Medieval Educational!

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I was just watching University Challenge, when the contestants were asked a question about which empire the"Alexiad"was concerned with. I knew that the answer was the Byzantines, thanks to medieval Amen to Total Wars use as a learning aid

[Kraxis]

Indeed

Who knew who the Almohad were before MTW??? Certainly not me.

[chilling]

I certainly didn't, I do now though, they're the orange ones.

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif

[[RDH] Spetz Natz]

Quote[/b] (Kraxis @ Feb. 03 2003,17:01)]Indeed

Who knew who the Almohad were before MTW??? Certainly not me.
Are you serious? Almos = Moors. Never heard of the Moors????? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Kraxis]

I have heard of the Moors and I knew those were the guys in Spain. We are taught that in school, but I had never heard about the Almohads.

Now there is a long way from Almohad to Moor, only a single syllable. I never cut down on words and names, so I never thought of the Almohads as Almos or Elmos or Elmheads or anything but Almohads.

Besides Moor is the name the Christians gave them, they called themselves Andalusians. The Almohads were the African guys.

[Hakonarson]

I thought Almo was a muppet until I bought this game http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

but of couorse the Almoheds were only a minor Moslem dynasty - MTW gives them a lot more than they had historically - IIRC they didn't even come to power until 20-30 yrs AFTER the game begins and then only in 1 area taking a few yers to spread out

so be careful of the history you learn from this game - some of it is pretty dodgy http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[Spino]

Moor is derived from the Spanish word mouros, meaning Muslim.


Quote[/b] ]I have heard of the Moors and I knew those were the guys in Spain. We are taught that in school, but I had never heard about the Almohads.

Lucky for you because I wonder if that is even covered anymore here in the States. The public schools here are that bad In fact, thanks to the decline in educational standards most Americans buy into the Hollywood version of history and the groundswell of recent historical revisionism. You know, the ones that depict the Moors of Spain and N. Africa as being a black African people (the Umayyads were of Arab descent and the Almoravids and Almohads of Berber descent) You should see the looks people give me when I try to explain to them about the Berbers and other people of Hamitic stock, or even that the word Semitic encompasses both Jews and Arabs You can see people's eyes glaze over as their pop culture programming kicks in and they think you're wrong because they didn't hear about that on TV... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif

Don't even get me started on the ancient Egyptians... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/dizzy.gif

[USMCNJ]

tell me about it. After palying MTW for 5 min, i learned more medieval hisotry then after 12 years of US public schooling. As far as world history goes in US, all that we are tought is that there were Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and then came WWI & WWII.

Who said games are bad for you

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Before this game, I had no idea that Russia was only a nation after 1205. But I know now that they were the people of Novgorod

[Lord of the Isles]

It isn't just the states where history is learned by most people only through TV and films. I wish it wasn't so but most Scots now have Braveheart as their primary source of "information" for their country's history.

Never mind that it's about as accurate as an M:TW arquebusier. There was a new statue of William Wallace unveiled recently. It's Mel Gibson in a kilt. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[Herodotus]

What is it with hollywood? Doesn't history make a good enough story? and how about that movie (U52 or something?) where the yanks took credit for capturing the enigma code machine http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

[USMCNJ]

Quote[/b] (Big King Sanctaphrax @ Feb. 04 2003,04:52)]Before this game, I had no idea that Russia was only a nation after 1205. But I know now that they were the people of Novgorod
actually that's not 100% correct. The russian came from Kiev-Rus. In the late 800s the Slaves people were united under the Viking Ruler( i think he came from Novgorod) He established Kiev as the capital in aobut 900 ad. Then in 908 he invaded constantinople, and forced the East Roman Empire to sign a trade agreement. The Emperor was so impressed by the vikings he hired them as the Varangian Guard. Then Kiev-Rus and East Empire united to fight back the turkish tribes in the erea.
(I learned all this from research for my Dark age mod)

Lord of the Isles, are you serious about the statue, that's pretty sad. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I saw that statue when I visited the William Wallace memorial in Sterling. It is the worst statue I have ever seen. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

[[RDH] Spetz Natz]

Quote[/b] (Herodotus @ Feb. 04 2003,23:02)]What is it with hollywood? Doesn't history make a good enough story? and how about that movie (U52 or something?) where the yanks took credit for capturing the enigma code machine http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif
Yeah...the movie was called "U571", and as an American, even I was apalled that Hollywood molested the British Navy's heroics. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/rolleyes.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif