Recent content by DG Valdron

  1. Could The Roman Empire have conquered all of the British isles, had it chosen to try?

    Let's look at this another way. We know that the Romans could theoretically have conquered the whole of Scotland. They didn't. That was a choice. What could motivate them to do something in the ATL that they couldn't be bothered with in the OTL? In short, what good reason is there to change...

  2. Could The Roman Empire have conquered all of the British isles, had it chosen to try?

    What do we really know of the tribal structures up there in the Roman period? As far as I know, the only sources are the Romans who were going "F*** that shit! Nope! Nope! Nope!"

  3. Could The Roman Empire have conquered all of the British isles, had it chosen to try?

    Sorry if I was a bit mean there. But from the Roman point of view, what value is up there to obtain, except the illusion of peace and quiet.

  4. Could The Roman Empire have conquered all of the British isles, had it chosen to try?

    Assuming that Rome conquered the whole of Scotland, I guess I'm puzzled by the notion that this would solve everyone's problems. In OTL the people of the region were notoriously unruly, the terrain was poor, the weather crap, and I'm not sure how productive subsistence agriculture was up there...

  5. Could The Roman Empire have conquered all of the British isles, had it chosen to try?

    Yep. Raise up another legion and navy and go conquer Ireland. Then more legions and a bigger navy and conquer Norway. Three hundred years later - Okay, once we conquer Tibet, we're done!

  6. Could The Roman Empire have conquered all of the British isles, had it chosen to try?

    You mean all that unsecured coastline?

  7. Could The Roman Empire have conquered all of the British isles, had it chosen to try?

    Uh uh. Can't let you get away with that. So the Romans get all the way to the tip of Scotland.... and then what? Going by the rest of England, they leave after a couple of generations. The Scotts go back to being Scotts. So what?

  8. Could The Roman Empire have conquered all of the British isles, had it chosen to try?

    Assuming they did, what would have been the consequences.

  9. Could The Roman Empire have conquered all of the British isles, had it chosen to try?

    Sure. But as you've said, there's no value to it, and no point.

  10. What if Spain somehow won the Spanish-American War

    Well, its likely that both the Philipines and Cuba would have broken away. Both had local independence movements and insurgencies. Cuba would have likely won independence within a decade or so. There's a chance of Philipine independence, particularly if backed by Britain, or if the other...

  11. Greek Civil War 1949-1950 Europe's Korean War

    Maybe. My own view is that Stalin didn't particularly want allies or fellow travellers, he wanted slaves. There was no one allowed in his tent who was not wearing his chains.

  12. Greek Civil War 1949-1950 Europe's Korean War

    Stalin was deeply paranoid and profoundly insecure, he saw any communist or communist movement he didn't directly control as a threat. A worse threat than Nazis or Capitalists.

  13. Lunar/Polar Urbanism: Earliest possible permanent settlement in Antarctica and on the Moon, possible best models of settlement

    Well, that's not rough calculations and breakups you've done. But pie in the sky. Well, the ISS actually is in low Earth orbit and exists on a continuous supply teather of personnel and resources moving back and forth constantly. There's not even a trace of self sufficiency, beyond perhaps...

  14. Lunar/Polar Urbanism: Earliest possible permanent settlement in Antarctica and on the Moon, possible best models of settlement

    The volumes required would be well beyond colossal.

  15. Lunar/Polar Urbanism: Earliest possible permanent settlement in Antarctica and on the Moon, possible best models of settlement

    There's some basis for zero gravity manufacturing. I don't think you get a return on investment from a moon base. You might need centuries. And I think the up front costs are utterly gynormous. I'm deeply, deeply, deeply sceptical of the economics here. And you're talking a massive...
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