texts:
I have been watching some BBC documentaries on the history of Spain recently. 'Blood and Gold: The Making of Spain with Simon Sebag Montefiore', and 'The Art of Spain' (Episode 1: The Moorish South).

These documentaries examine Al-Andalus, and particular attention is given to what seems like a remarkably tolerant and enlightened era during the Caliphate.  This contrasts sharply with the intolerance of subsequent regimes.  After 1147 the Muslim Almohads from the Maghreb forced Jews and Christians to convert, and later Christian rulers offered the country's Jews the choice of conversion or expulsion with the Alhambra decree of 1492.

What I'd like to understand is why exactly was the Caliphate so exceptional in its tolerance of Christians and Jews, and its patronage of science and art?  What factors influenced this behaviour that made this period so different from anything which followed?

EDIT: To quote Mark C. Wallace in the comments:

  'Why the phenomena existed. Seems to me there are two subordinate
  questions: (1) was this era tolerant (or cosmopolitan)? Was violence
  diminished? What about non-violent conflict? (2) To the extent that
  the era was tolerant (however defined), why?'

This relates to the academic debate over 'La Convivencia'.  It however seems that this era is defined too broadly, leading to confusion.  For example, the 1066 Granada Massacre occurred decades after the Emirate/Caliphate had collapsed in a civil war (1009-1031).  It should therefore be unsurprising that there was less tolerance and more violence after the Caliphate and thus rule of law failed.

An answer must explain if and why cosmopolitan society existed during the Emirate/Caliphate of Cordoba (756-1009).  We define cosmopolitan society here in terms of relative tolerance amongst Muslims, Christians, and Jews, as well as the patronage of science and the arts.

I expect this will be able to be answered by someone with broad knowledge of Islamic civilisation, and thus someone who can make a comparative analysis of the factors involved.


texts: When did the Romans finally acknowledge that they were living in an empire?

texts:
The Romans, during the time of the Republic, were a famously anti-monarchical society.  There are plenty of stories of Roman politicians gaining favor by refusing crowns, or condemning kings, etc.  As I understand it, even the first emperor Octavian took the title "princeps" or "first citizen" so as to seem more palatable to the people, who might not have taken kindly to him openly declaring himself "king."

But at a certain point, you just have to face facts.

Succession struggles, inheritance, single rulers who stayed in power until they died, there is only so long you can go before you start to think, "you know, the princeps sure looks like a king..."

When did the Roman people finally acknowledge that their Emperor was, in fact, an Emperor?  The Senate continued to be a going operation for centuries, but how long did it take for the public to admit that they effectively had a king now?


texts: When did we figure out that Venus was too hot for humans?

texts:
Today it's well known that the surface of Venus is incredibly hot, over 800 °F (427 ºC).  Depictions of Venus in fiction, however, used to portray it as something close to Earth temperatures, generally as a humid swamp.

When did we first figure out that it was so hot?  Was it known to be hot before the Mariner 2 mission in 1962?  Was it even suspected to be hot before then?


texts: Why did the welfare state succeed in Bismarck's Germany but lagged in 20th-century Britain?

texts:
Otto von Bismarck pioneered the welfare state in Germany and Bismarck was/is greatly respected by Germans.

Pre-World War I British Liberal Party made welfare reforms after the 1906 general election. One of the reasons was that the success of social legislation in Bismarck's Germany made leading Liberals in the UK such as David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill want to put forward similar legislation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_welfare_reforms).

Post-World War II British Labour Party implemented welfare state policies after their victory in the 1945 general election. The economic result lagged Germany's. When Margaret Thatcher came into power, she reversed the welfare policies which did not seem to be working as expected and pushed through free market-oriented policies. On the other hand, today's welfare policies in Germany still remains Bismarckian in principle.

Why did the welfare state succeed in Bismarck Germany but lagged in 20th-century Britain?


texts: Why didn't carrier based fighters support bombers?

texts: Why weren't aircraft carriers used to launch fighter planes to support bombers to targets in Germany? They could have gotten the fighter planes closer. Might have solved the range problem  until the mustangs could arrive.


texts: How were the earliest automatic traffic lights automated?

texts:
The first traffic light was operated by a policeman in 1868 and it was the only way things worked for a while.

Modern traffic control systems are implemented with microcontrollers, networks and software.

But what are the first mechanisms that allowed to free the traffic police from the mundane task of directing the traffic?

Was there a sort of an electric or mechanical timer? If so, how did it work?
How were the automatic traffic lights synchronized?

All solutions that predate digital electronics are welcome.


texts: Why was Seattle chosen for the site of Expo 62?

texts:
Settle's greatest landmark, the Space Needle, was built specifically for the "Century 21 Exposition", also known as Expo 62.  Nearly 10 million people attended the fair, boosting the region's economy. I was wondering, however, WHY it was Seattle that was selected for this honor.

Although I've read extensively on this topic, the only thing I've learned is why the Fair was held at all, NOT why its host city was selected to be Seattle.

Perhaps there's a historian out there who can clarify for me the reasons of Seattle's selection as host city?


texts: How did the ancient Greeks synchronize time?

texts: How the time synchronization was achieved in ancient Greece? The context of this question is about Eratosthenes and his calculation of the size of the Earth based on Sun casting shadows with different length and angle in the same time in two cities ~500 miles apart.


texts: Did Post-Marian Republic or Imperial Legion cohorts have specific skill levels?

texts:
Here and here and numerous other places I've looked online state that Roman Legions divided their infantry into cohorts based on skill, and that all legions had their cohorts identically manned.  The cohorts are described as follows:
Cohort I: Was made up of the elite troops.
Cohort II: Consisted of some of the weaker or newest troops.
Cohort III: No special designation for this unit.
Cohort IV: Another of the four weak cohorts.
Cohort V: Again, no special designation.
Cohort VI: Made up of "The Finest of the Young Men".
Cohort VII: One of the four weak cohorts and a likely place to find trainees and raw recruits.
Cohort VIII: Contained "The Selected Troops".
Cohort IX: One of the four weak cohorts and a likely place to find trainees and raw recruits.
Cohort X: Made up of "The Good Troops".
The problem is, exactly 0 of the sources I've found with such a list cite where it came from.  What's more, the dozen or so sites all have it copied the exact same way, indicating they may just be doing circular reporting of one person making it up and putting it on the internet.  Is there a primary source/s this is taken from?  If so, is there reason to believe it was a long-lasting staple of legion organization? (ie: was it likely to have existed before and/or after the document in question? Was it late republic? Imperial? Late Imperial?)  Was it a universal system, or just how a single legion was organized? (ie: can it be said that EVERY VI Cohort of the period was made up of "The Finest Young Men"? Or just that one of the cohorts was always assigned the best of the younger troops?)
I know the 1st cohort is the elite of a legion.  It also stands to reason that you'd want the 10th cohort (ostensibly your other flank-cohort) to be made up of better-than-average troops, and more generally that you'd have "training" cohorts where recruits would be sharpened "in the real world" compared to whatever they learned at any basic training they received. Or even that the cohorts were thus organized as some sort of cultural remnant of the old manipular legions. But "makes sense to me" and "something that actual has historical basis" are not the same thing!


texts: What is the symbolism behind the Sauser family crest from Sigriswil, Switzerland?

texts:
I received a letter that included a photo copy of an old b&w photo of this medallion or sign with no explanation of what it is or what it was used.

I understand it is something that was originally from Sigriswil Switzerland near Interlaken. I have no idea if it still exists and I do not know the dimensions or coloring (if any) of the original object. Also, I cannot tell why many bands cross the outer ring of the object to connect to the outer chain, which may help someone date it.

I have a strong belief that across the top is the family name "Sauser", and they are known to have been present in the community and had been for hundreds of years. The community name of Sigriswil Switzerland is shown across the bottom.

I understand the grape ring is symbolic of the wine production for the area. I have read that clovers may be a reference to the Christianizing of the area by Irish monks (Beatus of Lungern). In a Sauser family origins story I have seen the Eiger, Mönch, and Jungrau mountains referred to at least once.

I searched for some of the keywords and crests, medallions, and coats of arms, but I have not found anything similar looking yet. I have a high degree of skepticism that a family would have a coat of arms or symbol unless they had a practical purpose for one.

One theory proposed to me, besides it potentially just being a family crest, is that it was a military unit symbol for a local militia or mercenary group, but at face value it does not appear to me to be that old, but I could be wrong.

My question is the following:

What would the purpose of such a medallion or symbol (i.e. military mymbol, brand even?), and what is the symbolism of the shield and the "1" or "7" depicted?


texts: Was payment on Louisiana Bonds suspended during the War of 1812?

texts: Of the Louisiana Purchase cost of $15 million, $11,250,000 had to be paid to France.  This huge sum was financed mainly by Barings Bank in London and Hope & Co. in Amsterdam.  The U.S. would faithfully service these bonds for decades, helping establish Uncle Sam as a credible credit risk.  However, within eight years the U.S. was at war with Britain -- and Barings was in the capital of the enemy.  Did the U.S. continue to pay bonds held by Barings?  Did it send money to a financial institution in an enemy country?  If not, how were payments made?  If payments were not made during the war, were they caught up after the war -- and was there a provision for interest in that case?


texts:
This is a pretty big and general question, but I'm interested to hear some opinions from fellow StackExchangians:

Over the 20th century, how did the United States evolve into being a world superpower?

Generally, I think the USA's progression can be grouped into 4 periods, with the "superpower" phase starting around 1945:

Discovery - emergence of a new country: Constitution, government structure, values of freedom and democracy, radical new vision
Development - domestic changes: Civil War, Industrial Revolution, immigration, cities, growing inward power
Looking Outward - international affairs: Cuba, Philippines, WWI, WWII
Superpower - starts with atomic bombs on Japan, fully involved with world affairs, Korean War, War in Vietnam


texts: How common among Abolitionists was the goal of complete civil equality for Blacks?

texts: I was told by someone who knows political history that few abolitionists believed in complete equality for Blacks. Few would have believed in intermarriage and perhaps not all would have accepted that freed slaves should have the vote -- I would guess that many felt that immigration was the right solution.


texts: What book on liberty did Lord Acton not write?

texts:
Momigliano writes in his essay A Piedmontese View of the History of Ideas:

  Lord Acton managed to become famous for a book on liberty he did not
  write.

What is meant by this puzzling sentence?


texts: Is there any evidence to support the claim that the US Strategic Defense Initiative played any significant role in undermining the USSR?

texts:
I have been reading Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson, and one of the things that stuck me was a quote by Soviet hydrogen bomb creator Andrei Sakharov who was released from political imprisonment by Premier Gorbachev in large part to analyse the Strategic Defense Initiative.  SDI was a massive military research program to develop a missile shield to render Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles obsolete.  After the fall of the Soviet Union many of the project's supporters and conservative supporters of Ronald Reagan claimed that the policy was largely responsible for initiating an arms race which "broke the back" of the Soviet Union.

However, it seems that the Soviets really didn't consider SDI much of a threat, in Sakharov's words,

  "An SDI system would never be militarily effective against a well-armed opponent; rather, it would be a kind of 'Maginot line in space' expensive  and vulnerable to counter-measures.  It would not serve as a population defense, or as a shield from which a first strike could be launched, because it could be easily defeated.  Possibly SDI proponents in the United States were counting on an accelerated arms race to ruin the Soviet economy, but if so they were mistaken, for the development of counter-measures would not be expensive." (emphasis added)

Also from the same book by Johnson, "...according to Anatoly Dobrynin, the Soviet ambassador to Washington, as early as February 1986 Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev concluded that,'...to destroy or neutralize the American SDI system, we [Soviet Union] only would have to spend 10 percent of what the Americans plan to spend.' ".  Also according to statistics presented in the book the Soviet spending on weapons procurement dropped from 4 to 5 percent to 1.3 percent per year and that Russian appropriations for offensive strategic weapons declined by 40%.

I have long believed that the USSR fell due to reasons outlined by Chalmers, that being that, "The USSR collapsed for three basic reasons-internal economic contradictions driven by ideological rigidity, imperial overstretch, and the inability to reform".  What I want to know is if there is a counter-argument, based on legitimate evidence, that supports the claim that SDI did indeed significantly contribute to accelerating the fall of the Soviet Union?


texts: Were early mosques originally oriented on Petra instead of Mecca according to archaeological record?

texts:
I have come across a claim that in early Islam, the focal point of orientation for prayers was not Mecca but was originally supposed to be Petra, and that originally Qiblas used to point in that direction.

I found this book by Dan Gibson that makes this claim: Early Islamic Qiblas: A survey of mosques built between 1AH/622 C.E. and 263 AH/876 C.E (WorldCat). He is the only person I could find that says this.

How credible is this claim and how credible is Dan Gibson as a historian?


texts: What was the attitude of English knights towards their longbowmen counterparts?

texts:
On the one hand, Crecy, Neville's Cross and La Roche-Derrien were all almost exclusively victories won by longbowmen. On the other hand, it must be very annoying to have a peasant kill you, and from 200 yards away at that, not to mention that you probably owe to him the victory and that you aren't dead/captured by the French.

So how did the English nobility feel about their longbowmen?


texts: Why is the Amazon rubber boom said to have started in 1879?

texts:
According to Amazon Rubber Boom

From the beginning of the second half of the 19th century, rubber began to exert a strong attraction to visionary entrepreneurs. The activity of latex extraction in the Amazon revealed its lucrative possibilities. Natural rubber soon achieved a place of distinction in the industries of Europe and North America, reaching a high price. This caused various people to travel to Brazil with the intention of learning more about the rubber tree and the process of latex extraction, from which they hoped to make their fortunes.

Because of the growth of rubber extraction, industrial processing and related activities, numerous cities and towns swelled on waves of immigrants. In 1855, over 2,100 tons of rubber was exported from the Amazon; a figure which reached 10,000 tons by 1879.

Wikipedia along with other sources also say the rubber boom started in 1879:  'First rubber boom, 1879–1912' ... 'The rubber boom occurred largely between 1879 and 1912'.
Yet the description with accompanying figures sounds more like production smoothly increasing. What happened in 1879, that this is considered the year in which the boom started?


texts: How did corn become the most produced crop in the world?

texts: This article has corn listed as the most important crop produced in the world. For some reason I feel like rice, or wheat is the more logical choice. So what were the conditions, and events, that led to the widespread production of corn?


texts: Was Nazi science that involved human experimentation ever actually used for anything?

texts:
There is a rather ferocious debate about using Nazi human experimentation and whether citation should be given for obvious ethical reasons. What I noticed however is that most of the research on humans done by the Nazis, particularly those by Josef Mengele, aren't particularly useful beyond their torture value.

My question is:

Was there ever any particular desire to use a specific part of Nazi experiments on humans?
If so, how was it resolved?

Please note, I am referring exclusively to the race and biological science done by the Nazis, not physics. Please don't reference Operation Paperclip or Alsos Mission.


texts: Did pre-16th century Europeans call the Pacific Ocean the Atlantic?

texts: If some Europeans visited China in antiquity by sailing around India and into the Pacific Ocean, did they give a name for that ocean other than the Indian Ocean? From what I understand, they thought that west of Europe was a continuous ocean all the way to Japan and China. So if that's the case, did they call the ocean east of Japan the Atlantic ocean on maps or geographical works


texts: What kinds of WW2 POWs were treated best?

texts:
We all know that the harshest attitudes were toward Jews overall, and maybe Russian POWs in German concentration camps too. Conditions for German soldiers who were held as prisoners in USSR were also very hard.

But I wonder, what kind of POWs were treated in the mildest way during WW2?

(These could be POWs held captive by any country, not necessarily Germany.)


texts: How was the safety of allied leaders ensured in transportation for conferences during WW2?

texts:
Allied leaders met in three (well, four considering Potsdam) conferences to discuss the future after the war -- the Casablanca conference in 1943, the Tehran Conference in 1943, and Yalta Conference in 1945. However, looking at the map, these locations seem problematic.

Tehran, being in Iran, seems (relatively?) easily accessible for Stalin, but how did Churchill and Roosevelt cross Europe (mostly controlled by axis), and parts of Asia to reach Tehran? Same question with Yalta, especially since Eastern Europe was being teared apart in 1945 by the approaching Red Army, and the retreating Nazi Army.

How were the locations decided, and how did each of 3 nations ensure that the respective leaders could reach safely to and from the conference venues?


texts: What obligations did a freed slave have to his/her former master in Anglo-Saxon England?

texts:
As in Ancient Rome, slaves in Anglo-Saxon England could gain their freedom:

  The manumission (freeing) of slaves was solemnized by ceremony, the
  presence of witnesses, and legal documentation...

  The freeing ceremony could be performed in church, or at a cross-roads
  – symbolic that the freed now chooses his or her own path.

and

  slaves who had gained their freedom would become part of an underclass
  of freedmen below the rank of ceorl.

Note: ceorl or churl = ordinary freeman, "a non-servile peasant",

According to the article Roman freedmen – slavery in ancient Rome, the book The Freedman in Roman Art and Art History (pdf), as well as  Freedom and Slavery in Roman Law and Oxford Classical Dictionary, Roman freedmen sometimes (but not always) had some legal and / or social obligations to or dependency on their former owners as there were different conditions of manumission. These might include having to work part-time for the former master, restrictions on who a freedman could marry and legal provisions concerning property. It was also common for them to take their former master's name (e.g. Marcus Tullius Tiro was freed by Marcus Tullius Cicero).

Did freedmen have any obligations to their former masters in Anglo-Saxon England? If so, do we know what they were?

For the time frame, any time from the rise of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in England to the Norman conquest would be of interest, though I doubt much is known about the early period. I'll narrow this if it proves too broad (which may be the case if the Viking presence changed things).

Note: I did not make it clear in the original wording of this question that I am citing Rome merely as a source of examples of what obligations freedmen might have. In clarifying this point, I do not in any way intend to invalidate Pieter Geerkens' useful and informative answer.


texts: What was this small state in the south of France in 1789?

texts:
On wikipedia I came across the following rough political map of Europe in 1789:

To my surprise there seems to be a small state enclaved in the south of France, circled in the picture. I have no clue what this could be, so my question is:

What is the name of this state?


texts: How harmful was the Tea Act of 1773 to the American colonies?

texts:
The Tea Act of 1773 was passed by the Parliament to rescue the East India Company. However, I read somewhere that it would have actually made tea cheaper everywhere in the Empire1. By this argument, the Tea Act of 1773 was actually beneficial for the colonies.

What were the actual impacts of the Tea Act on the price of tea in the colonies?
What did the colonies perceive as the impact of the Tea Act?
If there is a gap between actual impact and perceived impact, why?

Footnotes

The quote is from lecture from a series on History of the United States, and is as follows:

  What blew the lid off this uneasy peace was the Tea Act of 1773. Which is odd, because the Tea Act not only did not involve any new taxes, but actually offered Americans a luxury item at bargain prices. The Tea Act in fact didn't even begin in the America, it originated halfway around the world, in India [...]. But Americans, far from being grateful at visions of a cheap cup of tea, Americans were only prepared to put the most sinister of constructions on the Tea Act. Lowering the price of tea, they thought, was a trick, to induce Americans to buy at a bargain and thus lure them into paying that one remaining [inaudible - mostly Townshend] tax -- the tax on tea. And when they did that, that would legitimize Parliament's claim to taxing rights in America.


texts: How did Kolmogorov help protect Moscow in WW2?

texts:
I have been reading this blog post which mentions that:

  during World War II Kolmogorov applied his mathematical gifts to
  artillery problems, helping to protect Moscow from German bombardment.

So, what were the mathematical solutions did Kolmogorov use in helping protect Moscow in the World War 2?


texts: Why was the Cuban Revolution (1953-1959) ultimately successful?

texts: Communist revolutions have been attempted across the world - what were the primary reasons that the Cuban Revolution succeeded while others failed?


texts: How long did it take to get news of the sighting of the Spanish Armada from Land’s End to London?

texts:
When the Armada was sighted, fire beacons carried the warning from Land’s End (western tip of Cornwall) to the rest of the country (this link has some details on how the system worked).

"Armada Beacon on Culver Down with Spithead in the background." Photo © John Garfoot (cc-by-sa/2.0)

In trying to find out how long the news took to reach London, I came across a mass of either vague or seemingly contradictory information. Several sources simply state “fires springing up along the headlands”  or “from headland to headland, the smoke towered skyward”  or ““leaping from hill to hill”.”  All very dramatic, but not very helpful.

This is a little more helpful:

  News of a landing on the south coast could, with luck, reach London
  within the hour, with fuller details following on, carried by a string
  of post horses.

But where from? There is over 300 miles (482 Km) of 'south coast', from Cornwall in the west to Kent in the east, the latter being much closer to London than the former.

The south coast of England. Attrib: By XrysD (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

A very specific time is given by a user on a Lord of the Rings fan site (discussing how long it took to get a message from Gondor to Rohan):

  When the Spanish armarda was spotted off the coast of lands end in
  South West England, the first beacon was lit. They raced Eastwards to
  London, and the last beacon was lit in London only 1/2 an hour after
  the first. So the people in London 300 miles away knew the Spanish
  were coming in half an hour.

Despite claiming to cite “historical facts", no source is given for this, and it seems improbable given that at least twenty beacons had to be lit between Land’s End and London (assuming 15 miles (24 km) between each beacon).

More believable is this from the National Trust:

  It is said that in 1588 it took 12 hours for the news that the Spanish
  Armada had been sighted to travel from the south coast of England all
  the way to York.

Is there anything in the historical record to tell us how long it took news of the sighting of the Spanish Armada to get from Land’s End to London?

If not, has anyone with an in-depth knowledge of the Elizabethan beacon system, the terrain, the weather and any other relevant factors come up with an estimate?


texts: Are tungsten ammunition cores still to be found on European WW2 battlefields?

texts: With ammunition sometimes missing target and penetrator cores sometimes exiting the other side of the target, i imagine tungsten cores fired during WW2 were seldom collected. Are they still found today?


texts: When did the White House get its current address?

texts:
Thanks to Wikipedia's "On this day" feature, I’ve just seen this painting of the White House after it was burned by the British forces in 1812:

The background appears to be farmland, but certainly shows that the area was not yet a heavily built-up city at the time of the burning. This in turn makes the current address of 1600 Pensilvania Avenue seem strange, specifically because of the high number.
When and why did the building get the number 1600?


texts: Is there a Buddhist-Franciscan connection?

texts:
A sentence in a book review seems to presuppose that:

  Cardini also says nothing about the Muslim world as a conduit for
  cultural goods from even greater distances, such as Chinese-style
  landscape painting via Iran, possibly gunpowder, and certainly
  Buddhist mysticism via Sufism and Franciscanism.


texts: Was Falkenhayn the first commander to recommend defeating an enemy by bleeding them to death?

texts:
In his book The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916, Alistair Horne describes the memorandum introducing  Erich Von Falkenhayn's plan to compel France to throw all its men into the defense of Verdun, because (in Falkenhayn's words)  "If they do so, the forces of France will bleed to death", then comments:

  Never through the ages had any great commander or military strategist proposed to vanquish an enemy by gradually bleeding him to death.
  - The Price of Glory, Alistair Horne

Is Horne correct, or had previous military commanders suggested a strategy along these lines?


texts: Do you know this variety of 1856 Flying Eagle cent?

texts: I have seen other flying eagle cents that have United States of America around the eagle but not the stars. And on the obverse it has United States of America around the reef.


texts:
Imperial Spain was upset when the Russian-American Company founded its Californian outpost Fort Ross. Local Spanish officials always stayed cordial with the Russians, though. Both sides were remote colonies, and a confrontation between them could be mutually destructive. The Spanish  military in California anyway had insufficient men and materiel to mount a threat. The capital Monterey was destroyed in 1818 by just two ships acting on behalf of Argentina.

The fort consists of buildings inside a redwood palisade on a high coastal bluff. It was staffed by 25-100 Russians plus 50-125 native auxiliaries. There was a freshwater spring and iron and copper smithies. It initially received 10 bronze and 15 iron cannons [Farris, So Far From Home, pp. 84]. Small towers in two corners housed some of them. To reach the shipyard and port was a day's ride or a few hours in a skin boat. I'm not at all sure how long it could afford to be besieged.

Spain considered and declined mounting an attack on Fort Ross. Diplomatic implications in Europe made it less attractive. The two emperors Alexander I and Ferdinand VII had signed a treaty to collaborate in Europe, but that didn't seem to foreclose the military option in California. Whether Spain was deterred more by the cost of an attack or its side effects is interesting, but I want to know about Spain's projected successful attack on the fort: the one the Company built up its defenses to prevent, and Spain decided not to undertake.

To take Fort Ross, how big would that expeditionary force have to be? Was it expected to breach the stockade right away, or rather to maintain a siege? Could any Spanish approach cause the fort to surrender without a fight?


texts: Why isn't Somaliland recognized as a separate country?

texts:
The modern country of Somalia is pretty much universally considered a failed state.  Within Somalia itself, however, is the de facto state of Somaliland, which if I remember correctly is almost exactly coterminus with the former colony of British Somalia.  The failed portions are almost entirely in the former Italian holdings.

Making things even better, Somaliland was an independent state for a week before joining in federation with Italian Somalia

Now, politically, I understand that the U.S. has certain allies in the region that would not like it to be an independent country, but I'm not clear on those geopolitics. Furthermore, its not like the U.S. is the only country that recognize other countries!

What I'd like to understand is what these historical animosities are, and what the present geopolitical ramifications would be of recognition.  In short, why don't most countries recognize Somaliland?


texts: Why were the Huns so successful at siege warfare but the Goths were not?

texts:
I am listening to Mike Duncan's podcast titled "The History of Rome" and in it he mentioned that it is kind of a mystery that the Huns were so successful at siege warfare but the Goths were not. Both were considered barbaric tribes and yet both tribes had leaders who had served in the Roman army. This is an important factor as it would allow both, the Huns and the Goths, equal access to the knowledge of the methods the Romans used for warfare and siege defense.

That the Huns were superior warriors (perhaps because of their mounted archers and their legendary bows) as compared to the Goths and their contemporary Roman counterparts, is not a part of the mystery. So the real question is: how did the Huns, unlike the Goths, manage to breach the walls of major cities (except the Theodosian walls of course)?


texts:
I'm interested in the origins of the Garani (Гарани, Garana) village located in the west of the former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia (FYROM).

What is the origin/etymology of the name? When do we estimate its foundation date is?

There are also 3 villages with this name in Belarus and one in Russia. Is there any connection?

I haven't found any information in English, except for the French Wikipedia article. There's a bit more info in the Albanian one and we can assume that the village is at least 500 years old. I have no knowledge of Macedonian, Albanian or Russian so I'm very limited in my research...

French Wikipedia article on Garani
Russian Wikipedia article


texts:
I was interested to see just now that the Dead Sea Scroll fragments (e.g. this one) have clear spaces delineating the words.

Whereas we have, with the Hebrew Bible at least, an idea of where the line breaks were in poetry because of features like parallelism even though those breaks are not in the oldest manuscripts.

This got me wondering: when did explicit markers for textual organization at the level of the word, the sentence, the verse of poetry, paragraphs, and books come into existence? Whether it was punctuation, indentation, other whitespace...

Wikipedia has this to say about the history of the paragraph:

  The oldest classical Greek and Latin writing had little or no space between words and could be written in boustrophedon (alternating directions). Over time, text direction (left to right) became standardized, and word dividers and terminal punctuation became common. The first way to divide sentences into groups was the original paragraphos, similar to an underscore at the beginning of the new group.

Moreover:

  In ancient manuscripts, another means to divide sentences into paragraphs was a line break (newline) followed by an initial at the beginning of the next paragraph.

Is a more detailed summary available? How, where, and when did these things develop that seem so crucial to us?


texts: What was the fate of Gülbahar, the chief consort of Sultan Suleyman of 16th century?

texts:
Could someone outline the basic timeline of Gulbahar's history with respect to her exile from the old palace harem and death in line with her son's execution?
I'm writing a tragic-comedy stageplay on Roxelana (Khurrem), the wife of Suleyman the Magnificent. I want to try and bring as many historical accounts as possible. I'm trying to establish the fate of Gülbahar. As I understand, she was consort to the Sultan and gave him a surviving first son, Mustafa, who was due to take the throne.
I have read one account by the historical novelist Harold Lamb...

“...Gulbehar is in exile, Roxelana married to him. In his thoughts he has realized that he cannot enter the society of Europe. ”

Excerpt From: Harold Lamb. “Suleiman The Magnificent Sultan Of The East.”

I also read that she died before Mustafa's execution within the same account...

“Restless anxiety drove her to weigh every word of her spies. It came from the Osmanli law of fratricide. Although Gulbehar had died, Mustafa, the son of the Circassian woman, would be the next Sultan. What if Mustafa chose to invoke the ancient law, and to put to death his stepbrothers who were her own sons, Selim, Bayazid and Jahangir?”

Excerpt From: Harold Lamb. “Suleiman The Magnificent Sultan Of The East.”

Did Gulbehar die before her son's execution or die after? And was she even exiled (and why?).


texts: Was there religious content on the post-war BBC World Service?

texts:
At the beginning of Oranges are not the only fruit, Jeanette talks about listening to the radio with her mother as a child.

  Sunday was the Lord's Day, the most vigorous day of the whole week; we had a radiogram at home with an imposing mahogany front and a fat Bakelite knob to twiddle for the stations. Usually we listened to the Light Programme, but on Sundays always the World Service, so that my mother could record the progress of our missionaries.

I assume that this is referring to BBC programmes, but I am confused about the detail of how the characters listened to the radio for "the progress of [their] missionaries." This is made more explicit in a slightly later passage:

  … we had to listen to the World Service. It was always the same we sat down on either side of the radiogram, she with her tea, me with a pad and pencil; in front of us, the Missionary Map. The faraway voice in the middle of the set gave news of activities, converts and problems. At the end there was an appeal for YOUR PRAYERS.

Am I right in assuming that there was such an evangelical segment on the World Service? Or am I misinterpreting the passage, or is the narration here purposely misconstruing what the characters were actually listening to?

These days, the BBC programmes that I've heard are strictly secular in nature; I imagine that there may be some religiously-themed broadcasts for special services, but I doubt that they're aggressively evangelical like this. I've tried looking this up online, but my Google-fu is coming up short.


texts: What Roman legions in Hispania revolted against Caesar before the battle at Munda?

texts:
I was debating an interesting topic recently about Pompey's legions in Hispania and why they hadn't fought alongside him against Caesar at Pharsalus. Now Caesar forcefully convinced most of them to join his cause before fighting Pompey himself but in the Wikipedia article about the Battle of Munda (sourced from Cassius Dio) the following excerpt can be read:

  During the Spring of 46 BC two legions in Hispania Ulterior, largely formed by former Pompeian veterans enrolled in Caesar’s army, had declared themselves for Gnaeus Pompeius (son of Pompey the Great) and driven out Caesar’s proconsul.

Does anyone know what those two legions were called?


texts: When did Kakinoki Kinsuke used a kite to enter the Nagoya castle

texts:
From different online sources I can find that the Japanese thief Kakinoki Kinsuke used a kite to fly over the wall of the Nagoya castle to steal certain golden parts of a statue.
The thing I can not find is, when he performed this theft. Does anyone know the year approximately?


texts: How voluntary was Sati during the Mughal era?

texts: So the ritual of sati (where a women must throw herself onto the funeral pyre of her dead husband) was widely practiced throughout South Asia in the Ancient era and Middle Ages. In the Mughal era, some leaders (Akbar the Great) tried to abolish the ritual but failed and instead opted to discourage the practice instead of banning it outright. Since even some leaders were resistant to this method, how resistant were the women who committed sati to the ritual at this time. Did they accept it as part of their culture and voluntarily do it, or were they forced into performing the act? Which women were the most pressured to commit sati? Did it vary based on socioeconomic status or chastity?


texts: Why was Japanese Unit 731 immune from War Crime trials?

texts:
Question about WWII; I came across Unit 731, and was wondering why the US had the authority/right to grant Japanese Unit 731 immunity from war crime trials, in exchange for the human experimentation results (just to the US but not other allies)?

Also - I'm researching more - but from what I've read, so far, it seems like the post-war treatments Japan received were softer in a degree compared to that of Germany? For instance, Japan was free from trials whilst the Nuremberg and Doctor's trials were aimed at the Nazis.


texts: Did any European/American settlements in the Ohio Country survive the French and Indian War?

texts:
The Ohio Company was formed in 1748 to bring English settlement to the Ohio Country.  At that time, the Ohio Country was largely uninhabited, as the Iroquois had driven out or exterminated the tribes previously inhabiting the area.

Then, in 1754, the French and Indian War started; control of the Ohio Country being one of the disputes between the major powers.

Were there any European/American settlements in the Ohio Country established before the war that survived after the war was over?


texts:
Until fairly recently, brothels had been legal in most parts of the West for a long time.  The same might be true of other "medieval societies" in other parts of the world with traditional values.

But why?  Per instance, why would countries obsessed with the supposed virtue of virginity and who believed that those who had sex outside of wedlock were likely or certain to go to hell, make brothels legal?

I mean, they made charging interest on loans illegal, so why not brothels?


texts: How much evidence is there regarding the naval punishment of keelhauling?

texts:
Keelhauling is a famous naval punishment under which the offender would by dragged beneath the hull of the ship. This would have been encrusted with shellfish such as barnacles which would - at the very least - have caused some nasty lacerations. Some claim it was usually lethal either due to drowning or severe trauma.

We are told it was used primarily by the Dutch navy and to a lesser extent by the English. It has also become associated with pirates in the West Indies.

On investigation, though, there seems to be very little evidence that it actually happened. I can only find vague references to "ship's records" but no firm copy of those records. This lack of hard evidence may the reason why there's also no agreement on how frequent or how serious the punishment was.

Is there any firm records of this punishment actually occuring? If so, do they shed any light on how often it was used, and whether it tended to be severe and/or fatal?


texts: When was encrypted voice over radio first used?

texts: I have been trying to find when encrypted radios were first used.  Not something like the German Enigma that transmitted encrypted data but when a person could actually talk to another person over an encrypted radio channel.


texts: What was the relationship between slaves and poor Romans needing jobs in Rome's labour market?

texts: In ancient Rome's labour market, what was the relationship between slaves and Romans who needed jobs to survive (wage slaves)? What market forces determined the jobs done by slaves versus those done by Romans?


texts:
The photo below was found in an envelope among a bundle of family photos which were recently handed down on the English side of my family.

Aside from the photo itself, the only clues are as follows:

The word 'Prince' is written on the back of the photo in pencil. This could be misleading but, given the next point below, that seems unlikely.

All of the other photos in the envelope containing the picture above which have been identified so far are of European royals, with one exception: the 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Abdül Aziz (identified here by sempaiscuba) . Among these are ones of Alfred, second son of Queen Victoria, and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia.

Judging by the age of the people identified so far, most of the photos were probably originally taken between the late 1860s and the mid 1870s. If the 'Prince's' photo falls into this bracket, he would probably have been born in the mid 1850s or early 1860s.

The photos seem to have been collected either by my Great Grandmother (b. 1851) or my Great Great Grandmother (b. 1833).

I'd be grateful for any information or additional clues which might lead to an identification of the boy. A definite answer to the main question would be great, but I don't know if there is enough information here for that to be possible.


texts: What happened to dead WWI soldiers whose faith believed in cremation?

texts:
I am researching what happened to soldiers who were killed in WW1. They were buried on the spot according to longlongtrail

But what about soldiers, such as Sikh soldier who were killed? Were they also buried, or was there cremation? I am looking for sources.


texts:
Metal with painted areas. Center area has an insignia. I have checked online at several places with no luck.

https://i.stack.imgur.com/YR0Iz.jpg
Palm sized. Gold sunburst cross 0°. Superimposed gold edged blue Maltese cross 45°. Super imposed gold edged white 8 pointed star 0°. Super imposed shield with three bumps at top and three bumps at base dark green. Shield contains: Doubled rounded cross gold centre with two fleurs gold flanking. Crowned with gold crown with club ended points.


texts: Why did the USA sell so many airplanes prior to WW2?

texts:
I am wondering why there are so much airplanes made in USA in the world's air forces prior to WW2, since I don't think the US Air Force had the better reputation.
You can count the:

Glenn Martin fighter
Brewster F2A Buffalo fighter
Martin Twin engine bombers in multiple variants
...

How did the US, with their isolationism, concluded so many contracts? And why only in air forces and not in naval or land warfare?

I am not speaking of the lend lease hardware.


texts: Is this accusation in the Declaration of Independence factual?

texts:
In the Declaration of Independence, one of the "Wrongs of King George" is:

  He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured
  to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian
  Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished
  destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

This sentence always gets my family stirred up when I read it aloud on the Fourth of July, with them criticizing the founders' attitudes regarding the American Indians.

What I would like to know:  Is this accusation based on fact?  Did the British incite any Indian tribes to attack colonial settlements?  I know there were hard feelings in the colonies about the treaty enacted in 1763 that forbade settlement beyond a line in the Appalachian Mountains, but I am not sure if that is what Jefferson was referring to.  Were there British-funded raids by tribes, or perhaps British arming of tribes?


texts: What do we currently know about the ethnic origins of Jews?

texts:
Putting aside the Old Testament, which details a story (perhaps true) of the origins of peoples including Jews, what has anthropology and genetics revealed so far about the origins of Jews?

When did they first become distinct as an ethnic group? What older ethnicities do scientists think they are genetically comprised of?

Of course this may be construed as a broad questions, so I wish to limit it to those Jews who are generally accepted as having roots in the Middle East, so excluding groups such as Oriental and Ethiopian Jews for the sake of simplicity.

The reason I ask is because if the Old Testament/Torah is not correct (which seems to be the case) then when the Torah was written in latest 6th century BC Jews must have already existed as an ethnic group, meaning they surely had a sense of commonality in regards to their origins.


texts: Was Skalat on the border between Poland and USSR before WW2?  Is there a pre-WW2 map with Skalat? I am trying to confirm information from a 90-year old who reportedly crossed the former border between Poland and USSR during WW2 (July, 1941) at Skalat.


texts: How did Moscow become the capital/most important city in Russia?

texts:
Early in the past millennium, Kiev was probably the largest, most modern city in the former Soviet Union, at least until the Mongols came. One might have expected it to be the capital of the Soviet Union, with its location on the Dniepr River, and relatively easy access to eastern and southern Europe, plus the Black Sea (via the Dniepr)? Or did Mongols change all that?
Another, logical "main city" is St. Petersburg (formerly the capital), with its coastal position, and window to western Europe.
Looking at the capitals of Europe, they are mainly located on the coast (Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki) or along a major river (London on the Thames, Paris on the Seine) not far from the sea.
Moscow, by comparison, seems to be in the middle of nowhere. The only comparison I can think of is Poland's Warsaw, which became the capital after Poland and (the former) Lithuania merged, with Warsaw being near the center of the combined country.
Or is that why it became Russia's capital, and largest city, with "equal access" to the Baltic and the Urals, the White and Black Seas?


texts: What is the spiral-looking device shown in this wall painting?

texts:
A colleague found this wall painting. We are sure about the elements related to mining and the divining rods. But we've got no clue for the spiral element that seems to be operated/carried by two people.

For dating we've got a hint at least. There is a particular kind of bird in the painting, maybe the "Northern Bald Ibis". They nested in the cliffs, and on castles and ruins in the Graz/Steiermark and Salzburg regions of Austria. They got hunted and vanished around 1630-1645, as their feathers were used for hat decoration (plume hunting). Thus, the painting should date around that period.

Location: The wall-painting was found in a celler of a patrician house in Graz.

Can anybody help out?


texts: How would an early Medieval German market have looked?

texts:
I am trying to find sources on how a medieval German market would have looked. Any artwork (painting, wood carving, wood print) would be perfect, but even just a description would already be great. My struggle is specifically with the time frame: The closer the material could be to around 900-1000, the better.

In more specific detail, I am interested in sources on the layout of the market and how the stalls would have looked that the traders used. Anything that would help make the picture of a market at the time clearer.

I am interested in such material for Westphalian cities of the time frame. Anything that is roughly in the area of modern Lower Saxony would be fine though.

Optimally, this source would reference a city that wouldn't later become a part of the Hanseatic League, but either cases are useful sources for me.

I fear that such sources may be rather sparse, considering the mundane content of it. What are general ideas for finding such specific material? Where could one search for stuff like this?


texts:
Generally, it is believed that the Minoan civilization on Crete was peaceful and their culture was more like a culture of peace than a culture of war.

But I've read an article lately that suggests that their civilization was warlike.

So, is there enough evidence for such a suggestion?


texts: What Factors Have Led to the Duration of US Copyrights Continuously Increasing?

texts: The below image shows how the duration of US copyright laws has increased to 4x what it was originally. Is there a reason that copyright duration has only been extended in the US? What are the historical reasons for extending copyright protection?


texts: Did any black athletes other than Jesse Owens win any medals in the 1936 Berlin Olympics?

texts: When looking over the famous 1936 Berlin Olympics, I found out that Hitler did not snub Jesse Owens, but did other Olympic winners  (though I don't doubt that Jesse would've been snubbed by him in the first place). While Germany won most of the events, how often did they lose to black athletes?


texts: The Dutch dialects spoken in Belgium and the Netherlands are diverse, but if a general statement can be made, which, as spoken today, is closer to the root of the language?


texts: What is the flag in this 17th century painting?

texts:
I'm doing research on a painting 'Koppertjesmaandag' by Adriaen van Nieulandt in 1633. In the right corner of the painting you can see a couple of ships with their flags. One in particular is a gold flag with a black eagle. This flag seems to be used a lot for the Holy Roman Empire, although usually double-headed. This particular flag is single headed.

Anyone here with knowledge on European flags?
Thank you.


texts: Did "The Cosmic Race" inform "The Anthropophagic Manifesto"?

texts:
José Vasconcelos published The Cosmic Race in 1925. In his view Mexico could construct a new, better race from the diverse origins of its people.

Oswald de Andrade published his Anthropophagic Manifesto in 1928. In his view Brazil could construct new, better works by adapting ideas from the exterior. Among Andrade's inspirations was André Breton (perhaps the Surrealist Manifesto of 1924).

The "Anthropophagic Manifesto" could have been written with "The Cosmic Race" in mind. Had Andrade read the work of Vasconcelos?


texts: Was Kaliningrad offered to the Lithuanian SSR; was this offer rejected; and if so, why?

texts:
This is a follow up to this other question Why was Kaliningrad placed under the Russian SFSR rather than the Lithuanian SSR?
Semaphore's answer states:

... a similar offer was made to give Kaliningrad to Lithuania. However, the Lithuanian leader Antanas Sniečkus had the foresight to decline. By then, the German population had been expelled and replaced with Russian colonists. The Lithuanians wisely refused to adopt a large, and potentially problematic, minority.

Semaphore cites Krickus (2001) who claims in passing (no citations found):

And in private, Lithuanian officials assert "what would we do with close to one million Russian speakers?" Recall that during the Soviet Era, Lithuanian Communists loyal to Moscow rejected Khruschev's offer to place Kaliningrad under Lithuanian authority for the same reason.

I was wondering if there is more solid historical evidence to back up the assertions that

Kaliningrad was offered to the Lithuanian SSR; and
This offer was rejected.

Googling, I can't seem to find much. This seems like an apocryphal tale that may very well be true but for which I can't find any actual historical evidence. A Quora answer calls it "the common legend".
A book repeats the above assertions (no citations found):

Lithuania's Communist leader, Antanas Snieckus, had wisely refused an offer made in the 1950s by Soviety party chief Nikita Khruschev that Lithuania take control of the Kaliningrad region. Snieckus feared that his republic would invite the same problems with a large Russian minority that were mounting in Latvia and Estonia.

A forum post claims (no citations):

In 1945 Soviet authorities were deciding which Soviet republic the newly acquired region should join. Both Lithuanian and Belarusian republics were considered. The choice fell on Lithuanian SSR because the republic and the region had a common border. First Secretary of Lithuanian SSR Antanas Sniečkus refused the idea. So Kaliningrad region went RSFSR (Russian Republic)
In 1963 Nikita Khrushev offered the region to Lithuanian SSR again. Once again First Secretary Antanas Sniečkus declined the offer.
The last time Kaliningrad region was offered to Lithuania in 1987. Lithuania missed her chance for the last time.

The last claim below is from World Heritage Encylcopedia, which also adds another possible story (where Stalin didn't want to give Kaliningrad to Lithuania because he wanted to further separate the Baltic states from the West). Here there seems to be a footnote but the webpage doesn't link anywhere and I can't find the original text of this Encyclopedia:

According to some accounts from the 1950s and 1960s, immediately after the Second World War the Soviet government had planned to make the rest of the area a part of the Lithuanian SSR, as a substantial portion of the oblast consists of Lithuania Minor. The area was administered by the planning committee of the LSSR, although it had its own Communist Party committee. However, the leadership of the Lithuanian SSR (especially Antanas Sniečkus) refused to take the territory, mainly because of its devastation during the war. Some modern nationalistic Lithuanian authors say that the reason for the refusal was the Lithuanians' concern that there might be as many Russians as Lithuanians within the Lithuanian SSR. Instead, the region was added as an exclave to the Russian SFSR and since 1946 it has been known as the Kaliningrad Oblast. According to some historians, Stalin created it as an oblast separate from the LSSR because it further separated the Baltic states from the West.


texts: Could there be a possibility that some Romans knew that there was a country north east of India? Because as far as I know the Romans traded with Indians.


texts: When did Cyrus II release the captives of Babylon?

texts:
The text below are bits I want to discuss that are taken from the Cyrus Cylinder - dated 539 - 530 BCE.

  "I am Cyrus, king of the universe, the great king, the powerful king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four quarters of the world....My vast army marched into Babylon in peace; I did not permit anyone to frighten the people of [Sumer] /and\ Akkad.[25] I sought the welfare of the city of Babylon and all its sacred centers. As for the citizens of Babylon, [x x x upon wh]om henote imposed a corvée which was not the gods' wish and not befitting them,[26] I relieved their weariness and freed them from their service. Marduk, the great lord, rejoiced over [my good] deeds...32] I returned the images of the gods, who had resided there, note to their places and I let them dwell in eternal abodes. I gathered all their inhabitants and returned to them their dwellings. BritishMuseum

In between this, Cyrus mentions many kings coming before him and kissing his feet. Apart from that the text of the Cyrus Cylinder gives the impression that the act of allowing the captives to go back to their original homelands was quite soon into his reign. He came to the throne in October 539 BCE. The book of Ezra says this decree happened in his first year (Ez. 1:1) which would have been between March 538/537 BCE *. If this is true the decree would've happened at least 5 months after ascending the throne. Would it be more probable that the decree happened a lot sooner in his reign as can be interpreted in the Cyrus Cylinder?

*   * Note: Babylonians dated the first year of a king's reign from Nisan the following year of when a king came to the throne. Since Ezra was born in Babylonian captivity it'll be logical to assume he used the same method to date a king's reign. Hence, the first year of Cyrus, according to Ezra, would've begun in Nisan 1 (mid March) 538 BCE. October 539 BCE, when Cyrus came to the throne, is 5 months earlier.


texts:
Is there a reason why months alternate between 30 and 31 days? 365.24/12 = 30.23666; there are many ways to allocate the .2366 days among the months. Why was this chosen?
Is there a reason why July and August violate this rule?

Generally months with 31 and 30 days come in alternate fashion except for July and August which are consecutive. So why they both have 31 days? and who invented that calendar?

The answers can probably only be found through historical sources and methods,


texts: Why did native Americans and Europeans mix in South America but not in North America?

texts: A large part of the current population of South America are descendants of both native Americans and Europeans. In contrast, in north America the intermingling of native Americans and Europeans was significantly less common. What are the historic reasons for this difference?


texts: Did the increase of slavery in the US bring an end to indentured servitude?

texts: In the development of the New World, indentured servitude was quite common for passage across the Atlantic. Did the increase in slavery in America, especially in  Virginia and other similar agricultural states, lead to the end of indentured servitude?


texts: What does this quote from the Roman imperial poet Rutilius mean?

texts:
Reading about the little Italian isle of Capraia, I've seen a quote attributed to
Claudio Rutilio Namaziano, from his De Reditu, that in Latin goes:

"Processu pelagi iam se Capraria tollit;
squalet lucifugis insula plena viris."

or

"Going by sea the Capraia already stands out,
 a rugged island full of men fleeing the light "

What men fleeing the light was he referring to?


texts: Why the Black Death took longer to appear in Eastern Europe than in Western Europe


texts: Were any Egyptian pyramids designed to be half an octahedron?

texts:
Are there Egyptian pyramids which were modeled to resemble half an octahedron? Do the angles of some pyramids correspond to angles of an octahedron?

For those who don't know what an octahedron is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octahedron


texts: Trying to understand the idea of a totalitarian administration from the pages of history

texts:
I'm a student of science and new to History StackExchange. I'm trying to understand the idea and meaning of a totalitarian administration through historical examples.

Can someone provide me with some well-known instances and/or characters from history? The dictionary meaning doesn't help much unless it can be understood w.r.t some examples from history.

Apologies if the question is unsuitable for this site.


texts:
This question is motivated by the XKCD comic 286 All Your Base (see also Explain XKCD):

In the comic, a character is preparing for a comeback by a meme that was previously highly popular.  I'm wondering if this has actually ever happened.

Question: Has any previously popular Internet meme subsequently made a comeback?

More specifically, I'm wondering if there exists an Internet meme which:

became popular,
lost it popularity, and
subsequently became popular again.

I could imagine e.g. a presidential slip-up rekindling interest in a dormant meme.

I hope I'm not asking an off-topic question here (it's my first), but I feel this could reasonably be considered as part of "history of the Internet".  See also recent history on meta.


texts: How were British tea taxes collected in Boston in the early 1770s?

texts:
I assume the taxes were ultimately passed on to tea consumers, but that’s not my question.

Who in Boston was responsible for the initial outlay of payment, and when in the lifecycle of a tea shipment did they have to pay it?

I asked this question at the Boston Tea Party Museum and got some very vague answers (e.g. “we all paid!!”).


texts: What is the history behind this English village well?

texts:
The thatched well (below) in the village of East Marden is a well-known attraction in the South Downs, not far from Chichester. The village is recorded in the Domesday Book (as Meredone) and St. Peter's Church (in the background) is from the 12th century.

Attrib: Janine Forbes [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

According to the information on this pin and this South Downs National Park Authority pdf, the well is 200 feet deep, has an 18th century pump and was the only source of water in the village until 1924.

However, the story before the 18th century is unclear. The article Secret Villages of the South Downs relates this story on the well and Saint Richard of Chichester (d. 1253):

  He is said to have performed a minor miracle hereabouts, when, in
  answer to the prayers of the villagers during a drought, he provided a
  spring of cold, clear water. Could this be the origin of the thatched well, which forms a landmark in the centre of East Marden to this day?

Is there anything in the historical record about whether the well pre-dates the pump (i.e. the water was brought up with buckets on a rope)?

Also, for how long has it had a thatched roof?

My reason for asking this (perhaps seemingly obscure) question is that I spent much of my childhood in this village. Unfortunately, none of the people I knew there at the time are still there (and I now live on the other side of the world).


texts: How were peasant houses constructed in medieval England?

texts:
What was the typical construction material and process for a house in medieval England?  Specifically, for a typical farming serf, operating a few acres of land.

This question is meant as a more-specific version of Building a house in the middle age in europe (specifically germany).  My first inclination was to edit that one to focus on England, and ask that it be re-opened so I could answer it, but a very similar situation was addressed in Meta with the answer "create a new question," so here it is


texts: Why was the wording on war in Japan's postwar constitution so much stronger than in Germany's or Italy's?

texts:
From Hathway and Shapiro (2017):

The Allies supervised the drafting of new constitutions for each of the Axis powers and enshrined the prohibition on war into each state’s own governing documents. Article 26 of Germany’s Basic Law provided that “Acts tending to and undertaken with intent to disturb the peaceful relations between nations, especially to prepare for a war of aggression, shall be unconstitutional. They shall be made a criminal offense.” Article 9 of Japan’s new constitution provided that “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.” Article 11 of the Italian constitution provided that Italy “rejects war as an instrument of aggression against the freedom of other peoples and as a means for settling international disputes.”

Why was the wording in Japan's constitution so much stronger and less ambiguous than Germany's or Italy's?

For convenience, the three phrasing pulled out in block quotes:

Germany, Art. 26.1 GG

Acts tending to and undertaken with intent to disturb the peaceful relations between nations, especially to prepare for a war of aggression, shall be unconstitutional. They shall be made a criminal offense.

Japan:

the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes.

Italy:

rejects war as an instrument of aggression against the freedom of other peoples and as a means for settling international disputes.

The above is not intended to be a replacement for the full quote from Hathaway and Shapiro, which I firmly believe should remain in the body of this question.


texts: I hope this isn't too general, but I am talking about any warfare before the invention of firearms. In a one vs one duel between sword and pole arm, it seems like the pole arm has significant advantages; a pole arm can reach the sword wielder, while the sword wielder. Sure if the sword wielder gets close he can do a lot of damage, but getting close is extremely risky and tricky. A few advantages of the sword that I could think of is being able to use a shield and being more mobile, but do these advantages really outweigh the advantages of the pole arm? I believe sword users are also much more vulnerable to cavalry than pole arms.


texts: When was the first recorded example of a race competition in human history?

texts: Individuals in a race compete with another or others to see who is fastest. But when the race competition was invented? It is reported that races were popular in the ancient Olympic games. Is this the first recorded example of a race competition in human history? Or there are older examples?


texts: Which tall building was completed in 1940 in Europe?

texts:
This chart from The Economist lists the tallest building completed each year since 1885.

It seems a tallish building (over 100m) was completed in Europe in 1940, and indeed this was the tallest building completed during that year, across the whole world.

Which building was this, and was it in a city at war in 1940 like Paris, London or Berlin? Or was it in one of the neutrals?


texts: What set Checkpoint Charlie apart from the other border checkpoints in Berlin during the Cold War?

texts: How did "Checkpoint Charlie" become known as the border crossing between East and West Berlin? Out of the countless border checkpoints, what set Checkpoint Charlie apart from the rest for defectors?


texts: Was the Flakpanzer IV used against infantry? If not, what was?

texts:
I know it's not good to take video games' word for it when it comes to history. However, in the game "Company of Heroes 2", the German team can deploy an "Ostwind" Flakpanzer IV, which to my understanding was an anti-air gun on a tank chassis. In the game, the Flakpanzer is used almost exclusively as an anti-infantry tank.

My question is, was the Flakpanzer IV (or any other German anti-air gun) used against infantry? If not, was there a different type of tank used to counter infantry?


texts: Did medieval kingdoms issue health related guidelines?

texts:
Today national health protection agencies around the world such as CDC in  United States often issue health and personal hygiene guidelines during  pandemics or epidemic or where a large population of a nation is under threat from a particular disease.
Do kingdoms (kings and their ministers, health officials) used to issue such health related guidelines, warnings such as do's and don'ts to the public regularly or in times of epidemics etc. in the medieval period.
Although the question is not limited to it, but I am especially interested in medieval Europe and Britain.
I know heralds and pamphlets or posters were some of the mediums to address to mass public back then so how were such messages transmitted to public?
So is there any record of any public health, personal hygiene guidelines issued by kingdoms, kings in medieval times, especially from Europe and Britain?

Note — The question is not mainly about medical guidelines(also called a clinical guideline, standard treatment guideline, or clinical practice guideline) but it will be a good supplement to answer about those as well.


texts: Buying/Renting/Leasing houses during history?

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I was wondering about something. After the last financial crisis, many people have talked about not buying a house, but renting one, and they made it sound like a "new" idea. So what was it like hundreds and thousands of years ago (when people already lived in houses and cities)? How would this compare to something more recent, such as pre-WW2?

Did everyone own a house? When did renting appear? When did leasing, which is a "cousin" of renting, come into the picture?


texts: Have national symbols often acquired partisan meanings?

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In the U.S. today the Republican Party and its partisans use much more patriotic imagery than its opposition. Conservatives highly value loyalty (see Haidt's moral foundations theory). The national flag itself appears to be neutral, but it is sort of owned by one side. Very broadly, no matter who is president, liberals wouldn't be caught wearing a flag while conservatives put it on everything. I'd like to know about historical antecedents of this schism. Admittedly behaviors do change in the medium term (remember Peter Fonda's motorcycle in Easy Rider).

Is it a historic norm that established seals and flags acquire partisan political implications? Did they ever shed those implications afterwards?


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We read a lot about the problem of micromanagement today, particularly in examples of failed leadership. And Google Ngram Viewer shows the first occurrences of the word in the 1970s.

Did ancient (and other pre-modern) historians talk about this leadership flaw as well? Are there examples of military or political leaders whose failure was traced back by their contemporary historians to micromanagement?

Or did the leading historians of antiquity (and the medieval and modern eras) instead tend to blame failures on overly remote and inactive leadership?


texts: What were factors that led to a decline in bond yields during World War II given that the opposite should have happened?

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Huge financing is required for wars. World War II was the largest-scale war in human history. Therefore, the large borrowing should have led to a rise in bond yields. Amazingly, bond yields dropped during World War II! See the chart below.

http://www.gold-eagle.com/article/look-bond-yields-1934-2015

This is most puzzling. What were the conditions and events then that led to the anomaly?

Another interesting development was that one of the greatest bear bond market followed after the end of World War II. The bear market ended with 15% yield, killed by Paul Volcker in the early 1980s.


texts: Which was the last major war in which horse mounted cavalry actually participated in active fighting?

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Which was the last major war in which horses were used for frequent fighting?

Why were these horses used, and about how many were there?

This is not a duplicate of the question (When was the last cavalry charge?) ; I simply would like more information about this somewhat muddled topic.


texts: Hitler claimed that the Jews sabotaged Germany. What did he think were the Jews' motivation for doing so?

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I'm guessing he thought it was all about money?

Another possible theory - he thought that the Jews thought that the Nordic race was a threat to them so they tried to bring it down.

Edit - to be clear, this question is trying to understand Hitler and the Nazis perspective. That they were wrong has been well established and is not a matter of debate.

Edit 2 - What I'm trying to figure out is hitlers thought process. The Nazis were obviously wrong, they said that 'Every great creation, idea, and artistic expression on this planet were brought forth by real man.' and that Jews aren't 'real man'. What about Einstein who invented the most beautiful theory in all of science? What about the numerous other Jewish scientists, mathmeticians, engineers, and nobel prize laureates? But more to the point, his 'ideology' was based on pseudoscience that has been proven to be wrong. Also based on consipiracy theories that aren't true.


texts: How many times did the the sacred fire of Vesta die?

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The sacred fire of Vesta was a sacred eternal flame in Ancient Rome, tended to by the Vestal Virgins. Except once a year for the kalendae (first day of March), extinguishing the sacred fire resulted in all kinds of horrible and innovative punishments for the Vestal Virgins who were responsible for tending to this flame.
Now I'm wondering, how many times is it mentioned in records we have found did the Vestal Virgins fail in their task?
The best recorded occurrence of the dying of this flame is when Theodosius I began his persecution of pagans and extinguished the flame for the final time.


texts: Title says it all really? Any help would be much appreciated. I just need a few examples as I am struggling to find any...


texts: When did Europeans make Sunday rather than Saturday the seventh day?

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In the United States, calendars that list a week in one line are typically formatted like this:

S M T W T F S

Sunday is the first day of the week and Saturday is the seventh. That conforms to a tradition that goes back at least to ancient Jews long before Christianity.

If I understand correctly, people in Europe now regard Monday as the first day and Sunday as the seventh. The calendars are thus formatted:

M T W T F S S

Was it during the 20th century that Europeans adopted this convention?

(Additionally, some African countries consider Saturday the first day.)


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The German Wikipedia-site states the following with regards to the ethnogenesis of kurds:

"Bereits Wilhelm Gesenius versuchte die Chaldäer (Chardim) mit den Kurden (Kard) in Verbindung zu bringen.[14] Auch von Hellwald setzt kommentarlos Chaldäer und Kurden gleich."

Vague translation:

"Wilhelm Gesenius tried to suggest a link between Chaldeans and Kurds. Likewise, von Hellward equate Kurds and Chaldeans." Wikipedia:Ethnogenese

How is this even plausible? Kurds are Iranian people, that speak an Indo-European language. Chaldeans on the other hand speak a Semitic language. Is this some biased, Euro-centric reading?


texts: After the 1947 India Partition, why did Sikhs & Hindus fleeing Pakistan travel to Delhi rather than stay in Amritsar?

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After 1947 Partition of India, why did Sikhs and Hindus (escaping newly created Pakistan) not stay in a nearby city such as Amritsar, but instead migrate another 400 miles away to Delhi?

According to the 1951 Census of India, 2% of India's population were refugees (1.3% from West Pakistan and 0.7% from East Pakistan). Delhi received the largest number of refugees for a single city – the population of Delhi grew rapidly in 1947 from under 1 million (917,939) to a little less than 2 million (1,744,072) during the period 1941–1951.

I am unable to find anything on google, please guide.


texts: Ports Used by French Navy in 1792 and Strength of Fleet

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I am currently writing series of young adult novels about the European Conflicts beginning in 1792.

Where were the major and minor French Navy ports and yards, and what was the relative strength of ships and the troops that guarded such facilities?


texts: Did other countries stop recognizing Austria, after the German annexation?

texts: In World War II, Germany annexed Austria, thereby jeopardizing the lives of many Jews, including Lisa Meitner. According to The Nuclear Express by Thomas C. Reed and Danny B. Stillman, Lisa Meitner found it hard to emigrate outside of Austria because her Austrian passport was no longer valid, because Austria wasn't a country. Did the allied powers stop recognizing Austria as a country?


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I participate in a Facebook group about the history of my hometown, Mechanicsburg, PA.  We are trying to put a year on the following picture taken on the town’s annual street fair, called Jubilee Day.

Because Jubilee Day is always held on a Thursday, we already know that it was either 1947, 1952, 1958, or 1969.  Because of the 48 star flag, and the kids clothes and hair, we know it wasn’t 1969.

What I am hoping is that someone with more knowledge of the period dress and styles can pin it down further.

The other big possible clue are the two vehicles in the upper right corner.  The bus is unobscured and looks very distinctive to me, so if anybody could identify its model and make, that would probably do it.

Here’s a blowup of the vehicles.


texts: What is the source of the claim that Enigma codebreaking efforts shortened the Second World War by years and saved millions of lives?

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Since the release of the film The Imitation Game, it has been widely asserted that

  The cracking of Germany’s Enigma code shortening the war by two to
  four years and saving an estimated 14 million to 21 million lives.

What is the source of this claim and how widely is this view held among historians?


texts: Where can I find information on American born WWII soldier locked up until they could prove they had an American birth certificate?

texts: My American born father, who has German ancestry was in World War II. He was one of many men held until their birth certificates could be checked out. People with German heritage like him, along Italians and several other nationalities, were treated this way. I have tried for over 30 years to get information unit info and the like. Over the years bits of information have some, and on occasion I was sent basic medals.  But there is still nothing of where in New Guinea he or his unit was. I have heard that J. Edgar Hoover was responsible because of his fear of Germans. It was told to me by another researcher that the records of these military personnel was locked in his office, and thus were not lost in the St. Louis fire. It is surprising how many people do not know about this travesty.


texts: The evolution of glove handness in falconry

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I was led to believe that falconers (in Europe?) always used a glove on the left hand to handle birds of prey.  However, this image show Mongol with birds on their right hands.

So, how has the the handness of the falconry glove evolved?

PS: the images might be mirrored...


texts: How many of the secret agents betrayed by Aldrich Ames were executed during Gorbachev's tenure?

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Basically, I've always been a big fan of Gorbachev and, knowing that the CIA spies spying on the USSR were betrayed right before his arrival on the Soviet political scene, I was wondering if he had any decision-making capability on the actual execution of those men.

Wikipedia lists a number of executed people, but no date.  And it doesn't help that the period during which Gorbachev had decision-making power on such executions isn't super clear because he held a number of titles, the meaning of which, in true Soviet style, isn't crystal clear with regards to his power to either order, or suspend, an execution of known spies.

Secondarily, if the Cold War was winding down anyway, why not trade off those spies?  Wasn't an exchange of burnt agents pretty much standard practice?


texts:
I am building a 1:60 model of the English Bridgnorth Castle. The tower ruin (which leans 15 degrees) clearly shows what had been an inverted, lead covered 'vee' roof (to presumably catch rainwater for drinking.

I am missing any detail as to the bottom gutter and gully, and have a further detailed question: how would the smoke from the fire in the building's hearth escape?


texts: Where Can I Find Copies of the Richmond Enquirer?

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I have been researching the background circumstances surrounding the writing of a particular poem, in addition to more information about the author.

I've had a small degree of success finding information searching various publications viewable on Google Books and other websites. However, I seem to have reached a dead end, as my clues lead me to the Richmond Enquirer circa 1826-1835.

There seem to be few copies of this newspaper online. I have found some on various sites, but none from the date range that I need. The copies on Google News Archives are also beyond the date range I need. I tried the Library of Congress online archives, but could only find selections.

Thomas Jefferson stated that the Richmond Enquirer was "the best [newspaper] that is published or ever has been published in America". With this reputation, one would think an online database might exist...

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thank you!


texts: How long did it take a typical capital warship to ramp up to flank speed?

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For a typical capital warship (including aircraft carriers) of any navy circa 1920s-1960s I am looking for a rough power ramp up time for the power plant to go from min load to max load.

That is to say, if you are cruising at a dead slow speed making turns for only a few knots, with all boilers lit and cut in on the line, how long would it take the ship to respond to an engine order for flank speed?

I'm not looking for the actual time it takes the ship to accelerate to flank speed, only the amount of time for the power plant to ramp up to where it is producing maximum output shaft horsepower.

Anyone have any information on that?


texts: What kind of education would a 12th/13th century English knight get?

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I'm trying to get inside the heads of historical actors of the period. I'm sure the martial class was just as diverse as any social group, but give me the best summation that you can.

I'll expand a little on the question below:

What kind of education would a young knight have growing up in 12th/13th century England? Would it be purely martial? Would it, in some cases, include tactics or even abstract disciplines like history or theology? Would they have been acquainted with a literature or oral tradition, such as the courtly love poetry coming out of France, or local epics like Beowulf or The Battle of Maldon? Would they be taught a variety of practical skills, or would they basically just know how to mount a horse and point a lance? What kinds of cultural notions might they naturally imbibe, and would they have had any any universal formative experiences?

That probably covers it. Thanks for your time.


texts: What uniform is this man wearing in South Wales just before World War 2?

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This picture is from a Swansea Facebook group. It was taken in South Wales just before World War 2. He was thought to be a member of the Coast Guard or Civil Defence.

What uniform is this man wearing?


texts: How were precise hand drawn illustrations copied between the 16th and 20th century in Europe?

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What were the methods used to copy detailed illustrations for distribution throughout the period between 1500 and 1900 (excluding photography)? I'm particularly interested in techniques common in Europe, for the precise reproduction of these drawings for wide distribution in books and the like.

As the scientific revolution progressed through Europe, and the age of exploration brought people to faraway lands full of wonder, a hand-drawn picture was often worth a thousand words to those who had never seen what was being described. For example, Leeuwenhoek drew detailed illustrations of microscopic organisms and sent them across the channel for the Royal Society, who could not produce microscopes of Leeuwenhoek's quality.

In my own quick perusal through Google, I've most commonly found references to woodblock printing and hand tracing. Were there other methods? Were they precise enough? Imagine being a 17th century botanist trying to identify a plant based on a book with an image that was incorrectly traced, with misshapen leaves and descriptive arrows rotated a few degrees to point to the wrong location.


texts: Which was the last war in which swords were used?

texts: Which was the last war in which swords were actively used as the primary weapon by an army?


texts: Why did King Arthur have such a great influence in Brittany?

texts: King Arthur, according to its literature, was a British leader. However, its influence in Brittany is huge. The Brocéliande, the mythical forest where Merlin was buried, is there, lots of family names in Brittany are originally from King's Arthur stories and etc. Why is that?


texts: How much of the *Iliad* was confirmed scientifically?

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Obviously, one of the central facts of Homer's Iliad was confirmed when archaeologists found Troy.

But were there any other details of Iliad (such as existance of Atreidae dynasty, Agamemnon actually having a military attack on Troy, existance of Odysseus as a ruler of Ithaca, etc...) that were confirmed scientifically - e.g. from reliable independent historical sources, archaeological finds, or other branches of sciences [1]

[1] - as a generic example of "other branches", astronomical confirmation of some celestial event mentioned, or some geological finds.


texts: Were Trojans the ancestors of the Romans?

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Such an hypothesis should be possible to test.

I know that graveyards dating back to the pre Roman civilization of Latium can be found : those who allegedly were the descendants of Trojans.  Certainly the DNA of the locals (Etruscs for example) can also be retrieved, as well as the Turk-greeks of back then.

Can DNA tests prove/disprove their origins? Has it been tried? Why?

The only result I found was in an article published in the Guardian newspaper, titled The enigma of Italy's ancient Etruscans is finally unravelled.
However the article contains no link to the study, it remains quite vague.
As far as I understand, it was done on modern Italians who "have been in Italy for at least 3 generations", which seems risky if we're going to test what happened 3000 years ago. I found nothing with ancient skeletons DNA.


texts: Why and when did Catholic rules change to dissuade Catholics from marrying protestants?

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I'm reading a book about the Kennedys. Catholic Kathleen Kennedy married protestant William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, in 1944. Here is what she explains in a letter to her mother back in the states:

  Fifteen years ago our marriage could have been solemnized in the church, the boys being brought up in the father's religion, the girls in the mother's. However, then a rule was made like the one in our country which put a stop to those marriages.

I wish the book (The Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys) had included a paragraph explaining this.  What rule changes was she referring to? It sounds like they varied by country. If so, why would a Catholic rule vary by country?


texts: Were there any battles in Continental Europe that were decided by "peasants with pitchforks?"

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I can think of one such battle in the British Isles; the battle of Bannockburn in 1314 in Scotland. In that battle, a 14,000-man English army despoiled a bunch of "homeless" vagrants on their way to meeting Robert Bruce. Bruce's 7,000 man army stopped the English army cold at Bannockburn creek with a downhill charge. Then between 1,000-2,000 vagrants formed an "army" and hit the English in the rear. It's not clear that they actually won the battle for Bruce, but it's clear that they were helpful to a Scots army outnumbered 2 to 1.
Wiliam Wallace vs. Robert Bruce: Why Did One Win and One Lose?

Some definitions:

1) For the purposes of this question, "Continental Europe" refers to anything outside of the British Isles, Australia, or the Americas (where "militias" were fairly common). Basically, anything on what I call the "Eur-As-Af" land mass. Feel free to use Asian or African examples.

2) "Peasants with pitchforks" refers to civilians that fought only in the one battle, using lethal but "non-standard" weapons. This rules out "government issue" weapons like swords, spears, bow-and-arrow, and guns, but allows pitchforks, hoes, scythes, clubs, knives, hammers and sickles, etc., basically anything that a civilian might pick up on the spur of the moment. "Battle" refers to an action of at least 1,000 men on both sides, with the "peasants" fighting regular soldiers armed with conventional weapons (for their time), not other "peasants with pitchforks."

3) "Decided" means that if the "peasants" were fighting on the same side as regular soldiers, these regulars were outnumbered (as Bruce's men were) or otherwise at a disadvantage against the enemy, meaning that a good argument can be made that the "peasants" provided the margin of victory.

Have "peasants with pitchforks" (a concept put forth by America's Pat Buchanan), in fact, "decided" battles under the above conditions? Put another way, how dangerous were such fighters?

Hints: I have a recollection of peasants winning battles for Poland's Thadeusz Kosciusko in 1794-5, but don't know if they were armed with "pitchforks" or conventionally. Ditto for the victors of the battle of Courtrai in 1302.


texts: How might someone have gotten a note forwarded from a transport train headed to Auschwitz?

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A relative who is no longer living told me that when her uncle (Jewish, living in hiding in France) was discovered and put on a train transport to Auschwitz, not long before liberation, he threw a note to his sister out of the train to let her know his fate, and this note was miraculously delivered to his sister in London.

How might this note have reached its destination?

I'm trying to picture this, step by step.  He would likely have been in a windowless cattle car -- so how did he get a note out of the train?  Whom might he have given it to?  Would this have been from the station where he was first put on the train, or farther along the route?  Would the note then have been sent through the postal service, or by some other means?

Edit: I imagine the uncle and his wife would have been killed upon arriving, or shortly after arriving, in Auschwitz.  The officially-encouraged-postcard hypothesis seems unlikely to me, partly from the way the story was told to me, and partly because my impression is that towards the end of the war, Germany was hanging by a thread and would not have bothered with this type of PR any more.

The way this family history was explained to me, it was a note thrown out of the train, and it was considered remarkable that the note reached his sister.


texts:
We read:

I had thought that the union movement had more to do with the strikes of Ned Ludd.

My question is: Is there evidence to suggest that the strike of the Matchwomen in 1888 gave rise to the modern union movement?


texts: What coin is this? Arabic: 10 Fulus, over crossed wheat and lead

texts: Years ago (maybe 15), my grandfather gave me this coin and I have no idea what it is or where it came from. Can anyone help? I'm pretty sure it came from the Middle East (he did a lot of work there for the US government way back when).


texts:
I have been doing a lot of research on the Roman invasion of Britain and have come across a number of problems with information.

My question is how old specific people were in 43 AD. I have approximated the age of some but others elude me:

Cunobelinos: 62
Epaticcos: 57 (died in ~A.D.35 age 49)
Adminios: 37
Togodumnos: 34
Caratacos: 33
Boudica:
Prasutagos:
Cartimandua:
Verica:


texts: How was Germany able to hold itself together, while Austria-Hungary could not?

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After defeat in WWI, the monarchies of the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire rapidly crumbled, and their outlying provinces took the opportunity to declare independence and sovereignty. Austria's problems are well-known, but Germany also had uprisings in Bavaria, Silesia, Posen, and Berlin itself.

And yet the Weimar Republic was successfully able to put down these rebellions, despite massive economic, industrial, and military problems after the war and Armistice at Compegnie. By the time the Treaties of Versailles, Trianon, and Saint-Germain were to be signed, Germany still held on to all of its land, while Austria-Hungary no longer existed as a political entity. The unified German state was only ~50 years old at the time, while the Austrian Empire controlled its lands for much longer than that, so why was it that the former was able to stick together so much better than the latter?

The Entente powers, all too happy to dismantle Austria-Hungary and forbid the union from reoccurring, also left Germany intact (aside from reversing the territorial gains of Prussia at the expense of France and Poland). Why? If this was motivated by ethnic nation-statehood, why were Austria and Germany kept separate, when both are Germans (and Bavarians are closer geographically and religiously to Austrians than Prussians)?


texts: Was there a Princess of Wales between 1727 and 1736?

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In 1705, Caroline of Ansbach married Georges Augustus. In 1714, she moved to London with her husband as he becomes Prince of Wales. She, thus, becomes Princess of Wales. Her husband became king Georges II in 1727 and she became queen.

In 1736, princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha married Frederick, Prince of Wales and became Princess of Wales.

Does it mean there was no Princess of Wales between 1727 and 1736? Or did Caroline keep the title until there was a new princess? Or goes the title to some brother's wife?


texts: Manichaeism almost becoming state religion of Roman Empire

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I am reading Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, an excellent source throughout.

At one point (on p. 270 in the German edition) the author mentions a turning point in history where Manichaeism, a dualistic religion whose founder lived in the 3rd century AD, could almost have become the Roman Empire's state religion.

What specific time or event may he be referring to?


texts: Was the first paper mill in Germany built in Mainz or in Nürnberg?

texts:
Gustav M. Bruce writes in Luther as an Educator:

The first paper mill was established in Italy in 1276, and the first paper mill in Germany was opened at Mainz in 1320."

On the other hand, a website providing information about Nürnberg writes:

"dass die früheste Papiermühle in Deutschland von Ulman Stromer im
Jahre 1390 vor den Toren von Nürnberg errichtet wurde."
Translation: The first paper mill in German was build by Ulman Stromer in the year 1390 outside the gates of Nürnberg

How good is the evidence for the existence of the mill in Mainz?


texts: Who is the man in the red jacket in this painting?

texts:
This is a painting from near 1850 that depicts a (famous) French man, possibly noble, in a park, maybe Paris.

Is he a Minister? King? Military? Whoever he might be, I consider he is important, since the people around bow before him (the woman).

Can anyone tell me who this man is?

A closer look at the gentleman and the military guard behind


texts: How much of the Napoleonic wars were paid by the sale of Louisiana?

texts:
in 1803, Napoleon sold French Louisiana to the United States, thus allowing to finance various war campaigns.
How do 15 millions dollars compare to the cost of the napoleonic wars between 1803 and 1810, and how does it compare to France revenues at the time?
Details on those revenues would be appreciated as well.


texts: Should the Great Schism of 1054 be taken to be 1204 (or 1182) instead?

texts:
It seems that 1054 wasn't such a big deal: forty years later Pope Urban and Emperor Alexios were on such good terms that a crusade was initiated to save Constantinople and the Holy Lands; even in 1136 Pope Innocent II called upon Emperors Comnenus and Lothair to unite against Roger of Sicily.

This doesn't seem much of a schism. Only after the Massacre of the Latins and even more so the sack of Constantinople that the two sides broke terms completely and irreversible bitterness entered the social psyche.

The Pope and Patriarch were already disagreeing on points of religion from Carolingian times, and 1054 was simply the latest mutual excommunication before the fourth crusade.

Is this a correct assessment?


texts: Are any civil wars -- other than the American Civil War -- commonly reenacted?

texts:
...and if not, what is it that makes people comfortable reenacting the American Civil War?  It would seem grotesque to reenact the Rwandan Civil War or Yugoslavian Civil War, for example.

In particular, what is the most recent civil war that people are comfortable reenacting?


texts: Who was the first foreigner to be naturalized as a Mexican citizen in Alta California?

texts:
The earliest example I have is Jose Antonio Bolcof of Russia, who became a Mexican about 1833. Who beat him?

cf. Who was the first foreigner to be naturalized as a Mexican citizen?: several Texans got in before Bolcof.