MichaelF

3,802 reputation

11134

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I got my BA in History even though I haven't used it for employment, I have pursued my studies more for enjoyment. While I work in tech I still spend time researching and studying history, concentrating in the Colonial American period and Asian cultures.

I pursue an interest in other topics as they come up, the more you learn the more you want to know is my general theme of topics. As a historian I try to see both sides of the question, in general History is written by the winners so one often needs to look deeper into the subject to get a balanced view. Much of what I have learned growing up has already changed which goes to prove the axiom - nothing is constant but change.

	3,802 reputation	bio	website		visits	member for	1 year, 7 months
11134 badges		location	Massachusetts		seen	yesterday

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Oct 14	asked	Was the Battle of Tours really the turning point for the Umayyad expansion into Europe?
Oct 14	comment	Is the Cold War still going on? Agreed, if you look at how the term was used it was the state of affairs between Communism and Capitalism. Whatever else is going on now is basically "diplomacy by other means".
Oct 14	awarded	Commentator
Oct 14	comment	Why did non-monarchic rule meet with so little success in ancient China? I think this is sort of answered if you look at the "Mandate of Heaven" where there is one Heavenly Emperor and when the gods smile on that one they rule. This has been considered the rationale behind the continual acceptance of dynasties, when one rises they have the Mandate but if they fall and are replace it's considered that the Mandate fell to someone else.
Oct 13	comment	When did the practice of formally “declaring war” cease and why? I don't think it's gone away, maybe there is more international cooperation to share the burden, war is expensive.
Oct 13	comment	Why did Meiji consider switching from Japanese to English? Well they were already enamoured of Europe so sure there might be interest in the culture, but changing a national language of centuries is a hard sell.
Oct 13	comment	Why did the French sell Louisiana? Well considering that the French had just lost Haiti, couldn't get Florida officially and continual war with England they probably needed more money to keep fighting. I'd have to look at my various history books but I recall this one being a multi-pronged issues.
Oct 13	comment	What were the reasons that the British colonies in North America rebelled but not others? Well I think in Point 2 the colonists fought for the British, so they did have the experience of being conquerors rather than the conquered. Although I don't get what you mean in point 3 about colonials in Africa and Asia having those advantages, they were British weren't they?
Oct 13	asked	What were the reasons that the British colonies in North America rebelled but not others?
Oct 13	awarded	Student
Oct 12	awarded	Editor
Oct 12	revised	How is it that King Philips War devastated the colonists so much, but the Colonists were not driven out? Changing title
Oct 12	comment	Which Confederate State provided the most troops in the American Civil War? Probably not many records but I know they took part in grunt work, not much in the way of fighting since giving them weapons really would have done John Brown proud. I was just curious as to how you were defining troops in this respect.
Oct 12	asked	How is it that King Philips War devastated the colonists so much, but the Colonists were not driven out?
Oct 12	comment	Which Confederate State provided the most troops in the American Civil War? Just for clarification are you referring to whites or would you also include slaves forced to fight for the Confederacy in any respect?
Oct 12	comment	What are the factors that caused the new world civilizations to be less technologically advanced than the old world? Jared also noted that those same elements are what helped us remove pesky "natives" when the Europeans went colonizing. If the US had developed sedentary civilizations it might have been the Europeans who were dropping dead from disease when they landed.
Oct 12	awarded	Supporter
Oct 12	comment	What events led to the fall of the Zhou Dynasty during the Warring States period? Never heard about the lineage and vassal system in use in ancient china, I'd be interested in information on this.