Your Favourite era of History

[R4ptur3]

Thread title says it all really people. What is your favourite era of history that you find fascinating and love to learn about. It's hard for me personally, as it changes as I discover about different times and countries.

Overall I would have to go with the Vikings because of their culture and way of life. Recently though I've read a few things about China and it's amazing what they have invented. Then there is the 100 years war between England and France, and hey, being English you can't not love a good scrap with the French.

 

[Realitycrash]

This era, I would say. Now is when all the truly awesome sci-fi tech is starting to see the light of day.

..Otherwise, I guess I enjoy Ancient Greece/Persia/Egypt and the Enlightenment.

 

[SckizoBoy]

Then there is the 100 years war between England and France, and hey, being English you can't not love a good scrap with the French.

Thing is, study enough and the Anglo-French dynamic is really, really like a love-hate relationship between a drunkard and a kleptomaniac (and it doesn't matter which you think is which)! From the start: England vs France (100 Years' War); England & France vs Spain/HRE (80 Years' War); Britain & France vs UP/DR (Anglo-Dutch Wars); Britain & the Grand Alliance vs France (Nine Years' War, leading into the War of Spanish Succession); Britain & France vs Spain (War of the Quadruple Alliance); Britain & numerous alliances vs France & numerous alliances (Seven Years' War, Revolutionary/Napoleonic Wars); Britain & France vs Germany (World Wars).

What a legacy to international diplomacy! =.=

Anyway, OT:

Mid-Republic Rome, specifically 220-ish to 146... the 'glory years' I guess, when the Republic of Rome was not as morally bankrupt as it became during the late-Republic, but going in that direction... inexorably...

That and western Europe from 1688-1871 i.e. the Glorious Revolution up until German Unification.

EDIT - because *derp*

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

If I had to pick one period? Probably the nineteenth century. The humbling of Napoleon, Canadian exploration and settling, pretty interesting politics between the Imperial powers in Europe, China and Japan's changing relationship with the West, unification of Germany, the height of the Royal Navy's power before competing navies began to bridge the gap, The American Civil War... Lots of cool stuff, not necessarily in chronological order.

 

[sextus the crazy]

I'm Gigantic Modern War buff, so pretty much every war from the 20th century and beyond is at least somewhat interesting to me. I'm an especially big WWII guy, and I've been branching out into the vietnam war and other cold war conflicts, as well as following the Arab Spring wars. Just modern international politics in general is pretty cool.

 

[KapnKerfuffle]

Gotta love the feudal Japan era. Interest started with the early Nobunaga's Ambition by Koei and continued to Shogun 2 Total War. Actually prodded me into the library for some books on the Sengoku era. They know how to do warfare with pimp style and don't half-ass it. War was in the fiber of their being.

 

[KazeAizen]

The era where we aren't all trying to kill each other for once. So the 90s I guess. Closest it ever came to that it seems.

 

[ecoho]

the gothic age. just enough before the resonance to be really spectacular and not drown in paintings.

 

[Esotera]

Pretty much right now or 1990-2010, we've seen an absolutely massive explosion in technology at an incredible rate, and it was really cool watching how our society has adapted to mass use of the internet & computers. I can't imagine it'd be very fun living in any other historical era after all that. Although if I had to pick one I guess I'd pick the Victorian age or Renaissance as thinking a lot wasn't really seen as witchcraft.

 

[Dimitriov]

Really hard to choose, but basically anything before the very lame 20th and 21st centuries.

I am, however, particularly interested in late antiquity through to the crusades and the high middle age. Roman history, Byzantine history, the vikings, the Normans, and England (pre and post conquest) would be my personal highlights.

 

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

I suppose the trite answer is the period that will be happening over the course of the next century or so. It seems like it will be interesting times.

Less smart-assedly, the early national era of the United States. If I could be a fly on the wall at the constitutional convention, that would be amazing! (Of course, I'm a historian specializing in U.S. history, so I'm biased)

A second pick would be the height of the Roman Republic. A vibrant, growing society full of life and vigor. That would be a very interesting trip.

 

[Nickolai77]

For me, imperial Roman history and ancient/early medieval British history really interest me. I do also find 18th and 19th century European imperialism quite interesting as well because of the huge impact it has had on the world.

 

[Ground0]

The Victorian era london.. for some reason i just have a serious obsession with that time period or maybe i've just watched too many movies taking place in the victorian era.

 

[Matilda Ward]

Aw, it's hard to chose for me. I guess my favorite eras are a toss-up between the Chinese revolution of 1911 and the Salem witch trials. Both are such interesting and vibrant pieces of history with so many complications because of the personal failings of the main players. The children lead the way to the future, the adults follow from a past that rejects them, into a future that they know not what holds for them.

 

[Elfgore]

I love history, but only for a limited time.

From the start of human civilization to the late Medieval time period is my favorite part of human history, for the west anyway. East goes on until the fall of the samurai.

As soon as swords go away and guns take over I lose interest.

 

[Hades]

Roman history, in particular the late republic to early empire.

The sengoku period of Japan

The Dutch golden age.

Probably the Napoleonic wars when I learn a bit more about them.

 

[SanguiniusMagnificum]

The Early Medieval age (8th-11th century). Because it has the Karlings dicking around and dividing Europe, the Vikings raping and pillaging the European coast (and writing poems while establishing an awesome juridical system), the Seljuks invading Persia, Alfred the Great kicking Norse arse, the Normans plundering Paris and Rome and the Ummayads and the Abbassids fighting over the Caliphate.

That's pretty metal.

 

[sextus the crazy]

The era where we aren't all trying to kill each other for once. So the 90s I guess. Closest it ever came to that it seems.

The 90s were actually pretty violent. We had:

-The Gulf War
-the Rwandan Genocide
-The First Chechen war
-The Afghanistan Civil war
-The Yugoslav wars (10-day war, bosnia war, etc.)
-The First Congo war

... to name a few, plus many other civil wars in Africa and Asia.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

The Iron Age in the Mediterranean.
I know that's about 2000 years worth of history, but I refuse to be any more specific.

 

[KazeAizen]

The era where we aren't all trying to kill each other for once. So the 90s I guess. Closest it ever came to that it seems.

The 90s were actually pretty violent. We had:

-The Gulf War
-the Rwandan Genocide
-The First Chechen war
-The Afghanistan Civil war
-The Yugoslav wars (10-day war, bosnia war, etc.)
-The First Congo war

... to name a few, plus many other civil wars in Africa and Asia.

And why'd you have to go an do that? Ok I'll put my ignorance cap on being that I was born in the 90s and raised in them and I never heard of my country getting involved in shit and everything seemed to be going right.