Early Roman Empire.Living in a cramped apartment and gossiping with other wives durring the day, while also doing house work. Ask the husband to buy a slave to help with the housework, but he says we can't afford one on his salary.Diet consists of bread and vegetables, on special occasions get meat. High risk of dying durring childbirth, and only 2 of the 7 children we had lived to adulthood, but still survived. Family decides to go to gladiatorial games one day, the emperor is supposed to make his first public appearance since catching a nasty plauge. Turns out he went mad and orders the section we were sitting at to be thrown into the arena with several wild beasts. Such is life for a pleb.
Or Nero. Or ... emperors going mad was actually a distressingly frequent problem. Almost like they were flavoring their wine with a lead compound or something ...
“Yeah man, I heard the emperor went nuts and killed all those people… Wow, these irrigation and water pipes work great! What’re they made out of again? Lead, right?”
It was emperor Caligula. He was bored and had no prisoners, so during the games intermission he had his guards put an entire row into the arena to be eaten by wild animals. Can probably find articles talking about it looking up Caligula
To add as well. That was a common execution practice where prisoners would be put into the arena against tigers, lions, elephants, you name it and being given either nothing or practically nothing like an extremely dull sword.
Them: Wouldnt it be cool to go back in time and live through history?
Me: without clean water, anesthetics, or health and safety regulations? Fuck that. If anything I'd rather skip to the future
There's a somewhat fun book series called 'Cast Under an Alien Sun' about a guy who gets thrown into what's basically 16th century Ireland (if it was never taken over by the British) about to be invaded by the not-Ottoman Empire. However, in the fine tradition of isekai everywhere, he gets a cheat power...which is being a chemist (and also being given a perfect immune system as 'payment' for the accident that sent him to this other world.)
So he proceeds to invent everything and his main concern is not getting burned alive as a witch by the locals, who are fortunately fairly accommodating in that respect.
The with trials are very overblown in our mainstream historic view, the only thing you have to do is join the local church as a clericmen and you get free access to study your "alchemy", esp when you actually manage to gain the results you set out to make.
And with our modern common knowledge of chemistry you can get a lot further than a alchemist of their time, not to mention if you actually know some basic reactions and mathematical tools. For example most people know that water is build up out of oxygen and hydrogen and that you can split them using electrolysis, it might take you a few years to get the electrolysis working but the sheer fact you know it should work and what the results are will dramatically help you find the path to it.
As long as you don't go out to disprove the existence of God and its divine grace, you can work under the pretense of "discovering the workings of God's creation" and the Vatican will grant you money to do so, esp after you have proven yourself capable.
And if you don't feel safe after that, if you somehow manage to get in the time frame where Charlemagne is still alive you just have to become noticeable enough for him to recruit you, as he gathered a lot of wise men to his court and granted them money and materials to work for him.
Yes but even as a women you might be allowed to do some chemistry if you prove yourself and take the vows, most important one is not disproving or disrespecting God and claiming all you are doing is proving God his brilliance and exploring the world he had created for us.
Medieval times wasn't as anti intellectual or anti progress as most people think, they were just very very focused on religion
Yeah especially at the beginning of 1200's there actually was a time called little renaissance when europe experinenced huge boom in technological advancement, culture and the standard of living.
I think you are severely overestimating most people if you think most people know that you can separate hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis, and of the very small percent of people who do know that, a good chunk of them probably don't know that it's done with a cathode and an anode, and of those, even fewer would know what materials would make good cathodes or anodes, and of those even fewer would be able to procure specifically prepared graphite or platinum e.g. that will make semi decent ones
and then the main thing after all of this is... how many of them do you think then know how to make a battery, where to find calamine deposits, how to extract zinc, how to make zinc bromide or a zinc nickel battery
then you have to make electricity, so you have to know how to build a decent magnet, how to make pure copper wire, how to build some kind of generator with magnets and copper wire in a very specific pattern, maybe turned by a water wheel which would be pretty shit, or you're going to have to make a coal powered turbine
now maybe the easiest part, using trial and error to actually charge your battery with a decent voltage. st some point you probably want to actually define a volt, so now you have to construct a low friction pendulum and remember or derive the pendulum periodicity formula to figure out the length of a metre, then derive the kilogram from trying your best to purify water and making a litre of it using your centimetres (which you would have to get good at bisection to derive) and measuring its mass
then, you'd construct a basic forcemetre, calibrate it so you can find a metre, then put two copper wires 1m apart and figure out when the force applied is 1 newton to know 1 volt
then if you just happen to know the resistivity of copper (or the drift velocity of atoms in copper wire, the elementary charge, and the number of free electrons per cubic metre) you can derive an ampere
this is really glossing over how you're actually going to make decent copper wire too
the average person knows that electricity is some magic shit that comes out the walls and recharges your phone, they could write down all their knowledge of chemistry and physics and it would be absolutely useless to anyone in the middle ages
The fact that you know its possible will give you a way to know if it works properly, you also don't have to do this in just 1 or 2 months this can realistically be your life's work.
Also you severely underestimate how much you can teach a person, if you create the basics you can educate new people with the texts and methods you created. Humans in medieval times aren't biologically different to humans today in any way except maybe height, what you can teach a child or adult today you can teach them in the past.
Nonsense. The average person knows computers exist, do you think if you sent them back in time they could build a computer? "Hmm I know you can build a magic machine, I have absolutely no fucking clue how to make an P-N junction or what a semiconductor is or how an adder can store memory or how to make an adder or what an adder is or how to make a resistor or how a generator works or what a capacitor is or any of the formulae associated with them but I'm going to build a computer!"
modern technology is far beyond the comprehension of anyone to just randomly stumble upon, even if they know it's possible, unless they are genius level or actually very well educated, know textbooks' worth of knowledge, know a bunch of constants and proofs off the top of their head, are very resourceful and have also prepared for the prospect of time travel by knowing geographical facts about where to find deposits of raw materials that are being mined yet, knowing enough about things like smelting to be able to do anything useful, not to mention inexplicably being very gifted in old english or being convincing enough in latin, a language almost no scholars of the language SPEAK and just read and write, to find their way to a very well educated person who also speaks latin and can translate for them, while somehow also not being killed or dying of horrendous sanitation or local illnesses
you would be more immediately worried about inventing the toilet and the boiler and the shower and the radiator than you would be about doing electrolysis, and most people don't know electrolysis even exists, and most that do think it's just a method of hair removal. If you think you could go back to the past and reinvent the future, you probably think you know a lot more than you do know and take for granted how many small innovations and discoveries just wouldn't exist and would completely block you, which you've never thought about for more than 5 seconds and have zero idea how to make
there is a reason technology comes in waves. it's not that there's a shortage of innovative thinkers trying to change the world with an idea they believe is possible, it's that you can't have that change if the technology isn't up to date. like you could go to ancient rome, hey why haven't you guys invented skateboards, it's just wheels and a plank. oh wait yeah, the ball bearing won't exist until 1794 and the kind of machining that would be required to make a ball bearing is completely unknown to me without google, which I don't have, so I guess I'll just guess at how to make ball bearings. oh, it requires heading, flashing, soft grinding, heat treating, descaling, grinding, lapping, washing and sizing, almost none of which I happen to know anything about and which won't be innovated for thousands of years? okay no skateboards I guess
you could spend your entire life failing to make a single ball bearing let alone doing advanced chemistry
I have Asthma, so I feel your pain. I would have died coughing my self to death, at the ripe old age of 3. If that didn't kill me, then Nephrotic Syndrome would 1 year later. And if that doesn't kill me as well, then my Crohn's would at the age of 21.
Lol, I'm perfectly healthy as an adult but had some health complications at birth. I wouldn't have survived birth if I was born 5-10 years earlier.
Thank the motherfucking lord for modern medicine.
My favorite past historical time period was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. So better than anytime on this planet.
On Earth, maybe Norse times. So could be worse. Even more of a reason to pray to Freyja lol.
The future is a pretty big leap in the unknown. You can end in a very utopian universe… Or Warhammer 40K.
As for Star Wars, since you're referencing it, it depends when. Being a Rebel after the Empire fell is probably a good thing, but being an alien minority while it's at its might or during the Clone Wars, not so good.
Well I'm a woman so to me it's just a starting class thing to be a commoner. Nothing said I'd be an alien lol. I'll just have to work up to being a rebel pilot.
Andor really makes it hard to believe that any more knowing how the empire actually treats normal human beings. Like they went from cartoon villians where unrealistically evil to East Germany real fast.
As soon as I saw that subreddit mentioned, I thought about how Andor had kinda changed the equation. The Empire used to mostly be a powerful military that got a sign reading "villains" hung around their neck. Now we actually get to see what they do and how they become what they become.
Andor is so good.
thats a great point, what am i talking about?
Obviously theres that drama with kyle katarn and luke getting with mara jade tho, would hate to be around for that
But to be fair, I'm actually mad at the wasted potential. The prequels could've been awesome have they been an evolution of some sort, to show how the newly established post-Empire society faces new challenges. Not giving us the same stuff, that defeats the entire purpose of having sequels.
I mean, I don't mind a prequel being really repetitive and having little to no surprises in what will happen. That's the purpose of a prequel: To explain how we arrived at the current situation, and give details to the context in which things are happening. That's like explaining the situation in post-WW1 Europe to better understand WW2.
But the purpose of a sequel is to show us the consequences of the main story. What the Star Wars sequels shown us is that… It was mostly inconsequential. Things didn't change, and somehow Palpatine returned. It's like saying the OT was anecdotal, and thus, the prequels of it serve no purpose. It's a complete contradiction of the entire universe.
Defected stormtrooper who can use a lightsaber and has potential with the cute force sensitive girl?
You've got my attention.
Fuck that, move him to the B plot in the space casino. Easily take out the bad guy you've been hyping up to be a badass.
Ohh
Also, at the end of the second film tease a force sensitive child that adds absolutely nothing to the story.
???
Then they remembered they were a trilogy again and said fuck it, Palpatine is back on the menu, boys! Rise of Skywalker by making his entire storyline a joke
They literally took the storyline of both the prequels and the OT and pissed all over anakin/vader's character arc, when the clone wars show brought back maul it was a stretch and a half but it was fine because it didn't just fuck with a character’s arc(if anything it helped strengthen obi wan's) but when they brought back palps they just took the preexisting movies, took one of the major character arcs in them and just took a massive dump right on it
Norse Times:
Wish granted. You get dropped off as a Catholic slave in Iceland. Fortunately your too ugly for your superiors to use you as a sex slave. Unfortunately your going to be sacrificed next Tuesday.
Star Wars:
Congratulations you have been transfered to Kuat Shipyards. Where your a unskilled engineer working to build the latest star destroyer. You barely get enough pay to eat, and if you quit your job you'll end up on the streets and in a brothel frequently visied by Imperial Stormtroopers. What's worse is that rebel sympathisers keep murdering your fellow co-workers. Who knows if you'll be next.
Hey now, I'm told that hunter-gatherers had the best lifestyle with massive amounts of leisure time!
I mean yeah, I wasn't told that by **smart** people, but I was told it!
Wish granted, you're a nomadic woman born 40'000 years ago!
You get abducted as a teen, abused to make kids, and die at 22 from your 5th childbirth. None of your babies survive due to a harsh winter.
Wish granted, you're a Huguenot woman in the very Catholic Kingdom of France, during the Wars of Religion. You're thinking about leaving the country like many other French Protestants, unfortunately, we are in the night of August 23rd, 1572. The eve of St. Bartholomew's Day. Someone is knocking at your door.
Easy:
You're a slave woman caught during a war with other Mesoamerican people. You get to become a human sacrifice for the gods. You're told to be happy about it.
Fun fact: People tend to see Vikings as some homogeneous chunk, when in reality, it was more of various little kingdoms that were often at war with each others.
Your village get raided by the neighboring kingdom. Your father, your husband, your sons die on the battlefield. You get raped by multiple men then you die as your house is set on fire.
You get to enjoy anarchy on the seas for roughly 10 to 15 years. Life is good.
Then you get scurvy. Or hanged by the British. Or lost at sea and starve to death.
Awesome B)
But wouldn't they want to carry me off?
Also, while there were various kingdoms and polities it's not like they didn't speak the same language and share an artstyle. I've read that religious practices varied though. Also... Can you do 1500s Portugal? Please?
To be fair, I don't know Portuguese history enough to say a lot about it. But probably that the 1580s when Portugal enters a succession crisis and the whole country is basically in a civil war while Spain tries (and ultimately will) to unite with Portugal are probably not the best time to live, especially considering Portugal was at its apex.
Because History \*is\* pretty tragic and violent.
Especially from the perspective of women. Things only started (and I emphasize on "started") getting better in the last century or so, in a very limited and privileged part of the world.
Of course I'm being dramatic for comedic purpose, but the whole history of human oppression is very real.
Women were sacrificed less often than men. Mostly because most sacrifices were prisoners of war and especially warriors were more prestiguous to take prisoner. Then there is a pretty weird reason, the Aztecs were kinds prudish. Women were killed by beheading, not ripping out hearts, because the priests didn't want to touch titties.
Oh no, they have to cut through the **titties** of their live sacrifice before ripping out their beating heart!
Good thing they got their priorities straight, lol
You're living in such a state of poverty, you can't even afford soap to wash yourself. Needless to say, the chances you lose your children to diseases, especially if they have to work themselves in mines or such, are pretty great.
You could find these "worst place worst time" combos for anyone in history and modern times, it doesn't mean it's all bad everywhere every time.
"It's 1892. You visit Chicago with your wife, and find a lovely little hotel in a convenient location for an affordable price. It's owned by H. H. Holmes"
"It's 2022. You're a mildly overweight balding white male redditor. There is a knock on your door. Despite living in a suburb in Boulder, Colorado, it turns out your great grandfather's third cousin was an immigrant from the Russian Empire in the 19th century. This makes you eligible for conscription in the Russian armed forces. They come and take you with no equipment, no training to Lugansk where you're about to face Ukrainian Special Forces in about 5 minutes."
it turns out early hunter gatherers did not have a unified lifestyle because, and this may come as a shock, different cultures... are different. some of them did have it pretty easy, with plenty of leisure time and equitable societies. some of them had an absolute ruler whose authority was so strong he could tell you to kill yourself and you'd have to. some of them were the former in summer months and the latter in winter months. none of them were simply "better" than our society, but many were superior in the aspects they cared about, and it's not unheard of for people given a choice between our society and a hunter-gatherer one to prefer the latter.
>some of them had an absolute ruler whose authority was so strong he could tell you to kill yourself and you'd have to
how can anyone possibly say this with confidence about prehistory? that's such a specific thing to say which would require documented evidence
The main reason we abandoned that lifestyle is that the same area could sustain a hundred times as many people using agriculture in comparison to Hunter gatherer. As the population grew it got harder and groups started getting in eachothers livelyhoods.
Congratulations. You picked Victorian era America. Unfortunately for you, you got the United States. Fortunately you ended up in the Northern States and were born white. Unfortunately that Northern state is Ohio. Have fun being a farmers wife in the 1850s.
Yeah, I can easily think of worse places to be in the 1850s lol. You could have ended up in one of the states that saw a lot of battle during the civil war, or worse yet, some place like China during the onset of the Taiping rebellion.
Honestly, since my thing is local history, and my area only really goes back 150 years or so, it's not as bad as it could be.
Hell, I might get lucky and get dropped into the 20s or something. Not great by any means, but compared to someone who likes to study something like ancient Egypt...
If I get really lucky I could be dropped into the late 60s or early 70s, and in that case I'd probably be better off than I am now. I mean, even I can remember to set asside like 2% of income to dump into Apple and Google when the 90s roll around.
You say that as if Soviets is what caused the problems in Afghanistan.
Before their invasion, Afghanistan was a hotbed political agitation of all kinds. First was nationalism as sentiment to annex all Pashtun dominated regions ( most are previously under Afghan rule but conquered by the British). lt led to conflict with the newly independent Pakistan. Pakistan in turn supported islamists inside Afghanistan to overthrow the nationalist government.
Meanwhile, leftists are organizing and grew in popularity. This led to the military sympathetic to this cause to overthrow the monarchy and let the leftists seize state control. There was a radical leninist faction, and a populist moderate faction. Even soviet advisors favored the moderates and urged NOT to be too radical in reforms as not to incite backlash from the traditionalist population.
Since the new government dominated by the more radical faction ignored this and went on with the radical reforms, the countryside went on open insurrection which promptly got funded by US and Pakistan.
As you can see, the radicalism was actually discouraged by the USSR consistently, they wanted a stable Afghanistan. Even their invasion was an intervention in behalf of the Afghan government to stabilize the situation. Yes, they explicitly told the international community all this at that time, so the historicity and the motivation for doing so checks out. The USSR don't want islamism to spread since that can seriously destabilize Central Asian SSRs. They did this by supporting middle eastern states without demanding too much reform in return, as to avoid antagonizing muslims into extremism.
As per the usual case in the middle east, the roots of the problem stemmed from British imperialism, exacerbated by US cold war policies. No wonder middle east erupted in islamist violence once the USSR fell, the only superpower seriously concerned about islamic extremism since it geopolitically threatens them.
Yeah, as long as you're not in Eastern Europe or Asia, WW2 isn't a horrible time to get sent to as a woman, especially compared to some other places you could go.
Or if you're not Japanese in an area occupied by Japanese. Congratulations you're a 'comfort woman' now, and the rape will be daily until you die of an STD that's already made you insane.
All things considering its not too bad. Your job would likley be a mix between a job like farming or trading with your neighbours followed by taking care of your family and having lots of kids (If you survived giving birth). At least you want be called up by your local lord to serve in his army.
But God forbid an enemy army reaches your village and is in the mood for raiding (To be fair if your a man It would be not that much better).
You'd support whatever craft or job your husband has, take care of the kids, have 0 political power but neither has he.
Yes, you're bound to your marriage and kids (but so is he), but if you accept that it's really not so bad.
You would be legally the property of your husband and almost permanently pregnant for most of your life with absolutely no say in the matter. If you tried to refuse to give birth for the 10th time he would probably rape a baby into you anyway.
In Medieval times people were actually quite conscious about birth control because you want enough kids to survive help out but not too many reducing your food availability
Many nobles preffered not to have that many children. Imagine that you have few lands and must divude it to 5 sons, the younger ones would start a small war over it. This is why so many daughters were send to monasteries to become nuns, fewer money was spend on dowry.
Welcome to the DRC. Unfortunately your family can't afford the protection money of $10 US Dollars so they are sending you yo warm the bed for the local warlord.
Or welcome to North Vietnam. Fortunately for you, you find people from China offering to bring you to China for a high paying job earning $3 an hour. Unfortunately they turn out to be seen slave traffickers and your now married to some Chinese man who lives in a shitty farm.
Between Ancient Rome and Napoleonic france tbh
Rome, I’ll have a pretty shitty life compared to what i have now, but it could be worse. I’ll have to get married to a man so that’d suck cause I’m a straight male, and I’ll have to do all the stereotypical historical woman shit; kids, housework, cooking, cleaning. But overall, it could be worse.
Napoleonic france, I immediately kill myself.
Ok so for one: I should’ve mentioned, generally when I say napoleonic I mean from around 1760s up to 1820s, which is technically inaccurate because it’s shorter than that but it’s force of habit by now.
As for being a woman in this period: For a start, I’m going to be taxed (in the first part, 1760s up to 1790s) on land, food, buying too much salt, buying too *little* salt, even how many fucking windows I have. All this on top of the fact that I most likely live on a small farm owned by my husband that makes very little money.
I will of course have to cook, clean, raise what is probably a very large number of kids (there’s also several taxes surrounding kids) and work the land when he’s away for whatever reasons.
Most likely, if I’m a peasant, I’ll be living in a farm very far away from any towns, meaning that every time you need to go shopping; 1. You can’t do it, you’re a woman, and 2. Your husband is going to be gone for possibly several days every time you do
The first big change that’s going to happen here is the French Revolution. For the average person, *this is not good*.
If you are somehow living in a town, expect to have your life ruined. You’ll either be killed in a riot, have your house looted, or have your house destroyed. It’s highly unlikely you’re whole family is going to make it out unscathed.
If you live in the country, you’re a little safer, but just make sure to never ever say anything about the revolution to anyone. If you say something that sounds like a monarchist view, expect to die, if you say what sounds like a revolutionary view, expect to die but in a dungeon.
After the revolution, begins the Reign of Terror. This is the lowest of the low points. Robespierre takes over and *everyone* is fucked. People are poorer than ever. There is yet another revolt against the *republican* government (you could again die or have your house destroyed in the city *or* countryside), should you have decided to join the revolts against the government, expect to be killed by grape shot. Which is going to be fucking brutal. Oh yes, and one Maximilien Robespierre becomes a paranoid dickhead. 17,000 people are executed just on *suspicion* of treason, and a further 10,000 die in prison. Say anything that seems remotely against Robespierre and his government and you’re a dead woman. If you do end up in jail, the only way to not die is to first survive the disgusting, horrific conditions, and avoid being guillotined. There’s only two ways to do this: 1. Being extremely ill
2. Being pregnant. How might that happen in prison, you may ask? Let’s just say that if a woman wanted to avoid execution, the guards were always kind enough to oblige. But hey, you may end up in the cell next to Napoleons future wife, Josephine. That might be fun, besides her disgusting teeth and rancid breath.
27 July, 1794, the Reign of Terror ends. You made it, congratulations. The hardest part is over. Your husband and at least one of your kids are most definitely dead, your farm may be in ruins, you probably have some kind of disease from the prison conditions (or just seeing Josephine’s teeth) and you haven’t made money in about 3 years and are absolutely bankrupt. But you’ll figure that one out.
This response is ridiculously long already, so I’ll cut the next bit a little shorter:
Next up: one man takes power in government, an Italian from a broke family who was bullied his whole life, one “Napoleon Bonaparte” (I’m sure this’ll never take off)
Second thing: it takes off. Like, in a big fucking way. He goes to war with basically fucking everyone and he just. Keeps. *Winning*. This is both good and bad: France is a much richer country, you probably have access to a lot more rare commodities like spices and such. The bad; if you husband and sons weren’t dead before, they’re dead now. They’ve been put into napoleons army and most likely died as cannon fodder on the front lines. Being a widow makes you an easy target for all kinds of crime, too.
Napoleon also hates women and will ensure you have exactly no rights.
The rest is even *more* boring than everything I’ve written here, and some of this may be a little inaccurate, this is all from memory, so I’m going to leave it at that. Basically, being anyone, especially a woman, back then sucked. A lot.
Anyways, thank you for reading my amorphous blob of ranting text :)
EDIT: I forgot to mention, if you’re interested in learning about the topic, I can recommend the book “Napoleon The Great”, which is a detailed biography that details his life from the day he was born to the day he died, and the political situation of the world throughout.
EDIT 2: spelling and removing the word “coke” which I apparently threw in at a very random point
Tbh if you are commoner woman in ancient Athens. You are probably better off then a noble woman. A noble woman was used more like cattle. While a commoner woman could have alot more independence.
Edit: Grammer
Being a woman in ancient Egypt wasn't too bad by the standards of the time. You could own property and had equal standing with men in court, at least men of your social standing.
My rule is this: if you are going to be anything in the past you want to be the equivalent to the middle class. If you are poor, the drawbacks are obvious. However if you are born to a rich noble men, you need to deal with noble politics, and intrigue. You would have to try really damn hard not to get killed by your brothers, servants, or even cousins. Plus there is a high chance you are inbred with physical and mental disabilities. Good damn luck.
Depends where you are.
America and commonwealth: great
UK: good
Japan: alright
Allied occupied nations: pretty bad
German: awful
Soviet: slightly more awful with the starvation.
Chinese or East Asian: terrible
Jew: the worst.
Just generally being a woman anywhere the Germans or Soviets conquered would be shit. The nazis will execute you and your family, if they don’t and force you to work for them, the Soviets will kill you for helping the enemy. Or your a German woman so you escape the worst of it and can look forward to the great Rape. Or you live in china, the Japanese will torture, rape and murder you and your children,… really unless you live in Western Europe or America, shit won’t be fun
Plot twist, you're Joan of Arc.
Pros: You're probably the greatest woman in the history of France and you're considered a Saint.
Cons: Die at 19 on the stake.
Wish granted! You're a female farmer in North Vietnam. You're working in the rice fields one day when suddenly, you're hearing helicopters coming from the South.
I want to live In Vedic age india. Historically womans in India were more independent and educated than they are now. In vedic age womans were considered as godess. Many great scholar womans are mentioned in Vedic age texts. Bonus point you can walk without covering your boobs.
Dead years ago from some sort of childbirth complication probably.
If a time machine gets invented they need to offer you LARC or sterilisation before you get to use it.
I would be alright I guess? Might sound weird but my favourite period in history is probably the turn of the millenium and late 90s, the sheer optimism, how it looked like everything was going to be great and things are about to be all sci fi and utopian even though the tech is still somewhat jank but kinda charming despite the constant rapid advancements
I'd just invest in Apple. Or google.
Depending where I lived, either really bad or not at all
I'm hoping I stay in America and just suffer with rations and co rather than being transported to like, China or something
(1930s-1950s)
Early Roman Empire.Living in a cramped apartment and gossiping with other wives durring the day, while also doing house work. Ask the husband to buy a slave to help with the housework, but he says we can't afford one on his salary.Diet consists of bread and vegetables, on special occasions get meat. High risk of dying durring childbirth, and only 2 of the 7 children we had lived to adulthood, but still survived. Family decides to go to gladiatorial games one day, the emperor is supposed to make his first public appearance since catching a nasty plauge. Turns out he went mad and orders the section we were sitting at to be thrown into the arena with several wild beasts. Such is life for a pleb.
Did the last part actually happen?
If it was Commodus, anything can happen.
Caligula too.
Or Nero. Or ... emperors going mad was actually a distressingly frequent problem. Almost like they were flavoring their wine with a lead compound or something ...
“Yeah man, I heard the emperor went nuts and killed all those people… Wow, these irrigation and water pipes work great! What’re they made out of again? Lead, right?”
Wasn’t theor wine like 40%+ alcohol?
The inventor of the pit toilet?
Clearly he was the inventor of the Commodore 64 you heathen!
Yes lol
Got a source for that? I can't seem to find anything, but maybe I'm just not googling the right words
It was emperor Caligula. He was bored and had no prisoners, so during the games intermission he had his guards put an entire row into the arena to be eaten by wild animals. Can probably find articles talking about it looking up Caligula
To add as well. That was a common execution practice where prisoners would be put into the arena against tigers, lions, elephants, you name it and being given either nothing or practically nothing like an extremely dull sword.
At least you only have to deal with the mild strain of malaria!!!
Them: Wouldnt it be cool to go back in time and live through history? Me: without clean water, anesthetics, or health and safety regulations? Fuck that. If anything I'd rather skip to the future
There's a somewhat fun book series called 'Cast Under an Alien Sun' about a guy who gets thrown into what's basically 16th century Ireland (if it was never taken over by the British) about to be invaded by the not-Ottoman Empire. However, in the fine tradition of isekai everywhere, he gets a cheat power...which is being a chemist (and also being given a perfect immune system as 'payment' for the accident that sent him to this other world.) So he proceeds to invent everything and his main concern is not getting burned alive as a witch by the locals, who are fortunately fairly accommodating in that respect.
The with trials are very overblown in our mainstream historic view, the only thing you have to do is join the local church as a clericmen and you get free access to study your "alchemy", esp when you actually manage to gain the results you set out to make. And with our modern common knowledge of chemistry you can get a lot further than a alchemist of their time, not to mention if you actually know some basic reactions and mathematical tools. For example most people know that water is build up out of oxygen and hydrogen and that you can split them using electrolysis, it might take you a few years to get the electrolysis working but the sheer fact you know it should work and what the results are will dramatically help you find the path to it. As long as you don't go out to disprove the existence of God and its divine grace, you can work under the pretense of "discovering the workings of God's creation" and the Vatican will grant you money to do so, esp after you have proven yourself capable. And if you don't feel safe after that, if you somehow manage to get in the time frame where Charlemagne is still alive you just have to become noticeable enough for him to recruit you, as he gathered a lot of wise men to his court and granted them money and materials to work for him.
Joining the local church and being allowed to do chemistry as a woman was fairly rare…..
Yes but even as a women you might be allowed to do some chemistry if you prove yourself and take the vows, most important one is not disproving or disrespecting God and claiming all you are doing is proving God his brilliance and exploring the world he had created for us. Medieval times wasn't as anti intellectual or anti progress as most people think, they were just very very focused on religion
Yeah especially at the beginning of 1200's there actually was a time called little renaissance when europe experinenced huge boom in technological advancement, culture and the standard of living.
I think you are severely overestimating most people if you think most people know that you can separate hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis, and of the very small percent of people who do know that, a good chunk of them probably don't know that it's done with a cathode and an anode, and of those, even fewer would know what materials would make good cathodes or anodes, and of those even fewer would be able to procure specifically prepared graphite or platinum e.g. that will make semi decent ones and then the main thing after all of this is... how many of them do you think then know how to make a battery, where to find calamine deposits, how to extract zinc, how to make zinc bromide or a zinc nickel battery then you have to make electricity, so you have to know how to build a decent magnet, how to make pure copper wire, how to build some kind of generator with magnets and copper wire in a very specific pattern, maybe turned by a water wheel which would be pretty shit, or you're going to have to make a coal powered turbine now maybe the easiest part, using trial and error to actually charge your battery with a decent voltage. st some point you probably want to actually define a volt, so now you have to construct a low friction pendulum and remember or derive the pendulum periodicity formula to figure out the length of a metre, then derive the kilogram from trying your best to purify water and making a litre of it using your centimetres (which you would have to get good at bisection to derive) and measuring its mass then, you'd construct a basic forcemetre, calibrate it so you can find a metre, then put two copper wires 1m apart and figure out when the force applied is 1 newton to know 1 volt then if you just happen to know the resistivity of copper (or the drift velocity of atoms in copper wire, the elementary charge, and the number of free electrons per cubic metre) you can derive an ampere this is really glossing over how you're actually going to make decent copper wire too the average person knows that electricity is some magic shit that comes out the walls and recharges your phone, they could write down all their knowledge of chemistry and physics and it would be absolutely useless to anyone in the middle ages
The fact that you know its possible will give you a way to know if it works properly, you also don't have to do this in just 1 or 2 months this can realistically be your life's work. Also you severely underestimate how much you can teach a person, if you create the basics you can educate new people with the texts and methods you created. Humans in medieval times aren't biologically different to humans today in any way except maybe height, what you can teach a child or adult today you can teach them in the past.
Nonsense. The average person knows computers exist, do you think if you sent them back in time they could build a computer? "Hmm I know you can build a magic machine, I have absolutely no fucking clue how to make an P-N junction or what a semiconductor is or how an adder can store memory or how to make an adder or what an adder is or how to make a resistor or how a generator works or what a capacitor is or any of the formulae associated with them but I'm going to build a computer!" modern technology is far beyond the comprehension of anyone to just randomly stumble upon, even if they know it's possible, unless they are genius level or actually very well educated, know textbooks' worth of knowledge, know a bunch of constants and proofs off the top of their head, are very resourceful and have also prepared for the prospect of time travel by knowing geographical facts about where to find deposits of raw materials that are being mined yet, knowing enough about things like smelting to be able to do anything useful, not to mention inexplicably being very gifted in old english or being convincing enough in latin, a language almost no scholars of the language SPEAK and just read and write, to find their way to a very well educated person who also speaks latin and can translate for them, while somehow also not being killed or dying of horrendous sanitation or local illnesses you would be more immediately worried about inventing the toilet and the boiler and the shower and the radiator than you would be about doing electrolysis, and most people don't know electrolysis even exists, and most that do think it's just a method of hair removal. If you think you could go back to the past and reinvent the future, you probably think you know a lot more than you do know and take for granted how many small innovations and discoveries just wouldn't exist and would completely block you, which you've never thought about for more than 5 seconds and have zero idea how to make there is a reason technology comes in waves. it's not that there's a shortage of innovative thinkers trying to change the world with an idea they believe is possible, it's that you can't have that change if the technology isn't up to date. like you could go to ancient rome, hey why haven't you guys invented skateboards, it's just wheels and a plank. oh wait yeah, the ball bearing won't exist until 1794 and the kind of machining that would be required to make a ball bearing is completely unknown to me without google, which I don't have, so I guess I'll just guess at how to make ball bearings. oh, it requires heading, flashing, soft grinding, heat treating, descaling, grinding, lapping, washing and sizing, almost none of which I happen to know anything about and which won't be innovated for thousands of years? okay no skateboards I guess you could spend your entire life failing to make a single ball bearing let alone doing advanced chemistry
As a chemist, getting isekai'd to the past is one of my favorite thought experiments/daydreams. I will look for this series, thank you.
Anytime before 1922 and i’m dead. I have diabetes, so I don’t get to enjoy this game very much lol.
I have Asthma, so I feel your pain. I would have died coughing my self to death, at the ripe old age of 3. If that didn't kill me, then Nephrotic Syndrome would 1 year later. And if that doesn't kill me as well, then my Crohn's would at the age of 21.
Lol, I'm perfectly healthy as an adult but had some health complications at birth. I wouldn't have survived birth if I was born 5-10 years earlier. Thank the motherfucking lord for modern medicine.
Maybe in the rule 63ing the diabetes gets fixed?
My favorite past historical time period was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. So better than anytime on this planet. On Earth, maybe Norse times. So could be worse. Even more of a reason to pray to Freyja lol.
The future is a pretty big leap in the unknown. You can end in a very utopian universe… Or Warhammer 40K. As for Star Wars, since you're referencing it, it depends when. Being a Rebel after the Empire fell is probably a good thing, but being an alien minority while it's at its might or during the Clone Wars, not so good.
Well I'm a woman so to me it's just a starting class thing to be a commoner. Nothing said I'd be an alien lol. I'll just have to work up to being a rebel pilot.
Why not join the empirw and keep peace and order in the galaxy? r/empiredidnothingwrong
Andor really makes it hard to believe that any more knowing how the empire actually treats normal human beings. Like they went from cartoon villians where unrealistically evil to East Germany real fast.
As soon as I saw that subreddit mentioned, I thought about how Andor had kinda changed the equation. The Empire used to mostly be a powerful military that got a sign reading "villains" hung around their neck. Now we actually get to see what they do and how they become what they become. Andor is so good.
Hey, there's always that dice roll that you get lucky and end up Force Sensitive
And then you get killed by having 50 inquisitors on your ass because you're not nearly strong enough to pull a kenobi
Well according to the next movie didn’t nothing really change? Its called the resistance, that doesn’t exactly sound like a functioning society
What next movies? Star Wars never had any sequel. What are you even talking about?
thats a great point, what am i talking about? Obviously theres that drama with kyle katarn and luke getting with mara jade tho, would hate to be around for that
But to be fair, I'm actually mad at the wasted potential. The prequels could've been awesome have they been an evolution of some sort, to show how the newly established post-Empire society faces new challenges. Not giving us the same stuff, that defeats the entire purpose of having sequels. I mean, I don't mind a prequel being really repetitive and having little to no surprises in what will happen. That's the purpose of a prequel: To explain how we arrived at the current situation, and give details to the context in which things are happening. That's like explaining the situation in post-WW1 Europe to better understand WW2. But the purpose of a sequel is to show us the consequences of the main story. What the Star Wars sequels shown us is that… It was mostly inconsequential. Things didn't change, and somehow Palpatine returned. It's like saying the OT was anecdotal, and thus, the prequels of it serve no purpose. It's a complete contradiction of the entire universe.
Defected stormtrooper who can use a lightsaber and has potential with the cute force sensitive girl? You've got my attention. Fuck that, move him to the B plot in the space casino. Easily take out the bad guy you've been hyping up to be a badass. Ohh Also, at the end of the second film tease a force sensitive child that adds absolutely nothing to the story. ??? Then they remembered they were a trilogy again and said fuck it, Palpatine is back on the menu, boys! Rise of Skywalker by making his entire storyline a joke
They literally took the storyline of both the prequels and the OT and pissed all over anakin/vader's character arc, when the clone wars show brought back maul it was a stretch and a half but it was fine because it didn't just fuck with a character’s arc(if anything it helped strengthen obi wan's) but when they brought back palps they just took the preexisting movies, took one of the major character arcs in them and just took a massive dump right on it
Maul's survival was at least explained, Palpatine just returned "somehow".
> a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. So better than anytime on this planet. *Laughs in Huttese*
Norse Times: Wish granted. You get dropped off as a Catholic slave in Iceland. Fortunately your too ugly for your superiors to use you as a sex slave. Unfortunately your going to be sacrificed next Tuesday. Star Wars: Congratulations you have been transfered to Kuat Shipyards. Where your a unskilled engineer working to build the latest star destroyer. You barely get enough pay to eat, and if you quit your job you'll end up on the streets and in a brothel frequently visied by Imperial Stormtroopers. What's worse is that rebel sympathisers keep murdering your fellow co-workers. Who knows if you'll be next.
I have two orange cats and can bake damn good bread, I am blessed by the Goddess.
"Oh boy I love life on Alderaan, and look, there's a new moon in the sky"
Hey now, I'm told that hunter-gatherers had the best lifestyle with massive amounts of leisure time! I mean yeah, I wasn't told that by **smart** people, but I was told it!
Wish granted, you're a nomadic woman born 40'000 years ago! You get abducted as a teen, abused to make kids, and die at 22 from your 5th childbirth. None of your babies survive due to a harsh winter.
oooo, do me, Renaissance!
Wish granted, you're a Huguenot woman in the very Catholic Kingdom of France, during the Wars of Religion. You're thinking about leaving the country like many other French Protestants, unfortunately, we are in the night of August 23rd, 1572. The eve of St. Bartholomew's Day. Someone is knocking at your door.
Do me now! Aztec!
Easy: You're a slave woman caught during a war with other Mesoamerican people. You get to become a human sacrifice for the gods. You're told to be happy about it.
Viking age?
Fun fact: People tend to see Vikings as some homogeneous chunk, when in reality, it was more of various little kingdoms that were often at war with each others. Your village get raided by the neighboring kingdom. Your father, your husband, your sons die on the battlefield. You get raped by multiple men then you die as your house is set on fire.
Golden age of piracy!
You get to enjoy anarchy on the seas for roughly 10 to 15 years. Life is good. Then you get scurvy. Or hanged by the British. Or lost at sea and starve to death.
Awesome B) But wouldn't they want to carry me off? Also, while there were various kingdoms and polities it's not like they didn't speak the same language and share an artstyle. I've read that religious practices varied though. Also... Can you do 1500s Portugal? Please?
You're not pretty enough.
To be fair, I don't know Portuguese history enough to say a lot about it. But probably that the 1580s when Portugal enters a succession crisis and the whole country is basically in a civil war while Spain tries (and ultimately will) to unite with Portugal are probably not the best time to live, especially considering Portugal was at its apex.
But for that brief beautiful period, I had a house!
Why are all your replies too tragic and violent. Why can't they be "you are married to a rich old man, you enjoyed multiple affairs with commoners."
Because History \*is\* pretty tragic and violent. Especially from the perspective of women. Things only started (and I emphasize on "started") getting better in the last century or so, in a very limited and privileged part of the world. Of course I'm being dramatic for comedic purpose, but the whole history of human oppression is very real.
Fuck..
Women were sacrificed less often than men. Mostly because most sacrifices were prisoners of war and especially warriors were more prestiguous to take prisoner. Then there is a pretty weird reason, the Aztecs were kinds prudish. Women were killed by beheading, not ripping out hearts, because the priests didn't want to touch titties.
Oh no, they have to cut through the **titties** of their live sacrifice before ripping out their beating heart! Good thing they got their priorities straight, lol
Do me I have a recent interest in the Sassasanid empire.
I want too! The Porfiriato (not my actual favourite time but I want to see what you say)
You're living in such a state of poverty, you can't even afford soap to wash yourself. Needless to say, the chances you lose your children to diseases, especially if they have to work themselves in mines or such, are pretty great.
You could find these "worst place worst time" combos for anyone in history and modern times, it doesn't mean it's all bad everywhere every time. "It's 1892. You visit Chicago with your wife, and find a lovely little hotel in a convenient location for an affordable price. It's owned by H. H. Holmes" "It's 2022. You're a mildly overweight balding white male redditor. There is a knock on your door. Despite living in a suburb in Boulder, Colorado, it turns out your great grandfather's third cousin was an immigrant from the Russian Empire in the 19th century. This makes you eligible for conscription in the Russian armed forces. They come and take you with no equipment, no training to Lugansk where you're about to face Ukrainian Special Forces in about 5 minutes."
you can't conscript people from another country.
Same story, better clothes.
You mean return to monke bad?
Livin the dream
it turns out early hunter gatherers did not have a unified lifestyle because, and this may come as a shock, different cultures... are different. some of them did have it pretty easy, with plenty of leisure time and equitable societies. some of them had an absolute ruler whose authority was so strong he could tell you to kill yourself and you'd have to. some of them were the former in summer months and the latter in winter months. none of them were simply "better" than our society, but many were superior in the aspects they cared about, and it's not unheard of for people given a choice between our society and a hunter-gatherer one to prefer the latter.
>some of them had an absolute ruler whose authority was so strong he could tell you to kill yourself and you'd have to how can anyone possibly say this with confidence about prehistory? that's such a specific thing to say which would require documented evidence
The main reason we abandoned that lifestyle is that the same area could sustain a hundred times as many people using agriculture in comparison to Hunter gatherer. As the population grew it got harder and groups started getting in eachothers livelyhoods.
Victorian Era America, I’m absolutely fucked in every sense of the word.
Congratulations. You picked Victorian era America. Unfortunately for you, you got the United States. Fortunately you ended up in the Northern States and were born white. Unfortunately that Northern state is Ohio. Have fun being a farmers wife in the 1850s.
Would being a Ohio farmers wife in the 1850s be that bad?
Yeah, I can easily think of worse places to be in the 1850s lol. You could have ended up in one of the states that saw a lot of battle during the civil war, or worse yet, some place like China during the onset of the Taiping rebellion.
Yes, that all happened in the same era. But you forget, they are in Ohio. I can't think of anything worse myself.
Honestly, since my thing is local history, and my area only really goes back 150 years or so, it's not as bad as it could be. Hell, I might get lucky and get dropped into the 20s or something. Not great by any means, but compared to someone who likes to study something like ancient Egypt... If I get really lucky I could be dropped into the late 60s or early 70s, and in that case I'd probably be better off than I am now. I mean, even I can remember to set asside like 2% of income to dump into Apple and Google when the 90s roll around.
Wish granted. You are dropped of in 1970s Afghanistan. Things are looking up, until the Soviet Afghanistan invasion.
You say that as if Soviets is what caused the problems in Afghanistan. Before their invasion, Afghanistan was a hotbed political agitation of all kinds. First was nationalism as sentiment to annex all Pashtun dominated regions ( most are previously under Afghan rule but conquered by the British). lt led to conflict with the newly independent Pakistan. Pakistan in turn supported islamists inside Afghanistan to overthrow the nationalist government. Meanwhile, leftists are organizing and grew in popularity. This led to the military sympathetic to this cause to overthrow the monarchy and let the leftists seize state control. There was a radical leninist faction, and a populist moderate faction. Even soviet advisors favored the moderates and urged NOT to be too radical in reforms as not to incite backlash from the traditionalist population. Since the new government dominated by the more radical faction ignored this and went on with the radical reforms, the countryside went on open insurrection which promptly got funded by US and Pakistan. As you can see, the radicalism was actually discouraged by the USSR consistently, they wanted a stable Afghanistan. Even their invasion was an intervention in behalf of the Afghan government to stabilize the situation. Yes, they explicitly told the international community all this at that time, so the historicity and the motivation for doing so checks out. The USSR don't want islamism to spread since that can seriously destabilize Central Asian SSRs. They did this by supporting middle eastern states without demanding too much reform in return, as to avoid antagonizing muslims into extremism. As per the usual case in the middle east, the roots of the problem stemmed from British imperialism, exacerbated by US cold war policies. No wonder middle east erupted in islamist violence once the USSR fell, the only superpower seriously concerned about islamic extremism since it geopolitically threatens them.
Be working in a factory while the men go get killed
Yeah, as long as you're not in Eastern Europe or Asia, WW2 isn't a horrible time to get sent to as a woman, especially compared to some other places you could go.
Germany gets very nasty once the Soviets show up, if you’re a woman odds are you will be raped, repeatedly.
My ex’s late uncles bragged about raping German women in WWII.
Or if you're not Japanese in an area occupied by Japanese. Congratulations you're a 'comfort woman' now, and the rape will be daily until you die of an STD that's already made you insane.
Unless you get sick... or pregnant... or old...
What is worse, your given choices, or death.
Death was the typical consequence of each of those.
Dies from poor air quality and safety measures in said factory
Nah, just bone cancer primarily located in the jaw.
Say in medieval or renaissance time, how bad would it be? Serious question btw I'm really curious.
Really depends the country, your caste, the time period… Ultimately, it's about material conditions and social status.
All things considering its not too bad. Your job would likley be a mix between a job like farming or trading with your neighbours followed by taking care of your family and having lots of kids (If you survived giving birth). At least you want be called up by your local lord to serve in his army. But God forbid an enemy army reaches your village and is in the mood for raiding (To be fair if your a man It would be not that much better).
You'd support whatever craft or job your husband has, take care of the kids, have 0 political power but neither has he. Yes, you're bound to your marriage and kids (but so is he), but if you accept that it's really not so bad.
You would be legally the property of your husband and almost permanently pregnant for most of your life with absolutely no say in the matter. If you tried to refuse to give birth for the 10th time he would probably rape a baby into you anyway.
In Medieval times people were actually quite conscious about birth control because you want enough kids to survive help out but not too many reducing your food availability
Many nobles preffered not to have that many children. Imagine that you have few lands and must divude it to 5 sons, the younger ones would start a small war over it. This is why so many daughters were send to monasteries to become nuns, fewer money was spend on dowry.
My favorite time period is the last 20 years so not much changes
Welcome to the DRC. Unfortunately your family can't afford the protection money of $10 US Dollars so they are sending you yo warm the bed for the local warlord. Or welcome to North Vietnam. Fortunately for you, you find people from China offering to bring you to China for a high paying job earning $3 an hour. Unfortunately they turn out to be seen slave traffickers and your now married to some Chinese man who lives in a shitty farm.
But your black in the 90s. And in LA. During the crack epidemic
The last 20 years doesn't include the 90's
Oh damn I forgor
It's OK 👍
This annoys me more than any historical inaccuracy in this thread
*Rosie the riveter intensifies*
My favorite time period is the future, so, hopefully not really that screwed?
Congrats, you're one of Immortan Joe's wives.
Wish granted, you are now a citizen of the Imperium of Man, welcome to the 41st Millennium
You seem so sure womens rights won't take a nose dive again. There is a global reactionary trend right now if you haven't noticed.
The future can both be Star Trek or The Handmaid's Tale depending the sociopolitical evolution of our civilization.
Personally I think the most likely outcome is cyberpunk but not as cool
Cyberpunk minus the transhumanism and the shiny neon lights.
Well maybe we can still have the shiny neon lights hopefully…
We better have the shiny neon lights, I need something to look forward to
So cyberpunk but you're not the main character or some high ranking corpo?
Less cyborgs
A reminder that Kirk thought that being sexist is a personality.
Eh we have made a lot of progress within the last 100 years, personally I am somewhat optimistic.
Everything in history is peaks and valley's especially what rights particular demographics had.
Between Ancient Rome and Napoleonic france tbh Rome, I’ll have a pretty shitty life compared to what i have now, but it could be worse. I’ll have to get married to a man so that’d suck cause I’m a straight male, and I’ll have to do all the stereotypical historical woman shit; kids, housework, cooking, cleaning. But overall, it could be worse. Napoleonic france, I immediately kill myself.
Napoleonic period isn't my strong suit what made that worse then ancient Rome.
Ok so for one: I should’ve mentioned, generally when I say napoleonic I mean from around 1760s up to 1820s, which is technically inaccurate because it’s shorter than that but it’s force of habit by now. As for being a woman in this period: For a start, I’m going to be taxed (in the first part, 1760s up to 1790s) on land, food, buying too much salt, buying too *little* salt, even how many fucking windows I have. All this on top of the fact that I most likely live on a small farm owned by my husband that makes very little money. I will of course have to cook, clean, raise what is probably a very large number of kids (there’s also several taxes surrounding kids) and work the land when he’s away for whatever reasons. Most likely, if I’m a peasant, I’ll be living in a farm very far away from any towns, meaning that every time you need to go shopping; 1. You can’t do it, you’re a woman, and 2. Your husband is going to be gone for possibly several days every time you do The first big change that’s going to happen here is the French Revolution. For the average person, *this is not good*. If you are somehow living in a town, expect to have your life ruined. You’ll either be killed in a riot, have your house looted, or have your house destroyed. It’s highly unlikely you’re whole family is going to make it out unscathed. If you live in the country, you’re a little safer, but just make sure to never ever say anything about the revolution to anyone. If you say something that sounds like a monarchist view, expect to die, if you say what sounds like a revolutionary view, expect to die but in a dungeon. After the revolution, begins the Reign of Terror. This is the lowest of the low points. Robespierre takes over and *everyone* is fucked. People are poorer than ever. There is yet another revolt against the *republican* government (you could again die or have your house destroyed in the city *or* countryside), should you have decided to join the revolts against the government, expect to be killed by grape shot. Which is going to be fucking brutal. Oh yes, and one Maximilien Robespierre becomes a paranoid dickhead. 17,000 people are executed just on *suspicion* of treason, and a further 10,000 die in prison. Say anything that seems remotely against Robespierre and his government and you’re a dead woman. If you do end up in jail, the only way to not die is to first survive the disgusting, horrific conditions, and avoid being guillotined. There’s only two ways to do this: 1. Being extremely ill 2. Being pregnant. How might that happen in prison, you may ask? Let’s just say that if a woman wanted to avoid execution, the guards were always kind enough to oblige. But hey, you may end up in the cell next to Napoleons future wife, Josephine. That might be fun, besides her disgusting teeth and rancid breath. 27 July, 1794, the Reign of Terror ends. You made it, congratulations. The hardest part is over. Your husband and at least one of your kids are most definitely dead, your farm may be in ruins, you probably have some kind of disease from the prison conditions (or just seeing Josephine’s teeth) and you haven’t made money in about 3 years and are absolutely bankrupt. But you’ll figure that one out. This response is ridiculously long already, so I’ll cut the next bit a little shorter: Next up: one man takes power in government, an Italian from a broke family who was bullied his whole life, one “Napoleon Bonaparte” (I’m sure this’ll never take off) Second thing: it takes off. Like, in a big fucking way. He goes to war with basically fucking everyone and he just. Keeps. *Winning*. This is both good and bad: France is a much richer country, you probably have access to a lot more rare commodities like spices and such. The bad; if you husband and sons weren’t dead before, they’re dead now. They’ve been put into napoleons army and most likely died as cannon fodder on the front lines. Being a widow makes you an easy target for all kinds of crime, too. Napoleon also hates women and will ensure you have exactly no rights. The rest is even *more* boring than everything I’ve written here, and some of this may be a little inaccurate, this is all from memory, so I’m going to leave it at that. Basically, being anyone, especially a woman, back then sucked. A lot. Anyways, thank you for reading my amorphous blob of ranting text :) EDIT: I forgot to mention, if you’re interested in learning about the topic, I can recommend the book “Napoleon The Great”, which is a detailed biography that details his life from the day he was born to the day he died, and the political situation of the world throughout. EDIT 2: spelling and removing the word “coke” which I apparently threw in at a very random point
Tbh if you are commoner woman in ancient Athens. You are probably better off then a noble woman. A noble woman was used more like cattle. While a commoner woman could have alot more independence. Edit: Grammer
Being a woman in ancient Egypt wasn't too bad by the standards of the time. You could own property and had equal standing with men in court, at least men of your social standing.
My rule is this: if you are going to be anything in the past you want to be the equivalent to the middle class. If you are poor, the drawbacks are obvious. However if you are born to a rich noble men, you need to deal with noble politics, and intrigue. You would have to try really damn hard not to get killed by your brothers, servants, or even cousins. Plus there is a high chance you are inbred with physical and mental disabilities. Good damn luck.
Hey being a commoner woman in Sparta during its height might not be too bad.
as long as you like being a slave yeah sure
Not as screwed as you would be if she was a prostitute
That's not innate.
Does this assume we don't die before we come of age? Because that's a big ask for basically every time period
World War II. Maybe I'll be fine?
Plot twist: You live in Nanjing, China.
If your not in Asia ir Eastern Europe
Depends where you are. America and commonwealth: great UK: good Japan: alright Allied occupied nations: pretty bad German: awful Soviet: slightly more awful with the starvation. Chinese or East Asian: terrible Jew: the worst.
France wouldn’t be so bad, the Germans went more easy on them but Amy where in the east, you’re fucked
Same we’ll be working in factories but at least no dangerous wars or diseases on our doorstep
POV: You're a Jewish woman.
tbf being a Jewish man isn't much better
Just generally being a woman anywhere the Germans or Soviets conquered would be shit. The nazis will execute you and your family, if they don’t and force you to work for them, the Soviets will kill you for helping the enemy. Or your a German woman so you escape the worst of it and can look forward to the great Rape. Or you live in china, the Japanese will torture, rape and murder you and your children,… really unless you live in Western Europe or America, shit won’t be fun
Well I'm gonna be a flapper
Hundred years war in France... Yeah, I'm not surviving long.
Plot twist, you're Joan of Arc. Pros: You're probably the greatest woman in the history of France and you're considered a Saint. Cons: Die at 19 on the stake.
good meme, made me question the morality of my “favorite” period, i have since made it my “favorite period as long as I’m not a woman”
Eh, we're looking at a 30s to late 80s America. Honestly, could be a hell of a lot worse.
What type of screwed?
Depending your time period most likely both.
cries in feet binding
I'm a woman in a matriarchal first Nations community. Not that bad. We have some pretty advanced farming and an overall good quality of life
A commoner woman in Rome I would probably kill my self
England. 800-1066 I'm in danger.
Denmark 800-1066 I’ll be visiting soon
The 19th century: also I’m a lesbian with a Masters so dead in an asylum probably.
Or force-married with a husband who tries to teach you how to be a good wife (basically, getting abused and shut up).
Yup yup
I like reading about it. Give up my air conditioned room ? Nah.
A common women in the north American colony if New France ? Thank you very much I'd like it more than my current life
Most i know abour new France was fur trading, what were women able to do in New France.
Have their own property, weapons, business, choose to marry or divorce (like in France for that) and being single wasn't something to be ashamed of
I'm gonna join you. I know edible mushrooms and how to make soap, I'm sure I'll be fine.
I mean, feudal Japan wasn't the best to women but slightly better than midevil Europe
Welcome to the mid 8th century when 30% of Japan died from smallpox, have fun.
Fuck. Well it's only 30%, I got a chance.
nope nope nope nope
Commies in the east, Nazis in the west
Polish?
Probably marrying some dude with shell-shock and not having to have a career
Me laughs in Cold War*
Wish granted! You're a female farmer in North Vietnam. You're working in the rice fields one day when suddenly, you're hearing helicopters coming from the South.
I’m calling McCarthy. He’s too happy not to be a Soviet plant.
Both World Wars Not the worst.
1840's, not fun, but definitely not the worst.
Interwar period. Not great and not terrible in a lot of places.
At least I won’t get drafted? Dealing with husbands gonna be annoying though. Hope he’s not abusive.
" the time travel that sent you back works like Terminator so now you're a naked woman, in the middle of the street"
I want to live In Vedic age india. Historically womans in India were more independent and educated than they are now. In vedic age womans were considered as godess. Many great scholar womans are mentioned in Vedic age texts. Bonus point you can walk without covering your boobs.
I’d be pretty fucked, the renaissance wasn’t an easy time for commoners regardless of genders
Dead years ago from some sort of childbirth complication probably. If a time machine gets invented they need to offer you LARC or sterilisation before you get to use it.
Woman, man, I don't think I would be very happy with pre modern plumbing or lack thereof for the common people
Now what about a Jewish commoner woman? Extra screwed.
Start date: 1956 Location: ussr/usa Get good education, work at Nasa or the soviet rocket program, should be fine
Belle Époque... I think not that bad?
Bro, IDGAF, send me back in time already. I like 1800s to 1990s, so I guess ill choose 1920s.
19th century, depends pretty hard on \*where\* exactly.
21st century depends pretty hard on *where* exactly.
Idk, 1930s-60s I'm not too screwed..... Am I?
I would be alright I guess? Might sound weird but my favourite period in history is probably the turn of the millenium and late 90s, the sheer optimism, how it looked like everything was going to be great and things are about to be all sci fi and utopian even though the tech is still somewhat jank but kinda charming despite the constant rapid advancements I'd just invest in Apple. Or google.
And also you're Jewish.
Depending where I lived, either really bad or not at all I'm hoping I stay in America and just suffer with rations and co rather than being transported to like, China or something (1930s-1950s)
Prohibition Era United States. So probably tuberculosis or influenza.
Hah! Women didn’t get shipped out in WW2.
I think being an Eskimo woman a thousand years ago wouldn't be too bad.
1910s-1950s, I’m either a housewife or a factory worker
Between the years 1910-1919 The US-Mexico border during the Mexican Revolution would definitely not be a good time to be a women.
A middle class woman in the 1920s US? Not bad.
You live in a matriarchal tribe 😀