Hearted Youtube comments on Schwerpunkt (@wol.im.hiut.und.immer.wol.) channel.
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I'm sorry for your recent loss. I can still see the shades of people and relationships I cherished yet lost, but these magnitudinous things which define and change our lives are the result of so many minute miracles, following a narrative which hangs by a thin thread and at the same time, I've come to see as theatrical and inevitable, with each constituent only in its own place, which moves with purpose, and only its purpose, as if poetry. I have trouble convincing myself if the vicissitudes of life are fate or endless cascades of little miracles. For me this comes by the gaining and losing of close relations and the death of loved ones, and I was truly touched by your sorrow over your loss of your grandfather. It's so magical, life can go any of innumerable ways and in any moment we're only ever in awe at how intricate, complex, grand our own history and life have been, and however dear those things all are to us, I struggle to reconcile this with the knowledge we would sing the same hymns to our own life and all its colors and infinite unique pathways in most of any way it could have gone. This is ultimately ineffable and unfathomable, and I'm definitely not enough of a poet to capture this. But I appreciated your video a lot, so thank you for posting this, and I hope you can find solace in the knowledge you already have that we just never know and the greatest things in our lives are only ever predictable in hindsight, and in tremendous loss we may gain just as much at any moment, the same way a stream over a precipice can change its path entirely from a small protrusion, which otherwise might mean nothing.
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as someone with bipolar, borderline personality disorder, amongst other fun diagnoses, i always find it interesting how mental illness relates to shamanism, divine madness, and sacred fury. especially in the absence of prescribed modern pharmaceuticals, i am prone to wild mood swings, bouts of anger and rage, disassociation, depersonalization, lack of impulse control, and reckless, self-endangering behavior. tis interesting to think of what those fellows were going through psychologically
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I love your work: the careful attention to the relations between and structures of various institutions (communes, countryside, roman aristocracy, dioceses, papacy, patriarchates, HRE politics), the understanding of the intellectual culture and motivating ideas of the time, attention to the Longobards and Visigoths, and responses to old-fashioned (whig, enlightenment, typical textbook) ideas make the history of Europe comprehensible, richly interesting, and inspiring in developing a tools to understand power relations today. Thanks!
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I love your videos, you did help me in many ways, learned so much about history, so many new perspectives, you made it feel alive, like it was not so far away. I love your philosophical takes too, sometimes I disagree (rarely), but I always listen and I see your reasoning and logic. Im sorry you had a hard time and I honestly wish that it gets better, post noebula phoebus as they say. I bet your thesis will be amazing. What you do is extraordinry. I know you dont see it as such, but when we live in a world like this, normal people enthusiastic about their intelectual passions for no other reason than to become better and to share that is extraordinary in itself, sort of heroic, like you mentioned in the video about violence in the medieval universities, those students did not go through training as a knights, but still they had their journey and were just as noble, anyway I will miss you, good thing I have so many more videos to go through, im one of those weirdos that mostly watched social, communes and less of military history. I still have to make myself read on war and listen to that series. Love you bro, your legit my fav channe, all the best.
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Dear Sir,
First of all thank you for another beautiful lecture and your hard work. It truly did brightened my day.
This may very well be the main reason for following you.
Because on one hand I try to get into the late roman reenactment, and for me it's mostly about learning who these people really were. What made them into what they were on philosophical, moral and social levels? So one solid reason is to listen to someone clearly more knowledgeable with open and critical mind. You know, develop a meaningful hobby which sole purpose is to accurately portray a period, and not just to larp as a grotesque preconception of real historical figure.
Or even worse: dumb down the complex roots of Roman success into sth like "uhhh they were more developed and their society had more social mobility".
And on the other hand I watch you to better myself as a human being with more universal concepts that you cover from time to time.
I remember that I posted a comment under your Ukrainian war video, "I wish more young people would follow you" or something like that. Because I myself was mostly deprived of real history when I was young. I was deprived of even proper study etiquette. You know, history presented as copy pasted crap from outdated books, serious violations of intellectual property and general dehumanization of very humanistic subject. Basically glorified distributor of outdated concepts.
I saw with my own eyes the ease of implementing moral relativism into our brains, and how easy it was to defend oneself with basic critical and historical knowledge.
So that's how I feel.
I do hope more people, (especially young people) would find your channel.
Once again, thank you for your lectures.
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I'm not sure how the Youtube recommendations algorithms work, but have you looked into tailoring keywords/tags and the like? From a glance it seems like you currently face quite a titanic obstacle just in reaching out to people. Granted this is anecdotal, but the only channels I watch on Youtube are history-related and yet I've never seen a single video of yours on my suggestion feed, which is where I find most new creators. I only stumbled on this channel by sheer luck, a google search for Strategikon Book XI (on the same day that you uploaded the video no less heh).
Although of course the problem might be your initial viewership, if it needs to be above a certain threshold to even qualify for suggestions/recommendations. In which case you may want to seriously considering going "the Roman way", and/or military history, if only to get that initial viewer base up. I think there's a decently large niche of people on Youtube who would watch your regular videos if they knew you existed, you may just have to get the ball rolling : -)
That aside I feel obliged to mention that I really enjoy the current assortment of topics you cover. As you say, it's definitely not something often talked about (which presents me with a lot of new things to learn), and it really is quite interesting. Very glad to see someone doing these pages of history justice.
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I have two question for you, maybe you can help me, or it inspires you to make a video.
Im pretty much interested in the pre-roman iron age cultures that existed in the region that now entails germany, the netherlands etc.
So the two main questions are?
How did the pre-roman iron age "germanic" religions look like, to whom they prayed etc.
Lots of pop-history and "history" from the pre-80s/70s kind of lump them together with "Wiking" or norse religion, which is counterintuitive, since there are basically 700-1000 years between them. Even more time if we count the written accounts of the medieval writers, like Snorri Sturluson.
A special interest would also if there was a use of masks, for rituals and warfare, since a lot of indigenous cultures in the world use them.
The other thing is the development and design of "germanic" weapons, armor and the change from heroic warfare to a more organized one. Since i am an avid wargamer i noticed that there is a huge difference in depiction of germanic warriors from the early age (pre-roman until the 1st century A.D.) and the later, migration period, late antiquity ones.
There must have been a huge transition between the spear-armed, unarmored, shield bearer and the comparatively lavishly equipped later ones (Goths for example).
It would be nice if you could maybe make a video about one of these topics, or at least point me in the right direction.
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thanks for all the great topics that you cover. I really liked the dawn of papal monarchy vid (as well as many more).
I thought I was alone in my admiration of the Staufen, and yet there you are.
I agree wholeheartedly with the Ghibelline (my ancestors were from Swabia/Franconia and Rome so it’s in my genes to want an emperor).
One of the biggest problems I have with the Guelf/Ghibelline conflict (aside from its outcome) is the Papacy’s desire to topple the Staufen. The latter never desired to overthrow the Papacy, only for them to stick with the spiritual order.
One thing I go back to contemplating is, of course, Dante. Why he put people where he did. He was a Guelf but yet Can Grande took him in. All the great poets, it has been said, were Ghibelline.
This might sound tinfoil, but I think Dante put Frederick II in Hell because of the politics of his time. To have Fredrick anywhere else would have put Dante in hot water even further. I don’t mean to say he compromised his great poem, but he had been an exile due to politics already and he felt that bitterness.
The Papacy, especially Innocent III, seemed determined to curb the Empire.
I would say that the Guelf/Ghibelline conflict has had reverberations into our day. With the passing of the Staufen, the empires days were numbered. The Habsburg were a poor replacement, with none of the charisma, strength or genius of the Staufen. Without the empire, the Papacy had to throw her arms into any ally she could - mostly France, whom promptly absconded with the Papacy to Avignon.
The Church, at present, has no protector because the greatest protector she could have had were killed by the men representing Her.
Would love to chat more and just wanted to give you some food for thought in hopes of corresponding a little.
Not a lot of people to talk to about this, and even the people that I can, think Frederick II was a pagan!
Correct any errors!
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You only briefly touched on them in your previous American military history video, but the Ohio Indian wars, as you call them, are another fantastic example of how complicated the political and military history of early America are. There’s a relatively little known episode of colonial history called Lord Dunmore’s war, in which the British governor of Virginia, lord dunmore, sent out a small force of British soldiers and a large detachment of the “Virginia long knives”, a militia group trained in frontier warfare through habituation to combat a confederacy of Indian tribes gathering near the Ohio river valley. The history at this point is somewhat contentious. Wikipedia makes no mention of this, but it’s considered historical fact among my family (given that our sole ancestor was a scout among the long knives, we are blessed to have wonderful genealogists in the family and detailed records of his service) that lord dunmore intentionally conspired with the Ohio confederacy, alerting them of the position and strength of the force he had dispatched. This could serve many purposes, weakening a militia over which he could exert little control, building a case for more resources and troops to be sent from Britain, backroom credit with a troublesome band of frontier natives, etc. There’s no documentary evidence to support this (and he would be dealing with illiterate tribes, so there would be little reason for such artifacts to exist), but apparently the course of the battle was sufficient evidence to convince the long knives, who emerged victorious from the battle of the Ohio River Valley and then marched without breaking ranks to the capital of Virginia, forcing Lord Dunmore to flee, and effectively starting the revolutionary war.
The debate over the historiography of the revolutionary war has at several points considered lord dunmore’s war the opening conflict of the revolution, a resolution to that effect was put forward and failed to pass in congress, decades ago. Today it is considered a separate conflict intimately related to the opening conflicts of the revolution, but that’s splitting hairs.
Without documents, it remains an open question if Lord Dunmore did collude with the Ohio confederacy, but the political consequences of this belief taking hold among the long knives are obvious, and directly contributed to the emergence of the world’s greatest empire. The long knives needed no training, the circumstances of their lives as settlers on the western fringe of Virginia necessitated a familiarity with woodcraft, shooting, and self defense. They were only loosely organized prior to lord Dunmore’s war as a frontier defense force, it wasn’t until what they perceived to be a betrayal against them by the governor that they organized as an armed force to achieve political aims. They went on immediately after routing lord dunmore to enlist as a unit in the nascent revolutionary army and served with distinction during the war. I know you get lots of video requests, but if you’re doing more American military history, strongly consider this episode to investigate, I can’t think of a richer vein of intertwined military and political concerns of colonial America. (Also it’s the first battle I know factually an ancestor to have fought in, unfortunately our records end at the old world.)
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Žižka pak táhl k Malešovu poblíž Kutné Hory a Pražané stále šli za ním, když se spojili s některými pány a chtěli ho porazit. Žižka před nimi urychleně ustupoval, aby si někde našel příhodné místo k boji. Uchýlil se se svými vozy na jeden kopec, tam se opevnil a čekal na Pražany, kteří ho pronásledovali a říkali, že už před nimi utíká. Ani nečekali, až se shromáždí všichni, a táhli přes to údolí, kde na ně Žižka čekal. Žižka se připravil k boji a postupoval takto: vozy srazil k sobě a seřadil houfy; nejprve jezdce, pak i pěší. Potom vybral několik pícních vozů a přikázal je naplnit kamením, a ty postavil doprostřed houfu mezi jezdce tak, aby je nepřátelé nezpozorovali. Pak pustil polovinu Pražanů přes to údolí a poslal na ně své jezdce. Pěší uprostřed mezi jezdci tlačil ty vozy. A když už se k nim přiblížili, přikázal pustit na ně shora ty vozy a tak jejich šiky úplně rozbil. Potom dal na ně střílet z děl a svým lidem přikázal, aby na ně udeřili. Pražané, když jim jejich šiky nebyly nic platné, se obrátili na útěk a cestou strhávali s sebou ty, kteří táhli za nimi a tak utíkali všichni.
Then, Žižka moved towards Malešov near Kutná Hora and Praguers were still following him as they had united with some of the lords and they wanted to defeat him. Žižka swiftly retreated in front of them to find somewhere a suitable place for fight. He took refuge with his vagoons on a hill, he had fortified himself there and waited for the Praguers, who chased him and were saying he was already running from them. They didn't even wait for everyone to gather, and they moved across the valley where Žižka was waiting for them. Žižka prepared for battle and proceeded as follows: he knocked the cars together and lined up the troops; first riders, then infantry (ment in time). Then he selected several forage wagons and ordered them to be filled with stones, and placed them in the middle of the crowd among/between the riders so that the enemy wouldn't notice them. Then he let a half of the Praguers cross the valley and sent his riders on them (meaning to attack them). Infantry in the middle between the riders pushed these vagoons. When they approached them he ordered to release these vagoons on them from higher ground, thus he shattered their ranks completely. Then he ordered cannons to be fired at them and his men to charge them. The Praguers, when their ranks were of no use, turned to flee and along the way they had been dragging (this verb in czech is usually used for rivers, streams and currents) with them those who were following them, thus everyone had been fleeing.
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Very glad to hear you make that point about materialism w.r.t. free will and determinism near the end, that’s a tragically uncommonly known philosophical truth many would benefit from understanding. The specific “AI” you’ve been discussing this whole video is actually a class of learning models called Large Language Models (LLMs). Stephen wolfram has a pretty serviceable introduction to their workings on his website. You asked what changed about the underlying technology to bring about these recent results: the answer is largely one of scope, w.r.t. the amount of data, size of the neural net comprising the model, training epochs, human input via labeling, etc. it was chat gpt3 that first made the news but the earlier iterations had similar language comprehension and generation capabilities, simply less developed. A sizable increase in the aforementioned quantitative measurements resulted in significant breakthroughs in its “humanness”, seemingly non-linearly with the amount of scale up, which is the surprising thing.
You also ask why governments weren’t here first: don’t be so sure they weren’t. The technological underpinnings of LLMs have been known since the eighties, but it hasn’t been economical for (private) actors to scale up the data collection, cleaning, and training necessary to develop human level comprehension until recently. The NSA, however, has always been a world leader regarding data storage and raw computational power, and could reasonably have achieved similar results up to a decade back, during the major expansion of their data centers under Obama. They would have been highly incentivized to keep such a result secret, since as specifically a language tool, its primary use case at the moment is narrative management (flooding the internet with human sounding bots to manufacture consent). Not saying they were there first, but obviously there would be reasons to keep such advancements secret, it’s not like an advanced bomb we wanted to threaten the soviets with and demonstrated for everyone (and then kept the mechanisms thereof largely secret, further still).
I think you are right to be cautious with your predictions, schwerpunkt, I am similarly unmoved to fear or awe by the recent advancements with AI. It’s already better at coding than I am, but it’s a rare person who can babysit it through the “software development cycle” such as it is with LLMs, most people can’t sufficiently specify their desires to get the AI to do anything novel or fulfill its intended development function. I do think we will have to grapple with a new information and reasoning ecosystem where people place less of an emphasis on knowledge and more on interpretation, which is already being reflected in schools.
One last thing you may not be aware of: there are already bounties available to be claimed for the first team that manages to sneak poisoned code into an internet fed AI’s output. People are posting malicious code on GitHub with the express intention of poisoning AI fed on that page’s output so it unintentionally instructs its user to run malicious code. That’s just with programming, you can believe that there are others doing the same with history, politics, science, etc. The whole nascent field of “alignment” joke as it is, reflects the already mephistophelian contract we have with AI, where teams have to censor its output so it doesn’t accidentally give politically incorrect answers or observations. This will only get far worse as the internet is intentionally flooded with anti AI misinformation, alignment concerns will turn from “politically incorrect” to “dangerous”. The snake will eat itself when we come to rely on Ai to validate the safety of input for training other AIs.
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The Real DJ pretty much put a lot of my thoughts down already.
As someone who will be doing history in university soon I’d like to find channels that also share that level of interest in history.
Your voice is fine, while you don’t speak clear English and have a definite non-native accent it’s far very understandable and I have no problems with it, so don’t let people who say that you’re English is horrible put you down because I can say, for sure, that it is not!
I like to watch your videos because I’m interested in the insight you can provide, I very much enjoyed your video on Mediterranean Galleys.
I watch these videos, not to learn history but to supplement my study of it, and there’s a clear difference between those two words, for me at least. Learning is just taking something in, perhaps understanding it. But when you study, you take what you have learned and try to understand it, change it in a way that enables you to understand it better.
Also, when you study something you [should] make an effort to research it, find information and sources other than that single book or video you read. It’s also why when I’m looking for books, I look for study books, which are usually quite big, expensive and include sources and citations on each page, as well as a nice big bibliography. Reading research papers done by others is also a great way to study too.
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@wol.im.hiut.und.immer.wol. the way I see it: people like me play these often over-complicated games for fun historical immersion and challange. if they enjoy them, they sort of become 'fans' of that historical era, even if they don't want to get a history degree in it :) we become interested in it, seek out more content and information about it. for some this can be military tactics, armour, weapons etc, for some it's the 'cultural thing', music, or the economy (in EU4 trade power is a huge aspect) maybe it's all of these things combined.
I think, a lot of people like me look for content like your videos because they want to immerse themselves further in the world they begun to explore through these games (I know I am). They really give you a passion for history, and interesting videos like this, then direct that passion back into the games, which creates more passion for more learning about history and so on and on :)
I guess what I'm trying to say, is that there could be a big interest for your videos in gaming communities for these historic titles. If you haven't already, you should occasionally share your videos especially on the related Reddit gaming threads, where you are not at the mercy of shitty facebook algorithms that favour only the most popular mass-media topics and content anyways.
That is where I come from at least... and I noticed that a lot of times when I watch a Let's Play video of even some casual medieval era game, and there is like a 10 minute explanation where the player first explains the historical context and the general background before starting to play.. that mini-history lecture is always appreciated by the viewers. So people who game ARE interested in history.. if it is directly related to fun gameplay experiences. And these videos of yours are a giant treasure trove for more fun facts, better understanding of the era and they even give new ideas on how to play the game in a different way (based on new understanding of the economic/military aspects of certain events)
(sorry for long wall of text)
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Hello Schwerpunkt. I'm not sure if you'll see this but I've been meaning to write this comment for a while now. I just wanted to thank you for the videos that you put out and for the content that you make. I found your channel a few months ago and have been watching your content daily ever since. I work somewhere where the work is a bit monotonous and the shifts are a good eight to nine hours straight. Listening to your videos really makes the time go by quickly and the amount I've learned since watching your content has been staggering. I had always had an interest in military history but never looked as much into other subjects. I studied the different religions a bit, and different cultural beliefs of these groups to understand a few things about them militarily, but you've given me a brand new appreciation for history a didn't even know I lacked. I never was very interested in the Steppes people for example, thinking they were largely a peripheral group who I never thought would be so interesting to me. But after watching your videos on the Steppes people I've been researching them and was in awe at how complex and interesting they really were. And I never thought learning about money circulation or markets would have been so fascinating, and important, until I watched your videos. So I wanted to thank you for creating these videos which gave me a wider view of history. I know sometimes you think your videos aren't good, or that you didn't explain things well. But honestly I find them to be great. I might not agree with everything you say from an ideological point of view but I still find your thoughts interesting on them. And you managed to change my views on quite a few things during your times off topic. So I just want you to know that I think you're doing a very good job as it is. So thank you for making these videos and I hope you are doing well and I hope to keep listening to you for a long time.
Also, I don't know if you are still taking any requests for topics but ever since watching your video on military medicine and psychology I've been very interested in the more, I'm not sure what the word would be for it, but I suppose physical treatments for wounds (cuts, dislodging arrows, dealing with things like dysentary, dealing with wounded animals, etc.) and was hoping to see you talk more about that sometime in the future. I'm not sure if there would be enough to talk about with it to warrant a video on it but I have been fascinated in the topic for a while now. I don't know if that topic interests you at all or if you would even want to make a video on that but I just thought I'd ask. Either way, thank you for the hard work you put into these videos and I look forward to seeing what you make in the future.
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Thank you for the video! It was pleasantly surprising to have received an entire video as response :) You seem to be a nice person. I had to listen to it this evening, I got so curious.
If I knew this would happen I would've put a bit more accuracy in my points and questions raised, to give you even better platform for your argument. The following is not Q&A, just a few footnotes or conclusions I drew.
I didn't come through as I intended about the Lechfeld battle's significance, my point was more from a military, rather than political consequence. Although losing experienced chiefs - amongst them Bulcsu and Lehel was a huge blow, probably even more so since they got hanged or otherwise executed - militarily I think it was still more of a bigger setback. The political significance I concede was remarkable though, I agree with your points on how this has greatly accelerated a change that I think was inevitable if hungarians wanted to keep their lands and not move on (and ofc there was no place to move on neither, nor intent)
What the 50-60 years of campaigning meant after battle of Pressburg was good for allowing a nice build-up (as you said, use the tribute chests and loot to develop) while keeping enemies busy at home. I don't think the magyars ever had the intention or human resource capacity to destroy East Francia militarily, since the magyar population was 1 million tops at this point (if you have info about this, I'd be interested. AFAIK half million settled in 896). So, if they wanted to destroy it, ofc they have failed. Logically, If they wanted to conquer it, they would've started taking inch by inch, not go through Ostmark into Bavaria or as far as present Belgium. My opinion is that there was no such intent.
Based on some sources I read a few years back I remember Bulcsu being already christian (in name, at least) and based on some sources was patrician of Romania (Byzantine) by the emperor , so indeed during the 50 years post-settling the carpathian basin the hungarians started to adapt due to the osmosis. Any strategy or tactics is good until you teach your enemy how to defeat you ;)
Having the type of horses they had they made use of what nomads do: be quick and try to outsmart the enemy instead of risking one's life. Magyars had their heavier cavalry in smaller numbers that was used to charge at disorganized enemy - I think the battle tactics made sense and generally minimized casualties (except for Lechfeld and later against the basileus' armies).
Strategically speaking imo the status quo meant a defeat of magyar raids and only Otto knew the price of it, so he and his successors left them alone and rather looked to build a relationship instead (marriages, spread of religion, inviting - sending knights). Magyars have triggered the west to accelerate the feudal machine and vice-versa. I am sure even if the magyars would've won at Lechfeld they would've eventually lose later - so it was inevitable to adapt neighbors' organization that stopped your raids. Western European feudal - knightly system is better suited for defence (not meaning it's bad for offence though). The whole purpose starting from peasants, serfs to lord was geared to protecting what they had with fortifications and tanks (castle, armour, expensive horses, military society of knights and serviens ), so it indeed made lot of sense to take from what was proven to be a good system. And as you also mention, magyars kept their exceptional horses and light cavalry culture for many centuries.
Please don't take your precious time to make a video again, but I'd like to learn more about where and how the magyars were defeated: you mentioned serbs, burgundians, lombards. I knew only about Riade (Merseburg) and Lechfeld worthy of mention.
Big thank you for the nice detailed talk, it was instructive, as ever.
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@wol.im.hiut.und.immer.wol. I am reading a book, "Frederick, Conrad and Manfred of Hohenstaufen, Kings of Sicily: The Chronicle of Nicholas of Jamsilla 1210-1258". Quite good thus far, though the translator makes an interesting remark. The southern Italians would rather wait for their patron/lord to clean up the mess out of the front door, while in the north, it was much more communal...
Obviously, the north is much more associated with commerce, community and republicanism while the south has a much more autocratic flair to it. It is easy to see that the south would have that character since it was much influenced by Byzantine and Arab rule (both of which were quite autocratic) - though personally I don't understand the lack of personal responsibility, but I live in a republic - ...
Aside from being a big pain in the ass for Emperors, Popes and Kings, and being a coveted piece of land, I don't understand the republicanism in northern Italy.
However, I might venture a guess: it is really due to the Longobard/Lombard conquest. We see in the germanic peoples, a respect for personal freedom/duty/responsibility, therefore, when they came down set roots in northern Italy, they brought this idea with them. That couple with Roman infrastructure and the advantageous location (close to the sea but protected, vast mercantile resources) led to a prosperous, free principality.
What do you think/say?
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Yep, your videos are "hard" to watch, I put the time to listen to what you have to say because I think you have something valuable to say and can give interesting insight.
To me, a native English speaker born and raised in the UK; your English is fine. The only thing I think that should be improved is your microphone, a decent microphone with a decent DAC can go a long way.
As for your videos, there are videos that I watch and others that I don't. For example I have an interest in Roman history but because my focus and main interest is Medieval-Renaissance that's what I'll put the time into listening to, as your videos do require a lot of time and I've tried reading or writing while listing and unfortunately I can't focus on both reading a book and listening to you. :(
There are quite a few videos in my Watch List that I've yet to watch and I don't think I have the commitment to listen through multiple of your videos a day. XD
For length, because you have a topic you want to talk about; how about making smaller topics within the video, so you have a goal to talk towards and move onto the next topic. Although listening to your reasonings perhaps not? (sounds like that's already what you're doing though 😉 Maye? I'm not sure. Your content is good either way.)
I don't think I interpreted that you said we need general historians only, sorry if it came out that way!
I was saying that talking to different experts together can fill in that gap in your knowledge, even if it's only surface level, but at least you now know something you didn't before! Of course, this depends on whether the person wants to learn or not.
The problem as you stated is that professors don't care to fill in that gap, which I think is very bad. How we can get those kinds of people to want to broaden their range of knowledge? I'm not sure, but I think it's because they don't have the interest or don't see a clear need to learn those other aspects of history because they know what they want/need to know?
I think the first step is to admit you don't [truly] know [everything].
The second is to then admit that you were wrong and work to understand better, through criticism or looking back to the references/source more in-depth etc.
Your thoughts on this are interesting, perhaps you can try writing down your thoughts? That way you can come back to it after a while and rewrite it to perhaps make it more concise.
To be honest, I think I'll fall into that trap of not knowing enough about some aspects of history I probably should know (I mean, I'm in it now, arguably we're always in it) but I think it can help if you can point people in the right direction.
Question for you though, what should someone know when it comes to general history? Meaningful things about ancient or contemporary history; is what is meaningful in history subjective or are there definite things people ought to know? (This question kind of relates to me saying your thoughts are interesting and perhaps should try writing it out and making it concise)
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