I love history. Love it. I love it so much that I went out and got a degree in it! What I specifically love is military history, although I have to confess that I am not a particularly good military historian. In any event, I was surfing the web the other day trying to find credible sources on a war that I know very little about, the Crimean War.
By way of summary, The Crimean War, which was fought from 1853 to 1856, was a war between Imperial Russia and an alliance made up of France, the Ottoman Empire, the UK and the Kingdom of Sardinia. Put in the simplest terms possible, the war was fought over territory (Afghanistan) and disputes over Frances "sovereign" right to rule the holy lands. One other interesting fact is that the Crimean War is generally considered to be the first "modern" war, meaning that indirect artillery fire, electric communications (telegraph) and rifled gun barrels coupled with the use of the Minie ball were first implemented during this conflict.
Where it gets nerdy is in respect to the Kingdom of Sardinia. I swear, if you look at the names and places from the history of that kingdom and if you look at the names and places of those listed in The Lord of the Rings, you will have a hard time telling which is which. To see what I mean, try this test:
All you have to do is either guess KoS or LotR for each word, and then score yourself.
1. Crown of Aragon
2. Rohan
3. Oristano
4. Gonario II
5. Mordor
6. Marianus IV of Arborea
7. Gondor
8. Gallura
9. Bree
10. House of Savoy.
Allrighty. Here are the correct answers:
1. KoS. The Crown of Aragon was the title given to James II the Just, who ruled over a confederation of fiefdoms.
2. LotR
3. KoS. Oristano was/is a small community in Sardinia.
4. KoS. Gonario II was an early king of Sardinia, and the first to actually claim that title officially.
5. LotR
6. KoS. Marianus IV of Arborea was the ruler of, not unsurprisingly, Arborea.
7. LotR
8. KoS. Gallura is a geographical and cultural region in Sardinia
9. LotR
10. KoS. The House of Savoy refers to the dynasty of Sardinian nobles that ruled Sardina over the year.
Okey-Dokey, so maybe this wasn't as funny or cool as I thought it would be, but it is pretty nerdy. And since it is history-nerdy, that means that you learned a little something along the way. Enjoy.
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6 comments:
Definitely high on the nerd scale. Good stuff. I failed, but that's because the only schooling I got on the Crimean War was capped with a multiple choice test. I feel cheated.
I agree with Toby on this, it is very nerdy but I didn't fail. However, it is not because I had good schooling on the Crimean War (I too was cheated out of real learning due to multiple choice tests) I passed because I knew which ones were LotR terms. Now my question is, does that make me a nerd for knowing that or does that make me give props to the standardized testing I endured in school because it drilled me into being able to rule out the wrong answers thus leaving the correct ones? In conclusion (a term my students used that pissed me off) it is a great blog but leaves me wondering about several different things...
you are a nerd! But your blog taught me something about the Crimean War!!
I understand the History nerdy thing.. my dad is one.. his passion is presidents!!! He has already tried to teach my daughter the names of the presidents!!!
Good job Timbo~~
Sigh... Will I never hear the end of criticism for my support of the multiple choice test? Circle the correct answer:
A. No.
B. Yes.
C. Yes, but not from Toby.
D. Yes, because Toby will come around.
C.
I still burst out laughing whenever I think of the name "Boleslaw" (first king of Poland). C'mon... it's not bad enough that you're Polish (and thereby the butt of jokes for centuries to come) and getting ravaged by Mongols, but you gotta swear allegiance to a guy who's one letter off from being shredded cabbage?
"Boleslaw." Aaahahahaha... Hoo... oh man.
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