texts: Why are the Corded Ware and Kurgan theories incompatible?

texts:
Why can't the Corded Ware Culture be a part of the Kurgan hypothesis of the PIE Urheimat? These two things overlap in time and place. Gambutas included the Corded Ware culture in her theory. I'm not sure if there is a "Kurgan Culture" or if the Corded Ware Culture built Kurgans.

  ...the Corded Ware culture was once presumed to be the Urheimat of the Proto-Indo-Europeans... Today this idea has lost currency, as the Kurgan hypothesis is currently the most widely accepted proposal to explain the origins and spread of the Indo-European languages. Corded Ware Culture- Wikipedia.com

Edit: I think that this "Kurgan Hypothesis" may be refering to the spread of later Tumulus Culture, with confusion arising from the interchanging of those words. This Middle Bronze Age expansion is my understanding of how IE languages spread outside the steppe.


texts:
The US military uses a scale of alert readiness called DEFCON, with DEFCON 5 being the lowest alert level and DEFCON 1 being the highest, preparing for imminent nuclear war.  At least once during the Cold War, readiness was pushed all the way to DEFCON 2.

When DEFCON levels were raised, how secret was this?  Did the Soviet Union know when DEFCON levels changed?


texts: Did the USA have a plan to defeat Germany without Britain?

texts:
If Britain had surrendered during World War II (eg. during the May 1940 crisis), what was the American plan for defeating Germany?  Without the British Islands as a staging area, an amphibious assault such as happened at Normandy would be far more difficult.

I know there has to have been a plan since, for example, the B-36 bomber was designed for the purpose of attacking targets in Germany from bases in North America.  That B-36 is also pretty good evidence that they weren't just going to dust off War Plan Black, since it doesn't have a place in that plan.


texts: Why was the spice trade so profitable in the 15th century?

texts:
During the 16th century, the Portuguese captured Melaka to dominate the lucrative spice trade; other city states such as Aceh, Banten, Brunei and Pegu also sprung up by exporting and trading spices. However, I don't quite understand why spice trading is such a profitable venture as spices are quite expensive when they reach their terminal buyer. There are sayings that compare spices to gold

How did the high price of spices allow such high demand? Were the demands from the aristocrats capable of upholding and sustaining such high volumes of trade that enriched South Asian city states?

Assumptions:

I was under the impression that the European population was predominantly serfs during 15 and 16th century. The abolition of serfdom wasn't until the 18th century for most European powers, except England and France. This is precisely why I was confused as to how European buyers were capable of sustaining a demand for something that wasn't a necessity.

Were the aristocrats of the European powers wealthy enough to buy spices at the price similar to that of gold? And where did that wealth come from? I understand that high demand results in high prices, but there must be some kind of wealth that is sustaining that demand or else the price will drop until the demand reaches the supply.


texts: Were any Kings/Queens who were monarchs as children good rulers?

texts:
I am listening to a history of England podcast, and so far (only up to 1405) All the monarchs who started as children have been pitiful leaders.

Are there any (worldwide) that have turned out to be good rulers?

I understand why becoming King at such an early age would be terrible for you, I know if somebody had told 10 year old me "You are queen now" it would have gone straight to my head.

To answer questions:
By child I mean those who legally required a regent at the start of their reign. (or were under 12 years old, in principalities that did not legally require regencies)

For the purposes of this question, a "good" monarch is one whose reign was perceived as legitimate. Civil wars, pretenders and other crisis' of legitimacy are indicators that he monarch was not good. Please note in the answer if the monarch was perceived as good by his contemporaries, but would be perceived as especially bad by modern lights (excessive brutality, war, human rights violations, etc.),

I am just reading about Henry III and found this quote from his wiki page

  By 1258, Henry's rule was increasingly unpopular, the result of the
  failure of his expensive foreign policies and the notoriety of his
  Poitevin half-brothers, the Lusignans, as well as the role of his
  local officials in collecting taxes and debts. A coalition of his
  barons, initially probably backed by Eleanor, seized power in a coup
  d'état and expelled the Poitevins from England, reforming the royal
  government through a process called the Provisions of Oxford. Henry
  and the baronial government enacted a peace with France in 1259, under
  which Henry gave up his rights to his other lands in France in return
  for King Louis IX recognising him as the rightful ruler of Gascony.
  The baronial regime collapsed but Henry was unable to reform a stable
  government and instability across England continued.

EDIT
Thank you everyone they were all fascinating reads, but as i am suffering from Brexit, I have to vote for a home grown king James the VI, and I look forward to hearing how my podcaster covers him.


texts: No speed limit on German highways - why?

texts:
I wonder what are the historical circumstances that led to lack of speed limit on German federal Autobahn network. There is an advisory 130 km/h limit, but it is not mandatory one nor obeyed practically. (As a side note, Wikipedia says, there used to be a mandatory 100 km/h limit in former GDR and it was not retained after re-unification.)

Please provide the reasons (plus sources) that would differentiate Germany from
other "comparable" countries (for example, France) that did introduce the limit on some historical occasion.


texts: What were the effects of US foreign policy in the South East Asian region in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s on states with capitalist economies?

texts:
US foreign policy in South East Asia in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s was ostensibly anti-communist.  It involved civil and military action in a wide number of countries in this region.

Most notably, in connection with the Domino theory, the United States tried to prevent the spread of political and economic change by civil and military action towards Soviet-style politics and economics.

In the opinions of some participants, this action gave breathing space for existing capitalist states to solidify their power. For example, here's a quote by modern Singapore's Founding Father, Lee Kuan Yew:

  Although American intervention failed in Vietnam, it bought time for
  the rest of Southeast Asia. In 1965, when the US military moved
  massively into South Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines
  faced internal threats from armed communist insurgents and the
  communist underground was still active in Singapore. Indonesia, in the
  throes of a failed communist coup, was waging konfrontasi, an
  undeclared war against Singapore. The Philippines was claiming Sabah
  in East Malaysia. Standards of living were low and economic growth
  slow. America's action enabled non-communist Southeast Asia to put
  their own houses in order. By 1975 (when the Vietnam war ended) they
  were in better shape to stand up to the communists. Had there been no
  US intervention, the will of these countries to resist them would have
  melted and Southeast Asia would have most likely gone communist. The
  prosperous emerging market economies of Asean ( Association of
  Southeast Asian Nations) were nurtured during the Vietnam War years.1

Is the belief that US military action in South East Asia gave time and space to these countries held by a significant body of scholars?  If so, what is their opinion.
In what ways did other US civil and military actions impact on the development of secure capitalist states in South East Asia?
Is there any scholarly critique of opinions such as Yew's of US involvement in South East Asia?  If so, what is the content of this critique?


texts: Why didn't Lenin improve life in Russian villiages before his death?

texts:
I mean, it's universally agreed that farmers in rural areas in Russia suffered the most after 1917. Grain requisitioning during war communism had destroyed the economy in the villiages. Even after Lenin introduced New Economic Policy, the infrustructure in villiages were backward and peasants found price of consumer goods very high.

Question: Why did Lenin focus mainly on improving cities instead of rural areas?


texts: What prompted Lincoln to change his mind about ending slavery?

texts: Prior to the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln asserted that he would not end slavery in the South and that he was not in favor of racial equality. Yet, by 1863 he signed the “Emancipation Proclamation” freeing slaves and laying the groundwork for the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1865, making slavery illegal across the nation. Why was Lincoln initially opposed to ending slavery? What prompted Lincoln to change his mind?


texts: When and how (why) did the idea that gender is not biological start

texts:
In my understanding the gender originally was based on the organs, there was cross dressing  but it was considered a man dressing as a woman.
And latter this changed and gender became something spiritual.

Am I correct?
If not then what is the history of gender?
If yes then
When and how (why) did the this change

  the state of being male or female (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).

At stop being biological (organs)?

Is it connected with "homosexually" stopped defining the way a person acts and became a way people define themselves (ie that they are born with these tendencies)

In other words what is the history of queer theory? (How old it is?)


texts: Did the British screw Lee Kuan Yew over by withdrawing their naval presence earlier than intended?

texts:
This Reddit comment alleges

  Singapore, remember, gained its independence from Malaysia, not Britain outright, and the British even screwed Lee Kuan-yew over by pulling out their naval presence earlier than intended, so they were pretty much set adrift without a paddle pretty specifically. The Chinese influence in British Malaya wasn't strongly connected to the Mainland, especially after the Communists failed to gain power after the Malay Emergency.

Is this true? The Wikipedia article on the history of Singapore doesn't allude to such guile.


texts: Why are military uniforms often flared or poofy above the knee?

texts:
I've often wondered why do various uniforms have those "poofs" on the outsides of the legs just above the knee? Was there a particular purpose to this, or a practical reason, or was it just the result of uniform designers saying "Hey, I kinda like poofs."

I think it has also been seen in other areas as well. For example, on the poster/cover for the 1970 movie Patton you can see a similar design, though much more pronounced it seems (though that could just be Hollywood exaggeration).

  Image Source (broken)

  Image Source


texts: Were non German soldiers treated differently than German soldiers in the German army during the Great War?

texts:
For some reason I cannot find reliable source about that. Germany's population were in majority German, but there was also Frenchs in the west, Danes in the north, Lithuanians, and Poles in the east, among other minorities that would cause no problem for Germany.

The problem of Frenchs fighting against France, and Lithuanians or Poles fighting against Russia where other Lithuanians and Poles also lived was an obvious problem. I am pretty sure Germany solved this by sending Poles and Lithuanians to the west front to fight France, and sent people from the west of the country toward the east to fight Russia, however I cannot find a source on this right now.

Nevertheless my question is, were those people (Poles and Lithuanians on the western front, Frenchs on the eastern front) treated differently than German people (such as making them more often on the front line, and by giving them more risky missions) ? I have heard this was the case, but then again, cannot find any sources.

If so, how could the German army know which soldiers were concerned, since ethnicity was not recorded in Germany, and all citizens of the German Empire were considered "German" by the government ?


texts: What is "Egyptland" in the context of the 1960s black civil rights movement in the US?

texts:
Title of Chapter 10 of MLK book From Civil Rights to Human Rights. Egyptland is the name of chapter 10, and I was wondering why this might be and what it is referring to.

Thanks for your help!


texts: Does this CIA report describe the Soviet T-54 tank?

texts:
This CIA report from March 1954 describes an "Improved T-34 Tank" at the "V.I. Lenin Works at Pilsen". The report lists Czechoslovakia as the country of origin. This logically makes since as the T-34 tank was produced until at least 1958, well past the introduction of the T-54 tank.

The report:
https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP80-00810A003601050006-0.pdf

The report describes numerous things but most importantly a "100mm gun" and "air device for eliminating the gases expelled by the gun". This sounds a great deal like the features of the T-54.

The T-54 was most definitely produced at Czechoslovakia, but initial production was done at Uralvagonzavod located at Niznhy Tagil.

It seems cumbersome to have a tank all the way at Pilsen when production did not start until much later there.  Also, the report says "are producing", indicating the tank is already in production at Pilsen at this point. So this isn't just some existing T-54 being demonstrated.

Is this report describing a T-34 variant or an T-54?


texts: Besides the right to vote, were there any other advantages or benefits in being a citizen in Pericles' Athens?


texts: Why wasn't the Free City of Lübeck ever restored?

texts:
There is a long history of free imperial cities having extra privileges within the Holy Roman Empire. Many cities in contemporary Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy were former free imperial cities. However, most of them disappeared progressively.
In 1933, when Hitler took power in Germany, 3 free cities remained: Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen. Unsurprisingly, Hamburg, Bremen are still free cities to this day, which means they are federal Länder states within the Federal Republic of Germany.
What is more of a mystery is why Lübeck is no longer a city state. Actually, the sole reason the city state does not exist anymore and was incorporated into Schleswig-Holstein is because Hitler decided it in 1937, because of his personal dislike of the city (the reason of this dislike is suspected to be because NSDAP support was low).
Despite the fact it was obvious that the dissolution of the city state for such a reason is completely illegitimate, the western allies did not recreate a post-war city state like they did for Hamburg and Bremen.

Are there any reasons the western allies restored 2 of the 3 free cities, but not the third? [*]

Is there any political group in Lübeck that is striving to restore their status as an independent federal state?

It doesn't seem to be the case but I'd just ask in case I might have missed something or used the wrong keywords in German.

[*] I'm excluding Berlin as it has a completely separate history which is out of topic here.


texts: Is there a proper title for a woman betrothed to a king?

texts:
Does the title of a princess change when she is betrothed to a king?  If she were in line for the throne of England and was betrothed to the king of France, how would the French court refer to her?
Thanks


texts: When and where was the first time moveable bridge?

texts:
Transportation of goods on rivers have been important throughout history, all the way back to the earliest civilization in Mesopotamia, the Indus valley, Egypt, China and more (this might not be the best source in the world, but this should hardly be a controversial claim).

But these same civilizations were also building bridges across their rivers (If a source is necessary this will have to do).

For this reason, I always assumed that some kind of moveable bridges across rivers (to allow passage without impeding ship traffic) must have been very common, even in ancient civilizations such as -- to name only a few -- Egypt, Mesopotamia, Achaemenid Persia and at the very least Rome and Han or Tang-china -- and perhaps even medieval Europe; I acknowledge that such mechanisms would need maintenance and crew to operate them, and a great deal of technical skill to build, but in this regard the ancient civilizations such as Rome or Han China don't seem to have been lacking.
To my own great surprise, I have not been able to online find any examples of moveable bridges (meant to allow ships to pass under, thus excluding medieval drawbridges, whose use was purely defensive) older than the Old London bridge and this source does not specify directly that this was the first moveable bridge ever

My question is, therefore, when and where is the first time moveable bridges appear in history.

Edit: after a little more searching I did come across the 1174 Gaungji Bridge, which one source I found (whose reliability I strongly doubt, as it is a tourist website, for which reason I do not consider my question answered satisfyingly) claim to be the first movable bridge in the world.


texts: What did people do about kerosene lamp fires?

texts:
In the late nineteenth century, kerosene lamps were widely used for illumination. They were effective and affordable, though had the nontrivial disadvantage of being a significant fire hazard; a lamp knocked over by accident, could end up burning down a building.
Given that the potential fire hazard was quite obvious, one would expect people to do something about it. It's common knowledge that throwing water on an oil fire is counterproductive. Looking at the advice given for chip-pan fires today, it tends to involve things like chemical fire extinguishers and calling 911, neither of which would've been available in the nineteenth century.
The one thing I can see that would be potentially applicable is putting a metal lid over the fire; you could keep a metal tray to hand for placing over spilled burning oil.
Are there any records of people in fact doing that? Or of using any other fire suppression measures that I haven't thought of?


texts: When were the most recent Amendments to the boundaries of Boston Ward 3? What were the changes at the time?


texts: How did the helmsman know what he was sailing towards with a big mast in his face?

texts:
I apoligize if this is a weird or of-topic question, I am just curious and I couldnt seem to find anything

This might be a bit of a weird question: I am looking to design a cyberpunk ship with a 'fan'-sail instead of the traditional sails, but I came across the issue of the helmsman being blinded by the mast and fabric.

But older ships had masts through the center as well, which I assume would be in the way of the helmsman's vision, blocking maybe 15 degrees of your vision straight ahead, hiding things from him like rocks or even other boats if he is unlucky.

I cast my mind back to childrens shows where a 'spotter' is sitting in a basket on top of the highest mast, whom I then pressume is the eyes for the helmsman.

Is there something obvious that I am missing, like could the helmsman just lean a bit to the right and see what blinded him, did all ships, from pirate to royal navy, use one or more spotters to serve as the helmsmans eyes, or did the blind-spot not matter anyway?


texts: Has there ever been a major migration from the New World to the Old World? If not, why?

texts:
Considerable research has been done on the ancient migration of humans from Northeast Asia to the Americas. Between that and Columbus, there were a few smaller migration events from elsewhere in the world — including the Viking travels to North America, and possible Austronesian travels to South America.

However, these are all in the direction of Old World —> New World. Has movement in the reverse direction ever been identified? I don't know of any. Even in modern times, it seems as though the direction of migration has always been Old World —> New World.

I assume the best bet for finding evidence would be by the Bering Sea. It seems like there was occasional contact between Alaska and Siberia in pre-Columbian times, which may hint that there was a major migration at some point.


texts: In which places of the UK did the Vikings/Scandinavians have most frequent contact or colonies?

texts: I was in York, England and there was a museum called Jorvik Viking Centre, which spoke about the Vikings who lived there. It said that the area back then was mostly populated by the Vikings. Since this place York, is not close to the coast, were there other areas in the UK which had large Viking or Scandinavian populations either visiting, raiding or colonising?


texts: During the defense of the home islands, what was Japan's plan for its forces off-island?

texts:
It's July 1945. Okinawa is lost. Japan is preparing for an Allied invasion of the Home Islands. While they're arming civilians with spears and clubs, Japan still had millions of soldiers in Manchuria, China, Korea, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere.
What was Japan's plan for them?
UPDATE: To be clear, I'm primarily interested in the contemporary thinking and perspective of Japanese high command with only a secondary interest in its practicality. I'm looking for answers supported by Japanese documents. Was there a plan, or many plans, or perhaps just records of a lot of arguing? Were they to be incorporated into the defense of the home islands? Did they believe they could hold onto their occupied territories? Was defense of occupied territories part of the home island defense (denying the use of South Korea to the Allies, for example)?


texts: How quickly did the knowledge of the existence of the new world spread into the old world?

texts:
After Columbus's voyage to the new world, how quickly did this knowledge spread into the other parts of the old world? For example, when did the existence of the new world become "common knowledge" (for laypeople, or if that's too vague then for the rulers of various kingdoms) in various European countries, middle eastern civilizations, the Indian subcontinent and China?

If this is too broad or too vague, I'm particularly interested in the general awareness in Indian subcontinent.


texts: Is the "Katyusha" scene from Deer Hunter historically accurate?

texts:
In the movie Deer Hunter we can see Russian-Americans sing the song "Katyusha" during a wedding. One can clearly see that this song fits well into the movie's themes (the groom on this wedding is about to go to Vietnam), but is this scene historically accurate?

As far as I know, "Katyusha" is a Soviet song (composed in 1938). The Russian emigrants are likely Whites (that is, opposed to communist Reds). Is it possible that the Russian-American community portrayed in this movie came to America later, after creation of "Katyusha"? Or was this song so popular that it was accepted by Russians who rejected soviet rule (after all, there is nothing about communism in it). Could somebody shed some light on this case?


texts: Did Roman prostitutes wear purple dresses?

texts:
Reading a wikipedia page about prostitution (it is in spanish; I haven't checked if the english says the same) it is said that prostitues wore purple dresses.

Was this generally true?


texts: Are there archaeological sites of Drusus‘ campaign 9 BC?

texts:
The Roman commander Nero Claudius Drusus reached the river Elbe in 9 BC.
Are there any archaeological sites or finds of this Roman campaign deep into Germania?


texts: Plot to create a Northern Confederation of States in America about 1804

texts:
I read in "Asimov's book of facts" that there was a (failed) plot to create such Confederation, that should include New York city, but I couldn't find any other reference. Asimov's book doesn't give names of involved politicians.

Can any of you give more information?


texts: Why did USSR lay down undersea communications cable between Petropavlovsk and Vladivostok?

texts:
Why not just use a land cable that goes around the Sea of Okhotsk? A land cable is safer, and tapping it is harder. I screen cap Google Maps.

 I know the undersea cable is more direct, but did it speed up communication that much? Operation Ivy Bells - Wikipedia.

  In the early 1970s the U.S. government learned of the existence of an undersea communications cable in the Sea of Okhotsk, which connected the major Soviet Pacific Fleet naval base at Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula to the Soviet Pacific Fleet's mainland headquarters at Vladivostok.[2]:172 At the time, the Sea of Okhotsk was claimed by the Soviet Union as territorial waters, and was strictly off limits to foreign vessels, and the Soviet Navy had installed a network of sound detection devices along the seabed to detect intruders. The area also saw numerous surface and subsurface naval exercises.


texts: Why did Christopher Columbus think he had arrived near Japan?

texts:
This question came to our mind as a long discussion in chat between some users over ELU including me and we thought to post the question here. Wikipedia states he thought he had arrived Japan.

  In his first journey, Columbus visited San Salvador in The Bahamas (which he was convinced was Japan), Cuba (which he thought was China) and Hispaniola (where he found gold).

That made us think, what made him think so? In the mean time, Cerberus came up with a helpful map of his journey, but we could not conclude anything from here. So does anybody have any information on this? We would really like to know.

The Map is uploaded separately for the users convenience.


texts: Why wasn't Federal Republic of Central America a stable country?

texts:
I read the Wiki page and an another good source of information of the Federal Republic of Central America (sometimes referred as United States of Central America). I see the process of how it fell apart, but I can't really find a decent description of the causes.

In the sense of culture, the federated states were similar, what were the reasons of its dissolution? Was it the result of the liberal-conservative conflict? Or something else?


texts: Was the speed of the attack at Jena critical to victory?

texts:
[i narrowed the focus of my original post]

Many sources explain that the Prussian army was not anticipating the entire French force in the battle of Jena during the Napoleonic Wars. My question is whether Napoleon's speed in attacking had any effect in causing this. Were the Prussians not expecting Napoleon to get there so fast?


texts:
New Spain's independence struggle led to adopting the national identity of "México", the name of its major city and the Mexica society there. In referring to a specific indigenous group, Mexico seems to be unique among the independence names of former Spanish viceroyalties. I got interested in what this meant for centralism and exclusion; here's what I've learned  about the adoption of the name:

In 1730 the principal newspaper Gaceta de México used the phrase "Imperio Mexicano" to refer to the Aztec Empire, but in 1785 and afterwards it innocently used the same name for the viceroyalty ("... algunas provincias del Imperio Mexicano con motivo del extrañamiento de los Jesuitas ...").
In 1810-1811, the father of Mexican independence Miguel Hidalgo consistently called his country "América", not using the term "México", at least in the documents available on WikiSource. Similarly, the Lista del juramento de los habitantes de San Blas al cura Mercado contains the demonym "americano" but not "mexicano".
From 1810 to 1821 there was an official newspaper called Gaceta del Gobierno de México, referring to the seat of power, if not the territory it governed. This transitioned after independence into the Gaceta del Gobierno del Imperio de México.
In 1821, the Plan de Iguala and the Declaration of Independence both called the new state the "Imperio Mexicano".

None of the principal revolutionaries were Mexica, but at some point they apparently reached a consensus to use the meronym "México" for their new country.  It would have begun to describe areas never subjugated by the Mexica, like Sinaloa, Guatemala, and New Mexico. Understandably, some Apaches and Mayans proceeded to resist the authority of a country whose name excluded them.

Prior to 1821, who supported or opposed the adoption of the name "Mexico"? How seriously were alternatives like "America" considered?


texts: Who is the historical figure in McCarthy's speech, "When a great democracy is destroyed..."?

texts:
During the Wheeling speech in 1950, McCarthy said :

As one of our outstanding historical figures once said, “When a great democracy is destroyed, it will not be from enemies from without, but rather because of enemies from within.” Joseph McCarthy (RationalWiki)

Who is he referring to when he speaks about a "historical figure"? An old president of the US ?


texts: Has there ever been a society that viewed prostitution as a prestigious vocation?

texts:
Prostitutes today are not generally viewed with respect - certainly many (most?) people would be rather offended if someone suggested they become a prostitute, or if their children choose to become prostitutes.

Has there ever been a society in which this was the reverse? That is, a society which viewed prostitutes with the respect a doctor might be given today?

The obvious place to search for an answer is Wikipedia's page on the History of Prostitution. Much of it is irrelevant to this question, but occasionally it touches on the topic of prestige. However it seems prostitutes were never very prestigious even if the profession was socially accepted. For example in Ancient Rome:

  Prostitutes played a role in several Roman religious observances, mainly in the month of April, over which the love and fertility goddess Venus presided. While prostitution was so widely accepted, prostitutes were often considered shameful. Most were slaves or former slaves, or if free by birth relegated to the infames, people lacking in social standing and deprived of the protections that most citizens under Roman law received.

More recently:

  Prostitution in the American West was a growth industry that attracted sex workers from around the globe where they were pulled in by the money, despite the harsh and dangerous working conditions and low prestige.

An alternative approach is to consider what could possibly cause prostitution to be viewed as prestigious. Since barriers to entry are low, if it ever were prestigious, everyone would be a prostitute and it'd cease to be prestigious. This implies that there needs to be some kind of barrier that separates the very desirable job from the common one, even if they do the same thing. This suggests sacred prostitutes might be an answer. However from Wikipedia's article it doesn't seem so, in fact in some societies people had to be forced to become sacred prostitutes. In Ancient Greece:

  In the temple of Apollo at Bulla Regia, a woman was found buried with an inscription reading: "Adulteress. Prostitute. Seize (me), because I fled from Bulla Regia." It has been speculated she might be a woman forced into sacred prostitution as a punishment for adultery.

More recently:

  In Southern India and the eastern Indian state of Odisha, devadasi is the practice of hierodulic prostitution, with similar customary forms such as basavi, and involves dedicating pre-pubescent and young adolescent girls from villages in a ritual marriage to a deity or a temple, who then work in the temple and function as spiritual guides, dancers, and prostitutes servicing male devotees in the temple. Human Rights Watch reports claim that devadasis are forced into this service and, at least in some cases, to practice prostitution for upper-caste members.

The last section of the article, "Modern Views", does claim that the sacred prostitute "was seen as a powerful person", but it doesn't seem to match the description in the rest of the article.

I'm looking for cases where society considers the entire profession as prestigious - not individual prostitutes such as Julia Bulette.


texts: Did Hitler not intend a major war while invading Poland?

texts:
A J P Taylor in his book "The Origins of the Second World War" writes,

  "Hitler never intended a major war and at most was prepared for only a
  limited war against Poland."

  "In 1938-39, the last peacetime years, Germany spendt on armaments
  about 15 percent of her gross national product. The British proportion
  was almost exactly the same. German expenditure on armaments was
  actually cut down after Munich and remained on this lower level, so
  that british production of aeroplanes, for example, was way ahead of
  Germany by 1940. When the war broke out in 1939, Germany had 1,450
  modern fighter planes and 800 bombers; Great Britain and France had
  950 fighters and 1,300 bombers. The German had 3,500 tanks; Great
  Britain and France had 3,850. These numbers do not suggest that Germany had planned and prepared a great war that they started in 1939."

  "One of Hitler's Generals, Keitel, wrote in his diary about the
  German-Italian military talks in April 1939, which were initiated
  after Italian pressure. It turned out that the Italians insisted on to
  tell that they could only be ready for war earlist in 1942. The German
  representatives agreed with them."

Hitler attacked Poland in September 1939.

Did Hitler really intend a limited war against Poland?
What made Hitler invade Poland without expecting a war like Great War(ww1)?


texts: Why did the Allies let Hitler break the Treaty of Versailles?

texts:
I was reading about what led up to ww2 and I noticed that Hitler broke several of the agreements in the Treaty of Versailles such as getting a army of more than 100000 men.

I was wondering why the allies let him do this and didn't just stop him there before he could amass a even larger army?


texts: The only current page I found for this device is this Chinese one, which didn't clarify anything. It looks like she's digitizing a blueprint.


texts: When and why did the Democrats become the more liberal of the two main parties in the USA?


texts: Was it common for unmarried couples to live in the same hotel room in Europe of the 1930es?

texts:
Imagine an unmarried couple in their mid-twenties, both educated (teachers).
They live in Vienna of the early 1930es (before the Anschluss).

Was it acceptable for them to book one hotel room and sleep in one bed (without
being married)? Was it something common, or would they be looked at by "decent"
people (incl. the hotel personnel)?

Facts I could find:

The Nazis encouraged premarital sex by creating camps for young men and women
close to each other and establishing organizations where women (incl. unmarried
ones) could give birth in a safe environment (e. g. Lebensborn e. V.). Their
motivation was to improve the demography (source: German Wikipedia).

I assume that the Nazis could not enact any laws that were in too big an
opposition to common morals. If premarital sex was acceptable in 1938, it
probably also was acceptable in 1932, at least among people from cities.


texts: Is it true that Christian English monks adopted Norse hairstyles before the start of the Viking age?

texts:
I remember a documentary suggesting that Vikings traded a lot with English monks, before the Viking Age started, and that the monks ended up adopting their hairstyles. They mentioned a senior monk or bishop complained against them doing this. This supposedly happened before the raid at Lindisfarne.

I can't find anything about this, and don't remember what documentary it was from. Does anyone know if this happened?


texts:
Well, I was wondering. What are those crosses in the top of the flag when we visualize military battleplans?

For instance, take a look in a map of the Battle for El Alamein:

The Free French division has one cross, and the italian division right on the side, has two crosses. What does it means? We can also see the same in the following map of D-Day operation at Normandy.

If you have some references, better.


texts: Did anyone at the time blame the Great Plague on rats or fleas?

texts:
The Great Plague of London occurred in 1665, before the advent of the germ theory of disease.  Nonetheless, people back then had some general notion that the disease could be spread through social contact, and for that reason quarantines were (quite correctly) imposed on incoming travellers and infected individuals.  But many other possible routes of transmission were also mooted, including cats, dogs, and "bad air" (the miasma theory), and on the basis of these theories further control measures were put in place.  These latter measures were at best ineffective and at worst harmful, since we are now confident that the plague was transmitted by fleas, which were in turn spread mostly by rats.
I am wondering whether anyone in 1665 (or thereabout) identified rats or fleas as being responsible for spreading the plague.  Obviously if they did, the idea never gained any traction in society in general.  But given the multiplicity of explanations and cures for the plague that people were advancing (admittedly in desperation and without the benefit of modern-day medical knowledge), I am curious as to whether anyone was lucky enough to accidentally hit upon the correct mode of transmission.  Can anyone point me to a contemporary source for someone blaming fleas or rats for the plague?

EDIT: I have since discovered two relevant pieces of information:
First, in their book The Great Plague (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004, p. 280), A. L. Moote and D. C. Moote write of rats' link to the plague that "rats were virtually unmentioned in 1665". This wording implies that rats were mentioned, albeit rarely, so I would be interested in learning what those mentions are.
Second, in his Journal of the Plague Year, Great Plague contemporary Daniel Defoe describes the mass culling of dogs and cats ordered by the Lord Mayor, but then goes on to say that

Endeavours were us'd also to destroy the Mice and Rats, especially the latter; by laying Rats Bane, and other Poisons for them, and a prodigious multitude of them were also destroy'd.

So it seems that there was indeed a concerted city-wide effort to eliminate rats from the city, though it is not clear from Defoe's text whether this action was taken because people assumed that there was some link between rats and the plague, or merely because they understood that the rats would become even more of a nuisance once all the cats and dogs had been killed. It is probably safe at least to say that if there was an order to kill rats, it did not come from the Lord Mayor; his order discusses only the removal, impounding, or culling of "Hogs, Dogs, or Cats, or tame Pigeons, or Conies".


texts: When modern time measurement first appeared and who invented it?

texts:
My son asked me, how people knew that an hour is an hour before they invented the clock. Reading through History of timekeeping devices on Wikipedia and also Hour it became apparent to me, that there was hours of different length in the history until "more accurate current clock" was invented.

If I would have to guess, the first attempts at this would not have given the modern measure of hour anyway, surely there were a few iterations until we settled on the Hour as we know it.

So I would like to know, when people started to use modern hour, and how they arrived to this exact definition of hour, and who was the key people making that happen (if known).

If no precise answer can be given, I'll settle for date ranges.


texts: Up to what levels were World War II commanders known for fighting at the battle front?

texts:
I've heard someone saying:

  The general is at the front, the colonel is at the front, the captain
  is at the front. Our heroes in the second world war were at the front
  in the battlefield.

Don't know which level of commander (or even country) was being referred to. Up to what level did officers routine fight at or near the front lines? Are there any famous instances of higher level World War II commanders who, ddespite being a high rank officer, have gone to the battle front? If so, who?

I wonder if someone specific was being referred to, or it was just "heroes" at wide.


texts: Did Averroes really try to bury light in an attempt to create gold, or was that invented by Victor Hugo?

texts:
In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Frollo relates a story that supposedly Averroes buried light in order to create gold from it, as, according to him, gold is light, but that it would not be for thousands of more years until the process would be complete:

"What! this light which inundates my hand is gold! These same atoms dilated in accordance with a certain law need only be condensed in accordance with another law. How is it to be done? Some have fancied by burying a ray of sunlight, Averroes, – yes, 'tis Averroes, – Averroes buried one under the first pillar on the left of the sanctuary of the Koran, in the grand mosque of Cordova; but the vault was not to be opened, to see whether the operation had succeeded, under eight thousand years."

Is there any basis of truth, or even precedent, to any of this?


texts: Which nation on Earth has been under foreign rule the longest?

texts:
The Philippines was under Spanish rule for over 333 years. After the Battle of Manila Bay and the Treaty of Paris (1898), rule of the Philippines was transferred from Spain to the USA.

From a brief period between 1942-1945, the Philippines was under Japanese rule. The Americans officially granted independence to the Philippines in 1946.

If we add it all up, the Philippines was under foreign rule for almost 400 years.

Is there any other nation on Earth that had been under foreign rule longer?


texts: What were the plans to use the atomic bomb if it had been in time for the war in Europe?

texts:
The United States, Britain and Germany started to research of the atomic bomb at the beginning of World War II. When Americans got it, the war in Europe was over and the bomb was only used against Japan.

Is it known what both sides wanted to do with the bomb if they had got it earlier? Bombing German and British cities? Destroying industrial complexes? Bombing concentrations of troops? Sinking whole navies?

If plans aren't known, or if they hadn't been made before developing the bomb, any scholar research on what would they have done with the bomb will be welcomed.


texts: Are there historical problems of wealth/income inequality causing problems for empires?

texts:
I was talking to a friend who said that empires rose and fell upon wealth/income inequality. He cited the Mongols as reducing wealth inequality and the fall of Rome as increasing the inequality. It seems to be reasonable, but looking this up, I cannot find any sources talking about the connection between empire social health/rise and fall and wealth/income inequality.

Are there any examples of this?


texts: What would an ancient Greek village (small settlement) have looked like?

texts:
Context: I am preparing a D&D campaign, and because I find "medieval western europe fantasy land" to be a bit over-used, I'd like to make my setting more of an ancient greek setting.

However, there are a lot less resources surrounding this culture. One question I have in particular is how would a small village (100-500 people) be organised? What kind of activities would the villagers get up to most of the day? What did their architecture look like? Who ruled them?

There are plenty of big cities that were preserved and studied quite well, but I'm struggling to find information concerning what life was like for regular Iosif out in rural Greece...


texts: Why did Robert E. Lee say that George McClellan was the best general he ever faced?

texts:
In administration, preparation, and morale, he may have been excellent, but in starting campaigns he was ruinously cautious and in battles he was reluctant to sustain casualties.
In the the Peninsula campaign, Confederate General Joe Johnston said "Nobody but McClellan would have hesitated to attack".
In the subsequent retreat (necessitated by his hesitancy and mistakes), he conducted a skillful retreat, but wars aren't won by retreats.


texts: Do the edges of the CK3 map reflect real discontinuities in the medieval world?

texts:
Crusader Kings III was released a week or so ago, mostly to critical acclaim. I, too, have played the new release, and enjoyed it thoroughly. However, the while the new map is significantly better than its predecessor, the matter of where the edges are drawn is still causing me a bit of unease. Do they actually reflect real geographical and/or cultural discontinuities/separations/gulfs/etc in the medieval world?
This is what the map looks like for the 867 AD start.

And this is my take on the four edges: north, west, east and south.
North
This, I think, is the least contentious edge. The 'wide and wasteful' arctic ocean presents an impossible barrier even today. The only things north of Norway's North Cape are Svalbard and the ice cap, neither of which were inhabited in medieval times.
The closest thing to a criticism of the map's northern edge that I can think of would be that large parts of northern Russia have been excluded from the game. But these regions are sparsely populated even today, and had little impact even on Russia's more temperate climes.
West
This, again, is fairly uncontroversial. Leif Erikson may have landed in America, but the true significance of his voyages wasn't realised until centuries later. Even Madeira wasn't discovered until 1420, so the Atlantic makes a good western edge.
East
This edge would be the one that has aroused the most controversy amongst the community, but I personally am quite happy about it. The Gobi desert is a natural barrier between China and Mongolia, just as the Himalayas are a natural barrier between China and Tibet (or between Tibet and the rest of China, depending on your politics). If you're going to exclude China from the map, this is the way to do it.
For me, the one question mark over the eastern edge is the cutoff between Burma/Myanmar and Bangladesh. Perusing Google maps, there are almost no roads joining the two modern day countries, and Bengali is an Indo-European language whereas Burmese is Sino-Tibetan. On the other hand, Burma was part of British India. Is this a reasonable place to draw such an absolute border? Was there much contact between Bengal and Burma in the middle ages?
South
The southern edge represents the biggest change from CK2's map, which had drawn a straight line through both Ethiopia and Mali. The new edge is a massive improvement, but I still have two queries:

The western-most cutoff on the southern edge is around the Gulf of Guinea. I remember reading that dense jungle around what is now Cameroon prevented Islam from spreading any further south into Africa. Is that true? Was there much contact Southern and West Africa in the middle ages?
The most questionable boundary, for me, is the eastern-most cutoff of the southern edge, in southern Somalia. Was there much contact between Somalia and Kenya in the middle ages? A brief perusal of Wikipedia suggests that there was; Ibn Battuta spent the night in Mombasa. But I'd be eager to hear a more learned opinion on this one.


texts: As is known, Mendeleyev was born in 1834 at Tobolsk, in the far west of Siberia, into a well-educated, reasonably prosperous and very large family, but how large? Some sources say there were fourteen children, some say seventeen.


texts: Which languages did H.P. Lovecraft understand?

texts:
H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) wrote his stories (including the "Cthulhu Mythos") in English, but his Wikipedia page notes that several French authors provided commentary on his stories. It doesn't clarify if he corresponded with them though, so it's not clear to me if he actually understood French.

Which languages did H.P. Lovecraft understand (in either spoken or written form)? Unfortunately, neither the Wikipedia article itself, nor other sources I can find, actually say which languages he knew.


texts: What languages were common in first century Jerusalem?

texts:
The Pentecost just made me wonder what languages were common in first century Jerusalem. The miracle of Pentecost was that the apostles were preaching in many languages, and this would assume that there were people speaking different languages in the city.

I know that the languages spoken by the inhabitants were Aramaic, Greek, and maybe Hebrew, but that is certainly not many, and it would not seem extraordinary if someone knew these three languages.

Can it be ascertained with at least some level of probability what other languages were spoken there? I guess one method would be to see what regions were actively trading with that province, given that Jerusalem was a major trading hub.

What I could put together was the following:

Aramaic and Hebrew, by the different classes of native inhabitants
Greek by educated natives and by foreigners, probably also by most of the Roman troops, but was it a mother tongue of most foreigners, or only used as a common language to speak to others?
Latin, spoken by the upper class Romans

What other languages has a high likelihood of turning up in first century (or more specifically, between roughly AD 30 and 40) Jerusalem?


texts:
In the continental Army during the American Revolution, soldiers traditionally wore their hair braided in the back and secured by a ribbon, but in 1801 General James Wilkinson issued an order requiring all soldiers to cut their ponytail.

However, as is well known, Colonel Thomas Butler refused to cut his ponytail.

After reading several sources on the Internet I cannot understand whether Colonel Thomas Butler was or was not prosecuted/arrested.

Wikipedia talk of "attempting to prosecute" and says that "Colonel Butler died before the trials closed," as if he was not actually prosecuted, whereas Stephen McDonald and William Salomone, reporting a piece that I didn't find elsewhere on the Internet, say that he was arrested.

  Wilkinson was an avid supporter of the military's short hair codes. So
  much so that Wilkinson was attempting to prosecute Colonel Thomas
  Butler, a veteran of both the Revolution and the Indian wars, for
  keeping his long hair. Colonel Butler died before the trials closed.
  He never did cut his long, braided queue prior to his death.
  † [Wikipedia]

  It was in the early years of your country. It was common for both
  soldiers and officers to wear long hair. They tied the hair back in a
  ponytail. In 1803 a Tennessee commander ordered all his officers to
  cut off their ponytails. Colonel Thomas Butler refused. He was a
  career officer with a distinguished record dating back to the
  Revolution. Butler was not about to cut his hair so easily. He was
  arrested and charged with insubordination. Friends of Butler rallied
  to his defense. Those friends included Andrew Jackson. They petitioned
  even President Jefferson to intervene on Butler's behalf. The
  President would not do so. On July 10, 1805, Butler was found guilty
  of mutinous conduct. He was sentenced to a year's suspension without
  pay.‡ [The Writer's Response by Stephen
  McDonald and William Salomone, page 272]

Therefore, my questions are:

Was Colonel Thomas Butler actually arrested?
What role, and with what effects, did the President Jefferson play?
Did Colonel Thomas Butler go to his grave with his ponytail?


texts: Ruffs are the fluffy white loopy things that go around a person's neck and usually make a person's head look like a lion's mane. How did ruffs become fashionable and then went out of fashion?


texts: Were there any important spies in modern history who had to conceal their true nationality (or culture)?

texts:
This often comes up in movies, but I can hardly find any real cases, except for the  "Illegals Projects" - but that doesn't seem like high-stake espionage, let alone successful.

I'm thinking specifically of cases where the spies had to hide their substantial knowledge of an entire other culture, being fluent in the given language, etc., e.g. when they come from another country (and they pretend to be either native to the country they spy on, or to have come from a third unrelated country).

Any examples are appreciated, especially with a link/reference to the source where the details are described.

(You are welcome to add any examples as answers. I guess this is not a question that has a very definitive answer but I'll upvote any good examples.)


texts:
I was reading the Wikipedia article on mail, more commonly known as chainmail, when I saw a mention that mail could be made with bronze. The section in general did not appear to be talking about modern reconstructions, though a later section included a mention of bronze as a material used by historical reenactors. Several googles turned up nothing of historical value.

I've never heard of bronze mail before, and was hoping to clarify whether it has ever been used historically? (Whether in combat or for ceremonial and display purposes.) Or is the article just in error or referring to modern reconstructions?

EDIT: I'm now offering a small bounty. As such, I'd like to extend my question to asking for multiple examples of cultures using bronze chainmail, and if there are material reasons aside from availability that someone might choose it over iron. Thanks for your time.


texts: To what extent is the flora and fauna on Guadalcanal edible?

texts:
At the battle of Guadalcanal,, the initial wave of 11,000 Americans were stranded with something like two weeks' worth of food (five days worth of "landed" rations, nine days worth of captured Japanese rice). Food trickled in with supply convoys over the following days, but the Marines took the standard practice of issuing two thirds of a ration per day. Apparently, the invading Japanese also suffered from food shortages.
What are/were the plants and animals on Guadalcanal, and how suitable were they to be used for food? I would guess that least individual soldiers, though perhaps not the whole force, might have found foraging an attractive option to substitute for the missing one-third ration.
Edit: In constructing this question, I was referring to the first wave of Americans that was "stranded" by the Japanese success in the battle of Savo Island, not the final tally of 50,000-60,000 Americans (and their 20,000-30,000) opponents.


texts: Was there a real Ocean Liner called the RMS Heroic?

texts:
From what I've been able to find, it looks like the "RMS Heroic" is a sister-ship to the fictional "RMS Tyranic" — a ship the size of a mountain illustrated by Bruce McCall — but even that connection only comes from a Minecraft project to render the ships.

The name RMS Heroic doesn't seem to appear anywhere else except in a book of short stories about Moriarty, and neither name appears in any lists of real ships I've been able to find.

Was the RMS Heroic ever a real (perhaps renamed) ocean liner?


texts: Were concentration camp guards allowed to talk about their work at home?

texts:
In a forum a holocaust survivor reckoned that most Germans did not know about the killing of Jews and others in concentration camps. Others objected and said that people at least knew that Jews were disappearing and not coming back.

My question: Were the guards or anybody who worked in a concentration camp and able to leave on a regular basis allowed to talk about the things they did or saw?


texts: What right/legitimacy did Normans have to a kingdom in Southern Italy?

texts:
In the eleventh century the Northmen conquered England and created a Norman state in Southern Italy.

Why did Normans travel so far afield and what right/legitimacy did they have to a kingdom in Southern Italy?

Yes, I know, it would be simple to answer to this question saying "because it served their geopolitical interest to have a bastion on the Mediterranean sea and because there was no one to tell them that they were not allowed to", but, alas, history is often more complex than it appears.

So, the questions underlying this topic are: Was it the pope that allowed the Normans to create a kingdom in Southern Italy? Perhaps could we interpret the Norman conquest as a fight against schismatics?


texts: To what extent were Polynesians in contact with one-another before European contact?

texts:
Motivation

Pacific islanders (Polynesians, Melanesians, Micronesians) before contact with Europeans were able seafarers that had discovered and settled virtually all Pacific islands that could sustain permanent settlements, including rather isolated ones such as Rapa Nui (Easter Island), New Zealand, and Hawaii. Furthermore, there were empires spanning numerous islands spread out across hundreds of kilometers, such as the Tu'i Tonga empire. This gives the impression of a sophisticated seafaring culture that would extensively explore and regularly visit all noteworthy lands found in and around the Pacific ocean.

However, this does not appear to be the case. Instead, some island cultures would - for lack of resources for shipbuilding or for other reasons - lose the ability to build oceangoing vessels. This is the case for both Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and the Moriori of Rekohu (Chatham Islands). It is conceivable that they preferred isolation over maintaining contact with other islands, though the hardships resulting from changing their way of life and their subsistence economy may make this unlikely. But why were they not rediscovered by other Polynesians?

It seems that some island populations even became extinct when natural resources were exhausted. An example are the Polynesian settlements on Pitcairn and Henderson Island, though this has been linked to civil war on Mangareva Island with which they were apparently in contact.

Furthermore, if they could explore and settle almost every single Pacific island, why would they have missed the surrounding continents, which presumably would have been quite a bit easier to find? There is limited evidence for interactions with South America on a very limited scale, but there was apparently no established trade network let alone migrations of political interactions.

Regarding exchange between Pacific Islands and Australia, there may simply be no record of this. Two HB questions (this one and this one) regarding this resulted in the assessment that: 1. there are no known prehistoric contacts between native Australians and Pacific islanders (specifically Maori). 2. Pacific Islanders (whether Polynesians of Melanesians or others) would have had no interest in settling Australia (different climate from what they were used to). 3. They would not have had superior weaponry over that of the Australian Aborigines.

Question

To what extent were Pacific island cultures in contact with one-another? What was the nature of their seafaring?

Was it a continuous and extensive trade network with political interactions like in the ancient Mediterranean?
Did such a trade network exist only in the core areas, such as in the the Tu'i Tonga empire, with outlying islands being isolated?
Were interactions rather local, to neighboring islands only, with a few rare examples of daring explorers visiting far-away lands?
Did this change over time with periods of extensive trade and integration and periods of the breakdown of inter-island exchange?
Was ocean-seafaring done by only a small group (a caste? a tribe?) of the wider population?
Or was, while the capabilities existed, no seafaring conducted for the purpose of trade (and consequently no need for continuous exchange over longer distances)?

Edit (March 10 2018): As suggested by @Semaphore I now limited the scope of the question to Polynesians. I do not want to discourage interesting insights about Melanesians or Micronesians or others, but maybe this will make the question easier to answer.


texts: It is my understanding that Rome had no economists, despite having a very advanced economy and many "advanced" professions ranging from historians to astronomers to botanists and architects. Why is this? Surely Romans saw the effects that basic economic principles had on their daily lives and understood finance?


texts: What were the plans for governance of the Jerusalem International Zone?

texts:
Had the 1947 partition plan of Palestine been accepted, there would have been an international zone centered around Jerusalem and Bethlehem until a referendum to be held at a later date.

A UN body would be in charge of it but what was the specific plan for the governance of this region? What citizenship would the people hold? Would it be a democracy? How would it behave economically?


texts: What were birthdays like in Medieval times?

texts:
I considered putting this question on Worldbuilding SE, but decided it would be better suited here, as it is about history. I am doing some research for a fantasy medieval novel, and I was wondering what birthdays were like in Medieval times.

Obviously the answer will change depending on whose birthday it was (royalty, peasant, etc.). Because I am writing a fantasy novel, and not using the Feudal System, I can't ask about any particular class (because villeins, freemen, and knights don't exist in my novel). Therefore instead, I'd like to know how Medieval birthday celebrations differed from each other, depending on class. Hopefully I can gain a sense of what they were like from that, and then determine what they would be like for the people within my novel.

Question: How did Medieval birthday celebrations differ from each other, depending on class?

Thanks in advance for your time!


texts: How many soldiers did Ghengis Khan field?

texts: I'm looking for the number of soldiers the Mongol Empire had at the time of Genghis Khan. What percentage of them were ethnically Mongolians?


texts:
I understood that Sarkel was a vast Khazar hilltop limestone-bricks fortress of the type of a fortified town, located in the present-day Rostov Oblast of Russia, on the left bank of the lower Don River.

It was built by the Khazars with Byzantine assistance and supervision of the Greek architect Petronas Kamateros around 830-840 and got its name from the white limestone-bricks used in its construction ; it was probably built to defend the northeastern border and watery trade outposts of the Khaganate.

Fate

I understood from Wikipedia that the fortress was conquered (without being destroyed) by Sviatoslav I of Kiev in 965 and was renamed Belaya Vezha ("White house" in Russian), as part of his campaign to eliminate the Khazar state as a major force in its region and which included the total destruction of its capital city Atil and the reduction of the Khaganate to a small polity in Taman region that didn't last long anyway.

It was written in Wikipedia in the article Sarkel without a source that the area later conquered from the Rus by Kipchaks (I assume the Wikipedian author of this data meant Kipchaks-Cumans).

Research

The ruins of the site lied and were massively excavated by the Russian historian and archaeologist Mikhail Artamonov and his team in the 1930s.

The entire hill and ruins were covered with water with the completion of Tsimlyansk Reservoir in 1952 so no further excavations might be possible or beneficial.

The Alchetron free encyclopedia article about Sarkel shows beautifully detailed reconstructions of the fortified town based on multiple air photographs taken before the Tsymlyansk floating.

My questions

How was the vast Khazar fortress of Sarkel destroyed?

Maybe it was destroyed by Sviatoslav I or maybe Kipchaks-Cumans destroyed it or maybe Mongols destroyed it or maybe the destruction was temporary and natural?

I give credit to English Wikipedia for learning on the subject and using their article as base for the first two passages of this question, which I since then changed per my own wording.


texts: What are the best resources for studying oracle bone inscriptions?

texts:
Can someone please recommend the best resources for studying Chinese oracle bone inscriptions?
Rather than general or specific information about oracle bones, I'm looking for collections or catalogs of the inscriptions themselves (with English translations).
This site and many more like it give a few examples of inscriptions, eg.

Oracle bone with ancient character forms : 贞今日其雨 : 'Divination: today, will it rain?'.
‘It should be Lady Hao whom the king orders to campaign against Yi.’
The inscriptions include the oldest observation of a nova (1300BCE) ‘A great new star appeared in company with 心宿二 xīn xiù èr (Antares, in Scorpio)’ is recorded on the bones.

But I want vast catalogs to pour through, not just a few examples. Online and free would be preferred if available, but please recommend the best resources irregardless, since I expect the best resources will be published books I must purchase.

UPDATE:
I must add this great online Oracle Bone Collection of 41,956 bones provided by droooze in my History Stack question and referenced in my Chinese Language Stack question, both of which deal with Oracle Bone 11503 which is supposedly mankind's earliest record of the appearance of a new Nova in the sky. The site provides both photos and Chinese transcriptions, both in Oracle Script and Modern Chinese. It's an amazing resource for anyone with need or interested. Thank you droooze.
I should also add Uncle Hanzi's Chinese Etymology site which is useful for individual characters, whether you're looking for Oracle Script, Bronze Script or Seal Scripts. A fantastic and free resource, but questions remain as to its accuracy in all things.


texts:
Who were the historical ancestors of the Israelites? Do they have no ancestors?

Please, try to avoid Biblical references to Genesis if there are there any scientific/archeological/historical references.


texts:
According to the U.S. Geological Survey's article How much water is there on, in, and above the Earth?,

  About 71 percent of the Earth's surface is water-covered

Wikipedia's Earth article also gives ‘about’ 71% (with 29% land) and also cites the perhaps more precise figures of 70.8% / 29.2% found on this University of British Columbia Okanagan page, but none of these sources say when these estimates were first made.

The only estimate with a date I’ve found is in A comprehensive atlas, geographical, historical & commercial [cartographic material], published in 1835, which states that oceans (including inland bays and seas) cover

  about three fourths of the surface of the globe.

However, this source does not include Antarctica, the last continent to be discovered, which accounts for 9.2% of earth's land area, and around 2.6% of the earth’s surface.

Antarctica was discovered in the early 1820s, but it was not until in the late 1830s / early 1840s that three expeditions sailed around the continent. Not until several decades later, from the late 1890s, were there many expeditions to Antarctica. The map below, dated 1906, appears to be one of the earliest Antarctica maps in which the continent’s shape is reasonably recognizable (there is also what appears to be a less accurate one from 1897).

Antarctica 1906 map. Source: A Brief History of Antarctica

What is the earliest mention of an estimate of 71% water (or 70.8%) / 29% land (or 29.2%)? (an answer for either will be acceptable)

Note on the comments below

While useful and informative, the comments unfortunately do not provide a date and focus more on the ‘how’ than the ‘when’. I am not asking ‘how’ (that would almost certainly be off-topic) but about ‘when’. Further, none of the sources cited (USGS, Wkipedia, University of British Columbia Okanagan) mention tides, seasonal cycles or the fractal nature of coastlines as affecting the percentages they cite, nor have I found any sources which give me reason to question the existing narrative (‘about 71% / 29%’ or 70.8% / 29.2%).


texts: What was special in interwar Austria-Hungary?

texts:
I recently spoke with someone claiming that the tail end of the decline of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was an especially fertile breeding ground for inventors and entrepreneurs, especially in the 1920s and ’30s This may have been due to some combination of easy capital from a declining noble class and good, widely available education.

There certainly were some exceptional people of Austrian and Hungarian extraction during that time(Theodore von Kármán, Hedy Lamar, ), but it is not clear to me that the core claim is true.

Unfortunately, I am not sure how to evaluate this. I have read some sources (the early chapters of a biography of Kármán, Wikipedia) which are consistent with that claim, but don’t really support it. There also seem to be a disproportionate number of Hungarian recipients of Nobel prizes, though I’m not sure what to take from that. I can also see some support for that view in popular culture, like Sound of Music and My Fair Lady, though it’s all in offhand remarks. (Also, pop culture is hardly an objective lens).

I am not sure where to look deeper. It’s easy to find political histories that cover that time period, but I can’t find any indication which (if any) would cover the economic and cultural aspects.

So, a great answer would hit three points:

Were Austria and Hungary producing a notable number of STEM-types who were active in 1920-1950? (Including expats)
If so, is it clear why?
How could I investigate further? (Especially looking for authoritative works or books focused on this topic that I’ve missed).


texts: When was the modern manuscript for the Torah agreed upon?

texts:
(This question is also asked on judaism.SE for a different approach.)

Considering that variations have occurred in the Torah's text over time (I think the Gemara/Talmud may mention events where a few scrolls were found and they averaged out the differences for a new scroll?), and there is a Gemara that says what the middle letter of the Torah is but it's off by a few hundred letters (and that Gemara says we are not expert on the missing and added letters), and when you see a quote of a possuk in the Talmud you often see spelling differences from what the actual Torah has (mainly in terms of the letter vav), and the Septuagent has differences from our text, and the Dead Sea Scrolls has differences from our text, and so on. Now, I know that the Yeminite and Sfardic and Ashkenazic Torahs are remarkably similar, but I do not know at what point they were the same before the differences occurred. So when was the manuscript from which all Jews of the world standardized the Torah? I heard it was sometime around 1000 CE but I can't remember the source.


texts: My question concerns the television series "Poldark". The year of action in question is 1795, and Great Britain is at war with France. In spite of the state of war, a group of four Englishmen goes covertly into France to rescue a captured friend. The men sit in a tavern and mention to a French official that they are English, but "businessmen". This is accepted, although their presence is regarded as suspicious. Would the presence of Englishmen in such a situation have been possible?


texts:
Nero is (wrongly) "known" as the Emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned." But he did kill a number of prominent people, including his own mother. He is treated by much of history as a psychopath, and most contemporaries of note disliked him.

Apparently there was another side of him. He lowered fines, bails, lawyers fees' and taxes, presumably to help the poor people. After the Rome fire he personally organized relief efforts for the homeless, even putting up some of them in his own palace. He made a brilliant peace with Rome's traditional enemy, Parthia, by setting up a compromise where the Parthians could nominate the king of Armenia (a state of the border of the two empires), but Rome had to ratify the nomination, a move that won him plaudits from both Romans and Parthians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero

So has "history" made Nero out to be worse than he was, at least in relation to his time? (The fiddle didn't exist in his time so that he couldn't have "fiddled" while Rome burned, meaning that "conventional wisdom" is wrong on at least one count; I did not know this until seeing the comments below.) And is there any known medical condition that might have caused otherwise unharacteristic strange behavior that hurt his reputation but really wasn't harmful?


texts: How does Upton Sinclair's The Jungle contribute to Historiography?

texts: I know Upton Sinclair was not a Historian, however his work The Jungle has had a significant impact on how society views industry standards, regulations, government agency's, etcetera. There are broad historiographical trends that his novel might fit in, like New Social History, New Left, and maybe Marxism. However does anybody know the specific implications that his work had on Historiography?


texts: How was debt handled in the change over from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian?

texts:
I was reading about New Style and Old Style dates, and I thought about the deletion of dates during the transition.  From Wikipedia's article on the Gregorian calendar:

  When the new calendar was put in use, the error accumulated in the 13 centuries since the Council of Nicaea was corrected by a deletion of 10 days. The Julian calendar day Thursday, 4 October 1582 was followed by the first day of the Gregorian calendar, Friday, 15 October 1582 (the cycle of weekdays was not affected).

And later, such as in the British colonies in 1752, the prior year was a short 282 days (a deletion of over 80 days).

So, how were debts, such as accrued interest loans, fixed/balloon payments, etc handled?  If this kind of change were to occur today and suddenly 10 days were deleted and it suddenly went from May 21st to June 1st, I'd have a check of a time making the mortgage payment.  Were loan terms adjusted for the new calendar?  Or did the government reduce its tax rates temporarily?  How did the economies at the time adjust to this?


texts: At the start of Barbarossa, what was the state of Germany's oil supply?

texts:
Very recently, I came across this statement from Wikipedia:

  In 1938, two thirds of German oil supply came from the United States and Latin America.

It has a citation, some book reference that unfortunately I do not have. However, that was in 1938. What I want to know is for 1941 Jun 22. Ah, well, June 21 I guess.

At this time, where was Germany getting its oil? How much oil did Germany have stockpiled? What money or resource did Germany use to purchase oil overseas? How many marine vessels did it have to import oil, including any captured from France?  Were any of these vessels able to operate through the British blockade?

Before I found that wikipedia statement, I had just assumed that Germany got all its oil from Romania, the USSR trade, and synthesized from its own coal. Also, that wiki statement is in relative terms. I'm hoping for absolute numbers in metric tons of oil.


texts:
This is effectively a Roman banking question but specifically with respect to the custody and record keeping of slaves wages.
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities indicates a need for a lot of record keeping activity.
Slaves commonly had a peculium (money set aside for them) and there were debts back and forth between slaves, underslaves, slave owners.
Who was responsible for keeping the peculium records, the actual funds?
Were the debt records held in common with the peculium records or elsewhere, or were they informal?
Was there a public ledger or were the records only accessible to the slaver?
*- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.


texts: Why did Theodore Roosevelt send his daughter Alice with Taft on a diplomatic mission to Asia?

texts:
I understand the idea of medieval monarchies using the relatives of the monarch for diplomacy, as blood ties and closeness to the throne indicated political position and thus the reliability of any deal being agreed to and trust from the throne.

However, what was the point of sending Alice Roosevelt (Theodore's daughter) on a diplomatic mission to Japan and Asia?

US wasn't a monarchy
Even if one wants to argue that family closeness to POTUS would still indicate trust, that was patently untrue of Alice, who was not on good terms with Roosevelt and bad terms with the rest of the family.
And, she didn't really have any sort of official position in administration


texts: Who were the social elites of the European middle ages?

texts:
I have recently been reading into the European Middle Ages, where one of the challenges is the limited sources available. I have often seen seen this described as a source bias towards the elite perspective, but I was wondering what exactly defines an elite during this period. Obviously, kings and aristocracy form part of this elite, but does this also include all those who are educated? What about village priests? I've also seen monks referred to as elites, are all monks part of the social elite?
If anyone could define the term 'elites' in this context, or answer any of these questions, I would be very grateful!


texts: Can I get my hands on a translation of Ahmad ibn Fadlan's manuscript?

texts: I have read a couple of fiction novels, based on the renowned manuscript. But is an English translation of the actual Arabic text available online?


texts: How historically accurate is 'India: A History' by John Keay?

texts: I have been looking for a book about Indian history. Recently I came across this answer, which suggested reading India: A History by John Keay. I wanted to know whether it is historical and accurate. Or is there any thesis put forth and all Indian history is viewed from that angle?


texts: How were border controls implemented in Western Europe in the 1970s

texts:
I'm interested in how reality of crossing country borders in Western Europe looked like in early 70s. Focusing specifically on traveling by car, train and on foot.

I have found a bit of information on Wikipedia which suggest 'free movement of people within EEC', but there are not many details there, plus it covers only few countries, notably missing Austria and Switzerland.

I assume you required a passport to travel to different country. But were they checked for everybody during border crossing or was it only random check? Were cars/backpacks searched routinely? Were passports stamped every time? Were there any visa requirements, minimal amount of money to carry on your person or anything like that?

As it might seem very broad subject, I'm really interested in countries in Alps region (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France) and traveling between them and years 1971-1973. Extra brownie points if you know if situation has changed after 1972 Olympics attack.


texts: What did the word "fascist" mean in an early 1930's novel set in Italy?

texts:
Today the word "fascist" is used by many people as not much more than a swear word, due to how World War 2 unfolded. However, what precise meaning did it carry when used to describe a person in the 1930's?

In a novel written and set in the 1930's, the main character is a tourist on a trip in Italy, misses a train, gets lost, and enjoys this experience so much that he intentionally avoids being found for several weeks. Two times is the word "fascist" used in the novel, once a "young fascist" asks him for a light for his cigarette, and another time a "fascist" is described to stop him at a train station, says he recognized him from the newspapers as the lost foreign tourist, and says his wife is looking for him. The main character quickly scribbles a telegraph message to tell his family he is all right, gives this message with some money to cover the telegraph fee, and the "fascist" lets him go, and fulfills the task of bringing the telegraph to the post office.

What kind of person did this word describe? Was it like a job description? If so, what did they do? From the novel it seemed to be like a kind of detective or policeman, but he didn't detain or question the "lost person". If not, then what else could it mean? As fascism was the current political system in Italy at that time, what information could this word carry, would it be similar to call some random person in the Soviet Union a communist, or a random person in a democratic country a democrat (not in the USA, where it is more specific to a political party)? Otherwise what, a political activist? How would he then be recognized as such in a train station, and what kind of information or description would the author want to deliver with it?

The novel itself doesn't seem to carry any kind of political message or sociological commentary. It simply focuses on the private life of a few people without any focus on the political landscape of the era.

I wish to simply know what kind of person I should imagine this character as.


texts: Were any drugs (except alcohol) forbidden during medieval or ancient times?

texts:
I assume that some drugs where known to humanity in some way or other for a long time, but I think actually prohibiting certain drugs would require a state that (for reasons of morals, public health, public order) cares for the pharmaceutical hobbies of its subjects and has the reach into society to at least start to enforce a ban - and I believe both to be relatively modern tendencies in a state.

Of course, religion (if seen as an institution) has an interest in what the believers do and a far reach into society, so the Muslim ban on alcohol would be an exception.

But for all I know the ancient Egyptians or the medieval Maya may have had strict rules against certain drugs, hence this question.

Edit to add:
wikipedia mentions some dates for bans on Opium:

  Chinese edicts against opium smoking were made in 1729, 1796 and 1800.[2] Addictive drugs were prohibited in the west in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

I read that to mean that the first ban on opium was in the early 18th century.

The article on drug control laws lists no date prior the 20th century.


texts: Did the Chief of Soviet General Staff really say this?

texts:
The quotation, appearing in a 1992 New York Times opinions article, is as follows:

  "We cannot equal the quality of U.S. arms for a generation or two. Modern military power is based upon technology, and technology is based upon computers... we don't even have computers in every office of the Defense Ministry. And for reasons you know well, we cannot make computers widely available in our society... We will never be able to catch up with you in modern arms until we have an economic revolution. And the question is whether we can have an economic revolution without a political revolution."

Leslie H. Gelb claims that the Chief of Soviet General Staff, Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov, had confessed this to him in an off-record conversation (further details are mentioned in the article).

Now, I am not trying to propose a conspiracy theory of any sort; I just wanted to know whether Ogarkov's statements can be validated due to the fact that Ogarkov's quote has often been used as a pivotal piece of evidence in analyses of the Soviet Union (e.g. in a publication in the CIA archives).

Does anyone have insights on its veracity?


texts: How did Leonardo plan on moving his tank?

texts:
Was there a plan for how to propel the circular wooden tank design of Leonardo da Vinci's?  It seems far too heavy to be powered Flintstones-style by the people inside, but it also seems too small for horses or oxen to fit within it.

In actual history the invention of the tank was tightly related to the development of the combustion engine, but it seems strange for Da Vinci to have designed a vehicle he had no idea how to move.  Designing a glider that can't glide is one thing, (flight was a totally new idea and thus a tough nut to crack), but "it's too heavy" should have been a fairly glaring error for a vehicle designer.

Did Da Vinci have an idea for how his tank would move?  Or was it an incomplete design for that very reason?


texts:
I got a buckle in Gettysburg around 1970 that looks like this:

These are very widely known as civil war belt buckles.  But the farmer/shopkeeper who sold it to me said it was actually not for the belt around someone's waist, but for an ammunition belt over the shoulder.  Can anyone tell me if that is true?

In case it helps I will say the back of it is filled with lead but it does have working puppy paw hooks looking pretty much like these:


texts:
It was an ethnic cleansing deliberately carried out by the Pakistani troops to get rid of the Hindu minority communities especially Bengali population that mostly settled in eastern Pakistan post partition. It's estimated that up to 3 million were wiped out and an even greater number sought refuge in India.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Bangladesh_genocide

Why wasn't there any international outrage on the Hindu genocide carried out by Pakistan during 1971?


texts: Can anyone help identify this statuette?

texts: The statuette has been in my family for 3 generations now. It is presumed to be from Morocco and was brought to us before the second world war. It is damaged and it had an ivory rosary that was stolen by a fake restorer and never recovered. It has a sort of serial on its base 16-557. Appears to be made of ceramic, hand painted and with vivid colors. I do not know how old this actually is or its worth. I do not intend to sell this item.


texts: I am looking for help or guidance with something located on my parents 100  plus year old (we believe early 1900's, maybe earlier) brick home. They live in IL, just east of St. Louis, MO and have owned their home almost 30 years. We have never found out what a symbol on the outside of the house (where the chimney is) means. The symbol looks like a block lower-case "m" with the center leg of the "m" longer than the two side legs. And all of the legs end with crosses on them. Any information you can provide would be most helpful as my parents are thinking about downsizing soon and I would love to be able to answer this long standing question for them.


texts:
In approximately what year did the Germanic tribe of the Saxons invade and settle the island of Britain?

Apparently they had not yet arrived when Julius Caesar visited Britain in 44 B.C.; neither were they there yet in the days of Claudius, the Roman Emperor who subdued Britain without bloodshed; or of Lucius, the Briton who first acknowledged Christianity, in A.D. 156. In fact, from the numerous sources I have looked in, these Saxons could have come anytime between the third and sixth centuries.

In Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, for example, the Saxons are first mentioned in Chapter 15, which contains absolutely no dates. Since the Venerable Bede is ambiguous as to the Saxons’ exact arrival in Britain, are there any other primary sources documenting the Saxons’ invasion of Britain? And if not, what is the most widely agreed-upon guess by historians?


texts: Did people have better nutrition before agriculture?

texts:
A lot of proponents of new diets, e.g. Paleo, Primal, Atkins argue that grains have made people unhealthier and life expectancy was much better before the transition to agriculture.

Some research turns up statistics like this:

http://www.beyondveg.com/nicholson-w/angel-1984/angel-1984-1a.shtml

  We can conclude that farmers were less healthy than hunters, at least until Classical to Roman times. [Due to the difficulty in disentangling all relevant factors, as Angel explains a bit earlier] [w]e cannot state exactly how much less healthy they were, however, or exactly how or why.

It's argued that people were better fed then, showing sharp drops in pelvic inlet depth index and stature. It's also argued that the rates of dental disease were 3-4 times higher, indicating poor nutrition. Even today, we still don't meet the physical size and health of our Paleolithic ancestors despite the doubling of life expectancy.

A part of this may be due to a more sedentary and crowded lifestyle of agriculture, but physical size and bone development seems like a good indicator of nutrition.

Is there another way of interpreting data such as this or counter-arguments that denote that agriculture has made people healthier? Does the depth of the pelvis actually mean anything in regards to nutrition?


texts: Was Nazi Germany still burning books in 1935?

texts: Book burnings started in 1933, but did they continue on in 1935 and maybe beyond?


texts: How did private property work in medieval France?

texts: Were you required to purchase a land deed to get permission from the ruler of the area, or could you build wherever you wanted? If the latter is how it worked throughout Europe for the most part, I assume it only applied within reason. I seriously doubt you could build a house in the middle of someone’s wheat field.


texts: Did Stalin kill all Soviet officers involved in the Winter War?

texts:
Did Stalin kill all of the Soviet officers involved in the Winter War, when it ended?

A documentary called "Warlords: Hitler vs Stalin" made this claim, but Wikipedia doesn't seem to mention this.

Actual quote from the film:

  Finally, the Finns were beaten, but not before killing 125,000 Russian soldiers. Stalin sent in his political komissars to shoot the Soviet commanders, but the real fault was his own.

Since there was no reference to any specific commanders, the sentence implies some punitive systematic killing of Soviet commanders.


texts: What is the origin of this quote from the Book of the Dead, "May he journey in the Boat of a Million Years"?

texts:
At the beginning of the book The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson is a quote from the Book of the Dead:
<img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/AbCdc.png" alt="May he depart in the sunrise boat
May he return in the sunset boat
May he go among the immortal stars
May he journey in the Boat of a Million Years" />
Labelled as 18th dynasty, and translated as:
May he go forth in the sunrise boat
May he come to port in the sunset boat
May he go among the imperishable stars
May he journey in the Boat of a Million Years

or as:
May he depart in the sunrise boat
May he return in the sunset boat
May he go among the immortal stars
May he journey in the Boat of a Million Years

What is the origin of this quote? Which version of the Book of the Dead? Are there any images of the original?
There's a similar passage in columns 5 and 6 of sheet 20 of the Papyrus of Ani (A Hymn of Praise to Ra, identified as Chapter XV of the Book of the Dead by Budge, 1898):

But that's 19th dynasty, and seems to be a different version:
May the soul of Osiris Ani, the triumphant one, come forth with thee into heaven,
may he go forth in the Matet boat.
May he come into port in the Sektet boat,
and may he cleave his path among the never-resting stars in the heavens

So where's the 18th dynasty version from?
Edit: Some of the possible papyri: Nebseni/Nebseny, Nu, Hepres, Satiah, Hor, Nebettawy. Might also not be on a papyrus?
Edit: The acknowledgments section says that the author's wife, "Karen Anderson prepared the epigraph, slightly modifying her translation at my request"


texts: Is there any research explicitly contradicting facts in Suvorov's "Icebreaker" book series claiming that Stalin intended to attack Hitler in 1941?

texts:
Viktor Suvorov is a somewhat famous ex-GRU spy who defected and wrote a series of books.

The most (in)famous and sensational were a series of books on World War II, starting with "Icebreaker", which alleged - with supporting historical facts and documents - that Stalin was planning to attack Nazi Germany in 1941, with the end goal of rolling over entire Europe.

Having read the book in Russian, the logic seemed fairly sound, and the cited facts sounded legit - at least to a teenager who had a decent knowledge of history for an average person but not more.

However, in study-of-history context, it seems that Suvorov's books and theories are viewed between "disputed" and "outright scientific fraud". A lot of discussions are summarized on the Wiki: Soviet Offensive Plans Controversy, but the point of view was even expressed right here on History SE in Wladimir Palant's answer to Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union when he was still busy fighting the United Kingdom? :

  I'm not aware of any serious historians favoring this theory, and Suvorov unfortunately isn't one - he seems to be willingly omit or even falsificate facts in his books by misquoting and quoting out of context.

My question is, are there specific examples of Suvorov omitting proven historical facts that majorly contradict his theories/logic, or especially falsify proven historical facts?


texts: What prevented the USS Franklin (CV-13) from sinking in March 1945?

texts:
The USS Franklin (CV-13) was hit really badly by bombs from Japanese airplanes during operations in support of the invasion of Okinawa on 19 March 1945. So what prevented her from sinking?

One of the bombs hit the ammunition room and blew a large hole in the ship, i knew there were fire and flooding operations but how did they succeed? I doubt the damage to the ship was less than catastrophic.


texts: Did Socrates earn money (get paid) for philosophy?

texts:
I have only read Platos Apology, so I was rather surprised when a recent comment said he "was paid".

A quick look at Wikipedia find this

  In The Clouds Aristophanes portrays Socrates as accepting payment for teaching and running a sophist school with Chaerephon, while in Plato's Apology and Symposium and in Xenophon's accounts, Socrates explicitly denies accepting payment for teaching. More specifically, in the Apology Socrates cites his poverty as proof he is not a teacher.

So it does seem there is some question.  Was Socrates paid for teaching philosophy?


texts: Was Hiroshima targeted because its mountains would "rebound the explosion back into the city for more damage"?

texts:
In English class, while analyzing the anti-war themes of a book, my teacher brought up something that I had never heard before and honestly significantly doubt the accuracy of. She said that:

  Hiroshima was chosen as a target for a nuclear bomb because the mountains around the city would enclose the explosion and rebound it back into the city for more deaths to the population and more damage to the city.

Does this statement have any truth to it?

I've never heard anything like this, and I can't find anything about it online.


texts: Did the Roman legions wear this type of boots?

texts:
I was looking at this drawing of a Roman soldier
(copied below)

About the boots: Is this pair of boots plausible for a Roman soldier (in any era/province of the Roman Empire)? I would like to confirm the historical veracity of the picture.


texts: What does this Rx glyph mean in what looks like Latin?

texts: What does this glyph (red) mean? Also, what usage was there for it and the other glyph that looks like a colon (blue)?


texts:
Are there any records of WWI trench tactics involving shield formations similar to the example below of the ancient Testudo formation?

.

I imagine that it could have been successful if used to get within range to throw grenades.


texts: How many British and British affiliated Indians lost their lives in the Indian freedom struggle?

texts:
There is a lot of material on how many Indians lost their lives, killed or missing in the British colonial era.
But how many people affiliated to the East India Company and later, the British Empire lost their lives in the process?
Edit :
There are many resources when it comes to the stories and casualties of Indian freedom fighters. There is some secondary data on how many British Captains and Magistrates were murdered, specially in Bengal and Punjab regions. But till date, I have not come across any study that compiles the casualties of British citizens and/or servants of the Crown. While there is such data available for World Wars, no such data is available in Indian context. Beyond that, I am not sure how else to phrase it. If this is insufficient, I will remove the questions and post it later with details.


texts: How came the poppy be associated with WW1?

texts:
I am not from a Commonwealth country and stumbled on some Twitch recordings over the fact that on 11/12th of November, some people (Canadians) would display poppies to remember the end of the first world war.

Where has this custom to use Poppies as a remembrance item for the end of WW1 originated and how came it to be?


texts: Why were the Prague Spring leaders treated more leniently than Nagy and his colleagues?

texts:
Following the Warsaw Pact's 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia the lead Czech reformer Alexander Dubček was dismissed and given a lowly job with the forestry commission.

A decade or so earlier, the similarly reform minded government in Hungary in 1956 was treated much more harshly. Imre Nagy and his colleagues were secretly tried and executed.

While it might seem absurd to think of Brezhnev's USSR developing a humanitarian sensibility, everything is relative. Had Moscow by 1968 evolved a notion that executing high ranking political opponents was brutal, Stalinist, counter-productive and damaging in the eyes of world opinion?

Or is there an entirely different explanation? Were there important political and military differences between the cases of Hungary in 1956 and Czechoslovakia in 1968?


texts: When was the first electrical intra-battlefield communication?

texts:
When was the first time a commander used, for example, the telegraph to communicate with and coordinate different parts of the same battlefield?

I know that the telegraph was used extensively for strategic communication in the American Civil War, but I have not found a source supporting its tactical use within a single battlefield. I also know that the British used employed dedicated teams of engineers to lay telegraph wire for communicating with headquarters during the Crimean war, but again, no intra-battlefield communication. I know that by the first world war, radios were used on the front lines, but I doubt that is the first use of tactical electrical communication.


texts: Were there commercials in the original broadcast of the moon landings, and how much did they go for?

texts: I was pondering the future value of advertisements on the live broadcast of the inevitable eventual Mars landing, and it led me to wonder about this.