this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2025
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History Memes

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[–] PieMePlenty@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I always thought it was because the steppe ended in roughly where Hungary is today. Couldn't feed their horses or create a supply line deep into Europe proper. It was also too decentralized to just sack one or two cities and have the whole continent. Realistically, it was probably due to internal politics though. They couldn't manage an empire of that size without serious reform.

[–] Scott_of_the_Arctic@lemmy.world 81 points 3 days ago (8 children)

You're half right. White people are not superior. HOWEVER... Your argument as to why is complete trash. The Mongol empire as impressive as it was didn't touch SE Asia, India, most of Russia, the entire fucking continent of Africa, or anywhere not connected to Eurasia. Also it wasn't the Mongols who burned the great library of Alexandria.

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[–] Malek061@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

The Mongols couldn't handle forests.

[–] REDACTED@infosec.pub 5 points 2 days ago

Didn't they stop at russian forests where their horses became useless?

[–] stevedice@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 days ago

More like they got lucky they stumbled onto a land teeming with resources that saw war as an exhibition sport and not a "who can do the most genocide" competition.

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

How was the destruction wrought by the Mongols “incurred” - do you think they’re god’s punishment for something?

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

"If you had not committed such great sins, Heaven would not have sent a punishment like me upon you."

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[–] Etterra@discuss.online 11 points 2 days ago

My jeans are superior because they have thick, double-stitched belt loops and deep front pockets.

My genes on the other hand are a hot mess partially responsible for my lifelong suicidal depression. Thanks Mom.

[–] frog@feddit.uk 39 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I read a theory somewhere that the Mongols use of dead bodies as weapons is major factor creating the black plague.

This theory is on Wikipedia:

Some studies indicate the Black Death, which devastated Europe in the 1340s, may have traveled from China along the trade routes of the Mongol Empire. In 1347, the Genoese possessor of Caffa, a great trade emporium on the Crimean Peninsula, came under siege by an army of Mongol warriors under the command of Janibeg. After a protracted siege during which the Mongol army was reportedly withering from disease, they decided to use the infected corpses as a biological weapon. The corpses were catapulted over the city walls, infecting the inhabitants.[142][143] The Genoese traders fled, transferring the plague via their ships into the south of Europe, from where it rapidly spread. The total number of deaths worldwide from the pandemic is estimated at 75–200 million with up to 50 million deaths in Europe alone.[103]

Source: Wikipedia: Mongol Empire

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[–] brem@sh.itjust.works 41 points 3 days ago (10 children)

My question is, where does one purchase a pair of superior jeans, and are they really as durable as the name implies?

...or is there some other aspect that makes said jeans superior?

[–] milkisklim@lemmy.world 17 points 3 days ago (4 children)

My Jeans have an elastic waist. Do I have the superior jeans now ?

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[–] potatoguy@potato-guy.space 30 points 3 days ago (8 children)

Not one race, nor any race is better, if you believe one race is above others, if you believe skin colour is predictive of anything, you are the inferior person over all others, because you are an idiot for believing bullshit. You're not intelligent enough to get over propaganda.

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[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 26 points 3 days ago (1 children)

No one can claim superior jeans

My jeans are pretty awesome. They're actually durable, like good jeans should be. IDK what happened to Levi, but they suck these days. Don't know my brand off hand... Something Bay, or whatever.

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[–] SethTaylor@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

My Wrangler jeans are so tough they can't even be destroyed by the NX-5 planet destroyer

[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 19 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Rise of west is more attributed to the colonization no? They did have really good naval technology.

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 17 points 3 days ago (14 children)

It is a fascinating question, isn't it? Why specifically did the left edge of Europe, and basically no one else, take over the world?

I totally get that the New World just didn't stand a chance because by some quirk there are basically no domesticatable animals native to the Western hemisphere. Imagine trying to bootstrap yourself to the iron age without the horse, cow, pig, chicken, sheep, goat, donkey, dog or cat. So when Cortez landed on the Yucatan with steel weapons and armor, firearms, horses etc. he encountered civilizations on par with the Old Kingdom of ancient Egypt, and that was the most advanced it got in the New World.

But the Old World, AfroEurAsia, had been in contact with each other basically forever. Why was it that Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands and Great Britain became world dominating global superpowers when, say, Japan, Korea, China, Southeast Asia or India didn't? I can understand why the coastal and island nations on the left edge of the "world" might invest in sea power and start sailing the world...why didn't the coastal and island nations on the right edge do the same?

Yeah the Western empires grew to global supremacy via colonization which is still echoed in the present day, the United States of America, former colony of Great Britain, is still the most powerful and influential nation on Earth. Britain sailed so we could fly. Why didn't anyone else in the world do the same?

Well, it seems that Western Europe had a lethal combination of three things that no one else in the world had:

  • Vested interest in sea power. Relatively small home countries with huge amounts of coastline, boats are important.
  • Knowledge of, and desire for, foreign made goods. They knew of the existence of Asia, knew of silk, porcelain, spices etc. And wanted to go get them for themselves. Meanwhile the Asians didn't really want anything from Europe they didn't already have.
  • Extroverts. Everybody else was focusing on their own territories and consolidating internal power, maybe duking it out with neighbors. The Japanese, a race of people congenitally incapable of doing anything halfway, took their isolationism to such an extreme that travel abroad was outright illegal. Meanwhile in Britain, traveling abroad was a possible punishment for a crime.

So it turns out that in the entire world, only the Western Europeans had the means, motive and personality to travel the world by ship. Asians and Africans had the means, but not the motive or personality, and nobody in the New World had the means. Fast forward a few centuries and the result is the petrodollar.

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[–] MTK@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I think I know how to stop white supremacy. We take all the white supremacists, we put them in one place. Then we explain to them the scientific method and how science actually supports equality.

And then, after they all listened, we take all those papers and we shove them up their ass!

Thank you Stanley.

[–] Auli@lemmy.ca 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So what about all the other racists? You might be shocked but lots of other countries are very racist and they're not white either.

[–] MTK@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Are you "all lives matter"-ing this?

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[–] GaMEChld@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago

My jeans are Calvin Klein. They are superior because they are mine.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 12 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Meh. Dad nailed it. "Son, we're not the best race, we're the most violent."

Been thinking on that for 30 years. Still rings true.

[–] yucandu@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago (16 children)

The lesson was supposed to be "Son, races aren't actually a thing, they're a categorical method of sorting people into groups based on variable forms of bigotry. Where one race begins and another ends is as arbitrary as the lines we draw in the sand."

Not turning the white supremacy around into some kind of self-hating racism. That makes about as much sense as the white supremacy. And progresses the human race about as far.

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[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (5 children)

If the Aztecs had sea worthy warships they probably would have tried to conquer North America as well.

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[–] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 6 points 3 days ago

Europeans crusading in the Middle East praised the Mongols (under the Prester John myth) as they crushed their muslim enemies.

Meanwhile Europeans prayed for a savior against the other branch Mongols spreading across Russian lands.

It'a been 20 years but I seem to remember it was the Mongols in the north of Europe that secured tributary vassals and opted not to return to Mongolia for electing a new Khan and the lineage of Jochi became rather independent. They moved south around the Black and Caspian Seas instead.

[–] burgerpocalyse@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)

kind of a weird way to frame it

[–] OccamsRazer@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

It's a response to a question that nobody asked.

[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 13 points 3 days ago

The Americans are doing something again aren't they

[–] Pulptastic@midwest.social 3 points 2 days ago

My jeans have a gusseted crotch.

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