texts:
Founders of nations are often known as the "Father of the Nation". These people are charismatic leaders who have gone through hardship in creating a nation for the independence of their country, and in many cases have a Cult of Personality

It is possible that founders of nations become de facto dictators by using their personality-cult. This allows them to implement various controversial decisions which ultimately trigger public dissatisfaction.

Is there any country where the founder of the nation is no longer respected? If so, why are they no longer respected?


texts: Are there unsigned copies of the German instrument of surrender in existence?

texts:
My question is intended to solicit advice and guidance with regard to several documents that I purchased as part of a lot of historical documents at an auction.  When I started to look through the documents I was surprised to find some World War 2 Documents.

Act of Military Surrender   The document I have has the names of the signers typed in but no actual signatures.  The dates are also blank.  The document is the one signed at Rheims.  The unconditional surrender of the German armed forces was signed by Jodl, on behalf of the OKW. Walter Bedell Smith signed on behalf of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and General Ivan Susloparov on behalf of the Soviet High Command  French Major-General François Sevez signed as the official witness.

German announcement (radio transcript)  that Hitler was dead and that Donitz was now the German leader - document is in English.

Document from Donitz to Jodl to meet with Eisenhower, signed and in German


texts: Why did email use develop in tandem with the internet, rather than other technologies?

texts:
During the 1980s, I envisioned a (primitive) version of email that would come off telex machines. That is, a person would sit down at a keyboard, create a document, store it on a cartridge, stick the cartridge into say, a telex machine, send it to another terminal via modem, and the receiver could either print it out on his telex, or else download it to his screen, and read it off the screen. A similar result might have been obtained using fax machines. In either case, the "screen" would have represented a second delivery medium, as opposed to "just the fax" or "just the telex."

In actual fact, email became common in the mid-1990s when the Internet became commonly available. What is it about the internet that made it the driver of email? Put another way, why did it take so long for email to come into common use via the internet when it might have been made available through telex or fax machines perhaps 10-15 years earlier?


texts: Was there a bribery attempt by the UK to get the Ottomans to switch sides in World War I?

texts:
While perusing Wikipedia article on Gallipoli Campaign, I saw an intriguing statement:

  an attempt by the British to bribe the Ottomans to join the Allied
  side ... failed.

Wikipedia citing an incorrect source: The First World War: To Arms. I by Hew Strachan, the correct source is (confusingly) The First World War by Hew Strachan:

  The operational difficulties did not, however, invalidate the powerful
  attractions of the scheme in terms of grand strategy. ... Grey, the
  British foreign secretary, thought military action (Gallipoli
  Campaign) might provoke a coup d‘état in the Ottoman capital: given
  the instability of Turkish politics in the years preceding the war, as
  well as the divisions on the issue of entry to the war itself, this
  was hardly an unreasonable expectation. British intelligence offered a
  bribe of £4 million. Offering cash was not in itself misplaced: the
  Ottoman public debt was evidence of that. The real difficulty was that
  the Germans had just handed over £5 million.

I was unable to find the source of this from the book, or any other solid reference to this bribery attempt. The phrasing is very confusing, was the bribery attempt done during the campaign, or before? What was the target of bribery? Government? Specific people?

Also, is there any source for the German £5 million "grant money"?


texts: Is there a link between the Easter rabbits and the Yaknehaz rabbits?

texts:
It came to my attention this Passover that old German Haggadahs (books used at the Passover ceremonial meal) often featured an illustration of a rabbit hunt, or of just a rabbit, to serve as a reminder of the order of the blessings in the Havdala ceremony at that meal.
A rabbit hunt was used because in German, "jag da has" or "hunt the rabbit" sounds the same as the mnemonic acronym for the order of the blessings. You can read about it more in detail here.

If a Haggadah were printed nowadays with pictures of rabbits on its pages, it would immediately be assumed that rabbits were somehow related to the rabbits of Easter (which typically coincides with Passover) and the publisher is somehow a Christian missionary organization etc....

My question is: Did the association of rabbits with Easter begin after these Haggadahs were published and did it perhaps have something to do with association of rabbits to Passover?

I know it sounds far-fetched but the coincidence is too blatant to ignore completely.


texts: When did the key advances in vehicle suspension happen?

texts:
Technologies called "suspensions" support the comfort of passengers in wheeled vehicles. In the era of draft animals, carriage suspensions apparently started with hanging the passenger compartment by iron chains; then replacing the chains with less noisy leather straps; then mounting the same on an iron elliptical leaf spring; then stacking several leaf springs; and today's standard for passenger vehicles is coil springs.

When were these advances developed and popularized?


texts: What materials would have been used in the ancient Mesopotamian crown?

texts:
To provide context, I'm working on a project involving artwork for the Enuma Elish, and I've gotten to a sort of crown initially on my portrayal of Absu. I know that gold was available to the ancient Sumerians, but given that we're discussing five to six thousand years ago, what other materials might have been used to adorn the crown?
The most reliable reference I have is this picture of Marduk, which would presumably be sometime later. Most other depictions of Babylonian crowns have them more conical, which would be understandable from a smithing standpoint. In fact, it's a decent question as to whether they would even bother with a crown if you go back far enough; their word for "king" literally meant "the big man", so I kind of doubt that authority was linked to a dress symbol; however, the portrayal of the myth will need such a symbol for the sake of the story.
I am aware of some of the constraints of ancient Sumeria; silk wasn't a thing for at least another thousand years, and half the world away. I know that cotton was available but was almost strictly used by the wealthy class. Lord knows what they understood of gem cutting, but I doubt that it was very much. We're basically talking about the very end of pre-history.
While the Enuma Elish is basically a creation myth, and Absu seems to be very, very far from human to begin with, cultural congruity is everything. I may eventually take the story teller's "alien magic technology" route but that's a final change usually made out of pressing need, not a beginning stroke, and I would honestly prefer to avoid that outright. What would fit here? What would look right, on an actual Sumerian?
I feel that this is a better question for some actual objective historians than it would be on World Building.


texts: When Were Morions Last Worn By Spanish Soldiers?

texts:
Around when were morions last worn by Spanish soldiers, particularly in the Western Hemisphere?

I can't find much about this online.

I'm also wondering what they were replaced with at the time.


texts: Was the Byzantine follis larger than the Roman (and why, if yes)?

texts:
Today I saw in a museum a row of coins minted by Roman emperors. The last four coins were of the follis kind, belonging to Constantine the Great, Constantius II, Anastasius and Justinian I. .

The picture I took is not very good but one things is clear: the latter two coins (the Byzantine) are much larger than the former two (the Roman).

Is there a pattern here or just a coincidence?

Perhaps the relative value of the follis with respect to other denominations has changed and so its size had to change too? Or is there some arcane numismatic reason for this?


texts: What kind of uniform is this? (Circa 1940s, possibly Israeli)

texts:
This photo is in a photo album from Jersusalem, with mostly family-type photos, some with Hebrew writing on the back.  Some of the photos are dated and they range from the 1930s to the 1950s, and this photo looks like its probably c1940s.  No writing on this photo.

Does anyone know what kind of uniform this is?  Additionally, I think this is a woman, do you agree with that?


texts: What is the date of this photograph of a woman riding a horse sidesaddle?

texts:
The goal is to establish the date of this photograph (Image of a woman riding a horse sidesaddle) - lots of context here, but the goal is the date. The reverse of the photograph  bears an address: "194 Riverside Drive, NY 25")

Preliminary Research

We1 have done reverse image search on google and we own a very large library of similar images that we've already searched.

The address is this building.  The address is an apartment building, so property records are going to be difficult to research, and relatively lower in reliability.  (If it were a privately owned dwelling we could consult property records; apartment buildings are not required to keep records, the records tend to involve less details and are less likely to be available to the public.) At @DCook's suggestion we reviewed the 1940 census for that address; there was only one person living in the building whose name began with a P (or a J)  Unfortunately 1940 appears to be the last census available.

The woman is in costume and the costume is reminiscent of the 1920's, but the tack  indicates that image cannot be prior to 1947. The strap hanging off the back side of the saddle should be attached to a balance girth; the fact that it isn't indicates that the tack (and the image) is post-war. (Trust her on this, she is an expert).

We're going to use the leyshon.pdf resources to analyze the print technology next. (Second hat tip to @DCook)

Preliminary research out of the way, on to the original question.

Does the "25" provide a clue to the date of the photograph?

Was there a time when a 2 digit abbreviation of postal codes was common? Based on some excellent contributions from @michaelHardy backed by Wikipedia two digit postal codes date from approximately 1943.
@TomAu points out that NYC was large enough that postal zones did not fit neatly into the zip code; is there any way that this fact could help to identify the date?

When did the implementation of five digit zip codes in NYC become common? According to Wikipedia they were mandatory in 1967, but were they common in NYC before that? (that would represent the upper bound to the date)

Several people have pointed out that zip codes started in 1963, but relied on postal zones that were common prior to that.  At some point there was a push for five digit zip codes.   Just as an example, if we could establish that the push for five digit zip codes started in 1963 and was finished by 1970, then the photograph is probably prior to 1970.

If on the other hand, NYC postal zones were always 3 digits, then we have a curious anomaly that may help us to further date the photograph.

Obviously the image was not shot at the address.

I will award a bounty if anyone were able to identify Professor Praner (?) is.

 1  My professional historian girlfriend and I.   She is an internationally known and respected expert on both sidesaddle and on the type of images we're discussing - her expertise on these images is based in part on her personal catalog of several thousand images. She teaches both sidesaddle and the history of sidesaddle. She has been invited to present at multiple venues on the topic and her most recent paper on the subject has been accepted for the Costume Society of America.


texts: WWII documentary series with end credits that used a diorama

texts: I remember a series about World War II where the end credits were shown over a camera that panned over a diorama that show the progress of the war that started with normal scenes that slowly transitioned by the end of the credits to bombed out cities. I thought it might be the classic BBC The World at War, but the episodes I've seen on Youtube don't have the diorama.


texts: What is the rank and date of this Italian Army uniform?

texts: This a photo of my uncle from Cosenza, Italy. I believe it was taken around 1910. I would like to confirm a more accurate date range, as well as his rank. Thanks!


texts: How could one understand the essence of Greek mythology and the deep meanings? Understanding the belief system of Ancient Greeks

texts: When one tries to read Greek myths allegorically by substituting the names of Olympians with the forces of nature they represent sometimes the stories make complete sense and sometimes they don't. Chronos swallowing its own children would become time creating things and withering them away, Athena coming out of her father's head turns into an oddly anatomical source of wisdom, that sort of things. On the other hand, when I tried to read further not everything gets interpreted as easily for me. Perhaps there is a book one can turn to for allegorical reading of the Greeks? I'm sure these stories have been analyzed more than once from every possible viewpoint. Could you recommend a good one that interprets myths in the above fashion?


texts: What did the Royal Sussex Regiment do in India between 1891-1897?

texts:
My 2x Great Grandfather, James Walter Juden, served in the Royal Sussex Regiment from 1889 to 1902. I have a copy of his service records, which I have downloaded from FindMyPast; the images can be found at the bottom of this question.

He spent six years in India between 1891-97. What was happening there at this time, and what might he and his unit have been doing?

A related question. The reason I've split it in to two is because I'd like two complete answers and users might be experts in one field rather than both.

Source:

Imgur Album of Records - http://imgur.com/a/ZsOcu

(Can also be found on FindMyPast searching 'James Walter Juden', in British Army Service Records 1760-1915)


texts: Why did a lot of major cities around the world obtain obelisks?

texts:
I am just wondering the significance of this. There is a large one in Washington DC and an old Egyptian one in New York. They have them in France, England, Spain, Canada, Australia etc. Wikipedia has a list of the oblelisks in question.

  The obelisk symbolized the sun god Ra, and during the brief religious reformation of Akhenaten was said to be a petrified ray of the Aten, the sundisk. It was also thought that the god existed within the structure.

It seems rather odd that all of these cities around the world just seemed to like this style of structure. From what I can tell, there was no purpose beside decorative unless you worship the sun god Ra or maybe entertain old Egyptian culture and religion.

Freemasons use them to some degree as a symbolism for something .. was this perhaps a way to celebrate the great empire of Egypt?


texts: What are some examples of racism in pre-modern literature?

texts:
I just got thinking about this and really cannot think of a possible answer to it.
In old literature, for example, the works of Shakespeare (which I know were plays but this question may still apply to it), from before there was any sort of aversion to racism, and in some cases, an encouragement to discriminate against anyone of a non-white ethnicity, are there any prominent examples of racism, which no-one would have really noticed as it was the norm, but which would get a writer today jailed, or even any underlying tones of racism?


texts: What kind of bullet did I find in Swiss glacial ice?

texts:
I found this bullet frozen in glacial ice in Switzerland. There is no visible stamp on it anymore and unfortunately did not have any precise measuring equipment with me. I can measure the size of my ice-axe to get some estimation of the caliber if that would help.

My thoughts are that it probably originates from an aircraft cannon or anti-air gun. Although there is a small ring on the bottom of the bullet, it looks too small to be a primer, so I assume this is just the bullet part, without the casing.


texts: Is there any speech dialogue on record on Palestine independence day given by the Great Britain Prime minister?

texts:
Is there any speech dialogue on record on Palestine independence day on 1988 given by the United Kingdom Prime minister?

I know that Great Britain was once a proud supporter of Palestine.


texts: Usage of German camoflage during World War II

texts: Although most do not know this, Germans used camouflage during the war. The grey uniform was only ceremonial. However, they are pictured without the camo 99% of the time so I'd like to ask, during what years, on what fronts and in what quantity was it used. (I know they had tan uniforms in Africa so you don't have to tackle that)


texts: When did propaganda or the influence of media first start to have effect?

texts: I am aware that this is quite a wide question and that many factors influenced the development of media (the printing press I presume to have the largest impact) but can anybody give me some examples of earlier use of media to influence others in important situations. As early back as you can.


texts: What was the name of Delhi during the period of Akbar ruling in parts of India?

texts:
Jallaudin Akbar ruled some parts of India. During his empire he had Delhi (Modern day state) as his capital, but it was known by some other name.

What was the name that was used for the capital during the time that Akbar ruled?


texts: How is the year "753 BC" given in ancient legends about the founding of Rome?

texts:
According to tradition, the founding of Rome by the legendary figures Romulus and Remus occurred in the year "753 BC". Of course, ancient Roman scholars would not have referenced that date using the (supposed) birth date of Jesus Christ as a starting point.

I have never seen that date in any other form than as a "BC" year. How do ancient Roman sources specify the founding date, and how did modern historians determine it to be equivalent to 753 BC?


texts: Why did the maize-based society that Spain found in the Central Valley of Mexico not dominate over Europe?

texts:
·   Was there something in the Mesoamerican cultures that put obstacles to growth and development?
·   Did American crops such as maize, cacao beans, and tobacco, compete unfavorably with European wheat?
·   What did wheat have that American, African, and Asian crops lacked?  Why did wheat become the ‘trademark’ of global agriculture, technology and civilization?


texts:
Up until today, I was under the impression that there was a battle between the Danes and the locals on Bloody Corner in Northam, Devon UK.

This was possibly the death site of Hubba the Dane.
It was told that Bone Hill in Northam is the mass burial site of the invading army.

However, a new bout of research has uncovered the possibility that the battle of bloody corner was actually between King Harold's sons Edmund and Godwine with an Irish army and William the Conqueror's forces.

Is this accurate?
If so, would bone hill be the burial site of the invading Irish army?

A link to the article


texts: A unitary state split into several smaller ones

texts: Can you give examples of a unitary state splitting into several smaller states in modern history. What was the basis for the self determination of the pieces?


texts: Did Emperor Pushyamitra Shunga persecute Buddhists?


texts: When were the heresy laws abolished in England?

texts:
We know that during the English Reformation several "heretics" were burnt at the stake. We also know that during the reign of Henry VIII both protestants and catholics were burnt or beheaded while during the reign of Mary I, protestants were awarded the death penalty.

We now know that this is no longer the law in the U.K. But when was it formally repealed? If it was repealed in stages --thus permitting immigration (or so I assume), what does the timeline look like?


texts: What influence did Benjamin Franklin's association with Freemasonry have on his success in France?

texts:
Ben Franklin was sent to France (as were two others) to seek aide and personnel from France during the American Revolution. During his time there he attended the Lodge of Nine Muses where he was elected Master of the lodge for two consecutive years.

I've heard claims that he was "recruiting" people directly from the lodge to assist in the war. France supported America covertly but avoided signing a formal treaty with the US until after the battle of Saratoga gave France confidence in the US's ability to win the war.

I'm interested to know what specific influence his association with the fraternity had in his dealings with France? Specific names and titles of members of the French government who also attended the lodge of Nine Muses during that time would be great.

I'm asking as a new Freemason myself (2nd degree) trying to learn more about the fraternity's involvement in the American revolution. Any relevant information is greatly appreciated.


texts: Do we know how much alcohol Vikings drank?

texts:
We know the drink of choice, at least for early Vikings, was mead. But do we know exactly how much alcohol the Vikings drank?

Was there a significant supply of alcohol so that each man could drink as much as they liked or was there an element of rationing involved?


texts: What institutional precursors enabled labor unions to emerge in the United States?

texts: What institutions and organizations existed in the United States before the structured and recognizable labor unions formed as a visible sign of organizations to come? How did these predecessor organizations pave the way for powerful labor organizations as recognized in the twentieth century?


texts: Why was Washington State an attractive site for aluminum production during World War II?

texts:
Some months ago I read that many aluminum manufacturing plants were attracted to Washington State during the 1930's and 40's. What made Washington so different from other states that these companies decided to move to the Evergreen State?

Washington has no prominent aluminum deposits, so I'm confused.


texts: Has the sun ever set on the British Empire? If so when?

texts:
Referring to the expression, "The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire"...

Was there any period of time when this was literally true?

If so, what was the first sunset on the Empire after this ceased to be the case as the Empire was gradually dissolved?

If not, how close was it to being true? i.e., how much darkness did the Empire experience at its minimum?


texts: Why exactly did telegraphs have to use "STOP" instead of a period and "QUOTE" instead of a quotation mark? (Or special codes.)

texts:
I've seen/read numerous old telegraph messages. They contain a lot of spelled-out punctuation. Why didn't they simply have the most basic few characters as part of the code, or at least turn a "STOP" into "." and "QUOTE" into a '"' on the other end?

This might make it harder to read. The reason seems unlikely to be technical, because if they can transmit 26 letters as Morse code, they can also transmit more characters OR use special "code tags" formed by the existing ones. For example, the word "TCC1" could be short for "Telegraph Character Code 1", meaning a period, which is never displayed as a "STOP" in the final message.

Even if the reason was that they couldn't agree on a standard, it would still seem better to get the actual code "TCC1" printed out rather than:

  WE TRIED TO MAKE HIM STOP STOP AND WE COULD NOT FIND A WAY TO STOP HIM STOP STOP AT ONCE AND COME HOME STOP

As opposed to:

  WE TRIED TO MAKE HIM STOP TCC1 AND WE COULD NOT FIND A WAY TO STOP HIM TCC1 STOP AT ONCE AND COME HOME TCC1

Or (for telegraph printers supporting my theoretical standard):

  WE TRIED TO MAKE HIM STOP. AND WE COULD NOT FIND A WAY TO STOP HIM. STOP AT ONCE AND COME HOME.

Why did they not adopt such a scheme?


texts: What is the source for Diogenes' quote in Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy?

texts:
In The Anatomy of Melancholy, Robert Burton states that

  "When the son swore, Diogenes struck the father."

Where did Burton get this from? I can find no earlier (i.e. Classical) reference to it, nor any suggestion that Diogenes in fact did it. I am wondering if Burton made it up and, as it were," hung" it on Diogenes.

Edit: The nearest I can find to Burton's claim is this (unreferenced)  quote:

"Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves?"

http://millionsofmouths.com/diogenes.html


texts: Why Was Hitler So Sure America Would Enter on Side of Allies?

texts:
I'm about 20 pages from the end of Kershaw's biography of Hitler.  A book I'd recommend, but it is long.  In discussing the events of 1940, Kershaw wrote that Hitler wanted to either quickly finish off Britain or make peace with it, because he was worried that the USA would come into the war on Britain's side.

My question is, why was he sure that if the USA entered, it would be on Britain's side?

I think with hindsight, America likes to depict itself as the saviour of Europe and defender of the minorities of Europe and that this was inevitable, but in 1940 there were plenty of isolationists in the USA, more Americans had German roots than British roots, American business had been eager to deal with the Nazis, and it was still recovering from the depression.  So why was Hitler so sure it would enter at all and on the side of Britain if it did?  Was FDR's pro-interventionist stance clear at this point (mid-1940) and was it necessarily obvious that he could drag a reluctant USA with him?


texts: Why didn't the Allies place all their energy into a major invasion of southern France in place of the Normandy operation? German defenses apparently were much lighter there, as evidenced by the relatively easy time the Allies had when they came ashore a month or so after D-Day. I have an idea, but am curious as to what others think.


texts: What Was "Courtly Love" (Amour Courtois?)

texts: My understanding was that it was a form of "extramarital" romance for knights and nobles in Europe during the Middle Ages. Was it ever an "institution" anywhere, and what (if any) impact did it have on society?


texts: When did the concept of compassion for the handicapped become commonly accepted in the USA?

texts:
From reading of 19th century literature and history -- for example, I read that it was believed by people in the time of the "Elephant Man" that deformities were caused by bad deeds of parents (but also similar quality thinking that his mom had been scared by an elephant); anyway, people saw nothing wrong in handicapped people being exhibited and the movie Freaks made in the 1930s used performers from side shows which even in the 1960s existed in the USA although I think they were on their way out by then.
I have also had conversations with people born in the late 19th or early 20th century and based on these, it is my sense that it was a tougher time in general.
I wonder, assuming it is agreed that there has been a significant shift, what caused it and when? Could better health in general have reduced the number of people with handicaps so there was less "handicap fatigue?" Could Roosevelt's handicap have reduced the stigma? Was it a general increase in education level?


texts: Did Anne Boleyn's father set her and Henry the 8th up?

texts:
In the TV show, The Tudors, they make it seems as though Anne and Mary were meant to sleep with Henry in order to sway him away from Cardinal Wolsey who had French interests in mind. Is this true?

While I know that Mary was Henry's mistress first, I'm unclear about the context under which they met. Was it started just for political gain because of Thomas Boleyn?


texts: How did people categorize each other in the middle ages, how did racism work?

texts:
I'm interested in the european high middle ages, about the 12th-13th century. I'm trying to understand how people sorted each other. Nowadays, some overlapping categories people use would be:

citizenship
language
territory, from where someone is
ethnicity/race
nationality, which could be seen as the four above combined, depending on the nation in question
religion
social class
sexual identity

In feudal systems you might have "whose your liege" as an additional category.  The thing is, I think most of these would have worked very differently or no at all in medievial times: Citizenship makes no sense without a state, so is at most a city-thing. Language, territroy, I don't know, the big importance they get today is I think also because both are tied to nationality, which does not make sense in a medievial context. Ethnicity/race in the modern sense are, well, modern concepts, I don't know how they worked back then. Sexual identity also seems to be a recent invention (Focault: the sodomite was a sinner, the gay is a species).
Leaves Religion (but almost everyone is catholic!), social class and 'whose your liege' as possible categories.

So how did common people (not clergy, not nobles) sort each other, which of the areas I listed (or others I forgot) where most important? How did people react to travellers, merchants etc from afar?


texts: Identifying this uniform, possibly German or Polish

texts:
This photo was in my great-aunt's album. She only identified it as "he came from Germany", but the picture was taken in Bunzlau, which I believe to be in Poland. I am guessing it is from around early 1800s.
 (click to enlarge))
Photographer Otto Scholz lived 1844–1908.


texts: Did Japanese modernisation have an effect on Ethiopia?

texts:
On his wikipedia page, Tekle Hawariat Tekle Mariyam, "the primary author of Ethiopia's July 1931 constitution" the article calls him a

politician and intellectual of the Japanizer school

The wikilink for Japanizer is red and is a dead link. Was this a widespread movement among Ethiopian elites? Were there those who opposed a Japanese model of development?
Being that Ethiopia was in the process of modernisation in this period, how inspired were they by the rapid development of Japan?


texts: Why did Thomas Hendricks win the majority of Horace Greeley's electoral votes in 1872?

texts:
In researching my answer to Can electors "flip the ticket?", I re-examined the results of the election of 1872.  As stated in that answer, 1872 was an interesting election, not for the result (Grant beat Greeley decisively), but rather for the allocation of Greeley's votes.  Three days after the popular election, Greeley went crazy. Within a month, he was dead.

When the electoral college met, Greeley's electors were essentially unpledged - the three that voted for Greeley ultimately had their votes invalidated.  Eighteen of them did I what would have expected - they voted for Benjamin Brown, the Vice Presidential candidate.  What I don't get is why 42 of them voted for Thomas Hendricks.  Hendricks was not nominated by the Liberal Republican or Democratic parties (Greeley was running on behalf of both).  Indeed, everything I read on the internet says that he was mostly focused on getting elected as governor of Indiana.

Hendricks later went on to become Samuel J. Tilden's VP running mate in 1876 (the one time I believe the electoral result truly was stolen), and eventually became Grover Cleveland's Vice President in 1884, just prior to Hendricks' death in 1885.  Clearly, Hendricks' popularity was on the ascendent - but what compelled the electors to select him as Greeley's replacement?

Why the sudden upswell of votes for a guy who wasn't even on the ticket?


texts: When and where was the term "nigra" used and what was its relation to "nigger"?

texts:
I was watching two movies (Selma and The Help). Both are set in the USA South, in the 1960s. I noticed the whites sometimes said "nigra" (rather than the more familiar "nigger").

Did people in the South actually say "nigra"? If so, was it just in the South? When was this word used (I don't think it's used any more anywhere)?

And was it simply a slightly less derogatory version version of "nigger"?

(In both movies, the word "nigger" was also used occasionally, so it doesn't seem like "nigra" was merely the production studios' way of avoiding the word "nigger".)


texts: When did French become the official language of France?

texts: While French did exist in France and differed depending on areas, it was not the official language. When did it become so ?


texts: Did Google simply beat Microsoft to market?

texts:
If I recall correctly Android/droid got an exclusive contract with Verizon carrier.  This would have made it near impossible for Windows to enter the US market.

I understand Google's search engine for mobile was on the line because Windows Phone would have used an alternative search engine.

antitrust lawsuit vague references at 3 months between launch and finish.
verge came to market to late

I will keep searching to see if there is some sort of consensus.

Is there any other reason possibly for Android winning out over Windows Phone?
Did Google simply beat Microsoft to market and release a phone sooner?


texts: Did Germany perceive Italy as a good partner in the Triple Alliance?

texts:
Germany and Italy were participants in the Triple Alliance with Austria-Hungary. This was despite the fact that Germany and Italy had earlier been allies against Austria-Hungary. From the perspective of Germany during the period 1900-1914, was Italy a good partner?

What were Germany's goals for such an alliance in this period?  Did Italy contribute to those goals? What did Germany have to give to Italy during this period?


texts: To what extent has the United States become (in 1870) the nation that it originally set out to be?

texts:
I was thinking about this for a while. I know that the US never intended to abolish slavery at that time, but it still happened. Is that even relevant?

Some of the things I thought that they originally set out to do is take over the western NA (manifest destiny) and obviously cut ties with Britain after the Revolution. The former was satisfied but didn't the US still keep trading with Britain?

The idea of offering liberty and "all men created equal" outlined in the Declaration/Consitution was somewhat solved with all men being able to vote under the 15th amendment, but women's suffrage and racism was still a rising issue, one of which is not even solved today!

I cannot think of any other huge things that the US set to do, whether it was satisfied or not.


texts: When was the last time period where one could travel by steam powered locomotive across the United States today?

texts: I'm not sure that it is possible to travel the United States from coast to coast by one single steam powered train today, or that there are enough connected routes that a steam locomotive could run on. Assuming this isn't possible, then when was the last time period in which this could have been accomplished?


texts: Why didn't the Persians create good infantry units?

texts:
The defeat at Marathon, Plataea, march of the 10.000, and the hold up at Thermopylae really suggest the need for some heavy infantry that can fight on par with the Greek Phalanx.

Like how much of your infantry really needs to be very mobile?
The battle of Gaugamela also displays the ability of the Greek heavy infantry to deal with flanking manuevers, sort of.


texts: Has Section 2 of the 14th amendment ever been enforced?

texts:
But when the right to vote at any election ... is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State ... the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

I've abridged Section 2 but this is the gist.
I know that denial occurred for 100 years (at least) after passage of the amendment but I'm wondering if Congress ever reduced a state's representation due to denying citizens the right to vote.


texts: Were there any local or regional elections in Nazi Germany?

texts:
There were Reichstag elections in 1933 (twice), 1936 and 1938. There was an election for Berlin's city parliament in March 1933 (as seems to have been the case everywhere in Prussia), but apparently Berlin's municipal parliament stopped convening in June, 1933, and elsewhere these bodies seem to quickly have become meaningless as well. I have not found evidence for local or regional elections after March, 1933.
Does this mean there never were any local or regional elections after 1933? How were mayors and the like appointed in Nazi Germany?
(For some very rough analogies, East Germany was another (essentially) one-party state with no legal opposition and did have local and regional elections roughly every five years. The Soviet Union also seems to have had local elections regularly, though I find it a bit hard to find info on local elections for the Soviet Union as well)


texts: When did nose-picking became socially condemned?

texts:
Nose-picking is a common and well known socially condemmed habit.

However, this condemnation seems to be a purely social behavior with very little grounds on medical risks; it is even done by other species, see below.

can we set a time of when it started? (10.000 BC, 0 AC, 1000 AC?)
What are the first documentations of nose-picking?
Did this behavior appeared independently in different cultures or was developed by one and then "imitated" by others?

(photo from wikipedia)


texts: Is there a place in Europe that has never been Christian?

texts:
Before the advent of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, Europe had numerous religions over at least 40 thousand years, as archaeologic evidence shows.

Is there any place/community where Celtic, Animist, or other pre-Christian religion has never been ceded? My first thoughts were Ireland, Feroe Islands, or Sámi people, but they all seem to have been eagerly Christianised.

The question does not refer to Judaism, but may include nomads.


texts: How was the 4th Duke of Norfolk executed?

texts: I am in the process of writing an historic novel and would like to know as much detail about the 4th Duke of Norfolk's execution as possible. In particular who was the executioner, how much did the Duke pay him, was it a clean or botched execution and anything else you might know.


texts:
Recently we toured the New Calendonia culture centre. Our guide pointed to this marking on a rock, and said:

  My wife did a Masters in History in Canberra, and other experts have found rocks with the same markings in Colorado and South America.

My question is: Is there evidence to suggest movement of a pre-modern people group from South America to New Caledonia?


texts: I’ve come across some German badges, medals & awards etc but I’m struggling to identify this one.


texts: What's the earliest evidence of drug abuse?

texts: Let's define drug abuse as drug use that is harmful to to the user or to others. Evidence of alcohol and opiates go back thousands of years, but some reading hasn't revealed when these substances started to cause problems for people. The Jewish and Christian Bibles contain cautionary tales about drunkenness which seem to be indirect references to alcohol abuse. Is there any earlier reference to drug abuse?


texts: Oppression of non-ethnic Hungarians in Hungary pre 1800s

texts:
I was reading about Magyarization and it is noted that this process only began in the 1800s. However, I was wondering about earlier oppression of Romanians specifically in the Transylvania regions pre-1800s, as I was reading an interesting article on this but cannot find the anymore link.

If anyone has any links to good articles/books/essays on this, or just know a few facts, please let me know.

Thanks!


texts: The origin of symbols used for transferring information over large distances

texts:
The information about the origin of writing systems is a bit difficult to piece together, to find when the first accounts of "writing used to transfer information over large distances". For example, the list of languages by first written accounts focuses on more "modern" (so to speak) writing systems, starting in ~3k BCE with Egyptian hieroglyphics. But the history of written numbers dates back to 40k BCE, using tally marks in bones and other materials. Then native american painting dates back to at least 10k BCE, and other cave paintings in Europe to even 40k BCE.

So I'm wondering what the consensus is of when we specifically started to write stuff down to send it over large distances for trade, or if not necessarily writing it down, then using some sort of medium to store and transfer information over distances. Technically I guess you can say that a cave painting might be a message that extends over large distances, but that I would say is more potentially a permanent message that extends over time rather than one used to transfer information over distances of space. I'd be interested to know, too, when the first permanent messages were created, but that seems like a more vague and less well-developed concept, and probably better for a separate question. I am more imagining like passing a baton in a relay race, where the information is actually being transferred to someone else.

So for this question just wondering specifically about trade, and transferring information over large distances. Modern examples include paper, telephone, and internet. The earliest example I found was ~3k BCE with Aramaic drawing icons of lets say an Egyptian ox head  or  which led to Proto-Sinaitic  (1850 - 1550 BCE), to Phoenician  or  (~1050 BCE, "oldest verified alphabet"), to Paleo-Hebrew  (~1000 BCE), to Aramaic  (~800 BCE), etc. It sounds like they drew these on bones, stone, or wood, to give to another person far away as a symbol of "We have 3 ox for sale" for example, like " III". But I can't see why this wouldn't have occurred thousands of years earlier, but haven't found much information on that.

I'm not too concerned with whether it was just tallies, icons, or alphabets, or even just shells, rocks, or sticks. More just wondering when the technology was developed historically (in different places in the world) to transfer information over large distances for trade. It seems that just to transfer information over large distances without trade could have occurred much earlier, but that is just speculation. It seems that hunter gatherer societies probably had some form of this technology, which might go back millions of years.


texts: Who were the first two democratically elected leaders of Russia?

texts:
On Boris Yeltsin's page in Wikipedia there's the fact that on 12th June, 1991, he was elected by popular vote to the newly created post of President of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR) and became the third democratically elected leader of Russia in history.

Before Yeltsin at the times of Soviet Union leaders were elected by Soviet Party and before Russian Revolution there was ruling of Tsars in Russia.

So who were the first two democratically elected leaders of Russia?


texts: Are Shi’i imams really directly related to the Prophet Muhammad?

texts: Do written (or at least oral) records that show that the Shi’i imams are directly related to the Prophet Muhammad?


texts:
Can anyone help identifying this badge:

The back reads: Pte G E Thornton from R'dents T'morel and district on his return from France.  1919


texts: Was there a time when a Senator was wheeled in from the hospital to cast a deciding vote not to do something?

texts:
I remember hearing a story about a Senator who cast the deciding vote not to impeach Andrew Johnson, even though he despised Andrew Johnson, because he didn't think Johnson was guilty and it would set a bad precedent. In the story I heard, he was deathly ill but was brought back to Congress just to make this vote.

I did a search and could not find any evidence that this ever happened. I started to think that maybe it had nothing to do with Andrew Johnson and that I'm confusing different stories, because Johnson avoided being impeached by a single vote.

Anybody know what I'm talking about?


texts: Did Arab policymakers have plans for the Jewish population, in case of victory in 1948 War?

texts:
Presumably the Arab goal in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war was to defeat Israel. Total victory would probably mean the total control of the whole Mandatory Palestine, which at this point already contained significant Jewish population, and the abolition of the State of Israel.

Did the policymakers (i.e. not the soldiers or the common population) in the Arab state have any plan or official policy about what they would do with the Jewish population? A common rhetoric was to "drive the Jews into the sea", was this an official policy? I know that several Arab states were fighting the war, and they probably had differing views, it would be useful as well to compare the difference.


texts: What is the citation-system for the Linear B tablets?

texts:
I continued my research about Mycenea and I´m reading Chadwicks "The Myceneaen World", which is based a lot on the Linear B tablets. When citing them, it looks like this:

  We also found tablets in Thebes about sacrifices (Of 26) ...

Others would be (Fr 1231) or (Xd 97).
How do I find the related tablets and their translation? Are there publications that simply list all tablets that are found plus a translation?


texts: Is there a correlation between the colonial power and the stability/success of the post colonial state?

texts:
Looking at the history of Ghana relative to many post-colonial African states, it appears to be quite a successful and stable nation-state, both politically and economically, compared to many other post-colonial African nations. My hypothesis is that Ghana's success may to a large extent be the result of its being administered by the British during its colonial period, rather than the French, Belgians, or Portuguese, etc: Perhaps British colonies evolved into more stable, economically successful, independent states than their counterparts who are former French, Portuguese colonies, etc. A friend of mine from Ghana confirmed my hypothesis, but had no solid evidence to back it up.

A brief survey of some African countries seems to confirm my hypothesis: I compared the history of Ghana (formerly Gold Coast under the British) with that of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly "Belgian Congo"), Republic of the Congo (formerly "French Congo"), and Angola (formerly a Portuguese colony).  Compared to Ghana, the non-British colonies have been plagued with long and violent civil wars and political instability, which seriously impacted their economic growth and viability,

More research into the the success and stability of other former British colonies relative to their non-British counterparts also seems to back up such a theory: For example Jamaica, under the Brits from 1655 until 1958, and Trinidad/Tobago, administered by the Brits from 1889 until 1958 - in comparison to countries such as Cuba (Spain), Haiti (France), and the Dominican Republic(France/Spain/USA for a brief periods).

But my research here is admittedly quite superficial. Does historical analysis confirm or contradict my hypothesis that former British Colonies have been more successful as post-colonial states? More generally, can we find a pattern of success in the independent states that corresponds to their former colonial administrators (not necessarily the British)?

Although this question is admittedly complex, it can be answered with empirical analysis. A capable historian or economist should be able arrive at a clear conclusion, although not all will come to the same one, as is the case with any complex question. It requires extensive research to arrive at an accurate, well documented answer, but the answer itself can be quite concise and empirically based.

To side-step the issue of when to 'stop the clock' regarding measurement of success (today; five years ago; 10 years after independence....) the best answer might take into account the sum total of a former colony's history, such that a country like Angola, now quite successful, might not be considered successful relative to Ghana, considering the long and bloody civil wars that dominate much of Angola's history. But not being a historian or economist, I am not really the one to decide on the metrics: I turn to the Historians and experts among us for an appropriate way to quantify and answer this question.


texts: Which were the continent-wide common languages in human history?

texts:
My question on rpg.stackexchange.com seems to have reached a point where a "history-person" would be quite suitable to answer it. So let me rephrase it, so as to be at least marginally suitable for this site.

Which were the continent-wide common languages during human history (I can think of English, Latin, Greek in reverse time order)? What percent of the populace  spoke those languages? What percent of the literate populace spoke those languages?


texts: Is there a source for Medieval army composition and tactics across cultures?

texts:
It's mostly a source question, because the topic is too large to be covered by simple questions and answers, so im sorry if i posted this in the wrong place.

I'm trying to research on the differences between the typical composition (i.e. typical ratio of archers, heavy infantry, cavalry, etc.) and standard tactics during the middle ages, particularly across culture. In other words, how a standard English army differed from a standard Arab, Iranian, Greek, etc. one. (No particular reason why English is mentioned first) Im looking for sources, but having trouble because its both highly specialized (medieval army composition and tactics) and broad (not just Western Europe or one country). I was wondering if anyone could direct me to a good resource to find what im looking for.


texts: How easy one could start an artel in USSR after WW2 1945-1956?

texts:
During 1956-1960 all artels (cooperative enterprises) were nationalized in USSR. It was a large amount of artels.

How easy was it to organize an artel before that, in the post-war period of 1945-1956?

What was the amount of paperwork?
What were the typical constraints?


texts: What do citizens of countries that partition do about new anthems?

texts:
I am fascinated with creation and adoption of national anthems. I find it especially intriguing with such countries that were once a union and then broke apart.

My interest/question deals with two aspects - practical and emotional.

Practically, from what I know, the anthem of USSR was retained by Russia in terms of melody but the words were changed. But what about other Soviet nations, did they plan for an anthem before the break up or was there a period where the anthem was commissioned? If later, what was used interim?

Emotionally, how did people transition from one anthem to another? I am not sure how much resentment was present about the Soviet Union towards the end, but it seems it shouldn't be flawed to assume that at least one section of people were forced into singing and "feeling for" a particular anthem, be it USSR's or the nation's newly adopted. How did the transition happen?

I have similar queries about Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and other similar erstwhile unions. On the flipside, how did things go about when Germany was unified?

I'd really appreciate links to sites that answer these queries of mine with extensive historical background, and, more importantly, their possible ramifications. I prefer English language sites but I can live with French and German too.


texts: Have there ever been maximum age limits for public office in the United States?

texts:
In doing some research, I came across this obituary in "The Sabbath Recorder"

  At his residence in Hopkinton, R. I., Sept. 18th, Deacon Daniel
  Babcock, in his 85th year of his age, and the 59th year of his office
  in the church, where he was a leader of the choir for about 50 years.
  He was early elected to different offices in the State Government,
  which he held and honored until his age disqualified him for holding
  office. He was forward in every benevolent enterprise undertaken by
  the church, and possesed a warm and tender heart towards lost sinners.
  In his death the poor have lost a peculiar friend, his children an
  indulgent and kind counsellor and father, his widow an affectionate
  husband, and the church a pillar in the spiritual temple.

I find this to be ambiguous wording. Are they referring to a legal disqualification or to de facto disqualification due to infirmity, senility, etc.? Are there any instances of de jure age limits anywhere in the United States? Any precedent from British law?


texts: What is the basis for the claims that the word "Israel" means "Exiled for their sins"?

texts:
Joseph Davidovits claims that the word "iisii-r-iar", "ysrỉar" or however you want to transcribe it, which appears on the Merneptah Stele, is an Egyptian phrase meaning "those who are exiled for their sins".

Now, this word is usually assumed to mean "Israel", and Davidovits agrees, meaning that he implies that "Israel" in fact means "Those who are Exiled for their sins", and since the God says that the Israelites are exiled for their sins in the bible, this sounds just a little bit too good to be true.

What I wonder is, what is the basis for his claims? Does he have anything real to base this on, or is it just wishful thinking?


texts: Chancery vs Common Pleas vs Exchequer vs King's Bench

texts:
Please explain with simple words. I'm interested only in their jurisdictions and functions:

How did these 4 main courts' differ?

What did the King's Bench cover?

Parliament.uk distinguishes only three of them:

As the treaty also created two separate jurisdictions, two separate courts known Common Pleas and King's Bench were formed during the 13th century - the former for civil litigation and the latter for cases of interest to the King (effectively the supreme court for criminal cases).
[...]
The Chancery gradually became a distinct court in the 15th century, where the Lord Chancellor provided redress for those unable to obtain it under the strict rules of common law.


texts: When was the last time the US had the highest GDP per capita?

texts:
I never associated the United States with the label of the richest country in the world so it greatly surprised me that according to some estimates there was a time when the U.S. had the highest nominal GDP per capita.
What was the last year this was true? To exclude the ministates let's only consider the countries that have at least 0.01% of the global population. Was it a great deal to Americans when they lost the title?


texts: While doing my presentation I have come across this illustration titles "Downfall of the Soviet Union". I am, however, unable to determine, who are the people on this illustration and what is it trying to represent. I am asking for analysis of the photo; from who is depicted to what is it showing.


texts:
Inspired by this question, I have a more general one: What is, historically speaking, a civilization?

We can identify broad traits that make a society a civilization- agriculture, city building, social structures, etc. But what separates one civilization from another, both geopolitically and chronologically? Is there a widely accepted definition of "a civilization" that identifies a particular time period or region as being one distinct from others? What factors would be considered in defining a specific civilization?

For example, why would (not) the Roman Republic and the Byzantine Empire be considered the same civilization? What about the Byzantine Empire and the Western Roman Empire?


texts: Were kamikaze pilots an effective strategy for Japan?

texts:
history.howstuffworks.com claims kamikaze pilots were not overly effective.  Wikipedia states that there was no noticeable increase in number of ships lost even as kamikaze pilots became more common, and in total it seems they only sunk somewhere between 34 and 57 ships.  So it sounds, to my unprofessional ears, like they weren't devastatingly effective.
However, I've also read that they were often poorly trained pilots flying outdated aircraft.  That means they likely wouldn't have been all that effective if those pilots instead stuck to traditional fighter or bomber roles.  Thus I'm wondering, given the resources spent on arming and training kamikaze pilots did those pilots prove cost effective, as opposed to training traditional pilots?  If so by what margin?
edit:
Since you're asking for sources here is the first reliable source I found in 3 minutes of googling which claimed pilots were not overly effective.  Wikipedia also claims that 14 percent of Kamikazes survived to score a hit on a ship; and less then 8.5% of ships hit by kamikazes sunk, which if true would mean at best they had only a 1.19% success rate at sinking ships; and that's only if you assume that every pilot hit a different ship every ship that sunk sank entirely do the kamikazes, so the actual success rate is presumably much lower.


texts: Why was France's birth rate low from 1800 to WWII?

texts:
Inspired by this lemma on Wikipedia as well as a few paragraphs here and there in Piketty's Capital in the 21st century I'm asking the question how the low birth rate in France between 1800 and WWII could have come about. I see two separate dimensions to this question:

1) What is the socio-economic and/or cultural cause of this low birth rate: e.g. did the French inheritance laws indeed play that big a role (as the Wikipedia page suggests).

2) What contraceptive methods allowed for such a low birth rate? It is difficult to imagine such a low birth rate is entirely due to a lack of sexual intercourse. While I'm relatively ignorant of the historical development of reliable contraceptives, I've always viewed this as something of the post-WWII-era. (Presumably I'm mistaken?)


texts: How is the discipline of History differentiated from other disciplines in social sciences or the humanities?

texts: History is a discipline in the academy that is sometimes a social science and sometimes a humanity.  However, there are many other social sciences (e.g., economics, political science) and many other humanities (e.g., anthropology, theology).  What differentiates history from its close relatives in the social sciences and humanities?  How can we tell that something is history and not archaeology?  How can we tell that something is economics and not history?  Do other disciplines use historical methodology?  Does this alone make them historians?


texts: Why, in the US, is Japanese brutality ignored compared with the Nazi brutality in WW2?

texts:
Instead of accepting too much of what I have read in my textbooks, I have read up a bit about WW2 on my own and have always pondered, why in the USA is the brutality and actions of the Japanese during WW2 always downplayed compared with the brutalities and actions of the Nazis? In school I remember the only thing we were taught about the Japanese was that they attacked Pearl Harbor and then the Americans dropped the A-bomb to end the war. Before that and after that, it has always been Nazis this and Nazis that. We learned everything about concentration camps, Luftwaffe, Kristallnacht, and every school child has seen Schindler's List and read Anne Frank's diary. Our textbooks and teachers didn't spend nearly the same amount of time talking about the Japanese. If you are lucky, you may hear a bit about Japanese internment camps and maybe get to read "Farewell to Manzanar".

Is this due to some cultural attitude? If the USA had no front with the Japanese, that would make sense. But the Japanese did attack pearl harbor which was bad enough to force USA to join WW2 directly. Then the USA paid the same amount of attention/resources to both fronts as far as I can tell. It's not like the Americans only focused on the Nazis during the war. So why are the history books so biased? From what I can tell the brutality of the Japanese was on par with the Nazis if not more. They had just as grand plans to rule (half of) the world. The A-bombing of Japan, disarmament and dismantling of its military, and such a strong presence of Americans still to this day in Japan (like Okinawa) makes this even more perplexing.

An annoying side effect of this is having to explain to people that Japan wasn't exactly "nice" in the war. The most recent argument was with a friend who thinks it would have been perfectly ethical to A-bomb Germans but it was perfectly unethical to A-bomb the Japanese. The way the Japanese people have turned themselves around in the past 60 years, their pacifism, high morals and ethics, and such emphasis on honor, intellectualism, respect, and high regard for a fellow human being makes my explanations seem even more incredulous.

I know this is a rather "local" question (American history textbooks) and I am new here, not too familiar with this forum's nuisances. If this isn't appropriate or if this question can be bettered, please let me know and I will fix/remove it. And BTW, I am only talking about public school education until grade 12. Everything about the Japanese and the Nazis is out there but it's just that in school, Nazis are given much more focus for some reason. I hope this isn't some weird perception error on my part.

Thanks.


texts: Did international politics drive the creation of American political parties?

texts:
Knowing how much early American statesmen disliked the idea of factions, it seems contradictory that parties were formed. Surely, something changed the minds of even the staunchest anti-faction statesmen (ie: Madison). Was it simply the need of parties that drove their creation? Or were there more factors that convinced people like Madison that parties weren't too bad?

The reason I suggest international politics is because of the French Revolution's concurrence with the time-period in question along with Jefferson being ambassador to France during that time.


texts: Which Commiphora species produces the Biblical Myrrh?

texts:
The Biblical Myrrh resin is said to come from either Commiphora Myrrha or Commiphora Habessinica (Abyssinian). Which is it?

Here are two sites saying it's C. Habessinica: 1, 2.

Here is a site talking about C. Myrrha which gives a good botanical description but fails to mention what color the flowers are (and how many petals they have), which is something I'm trying to find out. I can't find any photos of C. Myrrha flowers, and all I could find was this diagram (showing two white flowers labelled '2' for male and '3' for female.


texts: Examples from history, way forward for failed states

texts:
What are the historic examples of countries that were failed states and then became normal states?

To narrow it down, are there historic examples of countries that were once in a similar situation like El Salvador and Honduras (with massive gang violence, failing rule of law and a huge amount of displaced persons) but managed to become stable safe places.


texts: Why were people from the Asian Steppes able to militarily dominate Europeans on a repeated basis?

texts: From the Huns through the Mongolians, why were nomadic people from the east able to create such havoc in Europe?  Was it an endless 'first mover' advantage with horse domestication?  Was it a higher protein diet relative to the more farm-centric Europeans?  Why weren't Celts, Ostrogoths, Teutonic knights, or Slavs pushing east?  Were Europeans just wasting all their expansive energy on the Crusades?


texts: What were Britain's defensive plans for a Nazi invasion?

texts:
Despite the fact that it never ended up happening, a Nazi invasion of England was kind of a common sense inevitability for a while during the beginning of World War 2.  Had the Battle of Britain gone the other way, (or whatever alternate history conditions you prefer), a Nazi invasion across the channel was a real possibility.

Surely Britain had plans for what they would do, in that case?  I can only imagine that they had numerous scenarios, depending on how the invasion went down.  How did these plans match up to the German preparations?  How much detail do we know about how the defense of Britain would have gone?  What tactics did they plan on using, where did they anticipate the main battles to occur?  Did the British commanders think they could successfully repulse a Nazi invasion of England, or were the plans geared more toward slowing them down and making it "not worth their while"?


texts: Military intervention in government in India and Pakistan

texts:
Although India and Pakistan became independent states simultaneously, they have been travelling in different paths after that. Many believe that democracy is a major reason for the difference in fortune of both countries. Pakistan has been under military rule for a long time during its existence while in India, military has never been involved in government.

What are the reason for this difference (military intervention in government) between these two nations, given that Pakistan and India (at least North India) share a common culture and they had been under the rule of same dynasties for a long time. Also the military tradition and even officers during the early part were inherited from British Raj.


texts: Aryanization in Nazi Germany. What did it mean in reality?

texts:
Arthur Eichengrün was a Jewish chemist who lived in Germany and was running his own chemical company. In 1938 his company has been "aryanized". But as late as 1943 he got arrested for failing to indicate the Jewishness in  his company's name. He spent 4 months in prison, but got arrested again a year later on the same charge and spent 14 months in a camp.

How this can be true? Had he retain any influence in his company after it was "aryanized" and if it was why the Nazis demanded him to indicate the Jewishness of the owner in the company's name?


texts: What happened to the Swiss troops in French service after August 10, 1792?

texts:
We know that the Swiss guards were disbanded in the aftermath of the Assault on the Tuileries, on August 10, 1792, and all other Swiss troops in French service followed soon thereafter. We also know that 300 Swiss guards lived past August 10, 1792, by virtue of being deployed in Normandy at the time.

Louis XVI had a total of 11 Swiss line infantry regiments by 1792, all of which were also disbanded after the events at the Tuileries. Who did they serve afterward?


texts: When was the restaurant "invented" in Europe?

texts:
First of all, let me clarify that I am not talking about inns which were located on the roads between major cities; I am talking about real restaurants inside the cities. I gave this some thought and I think that restaurants couldn't be more than a few hundred years old. This is because restaurants had to have come after the rise of the middle class. Before then, the poor wouldn't have enough money, and the rich probably had their own chefs.

I know that now it is different, but a few hundred years ago the primary reason why people would go to restaurants would have probably been if they just came from work and they had no food in the house (even if there was a middle class, they probably wouldn't go just to have fun, since they were still poorer (on average) than the middle class today). This would imply that they are single, since the wife would usually stay at home and cook. Since virtually all the people in the past were either married or lived with their family, I believe that the "invention" of restaurants was also synchronized with a rise in the amount of single people, which is fairly recent history. Am I right, and if not what is the correct timeline here? Thanks.


texts: What was the Nove / Millar debate, how is it important to the historiography of the Soviet Union?

texts:
The Nove / Millar debate was a debate amongst economic historians in the 1970s, where the Western understanding of Soviet economic development in the 1920 and 1930s was seriously revised.  In particular the debate engaged the relationship between the agricultural and the industrial sectors of the economy, and the potential ways the party could have structured these relationships to achieve industrialisation.  With greater detail:

what were the points of conflict in the debate?
what did different perspectives in the debate say?
what were the implications of these perspectives for the potential for Soviet industrialisation under party control?
what was the effect of the debate on the historiography of the Soviet Union?


texts: How was "patronage" actually transferred in Medici Florence?

texts:
The Medicis commissioned art and patronized artists.  By what mechanism was this achieved?  Did someone literally just hand a bag of florins to an artist?  I'm interested in the whole process, from asking for the work through to, I guess, estimates of cost, then actual transfer of funds/material/?
I'm looking for the physical method of fund transfer. As an example, at work today I might submit a request to purchasing or an expense claim. What was the equivalent and how exactly did it get paid out?


texts: Looking for colonial era evidence of Jesuit missions from San Martin Peru up to the Pastaza river

texts:
if there are any Peruvian colonial era history experts out there, I'm looking for a citable source of some kind for the following scenario.

In my research I've noticed an interesting discrepancy in Quechua dialects in the upper Amazon. One of these dialects, called 'Southern Pastaza Kichwa' is very linguistically distinct from its sister dialects upriver in Ecuador. I discussed this with a colleague and their best guess that this was because of contact from other Quechua speakers down in San Martin/Lamas area of Loreto.

To verify this hypothesis, I've been looking through a lot of literature and colonial area documents and while I have found some interesting things, nothing yet on missionary contact activity, or any activity at all between San Martin and the area around the Pastaza river.


texts: Why didn't Eisenhower personally sign Act of Military Surrender in Reims, 1945?

texts:
My question is about German Army Surrender in Reims. The unconditional surrender was signed by Colonel General Alfred Jodl, on behalf of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht and General Walter Bedell Smith on behalf of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. Supreme Commander Eisenhower was in the same building, on the second floor (Jodl and Smith signed the act in the map room on first floor). After the signing Eisenhower received the German delegation in his office.

So, my question is, why Eisenhower didn't sign the act?

I've tried to find some explanation and found two answers:

Eisenhower outranked Jodl.
Eisenhower absolutely despised nazis.

Now, I don't know if one, both or none of these answers is true. I don't know how to compare ranks, but Generaloberst ("Colonel General") is supposed to be above four-star full general and below five-star field marshall. Eisenhower was the General of the Army which is a five-star rank. So Jodl was four-and-a-half-star and Eisenhower was five star. Did this difference really matter?


texts: History of calendar of different culture

texts: Why in almost every calendar of different culture, a week consists of seven days? Are there any link between different calendars?


texts: What was the first ever televised lottery?

texts: The UK's National Lottery has been on TV since 1994. A similar state-owned lottery in Poland has been on air for much longer, since 1973. However, the scarce information available about it online doesn't credit as being the world's first, or with providing any inspiration for the British programme. What was then the first lottery to take place on television?


texts: Why did Lincoln's election prompt the Southern states to secede?

texts:
I've just finished Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals. The presentation of the book suggested that the Southern states seceded as a response to Lincoln's election.

I am confused by that timing: Lincoln seemed to have a very moderate anti-slavery position. He was staunchly opposed to the expansion of slavery to new states, but even years later did not believe that slavery could be interfered with in states where it was established (except as a war power; or unless there was a constitutional amendment).

Was the timing of secession and Lincoln's election a coincidence?
Were the states reacting to Lincoln as a person, or just to the election of a Republican?
If they were reacting to Lincoln as a person, what was it about him that provoked them?


texts: What's the origin of celebrating the anniversary of the death of a famous person rather than their birth?

texts:
Some holidays are "celebrated" because a famous person that did something special in the past, died that specific day. I always thought that maybe it would be better to celebrate their birth rather than their death.

What's the origin of doing this? Is there something special that makes sense for this?


texts: Did the syphilis epidemic start the 16th and 17th century wig craze?

texts:
I've read that one reason that the nobility attending royal court in the 17th century had a passion for wigs, powdered faces, and gloves was the then prevalence of syphilis. By this reasoning those were partly devices to hide the bodily signs of the disease (before bedtime, that is).

A quick Google search turns up lots of so-so evidence to support this explanation, but I am wondering:

Are there any primary sources?

For example, in the form of contemporary or modern medical textbooks that add further (perhaps definite) evidence one way or the other.

Also, do we know what size the epidemic grew to in Europe and how it affected different strata of societies?

(Source: Portrait of Gerard de Lairesse by Rembrandt van Rijn, ca. 1665–67)

(Source: Six Stages of Mending a Face by Thomas Rowlandson, 1792)


texts: Why were there civil wars in Croatia and Bosnia, but not in Slovenia or Macedonia?

texts: It seems that during the breakup of Yugoslavia there were civil wars during speakers of the (then officially) same language - Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, but not, e.g., between Serbs and Slovenians. Is there any specific reason for this?


texts:
Bigfoot and Sasquatch have a lot of tales and history in different regions.  What was the first point of reference for these stories/sightings.

Also to make this a little clearer.  Can we just throw out giants which tend to have biblical/spiritual/religious linkage?  I am specifically asking for the big hairy guy that walks around in the woods/mountains.


texts: How effective were anti-aircraft defences mounted on tanks such as Panther/Tiger etc?

texts:
It seems, based on anecdotal evidence, that anti-aircraft defences on tanks were very ineffective during WWII.

Is there any solid evidence to back this up?

I am specifically interested in German units as they needed the AA defences more than the Allies generally speaking but any evidence from either side would be of interest.

Also:

Who was trained to use the AA defences?
How did AA defences improve during the war?
Were all AFVs equipped with such defences?
How did the various AFV mounted AA defences differ?

When I say "tanks" I am referring to AFVs that primarily were designed to engage other ground units/tanks.


texts: Who were the pre-Celtic inhabitants of Western Europe?

texts: I've heard it said that the Basque are conjectured to be the last remnant of Pre-Celtic Western Europe. When would have these people existed? What evidence do we have for their culture and habitation sites? When did they cede to the Celts?


texts: Please help with identifying this uniform, taken in Turkey 1940s

texts: My Greek uncle worked in the American Embassy in Turkey and this picture I believe was taken in the embassy, circa 1940s - he was about 20+ then.  I have researched epaulettes, uniforms of the Turkish army, but no joy.  It would greatly help to know the identification of this uniform.  My uncle is to the left of uniformed man. Thank you for any help you can give.


texts: Why is the Bishopric of Canterbury located in London?

texts: As far as I understand the seat used to be in Canterbury and then was transferred to London but kept the title. Is that true and when did this happen?


texts: Did the Soviet military in fact fear that the Space Shuttle would be used as an orbital bomber? If so, why?

texts:
I have read on this blog (scroll down to section "what happened to make it fail) dedicated to failed cold war space projects that the Soviet leadership was deeply concerned about the STS, fearing that it would be used as an orbital nuclear number, taking advantage of its cross range (ability to manouver perpendicular to its orbital path) to land back on US soil after making as single orbit bombing run. Therefore they pushed their designers to develop similar vehicles.

Do we have written evidence for this concern?

If so, how could they come to this conclusion? It seems to me that the Shuttle would be in this role absolutely inferior to the solid and storable propellant fueled ICBMSs that were already well-established in the 70'-s:

Was much more expensive, complicated and slow to prepare and launch.
Would make a big and soft target, and quite EMP vulnerable too.
Was limited in the G-loads it could take compared to a reentry capsule with only nuclear warheads inside.
Needed highly trained astronauts to fly.

Its only apparent advantage would be it's reusability, but that would have been irrelevant in a nuclear war. (as its ground facilities would have been destroyed).
So was this fear a product of Soviet paranoia and incomplete information?(before they have understood the limitations of STS)


texts: 18th-century land surveyors Valentine and Collins

texts:
These gentlemen are not to be confused with the 21st-century football players.

The Peace Treaty of 1783 between the United States and Britain said that a big part of the boundary between Quebec and the U.S. was to be the 45th parallel of north latitude. The boundary as it is today ranges from several hundred to several thousand feet north of the parallel, because of 18th-century land surveying errors resulting from limitations on technology available then. The Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842 says that part of the boundary will be:

  "the old line of boundary surveyed and marked by Valentine and Collins previously to the year 1774, as the 45th degree of north latitude, and which has been known and understood to be the line of actual division between the States of New York and Vermont on one side, and the British Province of Canada on the other; and, from said point of intersection, west along the said dividing line as heretofore known and understood

What is known about Valentine and Collins?
Was the occasion for their boundary survey the recent British conquest of Quebec in the war that ended in 1763? Or something else?

(Here is the first thing Google tells us about Valentine and Collins.)


texts: How did desegregation affect the jobs of black school teachers in the South?

texts:
In its October 6, 1954 issue, the Southern Presbyterian Journal published a report from US News & World Report that suggested that black teachers in the South would be rendered unemployed by desegregation of schools following Brown v. Board of Education.  It reads:

With an end to school segregation decreed for the South, Negro teachers there are coming up against a real question. It is this: Can they look to the Northern states for teaching jobs if these are wiped out by an integration of Negro and white schools in the South?
The answer, on the basis of the present use of Negro teachers in the non-segregated schools of Northern states, appears to be: No.
Negro leaders themselves are convinced that thousands of Negro teachers will go out of Southern schools with the end of segregation. They have seen this happen in many Northern communities, with the integration of schools. They expect to see it happen again in the South. (source)

The article argues that because the southern states had several times as many black teachers as the (non-segregated) state of New York, for example, that this would lead to a "loss of jobs" that would negatively impact both the teachers and the South in general.
The SPJ was opposed to forced desegregation, so it's not surprising that it ran this kind of report.  But I'd like to know what actually happened over the years following Brown v. Board of Education.  Did the number of employed black school teachers actually drop, in the South and/or nationwide?  If so, how long did it take to recover to pre-desegregation levels?


texts: Were Tories "Catholics" and "Whigs" Anglican?

texts:
I had one exam with the following question:

About the Glorious Revolution (1688-1689), mark true (T) or False (F):

In 1688, after the deposition of James II, the English parliament was divided in two groups, Tories and Whigs, whose political characteristics corresponded to the religious creed professed: Tories, conservatives, were Catholics; Whigs, liberals, were Anglicans.

The answer sheet marks the affirmation as correct; but I thought it was wrong on the basis that it was too easy an association between a political party and a religious faith.

Edit: The correct answer sheet now marks the affirmation as "false". Which is fine to me.


texts: How did an English person get entry to East Germany during the Cold War?

texts: I need to know how an English person was able to get authority to visit East Germany and what the most common crossing used was. Additionally, any information on how visitors were treated by Stasi would be helpful.


texts: How were provincial Roman accounting and taxes handled under Hadrian?

texts:
Levies were put on entire provinces payable by their governors, and what they taxed and how much, was up to them.

Suppose you're the governor of a province that has a large city in it. Living in this city is a wealthy landlord who owns a number of rent-paying insulii.

What would your relationship with him be like? Would he pay you a tax every month? Every quarter? Every year? What would happen if he refused to pay you, citing repairs, lack of paying tenants, fire damage, etc? Would you have him arrested? Would you confiscate his property? Would you, as the governor, have accountants working for you, keeping track of all revenues? Would the landlord have an accountant? Would records of payments be kept by either of you?


texts: Was there ever a war mission where the personnel were instructed to surrender when the mission complete?

texts: For instance, an air raid beyond bomber's range where after completing the mission the pilots should land or eject at the enemy land and surrender.


texts: How did Southern slaveholders in the United States relate to the Caribbean and Latin America?

texts:
The assertion in bold from Eric Hobsbawm's The Age of Capital piqued my interest. I am quoting most of the paragraph in case the context may help.

  A large part of the south-west – California, Arizona, Utah and parts
  of Colorado and New Mexico – were ceded by Mexico after a disastrous
  war in 1848–53. Russia sold Alaska in 1867: these and older western
  territories were transformed into states of the Union as and when they
  became economically sufficiently interesting or accessible: California
  in 1850, Oregon in 1859, Nevada in 1864, while in the Middle West
  Minnesota, Kansas, Wisconsin and Nebraska acquired statehood between
  1858 and 1867. Beyond this American territorial ambitions did not go
  at this point, though the slave states of the South hankered after
  an extension of slave society to the large islands of the Caribbean
  and expressed even wider Latin-American ambitions. The basic pattern
  of American domination was that of indirect control, since no foreign
  power appeared as an effective direct challenger: weak but nominally
  independent governments which knew that they had to keep on the right
  side of the northern giant.

To what exactly might Hobsbawm be referring? Is there evidence to support this statement?


texts: Were people in the Neo-Assyrian or Achaemenid Empire aware of the empires before them?

texts: The history of ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia has been a complex one, with several empires spanning a couple of millennia. Were the people from latter empires, say Neo-Assyrian or Achaemenid Empires aware of the existence of earlier empires, say Akkadian or Babylonian Empires?


texts:
How was Islam spread among Turkish population or in historical Turkey?

How did ethnic Turkish people embrace Islam?


texts: What would the Arch of Titus have looked like painted?

texts:
The Arch of Titus is a famous attraction in Rome, built by the Roman Emperor Domitian in 82 CE, in honor of the great military conquest of his older brother, Titus. Perhaps the most famous part of this arch is the depiction of Romans carrying various articles from Herod's Temple (such as the Golden Menorah), after the Fall of Jerusalem.

Though nowadays the arch is colorless, it is likely it was once painted. What would the arch have looked like colored? And why did no one attempt to restore the color when it started to fade? Perhaps they did not want to honor the horrible person it was dedicated to?


texts: Are there cases of U.S. Founding Fathers burning flags of other nations?

texts:
After reviewing some arguments for and against flag burning I became curious
as to whether or not there were documented cases of the U.S. Founding Fathers (or politically influential people of the time) burning flags of other nations in protest or dissent e.g. the British flag.


texts: Where and how did scientists of the 18th and 19th century learn foreign languages?

texts:
I'm always amazed by the the apparent amount of foreign languages that scientists in the 18th and 19th centuries seem to have possessed. With the end of Latin as the main scholarly language, researchers started to write in their mother tongue. I'm aware that sometimes papers got translated when they were reprinted in a foreign journal, which was pretty common back then (the reprinting, not the translation as far as I know…), but it seems obvious for example in the field of botany in Germany, that people had to have a command (at least to the level of a reading comprehension) of at least Latin, French, and English in order to participate in scholarly discourse.

I was wondering where and how scientists acquired those skills, or if this is a case where there is a nowadays unknown army of translators that facilitated the discourse and bridged the gap in that way.


texts: How was St Edwards Crown fixed after Blood flattened it?

texts: In 1671 Thomas Blood tried to steal the crown jewels. To do this he flattened the crown with a mallet. There are many sources that said he did flatten it but I cannot find anything about the aftermath. How was the crown fixed? There is nothing about a new crown being made so I assume the must have fixed it somehow.


texts: What is the reason of Mongol Empire success conquering that huge territory?

texts:
I found out that Mongol Empire had around 100,000 soldiers on the field. Most of them were cavalries and they had great battle tactics.

Isn't that figure however a bit low to conquer and control that huge land?


texts: Why does Europe have so few skyscrapers compared to East Asia?

texts:
The European Union has virtually no skyscrapers except the newly built 'The Shard' in London. There are also a series of newly-built state-funded skyscrapers in Moscow.

On the other hand if you look at Hong-Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Taipei, and Tokyo you will see the whole skyline full of skyscrapers. Why is it so?


texts: In WW2, did Germany ever mine Uranium from Czechoslovakia?

texts:
1938 Oct 01, Germany begins annexing the Sudentenland. 1939 Mar 15, Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia.

There is a mine, far on the western border, called the Joachimsthal Mine.

Today it is called Jáchymov, but back then was known as Joachimsthal. This place had a silver mine dating back to the 1500's. It also produced Uranium. In fact, when Martin Klaproth first identified Uranium in 1789, I believe that Uranium came from the mine in Czechoslovakia.

I would like to know if Germany, at any point from 1938 to 1945, mined Uranium from this mine. If so, how much, and what concentration of Uranium did it have.

I'm aware that Germany never had a serious atomic bomb project comparable to the Manhattan Project. I would nevertheless like to know if they ever tried to mine Uranium from here.


texts:
Pre World War One and during World War One, the game of world politics was that of direct empirical rule, whereas afterwards, the mandate model was accepted. This stated that for A type mandates there would be a full withdrawal and free states would be founded.

Of course history shows that all mandates, even those who were given perpetually, were ended.

What caused that change to occur? Pressure from the U.S. alone? What made the (so called) winners of the war, Britain and France, accept that model, over the ruling model that they had before?


texts: Were Israeli-Arab conflicts in the Cold war testing grounds for NATO and Warsaw Pact equipment?

texts: During the Cold War, Israel and it's Arab neighbors often came into conflict with each other and fought a number of wars during which Israel often used weaponry from the West (USA, UK and France) while the Arab nations often used Soviet weapons and equipment. So were these conflicts in the Middle East the testing grounds (if that is the term) for the new equipment that NATO and the Warsaw pact could field against each other?


texts: Are there non-russian sources related to how Rurikid Dynasty became rulers of Russia?

texts:
Most of the information - at least as taught in Russia - related to how Rurik Dynasty became rulers of Rus is based on "Повѣсть времяньныхъ лѣтъ" ("Tale of Bygone Years", aka "Primary Chronicle").

Is there modern historical research into this topic that is based on documents other than that one (e.g. some western documents/accounts, or any non-Slavic ones)?

Rurik Wiki has some hints of possible theories, but doesn't seem to list too many primary references (only some Russian research in the first reference).


texts:
I recently acquired these photos at an antique store with no ID. Can anyone help?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibrarian/13332146503/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/photolibrarian/13332001565/


texts: Can anyone identify this military uniform (1900-1915)?

texts: Can anyone identify this uniform? Uncertain of the time frame, suspect it is 1900 - 1915.


texts: Before European influence circa 1600, did any Chinese believe the Earth was spherical, and did they ever try to measure it?

texts:
The Pythagorans, Aristotle, and Eratosthenese believed the Earth was spherical. Eratosthenes made a measure based on shadows at two cities on the same meridian. An Indian mathematician, Aryabhata, also measured the Earth around 500 CE and got a very accurate figure. Islamic scholars also made a very accurate measure around 800 CE.

I'm sure there are others I didn't list, but one missing region that stands out to me is China. I searched for things like "Chinese astronomers measure size of Earth" and didn't find any. I did see this pdf but on page 2 it says "Several second century (B.C.E.) Chinese texts use gnomon shadow lengths
to calculate terrestrial and celestial distances, including the distance from the earth to the sun. They assumed that the earth was flat and the sun at a
measurably finite distance."

Before the European influeces around 1600 CE, did anyone from China believe in the spherical Earth? Did they make any measures, and if so, was it the same shadow technique of Eratosthenes?

Edit: If not, then did they at least believe the Sun and Moon were spheres? Did Chinese culture perhaps not think of the sphere as a perfect object, like the Greeks did?


texts: How did former Spanish colonies in the Americas become so fragmented?

texts:
If we only consider countries that are connected by land, there are 16 Spanish speaking countries in the Americas, totaling 11,301,072 km2 in area. That's only slightly larger than Canada (9,984,670 km2) and the United States (9,826,675 km2)

Brazil alone (8,459,417 km2) is almost as large as all Spanish-speaking South American countries combined (8,837,787 km2).

How did former Spanish colonies in the Americas become so fragmented compared to their Portuguese and English counterparts?


texts: Anomaly in drawing of the Great Pyramid by National Geographic

texts:
In the chart below, which comes from this page, there is a gray outline of another shaft and room behind the Queen's chamber description text. Does anyone know anything about this room or where it comes from?

It is interesting that it seems to extend from [the Arab archaeologist]'s entrance, however it seems to be separate. It isn't the grotto, because the grotto shaft is clearly marked.


texts: Departure Ritual of U-boats (World War 2)

texts:
On the day of a U-boat setting sail what actually goes on prior to leaving for their mission?

I am sure it takes more than a morning to make sure the U-boat is sea-worthy, including loading the weapon stores, cramming as much food and water wherever there is space available, etc. But what specifically (even if it is a check list) does the crew do the day of departure? Do the officers meet over breakfast with the Flotilla commander, does the crew have a 'locker room' speech, or is it all pretty lax and as long as the crew was ready to depart none of it really mattered?

English answers preferable.


texts: Why were Norwegian crews flying for Bomber Command paid more than other RAF crews?

texts:
In his book Bomber Command, Max Hastings mentions offhandedly that

All the Norwegians were immensely rich by RAF standards because they received flying pay of eight shillings per hour operational in addition to their £28 a month salary.

Why was this so? Why were Norwegian bomber crews paid more than other RAF bomber crews? Was this true of other non-UK (or non-Commonwealth) Allied crews?


texts: Was there ever such a thing as a Court Tory?

texts: Were all Tories part of the Country 'party'? Were some of them part of the court party? What was the distinction between Country and non-Country Tories, if there were any?


texts: Name for a position in a noble household in the medieval period (c.13-14)

texts:
In Portugal, the woman charged with taking care of a noble person's body (cleanliness, clothes, etc) was called 'covilheira' (also spelt 'cuvilheira').

Her job (this was always a woman's job) included bathing children and ladies and handling their clothes (particularly the undergarments, such as the chemise and drawers). They were also responsible for washing and cleaning hair, cutting nails, dealing with depilation and other 'body services'.

Men also had their own 'covilheiras'. These women could be simple servants but could also be noblewomen (working for a noble of royal blood, for example). Nevertheless, it was not a position of prestige in the household.

What was the name given to this 'job' in the British households?

And if perchance these particular tasks weren't in the hands of a particular person, what would be the best way of translating the word into English without a job description?

I accepted Aaron Brick's answer because I assume there isn't an exact match between the two European cultures for the position in question and his answer seems to me as the closest.

Nevertheless, and since I require a word to translate 'covilheira' that sounds a bit more natural (and perhaps more obvious) in a sentence such as 'she noticed the woman of the bedchamber sleeping on a straw mattress', I am considering to pen an alternative to the proper designation: I shall go with 'grooming-maid' as 'maid' conveys the appropriate sense of servant (which the Portuguese word carries) and 'grooming' conveys an idea of her tasks.

Thank you all for your ideas and suggestions, for they were the ones that inspired the designation I 'created' to replace the factual one.


texts: Identify prior 1930's US Battleship and US Navy plane

texts: Looking to identify this battleship--USS Nevada, Pennsylvania, Arizona?


texts: Which STD did adults & children have in Kamchatka?

texts:
In 1817 Vasili Golovnin sailed a ship named Kamchatka from Kronstadt to Kamchatka and met there its governor, Rikord. In "Around the World", he wrote that:

  Almost all the local common people of both sexes, and even the children, are infected with a well-known social disease. Formerly, the physicians would go through the district once a year, but they could give only advice by way of help to the sick, because medicine was very seldom available. Even if medicine had been available, how could it cure a disease which requires special diet, rest, warm dwellings, etc.? At present, Mr. Rikord has established a clinic and has brought overland all the necessary medication, while at his request we brought by sea all the hospital equipment.

He also mentions people there that "could barely walk before completely cured".

Despite the lack of medical information in Golovnin's description, is it clear which particular social disease was rampant? How were children catching the disease?


texts: Was there any theological opposition to the lightning rod?

texts:
Apparently, there was some opposition to the lightning rod at the time of its invention because lightning was seen as "the wrath of God" and should not be controlled.

I'd like to find some citations that corroborate (or refute) that. Are there any first-hand theological writings or works of historians regarding the immorality of the lightning rod?