So I had this idea. Maybe if enough people are interested we can give it a shot. Basically, it'd be a take off of like Song/Movie of the Moment. Maybe once a week (or when the discussion of the last topic dies) someone can select a person or event of history and do a writeup, or maybe copy and paste information about the person or event. Hopefully we'll be picking people/events that tend to lead to a discussion and various points of view which will spur a debate and an interchange of ideas and different ways to view the person/event in a historical context. And who knows, maybe we can all learn a few things. At least initially, I think we should stick to things that are well known to hopefully encourage the widest audience possible, and if it is working we'll take it from there.

Some ideas and examples of possible topics (especially of more well-known events):

D-Day
Holocaust
Other various (specific) WWII events
Post war occupation of Germany
Creation of nation of Israel
Dropping of atomic bombs
Arms race
Truman Doctrine
Cuban Missile Crisis
Bay of Pigs
Vietnam
Counterculture
Rwanda genocide
Why the Cold War ended
Civil Rights movement
Bush Doctrine (Pre-Emption)
Depression
WWI Treaty of Versailles
Bolshevik Revolution
French Revolution
American Revolution
Creation of constitution


People:
Various Presidents (again, hopefully ones who spark a difference of opinion)
MLK
Malcom X
Barry Goldwater
Napolean
Hitler
Churchill
Chamberlain
De Gualle
Mussoulini
Stalin
Franco
Asquith
Lloyd George
Otto von Bismark
Various nation leaders

I tried to stick to ones who most everybody knows at least a little about, and who are likely that some others on the board have a deeper knowledge of, as well as things that I can see debates breaking out over. Again these are just examples, by no means an exaustive list.

I'd love to do one on the Versailles Treaty.

After our discussion with Nixon and the Spanish Civil War, I was going to note how you seem to be the resident history buff, april.

How do you anticipate your idea being different from just Googling the events? I like your concept, I'm just trying to figure out how it's going to work on here

As an aside, and what you may have noticed, I'm a big fan of alternate history, wondering what would happen if certain events went different ways. That's always fun for discussion.

Thanks, but I'm pretty sure Bart has that nailed down. But I'm reading a lot, trying to get there lol.



Well, the header post would be a general outlaying of the event (or description of the person along with key events) given without stating an opinion or bias. From there, we are all obviously free to use the internet or whatever resources we may have to research or find points that agree with our interpretation of the event. For pretty much all of the events I listed I think that there could be disagreements which would lead to debate.
For instance, with the creation of Israel, we can debate why it was created; whether it should have been or not, or perhaps in a different form; as well as the results and I'm sure the conversation would inevitably lead to the future of it.
An example for people would be Winston Churchill. Brilliant leader or warmonger? Did he have no regard for human life, merely seeking personal and national glory? Would Britain have folded without him?

I think with people especially, it will be very easy for the conversation to turn into debates, undoubtedly if we were to do American politicians who are well known to everyone, ie Reagan, Nixon, LBJ, FDR, JFK, Truman, etc.

Alternate history could definitely be interesting and fun to do as well. We could probaly begin the topic by simply changing one thing and going from there. That works for me too.

aprilfifth, why don't you do the first one? It would be a clear model for what you have in mind. What are you currently reading? Would it be something that you think would make a good topic?

I'm about 2/3 of the way through A Peace to End All Peace, which I recommend btw. It tells the story of WWI in the Middle East, the demise of the Ottoman Empire and the jostling for post-war supremacy in the Middle East, including, but by no means limited to, the issue of Zionism and Palestine. The attitudes and motives of Allied leaders and politicians is fascinating. I wouldn't feel comfortable writing on this topic quite yet, as this basically my first foray into a topic I've felt woefully deficient in. But it would definitely make a good topic if someone else with more knowledge wanted to tackle it.

But maybe we could do the Versailles Treaty, which would definitely include much of this topic, as well as touching on more familiar themes of Were the Allies too harsh against Germany? Did this make WWII inevitable? Could Hitler have come to power w/o the ToV being quite so punitive? What if Wilson had gotten his ways more often? Who, in particular was to blame/credit with the ToV?

Whats the French perception of the Versailles treaty? I always seem to hear the Anglo take on it, but never the Franco version. Did the second victimization of France free them of guilt in regards to the injustices perpetrated in the treaty?

Once again, the Khmer Rouge/Cambodian civil war is forgotten. for the 2 millions who died in the hands of Pol Pot.

I made a Sino-Vietnamese war thread recently and we discussed that. Very few folks were interested in that thread, however.

My mother survived it when she was in he teens. She had to escape through the mountains into the Thai border.

That's another good question to add to that list. I have a few ideas on that, but I'll save them for if we do this. I find the antiquated attitudes of many of the leaders fascinating. As if they were stuck in the 19th century. Especially in comparison with some of the forward-looking views of a few of their contemporaries.

Let's do Michael Collins.

It just occurred to me that today is the anniversary of D-Day.

An invading army had not crossed the unpredictable, dangerous English Channel since 1688 -- and once the massive force set out, there was no turning back. The 5000-vessel armada stretched as far as the eye could see, transporting over 150,000 men and nearly 30,000 vehicles across the channel to the French beaches. Six parachute regiments -- over 13,000 men -- were flown from nine British airfields in over 800 planes. More than 300 planes dropped 13,000 bombs over coastal Normandy immediately in advance of the invasion.

War planners had projected that 5,000 tons of gasoline would be needed daily for the first 20 days after the initial assault. In one planning scenario, 3,489 long tons of soap would be required for the first four months in France.

By nightfall on June 6, more than 9,000 Allied soldiers were dead or wounded, but more than 100,000 had made it ashore, securing French coastal villages. And within weeks, supplies were being unloaded at UTAH and OMAHA beachheads at the rate of over 20,000 tons per day.

Captured Germans were sent to American prisoner of war camps at the rate of 30,000 POWs per month from D-Day until Christmas 1944. Thirty-three detention facilities were in Texas alone.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/dday/sfeature/sf_info.html

That was actually the main inspiration for this thread lol.

This week was also the 40th Anniversary of Robert Kennedy's assassination.



I listened to Terry Gross' interview with Pete Hamill on Fresh Air a couple of days ago. It's strange how something that happened so long ago can feel as though it happened just yesterday when you hear someone who was there talk about it.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=91150174

I can't imagine what it must have been like to see so much hope die right before your eyes.

I think you're reading my mind. The rest of my post said how it was just the anniversary of RFK's death, and then something I read about MLK that all came together and inspired the thread. But I simplified it.




I sincerely hope our generation doesn't have to find out...

I hope not...

Your thread also made me think about what people may have been doing a hundred years ago. And I came across this:

May 26 - At Masjid-al-Salaman in southwest Persia, the first major commercial oil discovery in the Middle East is made. The rights to the resource are quickly acquired by the United Kingdom.

http://english.turkcebilgi.com/1908

How ironic.

On next Monday morning (too busy this week, and then Wednesday to Saturday I'm out of town) I'll do an intro write-up for the Treaty of Versailles, and we can see how it goes. In the meantime, feel free to post additional questions which we can discuss. These are a few we already have:


Was the ToV unduly harsh against Germany?
Did this make WWII inevitable?
Could Hitler have come to power w/o the ToV being quite so punitive?
What if Wilson had gotten his ways more often?
Who, in particular was to blame/credit with the ToV?
Whats the French perception of the Versailles treaty?
Did the second victimization of France free them of guilt in regards to the injustices perpetrated in the treaty?

For all this hullabaloo about terrorism, from some events it would seem that the world is much safer than 30 years ago. NORAD was moved from Cheyenne mountain because the military doesn't consider a strategic nuclear strike to be very likely, and the Army is talking about allowing families of servicemen to live with them in South Korea because hostilities there aren't veiwed as likely. Thats some good news, right? We needn't fear commies anymore, apparently.

good idea