Red Ring Tupperware Party, Autumnal Equinoctal Edition (24)

You forgot the Crusades...

In my visits to France & Belgium, I have noticed how much time & effort they've spend on preserving and documenting WW1 battlefields. But then, I guess that's not all that much different than the USA's preservation of all things related to our Civil War.

It's not the amount of history I'm complaining about, it's the content of whats taught. Lots of stuff, pretty much your list Harm with a few additions and subtractions, such as the Greeks, Egyptians, Pilgrims and such, with lots of dates but very impersonal. It like this happened between these dates and in 1492 this happened. Thing I like about the history channel is that they make it come alive and highlight the people who were responsible.

For instance, recently there was a show about the wars. They covered it from the perspective of the leaders, Mussolini, Hitler, Paton, Churchill, etc. From that 4 show series I learned more about WWI and WWII than all the history schooling put together. They made it interesting.

To be fair, there is a lot more history on the other side of the pond than there is here.

In elementary school, Social Studies would have covered the vikings, Columbus, Mayflower, and any of the major events that lead to the New World becoming populated. From that point on, everything was about what was happening in North America, plus the wars. Canadian and American studies will be vastly different as well as we studied our own country's history, but there was a lot of crossover. War of 1812, slavery, etc. We never learned much about the Civil War, just what it was about, nothing about each individual battle or people involved. I couldn't tell you when each state joined the Union. We had our own stuff to learn about. Aboriginals, colonization, Hudson's Bay Company, War of 1812, Tecumseh, the rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada, Mackenzie, Confederation, Sir John A. MacDonald, the North West Mounted Police (RCMP), building the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Gold Rush, WWI, the Great Depression, WWII, and everything since then.

Plus covering local history, which this area has a lot of. Oil Springs is the sight of North America's first commercial oil well.
"But the original birthplace of the Canadian oil industry was in Lambton County, he said.

Tremain sent the ministry a list of Lambton County "oil firsts," which include the world's first recorded purchase, in 1834, of a property for its oil reserves; establishment of the world's first petroleum company in 1852; North America's first commercial oil well and the first international sale and shipment of crude oil in 1858; Canada's first drilled oil well in in 1860; Canada's first oil gusher in 1862; the John Henry Fairbank invention in 1863 of the jerker line system to pump multiple oil wells; the founding of Imperial Oil refineries at Petrolia and London in 1880; the first gas gusher drilled in Canada in 1914; and other milestones.

The Fairbank family of Oil Springs is the world's longest-producing oil family and still pumps oil. It has operated the world's oldest continuously producing oilfield since 1861."

we went pretty much in depth about them, thinking back about it all... yes i missed a lot out, Tim...

Crusades, Parliament, the different prime ministers, the Renaissance period all those lovely battlefields, castles, redrawing the maps because of who conquered who...

I have learned a whole lot more about all different kinds of history from all over the world since I left school. TV shows have played a major role in that. But there is no way everything could be covered in detail during school, there is simply too much. The History Channel is showing tank battles this afternoon. I've been listening to it while baking. I love learning about the tanks, their strengths and weaknesses, and how everything played out with them.
Dad and I like watching the British show Time Team, and pretty much any archaeological documentary.

As an adult I've learned a lot more about the holocaust. Kids need to be taught about it, but I agree with the aspect that the gory details are not discussed much until high school. Children do need to be protected still.

but then as well, how many paid attention to history in schools compared to after you leave when you find it very interesting...

here is a cool little snippet of a timeline:

http://www.historiatim​elines.com …oads/2013/03/UK​-2Kbig.jpg

I liked history well enough in school, but didn't like having to memorize dates and names. No one is testing me on it now, so I like it a whole lot more. That, and the advancements in the audio/visual presentation is so much better now.

gjl711 wrote in post #17262190
The way history is taught in schools is horrible. It's like the teachers are purposely trying to boar the heck out of you. The History channel does such a better job. Should just turn on the TV and get rid of the history teachers.

WHAT!!! The History Channel does a better job? Since when are shows like "Pawn Stars," "Swamp People," "Ice Road Truckers" and "American Pickers" history?

The History Channel is just like the rest of the once-educational cable channels that have sold out to the reality television craze. It's just another channel that's seen the ratings that can be had with "lowest common denominator" programming, or, as I call it, "redneck television." Even an organizations as once respected as National Geographic has decided to wallow in the mud. I lost all respect for NG when they started airing "Doomsday Preppers..."

http://www.history.com​/shows

Still some decent stuff of that channel if you can wade through the other crap to find it. Sometimes I get lucky when I'm just clicking through the channels. All the reality shows are crap, for the most part.

I purchased this great book I bought 20 years ago called "Chronicle of the 20th Century"

http://www.amazon.com …mate-Record/dp/0789403323

Now obviously, it's not going back very far, but what is masterful about it is that it starts with 1900 January, and then proceeds with each section being filled of reprints of newspaper articles, magazines, advertisements and other periodicals from that date. (you can look up your birthday by the way)
There is NO editorial comment by those compiling the data, it is all real time news from the time it happened.

It is a very long book to be sure, but I actually eventually read it cover to cover. It was Shocking to read about the goings on in Yugoslavia Serbia etc circa 1912 for example while the headlines were about the same issues as i was reading it in the 1990s. Some fo the headlines and stories could truly have been printed today and no one would blink or consider it to be 90 year old history.

JWright wrote in post #17263784
WHAT!!! The History Channel does a better job? Since when are shows like "Pawn Stars," "Swamp People," "Ice Road Truckers" and "American Pickers" history?

The History Channel is just like the rest of the once-educational cable channels that have sold out to the reality television craze. It's just another channel that's seen the ratings that can be had with "lowest common denominator" programming, or, as I call it, "redneck television." Even an organizations as once respected as National Geographic has decided to wallow in the mud. I lost all respect for NG when they started airing "Doomsday Preppers..."

http://www.history.com​/shows

y'all got to get past the money makers and dig a bit deeper. The Men Who Built America, Mankind The Story of All of Us, D-Day in HD, Vietnam in HD and others are still really good shows. Look away from the filler and there are still quite a few gems. DVR is your friend.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #17263821
I purchased this great book I bought 20 years ago called "Chronicle of the 20th Century"

http://www.amazon.com …mate-Record/dp/0789403323

Now obviously, it's not going back very far, but what is masterful about it is that it starts with 1900 January, and then proceeds with each section being filled of reprints of newspaper articles, magazines, advertisements and other periodicals from that date. (you can look up your birthday by the way)
There is NO editorial comment by those compiling the data, it is all real time news from the time it happened.

It is a very long book to be sure, but I actually eventually read it cover to cover. It was Shocking to read about the goings on in Yugoslavia Serbia etc circa 1912 for example while the headlines were about the same issues as i was reading it in the 1990s. Some fo the headlines and stories could truly have been printed today and no one would blink or consider it to be 90 year old history.

Jake, thanks for the tip on the book. I'll check it out. A while back I spent a day in the library sequentially reading Life magazines from 1968. It was much better than watching it on the History Channel. That was the year MLK was killed in April and RFK in June.

JWright wrote in post #17263784
WHAT!!! The History Channel does a better job? Since when are shows like "Pawn Stars," "Swamp People," "Ice Road Truckers" and "American Pickers" history?

The History Channel is just like the rest of the once-educational cable channels that have sold out to the reality television craze. It's just another channel that's seen the ratings that can be had with "lowest common denominator" programming, or, as I call it, "redneck television." Even an organizations as once respected as National Geographic has decided to wallow in the mud. I lost all respect for NG when they started airing "Doomsday Preppers..."

http://www.history.com​/shows

They may not have the greatest programming on a regular schedule, but this past weekend has been non-stop documentaries covering WWI and WWII. Really good programs.

Armistice Day / Remembrance Day:

https://www.youtube.co​m …X_EBwzr4&featur​e=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=-VZPoyTiJJc