this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2025
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What if they said WW1?
Outside of modern history I think my interest is more into technology and way of living than about governments and cultures though. Like what tools did they use, what did they eat, what sort of alcohol did they drink. How did they make it, can I have a recipe.
Yup, same here. I don't give a fuck about the heroic deeds of X king, or which country fought who. I'm really interested in how people lived and got by. I'm interested in war history too, but I'm interested in the experiences of the people who had to fight in those wars and the civilians who survived them, not in the actions of X nations.
WWI is super interesting since it set the stage for so much of the current geopolitical landscape. My main issue with "I watched History Channel as a kid" types is that they really just think guns and swords are cool (which they are) and don't care much about the story of how people ended up in a war.
Also, I know what you mean about how interesting the day to day things from the past can be. I got really into preindustrial economies and how we used to make everything by hand. It's fun to go into old buildings and seeing the tool marks on the wood and guessing how they made it
I stayed somewhere build around the 1400s before, restored using the same methods used at the time. Though not likely an accurate depiction of how a normal person would have lived as the normal people houses are all gone and we just keep the impressive ones.
The trench warfare of WWI is super boring / horrifying. But, the world just before WWI is so interesting. So many places that no longer exist: the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, etc. Also, everything being an empire or a kingdom.
I also like the weird technological quirks, like how the very early WWI tanks had a little hole so the tankers could release a pigeon to communicate.