Recent content by monkey

Any sword smith can make a gun barel. In fact up into the 19th century gun barels were made using the same kind of patern welding used to make swords in antiquity. Inevitably the secrets of black powder and gun making will be leaked to the barbarians, this will not take very long as they make...

Even without draft animals wheels can be used to make very useful wheelbarows and handcarts. Multiply the weight of goods that a porter can carry many times. And the Mayans already had pretty good roads they just have to make the mental leap between the toys and the practical aplication. You...

Wenever Julias Ceasar left Gaul to go back to politics in Rome the ocupying legions under subordinate generals generally got masacered, and then Ceasar would have to recruit new soldiers and come back to conquer the rebeling tribes all over again. So without Julias Ceaser who seemed to be...

Sounds like you have confused Hinduism with Buhdism. As most Hindus are meat eaters.

I remember hearing a statistic that literacy rates actually went down after compulsory education was introduced. I wouldnt be surprised, locking children up in a room 5 hours a day 5 days a week just seems a good way to teach children to hate learning. Thats why driving the most dangerous...

I highly doubt there would any war between Germany and USA in any timeline of a German victory over Britain. Because with britain and her empire no longer a threat Hitlers aliance with Japan would of served its purpose. So Hitler would of had no reason to back up a Japanese war with the USA. And...

What if the idea the idea of compulsery education never became popular or enforced.

During childhood I dont have a certain accident that disqualifies me from joining the army. Being me I quickly rise through the ranks with skill and flourish. However after going slightly mad in Iraq I get prosecuted for war crimes, "they just dont understand what is necessary!" I say. I didnt...

There are two scenarios that could work: 1,Nuclear war blows everyone back to the iron age. 2,There are hardly any wars so that military is highly traditional and obsolete. BTW OTL taureg tribesman in the sahara were still charging camel caravans with lance and sword, as late as the 1990's.

Thats easy a movie director just has to walk past me on the street and see how handsome I am.

I saw some reinactors make a gapless shieldwall simply by having the first rank crouch down a bit the shields then touched the ground and the second rank coverd there head etc. It forms a curving wall of overlaping shields that really does look like the scales on the back of a surpent. An efect...

The arrows will hit something but it will just be a shield. A shield at arms length provides good protection from arrows. The shields overlap aswell providing double protection. Even in all demontrations or Roman Scorpios I have seen the bolt always gets stuck in the shield. Sources often...

Why would it need to be taransperent, an animal trained to run in a giant wooden hampster wheel would have the advantage of not being able to see and get scared of the enemy. Just point the wheel in the direction of the enemy then chocks away and roll! If I remember corectly there have been a...

The problem with ancient cavalry and chariots, is that the horses are very vunerable to enemy weopons so they are not very good at charging into dense formations of men. So I was thinking what if you turned a chariot the other way round and had the horses pushing the box with the wariors...

If you have a double huled catamarng type vesel with a paddle inbetween, should be able to provide enough protection to the paddlewheel, and unobstructed broadsides.