Recent comments in /f/history

RedPninety t1_j15nl3z wrote

Reply to Bookclub Wednesday! by AutoModerator

I recently finished Lucius Clay - An American Life by Jean Edward Smith. A good look at a person who was involved in some of the depression era public works, managing procurement of supplies for WW2 and being the military governor of the US zones of Germany post WW2 through the Berlin airlift.

Occasionally I felt like it was a little too biased in Clay's favor, but that's not unusual in biographies. Learned a lot about the WW2 era from a new perspective.

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Obiwan_Salami t1_j15mp31 wrote

Reply to comment by platitood in When this bridge in Fort Benton, Montana, USA was built 1888 it was required to have a swing span to allow steamboats to navigate. It was considered the furthest navigable point on Earth, more than 2,700 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. by triviafrenzy

during the rainy season? i can point you to an indiana department of conservation area which has a sign saying that basically from that point, which was about 20ish miles southwest of south bend, indiana, along the yellow river, kankakee system and calumet system, an area of close to 1000 square miles of swamp existed before there was any white settlements.

i'll look for it online in a little while, and if need be, i'll drive there and take a picture. it probably included what we're talking about.

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Ronem t1_j15lser wrote

Reply to comment by Thereelgerg in When this bridge in Fort Benton, Montana, USA was built 1888 it was required to have a swing span to allow steamboats to navigate. It was considered the furthest navigable point on Earth, more than 2,700 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. by triviafrenzy

At the time, it was the furthest navigable point from the Gulf of Mexico. Traveling natural waterways inland away from the ocean waters.

It was true.

Prove it wasn't.

Its been discussed ad nauseum in this thread.

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Thereelgerg t1_j15lkft wrote

Reply to comment by Ronem in When this bridge in Fort Benton, Montana, USA was built 1888 it was required to have a swing span to allow steamboats to navigate. It was considered the furthest navigable point on Earth, more than 2,700 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. by triviafrenzy

The issue isn't the definition of the word navigable. The issue is that it doesn't tell us what that point is furthest from.

Are they trying to say that it's the navigable point furthest from the Gulf of Mexico? If so, that's just not true.

LOL, she asked me to prove something then blocked me.

Edit:

[https://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=E211US714G0&p=navigable] (of a waterway or sea, able to be sailed on by ships or boats)

There are waterways and seas that are able to be sailed on by ships or boats which are also further away from the Gulf of Mexico than 2,700 miles.

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drunkenknight9 t1_j15l2ii wrote

Reply to comment by asocialmedium in When this bridge in Fort Benton, Montana, USA was built 1888 it was required to have a swing span to allow steamboats to navigate. It was considered the furthest navigable point on Earth, more than 2,700 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. by triviafrenzy

If we were talking about a single river they might be but we're talking about multiple rivers that are tributaries of one another.

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not-now-silentsinger t1_j15jgjj wrote

Reply to comment by Annie0minous in History content for kids by TheNumLocker

Horrible Histories is brilliant! It rekindled an interest in history I had kind of lost since I left school. I'm a grown-up and don't even have children so I'm slightly embarrassed to say I love it, but honestly there are facts about British history that I know purely from watching Horrible Histories (I didn't grow up in the UK)

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sighthoundman t1_j15jbfc wrote

Reply to comment by Intruding1 in What did medieval (European or African) military campaigns look like? by ThingPuzzleheaded472

This is close enough that it's not worth anyone's time to "fix" it. A truly better answer would be at least 150 pages and more likely 300. Rambling is fine because there were lots of variants on the basic plan.

For a specific example which illustrates many of your points, a good case can be made for Edward the Black Prince's campaign in 1355-6. Edward arrived in Gascony on 20 September, 1355. On 5 October, the English forces left their stronghold in Bordeaux and raided and pillaged all the way to Narbonne and back, a distance of 675 miles (1,100 km), returning on 2 December. There were no battles along the way (a few skirmishes), and sieges resulted in either immediate capitulation, a very easy (and violent) capture, or abandonment to look for better looting.

After Christmas the English continued plundering and destroying. The campaign of 1356 became the English raising havoc and trying to get the French to fight, and the French besieging Breteuil. The English couldn't dislodge the French, but the French couldn't take the town.

Eventually, the English moved away and took up more looting and burning. This was a great hardship on the French people, so King Jean had to go looking to fight the English. Neither side would fight on ground where they didn't have the advantage, so August and the first half of September were just six weeks of two ham-fisted powers playing cat and mouse, with a lot of damage to the French countryside (and population).

Finally the two sides met at the Battle of Poitiers on 19 September 1356. Just one day shy of the anniversary of the landing the previous year. The English cleverly deployed their troops (and baggage train) in such a way that the French thought they had an advantage, so when they sprang their trap the French army was destroyed and the king captured.

There you have it. One year of war. A lot of death (of civilians) and destruction. One battle. Which ended the war.

Note: I checked Wikipedia to get dates and verify that my memory is at least somewhat correct. Any errors are my own.

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Rocketgirl8097 t1_j15ilqs wrote

Reply to comment by Vivid-Air7029 in When this bridge in Fort Benton, Montana, USA was built 1888 it was required to have a swing span to allow steamboats to navigate. It was considered the furthest navigable point on Earth, more than 2,700 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. by triviafrenzy

Rivers were used because they were faster and easier to carry your supplies and your beaver pelts going back. Cheaper too since you didn't have acquire and feed horses and pack mules.

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