What do historians say about the size and weight of the men in ancient armies? In film the Romans, Spartans etc are always depicted as lean mean fighting machines. But is seems more likely that they were malnourished DYELs.
Where can I read about the physical training they did?
>>313258
I know Hansen talks a bit about it in general in his works, but it's stuff that's scattered throughout, I can't think of a good reference material solely for the levels of nourishment and other physical statistics.
Malnourished DYELs wouldn't be able to do the shit the romans did.
>>313258
If you were in the army or just living in those times, you were physically fit.
You had to be in order to survive, and if you weren't in peak physical condition you didn't really survive that long
I have been recently interested in a topic which I feel is very unmentioned and overlooked in history - Greco-Indian cultures and kingdoms.
Can't find much reliable information on it- what happened to all those Greek people living and ruling South Asia and how it influenced Indian history? And how did they rule for so long without the natives kicking them out?
Also, hellenism General thread.
>>313245
>what happened to all those Greek people living and ruling South Asia and how it influenced Indian history? And how did they rule for so long without the natives kicking them out?
Lets start with one thing first.
India is a culture that absorbs all other cultures that come in contact with it, the whole point of Hinduism and any dharmic religion of the era and area is assimilation of any and all opinion it encounters.
The Greeks called the Yavanas were more than likely part of this assimilation and interbred with the local populace until the they diluted away into the population. They were primarily found in Baktria and Archaosia, in and around the areas known in modern times as northern afghanistan, pakistan and kazakhsitan.
Here they became the Indo Greeks.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-Greek_Kingdom
This has all the rest.
>>313306
Are there any modern evidences or influences of Greek cultural elements in modern Indian culture?
>>313332
Its possible, indian history is so saturated by foreign influence that it will be hard to pinpoint any particular instance, but I do know that the name Sikander a popular name in north western india, afghanistan and pakistan was derived from Alexander and meant skillful, also the consumption of wine became popular in those parts due to greek influence during that time, but this maybe conjecture.
I think the problem of evil is, in itself, a good reason for not believing in god(s).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-suvkwNYSQo
Why?
>>313144
If god exists why would he give children leukemia ?
>>313143
Agreed.
Beyond that, even an evil God should want to be more involved in our day to day lives.
Osprey thread. Post pics and discuss.
Requesting Varangians
If the Soviet Union had joined the Axis around 1939, would they have fucked the US and achieve world domination?
>>312884
How would they have joined the Axis when Hitler literally believed that the Slavs were an untermensch that needed to be killed so the German would have living space?
>>312949
Probably by an extension of the years long cooperation they had historically, including training most of the Wehrmacht's armored corps, as well as providing them shittons of food and fuel.
>>312884
>would they have fucked the US and achieve world domination?
No. Become a dominant power in the Eurasian landmass, to be sure, but they had no long distance ability to project force, especially over the water. It's doubtful they could even knock England out, let alone the U.S.
>>312970
This.
Also remember the US had the atom bomb before the Soviets. If the Axis persisted despite this, they would've been nuked to hell. No mutually assured destruction there.
I was wanting to learn more about the Byzantine Empire and this seemed like the place to ask.
>Why did the Eastern Roman Empire get the name "Byzantine" from scholars?
>What exactly is or was the Edict of Caracalla?
>Why did Justinian want to retake the "Roman Lake" despite over-expansion being a major factor in the downfall of the "original" Rome? Was it just ambition, or was there a tactical/economic goal in mind?
>What caused Christendom to become more tolerated?
>How did the Great Schism effect the Empire?
>Was Caligula actually insane or was he just trying to humiliate the senators?
>If they still considered themselves Roman, what was the point of Constantine I declaring Byzantium a "New Rome"? Did he mean "Rome" as in the city rather than the Empire?
>>312852
>Why did the Eastern Roman Empire get the name "Byzantine" from scholars?
German scholars in the 16th century wanted to discredit it and undermine its connection with the Roman Empire. It's just something that has stuck to illustrate that there were some major differences between the Empire of antiquity and the medieval one.
>What exactly is or was the Edict of Caracalla?
It was a pronouncement by the emperor Caracella in 212 granting citizenship to all free people within in the Roman Empire. It meant a lot more people were susceptible to certain taxes, but most people had already acquired citizenship by that time. It meant that later in the Empire instead of whether or not you were a citizen, being a rich 'honestior' as opposed to a poor 'humiliores' was what mattered.
>Why did Justinian want to retake the "Roman Lake" despite over-expansion being a major factor in the downfall of the "original" Rome? Was it just ambition, or was there a tactical/economic goal in mind?
Various reasons. Firstly, the Romans like all pre-modern civilisations had no conception of "over-extension" which in many ways is just a meme and ignores the realities on the grounds. It was presumably mostly ambition, and the expectation that the cities of the west would be amicable to Roman control once again since most of them still considered themselves in some way Roman (he was right).
>What caused Christendom to become more tolerated?
Constantine becoming Christian, that was it. As soon as several emperors in turn began to patronise the Church, some aristocrats quickly followed in order to kiss arse. Roman culture, like our own, has lower class people suck up to their social betters which led to a trickle down effect. Before then it had only really been the urban poor.
>How did the Great Schism effect the Empire?
In the long run, it meant that westerners were much less inclined to support the Empire. Though the First Crusade kind of debunks that idea.
>>312852
>Was Caligula actually insane or was he just trying to humiliate the senators?
Hard to tell because of our sparse and hostile sources. He was very probably as mad as a march hare though.
>If they still considered themselves Roman, what was the point of Constantine I declaring Byzantium a "New Rome"? Did he mean "Rome" as in the city rather than the Empire?
Of course he meant it just as the city. Constantine wanted to create a Christian equivalent to Rome which was 'tainted' in his eyes by its pagan associations. Emperors had founded many cities before, so this was not exactly a new policy. What was new was that the new foundation, due to its position, quickly became an incredibly powerful and wealthy city, valuable shit from across the Empire was grabbed and dumped there like obelisks from Egypt (if you go to the hippodrome area in Istanbul there is a needle which records the Romans complaining about what a pain in the arse it was to move down to the Nile).
Literally asking us to do your homework for you.
Who, in the last fifty years, were the most competent anti-terrorist squad?
What are some interesting sieges?
>>312848
yes
The Iranian embassy siege 1980 is pretty interesting
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Embassy_siege
https://youtu.be/_p4DmuGyehc
>competant
Terrorists that stand against local armed forces on first world countries tend to die quickly
Was he a smart man?
Not a genius, but incredibly conniving and cunning. Good at forging alliances and manuvering himself into power. Like when he gave a bunch of people the wrong day for Lenin's funeral.
>>312862
How did he actually manuver himself into power? Like what were the actual things that he did to achieve his ends?
>>312842
Crafty and treacherous, sure. Smart? That's a stretch. His education was a lot more limited than most of the bolsheviks.
Are Americans an ethnicity?
>>312781
Uh, kinda. Depends om what you think is an ethnicity.
>PopCorn Sutton
He was his own species entirely
Is African-American an ethnicity?
No. Yankees are. Dixies are, but they're pretty spread out and interbred at this point. In the modern world, the ease of travel means that ethnicities dissolve, not form.
at what point and why did spain become shit?
france?
>>312722
When they saw OP coming.
>>312722
I'd go with the period of the religious wars in Europe during the 17th century, that left the country bankrupt. This was also combined with a huge inflation coming from the gold from the Indies and several famines and plagues that reduced Spain's population.
If by "become shit" you mean stopped having hegemonical power in Europe...
Spain during the Thirty Years War. The decisive moment was the battle of Rocroi in 1643, where Spain was defeated by France. From then on France dominated Europe.
That lasted until 1815 at Waterloo.
is this true?
the bible a copy from other cultures mithologies?
>>312720
Well, one of God's Title "King of Kings" is a ripoff of the Persian "Shahanshah."
Ancient Heebs were Persiaboos you know, when those cunts destroyed Babylon.
Not a rip off; parts of it inspired by maybe
Judaism obviously originates from an earlier polytheistic religion and was influenced by Zoroastrianism. Most of the similarities that are played up by things like Zeitgeist and Religulous, like Horus having 12 disciples, are bunk though.
How did early Zionists go about convincing people that creating a Jewish state in Palestine would be a good idea?
controlled media
>jews didnt du nuffin
>muh holocaust
>6 trillion
>>312719
Mostly, they convinced Jews to go and emigrate to Palestine. They figured the state would follow once they had enough of a presence.
>>312734
But how did they convince them? From my understanding there were Jews all over Europe and the middle east speaking different languages with different cultures depending on how well they integrated with their host country and convincing them to move to a poor undeveloped shithole to build an entire new country rather seems like a hard sell pre-holocaust.
/his/, what is best in life?
>>312569
>/his/, what is best in life?
... from a "History & Humanities" point of view, of course.
TO CRUSH YOUR ENEMY'S ANCIENT RUINS, SEE THEM DISMANTLED BEFORE YOU, AND TO HEAR THE LAMENTATIONS OF THEIR ARCHAEOLOGISTS
Unlimited PDFs and a long battery life.
why didnt the unification of slavs under one flag work? was it because of communism?
see >>308033
Because "Slavs" are a meta-ethnic made up group connected by nothing by language. It's like uniting Jamaicans and Anglo-Saxons because they both speak English.
>>312539
it was because s*rbs
Red pill me about the Russian civil war of 1918
>>312522
I'm no expert, but what I know goes like this:
>WW1 is happening, The Tsar joins in becuase fuck it, why not.
>Russian Soldiers unhappy, they don't really need to be here, getting killed, un-happy with the way things are going
>Russian at home feel the same
>Some dude named Lenin comes by and spouts out some hippy dippy non-sense
>They buy it, the madmen!
>So they arm up and start murdering everyone
>Even the Tsar's little girls, for no real reason
>They exit the war after taking power.
>People happy for a good... few years
>WW2 rolls around. Lenin is gone
>Stalin in power, kills fucking.. everyone involved with the actual revolution of 1917-18
>Sends millions to die against the Germans, doesn't really care about them, only wants Germany to GTFO
>Let's millions starve to death in Siberia and other places, cuz fuck it
>Kills/gulags/dissapears anyone who disagrees with him
>People suddenly don't really like communism
>Today happens
This is more a general history, but the reasons for the 1917-18 revolution were basically Hippy stuff and being mad at war.
financed by jewish interests
jewry really hated the czar because they treated them really badly
>>312522
>civil war of 1918
Civil War lasted until 1920-1921, and was the the peak in 1919.
>Red pill me
There is nothing to red pill about, Reds won because they controlled core regions and managed to field much bigger armies. At the same time the Whites failed to establish clear vision of post-war Russia, postponing major decisions until after the war, and because of this were unable to gain popular support from common Russians and ethnic minorities.
>>312753
Actually, it was Germans who helped Lenin into Russia and financed Bolsheviks because he agitated against the war. This doesn't mean Lenin was a German agent, he had his own agenda, but saw no reason not to take help from Kaiser, considering he hoped to eventually ignite revolution in Germany itself. "Capitalists will sell us the rope we'll hung them with".
The tsar abdicated and stopped being relevant in February 1917, a year before the civil war started. There were no royalist force during the war, enemies of the Reds hoped to establish western-style democratic republic via referendum.
