If I could witness any historical event firsthand, I would choose to witness the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
The Congress of Vienna. The whole thing, since you didn’t say it had to be a quick event…
The crafting of the US Constitution is a very close second.
Distant third would be the fall of Constantinople.
Distanter fourth, the look on Gutenberg’s face after he printed his first page successfully. He couldn’t have failed to realize what it meant…
I would like to witness the fall of Constantinople, but from a very far distance 😅
I would choose the Flight of the Winged Hussars. Apparently it was the inspiration behind the final charge in the Battle of Helm’s Deep in The Lord of the Rings
1893 worlds fair
For me it depends on what part of history. Modern, probably Jimi Hendrix playing at Woodstock, the Star-Spangled Banner. Middle-Ages it would be the Vikings landing at lindisfarn or Greenland.
Not specifically historical events, but I really want to see ancient cities in their prime.
I’d pick an event we have no concrete knowledge about, or we have conflicting accounts of and we’re unsure what exactly happened. Some candidates:
- Death of Bartia, brother of Cambyses II - was Darius the Great lying about there being an imposter of Bartia? (probably)
- Sack of Babylon by Mursili I, but with some astronomical dooblydoo to be able to precisely date it. Maybe a better way would be to pick an early eclipse before the Hittite sack of Babylon and ask some locals who the king is.
- The writing/dictation/whatever of “The Exaltation of Inanna”. Was it really by created by Enheduanna? Was it a bit of legend or royal propaganda?
I would like to definitely see some medieval battes: Agnicourt and Crécy (and witness how those big French armies lose with relatively small English forces) Siege of Orléans (seeing Jeanne d’Arc live in action would be so awesome) Grunwald 1410 (since I’m Polish I really would like to see that haha) Siege of Rhodes 1480 (witnessing how small Hospitallers forces withstand huge Turkish army) Outside of medieval battles I definitely would like to see Winged Hussars charge in Vienna.
I’d sit back and watch Giza being built.
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I would like to be able to see, without them being able to see me, the final days in Hitler’s Berlin bunker. It would be fascinating to watch so many of the nazi leaders who were such pompous murdering assholes being brought to their knees in defeat.
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Just an ordinary day/week/month in any other culture and time period. Given that I understood the language of course 😅 Would be much more interesting than witnessing any particular event that is considered “historical”.