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Battling Lockdown

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Replying To Ollie2:  "Ah Lockjaw I could never get bored of quizzes. A good one is guess the year a bit like reeling in the years."
Have you tried myquiz.orgbOllie? Easy set up your own multiple choice quizzes and invite people online. Even better craic if ye're all on cam.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7346 - 15/05/2020 21:28:23    2278307

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Replying To MesAmis:  "Fair play Lockjaw.

What's the name of that book about the African dictators? I've just finished re-reading Adam Zamoyski's '1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow'. I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in that period of history.

Also halfway through Ken Burns Vietnam documentary series. Excellent stuff and on Netflix. They're my current Lockdown recommendations in anyways!"
Oh my God your into Napoleonic history and your into Ken Burns that's the second and third time we've had something in common, I need a shower!
1812 was a great book in fairness. He marched 500,000 men into Russia, came back with barely 10,000 - but he's still my hero. A pity that self loathing Irish snake got the better of him at Waterloo, and then only because the Prussians bailed him out.


For those into history I'd have two doc series to recommend which you can find on YouTube.
The first is Seven Ages, a history of Ireland since independence that RTE did in the late 1990s. It's very good.

The second is the BBC/CBS series The Cold War done in 1998, they basically did the same format for it as they did for the World at War in the 1970s.
RTE showed it when it came out and I was doing the junior cert at the time, I'll never forget Robert McNamara talking about those frightening 10 days of the Cuban Missile Crisis and recalling leaving the White House as the sun was setting in the Saturday and being genuinely terrified it would be the last sunset he would ever live to see.

As for books, as you might guess I've a bit of a passion for history, so for anyone so inclined I've just finished Antony Beevors The Battle for Spain which is excellent. In fairness all his books come highly recommend.

On the Vietnam theme, I got Max Hastings Vietnam last Christmas and it really is the definitive modern history of the conflict and a perfect accompaniment to Ken Burns brilliant documentary.

TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 6354 - 16/05/2020 00:46:51    2278325

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A pity that self loathing Irish snake got the better of him at Waterloo, and then only because the Prussians bailed him out.
TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 5457 - 16/05/2020 00:46:51 2278325

Why do you say that? If you look at the bigger picture, and put aside your dislike of Wellington, the world was generally a better place to live in after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. The following is from Wikipedia:

Historical importance
Waterloo proved a decisive battle in more than one sense. Every generation in Europe up to the outbreak of the First World War looked back at Waterloo as the turning point that dictated the course of subsequent world history, seeing it in retrospect as the event that ushered in the Concert of Europe, an era characterised by relative peace, material prosperity and technological progress. The battle definitively ended the series of wars that had convulsed Europe, and involved many other regions of the world, since the French Revolution of the early 1790s.

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2467 - 16/05/2020 09:24:49    2278337

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Replying To Cockney_Cat:  "A pity that self loathing Irish snake got the better of him at Waterloo, and then only because the Prussians bailed him out.
TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 5457 - 16/05/2020 00:46:51 2278325

Why do you say that? If you look at the bigger picture, and put aside your dislike of Wellington, the world was generally a better place to live in after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. The following is from Wikipedia:

Historical importance
Waterloo proved a decisive battle in more than one sense. Every generation in Europe up to the outbreak of the First World War looked back at Waterloo as the turning point that dictated the course of subsequent world history, seeing it in retrospect as the event that ushered in the Concert of Europe, an era characterised by relative peace, material prosperity and technological progress. The battle definitively ended the series of wars that had convulsed Europe, and involved many other regions of the world, since the French Revolution of the early 1790s. "
That Wikipedia piece is a load of rubbish. Just google Wars 1800 t0 1899 and there you will see there was plenty Wars all over the World between 1815 and 1899. For starters you had uprising by independence movements practiclly all over Europe and South America, The American War, the Italian Papal States, the Anglo Prussain War, The Boer War and a string of uprisings from about 1848 to 1851/2 all come to mind , but they are a small fraction of the total number of wars that took place in that period

Oldertourman (Limerick) - Posts: 162 - 16/05/2020 09:55:30    2278341

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Replying To Cockney_Cat:  "A pity that self loathing Irish snake got the better of him at Waterloo, and then only because the Prussians bailed him out.
TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 5457 - 16/05/2020 00:46:51 2278325

Why do you say that? If you look at the bigger picture, and put aside your dislike of Wellington, the world was generally a better place to live in after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. The following is from Wikipedia:

Historical importance
Waterloo proved a decisive battle in more than one sense. Every generation in Europe up to the outbreak of the First World War looked back at Waterloo as the turning point that dictated the course of subsequent world history, seeing it in retrospect as the event that ushered in the Concert of Europe, an era characterised by relative peace, material prosperity and technological progress. The battle definitively ended the series of wars that had convulsed Europe, and involved many other regions of the world, since the French Revolution of the early 1790s. "
Wikipedia??!!! come on now, anyway it was the British that kept stirring up trouble across Europe, bribing the Austrians, Russians and Prussians with millions to keep them fighting the French.

And yes I'm aware Napoleon was directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and yet I greatly admire him. I suppose it's a kind of the duality of the human kind of thing.

Hah never thought I'd be debating Napoleonic history on Hogan Stand!!! Maybe we should have a dedicated history thread??? :D

TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 6354 - 16/05/2020 10:41:46    2278350

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Replying To Oldertourman:  "
Replying To Cockney_Cat:  "A pity that self loathing Irish snake got the better of him at Waterloo, and then only because the Prussians bailed him out.
TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 5457 - 16/05/2020 00:46:51 2278325

Why do you say that? If you look at the bigger picture, and put aside your dislike of Wellington, the world was generally a better place to live in after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. The following is from Wikipedia:

Historical importance
Waterloo proved a decisive battle in more than one sense. Every generation in Europe up to the outbreak of the First World War looked back at Waterloo as the turning point that dictated the course of subsequent world history, seeing it in retrospect as the event that ushered in the Concert of Europe, an era characterised by relative peace, material prosperity and technological progress. The battle definitively ended the series of wars that had convulsed Europe, and involved many other regions of the world, since the French Revolution of the early 1790s. "
That Wikipedia piece is a load of rubbish. Just google Wars 1800 t0 1899 and there you will see there was plenty Wars all over the World between 1815 and 1899. For starters you had uprising by independence movements practiclly all over Europe and South America, The American War, the Italian Papal States, the Anglo Prussain War, The Boer War and a string of uprisings from about 1848 to 1851/2 all come to mind , but they are a small fraction of the total number of wars that took place in that period"
Do you understand what the word 'relative' means? The 40 years prior to 1815 (Waterloo) were far worst for wars, than the following 40 years.

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2467 - 16/05/2020 10:50:18    2278352

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Replying To TheHermit:  "
Replying To Cockney_Cat:  "A pity that self loathing Irish snake got the better of him at Waterloo, and then only because the Prussians bailed him out.
TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 5457 - 16/05/2020 00:46:51 2278325

Why do you say that? If you look at the bigger picture, and put aside your dislike of Wellington, the world was generally a better place to live in after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. The following is from Wikipedia:

Historical importance
Waterloo proved a decisive battle in more than one sense. Every generation in Europe up to the outbreak of the First World War looked back at Waterloo as the turning point that dictated the course of subsequent world history, seeing it in retrospect as the event that ushered in the Concert of Europe, an era characterised by relative peace, material prosperity and technological progress. The battle definitively ended the series of wars that had convulsed Europe, and involved many other regions of the world, since the French Revolution of the early 1790s. "
Wikipedia??!!! come on now, anyway it was the British that kept stirring up trouble across Europe, bribing the Austrians, Russians and Prussians with millions to keep them fighting the French.

And yes I'm aware Napoleon was directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and yet I greatly admire him. I suppose it's a kind of the duality of the human kind of thing.

Hah never thought I'd be debating Napoleonic history on Hogan Stand!!! Maybe we should have a dedicated history thread??? :D"
Wikipedea? Give me a contrary view. Here's another source: (there are many)

The Congress System's first primary objectives were to:

Contain France after decades of war
Achieve a balance of power between Europe's great powers
Uphold the territorial arrangements made at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-1815 and in doing so
Prevent the rise of another Napoleon-esque figure which would result in another continent wide war
In this historians have generally agreed that they were successful as there was no major war pitting the Great Powers against each other until the Crimean War forty years later, and France was successfully re-integrated back into Europe joining the alliance in 1818 at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle.

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Concert_of_Europe

"anyway it was the British that kept stirring up trouble across Europe, bribing the Austrians, Russians and Prussians with millions to keep them fighting the French"

The British were no worse nor better than the others, but the French, under Napoleon, were they main cause of the trouble.

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2467 - 16/05/2020 11:18:43    2278356

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Replying To GreenandRed:  "Have you tried myquiz.orgbOllie? Easy set up your own multiple choice quizzes and invite people online. Even better craic if ye're all on cam."
No I must try it out GreenandRed. Thanks very much.

Ollie2 (Louth) - Posts: 785 - 16/05/2020 12:36:45    2278367

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It's something I thought of recently when keeping an eye on the potential takeover of Newcastle Utd by the Saudi investment group. A lot of journalists are up in arms at this flagrant sports washing attempt.

Undoubtedly the Saudis have a horrific human rights record and it deserves to be called out. But the hypocrisy is sickening. For centuries the British, and other European countries in fairness, pillaged and plundered to their heart's content. Then, when they'd taken enough, and it all became too much hassle, quickly drew ridiculous maps with zero consideration given to the tribal complexities and inevitable internecine conflicts that would occur.

But yet, they'll sit in ivory towers now and set the moral agenda. All the while selling tons of weapons to Saudi to bombard Yemen with.

Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 9136 - 16/05/2020 12:52:55    2278369

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Replying To Cockney_Cat:  "
Replying To Oldertourman:  "[quote=Cockney_Cat:  "A pity that self loathing Irish snake got the better of him at Waterloo, and then only because the Prussians bailed him out.
TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 5457 - 16/05/2020 00:46:51 2278325

Why do you say that? If you look at the bigger picture, and put aside your dislike of Wellington, the world was generally a better place to live in after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. The following is from Wikipedia:

Historical importance
Waterloo proved a decisive battle in more than one sense. Every generation in Europe up to the outbreak of the First World War looked back at Waterloo as the turning point that dictated the course of subsequent world history, seeing it in retrospect as the event that ushered in the Concert of Europe, an era characterised by relative peace, material prosperity and technological progress. The battle definitively ended the series of wars that had convulsed Europe, and involved many other regions of the world, since the French Revolution of the early 1790s. "
That Wikipedia piece is a load of rubbish. Just google Wars 1800 t0 1899 and there you will see there was plenty Wars all over the World between 1815 and 1899. For starters you had uprising by independence movements practiclly all over Europe and South America, The American War, the Italian Papal States, the Anglo Prussain War, The Boer War and a string of uprisings from about 1848 to 1851/2 all come to mind , but they are a small fraction of the total number of wars that took place in that period"
Do you understand what the word 'relative' means? The 40 years prior to 1815 (Waterloo) were far worst for wars, than the following 40 years."]I do understand the word. That Wikipedia piece is just the victors, as ever, writing their own history. In our country alone after 1815 there was a Land War, A Tithe War (very strongly contested in your own county)), The '48 Rising,the Fenian Rsing and the Land War as well as Rockite unrest in the1820s. The Brits either started or finished colonising, o string of African and Asian countries in that period, and had them depicted in GB Media of the day as savages and thus in need of colonising-nice one. The Brits, according to themselves, were always the source of peace and light, but they they were probably every bit as bad as other Imperialists.

Oldertourman (Limerick) - Posts: 162 - 16/05/2020 17:27:25    2278398

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Replying To Oldertourman:  "
Replying To Cockney_Cat:  "[quote=Oldertourman:  "[quote=Cockney_Cat:  "A pity that self loathing Irish snake got the better of him at Waterloo, and then only because the Prussians bailed him out.
TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 5457 - 16/05/2020 00:46:51 2278325

Why do you say that? If you look at the bigger picture, and put aside your dislike of Wellington, the world was generally a better place to live in after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. The following is from Wikipedia:

Historical importance
Waterloo proved a decisive battle in more than one sense. Every generation in Europe up to the outbreak of the First World War looked back at Waterloo as the turning point that dictated the course of subsequent world history, seeing it in retrospect as the event that ushered in the Concert of Europe, an era characterised by relative peace, material prosperity and technological progress. The battle definitively ended the series of wars that had convulsed Europe, and involved many other regions of the world, since the French Revolution of the early 1790s. "
That Wikipedia piece is a load of rubbish. Just google Wars 1800 t0 1899 and there you will see there was plenty Wars all over the World between 1815 and 1899. For starters you had uprising by independence movements practiclly all over Europe and South America, The American War, the Italian Papal States, the Anglo Prussain War, The Boer War and a string of uprisings from about 1848 to 1851/2 all come to mind , but they are a small fraction of the total number of wars that took place in that period"
Do you understand what the word 'relative' means? The 40 years prior to 1815 (Waterloo) were far worst for wars, than the following 40 years."]I do understand the word. That Wikipedia piece is just the victors, as ever, writing their own history. In our country alone after 1815 there was a Land War, A Tithe War (very strongly contested in your own county)), The '48 Rising,the Fenian Rsing and the Land War as well as Rockite unrest in the1820s. The Brits either started or finished colonising, o string of African and Asian countries in that period, and had them depicted in GB Media of the day as savages and thus in need of colonising-nice one. The Brits, according to themselves, were always the source of peace and light, but they they were probably every bit as bad as other Imperialists."]I give up. What are you waffling on about?

Listen, and read this slowly. I said:

If you look at the bigger picture, and put aside your dislike of Wellington, the world was generally a better place to live in after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.

The 40 years prior to 1815 (Waterloo) were far worst for wars, than the following 40 years.

And as for assertion about the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the The [First]Boer War (1880-1881)... I think you need to you need to check your arithmetic, 1815 + 40 = ?

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2467 - 16/05/2020 18:35:00    2278405

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Replying To Cockney_Cat:  "
Replying To Oldertourman:  "[quote=Cockney_Cat:  "[quote=Oldertourman:  "[quote=Cockney_Cat:  "A pity that self loathing Irish snake got the better of him at Waterloo, and then only because the Prussians bailed him out.
TheHermit (Kerry) - Posts: 5457 - 16/05/2020 00:46:51 2278325

Why do you say that? If you look at the bigger picture, and put aside your dislike of Wellington, the world was generally a better place to live in after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. The following is from Wikipedia:

Historical importance
Waterloo proved a decisive battle in more than one sense. Every generation in Europe up to the outbreak of the First World War looked back at Waterloo as the turning point that dictated the course of subsequent world history, seeing it in retrospect as the event that ushered in the Concert of Europe, an era characterised by relative peace, material prosperity and technological progress. The battle definitively ended the series of wars that had convulsed Europe, and involved many other regions of the world, since the French Revolution of the early 1790s. "
That Wikipedia piece is a load of rubbish. Just google Wars 1800 t0 1899 and there you will see there was plenty Wars all over the World between 1815 and 1899. For starters you had uprising by independence movements practiclly all over Europe and South America, The American War, the Italian Papal States, the Anglo Prussain War, The Boer War and a string of uprisings from about 1848 to 1851/2 all come to mind , but they are a small fraction of the total number of wars that took place in that period"
Do you understand what the word 'relative' means? The 40 years prior to 1815 (Waterloo) were far worst for wars, than the following 40 years."]I do understand the word. That Wikipedia piece is just the victors, as ever, writing their own history. In our country alone after 1815 there was a Land War, A Tithe War (very strongly contested in your own county)), The '48 Rising,the Fenian Rsing and the Land War as well as Rockite unrest in the1820s. The Brits either started or finished colonising, o string of African and Asian countries in that period, and had them depicted in GB Media of the day as savages and thus in need of colonising-nice one. The Brits, according to themselves, were always the source of peace and light, but they they were probably every bit as bad as other Imperialists."]I give up. What are you waffling on about?

Listen, and read this slowly. I said:

If you look at the bigger picture, and put aside your dislike of Wellington, the world was generally a better place to live in after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo.

The 40 years prior to 1815 (Waterloo) were far worst for wars, than the following 40 years.

And as for assertion about the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the The [First]Boer War (1880-1881)... I think you need to you need to check your arithmetic, 1815 + 40 = ?"]I just checked Wikipedia- since two can play that game. From 1815 to 1855 The British Empire is listed as being involved in 36 different wars and yet some people try to convince that Napoleon's defeat brought peace. That was always a joke.

Oldertourman (Limerick) - Posts: 162 - 16/05/2020 20:30:16    2278414

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Ha! What have I started by mentioning a book about Napoleon!

MesAmis (Dublin) - Posts: 13707 - 17/05/2020 14:12:41    2278480

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Replying To MesAmis:  "Ha! What have I started by mentioning a book about Napoleon!"
Is this the pig in Animal Farm ?

lionofludesch (Down) - Posts: 475 - 17/05/2020 15:14:48    2278490

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Replying To lionofludesch:  "Is this the pig in Animal Farm ?"
All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others. George Orwell at his finest.

Ollie2 (Louth) - Posts: 785 - 17/05/2020 15:33:02    2278496

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Replying To Ollie2:  "All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others. George Orwell at his finest."
Well, probably his most famous quote.

lionofludesch (Down) - Posts: 475 - 17/05/2020 15:59:29    2278502

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"I just checked Wikipedia- since two can play that game. From 1815 to 1855 The British Empire is listed as being involved in 36 different wars"
What has that got do with anything?

"yet some people try to convince that Napoleon's defeat brought peace. That was always a joke. " Who said Napoleon's defeat brought peace?

Oldertourman (Limerick) - Posts: 92 - 16/05/2020 20:30:16 22784

Cockney_Cat (UK) - Posts: 2467 - 18/05/2020 09:13:53    2278558

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I hosted a pub quiz once and all hell broke out. Major rows about a couple of answers, as I recall. Some people take them surprisingly seriously. Last straw was when I decided, just for the crack, to ask a novelty question, namely: "There's a red Mondeo parked round the corner; what's its registratrion number?" Instead of having a guess, people got even more irate and yelled that that "wasn't a proper question". Nothing about Napoleon or Wellington though, I missed that one.

essmac (Tyrone) - Posts: 1141 - 18/05/2020 09:56:55    2278564

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Replying To essmac:  "I hosted a pub quiz once and all hell broke out. Major rows about a couple of answers, as I recall. Some people take them surprisingly seriously. Last straw was when I decided, just for the crack, to ask a novelty question, namely: "There's a red Mondeo parked round the corner; what's its registratrion number?" Instead of having a guess, people got even more irate and yelled that that "wasn't a proper question". Nothing about Napoleon or Wellington though, I missed that one."
What was the answer ?

lionofludesch (Down) - Posts: 475 - 18/05/2020 10:11:45    2278567

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Wasn't it the British Army that came up with the idea of concentration camps during the boer war.

KingdomBoy1 (Kerry) - Posts: 14092 - 18/05/2020 10:49:57    2278574

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