I've always been fascinated by the coincidence of Wellington and Napoleon being born in the same year, and to similar backgrounds. The Revolution, and subsequent wars, propelled so many minor no… (View Post)

How sad that on a politics site, people should have views that conflict with your own. (View Post)

It’s funny. The Bennetts are “poor”, but they still own a village. Even minor nobility, in a pre-industrial world, live lives of incredible opulence, compared to the vast majority. (View Post)

A lot of people have an absurdly romanticised view of what the pre-industrial world was like. Some numbers were remarkably consistent. About 24, for average life expectancy; about 45%, for children w… (View Post)

Pre-Industrial Revolution, a State’s share of world GDP tended to match its share of world population, with most people growing food as peasants, in villages. Maximum GDP per head was about $2,000. T… (View Post)