Recent content by thisispete

Further research has turned up the heliograph - which was used in 405BC

You might be thinking of semaphore - the French actually had a network of towers to provide long distance communication. Fans of Terry Pratchett will recognise a similar system used in his Discworld novels.

New Zealand - I can't really pick anything on the poll - Australia is in the same neighbourhood, but it's as far away from NZ as Moscow is from London.

Here's something that I was surprised to learn about the whole heliocentrism thing last year. Nicholas Copernicus was a member of the clergy (he was canon at Frauenberg Cathedral). His patron, who enouraged him to publish On the Revolutions was Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa. He dedicated On the...

Here' s a review I did last yeat of Partha Chatterjee's The Nation and It's Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories. It's quite lengthy, but I think it outlines some interesting ideas relevant to this discussion. Footnotes have been removed for the sake of simplicity.

This is old news. Here's what paragraph 283 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say: Paragraph 286 says: Catholic theology is a bit more nuanced than solely looking at the Bible. This is one of the reasons why the Reformation took place. It is also one of the reasons why...

There was no treaty per se, just an understanding that the enemy would retalliate in kind. That's why poison gas wasn't used. However, here's a letter from Churchill in 1940 detailing his response to the German escalation. -Winston Churchill, The Second World War, vol ii: Their Finest Hour...

With the exception of Afghanistan, I think you're right. My biggest question though is whether the empire was, on balance, a positive or negative thing for those involved. I lean towards the former. The British laid down trade and communications networks - and although they were to further...

Don't worry about it. This kind of debate was why I posted the link here in the first place.

I don't think it's taking a whiggish approach to history. The first episode notes that financial gain was the driving force of the growth of the empire and that colonies often sprang up due to factors such as famine in Britain, religious persecution and economic opportunism. History today is no...

People talk of tactics and strategy when they should really be thinking of logistics. Why did Germany invade Russia? To get to the oilfields in the Caucasus - that's why Stalingrad was so pivotal in the war. Why were they in North Africa? Again, to get the oilfields in the Middle East and to...

I've just come across a great documentary series on the British Empire on BBC radio. It's charting the rise and fall. Shows of fifteen minutes in length are being broadcast every weekday and you can listen to them here. There are 90 episodes. They are only available online for a week after...

A government must have the confidence of Parliament in order to govern. This means that by way of simple majority, at least 61 MPs must endorse the government. If a government cannot secure the confidence of Parliament, then there has to be a general election. Supply means the government is in...

Well done, Coinich. Take a bow. This has been an extraordinary story and one that will be truly legendary - at least among the civfanatics forums. I think you have set the bar for storytelling - in fact, I think you should consider writing a novel at some stage. You definitely have the ability...