Is Mao Zedong one of the most underrated commanders of all time?
>>384406
No. He is vastly overrated due to lionising by the party.
>>384406
>underrated
Couldn't fight the nationalists on even ground.
His greatest achievement is not dying in the 30s.
>>384997
>His greatest achievement is not dying
>sun yat sen decimated
Can someone explain solipsism to me because I don't get it?
Do they mean that people are pretending? Say when someone breaks their leg and screams in pain turns white starts shaking wincing and limping etc, are they saying that he is pretending?
Since in solipsism only you exist, you cannot prove the existence of other people's subjective experiences.
>>384315
maybe *I* can't, but other people can
like why would you even doubt that, it makes no sense. as if people are like automatons or some shit
when somebody smiles, how is that not proof that they have that feeling when you smile?
or when somebody breaks their finger and screams, how is that not proof that they're in pain?
are they saying all that could happen without the feeling of pain?
>>384337
Well you do not, by definition, have direct access to the subjective experiences of others. All you see are outward expressions. Humans do have the instinct that other beings have feelings, but there is not any way to confirm this directly. I know Wittgenstein had something to say about language and private experience, but I'm not an expert on him.
What caused the Byzantine Empire to collapse?
Ottoman cannons.
>>384227
Fourth crusade next question?
What interests did the British Empire had in africa to colonize them? (especially in todays Ghana, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone?
>>384213
Slaves and precious stones.
Also, colonization was impractical in those areas. Your "colonies" were mostly just fortified port-areas. White settlement would not venture inland until the 20th century.
>>384213
BIG
Why are there so many great creative people in the past that we do not have in the current day?
What causes of creativity have been present in history? In art?
>>384184
Hard to be creative, and express your thoughts/art while also working to buy and maintain a house, car, food, water, and sustain your family. Creative people are out there but the way modern society has formed allots no time for the expression of that creativity.
There's a thing called magic. It's the shrooms everyone was smoking
>>384204
Gentleman scholars of the past were wealthy in that they could afford leisure. Today, even someone who could survive with such a lifestyle is looked down upon.
The downfall of the glorification of leisure coincided with its replacement by consumption. Consumption must be fed by production.
I don't tell anyone I'm a writer in real life, because it's the same as telling them I'm a deadbeat. I can't look even look my parents in the eye. I suppose a man in my position in the earlier ages might have joined the priesthood.
The Romans came to power because they were unmatched by anyone in their area. Is there any unit of fighters that could beat a well organized Roman unit? They should both be from the time of Augustus, around 0 CE.
A troop of Apaches, assuming they had similar tech and tactics back then as they did when whitey turned up in murca
Otherwise, the romans had a real hard time with the armenians and parthians due to their horse archer tactics, which were difficult to defend against with heavy infantry
>>384173
The Han dynasty over in China had a corps of professional soldiers, mostly armed with crossbows at 0 CE. At the very least, they'd be able to give the Romans a serious run for their money.
Plus, the Romans historically had trouble with the horse archers out of Parthia. It was very "win a battle, lose a battle" over there, but the light cavalry did secure wins..
>>384265
Not only are Apaches not within the time period specified in the OP, but the Romans would have raped them so hard that they'd wish they took the smallpox blankets.
Aristotle > Socrates > Plato > Shit > All other philosophers > Your favorite philosopher
>>7443315
Plato > Plotinus > Burke > Pseudo-Dionysus > Lao Tzu >>>>>>>> OP
>>384070
>Who is this retard quoting?
> - Epictetus
>>384056
But what if Aristotle is my favorite philosopher?
his, brownpill me on the rise of Christianity in the roman empire.
>>384021
Christianity, as with all religions, started in one tiny place, when the rest of the earth was populated by a wildly marvelous diversity of religious beliefs—and yet, curiously enough, the concept of warfare over religious differences was virtually nonexistent. Most people in ancient times believed it was proper to respect the gods of other peoples. This changed on a global scale when Christianity was spread, quite literally, by the sword. Those who attempted to assert their religious differences were harassed, tortured, robbed of their land and belongings, even killed. Before it achieved political power, Christianity was a small sect, a heresy against the Jewish faith, that had to accept equality among all the other religions of the Roman Empire. Yet it was the first religion to openly attack the religions of other people as false (the Jews, at least, were a little more tactful). Needless to say, Christianity only truly flourished when it had the ability to eliminate the competition—when it had the full support of Rome’s Emperors after 313 A.D., and when, in 395 A.D., every religion other than Christianity was actually outlawed. Through force and decree Christianity was immersed in the cultural surroundings of lands near and far, and in an environment where it was widely accepted, if not the only thing accepted, it spread and planted itself among subjugated peoples. As kids grew up taking Christian ideas for granted, they often did not realize that only a few generations ago those ideas were entirely alien.
>>384041
>Christianity, as with all religions, started in one tiny place, when the rest of the earth was populated by a wildly marvelous diversity of religious beliefs—and yet, curiously enough, the concept of warfare over religious differences was virtually nonexistent.
Spotted the retard. One only has to look at Caesar's Gallic wars to know this is shit.
Most people, in the ancient times, drew little distinction between a people and their religion; religion was far more ethnic and "cultural". You made war on them, you made war on their gods. Why do you think the Chinese stamped hard on the indigenous southern peoples religions? Why do you think there was so much religious overwriting in Egypt every time a new cult came to power? Why did you have so many Babylonian kings casting down the temples of their rivals?
Honoring the gods of a defeated enemy was a relatively rare phenomenon.
>>384041
hello Vladimir Lenin
I think that the problem of evil is, in itself, a perfectly good reason not to worship a monotheistic god.
Any counter-arguments?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suvkwNYSQo [Embed]
The only tenable theodicies:
1. Evil as the absence of good
2. Gnostic cosmogony
3. Plotinus' metaphysics (only airtight theodicy I've ever encountered)
What's the deal with neo paganism and right wing ultra nationalists? Is it the aesthetics or the actual beliefs? Seems like more of the former especially among the edgy people. The heavy metal, the imagery that inspired the Nazis - it all is something inspiring for the young white man that feels disenfranchised and wants to be apart of something bigger than himself, but rejects mainstream religion.
Though not gonna lie, there is some cool music that I'd listen to if I was about to go into battle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hcatw4aTGo
I think you are basically right yeah. So much of the folk culture of Europeans has been lost, especially in America. I think it's a desire to feel connected to history.
>>383447
>What's the deal with neo paganism and right wing ultra nationalists? Is it the aesthetics or the actual beliefs? Seems like more of the former especially among the edgy people. The heavy metal, the imagery that inspired the Nazis - it all is something inspiring for the young white man that feels disenfranchised and wants to be apart of something bigger than himself, but rejects mainstream religion.
Ten to fifteen years ago, that question would rarely if ever be typed outside of very isolated Asatru circles.
Judging from the conversations I hear around the new right, it seems mostly to be aesthetic. Nobody I know from that column of paganism is really going through Galdrabok or any given Svartkonstböcker.
>>383469
Paganism in America definitely seems more connected to the aesthetic than the actual ideology. You have the right wing white males going for the nordic paganism, while the quirky hipster girls become wiccans. It is a lot cooler imo than mainstream Christianity. The idea of Odin, and some of the Nordic ruins looks more appealing than Jesus and the cross. Then you Eastern Europeans and paganism. That seems a bit more serious, but just a way to legitimize neo nazi beliefs.
>The Japanese win the battle of midway, how does the pacific theatre unfold?
>Theodosius doesn't die in the battle of Frigidus and Alaric still defects. Is Rome still sacked?
>The French send 3,000 riflemen to reinforce the shogunate at the battle of edo in 1868
>Iraq decides to not chlorine bomb kurds or invade kuwait and fabricates claims to persain clay
What happens in each war?
>>383335
>>The Japanese win the battle of midway, how does the pacific theatre unfold?
the industrial output of the united states remains unchanged, meaning they churn out planes and boats at a rate that cannot be countered by japan by any means, and japan is defeated a few months later
>>383337
>plague bomb california
>bomb the guada canal
>diplomacy with south america
gg
>>383342
You mean japanese diplomacy with South America?
Anyone have any recommendations of books that capture how truly hellish fighting in Vietnam was? Like having to go on patrol, ambushes, guerrilla warfare, and the elements.
Also Vietnam War general. Was reading about Frances experience in the 50s. Poor French Foreign Legion got absolutely raped over there. It was interesting how they would only send colonial and non native French soldiers to Nam in order to keep the population from losing their shit.
>be in Vietnam
>shoot up some heroin
>it ain't me starts playing
If I was in Nam I would be the biggest drug addict possible.
>>383313
This book is about everything you listed.
It was way more hellish for the nva than u.s. soldiers.
>flamethrowers
>napalm bombings
>agrnt orange
>SAbotaged supply lines/no food
>human wave tactics
What was Nubia?
The New Kingdom of Egypt ruled over them, but when they collapsed the Nubians took over in Egypt for a while before being kicked out by the Assyrians. Then they withdrew back into Nubia where they flourished at Napata and Meroe until about 300 AD, after which they collapsed and were replaced by Christian kingdoms, the most powerful being Makuria. They fended off the Arabs a few times before being Islamized around the 13th century and falling under Egyptian/Ottoman/British control. Then there was some stuff with the Mahdi and some Gordon guy, I forget.
A region along the upper Nile that's been inhabited for thousands of years and that has hosted dozens of civilizations through their rise and fall. Ancient Egyptians referred to the upper Nile as "Ta-Seti" which means "land of the bow" because its residents were renowned archers, a reputation that persisted until the Islamic era. Prior to the 8th century BC their capital and largest city was Kerma, afterwards it was Napata, and after that; Meroë. A lot of the groups that inhabited the Upper Nile appropriated writing, symbols, and other aspects of ancient Egyptian culture, particularly after Piyankhi's invasion of the Nile Delta in the 8th century BC. After being ousted by the Assyrians they continued developing their own culture and urban centers. Cambyses II of Persia tried to invade Nubia after his conquest of Egypt, but he was repelled by the terrain and by the hit and run tactics of the Kushites.
The Meroitic Kings of Kush initially had friendly relations with Ptolemaic Egypt. King Arqamani (Ergamenes) of Meroë was apparently a huge Hellenophile and contributed to some monuments in Philae, while Ptolemy IV financed additions to some of Meroë's temples and other buildings. However relations soured after the Kushites were accused of supporting Ankhmakis' revolt near Thebes (the records are a bit fuzzy), and Ptolemy IV launched an invasion of Kush. He was soundly defeated and several cities along the Nile were occupied by the Kushites during the counter-invasion.Meroë remained a major city for several centuries, and after a war or two developed a mutually beneficial relationship with the Roman Empire.
However, by the 4th century AD Abyssinia had risen as a major power the region, and the Christian king Ezana of Abyssinia invaded Meroe and dismantled the Kushitic kingdom.
I'm winging most of this since I lost most of my subsaharan African history notes in a harddrive crash. A ton of shit happened here but it's all too long to describe in a single 4chan post.
Does Russia have any historical legitimacy as Third Rome? If they take back Constantinople? Or is the Roman Empire gone for good?
No
The only three Romes were
-Rome
-First French Empire
-Third Reich
>>383118
Didn't the Germans have an entire holiday dedicate to beating up Latins?
>>383118
How were the First French Empire and the Third Reich in any way, shape or form, successors to Rome?
>he thinks hell is a place and not a state of mind
>hell is the absence of god
>tfw god isn't real
>tfw jesus says earth is hell
the mind is its own place, and in itself
can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.
>>383073
So hell doesn't mean Earth?
