>read history
>imagination runs wild with fantasies of power
>lose interest when I realize I'll never be emperor
Anyone else feel the same?
>>615875
>tfw you will never get to test out your Machiavellian ideals of brutal efficiency as emperor of America
No because history isn't about exercising power
>>615875
I feel like one day I might start up a warband
there is hope yet anon
At the least, imitate their values. Alexander the Great was tutored by Aristotle. To think his teachings didn't help him in his conquests would be folly.
>>615875
I just want to seal some sort of business alliance with another man by marrying and bedding his virgin daughter. Is this too much to ask for?
Or I also want to own slaves and have sex with them. Let my favourite warm my bed at night.
>>615885
>read a social history
>imagine myself being a benign king who lifts the peasants up from poverty
>read a cultural history
>Imagine myself being an enlightened monarch who patronizes the arts
>read a military history
>imagine myself being a brutal warlord who crushes his enemies
And so on.
>>615875
>read history
>develop total revulsion at the notion of power
>realize that I am greater as a NEET than any emperor
Anyone else feel the same?
>>615967
>realize that I am greater as a NEET than any emperor
Realizing this just makes you a better emperor desu.
>>615875
>read history
>compare and contrast to primary sources
>evaluate historiographical and ideological position
>add it as a footnote to the latest article in preparation
Anyone else do history as alienated wage labour?
At least you can vote for one.
>>615875
It bothers me that I'll never be the Chancellor/Grand Vizier/Adviser and have the Emperor as my puppet.
>>616029
Can you actually make a living?
>>616047
Yes. It is called "being an academic" and it is pretty shit.
>>616058
Do you get laid a lot?
I'm asking because I've already committed myself not knowing what I'm in for.
>>616047
Actually no I can't. I was working until I was disabled.
>>615875
same
>you'll never be a maverick who rises to power at a young age and maintains an iron grip on his power and his people
>you'll never even live as an aide to larger-than-life figures, and have them use you as tools to observe and expand their influence
>you'll never have the respect of a king, let alone be one
>actually no one will find you noteworthy in any way
>your contributions to society will end when this generation does.
Fuck, I've got to at least write a book or something
>>615875
Well at least I can play out my power fantasies in Crusader Kings 2...
>>616094
Vidya stopped working for me a long time ago. Now I feel empty.
>>615915
That doesn't mean history isn't interesting when you aren't treating history books like literal fantasy novels.
Pleb.
>>615978
Yang?
>>615875
It's time to install Civ V my son..
>>616094
That map is disgusting
>>615875
Empire sucks.
I thought I was the only one to do this!
Sometimes I have fantasies of forming a small army, and venturing off to Syria. There we'd fight ISIS and eventually form a government, either a Fascist Dictatorship or a Monarchy.
I'd restabilize Syria as "the Golden Lion of the Levant" and expand into the rest of Arabia. Arabia would be lifted out of the Dark Ages and be strong enough to compete with Europe.
Then I'd form a program to bring back all the refugees in Europe back to Syria.
>>616251
>civilization
total pleb tier historical video game. just kill yourself.
>>615875
>read history
>want to become a minor noble who can read and write and enjoy all the splendors of life without being too powerful or relevant
>cry myself to sleep realizing I'll never serve in the Grand Armée
>>617051
You mean those /pol/acks who went agent provocateur to BLM protesters?
The key with history is not to self insert as kings, you idiots.
The key is to make your own history.
>play CK2
>turn it off, go to bed
>cry myself to sleep because I'll never be a king IRL
>>615875
Yeah. Except, the last bit, of course.
>>616103
You can start a revolution. Just suggesting.
>>615875
>read scifi
>imagination runs wild with the possibilities of post-scarcity cybernetics
>jack off to anime after I realize I will never be a hyperintelligent AI managing entire universes
>>615885
wat
>read history
>it's about non-western civilizations
>drop because it's boring
>You were born too late to be a priestess of Bastet
>you'll never be the most genius thinker in all of history and dominate intellectual discussion for 2000 years
>>615875
i don't lose interest
i gain AMBITION
>>615875
Yes, but if I start feeling like that last bit I usually get steaming to keep the dream alive.
>>616103
move onto crack
>tfw you'll never lead a legion of blueshirts to seize the Strassbourg and proclaim the European Federation.
>>615875
>lose interest when I realize I'll never be emperor
I haven't given up.
I'd like to reach the top democratically, though.
>>615875
>Read history
>Imagine being an emperor.
>At the height of my power and the decline of my health I turn it into a republic and let the people walk down their own stones.
>Even if my empire breaks up the people still remember me as a based emperor.
Shit.
>>617058
>want to become a minor noble who can read and write and enjoy all the splendors of life without being too powerful or relevant
That's the kind of stuff you can do right now. You also have more power than average Joe would've had, even though you are still super irrelevant.
>>618292
>wanting to be a CK character
ayy
I would've started a dynasty, marrying off my daughters to heirs so that my bloodline runs through multiple royal families.
>tfw you will never die fighting a heroic yet doomed struggle to defend the last bastion of civilisation against a horde of barbarian infidels
![wolsey[1].jpg](https://i.imgur.com/AdhqIBx.jpg "wolsey[1].jpg")
>>616045
Power behind the throne is best power
>>616037
this
>>615875
>you will never serve in the Imperial French Army
It hurts...
>>615875
>Stand at Thermopylae and Marathon
>to think with Plato
>Learn with Aristotle
>March to the end of the world with Alexander
>Ride elephants across the Alps
>Subjugate Gaul
>Cross the Rubicon
>walk with Christ
>Raid the Teutoburg
>March through Caledonia
>Defend the Empire to my last breath
>Watch the city burn and all of civilization with it
>day dream in a field that owns me about the lights of a heroic past
>defend maidens from dragons
>raid monasteries
>marry a princess
>lead a band of righteous men for king country and God into the godforsaken east and avenge my slaughtered brothers
>stand toe to toe with a Lithuanian
>face down a cannon
>sail the sea to an unknown world
>forge a future out of hardship and struggle that would make destiny herself jealous
>declare liberty and defend such a belief against the might of the world
>land on the beach of Normandy
>defend the fatherland from the eastern scourge
>live another life as an undercover agent in Moscow
>touch the stars
>be me in a shit life fantasizing about a romantic version of history
>>616251
>Not installing Civ IV: Dawn of Civ mod
You fucked up son
>>618371
>Have 99% of your writings be utter gold, but right at the heart of it place a massive turd, making it seem like a great idea by association
>>620354
>defend maidens from dragons
>dragons
dropped
I don't really care about being an emperor/king, there's far too much political game involved. These guys were constantly wrestling power with the nobility/church/foreign powers, and it really wasn't as easy and straightforward as people seem to think. Absolute power was only a thing against the lowly peasants.
If anything, I feel very bad for not being able to live in ancient Greece or imperial Rome where martial and intelectual prowess were harmonic, along with a healthy dose of mysticism. That, and victorian Britain, because frankly, victorian Britain was awesome.
>>618371
Not true. Plato was far more influential for much of Western history.
>>620400
>No political game in imperial Rome or ancient Greece
I have some bad news for you anon
>tfw you'll never get to ride across the desert evading the law
>>620413
Who said anything about being a politician there, dude?
>>617045
Any other shows like this?
>you will never make America great again as a benevolent dictator
>you will never infuse Roman Imperial pomp and splendor into your manner of rule
>you will never be regarded by future historians as a controversial figure who ended two centuries of democracy while also ushering in generations of glory and prosperity
>you will never foster the beginnings of an informed citizenry who won't be manipulated by those meant to represent their interests
>>620460
You have a chance to do that, anon.
>>620436
Reread his post
>>620640
Reread your own post.
>there's far too much political game involved.
>I feel very bad for not being able to live in ancient Greece or imperial Rome
no, because i realize that it might be a single man as a catalyst, but it takes many to make a movement. Even if all i do is live a simple life, ill still be this historically-interesting Anglo man.
>>615875
Yeah. I feel it particularly for pre industrial societies
>tfw will never be a roman equite, a european knight, a hoplite in Alexander's army or a tribal warrior in migration era europe
>>620648
What part of citizen-soldier, as in, not a politician, and therefore not involved with politics, did you not get?
This all boils down to:
>you will never be written about in future history
and I feel it.
>>620843
The way you wrote your post seemed to imply that they were mutually exclusive
>>622370
I explicitly said I didn't want to be an Emperor/King in whatever the time (that also applies to any other position of power), not that I didn't want to live in a certain time. It's obvious I wouldn't want to be in a political position in these times, it's not like I (or almost anyone) don't know the massive power struggle in the late Roman Empire.
>>620893
this guy gets it
>>619847
>wanting to be a CK character
I've had characters that seemed to have genuinely happy lives
>>620685
Yeah but not you namely. That's the problem.
