CHRONOCIVICS

  The fog that had rising slowly over the Yangtze River in 1921 carried a China in between the past and the present, the tradition and the chaos that were taking their place. There were Japanese military leaders and industrialists across the East China Sea with a wide and ambitious gaze westward, not at a neighbor, but at an opportunity. The Context of Empire By 1921, Japan had turned around to become the leading industrial power in Asia almost out of being an isolated feudal state. The 1921 Imperial Eastern Region Conference and the 1927 conference once again reinstated the promise of Japan to be the most powerful country in the Northeast, especially in Manchuria. This decision did not come out of the blue. The death of the Meiji emperor in 1912 did not only mark Japan as having become the same as the west but also the most influential imperialist in the East Asian region. The country had already achieved decisive victory over China 1894-95 and Russia 1904-05 making it a form to r...

In England, when the price of wheat shot up 630 per cent. (315-1316), medieval society had a decision to make: either adapt or die. This is not because the transition between the Medieval Warm Period and the Little Ice Age was smooth, because there it was like a hammer blow to Europe, and the survival tactics which people invented still have something to teach us today. The Climate Disaster That altered all Things.   AI Generated Image The climate of Europe changed dramatically around 1300. The change was initiated by drastic droughts in the period 1302 to 1307 that struck northern Italy to east central Europe. But subsequent destruction was still ahead. In 1315, the unstopped rains ruined crops on the continent over the next few years. Jean Desnouelles wrote at the period: "The rains were really enormous and they formed immense and deep mud-pools on the ground. In the great famine of 1315-22, some 10-15 percent of the population of Europe was killed. Winters turned to be extremel...

  When thousands of Roman soldiers marched toward you wearing red cloaks, you weren't just seeing an army. You were witnessing psychological warfare in action. The Symbol Behind the Color   Roman military did not choose Red. There were profound religious significance in the Roman culture regarding the color itself, which was directly related to Mars, the war god and mythic predecessor of the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. To the civilization that considered itself as being warlike by nature and divinely blessed, red was the symbol of their martial essence, down to the core. In the battlefield, the color red represented blood and greatness. The sight of a small mass of Roman infantry in like red hues to the enemy armies produced a psychological effect. The conflicting sides saw these troops being mighty, courageous and united, even before a weapon was pulled. The Economic Reality of Red   However, it is here that this story is more interesting: Roman soldiers did n...