The Most Underrated Era in History (In My Opinion)
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- Опубликовано: 19 окт 2023
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Everyone has their favorite period in history. Mine happens to be a period not too long ago. But everyone dressed really weird so I think we all collectively agreed to forget. The early modern period. A time when Poland was a superpower. The Ottomans ruled half the Mediterranean. And the Holy Roman Empire was, existing...barely.
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*Western history
Wow
Love your videos, man. I've been watching you since early 2014, almost 10 years now
Ever since I was 12😅 you've been one of my favorite content creators, and you've come a long way, man
Make a video about Finno Korean Hyper war
The best history
Edit: 50 likes, damn🗿
War of the League of Augsburg bros, where you at?
It's so crazy to realize that Pirates, Knights and Pilgrims weren't actually a thousand years apart from each other
It's how we teach history in school that is to blame also as an American after the revolution war it all become America centric until ww2 where you get some oversimplified stuff about the world it suck tbh
It also interesting how this era(1500s to 1600s) was practically a mini apocalypse for many places. Japan warring states, the 30 years for western/central european, the fall of the ming dynasty, times of trouble for russia, little ice age, west africa warring state due to the demand of slaves, Mughal conquest of india and even the major population collapse and change of the americans.
True
@@USSAnimeNCC- This shit isn't just America only though. The one time I had Roman history, my teacher just talked about the Teutoburg forest and how "we" beat the Romans. Cool I guess?
Also samurai. Those 4 existed at the same time.
Keep in mind, Beretta was founded in this era. Yes, the company that made the first hand cannons, also made the M9 handgun used by Army officers.
Beretta is almost a 500 year old company
Beretta M9 is the finest engineering of a handgun I have ever seen.
Gladly own one.
A 9mm in it's heavy duty, chrome shining, ass-kicking glory.
Truly a gun to own!
And possibly the first SMG in history
@@Germanica1871it does look much better than the polymer furniture guns that would follow it.
@@Germanica1871have you ever heard of the Laugo Arms Alien, old man?
In the Netherlands we learn a lot about this era because for us it was the Dutch Golden Age. We were at the peak of our power and were one of the biggest powers in Europe at the time. It's unfortunate that it is not mentioned even though there is a lot of Dutch artwork in the video.
Damn heretics
Yup Dutch/Spanish (thanks Habsburgs) VOE was the modern footprint for the mercantile triangle and imperial trade network that would come to dominate the next 400 years. Very slept on and is partly why the Netherlands is still considered one of the wealthiest nations on earth.
yeah good times where you exploited millions.
Austrians aren't proud of the Habsburg monarchy or the 2 world wars btw it's just a partt of history
@@Traxxler based
I thought I was the only one. I'm actually writing a fantasy novel at the moment which is set in a early modern period type setting. But mostly due to the exploration time that came with it. Brave men finding new and alien lands, and the natives seeing these human aliens come upon them.
What is the novel? I would love to read it
@@foreignroads oh man, I'm not sure what I'll call it yet, but I plan on riding it under the penname "John Briggs"
Sounds pretty good.
I wonder if it’ll be in the format of a journal of some type.
Then it could be something like:
“The Wondrous and Terrible Journal of a mediocre sailor.”
Or something along those lines.
@snakey934Snakeybakey youve typed "riding" twice. I hope english isn't your first language or id be concerned how your "novel" comes out. Hope you got someone else proofreading it
@@ghostyboi9186 English is not my first language. also, that typo is probably from the fact that I often do voice-to-text when commenting.
I’m Polish, I can vouch the 1500 to 1700 period is the most talked about era in Polish history class. Learning about the socio-political dynamics of Polish Lithuania that lead to the partitions (hello 1792) is like our version of the fall of Rome, with all the literary romanticisation that comes with it.
I mean, the 17th century was basically the defining century for what Poland would have to go through all the way to WW2.
@@leonardomarquesbellini That is pretty much the case for all of Europe, since it was during this Era that the modern nation states as we know them were largely established. One of the reasons why it's the "Early Modern" period.
So what you're saying is that Poland needs to create a modern version of the Hussars with Air Cav and Light Tanks and create the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth by first marching south to swallow Belarus and then North into Kalingrad while Russia is distracted. Then a merger with Lithuania and bam.. You can go right back to terrorizing the Russians like you really want to.
@profezzordarke4362 true, but not many European nations can claim they went from superpower to almost irrelevance in just 100 years like Poland. It's almost like God jad it out for them during the 1600s.
THEN THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED!
"Everyone hated France" is a pretty good summary of European geopolitics in this era.
Or any other era for that matter.
Just history
@@Itcouldbebunniesfor real 😂
@@Possiblyabird234 Just life*
the French were hated just in Europe. were as on the rest of the planet at this time in history the "Knights with guns" would be applicable to the Portuguese empire , and their global war machine from Morocco to Japan and almost everything in between.
So true; that period felt so empty and underdeveloped in school, but then when you study European history / history in higher education, you realize that that’s only because America literally was underdeveloped compared to the incredible advancements and complexities of the 17th century elsewhere
Just wanted to advocate for Cossacks : I think you really undermined how big and powerful of a political force they were, I mean the basically saved russian tsars a couple of times (Battle of Khotyn 1621) to then start a whole out war against both the Poland and the russians (Khmelnytskii's war of Independence 1648-1657, although it was mostly against Poland) A big part of Ukrainian Cossacks even joined the Charles 12 in the Battle of Poltava, and the leader of them fled with Charles , Ivan Mazepa was his name, so yeah, Cossacks were pretty cool and one of the best armies of their time, who also had their own political interests, knights with guns as well
Yeah, they are a big part of our culture even now, though they were basically land pirates
@@pee_0656love me some land pirates
They also loved committing pogroms
It blows my mind that Hollywood hasn’t focused more on this era. You’ve got massive hand cannons that would look imposing on the screen, incredibly detailed outfits with extravagant colors, massive walled city sieges. It really is almost a perfect era for Hollywood but they ignore it completely.
Because it goes against protestant propaganda
There is an interesting movie set in the 1500s en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Profession_of_Arms_(2001_film)
It's slow-paced and authorial, so not really a blockbuster, but I like how they recreated the spirit of the time. It's also interesting because they focus on the introduction of rifles and artillery as such an advancement that it was perceived as inhuman and cruel by the contemporaries, leading to a ban of such weapons by the Church.
Yeah. It goes against republican propaganda to show pre-revolutions eras as anything but a dark age or monarchy as a functionning regime.
Everyone is white. Hollywood won't touch it.
It's not the Anglocentric era
You’ve sold it to me, the moment I realized the peak of Caribbean Piracy, the Ottoman Empire, and the Spanish Empire were in the same time period, I fell in love with this era
@@RepentandbelieveinJesusChrist5 Sir, this is "Alternate History" not "Fantasy".
@@swissarmyknight4306it’s 2023…
I’m not sure what we’re counting from or to but it’s 2023 and you know why that is 😂
Jesus Christ is real bro
😂 you’re entire year to year calendar is predicated on that. And before you go talking about saturnalia and Roman paganism you can stop right there and just appreciate that every time you acknowledge the year you’re acknowledging the life and death of Jesus Christ
Man history right!😂
@Person0fColor I think the point here is “Jesus was just a regular dude, not a god you need to repent to.”
@@UGNAvalon a regular dood?
He’s just a regular dood that lived 2000 years ago that every keeps talking about. 😂 if he was a regular dood then why are we talking about him? Obviously he wasn’t just a regular dood 😂 you think anyone is going to be talking about 2000 years after you die? You think anyone will remember you 100 years after you die?
Go read clown
It’s crazy to think I’ve been watching your videos for almost a decade now. Just such a constant source of enjoyment for me that I sometimes take it for granted. But I want to let you know that I appreciate you, Cody. You’re a good dude
Kinga & Generals is a really good history channel in general but they have a series on the 30 years war I highly recommend! The 1500s-1800s is deeply interesting for so many reasons - the development of technologies, exploration, wars, strategy and battlefield tactics, the arts & culture, politics ... Sweden being a great power 😅🥰 I love it - it's definitely underrated!
i watched Kings and generals about the Ottoman- Portuguese wars in the Indian ocean region and it was quite a disappointment ,as it was slanted so much in favor of the Turks experience, when in fact the Portuguese were the ones who came out victorious and achieved their objectives. .
@@bconni2I think it’s because it was mainly just about continuing the Ottoman series
It's sad to see this era of pikemen and musketeers so often overlooked, especially in America. It was such an eventful period, especially for nations like Spain and Poland-Lithuania
Which is sad because the Great War of the day, the 30 Year’s War, actually outdoes WW1 in some aspects.
Yeah the 30 years was practically the beginning of the end of ancient and medieval Europe(and thinking) where it was slow death until it was wiped out in WW1.
It's easy to understand them focusing on the founding of their country, especially given they could easily have just died out(There's a reason it's thanksgiving; if it wasn't for native help, they'e have all died off)/
Yes
Yeah it's also far more eventful for Asia aka the centre of the world before colonisation. The Mughals, the Qing,etc all rose in the era, so did happened events which changed destiny of the whole world like Mughal-Maratha war which crippled the Mughal Empire which led to eventual indian colonisation.
This is so hilarious to watch as a German, because pilgrims are literally the least of our worries during history class.
Yeah,
On our end, the most you guys get is a general overview unless we're specifically covering Europe or we're looking at immigrant populations. Sometimes, we even skim over our involvement in wider wars
England: Heh look at our religious exiles, they made a colony in America! Anyway, Germany how are you holding up?
Germany: Help! EVERYTHING IS DYING! The horror, the horror!!!!!!!
England: He'll be fine
Yeah, my ancestors came to the US from Germany and I never knew ANY of this until I started reading a scifi book about a West Virginia town which gets dropped near Jenna in 1631.
Its vaguely terrifying to see what Bavaria, where my ancestors originated, was like at this time.
@Mysteri0usChannel Not just for Germans. Anyone from Europe.
@@KellAnderson that series really pissed me off after the second book because it gets worse and worse when it comes to the topics having been researched.
But as a general note, yeah, this whole era is covered pretty well in German history classes, although most emphasis is placed on Reformation, 30YW and then Prussian emergence.
Funny thing, the big topic in England in the year 1776 was not that some colonies revolted. Nope. It was the bigamy scandal of a fat noblewoman, the newspapers printed 16 page special editions.
A slight correction at 4:40.
Guns were pretty often used already in the late 1400s and even in the late 1300s in the form of hand cannons. Most of the guns were definetly not too heavy to be used with two hands and there are many depictions from the late 15th century depicting that. Amazing video oterwise.
I remember during my history studies I took a course in economics in early modern Europe. I had no clue about that time period, so the first thing I did was to read the book called "Vermeer's hat" by Timothy Brook, which proved to be a perfect entrance to the subject. I got completely hooked and it became one of my favourite time periods.
The Pike & Shot Era is so underrated, thank you for appreciating it.
There's a Shogun 2 mod about the Pike and shot named well the Pike and shot that showcased the warfare at the
Surprisingly the pike and shot period is also when samurai warfare reached its heights
@@comradekenobi6908 I tried it out, it’s so good! How has Total War never maid a 30 Years War game, it would be so fresh.
@generaldave7710 they kinda did in Warhammer but I get what you mena
But yeah Total war nowadays has no big competition so the content nowadays is lackluster
Here's hopping they add Nippon to warhammer 3 because seeign samurais vs demons would be awesome 😁
Shotte*
I was introduced to this era thanks to the Eric Flint alt-history novel "1632" and sequels - very entertaining story with a fun premise.
The fact you didn’t include all the wild stuff that was going on in Holland shows how crazy this era actually was
You mean the part where the people were pissed with the Prime minister for failing to stop the French from invading their country that they killed him and his brother and ate their body?
Tulip speculation... and ohhhh yeah, the 80 years war that we even mostly skip over in German history classes, just because the whole era is chock full of events. o.O
Yeah a prime minister was eaten by the public. A little side note.
The Spanish sacked and killed entire villages in the Low Countries, women and children included, during the so-called "Spanish Terror" of 1572-1579
@@Chicken_Gas an American, we did not learn about that on history at all.
Dude, learning about exactly this as well as japan’s earlier period of introduction to western tech, inspired me to write a whole ass world of lore. It’s so fascinating
Great video and I think it’s a very interesting period in history,
public schools are slacking and missing out on so much history
Isn't it weird that the video doesn't go into the fact that the Netherlands of all places became a global superpower who became so rich it made the largest company in history and was so threatening to their rivals France and Britain that in 1672 they were invaded by the full British fleet, 200,000 French soldiers along with two German states.
This is why I personally like this era. As a Dutch I'm biased, obviously, but it is an interesting enigma in history, especially as the Dutch laid the foundation of modern capitalism by starting the first stock market.
And what's even more funny is that Spain, whom the Dutch fought for 80 years, became your ally.
The Netherlands' independence and rise to power mirrors USA's so much it's crazy..
The Netherlands did symbolize what made the Pre-Modern period modern so....
As a Brit I do find it irritating that people forget we weren't the only colonialists carving places up. Hell, I didn't even know how Indonesia came to exist until recently!
yet you were beat down by the true powers of the world, the dutch are no more a global power than the ottomans, just another relic of a vain attempt to match more important nations :)
@@7411y As an Indonesian, your comment hurts. From my experiences living abroad it's pretty obvious that despite being the 4th most populous country Indonesia is still pretty much unknown in general (until I say it's where Bali is), but it still hurts lol.
I absolutely love how Cody is both a historian and a Catholic and yet somehow cannot understand the difference between Calvary and cavalry.
They're the same thing?
@@michael2636 cavalry is horses, calvary is crucifixions
@@banjoe05 Specifically Calvary is the hill upon which Jesus was crucified.
I kept waiting for him to pronounce it right, but...
Calgary?
Excellent video making a great case for more interest in this era. Thank you.
5:54 I agree a lot with this statement yes I still like warhammer 40k don,t get me wrong when but when it comes down to the two warhammer settings it just goes to show you don,t need big space warrior to have a good aesthetic.
Wish EU4 was as fun during this time period and less on early game. The problem is that it doesn’t really show internal strife, rebellion, and civil wars well. Also snowballing is a huge issue, countries never really collapse-especially if you are the player. If you are successful early game, you’ll be successful throughout.
There also just an insane amount of dlcs lol
I read your comment and I quickly thought up of this:
Play a nation for a few decades, however long you decide, then either go into observer mode for a few years, or even play as your original nations main rival. Then after a few more decades go back to your original nation or even swap to another country.
(I will say I've never played EU4 but I've played HOI4 and Viccy 2 alot)
Yep. France becoming a Napoleonic-esque superpower by 1500 is rather annoying. I always play in Europe simply to stop that snowballing. Asia usually stays pretty disunited so I'm less worried about them. I usually have a mod that removes most natives (exceptions being Mexican and Peruvian natives) that way colonization isn't completely stopped by massive united native nations. That way the AI focuses more on colonizing than conquering in Europe.
@@Mr._Paleozoic For the last year, my brother and I have been playing different nations every new age/era. So, we start with any nations during the Age of Discovery say England and Papal States, then once the new age starts (Age of Reformation), we select new nations. This repeats every new age. It definitely spices up the game. We usually select smaller/medium nations to play as.
I think that’s a problem with every paradox game, they are simply too easy and too broad
There isn’t enough detail, I think HOI4 is the worst in that with the complete lack of any economic systems beyond vague focuses that affect your PP gain and construction speed that have no actual affect on “civilians” (manpower stockpiles)
As a Brit this perspective is so interesting because in our public school history we hear a lot about this era, Tudors, Stuart's, cival war etc.
And vice versa, very little about pilgrims. The most we hear of them is “what we did with all the religious zealots after the civil war”
Here’s an interesting factoid. About half the male population in America (obviously only referring to pilgrim/colonists here) left to go fight abroad against the royalists when the English civil war broke out. The Puritan movement in England was pretty short lived, but it lived on in America and had a giant impact on its early history.
@@p0rq tbh thats kinda what the pilgrims were, just what england did with the religious zealots after the instability of the civila war
@@basedchango2172 no. . No h up 5 l be loud l
Also for the Dutch, we call it the Golden age and it's basically the foundation of our "nation"
Fun fact, the first Thanksgiving in the current territory of the USA was done by the Spanish in Florida, almost 40 years before the pilgrims even got to America.
Me as a dutch guy i think in this period ALOT since the dutch had the golden age in the 1600 in fact this is my favorite tim
As an Italian who loves very much the Netherlands, this is one of my favorite eras, particularly the 16th and 17th century. To me it evocates the same vibes as the Late Antiquity.
Early Netherlands history:
-fight Spanish for thirty years
-make money
-kill the Prince of Orange
-fight the Spanish for twenty years
-fight the French for ten years
-exile the House of Orange
-make money
Repeat until 1710.
Yup
@@warlordofbritanniaDutch golden age baby!!!!!
We control the trade
Praticamente in Italia lo conosciamo per i Promessi sposi
as someone who lives in Antwerp; this is my favourite era in architecture, art and music.
This is why I love the Empire from Warhammer fantasy. They're this, but with fantastical elements added in.
Knight with gun following King on griffin
SUMMON THE ELECTOR COUNTS!!! FOR FRANZ!
There's also the Dogs of War who I'd argue are even more this as they were the actual pike faction. Though if you're focusing more on the knights with guns aspect then yes that's totally an Empire unit.
@@stryke-jn3kv TEB's southern realms mods for total war: Warhammer 2/3 absolutely slap, adding in the Dogs of War and a fuck ton of true Tercio-like units
@@Nomadith wasn't a fan of it myself, but it is certainly really impressive for a mod. Assuming the game survives long enough, and that's a big assumption currently, we will get them as an official army pack as lords like Borgio have been data mined so hopefully I'll like that better
Please more videos like this. I love the cool topic you do. This is also my favorite period.
17th century history is DEFINITELY underrated in more than just military. The fashions, the culture, the politics, everything is just HAM. I just finished a great book on political informers in post glorious revolution England and it was one of the most enjoyable reads I’ve ever had! (I’ve also been reading the 1632/ring of fire series and enjoying it too)
It’s so odd learning about the English civil war and going to castles hearing about one army attacking the castle with pikes and swords whilst the other army inside the castle is shooting at them with muskets and a canon mounted at the top of the roof. It’s so interesting.
I know dood history
Interestingly, I think this is the most romanticized time in Spain. We haven't had any real golden age since then, but that golden age, that peak Spanish Empire, that's epic. We were probably the most powerful nation in Europe and the world, discovered America, conquered it with the Conquistadors, end of the Reconquista, unification of the crowns, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Velázquez. Undoubtedly the most grandiose era pf Spanish history.
And then incest happened
@@somehistorynerd Haha incest-chin goes brrrrr
And inflation
@@somehistorynerd all the kings at the time had incest, wdym
@@unflushablepoo8243 inflation didn't really affect the empire, sure, there were times in which it did but the collapse of the empire had nothing to do with inflation
I hope you read this comment Alternate History guy. Compliment to you. You got me to subscribe in the first 1min and 30secs. You are a great story teller who incorporates humor and personality. Keep it up, I'm excited to have found your content.
Just as an FYI, you can mail order a blunderbuss pretty much anywhere in the US for about $400-500. They are totally unregulated and relatively cheap. You will probably want to find powder locally -- hazmat fees are a killer for small quantities.
As an AP European History Teacher, this speaks to my soul. The first 3 units of the class focuses on this period...and my students struggle with it on a deep and painful level as they have ZERO CONTEXT for it. It is sad.
But defenestration
I took AP European History and passed and I totally forgot this era existed until this video 🤦♂. Focusing more on the "knights with guns" part would definitely make it more interesting to learn (that's why I clicked on the video...it sounded cool lol).
Honestly I didn't really learn much about this period until I took a class in college about European history from the 1400s to modern times . Also sabaton ironically enough really got me into the period
@@mzaa6787 I plan on emphasizing this more next year, because despite having taught this class for a few years now, it only just occurred to me how wickedly cool this is thanks to this video.
@@henrylandcaster1022 Indeed. My students do usually remember the Defenestrations of Prague (or rather the third defenestration that started the 30 Years' War). It's one of my favorite things to talk about.
Ya yeet!
The one era i always point to as "The most underrated when it comes to basing fantasy stuff there" is Meiji Restoration Japan. The one time in history that pretty much everything was existing side-by-side: Major cities look like industrial revolution cities, rural towns are pretty much medeival, Samurai are running around weilding Katana in one hand and Revolver in the other, boys who were trained from 5 years of age to be a warrior in the Shogan's army grew up to be accountants who go to work on the train. It's a wild fucking period where a society was forced to leap 300 years of development in 10 years and frankly, they hadn't had time to sift through all of the idea's, so they did a bit of everything.
If I recall correctly, one particular Samurai-in-training even got moved into a High Admiral position and led a decisive victory against Tsarist Russia in the Battle of Tsushima Strait - the one of the largest sea battle where battleships really clashed against each other (unlike that glancing blow that was the Battle of Jutland a decade later) before Submarines and Aircraft Carriers did all the naval heavy lifting.
So yes, talk about a massive career shift in this period.
The Boshin War has probably one of the greatest strategy games of all time, Total War: Fall of the Samurai. The actual game involves a lot more deaths than the real war for gameplay reasons though.
Ngl, This era can be called as "The Medieval Fantasy genre, but Magic Spells are replaced with Gunpowder."
little buddy forgot to watch last samurai
Plus the drip on that era
This era has always fascinated me. There's just so much going on. I was lucky enough to learn about the English Civil war at university and it was easily one of the best course I did. Your video has reminded me why this era is so interesting.
Thanks for turning me onto this time period! I love ww1 for the same reason. I find the transition in tech so much more interesting than ww2. Can’t wait for the next vid
The age of Pike and shot. I love all of history. Because history is a mirror of the many facets of humanity that effect us still to this day.
And yet at the same time you had vvitch trials, religious wars, and humor medical theory.
Such an intriguingly transitional period
@@warlordofbritannia Ying and Yang my friend. With every good there’ll be evil. While with every evil, there’ll be good. Makes sense?
@@Butter_Warrior99
That’s kinda what I mean-it’s almost a mishmash of two distinctly different eras, the medieval and the modern
@@warlordofbritannia Glad we agree. Hard to find that with digital discourse.
Meanwhile on tik tok "why men think about rome" I'm sorry but men who have an obsession with rome where they think rome is just awesome are probably extremely dumb men who don't know a thing about rome or questionable guy who still happy vote republican
The three musketeers were basically knights with guns, in the books they even had armour when they went to war. Unfortunately non of the movies gave them proper steel armour.
Anyways, today I'm gonna see the newest french adaptation, I heard it's an excellent depiction of the era.
Was it good?
@@concept5631 I personally loved it, it was such an old-school swashbuckler movie spiced with some crime-thriller. It had beautiful cinematography, three dimensional characters portrayed by the best french actors, subtle humor, well-crafted action scenes and the whole world was created with a lot of passion, it really takes you back 400 years in time.
They didn't wear armour in this one, but the siege of La Rochelle will be in the second part of the movie wich I haven't seen yet.
@@marton_dobo Nice
Name of the adaptation?
@@mrcopycat2355 The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan (2021)
Thank you for this video! I’m actually a World History teacher, so these are fun. I also play Age of Empires (2 and 3). See if you can convince the AOE3 crew to add Poland/Lithuania during that time period!
As others have said from an European perspective this period is very important to many real countries’ histories. You had the Protestant Reformation. In Britain you have the Tudors and then the Civil War and Cromwell, etc. on the continent you have the Thirty Years war, King Louis XIV. The Dutch Golden age started (and ended), and European countries started to establish connections with India and the East Indies.
My first exposure to this era was "Mount & Blade - With Fire and Sword". Exactly like you described, knights with guns got me interested.
Richard Harris Alec Guinness Timothy Dalton in Cromwell?
Slitherine games has a turned based strategy called Pike and shot it’s this period fought on a turned based board
Same lol good to see another Man of Culture. Classic game🤌🏽
Love Mount and blade
Fire and Swords was awesome, luv me dragoons
Ironically enough this is probably my favorite time in history. The time that sorta felt relatable the closer you get to its end but in reverse it also feels much more unrelatable in the farther away you get. It’s a nice middle ground which is why it’s so interesting to me.
Same. Theres a reason the end of the 30 years war is considered the "Modern Era"
Same I’m a big fan of the late Middle Ages and age of discovery era where pike and shot was used
@@fatherceltics2379 Honestly man the Germans have always been interesting to me especially Brandenburg-Prussia.
@@artoriuscasca424 Dude the late Middle Ages were so Intense so much happened. And the age of discovery is an era I wish I was in. Exploring a brand new continent just sounds so fun.
Patrick Wyman did a big awesome series on this time period in his podcast Tides of History. It's really well put together and entertaining and informative.
thanks for sharing
Gotta respect the fact AlternateHistory went back in time to educate us about most peaceful glorious times
You are in every corner of the internet somehow
U are NOT from braking bad
How the fuq dude!!!!!!
Bro I see you everywhere
The blender of new and old weapons and tactics also applies to the science and culture of the time - you had. Enlightenment philosophy, Newtonian mechanics, chemistry and exploration still blended in with insane alchemy and religious mysticism
How does the gravitational pull of the earth influence Satan’s minions on earth, aka vvitches and Papists?
@@warlordofbritannia-your average English puritan
@@warlordofbritannia Why are you spelling it “vvitches” instead of “witches”?
@@syrialak101
For funsies
@@lordofdarkness4204 That was also probably Newton himself, he was very religious.
The sheer relentless grimdark of the Thirty Years War is what got me. Probably the most confusing war in history.
Ever since I was a kid and became a history buff I felt this era was the coolest, and criminally underpreciated and underepresented
As a World History teacher, I agree this is underrated and I put a lot of focus on this era. I even brought in a Europe Risk board to help them understand the France vs Habsburg conflict.
And it's that dedication to topics seen as niche is why people like you got me into history
Thanks mate
Thank you for being an awesome history teacher.
Hansburg? Apparently a typo . France vs Habsburg .
A world history teacher likes I wanna be the guy? That's omega based.
This era is super interesting in Asia too - you had the Gunpowder Empires (Ottomans, Safavid Persia, Mughal India), the massive catastrophe of the Ming-Qing transition in China, an early and short-lived Meiji-ish era in Japan which saw them adopt firearms and attempt to conquer Korea and China, the Russian expansion into Siberia, and the Portuguese and Spanish shenanigans in the East Indies.
The Spanish really didnt do much in the East Indies compared to the West Indies. Portugal, netherlands and England seem far active in the east indies/Asia.
@@ArditiEnjoyer i know
There was also some cool Far East piracy going on I believe. Even some equal opportunity ventures, where the wife or mistress took over the operations. History Time and Voices of the Past, brothers, have some incredibly well done videos on this period.
@@gerardvermaat6944 I'm counting the Philippines as part of the East Indies. The Spanish were also in Micronesia, and did some early voyages around New Guinea and the Solomon Islands
And the Sengoku period. Japan has a LOT of works about it.
I think medieval history gets more interesting when you realise that the "standard medieval era" of pop culture never existed and start digging into the eras that actually did. (But also yes, The Empire in Warhammer Fantasy is awesome)
Nice touch on cossacks! But I also want to add that their backbone and founders where next generations of Kievan Rus nobles, that after it's fall were part of the Commonwealth and serving on it's eastern borders. Also in later ukrainian folklore you can find descriptions of cossacks as "knighthood" which proves roots of them in heavy mounted nobles.
Cossacks were bandits, outlaws, murderers and all the other scum from the Res Publica, not some noble knights.
The 1632 Ring of Fire books and the Empire from Warhammer Fantasy made me fell in love with this era. The asthestics and wacky technology are beautiful. Especially when both the Empire and Ottomans have literal tanks.
HAve you ever read Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen by H. Beam Piper?
Based Ring of Fire enjoyer. I love that book series.
Based Fantasy enjoyer, summon the elector counts
Exactly the same here
It's corny, but the Ring of Fire series is just good old fashioned fun alt history
Ring of fire is what got me so hooked on this era of western history, a shame the author died recently :(
As a Protestant the 30yrs. war is actually a super fascinating era of Church history and Western history to study. Thanks for the great video as always, Cody!
it's about as fascinating as the difference between the sunni and shi'ah for muslims... bunch of fools killing each other over a magical sky daddy that is "the one true magical sky daddy™" and then on top of that the christians killing the jews and muslims over the same magical sky daddy not realizing they just named him differently... all three of you are a bunch of fools...
Nice finding out that your religion was the catalyst for 30 years and more of utter atrocity and complete wastelanding of central europe. /jk
It's such a weird thing started religious war then like 10 years later it turned into a full on political drama of a secretarial war
That era also saw the rise to power of the Presbyterian Reformed church in Scotland, who were a bit like the Taliban except they insisted people should be able to read their bibles. That led to a big increase in middle and upper class literacy and the Scottish Enlightenment a hundred years later. And helped kick off the English Civil war when Charlie I and Bishop Laud managed to upset the Edinburgh mob with the book of common prayer.
As a Catholic, I concur.
I have my Master's degree in Early Modern History so I agree that this is one of the most interesting eras in history. The 16th century is my favorite. Thanks for covering it! My dissertation was about how the Reformation influenced various European attitudes to the "new world", soooo niche but man I love this era.
This is a fun video, thank you 😀
The 16 and 17th centuries are my favorite periods of history.
You have the peak of Spain and Portugal,The Age of Exploration,The Italian Wars,The French Wars of Religion,The Thirty Years War,The Ottoman-Habsburg Wars,The Polish-Lithunian Commonwealth,Loius IX. So many interesting events and historical figures.
And The Age of Pirates 🏴☠️
You’re not alone. I’ve been obsessed with 17th century century history for two years now and I’m always wondering why no one else seems to care for it. It feels so lonely being a 17th century enthusiast.
Too late to adopt gunpowder, too early for automatic gunfire. Born to shoot forced, to muzzle load.
@qwopiretyu Born just in time to be a peasant in Japan defeating Takeda clan feared for its cavalry by using matchlocks
Same. I love Pike and Shot. Anything from the Burgundian Wars to the Great Northern War could fit under this period. The little ice age and the climatic struggles during it are just so underrated.
Now, imagine how lonely I feel being obsessed with 1500s and 1600s South America
Your not alone I love the early modern period
I always think of this as the "age of exploration" and i too love this period of european history.
Here in the Netherlands we learn about the events that lead up to the colonization of America all the way up to the revolution. But then from the European standpoint. And the creation of the Dutch empire in this era.
I highly recommend looking up the Dutch Golden Age!
When I started playing EU4, I very much fell in love with this era. It's just so fascinating to me how different of a world it was between when it began and when it ended.
Same! Made me interested in taking college history courses and things like that too
So you should check out medieval 2 Orient & Okzident mod and the tsardom mod
When you really think about it every story you've ever heard about monsters, men, dragons and factions from 40k to lord of the rings to star wars theryre all based off of really old written fictional stories which are all roughly based off of real events from this time period. This truly is an era so rich in history not enough stories can tell.
Same for me, probably is my third favorite era after Ancient times and Feudal Japan.
10:13 Cossacks (Kozaki , from polish) were a kinda like tatars at the time, but a lot cooler i could say. They would quite regualrly organise raids on ottomans trought black sea, that they crossed with just small boats. Once with these small boats, when they arrived at some big city, they absolutley obliterated its entire fleet, witch was surely well paid and professional. They were really famous in europe for battles like these. After that, they looted city and burned some of it.
They very often looted trade boats going trought river Dnieper. There was a few kilometers long section of river that was very rocky, and sheeps going trought it were very vournelable for attacks. When traders got to that section, they would, i think, get the boat out of water, and like in ancient times would get the boat to other side of this section on land. Thats when cossacks would strike and loot entire ship + probably kill anyone near it. It was said that when these traders heard cossacs, they would litearly run with this boat on land , pulling ropes and running as fast as they possibly could. Also, polish goverment really didnt have control over them, it was like a state inside a state.
Thats why polish people for "chads" started saying "kozaki" (cossacs). I think its nowdays used just sometimes, but i feel like its a lot cooler to call someone "kozak" than "chad" for example
Ahh, the Early Modern Period. This has almost always been my favorite time period but I only thought to call it the Age of Exploration, which I now see doesn't quite encompass the whole of what I enjoyed. Thanks for the video!
Alatriste, the movie shown in most of these clips, is an amazing film because it does a great job answering the famous historical question "What if Aragorn had a gun?"
Ah! I saw Viggo mortsen and I was wondering what that was
What movie?
Eh...not really. Now in looks and feel the movie is fine but the makers didn't know if they could get to make more Alatriste movies (It is based on a series of books.), so they just made one movie that spans the entire length of the series. Imagine if Lord of the Rings had been condensed into one two hour movie.
@@Pikkabuu so basically Weinstein brothers version of Lord of the rings before Peter Jackson moved to Newlinescinema.
@@PikkabuuSo it’s the Anti-Hobbit trilogy in that there’s too much content that wouldn’t fit in a single movie.
As a European, really didn't expect this period with such a title. :P This period may be underrated in America, but while it certainly didn't get the most attention, it was probably one of those that got the most attention in school. Definitely some well known historical figures from that era in my country.
For sure this seems like a cultural difference between the US and Europe as in the U.K. we cover this era a decent amount.
I think it really depends on what classes your school offers. I’m from the US and last year I took a European history class. A lot of time was spent on the early modern period for us. It was funny though going from that to US history this year, and ignoring all the chaos that was going on in Europe
In general history classes in the USA, this whole era we focus for the most part on American History and the founding of America. It makes sense, but I will definitely say that the ongoings of Europe during this period did become a fascination of mine in my adulthood because of the lack of education on what was happening across the pond in those centuries. Like we focus a lot on the piracy in the Caribbean and the colonial empires of France, Britain, and Spain because those directly correlate with our founding and history but if you ask most Americans or Canadians about the French and Indian War ( The Seven Years War), we tend to mostly only think of the North American theater of it and pay no mind to Austria or Prussia in that conflict.
Which country are you from?
I'm from germany, and I we didn't really talked about this period that much in school. Just for reference, my time in school ended in 2017, and I took as much history as possible. I can't say it with certainty, but it was like 2 to 4 hours for the 30 years war, and this was the thing we talked about most considering this whole period in Europe, means pretty much nothing else was covered. But we talked about the discovery, colonialism and the settlement of the new world. So not that different from what is described in the video (maybe minus the pilgrim stuff, that was only covered briefly).
I'm gonna use this comment for a recommendation, because why not. Check out 1632 by Eric Flint, if you wanna have a good and funny read of fiction set in this period (as you can guess by the title, lol). It's about a west-virginian mining town which gets thrown into the midst of thuringia in the 30 years war, and features the battle of Breitenfeld, Gustavus Adolphus, Wallenstein and much more. And it might sound silly (which it kind of is as a concept tbh), but its actually a very good read.
was a hardcore Roman/Greek times warfare but recently got heavy into the battles with Prince Eugene of Savoy, 30 Years War, and the Napoleanic times. I haven't seen that movie, I got into it by running a chronological playlist of Kings & Generals. I used to think anything that involved guns was boring and would just click on another video but now I love it. So, very interesting.
As someone from Augsburg, one of the richest places of the HRE I appreciate the shoutout. My house was built in 1624, a few years after it peaked. I’ve really tried to understand the HRE’s fragments and events, but I can’t. 😅
Spain and the Ottomans were THE factions during this period. Both at the height of the power, each with a thousand reasons to fight eachother.
Spain was the most dominant in pike and shot warfare, their lines barely ever broke formation even under heavy cannon and musket fire. Its a shame Tercios weren't mentioned in this video.
In fact, most of the action pike and shot scenes you see in this video, are from a spanish movie starring Viggo Mortensen called Alatriste, based on a book saga of the same name set during the 30yrs war and Spain's slow but steady decline.
best comment
Thank you! I was about to write a comment asking what movie that was.
Portugal is just as important. First global superpower defeating the turks in the battle of Diu in the early 1500s.
Portugal is such an underrated nation.
@@anotheraccount444 Yes, Portugal is underrated in that period. But it’s not as important as the Spanish or the Ottomans.
Yes, Ottomans were gunpowered. Although my national (Serbian) epic poetry sings about sabres and shields, it was all GUNS very shortly after Ottomans entered Europe (15-16. century).
As a german it was interesting to see this american perspective. The 30 years war from 1618 to 1648, its beginning and aftermath was extensively covered in school, I didnt even think how that might be different in other cultures.
I find it suprising that we don't learn much if at all about it in Poland despite how important role country played during conflict - from beeing literally the center of european diplomacy due to neutrality, proximity and religious tolerance as well as despite not beeing offically participant having some conflicts with other 30y war participants that impacted the conflict especially on the beginning. It can also be due to the fact that it fell directly between polish occupation of Russia and Cossacs Khmelnitski uprising latter of witch dragged PLC into series of conflicts that devastated country as bad as 30y war devastated Germany if not even more (in absolute terms the value of destruction is estimated to be compared one of WW2)
Kurtzgesagt, the 17th Century Germany was one of the worst times and places to start your Civilization game.
Kinda crazy if true for university people... Because Westphalia literally created the modern international relations regime... (French here, we did cover the 30 years war extensively)
Really? Which state are you from, we learned nearly nothing about it.
@@jangroberde2822I think you can't generalize that.
I did it reasonably well, siblings in the same school only did it in one lesson. Literally only 2 pages in their book.
7:26 To me, Pike and Shot was the first Combined Arms Warfare attempt. Artillery via Cannons and Archers, Cavalry play the Role that Tanks and Air Forced would eventually play being there to Thin out Enemy Ranks ahead of a Main thrust or Schwerpunkt, and infantry had the Ability to Deter the Horse/Tanks and Aircraft. Lancing Cav were Tanks and much like how Aircraft do Hit and Run, same with the Gun Cavalry.
This has been my favorite historical era for quite a while. Musketeers, buccaneers, conquistadors... The wonder of the new world...
Great that you mentioned the Ukrainan region. It was really the european wild west, or more like "wild east". Even it's name mean "the borderland" or "Land at the end of country". Cossacks are really interesting characters and they can be compared to cowboys/outlaws
Glory to Ukraine, land of the cossacks
@@Game_Herosurprisingly after some digging cossacks a re a pretty broad term
There are Polish, Ukranian, Russian, Belarusian
There are even some tatar ones
Those guys would made it as far east as Korea, Japan, China, Mongolia and even alaska
My uncle has a cossack sword that was passed down through the family (russian side) Not sure the story behind it but I can't imagine the thing hasn't seen blood
@@nuckels188 does the sword have no guard?
@@comradekenobi6908 I honestly don't remember, it used to be on the wall at my grandparents house but i havent seen it for years at this point. Why do you ask?
The 7 Years War is mentioned for like 2 seconds in my American history class in school. We learned "oh that happened, some conflict happened in America. And then France lost, and they went into debt. And then boom French Revolution".
Accurate depiction of the events.
America fought a war with the French and bankrupted the crown. Then they fought a war with the British and bankrupted the crown. When they asked for some funds to cover the charges we declared war on them.
Boss move
@@Person0fColoras a British person It was slower and more complex then that but America had most of the reason for the war
The craziest part about the 7 years wars is that George Washington action started the figthing in North America by kinnaping a french diplomat (the french and Indians wars in the USA or the war of the conquest in Quebec (were still salty about it) witch lead to the battle of Quebec witch costed a fortune BC the Brits sent like 200 ships and 10k men and the destruction and reconstruction of the city witch the Brits made the Americans pay..... So George Washington accidentally caused all of it, the french and Indians war and the revolution is all because of him and his shananigans 😂 bro singlehandedly caused the downfall of the British in the 13 colonies and almost nobody realizes like it's ridiculous that the 7 years wars ain't explored more in Canada and the usa bc it's shaped both countries future.
@@AdistuffRBX I forgot more than you know bud.
My comment still stand we bankrupted we both crowns and had them wage war against each other and in the end declared independence
@@Person0fColor there was no “you” America was British, part of us, ethnically, linguistically, culturally, more so then Germany and Austria, more so then Bavaria and Germany. We shared religion, a flag, etc. you didn’t make a plan because you didn’t have a ruler unless you include crazy king george
7:50 Funnily enough, the sea is called "Easternlake" in Swedish
Love the jazz in the background.
I come from the Czech republic and actually here in our schools we learn about this period quite a lot as it was the time when we became subjects to the the giga-chin Habsburgs
To be honest late medieval and early modern periods are the only ones when Bohemia was important in global events. You basically invented European religious wars (to became one of the most faithless countries in Europe). :D So it is nothing weird you may overemphasize this part of history. :P
@@Hadar1991 I wouldn't say that we overemphasize this part of our history I'd just say that its kinda like the main subject when it comes to our history, kinda how american history classes mainly focus on the revolutionary war, we focus on this period of Habsburg rule, but I pretty much agree, I mean we literally invented the word defenestration aka the fancy word for yeeting someone out of a window :)
It's similar in Hungary, as it's a period where at the start we were arguably at the height of our power then in a few decades the Habsburgs and the Ottomans did a splitsies and then fought for a 150 years. It was definitely eventful
@@ondrejhons704 And you already yeeted an important politician in Prague of out the windows at least four time starting at least two major, multi-decade wars. That is an interesting CV. :D
I wholeheartedly agree about this period of history being underrated especially when it comes to the power of the Hapsburgs. Most people I've ever talked to about the Habsburgs just mention their jawline.
I personally know three historians specialized in them. You cannot stop them talking about Habsburg for hours on end, and the jawline will never even come up. It really gets old soon.
In my teens I read a lot about Charles V, but these people are on a wholly different level.
or the collapse of spanish dominance in europe. if the war for spanish succession never happened its possible they would have reformed their government and held the colonies longer. not to mention fought the french much better in the war with napoleon.
I feel finnaly seen , this video was validation therapy. Great video .
Great video, I think you should get into Hussites (yeah, fellow czech here). Once you know more you will absolutely love it.
Vozová hradba (corral tactic might be correct english term, not sure tho) was the sh*t baby.
Pike and shot is such an underrated period of time. Really needs a total war game with this setting, is one of the last times that different countries had really tactics (spanish tercio vs dutch brigades vs swedish batallions) and differences in dsicipline could make or break a battle (like in the english civil war). It was also when sieges were revolutionized, first becoming really easy for the attackers due to cannons, then becoming really difficult due to the star fortress.
I'm not confident the Total War warscape engine can handle pike and shot, even though Shogun 2 mods had it. It's been decades since Total War has been properly able to simulate pike formations being able to keep enemies at a distance.
The closest game to pike and shot is ironically probably shogun 2 which doesn't even take place in europe. That combination of guns that can be good, but also complete trash compared to some conventional tactics, is super interesting and I would love to a return to it if they ever made a game in this era.
@@Michaelonyoutub That game however is really bad at modeling pikes. Everything has to trigger a 1v1 fight animation which makes it impossible for pikes to actually provide cover for the teppo troops. Troops will easily just phase through all the pikes and engage in sword melee and the AI for the teppo troops is going to prioritize trying to fight in melee and breaking formation instead of trying to keep as many guns firing as possible.
@@Michaelonyoutub and Shogun 2 shows that TW engine need very huge overhaul if pike and shut would ever work. Hell, they never actually got even Roman legionnaire tactics right in Rome 1 and 2. If they want to make it theý need to fix that god damn problem with units being stuck or blub up when they try to pass through each other.
It's not a strategy game but Mount & Blade: With Fire & Sword takes place in mid 1600s Eastern Europe. It's good
Was it caused by the little ice age? Probably. My old man was from Chicago, moved to the desert as soon as he was on his own, and his one and only contribution to sociology was the following: “Cold makes people mean”. It’s simple but it really explains A LOT.
Sure, but who wants to march 1000 kilometers and fight a battle in the cold?
@@CarrotConsumer Mostly Europeans apparently. I doubt it comes up often in the Middle East. And we Americans are a special kind of crazy- why march there when you can splash across a freezing river instead of have Christmas Dinner.
Yes! Knights with cannons and petards. This is my favorite era too. This was also the Age of Sail when pirates roamed the Carribean.
My introduction to this era was the 1632 book series (aka Ring of Fire). My schooling, including a university level history class, never once mentioned the 30 years war, which is arguably the most important war in western history. Not so much because of who all died/lived, but the aftermath, ie the development of philosophies like the enlightenment.
That was already well underway in the Dutch Republic, where there had been religious tolerance and freedom of thought and print since it's declaration of independence in 1581.
As an Argentinian it is curious that our history classes at school are similar, you start with Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, the feudal era, Mayans, Aztecs, Incas, the Spanish arrive and a jump to the French revolution and the American revolutions
En colombia es igual solo te dicen los españoles mataron aztecas y se llevaron el oro y de ahí un salto a la revolución francesa
@@williamdaviddiazcuchimaque7511 Si, una prueba mas de q sois colonias gringas.
For us it's mostly about empires of indian subcontinent and how the British f*%ked us over with a little bit of western industrial revolution.
Pues menuda vergüenza
The Siege of La Rochelle is my favourite historical painting or all time. The religious undertones, the bright red contrasting with the dark blue. It’s so amazing and beautiful.
By which painter when?
This painting has a sad history in fact. The french catholic government besieged La Rochelle because it was a protestant city and friends with the english . The red character on the painting is " Le cardinal de Richelieu " a powerful politic and religious personnality, he's the one who commanded the siege. During the siege , more than 85% of the population starved to death and La Rochelle was one of the biggest cities of France . As someone from La Rochelle , it's always cool to see this painting in totally unrelated videos
@@Nukecorp3bro was simping without knowledge
@picavant I don't see how this is sad.
Sure, the civilians suffered, but that can be said of any and every war.
On the other hand, La Rochelle was an almost-ennemy state in the state. A major port city befriending a primarily maritime power who also happens to be an ennemy of the state is never a good thing.
The siege was entirely justified and even necessary.
Even from the southern french protestant point of view , la Rochelle was a traitor city
My favorite era/history thing to learn about is around the 1200s, like Genghis Khan's conquests. The Mongols, after defeating China a bunch, started to get their hands on early gunpowder weapons like what we would call today "artillery" and used them against the Georgians. Imagine never hearing of gunpowder and then all of a sudden you start getting hit by artillery. Insane.
I happened to have written a novel set in that era! (Talbot Company: A Story of War and Suffering)
I've never been so validated by a video, It's honestly such a shame we aren't getting more creative works set in this era. If anyone is looking for a recommendation, The Captain Alatriste book series by Spanish Author Arturo Pérez-Reverte is one is set within the early modern period. Some of the clips of the movie adaptation were featured in this video. The series itself showcases the adventures of the titular character Alatriste, a professional soldier and sword for hire along with Inigo, his squire, surrogate son and narrator of the story. The author does an excellent job relating Alatriste's escapades with broader political and social developments of early 17th century Spain and Europe and illustrates the various perspectives that those living then may have had. The author's reason for writing the series was partly inspired by the notable lack of any works set during the Spanish Golden Age, which coincides with this overlooked period of history. If you like cloak and dagger conspiracies, early modern warfare, pirates and romance, this series might just be what you're looking for.
We really only ride "The Three Musketeers" to death...
@@profezzordarke4362 Now we have Puss'n Boots. Pussin n' bussin
Even in the Americas in this period things were a violent mess. It wasn’t just pilgrams, it was pilgrams and natives waging the (per capita) bloodiest war in American history.
Atun Shei has a great series of videos on King Philips War.
The Americans were the ones writing the modern abridged version that this period in the Renaissance full of bloody conflicts were forgotten or vague by the rest of the world.
As a swedish person, i think back to days of our empire and shed a tear for what could have been 😢🇸🇪
You had me at “Knights with Guns”
The dominance of the Spanish Tercios in the Pike and Shot era is severely underrated. Also, Tlaxcallan troops from New Spain (Mexico) were involved in battles of the Spanish conquest of the Phillipines, and against Japanese Walk raiders :v
They were the New Spanish army, almost everyone involved in the Military of the Crown, they were often Mexican, either fully indigenous or mixed. Headquarters and training were done in New Spain (Mexico).
@@TuWearnot true, majority were Spaniards
Transitional eras that offer a weird mix of old and new tech (for their time) are always fascinating. It’s why I find the Late 1880s-1914 to be so interesting. It’s this weird mix of old and new. In 1880 a cutting edge warship was an iron hulled sailing vessel with a steam engine. A large cannon for and aft that could pivot and smaller broadside guns. In 1890 it was a pre dreadnaught battleship. You had this weird overlap where a country could have a single shot black power rifle or a bolt action smokeless powder rifle. You had machineguns but people didn’t know how to use them. Oh yeah and in the late 1890s-1900s you could have a gun battle in the American west between a single action army colt revolver and a freaking 10 shot semi automatic C96. Plus cowboys and cars! Kinda a similar type vibe to this. Just a weird mix of old and new.
You should look the Saltpeter War of 1879 and 1882 between Chile, Bolivia and Perú.
Shit was wild as all fuck
@@sirnikkel6746 I will!
Even in Europe, the Early Modern period isn't nearly as thought about as opposed to Middle ages, Vikings or World War 2.
Literally decided to buy a book on the Civil War this morning and then I see this one hour later. I fascinated by the Civil War as a child.