Speaking of which, I do not think that historical development can only be "leapfrogged" by a temporal outsider, i.e. a person from a society at a later stage of the same evolutionary path (roughly Western European, in this case). As a counterexample, I point to Claude from FE3H and contend that any kind of outside perspective, if taken serious (which most of the time it isn't) can help a person or a group resolve long-standing contradictions and live a happier life.
I personally think it varies on a case-to-case basis. If a person from modern Britain was transported to the middle ages, they'd obviously run into issues like the language barrier and so forth, and would probably die before they get to any major court and inform the nobles about vital political events.
But if, as in Anise's case, they came back as a privileged political figure, they could achieve incredible things with some decent planning and strategy. Most groundbreaking ideas have always been unprecedented, or they wouldn't have been revolutionary in the first place. If a moderner can figure out how to a) pitch a change without getting executed for insanity or blasphemy and b) reverse-engineer progress by gradual advancement (like creating muskets instead of jumping to assault rifles), then major changes can definitely be instituted.
I'd argue that savants like Da Vinci were more revolutionary in their respective eras than John Smith from a random city street would be if sent back to that same period. It's all a matter of getting in touch with the right people and producing results, so to speak.
Sengoku Komachi Kurotan is one manga I can think of that handles the 'moderner in the past' genre quite well, and explores how shifting something like agriculture could cause a domino effect that alters military campaigns, the results of major conflicts, political dynamics and the nature of affiliated societies.
last edited at Dec 28, 2020 2:07PM