|
Ynglaur posted:I agree that relative populations cannot be discerned by army size. You can also show this with a reductio ad absurdum by quoting a modern day equivalent. Lets choose 2 countries in the same geographical region with similar culture to remove some variables. China military (including reservists): 3.09M China population: 1,350.70M N Korea military (including reservists): 9.31M N Korea population: X? Solve for X. Kaal posted:To be fair, that North Korea number includes their "army reserve" population, which is effectively every man and woman who is fit for military service. China's equivalent would be something like 600 million people. That's beside the point. They have 9.3M people under colours, China has ~3M. There are plenty of instances in ancient history where the size of the army equals the size of the population (eg sieges) Captain Postal fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Jan 26, 2014 |
#
?
Jan 25, 2014 22:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 15, 2024 16:10 |
|
|
Captain Postal posted:You can also show this with a reductio ad absurdum by quoting a modern day equivalent. Lets choose 2 countries in the same geographical region with similar culture to remove some variables. To be fair, that North Korea number includes their "army reserve" population, which is effectively every man and woman who is fit for military service. China's equivalent would be something like 600 million people.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2014 23:12
|
|
|
Hey people! I’ve been following this thread for a few weeks and made me realize I know next to nothing about Rome. My knowledge goes no further than the Asterix comic books, Rome Total War game and the Rome HBO series (most of what we’ve talked in school was more about architecture and culture). I’d like to get a book that tells a bit about Rome’s general history. I guess a complete one is impossible given it’s extensive existence, but at least one that focus on a more important period. I guess a TV series wouldn’t be bad either. Can you recommend me something?
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2014 23:13
|
|
|
Camoes posted:Hey people! I’ve been following this thread for a few weeks and made me realize I know next to nothing about Rome. My knowledge goes no further than the Asterix comic books, Rome Total War game and the Rome HBO series (most of what we’ve talked in school was more about architecture and culture). Consider yourself lucky that your courses even touched upon Rome. My history classes never even mentioned Rome - I don't think I got a course that covered earlier than the 16th century or so. Are you looking for an encyclopaedia type book, a textbook or a standard non-fiction book? e: This is what my state university uses for their Rome courses. http://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Rome-Military-Political-History/dp/0521809185/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0/190-8051461-4851145
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2014 23:15
|
|
|
Camoes posted:Hey people! I’ve been following this thread for a few weeks and made me realize I know next to nothing about Rome. My knowledge goes no further than the Asterix comic books, Rome Total War game and the Rome HBO series (most of what we’ve talked in school was more about architecture and culture). I suggest reading
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2014 23:21
|
|
|
Good lord, the kindle version is $35. Oh well, it's on the wish list anyway.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2014 23:46
|
|
|
Yeah... I'd suggest just listening to the History of Rome Podcast. It's pretty good and free (and on itunes) and comprehensive. Ends right at 476 but for everything before then it's a good overview.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2014 23:50
|
|
|
Godholio posted:Good lord, the kindle version is $35. Oh well, it's on the wish list anyway. It definitely suffers from academic book pricing, but it's a good read. Best to pick it up used.
|
|
#
?
Jan 25, 2014 23:54
|
|
|
Noctis Horrendae posted:Are you looking for an encyclopaedia type book, a textbook or a standard non-fiction book? I don't know, I really just wanted to increase my knowledge, but I don't want something too heavy. The books seem a little too expensive but I might try the podcast. Thanks for the help so far!
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 00:14
|
|
|
Camoes posted:I don't know, I really just wanted to increase my knowledge, but I don't want something too heavy. If you're really cheap, you could just read the wiki on Rome. It's very extensive and you should find a few things that interest you which you can look up specifically.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 00:34
|
|
|
I actually enjoyed reading Polybius, and found it an excellent overview of Rome prior to the very late Republic. I'll also second the podcast mentioned above: it's very easy to digest without any background, but is surprisingly comprehensive given the format.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 02:05
|
|
|
The podcast is excellent. It is 74 hours long, so it isn't something you're going to knock off in a weekend, but if you have any sort of commute and want to just pick up things over time that's my pick for best way to do it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 02:07
|
|
|
Hey look, two new studies which conclude that the Carthaginians did in fact sacrifice children.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 12:31
|
|
|
Some comedy after your child sacrifice reading. http://byzantiumnovum.org/
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 12:45
|
|
|
Camoes posted:(most of what we’ve talked in school was more about architecture and culture). This just reminded me that whenever Rome or Greece came up in school, we inevitably spent entire lessons discussing the difference between the three types of columns used in the architecture. Thinking back on it, I can't for the life of me figure out why that would have been stressed so much. I guess for dating a building based on a relative era it could be useful, but it seems rather useless in an overview of actual Roman history.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 14:42
|
|
|
quote:As a micronational sovereignty project, Byzantium Novum makes the following claims to world rights and territories: Ahahahahaha what the hell?
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 15:23
|
|
|
Techno-libertarians.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 15:50
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:Some comedy after your child sacrifice reading. So wait, they are byzantine fanatics but they acknowledge it as a separate thing from Rome? Wouldn't the smart thing be to just claim direct descendence from Rome instead and claim all of Rome's former territory? I'm betting the answer is that the former byzantine territory they're claiming just has a lot of brown people in it so they think they would be able to control them easier.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 18:18
|
|
|
Don Gato posted:So wait, they are byzantine fanatics but they acknowledge it as a separate thing from Rome? Wouldn't the smart thing be to just claim direct descendence from Rome instead and claim all of Rome's former territory? I'd just guess they're Greek nationalists who'd rather claim descendence from a Greek empire than one that sprung from Western Europe.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 19:35
|
|
|
nrook posted:I'd just guess they're Greek nationalists who'd rather claim descendence from a Greek empire than one that sprung from Western Europe. Their FAQ claims otherwise, but that's only more confusing. I think they're a group that has confused "micronation" with "clubhouse". I don't really get their whole purpose.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 20:02
|
|
|
To be fair if you base your opinion of them on this line: quote:We acknowledge ancient lands which constituted the Byzantine Empire to be our cultural and religious homeland and claim historical rights to all sites and territories which were under the direct control or administration of Constantinople and its successor states from 324 AD to 1479 AD. They're not greatly different to a lot of groups who do have recognition from a ruling government, even if their demands aren't exactly acceded to.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 22:36
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:Some comedy after your child sacrifice reading. Why keep a claim on Constantinople? If you somehow managed to return it to Christian hands, God would just return Constantine XI from the cavern he's been storing him in and then you'd have to duke it out with him.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 22:36
|
|
|
They claim "historical rights" and I think they're trying to be an internet microstate and they basically read Snow Crash too many times.
|
|
#
?
Jan 26, 2014 23:17
|
|
|
Sadly there are also actual countries, some with with nuclear weapons, who make similarly absurd claims. At least these weirdos are harmless.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 01:25
|
|
|
Arglebargle III posted:They claim "historical rights" and I think they're trying to be an internet microstate and they basically read Snow Crash too many times. You can't read Snow Crash too many times. Besides, if New Byzantine has Hiros running around on smart-spoked motorcycles with katanas I think we all know that every goon will join it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 03:19
|
|
|
Grand Fromage posted:Sadly there are also actual countries, some with with nuclear weapons, who make similarly absurd claims. At least these weirdos are harmless.  Taiwan (RoC) has claims on: PRC Tibet Mongolia Myanmar Bhutan India Japan Afghanistan Pakistan Russia Tajikistan They're just pissing everyone off.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 06:35
|
|
|
I haven't heard anything about byzanthine dongdragons yet, rated 1
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 07:16
|
|
|
Taiwan rules.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 09:02
|
|
|
Taiwan's crazy claims are a weird side-effect of Taiwan's effort to placate the PRC. See, if they claim all this stuff it means that Taiwan is still part of China, even if it's not run by the PRC. But if they drop the claims then they're a province that's trying to secede and, well, we all know how that worked out for Tibet.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 11:30
|
|
|
Kassad posted:Taiwan's crazy claims are a weird side-effect of Taiwan's effort to placate the PRC. See, if they claim all this stuff it means that Taiwan is still part of China, even if it's not run by the PRC. But if they drop the claims then they're a province that's trying to secede and, well, we all know how that worked out for Tibet. Does the PRC claim Mongolia, or is there some reason Taiwan has to claim territories the PRC doesn't?
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 14:29
|
|
|
A couple of years ago during one of the China-Japan island disputes, the Taiwanese decided to remind everyone that they actually owned the islands and sent their coast guard up to relax in the waters. The Japanese chased them away with hoses. Taiwan rules.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 14:37
|
|
|
Suenteus Po posted:Does the PRC claim Mongolia, or is there some reason Taiwan has to claim territories the PRC doesn't? Taiwan claims the entirety of Qing China. The PRC gave up claims on Mongolia because it was part of the USSR and they were, at the time, working together. Basically imagine if one day Italy rolled into the UN and demanded most of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East back. Some of the claims that some countries try to enforce are that old. Anyway I just ran into that on a banner ad while checking the Europa Universalis 4 wiki (of course) and it amused me. Grand Fromage fucked around with this message at 14:42 on Jan 27, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 14:39
|
|
|
The PRC has had practical reasons to drop some claims from the Qing era. Taiwan hasn't.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 14:40
|
|
|
Charlie Mopps posted:Hey look, two new studies which conclude that the Carthaginians did in fact sacrifice children. The Aztecs didn't really engage in human sacrifice. All those people were dead before they had their hearts carved out, and since the Spanish destroyed all their records and had an obvious bias against the natives, we can hardly trust their accounts, now can we? *writes a book*
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 15:21
|
|
|
Cingulate posted:Maybe the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest was an exception, but it still meant Arminius somehow managed to get 10-30.000 people together. Teutoburg was also a last ditch all or nothing fight for the Germanic tribes in Rome's way. Arminius more then likely knew that and was able to rally a force to fight the legions. If Rome had wanted to press after the loss they would have overwhelmed the tribes in the end.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 18:51
|
|
|
sbaldrick posted:Teutoburg was also a last ditch all or nothing fight for the Germanic tribes in Rome's way. Arminius more then likely knew that and was able to rally a force to fight the legions. If Rome had wanted to press after the loss they would have overwhelmed the tribes in the end. Well, they totally did. They invaded and wrecked poo poo, but never established any colonies. Teutoburg may have contributed in dissuading the Romans from settling Germania, but there were a million other reasons for not doing that too.
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 19:16
|
|
|
Anyone know anything about how Roman names changed over time? They seem to get longer and longer in the Imperial era. When did names stop being Roman and start to be visibly Italian, Spanish, etc?
|
|
#
?
Jan 27, 2014 20:08
|
|
|
sbaldrick posted:Teutoburg was also a last ditch all or nothing fight for the Germanic tribes in Rome's way. Arminius more then likely knew that and was able to rally a force to fight the legions. If Rome had wanted to press after the loss they would have overwhelmed the tribes in the end. That's exactly what happened. Rome came back some time later for revenge and murdered everyone/burned everything they could get their hands on. Deep into Germany too, I think to the Elbe. If Germany had been rich it would've been conquered, but it just wasn't worth the trouble.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2014 01:30
|
|
|
I think sometimes as modern nerds it is easy to fall into the trap of kind of thinking like this is Civ/Total War: "why didn't they keep pushing forward?" but really there wasn't a lot in the deep Germania area to entice a Roman: really cold, lots of trees, it's really FAR (getting people from Rome to say, Denmark is different compared to just crossing one end of the Mediterranean to the other), more trees, lots of barbarians, and the east is already really rich for the taking and all around more pleasant to kick it in.
|
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2014 02:21
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 15, 2024 16:10 |
|
|
Berke Negri posted:I think sometimes as modern nerds it is easy to fall into the trap of kind of thinking like this is Civ/Total War: "why didn't they keep pushing forward?" but really there wasn't a lot in the deep Germania area to entice a Roman: really cold, lots of trees, it's really FAR (getting people from Rome to say, Denmark is different compared to just crossing one end of the Mediterranean to the other), more trees, lots of barbarians, and the east is already really rich for the taking and all around more pleasant to kick it in. You mean the senate didn't consist of the populares, the optimates and the pulchellus terminos factions? *I had to use google translate Captain Postal fucked around with this message at 03:46 on Jan 28, 2014 |
|
#
?
Jan 28, 2014 03:43
|
|