History questions not worth their own thread

[Dachs]

The First Civil War didn't start in 1640 (but rather January 1642), and it was more or less over by 1646 - and the latter part of that was mostly sieges. That's four years of heavy action, and neither side had the titanic advantages that the Federals had in the American Civil War.

The other conflicts you seem to be conflating into the First Civil War occurred in Ireland and Scotland too, and the resumption of civil war in England was due to different (but connected) reasons from the First Civil War.

 

[IdiotsOpposite]

Sorry, my AP Euro class taught it as one eight-year war...

We spend a lot more time on the French than we do any other nation... but it seems the French were involved in EVERYTHING from 800 AD to 1800 AD and after.

 

[BananaLee]

What you'd learn is that the stuff you learn in high school (and this applies to most subjects) is utter tosh once you enter uni.

 

[Lord Baal]

What you'd learn is that the stuff you learn in high school (and this applies to most subjects) is utter tosh once you enter uni.

Pretty much. It's a good thing I learnt on my own during school, because if I'd relied on my teachers I'd be an idiotic failure, like everyone else I went to school with. Not that I'm terribly successful right now, but I blow them out of the water.

 

[LightSpectra]

Am I crazy, or does Alan Rickman look exactly like Oliver Cromwell?

Spoiler :

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

He's definitely got the nose!

 

[Masada]

Has he committed regicide yet?

 

[Karalysia]

Genocide of the Irish is also required.

 

[ParkCungHee]

Genocide of the Irish is also required.

Then I suppose Oliver Cromwell doesn't resemble Oliver Cromwell.

 

[Lord Baal]

Am I crazy, or does Alan Rickman look exactly like Oliver Cromwell?

Spoiler :

Well, I guess we know who should be cast if they ever make a film about Cromwell. Of course, in their infinite wisdom, they'll likely cast Christian Bale for some-such reason.

 

[bombshoo]

I am not quite sure of a good way to word this question, but how good (or poor) was the Confederate States of America's brain power around the time of the Civil War? Did they have any good universities or scientists/inventors/mathematicians/intellectual people in general living there? If so did any of them actually put their knowledge to the use of the Confederate government? If they had achieved independence would they have ended up with a "brain drain" or was there even anything for them to lose in that area?

I'm aware they had some good military academies and good strategists/tacticians so I mean outside of this area unless any of those military schools were also making headway in other fields.

 

[LightSpectra]

Why exactly is Bernard Montgomery considered a good commander? It's rather evident he took over the African campaign when the Allies were right on the verge of victory anyway, Market Garden was impractical, and his own clumsiness resulted in a large amount of Germans escaping the Falaise pocket. And in spite of all this, he was egotistical as hell, constantly glorifying his own successes and criticizing his contemporary commanders.

 

[Yui108]

Has he committed regicide yet?

Does Dumbledore count?

 

[vogtmurr]

Am I crazy, or does Alan Rickman look exactly like Oliver Cromwell?

lol
Definitely gotta be in the family blood line somehow - maybe the reincarnation of

 

[Quackers]

what is "whig" history

 

[Yared]

Could it be a horrible portmanteau of Wig and History?

 

[Huayna Capac357]

The history of the Whig Party?

 

[nonconformist]

Why exactly is Bernard Montgomery considered a good commander? It's rather evident he took over the African campaign when the Allies were right on the verge of victory anyway, Market Garden was impractical, and his own clumsiness resulted in a large amount of Germans escaping the Falaise pocket. And in spite of all this, he was egotistical as hell, constantly glorifying his own successes and criticizing his contemporary commanders.

-Charisma; he had the innate ability to inspire British troops that were fatigued, war weary, and standing practically alone. The same men that had left France in 1940. That was worth any commanding power
-Monty wasn't terrible; in fact, compared to most old-school British general staff (Alanbrook, Alexander Bill Slim being notable exceptions), he was positively inspired.
-The British, as I've said were war-weary; more so, they were cautious....by the time the Americans got invovled, Britain was quite reseved about its military abilities, as well as being fully aware of the potential of the German armed forces. Britain also had less "stand off" weaponry, so Monty's "cautious" approach, which was much reviled by the Americans, was in fact, at the time, considered to be quite apt.

Hindsight is always 20/20

 

[Verbose]

I am not quite sure of a good way to word this question, but how good (or poor) was the Confederate States of America's brain power around the time of the Civil War? Did they have any good universities or scientists/inventors/mathematicians/intellectual people in general living there? If so did any of them actually put their knowledge to the use of the Confederate government? If they had achieved independence would they have ended up with a "brain drain" or was there even anything for them to lose in that area?

I'm aware they had some good military academies and good strategists/tacticians so I mean outside of this area unless any of those military schools were also making headway in other fields.

Around 1860 neither the Confederacy or the Union, i.e. the US in general, had no higher institutions of learning or research that could hold a torch to the best European ones, not yet.

Otoh neither had the UK. The French Great Schools were still pretty impressive, but the German universities were coming into their own and would leave everyone in the dust, until they reformed taking a page from Germany (sometime after 1880).

What science there was tended to be done outside of formal institutions, or as a sideline to people's work.(C.S. Peirce, the US philosopher, worked for the US Customs iirc. Otoh in the UK people like Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, Sir Roderick Murchison et al. were all leisured "gentlemen of science", who didn't have to work for a living anyway.)

 

[Verbose]

what is "whig" history

Wikipedia is you friend.

Whig history presents the past as an inevitable progression towards ever greater liberty and enlightenment, culminating in modern forms of liberal democracy and constitutional monarchy. In general, Whig historians stress the rise of constitutional government, personal freedoms and scientific progress. The term is often applied generally (and pejoratively) to histories that present the past as the inexorable march of progress toward enlightenment. It also refers to a specific set of British historians. Its antithesis can be seen in certain kinds of cultural pessimism.

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