What is your favorite part of history

Depends in which force of commoners. English longbow, yes. Swiss pikemen, not as much.

 

That depended on the state of the country/county/kingdom/etc they came from

 

Fair enough.

 

Right now I think my favorite era and place in history to read about is what is now the Southeastern United States from the earliest human activity we have evidence of up through around 1600--which I know is a loooooong time period. One of my favorite books about the era--from very late--is Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun which is about the Soto expedition.

 

I would highly.... HIGHLY recommend swords around a throne by JR elting.

Absolutely wonderful book.

Swords Around A Throne https://www.amazon.com/dp/0306807572/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_wRnZAbQ866F4N

 

The Celts are my favourite ancient civilisation of all time, but I'm interested in all history up to 1945.

The Celts truly fascinate me because they did have a civilisation of their own, if you're careful to avoid the Roman bias making them look like savages. Their priests, the Druids, were not just priests but also naturalists, scientists and astronomers, who created a calendar that in terms of seasons was almost perfectly spot on. The Celts used the first bars of soap to wash themselves, very different from the olive oil that the Romans washed themselves with. The Celts sacked Rome long before Attila the Hun was even born. Gaulish warbands led by the chieftain Brennus crushed the early legions and marched into Rome, demanding that the Romans pay up. While the Romans are then fiddling around with scales trying to weigh the gold they're after, Brennus then throws his sword onto the pile and declares "Woe to the Vanquished!" and the Celts then make off with all the gold, not giving a damn about what the Romans think. Although the Romans later managed to defeat the Celts with vastly better tactics, the Celts refused to give in without a fight. Caratacus, the chieftain of the Catuvellauni tribe when the Romans invaded in AD 43, was himself a strong tactician, always choosing the battlefields that were the most difficult for the Romans to fight in. The Romans never caught him - it took another Briton to betray him to the invaders, and even then Emperor Claudius respected his strength of will enough to let him live the rest of his life in Rome. Although the Celts eventually fell, they were a mighty people right until the end!

 

I have a few.

In school I had a big sampling of international history, and my favorites were definately Ancient Chinese/~late Qing-to-post-WWII China and Japanese Medieval history. I am also a big fan of Medieval European history, my thesis was on the Crusades in the Holy Land (1095-1291ish).





I am still a big fan of Japanese history, specifically the Sengoku-Period right up to the Battle of Sekigahara and the Siege of Osaka before the Edo period. I love the ukiyo-e artwork created during the Edo period too.

Spoiler: Battle of Sekigahara- large image

Of course my favorite hobby history is Mayan history (got a couple books on the subject) and I love the artwork the most!

 

Agreed!

The Celts were exceptionally varied peoples, the very early Irish even more so due to their isolation from the other Celtic groups. Each one is very very distinctive! (Leading to Gaeilge and Welsh sounding different from the mainland stuff if I am not mistaken as well)

And if the rumors/stories of Ambicatus were true the amount of people he ruled preRome was MASSIVE. One of my favorite metal bands Eluveitie has an entire album based solely on the Roman conquest from the Helvetian point of view (album is called Helvetios) and its one HELL of an album. Actually all their albums have a Gaulish theme to them its a great time.

I would have loved to live in Ancient Egypt if only the more and more we learn about them is just amazing. Talk about some advancements! Especially in medicine!

I am also partial to certain parts of the medieval era. If only for the sheet fact they weren't as "dark" as people like to make them out to be

 

By thesis do you mean capstone paper? Or actual thesis from a master's program?

 

No masters (yet), the thesis was for my undergrad degree (got that w/ thesis tacked onto the end of it).

In my current opinion, it wasn't really that good... I should have invested more time on it. Still it was ~80 pages long and had a laundry list of sources that I had to pull from, and I learned a lot more from the process rather than the actual product (kinda like this hobby! )

 

I see.

I only had to do what my University termed was a "capstone paper" it was 15 pages and I wrote it on how uniforms from 1700 through 1900 influence the rise of nationalism in nation-states

 

That’s actually really cool!

 

History you say... as in the past....

Spoiler

 

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There have been several.

I think the Romans obliterated Jerusalem around 74AD. (The event figures rather prominently in early Christian history.)

Did the siege start 24 years earlier!?

 

Thanks. I highly recommend

Wellington's army by Philip j hornwaite (there is a y somewhere in his last name I think, lol)

And swords around a throne by John Robert Elting.

Great reads, not dry in the slightest.


And that's only speaking about late-middle period sources I really liked. The early period gets extremely.......flamboyant

 

I'll be happy to check it out, I really I am looking for history work and stuff like that. I really wish a lot of history stuff wasn't so dry.