What Movies Have You Seen Lately?

Quote: Pacomartin

...When Jesus was alive it is probable that fewer than 1 person in 10 had white skin.

Perhaps Jesus was born an albino, and was such a rarity he had to be revered by the Africans. Perhaps those folks had never seen a blonde blue-eyed white boy, and protected him? Wrote stories that lasted 2000 years?

Quote: rxwine

Pure and undisputable racist statement

Some of you people are so funny, you
lead such sheltered little lives. Try
going to 90% of the rest of the
world out there and telling people
their race is not only NOT the best
race, it's interchangeable with an
other race, even the ones they
hate.

You'll be stoned, whipped, and drawn
and quartered. But keep dreaming on,
like we're all in a super leftie Star Trek
episode.

Quote: Evenbob

Some of you people are so funny, you
lead such sheltered little lives. Try
going to 90% of the rest of the
world out there and telling people
their race is not only NOT the best
race, it's interchangeable with an
other race, even the ones they
hate.

You'll be stoned, whipped, and drawn
and quartered. But keep dreaming on,
like we're all in a super leftie Star Trek
episode.

Why so much hate
I am mixed race
Neither race is better
They are all interchangeable
Every race has honest brilliant people and criminals
Both sides of my family get along fabulously.
Getting both sides together at say a wedding. Everybody has a good time and gets along
Its the haters that lead sheltered lives because they are unable to be friendly to another person that just happens to be another race

Quote: Pacomartin

During the lifetime of Jesus a single battle of massive historical import was fought in Europe. In the year 9, the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest where the German leader Arminius defeats the Roman legions of Publius Quinctilius Varus determined that the Roman Empire would never go into present day Germany.

And as the late, great Augustus descended into senility years later, he'd wonder the halls of the palace on sleepless nights and cry out "Quinctilius Varus, where are my legions!"

But you'll notice the world knows of this German chieftain as Arminius, the latinized for of his actual name, Herman.

So he won the battle. But who wrote the history books? ;)

Quote: Nareed

So he won the battle. But who wrote the history books? ;)

I don't know my history well enough to know how many battles the Romans actually lost while building their empire. Other than the Teutoborg Forest where were the Romans stopped, or where did they simply stop trying to extend the empire?

Did they try to conquer Scotland and Ireland? Did they try and conquer Persia?

Quote: Pacomartin

I don't know my history well enough to know how many battles the Romans actually lost while building their empire.

Plenty.

If you count the Republic era, which you should as much more expansion took place during it than in the Imperial era, then they lost battles on a regular basis.

Of note, take the invasion of Italy by king Pyrrhus of Epirus. He won every encounter he had with the Romans. of course, he sustained so many losses in the process that, true to his own statement, those victories ruined him.

Or when Hannibal ran rampant in Italy for years! Going so far as to issue his own currency in the areas he controlled.

During that adventure, there took place the Battle of Cannae. Sources put the Roman deaths at over 50,000. this is probably well over-inflated, with modern estimates of around "only" 10,000-15,000 deaths. But that's a huge number at the time, and very few survived. Not to mention in that battle one of the two consuls, a host of Military Tribunes and 25% of the Senators were also killed.

Then there are the many civil wars. In particular those at the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus, which were full-on Roman vs Roman, who wins and who losses?

Quote:

Other than the Teutoborg Forest where were the Romans stopped, or where did they simply stop trying to extend the empire?

Augustus was shaken badly enough that he decreed Rome should expand no further. Indeed there was little expansion after him. most notably Claudius took parts of Britain. Trajan took a big chunk of Parthian lands, and made it a point to bathe in the Persian Gulf. But his successor, Hadrian, decided most of those gains were imposible to defend and gave them back.

Speaking of that, much of the Imperial era is spent fighting wars with the Parthian empire. A tradition that extends past the fall of the Western Roman Empire, to be continued by the Eastern Roman Empire (aka the Byzantine Empire), until finally a Muslim army under a Caliph takes over Parthia.

There weren't that many battles per se in the era of the Five Good emperors (Nerva to Marcus Aurelius), aside from those of Trajan. most war then was either repelling barbarian raids at the borders, or putting down rebellions in various provinces (a lot of these in Judea). And civil wars as well. there are so many civil wars, it's ridiculous to count them.

Then when the Goths were allowed entry into the empire (they were fleeing the Huns), things got really crazy. But then they were awfully mistreated. It's a confusing series of events, but we get a rather major battle at Adrianople and the routing of the Legions. Rome was sacked shortly thereafter.

Quote: Pacomartin

During the lifetime of Jesus a single battle of massive historical import was fought in Europe. In the year 9, the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest where the German leader Arminius defeats the Roman legions of Publius Quinctilius Varus determined that the Roman Empire would never go into present day Germany.

My last trip to Germany I went to a Roman fort near Frankfurt. My takeaway from it was that The Roman Empire had a very tough time with Germany and adopted a strategy to co-exist rather than conquer. I got the impression they provided a lot of jobs and trade to the area so were somewhat welcomed.

I would, or course, defer to anything Nareed says on this topic.

Quote: Pacomartin

Did they try to conquer Scotland and Ireland?

Not really. Hadrian built his famous wall to keep the Scot's ancestors out.

Quote:

Did they try and conquer Persia?

It's complicated.

Alexander conquered Persia. after he died, his very vast empire wound up being divided among his generals, and much of the actual Persian empire went in pieces with them. Ptolemy took Egypt, Seleucus took Syria, Judea and other parts of the Levant, etc. The main body became the Parthian Empire (developers of the famous Parthian shot). In turn this eventually became the Sassanid Empire.

You'll hear a lot about Parthia before the fall fo the Western Roman Empire, and more about the Sassanids, or Sassanians, afterwards.

Julius Caesar, who was a first-rate general and politician, had planned a long campaign ton conquer the Parthian empire, or parts of it. Alas, he was murdered during the Ides of March (March 15th), before he could get going. Had he lived, and had he then succeeded, I can't see how the Senate could have kept on opposing him. he'd have been crowned King of Rome (his nephew, Augustus, was a smarter politician).

The two empires fought on and off for centuries, without much change. Trajan took a large chunk of it, but as noted before, Hadrian gave it back because it was too hard to defend. Another emperor, I forget his name, was captured in one of the many wars, and became the Parthian King's object of ridicule and humiliation the rest of his life. Worse yet, the standards of various legions were captured as well.

Overall, though, they tried to keep the peace when possible. The nominally independent kingdom of Armenia was set up a a buffer state between them.

The last Roman emperor to try a major action against the Parthians was Julian the Apostate. This was some time after the Empire converted to Christianity. Julian wanted to convert it back to paganism. He needed a major, impressive military victory to cover himself in glory in order to have a chance of doing this. He was killed in battle. Maybe it was just as well, as the war wasn't going in his favor anyway. His generals then 1) designated a new emperor and 2) high-tailed it out Parthia.

After the Western empire fell, this all became solely the Eastern Roman empire's problem. They didn't deal too well with it, either. Justinian managed, largely because he was more interested in reconquering the Western Empire (by then more a collection of independent kingdoms). Later the Sassanids managed to take parts of the Byzantine Empire for a while.

I forget whether it was the Sassanids or the Caliphate that took Egypt from the Byzantines.

I know this sounds kind of naive, but conquest has been such a part of human history that it is difficult to think that it all ended with Hitler.

I am sure that someone will dispute me, but I don't really consider any war since Hitler died one of true conquest. The dozens of wars seem to be about exerting control or some kind of unification that one country believes is correct.

You could argue that Germany believed it was the rightful owner of Sudetenland, but the attitude towards Russia, Benelux, Denmark, Poland, France and UK was one of conquest.

Quote: Pacomartin

I know this sounds kind of naive, but conquest has been such a part of human history that it is difficult to think that it all ended with Hitler.

It didn't. Consider China's conquering Tibet in 1950. Consider the short-lived Iraqi conquering of Kuwait in 1990.

I'm sure some might say Israel conquered the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan Heights in 1967 but I wouldn't characterize it that way but more so spoils of a defensive war that they won.

Or Russia and Crimea.

Anyway, I don't think it will ever end. There is a lot less of it as more and more countries align with a super power for protection.