The book I’m reading does not imply this about Mongols at all.
There is a reason the Great Wall of China was built.
Edited 112d ago
history
(LONG POST) Fell down a fascinating rabbit hole today about a few little boys and a little girl in ancient China about 2100 years ago.
Emperor Wu went mad with paranoia in his old age, accusing everyone of using witchcraft against him. This led to him needlessly launching attacks on his own eldest son, who never intended to betray him, and the prince's own sons. This whole branch of the royal household was wiped out in the attack. Except... there was a baby. A brand new baby boy, only a few weeks old, the Emperor's great-grandchild. The baby's name was Bingyi.
Someone brought baby Bingyi to a prison rather than kill him as ordered. The prison warden personally took good care of him; when word got out and he was ordered to finish the job, he refused to kill the baby, knowing it would presumably cost him his life. However, the Emperor came to his senses and stopped the witch hunt. The order to kill baby Bingyi and this random prison warden along with him never came. Bingyi safely disappeared into the household of distant relatives, to live an ordinary middle-class life.
Emperor Wu died of old age, and his dying wish was for the crown to skip over all the sons he distrusted and go straight to the only one not yet old enough to have earned his distrust, the surprise offspring of a May-December fling. Emperor Zhao was still a small child. He was immediately married-on-paper to another small child, Lady Shangguan.
A few years later, Lady Shangguan's family was accused of planning a coup by Zhao's regent and executed, but she was spared on account of being too young to have possibly been in on it.
Zhao was, apparently, a completely reasonable and level-headed young man. He showed wisdom in dealing with court rumors and did not do the ridiculous things young people with power often do. When he found out that Bingyi was alive, he visited with the other boy, treated him with kindness and made sure his needs were met.
Unfortunately, Zhao dropped dead when he was 20. (No indications of foul play, he was just unlucky). He had no children; his marriage to Lady Shangguan may not have even ever been consummated. The Empress Dowager was 15 years old.
A nephew of Zhao was brought in to be the new emperor; he was slightly older than Lady Shangguan, at 17. And he... partied. Immediately. Extremely. Incessantly. He was hinted to stop. He was told to stop. He was told more boldly and explicitly to stop. He did not stop.
An entire 27 days after this loser nephew took the throne, Lady Shangguan put on her best dress, entered the court, sat down on the throne, and called for the nephew. He came in. She unrolled a list of over 1000 complaints that had accrued since he arrived at the palace. She fired him. A 15-year-old girl with no actual hard power fired the Emperor of China in front of all his ministers. And he turned around, left, and went home.
(And in a very Ancient Chinese approach, he was allowed to live but most of his attendants were executed for allowing him to grow into such a brat. Only a handful who were known to have boldly rebuked him were spared.)
Lady Shangguan was now in direct defacto control of the empire. However, she understood that trying to hold on to that for the rest of her life would be destabilizing, since her claims were paper-thin as the childless widow of a child-emperor, whose family was already executed for treason. She sent for Bingyi.
Bingyi ruled under the name Emperor Xuan, and is considered to have been one of the wisest emperors, being possessed of common sense and moral sympathy for the poor after a heathy, normal upbringing. Lady Shangguan quietly stepped back after thus saving the empire from disastrous misrule, never remarried, and was pretty much the only person on either side of her family to never get executed, exiled or driven to unalive.
Lady Shangguan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Empress_Dowager_Shangguan
Emperor Zhao: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Zhao_of_Han
Bingyi / Emperor Xuan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Xuan_of_Han
Loser Nephew: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_He_of_Changyi
Finally took the time (my internet connection was down...) to watch Johan Grimonprez' documentary "Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat".
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14452174/
If you're interested in #Africa #History #UN #Jazz it's really worth your time.
If you want to better understand what happened when #Congo "tried" #Independence from #Belgium in 1960, how USA conspired to kill #PatriceLumumba and why there was a war in #Katanga, then there's a lot in this documentary, while listening to good music.
Edited 1y ago
@classicalmusic
Opernabend
22. August 2026, 20:00 Uhr
Puccini, Giacomo
Manon Lescaut
Manon Lescaut: Maria Guleghina
Lescaut: Lucio Gallo
Il Cavaliere Renato Des Grieux: José Cura
Geronte di Ravoir: Luigi Roni
Edmondo: Marco Berti
der Wirt: Orazio Mori
ein Musiker: Gloria Banditelli
der Tanzlehrer: Mario Bolognesi
...
Coro del Teatro alla Scala, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala
Leitung: Riccardo Muti
Jahr 1998
Vecinos is a new video account about Latin American history (the videos are in English by the way). You can follow the account at:
➡️ @vecinos_latin_american_history_vids
(Don't worry if it looks blank to you, that just means no one from your server follows it yet. Follow the account and its videos will start gradually showing up on your server too.)
You can also follow their non-video account at @VecinosHistory
#FeaturedPeerTube #History #LatinAmerica #LatinAmericanHistory #PeerTube
@classicalmusic
Wagner - TANNHÄUSER
Hermann, Landgraf von Thüringen: Martti Talvela
Tannhäuser: Wolfgang Windgassen
Wolfram von Eschenbach: Hermann Prey
Walther von der Vogelweide: Willi Hartmann
Biterolf: Gerd Nienstedt
Reinmar von Zweter: Dieter Slembeck
Heinrich der Schreiber: Hermann Winkler
Elisabeth, Nichte des Landgrafen: Leonie Rysanek
...
Chor und Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
André Cluytens
Bayreuth, 9. August 1965
@classicalmusic
Wagner - PARSIFAL
Amfortas: Theo Adam
Titurel: Martti Talvela
Gurnemanz: Hans Hotter
Parsifal: Jess Thomas
Klingsor: Gustav Neidlinger
Kundry: Astrid Varnay
Altsolo: Ruth Hesse
1. Gralsritter: Hermann Winkler
1. Knappe: Ruth Hesse
4. Knappe: Erwin Wohlfahrt
Blumenmädchen 1. Gruppe: Anja Silja
Simone Mangelsdorff
Helga Dernesch
...
Chor und Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele
André Cluytens
Bayreuth, 10. August 1965
@classicalmusic
Richard Strauss – Vier Letzte Lieder (1948)
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - soprano
Otto Ackermann conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra
(1953)
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Franz Schubert - Die Winterreise D.911
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau - baritone
Gerald Moore - piano
(Festival de Prades, 1955)
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Gustav Mahler – Das Lied von der Erde
Christa Ludwig – contralto
Fritz Wunderlich – tenor
Otto Klemperer conducting the New Philharmonia & Philharmonia orchestras
(1967)
This story is amazing.
Giant octopuses of the Cretaceous were up to 19 meters (60 feet) long.
They were the apex ocean predators of their day, eating up plesiosaurs and mosasaurs.
And they were apparently quite intelligent.
Sorry we missed you!
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aea6285 #science #nature #history
🛸 Buzludzha is a massive Communist monument in the Bulgarian mountains.
Its Brutalist saucer design and 107m tower with a red star made it a landmark of the Eastern Bloc. Since 1989, harsh winters and neglect left the interior and its 25 tonnes of mosaics in ruins.
Now recognised as endangered heritage, the site is undergoing vital stabilisation. There has been preservation to protect the hall’s dome and mosaics.
#Buzludzha #Bulgaria #Photography #Brutalist #Abandoned #History
I've just published a short blog about an astonishing group of Assyrian missionaries who used to go on extensive lecturing and fundraising tours across Wales between 1882 and 1914. The blog includes an interactive map and newspaper articles published about them over this period. Enjoy!
https://bydbach.hcommons.org/assyrian-missionaries-in-wales-1882-1914/
#Wales #History #histodons #BAMEHistoryIsWelshHistory #Newspapers #Missionaries #HistoryOfReligion #Assyrians
@classicalmusic
Felix Mendelssohn
Octet
Arturo Toscanini:
NBC Symphony
Date: 30 March 1947 Broadcast
I just created my first collection on history. Which historians or other history-related accounts in the fediverse am I missing?
Edited 110d ago
Rated The Rape of Recy Taylor 8/10
Edited 55d ago
It's good to know that in some places -- many places, one hopes -- there is a sense of timelessness, a connection to the past that does not bow down before technology and trends.
Ancient Sanctuary framed print -- https://www.pictorem.com/2626142/ancient-sanctuary/
Free shipping in the U.S. and Canada
#art #artwork #mastoart #fediart #buyintoart #ayearforart #fedigiftshop #italy #travel #church #cathedral #ancient #history #landscape #sunset #nature #wallart #decor
I send thanks to the buyer from Washington who purchased a shopping/tote bag of
Along the Outer Wall -- https://fineartamerica.com/featured/along-the-outer-wall-steve-henderson.html?product=tote-bag
May you and this tote go on many adventures together.
#art #artwork #mastoart #fediart #buyintoart #ayearforart #fedigiftshop #italy #travel #europe #vacation #spring #flowers #history #hilltop #village #sale #flowers
Edited 55d ago
Rated Britain's Greatest Codebreaker 8/10
Rewatched this as a result of having recently seen THE IMITATION GAME and deeming it severely lacking in its approach--historical and thematic--to Alan Turing's work. On technical levels this film could use some improvement in its cinematography and editing, but given that it bills itself as a made-for-tv docudrama it comes across as both insightful and competent.What I appreciated most about the film was its construction and the way it dramatized the interactions between two people--Turing (Ed Stoppard) and his therapist, Franz Greenbaum (Henry Goodman). We get a bit of backstory of both, of course, but the interaction between the two allow us to get a better sense of the inner-workings of Turing's mind before, during, and after his service at Bletchley Park.This back-and-forth is complemented by the more traditional style of sit-down interviews, which include relatives and descendants of Turing and Greenbaum. More importantly to me, though, was the way in which the film perfectly contextualizes his general thinking about the computability of life with his discoveries of and contributions to computer science, artificial intelligence, and biological mathematics.What I appreciated most about this was the way in which it positions the sciences (and universities, really) as places of interdisciplinary study. Wozniak for the most part stresses the integral nature of his contributions to computer science and machine learning, but it is left to the professors to explicate how his genius would influence later thinkers and both postulate (and shape) the theories, philosophies, and extent(s) of artificial intelligence.The film isn't solely about his mind, however, it's also about his heart. And here the film also gets it right. We learn about the loss in his youth of his childhood friend Christopher and, perhaps masterfully, the philosophical question of immortality through AI is raised while at the same time Turing's conception of a means of discerning true intelligence--his eponymous test--comes into form.At nearly the same time his love for Queen and country is tested when, following a burglary at his residence, law enforcement are called, but are more interested in his sexual proclivities than in meting out justice to the thieves. What's interesting about the recollection of this event is how it's used to color Turing. We learn from various sources about how open he was about his sexuality, even with these officers, and also that he was aware that he bore some social privileges as an academician.Charged with gross indecency and offered the choice between jail and chemical castration, the film shows us how Turing's disillusionment and anger with the world and British society began. What he didn't count on was that his mind might become just as addled and confused as his heart. The idea that the country he helped save from Nazi Germany's atrocities could visit the same upon its own citizens would eventually drove him to his death. The film captures this reality with little to no effort and it doesn't shy away from it. It can't.CODEBREAKER is a film that is as much about genius as it is about the social contexts and relationships that inform and constrain it. What this film does right is depict a man wronged by society simply because he could be wronged. It is a tale about villainy and state violence, but it's also a story about a boy who wanted to give something back to the world and vindicate the worth of an adolescent friendship. It's a glimpse into a time characterized by secrets and surveillance. Deeply human despite its flaws, it passes the test.
Edited 55d ago
@classicalmusic
Camille Saint-Saëns - The Piano Concertos / No. 1
Piano: Jeanne-Marie Darré
Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française (Orchestre National de France)
Direction : Louis Fourestier
Recorded in 1955-57, at Paris
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Leos Janácek - JENUFA
Jenufa: Anny Schlemm
Die alte Buryja: Rosl Zapf
Štewa Buryja, ihr Enkel: Gerald McKee
Laca Klemen, ihr Stiefenkel: Ernst Kozub
Die Küsterin Buryja: Christel Goltz
Altgesell: Willy Wolff
Dorfrichter: Manfred Jungwirth
Seine Frau: Marta Garancsy
...
Chor der Frankfurter Oper
Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester
Lovro von Matačić
Frankfurter Oper, 29. September 1961
Edited 55d ago
@classicalmusic
Johannes Brahms
Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98
Felix Weingartner, conductor
London Symphony Orchestra
Recorded on February 14, 1938
@classicalmusic
24. August 2026, 21:00 Uhr
Turnübung à la Schnabel
Brahms: Intermezzo, op. 117/1 (4. Juni 1947)
Beethoven: Appassionata (11. April 1933)
Beethoven: Klaviersonate, op. 49/2 (12. April 1933)
Schubert: Impromptu D899/4 (7. und 8. Juni 1950)