texts: Why was the swordsman of Calais chosen as Anne Boleyn's executioner?

texts:
Anne Boleyn was executed on May 19, 1536.

Displaying an act of "mercy", King Henry VIII dispatched a skilled executioner to perform the execution by sword rather than by axe or being burned at the stake.

The swordsman was dispatched from Calais, English occupied France at the time.  Obviously, the swordsman would have to have been skilled with a flawless reputation to have been summoned by the King of England.

According to author and historian Dr. Eric Ives, the swordsman was very skilled.

  her beheading by a first-class executioner — “an expert in the use of
  the heavy continental executioner’s sword which could cut the head off
  a prisoner who was kneeling upright, in place of the clumsier English
  axe needing the prisoner’s chin on the block.”

Anne Boleyn herself even mentioned the skill of the swordsman.

An excerpt from a letter to Thomas Cromwell from William Kingston on informing Anne Boleyn on the postponement of her execution:

  And then she said "I heard say the executioner was very good, and I
  have a little neck," and put her hand about it laughing heartily.

Why was this particular executioner chosen?


texts: Why was a small vessel tied to the deck of the USS Oriskany during scuttling?

texts:
The final fate of the USS Oriskany (CV-34) is that it was scuttled as an artificial reef in the Gulf of Mexico. It's a fairly famous dive site.
There are photos of the ship as it sank taken by the United States Navy. What I don't understand is there appears to be a small boat strapped down to the deck of the USS Oriskany. Furthermore there is a box in that boat that is also strapped down.
What is the purpose of this boat? What is the box in the boat?

Photo Credit: Public domain image taken from Wikipedia


texts: Why did Soviet soldiers who plundered occupied territories during WW2 prefer watches to other valuables?

texts:
EDIT: text in bold was added later to not suggest that this practice was common.

I'd known from stories told by my Grandmother and other people of Her age, that after entering pre-war Polish territories, some Soviet soldiers plundered everything, but what they liked most were handwatches. This was what they wanted at first.
I think this is a good source. Few weeks ago I was talking with a person who lived in Polish Silesia. She said they did not plunder anything from common people (they stole some furniture from a town hall and machines from local factory), did not rape women, but took all watches.

This is a picture of two Soviet soldiers putting a flag on the Reichstag in Berlin.

This was redrawn, as on the original picture the soldier (quite high rank, I think) had watches on both hands:

This correction suggests that Red Army knew the problem and could be somewhat ashamed.

Why were some Soviet soldiers so fond of handwatches? Why were they Soviet most desired booty?

I can see three reasons, first: there were no watches in the USSR (why?), secondly: just because it was easy to bear, third: this was some kind of fashion.

Please note: I don't want in any way suggest that this practice was common in all occupied territories and by every soldier. I believe that soldiers who died fighting Nazis were mostly good people.


texts:
Napoleon Bonaparte being commissioned Second Lieutenant at the age 17  in French Artillery, returned to Corsica.

Given his French Allegiance, why did he join the resistance movement while still being an officer of the belligerent force?
And why did he later abandon his comrade in the the Resistance , Pauli Parlesque?

I will be skeptical to answers attributing the fickleness to a young man's hot blood.


texts: How common / uncommon was sword-vs-sword combat on ancient battlegrounds?

texts:
The question Any notable battles fought with steel vs. bronze weapons?, more precisely the comment to this answer to the tone of "ah, but that was mainly a chariot battle...", piqued my interest.

As far as I know my history, the predominant weapons of the Bronze / Iron Age were spears and bows. Isn't it correct that the sword was, mostly, a nobleman's sidearm (as it was rather expensive to produce)?

This would render the whole "how would a bronze sword fare against an iron / steel sword" issue mostly academical.

How common, or uncommon, were sword-versus-sword combats on the ancient battlefield?

I am not talking duels or the like, but warfare.


texts: Why did Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Breznev wear military uniforms when Lenin and the later Soviet leaders did not?

texts:
I know that dictators often wear uniforms to appear intimidating.

Why did Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev wear military uniforms when Lenin and the later Soviet leaders did not?

Weren't Lenin and the other Soviet leaders dictators?


texts: Primary annalistic sources for ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt

texts:
Are there any surviving dynastic annals from any of the various civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt that provide an authoritative record of their rulers and historical events?

This is in comparison with the extensive primary written sources from other ancient civilizations such as Greece (Herodotus, Thucydides etc), Rome (Livy, Caesar, Tacitus etc), China (Sima Qian, Ban Gu etc), and others.


texts:
In theory, a sniper can disable a tank.

shoot out the gun sight
shoot out the driver sight
wait for crew to open the hatch because they can't see
shoot the crew

Has this ever happened? The snipers that got hundreds of kills in armored warfare environment- did they ever deal with tanks?


texts: Why did Ronald Reagan veto the Anti-Aparthied Bill of 1986?

texts:
Ronald Dellums, a black, and openly socialist democratic member of the senate, began his campaign to end US support for the South African regime for apartheid in 1972.

By 1986 he had put together the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Bill which had the full support of both sides of the house, both Democratic and Republican.

However, the then President Ronald Regan vetoed it and then the veto was overturned by house.

Why did President Ronald Reagan exert his veto on a bill, which the subsequent history was on the right side of history?

Edit: from Wikipedia, the reason given by Reagan, was that it would mostly hurt the impoverished black majority and lead to more civil strife.


texts: How did people realize that America was a different continent?

texts: American schools teach that the American continents are named after Amerigo Vespucci because he realized that Columbus had not sailed to Asia but rather a new continent.  If this story is true, how did Amerigo realize this?  If not, who was first to realize America was a different continent, and what was the evidence for this?


texts: So I was reading my history text, and it states that horses were likely hunted to extinction in North America. However, many movies and books display Native-Americans as in-tune-with-nature horse-whisperers. Is this a false display? Or did Native-Americans have access to horses from some source that led to this portrayal? Overall I want to know what real-life facts/events have led to this portrayal of Native-Americans in popular culture.


texts: How did St Sebastian become a gay male icon?

texts:
St Sebastian, who was an early saint and martyr killed during the Roman emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians, is commonly referred to as a gay male icon.

Wikipedia reads:

  British director Derek Jarman made a film, Sebastiane, which caused controversy in its treatment of the martyr as a homosexual icon. However, as several critics have noted, this has been a subtext of the imagery since the Renaissance.

After reading the referenced newspaper article, I'm still unsatisfied and I want to demand a fuller explanation indicating, possibly, specific and academic references.

Can anybody help me?


texts: Why would Cavour ally with France instead of any enemy of Austria that wasn't looking to grab Nice and Savoy?

texts: In 1858 during Italian unification, the Prime Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont, Cavour, entered into an alliance with France. In return for French aid against Austria, Cavour ceded Savoy and Nice to France. Why didn't Cavour instead ally with a strong enemy of Austria (like Prussia) that wouldn't demand such concessions? Maybe the unification might have been faster because Prussia would have upheld their bargain...


texts:
The attached map below is just a picture from google maps
I know posting such pictures might not be a good practice, but I needed to specify the position of Sugar Island and St Joseph Island.
My question is:
Who, when, and what happened there, that caused Sugar Island to be part of USA, instead of Canada, as St Joseph Island is?
If it is a long or complex story, just point me out to some links where I can read more about it.
If there were many changes, like for instance, with Alsace-Lorraine, then let's just keep the last one, so that we don't extent it too much.

Edit: Comments suggested looking at two Wikipedia articles, Sugar Island and Webster Ashburton Treaty. They summarize it as follows:

The treaty clarified the channel that the border would follow between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, awarding Sugar Island to the U.S.

This treaty is the certainly the proximate cause for why Sugar Island is part of the US. However I am more interested in the ultimate cause. In other words, the Wikipedia article lacks any indication of why this island was awarded to the US.


texts: What class / type of ship was the "Dragon" from Rotterdam c. 1732?

texts:
I am attempting to determine the class, size, features, history of the British ship "Dragon" c. 1732 that was known to arrive in Philadelphia on September 30, 1732 with 173 men, women and children Palatine immigrants AND crew total from Rotterdam under the (assumed) command of Charles Hargrave per the following document.

In one document (1 only, and unsourced) I have also seen it referred to as the "The Good Dragon".

I know there is a lot of information copied about the passengers on it, but I am curious about the ship itself.

Lloyds Register does not go back that far beginning in the 1760s and it may have changed names by that time and likely captains. Other references ships named Dragon I have found so far do not in service during this time.

My primary question is the class of the ship itself and where I may find general information about learning further about that class or even that specific ship.


texts: Why were eighteenth century financial inventions only patentable under French law for 21 months?

texts:
This Tontine wikipedia article  says,

  Financial inventions were patentable under French law from January 1791 until September 1792

Why did that practice stop after less than 2 years?


texts: What is the history of the Molly, which became the USS Reprisal

texts:
According to Wikipedia, the USS Reprisal

  ...was the first ship of what was to become the United States Navy to be
  given the name promising hostile action in response to an offense.
  Originally the merchantman brig Molly, she was purchased from Robert
  Morris by the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress on March
  28, 1776, renamed Reprisal, and placed under the command of Captain
  Lambert Wickes.

Was the Molly the same ship to transport immigrants from Rotterdam to Philadelphia (early 1700s)?


texts: Where did the Gabare Jahangiri Dynasty assert authority?

texts: Where did the Sunni Muslim dynasty assert authority?


texts: Did Ancient China use lead in their food/water industry as much as the Romans?

texts:
The Romans used lead a lot. Water pipes might be the most famous, but there were lead plates and lead vessels to prepare food or drink too.

Apparently lead was an inevitable byproduct of silver refining, because the silver mines had galena ore (lead-silver ore). So it became common due to its cheapness and didn't corrode easily.

So what I want to know now is, did Ancient China also use lead in the same ways and to the same degree? Did they have lead water pipes? Lead vessels?

The time period I'm interested in is 500 BCE to 500 CE, which is roughly the time of the Western Roman Era (Republic + Empire).


texts: In the context of Ancient Egypt, what could "Priest of On" mean?

texts:
Was there any city or deity or ruler in Ancient Egypt named On (in Hebrew pronounced "own")? I'm trying to understand what might be the source for the reference in Genesis 41:45:

  And Pharaoh named Joseph "Zaphenath Pa'neach (Heb. pron. Tsapna'th Pa'nayah)," and he gave him Asenath the daughter of Poti phera, the governor/priest of On, for a wife, and Joseph went forth over the land of Egypt.


texts:
Bryson's European tour comments on a rainstorm of very long duration in 1345. The best evidence for this I found in Villani's chronicle which described a rainstorm of three months' duration. Which other primary sources describe rainstorms in 1345–46 Italy?

Bill Bryson's 'Neither Here, Nor There', a travel book about Europe, says:

... imagine what it must have been to be an Italian in the fourteenth century. For a start, in 1345 it rained non-stop for six months...

Bryson is not a historian nor does he need to be accurate to the letter, but I am curious as to how true this claim is. Though the longest recorded rainstorm is actually 331 days, I couldn't prove the 'six months' regarding 14th century Italy.
I did find a reference to these events in Giovanni Villani's texts as translated in 'Medieval Italy: Texts and Translation':

In the aforesaid year of 1346, but beginning in October and November of 1345, because of too much rain, the sowing season was ruined, and then in April, May, and June of 1346 it rained ceaselessly, and there were such storms that for similar reasons the sowing of various crops was again ruined.

This would at best be October and November as well as another wet April through June. In which case, Bryson may have indulged in poetic liberty. I didn't find other mentions, including Wikipedia's 1345 in Italy which ignores these events entirely. Are there any other primary sources which commented on the weather in this period?


texts:
I'm trying to identify the origins of a metal pendant that features some engravings and red semitransparent stones or glass.

The pendant appears Christian in its symbology and came into my possession as an inherited item through a Catholic relation, who believes its origins to be medieval.

The metal looks like copper to me, judging by the colour and oxidation on the back.

I won't guess as to the nature of the red stones, other than to say they don't appear to be plastic (they feel hard like silicate).

I'm really at a loss as to what century to place this in. It has no visible inscriptions and appears certainly hand made. Judging by the amount of flaws it also appears to either be very old or manufactured with simple tools. There are also visible imperfections in the red material;

 click to enlarge pictures

Can anyone venture a guess as to what this thing is and where/when it comes from?


texts: How did the HMAS Sydney know the real Straat Malakka's secret callsign, "IIKP", but not HSK Kormoran?

texts:
It's outlandish that the Kormoran didn't know the secret callsign of the ship they were imitating.

Please see the question in my title, and the emboldened sentence underneath.  I quote Wikipedia.

  During the exchanges and distress signal, Sydney positioned herself just off the raider's starboard beam on a parallel course, approximately 1,300 metres (4,300 ft) from Kormoran.[48] The cruiser may or may not have been at action stations: the main guns and port torpedo launcher were trained on Kormoran and her Walrus scout plane had been readied for launch, prompting Detmers to prepare to engage Sydney, but her 4-inch (100 mm) guns were unmanned, and personnel were standing on the upper deck.[48][49] During her manoeuvre, Sydney appeared to signal "IK" (the short-form for "You should prepare for a cyclone, hurricane, or typhoon"), which Kormoran did not respond to, as from their perspective, such a signal did not make sense.[36][50] The Germans were unaware that the letters were the interior of the real Straat Malakka's secret callsign, "IIKP": to verify her identity, the ship had to signal back the outer letters.[36][48] The aircraft was shut down by 17:25, and the catapult swung into the storage position; the two ships were too close for a safe launch.[51]


texts: Was the Night of the Long Knives principally a means to obtain loyalty of the German military leadership?

texts:
Two History professors in my school say that Hitler had to execute the leaders of the SA principally because the generals of the German army asked him to do it: The generals were Teutonic nobility; the leaders of the SA who were pedophiles, homosexuals, criminals... in one word, scum. So the generals explicitly stated that otherwise they would not have accepted Hitler as their Führer. In other words, according to the professors, getting rid of Hitler's opposition was not the first purpose of the NLK.

However, I couldn't find sources backing up those claims, and furthermore, my professor himself disagrees. Are they correct?


texts: Why couldn't the Arabs invade Palestine before the end of the British Mandate?

texts:
Primarily, did the mandate provide some sort of de facto protection against invasion from the Arabs?

But considering that the British had a mandate over Palestine, why did they not intervene in the civil war that followed the UN Partition?


texts: Was the flexibility of German army a big contributor to their success?

texts:
While in a conversation, my friend claimed that German soldiers were given greater flexibility at defying the orders given by the superiors than other armies around the world in both World War, hence their success at many of the battles.

Were they given this flexibility, and if they were, how could one measure the effectiveness of these kinds of tactics? I find it hard to be able to believe one could conclude that flexibility in defying the orders is one of the major reasons for victories.


texts: How many people worked to build one Liberty ship?

texts:
A lot of Liberty Ships were built during WW2. These were fairly large transport ships with a capacity of about 11,000 t deadweight tonnage. Wikipedia says the average build time was 42 days, and that the workforce was newly trained because no one had ever made welded ships before.

I would like to know how big was the workforce that constructed them? In other words, how many people worked on one in the drydock? And were they divided into 3 shifts for round-the-clock work?

I'm just interested in the ship construction. No need to factor in things like engine building at a factory somewhere else.

Edit: Actually, I want the work to build/assemble the ship, both on the slipway and on the water. Before posting this question, I did not know that ships were finished on the water. (I heard of "fitting out" before, but thought that was only stuff like bringing in food and beds and misc. stuff like radios and other small equipment.)


texts: Were US decision makers aware of the destructiveness of the Bomb of Nagasaki?

texts:
The bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dropped on August 6th and 9th respectively. According to this answer, the second bomb was tested once.

Must I assume that US leaders were well aware of the destruction they ordered? What have the leaders said in that regard? I have only found a quote by Truman "expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth".

Scientists, such as Feynman, have written at length about the subject, striving to rationalise their deed. I want to understand, how well the decision makers could foresee the impact of their decision.


texts: National Symbology and Iconography of Carthage

texts:
Are there any design elements that symbolized the Carthaginian empire?  The Roman empire is associated with many iconographic and stylistic elements, like the golden eagle on military standards and banners, the bright red tunics and draperies, a very recognizable legionary armor silhouette, the curved red/orange shields, etc.  Each of these are very evocative symbols of the Roman government and military, similar to the bald eagle or the stars-and-stripes for the USA.

The game Rome: Total War associates Carthage with the colors blue and white and a symbol of a crescent moon, but I haven't found many other references for either of these so I imagine they're just game design elements.  Most of the religious symbols tied to Carthage are equally tied to Phoenicia and other areas of the Mediterranean.  I'm having a hard time finding any symbols or designs, whether military or governmental or religious, that are exclusively and evocatively Carthaginian.

Were there any seals or standards or designs or colors that evoked "Carthage" in the minds of people in the ancient Mediterranean?


texts: What was the northernmost region/city in the Roman Empire that spoke Greek as the native language?

texts:
My understanding is that prior to the migrations/invasions of the Goths, Huns and Sklavenoi into the Balkan peninsula, Greek and Latin where the most common native languages, alongside other steadily declining languages such as Thracian and Illyrian. Also, I'm aware of the "Jireček Line" which is the theoretical line that divided the Balkans into the areas with Greek influence from those with Latin influence

My question is, do we know what was the most northern native Greek speaking colony in the Balkans? I'm assuming such a place would be located on the coast of the Black Sea? What about inland Balkans?
(Also, I am aware of the status of Greek and Latin as lingua franca's during Rome's imperial period, but I'm mainly concerned with the use of Greek as a native language.)


texts: Have majority European descent countries ever been seen by other European descent countries as a threat to manufacturing?

texts:
As far as I'm aware, in Australia, currently only countries which are predominantly made up of people not of European descent, such as China, are seen as a "threat" to Australia's manufacturing.

Have majority European descent countries ever viewed other majority European descent countries as a threat to their manufacturing?

I'm interested in both examples where the other country is seen as "inferior" (whether racially, religiously, or culturally), and where the other country is not seen as "inferior".


texts:
This 10 zehn heller , which I believe at the top on the reverse says "Notgeld" but it is really hard to make out.

The date looks like "1827" but is probably 1923 and it seems to have a wood grain texture to it. Can anyone give me more information on this piece?


texts: What was traded on the Chicago Board of Trade in the mid 1800s?

texts: The Chicago Board of Trade was the world's first futures and options exchange, trading various kinds of commodities (I think mostly agricultural, but I'm not sure).  When it first opened in 1848, what commodities were traded there?  Any data on commodities (particularly with volumes traded and/or prices) would be very useful.


texts: When was the first documented mention of mechanically generated electricity?

texts:
Electricity seems to have become known and adapted widespread in the early 19th century. With people such as Nikola Tesla and Thomas Alva Edison it eventually entered our daily lives as a source of light and warmth.

Q: When/What was the first documented mention of mechanically generated electricity?

By mechanically I mean electricity generated through mechanical action (e.g. a wheel turning).

This question is asking about cases where the generated electricity has furthermore been used to power any contraption with, at least, an apparent use e.g.:

powering a spark-gap transmitter to make electricity visible
-> cool
creating a charge that eventually unloads itself through touch or something like that
-> not cool


texts: During attack by Wahhabi Muslims of Saudi on Karbala city in Iraq, how many Shia Muslims were killed?

texts:
There are different stats about this. It is mentioned in different references, numbers ranging from 4000 to even 120,000.

What is correct casualty count?

Also did this attack really happened in history?


texts: How did the Chinese Civil War avoid becoming another Korean War?

texts:
In light of the recent news the Korean War has been on my mind.

Yet how do we understand the Korean War in the broader regional and global contexts in the aftermath of WWII? Was the Korean War merely the first real contest of the Cold War between two opposing international camps? Or was it in significant ways a civil conflict with deep roots in the social and political conditions in the Peninsula?

My main question:

The post-WWII
Chinese and Korean political and military conflicts shared significant similarities, but
why didn’t the Chinese Civil War of the late 1940s escalate into a wider war?


texts: Italian & Italian-American Internment camp locations in the United States in WWII

texts: So I am making a Power Point for my American History class, and I cannot for the life of me find a map marking Italian American internment camps.  I found German American and Japanese American Interment camp maps, but that is it.


texts: Were there any German submarines sunk after 25th of April 1945? The days just before the fall of Berlin.


texts: What was the population of the main area of settlement in New York City in 1890?

texts:
Many population figures given for the population of cities may include the surrounding rural areas and villages. The available number I have found for New York of 1890 includes the entirety of today's Manhattan and Bronx. I would like to know what the population of only the central/old/main city was? as there was much rural area (and probably also other centers of settlement in north Manhattan or in the Bronx) included in this area.
The source of this question is as follows:
In Jewish law, one of the standards to define a "Large Public City" is 600,000 residents. (It's actually a bit more complicated than this simple definition, but the place for dealing with that is on Mi Yodeya).
We were studying some Jewish texts written about at the turn of the century which list some of the cities that were/may have been considered "Large Public City" at that time.


texts:
Some people think that ancient Iranians (unlike Iranians today) were white and had green/blue eyes and blonde hair.

I am myself an Iranian and I do not look white; I do not have blue/green eyes and do not have blond hair.

I was wondering if there is any evidence how Cyrus the great looked like and if he saw the Iranians of today, would he be surprised that the majority of Iranians do not share his eye/hair/skin color?


texts: How was it decided if a case should be tried in Rome or in the province by the governor of that province? was the governor always the judge or were there exceptions? who were the lawyers? I know a lot of senators were lawyers but what about outside the city? were there layers in every province that were defending cases against the governor or was it that you should represent yourself?


texts: Why wasn't there French irredentism or pan-fransicm?

texts:
In the period from the mid 19th century until the end of the second World War, irredentism was a very common thing. For example, before the first world war, Italy wanted to annex the Italian speaking regions of Austria-Hungary and of Switzerland. The idea was, to my knownledge, popular for both Italians of inside and outside the country.

During the same time, the idea that "all Germans should be united under one same state", an idea known to as "pangermanism" became prominent and became more or less the source of both World Wars. Similarly, the idea was popular for both Germans inside and outside of their country.

Similarly during the same period there was the idea that all slavs should be part of the same empire, an idea known as "panslavism".

This makes me wonder why in the same period of time, there wasn't ever the idea of unifying southern french-speaking Belguim, western french-speaking Switzerland and perhaps the back-then french speaking Aosta Valley in Italy under a single, unified French state?

Perhaps is was the French were much more obsessed by getting Alsace-Moselle back, even though those were mostly non-French speaking?


texts: Can anyone identify this (possibly Italian) uniform?

texts:
Can anyone identify this Military uniform for me? My guess is it is Italian, possibly somewhere between 1850 - 1907.
May be from Salerno Campania Italy?  Please help!


texts:
“Anything that moved, he was ready to shoot,” said Lebow. His personal record was reportedly 2,140 kills in a day.
  Franz Ferdinand tallied his kills in a massive journal. The grand sum of pheasant, partridge and ground game that he shot was 272,511, according to calculations published in “Archduke of Sarajevo.”

The above is an excerpt from the article 8 Things You Didn't Know About Franz Ferdinand published on PBS' website. From any other news source, I would have considered the information obviously untrue. But PBS generally holds itself to high reporting standards, and certainly would not stoop so low to publish outrageous clickbait.

My question then, is how on earth can someone, anyone, possibly shoot almost three hundred thousand animals within a mortal lifetime that was also probably mostly occupied by royal ceremonies, stately duties, and the like. Even more unbelievable, the article states that he shot 2140 animals in a day. I did the math, and that evaluates to 1.486 animals a minute, or about one animal per 45 seconds, for twenty-four hours straight.

I want to know what techniques he employed, and whether he used a machine gun or some armored vehicle on hunting trips. Because it just seems frankly impossible that someone could kill so many animals within so little time otherwise.


texts: How difficult would be to watch a porn movie in US/UK before the WW II?

texts:
The first movie, longer than a few seconds, the famous "Arrival of the train" was made in 1885. The first erotic movie, "Le Coucher de la Mariée" was made barely a year later (you can watch it here - by current standards it's perfectly SFW). The first real nude movies were made less than a decade later and by 1908 (probably even earlier) viewers could watch "proper", hardcore pornography, for example, "An L'Ecu d'Or ou la bonne auberge" (censored version also available on YouTube).

But the problem with movies is that they require professional equipment - you need to buy a projector and probably a screen, you need to obtain a certain technical knowledge - in other words, it's not easy (or cheap) to get it on your own. Producing such movies is also not cheap - you need to pay for film, cameras and "actors".

Wikipedia provides a bit of information about the history of this medium, but there is not much information about the USA and the UK in the pre-war period.

So, let's say that I am a middle-class man who wants to watch a "stag film" in New York or London and I'm not a stranger to paid love - how difficult would it be for me to do so? Do I have to "know people who know people" and go to a little known place in a shady part of the town? Maybe to a respected Gentlemen's Club? Or maybe it is advertised by every street urchin who gets a few pennies from a local brothel?


texts: Why didn't battleship Bismarck have more support?

texts:
The primary objective of battleship Bismarck was to sink transporters coming from the U.S. and sailing to Europe transporting goods (oil, food). It encountered HMS Hood and sank it.

German cruiser Prinz Eugen was sailing along with the Bismarck all the time apart from the time the Royal Navy engaged heavy forces to sink it.

Why didn't the Bismarck have decent battleships, carriers and other fleet types sailing with it all the time? It was certain to German admirals that after the sinking of HMS Hood the Brits would employ forces in order to destroy the Bismarck.

Why didn't Otto Ernst Lindemann (naval captain, only commander of the Bismarck) ask for reinforcements after the HMS Hood event?


texts: When did the Arabic numerals appear on clock faces?

texts:
Were the Arabic numerals used in pre-modern times on mechanical clock faces?

Is there a specific point in time when they started to replace Roman numerals?

Edit:

Wikipedia article for Clock face claims "Clocks using only Arabic numerals first began to appear in the mid-18th century" with remark: citation needed.

Wikipedia article for Arabic numerals contains an image of a Woodcut showing the 16th century astronomical clock of Uppsala Cathedral, with two clockfaces, one with Arabic and one with Roman numerals. Not disproving the statement above as it contained "only"-clause. The clock in Uppsala also was not a time clock.


texts: Did the Mayans view the gods as antagonistic to humanity?

texts: How did the precolonial Maya view their gods' relationship to mankind, specifically: were they considered benevolent, neutral, or antagonistic?  I've seen a number of hints that they may have considered the gods to be angry, interested in wiping out mankind, but I'm afraid I just don't have any good evidence.


texts: What was Justice Louis Brandeis's opinion on eugenics?

texts:
In the 8-1 decision Buck v. Bell (1927), Justice Brandeis voted with the majority, whose opinion (by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.) contains:

  [ Source: ] It is better for all the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes. Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 197 U. S. 11. Three generations of imbeciles are enough.

So I am trying to distinguish whether Justice Brandeis

was only upholding the law (as he judged it) but deplored the policy (of eugenics),

or whether 2. he really did agree with the policy of eugenics.


texts:
I listen again and again in Rotting Christ's song The sign of evil existence the chorus "Summon Glohithia, appears in snake shape". I know these guys talks about old folklore, like sumerians or so.

Does any one of you has an idea who, or what it is? Googling only gives me references to the song.


texts: What other writings from the Constitutional Convention corroborate or dispute the definition of the duties of electors in Federalist Papers #68?

texts: Is anyone here familiar with the details of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 enough to know if any of the actual participants of that event left any writings that either corroboration or dispute the duties of the presidential electors as described in Federalist Paper #68 ? Minutes of the convention? memoirs? personal letters? etc...


texts: What are the factors that caused the new world civilizations to be less technologically advanced than the old world?

texts: Assuming they started at the same point (maybe the split of the continents or the migration of what became the first "Native Americans" to the American continent), why did the Old World end up developing faster? When the first conquistadors set foot in the New World, it's clear that the old world had developed technologically (for example militarily) better than the New World.


texts: Why did the Tripartite Pact take so long to sign?

texts:
The Tripartite Pact was signed by Germany, Italy, and Japan on 1940 Sep 27. By this time, Germany had already invaded Poland, conquered France, conquered Denmark and Norway, and the Battle of Britain was well underway. Italy had already invaded Albania and had begun invading Egypt, not to mention an attempted invasion of southern France (which was repulsed).

What took so long? It seems to me more sensical to formally ally, with Italy at least, before those major operations in Europe and Africa.


texts: Why was Newton's observation of the falling apple significant?

texts: As described in this article at Wikipedia, in 1666, Newton was in a garden when he noticed an apple falling. Surely, Newton could not have been the first person to notice that things fell when dropped. I'm sure many gardeners saw that happen and I found evidence from old stories about Galileo Galilei dropping items from towers and other stories about people struggling to build winged machines which seem proof enough that people noticed that things tend to go down. So why was Newton's observation of this behavior so much more significant?


texts: A magic system at least partially based on the real-world cultural history of magic?

texts:
EDIT: Just to clarify, when I refer to magic, I am referring to the supernatural variety, not the stage variety.

PREFACE: It was recommended to me that I might try and have this answered by the historically inclined by the people over in StackExchange Worldbuilding, so here I am.  I would greatly appreciate any real-world insights people might have into this topic.

ORIGINAL QUESTION:
I've long had difficulty trying to put this into words, and trying to find reliable sources that I could look into to inform me on how to move forward with my writing. I'm hoping someone out there more learned than I can point me in the right direction.

I want to create a magic system, but I don't want to create a magic system based on the more cliche offerings you find in video-games or YA fantasy, stuff that hinges on, say, four basic elements, etc. I have two very specific parameters I'm trying to work within to make this system and I hope it helps explaining to you what I will need to move forward:

The magic system is at least somewhat based on the real-world origins of magic, culturally speaking. I am trying my hardest to find some reliable historical accounts that aren't heavily biased or religious in nature that can tell me, perhaps from an anthropological standpoint (or any other scientific one, I'm not picky) that I can base this magic system on. Like, for example, I've found some articles explaining how some formal practices as we know them may have originated in Egypt, and the idea of magic and magicians might have Persian roots, etc., but I don't know how trustworthy they are. This also includes the rationale behind its practice, if possible: like, say, how practitioners used it, why they carried out certain rituals to do it, the context of and understanding behind things like spells, religious connotation, where people actually thought magic came from and what it was, etc. Basically anything that gives me a timeline to work with, and a greater understanding of where our modern understanding of magic came from.

The magic system is not showy, based on visuals, and is almost terrifying. I hesitate to list examples, but I like how some older films used to present the idea of magic, at least visually. I liked, for example, how it was depicted in the movie DRAGONSLAYER, or maybe the better example is in LORD OF THE RINGS, especially in the battle between Saruman and Gandalf: there aren't laser light-shows, it's invisible, it's subtle, it's even scary and transformative, more upsetting and less convenient than stuff you might see in WORLD OF WARCRAFT, etc. I feel like there's more power in the less-is-more depiction here. I don't know that necessarily helps anyone give me an answer, but it is part of my overall process, so...including it here.

I hope I've made it clear enough: if not I'm willing to answer questions to hone in more on a clearer question. Please let me know if you have any other questions that will help you answer the question and I will do my best to answer. Thank you.


texts: How did Poland avoid partition in the 17th century, but not the 18th century?

texts:
During the "Deluge" of 1648-1667, Poland was invaded and largely overrun by Sweden and  Russia, the latter supporting dissident Ukrainian rebels. (See Deluge on Wikipedia.)
Yet, despite the quasi partition, Poland was able to raise new armies from (occupied?) territories, and drive out both the Swedish and Russian armies.
From 1772-1795, Poland was partitioned between Prussia, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. But until the third partition, Poland retained a core. The American Revolution hero Kosciusko was able to raise a Polish army, but not drive out the invaders, in 1794.
Why was Poland successful in resisting partition the first time but not the second tine around? Could the Deluge have weakened Poland enough to "set up" a partition a century later? Was the rising use of the liberum veto a culprit? And my understanding was that in the 1790s that the Polish nobility was split into pro German and pro Russian factions; was that NOT the case a century earlier, between Russians and Swedes?


texts: What religion did Mustafa Kemal Atatürk self-identify as following?

texts:
He was born in the Ottoman Empire (later Turkey), so I assume he was a Muslim. But when I checked his attitude towards religion, it became clear that he saw religion as an obstacle in making progression. This made him abolish the Sharia law, the caliphate, the Arabic alphabet/calendar, etc. This seems strange to me, if he was a Muslim.

So was Mustafa Kemal Atatürk an atheist, a Muslim or something else?


texts: What did Pol Pot expect to gain from his raid against Ba Chuc Vietnam in April 1978?

texts:
This was a major raid by Khmer Rouge forces over the Vietnamese border, resulting in the deaths of over 3000 Vietnamese.

For more information and details, please see:

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

https://youtu.be/Ei9W8hW29GQ

Was Pol Pot that foolish enough to think that he could carry out such a raid without a severe response from Vietnam? It turned out that this raid was a major catalyst leading to Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia and subsequent overthrow of the Khmer Rouge.

The only logical explanation for this raid that I can think of is that Pol Pot was using Vietnamese border raids as a way of distracting the militant energy of his subordinates instead of letting this militancy result in a potential coup against himself. If this was the case, this got out of hand quickly. Or this was a decision made by a local Khemer Rouge commander that Pol Pot was not aware of.

In any case, this raid would later set a lot in motion two invasions (Vietnam vs Cambodia and China vs Vietnam) and years of insurgency in Cambodia.


texts: How could Jews integrate into Western modern society back when Saturday was a normal working day?

texts:
My understanding is that Saturday has only become day off for most people since the 60s-70s, and before World War II it was a working day just like Monday-Friday are today.

Also my understanding is that before the 19th century Jews were very isolated, but as the 19th century went on, many Jews were everywhere in western European society, and if you didn't ask them, they were indistinguishable from non-jews European people and led similar lives outside of religious matters.

If that was the case, full-time workers were expected to work for 6 days, including Saturday. Thus the only way for Jewish people to work would be to work for 80% and have Saturday as a day off. Even then they would need to leave early Friday during the winter, (still applicable today), as the sun sets early. In theory, they would be available to work for Sunday, but I guess most workplaces were closed that day.


texts: Was the de Havilland Mosquito ever deployed on an aircraft carrier?

texts:
The de Havilland Mosquito was a highly versatile aircraft of World War II, designed as a light bomber, but also used as a fighter, torpedo bomber and reconnaissance aircraft among other things.

The one thing I cannot find much mention of, is the possibility of using it as a carrier aircraft. Was it ever deployed on an aircraft carrier? Or was it too big, or was there some other reason it was considered unsuitable?


texts: Vedas, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Puranas and the Science

texts:
For someone who is born in India, some of the few mythological stories we watch on tv/hear from our grandparents are Ramayana, excerpts from Mahabharata or other Vedic stories of gods,  the vedic way of life/afterlife etc etc... Well as a kid, I really liked them. But now, thinking about them, I feel all the stories make sense. There are proofs that the Ramayana and the Mahabharata really happened. I am not going to dwell on the proof's part.

putting this aside, we also have vedic science, vedic mathematics, vedic metric systems, vedic cosmology, astronomy, yugas, evolution, ayurveda(medicine) the list keeps going on. You name it, we have it way earlier than the rest of the world actually knew what it was. It looks like we(the Indian history) almost have a perfect and complex system for everything we need. But most of them wouldn't believe all this especially in the western world.

So everything is like a story perfectly laid out for people to read about their history and learn science in the process. But, I feel there's something missing for all of this to actually believe. So I guess my question is whats the missing part ? why did Indians just leave behind all the science and technology they had ? why isn't the knowledge of the Vedas carried to the modern India ?


texts: Was Sofia really demolished by Bulgarians after 1878 and why?

texts:
I've heard many times that when Bulgaria became independent country in 1878, all the town was rebuilded from scratch. After the Russo-Turkish War, architects from Austria–Hungary were invited to shape the new architectural appearance of Sofia, which was chosen to be a new capitol. But what intrigues me is that people with who I've talked about it claim it was completely demolished by Bulgarians after the liberation, not during any battles. The reason provided to me by tourist guides was that Bulgarians wanted to make a modern town their own way, without Turkish influence like it was previously. I know that Turkish mosques were demolished by Russian engeeners, yet sources I've found don't speak about secular buildings. According to Bulgarian wikipedia, ( http://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/София ), Bulgarian and Jews together were around 90% of town citizens before the war, so that explanation sounds unsatisfactory for me, as even without Turkish districts, still it should be full of Bulgarian habitants. This way it's hard to believe for me that Sofia was completely demolished just to rebuild it in a new way.

Why, when and by who Sofia was actually destroyed? Do you know about any other towns where such situation occur, especially in the western culture?


texts: How were the Big Four compensated when British Rail was formed?

texts:
The UK rail network was nationalised in 1948 with the Big Four (Great Western Railway; London, Midland & Scottish Railway; London & North Eastern Railway; Southern Railway) replaced by British Rail.

Were the stock owners of the Big Four compensated and how?


texts: Hello I would like to identify a plane seen at Evergreen museum

texts:
This is a picture of a plane I'm curious to identify, seen this summer at Evergreen aviation & Space museum. Unfortunately it was past opening hours, so I didn't manage to find someone with more information on the site.

Cheers


texts: Is the letter attributed to have been sent by Muhammad to the Byzantine Emperor authentic?

texts:
Wikipedia article shows a letter that is claimed be sent from Muhammad to the Emperor of Byzantine Empire.

But it doesn't have any information about authenticity of the letter as in if it is actually the real letter sent to the Basileus by the Islamic Prophet.

Is it authentic? Is it accepted as authentic by historians?

After searching the internet for a while, I found this video (Original Letters of Prophet Muhammad) which shows a letter (at 2.19) that seems to be different from the letter shown in the Wikipedia page cited above. The video claims the letter shown in the video is authentic (at 2.35).

Which one is authentic? The one shown in the video or the one shown in the Wikipedia page? Are they both authentic (maybe Muhammad sent both letters)?


texts: Are there any other known relatives of Hitler living today?

texts: If there are relatives of Hitler living, which countries do they live in and are there any books and or biographies by them?


texts: What is the social history of British popular opposition to Thatcher over the miner’s strike?

texts:
I tend to watch a lot of UK panel shows and while most of the comedians are Labour/liberal I'm still surprised at just how much they seem to hate Margaret Thatcher. Particularly this seems to be about the way she handled the Miner's strike in 1984.

What is the social history of popular disagreement with Thatcher's policies on mines and her handling of the Miner's strike and it's aftermath?


texts: Is this artwork (used in a video game) real?

texts:
In Phantasmagoria video game you can find an artwork (most probably a tapestry) that looks like real piece of art and not something made for the game.

I've done some research, but I wasn't able to find any information regarding it.

Would someone be able to identify it?

Unfortunately it's the best quality I could get.


texts: What is the backstory behind the White Sun of Angola?

texts:
I was reading some history of Angola and came across this symbol, for which the filename was "White Sun of Angola".

I was unable to find anything that explains its origin with some simple google searches, does anyone know the history of this symbol?


texts: I've found an online copy of William Gates' reproduction of the Dresden codex written in 1932. Some websites say that his reproduction is rather too stylistic to be a reliable facsimile of the codex. Some others also give account of Gates filling the missing parts guided just by his imagination. Can we trust his reproduction to be trustworthy? Does a better facsimile of this codex exist?


texts: Why are some New Kingdom dates quotes in pairs two years apart?

texts:
I am reading about New Kingdom Egypt. Many events are doubly-dated. For example, Akhenaten's reign is given as 1353–1336 BCE or
1351–1334 BCE. These dates always seem to be two years apart.

I understand the difficulties which arise with dating ancient events, and that astronomical events and other synchronisms are used, imperfectly, to date events.

What specific dating systems are being used to give dates for this era and why are they two years apart?


texts: How large a force could the Mamluk have raised during the Mongol Invasion?

texts:
I know the Mamluk forces numbered around 20,000 during the Battle of Ain Jalut. But Wikipedia says that the Mamluks numbered around 200,000 during the 1291 siege of Acre.
This got me wondering how large a force the Mamlukes could have raised to fight the Mongols after the battle of Ain Jalut. Or was Berke Khan's interefence the deciding factor?


texts: How much smaller were medieval farm animals in England than today?

texts:
According the Medieval Life and Times website,

  Farm animals were small, for scientific breeding had not yet begun. A
  full-grown ox reached a size scarcely larger than a calf of to-day,
  and the fleece of a sheep often weighed less than two ounces.

This is more or less echoed by The Finer Times (or maybe one copied the other?):

  The size of a full-grown bull reached the size slightly larger than a
  calf today, and the fleece of an entire sheep weighed an average of
  two ounces.

The assertion that an ox wasn’t much larger than a calf is unsatisfactory (perhaps even dubious): the size of a calf obviously depends on its age and some breeds (e.g. Limousin) are much larger than others (e.g. Jersey) - I grew up on a farm so I know a little about this. Wikipedia has this image of Anglo-Saxon ploughmen but I’m not sure how reliable the scale is (and the animals’ faces are a little odd!).

Even more implausible is 2 ounces for the fleece of a sheep. According to sheep101, a fleece in the US today might weigh anything from 2 to 16 pounds (32 to 288 ounces). Even just taking the lowest figure, the difference between medieval and contemporary fleece weights seems improbable, or is at least in need of more authoritative sources.

Were the animals cited in the sources really so much smaller (on average) than they are today? Was the same true for other farm animals such as chickens and pigs?


texts: Is There A Term For The Old Maps That Had Lines Connecting Pin-Wheels?

texts:
Many old maps have lines like below. Is there a term for a map with that type of lines?

(from http://r-russell0912-dc2.blogspot.com/2011/01/pirate-maps-and-old-maps.html)

My best hypothesis is that the lines may be related to Rhumb lines and therefore Mercator projections.

Beautiful Example.


texts: Why did the British have so few destroyers going into World War II?

texts:
In September, 1940, Britain traded a number of its New World naval base sites for 50 "overaged' (old) destroyers in the so-called "Destroyer Deal." That doesn't seem like a large number of destroyers, except that it was "large" relative to the existing British destroyer fleet.

Why did Britain have so few destroyers, even after its World War I experience with submarine warfare that they needed to trade for old ones?


texts: Were there international Islamist movements before the US started supporting islamists in Afghanistan?

texts: Were there international Islamist movements before the US started supporting islamists during the USSR's war in Afghanistan?


texts: Why were the Normans such good builders?

texts:
The Normans are a bunch of Vikings that settled in northern France, and within a century they were Christians speaking French. By 1066 they had become very experienced at fighting wars between themselves, a skill that came in useful, but they also produced magnificent cathedrals across Normandy and later, England.

So where did this come from? Did the rich Norman lands attract experts from across Europe? If so, why didn't they also go to rich Anglo-Saxon England?

Was it just a fashion that happened to catch on there?


texts: What is the average (or default if you prefer) human political system?

texts:
I'm having a conversation with a friend about what society might look like after a collapse of some kind - catastrophic war, zombies, global warming, what have you - not important which one really, but rather assuming one does happen. We're discussion how people would group together and what kinds of systems would form in the aftermath.

My opinion is that people would kind of default to some primitive form of feudalism - there'd be the vast majority of people who are basically subsistence farmers, probably some form of nobility, maybe a warrior class depending on the culture. My friend thinks it would be much more egalitarian and democratic - we're specifically talking about the United States as we're both from there if that helps - and he thinks that people would largely reform what we have today - representative democracies with bills of rights, checks and balances, etc.

I made the assertion that the vast majority of history is more like what I was talking about - lower classes, absolute monarchs, 'might makes right' etc - and he challenged me on that, which got me thinking. I haven't really done much research on the matter.

Putting aside our friendly disagreement, what is the default or average political system for humanity? Meaning, if you took a random sampling of every human who ever lived after we left the hunter-gatherer stage, meaning people who live in societies, what would their political position be like? How many freedoms or rights would they have?

I apologize if my question doesn't make much sense, I'm having trouble finding the right words to explain. I'd appreciate any sources you have on the matter as it's something I'd be interested in reading more about as well.


texts: Did the Romans install offensive statues in the temples of conquered territories?

texts:
In her book Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book
  of Revelation, Princeton professor and religious scholar Elaine Pagels
  notes that when the Romans conquered a new territory, one of their
  signature moves was to remove whatever altar might exist in their
  local temple — often that of a goddess — and replace it with a statue
  of a Roman soldier enslaving or even raping an indigenous woman. The
  message is as unambiguous as it is brutal. Source

Well - is this actually true?

The infamous Judaea Capta comes to mind, of course, but it is a coin.


texts: Were the English behind the creation of Belgium?

texts:
The other day I read an article in a printed newspaper which explained that the British had a tradition of trying to break any continental power (links to recent news is not a coincidence).

Among the examples provided, the author argued that (paraphrasing... and translating)

  Belgium was created by the British to prevent France having access to the harbours in Northern Europe, and in particular Antwerp (Anvers).

Now, it was my understanding that Begium resulted from the (de facto at the end of the 16th Century and de jure at the end of the 80 years wars in the mid-17th Century) separation of the Netherlands from the Spanish Low-Lands.

At that time the English had other things to do (like preparing a civil war), and France looked less like a menace than the Spanish (even if they were on a descending slope).

I know that towards the end of the 17th Century, Louis XIV's France fought regular wars in the region, in particular against the Netherlands, and that the two of them played some kind of "funny" games with post-Civil war England.

Later, Belgium was included in the French Empire from 1793 to 1815.

So I don't know to which time does the author refer to, but is there any documentation that indicates a strong support of England to the creation of Belgium to spite the French?

I am aware of the question

What led to the creation of Belgium?

But, if this explains the different steps of the creation of Belgium, nothing is provided regarding the specifics of my question, namely the possible implication of Great Britain and the economic influence of France.


texts: "Musketeer" beard, mustache and hairdress - where did they originate?

texts:
This is a portrait of typical French musketeer, with typical triangle beard, mustache and long wavy hairs.

I wonder where this fashion originates from? Is not it the Byzantine Empire where such fashion appeared the first?

I also wonder whether this Byzantine fashion was the origin of the European custom to wear wigs?


texts: In medieval India, was there a distinction between the army and the police?

texts: In medieval India, who was responsible for maintaining law and order? Was it the army or was there a separate arm of the state that was responsible for law and order, something akin to a modern police force?


texts: Did James Madison sign all copies of the Bill of Rights?

texts: I'm aware that James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights but then 13 copies were distributed to the 13 original colonies to review and edit. Is it James Madison's signature on the copies that were sent out?


texts: What was the other 99% that PARC didn't show to Apple?

texts:
I was reading this article and found this part:

  The irony was that when they left we still had shown the like only 1% of what PARC was doing but it was enough that they got really excited and decided they were going to retarget the Lisa to be something like what they had seen, in terms of GUI.

Has anyone written or summarized about the other 99%?


texts:
What made a region an upper, or superior region, or a lower, or inferior region?

Examples:

Upper and Lower Egypt
Upper and Lower Austria
Moesia Superior and Inferior
Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and Lower Volta (region in Ghana)

I've tried to research this. There doesn't seem to be a correlation with altitude, relative orientation, or size. Maybe it is whether they are up- or down-river, but I'm uncertain about that.


texts: Was there more than one way for anti-aircraft fire to shoot down a dive bomber in World War II

texts:
I read somewhere that there were two "best" times for anti-aircraft to shoot down a dive bomber (of World War II vintage). One was when the plane was going into the dive. The other was when the plane is coming out of the dive. The time NOT to try it would be during the dive itself.

Was this true? Were there other reasonable times/tactics for trying to shoot down dive bombers?


texts: Can anyone help me identify this coin? Basiliea Selvykou. Rev: ICA


texts: When did the American War of 1812 actually end?

texts: My daughter was recently studying this in high school, and somehow I had always assumed that it had only lasted a year. Apparently it ran on for at least a couple of years, but her textbook only touched on key points. It didn't actually identify the final date on which hostilities ceased. Does anyone know the date and terms that were agreed upon by both sides?


texts: Why did the Nazis collaborate with the Ustaše?

texts: The Croats are linguistically, ethnically and culturally a Slavic people. While the Ustaše did not see themselves as such, why did the Nazis choose to collaborate with what was essentially a nationalist organisation for a Slavic ethnic group?


texts: Would the trial of Jesus of Nazareth have been recorded on an Acta Diurna?

texts:
Acta Diurna were official notices in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire, which were displayed on message boards in other places. According to Wikipedia:

  Their original content included results of legal proceedings and outcomes of trials.

Would the trial of Jesus of Nazareth under Pontius Pilate have been recorded under an Acta Diurna? As a Roman official overseeing the trial and authorizing his crucifixion, this seems like a possibility. However, I'm not sure if the fact that Jesus wasn't a Roman citizen would mean that it wouldn't get recorded.


texts: Were there any political checks on the U.S. executive during their covert support of the military junta of Pinochet?

texts:
U.S. secretary of state Kissinger- with the support of the executive- actively supported the overthrow of Chilean president Allende in favor of the military dictatorship of Pinochet. After the fact, there was political backlash in a variety of forms- and later as documents became unclassified.

Did Congress, the judiciary or other political houses governing in the U.S. attempt to halt, reverse or publicly filibuster against U.S. funding and strategic support in Chile while it was occurring? My question is asking about specific checks on executive orders while it was happening.


texts:
The story so far:

Historians tentatively agreed that the city of Troy should be sought at the south end of the Trojan Plain.

Schliemann, a wealthy businessman and Homer enthusiast, in collaboration with Frank Calvert, another enthusiast, began digging at Hisarlik, convinced that some of the lines in The Iliad pointed to that location. He was able to unearth something.

This something was subsequently ridiculed, labeled fake, etc., by historians, because nobody likes a smart ass. Schliemann's methods and believes have been repeatedly vilified by academia. Today, folks seem to agree that what Schliemann discovered was not Troy, but its predecessor; and that his methods were so crude that the actual city of Troy, sitting higher than Schliemann thought, was destroyed during the excavation. However, there seems to be an agreement that Schliemann's choice of location was actually accurate.

(A side note: I've read The Iliad too, but in all honesty I wouldn't know where to start digging. Why Hisarlik, especially? Why not a hundred miles south of it?)

It is said that the reason for the siege, apart from the kidnapping and adultery, was that Troy served as some sort of a customs checkpoint, a coastal toll booth that charged Greek merchants an exorbitant fee for passing through. I have no idea whether this story has any scientific basis. I've looked; I haven't been able to find anything to support it.

My question is: what did Schliemann discover? Is it really Troy? And if so, how do we know this?


texts: Did Demosthenes complain about inflation of prices in philippics?

texts:
Did Demosthenes complain about inflation of prices in his philippics caused by Philip II of Macedon's extensive gold mining?

I have heard it somewhere but I can not find any refference.


texts: Why didn’t the U.S. annex the entire Spanish East Indies at the end of the Spanish-American War?

texts:
The Spanish East Indies were a large territory comprising mainly the Philippines,1 plus a large scattering of Micronesian islands in four main groups (the Marianas, the Carolines, the Marshalls,2 and the Palaus).  Following Spain’s utter defeat in the 1898 Spanish-American War, the United States annexed (at least temporarily) almost the entirety of the Spanish colonial empire, including parts of the Spanish East Indies (the Philippines,3 plus the island of Guam4 in the southern Marianas); however, apart from Guam, Spain’s Micronesian holdings were left untouched, becoming the country’s only surviving colonial possessions outside of Africa.5

Given that the rest of Spain’s possessions in the East and West Indies were annexed by the United States, either temporarily (Cuba) or (quasi-)permanently (Puerto Rico, the Philippines,6 Guam), and that the U.S. did make an inroad (albeit a small one) into Spanish Micronesia by annexing Guam, why didn’t the U.S. go the full hog and annex the rest of Spain’s Micronesian islands?

1: Over which, however, Spain had little to no effective control outside of Manila.

2: Which were disputed with Germany.

3: Conveniently ignoring the fact that the independent Filipino government, an ally of the U.S. during the war, controlled literally the entirety of the Philippines except for the city of Manila, and quickly sparking another war, with hostilities continuing into the early 1930s in parts of the islands.

4: Which is why Guam is a separate territory from the Northern Mariana Islands (and also the reason the latter territory has the “Northern” in its name, as Guam is also one of the Mariana Islands - the southernmost one).

5: Having become essentially ungovernable with the loss of the colonial machinery in the Philippines, they were sold to Germany the following year, captured by Japan at the beginning of World War I, and eventually seized by the U.S. during (the Marshalls, Marianas, and Palaus) / at the end of (the Carolines) World War II (along with Guam and the Philippines, which had been overrun by Japan by a few days and a few months, respectively, after the outbreak of hostilities between the two countries in December 1941); following the latter war, they were assigned to the United States as a United Nations trust territory, most of which became independent in stages in the 1980s and 1990s as the countries of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau, although the Marianas voted to instead become a U.S. commonwealth.

6: Yes, I am aware that the Philippines were granted self-government in the 1930s and full independence following World War II; however, as the original object of the United States had been to permanently annex the Philippines, and it continued to do so for a quarter-century after they first landed troops there, I’m putting the Philippines into the “(quasi-)permanent” category.


texts: What motivated Germanic tribes to accept Christianity?

texts:
I have read histories that tell of St. Boniface and other Anglo-Saxon and Irish monks working in the Rhine valley among Germanic tribes converting them to Christianity.  I understand that this work was supported by both the pope and the Frankish kings, most notably Charlemagne who viewed their efforts as complementary to his military battles in extending his empire and influence.

What I do not understand is why the pagan Germanic chieftains wanted any part of this new religion.  They had their established system (Woden, sacred oaks, etc).  Why did they buy into Boniface and others' claims?  What arguments did the monks make?  Were there geopolitical rather than religious reasons that pushed them toward Christianity?  I understand that earlier people like Visigoths and Ostrogoths had an admiration for the Roman civilization and wanted to participate in it, but that makes much less sense in the 6th and 7th century than in the 4th.  I can understand why certain classes in Roman society adopted Christianity, but to the Saxons, Frisians, and Thuringians, who did not settle in Roman-Christian areas, wouldn't it be the religion of the enemy (the eastward encroaching Franks)?


texts: What is the difference between Taino and Puerto Rican?

texts: I have heard a lot of Puerto Rican's call themselves Latino or Hispanic. However, after watching this video, I am a bit confused about what they say.  Can anyone confirm why different Puerto Rican people are posing different views about who they are?


texts: Confusion re the naming of Roman freedman

texts:
I have just been reading this which is admittedly very old, and there is a statement which has me totally confused.

  ...   the master might disregard the regular form and give the freedman any name he pleased. Thus, when Cicero manumitted his slaves Tiro and Dionysius, he called the former, in strict accord with custom, Mārcus Tullius Tīrō, but to the latter he gave his own praenōmen and the nōmen of his friend Titus Pomponius Atticus, the new name being Mārcus Pompōnius Dionysius.

I do not understand how Cicero could give his freedman the nomen of another. My understanding was that in formal contexts, Tiro, for example, would be M. Tullius Tiro l M - eg Marcus Tullius Tiro, freedman of Marcus - which would indicate a clear identity and affiliation. How would Mārcus Pompōnius Dionysius do this?

(If this would be better suited to the Latin Language forum, please let me know.)

Also posted on Latin Language site -  https://latin.stackexchange.com/questions/1985/confusion-re-the-naming-of-roman-freedman


texts: Were the Nazis actually ever horrified of anything that the Imperial Japanese Army did or vice-versa?

texts:
While reading Rationalwiki page on the Rape of Nanjing part of the article really stood out to me:

    …such as hanging people by their tongues on iron hooks or burying people to their waists and watching them torn apart by German shepherds. So sickening was the spectacle that even Nazis in the city were horrified.

I was wondering if this was actually true and if there is any evidence that in fact some of Nazis were horrified at some of the things that the Japanese did, or if the Japanese were horrified at some of the things that the Nazis did.


texts: When was a decree issued by the Greeks that forbade speaking God's name?

texts:
This is in follow-up to a question on Mi Yodeya

The Babylonian Talmud states:

  ‘On the third of Tishri the mention [of God] in bonds was abolished: for the Grecian Government had forbidden the mention of God's name (26) by the Israelites, and when the Government of the Hasmoneans became strong and defeated them, they ordained that they should mention the name of God even on bonds, and they used to write thus: ‘In the year So-and-so of Johanan, High Priest to the Most High God’, and when the Sages heard of it they said, ‘Tomorrow this man will pay his debt and the bond will be thrown on a dunghill’,

I assume the decree from the Greeks preceeded the Hebrew abolition of using God's name in bonds on the third of Tishri.

I would like to know when the Greeks issued their decree.

I wonder where, on the timeline, this prohibition falls in relation to when the Masorites pointed Hebrew Scripture.


texts:
Various Russian websites attribute to Brzezinski the following quote:

  The new world order under U.S. hegemony was created against Russia at
  the expense of Russia and on the ruins of Russia.

I am quoting it from an article  in English, which however reads as if it was painstakingly translated from Russian.

So - is this quote real or a fake?


texts: In exchange for forbidding strikes, did Napoleon guarantee high wages?

texts:
According to Wikipedia citing Frank McLynn, Napoleon, Pimlico 1998 Ch 21, p482, strikes were forbidden by Napoleon I in exchange for a guarantee by employers that wages would remain high.

How did this guarantee work?
Did Napoleon actually manage to ensure that wages remained high?
Did he at least act towards that goal?


texts: Why is the heir to the British throne called "Prince of Wales"?

texts:
The heir apparent to the British throne (England, then Great Britain, then United Kingdom) is usually conferred the title of Prince of Wales. According to Britannica and Wikipedia, this tradition dates back to 1301 when King Edward I invested his son the future King Edward II. However neither explain why this title was used.

Prince of Wales is an unusual title; it is not hereditary, automatic, and doesn't affect succession. It is only a tradition to grant it to the heir apparent. It also has little to do with Wales, as its title holders are neither Welsh, nor born in Wales, nor speak the language.

So why was this title used? Was there something special about Wales, or the title itself?


texts: What factors discouraged the Nazis from focusing all their forces on the Caucasus region during Operation Barbarossa?

texts:
Instead of splitting his invasion force into three groups, it appears it would have been more sensible to focus on taking over the Caucasus region first.

At the time, Baku, a Caucasus oil metropolis, accounted for 80% of all Soviet production. Considering that the Soviets most likely would have suffered serious shortages without Baku oil, it appears it would have been sensible to capture the Caucasus and then wait for chronic oil shortages to affect the Soviets before advancing.

Furthermore, diversification of sources of oil appears important considering that Hitler was very concerned about the possibility of the Soviets devastating his Rumanian oil fields (which contributed 94% of Germany's oil in 1940).

I understand that many argue that Hitler's hubris was a factor, but are there any other reasons?


texts: Is Josephus a legitimate historical text?

texts:
Are Josephus and other ancient writings considered historically sound or does the fact that his numbers are sometimes overly inflated to aggrandize his fellow countrymen make it a source of questionable validity and reliability?

Essentially, what are the limitations when using such an ancient text when looking for legitimate historical information?


texts: How long was the Treaty of Versailles intended to be in order?

texts:
After WWI Germany was forced to abide by the Treaty of Versailles. In the treaty Article 160 says:

  By a date which must not be later than March 31st 1920, the German Army must not comprise more than seven divisions of infantry and three divisions of cavalry. After that date the total number of effectives in the Army of the States constituting Germany must not exceed 100,000 men, including officers and establishments of depots. The Army shall be devoted exclusively to the maintenance of order within the territory and to the control of the frontiers.

How long did the allies intend to prevent Germany from rebuilding their military past this point? Did they intend this treaty to last indefinitely or did they just expect Germany to break the treaty in the far future?


texts: Rwanda: Tutsis passing themselves as Hutus during the genocide

texts:
I'm searching for info about one (minor) question concerning the genocide in Rwanda 1994: Is there evidence of Tutsis trying to pass themselves off as Hutus to avoid being killed?

(I know that this would have been hard if one was very large, but maybe a small Tutsi would have been able to pass himself off as a large Hutu?)

If there is such evidence, I would also like to ask whether those people actually succeeded.

EDIT:
As to the assumption that size played a role, I want to quote:

  "Those of you who live along the road, jump on the people
  with long noses, who are tall and slim, and want to dominate us." (Peterson: "Me Against My Brother: at war in Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda. A journalist reports from thebattlefields of Africa", 2000, p. 327).


texts: Did anyone ever win a kingdom through single combat without a backing army or blood tie to the throne?

texts:
I've read of instances where historians suggest that single combat of champions has been used to preempt wholesale slaughter on the battlefield; and I think I've read instances where blood relatives inherited a throne by killing under the excuse of a formal duel.

But has there ever been a documented or strongly probable instance of an enemy who - with no legal claim to the kingdom and no army or peasant uprising to back them up - won a kingdom, duchy or similarly significant territory in single combat against some representative or the sovereign of that kingdom?

Or has source amnesia resulted in me mixing up Greek poems with (semi-objective) reality again? ;-)


texts: Why did Babylonians/Persians use the ascension year method?

texts:
[12] Then Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers went out to the king of Babylon; and the king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, took him prisoner. 2 Kings 24:12 NKJV

According to the Old Testament, the siege of Jerusalem in 597 BCE took place in the 8th year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. The Nebuchadnezzer Chronicle, however, which mentions the same event, dates it in his seventh year

Scholars generally say that this is because the Babylonians/Persians used the "ascension-year" method of dating regnal years, meaning that the first regnal year of a king would begin in the first month the following year he ascended the throne.

To those who are learned in this topic, is there a reason why the Babylonians/Persians reckoned the regnal years of their kings this way?


texts: Who was the oldest recorded participant in a battle whom we know of?

texts:
This is a record of a eighy-year-old's participation in a battle -- the Battle of Vienna in 1683 -- from Andrew Weatcroft's The Enemy At the Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans and the Battle for Europe; he puts the bar up already pretty high :)

  Kara Mustafa reinforced the cavalry holding the new positions by drawing off janissaries from the trenches before the city as well as the new arrivals from Hungary under the command of the eighty-year-old Ibrahim, pasha of Buda.


texts: What is the best way to describe the form of Japanese government during the years before and during world war 2?

texts: Prior to the great depression, how much political power did the military, the emperor, and the prime minister of Japan have? Is it a form of monarchy, or does it resemble a military dictatorship? Did that change after the beginning of great depression and world war 2? I wonder exactly how democratic was Japan during these years from beginning of the great depression to the end of world war 2?


texts: What was the total megatonnage of all munitions expended in World War 2?

texts:
I'm wondering about the total megatonnage of all munitions expended during World War Two in all theaters.

I've seen estimates of 2, 3 and 5, but no concrete cited sources for a specific number.


texts: Who gave King Richard I the title Coeur de Lion?

texts: When King Richard I went to the Holy land during the Third Crusade, he was given the title coeur de lion (French for lion heart). Who gave him that title? I Imagine that it was a French person.


texts: Will someone help me understand the following quotation about Calvinism?

texts:
Okay, working on some class notes for school, and I stumbled upon a sentence which seems like it's in another language to me in the text:

  "To Luther’s emphasis on the
  individual’s relationship to God, Calvin added a focus on
  moral regeneration through church discipline and the autonomy
  of religious communities."

This is supposed to explain the way Jean Calvin modified the Lutheran form of protestantism, but I don't understand what it truly means. I have done research and understand Calvinism, the ideas of predestination and reliance on God's mercy significantly better than explained in the book, but I am unable still to decipher the above quotation. The best answers would explain the quotation and what it means  on a literal scale, in terms of Calvinism, and possibly on at a more macroscopic level, if relevant.


texts: When is Samonios in comparison to the Gregorian calendar?

texts: I am researching and comparing ancient calendars, and am currently working on the Celtic calendar right now. In my research, I have found sites, specifically Wikipedia, claiming the month of Samonios is equivalent to a month starting in June Through July of the Gregorian calendar, while others claim it is a month that starts in October through November (1, 2). Does anyone know which is accurate? I lean towards Wikipedia, because it can be updated, but am uncertain. Knowing this will radically change what month celebrations take place. If it is Oct./Nov. than that means Samhain takes place in it, if not Samhain takes place in the Celtic month of Ogronnios. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I asked this same question in Mythology and Folklore, and am not sure if you can duplicate posts like this.


texts: Is there a story for how striking and fielding games started in Spain?

texts: I have done some research to find the origins of striking and fielding games in Spain and have found that Gilli-Danda and Basque Pelota are the oldest forms of striking and fielding games played in Spain. But now I'm wondering whether or not there is a story to how the game was formed. For example, the beginning of rugby was in a football game. While the players were playing normally, one person just picked up the ball and run to the end -- hence, rugby was born. Is there a story like this one for striking and fielding games?


texts: Did IRA bombings in Great Britain lead to Hibernophobia?

texts:
Terrorist attacks by (Salafi) Islamists in Europe may lead to an increase in Islamophobia.

Did terrorist attacks by IRA (as well as Provisional IRA, Continuity IRA, Real IRA) lead to an increase in Hibernophobia in Great Britain (i.e. England, Scotland, and Wales)?  Wikipedia notes that there were reports of isolated attacks on Irish people and Irish-owned businesses in the Australian press, which is a bit puzzling as Australia is far away and was not targeted by the IRA.  Are there any studies on the actual prevalence of Hibernophobia in Great Britain and how this developed during and after The Troubles?


texts:
I remember reading that Hitler had a standing order in place that if anyone should capture Clark Gable, who was flying in bomber crews over Germany, that Gable must NOT be harmed and must be brought to Hitler. Apparently, Hitler was fascinated by Gable's ears and thought they were an important proof of some of his racial theories or something along that line.

That got me wondering about other standing orders that might have been in effect in WW II on all sides of the conflict. I'm especially interested in knowing if there were any standing orders on what was to be done if one side happened to capture one of the enemy's top people. For instance, did the Red Army have instructions for what to do if they happened to catch Hitler sneaking out of Berlin in April 1945? Did the Wehrmacht have instructions for what to do if Stalin or Molotov were captured when they were on the outskirts of Moscow late in 1941? Etc. etc. Is anyone aware of what would have happened in those situations?

I'm guessing that there really weren't any specific standing orders as such and that it was more a matter of all combatants having learned in their basic training that if something unusual happened, report to an officer rather than acting on your own initiative. If that officer didn't know what to do, he would know to pass the question on up the chain of command.

Then again, some armies gave their men a lot more room for initiative than others. For instance, I understand that the Germans had more freedom to take initiatives than their Soviet counterparts. Perhaps a German encountering Stalin would simply shoot him without reference to his officers while a Soviet soldier might have to pass the question of what to do with Hitler right up to Stalin himself.


texts: What was the first successful non violent independence movement?

texts: It is a known fact that Mahatma Gandhi launched a non-violent movement which freed the Indian subcontinent from the British rule on 15th August 1947.  But was this the first instance that a freedom movement or a revolutionary protest succeeded by adopting non-violence? Had it been attempted anywhere before? If so, was it successful?


texts: How did Ancient Egyptians see Europe and how did they call the area?

texts:
I was wondering how the Egyptians during the time of the Middle Kingdom saw Europe, besides Greece, Rome, and Macedonia? Did they ever travel to trade in or explore the northern part of the continent, or did they have a concept of it?
Thanks!


texts: What exactly did the 1868 Szepes Petition do?

texts:
In 1868, Slovaks living in the Szepes region were demanding some sort of special status.  They sent a petition to their rulers in the Diet of Hungary which is now known as the Szepes Petition.

This is right after the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 that gave local authority to the Kingdom of Hungary in the empire, and it's the same year as the settlement giving autonomous status to Croatia.  I'm guessing that the Szepes Petition was making some sort of similar demands, but I haven't been able to find out exactly what they were asking for, nor whether they got it.

In short:

What, precisely, did the Szepes Petition demand?
Did it have any effect?


texts: What are the cultural roots of the Lamp of the Genie?

texts:
I'm wondering what the "symbolic etymology", so to speak, is for the Lamp in the story of Aladdin and its relation to the Genie. Why would a genie be bound to an object and be made a servant to its finder? Can one assume the genie did something bad once and was punished to subjugation to the lamp, or is it somehow in their nature? Also, why would it seem reasonable for the genie to be bound to a lamp, of all the things it could be bound to?

Please don't misunderstand: I'm not asking what had happened in the mythological past that caused this particular genie to be bound to this particular lamp, but about what aspects of ancient Arabic culture might give rise to a myth about a genie bound to a lamp; or what the cultural connotations of an oil lamp might be, which would make the thought of someone or something (whichever category a genie would belong to) being bound to it emerge from the Arabic memeplex.

Lastly, I realize that History.SE isn't for mythological questions, but I thought that this question may be okay in that I'm not asking about things within the mythology, but for the historical cultural circumstances that gave rise to it. I'm reasoning that questions about ancient cultural symbols isn't very far removed from questions about ancient languages, which the FAQ explicitly lists as on-topic, or otherwise about historical cultural evolution. If my reasoning is wrong, feel free to close the question, I guess; in that case, perhaps I can at least serve to set a precedent.


texts: How do you trace a service record during WW2 in South Africa?

texts: I'm looking to trace a few of my family who where on active duty during the second world war.


texts: Did Gavrilo Princip Try To Drown Himself?

texts:
The assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914 (which lead to World War 1)  was carried out by the black hand; specifically Gavrilo Princip. Most sources conclude that he failed to kill himself by trying to drink cyanide Including Wikipedia. I was taught in school that he failed at trying to drown himself in a rather idiotic manner, which was trying to drown in a 3ft deep canal. Is this true? I found no evidence to support this.

My question:
Did Gavrilo Princip really attempt to drown himself in a 3ft canal?

EDIT: I presume if you are reading this you are aware of Franz Ferdinand’s assassination but if otherwise, here is the Wikipedia page.


texts: Was there hostile contact between deployed US forces and Sandinista forces during Operation Golden Pheasant?

texts:
Operation Golden Pheasant was a deployment of US paratroopers to Honduras in 1988 following an incursion of the Nicaraguan military to pursue Nicaraguan Contra forces seeking sanctuary in Honduras.

According to the wikipedia article, both US and Honduran forces did incur casualties, but the article does not give us a clear idea if these were non-battle casualties or the result of skirmishes between Nicaraguan and US-Honduran forces.

I guess part of the reason why there is a unclear picture of the type of casualties involved stems from the fact that the operation is still classified. If it is still classified, I guess this operation was more than just a "send in the paratroopers and watch the Nicaraguans quickly leave" scenario.

Can anyone here clarify?


texts: How can we evaluate a country's historians for independence?

texts:
How can we identify historians from a country who are (willing to be) independent of the interests of the government of it? Whether or not a historian is really able to see and hear about their own national or country or regional history; to understand and evaluate has happened in the past and compare the history to the present circumstances or conflicts. It seems that in some countries, some historians are fully biased one way or the other (with a hidden agenda), or maybe that there is something wrong with a historical writer from first region until now.

I would appreciate any advice about how to check the history from the hidden historian's country. You can search a small country in South East Asia.


texts: What was the last battle fought mainly by sail-powered ships?

texts: When and where has the last battle between sail-powered ships been fought? If possible, please include the countries involved as well as the armament and types of ships.


texts: Did any British police force rank "Senior Superintendent"?

texts:
Hong Kong Police Force ranks "Senior Superintendent".

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) (Traditional Chinese: 高級警司): crest over pip.

Picture.

But I don't see "Senior Superintendent" on Wikipedia "Great Britain Police Ranks and Insignia"  or its headings for City of London or Metropolitan Police. Superintendent jumps to Chief Superintendent.

If answer is no, what happened to rank SSP in U.K.? Why no more SSP?


texts: Did any American political party have a legal personality anywhere at any time? Did it ever lapse?

texts:
After the War of Independence, some institutions such as the Bank of the United States were granted legal personality by the state or federal authorities. Of course, some of them ceased to exist (inc. the Bank), and lost their legal personality.

Did e.g. Jefferson's party (the Democrat-Republicans) ever have the status of a legally recognised entity, at either the state or federal level? Did it cease to have this status, before being resurrected by Jackson?

Edit: The point isn't which party it was; the question would be the same whether it was the Whig, Anti-Federalist, or any other.


texts: How significant was the US military role during the NATO campaign in Libya?

texts:
The NATO campaign in Libya was started by the UK and France, and the US was later also involved. How significant and vital was the US assistance in this campaign?

Edit: I am primarily interested in the actual military role, not political, diplomatic, etc.


texts: Why did the "Ruthenians" break up into "Belarusians" and "Ukrainians?"

texts:
The Ruthenians were a group of East Slavic people in Kievan Rus that are not what we would call "Russians" today. The term refers mainly to Belarussians and Ukrainians, the two largest groups who had a common "Ruthenian" language.

The two peoples were together as part of the same country under Kievan Rus, the Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish-Lithuaninan Commonwealth, Tsarist Russia, and the Soviet Union. But when the latter broke up in 1991, they went their separate ways.

Why was that? At what point did their language, culture, or ethnicity diverge to cause their eventual separation?


texts: What was lost when the British burned the White House in 1814?

texts: Dolley Madison saved many state papers, Washington's portrait, and silver from the White House before it burned (source), but what was left behind and lost? Were there other would-be famous items looted or burned?


texts: Why did Constantius Chlorus decide to become a Flavius?

texts:
I have noticed that virtually all Roman emperors after Constantine were called Flavius Something. A quick lookup in wikipedia confirms this and even more:

  During the later period of the Empire, the name Flavius frequently
  descended from one emperor to another, beginning with Constantius, the
  father of Constantine the Great. The name became so ubiquitous that it
  was sometimes treated as a praenomen, to the extent of being regularly
  abbreviated Fl., and it is even described as a praenomen in some
  sources, although it was never truly used as a personal name. The last
  emperor to take the name was eastern emperor Constantine IV.

  After the name fell into disuse among the Byzantine emperors, it was
  used as a title of legitimacy among the barbarian rulers of former
  Roman provinces, such as Spain, where the Visigoths and their Spanish
  successors used the title ″Emperor of All Spain″, and the kings of the
  barbarian successor kingdoms of Italy, such as the Ostrogoths and the
  Lombards also used it, with a special meaning as the ″protector″ of
  the Italian peoples under Lombard rule.

So, I looked up Chlorus and apparently he started calling himself Flavius when he was appointed Caesar in 293 (wiki again):

  At Milan on March 1, 293, Constantius was formally appointed as
  Maximian’s Caesar. He adopted the names Flavius Valerius and
  was given command of Gaul, Britannia and possibly Hispania.

But why did he choose specifically Flavius?

A cursory search reveals that in the 3rd century a popular soi-disant name for emperors was Aurelius and that Diocletian called himself Aurelius Valerius (so that explains the Valerius part all right).

Was Constantius trying to be special? Was he claiming some particular affinity to the real Flavian dynasty of the 1st century?

What makes this a bit more weird is that apparently Constantius did have a fabricated genealogy but there was nothing Flavian about it:

  Born in Dardania, Constantius was the son of Eutropius, whom the
  Historia Augusta claimed to be a nobleman from northern Dardania, in
  the province of Moesia Superior, and Claudia, a niece of the emperors
  Claudius II and Quintillus. Modern historians suspect this maternal
  connection to be a genealogical fabrication created by his son
  Constantine I, and that his family were of humble origins.

But Claudius II's full name was Marcus Aurelius Valerius Claudius Augustus
and his brother Quintillus was Marcus Aurelius Claudius Quintillus Augustus (note the weird absence of Valerius). No Flavius there! Of course, if the whole thing was invented after Constantius's own time, retconning it properly might have been too complicated.

Maybe Constantius just liked the sound of the name Flavius?


texts:
The US had just defeated 1 Axis power and contributed greatly to the defeat of another. Its soldiers saw wide ranging combat experience over the 3 years in conflict against veteran soldiers of Germany and Japan. Both Axis powers also have much higher technical expertise and industrial output than North Korea or China. Yet, the US was unable to commit itself and win the war decisively, or even conduct any operation which dealt heavy damage to the communist forces. Why?

The period of time was also during the middle of the 'Red Scare' so motivations could not possibly be the reason. The Korean war, unlike the Vietnam war, was also not a guerrilla conflict but involved large army formations which should've played right into the US military's strengths.


texts: Did the Romans leave any technical instruction manuals behind?

texts:
Did Romans write instructional manuals on architecture, building etc.?
I am curious as to why so much of the Roman's knowledge of architecture and construction was lost in medieval times, especially since there did exist people able to read Latin and the old Roman manuscripts.  Did the Romans not leave any instructions regarding the technical aspects of construction and architecture?


texts: How much tax revenue did the British Empire receive from its colonies in a given year?

texts:
I have heard that India at least was quite profitable for the United Kingdom. However, I do not know of any exact numbers for the annual tax revenue of the colonies in any given year. This book on the statistics of the British Empire may contain the answer, but its 300 or so photocopied pages and lack of a table of contents would make finding it very time-consuming.

So, how much exactly did the empire profit from its colonies in any year (I don't care which)?


texts: Could Romania have remained neutral in WWII?

texts:
Romania was neutral at the beginning of WWII, but then Marshall Antonescu (as he liked to be called) went to visit Hitler and then joined the war on the German side. Things have happened as they happened, but I wonder if Romania could have stayed neutral for the entire duration of WWII in any other circumstances? Some historians say that it was inevitable, because of two main reasons:

Resources (mainly petroleum) and
Geographical position.

Although somehow right, I fail to believe in these two parameters, and I think that there was lack of diplomacy and negotiation*. Can this be right? Could they have negotiated their neutrality?

Sweden had resources and it was close to Russia too, and yet, they stayed neutral. Denmark was a strategic point because of its Atlantic/North Sea shores, but stayed somehow neutral and even if it was invaded, they didn't have bad, bloody fights inside its territory and no armies on the Russian territory, like in Romania's case. So I wonder... what could have been done differently and could a better diplomacy/negotiation keep Romania neutral?

Question: Was Romania such an important player in WWII that entering the would have been inevitable? Were Russia and Germany so dependent on Romania?

*I base this theory by listening to what king Michael was saying about Antonescu (see video here) and considering some details from his biography.