Will English ever be replaced as the global lingua franca?
One day we may engineer a pigeon language that is easy to learn yet effective, kind like the language in the Culture science fiction series.
English has only been the lingua franca for a relatively short period of time and the countries responsible for making it so are in decline. Latin is the most 'successful' language in history.
How big chance is it that mandarin would turn into the next lingua franca? Has there been any research on this?
ITT: Greatest looking Navy ships of history.
I'll start
>HMS Victory
>>567842
>>567842
What is the significance of this Rock? Why do the British have rights to this Rock? What is the symbolic gesture of possession and representation?
We Wuz Rockz
muh rocks
>>566008
>What is the significance of this Rock?
Provides a base for control over a large swathe of area.
>Why do the British have rights to this Rock?
They don't, they're thieves.
>What is the symbolic gesture of possession and representation?
"We can take your land by force, and there's nothing you can do about it.".
post historical characters whose life stories could easily become top quality books or films
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunnlaugr_Ormstunga
>>565580
Well this is more than characters, but the recent history of the Arab World could be perfect for a 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'-esque story, except with a tragic ending.
>Exposition:
Decline and overthrow of Ottoman Empire; Arab Revolt success; Sykes-Picot
>Rising Action:
Faisal becomes king of Iraq and Syria, revolts against French and British, full independence of Arab countries, Jewish immigration and control of local economy...
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What I posted here
>>565794
Geoffrey Plantagenet has one of the most interesting histories.
Count of Anjou. Married Matilda. Matilda was 11 years older than he was. So, both disliked the marriage.
Matilda even more so. She used to be married to a powerful Holy Roman Emperor that was 16 years older than she was. Then, she became a widow and had to marry a 15 years old count because her father wanted peace with Anjou.
They managed to have some kids together and then spent as little...
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There are quite a few terms being thrown around on the internet and this board when discussing military history. Quite a lot of them really have different meanings to different people often resulting in the thread devolving into shitfests with people trying to prove which word means what. Shall we have a thread defining some of the vague terms we use in military history once and for all to the benefit of future threads?
Some terms I often hear are Professional or levy, warrior or soldier and Civic militia and the dreaded 'peasant levy'. Especially in medieval/dark...
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>>565532
Some historic examples of a professional soldier/warrior are the Post-Marian legionaries who were recruited in their late teens or early twenties and could be expected to serve 25 years, they did not know a live outside of fighting until they served their term. Spartans can be seen as another professional, they had a large population of slaves do all the labor and farming while every Spartan citizen was expected to take on fighting as their main occupation.
The medieval period saw some professional forces too although...
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>>565534
>Levy:
For some this has probably become a synonym for inept or low quality and the opposite of professional. I think this term is the opposite of professional but in defining the terms of service for a particular soldier. As opposed to the professional this person had an occupation before entering the army and he will probably return to this life when the war is over.
Some prime examples would be the army of the Athenian city state of Ancient Greece, the pre-Marian reforms...
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>>565537
It should be noted again that Levy does not indicate the quality of the soldiers per say, levied troops managed to beat professional troops from time to time, empires were forged and destroyed with these part timers. A way in which the Napoleonic or modern day conscription differs from some historic examples is that the state often provides the equipment for the raised soldiers whereas in most levied troops the soldiers were expected to bring their own armor and weapons according to his wealth.
In some cases...
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Why do Turks think they were Anatolian Hittites?
After the collapse of the ottomans they went like "yeah man we were always here and then that Alexander dude was rude and made us basically go all the way across the world to China but they build a wall so we came back"
This was a serious political idea of the 20th century and is still viewed as an origin story in Turkey
>>565456
They rather claim that Anatolian Hittites were Turkic.
They have a good portion of pre-Turk/Greek Anatolian DNA, but the mixture is there.
They're culturally Turks, too.
>>565456
They're immigrants with no right to live in Anatolia. They're literally the descendents of Mongolian rape childs.
It's the same thing with those stupid ass Uyghers in china. There have been pathetic attempts by these people to justify their right to live in china. Going as far as to say they are descendents of tocharians.
A Caucasian group of people with European features that lived in central asia before being raped and fucked over by the yellow monkey.
The Turks are such a diverse people that a lot of these origin stories are all true, in some sense. Some parts of the Turkish gene pool come from central Asia, some parts come from the Greeks, some come from the pre-greek Anatolians, etc.
Why was Germany not balkanized after the first world war?
>>565315
It was. People just dont realize it, because most of the territory it lost was territory it had only recently gained - from France earlier, and from Russia in the same war, since there was a separate treaty.
Germany won much land from Russia, then lost that land, and some of its own, when the final treaty was made.
All of Poland was German land, taken from Germany.
>>565315
Because The French didn't have the ability to force it on their own and No Way the British Would have approved it
Despite the Germanphobia that the British had they still were pragamatic enough to keep "keeping The Balance of Power" as the goal, Only Idiots like Churchill wanted British Foriegn Policy to be about Macho feels
How did one atheist, in a matter of a few short years, manage to write the most spiritual and uplifting work of the modern period, exceeding every religious thinker by miles?
I just can't get my mind around how Nietzsche supersedes all religious thinkers, given they know the glory of God and all.
>>565273
Nietzsche and Klassen miscalculated human nature, though!
You can't just feed people information and statistics and expect that they will become militant activists for better humanity.
>>565273
>expect that they will become militant activists for better humanity.
That's not what Nietzsche wants though.
Bait thread.
If a nuclear holocaust happened in 1975, what would 2016 be like?
>>565207
Watch the film Threads
Not kidding
emerging from a nuclear winter, with 95% of all life on the planet wiped out
>>565207
What if Hitler won the Moon War?
Do you guys seriously believe in God, or is it just a meme?
A meme, it seems. There may be a few who do, like that one tripfag.
God is not an old man with a beard.
>>565090
You forgot that one Kent Hovind fan who obviously has never watched the "Why do people laugh at creationists" series
What kind of fortification can can be used in modern warfare. I'm talking everything except nukes(I know bunkers are a thing).
>>564185
Nothing can stand to ICBMs so the best chance is to scatter as much as it can be done
>>564200
Well aren't there concrete bunkers that can withstand nuclear explosions? Why can't a fortified position be reinforced with that kind of material?
Who was the most impressive human being in recorded history?
Some names I was considering:
>Gauss, Newton, Einstein, Michelangelo, Beethoven, Shakespeare.
Jesus.
How is this even a question?
Yeshua Messiah.
The annointed one.
The messiah.
Iesous.
Jesus Christ.
Me
Thesis: theistic god
Antithesis: atheism
Synthesis: the Absolute/the One
When will the fedora and auereole tippers realize there is a third option that transcends both?
>>562902
Thesis: Idiots
Antithesis: Faggots
Synthesis: OP
> Still fapping to the notion of a universe created by a sentient being
> Still not understanding that atheism don't want nuffin to do with this crap.
>>562924
>completely missing the point
>the Absolute
>a sentient, discrete being
This thread was for you my friend
Can someone explain the HRE for me? How did they manage to be the geographically largest kingdom/empire in medieval europe, yet fail to really do anything? I mean of all that I've read about them, it seems to be a giant mess of internal squabbles and other petty bullshit
>>562816
>Holy
>Roman
>Empire
>>562816
Nobles had too much power compared to the emperor, so it totally failed to centralize in any way whatsoever.
>>562819
>Nobles had too much power compared to the emperor
elaborate
How were soldiers disciplined in Rome?
>>562804
With anal sex
>>562811
Positive reinforcement then :^)
>>562804
They were decimated.