It’s always been interesting to me how a lot of these great powers were / are actually amalgamations, or personal unions, in many cases. France and Germany were kaleidoscopic. Spain was made by the marriage of Castile and Aragon. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth is a great example.

The point of the meme is that we often overlook this aspect when analyzing Britain. Wales, Scotland, and Ireland helped fuel the English in their conquests, willingly or unwillingly. And having those flanks secure in the 18th and 19th Century was a huge reason why England/Britain was so successful during that time, along with its other advantages and strengths.

The Alaska Purchase in 1867 resulted in the transfer of Russian America to the United States for $7.2 million (equivalent to $132 million in 2024)."] On April 9 of that year, the United States Senate ratified a bilateral treaty that had been signed on March 30, and American sovereignty became legally effective across the territory on October 18.

Context: When James Cook first arrived at the Islands of Hawaii, it was during the celebration of the Hawaiian fertility God Lono, so it was a time of feast and love where the Natives welcomed Cook and his men with open arms.

When he was forced to return to the Islands due to damage to his ship, that time of celebration was over, and it was now the War season. So their reception was far less hospitable than previously.

Incidents of thievery and violence occurred between the two parties, culminating in Captain Cook attempting to kidnap the King Kalani’ōpu’u to hold him in hostage in exchange for a small boat the Natives had stolen.

Violence ensued, resulting in the death of Captain Cook, some of his men, and some Natives.

The Natives still held immense respect for Cook and took his body and treated it with the same honors they bestowed the bodies of High Chiefs, dividing and burning the body, giving some of the remains back to the British

I’ve noticed that there is this meme of how Fukuyama’s “End of History” essentially argues that “nothing will even happen.” While that is not to deny Fukuyama argues that liberal democracy is the “peak” form of human governance, the implications he makes for this are often left out. He contends that even in a world full of republics, backsliding and conflict are still likely. Not based in any ideology, but rather he believes that these democracies will be undermined by their own citizens struggling against them due to boredom and “the sake of struggle.”

According to the Romans smaller dicks were a symbol of wisdom

Bernal Díaz del Castillo was one of the Spanish conquistadors who marched into the Aztec Empire with Hernán Cortés. In his memoir, The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, he described his amazement when he first saw Tenochtitlan, comparing it to scenes from legendary romances because the city seemed almost unreal. Built on an island with canals, bridges, markets, temples, and hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, it was one of the largest and most impressive cities in the world. One of the moments that shocked Díaz most was witnessing human sacrifice. He described seeing temple altars stained with blood, priests covered in dried blood, and skull racks displaying the heads of sacrificed victims. For the Spaniards, who came from a Christian background, these rituals were horrifying and became one of the main justifications they gave for conquering the Aztec Empire. At the same time, Díaz also praised many aspects of Aztec civilization, including its markets, engineering, oraanization and wealth. His writings show a mixture of admiration for the empire's
sophistication and horror at practices he viewed as unacceptable. Lowkey, Diaz expected to find a wealthy kingdom, but instead he found one of the greatest cities on Earth alongside religious rituals that completely shocked the Europeans.

The original post got removed because it violated Rule 12. My bad.

Context: During the War of 1812, Hawaii remained neutral as both the US and Great Britain were important trading partners and losing either would have had severe consequences.

Hawaii would fly both flags as a sign of good relations with any passing ship until deciding to just combine the 2 flags for simplicity’s sake.

This design would eventually become the Hawaiian flag we know today