Anybody here a history buff?

UndeadJack

UndeadJack

Master Poster
Just wondering if anybody here was particularly interested in history? I really love it and I chose it as my first GCSE last year, me and my friend James are the only 2 people in my class who still enjoy it and have retained our A* targets xD
I am currently doing extensive research about WWII (for my GCSEs and out of interest) and I am thinking about purchasing http://goo.gl/oNBxm - I am particularly interested in the Battle of Berlin and the Pacific Theater (The Pacific War is after hours looking into :p)
 
Gorman

Gorman

Author Level
Yep, love my History. Not so much modern history, anything upto the middle ages floats my boat.
 
Tom DWC

Tom DWC

Moderator
Moderator
UndeadJack said:
Just wondering if anybody here was particularly interested in history? I really love it and I chose it as my first GCSE last year, me and my friend James are the only 2 people in my class who still enjoy it and have retained our A* targets xD
I am currently doing extensive research about WWII (for my GCSEs and out of interest) and I am thinking about purchasing http://goo.gl/oNBxm - I am particularly interested in the Battle of Berlin and the Pacific Theater (The Pacific War is after hours looking into :p)
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Really enjoyed A level history - if you're enjoying it at GCSE then I'd carry it on.

Cold War/Russia during the last century was fascinating. Italian unification not so much.

Was always suprised how good Elizabethan history was though, very interesting stuff. Also the MPs expenses scandal kicked off round about when we were taking it and it was slightly hilarious to discover they were at it back then as well!

As much as things change, some i.e human nature will always stay the same. xD
 
Frenchy

Frenchy

Prolific Poster
eughhhh couldnt think of a more boring school subject :p lolol I like history in general, I love learnign about that sort fo thing, btu I hated it so much at school. Good job they let me take french german and geography instead lol.
 
Rakk

Rakk

The Awesome
Moderator
I found history at school boring as well, though that might just have been what they were teaching - learning about cholera in the third world wasn't really very exciting!!!
 
DeadEyeDuk

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
So instead of a valid subject like history you took 2 "lol" subjects and the awesomeness of Geography?

I jest :)

I abhor people that "don't like history" (not the school subject, the overall idea of it), because its one of the most important things to know about...ever!

"I always just look forward, to the future" is such a weak excuse for being too lazy to know what has gone before.

As humans, we haven't half packed a lot into a few thousand years, don't you think?

Jack's post does raise a good point about GCSE history though...I swear there are more interesting/less saturated periods you could learn about than WWII...just been done to death at this point! :D
 
Frenchy

Frenchy

Prolific Poster
DeadEyeDuk said:
So instead of a valid subject like history you took 2 "lol" subjects and the awesomeness of Geography?

I jest :)

I abhor people that "don't like history" (not the school subject, the overall idea of it), because its one of the most important things to know about...ever!

"I always just look forward, to the future" is such a weak excuse for being too lazy to know what has gone before.

As humans, we haven't half packed a lot into a few thousand years, don't you think?

Jack's post does raise a good point about GCSE history though...I swear there are more interesting/less saturated periods you could learn about than WWII...just been done to death at this point! :D
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I don't agree that its one of the most important things, In fact I think quite the opposite. Its an interesting subject which you can learn a great deal from but if history books were wiped clean (in terms of earning about wars, revolutions, kings, periods etc etc) we would notice next to no difference. WWII is one of the most important we can learn about in schools, as this is probably the single biggest potantially life changing event we have come across in the last 100 years.

I don't really see the looking forward to the future as being a "weak excuse", some people are genuinley not interested, I don't see way everyone has to be, as I said before, it really doesn't affect us, certainly doesn't affect me.
 
Gorman

Gorman

Author Level
All history is important, learning from the past makes a brighter future.

The world wars just bore the crap out of me, there are much more interesting periods.
 
Frenchy

Frenchy

Prolific Poster
Gorman said:
All history is important, learning from the past makes a brighter future.

The world wars just bore the crap out of me, there are much more interesting periods.
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There are more interesting yet not many quite so important.

I agree that we learn from our past, however it is not essential. Yes it helps us but I cant say I've ever gone "hey look at how they did this in 1468, this helps me in what I'm trying to do today" It really doesn't, at least not most of the time.
 
tom_gr7

tom_gr7

Life Serving
I love history, everything about it, lol have been told I should be a history teacher! Had to do a presentation about the Battle of Crecy in 1346, lol I was told to calm down as i got that excited! Love it!

Wasn't aloud to study history for gcse though, as the witch of a history teacher hated boys, as "girls get higher marks". She wouldn't accept any boys on the subject unless they were A star! Was a right Witch!
 
D

doobie

Active member
DeadEyeDuk said:
Far too busy a day to explain how narrow minded that is French. But then you are French :D
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:D

Also, its who's version of history are you taught in school too. I remember reading into subjects, as an adult, that were not taught to me like that. WW2 is a perfect example. What started WW2? "Hitler invaded Poland - simple". Actually, not really that simple, and certainly not accurate.

Either way, I love history too, keep up the good work UndeadJack.
 
Gorman

Gorman

Author Level
WW1 or 2 is no more relevant to the world i live in than the Norman invasion, it might be more recent but no more important or relevant.

Learning from the past is absolutely essential, we are all "Dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants".

Just because something is in living memory doesnt mean its more important than periods which are not.
 
Frenchy

Frenchy

Prolific Poster
Gorman said:
WW1 or 2 is no more relevant to the world i live in than the Norman invasion, it might be more recent but no more important or relevant.

Learning from the past is absolutely essential, we are all "Dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants".

Just because something is in living memory doesnt mean its more important than periods which are not.
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hence why I said in the last 100 years.

I also dont think tis narrow minded at all, certain events in history help me with what I do, these events I read up on and enjoy, most history has no relevance to what I do now, it doesn't mean I am not interested in it. As I said previously I do enjoy history, I just dont enjoy being told what is important and what isn't because it differes from person to person. There are however certain things people need to have a general idea about, things like the industrial revolution, the world wars, even things like vietnam, this wasnt even mentioned at school and I think needs to be, even if it is just 1 lesson on it and a few other wars, explaining to people what they were about is important.

I dont feel I gain anything by learning about history, I dont think its narrowminded to think that either, I look at history because it interests me.
 
UndeadJack

UndeadJack

Master Poster
Frenchy said:
hence why I said in the last 100 years.

I also dont think tis narrow minded at all, certain events in history help me with what I do, these events I read up on and enjoy, most history has no relevance to what I do now, it doesn't mean I am not interested in it. As I said previously I do enjoy history, I just dont enjoy being told what is important and what isn't because it differes from person to person. There are however certain things people need to have a general idea about, things like the industrial revolution, the world wars, even things like vietnam, this wasnt even mentioned at school and I think needs to be, even if it is just 1 lesson on it and a few other wars, explaining to people what they were about is important.

I dont feel I gain anything by learning about history, I dont think its narrowminded to think that either, I look at history because it interests me.
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My Syllabus actually covers Vietnam next year. :p - I agree about the point duck raised on how most of the exams now cover WWII (In my exam syllabus I have/had: How Hitler was able to get Germany to the Point of WWII, WWII Itself, The Cold War, The Missile Crisis and Vietnam. I found the suffragettes terrible to learn about (stupid women, lol) and the Spanish Armada stuff was naf. I did enjoy Hastings though, war on the school field xD)

The funny thing about my history teacher, is he sometimes starts arguments with people who regret taking history. My friend samantha had a heated debate about the usefulness about learning about the Saar, as it isn't on the exam we will be doing so he threw his smartboard rubber at her [rollinglaugh]

tom_gr7 said:
I love history, everything about it, lol have been told I should be a history teacher! Had to do a presentation about the Battle of Crecy in 1346, lol I was told to calm down as i got that excited! Love it!

Wasn't aloud to study history for gcse though, as the witch of a history teacher hated boys, as "girls get higher marks". She wouldn't accept any boys on the subject unless they were A star! Was a right Witch!
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Your teacher sucks man! You should have told your parents/head of year (or whatever person you could use)

I once was playing a WWII game (well 1933-1945 period) where we were in teams of Russia, France, UK and Germany and Italy. I was the UK and we were winning and then France betrayed our team so we didn't win and i punched their team leader in the face. (A week of detention for that) xD
 
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DeadEyeDuk

DeadEyeDuk

Superhero Level Poster
I had a conversation with a friend a while back which sort of relates to this, and be good to gauge some opinion.

Have you ever taken an interest in a particular time in history, or of a particular country after playing a game that involved said time/place?

There are so many games that cover our history, and a lot of them do it rather well (sticking to source material, whilst adding in the fantasy elements that make it a game, and not a history lesson).

Back in the day things like Age of Empires and Age of Mythology piqued my interest in Greek Myths etc (I even had a book about it for Christmas!).

And more recently Assassin's Creed and even more so II/BH had me looking more into those periods, and I even Sky+ed the (quite frankly pants) TV series "The Borgias" because of it! (ok, not a history thing, but I also did a bit of reading around the actual subject matter. Sure, the conspiracy elements are the game, but the setting(s) and cultures are just something I hadnt thought about before.


Slightly hijacking Jack's thread a bit (but never know, might be useful Jack!), anyone think of any other examples where a game has led you to either read up on, or just be more interested in a time/place in history?


(Must be endofthedaytimewasting to come up with that lot!)

DED
 
UndeadJack

UndeadJack

Master Poster
DeadEyeDuk said:
I had a conversation with a friend a while back which sort of relates to this, and be good to gauge some opinion.

Have you ever taken an interest in a particular time in history, or of a particular country after playing a game that involved said time/place?

There are so many games that cover our history, and a lot of them do it rather well (sticking to source material, whilst adding in the fantasy elements that make it a game, and not a history lesson).

Back in the day things like Age of Empires and Age of Mythology piqued my interest in Greek Myths etc (I even had a book about it for Christmas!).

And more recently Assassin's Creed and even more so II/BH had me looking more into those periods, and I even Sky+ed the (quite frankly pants) TV series "The Borgias" because of it! (ok, not a history thing, but I also did a bit of reading around the actual subject matter. Sure, the conspiracy elements are the game, but the setting(s) and cultures are just something I hadnt thought about before.


Slightly hijacking Jack's thread a bit (but never know, might be useful Jack!), anyone think of any other examples where a game has led you to either read up on, or just be more interested in a time/place in history?


(Must be endofthedaytimewasting to come up with that lot!)

DED
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Not hijacking it mate :p - My favorites are WWII - I was interested prior, but Call of Duty 1,2,3 and 5 made me more interested in it. WWI and The Russian Revolution (well all of the USSR too is interesting also) awesome awesome too. If they made a big screen adaption of the Romanov story and about the mad monk I would be straight there (screw Anastasia..) I hate the Napoleonic wars; didn't appeal xD.
The Tudors, well they were just a fine bunch...
 
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