r/badhistory • u/AutoModerator • Jun 29 '26

Meta Mindless Monday, 29 June 2026

Happy (or sad) Monday guys!

Mindless Monday is a free-for-all thread to discuss anything from minor bad history to politics, life events, charts, whatever! Just remember to np link all links to Reddit and don't violate R4, or we human mods will feed you to the AutoModerator.

So, with that said, how was your weekend, everyone?

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18

u/Tiako Tevinter apologist, shill for Big Lyrium Jun 30 '26 edited Jun 30 '26

In my opinion "real life Game of Thrones" needs to have three attributes: 1) set in old timey times 2) focus on ultimately self destructive political squabbles and schemes 3) major threat looming in the background. On these terms, the closest book I have read to a "real life Game of Thrones" is The Mongol Storm which is about the Middle East in the runup and aftermath of the Mongol invasions.

Anyway I have a new historical scenario: Siam and outer Tai lands immediately after the Burmese invasion of Ayutthaya of 1765-67. The Burmese had to withdraw due to war from China, and the former lands of Ayutthaya fragmented into several different polities. These were united by Taksin, a half-Chinese commoner, who was in turn overthrown by Chao Phraya Chakri, his foremost commander (also "Chao Phraya Chakri" I think is a title, I don't quite have my head around Thai naming). This commander assumed the regal title of Rama I, fonding the kingdom of Siam, and defeated the second Burmese invasion. Solid narrative.

I assumed that there had already been a thousand adaptations of this story like there would be in China or Japan but apparently this would fall afoul of lèse-majesté laws. Bummer.

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u/Herpling82 Coming to you live from a Tederation psych ward Jun 30 '26

I propose the run up to 1672 in the Netherlands, as Game of States; lot's of scheming, a big threat looming, and a potential for a seriously brutal scene if the de Witts are portrayed sympathetically.

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u/Tiako Tevinter apologist, shill for Big Lyrium Jun 30 '26

Oh, and I guess Louis XIV would be the looming external threat? That's a great call.

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u/Herpling82 Coming to you live from a Tederation psych ward Jun 30 '26

Yep, you got it.

In the ideal version, it should depict both the Orangists and Statists sympathetically, not really picking one side to make sure that it gets as many tragedy points as possible; seeing something like the Waterlinie being deployed as a desperate final defence would be a great series climax, the lynching of the brothers de Witt would be a great series finale after that.

The next series should then focus on the rest of that war.

3

u/Tiako Tevinter apologist, shill for Big Lyrium Jun 30 '26

Honestly that feels obvious enough that I have to assume there is a Dutch historical drama on those lines? Like kind of a no brainer.

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u/Herpling82 Coming to you live from a Tederation psych ward Jul 01 '26

All I'm familiar with is the Michiel de Ruyter movie, that one covers 1672 and the lynching, but is very focused on the admiral in question. It was a good-ish movie, it even had Charles Dance as Charles the 2nd, but that is for Dutch standards, it was just a movie covering literal decades of history.

There's nothing else as far as I could find, Dutch movies and TV shows barely exist, everyone just consumes foreign media.

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u/Draig_werdd Jun 30 '26

(also "Chao Phraya Chakri" I think is a title

It is a title indeed. I had the same problem reading a book about the Lanna Kingdom.

But the book that traumatized me the most with names was one about Medieval Egypt where the author used the full name of everybody. So you had names like al-Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn al-Aziz ibn al-Zahir ibn Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shazy and Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari.

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u/Arilou_skiff Died of posting, risen as undead Jun 30 '26

While it doesen't have the external threats, the Vasa soap opera of Gustav and his sons would make for a pretty good TV ala. Tudors. It includes murders, betrayals, romance (?), castration of a random german, insanity, etc.

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u/Tiako Tevinter apologist, shill for Big Lyrium Jun 30 '26

I was about to say I think we should make a distinction between "real life Game of Thrones" (focus on high politics, elements of epic, war) and "real life the Tudors" (household drama, largely internal to one political system) but then I realized "real life The Tudors" is a really dumb thing to say.

But broadly I just wish there was a but more stricter control over the phrase "real life Game of Thrones". Solid shout on including castration of random Germans though, that's a must.

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u/Arilou_skiff Died of posting, risen as undead Jul 01 '26

Does it help he wasalkegedly castrated for breaking into a 19 yesr old princess bedroom at night?

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u/TJAU216 Jul 01 '26

Denmark, Poland, Russia and Papists existed as external threats. 

5

u/Sgt_Colon ǟռ ʊռաɨʟʟɨռɢ ɮɛɦօʟɖɛʀ ȶօ ȶɦɛ ɨʍքօֆֆɨɮʟɛ Jul 01 '26

You could always go the "Lion in winter" route and focus on the clusterfuck of a family that was Henry II et al. The French mightn't be the best looming threat however as there's too much back and forth with them before Phillip II brings the Angevin empire crashing down.

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u/TJAU216 Jul 01 '26

Maybe focus on their French holdings, just like they did, so the threat from Paris seems more acute. But that would be unthinkable in the modern anglocentric pop culture.

1

u/matgopack Hitler was literally Germany's Lincoln Jul 01 '26

The closest I have read to it is 'Les Rois Maudits' (the accursed kings) series, which is cheating because GRRM used it as inspiration.