Worst historical misconceptions in the internet?
- Thread starter Ukas
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Verbose
Deity
Haven't we had this a couple of times already? (Sure we do.)
Maybe it helps to think of the process of kicking off WWI as a chicke-race? Everyone waiting for the other guy to blink first, only to realise that they should have blinked themselves a while back, when it wasn't already too late.
Maybe it helps to think of the process of kicking off WWI as a chicke-race? Everyone waiting for the other guy to blink first, only to realise that they should have blinked themselves a while back, when it wasn't already too late.
It's not a matter of "initiating" it, because the causes were too complex. But Germany's alliance with Austria did not commit it to going to war when Austria declared war on Serbia. And it certainly didn't commit Germany to attacking Russia, France, and Belgium.
The notion that all the participants of the First World War were "dragged into it" is itself something of a historical misconception, I think, or at least a huge oversimplification. Even Britain needn't have mobilised once Belgium was attacked if it really hadn't wanted to.
The notion that all the participants of the First World War were "dragged into it" is itself something of a historical misconception, I think, or at least a huge oversimplification. Even Britain needn't have mobilised once Belgium was attacked if it really hadn't wanted to.
Xshayathiya
Warlord
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Wilhelm knew exactly what he was getting Germany into when he gave Austria a blank check. Bismarck was rolling in his grave.
sydhe
King of Kongs
(1) That ancient culture didn't really exist until the Greeks came along. In particular that the Greeks invented mathematics. If you point out that the Egyptians and Babylonians already had a knowledge of practical mathematics, then the Greek mathematics was the first real mathematics since they developed pure mathematics.
(2) I also came across a poster that the Greeks initiated systematic military innovation, which would have been news to the Assyrians (not to mention the Chinese.)
(3) That the Semitic alphabet wasn't really an alphabet and the important thing was when vowels were added. (Vowels weren't in the Phoenician alphabet because the basis of meaning is consonant clusters.)
(4) That some event in historical times made people human beings. That people in the past didn't have the same emotions we do. (Although they did sometimes have different views about things.)
(5) Lack of historical perspective. For instance, ask people who the worst president was, and a lot will say Clinton or Bush 43. Ask them who the most important scientist was, and they'll say someone born in the last fifty years. Ask them to list the best movie of all time, or the worst, and it's something that came out in the last ten years. [The opposite is sometimes true, and you'll see lists of the best and worst that include nothing made in the last thirty years.]
(2) I also came across a poster that the Greeks initiated systematic military innovation, which would have been news to the Assyrians (not to mention the Chinese.)
(3) That the Semitic alphabet wasn't really an alphabet and the important thing was when vowels were added. (Vowels weren't in the Phoenician alphabet because the basis of meaning is consonant clusters.)
(4) That some event in historical times made people human beings. That people in the past didn't have the same emotions we do. (Although they did sometimes have different views about things.)
(5) Lack of historical perspective. For instance, ask people who the worst president was, and a lot will say Clinton or Bush 43. Ask them who the most important scientist was, and they'll say someone born in the last fifty years. Ask them to list the best movie of all time, or the worst, and it's something that came out in the last ten years. [The opposite is sometimes true, and you'll see lists of the best and worst that include nothing made in the last thirty years.]
The Middle Ages is also a rich seam of historical stupidity. People seem to think that the Middle Ages was a particularly miserable time, that everyone was poor and unhealthy, that there were witch hunts, that the church caused the Dark Ages, and still you hear the claim that people in the Middle Ages thought the world was flat...
Evie
Pronounced like Eevee
I don't know why I didn't think to mention that. The way people demonize the Middle Ages (Xen was pretty big on it) has been a pet peeve of mine for a while now.
And Witch Hunts...bleh. A wonderful example of people not even using their head. Ask them when witch hunts took place, they'll say "Middle Ages." Ask them to name a witch hunt, they'll invariably say "Salem." (And, needless to say, they were mostly Protestants work. Though to be fair, the 1400s-1600s Catholic church was probably at its lowest low anyway)
Yeah. Salem. Middle Ages.
And Witch Hunts...bleh. A wonderful example of people not even using their head. Ask them when witch hunts took place, they'll say "Middle Ages." Ask them to name a witch hunt, they'll invariably say "Salem." (And, needless to say, they were mostly Protestants work. Though to be fair, the 1400s-1600s Catholic church was probably at its lowest low anyway)
Yeah. Salem. Middle Ages.
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