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  • Chris Trottieratomicpoet@atomicpoet.org
    Apr 22, 2026, 6:00 PM

    Why have the British have been so genocidal?

    Obviously because they chose to be. However, it’s worth investigating why genocide was normalized in Britain.

    The island of Britain itself experienced 1,000 years of genocide between the Roman and Norman conquests of Britain.

    Britain was a laboratory for genocide—reaching its peak with the Harrying of the North. The patterns of exterminatory rule developed during that era were later applied to places outside Britain.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrying_of_the_North

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  • MostlyTatoMostlyTato@mstdn.social
    Apr 22, 2026, 6:28 PM

    @atomicpoet
    Anglo Saxon to Medieval English history is indeed characterised by immigration, violent replacement and acculturation. And some damn fine jewellery.

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  • Chris Trottieratomicpoet@atomicpoet.org
    Apr 22, 2026, 6:48 PM

    @MostlyTato You probably already know this, but it’s worth saying anyway.

    An Anglo-Saxon political entity only existed for 139 years. And during that time, it was incredibly fragile because it only existed to counter the Vikings.

    Prior to that, there was the Heptarchy—which was a collection of seven Anglish, Saxon, and Jutish kingdoms. They saw little affinity with each other, and often warred amongst themselves. A King of Mercia was more likely to see a King of Wessex as an enemy than a “fellow Anglo-Saxon.”

    This co-existed with Celtish kingdoms, albeit precariously. The process of displacement and assimilation was long and grinding.

    That said, the initial reason the Germanic peoples showed up to Britain was because the Romano-Celtish King Vortigern invited them over to counter raids from the Scoti and Picts. This obviously didn’t go as planned.

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  • MostlyTatoMostlyTato@mstdn.social
    Apr 22, 2026, 7:00 PM

    @atomicpoet
    Kind of an in built risk in inviting over mercenaries and a perfect vacuum for them to fill after 410AD! The Dark Age incursions kind of set the tone for a time that must have been full of turmoil. Iirc there was a bubonic plague too? Christianity via Ireland, Pagan Angles, Saxons, Jutes, sub Romano-British and Brythonic natives, it's no coincidence that the Arthurian myth arguably has its nebulous origins in this period.

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