Military
In our discussion of human curiosity we have to acknowledge that our collective curiosity pushes us to new levels of achievement and knowledge. At the same time, that curiosity can ask dark questions. How far can I push my fellow humans? How much can I have? How much can I take? How much can I conquer? These dark sides of human curiosity led to a strange dichotomy of institutions: war and politics. We can almost assume the two developed together in a game of one-ups-man-ship, government trying to control the conflicts within their societies while often imposing violence upon those outside of their borders and ideologies. This pattern would lead to governments perpetrating devastating wars and creating weapons that can eliminate their fellow man with ever greater efficiency and precision.
Despite its devastating effects, there is no doubt that wars are often some of the most clearly defined turning points in our human existence. As ideologies clash and struggle for superiority, the winner gets to continue to perpetuate its ideals, where the loser often faces annihilation or assimilation in the dominant force. When the Greeks defeated the Persians, the world kept democracy. When the Romans held the western world in their grip for a thousand years, Europe gained a certain level of hegemony and the roman ideas of government, art and culture would echo for thousands of years. When the Christian forces of Western Europe stopped the Muslim Conquests once at Tours and then at Vienna, the Christian world remained to spread around the globe during colonialism. War, by its very nature, produces clear moments when opposing forces meet, and one ostensibly wins. Thus war creates clear turns in the road of history; big wars create turning points the change the fabric of human history for centuries to come.
Includes:
Actium
Battle of Tours
Battle of Hastings
Fall of Constantinople
Spanish Conquest of the Inca & Aztec Empires
Sieges of Vienna
Spanish Armada
Napoleon
Battle of Britain
The Cold War
Despite its devastating effects, there is no doubt that wars are often some of the most clearly defined turning points in our human existence. As ideologies clash and struggle for superiority, the winner gets to continue to perpetuate its ideals, where the loser often faces annihilation or assimilation in the dominant force. When the Greeks defeated the Persians, the world kept democracy. When the Romans held the western world in their grip for a thousand years, Europe gained a certain level of hegemony and the roman ideas of government, art and culture would echo for thousands of years. When the Christian forces of Western Europe stopped the Muslim Conquests once at Tours and then at Vienna, the Christian world remained to spread around the globe during colonialism. War, by its very nature, produces clear moments when opposing forces meet, and one ostensibly wins. Thus war creates clear turns in the road of history; big wars create turning points the change the fabric of human history for centuries to come.
Includes:
Actium
Battle of Tours
Battle of Hastings
Fall of Constantinople
Spanish Conquest of the Inca & Aztec Empires
Sieges of Vienna
Spanish Armada
Napoleon
Battle of Britain
The Cold War