The Big History Thread

[Bully Wee Villa]

Thanks for responses. I like bits of what Napoleon supported but can never quite forgive him for opposing Toussaint. Slavery isn't exactly "liberté, egalité, fraternité", is it?

[coprolite]

My overriding impression of Napoleon is of him pushing into queues at the waterpark and being greedy with ice cream. I have similar difficulties with imagining Billy the Kid and Socrates. 

[Crawford Bridge]

15 minutes ago, coprolite said:

My overriding impression of Napoleon is of him pushing into queues at the waterpark and being greedy with ice cream. I have similar difficulties with imagining Billy the Kid and Socrates. 

Beethoven seems like a sound lad. 

[senorsoupe]

I actually have a University degree in history! 

Favourite period: Early modern era (late 18th century - WWI). The technological, and societal changes that took place during that are incredibly fascinating to me 

Favourite Historical figure: Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Hall of fame: I'll need more time for this one

Unpopular opinion (well in these parts). France giving up New France (now Quebec) to the British was inevitable and probably would have happened regardless of the outcome of the battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759.  The King of France was running out of money and New France was waaaaay less valuable than the spice Islands.  I say this as an unpopular opinion because there is a narrative in Quebec history that the 1759 battle was the great calamity that saw New France become British when in reality it was only a matter of time

Sliding door: I don't necessarily think of it as one seminal moment, but I think that the single most important invention in human history is the flushing toilet/modern sanitation. That has allowed us to build huge cities and really transform the way we think about how we live and how we deal with health and disease

In term of reading and studying, I have been really into reading about the history of Railways, mostly from a North American perspective and how the technology/industry has gotten to where it is today

In terms of watching, there are a few Youtube channels I like.  The History Guy's content is usually really interesting and "History Matter" is fun

[HoBNob]

37 minutes ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

I thought the assumption that he was small came as part of a misunderstanding because French and British measurements were different?

I'm probably setting off the QI claxon, here.

I had it in my mind it wasn't helped by those he surrounded himself with? The old guard had a minimum height as a requirement I beleive? Maybe didn't help.

[senorsoupe]

Napoleon is a fascinating historical figure and I tend to agree that the positives outweighed the negatives.  French society as a whole was better off under him that it had been under the Ancien Regime but his insatiable desire to invade places was bad. Being a peasant in what is now Germany was not a good place to be during that time

[tamthebam]

History is written by the victors in the case of British attitudes towards Napoleon. 

Napoleon is the great ogre whereas the Tory lot that ruled us at the time made Braverman and Patel look like liberals. 

If you were working class scum like most of our ancestors would have been then you'd likely have been better off under Nappy. 

Incidentally the  not so successful tribute act, Nappy III, is also worth reading about. 

Ooh, A l'eau, c'est l'heure.... 

[Jacksgranda]

2 hours ago, MEADOWXI said:

More modern for me, Europe from about 1789 and the French Revolution right through till recent history of the Berlin wall falling in 1989, and amazing couple of centuries.

France been through being a kingdom twice, empire twice and now on fifth Republic, and the influence of Napoleon in infrastructure and civil life as well as militarily,

Italy only been a unified country since the 1860s and Garibaldi,

Germany, or Prussia and the repeated wars throughout the 19th century that eventually creates a unified Germany. 

Moving to 20th century and looking at maps as wars create and destroy countries and change the shape of Europe.

 

Outwith that Scots history of the Stuarts and their rise and fall, a sadly neglected period when I was at school.

 

Love PBS channel, and even the US stuff, especially Ken Burns, is great to watch.

Should have stuck to inventing biscuits imho

[senorsoupe]

2 hours ago, MEADOWXI said:

Italy only been a unified country since the 1860s and Garibaldi,

The fascinating story of how Garibaldi toppled the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies starting with 1000 men is incredible and shows just how fragile some of these monarchies were back in the day.  Most southern Italians really didn't give a shit about the King in Naples

[scottsdad]

Mike nodded. A sombre nod. The nod Napoleon might have given if somebody had met him in 1812 and said, "So, you're back from Moscow, eh?”

[bennett]

10 minutes ago, senorsoupe said:

The fascinating story of how Garibaldi toppled the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies starting with 1000 men is incredible and shows just how fragile some of these monarchies were back in the day.  Most southern Italians really didn't give a shit about the King in Naples

 

I remember his biscuits,  don't really see them nowadays. 

[101]

30 minutes ago, senorsoupe said:

I actually have a University degree in history!

[Florentine_Pogen]

24 minutes ago, tamthebam said:

History is written by the victors in the case of British attitudes towards Napoleon. 

Napoleon is the great ogre whereas the Tory lot that ruled us at the time made Braverman and Patel look like liberals. 

If you were working class scum like most of our ancestors would have been then you'd likely have been better off under Nappy. 

Incidentally the  not so successful tribute act, Nappy III, is also worth reading about.

[Wee-Bey]

Wee Nappy, Wee Jaque Krankie. 

[Wee-Bey]

1 hour ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

Thanks for responses. I like bits of what Napoleon supported but can never quite forgive him for opposing Toussaint. Slavery isn't exactly "liberté, egalité, fraternité", is it?

The Toussaint stuff is a nice sliding doors/what if moment.

If he accepts Toussaint's letter and constitution there's a possibility of no Louisiana Purchase meaning France staying in the US with a possible major conflict with them in the future ? Does Toussaint go on an absolute tear round the Caribbean and maybe even over to the US if the French are still there, freeing slaves ?

Would have been an interesting timeline and a different US.

[Genuine Hibs Fan]

The best Napoleon what if is him becoming Muslim to be made some sort of king or leader in Egypt, a thing he apparently deeply considered. Napoleonic Jihad

[Arthur daley]

Sort of to do with history (well the last 100 years or so ) but I spend far to much time on a website that lets you compare modern maps to older ones side by side ,free to use and actually quite interesting ,even though Iam not making it sound like it is . 

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=5.0&lat=56.00000&lon=-4.00000&layers=1&right=ESRIWorld

[Cosmic Joe]

I love history. 

In particular that of East Fife and Scottish football in general. 

Family history and Dundee in the mid 19th century to mid 20th century are also of great interest 

[btb]

I enjoy You're Dead To Me, a podcast which is hosted by Greg Jenner (Horrible Histories) where he reviews a topic alongside a historian and a stand-up comedian, given a link to one episode below.

BBC Radio 4 - You're Dead To Me, The Ancient Babylonians

[TxRover]

Ran across a potentially brilliant new YouTube channel, “Ghost Train: Lost Railways of Britain”. Plays side by side rail routes on old and new maps with video and photography. Really enjoyable concept, only been posting about a month. Here’s the Lowestoft to Great Yarmouth one that I stumbled across. Too bad there’s nothing really up north yet.