texts: What really happen to 100k people in Changban?

texts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Changban

The story is filled with so many things that do not make sense.

Liu Bei is on the run from Cao Cao.

Somehow, he managed to persuade 100k civilians to follow him. What is going on here? Is this a scorched earth policy where Liu Bei burn the town and forced civilians to follow him?

The wikipedia says that 100k people follow Liu Bei because Liu Bei is popular. Well, as a civilian, I wouldn't follow a fleeing general just because he is popular. I mean, what am I getting? War loots.

The 100k civilians know they are following Liu Bei and is being chased by Cao Cao. Surely they bring some weapons? No. They are unarmed.

What? A typical family there don't have sword? With proper arm, Liu Bei will easily have 100k armed infantry. That's far more than enough to deal with measly 5k Cao Cao's cavalry.

Then, Cao Cao caught up with Liu Bei. Liu Bei abandoned the 100k men and move somewhere else.

So what happened to the 100 k unarmed men? Did Cao Cao slaughter them all? Did they return to their initial city? Did they follow Liu Bei and sail east?

What happened?


texts: How were middle ranking Nazis known to the allies before the end of the war?

texts:
According to Hanns and Rudolf by Thomas Harding near the end of WW2 the allies created a large database ... known as CROWCASS, of war criminals which they intended to target once victory was achieved.

Rudolf Hoess was listed with his name spelt slightly wrong, and his age and other details slightly off. However the list did identify him correctly as commandant at Auschwitz.

How easy would it have been for allied agents in in Berlin to obtain this kind of information? Were Nazi "H.R." type records within allied reach - via spies - during the war? Presumably Auschwitz was a fairly secret project and you couldn't just thumb a public directory or follow the news in order to learn the personal details of Auschwitz's commandant.


texts: What exactly do eyewitness testimonies say about Hitler's behavior during the Munich Putsch?

texts:
To be more specific, I'm wondering if I can find any primary statements from the people who accompanied Hitler on the street where 16 National Socialists were gunned down by the police; this is the closest thing I can find in William L Shirer's authoritative book Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany:

The future Chancellor of the Third Reich was the first to scamper to safety. He had locked his left arm with the right arm of Scheubner-Richter (a curious but perhaps revealing gesture) as the column approached the police cordon, and when the latter fell he pulled Hitler down to the pavement with him. Perhaps Hitler thought he had been wounded; he suffered sharp pains which, it was found later, came from a dislocated shoulder. But the fact remains that according to the testimony of one of his own Nazi followers in the column, the physician Dr. Walther Schulz, which was supported by several other witnesses, Hitler ”was the first to get up and turn back,” leaving his dead and wounded comrades lying in the street. He was hustled into a waiting motorcar and spirited off to the country home of the Hanfstaengls at Uffing, where Putzi’s wife and sister nursed him and where, two days later, he was arrested.

However, I've also read about alleged accounts of those same "several other witnesses" who claimed that Hitler showed some courage during the incident, or even that he carried a young man on his shoulders while making his escape. Are there any available sources that can settle the story?


texts: Why did the Chinese Nationalist party members go to the island of Taiwan and not to any other island?

texts: The nationalists could have escaped to the present day Phillippines which is further from the Chinese and would keep them more safe or to any other island but why only Taiwan and also why didn't the Chinese prevent the nationalists from fleeing to Taiwan.


texts: Were monasteries a refuge for mentally handicapped adults?

texts: I cannot find a citation but I believe I read a quote by Galton that indicated this. I know this was not the sole function of such places but it makes sense to me that a borderline mentally handicapped individual might be placed in a sheltered environment, maybe by richer parents who made a contribution to the order in exchange for them taking care of their adult offspring or even it was a place where homeless people who obviously could not find regular work were sometimes sheltered.


texts:
In Herodotus it reads the following of Anoosis, the blind pharoah, and Amyrtaios, a pharaoh living over 700 years after him:

  ... when the Ethiopian had gone away out of Egypt, the blind man came
  back from the fen-country and began to rule again, having lived there
  during fifty years upon an island which he had made by heaping up
  ashes and earth: for whenever any of the Egyptians visited him
  bringing food, according as it had been appointed to them severally to
  do without the knowledge of the Ethiopian, he bade them bring also
  some ashes for their gift.
      This island none was able to find before Amyrtaios; that is, for more than seven hundred years the kings who arose before Amyrtaios
  were not able to find it. Now the name of this island is Elbo, and its
  size is ten furlongs each way. Herodotus, Book II

The problem is, who is Amyrtaios? According to official Egyptian history he is Amyrtaeus, a Saitic rebel who resisted Persian rule for 5 years between 404 and 399 BC. The problem with this is that this Amyrtaeus would not have been born yet when Herodotus was writing about him.

Now, Herodotus says Moeris lived 900 years before himself and Amyrtaeus lived 700 years after Anysis who lived approximately 150-200 years after Moeris, therefore, Herodotus must have considered Amyrtaeus to be roughly contemporaneous with himself.


texts: Typical fortifications around major cities in the 18th century

texts:
I came across this map of Vienna in 1769 (the city was then capital of the Hapsburg empire), i.e. almost a century after the major siege and battle of 1683 and almost a century before final removal of the city walls. It shows an inner district (perhaps a mile in diameter), surrounded by severe fortifications (the walls not round, but springing back-and-forth), followed by empty terrain perhaps a few hundred meters wide (obviously also an important means of defense), and then by an already dense ring of what may be called the suburbs.

BTW, here is a map of Prague also from 1769 and by the same artist, Joseph Daniel von Huber. This one evidently caused empress Maria Theresa to commission the similarly detailed depiction of Vienna.

My question is this: was this a typical layout for capital cities in the 18th century? E.g. would Paris, or for that matter Istanbul or Beijing have shown a similar overall layout (with local allowances for geography in the shape of rivers, etc.) and with similar maps available?


texts: Were there any Native American tribes that had more than a strategic alliance with the Confederates?

texts:
Background

I have been trying to read more on Native American history in the United States.  While it seems to be a lot more multidimensional that I initially thought, the general trend of "the Natives got the short end of the stick in the long run" still seems to be true to me.

Given the numerous negative actions of the United States government toward various Native tribes, I was curious as to the diplomatic relations they adopted with the Confederates States of America. It would seem to be a natural alternative to what many Native tribes would have seen as an oppressive power. Wikipedia seems to imply that the Cherokee and, to a lesser extent, the Choctaw supported the Confederates in part because some of them also owned slaves.  However, the sources on Wikipedia are few, and one of them is just a 10 page paper by a person with no credentials. Thus, I wanted to ask the experts/enthusiasts about...

Question

Were there any Native American tribes that had more than just a strategic alliance with the Confederate States of America?


texts: What was used for writing in 15th century Europe?

texts:
What sort of pens/quills would be used?

Would paper, cover and bindings be readily available?


texts: Why was Ruminawi not eligible to the throne?

texts:
Ruminawi was not eligible for the throne although being son of Wayna Capac and queen (of Pillaro) Choazanguil (source).

Atahualpa was his half-brother, same father Wayna Capac, but by mother had princess (of Quito) Paccha Duchicela.

Both seem to have noble lineage mothers. Why was Atahualpa the chosen one instead of Ruminawi when he was first-born? (And sorry: How accurate are those WP articles on the topic?).

Edit: From the source: era hijo bastardo de Huayna Capac y Atahualpa era el legítimo heredero después de Ninan Cuyuchi y Huascar (translated: was bastard son of Huayna Capac and Atahualpa was the legitimate heir after Ninan Cuyuchi and Huascar). It says somehow that due to being bastard son he was not legitimate heir like Atahualpa, Huascar, and Ninan Cuyuchi were.


texts: Why are lower court jurists, judges, and supreme court jurists, justices?

texts:
I cannot find any information explaining why judges that sit on a Supreme Court are referred to as "justices," and judges that sit on a lower court are "judges." Everything I've found seems to indicate that it is just for identification purposes to know when someone is talking about a supreme court as opposed to a lower court.

I would imagine that the distinction is found in the English common law system, but I'm at a loss as to what caused the distinction other than a quick and easy way to distinguish between the level of the court in question. I am interested in any answers from outside the US-UK world as well.


texts: Why does Ngram show an extreme spike in use of "LOL" in mid 1600s?

texts:
In the google "Ngram" search, which allows you to search the usage of words in recent history, I typed in the widely-used internet word "LOL". To my surprise, this came up:

As you can see, there was a large usage of the word "lol" around 1810, even larger than the usage today. In addition, I set the time frame back all the way to 1500 AD, and this absolute unit came up:
My question is, Does anybody know exactly why the usage of LOL was drastically boosted in the 1600s to the 1800s? Thanks!


texts: How did the development in education impact the curiosity and creativity in German society pre and post WWI?

texts: I am currently researching this question; I know that the educational system focused more on science and math after the war which could have allowed for more curiosity and creativity in scientific fields, but if anyone has a deeper explanation of this I'd love to hear it. I am especially curious about Germany's space exploration, scientific/technological advancements, and even art/architecture.


texts: Why didn't the English overrun France when the king was their captive?

texts:
John II was captured after the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 and taken to Britain.
Why did they wait and ransom him only to fight the French again?
The ransom was 4 million pounds, but that could be recovered, through pillage of Paris.
One reason could be, there was a feudal system, and each feudal lord kept his own forces. But then, they could have at least seized the central territories, around Paris, with little resistance; and rest of France with a lesser resistance as the feudal lords did not have a central figure to rally around. The English already held Aquitane and Gascony, and could further logistically support campaigns.

Capitalising on the discontent in France after the peasant revolt, Edward assembled his army at Calais in the late summer of 1359. His first objective was to take the city of Rheims. However, the citizens of Reims built and reinforced the city's defences before Edward and his army arrived. Edward besieged Rheims for five weeks but the new fortifications held out. He lifted the siege and moved his army on to Paris in the Spring of 1360. The suburbs of Paris were sacked but the city held out.

And

In 1362 John's son, Louis of Anjou, a hostage in English-held Calais, escaped his parole and refused to return. When John found out, ashamed at the actions of his son he felt duty-bound to return to captivity. He left Paris and gave himself up to the Captain of Calais, who returned him to his honourable captivity in England. He spent the rest of his reign there and died in London on 8 April 1364. John's funeral, in England, was a great chivalrous affair and he was honoured as a great man by the Plantagenets.

The parallel hostility and upholding deals is counter-intuitive. If Edward III intended to continue his conquests, would it not have made sense to not have signed the Second Treaty of London letting John II go in 1359.?


texts: Were medieval and renaissance era jesters commonly disabled?

texts:
In Hilary Mantel's famous historical fiction Wolf Hall, she implies more than once that the court fools of figures in the era of Henry VIII often had some form of learning difficulty. Indeed in one passage, she suggests that fools were often taken in by nobles as a way of protecting and providing employment for disadvantaged members of the community.

Here's an example concerning Henry Pattinson, a fool employed by Thomas More:

  The man is a great brawler; normally you take in a fool to protect
  him, but in Pattinson’s case it’s the rest of the world needs
  protection. Is he really simple? There’s something sly in More, he
  enjoys embarrassing people; it would be like him to have a fool that
  wasn’t.

This contrasts strongly with the picture given in Wikipedia and other online sources, which posits fools as well-trained professional entertainers.

Mantel seems to be very well researched in considerable detail on many other aspects of the history she portrays. But her portrayal of fools is a total mismatch with anything I can find on the subject. Is there any accuracy to it?


texts: What would a Roman education include in the years 77 - 85?

texts:
In the year 77 Gnaeus Julius Agricola under Vespasian was made consul and governor of Britannia, among a series of military campaigns into north and west Britain he also pushed for various civil and cultural reforms.

Among these reforms he provided an education to the sons of chieftains as recorded by his son-in-law Tacitus in De vita et moribus Iulii Agricolae:

  He
  moreover offered the sons of the chiefs a liberal education, and lauded the native genius of the Britons at the expense of the industry of the Gauls, in order
  that they who so lately loathed the sound of Latin might be fired with ambition to make eloquent speeches in it.

We may even know one of the educators that Agricola brought over, a Demetrius of Tarsus who appears in Plutarch's De Defectu Oraculorum:

  Yet a short time before the Pythian games, which were held when Callistratus was in office in our own day, it happened that two revered men coming from opposite ends of the inhabited earth met together at Delphi, Demetrius the grammarian journeying homeward from Britain to Tarsus ...

And is thought to be the author of to inscriptions from York, one to Oceanus, and another to "the gods of the legate’s residence".

My question is what would we expect this "liberal education" to contain? Obviously it included studying Latin, speech making, possibly Greek, and if we accept Demetrius of Tarsus was involved likely grammaticus, but what concepts, philosophy, or texts would they have been exposed to, if any?


texts: Why is Nazi Germany called a "fascist" regime?

texts:
Fascism is an Italian political system, but it has become a catch-all term for any oppressive government. If Nazi Germany is the most infamous example of a "fascist regime," why are they not called "Nazi regimes" instead?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascist_%28insult%29
According to Wikipedia, "Fascist has been used as a pejorative epithet against a wide range of individuals, political movements, governments, public and private institutions since the emergence of fascism in Europe in the 1920s. The widespread use of this term as an insult was noted as early as 1944, when British writer George Orwell commented that "the word 'Fascism' is almost entirely meaningless" and that "almost any English person would accept 'bully' as a synonym for 'Fascist'"."
The only thing I can imagine is that people started using the term "fascist" in the 1920s, and the term stuck. This article is vague as to why Nazi Germany is described as "fascist" when it was probably much worse than Fascist Italy.


texts: Did medieval Europeans really walk around barefoot in winter?

texts:
Luaan posted a comment on a question, as follows (emphasis mine):

  Take an old-school shoe with no rubber, and you'll see that it's extremely slippery on wet surfaces - medieval Europeans went barefoot most of the time, especially in winter.

Is this claim correct? Given that Europe's winters are often freezing, how would someone be capable of walking around barefooted without getting frostbite, let alone losing their toes in sub-zero temperatures? I'd expect some sort of animal skin wrapping at the very least.


texts: Was there ever an occurrence of diplomatic communication using food?

texts:
Is there an example in history where two leaders, or even just foreign travelers, who could not understand each other's spoken language, communicated by food?

I am not talking about very specific communication, just a general "Hi, I am a friend and I'm not going to kill you."

I would like a fairly verifiable example, but I do not need Harvard referencing or anything like that.


texts: How were books published in Ancient Greece?

texts:
Suppose I'm a contemporary of Aristotle, living in Athens, and I want to write a book on, say, philosophy or mathematics. I suppose I would start by writing out a complete manuscript on some form of paper. But then what happens?

Were there companies established to professionally copy manuscripts by hand and distribute them? How many copies would be produced, and who would they be sold to? How much would someone pay for a book, and who would they pay? Did the original author get royalties?

If not, what would be the author's incentives for writing a book?


texts: Were there any assassinations of high-profile Austrian officials before that of the Archduke Ferdinand?

texts: I am trying to argue that "the Blank Cheque" ushered Austria to be aggressive against Serbia, thus leading to WW1. Were there any assassinations, mainly by Serbians, of equally or a bit less important officials of the Austrian Empire?


texts: Why was there no solution found to Soviet famines and near-famines?

texts:
One thing I never understood about the Soviet Union were the famines and near-famines; those that were not explicitly engineered by the regime like Holodomor.

How could a nuclear power suffer from famines and near-famines?

These problems with food production even continue to this day; as Russia has been a huge importer of food from the European Union until recently. One would think that a producer of technological wonders, both during the Soviet-era and since, would find a definitive solution to these food production problems.

Why was or has no definitive solution been found and implemented, seemingly to this day?

Agronomy hardly seems to be rocket science, and also there was and still is a lot of fertile land available.

EDIT: Chief among the famines would be the famine of '47, when the Soviet Union was firmly walking on the nuclear path (the first nuclear test was made in '49). Incidentally, this was also the year when a "technological wonder", the AK-47, started being produced. We can still read about this weapon in daily news. Among the near-famines I thought about the post-WW2 bad harvests and systemic failures in agronomy, that made grain imports necessary. These might have developed into true famines.


texts: What was the source for Adam's children in the endnotes to Josephus' "The Antiquities of the Jews"?

texts:
I was reading Josephus' account of Adam's children in "The Antiquities of the Jews" (located in Book 1, Chapter 2) and noticed that the total number of children that Adam had was not in the text itself, but in the endnotes of the text. Where do these endnotes find their origins?

I specifically am interesting in the origins of this endnote:

  "The number of Adam's children, as says the old tradition was thirty-three sons, and twenty-three daughters."


texts: When did dueling with weapons become socially unacceptable in the western world?

texts: Now in the modern days, the phrase "lets settle this like men" would imply a fist fight. Yet as little as 200 years ago, "settling it like men" would either involve swords or pistols; the fist was the tool of the peasants and the lower class. When and how did it become socially unacceptable to use weapons to 'settle' accounts?


texts: What's the best way to convert sailing-era burden to modern displacement?

texts:
In reading about warships of the early modern era, it's difficult to compare sizes because older ships tend to be measured in tons (or tuns) of burden (or burthen), compared to modern vessels being measured in tons (or tonnes) of displacement.

The former is a measurement of volume, the latter of weight, but for a floating vessel they should in theory be equivalent.  Except that burden may be calculated by the simple dimensions of a ship, not its actual volume.

Searching Wikipedia for famous ships, I've found a few listing both burden and displacement:

Ship             Burden Displacement Ratio
---------------- ------ ------------ -----
Santa Maria         108     165 tons  1.53
HMS Victory       2,142   3,500 tons  1.63
USS Constitution  1,576   2,200 tons  1.40
HMS Orlando       3,740   5,493 tons  1.47
HMS Mersey        3,733   5,643 tons  1.51
Mayflower II        180     242 tons  1.34

These are fairly consistent; if the answer is "1.5 is usually fine," I can live with that.  However, I have not yet found an example for a carrack (the Vasa is listed with displacement but not burden; the Mars either has a typo in one measure or the other, or uses a different measurement system).  Being relatively heavily-built compared to these others, should I estimate the displacement of the Henry Grace à Dieu (1,000 tons burden) as, say, 1,700 tons?


texts: Did the Catholic Church ban adoption in the Middle Ages?

texts:
In the book Contours of the World Economy (2007), by Angus Maddison, it says:

  The adoption of Christianity as a state religion in 380 AD led to basic changes
  in the nature of European marriage, inheritance, and kinship. The papacy
  imposed a pattern that differed substantially from what had prevailed earlier
  in Greece, Rome, and Egypt and differed dramatically from that which was to
  characterize the Islamic world. Marriage was to be strictly monogamous, with a
  ban on concubinage, adoption, divorce, and remarriage of widows or widowers.
  There was a prohibition on consanguineous marriage with siblings, ascendants,
  descendants, including first, second, and third cousins, or relatives of siblings
  by marriage. A papal decision in 385 AD imposed priestly celibacy.

  The main purpose of these rules was to limit inheritance entitlements to close
  family members and to channel large amounts to the church which became a
  property owner on a huge scale. At the same time they broke down previous
  loyalties to clan, tribe, and caste, promoted individualism and accumulation,
  and reinforced the sense of belonging to a nation-state (see Goody 1983; Lal
  2001).

Reading about adoption history we can read that among orphanages were set up by the Catholic Church in response to the many children left at the doors of churches and monasteries, a practice it later became institutionalised. On this respect, Wikipedia states:

  Abandonment levels rose with the fall of the empire and many of the foundlings were left on the doorstep of the Church. Initially, the clergy reacted by drafting rules to govern the exposing, selling, and rearing of abandoned children. The Church's innovation, however, was the practice of oblation, whereby children were dedicated to lay life within monastic institutions and reared within a monastery. This created the first system in European history in which abandoned children did not have legal, social, or moral disadvantages. As a result, many of Europe's abandoned and orphaned children became alumni of the Church, which in turn took the role of adopter. Oblation marks the beginning of a shift toward institutionalization, eventually bringing about the establishment of the foundling hospital and orphanage.

I emphasised a phrase which might indicate an early discourage or prohibition of adoption (there is no reference to where such rules are contained). Maybe this is what the book above is mentioning.

This book meanwhile states:

Similar ideas are presented in this book:

The later mentions in particular the issue of rights of children with adoptive parents.

So, statements about the issue are contradictory. ¿Does anyone have evidence for either case, perhaps a reference to medieval Church legal code?


texts: Did Yuri Gagarin really mention Anna Magnani in his flight in space?

texts:
This NYTimes article about the Italian actress Anna Magnani states:

Perhaps the best way to describe her effect on audiences is to quote from a documentary on the Italian actress by the Belgian film maker Chris Vermorcken. In the film, the narrator tells of the first flight into space by the Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin:
''From the cosmos, he sent this message: 'I salute brotherhood, the world of art and Anna Magnani.' ''

Did Yuri Gagarin really mention the Italian actress Anna Magnani in one of his speech?
The reason why I'm asking this question is by doing some research I could only find little mention of this story in English. Most references after a Google search come from Italian websites / newspapers. I checked what I think is the full transcript of Yuri's communication while in space but I couldn't find any reference to this sentence.
Now on why I was checking this information is I was a bit surprised that Yuri was mentioning a Western actress in his speech given the lack of freedom of speech in Soviet Union.


texts: Was there a city called "Margorin" or "Margorum" in Prussia in 1885?

texts: According to genealogical research, my great-grandfather emigrated on the SS Coriolan in 1869 whose port of exit was Bremen. Records indicate that my great-grandfather was from the city of Margorin or Margorum, but I am unable to read the handwriting and unable to locate any city with a similar spelling in Prussia. Did such a city exist in Prussia at that time?


texts:
I'm researching an event which occurred between mid-1794 and early 1796, but probably 1795; the even happened at a major English port with American shipping and a Royal Navy ship repair yard.

I know that an American ship's planned departure was 11.00 in the evening; this would be on the ebb tide, shortly after high tide. Knowing the potential dates for each port will allow me to check shipping records only for those dates.

This information is extracted from a manuscript written in 1916, later typed:

This is the exciting beginning of a lengthy story, for which I have documented most of the following 20 years, after his arrival with a pregnant wife in Detroit in the fall of 1796.  I'm hoping to discover his ship from this rather limited information, and from the ship records, his town of origin, and more on his family.

This is related to this earlier question: Battle of Queenston Heights, 13 Oct 1812: 23 American soldiers held as British deserters  With the help of this community this question was answered in detail.

Departures at night: From "The New British Channel Pilot: Containing Sailing Directions from London-bridge to Liverpool, and from Ostend to Brest; Also for the Coast of Ireland, from the Tuskar Rock to Limerick: ... Compiled from the Late Surveys Made by ... Admiral Macbride, Mr. Mackenzie, and Mr. Samuel Clements, ... By Captain John Stephenson, Assisted by Many Experienced Pilots", (1799): an extract for Liverpool, the largest port after London, showing the locations of lights, &tc.  Hoyle Lake would be the anchorage for ships arriving or departing.

Thus I am looking for a resource which will aid in the construction of historic tide tables in order to whittle down my research into shipping records to manageable proportions.  Or perhaps somebody knows where late 18th century tide tables can be found today!


texts: How do I differentiate ancient ceramic from today's junk?

texts:
I've been to London's River Thames, a famous place where it is relatively easy to find ceramics and other relics of the past.

I found something but I have no idea how to distinguish ancient stuff from modern junk.

This is what I found to be interesting:

Is there a way to see if it's something from the past (not the last 100 years)?

Even if I suppose this is junk. It would be nice to find a way to analyze those, for the next time I will visit that place.

Thank you anyway.


texts: When did prostitution become illegal in the United States and why?

texts:
In the old west, it appears that prostitution was a viable means of making a living, Perfectly legal, or at least not prosecuted.

What was the status of prostitution in more established states in the east? At what point did it become illegal, in the west and why?


texts: Why did the Nazis guillotine criminals but mostly hang political enemies, and why were the White Rose group an exception?

texts:
Both the methods used and the range of crimes 'meriting' execution changed under the Nazis. Dark History says:

  When Hitler came to total power, he decided that criminals and enemies
  of the state should be executed by either guillotining [or hanging
  from 1942] and he ordered the construction of 20 guillotines.

The guillotine in the Plotzensee Prison execution room. Source: https://ghb67.wordpress.com/2012/04/29/the-guillotine-in-nazi-germany/

Several other sites (here's one) mention the methods used for capital punishment in Nazi Germany. In summary, the three main methods of execution were generally:

Guillotine, used for criminals (replaced the axe which had been used before Hitler came to power)
Hanging, used for political enemies
Shooting, used for political enemies and by the military

Among the crimes which could or did carry the death penalty were

  ...grave arson,[14] aiding and abetting treason, betraying a secret
  (mandatorily), procuring a secret for the sake of betraying it,
  insidious publishing or rhetoric, failure to denounce a capital crime,
  destroying means for military use, sabotage(mandatorily for soldiers),
  kidnapping (mandatorily).... a "dangerous habitual criminal" or one
  convicted of rape...

and so on.

What I can’t find out is why the guillotine was used for criminals and (usually) hanging or shooting for political enemies. The guillotine seems more merciful than hanging, so it seems the Nazis regarded political enemies as worse than murderers, rapists, e.t.c. – but this is just a guess based on little evidence.

Are there any documents, or were any statements made, explaining the reasons for the methods of capital punishment used for different kinds of prisoners? Wikipedia quotes Hitler saying capital punishment is a deterrence, but there is nothing on the methods.

Also,

  An exception was made for the six members of the White Rose anti-Nazi
  resistance organization, who were beheaded in 1943.

Why was this exception made for the White Rose movement?


texts: How far away could zeppelins drop bombs?

texts:
I am doing a little World War 1 reading for a class, and I came to this passage:

  German dirigibles, or zeppelins, were able to drop bombs on targets that were 700 miles away. This was far beyond the reach of any airplane.

The text also says that zeppelins

  glided across the sky at night, traveling just 25 miles per hour.

I haven't been able to find any information on how far they could bomb from, but I did some research and zeppelin bombers in WW1 were dropping artillery shells. Traveling that slow and dropping shells, I doubt it is possible that the low-flying bombers achieve that.

Is this just a typo, or could German zeppelin bombers really hit targets from 700 miles away?


texts: Were there ethnic Russians in Alaska when the US purchased it 1867? Did they stay?

texts: How many ethnic Russians, or inhabitants with recent roots in Russia, were there in Alaska when US bought it? Were they hunters, farmers, traders? How many stayed and became Americans?


texts: How did Churchill and Stalin intend to translate the percentages in the "Percentages agreement"?

texts:
In "percentages agreement", Stalin and Churchill allegedly divided Southeastern Europe to sphere of influences of the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. According to Churchill's account quoted by wikipedia,

  Churchill suggested that the Soviet Union should have 90 percent
  influence in Romania and 75 percent in Bulgaria; the United Kingdom
  should have 90 percent in Greece; in Hungary and Yugoslavia, Churchill
  suggested that they should have 50 percent each. Churchill wrote it on
  a piece of paper which he pushed across to Stalin, who ticked it off
  and passed it back.

If this were true, how were they going to translate these numbers into concrete reality? I mean, how do they define stuff like 90%, 75%, 50% when talking about influence over other countries?


texts: Why did the north and south struggle to control the territories before the American Civil War?

texts:
Why was it even important to them that one extra state would be added to their collection? Couldn't they just let Kansas and Nebraska decide for themselves under the doctrine of "Popular Sovereignty"?

What was the balance of power between Free and Slave states as of the Compromise of 1850, and did one more state make a difference either way?


texts: Why weren't Australian Aborigines enslaved?

texts:
While there are many articles discussing the Australian Aborigines' de facto legalized slavery, or essentially free labor, the fact seems to be that they were never de jure slaves, as Africans were.

Why didn't England press the Australian indigenous Aborigine population into actual slavery?


texts: Why did baseball become more popular than cricket in the USA?

texts:
Recently I started reading a very interesting comic about high school baseball. I found that baseball shares so many similarities with Cricket. So I tried to look for some information regarding the origins of both the games. I found that both games originated in England. But there is no information about which game was invented first.
Is there any source to tell which game was invented first and when? The bigger question why baseball became so popular in USA and not cricket. Also, if at all baseball was invented in England, why was it never promoted by English in their colonies (like the way they promoted cricket)?


texts: What was Muhammad's religion before becoming a Muslim prophet?

texts:
According to this question, the predominant religion in Arabia before Islam was some kind of polytheism. While according to Muhammad's Wikipedia page,

According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad himself was a Hanif ..

the page defined "Hanifs" as "native pre-Islamic Arabs who professed a rigid monotheism", and said their historicity is disputed among scholars.
What was the historian's (not just Islamic tradition) view of Muhammad's pre-prophethood religion? According to the biography on Wikipedia, he only received revelation and start preaching Islam since age 40, and before that he was an honorable Arab, a merchant by profession.


texts: Did Julius Caesar say: "Africa, I have grabbed you"?

texts:
Someone once told me that when Julius Caesar stepped off the boat onto the North African shore, he tripped and landed flat on his face, to which he then said (in an amazing comeback to onlookers trying hard not to laugh):

  "Africa, I have grabbed you."

What is the source (if any) for this story? Did it actually happen?


texts: What were the major strategies/ideas Britain exerted against Indian Independence movement?

texts:
The first flames of freedom were lighted in the 1857 revolt in India. After that in 1900s, the movements became stronger and spread over the country. There was diverse political, economic, military, religious and social causes for the movement in the country. It lasted until 1947 and during this interval England could have tried to suppress and end these protests. There were definitely many military actions against it.

Game of Thrones is not just a military play, its actually a game of political and ideas against the conquering people. Apart from the military actions, since the British had many intelligent officers, could there have been different strategies/ideas  exerted against the Indian independence movement? What are they and how successful were those strategies in delaying the independence of India?


texts: Why has the Congo ended up French-speaking but not Flemish-speaking?

texts:
Why is there hardly any Flemish linguistic heritage in the former Belgian colonies, at least at the institutional level?
EDIT (Evidence of prior research): Neither the Democratic Republic of the Congo nor Rwanda have Dutch as their official or national language, contrary to French.


texts: In the 18th century, who built ships built using two-pointed nails?

texts:
On April 20th 1774, near Carmel, California, Juan Bautista de Anza wrote in his diary about finding the mast of a ship of unknown origin (his compatriot Garcés did not record it). Here is his complete diary entry and the translation given by Web de Anza:

Dia 20 Miercoles. Pasé a la Mision de San Carmelo, distante del Presidio poco mas de legua tanto por ver este nuevo establecimiento, y ultimo de la California septentrional; como por pagar la visita, que ayer me hizo al Reverendo Padre Superior de los Misioneros de ellos. Pocos dias antes de mi arrivo aqui, se varo en la Playa que hai inmediatamente un Palo de Barco, no conocida su construccion por los nuestros, que aqui abitan ni su madera, el qual se persuaden se quebró al segundo tercio; este todo pasado con clavos mui fuertes de una Cabeza larga, y dos puntas, que no pasan a remache, cuio fierro nada se ha enmojecido, ni las puntas que quedarón, donde se quebró estan embotadas, por cuias dos ultimas circunstancias infieren los tales quales Peritos, que hai aqui en el asunto de Embarcasiones, que no ha mucho tiempo se desgracio la de adonde era esta Pieza, que en primera ocasion que se proporcione, para el Puerto de San Blas se conducira para que sea exactamente examinada.
Wednesday, April 20. I went to the mission of San (Carlos del) Carmelo,  distance from the presidio a little more than a league, both to see this new establishment, the last in northern California, and to return the visit made me yesterday by the reverend father superior of its missionaries. A few days before my arrival here the mast of a ship was stranded on the nearby beach, whose construction and the wood of which it is made are unknown to those of our people who live here, but they believe it was broken two-thirds off. It is entirely run through with very strong nails with long heads, and with two points which do not pass through to be clinched. Their iron has not rusted at all nor are the points blunt which projected where it was broken. From these last two circumstances the few persons who are experienced in the matter of vessels infer that it cannot be very long ago that the vessel from which this mast came was wrecked. At the first opportunity that offers it will be taken to the port of San Blas in order that it may be carefully examined.

This anecdote from California history describes a mysterious piece of sea debris, a mast with unusual double-pointed nails. Since numerous Japanese sengokubune ships that lost their rudders in storms drifted to North America (see The Shogun's Reluctant Ambassadors by Katherine Plummer), it seems possibly Japanese, but not being able to confirm that directly I am broadening the question to narrow in on the interesting nails.
The most salient part of his description is the fact that the nails, of good iron, were two-pointed and did not penetrate to be clinched. One dictionary calls a two-pointed nail a mordant.
Since clinching is a technical term, here is an illustration of the technique, bending protruding nail tips back into the wood:

Although this one is described as clinching, here is an illustration of a two-pointed nail that spreads out:

Does Anza's description of the two-pointed nails of excellent iron point to Japanese or Boston or Baltic construction? Who was using two-pointed, non-clinched nails for shipbuilding in the mid-1700s?


texts: What are the contributions of Professor Hans List?

texts: Considering his academic titles, what are the contribution of the automotive engineer, Professor Dr Dr h.c.mult. Hans List? What did he invent? I could not find anything except a brief obituary.


texts: When and why have the Neo-nazi view of Slavic peoples changed?

texts:
Hitler's views on Slavs were unambiguous. He considered them to be Untermensch and wanted them exterminated so that Germans could take their place. For more on Hitler's hostility to the Slavs, see this AskHistorians answer.

Of course, realpolitik forced Nazi Germany to make alliances with some Slavic groups, just like there was "cooperation" between Nazi Germany and Jewish groups. (I put cooperation in quotes so that you please won't argue this. My point is only that realpolitik and ideology was not always the same for Nazi Germany.)

Modern Neo-nazis however, seem to disagree. Especially northern European Neo-nazis appear to have quite favorable views of Slavs. Cooperation between Nordic or German and Eastern European Neo-nazis is common. Western and Eastern European Neo-nazis treat each other as "brothers in arms." Behavior Hitler most certainly would have objected to.

My question is thus why Neo-nazi views regarding Slavs have changed and when? Has there been any debate in any Nazi movement about this issue?

@LangLangC If you consider the Neo-Nazis as the ideological descendants of Nazi Germany (which I do) then I think the evidence indicates that their views have changed. But I can't find any sources at all! Neither from within the Neo-Nazi movement or from the outside. Thank you for your praise Italian Philosopher. The question of why many Slavs are Neo-Nazis are also very interesting. But for now I'm only interested in why non-Slavic Neo-Nazis are so accepting of the Slavs


texts:
Recently I've read a certain book about the Middle Ages that has been quite popular with laymen but is held in utter contempt by professional medievists. In fact, I hadn't known the book's reception history before I finished reading it, so I approached it as tabula rasa.

Now, I'm no professional historian myself but I do know a few things here and there, so I spotted some of the glaring errors myself (and of course missed some of the others).

One point which I am almost certain is an error but would like to query you about is this: the book asserted that

  [...] villages were frequently innominate [...].

Is it true that medieval villages didn't have names? Is there archival evidence with lists of villages or something like this?


texts: Where online is the text of newspaper articles from the 1800s transcribed?

texts:
I'm trying to research, and form a corpus from,  writing in English for average laypeople before 1900, published in Canada, US or UK. As a proxy for ordinary writing, I've chosen newspapers.

Many are scanned online, but the text usually strains the eye to read. Are there websites like 100 Full Text Saskatchewan News Stories from 1884 - 2000 that have transcribed and digitized the text?

I don't need all newspaper articles, as I'd be satisfied with the most important ones.


texts: I'm writing a novel set in 268 AD and the character is called Marcus Piavonius Victorinus, one of the many upstart military emperors during the Crisis of the Third Century. I've heard that by this time, praenomens were out of use. So what would the character's mother have called him if not Marcus?


texts:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Red_Line_(Battle_of_Balaclava)

The musketeers shot in 3 volleys. Why not let individual soldiers to shoot any time they wish?

Would the rate of death be bigger if they shot in volleys?

If anything, the number of 2 bullets shooting the same guy or horse will be less.


texts: How unusual was an unanswered naval salute of 150 guns?

texts:
In naval tradition, ships and ports may expend gunpowder saluting each other, thus proving their respect and nonaggression. The respect so shown appears greater when more guns are shot off. A common pattern is that one party fires 7, 14, or 21 guns, which are answered equally by the other.

During Japan's period of isolation, the Dutch were restricted to the tiny island of Deshima and scrupulously deferent to their hosts. According to George Lensen's The Russian Push Toward Japan (pp. 148):

  ... the Dutch ships expected to leave their anchorage and, as was their custom, would salute the imperial fortress.... When the Dutch vessels duly departed from Deshima the following day, they saluted with a hundred and fifty guns each.... The Japanese did not return the salute.

150 guns with no response is very different from the other pattern, perhaps reflecting the unusual relationship those two powers were in. Did similarly disproportionate salutes happen anywhere else?


texts:
Was there a constant 'fear of the bomb' in the Soviet Union and America during the Cold War?

Or were there times where there wasn't such a fear? Possibly during the Nixon-Brezhnev détente, or Samantha Smith's peace activism?


texts:
I've seen this image a lot, particularly since the passing of Steve Jobs. I'm wondering if this is actually a photo of Steve before or after a presentation. Or, has there been a similar photo and this is just a mockup, because it looks so iconic?

If another photo served as a model to this one, would you be able to link to it?


texts: How were the holes for the guns in battleships' turrets protected?

texts:
I'm interested in knowing how the guns' holes in battleships' turrets protected, if and when they were, and how was that protection designed and arranged, specially in relation to the guns' elevation axis.

In tanks, the turrets' holes that fit the main guns are protected by "gun mantlets", which are designed and fit in a manner where they "completely" cover the turret holes even in different gun-elevations.

But they are usually designed in a manner that is external or contiguous to the shape of the tank's turret, and that keeps the mantlet very close to the gun's elevation axis:

A close-up to a Tiger's external-style mantlet.

A close-up to a IS-2's blend-style mantlet.

However, for large-caliber naval guns, the size of the guns, the thickness of the turrets' face armor, and the much greater gun-elevation angle requirements, impose great limits to turret-design; with most turrets for guns of calibers including and above 12" being made plain and boxy; usually having a straight face plate, and apparently either no mantlet at all, or with internal mantlets that would leave considerable gaps open, depending on the elevation of the gun.

In particular, I'm interested in the design and arrangement of the mantlets of the main batteries of the Iowa-class battleship(s) and the Yamato's.

So far, my research has led me to few results, as photos featuring the turrets without their blast-bags over the gun-holes seem to be extremely rare, and photos of them still under assembly but with the guns already mounted being even rarer.

The few images I've found raise more questions than answers. The best images I have found are these:

BB-61 Iowa, featuring the guns without blast-bags and in different elevations. Apparently there would be a huge gap below the guns if they were put to the maximum elevation of 45º. Also, from photos of the installation of 14-inch guns from other ships, it appears that mantlets were often of a much thinner thickness than the turret's face plates.

Yamato, featuring what appears to be a circular mantlet that "digs" into the turret's face-plate from the back. The elevation axis are a mystery too, needing to be very close to the face-plate to allow the mantlet to completely cover the hole within the face-plate's thickness without leaving neither protrusions nor gaps, despite the plate's angle; and yet, that seems unlikely to be the case.

EDIT: Note - As soon as I have the time, the question will be revised and formatted to use proper technical terms, which I learned through the sources that acquired through the research efforts, both of my own and from others here.

This will be done to increase clarity for "archiving" purposes, so that other people with the same interest will have a higher chance of understanding the terminology, and therefore the question, the discussions in the comments, and the answers.

As always, the StackExchange community was great regarding both the effort everyone put into helping to solve the questions, and the etiquette displayed.

I would like to thank all participants of the discussions and answers for my question, who dedicated some of their time and will to help me understand a little more about the principles that guided this aspect of WW2 warship armors; and I want to specially mention Conrad Turner, Kentaro Tomono, CGCampbell, jjack and jwenting, for their distinguished efforts.


texts: Origin of French electoral tie-breaking mechanism (oldest candidate wins)

texts:
The French Code électoral specifies that ties be broken by giving the oldest candidate the win. (At least in certain elections. See for example L126, L262, L338, LO512.)

What is the historical origin of this rule? Did it begin in the French Revolution, or before or after that? What was the rationale (or was it just a somewhat-arbitrary tie-breaking mechanism that seemed as good as any other)?

Bonus question: Is this rule peculiar only to France? I have not come across a similar rule anywhere else.

Edit: Briefly searching on Google Books, I find this idea mentioned in 1789 here and here. And I also find here a 1789 suggestion that the ties be broken by (1) who's married (or was ever-married); (2) who has the most children; then (3) who's the oldest. So it almost seems as if they were brainstorming how ties should be broken.

Hopefully someone who knows (much) more French and French history than I do can figure this out.


texts: Who was in charge of the Barysaw massacre (20 October 1941)?

texts:
I'm looking for information about the Barysaw Massacre of 20 October 1941.
Who performed it and who was in charge of this operation?


texts: Before 1 July 1997, could British Nationals (Overseas) born in Hong Kong acquire British citizenship?

texts:
I'm asking just about people born  in HK who were just BN(O), weren't British citizens, and had no other citizenship or nationality.
Is this Reddit comment right?

Andalucia1453. 10 points 14 hours ago
Why didn’t the UK offer them citizenship or give them British Citizenship like Portugal did with Macau?
cortanakya. 23 points 13 hours ago
The UK kind of did. When the handover happened anyone in Hong Kong was offered the right to abode in the UK, which is basically citizenship without the right to vote. If you live in the UK for a while legally it becomes rather easy to get citizenship so it's kind of a formality. Quite a few people took that deal, too. One of my best friends was born in Hong Kong and lives in the UK because of that exact deal.

Wikipedia doesn't say that "anyone in Hong Kong was offered the right to abode in the UK". See British nationality law and Hong Kong - Wikipedia.

After the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, many people in Hong Kong began to fear for their future post-1997. Emigration was rampant and a brain-drain was beginning to affect the economy of Hong Kong. To stem the drain, people urged the British government to grant full British citizenship to all Hong Kong BDTCs – but this request was never accepted. However, the British did agree to creating the British Nationality Selection Scheme, which granted to a select 50,000 people and their families the ability to obtain full British citizenship without having to fulfill the ordinary requirements, under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act, 1990.[2]


texts: What was the social status of a man who failed the civil service exams in Imperial China ( 1200 - 1800 AD )?

texts:
Generally the merchant class was viewed with disdain while peasants were viewed with more respect as they were the producers. Scholars were perhaps most respected, and many important posts were held by them. The core of my question is were scholars who did not hold posts considered elites? What about men who failed the civil service exams?

I specifically ask the question for the later half of the imperial era and the early modern period but any answer that applies to pre-20th century China is good.


texts: What is the historical reason for 18 years being the most commonly accepted age of adulthood?

texts:
Most countries define the age of adulthood at 18 years.

Why is this? Was there some historical precedent set in ancient Rome/Greece or something like that? Why 18 years and not some "nicer" number like 20 or 15?


texts: What was the function of the walls of Jericho?

texts:
The walls of old Jericho have been dated to around 8000bc. This is thousands of years before the nascent civilisations of Babylon and Egypt built similar fortifications and thousands of years before organised warfare made such walls useful for defence.

Walls thirteen feet thick with a watchtower and a moat are simply unnecessary to keep out the random raiding parties which characterised warfare in this era. Which rather raises the question of what they were for?

The current Wikipedia page ponders this and posits answers around the old chestnuts of a ritual or ceremonial function

  Ran Barkai argued that the structure was used to create awe and inspiration to convince people into a harder way of life with the development of agriculture and social hierarchies.

But unless I've missed something, this seems extremely unlikely. The wall included a ditch or moat excavated, at what must have been a vast cost in labour, out of solid bedrock. Given this addition, it is hard to believe that the purpose of the wall was not primarily defensive.

But what on earth could the ancient inhabitants of the city have needed such impenetrable fortifications against in the Neolithic era?


texts: Where to get historical Finland railways map for 1939 year?

texts:
Where to get Finland railways map for 1939 year ?

Just want to compare logistics possibilities during Winter War.

It is map of USSR:
http://soldat.ru/files/f/00000583.jpg


texts: What is the real story of the Lion of Gripsholm Castle?

texts:
In 2011, one of the popular stories over the Internet was a history of The Lion of Gripsholm Castle. The Swedish language version of the linked blog entry was the one responsible for spreading this story.

The most detailed description of the Lion's story comes from the Mental Floss website article:

  King Frederik I of Sweden was given gifts from the Bey of Algiers in
  1731. These included a lion, another wildcat, three hyenas, and a freed slave who became the animals' keeper. The creatures lived out
  their lives at Djurgården, the Royal Game Park.

  Quite a few years after the lion died, some of its remains were sent
  to a taxidermist to be mounted. All that was left was the pelt and
  some bones. The taxidermist was not at all familiar with this animal
  called a lion. So he did the best he could with what he had. (...)

  King Frederik's lion is on display to this day at Gripsholm Castle, a
  former royal residence and now a museum in Mariefred, Södermanland,
  Sweden.

I don't care what was the reason that poor lion looks like that, as I doubt there can be any verifiable answer. I'm much more intrigued with the origin of the gift.

Unfortunately I couldn't find any valuable sources for this story on the Internet, even the official website of the Museum at Gripsholm Castle doesn't write about it.

But when I've tried to investigate it a bit, it turned out that there was no such person as Bey of Algiers (or bejen av Alger, as in the original Swedish text).

In 1731, Algieria was known as the Regency of Algiers, a territory of Ottoman Empire. According to Wikipedia, the official title of its ruler was Dey, who nominated three beys, governors of provinces, which were called beyliks:

  The realm of the dey of Alger was divided into three provinces
  (Constantine, Titteri and Mascara), each of which was administered by
  a bey (باي) whom he appointed.

I'll just clarify that the province name for Mascara was Couchant, while Mascara was one of three towns from which beys governed in different years, with Mascara being the right one for 1731, moved there by Mustapha bou Chelagram (Mustafa al Masrafi) from Mazouna in 1710 and later in 1792 to Oran.

This way Frederik I could receive the gift from at least 4 different persons. I can suppose such a gift for an European king would come from the most important of them. But even that it's not clear. According to English language Wikipedia list, the dey in 1731 was Abdy Pasha. However French language list claims that Abdy Pasha (Kurd Abdi) was replaced by Ibrahim III in 1731, not 1732. So even in this situation, there are at least 2 and up to 5 candidates.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any English and French language Internet materials related to any of them.

This way I wonder, who exactly made that gift to Frederik I of Sweden, on what opportunity and why? From what I know, there weren't any important contacts between Regency of Algiers and Sweden in 18th century, but my knowledge on this subject is narrow.


texts: Where was Canadian political graphic satirist John Henry Walker's "Human Races" drawing published?

texts:
John Henry Walker was a 19th century Canadian illustrator 1 who produced political graphic satire in several publications including a short-lived one he founded, 'Punch in Canada' [2].

One particular image I am interested in are the ones archived in the McCord Museum Canada [3] depicting one iteration of the 'five-race' model of humanity, then increasingly used in strands of biology and anthropology and other sciences, in what is now termed as 'scientific racism' [4].

I would like to know where, if at all, in any of his published works, was this image used?

Thanks

PS: This question was also asked in the subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/history/comments/enxall/uses_of_image_of_race_in_the_published_works_of/

Notes:

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Walker

[2] https://canadianaci.ca/Encyclopedia/punch-in-canada/

[3] http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M991X.5.300; http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M930.50.1.17; http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M930.50.2.54; http://collections.musee-mccord.qc.ca/en/collection/artifacts/M930.50.8.286

[4] http://apa.nyu.edu/hauntedfiles/about/timeline/


texts: How influential was the Jewish boycott against Nazi Germany?

texts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_boycott_of_German_goods

While I understand that Germans probably needed Jewish traders, there are many other traders out there besides Jews, so how could a small group of people boycotting German goods cause a significant effect in Germany?


texts: Why did Frederick the Great do so much worse against the Russians than against his other enemies in the Seven Years' War?

texts:
Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, made a name for himself and Prussia in the Seven Years' War, winning key battles against the French and Austrians at long odds. He won the battle of Rossbach against the French outnumbered almost 2- to -1. Other Prussian generals beat the French at lesser odds at Krefeld and Minden.

Frederick beat the Austrians at his signature battle at Leuthen, outnumbered more than two to one. One might attribute this to the incompetence of the Austrian commander, Prince Charles of Lorraine (Maria Theresa's brother in law), but Frederick also defeated the Austrians at Liegnitz and Torgau, at lesser odds, later in the war.

The one enemy Frederick had no success against was Russia. The battle of Zorndorf, (aptly named "angry village" in German), where both sides took around 40% casualties, was basically a drawn battle, and at best a Pyrrhic victory for Frederick. At the battle of Kunersdorf, where two thirds of the opposing force was Russian (the remainder Austrian), and the numerical odds nearly even, Frederick suffered a major defeat, trying to turn a likely minor victory into a major one. And so far as I know, neither Frederick nor any of his subordinates won any victory to speak of against the Russians. Only through the death of Tsarina Elizabeth was the Russian threat mitigated.

Why might that have been? Were the Russian soldiers better than the French and Austrians? Were the Russian commanders better? Or did the Russians fight in a style that Frederick didn't understand?


texts: How did Europeans really conquer the Americas?

texts:
In school we (US centric students) were taught that the european settlers won over the Native Americans due to our superior technology (aka guns) and the native american's susceptibility to our disease.  Even as a kid this never seemed to make sense to me because:

  there were way more native Americans then Europeans
  A trained musketeer was not that superior to a trained archer, archers can fire volleys much faster
  shouldn't Europeans be just as susceptible to Native American diseases as the other way around?

I now realize that bullet point 2 and 3 aren't entirely accurate.  I've been told that while a trained musketeer was not necessarily drastically superior to a trained archer, an untrained musketeer was vastly superior to an untrained archer.  With muskets you could mass produce them, give a novice basic training, and have them be somewhat-deadly in short order, making a bunch of quickly trained up conscripts/militia a decent fighting force.  You can't do that with archery, which takes years of practice just to build up the muscle strength to fire an arrow a decent distance.

I've also been told that European diseases were more deadly then Native American ones as a side effect of Europeans living so tightly packed in cities, allowing spread of both disease and immunities to these diseases.  This ensured that Europeans were already carriers for some previously very deadly diseases, while the less compact Americans usually allowed diseases to die out entirely after they ran their course.  This would also imply that it's possible Europeans of that time had stronger immune systems from the extra pressures of having to face disease on a regular basis (Not on a genetic race level, but on a "the more you use it the stronger it gets" individual person level).

Still, Is this the whole story?  I don't know how accurate the above explanations are, and I feel that the US-centric view may have been biased on this front.  What other advantages did the smaller number of European colonists have?  I've heard the following explanations, but don't know how true any of them are:

  the American people were not nearly as densely populated as Europeans were at this time, thus making the number's difference between the colonists and the Americans closer to equal.
  The Americans were very tribal and thus did not present a united front against the Colonists, in fighting and cooperating with the colonists assisted the colonists in taking over the Americas
  The American's didn't fight back, they attempted to work with the colonists and be all buddy buddy until the evil Europeans betrayed them (yeah, I suspect this view is also biased, but I don't know)
  the Americans were recovering from their own epidemic about the time that the colonists arrived, thus thinning their numbers out (not sure where I heard this, but swear I heard it once?)
  The colonists technology included better understanding of tactics and fighting as a cohesive unit, which allowed great tactical victories despite otherwise equal forces.

I'm wondering how accurate any/all of these explanations are.  Are there other factors I'm not aware of?  What would others consider the most relevant tactical advantages?


texts: What was the extent of influence of James Byrnes on President Truman in the decision to use nuclear weapons?

texts:
Secretary of State James Byrnes was a very influential man and played a key role in foreign policy and the negotiations during WW2. It is known that after the death of FDR, he was the one who informed Truman about the Manhattan project and advised him on many issues.

What extent was he involved in influencing Truman to bombing Japan with nuclear weapons? Looking for insights/references/pointers.


texts: Rules to correctly write an ancient Roman date

texts:
So the background is that I am working on some code to translate a Gregorian date to an Ancient Rome date. Upon Googling ancient roman dates I have the formula down pretty solid. However, I keep seeing different endings for months and special days (Kalends, Nones, Ides).

What is the correct set of rules for me to correctly determine the spelling of these days and months?

(ante diem|pridie) (lower case roman numeral?) (special day) (month) (year) (suffix [AD|AUC])

Just for an example, I've seen Kalends, Kalendas, Kalendis..
I've also seen Ianuarius, Ianuariis, etc.

I found this source: http://www.latin.org/datecalculator.php

Not sure if it is always correct...


texts:
Was there any racism in ancient times, or during the middle ages? I know that the ancient Greeks, for example, considered any non-Greek a barbarian.  What I'm asking about is racism based on skin color.

Also, was modern racism solely a product of colonialism, or were there any other major reasons behind it?


texts: Are there historical instances of property rights not being respected/acknowledged between U.S. states, territories, and the federal government?

texts:
Some of the controversies leading up to the American Civil War were whether the U.S. States had to recognize the slave property of other States (e.g., maintaining them in a state of slavery, or returning escapees), and whether the federal government was required to recognize slave property in federal territories.

I am curious whether there were any historical precedents—or present-day examples, for that matter—where States, territories, or the Federal government do not recognize property (or classes of property) that is acknowledged by other States.


texts: What was the reason for the near-mutiny on the Georgios Averof in 1911?

texts:
On June 19, 1911 there was a near-mutiny on the armored cruiser Georgios Averof, while she was undergoing repairs after running aground at Spithead (near Portsmouth, UK). Wikipedia alleges the reason was the Greek sailors unfamiliarity with blue cheese (that their English hosts presumably served them), without providing any sources. The Greek version of the article doesn't provide a reason at all, and a random Greek blog I've found alleges the reason was the fact that she run aground. In any case, the near-mutiny lead to the immediate replacement of her Captain by the more experienced and capable Pavlos Kountouriotis.

The blue cheese story sounds plausible, and so does the alternative explanation that the crew didn't enjoy having a Captain that run the ship aground on her maiden voyage and only three days after he took command. In fact, both stories may very well be true, but I can't seem to be able to find any reliable sources for what actually happened. My searches are hindered by the fact that there was another mutiny on the Averof, in April, 1941. Although Wikipedia surprisingly only mentions the event in passing, Greek sources emphasize it, to the point that every possible combination of search terms I could think of results in documents about the 1941 event.

Help?


texts: How did Taganrog escape the devastation of the Stalingrad batlle of WW2?

texts: About 30 years ago I visited Taganrog ( steel mill ), and drove through Rostov-on-Don. I did not realize how close Stalingrad was (I only saw Volograd on the map). We did pass a monument marking the limit of the German advance. We stayed in a 100 year old hotel in Taganrog and much of the steel mill was about that old : How did they escape the damage of the nearby war ?


texts: Why haven't bankers gained as much power in China as the Medici got in Europe during their height?

texts: While the monotheist religions had bans on loaning money, Buddhism doesn't. Why didn't bankers manage to consolidate power in China during the Middle Ages?


texts: Have the current polar ice caps receded further than those that existed before the beginning of the last Ice Age?

texts: Has science been able to determine from the geologic record how our current ice caps compare to those that existed before before the beginning of the last Ice Age? If so, how do they match up? (I tried to ask this on Physics.SE, but it was suggested it was more of a history question)


texts: What did Golden Horde get out of the alliance with Mamluks?

texts:
Berke Khan, the Khan of the Golden Horde was not very fond of his cousin, Helagu Khan, Khan of Ilkhanate primarily because of the latter's actions against the Abbasid Caliphate.

He wrote this to Batu Khan before the fall of Baghdad to garner support from influential Mongol leaders for the Caliph:

  "We helped Möngke to enthrone. But he forgot who the enemy is or
  friend is. Now, he is starving the lands of our friend Caliph. It is
  abject"

Following the defeat of Abbasids and destruction of Baghdad at hand of Helagu Khan, Berke was consumed with rage and wrote the following letter to the Great Khan, Mongke Khan (Not knowing that the great Khan had already died):

  "He (Hulagu) has sacked all the cities of the Muslims, and has brought
  about the death of the Caliph. With the help of God I will call him to
  account for so much innocent blood." (see The Mongol
  Warlords, quoting Rashid al-Din's record of Berke Khan's
  pronouncement; this quote is also found in The Mamluk-Ilkhanid
  War)

So it was clear that Berke was already determined to wage war on Ilkhanate to avenge the fall of Baghdad.

It is also stated that Mamluks had developed secret ties with the Golden Horde when they learnt that the Khan was both a Muslim and hated his cousin Helagu for sack of Baghdad.

Also, it is reported that before the decisive battle of Ain Jalut, The Golden Horde provided much needed Cuman-Kipchak reinforcements to Mamluks which proved instrumental in defeating the Ilkhanate hordes.

  During the Mongol attack on the Mamluks in the Middle East, most of
  the Mamluks were Kipchaks, and the Golden Horde's supply of Kipchaks
  replenished the Mamluk armies and helped them fight off the Mongols.

  Halperin, Charles J. 2000. “The Kipchak Connection: The Ilkhans,
  the Mamluks and Ayn Jalut”. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and
  African Studies, University of London 63 (2). Cambridge University
  Press: 229–45.

Afterwards when Helagu returned from Mongolia and decided to avenge the humiliating defeat, He was forced to face the powerful Khan of Golden Horde instead when the latter launched raids into Ilkhanate lands, forcing him to march north instead of west which essentially lead to disintegration of Mongol Empire.

Berke did not want Mongols to fight Mongols as he said:

  Mongols are killed by Mongol swords. If we were united, then we would
  have conquered all of the world.

  Johan Elverskog (6 June 2011). Buddhism and Islam on the Silk
  Road. University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 186–. ISBN
  0-8122-0531-6.

Yet when there was a prospect of a renewed and much larger assault on Mamluks, Berke changed his views and attacked Ilkhanate to save the Mamluks.

Why were the Golden Horde ties to Mamluks stronger than their tie of blood with the Ilkhanate? A simplistic reason would be religion but there has to be something more than that.

I found out some other reasons too for Golden Horde and Ilkhanate rivalry:

Berke had grievances that Ilkhanate was granted wealthy lands of Persia.
Berke did not like that Mongke Khan gave Jochi land of Azerbaijan to his brother Helagu.
Berke was tired of Helagu trying to boss him around with demands of cessation of selling Cuman-Kipchak slaves to Mamluks.

He also took actions against Byzantine Empire through his vassal Bulgaria to force the release of Seljuq Sultan of Rum, Kaykaus II and Egyptian Mamluk envoys. Of course Byzantines were allies of Ilkhanate so naturally Golden Horde must have seen Seljuqs as a buffer between them and Byzantines and did what they could to counter Ilkhanate influence.

The question remains, what did Golden Horde get from this alliance? I can only see the Mamluks benefiting from the alliance with Berke Khan and Golden horde getting nothing out of it. Since bi-lateral relations of states are based on give and take rather than charity, there has to be something the Mamluks had to offer to the Golden Horde.


texts: Are there any incidents of war / brutalities because of Football match other than the famous one between El Salvador and Honduras?

texts:
We all know that football is most popular game all over the world, And it has emotional big touch to it.  There are many weird incidents happened because of this wonderful game,

I am looking for significant incidents i.e. war / rampages / brutalities  those were recorded between football matches.

the famous one that I know is FootBall War between  El Salvador and Honduras.


texts: Which WW2 belligerents provided military brothels?

texts: Did any of the other belligerents of WW2 besides Japan and Germany provide their troops with authorized military brothels?


texts: Why is Lal Bahadur Shastri's death in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, still a mystery?

texts:
Was the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri a conspiracy (by the USA or Russia, or some other party) because of the stand he took on nuclear policy, or was it simply a natural death abroad.

Context : His death in Tashkent, Uzbekistan
Research : I'm an INDIAN and being learning about him since
childhood. Now I've read a wiki link regarding his death.

my reference


texts: How did the conquistadors imagine the "lake of gold" to be like?

texts:
According to this article "Archaeology and Legend- How Old Is Acoma?", and a high school history textbook, some Spanish sent out expeditions to look for a "lake of gold". I've found scarce information about this lake.

How did the Spanish imagine this lake to be made of gold? Did they expect it to be liquid gold?


texts: What particular watershed events led to the War of the Roses?

texts: What were the key events that led to the War of the Roses occurring in England during the 15th century? Was there any particular event that was the tipping point?


texts: Was there a Parthian counterpart of Tacitus, Cicero, etc?

texts:
I often find myself, when learning from Roman texts, wishing to hear "the other side of the story".

Are there no Parthian historians, authors, playwrights, poets, etc, whose words have survived? And if not, why not?


texts: When did migration and international travel become legally limited?

texts:
In the modern age, it is normal that (groups of) countries require passports and possibly visas for visitors from other (groups of) countries.  In the past, many people from Europe migrated to North America and other parts of the world.  According to Wikipedia on the history of passports, In the later part of the nineteenth century and up to World War I, passports were not required, on the whole, for travel within Europe, and crossing a border was a relatively straightforward procedure.  It continues to describe how During World War I, European governments introduced border passport requirements for security reasons, and to control the emigration of people with useful skills (sounds like an exit visa).

When did government authorities start to enforce generic limitations on who could settle in the area under their control?  And when did they start to enforce such limitations on who could travel, for either business or leisure purposes?  Was World War I the first time either of those were enforced?  For example, were there limitations either way on transatlantic travellers in the 19th century, whether for a temporary visit or for permanent settlement?

By generic limitations, I mean limitations that apply by default to everybody, such as requirement to have a passport with a visa to travel, or a work permit or other kind of visa to settle.  I do not mean specific rulings such as exile that are targeted at particular individuals.


texts: Is it true that Serbia was offered "Great Serbia" instead of Yugoslavia at the end of the WWI by Allies?

texts:
Allegedly, the king Alexander Karadjordjevic, the unifier, was offered to choose between Yugoslavia (called the kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes) or greater Serbia which would have been smaller than Yugoslavia, but definitely greater than Serbia alone at the time and nowadays. The offer was made by Allied forces, mostly Britain. He chose Yugoslavia, as he probably didn't care about the country's name but its size. IMO, had the Greater Serbia been created instead, the 20th century history of Balkans would have been quite different.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Greater_Serbia_in_Yugoslavia.png

This offer is often quoted by some Serbs, but I didn't find any references.


texts: What Roman legions were present in London (UK)?

texts:
I have just come across an interesting article about the Romans in London (UK):

Roman eagle found by archaeologists in City of London

a Picture from the above article (just to have an idea):

My question is related to these Roman legions present in London.
Basically where can I find more about them?

Somethings I would like to know:
what were the names of these legions, symbols, and where were them originally from?

I have heard of (not sure about the veracity of the comment), that some of the legions in Britannia were originally from Spain.
Could this be true?

This answer brings some knowledge but it is not so specific to London.


texts:
Christianity started off as a cult religion before becoming a major religion today. The major event that put Christianity on the road to world domination was the conversion of Emperor Constantine into Christianity.

What strategic value did Christianity hold for Constantine that made him convert to Christianity?

This question assumes that Constantine was a calculating politician who converted to Christianity for personal advantage and not out of pure holiness. Of course, no one will ever know what went through his mind at that point in time.


texts:
There is an old canard to the effect that Bolshevism was a Jewish phenomenon (the Nazis, for example, referred to it as Judeo-Bolshevism), and there are still many people today who stress the apparently disproportionate number of Jews who could be found within the Bolshevik movement - especially amongst those who held positions of power. Anecdotally, it has been my experience that Google searches lead either to material of an offensively antisemitic character ("white nationalist", and sometimes explicitly neo-Nazi websites), or to sites that refute this allegation without providing numbers or sources.

This is frustrating, since the claim gets repeated so often that I would like it verified and don't have the resources to do so reliably. I understand that by "bolshevik" we're really just referring to the majority party within the USSR (if that is correct?), and that Jewish communists didn't, by virtue of their communism, have much of a Jewish identity. I also understand that the statistics will be different if we are limiting ourselves to people who were raised as Jews, or if we broaden our scope to include people who, as per the Nazi definition, even had a single Jewish grandparent.

As such, I understand if this question might be a little too broad, and in lieu of a comprehensive answer would also appreciate references to any articles or books that address this issue in more depth. Effectively, what truth is there behind the claim that the Bolshevik movement was "disproportionately" made up of Jews, and how disproportionate was it? If Jews made up less than 1% of the population but 1.5% of the party, that would be disproportionate but hardly news-worthy.


texts: Did Naulakha cost more than Burj Khalifa?

texts:
Naulakha Pavilion in Lahore fort (made 1631-1633) is famous for 9 lakh (0.9 Million) rupees spent in its development. [Rajput (1963), pp. 8-9]
I am interested to know what will be its worth today (approximately) and will it cost more than Burj Khalifa (cost 1.5$ bn) USAToday or not?


texts: European painting of a man standing on a dragon with his sword drawn, who painted it/what century is it from?

texts: Who painted this and what century it is from?


texts: Do any Egyptian hieroglyphics mention the ten plagues?

texts: Is there any evidence of the ten plagues in Hieroglyphics or is that a legend?


texts: Which roman emperors were not born in Rome?

texts: The Roman empire being a long-lived empire and over a large area is likely to have had some dynasties/emperors that were not ethnically Latin/Italian, is that in fact the case? If so which dynasties/emperors?


texts: Can you recommend a book on the French Revolution?

texts:
I pray this question doesn't get closed as too subjective. This is a site on history for goodness sake. What could be a more subjective topic??

Anyway, What i'd like is a recommendation of a book on the French Revolution. It seems a fascinating topic that unfolded in many directions with a lot of colorful characters involved. What I need is something that reads more like a novel and also relatively complete.

Any suggestions MUCH appreciated.
Thanks,
_Ramy


texts:
I missed a section in Modern History and cannot find the answer to the question for a video that was shown in class.

The Topic was The Demise of King Louis.

Question: What is the symbol of the san-colottes.

Mind explaining what the san-colottes are? I couldn't understand the Wikipedia article that well.


texts: Did Catherine the Great really call for the abolition of serfdom?

texts:
... like Catherine the Great S01E01 (2019) shows?

This would be almost a century before serfdom was actually abolished, and makes one wonder why the Czars didn't just do it, if they were in favor of it.


texts: Was there a "secret" recording of the American founding fathers' deliberations?

texts: I remember that there was someone who wrote down the stuff the founding fathers talked about behind closed doors. Can't remember his name. Who was he again?


texts: What did executioners do when not performing executions?

texts:
Almost all countries in the world had capital punishment at some point. I understand that in the military, the executioner/hangman would also be a soldier when he is not executing people, but what about civilian/non-military executioners (I use this term as the condemned is not always hanged)?

What jobs did executioners in the UK/France, in the 19th and 20th centuries, have when they were not performing executions?


texts:
In the April 2016 issue of Harper’s Magazine, Dan Baum writes about interviewing John Ehrlichman:

  At the time, I was writing a book about the politics of drug prohibition. I started to ask Ehrlichman a series of earnest, wonky questions that he impatiently waved away. “You want to know what this was really all about?” he asked with the bluntness of a man who, after public disgrace and a stretch in federal prison, had little left to protect. “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”

And later in the same piece:

  Nixon’s invention of the war on drugs as a political tool was cynical, but every president since — Democrat and Republican alike — has found it equally useful for one reason or another. Meanwhile, the growing cost of the drug war is now impossible to ignore: billions of dollars wasted, bloodshed in Latin America and on the streets of our own cities, and millions of lives destroyed by draconian punishment that doesn’t end at the prison gate; one of every eight black men has been disenfranchised because of a felony conviction.

My question is: Is there evidence to suggest the "war on drugs" was a cover for class warfare?


texts: What were the major imports and exports of Germany and France from 1850-1915?

texts:
Background: I've been doing some digging on nineteenth century trade, and so far have found this list of Britain's major imports to be an extremely helpful big picture guide. Sadly, I've yet to google up anything both as straightforward and comprehensive on France and Germany in the same century, which are my other two areas of interest.

Question: Could somebody please give me a run-down of the major French and (post-unification) German imports and exports for the latter half of the 19th century? Relating that list to their colonies and biggest trading partners would also be much appreciated, but isn't necessary for an answer.


texts: Was there an alcohol abuse problem among monks and priests in the High Middle Ages in England?

texts:
I read somewhere (just can't remember where) that monks in the High Middle Ages in England sometimes had a reputation for drinking too much.

For supporting evidence (not conclusive I know), I found a reference to Archbishop Anselm telling (in 1102) priests not to go to 'drinking bouts'.

I also found this picture. The article it is used in just says the monks of Bicester may have drunk 10 pints a week. This isn't much I think but the picture with the article is implying otherwise. Also, monks did most of the brewing in England in the Middle Ages so I guess it wasn't difficult for them to get plenty of beer.

So, did monks and priests have a reputation for drinking too much? Was it a problem, e.g. was it a health issue or did it damage the reputation of the church in local communities? Or was drunkenness among the clergy considered to be 'they're just human, no one's perfect'?

Is there any other evidence of a senior church man telling priests and/or monks to drink less?

Answers for the Early or Late Middle Ages would also be interesting but I'm mostly interested in the High Middle Ages.


texts: In post-WW2 Soviet Union, did most people have bank accounts?

texts:
Did most citizens in the USSR have bank accounts? How did they work? Plain checking accounts, or was credit allowed? Were banks open 7 days a week like non-religious government is supposed to? Was there a monthly fee for owning an account?

Did they ever get around to using ATMs?


texts: Was the Abolition of Slavery in the United States perceived and advertised as an effort to improve race relations or as an improvement to labour laws?

texts:
Firstly, a note: This is a genuine question born of real curiosity, and not an attempt to belittle either the modern socialist cause or the difficulties faced by non-Caucasians in the pre-Abolition (or the post-Abolition) era.

I came upon the socialist theory of racism, which states that racism is a natural consequence of slavery, not the other way around. I was and am intrigued by the theory. It seems to me that one of the possible implications of the theory is the abolition of slavery must have been in essence chiefly a radical new labour policy. This does somewhat make sense to me; if it was a declaration of the equality of races, the Proclamation would also have announced desegregation and other Civil Rights measures, wouldn't it?

So my question is, was the Abolition of Slavery in the United States perceived and advertised as an effort to improve race relations or an improvement to labour laws?


texts: How did Barbra Streisand learn of the California Coastal Records image of her house, when it had only been downloaded 4 times before her counsel did?

texts:
The Streisand Effect got named because of Barbra Streisand learning about her house being in the California Coastal Records database and kicking up a huge fuss about it.
But how did she discover that her house was there, when it had only been downloaded 4 times before her counsel did it, as said in the Tentative Ruling of the lawsuit that was related to the Effect?

Tentative ruling, page 6, stating, "Image 3850 was download six times, twice to the Internet address of counsel for plaintiff". In addition, two prints of the picture were ordered—one by Streisand's counsel and one by Streisand's neighbor.


texts: Did Hungarian Army ever use crescent banners?

texts:
I was reading about Battle of Mohi between Mongol Empire and Kingdom of Hungary.

The Wikipedia contains this artistic depiction of the battle:

The cavalry on left hand looks like Mongols while presence of Knights on right hand side means those are the Magyar. You will notice the banner carried by knights contains a white crescent on a red plain field.

I know crescent was not originally associated with Islam or Muslim Empires in the East and might have actually been adopted by them from Byzantines who were neighbors of Hungarians. But by the time Battle of Mohi took place, crescent was firmly associated with Muslims linked to Muslims since Crusades.

I have tried googling it but results generated are mostly about Hungarian confrontations with the Ottoman Empire due to keywords "Hungarian" & "Crescent" (Thanks alot Murad II & John Hunyadi). One lead me to a book but it only refers to crescent formation used by both sides in Battle of Mohi.

Anyhow, Why are the Hungarian Knights depicted in this picture holding a crescent banner? Did Hungarians ever go to battle bearing crescent banners in medieval era?

Wikipedia states however that this artwork is anonymous illustration so authenticity of the said image might be in question. But by putting the image through Google Image search, it seems this image is used to illustrate the said battle by a lot of sources.


texts: Weird numbers and letters at the end of sections in a newspaper

texts:
At the end of each section in this newspaper (http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2018/New%20York%20NY%20Morning%20Courier/New%20York%20NY%20Morning%20Courier%201852/New%20York%20NY%20Morning%20Courier%201852%20-%200482.pdf) are weird numbers and/or letters.  For example, at the end of the

  ADRIAN H. MULLER Auctioneer.

  PEREMPTORY SALE OF 250 VALUABLE LOTS OF

section there is the line

  1623,26,28. M1, 4, 8, 9, 10      (1168)

And at the end of the section directly above it, there is the line

  (1859) mh8 10 ts

What do these lines mean?


texts: Were there other reasons or interests apart from Pan-Slavism for the Russian Empire to support Serbia?

texts:
In my History class, I was taught that that the Russian Empire supported Serbia's independence and nationality and fought against the Austria-Hungary Empire due to Pan-Slavism. My point is, were there any other interests Russia had in Serbia or around the region because I don't think it's only because of Pan-Slavism?

Pan-Slavism, a movement which crystallized in the mid-19th century, is the political ideology concerned with the advancement of integrity and unity for the Slavic-speaking peoples. Its main impact occurred in the Balkans, where non-Slavic empires had ruled the South Slavs for centuries. These were mainly the Byzantine Empire, Austria-Hungary (both as separate entities for most of the period), the Ottoman Empire, and Venice.

Wikipedia: Pan-Slavism


texts:
Wilhelm Hoffman was a Wehrmacht soldier trapped in Stalingrad, whose diary survived the war and provides a rare look at what it was like to be an average German soldier on the Eastern Front.

My question is, what happened to him?  Did he survive the war?  Do we even know?

I see that the wiki article states he was killed, but I'm not sure I trust it.  The source the wiki article cites just states it with no further discussion.  I'm hesitant because it could be a situation like what happened with Albert Blithe in Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers.  Ambrose said Blithe died shortly after the war, having never recovered from his injuries, when in reality he lived into the 1970's.


texts: Why did the states that were born out of the Louisiana purchase adopt a common law system, and not a civil law system?

texts:
The French system of laws is a civil law system that is based upon the Napoleonic Code, and further back the Justinian Code. The legal system in Louisiana is now bijuridicial retaining some of the elements of the Napoleonic Code.

But, why did the rest of the land that was purchased as part of the Louisiana Purchase not adopt a civil law system, like Louisiana did? All of the other states that were originally part of the Louisiana Purchase now have common law systems.


texts: How was Hadrian's decree banning circumcision enforced? Were there mandatory body check or something similar?

texts: Roman Emperor Hadrian issued a decree outlawing circumcision around 132 CE, under penalty of death. I am curious as to how such a decree may be enforced, given that circumcision/castration practices are quite private.


texts: What was the condition of women in "primitive societies" around the world?

texts:
In Book I, Chapter IV of "An Essay on the Principle of Population" (6th edition, 1826), Thomas Malthus states how terrible the condition of women was among "savage societies" (to which he meant natives outside "civilised Europe" living mainly of hunting, fishing, and gathering, so excluding established agrarian societies). For instance, he writes:

  It is justly observed by Dr. Robertson, that, "Whether man has been improved by the progress of arts and civilization, is a question which in the wantonness of disputation has been agitated among philosophers. That women are indebted to the refinement of polished manners for a happy change in their state, is a point which can admit of no doubt." In every part of the world, one of the most general characteristics of the savage is to despise and degrade the female sex. Among most of the tribes in America their condition is so peculiarly grievous, that servitude is a name too mild to describe their wretched state. A wife is no better than a beast of burden. While the man passes his days in idleness or amusement, the woman is condemned to incessant toil. Tasks are imposed upon her without mercy, and services are received without complacence or gratitude. There are some districts in America where this state of degradation has been so severely felt, that mothers have destroyed their female infants, to deliver them at once from a life in which they were doomed to such a miserable slavery.

This and other chapters contain several recounts by "Western travelers" of such ill-treatment of women by "savages". Whilst all this is certainly relevant anecdotal evidence, is there more robust evidence (built upon the advances of scientific inquiry and methods since Malthus' times) about the condition of women in these "primitive societies" around the world? A dedicated article to the history of women in Wikipedia, for instance, is scarce on ancient history and has many unsupported claims. A book refered there (Women's History and Ancient History) does not really focuses on "primitive societies". In this sense, any reference to particular research and/or books on the topic is most welcomed.

PS1: the term "savages" and "primitive societies" are surely arbitrary. Yet, Malthus had something in mind, which might include groups like hunters and gatherers, nomads, indigenous peoples, and so on. I am not particularly interested on conditioning the terms, but I am definitely not asking about ancient cultures like Egypt, Greek, Roman, Asyrian, Chinese, etc.

PS2: I hope the political correctness police does not immediately judge me as a denier of violence against women. I am not expressing any particular opinion. I am looking for scientifically-based analysis of the topic.


texts: Is there a real quote to the effect of "The development of man resembles the development of society . . . "?

texts:
There is a saying, I heard from my father a long time ago, that the development of man resembles the development of society: the infant resembles the Renaissance, the young person corresponds to the Age of Enlightenment and later to Romanticism, and finally a more mature person that of modern society.

I have used it in birthday speeches with some success, but I don’t see any source for this observation on a Google search.

Where would he have seen or heard about that?


texts: Contemporary opinions on Caliph Omar's burning of the library of Alexandria?

texts: I read that his reasons were, "If those books are in agreement with the Quran, we have no need of them; and if these are opposed to the Quran, destroy them." How were his actions viewed by others?


texts: How was Israel able to build a powerful military within days of the formation of the state?

texts:
The State of Israel was formed in May 14, 1948.

I guess the first Arab-Israel war broke out in the same month of the same year.

Israel won the war decisively.

The question is not "How did they win the war?"

The question is, "How did they build up their military within days of the inception of the State of Israel?"

Who helped them to build their Military so quickly?

Where did they find military hardware so quickly?


texts: In Alta California, who worked at the Ranchos del Rey?

texts: In Spanish Alta California, most agricultural production was under the management and on the lands of the Franciscan Missions, operated with native labor. Each of the four presidios (forts) was also supposed to rely on a ranch belonging to the King -- the Ranchos del Rey. Monterey's corresponding royal ranch, for example, was located upriver, somewhat near the Missions of Soledad and San Juan Bautista. Who staffed or managed these royal ranchos?