Posted by Petra on July 08, 1998 at 00:30:11:
In Reply to: Re: Geronimo posted by Tom on July 07, 1998 at 21:54:18:
Tom,
don't worry, no tearing here, I'll be nice .. (rolling up my sleeves, grin) Well, that Mr. Keegan just sounds like a good old traditional theorist. Whether or not that Huns/Mongolians example may be just a little bit exaggerated, and whether or not their major activities in Eastern Europe occurred a couple centuries before emigration to America took off, I won't argue over that since it's been ages since I last read any history books on ol' Attila, Genghis, the Kosaks or the Tatars. But even if that's accurate, my answer to Mr. Keegan would be: So what?
Good guys or not so good guys, that old "There was so much land that it was okay for us to want it." somehow doesn't touch me. It does have an interesting ring of socialism, though, of redivision of means of production. Doubt if that's what Mr. Keegan had in mind.
Anyway, what I sometimes day-dream about is, how things might be if US settlement could have been stopped at some point. Would there be countries along language borders? That's how European tribes found together, by language groups, with the different dialects possibly as distinct as different Native American languages of the same related group. How much of a population increase would there have been, and what size of settlements would there be today? How would the political systems look, like those of many other ex-colonies, still modeled after European systems, or entirely different? I like the idea of the US not being as big as it is today, I can't help it. And of tribes ruling countries, not reservations.
So, that leads me to wonder if and how white settlement and pioneerism could have been stopped. It seems that starting out nice with the newcomers didn't do anything for the tribes who approached the problem that way. But blind butchering didn't help in the long run either, although it bought some time for those who did it. So, what could have? More alliances with others maybe, and sharing the job of defense? And, out here in the West, quick demolition of new telegraph lines might have bought more time. Any ideas?
Petra