Fascinating History

Steamed Hams

What events in History fascinate you?

I only just found out that penicillin was only discovered as recently as 1928 by Alexander Fleming, I find it shocking that simple infections were such a serious threat until then with the advent of antibiotics. I would have thought they were discovered in the 18th or 19th centuries.

Seachmall

Can't think of any human related historical events that wow or fascinate me (I'm sure there are some, just can't think of any at the moment) but there are plenty of natural historical events that blow my mind (thinking about the beginnings of the universe, or the beginnings of life, or what have you).

Dravokivich

Seachmall wrote: »

Can't think of any human related historical events that wow or fascinate me (I'm sure there are some, just can't think of any at the moment) but there are plenty of natural historical events that blow my mind (thinking about the beginnings of the universe, or the beginnings of life, or what have you).

Wouldn't that be pre-historical?

The Backwards Man

I was in a museum last week, and it always fascinates me how far we have come in a short couple of centuries. I know we complain away like fcuk, but in general we are a hell of a lot better off than our ancestors.

Mr Benevolent

That Ulysses S Grant was a hopeless drunk who couldn't button his own flies without falling over.

That DeValera was an utter nut with no regard for anything except nostalgia and his own sense of importance.

Seachmall

Dravokivich wrote: »

Wouldn't that be pre-historical?

"History is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about these events. The term includes cosmic, geologic, and organic history, but is often generically implied to mean human history." - Wiki

BeerWolf

Only history I find interesting are ancient history and mythology, such as Egyptian, Greek, Mayan, etc. - more 'recent' history [i.e. - Medieval-1900+] bores the hell out of me.

theLegion

Roman History

I'd love to see a new movie on the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. A Germanic Officer in the Roman army successfully double crossed his commander and led the 20,000 legionaries through a dense forest, where they were ambushed and massacred by German Barbarians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Teutoburg_Forest

force eleven

Mutiny on the Bounty.

The mutiny, the 3000 mile open boat journey by Bligh and the loyalists after being cast adrift, the fate of the mutineers who went to Pitcairn, eventually all except one either killed, died early or committed suicide, on an island thousands of miles from anywhere. And did Fletcher Christian escape from Pitcairn, or was he shot dead as most believe on Pitcairn. Kind of strange, the only survivor, Adams, refused to locate his grave.

Link to Pitcairn History...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Pitcairn_Islands

Steamed Hams

In 18th century London public hangings were common for relatively minor crimes and were popular events.

Cee-Jay-Cee

The wheel. It's amazing something that simple (and round) could have so many uses.

Frank Black

The spoon was only invented in 1983. Prior to this people used to have to stir their tea with a knife or fork.

dodderangler

Condoms go back further than you think.

Karl Stein

The first transatlantic telegraph cables over 150 years ago. Just imagine, communicating across the oceans was done by sending letter on a ship until the first cables were laid.

Seachmall

Frank Black wrote: »

The spoon was only invented in 1983. Prior to this people used to have to stir their tea with a knife or fork.

That's one of those facts that if it weren't for smart-phones you could probably say it with confidence at a party and have half the guests believe you.

McDermotX

dodderangler wrote: »

Condoms go back further than you think.

Not on me they don't. :cool:

o1s1n

Far more recent (but with ties to the past!), the whole Wood Quay debacle has had my interest over the last few days. The more I read about it the angrier I get. It's amazing how we can be so flippant when it comes to our rich heritage in this country

Capt'n Midnight

The Conquest of New Spain - Bernal Díaz / The Memoirs of the Conquistador Bernal Diaz del Castillo,
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32474
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32475

History of the Conquest of Peru by William Hickling Prescott
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1323
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1209

Dravokivich

Charlie Rock wrote: »

The first transatlantic telegraph cables over 150 years ago. Just imagine, communicating across the oceans was done by sending letter on a ship until the first cables were laid.

They were still done for quite a while after. English ships with the "R.M.S" tag in their name were for mail delivery IIRC.

theLegion

The Phoenix Park Murders of the 19th Century is also really interesting. The top 2 men in Ireland at the time were murdered by Irish Nationalists - the Chief Secretary and the Under-secretary. They lived in what is now Aras an Ueachtarain and the American Ambassadors Residence. The police investigation was like a CSI storyline.

greedygoblin

Greek mythology. Actually, any mythology, be it Norse or Irish or whatever.

Also, the history of ancient Egypt is mind blowing stuff.

iDave

Would love of seen Rome at its height particularly a packed Colloseum

Thud

Prohibition Era: American government once poisoned alcohol supplies; this resulted in the death of over 10,000 American Citizens

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/07/the-american-government-once-intentionally-poisoned-certain-alcohol-supplies-resulting-in-the-death-of-over-10000-american-citizens/

signostic

Good reading of actual court cases from everyday life in London from 1673-1913..the hangmen was a busy fellows in the early years.

http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/The-old-bailey.jsp

Ilyana 2.0

British history from the 1950s onwards, especially life under Margaret Thatcher.

I've been watching The History of the Jews on BBC at the moment, it's really interesting.

Cienciano

dodderangler wrote: »

Condoms go back further than you think.

I put mine to the base of the penis. Are you saying they're supposed to go over your balls too? :eek:

danniemcq

Steamed Hams wrote: »

What events in History fascinate you?

I only just found out that penicillin was only discovered as recently as 1928 by Alexander Fleming, I find it shocking that simple infections were such a serious threat until then with the advent of antibiotics. I would have thought they were discovered in the 18th or 19th centuries.

I dunno if you'd call it "discovered" more realised what this thing actually was.

There are reports from around the time of Alexander The Great some people would notice that the guys who rode on horseback all day didn't get to many sores or rub burns despite being on the saddle all day.

I'm not 100% sure on the exact data behind it (books are at home) but they figured it was the mould on the saddle that is thought to be penicllin that helped.

Lenin Skynard

danniemcq wrote: »

I dunno if you'd call it "discovered" more realised what this thing actually was.

There are reports from around the time of Alexander The Great some people would notice that the guys who rode on horseback all day didn't get to many sores or rub burns despite being on the saddle all day.

I'm not 100% sure on the exact data behind it (books are at home) but they figured it was the mould on the saddle that is thought to be penicllin that helped.

The Ancient Egyptians also used stale mouldy bread to treat infections which is something similar to penicillin as far as my extremely limited scientific knowledge goes.

diomed

Fascinating History.

Am I the only one who is reminded of the Krankies?
Use "fascinate" in a sentence. "I have a cardigan with 9 buttons and can only fascinate."

Savoir.Faire

That up until the early 20th century, Galway kept a different time to the rest of the country. Dunsink Observatory was tasked with controlling the time for the entire country. Trains travelling down the sticks would carry clocks that were matched to the time sent from Dunsink. However, the bould men and women from the Tribes county refused to accept this new fangled Dublin Time, and instead kept their own independent time - approximately 11 minutes behind the ones sent down from the Big Smoke.

danniemcq

Lenin Skynard wrote: »

The Ancient Egyptians also used stale mouldy bread to treat infections which is something similar to penicillin as far as my extremely limited scientific knowledge goes.

Those ancients really knew their stuff.

The romans although newer were also awesome.

Amputations for example. if you had to have a limb amputated the standards and abilities that they had were not matched until the last 150 years or so. Its such a shame that the information was lost for so long.

Also a shame they never realised what lead poisoning was and lined aquaducts with it and used it in all their cups and pretty much anything needed to hold water