Now Trump wants an apology, a retraction and $ 1 Billion in damages. Well done Tim!

I don't see you liking this part...

Some nice bits about Maoris with Brown Bess and the scramble for Africa. But there is a hiatus in C19th, developments like the Minie bullet, so we leap from Waterloo to 1914 without the revolution of the American Civil War.

The early talk was about symbolism and iconography and more cultural ideas, Tommy Gun was quite good in terms of it missing the FWW and the company trying to sell it in peacetime.

Quite entertaining until we got to the Maxim gun with a technological deterministic argument which i do not agree with. Artillery and growth in the size of armies are not mentioned, its the Maxim and cavalry obsessed generals which caused the First World War and lessons not learned from 1905.

More symbology for the Tommy Gun, the Commando badge

this prompts a huge expansion of the East African slave trade from Zanzibar Which is why Gordon is in Khartoum fighting slavery generated by Manchester Cotton Mills as late as 1885.
So stuck between Empire and Reparations, I find Henry Louis Gates Jr as the best middle ground which shows the problem

True of both sides, I think. I have taken issue with the Guardian depiction of the Triangular Slave Trade because their narrative ends with the American Civil War. Except thats not the whole story as Manchester cut off from CSA cotton, turns to Egypt - Egyptian Cotton as in M&S shops today. Except

and then AI companies buy Nvidia chips with the money and further borrowings. Hype built upon hype. A paper by Washington State showed recvently that no company has saved any money yet from using AI instead of humans. Meanwhile these vast data centres eat resources and no one pays for the product.

Spending by AI companies this year will top $ 1 TRILLION and next year is estimated to be $ 2.5 TRILLION on just Chips and Data Centres.
So the argument, we are too poor to afford to pay for all this content is just rubbish.
In fact the AI Bubble is a pyramid scheme, Nvidia invests in AI companies

There is a good account of this in Stalin and his Generals by Seweryn Bailer

archive.org/details/stal...

But as an Eastern European/Eurasian historian beset by ethno-nationalism versions of history, I can see the dangers of what they are doing, a new 'narrative' of history which justifies colonialism, Empire and the destruction it caused.

I think that their project runs counter to the basic ideas of history which are that one should be a dispassionate observer of the past and frame the actions of the participents within their own ethical frameworks. But given the Marxist colour of many history departments, I can see why they protest.

historyreclaimed.co.uk/authors/

Jeremy Black
Andrew Roberts
Saul David
Andrew Roberts
Jeff Fynn-Paul
Nigel Biggar
David Abulafia