We've had threads in the past about more specific historical events (my Nixon alternate history and 4/5's historical discussion series), but I thought it'd be good to just have a place where any of us can ask questions, discuss, or debate any sort of history. I'm hoping this thread will be more educational than anything else. I've got a few ideas to contribute over the next couple weeks or so, but if anyone has anything they want to contribute, or questions to ask, then please feel free to add it in here.

I'll start by something that has really fascinated me recently, and that I didn't know much about before. bart d. will likely be able to add a lot more, but I never realized how intense anti-Semitism was in Russia in the late 19th century:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Jewis ... ian_Empire

We all know about the Holocaust, but it's amazing see how some of the similar techniques occurred on smaller scales not too long beforehand in Europe. The impetus for my discovery was rewatching the Spielberg/Bluth cartoon film An American Tail. I had never realized when I saw it at such a young age that when the cats destroyed the Mousekewitz family's village at the beginning of the film, it could have very well been a metaphor for an actual event.

Up through the mid-20th century, pretty much any kind of large event in Russia resulted in a wave of pogroms. Famine, war, coronation of a tsar, assassination of a tsar, revolution, whatever. It was always the fault of the Jews.

Fun fact: During the provisional gov't after the first revolution of 1917, when the Liberals were in power, supporters of the Bolsheviks were known to put up graffiti that said "Down with the Jew Kerensky, long live Trotsky!"

While we're on the subject, what ended up attracting you to Russian history in the first place?

i'll keep this thread in mind.

Good thread. I plan on reviving my series despite the free RM market rejecting it.

i was a fan of it

so anyway, how does everyone feel about the first Gulf War?

If you take this thread at a community college it doesn't have 400 people in it.

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This may be tough to answer, but what is at the root of holocost deniers and their arguments? I ask this because someone mentioned this at a party last week - They weren't "deniers", but they were arguing the fact that the number of deaths in the war was vague, and that it was hard to get the breakdown of who was murdered, including Jewish people.

Good thead idea

It's been speculated that hassidic landlords are at the root of this very issue.

Also, many are upset with the quality of Spieldberg's The Terminal given how acclaimed his previous work was.

I would think hate and ignorance would have to be pretty near the root.

I dunno, I was always interested in medieval history as a kid and Russia was medieval until the 1860s. Also I like cold places.

This is how all the Jews in America with Eastern European names (as opposed to the Jews in America with German names) came to be here.

I'm finishing up(read: PROCRASTINATING) a paper on Plessy v. Ferguson and some of the reaction to it at the time, which wasn't large considering the magnitude with which it is now mentioned.

From Volokh Conspiracy:

Haha.

As a quick addition, I had never seen a video of the Hindenburg explosion until just a couple days ago. I know hydrogen erupts in flames quickly, but I was still stunned that it went down this quickly.

One of the coolest and probably freakiest weapons ever employed on a gunpowder-era battlefield during its time... I can't imagine being holed up in Constantinople in 1453 when this thing was first rolled out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dardanelles_Gun

excellent thread! Right up my alley since I have a degree in History.

So...in your opinion (anyone), which culture/empire/whatever did the worst in influencing others to assimilate to their ways?

some contenders:

British Empire- Just look at all the english speaking countries, India, Pakistan, and so forth

Soviet Union- self explanatory: Eastern Bloc

Nazi Germany-another self explanatory: Holocaust, the height of the empire where it streched from France to Africa

Roman Empire- At its height, everyone under the empire had some sort of greco-roman culture

Empire of Japan- Asia is somewhat neglected here in the west in my opinion...but Japan were some cruel bastards to the Koreans, Chinese, all those in Indochina. I recall reading about them outlawing Korean and allowing only Japanese to be spoken.

Spanish Empire- All of America (even some of what would be the U.S.), say goodbye to your old life natives


hmm...i guess I'm asking who do you think did the most damage. The brits don't really belong in that category seeing as how all my other selections are a bit more cruel. But the brits did influence so much in everyplace they conquered

Imagine if everyone left everyone else alone...what we would have, and what we would not have..

US Empire?