Recent comments in /f/history

ThePinkKraken t1_jcobhwa wrote

Reply to comment by en43rs in Weekly History Questions Thread. by AutoModerator

Wow thank you so much for the summary! I have so many more questions now tho - any pointers where I can learn more about it?

You've made me even more curious now, especially about... everything to be fair. How much influence of those earlier cultures can still be found? Why got it evaded by so many different countries if it's so hard to maintain any influence there?

Am I understanding you right, 800 Scandinavias (thanks for the correction about Vikins!) people were enough to attack and settle down?

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MeatballDom t1_jcoayj7 wrote

Reply to comment by pickleer in Grad Student Explores Ancient Warfare With Naval Ram Project by kratos2025

Spike would likely be more brittle, considering the size and impact. I'd imagine it would snap more often than not.

Plus, the ram may have had a role in beaching of ships (which was necessary to do regularly). I could definitely see a spike becoming a bit problematic when pulling up a beach.

But, I don't know of any studies of anyone testing the pros and cons of a spike, so this is just first reactions.

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en43rs t1_jco8ayx wrote

Reply to comment by ThePinkKraken in Weekly History Questions Thread. by AutoModerator

So. Here is a very simplified timeline of Britain:
-Before 43 AD Britain is made up of a lot of Celtic tribes, not that dissimilar from Gaul.

-In 43 AD the Romans invade and conquer what is today more or less England and Wales. This is an unruly province (it's isolated and far away, that plays a role) so they put a lot of soldier on it and build Hadrian's wall (under emperor Hadrian) to keep the picts (in what is today Scotland) out.

-Roman culture is present in cities but is still very much limited.

-In 410 Rome is falling apart and Rome leaves. The island is now made up of small Celtic kingdoms/tribes more or less Romanized. From this time up to the 800 or so there isn't a lot of written sources, so it's very very difficult to be sure of the details.

-From the 500s onward Germans start to migrate to the Island and takes over the eastern part. Those Germans are Angles and Saxons (from which we get England and Anglo-Saxon). They rule over and integrate the local Celts and basically rule over what isn't mountains (so not Wales and not Scotland..... so England). That's where the Wales (Celtic) and England divides comes from. England is not united but made up of several kingdoms, around the 700 there are seven small Anglo-Saxons kingdoms.

-Around 800 Scandinavian raiders (what we call Vikings, which isn't a culture, it's a job basically, it means to leave for an expedition) start attacking Western Europe, Britain included. Around 860 Scandinavians start to migrate in large number in order to settle in Britain. That's not the first time this happened (the Angles and Saxons did it, and it's not the only place the Scandinavians settle, they do it in France, in Russia, so on).

-From the 870s to the 1030s Norse/Scandinavians from Denmark control Eastern England. In 1042 finding it too difficult to maintain the Danes leave. An Anglo-Saxon king now controls all of England for the first time.

-In 1066 Normans (from the French region of Normandy, descendants of Scandinavians and local French people) led by William the Conqueror invade England (at the same time the Norwegian also try to take it over, in what is the last Norse invasion of England, it fails). They conquer it and that's where the modern England we know come from : an Anglo-Saxon people (with Norse influence and a dash of Celts) ruled by a French nobility which as centuries progress becomes more and more English (but it explains why the English language doesn't looks like Germans but uses a lot of French words).

England only becomes the UK in 1707 when England and Scotland (ruled by the same kings since 1603) merge into a single country.

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MrTurnbow69 t1_jco58v3 wrote

Reply to Bookclub and Sources Wednesday! by AutoModerator

LOOKING FOR SOURCE

I’m currently writing a research thesis regarding George Pattons rerouting of the Seventh Army in Sicily in 1943. His chief of staff at the time was Hobart Gay and I’m told he had a diary during this time. I think his diary will hold some valuable information but I can’t find evidence it exists anywhere but I’ve heard it exists multiple times. I’m told that this is its title “With Patton's Army: The Diary of Colonel Hobart D. Gay, 1943-1945.” If anyone could point me in the right direction or even find it that would be so helpful to me. Thank you

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SlouchyGuy t1_jco0zdy wrote

Reply to comment by WhalesVirginia in Roman tomb reveals burnt remains left in place, covered by bricks, sealed with lime, encircled by bent and broken nails — rites to restrain the dead from rising by marketrent

Likely to stop the from rising. Different rituals to ensure that the deseased won't rise and harm the living were widespread in many different cultures throughout the world, it's the opposite of rituals where you preserve the body, talk to the spirits of ancestors, etc,. And all of those come from the same belief that death isn't really death, and something is left alive.

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rpgaff2 t1_jcnza2g wrote

Reply to Roman tomb reveals burnt remains left in place, covered by bricks, sealed with lime, encircled by bent and broken nails — rites to restrain the dead from rising by marketrent

This is kinda stupid, but reading this, my mind went in a different direction.

Like, we treat these rites as serious superstition right? Like, "Oh no, we must do everything we can so that this person doesn't come back as a vampire/zombie or whatever."

But all I can think of right now is a community burying the most annoying person they know, and thinking, "We cannot, under any circumstances, let this person come back to life. They were UNBEARABLE. We will take any precautions we can to ensure that this body, which is dead, will never somehow spontaneously come back, even if it somehow comes back to life. I just cannot deal with this person, I don't care how miraculous his recovery is. Come back to life? Brick wall. Break through that? Nails to your limbs. JUST STAY DEAD!!!"

Just a stupid idea that came into my head lol.

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ThePinkKraken t1_jcnul1e wrote

Reply to Weekly History Questions Thread. by AutoModerator

I'm hoping someone can help me here. One quite niche topic and one very broad. Looking for good sources on both of them :)

  1. English history
    I've just recently learned that both vikings and Rome went all the way up to the UK. I'm very curious about this time period. Why did they go up there, how was Britain ruled back then, etc? I'm planning on moving to the UK and want to know more about the place, so recommendations about all time periods are welcome.
    Exception: WW1 - present time.

  2. History of crochet
    Now, the more niche question. I love crochet myself and I adore the old patterns, so I'd love to learn more about this craft. There are a lot of variations (irish crochet, Bavarian crochet, jewelry, lace crochet, filet crochet, etc) and I just want to know more. Who came up with the notation? How did it develop over the years, stuff like this. It's my "maybe someone has any pointers if I'm lucky" question :)

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rolosmith123 t1_jcnfby8 wrote

Reply to comment by jpeeri in Olney: Roman villa mosaic found under Aldi supermarket site by Welshhoppo

That was one of the coolest things for me when I visited Italy/Greece. Can't remember which city but they'd have similar things like that. Coming from Canada, we don't have stuff that old. Closest I would be able to find age wise in my area would be tipi rings, everything else would have long since deteriorated being made of plant or animal material. And I don't even know if they'd be close to that old considering it's just a ring of rocks, not actual buildings haha

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