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Old 01-27-2020, 10:39 AM
 
947 posts, read 1,243,501 times
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I'd heard of the Amermenian genocide from my parents.When we were kids, if we didn't want to eat something, they would tell us about the poor starving armenians.Now my father was born in 1919 and my mother in 1925, so for them the events were very fresh. I've always loved history and as a kid had a little castle with knights to play with, even though I was alittle girl at the time.I also had a nun doll, probably because my dad's aunt was a School Sister of Notre Dame. Our parents took us to the library and museums all the time.We also sat down at the table to eat family meals and we talked about things going on in the world. I'm 63, so I remember much of the Civil Rights movement. My parents both lived through the Roaring 20s, Great Depression and WW2. When WW2 came my dad had a deferement because he was working at Briggs and Stratton in his home town of Milwaukee,but told grandpa he was going in anyways.He first started to go to the Pacific, but only got as far ands India and Australia, when his ship, the USS Westpoint got orders to go to North Africa instead. He got to see the pyramids and the sphinx,. He also spoke of Shephard's Hotel in Cairo, and the rock paintings in the Lybian desert, just as they did in the movie, The English paitent. Only after his death, when I found a little journal he had kept, did i learn he had been an honor guard to King George of Greece and Field Marshall Montgomery, and a few others he didn't mention apparently, these two men must have stood out for some reason in his mind. Would have asked him questions about this if I had known.
He gave a talk to a history class of my sister's when she was in high school. Teacher heard he was a vetran of WW2 and asked if he would give a talk. He got together some things to show the class. They got to hear how and why we got involved in the war, plus he probably gave them some insight into the german side, since he had relvatives in Germany, some for Hitler and others against him.His father's cousin fro m Nuremberg, Generaloberst Carl Hilpert was commander of Army Group Courland during the war. He had been in the west Chief of Staff to Field Marshall von Witzelbein and later Field Marshall von Rundstet. Witzelbein was executed by the nazis for his support of the assination attempt on Hilter. Whether Carl had any inckling of the plot i don't know. May have approved of it, but kept his feelings and his mouth shut.Both his sons also served in the Wermacht. and Some relatives of daddy's mother were u-boat commanders .Her first cousin's family the von Lilienschilds had actually fought in the crusades and some had been members of the Livovian Knights of the Sword in Riga,Latvia according to german records. Don't know much about momma's side in Hungary, but I'm sure some took part in the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, and most certainly they fought against ghe Ottoman Turks during their invasions into Europe. Would love to know more about medieval Germany and Hungary, but it's really hard to find books on the subject in english.But i can tell you alot about Henry the Eigth and his wives, mainly because american history classes tend to teach more about british history, since after all we were a british colony , one upon a time.
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Old 01-27-2020, 11:20 AM
 
18,616 posts, read 33,188,568 times
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In my "social studies" class in high school, in a very good suburban high school near Philly, I eagerly looked up WW2 and Holocaust and found exactly one paragraph about the Holocaust (this was 1969). Most kids at the school were the children of WW2 veterans or Jewish refugees. I babysat for women with camp tattoos.

I think the chronological system, usually starting with Henry Hudson (this was New Jersey, after all) and up to the Revolution and then crawling forward... Twentieth century history got short shrift. I mean, the Stamp Act? For that matter, the War of 1812?

I spent a lot of time at the library and reading newspapers.
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Old 01-27-2020, 02:49 PM
 
Location: Parts Unknown, Northern California
48,564 posts, read 23,974,759 times
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I'm among those who would not be embarrassed by a pop history quiz. I taught history for a couple of decades and I've been an enthusiastic reader of history all my life.

On the other hand there are numerous areas of intellectual achievement where I would be embarrassed by my lack of knowledge. I couldn't pass a chemistry exam, what I know of art is pretty much limited to Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, Picasso and Dali. And I don't know all that much about them. I can identify the most famous classical music pieces, but only them. Sometimes I think I'm getting a grasp on economics, but not really.

I'm good at geography but my comprehension of physics ends when quantum mechanics are introduced. I'm quite good at formal statistics, but a blank cypher when it comes to opera or ballet.

And isn't that most of us? Good at some things but not others? Before we get too heavily into the tsk-tsking of those ignorant of history, we should consider our own gaps. What I know of history is probably 5% learned in school and 95% learned by private reading. And that is what it takes to be good at history. If all you know is what you learned in school, and you don't have an interest in learning more, you will come across as historically ignorant. But perhaps you can humiliate me at something else.
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Old 01-30-2020, 07:23 PM
 
Location: Honolulu,Hawai'i
293 posts, read 189,181 times
Reputation: 178
One thing i kinda funny too is there been historical films like Braveheart and El Cid.
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Old 01-30-2020, 09:17 PM
 
Location: The High Desert
15,979 posts, read 10,541,690 times
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STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is killing us as is "teaching for the test".
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Old 01-30-2020, 11:01 PM
 
Location: Elsewhere
88,041 posts, read 83,864,110 times
Reputation: 114259
Quote:
Originally Posted by markg91359 View Post
How many people are knowledgeable about many periods in American history. I suspect most people could not tell me much about these historical periods:

1. The War of 1812.
2. The Era of Good Feelings
3. The Guilded Age
3. The Spanish American War.
4. The Progressive Era.
5. The Roaring Twenties
6. 1950's.

If they don't know that it doesn't surprise me that they don't know much about the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages.
In high school (1970s) we had half a year of required history and then we could choose electives. One year I took The Roaring Twenties. It gave me a good overview of that period before the Great Depression. My parents were born in 1921 and 1928.
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Old 02-02-2020, 04:55 AM
 
Location: Glasgow Scotland
18,439 posts, read 18,561,023 times
Reputation: 28480
Quote:
Originally Posted by axelthefox View Post
One thing i kinda funny too is there been historical films like Braveheart and El Cid.
oh jeez Braveheart so wrong in so many levels..
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Old 02-02-2020, 01:44 PM
 
Location: 20 years from now
6,453 posts, read 6,979,210 times
Reputation: 4658
To answer the OP's question--I think like most history beyond a generation or two, it just isn't relative to most people's everyday lives.

Now for me personally--I love history, the more that I learn, the more that I find that I don't know leading me to seeking a way to find out more.
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Old 02-02-2020, 01:46 PM
 
Location: 20 years from now
6,453 posts, read 6,979,210 times
Reputation: 4658
Quote:
Originally Posted by brightdoglover View Post
In my "social studies" class in high school, in a very good suburban high school near Philly, I eagerly looked up WW2 and Holocaust and found exactly one paragraph about the Holocaust (this was 1969). Most kids at the school were the children of WW2 veterans or Jewish refugees. I babysat for women with camp tattoos.

I think the chronological system, usually starting with Henry Hudson (this was New Jersey, after all) and up to the Revolution and then crawling forward... Twentieth century history got short shrift. I mean, the Stamp Act? For that matter, the War of 1812?

I spent a lot of time at the library and reading newspapers.
If you don't mind me asking--what High school was this? I went to one in the area as well.
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Old 02-02-2020, 07:06 PM
 
Location: San Diego CA
8,386 posts, read 6,754,532 times
Reputation: 16722
History to most people is what happened last week but only in their personal lives.
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