Favorite Era in History

I am fascinated with Europe and the Middle & Near East from 400 to 1000 AD, from the descendency of the Western half of the Roman Empire to essentially the end of invasions of Europe (with the notable exeption of the Mongols!) I just love tracking all the migrations.

As Western Rome crumbled to the massive barbarian migrations: The Franks, the Sueves, the Visgoths, Ostrogoths, Vandals, Angles, Saxons, Jutes, Alans, Burgundians, Alemanni, Thuringians, Huns, etc. the East was largely unnafected, and actually flourished for 600 more years before the combined efforts of decentralization, western europe interference (crusades - slef-inflicted I might add) and the Seljuk Turks brought that Empire to an eventual halt.

The barbarians did not stop there, later on the Lombards, Magyars, Bulgars and other Slavic tribes, Vikings, & Arabians all served to put Europe to the test as well. I am also intrigued by certain areas of Europe, once civilized that disappear from history for a while, like what is modern day Transylvania (until about 1000 AD) and the British Isles (until roughly 700 AD). Also this time period is before the ascendency of the Papacy, and it is interesting to observe the slow and steady Christianization of the wild lands of the continent.

After 1000, Europe finally could breathe easy enough to begin the change that would put it ahead of the rest of the world until that all fell apart in 1914.

[This message has been edited by Magnus (edited July 16, 2001).]

I'm really more of an 'Ancient' guy. The Egyptians, the Sumerians, Old China/India, and to a lesser extent, Rome. If I read history, that's usually the era I look for.

Personally im interested in the rise if the Roman Empire which brought prosperity and peace(most of the time)to the entire world

The age of discovery and exploration is what inspires me most when I think about history. Though my image is certainly glamorized of what reality was like back then, I can think of nothing more I'd rather be doing than sailing the high seas in search of land and adventure! How exciting that mustve been.

The World War 2 era, and to a lesser extent, the World war 1 era. I hate the vietname war though.

I love reading books and watching movies or documentaries about world war 2, especially the Russian theatre.

So many different ones, it hard to say.

I am interested in all eras really, depending on my mood, but the era of 1870-1950 is the one I know the best.

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I'm interested in the Conquests of Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire, the Middle/Dark/Medievil Ages (in Europe, of course), the Byzitines (Spelling?), and the Conquests of Egyption and Arabian Empires. I'm still reading about most of this stuff and I only know about one-eighth of what I want to know.

WW II is probably my favorite era, though I do find the Roman era very interesting too!

Well I absolutely love these historical periodes:

Ancient Greek
Roman republic
30 years war
Age of discovery

And to a lesser extent:

The great northen war
WW 1





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I'm interested in the late Roman Empire/Early Europe.

I'm also do alot of reading in the ancient near east. Israel, Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt.

Although I'm writing my graduate thesis on an 18th century North American topic.

It's gotta be world war 2 and the Napolionic wars for me, though the cold war interests me as well. I do intend to look in the more anciet times as i get older, i'd like to find more about ancient Egypt and South America.

I like the history of the world from 1800 to 1945.
Greek and French history in that same period are my favourites

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30 years war and "the age of sail".


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Precambrian epoch; more specifically, over 3.9 billion years ago, when the Earth was a lifeless planetesimal.

Classical Greece, and to a lesser extent Rome.
The so called "Dark Ages" and the High Middle Ages are close to my favourite, as is the Renaissance and the period from Reformation to Revolution.
Take a gap from the late 1700s to the early 20th, apart from various military campaigns, and then the period of the 1930s through 1960s (before wrecked by hippys).
But not today. Everyone says I was born out of my time.

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Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.
- N.S.Khrushchev

Hey Magnus, we share an interest in the same era, though perhaps with completely different "takes" on it! The motive for my studies is my religion - heathenry - since it is what made those "wild lands" wild!

For anyone who is interested in how the tribes and nations of Europe evolved, but who doesn't want to read a set of encyclopædias, I can thoroughly recommend the follow book:
"Ancestors: The origins of the Peoples and Countries of Europe"
by Martin Berg and Miles Litvinoff
published by Peter Lowe, 1992
ISBN 0856546623

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[This message has been edited by stormerne (edited July 23, 2001).]

I am facinated of the recent 50 years or so. Technology advancement has exploded, nature catastrophes have boomed, there has never been more small wars in the entire human history then in these 5 decades, and I could go on and on! Has the world gone crazy or what? But in this chaos, we can still sit quietly down and play a good game of Civilization, and try to make a better world! So if I am honest, I think that the 20'th century is the most facinating, interesting and frightened period in the whole story of earth!

Peace.

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"How happy your men must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!" (The Bible about Solomon)

Actually, stormerne, the Christianization of Europe appeals to me mainly because it brings those tribes on the fringe into 'history'. Otherwise, we wouldn't know much about them. So its not so much them becoming Christian, as it allows us to know of them, where we otherwise would have lost them.

The 'Dark Ages' is exciting to me because of how fluid the whole era was. Kingdoms rise and fall quickly, whole tribes and cultures rise to power and then vanish, I love reading about the migrations of peoples combined with the instability of borders, and those great battles (Chalons, Poitiers, Manzikert) that would shape the course of history. Its the fact that the whole era lacked rigidity that makes me enjoy it more than any other.

Edit: I shall be seeking out that book - thanks!

[This message has been edited by Magnus (edited July 23, 2001).]

I've always been interested in times of great change, of endings and beginnings. The collapse of civilizations around the Mediterranean c. 1200 B.C., the rise (or resurrection) of the Classical civs (Egypt, Babylonia, Greece, Persia, Rome, etc.), the Dark Ages of Europe, the rise (and fall) of the Islamic empires, the end of the medieval European order in the 30 Years War, the decline of the Ming Dynasty in China.

My favorite though, and the period I've spent many long years studying, is the abrupt and violent end of the "Long 19th Century" in the Great War of 1914-1918, and the bloody beginning of the 20th. The world of 1914 was unrecognizable in 1918, and the effect wasn't just in Europe; it shocked the U.S. into a greater awareness of the world (despite its current President). Witness the worldwide spread of the 'Spanish Influenza' epidemic in 1918 that killed 18 million people around the world in a couple months. It facilitated the spread of fringe populist ideologies (socialism, fascism) above and beyond some urban proletariat and a few dissaffected intellectuals. It broke the old imperial empires - Germany/Prussia, Russia, the Ottoman and Habsburg empires - and seriously wounded the French and British (though this wouldn't be apparent just yet). It brought millions of colonials (workers & soldiers) from Africa and Asia directly into contact with European civilization, with all its power, splendor and horror. The great 20th century anti-colonial movements of Africa and Asia nearly all had their origins in the Great War, though many would not bear fruit until another, more horrible conflict.

It is difficult to find any 4 year period at any time in history that has so changed the world. WW I was the first Total War and industrial war the world fought, dependent on constant technological development and a steady, sickening stream of young soldiers. The 100th anniversary is only a few years off, and while its impact has been so broad it is still little known or understood. World War II had better camera and film technology, and the combatants understood the military technologies they used far better than the generals of World War I - so WW II gets more press. But WW I is the sine quo non of our modern era....

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"...über den Bergen sind auch Leute..."

Acient China, especially at the end of the chou and the period of three kingdoms

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