Posted on 08/22/2026 7:38:56 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
A thousand years ago, almost nobody would have bet on Europe. China was richer, more advanced and more powerful. So how did a poor, divided backwater end up dominating the world?
This is the strange story of Europe's unlikely rise, and the accidental advantage that may have changed history forever... Something Went Very Wrong With Human History | 17:26
Michael Button | Patterns of History | 21.5K subscribers | 53,344 views | August 16, 2026
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
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YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai *may* follow.
['Civ comment] The Roman Empire's Crisis of the Third Century was a sort of preview of post-Roman western Europe. For 70 or so years, the Roman Empire was split into a varying number of independent fragments of varying size and duration. Commerce and local production enjoyed a big jump, despite the plagues and intermittent breakdowns of border security, but in part because of the so-called debasement of currency.
The centuries of the European feudal system are characterized by hierarchic local politics, lack of liberty, and prevalance of poverty and untimely death. The Black Death killed circa a third of Europe over a few generations and broke the feudal system, ushered in wage labor, and necessitated a coherent legal system (Chapter 1: Roman law in: The History of Law in Europe). [/'Civ comment]
I’m just spitballin’ but it seems maybe things went very RIGHT...
Of course, I didn’t bother to read / watch whatever was posted.
Do, rei, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do was invented?
China has always had its hands full trying to govern itself.
It could be seen as an example of why a government under socialism/communism fail. Take away innovation and society doesn’t advance.
With your strong recommendation , I’ll give it a try at top speed, but that guy doesn’t look like he can deliver the goods
And the demise of it and the the rise of europistan?
On that subject I like the book Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Yes it destroys competition
Competition is why we are free
My problem with a lot of videos is the accent of the narrator, or in the case of a robo-narrator, the accent of the robo-narrator. In the latter case, it would be better if there were a selection of differently accented narrations.
While horsing around in the FRchives looking for something, I noticed I’d actually posted a much earlier one from this guy. And of course, I did another one today.
Then “Brother Guido” was reincarnated later as an infamous mobster.
Oh, wait. Wrong “Guido”.
Nothing accidental. They just accepted the idea that anyone (of merit) can contribute. China has always been an authoritarian state, regardless of gov’mt type. Appointed officials get to decide who can speak and who can contribute — that is like DEI.
Every gov’mt China has ever had goes this route, circles the drain, flushes, and then a hundred years later they try the same damned thing.
Like anyone who believes in socialism — “They didn’t do it right, but I am so glorious I can.”
Good summary.
Ya... we chose to sing Kumbaya and Coexist when we should have ethnic cleansed!!
Where is Slobadon Milosevic when you need him!!
Btw... China was still in country bumkin stage when we passed Nafta and GATT...
Europe was hit by plagues at a time when there were no outsiders around to take advantage of it.
Of course a lot of small principalities were gobbled up by nearby ones but we now have long forgotten them
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