Recent content by Frrf

There's no reason to think that it's impossible for a formalised structured Rus' paganism to be created and sustained. The Rus' states were fairly isolated from the wider European and Mediterranean cultural spheres just by distance, and while the fur and amber trades moved through their lands...

Your other option is to avoid this particular war altogether and have another one in a couple years time, where diplomatic maneuverings have more firmly isolated Serbia. If cooler heads prevail in Vienna and a less absurd ultimatum is sent, Belgrade would probably accept. Later, chafing under it...

The world wars were horrific, but not unprecedented in scale. The Napoleonic Wars raged across Europe bring down centuries old states and dynasties and upending centuries old assumptions, while the 30 Years War killed something in the area of 1/3 the population of the Holy Roman Empire. What was...

I would, but my raging adhd says no.

Could well happen faster than OTL, given the greater resources available and that colonialism in and of itself isn't discredited. The idea of colonising conveniently uninhabited worlds and extracting resources without having to deal with inconvenient indigenous populations would be very...

I mean, social-democratic parties were and remain very mainstream in most democracies, the US and former communist Central/Eastern European states are unusual in that regard, but I agree that without the Soviets to be used as a boogeyman democratic socialism would be a lot harder to demonise...

That's a very good point. It also might prompt greater protection for minority populations within Germany, given that the government, under pressure, might need the votes of the ethnic parties to survive. I could see the SPD using the Reichstag majority they were looking likely to achieve in the...

Mate, you're being needlessly hostile. I genuinely don't give a shit where you were educated nor your nationality. You provided no information about your background, no sources, and then got snippy when someone disagreed and made assumptions based on what little information you did provide. If...

Fair enough. I did say that it was a brief skim. And frankly, US education, even at higher levels, has a nasty habit of parochialism. I can't count the number of times an American has asserted confidently that the US was the first or best at something and just been factually wrong. You also had...

A brief skim through wiki suggests that this isn't really accurate. The French lycée system was set up by Napoléon, on the foundation of a system of colléges set up by Louis XIV, intended to provide universal lower secondary education. Multiple commissions in the UK in the 19th Century prompted...

I hadn't heard of Cubist architechture before, so I've now got a lovely new research rabbit hole to dive down this weekend. I genuinely thank you for that. Just on the pictures you provided though, those buildings aren't without ornament. The ornamentation is formed by the play of shadow and...

It's just as likely that Nikolai dies, followed soon after by Aleksei, and is succeeded by his brother. Three tsars in short succession, the last of which supposedly had liberal leanings, might be what the duma needs to usurp real power from the monarchy. The practical realities of governing a...

The Brits and Germans both liked the Ottomans, because they opposed and contained the Russians inside the Black Sea. Even the Austrians didn't hate the Turks, for the same reason. The general tenor of long 19th Century geopolitics was exceedingly pragmatic, because international conflicts...

Anarchists. Anarchist terrorism was a very real threat at the time, and could strike seemingly from nowhere. But aside from them, the stock villains are probably going to be highly regional. Japan's stock villains are probably Americans, Chinese, Koreans and Russians, while Britain's are...

They might work on the theory, but a nuclear test is a very difficult thing to hide. Without the desperation of a global total war, it is entirely possible that theory is where it stays, much like with the stocks of chemical and biological weapons the US and other powers are known to have. Hell...