us critically examine the world we live in. It is very important. Also we do so learn from mistakes.

I'll give you a prime example of how we do not learn from history & just how ridiculously lame brained & weak minded society is.

Glass–Steagall Act

1. After the Great Depression of the 1930's an act called Glass Steagall was passed to limit banking activities which were most responsible for contributing to the Great Depression. It was intended to prevent circumstances which allowed the Great Depression and prevent that type of economic meltdown from occurring in the future.

2. Around 1999, american politicians repealed the Glass Steagall Act. They got rid of measures which were intended to prevent against economic meltdown & a 2nd Great Depression. Mostly because Glass Steagall limits banking risk & limiting risk has a side effect of limiting potential bank profits. They ruled in favor of bank profits over economic stability.

3. Less than 10 years after Glass Stegall was repealed, you have a bank meltdown many compared to the Great Depression. Some media sources & journalists covered the issue correctly and accurately and immediately cited the repeal of glass steagall as the cause. But, for the most part it has been entirely swept under the rug & journalists and media today completely ignore it. Likewise with purported "experts", "academics" and "scientists". No one in science or elsewhere is attempting to raise awareness on the topic or educate the public as to its existence. Everyone has been bought by the banks or the wealthy.

4. In essence, the US government got rid of safeguards intended to prevent against another Great Depression, then claimed that no one could have predicted getting rid of said safeguards could contribute towards a second Great Depression, & the majority of americans for whatever reason -- believe it.

Why study history if governments can sweep historical precedents and facts under a rug whenever they want and no one notices?

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

so no one has ever learned anything from history whatsoever... ever?

 

[Lirael]

Which period of history fascinates you the most?

1. Which period of history fascinates you the most?
2. In your opinion, which historical event is the most important?
3. Why?
4. Did you read about any notable minor details from the event?

1. The more I read about history, the longer the list gets. Currently, the most notable are the Medieval Ages, in which Chaucer was writing and Morality plays were performed in the streets, the period in which Louis XIII and XIV was on the throne (around the time Alexandre Dumas was writing) and the period in which women were believed to be witches. The Anglo-Saxons are also fascinating, primarily because of how advanced they were! Sometimes we forget just how intelligent humans were all of these centuries ago. Reading the Old English literature, which passed on through the oral tradition then into text - like the Seafarer and Beowulf - serves as a reminder.
2. There are many ways one could answer this question... I think I'll answer it from the angle of which are the most relevant to us today. Any event we can learn from is important and should be studied, which is perhaps why I learnt about World Wars I and II almost every year in school... There are other events we can no doubt learn a lot from, some which provide warnings, others which are more positive and should be used to guide us towards a better future. I think the events which revolve around religions are important too, actually. As members of a variety of religions come together, we should remind ourselves of why tolerance is important. As long as they don't cause harm, each person should be able to live as part of one great community, no matter what their religious belief. Most people do remember, but some don't. We could probably encourage further tolerance in future generations if we try teach tolerance from an early age whilst looking back at chaotic events to support our arguments for harmony.
3. See 2.
4. My knowledge of specific events is a little more sketchy than my basic knowledge, primarily due to the fact I haven't read detailed historical books on the above periods in years. This is my incentive to get reading.