Yes, I win, I win, I win!!!!1!!11!:2thumbsup:
Ah-hem, ok then, name Germany's first overseas colony.
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Yes, I win, I win, I win!!!!1!!11!:2thumbsup:
Ah-hem, ok then, name Germany's first overseas colony.
IIRC, Namibia (which still has a German community) was the first overseas colony of Germany as a unified state, but I think pre-unification German states had smaller possesions much earlier than that, I think in South America?
Antagonist
isn't it Nambia
Antagonist is on the right track. I'm looking for the first colony founded by Germans, not neccessarily the unified state of Germany.
is it Germanna?
Does the Germans include the French? Technically they are Germans since they're ruled by the Franks, and both the HRE and the Frankish kingdom were originally part of the Frankish kingdom which split. The English as well are kind of German (Angles and Saxons).
By the way, Aenlic: Must have been my rubbish history teacher, then.
Well, I assume by "Germans" you mean individual Germans or states such as Brandenberg etc. rather then "Germanics" which would be a lot more vague.
Was it in North Africa then? I had to read something a while back about German emigration in pre-modern times and it said something about a colony in Mauritania, or maybe it was an island nearby. Can't really remember the details though...
Antagonist
Well, from what I can find, there seem to be several answers.
German East Africa was founded in 1880 by a German commercial interest; but wasn't under direct control of the German government. It ran inland on the coast across from Zanzibar, including what is now Tanzania, and parts of Rwanda and Burundi; and was protested by the Sultan of Zanzibar, until Germany sent a battleship to Zanzibar and pointed the big guns at the Sultan's palace.
German Southwest Africa was founded in 1884, and came under direct German government control, and constitutes what is now Namibia. It is the first official German government colony
However, in 1681 William Penn had advertisements published in broadsides in Germany recruiting settlers for the newly established colony of Pennsylvania. The first to arrive were some Mennonites from the Ruhr in 1683, followed by more Germans over the years. Francis Pastorius established the German township in 1685 and William Penn signed the official charter for Germantown in 1689, with Pastorius as the bailiff. (Interestingly, Pastorius wrote the first documented protest against Negro slavery in U.S. history in 1688). My own paternal ancestors from further south on the Rhine, south-southwest of Mainz, established a Lutheran community in 1748 further northwest in central Pennsylvania near what is now Beavertown.
So, which one are you looking for, Homo Sapiens? Or do we need to dig back even further?
Further back everybody, further back.
(scratches head) Well, drat! Back to digging. :oops:
It's the Welser Kolonie, also Known as Klein Venedig (little Venice) in South America, which Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor gave to the Welser family of Augsburg as a form of repayment for the huge sums of money they (and also the Fugger family) had lent him so that he could bribe the Electors into choosing him as HRE over Francis I of France.
The area is now known as Venezuela (also from Venice).
I'd never heard of the Welser colony until you made this post. Very interesting stuff. Apparently Bartholmeus Welser gave a reported 12 tons (!!!) of gold to the emperor. That's just staggering. No wonder he was given permission to fund and settle the colony in Venezuela. His son, Marc, was also somewhat notable, as a correspondent of Galilleo's.Quote:
Originally Posted by King Henry V
Is this the correct answer, Homo Sapiens? If so, kudos to King Henry V!
Edit: doing some quick conversions here. If that 12 tons of gold was in short tons, then that would be roughly 350,000 troy ounces. At today's price of $611 US per troy ounce, Welser gave Charles V the equivalent of $213 million US. And that's just using today's final gold price. For the 16th century that's just outrageously rich! And he gave it away!
Congratulations King Henry V, you are correct!
:horn:
"It's done, everyone!! The hardest question posed is SOLVED!! Over to King Henry V!"
[Lunatic proceeds to shout the odd "Hallelujah", before falling off the balcony and into oblivion]
:sweatdrop:
So, yeah...
:horn:
"It's done, everyone!! The hardest question posed is SOLVED!! Over to King Henry V!"
[Lunatic proceeds to shout the odd "Hallelujah", before falling off the balcony and into oblivion]
:sweatdrop:
So, yeah...
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Who was the first person to break light up into different colours?
If you mean the first person to realize that the colors of the spectrum were all components of light rather than produced by the object, such as a prism, which caused the spectrum, then the answer is Newton. The ancient Greeks, and probably many others knew about the rainbow and spectra in general; but they connected the phenomenon to the object which produced it rather than light itself. It was Newton who showed that light itself consisted of all of the colors. He was able to consistently produce a spectrum from white light using prisms and then recombine the colors using another prism back into white light. Newton called it "corpuscular" in his book, Optiks. While not entirely correct, since he viewed light as being composed of different size particles; it was thus, the first scientific explanation of light as particles. The answer, of course, is much more complicated.
Probably some DJ from England :laugh4:
I am looking for the first to break up light with a prism, but isn't Newton. Much, much earlier (after Antiquity, though).Quote:
Originally Posted by Aenlic
Hmm, OK. I think I know. I'll let someone else give it a shot first. Good question!
A fairly random guess: Leonardo Da Vinci? I vaguely recall the seperation of the spectrum as one of several phenomena said to have been discovered by him, but attributed to later scientists because his notes are so famously obscure and cryptic that it was not realised until much later what he was actually saying.
...That might just as easily be wacky "Da Vinci = Greatest Man in History" propaganda though.
Antagonist
No, the man I am looking for was earlier than da Vinci. He was an astounding teacher.
Although, a case can be made that the teacher's teacher, a bishop and school chancellor, was the one who did the initial experiments which were then merely continued. And there are some contemporaries, a Sufi from Shiraz and a Dominican theologian from Germany, who also did almost exactly the same work at almost exactly the same time.
Now...
Given those three hints, who is going to provide the answer to King Henry V's wonderful question?
Is it Roger Bacon?
Correct, also known as the Doctor Mirabilis, or astounding teacher.
I still think it's possible that Bacon's teacher and mentor, Robert Grosseteste, was the actual source of Bacon's knowledge. He was the Chancellor of Oxford and head of Greyfriars there and Bishop of Lincoln and Bacon's main teacher. He wrote a treatise called De Iride sometime before 1235 on the properties of the rainbow before Bacon wrote his own Opus Majus in 1267. In De Natura Lacorum, Grosseteste has a diagram showing light being refracted through a spherical flask of water. This is exactly the same method Bacon used to demonstrate the properties of the rainbow.
The other two possibilities were:
Theodoric of Freiburg, a Dominican theologian and scientist, who used glass spheres of water to break up light into the rainbow and gave an accurate explanation for primary and secondary rainbows in a work pulished in 1307.
Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi was a Sufi from Shiraz in Persia who also wrote a detailed explanation of how a rainbow is formed at around the same time as Theodoric.
But Roger Bacon is the one who actually widely published the science in the experiment; so to him goes the acknowledgement!
Well done Perplexed. What is your question?
Alright, an easy one:
I'm looking for a 7th century intellectual who was and still is hailed by the title "father of _____" (fill in the blank). He was famous throughout Europe for his wide-ranging knowledge on many subjects, including theology, history, and mathematics.
I've spent a good half hour searching and can't find him.
Closest I can get is Sir Francis Bacon, father of the scientific method, except for the fact that he's a 17th century intellectual.
Sounds tricky. I can think of several people around the 7th Century AD who contributed in one of those fields or other, but all of them?
My first thought was Muhammad - the Father of Islam - who is well-known in Europe and everywhere else, but I don't think he was a historian or a mathematician...
St. Bede the Venerable? He was a pretty accomplished historian and theologian, and I think his influence spread beyond Britain. I think he has been called the Father of English History, too. He would be my guess...
Antagonist
Right. It was the best I could come up with on short notice, sorry if the hints weren't clear enough.Quote:
Originally Posted by Antagonist
I so nearly said Bede, but didn't he die in 793AD (end of the eighth century)?
He was born in the late seventh, but died within the first half of the eighth, so I decided to say seventh, which was probably a bad idea. :embarassed: Sorry about any confusion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Craterus
He did indeed die in the 8th Century IIRC, but quite a bit earlier then 793.
Antagonist
EDIT: I had a question, but double-checking a detail about it on the internet seems to suggest that the book I'm reading makes quite a contentious claim that isn't accepted by most historians, so I'll have to think of something else...
EDIT2: First edit took so long that I didn't notice Perplexed's clarification. Sorry.
Not to worry, on with the questions! ~D
Sorry about this, had a busy day. I really thought I had a great question there, but nevermind. Don't want to leave it any longer though, so here's another fairly easy one off the top of my head from another recently finished book:
To whom is usually attributed the "invention" of the Highland Charge tactic, made famous during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745?
Antagonist
No one else? Well then...
Being a big fan of the band Clannad, and having just finished listening to the album Lore which has a song about the man on it, I'll give the answer:
Alasdair MacColla
Yes indeed. Quite a formidable fellow it would seem.
(Although truth be told "pioneer" is probably a more appropriate word, I don't think one can "invent" a military tradition that apparently existed in some form for millenia)
Anyway, Aenlic's question. :idea2:
Antagonist
An aside about MaColla before I ask my question. He died at the age of 27. Rather amazing accomplishments in his life for one who died so young. Which book are you reading, Antagonist? I found Stevenson's Highland Warrior: Alasdair MacColla and the Civil Wars for a great price at a local used bookstore; but I thought I'd ask someone who might have read it first.
My question. Hmmm...
Who is generally credited as having first said, Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoset?
Bonus questions: Which military leader posed the problem which received that response (and is also credited by some as being the source of the response), in what year, at what town, in what "war"?
Kill'em all, and let God sort'em out" is adopted by the Marines and the Green Berets. I think it derives from "Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoset", or "Kill them all. God will know His own.". This was a misunderstood reference to 2 Tim. 2:19 which in part reads, "The Lord knoweth them that are his". I think this comes from around 1210AD, when Pope Innocent III unleashed "orders of fire and sword" against heretics throughout Europe. In this process there was a terrible massacre at the city Beziers, where it was thought that over 100,000 people were killed. After that city where taken, they had captured over 450 "heretics", but many of them claimed to be good Catholics. The quote is believed to be first used here, when they killed all the "heretics". It did not matter if they killed good people, because if one led a godly life, God would know of it, and the reward would be eternal paradise anyway.
Very close, StrikefortheSouth, but I need a name! The name of the person most often attributed as the source of the phrase. And the bonus questions of who the military leader was, what city, what year (the year in your quote there is slightly in error, SftS), and the name of the "War".
Not 100% sure, but I believe the answer is Arnaud Amaury (or something like that) The year was AD 1209 at the seige of Beziers during the Albigensian Crusade against the oh-so-heretical Cathars. I recall the phrase being attributed to several people, but the above is what I was told. He was the Papal Legate overseeing the whole thing IIRC.
Antagonist
You are correct!
The military leader sometimes attributed as the source was Simon IV de Montfort; but Arnaud-Amaury, abbot and head of the Cistercians order and the Papal Legate and spiritual advisor to the Albigensian Crusade, was the more likely source. The date and location are correct, as well. The siege of Beziers, on July 22nd, 1209.
Estimates put the slaughter at Beziers at somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 men, women and children, most of whom were not Cathars at all (one source puts the estimate of Cathars as about 200 at most). Simon de Montfort was disputably one of the most vicious and bloodthirsty people ever to lead a supposedly religious army. Even the instigator of the crusade, Pope Innocent III, chastised him for killing innocent civilians at one point.
There's a wonderful web site with the salient details and a great bibliography of sources here: http://xenophongroup.com/montjoie/albigens.htm
Your question, Antagonist?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aenlic
*edit* somewhat altered view, thx Aenlic for comment.
would like to add
It was Caesarius von Heisterbach, who wrote it down in his Dialogus Miraculorum, 1219-1223. (he died in 1240). He wrote Arnaud (or Amelric) Amaury, Papal Legate and spiritual leader of the Albigensian Crusade, spoke these legendary words at Béziers, date mentioned above.
"legendary" is an important word here: it is believed by many specialists A.A. might never have spoken these words. A good book on it is (for the ones of you who do know French):
Tuez-les tous Dieu reconnaîtra les siens. Le massacre de Béziers et la croisade des Albigeois vus par Césaire de Heisterbach, by Jacques Berlioz (Loubatières, 1994).
it was a fine question after all...
:idea2: Arch
It may be commonly agreed in the sources which you have, my friend, that the words were never spoken. And yet, EVERY source I have seen says it was Abbot Arnaud-Amaury, with one saying it may have been Simon IV de Montfort instead. The word "legendary" does not necessarily imply imaginary. Eric Clapton is a legendary guitar player; and yet, he would argue with you that he most certainly exists. As you have pointed out, the phrase was written down only a decade or so years after the fact. That hardly makes it a matter of ancient legend and debate. In fact, I'd say that having the attribution made only 10 years after the fact makes it rather more certain than if it had been merely word of mouth traditionally passed down over many centuries. Wouldn't you agree? :wink:
And if you'll take the time to look back at my original question, you'll then find that I did not ask "who said" it. I asked "who is generally credited with having first said it" which is something quite different. I am not claiming that it is an absolute fact; but neither am I claiming, as you are, that it didn't happen. One should be very careful making absolute statements when regarding events which may or may not have taken place, especially when they happened (or did not happen) 800 years ago. :smile:
Agree.
I can't put up many arguments anymore. I should read that book again ;)
About Caesarius v Heisterbach: although it was in the same time, he was German and he wrote his work there. That's the argument some people use to doubt if the words were actually spoken, if i remember well.
You are absolutely right about claiming absolute statements. I can follow you in that. I altered the view :bow:
Next question please?
Agreed, Archayon. In fact, I think our views are probably much closer than it would appear from our posts. My post came off much harsher than I intended, I think. :bow:
There is, as I recall, an account written by one of the actual members of the crusade. I don't recall the name, but I think he was from Normandy, perhaps. I'm certain that he did not mention any such statement; which is a point in favor of it not having happened. As far as I know, all other accounts are apocryphal; which does indeed call into question the veracity of the statement. That's why I was careful not to imply that it actually happened in my question. It is such a wonderfully apt statement for a crusader to make for the period - especially considering the circumstances of that horrible event; so I made it a question.
Let's have a tough question now, Antagonist! Something to stimulate the few active brain cells remaining to me from my misspent youth in the 70's.
Antagonist! Where are you? We need a question. Something good to keep poor StrikefortheSouth out of trouble. :wink:
Many apologies, I've had a busy few days (Yesterday I was fatally injured during a sword-fight with a good-looking young man on top of a giant blimp, last week I was eaten by crocodiles, tomorrow's some anime thing etc., antagonism's a demanding line of work) *cough* Regardless of what I was really doing, I haven't had much time to think about this. This is the kind of time one wishes for command of some obscure subject from which one could draw forth fiendishly difficult questions, but sadly I don't have that.
So I must once again recourse to recent reading: What was the last battle in Western history in which cavalry played a significant role on both sides?
Apologies again,
Antagonist
My guess would be WW1 but I'm not sure.
Nah, cavalry was pretty much utterly useless up against the machine-guns, rifles and artillery. It's not a battle, anyway.
Hmm, I'm not sure. The latest reference to cavalry in modern-ish history I can find is in 1911, during the Italo-Turkish war. The Arabic mobile cavalry of the Ottomans encircled the Italians, and came out victorious. The battle was near Tripoli, but I'm not sure about the name. Is it the battle of Tobruk?
Battle of Komarów, Polish cavalry defeated Bolshevik cavalry.
Correct!
(Well, probably. It stuck me as the kind of trivia in which the generally accepted answer may not necessarily be the correct one) According to my sources and the Internet, the Battle of Komarów in 1920 is the correct answer. Some Western countries such as Poland continued to use cavalry in a limited role beyond this date, but that was apparently the last battle in which both sides used them in substantial numbers.
We now go live to the Supreme Palace of Tyranny on the Red Planet, from which we are anxiously anticipating the announcement of the next question:
Antagonist
Thank God for Military History magazine!
Alright...let's see...
On June 29th, 1922, the Government of France granted 100 hectares at Vimy Ridge "freely, and for all time, the free use of the land exempt from all taxes" to which country?
Canada?Quote:
Originally Posted by evil_maniac from mars
Yeah its Canada.
Correct. Bonus points if you can tell me what the land was used for.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pannonian
Cemetery? Land was granted at key points by the French and Belgian governments to the allied nations for use as war cemeteries, with the host government providing maintenance Although 100 hectares seems a bit big for that purpose.Quote:
Originally Posted by evil_maniac from mars
Googling, I see that it was set up as a memorial park.
I've used this question elsewhere, let's see if anyone here can get it. An additional clue is Goats. Another clue is military song lyrics.
A friend of princes, and a would be King. I was among the most powerful men my people have seen, yet I died poor, spurned by my protege. I ended the Great Rivalry through charm and through water, the exact reverse of my people's reputation. Who am I?
It was a memorial I think.:book:Quote:
Originally Posted by evil_maniac from mars
https://img188.imageshack.us/img188/...emorial0pl.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by Csar
Thanks for clearing that up evil maniac its a really big memorial.
Pannonian I have no idea what the answer is could you give another clue.
His people are talked about in the Rome forums ad nauseam. Also, note the clueQuote:
Originally Posted by Csar
I ended the Great Rivalry through charm and through water, the exact reverse of my people's reputation.
Which tells you that his people were famously charmless landlubbers who were involved in a Great Rivalry at some point. Let me add the clue that this Great Rivalry was with a famously charming seafaring nation.
Carthaginians? :balloon2:Quote:
Originally Posted by Pannonian
Were the Carthaginians a famously charming sea-faring nation? Did the man who ended the Rome-Carthage rivalry use charm and naval warfare to do so?Quote:
Originally Posted by edyzmedieval
Looking at the 1st page of the Monastery, I see a number of threads about the geographic area where this Great Rivalry took place, including at least one started by yourself.
The only answer could be: Greeks. :balloon2:
So use the clues to find the country, find the events, then find the individual. Posters talk about his people all the time, and the reputation of his people is such that their name has even become an adjective. I've seen at least one poster in one of your threads who named himself after them.Quote:
Originally Posted by edyzmedieval
Spartans, Thermopylae, King Leonidas? :book:Quote:
Originally Posted by Pannonian
A friend of princes, and a would be King. I was among the most powerful men my people have seen, yet I died poor, spurned by my protege. I ended the Great Rivalry through charm and through water, the exact reverse of my people's reputation. Who am I?Quote:
Originally Posted by edyzmedieval
You'll need to find omeone who fits the clues. IE. someone who was famously charming, and who carried out a decisively successful naval campaign. Also someone who was hugely powerful among his people, and yet was not a King, but was the friend of princes (plural).
Another clue is that his people reached the peak of their power as a result of his campaigns, but his protege threw it all away in pursuit of a vendetta. These are some pretty well-known names in ancient history, with the subject appearing in the lyrics of one of the best known military songs in the world.
If you get his people right, the fact that he achieved power despite not being King narrows the field considerably. If you think you've got the right country, google or wiki for significant wars involving this country, and you'll find their opponent. Then look for who was responsible for ending the war, and you'll have the right man.
Gimme one more clue. Period: Antiquity, Medieval, Rebirth(16th to 19th century), Modern.
Pericles?
Heres some quotes from a wikipedia article on Pericles
He was re-elected as general.Quote:
[Pericles or Perikles (ca. 495 BC-429 BC, Greek: Περικλῆς, meaning "surrounded by glory") was a prominent and influential statesman, orator and general of Athens during the city's Golden Age (specifically, between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars). He was a descendant of the renowned Alcmaeonidae family.
/QUOTE]
Note that it said GENERAL
QUOTE]The Samian War was the last important military event before the Peloponnesian War. After Thucydides' ostracism, Pericles was being continuously re-elected to the generalship, the only office he ever officially occupied,Quote:
Pericles made his first military excursions during the First Peloponnesian War
he also lead Athens to greatness by expanding their "golden age"
[QUOTE=Pannonian] A friend of princes, and a would be King. I was among the most powerful men my people have seen, yet I died poor, spurned by my protege. I ended the Great Rivalry through charm and through water, the exact reverse of my people's reputation. Who am I?QUOTE]
he was among the most powerful men in Greece, he was spurned by prestige of a powerful Athens. The great rivalry between Athens and Sparta. His peoples reputation as founders of democrocy and sciences
Wrong with Perikles. The Greeks were renowned seafarers.Quote:
charm and through water, the exact reverse of my people's reputation
This man's people were famously charmless landlubbers, but he himself was a famous charmer and a successful admiral who led them to victory over a famously charming sea-faring nation. For Pericles to be the man, Athens would have had to have been a famously charmless society with a traditionally land-based military, who led them to victory over a traditionally sea-faring enemy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hannibal99
Edzymedieval: I've already said this is ancient history.
Not all of them. This man's country was notoriously inept at sea.Quote:
Originally Posted by edyzmedieval
Spartan admirals would be my guesses so heres some spartan admirals i found:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callicratidas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysander
Lysander
EDIT: dang. Hannibal99 beat me to it. Good job, Hannibal99.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aenlic
so was it right? and thanks aenlic
Some evidence:
QUOTE]A friend of princes, and a would be King. I was among the most powerful men my people have seen, yet I died poor, spurned by my protege. I ended the Great Rivalry through charm and through water, the exact reverse of my people's reputation. Who am I?[/QUOTE] he was the de facto spartan leader of hid fleet. He was among the Spartans, the most powerful the greeks had seen. He ended the Peloponessian War, the Great Rivalry through charming the kings and winning naval battles. the exact reverse of the land based Spartan armies