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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby Edgar Cabrera » Wed Oct 01, 2014 2:53 am

JamishT wrote:
aviel wrote: An army premised on the philosophy that technology is bad is probably not going to be an effective army.

Tell that to the Amish Mafia.

Yeah, I bet they ain't nuthing to... mess with.
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby Andropov4 » Wed Oct 01, 2014 3:00 am

aviel wrote:
Anyway, not really surprising that the Canuts surrendered. An army premised on the philosophy that technology is bad is probably not going to be an effective army.


They defeated the army and police in the first battle. And it wasn't that they felt all technology was bad, just the power looms that were rendering their skill set obsolete.
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby Learned Nand » Wed Oct 01, 2014 3:14 am

JamishT wrote:Tell that to the Amish Mafia.

Yeah, well they tried to hack into my computer once...

Image
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby LaChaise » Wed Oct 01, 2014 9:59 pm

I just watched Pride. It's an awesome movie and if you haven't seen it yet, fellow TCSers, you totally should while it's still in theaters.

What I'd like to ask (for those of you who know the movie), is how close it is to the real events it's based on. Also, I'd like to know more about the Thatcher era strikes in general. If you can direct me to interesting reads, I'm all ears.


Oh, and Andro, I should bring some more life to this thread soon if you don't mind. I've gone back to college and while I know a lot about french and american history, I don't know much about the UK and the English world's history in general. So while I don't want to ask you to give me a secondary course in English civilization, I'll certainly need some clarifications from time to time. :)
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby Andropov4 » Wed Oct 01, 2014 11:58 pm

I'm happy to help, Chaise. And I enjoy when this thread is busy. It's been more active in the past 24 hours than it was in the previous 3-4 months, I think.
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby DamianaRaven » Sun Mar 08, 2015 12:06 am

When America traded in slaves, how much was a human life worth... both then and adjusted for modern inflation?
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby Andropov4 » Sun Mar 08, 2015 12:42 am

According to this paper, the average price of a slave in 19th century America was anywhere from $225 in 1807 to $800 in 1861, or $12,000 to $176,000 in today's money. And these prices appear to have been an excellent investment for much of the period; the estimated average return on a slave ranged from a low of roughly $45,000 to $135,000. That article is full of interesting data- for instance, in 1850, the average price of a slave was the same as that of a house. Also, nearly half the wealth in the South was tied up in slaves from 1850-1860.

In any case, the average cost of a slave for the whole period seems to have been roughly $20,000.
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby octoberpumpkin » Thu Mar 26, 2015 1:53 am

Can you sum up the punic wars in easy to understand terms?
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby Learned Nand » Thu Mar 26, 2015 2:07 am

Andro may well be knowledgeable enough about the subject to have criticisms of these videos, but I found the Extra Credits recap a pretty interesting one:
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby Andropov4 » Sat Mar 28, 2015 2:49 am

Sorry for taking so long, October.

The Punic Wars, at their most basic, represented an ongoing series of wars to establish dominance in the Mediterranean between Rome and Carthage. They started as a conflict around Roman expansion into Sicily, which Carthage held at the time. Subsequent wars were sporadic due to distracting conflicts as Carthage expanded into Spain and the Romans fought in Illyria, Greece, Macedon, Anatolia, and Syria.

However, after the Second Punic war, Rome had become the more powerful empire, and subjugated Carthage (and Macedon in a separate, simultaneous war) despite the best efforts of Hannibal and Hasdrubal, Carthage's brilliant and bold military leaders. This led directly to the Third Punic war, as Rome consistently favoured other nations around Carthage in disputes over raiding, leading Carthage to attempt its own defence in defiance of Rome. By this time, Rome was the Mediterranean power, however, and Carthage stood little chance of victory. Carthage was besieged and then destroyed, in famously permanent fashion.

That's about as quick and simple a rundown of the Punic Wars as I think I can muster.

EDIT: Obviously, if you would like, I can expand on some or all of this.
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby octoberpumpkin » Mon Mar 30, 2015 12:41 pm

Thank you! That and the videos has given me plenty of good info, I appreciate it
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby JamishT » Wed Apr 01, 2015 4:56 am

So...why are they called they called the Punic Wars? Where does the name "Punic" come from?
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby Andropov4 » Wed Apr 01, 2015 4:59 am

Punic is Latin for Phoenician, and Carthage was originally settled by Phoenician traders.
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby ToixStory » Fri Jun 05, 2015 5:52 pm

Something I've wondered for a while, but were conditions around the time of the French Revolution in Europe suitable for a revolution in any other place besides France? As in, could there have been an Austrian Revolution, a Spanish Revolution, etc.? I know Russia had their own thing a few decades later, but I mean around the time of 1783-1800.

Also, any good texts on post American Revolutionary War Europe before the French Revolution? Everything I find skips right over that period (brief as it was) and into the French Revolution. Basically, anything on Europe from 1783-1800. And by texts, yes, I mean dense, thick academic texts. They're my bread and butter, being enough of a fan of history that I take university courses on it for fun.
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Re: Ask a Historian

Postby Windy » Fri Jun 26, 2015 1:38 am

Andropov4 wrote:According to this paper, the average price of a slave in 19th century America was anywhere from $225 in 1807 to $800 in 1861, or $12,000 to $176,000 in today's money. And these prices appear to have been an excellent investment for much of the period; the estimated average return on a slave ranged from a low of roughly $45,000 to $135,000. That article is full of interesting data- for instance, in 1850, the average price of a slave was the same as that of a house. Also, nearly half the wealth in the South was tied up in slaves from 1850-1860.

In any case, the average cost of a slave for the whole period seems to have been roughly $20,000.


12000 / 225 = 53.3 modern dollars per olde dollar
800*53.3 = 42640 modern dollars

How did you convert $225-$800 to $12000-$176000?
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