A to Z: History

History is very significant to me.  I couldn't do this list of things which influence me without including history.

History probably ranks among the least popular subjects one studies in school.  And while I did have a couple history classes I loved in my freshman year of high school I also found the rest of them rather dull and uninteresting.  But that had more to do with how they were taught than a lack of interest in the topics.  Really, how can anyone not find history interesting? History is everything.  It is science, it is art, it is literature, and the rest: war, sex, intrigue, adventure, risk and tragedy.  If a person can be bored with everything then there is something seriously wrong with them, for what else is left to be interested in? Whatever you like and are drawn to, it has a context and a story for how it came to be, and things that are just like it in the past.

History is one giant story, and who doesn't like stories?

Some people are so blinded by their present they fail to realize the significance of a historical context in everything around them.  The only reason things are as they are is because there is a history behind it.

I remember when I was a kid being told that the difference between humans and other animals (although they probably didn't use the qualifier "other") was that humans used tools, animals didn't. Then we found animals who used tools.  So the significant difference was said to be intelligence and abstract thought, then it was proven that other animals do this too.  Language: no, they have it too.  Transmittal of culture: well, chimps do teach their young to use termite 'fishing' sticks, so maybe that does away with that one too.
But I'd suggest that the most significant difference is the transmittal of history.

As a species we do not forget our past.  We keep it alive.  We build on it. Ideally, we learn from it.  It may be that we are the only animal that does this.  Our present is recorded, in story, in writing, in pictures and told in a way that those who came after it can experience it.  This is an amazingly useful tool. It shocks me that so many humans squander this cultural gift and chose to live blind, as if the world came into being wholecloth as they experience it.  It is such a bland 2-dimensional way to look at life.  It's like living life like the character from Memento: each generation would start from scratch, in ignorance.   I'd argue that the present without a historical context is more boring, not less, as well as incomprehensible. 


A short selection of some of my favorite parts of history:


Formation of Civilizations: 
How interesting is this?  When people in an area begin to get it in their heads to stop being nomadic or semi-nomadic, realize they can settle down, not move from place to place but instead stay put.  This goes to show just how lazy humans are.  We will do an incredible amount of work just to sit put. 

One of the things that interests me most about this is the dubious notion that it was a good idea at all. In order to rely on agriculture and domesticated animals, we needed to/allowed ourselves to stay in one place.  And what a mess of problems arose out of this! Overpopulation, pollution, a drastic increase in disease, malnutrition, slavery, wealth & poverty, power over fellow human beings, apathy and not knowing the people you share a society with, and war. Probably more problems too.  All of these came up as side effects to staying put and making a go at agriculture & civilization.  Most of the problems we haven't even begun to fix and it's been ten thousand years. On the flip side of this, we have large scale art & architecture, writing, and advanced our various scientific and cultural disciplines. was it worth it? I don't know, but it's an interesting world we've created. And you know what they say about living in interesting times.


Black Plague
The big one in the late middle ages.  Have to specify because there were a lot of outbreaks over the centuries.  But this one interests me the most.  This changed the cultural trajectory of a civilization that in turn changed the trajectory of the world. Not bad for some rats and fleas. 

Before this Europeans were overwhelmingly in favor of assuming that the world was as it was because there was a god who wanted it that way.  While this tragedy caused some of these people to reaffirm this belief and add that they must have been very naughty indeed, a large group began to think maybe it wasn't such a good way of looking for answers after all.  Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to look for answers that could be found and understood.  It also shook up the constricting power of the wealthy by giving a lot of leverage to the poorer working people who were still alive.  You could probably file that under Capitalism, or Marxism, or both. maybe just good common sense. At any rate, it lead to a rise in middle class, which lead to more education, a higher quality of life and a desire for finer things in life. Add these two results together and you give a lot of weight behind the age of exploration which will come next.  I file this under great inspiration: from the worst tragedies can come the things you treasure most. 


Crusades.
So many interesting aspects to this.  One of the most interesting to me is that the motivation for the first crusade wasn't likely religious at all!  That was just an excuse.  Because land and title transferred to the eldest male alone, that meant 2nd sons would tend to go into the church, as their next best shot at wealth and power.  But after those bribes are paid, what's left for 3rd & later sons? Some coin, a horse, the best weapons and armor that they can afford and a 'good luck son, go make a name for yourself." These self-important thugs went out, selling their swordarm when they could, and  generally causing mayhem when they couldn't.  It was an epidemic.  They fought, stole, and were untouchable by commoners because of their 'noble' blood.  What's a continent to do? If you can't stop them being violent, then direct it elsewhere! And so a crusade was called and these greedy anti-social ruffians went to someone else's land hoping to make a name and grab some land, or at least more money.  What a mess.

This became an obsession and went on for generations. One guy I feel sorry for was John.  How history has maligned this man.  Richard was the good brother? Please. Drive the country into bankruptcy to pay for an unnecessary foreign war leaving the country in an impossible state of rising inflation and crumbling infrastructure.  Wow, that sounds familiar.  The story as most know it, thanks to tales like 'Robin Hood' is that John was a greedy false king who raised taxes because he's greedy and bad, but Richard was good.  Richard didn't give two snots about England, except as a source of money for his war.  
So why does John get the smear job?

For one thing, history is written by the winners, and the mess he tries to fix lands him in a civil war, which he loses.  Yes, he did try to raise taxes.  Not because he was greedy though, that's the propaganda that's stuck through the ages.  The fact is, the law of England gave the king power to tax, to pay for the infrastructure like roads, courts, military, etc- you know, the things government is responsible for running.  But the law specifically stated how much the taxes were.  That was fine back when they were written-based on the Domesday Book of 1066.  That laid out exactly what each region owed in taxes.  But as time went on, a funny thing happened: things got better! New inventions & innovations occurred.  This caused people to make more money. When many people have more money, prices go up. that is inflation, something the early middle ages didn't really have to deal with. But they do now.  New higher prices, same old value taxes: uh-oh.  Imagine trying to run the same government programs today on a dollar amount set in stone back in 1920!  


No wonder the Earls & Barons raised hell when told they had to pay more taxes! They had a sweet deal. Many people today would love to only have to pay $1,000 in income taxes- that was a lot of money in 1920, but not so much now. So he raised taxes. He'd have been an idiot not to. He's have been a bad king if he didn't! He'd be a worse king if he didn't and instead spent what money he had on a war that wasn't needed. Yeah, looking at you Richard! 


OK, so he resisted the Magna Carta. Not good there, but the point is he's a much more complex grey area king than he's given credit for.  


I guess you can tell I am inspired by history. I thought this would be a short post and I've only talked about half the periods I thought I would.

Miniatures
I'll just end on a hint about miniatures wargaming. I really want to make some historical armies.  Top on my to-do list is:
*The SAGA armies I started
*British Celtic Army
*Late Roman Republic or Early Imperial Army
*1st or 3rd Crsuade Army
*English Civil War Army.

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This has been an A-Z Challenge post. 
For the month of April there will be an update for each letter within the theme of: Things that influence and inspire me, or the converse: things which I find distressing or make me want to rail at the world.
Some of these will pertain to the miniatures hobby, but many will venture off to atypical territory for the duration of the challenge, then it will be back to normal with mostly minis and an occasional blithering.
You can find out more about the A-Z challenge my clicking the logo at the top left of the page.