Post by Mizagium on Oct 7, 2010 19:13:21 GMT -5
This just happened to me.
In my english class, we did a practice essay for the Regents Test - which I tested out of, but that's another matter. We were given a choice of two essay, just like the real test. The first choice was "If you had unlimited funds, what would you do to the education system in America?" or something along those lines.
The second essay topic, however, was "If the Industrial Revolution had occurred in ancient Rome (100 BCE - 100 CE) how would the world today be different?"
I damn near orgasmed all over my paper.
It was only a hour-long essay, and I didn't have any reference materials with me, so I had to generalize and avoid discussing dates, but I got 4 pages, front and back (although I was required to skip lines).
Basically, my vision was that with steam technology, Rome would have been able to survive the 489(?) sack of Rome by the Visigoths. As a result, both the Eastern and Western Empires would have continued to flourish, which would have prevented the development of the Byzantine Empire as there was no financial divide. Christianity was still the religion of the Empire after Constantine. The Persian Empire stuck around as a mortal enemy to the Romans.
Rome would then have held onto Jerusalem and the Holy Land for all of it's history. As a result, the prophet Muhammad would not have been able to travel to Jerusalem, and the city would not be a holy site of the Muslim faith. Because of THAT, the Crusades were never fought. Well, and Rome wasn't in the middle of a Dark Age.
China still discovered gunpowder in the 1000's, which would ahve made its way west to Persia and Rome.
The Vikings would not have been able to terrorize Europe because Rome was still strong, so they were defeated and incorporated into the Empire. Their religion would then have been either completely thrown out, or incorporated into the Christan faith so as not to alienate a new population of citizens (that or it would have occurred naturally). There is a precedent for this; a large number of pagan worship was incorporated into Christan worship (the Sabbath being Sunday, Christmas near the Winter Solstice, etc).
Of course, some Vikings would not be happy with becoming Romans, so they would have fled across the Atlantic and stayed in North America, since they already had settled there. There, they would have clashed with - and conquered - the Native American tribes, because, let's face it, the Vikings were awesome.
Eventually, the Roman people revolt and break the Empire, returning to a democratic system, likely a series of smaller republics based on the ancient system. Islamic Persia would have split at one point or another on the grounds of a religious rift, like the Sunni and Shi'ite conflict. China probably would have survived a longer time as an empire. America was conquered by the Vikings.
That's as far as I got because time was running out, I had a headache, and had to piss like a racehorse. Like I said, I didn't have any reference material, so I had to be very general.
What do you guys think? How awesome was it that I was given the option of this essay question?
In my english class, we did a practice essay for the Regents Test - which I tested out of, but that's another matter. We were given a choice of two essay, just like the real test. The first choice was "If you had unlimited funds, what would you do to the education system in America?" or something along those lines.
The second essay topic, however, was "If the Industrial Revolution had occurred in ancient Rome (100 BCE - 100 CE) how would the world today be different?"
I damn near orgasmed all over my paper.
It was only a hour-long essay, and I didn't have any reference materials with me, so I had to generalize and avoid discussing dates, but I got 4 pages, front and back (although I was required to skip lines).
Basically, my vision was that with steam technology, Rome would have been able to survive the 489(?) sack of Rome by the Visigoths. As a result, both the Eastern and Western Empires would have continued to flourish, which would have prevented the development of the Byzantine Empire as there was no financial divide. Christianity was still the religion of the Empire after Constantine. The Persian Empire stuck around as a mortal enemy to the Romans.
Rome would then have held onto Jerusalem and the Holy Land for all of it's history. As a result, the prophet Muhammad would not have been able to travel to Jerusalem, and the city would not be a holy site of the Muslim faith. Because of THAT, the Crusades were never fought. Well, and Rome wasn't in the middle of a Dark Age.
China still discovered gunpowder in the 1000's, which would ahve made its way west to Persia and Rome.
The Vikings would not have been able to terrorize Europe because Rome was still strong, so they were defeated and incorporated into the Empire. Their religion would then have been either completely thrown out, or incorporated into the Christan faith so as not to alienate a new population of citizens (that or it would have occurred naturally). There is a precedent for this; a large number of pagan worship was incorporated into Christan worship (the Sabbath being Sunday, Christmas near the Winter Solstice, etc).
Of course, some Vikings would not be happy with becoming Romans, so they would have fled across the Atlantic and stayed in North America, since they already had settled there. There, they would have clashed with - and conquered - the Native American tribes, because, let's face it, the Vikings were awesome.
Eventually, the Roman people revolt and break the Empire, returning to a democratic system, likely a series of smaller republics based on the ancient system. Islamic Persia would have split at one point or another on the grounds of a religious rift, like the Sunni and Shi'ite conflict. China probably would have survived a longer time as an empire. America was conquered by the Vikings.
That's as far as I got because time was running out, I had a headache, and had to piss like a racehorse. Like I said, I didn't have any reference material, so I had to be very general.
What do you guys think? How awesome was it that I was given the option of this essay question?
