History questions not worth their own thread

[Sharwood]

Dachs, you should mention the fact that Goths didn't have stirrups in the perceived history thread. I'm fairly knowledgeable, and I always believed the story that they did.

In a question related to my ealier one, who was the oldest head of state - not necessarily a monarch - in history? No mythological Indian kings please.

 

[carmen510]

Is there a chart or graph which represents "The Largest Space Economies"?

In other words, which nations spend the most in space exploration efforts and such.

 

[Dachs]

Dachs, you should mention the fact that Goths didn't have stirrups in the perceived history thread. I'm fairly knowledgeable, and I always believed the story that they did.

An excuse to get another post? I'm there.

In a question related to my ealier one, who was the oldest head of state - not necessarily a monarch - in history? No mythological Indian kings please.

I think that's still Pepi.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

In a game someone used the expresion "byzantine power game". Never heard of it, and not sure what it means. What is it ?

 

[Dachs]

In a game someone used the expresion "byzantine power game". Never heard of it, and not sure what it means. What is it ?

Possibly a reference to the notoriously intricate and manipulative scheming at the Byzantine court during its worst days. It's actually become a commonly used adjective in English for convoluted, plot-ridden government.

 

[Heretic_Cata]

Possibly a reference to the notoriously intricate and manipulative scheming at the Byzantine court during its worst days. It's actually become a commonly used adjective in English for convoluted, plot-ridden government.

I see - it makes sense in the game context also. Cheers

 

[Dachs]

Got a question: the conflicts around the Baltic in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had vastly different social and political effects on the countries that took part in them. Poland-Lithuania first formed a Commonwealth at Lublin, and then began decentralization, marked by the oh-so-devastating liberum veto. Muscovy had a somewhat dissimilar feudal system based on servitors, which was rather tumultuous (due to the nature of the autocracy), allowing first the depredations of the Oprichnina and then the Time of Troubles, but also some very notable military successes. Denmark-Norway had a slow decentralization during this time, begun by the strengthening of the Council during the Nordic Seven Years' War and continued to the end of the period. Sweden, however, used war as an excuse to grant the sovereign extraordinary powers in the 1540s and from then on established other centralizing institutions like that of the universal militia, the precursor to the levee en masse.

So the question is, why did each of these develop in its own way? This is part discussion, part question, and I have my own (half-formed) opinions but would definitely like to hear from others.

 

[LightSpectra]

How did generals communicate with their squads throughout the ages, and how did the squads move or do something different if they were engaged in battle?

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

How did generals communicate with their squads throughout the ages, and how did the squads move or do something different if they were engaged in battle?

Most either used runners or a system of flag signals, or simply knew what they were going to do beforehand. The Mongols were famous for their ability to coordinate quickly using signals, and the Macedonians for being able to go through troops movements in complete silence. This actually saved them a battle or two, when the enemy was so impressed/scared by that level of discipline they simply ceded the battle-to-be to them. In specific tactical plans, again, like those of post-Epaminondas Hellenistic warfare, the battle was practically scripted, with a specific plan and a specific event different parts of the army were waiting for, in the case of the example, the point when the enemy line was so far stretched that a gap opened between the companies was the time to strike into that hole.

 

[LightSpectra]

So, how did they move once they got the orders to do so? If they moved back, the enemy they were engaging would dice them up.

And how did communication work in medieval, gunpowder and WWI battles?

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

So, how did they move once they got the orders to do so?

What do you mean?

If they moved back, the enemy they were engaging would dice them up.

Well you naturally can't disengage without cover. Without a replacement unit, or without being on horseback or purposefully skirmishing, a unit gone "once more unto the breach" was pretty much left to fight it out.

And how did communication work in medieval,

Pre-Machiavelli, there wasn't too much communication. It was pretty much "you guys, go kill!" There was rarely any sort of strategic reserve held back, it was pretty much just a bunch of guys with pointy things charging at each other.

gunpowder

Flags or horse runners.

and WWI battles?

Radio, or bicycle runners.

 

[Dachs]

Radio, or bicycle runners.

And, starting with the combined Anglo-French assault on the Malakhov at Sevastopol in 1855, synchronized watches.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

And, starting with the combined Anglo-French assault on the Malakhov at Sevastopol in 1855, synchronized watches.

Heh, I forgot about them. But I think they fall under "having a plan beforehand."

 

[Verbose]

Radio, or bicycle runners.

WWI, not much radio. Telephone wires drawn effing everywhere though.

And one of the French army's upgrade failures in WWII was thinking they could fight this new war like the last, mostly by phone instead of radio.

Edit:
Carrier pidgeons had their place in WWI as well. And motorcycle ordonances.

Ordinary bicycles, I'm really not too sure about their usefulness in WWI.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I recall bicycle runners being regular occurrence in Stahlgewittern.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

I recall reading several books that mentioned the use of bicycle runners, especially by the French.

 

[Steph]

And how do you think the tradition of the Tour de France started?

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

And how do you think the tradition of the Tour de France started?

The Great Escape?

 

[Irish Caesar]

And how do you think the tradition of the Tour de France started?

A dozen years or so before WWI?

 

[Dachs]

Hmm, since nobody likes the involved question much (), I got a new one: how did the Aztec Empire actually work? I've heard them described variously as a "confederacy of city-states" and a "Delian League of Tenochtitlan", but without much more detail than that. Any pointers?