not so fast. the west can find a new believe and everything can change. also everyone on earth will go the way of the west, so the challenge is not only for us but all humankind.
@@MK-rw1on my hopes are in india and america remaining capitalistic and hoping india can climb out of poverty rapidly. i think the strength of our economic and military alliance with india will determine the course of this century perhaps more than any other single nation
@@immaculatesquid capitalism isnt the solution but the problem. the reason for so many people losing faith in the west is because capitalism makes everyone but a product and consumer, nothing more. (and no socialism isnt the solution eithee but socialism never had the faith problem that the West has right now; maybe we need to copy that from socialism?)
@@MK-rw1on the word you're looking for is hedonism, not capitalism. I'll say "Free market oriented" for semantics because its got the word free in there.
@@immaculatesquid so you tell me the reason for people losing hope in their future is because they arent behaving right? you dont know reality, the reason is that everyones standard of living isnt increasing even though the economy is growing and people are tired of that.
To live and do so is noble.. I used to be (and still am to a small human degree) affected by not being talented enough to achieve fame and glory, but to receive that from ur family and friends in doing as good as u can, keeps the wheel of humanity greased, I’ve learnt that this specific noble outlook will always be the most important and rewarding
@@DonRoyalX "affected by not being talented enough to achieve fame and glory" who isn't? Most people will get their 15 minutes of fame doing something or another, what we do after that really tells us who we are. But whatever, keep greasing that wheel.
Existing and Doing Good. 1. You need and want things in order to exist. 2. Morality and Laws are good. 3. Someone else needs and wants things in order to exist. 4. Laws are compulsory and entail force. 5. Force is always bad unless legally permitted and morally justified. 6. Should you ever act immoral to survive? 7. Should morality be above your survival? 8. If it is impossible to be immoral than what choices was there to begin with? 9. If it is impossible to survive than what good is morality to you? Person A: I want that land, give me it all. Person B: I want it, let me have it all. Person A: I was here first, first come first serve. person B: I actually made better use of it, I improved it's quality. Group A: Don't back down, it will show weakness, that will encourage him. Group B: Don't be too aggressive it will start conflict, try and share the land, morally. Person A: I can't back down now, I will not move from here. Person B: Do you want to share the land? Let's settle this peacefully. Person A: I have far greater force, and I can't afford to show weakness. Person B: I think morality should decide who gets it, is it moral to use force or reasoning? Person A: The greater force always wins? hm... I must always be the greater force else... The end and they lived happily ever after.
What a wonderful breath of fresh air/truth, western civilization is so typically auto-flagellant and media is often so critical of ourselves when others do much worse, that's it's nice to finally have a take reminding us of the overwhelming positives of Western culture/civilisation.
@@rohankishibe8259 That certainly is an unfortunate outgrowth of Corporatism, but in no way defines Western Civilization. Maybe MSNBC or CNN would be more to your liking.
Over thinking can hurt, Learning too much too quick can hurt, moderation is key. It also seems that growing too much or success too fast too quick has down sides.
I do appreciate this type of videos but I'm gonna be honest there's a lot of bias on many points. It's not really a problem but it does bother me on how things are presented. Will be waiting for the islamic world history with....interest
The redpill-per-sentence ratio in this video is staggering. I feel like I've been machine gunned with hot takes and hard truths that are obvious in hindsight. This needs x0.5 speed lmao
I am pretty far left myself, but I agree.I think self-criticism is one of the best values that the west posses, but there is a difference between self-criticism and self harm.
@@ReaXTutorials as a more conservative right wing person, I feel as no matter what values and morals you have this channel will pull everyone right or left more towards the center, and that’s a good thing.
@@carlrodalegrado4104 as a fellow centrist, it's because the right and the far left can only think about things in political context. Political stance runs their existence
This blows my mind. In school we were taught that all that we in the west hold dear is the result of a bunch of peaceful secular Italians during the renaissance taking an interest in ancient roman and greek civilization. You just showed that the west was created by the violent destroyers of Rome and the catholic church. Why isn't this taught in school?
True. Although the renaissance remains the most important factor in the creation of modern west,the role of Catholic Church and the Germanist barbarian law system are critical factors that allowed the scularist renaissance to become as succesful as it was in the west instead of dying off like it did in Orthodox and Islamic world
Because he’s making an argument and supporting it with evidence. History is less what’s “right” versus “wrong” than it is making interpretations based on evidence, and academics gravitating towards some ideas versus others. I’m not a professional historian, but your school sounds like it was teaching Western civilization in a traditional manner. This TH-camr is making a different case. If his ideas makes sense to you or make you think, you should consider it and look more into the literature with his ideas in mind. His narrative might make more sense to you, or less, as you learn more. That’s practicing critical thinking, and is what the Humanities are all about. Though I will note that you shouldn’t end your education at school. Public schools are heavily limited in resources and are inflexible thanks to being controlled by democratic institutions. If you feel like your science class has a creationist bias or slavery wasn’t that bad in American history, that’s probably thanks to elderly retired folks, religious evangelicals, and patriotic rednecks who use their political power to influence school boards or state education departments to promote certain curriculums while voting against increased taxes for school funding and might not even have kids anymore. That’s the nature of democracy, though.
Moral of the story: the west isn't perfect but westerners shouldn't give up and destroy the society just try and improve it bit by bit. As will work for your personal life too.
@@KateeAngel in America yes I'd partly agree however the democrats would be seen as a centre/slightly right leaning party where I'm from. I also don't think hating "the other" is doing any good even if they are trumpist conspiracy theorist nut jobs. Maybe the conservatives are reminicing of a time where there was more unity in the west something this video touches on how that provided many good things but they are kinda off target why the good old times were so good.
No no. Everyone thinks that they are the good guys. Over time, concepts change. In the west the stability caused more tolerance, Deeming others as equal, also largely due to converting people to western civilisation. Furthermore , the west believes in making the world a better place, as long as the best place is in the west. And it is no lie that being dominant comes at the expense of others(psychologically more than anything). Throughout history, other civilisations were the same. I believe it doesn't change who is the dominant world power, as with stability comes tolerance
@@taejo4975 you can't do everything and be everywhere. Also those places aren't considered the west so the west leaving them to 'rot' or what you would like to call it, isn't something the west would really care about.
@@WiseOwl_1408 What I meant is how they (Specifically Britian) literally took down entire Kingdom and Dynasty of Burma and forcefully remove the King and also merged other neighboring states who weren't part of the Kingdom into Burma creating internal chaos among the ethinicities who weren't willing to stay as one. Burma's problem today is caused by Westerners century ago, not this century
@@WiseOwl_1408 I'll just say, they simply started the problem and leave it with even more problems, they wouldn't even be needed to help today it weren't for Imperialism of Old West.
A couple of key takeaways I have from this video: 1. The Western world could be stable with another strong global actor: As I've understood, Western civilization seems to be stable when there's competition on a high enough level for people to essentially buy-in to their society. The US has been a standalone power since WW2, without competition it's left us in a hiatus long enough for people to be self-hating towards the society in which they live in. The only competition we can receive globally are from actors that can match our influence. In this case, the potential primary competitor could be China. In a sense, if Western civilization sees China as competition it might be able to get people to buy-in to their society. This should not result in xenophobic feelings towards China, it comes down to a perceived competition that can come from any large enough actor, Russia has seemed to fail in being adequate competition to the Western world. This also doesn't require there to be war, the benefit of modern life is the lack of war on a macro level. I do believe that there are opportunities for a society to thrive without going to war, and even without having to subjugate other parts of the world into perceived competition. In all honesty, it would be my last resort into the stability of Western society to even go this far as to see other global actors as competition, because it can be misconstrued into unhealthy feelings between humans (racism, ethnocentrism, xenophobia, etc.) and the outcomes would be horrendous. 2. Neoliberalism is destroying the Western world: Mentioned in the video, neoliberalism has been a way to severely undercut and put a society into shambles. Judging from it, it seems that the lack of competition within the United States has opened up a power vacuum that hasn't been opposed. A system of neoliberalism has been setup as a fundamental power grab. In this case, the relationship between the US government and large corporations is undeniable. Through neoliberalism, politicians and corporations have been able to provide economic benefits to themselves while the rest of society is set into struggles. The rising inequality from this scenario ties into civil dismay that becomes attributed to systems that aren't always the culprit. This ends up pitting people against each other so that they can't rise together against the neoliberal system holding them hostage. Now, I'm not saying this is what the video expressed, but it's what I believe in as it seems to be the case. When there's civil dismay at the level it's been in American society, people begin to question the efficacy of the society in which they live in. This creates a self-hating populace against their society, in this sense Western society.
@@WoodenInari thats what the arab said in the height of their civilization in 830 when they were sending mechanical marvels to european kings to troll them... in 1250 it fell and starting taking step backward, your civilization didnt become better or should i say dominant than others until the protistant reformation which was around 1520 now we are 2020 500 years of civilaztion like islam from 750-1250 if you keep the same pride that you will never fall like the arabs did you will fall
I think westerns trashing themselves is a product of a new moral system that values being oppressed. You can see this in every new movement taking place there where people try to find something to convince the society they are the true victims. As a result, people stop believing that west has a fair share of the good thing that happened in history because they weren't blessed with being oppressed.
As a Chinese person who now call Australia my new home and consider myself as being more Australian than Chinese, I would like to say that there are a lot to like about in the West. Western society is one of the most if not the most respectful towards people’s free will. Yes, the West did such horrible things to other cultures; however, so did almost all other civilisations and they don’t feel much guilt toward that, but we do. 🇺🇸🇬🇧🇪🇺🇨🇦🇦🇺🇳🇿
I think it will be the migrants and a few westerners who defend the west. Migrants know how much worse things can be. You only really see that as a westerner if you live in other non western countries for a while. When I lived in Taiwan for 2 years I came to understand just how hard things can be. Not that Taiwan is a bad country at all, just that the fighter jets flying overhead every week either to ward off Chinese jets, or for war preparations always remind you that it could all be over in an instant. Welcome to Australia my friend! I’m in Melbourne 😊
@@operandexpanse Thank you mate! From my experiences, many migrants are pretty patriotic toward the country that they migrated to. However, especially among East Asian migrants, we usually don’t tend to speck out loud our perspective. Cultures in East Asia often don’t encourage people to show opinions in front of others. I wonder in a time when the left and right-wing are so divided in the West (especially in the USA), what common grounds do we still have as Australians? If we cannot find common grounds ourselves, then god/universe will show that to us! When god wants to teach us something, usually that would be through hardship, war, massive social decline and more, but we don’t have to go that way! By the way, I live in Brisbane. 🌺
"Yes, the West did horrible things, but they're the only civilization which felt guilty and has tried to change" is such an interesting truth. Edit: Reading this back 6 months later and it's misleading. No other civilization has done anything close to the scale of the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism. They should feel guilty. There is no excuse or special treatment here. As a matter of fact, the West has been very ignorant of change for the longest time and are still yet to apologise for slavery in some cases. It's a fallacy to make nationalists feel good about themselves and their history. Edit 2: Alright, I see some people saying that "The Arab slave trade was just as bad" which is not really factual, but fuck it. Let's say it is. What does that matter? As if we don't condemn Arab countries enough in modern times. Did you all just forget about the entire 21st century so far? It doesn't fucking matter. You're merely shifting the blame to make yourself feel better. The fact that governments with no change in the constitution that have existed since before the abolishment of slavery haven't even apologised for it is bullshit.
@@Luca-nu2zg indeed. People in the west think we hate you because you were so cruel. No. We hate you out of envy for why we weren't the people on top. And trust me. Soon the west will decline or collapse, then a ruthless civilisation will take its place which will lead to brutal stuff, and if they are in power long enough, they will feel shitty about themselves(lose face) and try to change themselves. An endless and beautiful cycle.
Not quite there is a exception turks it is not horrible (excep some events) Neither colinize or colinized balkans hate but balkans is a clusterfuck as defult state and West does a Hard propaganda on turks like there was a terrorist a drug dealer turks arrest him for that and he Got away they called him kurd and the same Guy does same shit in germany Got arrestet and punished and he became turk hipocrosy of chatolic chuch is on the blood of West know that
Well, for nations trying to resist Western hegemony, past civilizations and governments resisting the West becomes something to rally around, making criticism of those past civilizations and governments much more difficult You can see that in less native nations who were formerly oppressed or hated the Incas, becoming nostalgic for Incan rule after the Spanish takeover, and now much of Inca culture has become a symbol for people through much of Latin America as symbols of indigenous pride, and resistance against the West and colonialism, when their distant ancestors might have been oppressed by the Incas or despised the Incas.
A middle income trap future video maybe? With Africa growing, Latin America developing and Eastern Europe finishing developing would make 4 a relevant subject
@S E P thought the same but for East Europe since I live in the Balkans we have a long time but if we are talking about Catholic East Europe then ok but the Orthodox part has long way to go
Latin American cannot developed with an elite who is a client of the US (and the US being the guard of this corrupt elite) +bad educational institutions + an elite who comes from old Spanish nobility. + Bad geography (or the good places being to far away of the global financial and industrial centers)
R3GARnator Ah hah knew some of this sounded familiar. Alt-hist Got his own good insights on culture though, lack of unified belief isn’t really talked about by the geopolitical crowd
@@RyanRediger66 it may be gross, but 3rd cousins are the ones that most species find the most attractive. it is also far enough that you probably do not know who your 3rd cousins are. do you even know who your great great grandmother is? that is who you are both related to
I think a video about what effects space colonization will have in our future would be interesting. A collaboration with Scott Manley or Issac Arthur would be very interesting since both know lots about space.
Space Colonization? Probably should ask about *Ocean* Colonization first, deep ocean Aquaculture and mining are much closer to economic feasibility, and the economic, technological, and societal baseline for it already exists (oil industry, aquaculture industry, tourism/cruise ship industry.)
lol we are never going to colonize space for a long time, def not in our lifetimes or century for sure. That is if modern society doesn't collapse into a 2nd Dark Ages/kill it self via climate change or nuclear war.
@@quinnjohnson9750 I think you might be mistaken. I'm almost certain we will return to the Moon and go to Mars before the decade is over. However we will definitely have to wait further into this century to see meaningful growth in space colonization tho. I think this could have profound impacts obviously on current superpowers along with many other things that are almost impossible to predict but nevertheless fun.
@@jackhutchison9021 I personally think that the obsession with mars is doing more harm than good because it is making us ignore the easiest place to colonize in the solar system - venus's atmosphere. The gravity is almost the same, if the Settlement will be filled with air (which of course it will be) it will float like a helium balloon does on earth at a height where temperature is very manageable and atmospheric pressure wont be a problem in such a settlement.
Once a civilization realizes it got to the top merely due Darwinian selection favoring it, it can go down two possible paths: either the one described in this video or decide to unapologetically do everything in its power to remain in first place because it knows falling from the podium could kill it.
As a Latin American it feels weird to be excluded from the West. Like being the illegitimate child of a deadbeat father. It is a good reminder of how the West looks at us, even though we inherited a big part of our culture and all of the institutions from its southern countries.
Its probably mostly because people who preach about the greatness of "western civilization" dont actually care about its history but just use western civilization as a proxy for white people.
I think the best way to think about it is a phenotype type tree with different branches so I guess Latin American is just a little divergent off the "west". I don't know this pretty is arbitrary and stupid. I'll try to create a "Western" root tree. Sumerian or proto-Sumerian and Egyptian -> Minoian-> Mycenean + a little Hittite -> Classical civilization group (Hellenistic -> Latin + a little Cannanite) -> Germanic civilization group -> Latin Catholicism-> Anglo/American "West". I guess Latin America diverges right before major Anglo influence. Again this is pretty stupid and their are hundreds of little influences that are a part of the makeup of every culture/civilization as our cultures didn't live in timeless, isolated snow globes.
I kind of agree with the conclusion. Since the end of the Cold War, nobody in Europe really seems to have any plan what society should strive for to improve itself. More green energy and keeping the far right in check are the only items of the agenda, but those are very nebulous goals and only aims to contain damage rather than being constructive. More equality is a commonly proclaimed goal, but we don't really see that making any impact in elections.
22:14 correction* Spanish as a native language is more widely spoken than English and portuguese is well above russian. I understand your bias regarding the "anglophone sphere" and I actually agree in Britain being decisive in the development of the western society, but not all the wealth of the west comes from the Germanic areas of Europe. I have watched almost all of your videos and I find them quite interesting. You have good reasoning and most of the alternative scenarios seem feasible. However, I feel sometimes you are heavily influenced by your roots (which is understandable). American success is, in part, due to the lack of preexisting civilizations (advanced ones) found in that part of North America. Basically, after having killed a bunch of tribes (I'm not blaming anyone but that's just facts) there was almost nothing left that prevented british culture and civilization from expanding. The same happened in all of the successful ex-british colonies. Only the ones with a large european majority thrived. And obviously that doesn't mean that the system wasn't favorable for growth, or that effort wasn't put into development. But it's important to notice that no british colony without a large european majority is now rich (maybe Singapore? or Hong Kong ? but they had a special status and they are tiny). As I said It's normal to be proud of your culture and roots but I think you should try to avoid prejudices. Anyways great video, as always. Keep up the good work!
You are correct, he is like well west came to India and Africa just for fun or philanthropy not for money, as they were already rich.... duh...... kuch bhi
It says "In the West and Europe", so the Spanish and Portuguese speaking South Americans aren't included. It's debatable whether Russian should be included either, but it's not my video :) Although without checking, I do suspect that if you include natively Spanish-speaking Americans with the population of Spain, Spanish would definitely be fairly high on that list.
@@fanbuoy9234 you got a point. But if he's talking about native speakers only in western countries, as you said, russian shouldn't be included because for him russia is a part of the "orthodox world". (Just for you to know, native Spanish speakers are 450 million worldwide)
I would argue that it’s a bit more complicated than that. In Mesosmerica and South America, the Spanish came in and decapitated (sometimes literally) the local elites, and then installed themselves at the top of existing hierarchies (turning Tenochitlan and Cusco into administrative centers of the empire, for example), and used vast amounts of indigenous labor in an extractive economic model built on peonship, caste and aristocratic nepotism. By contrast, the English landed in North America and didn’t have any existing civilizations to decapitate and take over. Indeed, compared to an encomienda down in Latin America, settling North America sucked. Just look at Jamestown. English and French colonists frequently ran off to join the Indians (this is probably what happened to Roanoke), so the societies in North America had to incentivize people to not do that and have an investment in their colonial societies. Things like property rights, derived from Anglo-Germanic tradition, were pretty nifty at accomplishing this. In lieu of just putting Indians to work, co-opting local hierarchies and using local infrastructure, the English had to pay people to work, establish competent governments and build from scratch, spurring innovation. I would also argue that the reason Alta California filled with Americans instead of Spaniards had everything to do with property rights. People raced out west to homestead, were able to carry firearms, and generally speaking were better able to act independently, dynamically on the frontier. Spain, meanwhile, scarcely cared about much beyond Mexico’s Central Valley. Spanish settlers heading north were less well-armed against the local horse nomads (who, unlike the Aztecs, weren’t a sedentary people that the Spanish could reliably decapitate), and more dependent on Spanish troops, which made settling the area expensive. By the time New Spain became Mexico, the Spanish had permitted so little of substance to happen there that there was no way the Mexicans could have held Alta California. Spanish America was a Roman Empire, whereas English America was more similar to the Germanic chiefdoms. Spain played on easy mode, England played on hard mode.
In North America, Western Europe, Australia and NZ, Western Civilisation means regions that: 1) Have a Majority White Population; 2) Are Traditionally Catholic or Protestant; 3) Have Rule of Law, Democracy, Secularism & Industrialised High Income Economies. Therefore, Latin America is not a part of the West. Edit: that's what's broadly regarded as the West, not my opinion, fellow Latin Americans. My definition of "western civilisation" groups together The West Proper, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Orthodox Europe as sister civilisations, under the umbrella term "Greater West".
I don't say this to belittle you but you guys are not a part of western civ, you just speak spanish. Ypu're institutions were created by the spanish crown for making subservient colonies, and while you seceded from spain, all of you have inherited those same instituions and maintain them to some degree to this day.
When its majority population is not ethnically European . were capitalism , consumerism and individualism has destroyed every fabric of society and replaced it with hedonistic degeneracy
I think it will stagnate rather than collapse. The internal competition between distinct classes that led to its rapid growth has an apparent victor called the managerial class (these being the people who rotate between corporate boards and government advisory committees like clockwork), who will probably rule like the Chinese bureaucrats of medieval times once the effective homogenisation of large corporations and government is complete. I blame the dispersal of ownership among shareholders (many of which are pension funds & the like) and state meddling in the economy which tends to benefit the companies which lobby them. The former makes the job of executives more like that of bureaucrats, because they answer to a large community of stakeholders rather than to a single owner, and the latter makes it necessary to be intimately involved with actual bureaucracy. Much of modern leftism is just the corporate idea of stakeholder appeasement applied to relations between people groups.
@@ingold1470 That implies that modern leftism continues dominant. Which seems kind of unlikely- not really want to be a Trumpet here, but 2020 was only barely won by having the entire elite class and populist left unite against the least popular president in decades (at least on paper). Which is not a stable alliance, which is why there is almost desperation to implement the policies to ensure they stay in power as soon as possible (HR-1, Multi-Billion dollar stimuluses with flimsy justifications, etc.) The ‘Merkelite’ EU is only lasting as long as Merkel remains in power. Without her, the EU in its current state is doomed. Mainly because no one can really replace her. The current ‘West’ basically doesn’t have a leader anymore, or really a stable dominant ideological faction. The most likely scenario is a brutal ideological civil war a la Spain 1938.
Most of Canada's land is only slightly more habitable than the Amazon. The majority of the population lives less than 2 hours from the US border if I'm not mistaken
@@marinuswillett6147 Canada also never subsidized the colonization of the less habitable parts of the country as much as say, Russia, as well. Also, there’s not enough people to colonize those areas. The Peace River region is relatively habitable (farming is barely possible, resources are abundant, temperatures are cold but not too extreme), but is practically empty.
Have you been up into the Shield? Beautiful scenery, but scattered patches of thin soil over granite is useless for farming, and with lakes, rivers, ridgelines, and cliffs every 500m, building infrastructure is a massive headache. Build whatever communities you need to utilize available resources (whether mineral, timber, hydroelectricity, or even tourism), then ship them to someplace that can support civilization. Turn the rest into parkland. The Shield is arguably worse than the Amazon, because you can, with effort, clear a patch of the Amazon, de-acidify the soil, and be left with useful farmland. Cut down the trees and drain the lakes in the Shield, and all you are left with is barren stone.
Latin America should be considered part of Western Civilization on your map. It is majority Christian, speaks Romance languages (descendants of Latin, the language of Rome, the co-cradle of the West), and it has republican governments modeled on enlightenment ideas (at least in theory). Every Western country and sub-region is different.
@@AP3x6917 Well, the US, especially the American South, has African influence too. Argentina and Uruguay are 80-90-% white, more whiter than Anglo-America. Latin America may have a combination of Native, European, and African cultures, but their governmental and legal systems, and religion, are all Western. Why should fellow Romance-speaking traditionally Catholic countries be excluded from the West?
@@AP3x6917 estados unidos también, y Australia, y aún así los considera occidente. Y no Todos los países de América latina son iguales pero la forma de ver el mundo, su filosofía, las leyes y sus instituciones son más occidentales.
This channel shows how real development takes place. Starting from what would happen if Hitler died as a kid to answering real questions people need to know about so they can think, decide, and live better.
I am SO geeked about the civ series you're working on. Your videos give me the peace of mind of feeling like I can look ahead using some lessons from the past.
well said, hitting all the important points of western civilization in under 30 minutes is very impressive, looking forward to the next civilizational analysis
The fact we can realize and complain about about our past mistakes is the proof we got something right. And the fact I'm not the only one who realized that is, well, a big relief. Hands down the most amazing youtube video I've ever seen. This channel is pure gold. Let's just make the world a better place, that's what history is for.
This is a question i’ve wondered for a long time and I always felt the guns, germs, and steel explanation was weak. Really painted a great picture of what you were explaining in this video. Favorite history channel by far with a straightforward explanation without ignoring questions that viewers would likely have.
IRL they called it the Uluğ Ulus, or Greate State-with two wings, the Blue Horde (Gök Ordu) and White Horde (Aq Ordu) Funnily enough it was a Turkic state that ruled Russia for about 2 centuries, but they tolerated their Orthodox religion and allowed for the disparate duchies to unite.
@@cursedwanderer1753 They did not allow that, and even though they didn't completely ban Orthodox Christianity, they still brutally burnt all the churches every other time they invaded the Slavic lands. As most huge emrpires, the Golden Horde was becoming less cautious with time, and so around the end of the 1300's the Great Prince of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy started the process of uniting the Russian principalities into one and openly opposing the Horde. It wasn't a quick process but eventually a single Russian state formed and was strong enough to defeat the Horde, which by that point was a mess of an empire.
"The US is a strange and reluctant empire, commonly altering from blowing up it's opponents to forgetting they exist..." As an American, "wtf is Grenada? You sure it's not spelled grenade?"
Having something that tells us to be more than what we think we are, faith to be better and moral and good actors on a world stage, is the defining feature of the west.
There was a question on Quora once, going something like: "Why is Europe so abundant with medieval castles, towers, forts, temples and other structures, while China has so few?" Europe had capitalism before it even knew it. Capitalism was discovered, and then embraced, it was not created. It's a system of evolution through natural selection. A system of COMPETITION. When you have a 100 small kingdoms competing in every way, like corporations do, and within them different governments, churches and classes competing as well. There's far more progress than in a centralized empire. Every historian knows that the Roman empire was technologically stagnant for most of its history, while the middle ages were a constant progress. Capitalism is the main reason for western greatness. It's not debatable, what's debatable is whether capitalism is a symptom of something else about western Europeans. I don't know. Like, why were they so divided and competitive? Why did kings have to make agreements with every peasant and his mom, instead of just oppressing them? Why so much egalitarian confidence among the peasants, to rebel against the God- chosen kings?
I agree when you say the Roman's and Greeks were not "western" civilization. If they were around today we would see those countries the same way many westerners see current south Korean or Japanese societies: they have many western elements but the core is distinct.
Your entire culture is based on greco roman culture even your english flag comes from italy british national anthem comes from france most of classical style buildings are greco roman you have no food culture or anyhting without greco roman culture
@@samschlossberg476 lol, like people from celtic or germanic have no brain. The whole iron work that the roman are known for comes from hellstat (austria) and the germans had gothic art and nobilities of ALL Europe that existed from prehistory To Xx century, or even today for some. There has been more technological and art progress during Ancient Regime than Antiquity
@@samschlossberg476 You are correct that western civilization is influenced by Greco-Roman traditions, but you seem to forget that civilizations evolve over time and sometimes that changes a civilation so much that to call it "Greco-Roman" would be incorrect. If anything (and forgive me if this does sound racist or whatever) western civilation is a product of Germanic tribes hijacking and reconstructing the old Greco-Roman civilizations under a Germanic cultural lens. For example, Calculus was invented by two Germanic folks, Leibniz and Newton, independent of each other (mostly, but that's another topic) at the same time. Though many concepts of calculus existed in some form before those two mathematics was roughly stagnant since the days of the islamic golden era. The Normans who invaded England were themselves germanic immigrants from the North, hence the name "Norman". The most successful countries in Europe today (in terms of GDP, innovation, and crime) are generally the ones with the least Latin influence. Ireland, Denmark, and Finland are testaments to that. If anything, Latin influence holds countries back. Compare the state of Italian colonies (Somalia, Libya) to Dutch colonies (South Africa, Indonesia). It becomes apparent that Roman influence is not all that its cracked up to be.
Makes sense, now that we’ve reached such a high point, internal competition is gone, external threats are minimal, and so western civilization declines relative to the rest of the world. Great video
I don't think that's true, thanks to the Wests existence, we know maintaining a civilization past 200 years is possible, there's no reason to assume the west can fall. Most likely everyone else has a figurehead to reach up to and compete with now. This probably means our next bout of real territorial, intellectual and financial competition will start when space travel is feasible
Honestly my favourite so far. I like that whatifalthist can unapologetically look at the factors that made Western civilisation so dominant for the last 400 years or so without engaging in the self-flagellating of many contemporary historians. I'm here to learn, and I like to learn from sources that don't get shoved through the hegemonic meat grinder of postcolonialism as well.
The auto-flagellation is probably western society’s greatest curse and greatest blessing. Without self-reflection, moral and social growth can’t occur, but with too much guilt, stagnation is bound to happen. I’m a very left-leaning person, and I’m white, but the concept of “white guilt” is hysterical to me. None of the folks in my generation were alive when slavery, colonization or even segregation were around, so it’s nonsense to feel ashamed of what you yourself had no hand in. Furthermore, feeling “guilt” or “shame” accomplishes nothing; you’re not making any strides towards economic parity, or advancing socioeconomic mobility, by feeling guilty. The ancestors of slaves or indigenous peoples can’t trade your guilt in for gold. It’s almost another form of self-centeredness, another example of people making a topic they have no personal involvement to about themselves, because it affects “how they feel.” It also boggles my mind how some of these Twitter brained hyperleftists blind themselves into recognizing only Western Imperialism or despotism, while applauding the same behavior in Eastern societies (Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or China’s 1B1R initiative). It’s important to be honest about one’s history and one’s society, but we can only control our own small slice of the present, in hopes of making a better future. Look to the past for knowledge of how to be better in the future, not how to feel worse about the past.
I'm fairly new to the channel but I must say it's incredibly impressive. I'm just finishing my undergraduate degree in modern history and International Relations, and videos like these feel like four years of teaching blitzed into a half hour lecture (in a good way!). Keep it up, whatif
This is an amazing documentary. There are so many parts where you can pause the video, read the caption, and just think about it all piecing together. Keep up the good work
One could argue the southern cone of South America, particularly Chile, Uruguay, and Sao Paulo are just as "western" as any other "western" nation. The same could be argued for Israel, if you're including the Cape region of South Africa you should probably include Israel. Also, even though you can't get much further east than this, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan are all decidedly more "western" oriented than their other east asian counterparts in their use of democracy and civil liberties.
@@yko_7313 in Japan’s case, we literally burnt their civilization down in atomic hellfire and MacArthur rewrote their legal system based on the American constitution. That’s why japan is often considered western and their civilization becomes more and more aligned with the west every day.
@@artruisjoew5473 Plus they industrialized and became a colonial nation which subjected their colonies to brutality on par with and sometimes exceeding the most brutal European colonial powers. Lingering resentment from their neighbours after that also ties them to the west
@@yko_7313 well, so are most of the world’s countries. Do you think there is some ancient way of government or culture that permeated into modern day Nicaragua (I don’t know? Just example) , more so than in the US?
What if Tang continued their expansion into Central Asia after the Battle of Talas (None of the rebellions that followed after that crippled the dynasty). What if Viking expansion took them all the way to West Africa, establishing trade routes btw West Africa and Europe through the Atlantic by 1000 AD. What if Portugal and Ethiopia allied to destroy Mecca and what if the Ottomans conquered Rome.
Tang: Same as history, Too far to their core lands, too near to the abasid lands. Portugal: They made a landing in Morocco and was a total disaster. The Viking one seems really interesting.
Even if the Tang were able to survive the Abbasids later local revolts and pressure from North-Eastern regions of Iran would have caused it to collapse. As for sinicization of the Central Asian peoples, Chinese influences would have certainly been swept aside by Iranian ones.
@@dogeofgreatness2222 Why would it the swept away by Iranian Influence? Central Asia was Turkic and Chinese influence had been entrenched as far as the Tarim Basin and Tang China held an amount of Turkic influence which is what allowed them in the first place to conquer the steppe and will allow their influence to more readily penetrate Turks.
@@adamnesico So the Abbasids were Based in Iraq and China in Northern China so I would argue that they are both about equally distant from Central Asia, which is part of the reason neither directly controlled it, but China had the resources and man power to garrison places in Central Asia while the Abbasids didn't.
@@ikengaspirit3063 Not so equal, by that year abasid control or Iran was firm, so that amkes a shorter distance. Yes, and history showed how prone to revolt were those far chinese garrisons.
Honestly, I think that your channel is the best that is available on TH-cam, along with my other favourite channel, Perun. Your content is fast-paced and research based, intelligent and intuitive, logical and widely encompassing, whilst being willing to admit error and seemingly open to adjustment and change if a better argument comes along. High praise to you man.
@@praisethesun.praisedeussol6051 because what he says is a very particular narrative that does absolutely nothing to challenge any preconceptions of Western supremacy. There is literally no ambiguity in this video, he is treating the world, it's meaning and all in between as a game of Civilization. That's not how the real world worked out. One example, he says that the West's nation-state parliamentary system was copied by other nations. Simply LOL. 1) It was copied that same way that developing nations copy capitalist practices: via competition. When you have a group of people who have created a value-form that can create the socio-economic ideology for a global economy, you don't really have a choice it's either extract your own country or theyll come do it to you. 2) "Copying" in many cases was done specifically to remain within the boundaries of the colonial/imperial power - it's easier to become independent if you mimic the colonial power structure that way you don't have to create a new society from the ground up AND the colonial/imperial power can be 'interwoven" in particular ways that make decolonization possible 3) Again competition: You have to be a nation-state to survive in regional and global geopolitical government dominated by nation-states. Japan, and many other Asian countries, had to have like DIRECT civil war's/aristocratic disputes about this; do we resist the West with their tools or do we become like China? And this is not even TOUCHING the ideas about Germanic council democracy that are straight up white supremacist propaganda. Also the idea that the west won in a video in 2021 is a joke. How is "two catatrophic global wars, impending climate doom, hugely exploitative global economy that has rapidly turned the entire planet into a fucking social and economic hellscape and most depressed people on the planet" = an unbridled victory? It isn't. This video makes almost all its arguments not in it's content nor evidence but in how it frames those videos. Very few professional historians would certify any part of this knowledge. That's okay since "truth" is a very nebulous thing and many cultures in the world have ideas, scientific and historical, that are not "accurate" under certain views. So to judge the framing its best to ask, not if this is truth, but what is this "truth" trying to accomplish? It's very clearly trying to accomplish what Western historiography until 1940-60's was; the re substantiation of the West as an inherently superior civilizational mode based on economic reductionism. Again, this is not to attack the author in an undue manner, I would gladly sit and talk with the author on any and all points without preparation. I just think that if most people in society who are "history" people come and watch these videos, they are getting basically the narrative from 50-80 years ago - not what historians have been innovating for decades namely in the history of science, technology, global history, transnational history etc. Their "rise" of the West is a much more interesting story than the one told here.
Okay. I'm not a historian, so pardon me if I'm ignoring some important detail about this. But I'm a latin american and I get a bit annoyed by the notion that we are not part of western civilization. Like, what's the fundamental difference between the british empire going to the US, killing the natives, bringing slaves and building a colony, and the portuguese empire going to Brazil and doing the fucking same thing? Why are Canada and US part of the west and latin america not? Because we have a bit more of african/native america influence? Because our governments are less effective and our countries poorer? I dunno. Souds a lot like xenophobia to me. (I'm not calling Whatifalthist a xenophobe, ffs. I'm just commenting that this separation might be unconciouslly rooted in this kind of idea). But dammnit, even French Guiana is called "not a part of the west" and it's a *fucking french state* lmao
@@lukefarrelly724 this one I kinda get. It's mainly due to the "platinum meteorite paradox", as I like to call it. If a country managed to mine, let's say, a 10 km meteorite made fully of platinum, it would be the richest country in the world for like, two seconds, bc the market would have a platinum overflow and the value of the ore would inflate to the point of worthlesness. But, if instead of mining the whole meteorite, you estabilished an chemical industry on it (platinum is a great catalist for several chemical reactions), you would make a lot of money without hiperinflation. Portugal and Spain did the first option; England and Germany, the second.
I think he covers it in more detail in his video on the Spanish Empire. If I remember well (and I suggest you check it afterwards) he pointed out that while in western Europe peaceful transfers of powers are the norm, Latin America was riddled with coups. In this video, he says one part of Europe's success is due to its mixed government, while in another video and on live streams he said Latin America was often controlled by one group and if this group was overthrown then the overthrower would replace them(he used the example of a Bolivian civil war). Moreover, here he talks about the idea of in his first video on historical misconceptions he says that in America class difference doesn't impact the way people talk to each other (or something around those lines) linked to this individualism and used as a counterexample Mexico. I don't really have an opinion on the subject and just try my best to rephrase some of his arguments.
@@lukefarrelly724 I think the point was that Europe was already wealthy when it started colonizing and colonization though it made Europe richer in some cases (for instance the America's and India), it didn't result in industrialisation and cannot alone explain the gap in wealth between Europe and Africa which explainable with other arguments.
The idea that Germanic tribesman and their councils are at the heart of Western democracy is also the central thesis of Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson's "The Narrow Corridor". I would recommend reading up on it if you are interested.
I don't know, man. Feels like a super windy road to try and tie white civilisations together under a single banner. There's so much political, ethical and historical diversity between the people you describe that any overarching definition is very after-the-fact classification. For most of history, these nations have been at war and seen each other as entirely separate. I guess "the west" could be used to describe neo-liberal capitalist nations that sided with the US in the Cold War, but even that feels like an over-generalisation
Hes got some weird back and forth with his views of history being on the mark and seeming to be going way off. I could say the west is related to a collection of civilizational ideas from the cradles of civilization that then went on to encompass various pagan faiths and Christianity, greek philosophy, and the cultural beliefs of many tribes which surrounded the Mediterranean societies. It feels like a real mess to figure out at times.
Probably not mutch tbf , the first Castilian colonies and the discovery of the new world happened years before the formation / unification of Spain in 1516 , just expect a the exact same but with a slightly weaker Castile instead of Spain and tbf Castile would of probably attempted multiple invasions of Aragon once they became very powerful through their new world colonies , and probably would succeed , there would probably be no significant difference Almost at all
Here are some points where it changes history : The first one would that only Aragon would face France in the Italian wars for main influence over Italy. France would win in this timeline, I'm not sure what would be the implications. Second one I can think of is that Aragon would side against the Habsburg in the thirty years war which would lead to a victory for the anti-Habsburg league instead of the peace of Westphalia. Interestingly it almost surely would not prevent the formation of the Spanish empire since that was done entirely by Castille. Assuming Portuguese/Castille/Aragon keep their borders until the modern day (highly unlikely) it would basically be like dividing Spain I'm two with Aragon having generally better conditions of living since it had a much healthier economy than Castille.
1:55 The way you defined yourself in comparison to Mediterranean cultures was so fucking cool, and like you, I also live in a colony. Both of my parents have had ancestors here in Australia since the first fleet in 1788 so we're truly Australian now My father was a middle class protestant of mostly Scottish ancestry who also wore lots of tartan (in the form of flannelette shirts, but also out of fondness for his Scottish heritage) and it's actually fascinating that you mention that. He was one of 5 children, with one instance of infant mortality. My mother is a Catholic of lower-middle class upbringing of predominantly Irish ancestry, she was also one of 5 children. I am the firstborn of 2, raised as a Roman Catholic but identify as some sort of Agnostic with a great respect for Christian values. According to ancestry DNA I'm Irish, English & Norman, Scottish and Welsh in descending order. It's so cool how culture evolves, I have a Canadian friend I met in France and her and I always talk about cultural differences and similarities. Considering the fact that we're both influenced by American culture to a varying degree as well as English considering we're both in the commonwealth. Trudeau, Bojo and Scomo need to get CANZUK happening, New Zealand trippin tho they too close w china...
Well, most civilizations expanded through brutal conquests. We are just one of the first that feels really bad about it as a culture, which others do their best to take advantage of.
@@Plainsburner ye know come to think of it, i wonder if that sense of Self Guilt, prevalent in current Western civilizations, permeates to other cultures/civilization aswell, since the advent globalization, technology,the "West" being the world hegemon for quite a while, etc.
@@oaples8790 You can see other cultures adopting it to varying degrees, though it hasn't infected through like it has for us, they have a lot more social unity to combat it. You do see other cultures purposefully taking advantage of it however, the biggest offenders being the Islamic world and the Chinese communist party.
"Orthodox" civilization is the actual heir to the Greco-Roman legacy in terms of direct lineage; the Byzantine-era Roman Empire was just Classical civilization in its final stage and the Slavs took that over in a similar fashion to the Germanics in the West.
Whatifalthist also seems to ignore Justinian's marriage law & Basil I's Basilika law code which delves in depth on women's rights. It's also worth noting Byzantium's social structure which was not as rigid as the video presents it. It was a loose system possessing a substantial middle class. I also don't believe the Western conception of individualism actually originated in western Europe.
@King of kings part of the West and still politically descended from Germanic kingdoms; they are the most Roman in terms of language and some customs, but actual society was subsumed into the Germanic feudal model; the idea of Spain as a country begins with the Visigoths and Italy with Odoacer.
I feel like an essay like this has been overdue for a LONG time. Thank you so much for this extra insight, and I hope we can see deeper analyses in the future, not just from this channel but from others too.
The key link from Antiquity to the West is the Catholic Church. But, as Oswald Spengler pointed out, the 'world-feeling' and ideology of the West is entirely different to ancient Rome and Greece, although we are following the same trends in relation to the transition to Caesarism and Republic to Empire.
With the lending IQ OPTIONS by market cap having no clear resistance above it, has now entered price discovery mode, and where to next is anyone's guess. I personally think now is the right to take advantage of the current bull run and make money leveraging trades rather than just holding until the bears take over.
Latin America and the west are the same thing, they speak a Western European language, are predominantly Catholics/Christians, are democratic (at least compared to the rest of the world). Teach mostly western history and philosophy in schools and have similar cuisines. They only difference is that Latin America is poor and significantly more corrupt, tho nations like Uruguay, Chile and Costa Rica who have managed to develop are basically indistinguishable from Spain or Portugal.
I think the distinction between USA/Canada and LatAm is based more on Religion (Catholicism vs Protestantism), Language (Spanish vs English), and Culture (Anglo vs Latin). It was controversial when JFK became the first Catholic US President.
i like how these people always cherry-pick parts of south africa (of flat out list south africa as "western") due to 10% of the population as part of The West. yet ALL of latin america, for arbitrary reasons really, are somehow "not western". so ethnocentric. and ignorant.
yes, political system in western civilization helped them succeed. but, geography also played a part in allowing them to grow massively without any major 'cost' or repercussions. shape of europe is an advantage, you can't conquer it linearly. the west is/was not near the steppes, so no raids from hordes. face it, western europe's success includes geography.
I totally agree with your sentiment that we need faith: Even if faith that our goodness will be rewarded by paradise in an afterlife is impossibe to hold onto, perhaps faith that we could create a paradise on the world itself is more realistic
1:55 - English is only formally Germanic. Practically, having lost most of its Germanic pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary (which is 60% Latin), it's a perfect Romance-Germanic hybrid. - Same goes for the US legal system, which is actually a hybrid between the Germanic customary system and the Roman civil system (while most of the West ended up adopting the latter). - Christianity is a Roman invention. The fact that you believe in the English-Germanic version of it, doesn't cancel that fact. So, if you feel more Germanic is because you WANT to feel that way. Or, at least, not for the above "reasons". 8:03 At most, you might say the the Germanics kept alive democracy. But the modern versions of it (including late medieval ones, such as those in the Italic Republics) are modelled on the Roman republican democracy.
Hi, I wouldn’t say that English has lost its Germanic pronunciation. We still have the dental fricatives sounds of þ and ð, and the w sound which German has lost. Also, our t,p, and k are aspirated when at the front or back of a word, like other Germanic languages. I agree that much of our vocabulary is of romance origin, yet the most common words are of English origin, and one can have a full conversation with only Germanic words, but not with only romance origin words. I’m just sharing what I know.
When you said Rome was not really western I definitely rebuff that. Is Rome the only influence for western civilization of course not. I would say by far Rome is the greatest contributor to western identity. With the exception of language. The sole reason Christianity became a dominant religion in Europe was because of Rome. If you say Rome isn’t really western than Greece, romaine, and Italy isn’t part of the west either.
For real civilisational categorisation is far more blurry and vague than racial categorisations. At least with that you can just put people into a cluster analysis and type K how many races you want and get an answer.
In North America, Western Europe, Australia and NZ, Western Civilisation means regions that: 1) Have a Majority White Population; 2) Are Traditionally Catholic or Protestant; 3) Have Rule of Law, Democracy, Secularism & Industrialised High Income Economies. Therefore, Ancient Rome is not a part of the West.
@@danielimmortuos666 idk this sounds like Rome to me 1.they are white not Nordic white mediterranean white. 2. Rome transitioned from a pagan to a Christian state in fact they were the first. 3.They founded one of the first republics. The republic morphed into the empire in later years. 4.No country was industrialized during that time period. They were one of the most advanced civilizations at their height.
If you take a secularist view, or see faith as a simple expression of culture, maybe. I think that the Word of God went out to as much of the world as the faithful could get it to, as fast as possible.
@@reidparker1848 well of course culture is multi dimensional you have language, art, food, architecture, religion. However if we were to put religion to the side for a moment and speak in-terms of linguistics. Spain , Greece,Romania speak languages that derived from Latin. Why because of Rome, and again was Rome the only Influence on the west of course not. But to say Rome was not a western civilization. Then do a 180 and say that Italy is seems like a conflicting statement.
Fantastic work right here. Each one of these videos are extremely interesting, backed up with evidence and each one has me thinking about the topic for many days if not weeks or months.
I’m curious to see how in the future you’ll handle the other big culture groups you had on the map at the beginning. Stay well out there everybody, and Jesus Christ be with you friends.😊
According to Oswald Spengler, the driving force of a culture is a quest for its Prime Symbol. This is some kind of geometrical or mathematical idea. E.g. India's symbol is the zero (nirvana, nothingness). Egypt's was the Straight Road, China's the Winding Road. The Classical culture's symbol was hard, impenetrable Body (like a statue). The West's is no less than infinite space! It's kind of silly but intoxicating. I too would like a video about Spengler. I believe, as a German, he overplayed the Germans-in-Germany element and downgraded the French contributions (feudalism, law) and also the Italian/Mediterranean ones (Church organisation, banking)
I never understood Why latin America is not "west" acording to english speakers. Countries like Argentina and Brazil are far more close to western Europe in culture, religion and even in etnicity than the US, for example. And why is latin America considered one thing? Because of language? Its like say that Australia and índia are the same because they are english speaking countries in the east. Do americans really think that México and Uruguay are the same thing? Or Colômbia and peru? Panamá and cuba? This really show a huge lack of knowledge of the ones who created those definitions. Love your videos!
I think the distinction between USA/Canada and LatAm is based more on Catholicism vs Protestantism, and Anglo vs Latin culture. It was controversial when JFK became the first Catholic US President.
@@shorewall yeah, exactly. Until recently americans did'nt considered irish people and italians "white" because of that (religion), for example. Good point
@@baelonthebrave5474 good Topic! But some arguments are incorrect. For example, in a comment its Said that central America have a huge indigenous descent. But If you take New Zealand and costa rica, 2 countries of similar population, you can see that New Zealand (71% european) has a lower european population than costa rica (83% european descent). Also, New Zealand have 5-6% of its population who does'nt speak a european language as the First language, while in costa rica that number is only 2-2.5%. Again, lack of knowledge of the ones who made the definition. Because when you look at the data, they are simply wrong
Really loved this video, a strong and profound conclusion that is all too true. As a university student in the West it's hard to palate a curriculum they seeks to deconstruct and vilify the great Western society.
Didn't the Athenian have a democracy for male citizen and Rome was for a long time a Republic. Sure the Roman in the late antiquity was authoritarian but their institution still survived taken over by the Catholic Church.
But the country has been extremely influenced by the Sephardic traditions Jews from Arabic nations and Ethiopia. Israel is a mixed bag of all the civilizations its people come from, in my opinion.
As someone who praises empiricism so much you should take a look at the technological progress of China and India when they were divided vs when they were United. Islamic civilization for exemple was at it's best when United during their golden age. The Indian numerals were invented under the Gupta empire. Paper and gunpowder were invented during period of unity in China (Han and Song respectively.) Edit : not saying you're wrong but I think there are gaps in your theory.
I think he was making the point that innovation is fastest under circumstances of competition. Yes innovation may occur under unified states, but not as fast as otherwise.
Saying the Song Dynasty is a period of unity in Chinese history is so....wrong .... Should probably read more about the Liao, Xia, and later the Jurchens who all carved up a substantial chunk of China, leaving only a part of it to Song Dynasty.
I find you analysis if the factors for the west pretty precise, however, portraying other civlisations as stagnant isn't really the truth. The Chinese and Indian societies have had their own social and political conflicts and due to the fortified social clusters and strong interdependency of almost all sectors of indian society, the states there had a though time enforcing unilateral authority which is something that had shaped Indian society to today and creates enough space for competition and rivalry. In China, conflicts mostly went around openenness and seclusion with dynasties changing these policies often over the course of centuries. China has experienced times of technological advance that was ahead of time of what other civilisations had achieved and that comes with the challenges of operating such a large society, military and government. Banning such spaces is usually a sign of paranoia and desire for stabilising a society, which seems paradoxical to making a large society manageable and may have contributed to the decline of these big states.
Honestly I disagree with Anatolia being part of 'arab' civilization in your deeply arguable civilization map of the world. Successful or not, Anatolia has always been tying itself into Europe way more than, say, Morocco. Similarly, I think that splitting the Caucasus like you did is just a little weird.
Well I'm pretty sur ehe put Arab civilisation there cos of Islam, which is heavily Arab, u have to read the Quran in Arabic the Islamic culture is Arabic, so that why even though anatolia is made of Turks culturally, but they are majority muslim and influenced by the arabs
Saying that it's purely dependent on modern history is sort of ridiculous. It's not like America stopped being part of the west because of Trump. Anatolia has a millennia-long history of interacting with Europe, from the ancient Greeks, through the Romans, to the Byzantines, through the Ottomans, and resulting in Ataturk. Erdogan being a manbaby won't change that.
Yeah tbh the whole framing of “the west” as a separate civilization is annoying because it basically means white. Throughout history civilizations have always interacted with each other and fought each other. The Germans often claimed to be racially superior to the French and so on- and for the Americans, how is a British colonized area more western than a Spanish colonized area? Both are overwhelmingly Christian and speak European languages
"Oceania... demographically insignificant"
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! He almost talked about us!
Lol
Lmao
I'd prefer they keep forgetting where we are. Less trouble that way.
Who are you guys again. :-)
god defend new zealand
“If the truth will kill them let them die” -Immanuel Kant
Well... we died
not so fast.
the west can find a new believe and everything can change.
also everyone on earth will go the way of the west, so the challenge is not only for us but all humankind.
@@MK-rw1on my hopes are in india and america remaining capitalistic and hoping india can climb out of poverty rapidly. i think the strength of our economic and military alliance with india will determine the course of this century perhaps more than any other single nation
@@immaculatesquid capitalism isnt the solution but the problem. the reason for so many people losing faith in the west is because capitalism makes everyone but a product and consumer, nothing more.
(and no socialism isnt the solution eithee but socialism never had the faith problem that the West has right now; maybe we need to copy that from socialism?)
@@MK-rw1on the word you're looking for is hedonism, not capitalism. I'll say "Free market oriented" for semantics because its got the word free in there.
@@immaculatesquid so you tell me the reason for people losing hope in their future is because they arent behaving right?
you dont know reality, the reason is that everyones standard of living isnt increasing even though the economy is growing and people are tired of that.
"Faith in our own ability to exist and do Good" Now that's a quote to live by.
To live and do so is noble.. I used to be (and still am to a small human degree) affected by not being talented enough to achieve fame and glory, but to receive that from ur family and friends in doing as good as u can, keeps the wheel of humanity greased, I’ve learnt that this specific noble outlook will always be the most important and rewarding
@@DonRoyalX "affected by not being talented enough to achieve fame and glory" who isn't? Most people will get their 15 minutes of fame doing something or another, what we do after that really tells us who we are. But whatever, keep greasing that wheel.
Here’s to hoping he makes some merch for it
It all depends on who defines the "do good" portion.
Existing and Doing Good.
1. You need and want things in order to exist.
2. Morality and Laws are good.
3. Someone else needs and wants things in order to exist.
4. Laws are compulsory and entail force.
5. Force is always bad unless legally permitted and morally justified.
6. Should you ever act immoral to survive?
7. Should morality be above your survival?
8. If it is impossible to be immoral than what choices was there to begin with?
9. If it is impossible to survive than what good is morality to you?
Person A: I want that land, give me it all.
Person B: I want it, let me have it all.
Person A: I was here first, first come first serve.
person B: I actually made better use of it, I improved it's quality.
Group A: Don't back down, it will show weakness, that will encourage him.
Group B: Don't be too aggressive it will start conflict, try and share the land, morally.
Person A: I can't back down now, I will not move from here.
Person B: Do you want to share the land? Let's settle this peacefully.
Person A: I have far greater force, and I can't afford to show weakness.
Person B: I think morality should decide who gets it, is it moral to use force or reasoning?
Person A: The greater force always wins? hm... I must always be the greater force else...
The end and they lived happily ever after.
What a wonderful breath of fresh air/truth, western civilization is so typically auto-flagellant and media is often so critical of ourselves when others do much worse, that's it's nice to finally have a take reminding us of the overwhelming positives of Western culture/civilisation.
Exactly we're the most humane civilization the world has ever known
Go bomb some weaker nations and encourage wars to sell your weapons...
@@rohankishibe8259 get gud scrub
Western culture is a modern idea. The west has been at war among themselves for longer than they’ve been a unified civilization
@@rohankishibe8259 That certainly is an unfortunate outgrowth of Corporatism, but in no way defines Western Civilization. Maybe MSNBC or CNN would be more to your liking.
“You’re not the only one cursed with knowledge.” -Thanos to the modern West
Lol
Over thinking can hurt, Learning too much too quick can hurt, moderation is key. It also seems that growing too much or success too fast too quick has down sides.
This is why Spengler called the West 'Faustian'
“. . . He who increases in knowledge increases in agony.” (Ecclesiastes 1:18)
I do appreciate this type of videos but I'm gonna be honest there's a lot of bias on many points. It's not really a problem but it does bother me on how things are presented. Will be waiting for the islamic world history with....interest
This channel is criminally underrated
Yeah
Yup
monarchy is underrated
@@mint8648 I think monarchy is a high risk high reward system
@@mint8648 if u have a great king you will be happy for decades. But it takes a few incompetent ones to destroy an empire
"Without a God to forgive them the guilt became intolerable..."
Expert take
There is, people just listen the accuser thinking hes God. The real one forgives when you really see that you have been wrong.
Nah deez euros are ani mals they don't feel guilt
This series might just end up being my favorite of yours
Same
Not a big fan of this video, but I'd like to see the rest of the series.
O zdarov Smetona
Ong
it just started tho lol
The redpill-per-sentence ratio in this video is staggering. I feel like I've been machine gunned with hot takes and hard truths that are obvious in hindsight. This needs x0.5 speed lmao
I am pretty far left myself, but I agree.I think self-criticism is one of the best values that the west posses, but there is a difference between self-criticism and self harm.
@@ReaXTutorials as a more conservative right wing person, I feel as no matter what values and morals you have this channel will pull everyone right or left more towards the center, and that’s a good thing.
@@timokho20 rainbow pill haha
as a centrist why are we talking about our political views on a video about history
@@carlrodalegrado4104 as a fellow centrist, it's because the right and the far left can only think about things in political context. Political stance runs their existence
This blows my mind. In school we were taught that all that we in the west hold dear is the result of a bunch of peaceful secular Italians during the renaissance taking an interest in ancient roman and greek civilization. You just showed that the west was created by the violent destroyers of Rome and the catholic church. Why isn't this taught in school?
True.
Although the renaissance remains the most important factor in the creation of modern west,the role of Catholic Church and the Germanist barbarian law system are critical factors that allowed the scularist renaissance to become as succesful as it was in the west instead of dying off like it did in Orthodox and Islamic world
Because its a better look to claim to be the decendant of ancient civilization rather than destroyer of ancient civilization
Cause your teachers were not of German origin with wrong perceptions of History.
@Luís Andrade it doesn't
Because he’s making an argument and supporting it with evidence.
History is less what’s “right” versus “wrong” than it is making interpretations based on evidence, and academics gravitating towards some ideas versus others.
I’m not a professional historian, but your school sounds like it was teaching Western civilization in a traditional manner. This TH-camr is making a different case. If his ideas makes sense to you or make you think, you should consider it and look more into the literature with his ideas in mind. His narrative might make more sense to you, or less, as you learn more. That’s practicing critical thinking, and is what the Humanities are all about.
Though I will note that you shouldn’t end your education at school. Public schools are heavily limited in resources and are inflexible thanks to being controlled by democratic institutions. If you feel like your science class has a creationist bias or slavery wasn’t that bad in American history, that’s probably thanks to elderly retired folks, religious evangelicals, and patriotic rednecks who use their political power to influence school boards or state education departments to promote certain curriculums while voting against increased taxes for school funding and might not even have kids anymore. That’s the nature of democracy, though.
Moral of the story: the west isn't perfect but westerners shouldn't give up and destroy the society just try and improve it bit by bit. As will work for your personal life too.
Improving society is exactly what the left tries to do yet rightoids claim we are destroying everything 🤦
@@KateeAngel in America yes I'd partly agree however the democrats would be seen as a centre/slightly right leaning party where I'm from. I also don't think hating "the other" is doing any good even if they are trumpist conspiracy theorist nut jobs. Maybe the conservatives are reminicing of a time where there was more unity in the west something this video touches on how that provided many good things but they are kinda off target why the good old times were so good.
@@KateeAngel The "left" and "right" are such nebulous terms today that I would advise you to please explain what you mean when you say these things.
@@KateeAngel destroying their own culture and allowing other countries and cultures to influence us.
@@KateeAngel Do you seriously think that burning cities and normalizing obesity are "helping society"?
People: Wait, you're telling me you think that the West is actually good?
Whatifalthist: Yes, and I'm tired of pretending that it isn't.
No no.
Everyone thinks that they are the good guys.
Over time, concepts change.
In the west the stability caused more tolerance, Deeming others as equal, also largely due to converting people to western civilisation.
Furthermore , the west believes in making the world a better place, as long as the best place is in the west.
And it is no lie that being dominant comes at the expense of others(psychologically more than anything).
Throughout history, other civilisations were the same.
I believe it doesn't change who is the dominant world power, as with stability comes tolerance
@@user-mw3uf3ku3k Don’t think Western government really helped Burma or majority of Africa being left to rotten
@@taejo4975 you can't do everything and be everywhere.
Also those places aren't considered the west so the west leaving them to 'rot' or what you would like to call it, isn't something the west would really care about.
@@WiseOwl_1408 What I meant is how they (Specifically Britian) literally took down entire Kingdom and Dynasty of Burma and forcefully remove the King and also merged other neighboring states who weren't part of the Kingdom into Burma creating internal chaos among the ethinicities who weren't willing to stay as one. Burma's problem today is caused by Westerners century ago, not this century
@@WiseOwl_1408 I'll just say, they simply started the problem and leave it with even more problems, they wouldn't even be needed to help today it weren't for Imperialism of Old West.
A couple of key takeaways I have from this video:
1. The Western world could be stable with another strong global actor: As I've understood, Western civilization seems to be stable when there's competition on a high enough level for people to essentially buy-in to their society. The US has been a standalone power since WW2, without competition it's left us in a hiatus long enough for people to be self-hating towards the society in which they live in. The only competition we can receive globally are from actors that can match our influence. In this case, the potential primary competitor could be China. In a sense, if Western civilization sees China as competition it might be able to get people to buy-in to their society. This should not result in xenophobic feelings towards China, it comes down to a perceived competition that can come from any large enough actor, Russia has seemed to fail in being adequate competition to the Western world. This also doesn't require there to be war, the benefit of modern life is the lack of war on a macro level. I do believe that there are opportunities for a society to thrive without going to war, and even without having to subjugate other parts of the world into perceived competition. In all honesty, it would be my last resort into the stability of Western society to even go this far as to see other global actors as competition, because it can be misconstrued into unhealthy feelings between humans (racism, ethnocentrism, xenophobia, etc.) and the outcomes would be horrendous.
2. Neoliberalism is destroying the Western world: Mentioned in the video, neoliberalism has been a way to severely undercut and put a society into shambles. Judging from it, it seems that the lack of competition within the United States has opened up a power vacuum that hasn't been opposed. A system of neoliberalism has been setup as a fundamental power grab. In this case, the relationship between the US government and large corporations is undeniable. Through neoliberalism, politicians and corporations have been able to provide economic benefits to themselves while the rest of society is set into struggles. The rising inequality from this scenario ties into civil dismay that becomes attributed to systems that aren't always the culprit. This ends up pitting people against each other so that they can't rise together against the neoliberal system holding them hostage. Now, I'm not saying this is what the video expressed, but it's what I believe in as it seems to be the case. When there's civil dismay at the level it's been in American society, people begin to question the efficacy of the society in which they live in. This creates a self-hating populace against their society, in this sense Western society.
It's so rare and refreshing in this modern era to hear someone speak positively of the west
West will be dead within next 50 years. Enjoy ut
@@haltdieklappe7972 The west will never fail !
@@WoodenInari thats what the arab said in the height of their civilization in 830 when they were sending mechanical marvels to european kings to troll them... in 1250 it fell and starting taking step backward, your civilization didnt become better or should i say dominant than others until the protistant reformation which was around 1520 now we are 2020 500 years of civilaztion like islam from 750-1250 if you keep the same pride that you will never fall like the arabs did you will fall
I think westerns trashing themselves is a product of a new moral system that values being oppressed. You can see this in every new movement taking place there where people try to find something to convince the society they are the true victims. As a result, people stop believing that west has a fair share of the good thing that happened in history because they weren't blessed with being oppressed.
@@haltdieklappe7972 the west will change, could be better or worse but never the same
As a Chinese person who now call Australia my new home and consider myself as being more Australian than Chinese, I would like to say that there are a lot to like about in the West. Western society is one of the most if not the most respectful towards people’s free will. Yes, the West did such horrible things to other cultures; however, so did almost all other civilisations and they don’t feel much guilt toward that, but we do.
🇺🇸🇬🇧🇪🇺🇨🇦🇦🇺🇳🇿
The west is the most individualistic of any civilisation on the planet
Congratulations on joining not just the ranks of Western civilization, but Anglo culture in particular! 🇺🇸🇨🇦🇬🇧🇦🇺🇳🇿
Based
I think it will be the migrants and a few westerners who defend the west. Migrants know how much worse things can be. You only really see that as a westerner if you live in other non western countries for a while. When I lived in Taiwan for 2 years I came to understand just how hard things can be. Not that Taiwan is a bad country at all, just that the fighter jets flying overhead every week either to ward off Chinese jets, or for war preparations always remind you that it could all be over in an instant.
Welcome to Australia my friend! I’m in Melbourne 😊
@@operandexpanse Thank you mate! From my experiences, many migrants are pretty patriotic toward the country that they migrated to. However, especially among East Asian migrants, we usually don’t tend to speck out loud our perspective. Cultures in East Asia often don’t encourage people to show opinions in front of others.
I wonder in a time when the left and right-wing are so divided in the West (especially in the USA), what common grounds do we still have as Australians? If we cannot find common grounds ourselves, then god/universe will show that to us! When god wants to teach us something, usually that would be through hardship, war, massive social decline and more, but we don’t have to go that way!
By the way, I live in Brisbane. 🌺
"Yes, the West did horrible things, but they're the only civilization which felt guilty and has tried to change" is such an interesting truth.
Edit: Reading this back 6 months later and it's misleading. No other civilization has done anything close to the scale of the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism. They should feel guilty. There is no excuse or special treatment here. As a matter of fact, the West has been very ignorant of change for the longest time and are still yet to apologise for slavery in some cases. It's a fallacy to make nationalists feel good about themselves and their history.
Edit 2: Alright, I see some people saying that "The Arab slave trade was just as bad" which is not really factual, but fuck it. Let's say it is. What does that matter? As if we don't condemn Arab countries enough in modern times. Did you all just forget about the entire 21st century so far? It doesn't fucking matter. You're merely shifting the blame to make yourself feel better. The fact that governments with no change in the constitution that have existed since before the abolishment of slavery haven't even apologised for it is bullshit.
@Mariana Trench Dolphin Much love! Let's hope one day our people will live with no hate toward each other!
@Mariana Trench Dolphin gotta love the brotherhood in the comment section.
@@Luca-nu2zg indeed. People in the west think we hate you because you were so cruel.
No. We hate you out of envy for why we weren't the people on top.
And trust me. Soon the west will decline or collapse, then a ruthless civilisation will take its place which will lead to brutal stuff, and if they are in power long enough, they will feel shitty about themselves(lose face) and try to change themselves.
An endless and beautiful cycle.
Not quite there is a exception turks it is not horrible (excep some events) Neither colinize or colinized balkans hate but balkans is a clusterfuck as defult state and West does a Hard propaganda on turks like there was a terrorist a drug dealer turks arrest him for that and he Got away they called him kurd and the same Guy does same shit in germany Got arrestet and punished and he became turk hipocrosy of chatolic chuch is on the blood of West know that
Well, for nations trying to resist Western hegemony, past civilizations and governments resisting the West becomes something to rally around, making criticism of those past civilizations and governments much more difficult
You can see that in less native nations who were formerly oppressed or hated the Incas, becoming nostalgic for Incan rule after the Spanish takeover, and now much of Inca culture has become a symbol for people through much of Latin America as symbols of indigenous pride, and resistance against the West and colonialism, when their distant ancestors might have been oppressed by the Incas or despised the Incas.
A middle income trap future video maybe? With Africa growing, Latin America developing and Eastern Europe finishing developing would make 4 a relevant subject
YES, we want this!
Don't worry Eastern Europe still has a long way to go
@S E P thought the same but for East Europe since I live in the Balkans we have a long time but if we are talking about Catholic East Europe then ok but the Orthodox part has long way to go
@S E P well obviously when the U.S. threatens or kills any Latin American leader who tries to make his country better
Latin American cannot developed with an elite who is a client of the US (and the US being the guard of this corrupt elite)
+bad educational institutions
+ an elite who comes from old Spanish nobility.
+ Bad geography (or the good places being to far away of the global financial and industrial centers)
“Peace has cost you your strength, victory has defeated you” -Bane, The Dark Knight Rises
Correct
Thats why I hope China becomes a superpower, that challenges the West. But then again it is a brutal dictatorship.
@@MrMakabar No
@Billy Bob wait they do all that and far more
@Billy Bob By the time they do that I think it will be too late.
I like this channel so much because it helps rid me of my biases towards other civilizations. I genuinely like the west now.
yes
Me too. Makes me see the good and bad of various civilizations.
America: A Strange Empire sounds like a fun book.
I'd buy it and leave it on my shelf for a while
Ikr
Peter Zeihan pretty much wrote it, called America: the Accidental Superpower
@@EPICoutcast24 Yes, much of the non alt-history content on this guy's channel comes from Zeihan's writing.
R3GARnator Ah hah knew some of this sounded familiar. Alt-hist Got his own good insights on culture though, lack of unified belief isn’t really talked about by the geopolitical crowd
"Im starting a dating app... for matching people who are between 3rd and 10th cousins called COZ'N."
Gee what about 11th cousins?
Doesn't Iceland pretty much have that?
Gross
9:09 I just wanted people to easily be able to see that.
@@smorrow Iceland has an app to prevent that because it has very small population (300 000) which makes accidental consanguinity much more probable
@@RyanRediger66 it may be gross, but 3rd cousins are the ones that most species find the most attractive. it is also far enough that you probably do not know who your 3rd cousins are. do you even know who your great great grandmother is? that is who you are both related to
I think a video about what effects space colonization will have in our future would be interesting. A collaboration with Scott Manley or Issac Arthur would be very interesting since both know lots about space.
Space Colonization?
Probably should ask about *Ocean* Colonization first, deep ocean Aquaculture and mining are much closer to economic feasibility, and the economic, technological, and societal baseline for it already exists (oil industry, aquaculture industry, tourism/cruise ship industry.)
lol we are never going to colonize space for a long time, def not in our lifetimes or century for sure. That is if modern society doesn't collapse into a 2nd Dark Ages/kill it self via climate change or nuclear war.
@@quinnjohnson9750 I think you might be mistaken. I'm almost certain we will return to the Moon and go to Mars before the decade is over. However we will definitely have to wait further into this century to see meaningful growth in space colonization tho. I think this could have profound impacts obviously on current superpowers along with many other things that are almost impossible to predict but nevertheless fun.
IN Space Colonization we are in the "Exploration stage" and not the "Conquer and settle everything stage" which we won't reach for another 3 centuries
@@jackhutchison9021 I personally think that the obsession with mars is doing more harm than good because it is making us ignore the easiest place to colonize in the solar system - venus's atmosphere. The gravity is almost the same, if the Settlement will be filled with air (which of course it will be) it will float like a helium balloon does on earth at a height where temperature is very manageable and atmospheric pressure wont be a problem in such a settlement.
Once a civilization realizes it got to the top merely due Darwinian selection favoring it, it can go down two possible paths: either the one described in this video or decide to unapologetically do everything in its power to remain in first place because it knows falling from the podium could kill it.
Get cracking on that Imperium of Man 30,000 years early, eh?
@@MachineMan-mj4gj Lets just hope that kind of monster is never necessary.
@@MachineMan-mj4gj Washington for emporer of mankind you won't find a better leader in history
@@MachineMan-mj4gj looool I think of warhammer 40k so often while listening to these videos
well the issue is that basically all of Europe just wants to lay down and cry especially the most militaristic factions (Russia and Germany)
Wow best upload yet. Spot on with your evaluation of western decline at the end.
As a Latin American it feels weird to be excluded from the West. Like being the illegitimate child of a deadbeat father. It is a good reminder of how the West looks at us, even though we inherited a big part of our culture and all of the institutions from its southern countries.
Its probably mostly because people who preach about the greatness of "western civilization" dont actually care about its history but just use western civilization as a proxy for white people.
I think the best way to think about it is a phenotype type tree with different branches so I guess Latin American is just a little divergent off the "west". I don't know this pretty is arbitrary and stupid.
I'll try to create a "Western" root tree. Sumerian or proto-Sumerian and Egyptian -> Minoian-> Mycenean + a little Hittite -> Classical civilization group (Hellenistic -> Latin + a little Cannanite) -> Germanic civilization group -> Latin Catholicism-> Anglo/American "West". I guess Latin America diverges right before major Anglo influence. Again this is pretty stupid and their are hundreds of little influences that are a part of the makeup of every culture/civilization as our cultures didn't live in timeless, isolated snow globes.
@@thumuslol You do know that most of South America is White, right?
your free from the pitfalls and hangups of it. embrace it and become a rival.
@@qlder0284 what??? There's probably more black people than white people in south America
I kind of agree with the conclusion.
Since the end of the Cold War, nobody in Europe really seems to have any plan what society should strive for to improve itself.
More green energy and keeping the far right in check are the only items of the agenda, but those are very nebulous goals and only aims to contain damage rather than being constructive. More equality is a commonly proclaimed goal, but we don't really see that making any impact in elections.
How’s this for an end goal:
Get annexed by the American Empire.
I think this is a nice middle ground between your geopolitics and history videos.
22:14 correction*
Spanish as a native language is more widely spoken than English and portuguese is well above russian.
I understand your bias regarding the "anglophone sphere" and I actually agree in Britain being decisive in the development of the western society, but not all the wealth of the west comes from the Germanic areas of Europe.
I have watched almost all of your videos and I find them quite interesting. You have good reasoning and most of the alternative scenarios seem feasible. However, I feel sometimes you are heavily influenced by your roots (which is understandable).
American success is, in part, due to the lack of preexisting civilizations (advanced ones) found in that part of North America. Basically, after having killed a bunch of tribes (I'm not blaming anyone but that's just facts) there was almost nothing left that prevented british culture and civilization from expanding. The same happened in all of the successful ex-british colonies. Only the ones with a large european majority thrived. And obviously that doesn't mean that the system wasn't favorable for growth, or that effort wasn't put into development. But it's important to notice that no british colony without a large european majority is now rich (maybe Singapore? or Hong Kong ? but they had a special status and they are tiny).
As I said It's normal to be proud of your culture and roots but I think you should try to avoid prejudices.
Anyways great video, as always.
Keep up the good work!
You are correct, he is like well west came to India and Africa just for fun or philanthropy not for money, as they were already rich.... duh...... kuch bhi
Absolutely
It says "In the West and Europe", so the Spanish and Portuguese speaking South Americans aren't included. It's debatable whether Russian should be included either, but it's not my video :) Although without checking, I do suspect that if you include natively Spanish-speaking Americans with the population of Spain, Spanish would definitely be fairly high on that list.
@@fanbuoy9234 you got a point. But if he's talking about native speakers only in western countries, as you said, russian shouldn't be included because for him russia is a part of the "orthodox world".
(Just for you to know, native Spanish speakers are 450 million worldwide)
I would argue that it’s a bit more complicated than that.
In Mesosmerica and South America, the Spanish came in and decapitated (sometimes literally) the local elites, and then installed themselves at the top of existing hierarchies (turning Tenochitlan and Cusco into administrative centers of the empire, for example), and used vast amounts of indigenous labor in an extractive economic model built on peonship, caste and aristocratic nepotism.
By contrast, the English landed in North America and didn’t have any existing civilizations to decapitate and take over. Indeed, compared to an encomienda down in Latin America, settling North America sucked. Just look at Jamestown. English and French colonists frequently ran off to join the Indians (this is probably what happened to Roanoke), so the societies in North America had to incentivize people to not do that and have an investment in their colonial societies. Things like property rights, derived from Anglo-Germanic tradition, were pretty nifty at accomplishing this. In lieu of just putting Indians to work, co-opting local hierarchies and using local infrastructure, the English had to pay people to work, establish competent governments and build from scratch, spurring innovation.
I would also argue that the reason Alta California filled with Americans instead of Spaniards had everything to do with property rights. People raced out west to homestead, were able to carry firearms, and generally speaking were better able to act independently, dynamically on the frontier. Spain, meanwhile, scarcely cared about much beyond Mexico’s Central Valley. Spanish settlers heading north were less well-armed against the local horse nomads (who, unlike the Aztecs, weren’t a sedentary people that the Spanish could reliably decapitate), and more dependent on Spanish troops, which made settling the area expensive. By the time New Spain became Mexico, the Spanish had permitted so little of substance to happen there that there was no way the Mexicans could have held Alta California.
Spanish America was a Roman Empire, whereas English America was more similar to the Germanic chiefdoms. Spain played on easy mode, England played on hard mode.
>be latin american
>see the thumb
>crying already
A mí me ofende más el contenido
@@biomuseum6645 que diabo de língua é essa?
@@th3omachos español amigo
In North America, Western Europe, Australia and NZ, Western Civilisation means regions that:
1) Have a Majority White Population;
2) Are Traditionally Catholic or Protestant;
3) Have Rule of Law, Democracy, Secularism & Industrialised High Income Economies.
Therefore, Latin America is not a part of the West.
Edit: that's what's broadly regarded as the West, not my opinion, fellow Latin Americans. My definition of "western civilisation" groups together The West Proper, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Orthodox Europe as sister civilisations, under the umbrella term "Greater West".
I don't say this to belittle you but you guys are not a part of western civ, you just speak spanish. Ypu're institutions were created by the spanish crown for making subservient colonies, and while you seceded from spain, all of you have inherited those same instituions and maintain them to some degree to this day.
Great video, can’t wait for “How Western Civilization Collapsed” if there is still a TH-cam
...they say as they LITERALLY watch this in comfort...
When its majority population is not ethnically European .
were capitalism , consumerism and individualism has destroyed every fabric of society and replaced it with hedonistic degeneracy
I think it will stagnate rather than collapse. The internal competition between distinct classes that led to its rapid growth has an apparent victor called the managerial class (these being the people who rotate between corporate boards and government advisory committees like clockwork), who will probably rule like the Chinese bureaucrats of medieval times once the effective homogenisation of large corporations and government is complete.
I blame the dispersal of ownership among shareholders (many of which are pension funds & the like) and state meddling in the economy which tends to benefit the companies which lobby them. The former makes the job of executives more like that of bureaucrats, because they answer to a large community of stakeholders rather than to a single owner, and the latter makes it necessary to be intimately involved with actual bureaucracy. Much of modern leftism is just the corporate idea of stakeholder appeasement applied to relations between people groups.
@Let's Travel If pronouns bring down Western Civilization, it was pretty worthless to begin with.
@@ingold1470 That implies that modern leftism continues dominant. Which seems kind of unlikely- not really want to be a Trumpet here, but 2020 was only barely won by having the entire elite class and populist left unite against the least popular president in decades (at least on paper). Which is not a stable alliance, which is why there is almost desperation to implement the policies to ensure they stay in power as soon as possible (HR-1, Multi-Billion dollar stimuluses with flimsy justifications, etc.)
The ‘Merkelite’ EU is only lasting as long as Merkel remains in power. Without her, the EU in its current state is doomed. Mainly because no one can really replace her.
The current ‘West’ basically doesn’t have a leader anymore, or really a stable dominant ideological faction.
The most likely scenario is a brutal ideological civil war a la Spain 1938.
I love how the map shows most of Canada to be on par with the Amazon.
On the subject of canada and the amazon: the northernmost point of Brazil is closer to Canada than it is to the southernmost point of Brazil.
Most of Canada's land is only slightly more habitable than the Amazon. The majority of the population lives less than 2 hours from the US border if I'm not mistaken
@@marinuswillett6147 Canada also never subsidized the colonization of the less habitable parts of the country as much as say, Russia, as well. Also, there’s not enough people to colonize those areas.
The Peace River region is relatively habitable (farming is barely possible, resources are abundant, temperatures are cold but not too extreme), but is practically empty.
Have you been up into the Shield?
Beautiful scenery, but scattered patches of thin soil over granite is useless for farming, and with lakes, rivers, ridgelines, and cliffs every 500m, building infrastructure is a massive headache. Build whatever communities you need to utilize available resources (whether mineral, timber, hydroelectricity, or even tourism), then ship them to someplace that can support civilization. Turn the rest into parkland.
The Shield is arguably worse than the Amazon, because you can, with effort, clear a patch of the Amazon, de-acidify the soil, and be left with useful farmland. Cut down the trees and drain the lakes in the Shield, and all you are left with is barren stone.
Well Canada & Russia climate is improving with global warming.
Latin America should be considered part of Western Civilization on your map. It is majority Christian, speaks Romance languages (descendants of Latin, the language of Rome, the co-cradle of the West), and it has republican governments modeled on enlightenment ideas (at least in theory). Every Western country and sub-region is different.
But latin America is atheist lol
@@Romaboo453 The Czech Republic, Netherlands, and Estonia are the most atheist countries in the world. Should they not be considered Western?
Latin American cultures have influences from Native American and African traditions that differentiate them from the West.
@@AP3x6917 Well, the US, especially the American South, has African influence too. Argentina and Uruguay are 80-90-% white, more whiter than Anglo-America. Latin America may have a combination of Native, European, and African cultures, but their governmental and legal systems, and religion, are all Western. Why should fellow Romance-speaking traditionally Catholic countries be excluded from the West?
@@AP3x6917 estados unidos también, y Australia, y aún así los considera occidente. Y no Todos los países de América latina son iguales pero la forma de ver el mundo, su filosofía, las leyes y sus instituciones son más occidentales.
This channel shows how real development takes place. Starting from what would happen if Hitler died as a kid to answering real questions people need to know about so they can think, decide, and live better.
When Whatifalthist posts, you gotta press like before watching and grab snacks
Just got a pizza for this
Massive Sicilian pasta right here boys. Middle of cooking when this showed up 🤟
I actually like to listen to his videos while working on animation
Like when Isaac Arthur posts ?
lol only a few youtubers make me feel that way
One reason I watch this channel is becouse its like a lot of books being summarized. Its allways hard to study history this way.
I am SO geeked about the civ series you're working on. Your videos give me the peace of mind of feeling like I can look ahead using some lessons from the past.
I discovered your channel just 2 days ago and I watch almost your 20 videos including this one you doing great job watching from India
I am not from India but I am in a similar position lol although I already know this channel for years now I watch his videos several times over
@@El-s same
@@El-s 😃😃
lol i did the same when i found out his channel a few weeks ago
What's your opinion on the topic ?
well said, hitting all the important points of western civilization in under 30 minutes is very impressive, looking forward to the next civilizational analysis
Good to know that you’re named after my favourite English poet
The fact we can realize and complain about about our past mistakes is the proof we got something right. And the fact I'm not the only one who realized that is, well, a big relief.
Hands down the most amazing youtube video I've ever seen. This channel is pure gold.
Let's just make the world a better place, that's what history is for.
This is a question i’ve wondered for a long time and I always felt the guns, germs, and steel explanation was weak. Really painted a great picture of what you were explaining in this video. Favorite history channel by far with a straightforward explanation without ignoring questions that viewers would likely have.
That was an incredible video, you should definitely write a book about the west and it’s history.
The GOLDEN HORDE - now that was a cool name.
IRL they called it the Uluğ Ulus, or Greate State-with two wings, the Blue Horde (Gök Ordu) and White Horde (Aq Ordu)
Funnily enough it was a Turkic state that ruled Russia for about 2 centuries, but they tolerated their Orthodox religion and allowed for the disparate duchies to unite.
@@cursedwanderer1753 They did not allow that, and even though they didn't completely ban Orthodox Christianity, they still brutally burnt all the churches every other time they invaded the Slavic lands.
As most huge emrpires, the Golden Horde was becoming less cautious with time, and so around the end of the 1300's the Great Prince of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy started the process of uniting the Russian principalities into one and openly opposing the Horde. It wasn't a quick process but eventually a single Russian state formed and was strong enough to defeat the Horde, which by that point was a mess of an empire.
"The US is a strange and reluctant empire, commonly altering from blowing up it's opponents to forgetting they exist..."
As an American, "wtf is Grenada? You sure it's not spelled grenade?"
Of course uploaded durring a DENTIST APOINTMENT cant wait to actually watch this and hey its not while Im in class.
Bro the ending; I like the idea of having faith in our ability to do good.
"Civlization Profile" might be a good name for this series.
Having something that tells us to be more than what we think we are, faith to be better and moral and good actors on a world stage, is the defining feature of the west.
There was a question on Quora once, going something like: "Why is Europe so abundant with medieval castles, towers, forts, temples and other structures, while China has so few?"
Europe had capitalism before it even knew it. Capitalism was discovered, and then embraced, it was not created. It's a system of evolution through natural selection. A system of COMPETITION.
When you have a 100 small kingdoms competing in every way, like corporations do, and within them different governments, churches and classes competing as well. There's far more progress than in a centralized empire.
Every historian knows that the Roman empire was technologically stagnant for most of its history, while the middle ages were a constant progress.
Capitalism is the main reason for western greatness. It's not debatable, what's debatable is whether capitalism is a symptom of something else about western Europeans. I don't know. Like, why were they so divided and competitive? Why did kings have to make agreements with every peasant and his mom, instead of just oppressing them? Why so much egalitarian confidence among the peasants, to rebel against the God- chosen kings?
I agree when you say the Roman's and Greeks were not "western" civilization. If they were around today we would see those countries the same way many westerners see current south Korean or Japanese societies: they have many western elements but the core is distinct.
Your entire culture is based on greco roman culture even your english flag comes from italy british national anthem comes from france most of classical style buildings are greco roman you have no food culture or anyhting without greco roman culture
@@samschlossberg476 well yeah, no culture can exist without its predecessor. Doesn't mean they aren't distinct.
@@samschlossberg476 lol, like people from celtic or germanic have no brain. The whole iron work that the roman are known for comes from hellstat (austria) and the germans had gothic art and nobilities of ALL Europe that existed from prehistory To Xx century, or even today for some. There has been more technological and art progress during Ancient Regime than Antiquity
@@samschlossberg476
You are correct that western civilization is influenced by Greco-Roman traditions, but you seem to forget that civilizations evolve over time and sometimes that changes a civilation so much that to call it "Greco-Roman" would be incorrect.
If anything (and forgive me if this does sound racist or whatever) western civilation is a product of Germanic tribes hijacking and reconstructing the old Greco-Roman civilizations under a Germanic cultural lens. For example, Calculus was invented by two Germanic folks, Leibniz and Newton, independent of each other (mostly, but that's another topic) at the same time. Though many concepts of calculus existed in some form before those two mathematics was roughly stagnant since the days of the islamic golden era. The Normans who invaded England were themselves germanic immigrants from the North, hence the name "Norman". The most successful countries in Europe today (in terms of GDP, innovation, and crime) are generally the ones with the least Latin influence. Ireland, Denmark, and Finland are testaments to that. If anything, Latin influence holds countries back. Compare the state of Italian colonies (Somalia, Libya) to Dutch colonies (South Africa, Indonesia). It becomes apparent that Roman influence is not all that its cracked up to be.
@@samschlossberg476 This like saying the modern Islamic civ is Sumerian.
Makes sense, now that we’ve reached such a high point, internal competition is gone, external threats are minimal, and so western civilization declines relative to the rest of the world. Great video
I don't think that's true, thanks to the Wests existence, we know maintaining a civilization past 200 years is possible, there's no reason to assume the west can fall.
Most likely everyone else has a figurehead to reach up to and compete with now.
This probably means our next bout of real territorial, intellectual and financial competition will start when space travel is feasible
Honestly my favourite so far. I like that whatifalthist can unapologetically look at the factors that made Western civilisation so dominant for the last 400 years or so without engaging in the self-flagellating of many contemporary historians. I'm here to learn, and I like to learn from sources that don't get shoved through the hegemonic meat grinder of postcolonialism as well.
The auto-flagellation is probably western society’s greatest curse and greatest blessing. Without self-reflection, moral and social growth can’t occur, but with too much guilt, stagnation is bound to happen. I’m a very left-leaning person, and I’m white, but the concept of “white guilt” is hysterical to me. None of the folks in my generation were alive when slavery, colonization or even segregation were around, so it’s nonsense to feel ashamed of what you yourself had no hand in. Furthermore, feeling “guilt” or “shame” accomplishes nothing; you’re not making any strides towards economic parity, or advancing socioeconomic mobility, by feeling guilty. The ancestors of slaves or indigenous peoples can’t trade your guilt in for gold. It’s almost another form of self-centeredness, another example of people making a topic they have no personal involvement to about themselves, because it affects “how they feel.” It also boggles my mind how some of these Twitter brained hyperleftists blind themselves into recognizing only Western Imperialism or despotism, while applauding the same behavior in Eastern societies (Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or China’s 1B1R initiative). It’s important to be honest about one’s history and one’s society, but we can only control our own small slice of the present, in hopes of making a better future. Look to the past for knowledge of how to be better in the future, not how to feel worse about the past.
I'm fairly new to the channel but I must say it's incredibly impressive. I'm just finishing my undergraduate degree in modern history and International Relations, and videos like these feel like four years of teaching blitzed into a half hour lecture (in a good way!). Keep it up, whatif
This is an amazing documentary. There are so many parts where you can pause the video, read the caption, and just think about it all piecing together. Keep up the good work
One could argue the southern cone of South America, particularly Chile, Uruguay, and Sao Paulo are just as "western" as any other "western" nation. The same could be argued for Israel, if you're including the Cape region of South Africa you should probably include Israel. Also, even though you can't get much further east than this, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan are all decidedly more "western" oriented than their other east asian counterparts in their use of democracy and civil liberties.
Western doesn't mean "rich" it just means that the civilization was built upon the basis shown in the video.
@@yko_7313 in Japan’s case, we literally burnt their civilization down in atomic hellfire and MacArthur rewrote their legal system based on the American constitution. That’s why japan is often considered western and their civilization becomes more and more aligned with the west every day.
@@artruisjoew5473 Plus they industrialized and became a colonial nation which subjected their colonies to brutality on par with and sometimes exceeding the most brutal European colonial powers. Lingering resentment from their neighbours after that also ties them to the west
@@yko_7313 well, so are most of the world’s countries. Do you think there is some ancient way of government or culture that permeated into modern day Nicaragua (I don’t know? Just example) , more so than in the US?
All Latin America is western
What if Tang continued their expansion into Central Asia after the Battle of Talas (None of the rebellions that followed after that crippled the dynasty).
What if Viking expansion took them all the way to West Africa, establishing trade routes btw West Africa and Europe through the Atlantic by 1000 AD.
What if Portugal and Ethiopia allied to destroy Mecca and what if the Ottomans conquered Rome.
Tang: Same as history, Too far to their core lands, too near to the abasid lands.
Portugal: They made a landing in Morocco and was a total disaster.
The Viking one seems really interesting.
Even if the Tang were able to survive the Abbasids later local revolts and pressure from North-Eastern regions of Iran would have caused it to collapse. As for sinicization of the Central Asian peoples, Chinese influences would have certainly been swept aside by Iranian ones.
@@dogeofgreatness2222 Why would it the swept away by Iranian Influence? Central Asia was Turkic and Chinese influence had been entrenched as far as the Tarim Basin and Tang China held an amount of Turkic influence which is what allowed them in the first place to conquer the steppe and will allow their influence to more readily penetrate Turks.
@@adamnesico So the Abbasids were Based in Iraq and China in Northern China so I would argue that they are both about equally distant from Central Asia, which is part of the reason neither directly controlled it, but China had the resources and man power to garrison places in Central Asia while the Abbasids didn't.
@@ikengaspirit3063 Not so equal, by that year abasid control or Iran was firm, so that amkes a shorter distance.
Yes, and history showed how prone to revolt were those far chinese garrisons.
“Far less sexy” Don’t worry you make everything look good!
Honestly, I think that your channel is the best that is available on TH-cam, along with my other favourite channel, Perun.
Your content is fast-paced and research based, intelligent and intuitive, logical and widely encompassing, whilst being willing to admit error and seemingly open to adjustment and change if a better argument comes along.
High praise to you man.
This channel needs far more recognition
far less this video sucks
@@buckystanton9139 Everyone's entitled to their own opinion.
@@buckystanton9139 Why because you don't like what he says because it doesn't aline to you World views ore what
@@praisethesun.praisedeussol6051 because what he says is a very particular narrative that does absolutely nothing to challenge any preconceptions of Western supremacy. There is literally no ambiguity in this video, he is treating the world, it's meaning and all in between as a game of Civilization. That's not how the real world worked out. One example, he says that the West's nation-state parliamentary system was copied by other nations. Simply LOL. 1) It was copied that same way that developing nations copy capitalist practices: via competition. When you have a group of people who have created a value-form that can create the socio-economic ideology for a global economy, you don't really have a choice it's either extract your own country or theyll come do it to you. 2) "Copying" in many cases was done specifically to remain within the boundaries of the colonial/imperial power - it's easier to become independent if you mimic the colonial power structure that way you don't have to create a new society from the ground up AND the colonial/imperial power can be 'interwoven" in particular ways that make decolonization possible 3) Again competition: You have to be a nation-state to survive in regional and global geopolitical government dominated by nation-states. Japan, and many other Asian countries, had to have like DIRECT civil war's/aristocratic disputes about this; do we resist the West with their tools or do we become like China? And this is not even TOUCHING the ideas about Germanic council democracy that are straight up white supremacist propaganda. Also the idea that the west won in a video in 2021 is a joke. How is "two catatrophic global wars, impending climate doom, hugely exploitative global economy that has rapidly turned the entire planet into a fucking social and economic hellscape and most depressed people on the planet" = an unbridled victory? It isn't. This video makes almost all its arguments not in it's content nor evidence but in how it frames those videos. Very few professional historians would certify any part of this knowledge. That's okay since "truth" is a very nebulous thing and many cultures in the world have ideas, scientific and historical, that are not "accurate" under certain views. So to judge the framing its best to ask, not if this is truth, but what is this "truth" trying to accomplish? It's very clearly trying to accomplish what Western historiography until 1940-60's was; the re substantiation of the West as an inherently superior civilizational mode based on economic reductionism. Again, this is not to attack the author in an undue manner, I would gladly sit and talk with the author on any and all points without preparation. I just think that if most people in society who are "history" people come and watch these videos, they are getting basically the narrative from 50-80 years ago - not what historians have been innovating for decades namely in the history of science, technology, global history, transnational history etc. Their "rise" of the West is a much more interesting story than the one told here.
More recognition = greater probability of being deplatformed
I like it the way it is. 🤷♂️
Okay. I'm not a historian, so pardon me if I'm ignoring some important detail about this. But I'm a latin american and I get a bit annoyed by the notion that we are not part of western civilization. Like, what's the fundamental difference between the british empire going to the US, killing the natives, bringing slaves and building a colony, and the portuguese empire going to Brazil and doing the fucking same thing? Why are Canada and US part of the west and latin america not? Because we have a bit more of african/native america influence? Because our governments are less effective and our countries poorer? I dunno. Souds a lot like xenophobia to me. (I'm not calling Whatifalthist a xenophobe, ffs. I'm just commenting that this separation might be unconciouslly rooted in this kind of idea). But dammnit, even French Guiana is called "not a part of the west" and it's a *fucking french state* lmao
Its probably just to make a video on its.
He should explain the colonisation bit more in depth. Like how does a country not get rich by robbing another.
@@lukefarrelly724 this one I kinda get. It's mainly due to the "platinum meteorite paradox", as I like to call it. If a country managed to mine, let's say, a 10 km meteorite made fully of platinum, it would be the richest country in the world for like, two seconds, bc the market would have a platinum overflow and the value of the ore would inflate to the point of worthlesness. But, if instead of mining the whole meteorite, you estabilished an chemical industry on it (platinum is a great catalist for several chemical reactions), you would make a lot of money without hiperinflation. Portugal and Spain did the first option; England and Germany, the second.
I think he covers it in more detail in his video on the Spanish Empire. If I remember well (and I suggest you check it afterwards) he pointed out that while in western Europe peaceful transfers of powers are the norm, Latin America was riddled with coups. In this video, he says one part of Europe's success is due to its mixed government, while in another video and on live streams he said Latin America was often controlled by one group and if this group was overthrown then the overthrower would replace them(he used the example of a Bolivian civil war). Moreover, here he talks about the idea of in his first video on historical misconceptions he says that in America class difference doesn't impact the way people talk to each other (or something around those lines) linked to this individualism and used as a counterexample Mexico.
I don't really have an opinion on the subject and just try my best to rephrase some of his arguments.
@@lukefarrelly724 I think the point was that Europe was already wealthy when it started colonizing and colonization though it made Europe richer in some cases (for instance the America's and India), it didn't result in industrialisation and cannot alone explain the gap in wealth between Europe and Africa which explainable with other arguments.
"so... when does CUZ'N launch?" -hapburg probably
I've got to be honest I don't have a clever remark but just want to give a big thanks to Rudyard for continuing to keep us entertained and educated :)
His name is Rudyard?
@@marinuswillett6147 Yes.
How about a video of the Three Kingdoms Era in China? Like what if Cao Cao United China? Or Liu Bei/Sun Quan?
The idea that Germanic tribesman and their councils are at the heart of Western democracy is also the central thesis of Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson's "The Narrow Corridor". I would recommend reading up on it if you are interested.
I don't know, man. Feels like a super windy road to try and tie white civilisations together under a single banner. There's so much political, ethical and historical diversity between the people you describe that any overarching definition is very after-the-fact classification. For most of history, these nations have been at war and seen each other as entirely separate. I guess "the west" could be used to describe neo-liberal capitalist nations that sided with the US in the Cold War, but even that feels like an over-generalisation
Hes got some weird back and forth with his views of history being on the mark and seeming to be going way off. I could say the west is related to a collection of civilizational ideas from the cradles of civilization that then went on to encompass various pagan faiths and Christianity, greek philosophy, and the cultural beliefs of many tribes which surrounded the Mediterranean societies.
It feels like a real mess to figure out at times.
Hey Mr. Whatifalthist, could you do a video about what if Spain never united?
You should read "dead aid: why aid is not working and how there is a better way for africa" by dambisa moyo.
Probably not mutch tbf , the first Castilian colonies and the discovery of the new world happened years before the formation / unification of Spain in 1516 , just expect a the exact same but with a slightly weaker Castile instead of Spain
and tbf Castile would of probably attempted multiple invasions of Aragon once they became very powerful through their new world colonies , and probably would succeed , there would probably be no significant difference Almost at all
Here are some points where it changes history :
The first one would that only Aragon would face France in the Italian wars for main influence over Italy. France would win in this timeline, I'm not sure what would be the implications.
Second one I can think of is that Aragon would side against the Habsburg in the thirty years war which would lead to a victory for the anti-Habsburg league instead of the peace of Westphalia.
Interestingly it almost surely would not prevent the formation of the Spanish empire since that was done entirely by Castille.
Assuming Portuguese/Castille/Aragon keep their borders until the modern day (highly unlikely) it would basically be like dividing Spain I'm two with Aragon having generally better conditions of living since it had a much healthier economy than Castille.
1:55
The way you defined yourself in comparison to Mediterranean cultures was so fucking cool, and like you, I also live in a colony.
Both of my parents have had ancestors here in Australia since the first fleet in 1788 so we're truly Australian now
My father was a middle class protestant of mostly Scottish ancestry who also wore lots of tartan (in the form of flannelette shirts, but also out of fondness for his Scottish heritage) and it's actually fascinating that you mention that. He was one of 5 children, with one instance of infant mortality.
My mother is a Catholic of lower-middle class upbringing of predominantly Irish ancestry, she was also one of 5 children.
I am the firstborn of 2, raised as a Roman Catholic but identify as some sort of Agnostic with a great respect for Christian values. According to ancestry DNA I'm Irish, English & Norman, Scottish and Welsh in descending order.
It's so cool how culture evolves, I have a Canadian friend I met in France and her and I always talk about cultural differences and similarities. Considering the fact that we're both influenced by American culture to a varying degree as well as English considering we're both in the commonwealth. Trudeau, Bojo and Scomo need to get CANZUK happening, New Zealand trippin tho they too close w china...
World history AKA Western Dudes conquering everything and then inventing your dreams:
Well only after the 15th century
Well, most civilizations expanded through brutal conquests. We are just one of the first that feels really bad about it as a culture, which others do their best to take advantage of.
@@Plainsburner ye know come to think of it, i wonder if that sense of Self Guilt, prevalent in current Western civilizations, permeates to other cultures/civilization aswell, since the advent globalization, technology,the "West" being the world hegemon for quite a while, etc.
@@oaples8790 You can see other cultures adopting it to varying degrees, though it hasn't infected through like it has for us, they have a lot more social unity to combat it. You do see other cultures purposefully taking advantage of it however, the biggest offenders being the Islamic world and the Chinese communist party.
@@oaples8790 Its kinda allready is in some set places like Rwanda as a exsample.
When whatifallthist drop you have no choice but to watch. Man only drops bangers 🔥
HTTR baby
redskins forever
"Orthodox" civilization is the actual heir to the Greco-Roman legacy in terms of direct lineage; the Byzantine-era Roman Empire was just Classical civilization in its final stage and the Slavs took that over in a similar fashion to the Germanics in the West.
As a member of it I can assure you that it really does have too much in common.
Bang-on.
Whatifalthist also seems to ignore Justinian's marriage law & Basil I's Basilika law code which delves in depth on women's rights.
It's also worth noting Byzantium's social structure which was not as rigid as the video presents it. It was a loose system possessing a substantial middle class.
I also don't believe the Western conception of individualism actually originated in western Europe.
@King of kings part of the West and still politically descended from Germanic kingdoms; they are the most Roman in terms of language and some customs, but actual society was subsumed into the Germanic feudal model; the idea of Spain as a country begins with the Visigoths and Italy with Odoacer.
The Romans were the ones keeping white Europeans down the whole time. I don't understand why we idolize them.
I feel like an essay like this has been overdue for a LONG time. Thank you so much for this extra insight, and I hope we can see deeper analyses in the future, not just from this channel but from others too.
I think Whatifalthist is destined to one day publish a book about this kind of thing.
The key link from Antiquity to the West is the Catholic Church. But, as Oswald Spengler pointed out, the 'world-feeling' and ideology of the West is entirely different to ancient Rome and Greece, although we are following the same trends in relation to the transition to Caesarism and Republic to Empire.
But I, an Orthodox Christian and a Greek, am very curious as to what your analysis of the Orthodox Civilisations will be
Anti-Byzantine
I really think he going to talk shit
With the lending IQ OPTIONS by market cap having no clear resistance above it, has now entered price discovery mode, and where to next is anyone's guess. I personally think now is the right to take advantage of the current bull run and make money leveraging trades rather than just holding until the bears take over.
Latin America and the west are the same thing, they speak a Western European language, are predominantly Catholics/Christians, are democratic (at least compared to the rest of the world). Teach mostly western history and philosophy in schools and have similar cuisines. They only difference is that Latin America is poor and significantly more corrupt, tho nations like Uruguay, Chile and Costa Rica who have managed to develop are basically indistinguishable from Spain or Portugal.
I think the distinction between USA/Canada and LatAm is based more on Religion (Catholicism vs Protestantism), Language (Spanish vs English), and Culture (Anglo vs Latin). It was controversial when JFK became the first Catholic US President.
Hispanics are white
i like how these people always cherry-pick parts of south africa (of flat out list south africa as "western") due to 10% of the population as part of The West. yet ALL of latin america, for arbitrary reasons really, are somehow "not western". so ethnocentric. and ignorant.
@@igguilloda4383 South Africa is black that’s like saying America is now apart of the African world because 13 percent of Americans are black
@King of kings he said it was apart of the “orthodox world” :/
One of your best videos and best interpretations I've stumbled upon so far on the state of Western man. This is a masterpiece.
yes, political system in western civilization helped them succeed. but, geography also played a part in allowing them to grow massively without any major 'cost' or repercussions. shape of europe is an advantage, you can't conquer it linearly. the west is/was not near the steppes, so no raids from hordes. face it, western europe's success includes geography.
"I bid you stand, Men of the West!"
12:35 Didn't know I needed a king tier list from you until this moment.
I totally agree with your sentiment that we need faith: Even if faith that our goodness will be rewarded by paradise in an afterlife is impossibe to hold onto, perhaps faith that we could create a paradise on the world itself is more realistic
"Impossible to hold on to?"
God transcends the world.
If I could give this short talk a 10 star rating I would! Thank you for a concise overview, with phenomenal insights.
1:55
- English is only formally Germanic. Practically, having lost most of its Germanic pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary (which is 60% Latin), it's a perfect Romance-Germanic hybrid.
- Same goes for the US legal system, which is actually a hybrid between the Germanic customary system and the Roman civil system (while most of the West ended up adopting the latter).
- Christianity is a Roman invention. The fact that you believe in the English-Germanic version of it, doesn't cancel that fact.
So, if you feel more Germanic is because you WANT to feel that way. Or, at least, not for the above "reasons".
8:03
At most, you might say the the Germanics kept alive democracy. But the modern versions of it (including late medieval ones, such as those in the Italic Republics) are modelled on the Roman republican democracy.
what is french?
Hi, I wouldn’t say that English has lost its Germanic pronunciation. We still have the dental fricatives sounds of þ and ð, and the w sound which German has lost. Also, our t,p, and k are aspirated when at the front or back of a word, like other Germanic languages. I agree that much of our vocabulary is of romance origin, yet the most common words are of English origin, and one can have a full conversation with only Germanic words, but not with only romance origin words. I’m just sharing what I know.
When you said Rome was not really western I definitely rebuff that. Is Rome the only influence for western civilization of course not. I would say by far Rome is the greatest contributor to western identity. With the exception of language. The sole reason Christianity became a dominant religion in Europe was because of Rome. If you say Rome isn’t really western than Greece, romaine, and Italy isn’t part of the west either.
For real civilisational categorisation is far more blurry and vague than racial categorisations. At least with that you can just put people into a cluster analysis and type K how many races you want and get an answer.
In North America, Western Europe, Australia and NZ, Western Civilisation means regions that:
1) Have a Majority White Population;
2) Are Traditionally Catholic or Protestant;
3) Have Rule of Law, Democracy, Secularism & Industrialised High Income Economies.
Therefore, Ancient Rome is not a part of the West.
@@danielimmortuos666 idk this sounds like Rome to me
1.they are white not Nordic white mediterranean white.
2. Rome transitioned from a pagan to a Christian state in fact they were the first.
3.They founded one of the first republics. The republic morphed into the empire in later years.
4.No country was industrialized during that time period. They were one of the most advanced civilizations at their height.
If you take a secularist view, or see faith as a simple expression of culture, maybe. I think that the Word of God went out to as much of the world as the faithful could get it to, as fast as possible.
@@reidparker1848 well of course culture is multi dimensional you have language, art, food, architecture, religion. However if we were to put religion to the side for a moment and speak in-terms of linguistics. Spain , Greece,Romania speak languages that derived from Latin. Why because of Rome, and again was Rome the only Influence on the west of course not. But to say Rome was not a western civilization. Then do a 180 and say that Italy is seems like a conflicting statement.
Fantastic work right here. Each one of these videos are extremely interesting, backed up with evidence and each one has me thinking about the topic for many days if not weeks or months.
28:06 is such a painfully accurate description of depression
I’m curious to see how in the future you’ll handle the other big culture groups you had on the map at the beginning. Stay well out there everybody, and Jesus Christ be with you friends.😊
According to Oswald Spengler, the driving force of a culture is a quest for its Prime Symbol. This is some kind of geometrical or mathematical idea. E.g. India's symbol is the zero (nirvana, nothingness). Egypt's was the Straight Road, China's the Winding Road. The Classical culture's symbol was hard, impenetrable Body (like a statue). The West's is no less than infinite space! It's kind of silly but intoxicating. I too would like a video about Spengler. I believe, as a German, he overplayed the Germans-in-Germany element and downgraded the French contributions (feudalism, law) and also the Italian/Mediterranean ones (Church organisation, banking)
I never understood Why latin America is not "west" acording to english speakers. Countries like Argentina and Brazil are far more close to western Europe in culture, religion and even in etnicity than the US, for example.
And why is latin America considered one thing? Because of language? Its like say that Australia and índia are the same because they are english speaking countries in the east. Do americans really think that México and Uruguay are the same thing? Or Colômbia and peru? Panamá and cuba?
This really show a huge lack of knowledge of the ones who created those definitions.
Love your videos!
I think the distinction between USA/Canada and LatAm is based more on Catholicism vs Protestantism, and Anglo vs Latin culture. It was controversial when JFK became the first Catholic US President.
@@shorewall yeah, exactly. Until recently americans did'nt considered irish people and italians "white" because of that (religion), for example. Good point
@@baelonthebrave5474 good Topic! But some arguments are incorrect.
For example, in a comment its Said that central America have a huge indigenous descent. But If you take New Zealand and costa rica, 2 countries of similar population, you can see that New Zealand (71% european) has a lower european population than costa rica (83% european descent). Also, New Zealand have 5-6% of its population who does'nt speak a european language as the First language, while in costa rica that number is only 2-2.5%.
Again, lack of knowledge of the ones who made the definition. Because when you look at the data, they are simply wrong
Because west = white and Latin America is brown, that’s literally the only reason why
Whitiness is a fuzzy concept (like all racial/cultural groupings) who is in or out depends on the times and who you are askin.
7:00 Western Europeans have pretty much zero Indo-Aryan ancestry. You probably meant Indo-European, but there's a gigantic difference.
Greatest civilization ever
Really loved this video, a strong and profound conclusion that is all too true.
As a university student in the West it's hard to palate a curriculum they seeks to deconstruct and vilify the great Western society.
Didn't the Athenian have a democracy for male citizen and Rome was for a long time a Republic. Sure the Roman in the late antiquity was authoritarian but their institution still survived taken over by the Catholic Church.
I'd argue Israel has Western Civilization. It was mostly founded by Europeans immigrants after WW2
But the country has been extremely influenced by the Sephardic traditions Jews from Arabic nations and Ethiopia. Israel is a mixed bag of all the civilizations its people come from, in my opinion.
As someone who praises empiricism so much you should take a look at the technological progress of China and India when they were divided vs when they were United.
Islamic civilization for exemple was at it's best when United during their golden age.
The Indian numerals were invented under the Gupta empire.
Paper and gunpowder were invented during period of unity in China (Han and Song respectively.)
Edit : not saying you're wrong but I think there are gaps in your theory.
I think he was making the point that innovation is fastest under circumstances of competition. Yes innovation may occur under unified states, but not as fast as otherwise.
Saying the Song Dynasty is a period of unity in Chinese history is so....wrong ....
Should probably read more about the Liao, Xia, and later the Jurchens who all carved up a substantial chunk of China, leaving only a part of it to Song Dynasty.
@@pscamander9162 Still more united than Europe ever was between the 4th and 20th centuries.
I find you analysis if the factors for the west pretty precise, however, portraying other civlisations as stagnant isn't really the truth. The Chinese and Indian societies have had their own social and political conflicts and due to the fortified social clusters and strong interdependency of almost all sectors of indian society, the states there had a though time enforcing unilateral authority which is something that had shaped Indian society to today and creates enough space for competition and rivalry. In China, conflicts mostly went around openenness and seclusion with dynasties changing these policies often over the course of centuries. China has experienced times of technological advance that was ahead of time of what other civilisations had achieved and that comes with the challenges of operating such a large society, military and government. Banning such spaces is usually a sign of paranoia and desire for stabilising a society, which seems paradoxical to making a large society manageable and may have contributed to the decline of these big states.
Honestly I disagree with Anatolia being part of 'arab' civilization in your deeply arguable civilization map of the world. Successful or not, Anatolia has always been tying itself into Europe way more than, say, Morocco. Similarly, I think that splitting the Caucasus like you did is just a little weird.
Well I'm pretty sur ehe put Arab civilisation there cos of Islam, which is heavily Arab, u have to read the Quran in Arabic the Islamic culture is Arabic, so that why even though anatolia is made of Turks culturally, but they are majority muslim and influenced by the arabs
Saying that it's purely dependent on modern history is sort of ridiculous. It's not like America stopped being part of the west because of Trump. Anatolia has a millennia-long history of interacting with Europe, from the ancient Greeks, through the Romans, to the Byzantines, through the Ottomans, and resulting in Ataturk. Erdogan being a manbaby won't change that.
Yeah tbh the whole framing of “the west” as a separate civilization is annoying because it basically means white. Throughout history civilizations have always interacted with each other and fought each other. The Germans often claimed to be racially superior to the French and so on- and for the Americans, how is a British colonized area more western than a Spanish colonized area? Both are overwhelmingly Christian and speak European languages
Have you seen “the European revolution” by the alternative hypothesis?
Is that video still up?
@@Reactionary_Harkonnen it’s on Bitchute only now due to censorship unfortunately
I have a recommendation, can you do "What if the Ottomans won the Russo Turkish war of 1877-1878?"