If you have just watched Civilisations rise and fall because I mentioned it, I am very sorry for wasting an hour of your life that you’ll not get back. Quite how you are able to make the sack of Rome, one of the great disasters of history, so boring, is a wonder. Having several different presenters, who all sounded as if they were lecturing Class 3B on a Friday afternoon was as unhelpful as time lapse photography of visitors rushing round the British Museum ignoring the artefacts that told the story. Was there not one member of museum staff who could have shown us an artefact properly in a good light and explained the object? The fact that the objects in the horde were of precious materials and virtuoso manufacture wasn’t mentioned.
If you are old enough to remember the original Civilisation as told by Kenneth Clark with absolute fascination, so that it was utterly riveting when all he basically did was get on his hind legs and talk, you’ll feel as short changed as I do. There was no clever clogs camera trickery in 1969. With all the technology available to tell the story in 2005, why did they not use it?
Spoiler alert. I’ve already told you that the Aztecs were mostly defeated by diseases brought by the conquistadors, and their own beliefs that the invaders were gods. The Ancient Egyptians were defeated by Rome and became a Roman province, as I remarked.
Just in case you were wondering, the Samurai were brought down by superior fire power and a desire of their leaders to modernise. It can take many years to learn how to wield a sword properly. Many antique weapons have the same disadvantage. Regular readers know the OH has been enjoying archery for a few years, has made his own longbow and some archery bosses (targets) for his club and still has plenty of days where he finds the target remarkably elusive. In the middle ages most towns had an area where all able bodied men were required regularly to practice with a bow and arrow for which they were granted the right to farm strips of land. In the town where I live there is still a street called The Butts.
As the spate of mass murders around the world by lone lunatics with a firearm attest, you do not need any skill to fire a gun around generally. You just need the weapon and some bullets. An older version of this ability suddenly made the skilled Samurai swordsmen obsolete. The OH inherited a Japanese sword surrendered to his father, who was a young sailor in the Navy at the end of the Second World War. The OH sold it and bought a computer keyboard, that linked to the TV and fascinated the baby, now in IT.
I think I may predict that the new series of Civilisation will emphasise that strength to keep a civilisation going lies with its ability to keep up with the times, with new technology, and recent developments in weaponry, and keep a beady eye on what the people are doing and who they are.
Depressingly all that will be necessary to destabilise the current Western civilisation will be a magnetic pulse or similar that can knock out all the computers in one go and leave them that way. We have already experienced cyber attacks with massive financial implications, all it would take is for enough hostile powers to recruit enough nerds who regard cyber crime as a personal goal, to take over a country.
The geeks shall inherit the earth.
Meanwhile you can still turn off all the devices and read a good book, might be time to get the original paper Civilisation by Kenneth Clark out again, Amazon is selling the paperback for a fiver and some pennies.
Reading in various forms has been a good idea since the first caveman drew a hunt on the cave wall. It will always be beneficial to understanding to do your own research. Read some books. Visit museums. Make an historical model. Dig a test pit in the back garden. Have a go at crafts and skills of the past.
In short, find out for yourself. Use the human brain. The more you use it, the better it gets.
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