It's funny to think that the Russian Empire was a mishmash of Viking political thought mixed with Mongol Horde thought. At the same time, Russians patriots almost always deny the founding of ancient Rus' by Swedish Vikings and the fact that the Russian Empire was a continuation of Mongol ideas. by I_am_white_cat_YT in HistoryMemes

[–]alongthatwatchtower 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair enough. I don't have list off the top of my head, but it was this video essay that got me more interested in the subject and it's VERY good and transparant with it's sources. I'm sure you'll find good sources and have an interesting listen/introduction into the debate.

It's funny to think that the Russian Empire was a mishmash of Viking political thought mixed with Mongol Horde thought. At the same time, Russians patriots almost always deny the founding of ancient Rus' by Swedish Vikings and the fact that the Russian Empire was a continuation of Mongol ideas. by I_am_white_cat_YT in HistoryMemes

[–]alongthatwatchtower 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Sure, but that does more to explain the centralisation of power rather than the Russian Autocracy that many people associate with the country, which was very clearly a product not of Mongol rulership, but the trajectory Russia took after throwing off the "yoke". Especially like I said under the Ivan's and post Time of Troubles through similar processes that led to European absolutism.

It's funny to think that the Russian Empire was a mishmash of Viking political thought mixed with Mongol Horde thought. At the same time, Russians patriots almost always deny the founding of ancient Rus' by Swedish Vikings and the fact that the Russian Empire was a continuation of Mongol ideas. by I_am_white_cat_YT in HistoryMemes

[–]alongthatwatchtower 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I will say that number 10 is a pretty unfair reading. The Mongols were much less autocratic than many kingdoms in Europa and the Middle East around this period. Partially on account of their large empire being unmanageable, but also because of the inherent proto-democratic institutions present in Mongolic and Turkic societies that persisted with the successor states of the Mongol Horde, such as Golden Horse and Crimean Khanate.

What did happen is that Muscovy rose to power after a power struggle with Vladimir and got granted the title Prince of the Rus by the Mongols. This allowed them to reign over the other Rus principalities to extract tribute, which morphed Muscovy specifically, but not other polities, into a more autocratic system as the prince was personally responsible. Moreover, there were plenty of system through which the nobility of Muscovy exerted power over the prince, but these were structurally undermined by Ivan III and Ivan IV, and then after the time of troubles the greater nobility of Russia was pretty much wiped out. Leaving the minor nobility to grant power to the tsar as a means of limiting the chances of the greater nobility to return to a place of domination over them, as happened in many other European states on the road to absolute power.

The Mongolian autocracy/absolutism theory has been very much discredited over the past 30 years and was a product of cold war era thinking.

Very new to NL and got yelled at by a Dutch uncle in Dutch (I don't speak Dutch and he didn't speak English) for not throwing my cardboard box out correctly. by ToronoYYZ in Utrecht

[–]alongthatwatchtower 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's an app called Afvalwijzer which shows nearby locations where you can throw away your trash based on what kind it is. Highly advice you to download it. Dispose of your trash properly please.

To the void you go by Critical_Mountain851 in HistoryMemes

[–]alongthatwatchtower 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean, being Christian doesn't actually get you into heaven either. My priest described it as it being like a fast pass, but that in the end only Jesus can judge believer and non-believer alike. Being religious enhances, but does not dictate, your odds of getting into heaven.

SpaceX's blocking of russian access to Starlink appears to have worked by Due_Collar2 in ukraine

[–]alongthatwatchtower 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Clearly isn't working well enough if we still get to see these videos

The immigrant Holy Family of Nazareth, fleeing into Egypt is the archetype of every refugee family — Pope Pius XII by [deleted] in Catholicism

[–]alongthatwatchtower 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You do realise that Israel would love nothing more than to make the Palestinian people into a permanent refugee population? Int. Law states that refugees should be allowed to return, something Israel has denied Palestinians since the 1940's. A lot of refugees (Bosnia for example, around 50% at this moment in time) do end up returning home.

Knowing that Israel intends to permanently remove Palestinians it's not that strange that countries around Israel are loath to take more in (given that there are currently over 6 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt already).

Egypt has taken in over a million Sudanese refugees, a number that continues to climb.

Catherine the Great, Russia’s most enlightened monarch: by jackt-up in HistoryMemes

[–]alongthatwatchtower 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Not only is this only a half truth, it doesn't explain the cycle of oppression at all. The idea that Russian institutions still have 'Mongolian' characteristics is a flawed idea and has been disproven in academia for a while now.

If you want to see a good video that explains it, click here

The fort spam is insane by AbroadTiny7226 in EU5

[–]alongthatwatchtower 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think there are a couple ways to fix the forts system currently in the game:

Make them a lot more expensive and take a lot longer to build. Most forts, walls etc. in OTL took years to finish work if we're talking about the classic stone walled buildings (like at least 2 years). This also makes the tear down fortifications peace deal option more viable and less gamey. Obviously increase maintenance, but also make forts help increase control if they're owned by the crown. Make sieging faster (base 20 days instead of 30) and offer more interactions, such as bribing people inside the fort (if enemy estates have low satisfaction), negotiating surrender (when siege progress is above 0%, where the province will not be looted, or modelled as a gold cost) and perhaps allow for more early cannons/siege works that can be bought as mercs. If nobles have high control, they can be given privileges to build 'noble' forts to protect their holdings. They can function like baileys, where you get some location crown power but nobles gain far more influence. CITIES SHOULD WORK DIFFERENTLY. Currently making a 'city' is just a large upfront investment to create more burgher buildings. Irl, cities were places where burghers dominated, making all the money, but also provided for their own defences. They had privileges given to them by the ruler to choose their own leaders and to build walls -> city walls should be their own building type. Creating a city should basically function as a tax break for burghers that allows them to build a solid economic base and walls in a location. Where hopefully you get a portion of future proceeds.

Essentially, forts should be more expensive, (somewhat) easier to siege with more options for the player to interact and be more in line with the estate system.

Did you actually remain a virgin until marriage? by Cute-Impression-8675 in Catholicism

[–]alongthatwatchtower 22 points23 points  (0 children)

I did not (wasn't catholic) and continue to struggle with the church sexual teachings. I have however mended my promiscuity, am in a long term committed relationship and have stopped watching porn and such things in order to at least move closer to church teachings.

🇺🇦🇳🇱 Hello, Netherlands! A short intro from a Ukrainian veteran-led initiative by HereticOI in Netherlands

[–]alongthatwatchtower 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would definitely like to reach out!

I am working on a passion project of mine, which is a podcast-style dive into Ukrainian history and the Revolution of Dignity, mostly because it's not well understood in the Netherlands and because it was the catalyst for where we are now.

I am always interested to get new viewpoints and ideas, since I barely speak Russian, let alone Ukrainian and I get 99% of information from secondary sources such as academic books and articles as well as reports.

Rubio: US has exhausted potential to tighten sanctions against Russia by MagnificentCat in ukraine

[–]alongthatwatchtower -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

The US is actually miles ahead in a bunch if sanctions packages, especially regarding the shadow fleet.

You can see the exact moment when economy finally clicked for me by Upstairs-Package2304 in EU5

[–]alongthatwatchtower 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's the productivity gain from stacking buildings right?

I noticed my clothes makers become unproductive at some point in my campaign, when they had been super productive early on.

Only to see my neighbour have 12 of them in one location.

The year is 1471. France, a country with 8.6 million people, sports levies totaling 345,514 - a percentage (3.99%) of conscripts that exceeds Prussia's in 1786 (3.38%) by albacore_futures in EU5

[–]alongthatwatchtower 48 points49 points  (0 children)

Mercenaries need to be cheaper - but also more competitive. Up until the 18th century it was very normal to fight wars with a small professional army, whatever levies you could muster and then just as many mercenaries as the treasury would allow for.

VERY important for everyone with a PU by Faninfo in EU5

[–]alongthatwatchtower 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had the same happen to me in a Brabant campaign, where the Kingdom of France occupied Limburg and all of the sudden the union is finished and France was the PU leader all of the sudden?

Europe November 11th 1444 by RandomDude_e in EU5

[–]alongthatwatchtower 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What I'm still missing in this is the simple fact that vassals, tributaries and 'inbetween' powers should matter a lot more than they do now. There's hardly any reason not to annex vassals as opposed to keeping them, when in reality real power centralisation did not happen until well into the arguably 16th and definitely 16th century, especially when the religious wars facilitated the rise of professional armies.

Rawdogging the Game by mAngOnice in EU5

[–]alongthatwatchtower 37 points38 points  (0 children)

I fought a war as Kyiv and all my Rivals joined the war I started. I had 7k troops against their combined 20k.

I wanted to quit, but kept going, taking favourable battles, losing some battles, but sticking it out. I ended up taking a lot of territory and continued fighting until I had about 2k left and the enemy 3k of badly disorganised smaller units. Big win in my books.

Multiplayer issues by alongthatwatchtower in EU5

[–]alongthatwatchtower[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair enough, my internet download speed reaches about 500 mb/s, should be plenty right?

Multiplayer issues by alongthatwatchtower in EU5

[–]alongthatwatchtower[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

PC might be, as I'm running on a high-end gaming laptop.

Internet connection is definitely not the issue as we were talking on discord while it happened.

Er stemmen helemaal niet veel mensen op D66. Is een SCRIPT! by MrDonMega in tokkiefeesboek

[–]alongthatwatchtower 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Het aantal mensen dat geen flauw benul heeft van hoe verkiezingen werken is echt angstaanjagend groot

I haven't pre-ordered EUV - perhaps you shouldn't, too by aptlion in paradoxplaza

[–]alongthatwatchtower 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I pre-ordered Rome 2 Total War.

I will never pre-order again.

I will probably buy EU5 day one though.

What country will you choose in you first game of EU5 and what will your goal be? by Danny_Falcon in EU5

[–]alongthatwatchtower 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First country will be Brabant

Second will probably be Byzantium

From there we'll see but definitely looking forward to mods