texts: Why did the Irish Free State suppress news of the Holocaust in 1945? Reaction once it became known?

texts:
Paul Bew's book Churchill and Ireland mentions the following in connection with the Irish Free State (forerunner of the present Republic of Ireland)'s Prime Minister De Valera's visit to the German ambassador in Dublin the last days of World War II to express condolences on the death of Hitler.
At the time this action, although criticised in Britain, was less controversial among the Irish public as the recent discovery by advancing Allied forces of Nazi Concentration Camps with starving inmates and evidence of gas chambers and mass extermination of Jews and others, although known to De Valera and senior politicians in the Irish Free State, had been kept from the public there by censorship. According to Wikipedia and other internet sources, censorship was undertaken under emergency legislation passed because although the Irish Free State was neutral in World War II the  fact that much of the World was at War was considered to create problems and dangers for Ireland.
I can understand that when the outcome of the War was in serious doubt, the Irish government would not want their press to risk offending Nazi Germany in case the Germans won the war. However, by April-May 1945 the Allies were overruning Germany from East and West and it was obvious that Germany was going to lose.
Why then was the  news of what we now call the Holocaust kept from the Irish public?
When it was eventually publicly admitted, or people heard about it from relatives in the UK, USA or elsewhere, where it had been reported, was there any public outcry that the news had been suppressed? Or did it all seem to most people too far away and not Ireland's concern, or were people inclined to overlook German atrocities on the grounds that at least the Germans were fighting the old enemy England?


texts:
Is there an attested use of the Greek word "petros" (meaning 'stone') as a given name, before it was given to Peter the Apostle?

Note: The name Jesus gave to Peter was most likely 'Kepha,' since that is what John 1:42 says, and since Jesus is most likely to have spoken Aramaic and not Greek. Also, Paul, author of probably the earliest books of the Bible, who had certainly met Peter in real life, called him both Cephas and Peter. So Peter was a name given to Simon/Kepha by those who knew him and spoke Greek. Just wanted to cut the pedants off at the pass.


texts: What was the real name of Bishop Contumeliosus of Riez?

texts:
History has recorded the name of an allegedly badly-behaved bishop of Riez as Bishop "Contumeliosus of Riez" (he was later absolved of his accusations).

Now, Contumeliosus is definitely not the real name of this bishop. The name is most likely derived from the Latin word contumelia, which means:

The word itself predates the bishop. It's an attested word in Classical Latin. As such, it seems to me this name was given to him posthumously, perhaps to match his most well-known life event with the meaning of the word (is this name changing a thing?).

Yet, I haven't found the original name of the bishop. According to the Wikipedia link above:

  Of two surviving letters of John to Caesarius, both dated 18 July 535, one is about the dispute over Contumeliosus (Mansi, viii. p. 856).

I went to the VIII volume of the referred Mansi's work and you can indeed find the Latin letter (page 856). However, the name given to the bishop is Contumeliosus. Perhaps his real name was edited by Mansi himself, or an earlier copyst. Mansi's work is from the XVIII century. The book does not have references either, so it might be hard to trace the "original letters".

Anyone can help on this? Is this an unanswerable question perhaps?


texts: Is there any evidence that the Catholic Church slowed innovation during the Middle Ages?

texts: I often hear that the rate of innovation was very high during ancient times in Greece and the Roman empire. I've also heard that the rate of innovation was reduced once the Catholic Church gained strength. Is there any clear evidence to support (or disprove) this?


texts: Did barbarians capture monks or priest of civilized kingdoms to teach them?

texts:
I'm watching the loosely accurate TV show Vikings. When Vikings pillage the Briton monastery of Lindisfarne, they also capture some monks as slaves. Later, one of the monks assimilates pretty well to the Norsemen society. He becomes one of the Vikings, and teaches them Anglo-Saxon language and Christian culture.

I know it's just a TV show and their main purpose is box-office. But could this story happen in real life? Did the Vikings, Huns or Teutons capture other kingdom's (preferably) priests or monks utilizing their unique knowledge and assimilate these people? Or the whole question is just too far-fetched?

If you know any sources, please share it.


texts: Is there any verifiable ancient source for the etymology of βάρβαρος?

texts:
In The Shaping of Western Civilization: From Antiquity to the Present, ed. Michael Burger (U of Toronto Press, 2014), we are given the following colorful detail (§2.3, p47):

What, according to the Greeks, made a Greek a Greek?  The simplest
definition in the Archaic period was that a person was a Greek if she
or he spoke Greek.  Hellenes spoke Greek and barbaroi did not.
Indeed, Greeks believed that the term barbaroi itself originated in
non-Greeks' inability to speak their language.  To them, the speech of
barbaroi sounded like nonsense:  "bar, bar, bar..."---barbaroi.

And it's not just this book, either.  The historian Philip Daileader also mentioned in one of his Great Courses lectures that the Greek word βάρβαρος has its origin in the 'bar-bar-bar' sound of foreign speech.  And a simple Google search turns up other innumerable examples of authors (many with scholarly credentials) repeating the same.
But this just sounds very suspicious to me, like a modern myth.  Hence my question:
(Q)  Is there any verifiable ancient source for this claim about the word βάρβαρος (barbarian)?
EDIT:  This question was closed on the grounds that its answer is contained in the Wikipedia link, but it is not.
To clarify, I am not looking for a scholarly reference, as I already have plenty of those.  Rather, I am looking for primary sources from antiquity that supports the scholarly claim about the Greek word 'barbaros'.
In particular, the traditional explanation (that the Greeks invented this word because foreign speech sounded like "bar, bar..." to them) seems inconsistent with the existence of a Sanskrit cognate with the same meaning, which is also mentioned in the Wikipedia page.  In this instance primary sources for the folk-etymology are critical, and Wikipedia does not cite any.


texts: Did ancient/medieval Indians produce and consume alcohol?

texts:
Are there any references to ancient or medieval Indians consuming (and producing) alcohol?

And if so, what kind of alcohol was produced (i.e. wine, beer, whiskey, etc.)?


texts: How many words were written before Gutenberg

texts:
Suppose there was a library containing all books ever written before Gutenberg. I exclude books that have been lost, but include books that have survived only in copy.  How many total words were in those books?

Aside: Original question asked for a measurement of books in meters, but "books" seems to be an imprecise term that involves lots of discussion.  "Words" is probably more accurate.


texts: How many women lived in Spanish Californian presidios?

texts: The Spanish presidios in the Californias were military outposts, unlike the religious missions or the civilian pueblos. Their residents were not exclusively soldiers, though; at least prisoners and trade officials also lived there, among total populations of several hundred people. While some soldiers with families managed to set up homes on the outside, some officers seem have quartered their families inside. How many women lived in the presidios?


texts: What was the earliest professional recording of "Happy Birthday to You"?

texts:
Since its creation, there has been confusion over the copyright status of the familiar song "Happy Birthday to You". As it became widely popular, the original copyright holders lost control of when it was sung and where, and consequently did not make the profit they might have made from it.

However, I was curious if any of you know of a professional recording that helped to popularize the tune in its early days. How did it spread through America and across borders?

Also, if you know what the oldest extant recording is, that would be helpful too!


texts: Where was the Japanese surrender signed on Okinawa in June 1945?

texts:
On the 21st of June, Japanese defences on the southern fringe of Okinawa collapsed. The following day General Mitsuru Ushijima and chief of staff Isamu Chō committed suicide. Colonel Yahara was denied permission to commit suicide and presumably negotiated surrender terms with allied forces:

  If you die there will be no one left who knows the truth about the
  battle of Okinawa. Bear the temporary shame but endure it. This is an
  order from your army Commander.

Where and when (latitude and longitude if possible) was the surrender signed?


texts: Did Russia support both Georgian nationalists and the Georgian government during Georgian civil war?

texts:
I am trying to understand the history of Georgia after the independence from Russia reading the French Wikipedia article about it. Yet I don't understand the position of Russia during the Civil War.

Plus tard dans l'année, les membres de l'opposition s'arment quand le commandant limogé de la Garde Nationale Tenguiz Kitovani rejoint le camp anti-Gamsakhourdia. À la fin du mois de décembre 1991, ils commencent le siège du Parlement, qui est pris le 6 janvier 1992, date du coup d'État qui amène l'exil du Président Gamsakhourdia chez ses voisins caucasiens. À ce moment, un Conseil d'État est formé et l'ancien chef du parti communiste géorgien Edouard Chevardnadzé est désigné comme chef du Conseil intérimaire.
Celui-ci poursuit la guerre en Ossétie du Sud et, au lieu d'atténuer les conflits séparatistes, envoie des troupes géorgiennes en Abkhazie pour réprimer les nationalistes qui virent vers la sécession à leur tour. Mais Tbilissi se heurte à une opposition armée et soutenue logistiquement par la Russie. En un peu plus d'une année, la guerre est achevée et les séparatistes, après avoir déclaré à leur tour leur indépendance, se livrent à un nettoyage ethnique des Géorgiens présents sur leur territoire. À la suite de cette défaite, Tbilissi tente de se rapprocher politiquement de la Russie qui s'accorde à lui envoyer une aide militaire pour combattre les nouveaux opposants menés par Gamsakhourdia qui a établi un gouvernement en exil à Zougdidi.

Translated:

Later in the year, opposition members arm themselves when the dismissed commander of the National Guard Tenguiz Kitovani joins the anti-Gamsakhourdia camp. At the end of December 1991, they began the siege of Parliament, which was taken on 6 January 1992, the date of the coup d'état that led to President Gamsakhourdia's exile to his Caucasian neighbours. At that time, a State Council was formed and former leader of the Georgian Communist Party Eduard Shevardnadze was appointed as head of the Interim Council.
He continued the war in South Ossetia and, instead of reducing separatist conflicts, sent Georgian troops to Abkhazia to repress nationalists who were also moving towards secession. But Tbilisi faces armed opposition and logistical support from Russia. In just over a year, the war is over and the separatists, after declaring their independence, carry out ethnic cleansing of the Georgians on their territory. Following this defeat, Tbilisi is trying to get politically closer to Russia, which agrees to send it military aid to fight the new opponents led by Gamsakhurdia who has established a government in exile in Zugdidi.

I don't understand why it was the nationalists, lead by Gamsakhourdia, that were helped by Russia first before it was the government that was helped by Russia. Was it at the same time? That would be nonsense.
I am looking for recent resources on history of Georgia or at least of the Caucasus in French, if you have any ideas please let me know :)


texts: Did the Reformation have any impact in Orthodox countries?

texts: The Protestant Reformation turned society upside down in countries under the aegis of the Vatican, but did anybody pay any attention in Orthodox countries? If so, who did they side with?


texts: Why were Indians able to free themselves of the European Colonialists unlike South Africans?

texts:
About 8 months back, I went to South Africa. I did try to learn a bit about the country before going there. I was very much surprised to learn that 'Apartheid' was a thing/practice till Nelson Mandela's release from jail in 1992. From what little I could garner in my brief time is that both countries (India and South Africa) was annexed/taken over by other countries multiple times.

I could not figure out why the two countries differed in the final outcome. While India was able to become a Self-Independent state in 1947 (for Indians, by Indians) South Africa is still ruled by minor European people (they were repeatedly annexed by both Britain and Holland/Dutch successively over centuries).

The strategies employed by both countries are similar. We, Indians used a mix of non-violent passive-resistance (Gandhiji and the Gandhian movement) and violent resistance (Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad and many others). For South Africans they had Nelson Mandela and I'm sure there were people who took violence as a way to gain independence.

What differences or factors could be attributed for the way history became in the two countries ?


texts: How did diplomats of the Axis powers travel and communicate among themselves in World War II

texts: In World War II, Japan and the European Axis powers had to communicate over strategy and other things. Also, their diplomats must have had to go to their own countries sometimes. After the USSR entered the war, how was this done? Was this not a major problem for the Axis Powers?


texts: Did the Hawaiiians get tattoos for what nā ʻaumākua they believed that they would reincarnate as?

texts:
I'm in the process of overananlyzing the film Moana. During my research, I discovered that the Polynesians did actually believe that an ancestor could reincarnate - as an animal, another person, a rock... These were called nā ʻaumākua. In the Moana film, Grandma Tala gets a tattoo of the animal that she believes that she'll reincarnate as (a sting ray, as it happens).

Did the Polynesians actually get tattoos of what animal they believed that they would reincarnate as?


texts:
On my Great-Uncle's Naval Entry Form, it says:

  Occupation upon entry: Slitterman (paper)

I found this article, which says a slitterman is:

  A representative for the Travellers Aid Society

Can anyone explain this in more detail?
Specifically, what does the "paper" part mean?

Note: He joined in 1943, he would have been about 15/16.


texts: What was the National Revolutionary Army's "Training Brigade"?

texts:
During the Battle of Nanking, China's forces included the so-called "Training Brigade" which defended Purple Mountain. What was the nature of this formation?

The Wikipedia article describes them as "super-elite", and they may have been based on a similar German Army formation, but I'm not sure. What was their role in the military - were they supposed to train other units, and how? Was it unusual that they were involved in front-line combat?


texts: Under the Australian Constitution, who will become Australia's Head of State if the British monarchy is suddenly dissolved or overthrown and Britain becomes a republic?


texts: Did the pope try to suppress the number zero?

texts:
Is there any evidence indicating that the Pope attempted to suppress the number zero?

In an editorial review, Rob Lightner claims that "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea", by Charles Seife, explains "Why did the Church reject the use of zero?". On the other hand, "God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science",  by James Hannam, rebuts "the idea that the pope tried to suppress the number zero".


texts: Why would silk underwear disqualify you from the United States military draft?

texts:
I recently encountered a post by Kerry Callan where he provided a pictorial image from the September 1966 issue of Esquire magazine of conditions that will exempt you from the draft.
 (click to enlarge)
Most of them make perfect sense to me, except "silk underwear". I took a quick look through the text of AR 40-501 - Standards of Medical Fitness, but couldn't find anything. Is this just meant as a joke about how rich people sometimes got out of the draft with flimsy reasons or is there something else I'm missing?


texts:
Recently, I was reading articles of ancient clothing (more specifically Roman and Chinese) and while I was reading there wa countless references that only a Roman Emperor could wear a complete toga of purple, while lower class men with power such as kings, senators and other powerful people could only have a stripe of purple. Purple is not only associated with royalty in the Rome other nations also dress their royals in purple. So here is my question...

Q. Is there a specific reason why only Roman Emperors could wear purple? Is it because of its boldness or was it a luxury to be able to wear purple?


texts:
I'm researching a CDV I bought this past summer and am having great difficulty finding what type of uniform this is. I have it narrowed down to a French military uniform, likely post 1900. I was able to find two other examples of the same uniform on different men (with different identifiers on the collar of each), but they exist on a stock photo website, so they contain no additional information.

Stock Photo 1
Stock Photo 2

Can anyone tell me what type of uniform this is, the likely year(s), and any other information?

Thank you!


texts:
I was watching a National Geographic Documentary. In that, it said that Angkor Wat was built on top of water. It was also told that it used to be an ancient observatory. Is this true? I searched all over Wikipedia article and found nothing of this sort.

Also, if it was also used as an observatory, what was it used for? Tracking celestial objects? and how? Please give sources for the answer. Thank you.


texts: What is the extent to which Malcolm X's activism was influenced by his Muslim beliefs?

texts: Have been researching the role of religion on the Civil Rights movement and while I am aware that Malcolm X identified as a Muslim it is unclear as to how this belief influenced his (and his supporters') work as an activist. Was simply wondering whether there are any interpretations or recommended texts on the subject.


texts: Why did Khadafi chose to support Idi Amin?

texts:
I was looking up the war between Tanzania and Uganda, where Tanzanian forces invaded Uganda to remove Idi Amin, and learned that Idi Amin was able to hold out for a little while thanks to the support of a contingent of Libyan forces sent by Khadafi.

Here is an interesting article that summarizes the campaign:

http://www.monitor.co.ug/Magazines/PeoplePower/How-Mbarara--Kampala-fell-to-Tanzanian-army/689844-2294842-i5lpda/index.html

The question is, why did Khadafi chose to back Idi Amin, even to the extent of deploying military assets in support of the Ugandan Army?

Did Khadafi think he could establish a base in the region that he could use to promote Libyan power and influence?

Did Khadafi see economic interests in the African Great Lakes region, and hoped to use Uganda as a country from which to back his regional economic interests with military force?

What happened to the Libyans once Idi Amin fell? Did they just flee to neighboring countries? Or did the bulk of the Libyan forces surrender, and had to be repatriated back to Libya under tough negotiations?

Brian Ghilliotti


texts: Kabris, the "half-wild Frenchman", in Kamchatka

texts:
A Frenchman who had gone native in the Marquesas Islands, Jean Cabri or Kabris, returned to Europe in the early 1800s and became a well-known attraction and swimming teacher.

His return voyage involved passing through Kamchatka. I followed a footnote in another work to read in Nozikov's Russian voyages round the world that:

  ... the half-wild Frenchman, Le Kobrite, who had been brought there from the island of Nukuhiva, left the ship [Nadezhda]. He had taken a great liking to Koshelev, the Governor of Kamchatka, who, in accordance with the Frenchman's request, had taken him into his service.

Nozikov's book, at least in English translation and "produced in complete conformity" with wartime economy standards, includes no bibliography.

Neither P.I. Koselev (serving 1802-1807 at Nizhnekamchatsk) or a stay in Kamchatka are mentioned in Kabris's short autobiography. Most descriptions of his life skip right over this part. Possibly, the reference could have come from one of the several travelogues of the Nadezhda, or Kabris could have claimed it himself in Europe.

Does other evidence illuminate the nature and duration of Kabris's stay in Kamchatka?


texts: Was Karl Doenitz repatriated to Germany after WW1 "as insane"?

texts:
The British newspaper, "The Daily Telegraph" (2 May 1945), under a headline "Hitler's Death Announced : New Fuehrer Once Certified Insane", says Karl Doenitz was captured by the British in October 1918 and "Doenitz was afterwards certified insane and transferred to Manchester Lunatic Asylum from his prisoner-of-war camp. In 1919 he was repatriated as insane."

Is it true?

The few references I have found on the web are embedded in longer articles that do not inspire confidence in their veracity and do not give a source.


texts: Were there reasons for Japan to go to war with the US aside from the US owning Philippines?

texts: Right after the Spanish-American War in 1898, the US acquired the Philippines from Spain.  At that time, local leaders desired Philippine independence. The Philippine - American War was fought around 1899 - 1902, during which the US put down this quest for freedom and the Philippines was still US property at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack.  However, if the US had granted the Philippines independence back in 1901, would Japan still have felt the need to go to war?


texts: When did Vladivostok become usable year-round?

texts:
Apparently some of us (myself included) were told in history class that the Russians were interested in control of Port Arthur/Dalian in part because their port at Vladivostok was not a warm water port (has to deal with sea ice in winter). The answerers to this question are unsure whether or not Vladivostok is currently a warm water port. This leads to a few questions.

Was Vladivostok a warm water port circa 1900?
Is Vladivostok a warm water port now?
If the port of Vladivostok currently or in the past relied on icebreakers to function year-round , when were these introduced?


texts: Did the Russian alcohol monopoly in the 1700s cover the whole Russian territory?

texts:
Crownhart-Vaughan's introduction to her translation of Krasheninnikov's Explorations of Kamchatka mentions an Imperial monopoly on liquor, and the state's difficulty in enforcing it, in 1750s Kamchatka. One main principle of the alcohol business in Siberia was not serving native peoples.

A book called "The Russian vodka monopoly" describes another such plan, but one created in 1894.

Did the alcohol monopoly of Krasheninnikov's time cover the whole Russian territory? Were measures and prices standardized?


texts: Historical Claims Against Jesus Christ's Existence?

texts:
According to this article, "no one in the ancient world ever flatly denied that Jesus performed miracles – let alone that he existed." Is this historically accurate? Are there any claims in history from the first century primarily (although maybe a few centuries afterward may be allowed in the definition of "the ancient world") that deny Jesus Christ existed?

There is historical evidence that supports his existence, as I said in the comments below:

  There are ancient historical documents that refer to Jesus. Some attempt to explain away certain things related to him, but none that I have found claim he never existed. For example there is a letter by Justin Martyr to the Roman Emperor Antonius Pius, in which he cites the official ‘Acts of Pilate’ as corroboration for the crucifixion account. The first century historian Thallus mentions the darkness that the Gospels speak of and tries to explain it as an eclipse. He doesn't make reference to Jesus as far as I know.


texts: Were the (early 17th C) arrivers/colonists to North America (USA) outcasts from European societies?

texts:
I have heard that early pilgrims for 'the new world' (North America / USA) left because they were indigent and had no support in their homelands. I have also heard that some were criminals or otherwise.

I know that some groups, such as Mennonites, Harmonites and/or their predecessors, left because their religious beliefs and practices were not accepted by local communities in Europe, and they sought refuge to practice in peace.

The Wikipedia article on the Mayflower says that the Mayflower

  transported English and Dutch Separatists and other adventurers referred to by the Separatists as "the Strangers"

How were the initial migrants to the 'new world' seen by their neighbors and countrymen in Europe?  Who were these 'Strangers'?

Edit: I have found this break-out of the passenger list, which helps paint a picture to the answers here.


texts: Did Taíno natives ever work Spanish galleons?

texts: Did Taíno natives work as slaves or sailors on 16th-century Spanish ships in early to mid-sixteenth century?


texts: Where did the families of constables live in the middle ages?

texts:
I know this might be a question that is considered "too broad" since the Middle Ages spans almost a thousand years across all of Europe. But I'm looking for information in regards to the whole of this period (across all of Europe) and if standard practice shifted over the period and between different countries that is of extra interest. I'm mostly interested in an broad overview perspective to get an idea of how society changed during this extensive period of time. So feel free to provide me with information and examples from any time within this span and any place in Europe you have knowledge of.

My understanding of the constable in the middle ages is that he was in charge of the castle when the lord living there wasn't at home. I've also read somewhere that the constable's living quarter was in the gatehouse. But where did his wife and family live? Did they all live in this room in the gatehouse? Was it big enough for a family of 3-4? Or did they have a house somewhere; in the village, or the town near by or on the countryside? Or was the life of the constable essentially a life in celibacy and servitude to the lord of the manor and they weren't allowed to get married?

Are there any historical records of people in these positions with their names? It would be great to have some examples that I can look up and read more about their personal lives, if such information is available?


texts:
Why are there so many laws about eye injuries in the Code of Hammurabi? (And so few laws about other  body parts injuries.)

I want to concentrate on injuries mentioned as the crimes of physical violence, not as penalties.
So, there are blows and strikes mentioned eight times (not mentioning specific injury) in laws: 116, 195, 202, 203, 204, 205, 206, 209, 211. There is one maltreatment  (116) and dying of wound (207).
There are breaking bones three times (197, 198, 199), knocking out teeth two times (200, 201) , and putting out eye five times (196, 198, 199, 220, 247).
Putting out eye is very specific injury. In our days it doesn’t happen frequently. (Maybe it was different in good old Mesopotamia.) It’s also interesting that law 247 is about putting out the eye of an ox!
(http://www.general-intelligence.com/library/hr.pdf)

Hypothesis:
1.  There was evil eye belief widespread in Mesopotamia, but I have no good idea how to connect it with Hammurabi’s Code. Bad idea: they try to disable someone’s spell by putting the eye out.
2.  Nefertiti visited Mesopotamia. (Just a joke, because widely known bust of her missing left eye.)


texts: Why was Luodian important in the Battle of Shanghai?

texts:
In the middle of the 3-month long Battle of Shanghai, the small town of Luodian on the outskirts of Shanghai saw some of the heaviest fighting. After Japanese troops made successful amphibious landings along the northern coast, many Chinese troops fell back to Luodian, and over a 10-day period the town was heavily contested and changed hands multiple times.

It's clear from many facts that this town was strategically important, but it's not clear why this is so. Consider this map (actually I couldn't find a good map, so Google Maps would do fine too):

Wikipedia, and other sites, claim that Luodian was a strategically important transportation centre. Wikipedia specifically says that it connects "Baoshan, downtown Shanghai, Jiading, Songjiang and several other towns with highways". I can't find a contemporary map showing highways, but from the map the only connection would be between Jiading and Baoshan. Songjiang is not even on the map; it's too far to the south. Which important towns does Luodian connect?
Shanghai lies on a peninsula at risk of being cut off, so the fighting at this stage was focused on cutting off transportation routes into Shanghai from the mainland. By far the most important links would be the two railways leading out of Shanghai, with the northern branch connecting to Suzhou and Nanjing beyond. Jiading is also somewhat important; there's a road going northwest from here parallel to the railway, meeting it eventually at Wuxi. Another important location would be Dachang, which is very close to this railway and was the communications hub for the Chinese forces. It's clear why Dachang would be important, which it was; it was the next site of heavy fighting after Luodian, and its loss forced the Chinese to begin withdrawing from Shanghai. Luodian isn't anywhere near these strategically important targets, and yet it saw some of the heaviest fighting. What strategic targets did Luodian threaten?
Although it's true that Luodian lies between the coastal landings and important targets like the railway and Shanghai, you can see from the map that many other towns also fit these criteria, yet none of them saw fighting as heavy as Luodian. Why weren't other towns between the coast and Shanghai fought as fiercely as Luodian?
Luodian is indefensible. No defensive works were present due to the previous cease fire, and as a small town on an alluvial plain, defenders were forced to rely on trenches, which could not be dug deep as the water table was so high the soldiers were submerged in the trenches, leaving them vulnerable to bombardment.

So I can't see why Luodian was so important, given its poor (apparent) strategic value and defensibility. And yet both sides considered it important and fought hard for it:

300,000 Chinese and 100,000 Japanese troops were involved in Luodian. These numbers are more than a third of the total troop numbers in the whole battle.
Alexander von Falkenhausen, Chiang Kai-shek's advisor, insisted on holding it at all costs.
The Chinese suffered a 50% casualty rate in Luodian. The intensity of the fighting earned it the nickname "grinding mill of flesh and blood".


texts: From Twitter: When did Islamic literacy fall behind?

texts:
This morning I found this interesting question from verified Twitter user Iyad el-Baghdadi.

Transcription:

  Question to experts (and good researchers). My impression is that
  parts of the classical Islamic world were highly literate (by the
  standards of their time): When did the Islamic world start to fall way
  behind in literacy rates, and why?

  Note of course that I'm talking about literacy rates in the context of
  their own time, not in absolute terms. So "high/low" = within the
  context of their own time.


texts: What are canonical sources about fifth century BCE Athens?

texts:
I am looking for a history book on fifth century BCE Athens, preferably with emphasis on culture and the daily lives of the Athenians.
I found recommendations of books about Ancient Greece in general, but I am looking for a book solely about the fifth century in Athens (or which at least focuses on it).
I am interested in the daily lives of the Athenians, the roles played by the philosophers residing in the city (but from a cultural point of view rather than philosophical) and the politics of the time (e.g. the rise and fall of The Thirty near the end of the century).
So my questions are:

What are the canonical/primary sources about fifth century BCE Athens?

Is there any book which researches in detail the daily lives of Athenians in the fifth century BCE?


texts: Is there any possible way to count provinces of the Achaemenid Empire to be 127?

texts:
I know the historical basis for the Book of Esther isn't exactly "there," but for the sake of argument, if someone wanted to believe it and stand by the first verse that says:

  Now it came to pass in the days of Ahasuerus -- he was the Ahasuerus
  who reigned from Hodu to Cush, one hundred twenty-seven provinces. (Book of Esther 1:1)

is there any possible way to count provinces or sub-provinces of the Achaemenid Empire (preferably some time before Darius 1) to be 127 (or at least a way that might conceivably reach 127)? I know Herodotus listed 20 satrapies (each one with a few semi-distinct cultures or peoples), and I'm trying to figure out if there's any possible way to reconcile the biblical source with the historical one. Be it by a different way of counting, a remote possibility that we're lacking proper historical information from the time, or anything else. (I lack sufficient knowledge of the region and time as well as knowledge of what we might not know for that matter, so I'm reaching out here.) For the flip side, see my question here on the Judaism Stack Exchange (link).

EDIT: The province of Elam where Shushan/Susa was is known by that name elsewhere in the Bible, so that makes it more doubtful that there was a different way of counting provinces. Of course Herodotus isn't the most reliable historian, but I'd guess either he didn't know about most of them or the Book of Esther was not using a factual number itself.

Relevant links:
Wikipedia on the Achaemenid Empire

Wikipedia on Medo-Persian satraps

Map of the region (I'm a bit ignorant about this, so I would appreciate if someone could also enlighten me on how reliable and complete information that makes up maps like this might or might not be.)


texts: A man deserted from the Armory Square Hospital in DC in Feb 1863. His next recorded presence was in 1865 Iowa when he got married under an assumed name. I am curious to know how he might have made it west. Trains seem unlikely. Walking? Wouldn’t a twenty something guy walking have raised an eyebrow in 1863?


texts: What are usual textbooks, used in history programs in the Anglosphere, on historiographical 'methods' (of presentation)?

texts:
Question.
What are usual undergraduate and/or graduate textbooks on historiographical method used in contemporary history programs at large universities in the Anglosphere?

Remarks.

Being a mathematician, I expect this question to about as naive and easy to answer like if someone asked me "I have heard that there is this method where they alway write rectangular arrays of numbers of symbols on the board, and I have heard it is immensely useful for efficiently rotating geometric shapes on a screen. What's that called? What are usual textbooks on that?" the first question of which could be answered by "Linear Algebra", or maybe "See any first-year syllabus of any decent university.", and the second question of which I could answer briefly too, yet find doing so here too much of a statement.
I am not asking for a summary of historiographical methods here, rather for some relevant recommendations of usual (possibly even undergraduate-) textbooks on historical method, in particular, on methods of presenting/sifting/structuring historical writing.
The analogue of the lapidary "Linear Algebra" response would here perhaps be "Historiography". Historiography takes methods of presentation very seriously. However, not being a professional historian, I do not have a 'big picture' of this, but I did learn some systematic history in high-school, and there heard of some of very different abstract concepts like 'longitudal' as opposed to 'cross-sectional' mode of presentation. (The former touches upon an object-of-study several times at several points in time, the latter tends to touch on more distinct objects of study  yet only at one point  in time; the 'cutting'-metaphor inherent in the two technical terms of course refers to some mental image of  cutting trough an thickened-by-events arrow-of-time). For several reasons, I would like to read a professional textbook on abstract historiographical methods, written in English.
The qualification that the textbook be in use at universities nowadays is not too important to me: I would appreciate, for example, if someone would recommend a relevant methodological textbook which they think particularly good, but which just happens to be out of print, or out of fashion.


texts: How many Allied lieutenants were killed during the D-Day beach landings?  There seemed to be 2 lieutenants boarded in each landing craft.


texts:
Hitler is often cited as an example of an evil atheist (along with Stalin and Mao). But there are several quotes from him that seem to indicate he believed in the Christian God - and even used this to justify his policies.

So what were Hitler's actual religious beliefs, as far as History is concerned? Is there any evidence that supports the claim that he was an atheist?


texts: What was the most popular food staple among civilians during World War II?

texts:
Hunger and famine are big risks during war. Which food was responsible for saving the most civilians from famine during WWII?

I would expect this wonder food to be cheap, healthy yet abundant to be useful during war.

Cheap because civilians were poor. Healthy because health facilities will be inferior compared to peacetime. Abundant because there were so many people to feed.

What was this wonder food, if it existed in history? Not easy to find food that fit the criteria.

The answer should mention the country as different countries may have different preferences of food.


texts:
A friend showed me a coin he found a number of years a go,  but it is hard to identify if it is a Roman coin.

Can someone help me identify when it is from?

(images no longer available online at original URL, domain inactive July 2018)
https://s16.postimg.org/6pkjd7stx/IMG_20151211_164218.jpg
https://s2.postimg.org/u7n7qx0t5/IMG_20151211_163852.jpg


texts: Is the famous painting of Kösem Sultan breastfeeding authentic?

texts:
Kösem Sultan was a woman of the Ottoman harem who served as Haseki Sultan (chief consort) and then Valide Sultan (queen mother) to several rulers. Given the youth and/or weakness of the sultans she served, she was often the de facto leader of the Ottoman Empire during this time.
There is a painting (below), allegedly depicting Kösem breastfeeding an infant Ottoman prince, which is famous enough to be, at the time of writing, the profile picture on her Wikipedia page. I'm curious about the authenticity of this painting, more specifically:

Is it likely that the painting actually depicts Kösem Sultan?
If not, is it likely that it depicts another woman of the Ottoman harem?
Was the breastfeeding drawn from life, or is this most likely a bit of artistic license on the part of the painter?

I can think several factors which might count against the painting's authenticity:

Christie's identifies the painting as one of a series 'painted for Hans Ludwig Graf von Kuefstein, either during or more probably immediately after his embassy to the Ottoman Court in Istanbul in 1628.' The same page also states, 'It is impossible that the depictions of Turkish ladies were painted from life'.
The Ottoman establishment was prepared to go to some fairly extreme lengths to preserve of the virtue of the harem women:

Very few intact males were allowed even to set foot in the harem.
Penis-shaped vegetables - cucumbers in particular! - were banned from the harem kitchens.
The harem women were only permitted to listen to professional musicians from behind a screen, so that the male musicians would not be able to look at them.

The infant is slightly out of proportion.

I can however, think of several factors which might count for the painting's authenticity:

Kösem was powerful enough to ignore some of the harem's conventions if she wished.
There are examples, in Western European art of the same period, of aristocratic women exposing their breasts in paintings, e.g. Hortense Mancini.
Western European culture has historically taken a much more relaxed view of women exposing their breasts if this is done within the context of breastfeeding.


texts: What would be the pay for a child deck-hand in the 1600's?

texts:
There is this short story I am writing, and I want to be somewhat historically accurate in the details.

In the story, there is a young orphan boy who is serving as a deck-hand on a cargo ship from France to the New World (Quebec).  The year would be 1635.

My question is, how much would he have gotten paid for serving as deckhand on the overseas voyage?

If, being a child, he doesn't get paid, and the Mate wanted to give him a little gift of our modern $30, how much would he give him?  (I'm looking at this page) Would it be in sols, maybe?


texts: Can anyone identify this Union commander?

texts: At the beginning of the first episode of the PBS documentary series about the US Civil War the narrator describes some of the main characters without giving their names. One was 'a professor from Maine who executed a text book maneuver saving a Union army and maybe the Union itself' (my recollection). Who was this man and where did this action occur?


texts: Which Irishman worked at Mission Santa Cruz?

texts:
Kirill Khlebnikov was a Russian business agent who made several visits to Alta California. His "Travel Notes" from 1820 describe negotiations to buy grain from the Franciscan priest in charge of Mission Santa Cruz, Ramón Olbes. Khlebnikov wrote about "an Irish sailor who had deserted; he had lived with the padre for a long time, winning his confidence and managing his affairs."

Who was the Irish sailor?


texts: Who were the successors of the Roman Empire?

texts: I know that the Byzantine Empire was technically the Eastern Roman Empire, but did they carry over actual Roman traditions with them?  Also, did the Holy Roman Empire have anything to do with the original Roman Empire, because I feel like since they were more Germanic, they weren't the same. So, were there any legitimate empires that succeeded the Roman Empire, and if so who?


texts: Difference between legions at the end of the Roman empire and around the beginning of the Roman Empire

texts:
I'm currently searching for some information about the Roman legions.
Around the time of Julius Caesar and Augustus the legions seem to be more organized and were structured with the same type of troops and numbers.

At the end of the Roman empire I don't find really much information of what kind of troops a legion was shaped of.
were these legions much different through the influence of foreigners or were they constructed the same as they were in time of Julius Caesar?


texts:
I'm trying to calculate the date a globe was produced, using as a source its features, i.e. the names of the nations, the borders, the capitals, anything else that could have changed with time. This, considering that some info might be incorrect, so multiple evidence would help.

Seems legit

Germany is split: 1949-1990
Kinshasa's Congo is called Zaire: 1971-1997
Yemen is split: 1967-1990
Western Sahara is drawn striped: 1975-current

Unreliable

Namibia isn't drawn striped: 1990-current
Namibia's capital is Windhoek, but it's not clear to me if it was the same even under South African rule
Walvis Bay appears on the map, but it not attributed to South Africa: this would raise the lower bound to 1994, which is impossible given that the higher has twice been put to 1990, so I'd just consider info about Namibia to be unreliable (some micro-states just do not appear on the map, but I'd expect that if they do, then they would be attributed to the correct country)

Conclusions

If the Namibia's "independence" is correct, and Walvis Bay omission just a mistake, the year is 1990.

Assuming it's unreliable, or assuming I want more than once piece of evidence, currently it's 1975-1990: is there some other info I missed that I could check?

Experiment

I'm arbitrarily deciding not to use other data, such as the name of the publisher, what I know about it, etc. Consider this an experiment I'm trying to do.

   The 1990 date is very likely to be correct: as I said, consider this an experiment.

Pictures

Pictures available here.


texts: Why didn't the senate of Carthage reinforce Hannibal in Italy?

texts:
During the second Punic war, Hannibal Barca fought in Italy for 14 years, and yet the Romans managed to bring the war to Africa.

How is that possible, especially after battles such as Cannae? If Carthage had sent more troops/material to Hannibal, they would probably have defeated Rome.

Is there any explanation for that lack of action?


texts: Is this symbol found in Crimea Gothic? Indian? Indo-European?

texts:
What is this symbol's history in the West?
 —Mangup Kale, Crimea

To me it looks like the Sri Yantra of South Asia,

but Crimea is far from there. Was it distributed during early Indo-European migrations to both Crimea and India? Or, was it shared via trade routes during a later period? Or, as some have suggested below, is it a recent (post-globalism) inscription?

An informal translation of the above Turkish simply states:

  Sri Yantra. Fertility symbol with 9 intertwining triangles. This mandala iconography combines the Flower of Life (sic), Lotus Symbol, and Four Directions Symbolism. Sri Yantra Inconography in Mangup Kale (Mangup Fortress), Crimea.

and thus doesn't seem to be of any help. Image retained for alternate view of markings.

The original intention with this question was: did this symbol started in India and later arrive at this site? Or, did it start with PIE (Yamnaya or similar) people and diffuse both to India and Crimea?


texts: I remember learning in elementary school that at some point in their history, the Greeks were building hollow columns to support their building, because they thought that hollow columns would provide more strength, just like wheat is hollow on the inside and very strong. Is this really true? Thanks.


texts: With what weapons were the towers of the Bastille armed?

texts: I am researching the Bastille for a project in which I have to depict the Royal soldiers that stood on the towers during the French Revolution. Specifically, I am looking for the types of weapons present on the tower (esp. cannons or other type of artillery), as well as the firearms that the soldiers would have employed.


texts: Was Baron Steyn related to Chief Justice Lucas Cornelius Steyn?

texts:
Johan Steyn, SA advocate who became a law lord in UK

  Steyn was born into Afrikaner aristocracy in Stellenbosch on August 14 1932. His father was a founding member of the Stellenbosch University law faculty. His grandfather was a celebrated fighter in the Anglo-Boer War who was imprisoned by the British in a camp in Green Point and exiled to Sri Lanka, from where he made a daring escape back to South Africa.
  After matriculating at Hoërskool Jan van Riebeeck, Steyn took a degree in law at Stellenbosch and went to University College Oxford as a Rhodes scholar.

Lord Steyn: Judge who opposed Tony Blair and George Bush over Iraq war and Guantanamo | The Independent

  Born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1932, Johan van Zyl Steyn was the son of an eminent law professor at Stellenbosch and the grandson of one of the founders of the Transvaal province.

Was Johan related to Lucas Cornelius Steyn? He wasn't his father. Sabinet | Law’s supremacy : Johan Steyn remembered

  His father (who died at the age of 30, when he was just two) was a brilliant founding member of the Stellenbosch Law Faculty..


texts: Were labor shortages ever a problem for the railroads in the Old West?

texts: Many different rail lines were built in the western United States from the 1850s onwards.  Was construction ever delayed/canceled due to difficulty in finding workers, or due to workers leaving the job?


texts: Do we know the exact date that the 'first photo on the web' was uploaded?

texts:
This is the first photo ever uploaded to the web, Les Horribles Cernettes: https://gizmodo.com/5924748/heres-the-first-picture-ever-posted-on-the-internet (or it is stated and commonly held to be so)

I've found the date July 18, 1992 associated with this photo in multiple places, but from what I can tell, that's the date the photo was taken, not necessarily the date it was uploaded.

Do we know the exact date the photo was uploaded?


texts: Why some languages uses the term "high" to refer to an early period and the world "low" to refer to a late one?

texts:
Well, not exactly the terms "high" and "low" but the corresponding translations.

Let's take for example the Middle Ages. The periodisation in English splits the Middle Ages in 3:

Early Middle Ages
High Middle Ages
Late Middle Ages

However, in Spanish it's splitted in 2:

Alta Edad Media
Baja Edad Media

"Alta" means "high" and "baja" means "low". I also understand that this is the case too in Italian and French.

What strikes me is the somehow counterintuitive use of the term "high" to a early period and "low" to a late one. To me, it makes more sense the other way around.

Here some possible etymological reason are discussed (in Spanish), but with no conclusion. The most likely one is that "high" means that, during the first part, some important features of the period rises and prospers (going high) until reaching its peak, giving place to a decadent second part (going low). I wonder if historians support this idea or can give another explanation.

There is also mentioned that the use seems to be relatively new, since Google Ngram suggests it was first used during the 1890's.


texts: Were well-connected Germans able to park their sons in Norway during WWII?

texts:
Reading Antony Beevor's "The Second World War" he makes the point several times that a peculiar obsession of Hitler's was the defence of Norway and that there were close to half a million German troops kept fairly idle in the region right up to the German surrender in May 1945. He also writes that partisan activity in Norway was minor compared to most of the other occupied territories.

Bearing in mind that - assuming you weren't a fanatical nazi - service elsewhere in the German army from 1942/3 onwards was grim, involving heavy losses, constant instructions to hold hopeless positions and fight to the last man, and with no prospect of anything but certain defeat, was Norway the perfect posting?

Was this generally (if quietly) acknowledged and is there any evidence that well connected families were able to have their sons posted to Norway?

Edit:
Since posting this I've seen Beevor lecture. He mentioned interviewing at least two wealthy Prussian aristocrats, in old age, for his book about Stalingrad. One of them ran into one of his former tenants in Stalingrad (the tenant says "I used to see you driving past in your Mercedes"). Both peasant and aristrocrat at this point were reduced to ransacking bodies in the mortuary for scraps of food.

Clearly, anecdotally, some of the Prussian nobility, either as a point of honour or because it was unavoidable, were sending their sons to the very worst of the fighting.


texts: Is there any information about the calendar system used in Carthage ? Was it solar or lunar ? What date did Carthaginians took for a reference day (1st day of the 1st year) ?


texts: Why is there a cutoff in population density running through the middle of the US?

texts:
There is this interesting line cutting across the US in terms of population density. It cuts through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. East is higher population density excluding some small pockets like northern Maine and west is lower excluding cities. I think that is where the explorers stopped. For a familiar manifestation of this, you can see this in the electoral votes of each state along this line. Oklahoma has seven, Kansas has six, and Nebraska has five. Each state I named has less of that yellow area.
What caused this bifurcation down a fuzzy line positioned in the same longitude as and north of the bottom of Texas?


texts: US "destroyed" Libya: how viable is this as a reading of the history?

texts:
Shailja Patel (who I guess is a left-wing Kenyan intellectual) says (my italics)

It’s painful to us, in the global south, to see that American writers that we read assiduously, and take seriously, are not reading us. They are not listening when we say: “Please ask your president to stop killing us.” They appear to simply not see black and brown bodies beyond US borders.
Obama’s bombs took tens of thousands of civilian lives. His military intervention in Libya destroyed the country with the highest standard of living in Africa.

How viable is this as a reading of the history? My impression would be something like the following. Gaddafi was a nasty dictator in the mold of Saddam Hussein, who used ruthless force to keep the lid on internal divisions in his country, whose borders had presumably been drawn arbitrarily by Europeans. He was a pragmatic socialist, and Libya had good economic development by African standards. Gaddafi's government carried out terrorist attacks in 1986 and 1988, the former resulting in US air strikes that attempted to kill him and that did kill about 15-30 civilians. Libya had a nuclear program, which it gave up in the early 2000s. A civil war broke out during the Arab Spring period, in 2011. Within a month, the US came in with airstrikes to aid the rebels, with token participation from France and a fig leaf of legitimacy from the UN Security Council and NATO. (Had Libya not given up its WMDs, they might not have been able to do this.) The rebels won, and Gaddafi was killed in a ditch. Libya is now undergoing a period of warlordism involving sectarianism and tribalism.
I'm wondering if, as implied by Patel, I'm just not knowledgeable enough to judge the facts, or whether I have biases I don't realize. How viable is her reading of the history? It seems to me that Gaddafi was a demonstrably dangerous and threatening figure, and that if Libya has been destroyed, a lot of the blame is to be laid at the feet of Libyans themselves -- they started the revolution in 2011, and they continued it on their own terms, even if US intervention did tip the scales so that they won.


texts: What was the origin of religious tolerance in Europe?

texts:
Can, anyone, please, give an overview of how the humanism came about in Europe, precisely, the main prerequisites and reasons for its origin.

Given the ambiguity of the very term "humanism", I will define here what I exactly mean by this word: I explicitly mean the tolerance toward others' religious views, the refusal from the practice of ending other human's life just because he either has or has chosen to turn to another faith, which is not your faith.


texts: Did the Chinese Develop Steam Engines Prior to the 17th Century?

texts:
I vaguely remember seeing a documentary on the history channel that was discussion on ancient Chinese technology.  The basic theme of the program was that China developed many industrial technologies well in advance of the western world, although many designs/techniques were lost to time.  One of the inventions in ancient China was an early steam engine.  Unlike the one developed by Heron in ancient Rome this device was applied to industry and not a plaything for the wealthy.

I was wondering if anyone knows anything about this?  I have a really bad memory I don't trust, and the history channel I trust even less (considering that their programming is virtually half reality shows and the other half is crap related to Nostradamus, secret bible codes, and aliens).  Either my memory or the "History" channel could have greatly exaggerated the facts here (or completely made them up).


texts: Why did Saladin show kindness to Richard I?

texts: Why did Saladin, when Richard the Lionhearted was sick with a fever, send him a gift of fruit? Or when Richard's horse was killed in battle, he sent a steed to be led to his camp?


texts: Why was religion used as the basis of Turkey-Greece population exchange instead of language, ethnicity, etc.?

texts:
In 1923, Turkey and Greece exchanged parts of their population, by forcibly denaturalizing certain population and expelling them to the other country. Interestingly, the criteria of being exchanged was if they had the "wrong" religion, e.g. Muslim citizens of Greece and Orthodox Christian citizens of Turkey. Language and ethnicity have no effect, e.g. Turkish-speaking Orthodox were still to be expelled to Greece, similarly with Greek-speaking Muslims.

Why was religion used as the basis of this population exchange? Especially, given that Turkey's Atatürk was known for his secularist views and attempts to reduce the influence of Islam. Why was it that he used Islam as a criteria for being Turkish in this exchange?


texts: What was the first regular airline service to pass low over urban areas?

texts:
These days, living in a big city, it's a complete non-event to look up into the sky and see a plane passing overhead. It happens several times every day. Therefore it's quite amazing to thing that at the start of last century, the idea of flight was still completely impossible.

When was the first regular airline service which passed low enough over urban areas, so that someone could walk into their back yard and see a plane passing overhead at regular intervals?

Wikipedia mentions the St. Petersburg–Tampa Airboat Line but this hardly fits what I'm looking for, as it rarely reached a height of more than 1.5m above sea level and therefore certainly didn't fly over anyone's heads.


texts: Could the nukes involved in the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash have detonated?

texts:
According to Wikipedia on the 1966 Palomares B-52 Crash:

  The first weapon to be discovered was found nearly intact. However, the conventional explosives from the other two bombs that fell on land detonated without setting off a nuclear explosion (akin to a dirty bomb explosion).

Are there any authors who said that those nuclear weapons could have detonated and destroyed a good part of Spain? Are there any relevant nuclear expert who support this thesis?


texts: What was the relation between the biblical king Herod and the Parthian king Orodes II?

texts:
What was the relation between the biblical king Herod and the Parthian king Orodes II who was named Hyrodes Anaridus on coins?

The son of Orodes II, Pacorus invaded Judea, however I could not find any accounts on the relation of Herod and Orodes II. Did they ever meet as members of the ruling class of two peoples  at war?


texts: Open database with brutalist architecture?

texts:
My apologies if I’m in the wrong SE.

Is there an open database of brutalist buildings? I’m aware of sosBrutalism; adding to their data is gatekept and not openly, programmatically, available. So, I’m looking for something that’s open in the sense that Wikipedia is open.

(By accident, I stumbled upon sosBrutalism's full dataset of images, including the buildings they reference, here. Still gatekept, but also open.)


texts: Is there any evidence for American atrocities during the Soviet-Afghan War?

texts:
I just spoke to someone that was convinced that US soldiers committed rapes against Afghan women during the Cold War.

Is there any truth to this?

Were there any US soldiers deployed to Afghanistan during this period?

They explained they read accounts of these atrocities this year.
Is this fake news? Russian propaganda?

First place I looked was Wikipedia page for United States war crimes. Nothing in the list of American war-crimes. In fact that page goes straight from Vietnam to the War on Terror, with nothing in between.

Then I checked more general lists of war crimes, but nothing. I also checked about the Soviet-Afghan war. It appears there was US intelligence there, but no "boots on the ground".

This came about due to conversations about Palestinian relations with the US prior to 9-11, so I thought this was maybe Soviet or Arab propaganda. I checked Snopes and found nothing.

The person I was talking to refused to give me the article they read earlier this year. But seemed adamant they weren't conflating this with some other conflict. This wasn't an internet troll, but someone I know personally.

Can anyone point me to a source for this? Either reliable or otherwise?


texts: Why would some nations want to force Japan to end their isolation?

texts:
The Perry expedition succeeded in opening Japan to trade with the USA. From Wikipedia we learn that around the same time the Russians also attempted the same thing (the Dutch already had some weak agreement with the Japanese).

I don't understand why they would consider using force in order to make the Japanese their partners (Perry had orders to use force if necessary)? Diplomacy, bribery, etc. sure, but risking a war seems not profitable. Especially, since that war would be waged against an isolated nation, i.e. there could be no guarantees as to what could be expected.

One of the reasons is stated as:

  The Americans were also driven by concepts of Manifest Destiny and the desire to impose the benefits of western civilization and the Christian religion on what they perceived as “backwards” Asian nations.

Particularly in the case of the US this is an unsurprising reason, but also one specific umbrella for various hostile agendas (all throughout modern history the "benefits" of "Americans bringing democracy" are evident), so it's inconclusive.

Another reason:

  The growing commerce between America and China, the presence of American whalers in waters offshore Japan, and the increasing monopolization of potential coaling stations by the British and French in Asia...

Again it is unclear to me how a potential conflict would help there, since it would disrupt trade, endanger the whalers and only worsen the position of the USA against the British and French.

The question is phrased for "nations" rather than USA intentionally, as I'm interested in other (general) motivations as well. The USA are only a prominent example, since they succeeded in forcing an agreement.


texts: Does there exist a comprehensive list of every ancient document and artifact ever recovered?

texts:
If I wanted to become an expert on Mesopotamia, for instance, and I wanted to read every text written in that region from the dawn of recorded history to the 5th century CE, could I find a complete list of sources?

Or if I wanted to study the archaeological finds from India and draw my own conclusions about the cultures of various time periods there, could I find an index of every recovered artifact from that region?


texts: Did the bounty on bin Laden ever get paid?

texts: Osama bin Laden famously had a $25m bounty for action or information leading to his killing or capture. Was this ever paid out following his killing in May 2011? If not, how was the money budgeted for the bounty used?


texts: Have American writing styles changed between the Civil War and Today?

texts:
Whenever I hear people recite speeches (Gettysburg Address) letters (largely selections from most famous letters of famous figures) and historical accounts (military accounts) from Americans who lived through the Civil War, I'm struck by the differences in their writing.  Compared to modern writing I read every day, those words sound like poetry to me. I don't notice this in later writing, and wanted to know the reasons why writing styles might have changed.

This study by Political Scientist, Lee Drutman showed that the vocabulary and sentence structure used by US Congressman is still declining. It dropped from 11th to 10th grade from the years 2005-2012. Using his methods, political communications appear to be becoming more simple over time. The US Constitution is written on a 17.8 grade level, for example.

I have two theories, for why this appears to be occurring, which may be bogus:

Selection bias means that only the most striking and poetic accounts are being used and more plainly written accounts no longer exist or are no longer put into modern works of history.
Teachers emphasized literature to a greater degree than we do today.

Is there any evidence from a historical perspective that writing styles are different? Why?


texts: Are there extant rancho budgets (original or contrived) for Mexican California?

texts:
This question is a source request for real or estimated annual account ledgers for ranchos in Mexican California.

Not much cash was used, so records are sparse. Most goods on the rancho were produced there or acquired in trade for cattle hides and sacks of tallow. Rancheros tithed part of their harvest and livestock increase. Towards the end of the period they ostensibly paid Indian laborers a wage, probably more often in credit for goods than in cash.

Are there any rancho budgets out there, whether original or contrived?


texts: What is the history of bauxite mining in South America?

texts:
I've been googling this for a few days but have not found much definitive data yet. What I want to know is a rough timeline of bauxite mining in South America. Central America would be good too.

Bauxite is aluminum ore, the only economically mineable ore of aluminum known. Bauxite seems to be a relatively rare substance. AFAIK there was only 1 major bauxite mine in the USA, a town in Arkansas which they named Bauxite!

I found this map, which shows current countries that produce bauxite and the production numbers. It does not mean, however, that some other countries used to produce bauxite. It also does not show historical production per country.

I also looked at the websites of a few companies like Alcoa, in the hopes that they might have a history section specifically for each country or region. No luck. I also tried googling phrases like "What was the first bauxite mine in Brazil" without luck either.

What I'm looking for is the data for early mines, the first mines and when were they opened, and preferably yearly production tables and known reserves.


texts: Where did the profits for the founders of the Bank of England come from?

texts:
Royal assent was given for the formation of the Bank of England, in part, to help pay for the Nine Years' War (1688-97) with France in 1694. The founding of the Bank and, and in effect, the loan it was created to provide (£1,200,000) were to be financed by subscription payments from 'any person or persons, natives or foreigners, boddies politick or corporate' (p.291). The subscribers were then to be repaid with an annual £100,000 payment which was to be raised from new customs duties and taxes.

The Act of Paliament I just quoted (the Tonnage Act) stipulates that by 1705 (i.e. after 12 years) - with annual payments of £100,000 - the loan would be repaid in full at which time the Bank of England company should 'cease' (p.293) and the loan would, presumably, be considered to have been fully paid. However, the Act also stipulates an 'eight pound per centum per annum' return rate for the subscribers.

My question is: with the twelve £100,000 payments and the subsequent dissolution of the bank there is simply no room for the 8% percent return, so where did it come from?

(All page numbers are from this book (the link is to Google Books).)


texts: Today's maps rely on overhead surveillance.  Wikipedia's history of Cartography lists some key technologies that improved cartography (e.g. telescopes, magnetic compasses, etc.), but doesn't explain in any detail what impact these had on the resulting maps? What are the key technologies that improved cartography, and what impact did they have on mapping? How much more accurate were maps resulting from each of these technological changes? What new capabilities did they introduce to the resulting maps? I also need to know about some of the Famous men in Cartography !


texts: Why was it necessary to maintain a balance of power between the Slave and Free states?

texts:
As said in the title, why was there a need to maintain the balance of power between the Slave states and Free States by keeping them equal in number, before the American Civil War?

Both the Clay Compromise and the Missouri Comprise were aimed at achieving this.

It may, perhaps, be a silly question, but I cannot make out any intuitive answer myself, neither does my textbook provide any insight.


texts: How was ownership of property managed during the Black Death, when so many original owners had died?

texts: Historically, in the UK if a property owner died intestate with no heirs, the property ownership went to the Crown under an escheat.  During the Black Death, in the 12th century, the population of England was reduced by 30-40%, presumably this wiped out entire families and left a lot of property without owners.  Given that the Crown didn't start appointing escheators until the 12th century and not every county had an escheator until the middle of the fourteenth, how did they cope with the volume of work caused by the Black Death? Was the idea of appointing escheators caused by the Black Death perhaps?


texts: What makes a war be classified as a "world" war?

texts: Throughout the history of human beings, there have been countless wars among on, two or multiple countries, but only two of these have been dubbed "world" wars. Which leads me to my question, is there a specific set of demands that a war has to meet in order to be called a world war or is it decided conventionally?


texts: Demonym for someone from the kingdom of D'mt

texts:
D'mt is a little-studied kingdom which lasted from the 10th to 5th centuries BC, in Eritrea and Ethiopia. For further information, you can look here and just about nowhere else.

The civilization is so obscure that I doubt I'll get an answer, or at least not one more than "there isn't one", but just to try; Is there a demonym historians use to describe people from the kingdom of D'mt?

If you don't know, a demonym is an adjective describing the native place of a person or thing; e.g. Sumerian, Aksumite, Byzantine or Semitic.


texts: Where did the masquerade ball come from and what was its original concept?

texts: I mean a kind of party which guests and hosts hide their faces behind different masks or/and wear odd clothes. Surely there is no certain idea about main concept with me unless perhaps it has roots in customs and traditions or religions like Halloween religious roots.


texts: Did the chariot drop in importance between bronze age Greece and the iron age Greece? Why, why not?

texts: In what I've read about classical Greece - about Persian wars, Pelaponesian wars, Battle of Leuctra, Macedonia conquest...etc. - military discussion seems to be mostly about the Phalanx with a bit about cavalry.  At some point, however, chariots were a very important military advance.  Why the decline (if any)?  Did this decline take place elsewhere?


texts:
Why did the Lindman government choose to resign over their agricultural program? Did (members of) the government expound on why they chose to take the agricultural program as a matter of confidence despite passing half of it successfully?

Today, 90 years ago, on 31st May 1930, the Arvid Lindman's Government's proposal to legislate that all imported grain should be milled along with a proportion of domestic grain in order to support domestic agriculture was halted in a parliamentary committee because the opposition did not approve of this measure. As this was a matter of principle for the government, they prepared to resign, formalized a week later.

Agricultural prices had been rising steadily since about 1925, and the Lindman government therefore submitted a twofold program designed to stabilize internal prices for Swedish wheat and rye. The government proposed on the one hand a higher tariff on cereal imports and on the other hand a regulation according to which all Swedish flour mills would be required to use a certain minimum percentage of Swedish grain. While the Socialists rose to the defense of consumer interests and condemned the entire program, the Liberals rejected the tariff but endorsed the second part of the government proposal. Ekman, once again presiding over committee deliberations, succeeded in getting the special committee that was handling the bill to go along with he Liberal plan. During the floor debate the government remained adamant and made acceptance of the whole program a question of confidence. At this point a large group within the government's own party, fearful lest the entire program be defeated, voted for the committee proposal, which thus carried a majority.
—Rustow, D.A., 'Politics of Compromise'

Carl Gustaf Ekman, the leader of one of the minority parties, replaced Lindman as PM within a week. Yet, as it turns out, this was clearly by Lindman's choice! Further, it looks as if a minority government did not have to resign after a vote loss in the Riksdag:

At the 1929 session a Liberal-Socialist majority defeated three major government proposals---one to introduce a protective tariff on sugar, one to reduce income and property taxes, and one to increase military expenditures in order to strengthen the artillery.
—Rustow, D.A., 'Politics of Compromise'

The sources above (and other, less detailed narratives such as Wikipedia) do not describe the motive as to why Lindman chose to make this a matter of confidence, even though he had failed to pass other tariff issues previously.
The sources also don't describe whether the bill was popular with the public, even if it was not popular with the other Riksdag parties. Lindman's General Electoral League was content to pass a lesser version of the bill despite the party's leader -- based on the narrative we have -- being against that version. There is also no mention of Lindman himself being unpopular as the leader of his party, and given he continued in that position for another five years, it's not clear why the party would disobey Lindman nor why Lindman wanted to go out on this note.
Public descriptions of Lindman also praised his ability to do cross-bench work—something which seems to have been entirely missing from this saga (for some, presently unspecified, reason).
While perhaps not as relevant, it looks as if Ekman's decision in this case was counter-productive with The Great Depression looming. Many other countries explicitly imposed tariffs on imported goods in this period. Ekman suffered for this during his own premiership (from here):

Ekman returned as Prime Minister in 1930, when he and Per Albin Hansson defeated the government's proposal to raise tariffs on grain. His second period as Prime Minister was difficult; the international depression that had begun after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 reached Sweden, affecting both industry and agriculture. Ekman's traditional attitude of thriftiness made it difficult for him to accept economic-stimulation programs that would involve heavy public spending.


texts: Did Augustus the Strong sleep with his own daughter?

texts:
I'm working my way through Robert Massie's voluminous biography of Peter the Great at the moment. It's truly a pleasure to read; one really does have the sensation of stepping into Peter's world. However, despite winning a Pulitzer prize, the work does seem to have acquired a reputation for inaccuracy; and, even a quarter of the way through, I've come across a couple of claims which cannot be correct. (I don't have the book to hand, but one of these claims involves Peter's sister and regent Sophia taking various ministers as lovers.)
The most outrageous claim so far - outrageous, both in the sense that the action described is deeply immoral, as well as in the sense that it is implausible, at least at first glance - is that one of Augustus II of Poland's many lovers was his illegitimate daughter, the Countess Orzelska. Is there any evidence to back up that claim?
Augustus the Strong is said to have fathered several hundred bastards, but he only recognised a handful as such. Anna Karolina, Countess Orzelska was one of that handful; so it seems that accidental incest can be ruled out. I find it difficult to believe that, if a Christian king deliberately slept with his own daughter, massive controversy would not have ensued, and the outrage would be common knowledge to this day.
I am not a fan of the saying that there is no smoke without fire. However, in this case, it would be odd for a writer of Massie's reputation to conjure such a claim out of nothing. Does anyone have any idea what's going on here?


texts: Why was most of Europe against communism right from the start?

texts:
In "Dark Continent" by M. Mazower, I read the following with regards to the 1920s:

  In the first place, democracy’s international backers were less supportive as time passed. Woodrow Wilson’s legacy of messianic liberalism was undermined by American isolationism, while the European victors—Britain and France—were concerned more about communism than dictatorship; so long as the new states of central-eastern Europe held communism at bay, they cared little about their domestic political arrangements.

So already in the 1920s many European leaders were against communism. The text does not quite make it clear why this is so though. It does mention the following:

  Yet the development of the Soviet system had a less immediate impact on the rest of Europe than seemed likely in 1918. The West’s intervention in the Russian Civil War failed to topple the communist regime. But equally across the rest of Europe, the much-feared revolution either failed to materialize, or was easily put down. Despite the wave of soviets, strikes, mutinies and insurrections which swept Europe in 1918–19 from Scotland to the Adriatic, with street fighting in Germany and a violent civil war in Finland, there was only one other country where a Bolshevik regime actually seized power for any length of time, and that was Hungary. As in Russia, civil war was the consequence; the outcome, however, was very different.

Given this limited impact of the Soviet system on the rest of Europe, I do not understand why people were so strongly against it from the start, while being more accepting of other dictatorial forms of government.


texts: I am curious whether the practice of burying the dead started as a religious ritual or out of concern for public health. I am sure it didn't take much science for the early humans to realize the stench of a corpse and that disposing of it under ground helped maintain the living quarters more pleasant and sanitary. But did spirituality (even non-spiritual cultural respect for the dead) precede sanitation?


texts: How can I find what type of locomotive had a specific manufacturer's plate on it?

texts:
My dad has an American Locomotive Company manufacturer's plate belt buckle
How can I track-down what type of engine it was mounted to, and, ideally, also what railroad(s) operated that equipment?


texts: Looking for info on an (epicly) failed British Special Forces mission

texts:
A couple of years back I read a Wikipedia article about a UK special forces mission. After a series of bad decisions, most of the crew got killed. I would like to be able to give these events as an example for severe tactical mistakes. However, I do not remember the details of the actual mission.

I seem to recall that the mission went something along these lines:

Helicopter insertion.
Radio turns out not to work, as no one checked the equipment before departure.
First bad decision: do not take motor vehicles, but proceed on foot, despite very heavy equipment(~100 kg per person).
Encounter with a shepherd. Overreaction.
Encounter with a bulldozer. Overreaction.

After the last incident they are spotted and begin to flee the country. However, the group separates into two separate groups, and I think only two men survive. I believe there is also a book that was written by one of the survivors.

Does anyone know where I can find information on this mission or perhaps the name of the survivor(s) and the book that was written as a result?


texts: What is this stick that William III of England/Orange is holding in this portrait?

texts:
While looking at a bit of Dutch history, I saw William holding a stick in this portrait. I looked for a description of the portrait on another site and it only says:

  This autograph portrait is a triumph of Kneller's art and portrays the future King its subject as he would most wish to be seen - a great and heroic general, a champion of his cause equal in stature to the Romans whose dress his costume recalls.

The portrait in question:

Is it a form of symbolism or was there a particular use to it?


texts: Is there a name for the critical method of assessing historical narratives via the consultation of primary sources?

texts:
In natural science, an educated guess at scientific fact is called a hypothesis. Hypotheses are rigorously tried by experiments conducted repeatedly under carefully controlled conditions. This is called the scientific method.

In mathematics, an educated guess at mathematical fact is called a conjecture. Conjectures are rigorously tried by deductive logic proceeding from a small body of fundamental axioms and a large, ever-growing body of previously proven theorems. This is called the axiomatic method.

In the study of history, an educated guess at historical fact is called a narrative. Narratives are rigorously tried by studying the historical record—the soundest narrative is the one that is supported by the greatest number of independent primary sources.

Does this method have a name?  Moreover, is it the one method used to rigorously determine historical fact in the same way that the scientific and axiomatic methods are each the one method used to rigorously determine scientific and mathematical fact, respectively, or do there exist other, equally important methods?


texts: Did JFK win the presidential election by fraud?

texts: Based on sources such as Chicago Tribune, Encyclopedia Britannica, Slate Magazine and many other books, it is said that JFK's father played a significant part in making him president. In the book, "If It's Not Close They Can't Cheat," by Hugh Hewitt (page 60-61), it is claimed that JFK's father "helped" him illegally become president. What is some of the proof for and against this?


texts:
The question is self-explanatory: What is the term for a person who surveys the land and relays messages from a noble to his governed village?

The officer would:

Survey the village or tenant, to receive reports about the harvest yield for deciding the tribute to the noble.
Relay messages from the noble to other nobles or the village.
Do whatever errands (usually outside the noble's manor) that the noble wanted(usually in the noble's jurisdiction).

Are the terms 'Bailiff' (in English) and Amtman (in the Holy Roman Empire) correct?
Or it was 'Reeve' (in English) and whatever the continental equivalent of the title was?
Or were there no such positions in Medieval Europe?

What I have read was that the Bailiff was more about the Manorial Court while the Reeve was more about land management...


texts: Why did the Japanese Navy convert Kaga to an Aircraft Carrier?

texts:
The IJN ordered 4 Amagi class battlecruisers (Amagi, Akagi, Atago, and Takao) and 2 Tosa class Battleships (Tosa and Kaga) to form the "Eight-Eight Fleet". All ships started construction between 1920-21, but were terminated by the Washington Naval Treaty. All 6 unfinished warships had to be scrapped.

As the treaty allowed each signatory to use two existing capital ship hulls for aircraft carriers, with a displacement limit of 33,000 tons each. Japan initially chose Amagi and Akagi. However the hull of Amagi was heavily damaged due to Great Kantō earthquake, the hull of Kaga was chosen to be converted as Aircraft Carrier.

Why didn't the Japanese Navy choose the hull of Atago/Takao, and select the slower Kaga to replace  Amagi as an aircraft carrier?


texts: Were warhorses unable to graze in grass fields and thus needed to be manually fed an exclusive type of hay?

texts:
I found this trivia in a historical strategy game (whose name shall not be disclosed) and I want to know its credibility.

It is stated that warhorses — say, destriers or other types of European warhorse used by knights or heavy cavalry — can't graze naturally on grass fields because they got used to eating their exclusive type of hay — I don't know the name of this type of horse food. Hence, the cavalry or the supply units also had to bring this horse food, too.

So, is this generally true? If so, what are specific examples of this happening?


texts: If modern human existed for hundreds of thousands years why was writing invented only some 7000-9000 years ago?

texts:
Linguistic studies indicate that human languages were not that different from modern languages 6000 and 7000 years ago. They had distinguishable sounds, vowels, consonants, syllables, roots and stems and so on.

Biology also indicates that mental abilities of humans changed little over at least the last 100000 years.

I wonder why no form of writing ever emerged before some 7000-9000 years ago, even logographic, symbolic, runic or any other kind?

I also wonder why the writing emerged nearly simultaniously in unrelated parts of the world (America, Africa, East Asia). Even if there was distance of some thousands of years between emergence of these writing systems, it still looks quite simultanious compared to the scale of some 100000-200000 years of the history of the modern human.

Why did no form of writing or symbolic expression appear independently in any part of the world, say 15-20 thousand years ago or so?


texts: Who was the Gold Rush memoirist James G. Ward?

texts:
The historian Richard Pierce quoted in his citation-free "Biographical Dictionary" from certain "recollections of California in 1848" (presumably not a work title) by one James G. Ward. The recollection in question begins: "A Russian acquaintance in Santa Cruz started for the mines in an ox-drawn wagon."

James Ward of California is a difficult name to Google. Who was this person and what did he write?


texts: What were some of the complications of Marshall Plan?

texts: What were some of the complications that were revolved around the Marshall Plan? Were the Soviets involved in any way?


texts: Did an Irishman talk a German unit out of a bridge in World War 2?

texts:
A friend of mine has often related a somewhat humourous story of an Irishman in World War 2 (presumably fighting in the British Army) who captured a bridge using "The Gift of The Gab".

Apparently he walked, possibly unarmed, up to the German checkpoint, proceeded to "inspect" the bridge, then went to the officer in charge and managed to convince him that Germany had ceded that bridge to the allies and that they needed to move back.

On hearing this, the German unit packed their things and withdrew and so the bridge was captured without a shot being fired.

Is there any truth to this story? The friend has quite a bit of military knowledge and I don't really doubt his word, but as I haven't managed to find any references to it online I think there may be a bit of hearsay involved.


texts: Long time to reach news in Thirty Years' War

texts:
The Thirty Years' War broke out with the Bohemian Revolt in May 1618. Spain was being ruled by Habsburgs, and it was involved in the politics of HRE. Once the news of the revolt reached Spain, they sent an army to Bohemia and defeated the Bohemian forces in the Battle of the White Mountain on 8th November 1620.

I came to know from a reliable source that the news of the Bohemian took a few months to reach Spain. This seems long, even by early modern standards. How much time would it generally take for such an important news to reach from Bohemia to Spain in early 17th century?  Was there any particular reason why it took so long, especially given that Spain was involved in politics of HRE?

I can't find any freely available source on the internet to back this up (and the original source is a purchasable lecture series), but I don't think there is any reason why the instructor would lie about this.


texts:
Leo II, also known as Leon II or Levon II, became the King of Armenian Cilicia from 1269/70 and was a vassal of the Mongols. Five of his 16 children by his highly regarded wife Keran (who later entered a monastery) became kings.
Leo II apparently died of arsenic but I can find no further information on this (this unsourced in the wiki article). The Armenian Wiki page on Leo II (aka Leon III) does not appear to have the answer (though Google translate comes up with some strange translations, e.g. 'Mamluks' comes out as 'mammals').
Possibilities:

Murder. Although several of Leo II's relatives were later murdered - his sons Hethum II and Thoros III, his grandson Leo III - there was a clear motive in each of these cases. I can see no apparent motive for murdering Leo II, though. Nonetheless, arsenic had been commonly used as a poison since at least Roman times.
Medical Treatment. Arsenic was used to treat "certain ailments" since at least the time of Hippocrates but I have not found any evidence of any ailments Leo II might have had.
Environment, but I'm not sure how this could occur in medieval times as it is apparently rare even in modern times.

Was Leo II murdered by being poisoned with arsenic? If so, is it known who did it? If not, how did he die from arsenic?


texts:
Considering Israel fought several Arab  countries, which had troops largely outnumbering the Israeli, how did they manage to win the war decisively, with much fewer casualties than the Arab countries?

The Wikipedia page also lists Israel is the the only belligerent on their side (ie: they had no allies), is this true? Did Israel fight the war with no American support?


texts: What happened to the cross on the dome of Hagia Sophia?

texts:
There are some images that show the cross on the dome of Hagia Sophia.

For example;

Miniature 38 from the Constantine Manasses Chronicle, 14th century: Construction of Hagia Sophia during the reign of emperor Justinian. (source)

Mosaic panel depicting the emperor Justinian holding a model of Hagia Sophia in Hagia Sophia (10th century) (source)

After the Ottoman capture of the city, and the conversion of the church to a mosque, the cross is gone. But is it just thrown, or melted away? Or kept by Orthodox Church or local Greeks as a relic somewhere, somehow? Is there any evidence or detail about it? I was unable to find anything with my plebeian investigation…


texts: Before the imposition of Sakoku, did any Japanese people travel to Africa, the Middle East or Europe?

texts: There are many accounts of Europeans who travelled to the Far East, as they called it. There were some Chinese people who made the opposite journey, did anyone from Japan do it? If they returned to Japan, what did they report about these faraway countries?


texts:
TL;DR: Is 1995 correctly written as MVM, or as something more like MCMLVL? MCMVC? MCMLXLV? MCMLXXXXV?

From what I recall from my Latin classes (European highschool...), you are not supposed to write more than 3 identical subsequent symbols. However, this rule hasn't been consistently followed in modern times from what I can tell by a little web research.

Perhaps it'd help if I knew how the Romans themselves wrote larger numerals... Would they write CLXL or CXC for 190? Something else still?


texts: How was the Ancient Egyptian name 'God is Gracious' written?

texts:
According to this article Behind the Name: Ancient Egyptian Names Revealed there exists an Ancient Egyptian name meaning "God is Gracious".

What is that name and how is it written in Hieroglyphics? (Please can someone attach an image)

  (The article reads: Many ancient Egyptian names contained the name of a god. At times, the god may be assumed, so we have names that contain the phrase "god is gracious", or "whom god loves", but here the term god undoubtedly refers not to an abstract deity but rather to a specific, assumed deity which might be a local god, or the god to whom the parents prayed. Much of the time, the god was named.

(I think it will contain the NTR/NETER hieroglyph?)


texts: This is a painting of a man in a military uniform, possibly a French officer.


texts: What major company bought all the paint of another company in the 20th century?

texts:
I read somewhere about a company that in a brilliant business hack, bought all the paint of another company, and sold it in what became a key moment in the company's history.

Was it Walmart in its early days, or another company in that period? Wish I could remember.


texts: Percentage of helmet owners in 15th century Europe

texts:
There already is a similar question, but it has been closed as unclear. I will attempt to post a clear question instead.

Time : 15th century
Country: medieval Europe excluding Eastern Roman
Empire, feel free to choose a country you can get data on.
Setting: Urban, Peacetime

Background: in the 15th century, as argued in this video, the brigandine armour accompanied by helmet, mail and gambeson was already available to common soldiers or retinues. I am curious about the urban population and want to know what armour they possessed. To ask about chainmail might be a problem, because there are so many different pieces and we might get caught up in distinctions between hauberks and haubergeons. On the other hand, the helmet is perhaps the most indispensable piece of armour. To make it as definite as possible, I will ask:

  What percentage of the urban 15th century population in Europe (see above about countries) owned any kind of helmet?


texts: Did the Zapatistas actually kill anyone?

texts:
The armed Zapatista movement started in 1994 as an armed revolution and spanned more than 20 years.

Disambiguation - this is the 1983/1994 movement, not the 1910 movement.

It is surprising to note that there seem to be no records of them actually killing anyone, while the counter-revolutionary forces have killed several Zapatistas.

  “After they took San Cristobal, the Zapatistas went into combat at the
  Rancho Nuevo military base, the nearest base to San Cristobal de las
  Casas. I was there, this photo is mine. They are dead Zapatistas
  killed in battle. They were also ambushed. When I took this photo, 20
  or so of them died. They were uniformed, they had been killed barely
  20 minutes before. We heard the bullets… It was horrible.”

Citation taken from this photo report where you can see several pictures of dead Zapatistas. You can also see photos of the guerillas with weapons and practicing.

However, Wikipedia and other articles such as the one mentioned earlier only claim killing by the army and not the Zapatistas. The Chiapas Movement Wiki does claim that one soldier was killed on 2nd February 2011 (all other killed are the Zapatistas).

A post from 2014 claims that the media is distorting facts about the conflict and that the Zapatistas have been on the receiving end.

Subcommandante Marcos claims:

  "We didn't go to war to kill or be killed. We went to war in order to
  be heard."

But it is hard to belive that in 20 years of armed conflict the Zapatistas have not actually attacked or killed anyone (or at least more than the claim of 1 sole soldier).

What is the truth about casualties inflicted by them?


texts: What is the brown doll on Nicolás de Ovando's desk?

texts: Nicolás de Ovando (1460-1511) was Spanish governor of the Indies (Hispaniola) before the age of the viceroyalties. In this anonymous portrait from Wikipedia, work materials are artfully arranged before him, including a conspicuous small doll or statue. I cannot identify it, but possibly it was an object of the Taíno culture which his administration was suppressing. Why was it included here?


texts: Is it true that there were American POWs in Soviet captivity after the Second World War?

texts:
In a book titled The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia, the author Tim Tzouliadis asserted in Chapter 23 ("Citizen of the United States of America", Allied Officer Dale) that there was a number of American POWs in Soviet captivity after being "liberated" from German camp on the Eastern Front. For example, Tzouliadis mentioned "Witness A" or Benjamin Dodon who "had seen a group of American prisoners arrive at the Magadan transfer point in the Bay of Nagaev". He continues,

Fourteen men were disembarked in the usual helpless condition of Dalstroi transportees: exhausted by the long sea crossing, hungry, cold, and disoriented (p.286)

The said chapter also mentioned of several U.S Army interviews with German POWs returning from the USSR who believed they have seen a number of Americans in Soviet camps.
Tzouliadis was not alone in making this assertion. A quick Google search provided articles such as:

Decades Later, Tales of Americans in Soviet Jails
Our Missing POW's of WWII
Soviets Executed GIs After WWII : Prisoners: Other Americans were forced to renounce citizenship, Yeltsin writes Senate panel. But no sign of POWs from Korea, Vietnam wars found, Russian says.

This allegation surprised me for some reasons. Few attentions are given to it. And these Americans were not Korean or Vietnam but WW2 GIs. They were not Axis soldiers.
Having said, can anyone confirm the validity of this assertion? And if it's true, what were the motives behind this?