texts: Was there other research focusing on the medical uses of ether in the 18th Century?

texts:
In recently seeing the John Moulton statue celebrating the first use of ether in Boston:

it occurred that this sort of research usually doesn't happen in a vacuum.  Were there other medical colleges, or researchers, trying to work out ways to provide some relief during operations?  While in Boston it may be that this was the only place trying to look at ether as a way of relief there must have been others doing similar research or something before it.

Are there any texts that note medical "discoveries" like this.  And I use discoveries in quotes since many were just using existing treatments in new ways, though if ether was one I don't know.


texts: What is the meaning of the elements of this emblem?

texts:
Click for larger version

This is a reproduction of an emblem passed down my family. The odd elliptical shape comes from the fact that the original is on a ring used for wax-sealing.

We guess that the middle portion is the emblem of our family proper, as it appears almost identical also in the emblems of other branches of the family that we found reproduced in churches and the such.

The top part could be a link to the Austrian empire (the family comes from a part of Italy that was under Austrian domination until 1848), the other working hypothesis is that instead is a link to the Spanish empire, since that same region was previously under Spanish domination.

The bottom part with three stars is the one that puzzles us the most. My great-grandfather used to joke that it was the certification that an ancestor held a nobiliar title, but we never found any information that could dispel the doubts either way.

My grandfather was able to reconstruct our history back to the mid 1700s, but this has not unearthed much that could explain the various components of the emblem.

Is it possible to reconstruct the meaning (and possibly history) of this emblem?
If yes, what are they?


texts: During WW II German and Czech banks were forced to buy the German war bonds. What happened with these bonds? Were they ever paid?


texts: Why did the US fleet not take defensive action against the U-Boats in 1941 despite intelligence from Britain's Enigma deciphering

texts: Why did the US fleet within US littoral waters not take significant defensive action against the U-Boats in 1941/2 despite detailed intelligence from Britain's Enigma deciphering?


texts: What was the nature of the Japanese presence in China in the later stages of World War II?

texts:
I am trying to understand Japanese punitive expeditions in China such as the Three Alls Campaign and retaliation for the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo. In each case, the Japanese largely retaliated against Chinese civilians. In order to understand these actions, I need to understand the nature of the Japanese occupation of China better than I do. Specifically, I have come up with three different occupation models, and I need to know which one(s) best describes what the Japanese were actually doing in China.

1) Japan nominally occupied and ruled large chunks of China, but with numerous "leaks." The above provocations and retaliations represented some of these "leaks" and attempts to plug them. The nearest equivalent might be German anti-Soviet partisan actions.

2) Japan's control of China was basically, limited to a few large cities, roads, and railways, but they had the ability to invade or roam the countryside when provoked. Although the punitive actions were brutal, they did not lead to a meaningful expansion of Japanese control of China over time, and were more "destructive" than "constructive" (conquering) actions.

3) The Japanese were engaged in a "creeping" takeover of China. The above provocations merely reprioritized conquests that the Japanese had planned to undertake anyway, perhaps somewhat later. Unlike the previous case, Japanese "raids" succeeded in not only taking, but holding large territories formerly under Chinese control.

What (if any) military reasons caused the Japanese to undertake punitive expeditions in China, and which of the above occupation models (or others I may have overlooked) best describes the context in which they occurred?


texts: What was the route for ships from England to South Africa in 1840?

texts: I am writing a piece that requires me to understand the route that ships would have taken from Liverpool to Cape Town in the 1840s. What I have not been able to ascertain is whether the ships would have stopped at any ports on the way, and if so, which ports. Is there anyone who can assist me?


texts: Is Rama Setu a historical proof of Ramayana?

texts:
Can Rama Setu be a historical proof of Ramayana?
Rama's Bridge or Rama Setu,[b] is a chain of limestone shoals, between Pamban Island, also known as Rameswaram Island, off the south-eastern coast of Tamil Nadu, India, and Mannar Island, off the north-western coast of Sri Lanka. Geological evidence suggests that this bridge is a former land connection between India and Sri Lanka.
Age
The studies under "Project Rameswaram" of the Geological Survey of India (GSI), which included dating of corals, indicate Rameswaram Island evolved beginning 125,000 years ago. Radiocarbon dating of samples in this study suggests the domain between Rameswaram and Talaimannar may have been exposed sometime between 7,000 and 18,000 years ago.[19] Thermoluminescence dating by GSI concludes that the dunes between Dhanushkodi and Adam's Bridge started forming about 500–600 years ago.[19]
Another study suggests that the appearance of the reefs and other evidence indicate their recency, and a coral sample gives a radiocarbon age of 4,020±160 years BP.
Please read this for more information : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam's_Bridge


texts:
According to the The Invention of the Jewish People:

  During the Byzantine period, despite the persecutions, a good many synagogues were built. But after the Arab conquest, construction gradually came to an end, and Jewish prayer houses grew scarcer. It is reasonable to assume that a slow, moderate process of conversion took place in Palestine/Land of Israel, and accounted for the disappearance of the Jewish majority in the country.

But this is disputed by DanielPipes.org (Daniel Pipes is a pro-Israeli Zionist writer and member of the Middle East furam.) which says in a post:

  More about the largely vacant desolate land of Israel "Palestine" in
  the 1800s - massive Arab immigration following Jews' return = the true
  origin of the (today's) so called "Palestinians"

  How odd that such last names as al-Masri (the Egyptian,), al-Djazair
  (the Algerian), el-Mughrabi (the Moroccan), al-Yamani (the Yemenite)
  and even al-Afghani are so common among those claiming to be
  "Palestinians."

  Today's Palestinians are immigrants from many nations:

    "Balkans,
    Greeks, Syrians, Latins, Egyptians, Turks, Armenians, Italians,
    Persians, Kurds, Germans, Afghans, Circassians, Bosnians, Sudaneese,
    Samaritans, Algerians, Motawila, Tartars, Hungarians, Scots, Navarese,
    Bretons, English, Franks, Ruthenians, Bohemians, Bulgarians,
    Georgians, Syrians, Persian Nestorians, Indians, Copts, Maronites, and
    many others." (DeHass, History, p. 258. John of Wurzburg list from
    Reinhold Rohricht edition, pp. 41, 69).

Are today's Palestinians immigrants from many nations?


texts: What was the price of basic foodstuff in 1930 Poland?

texts: I'm working on a movie shot in Warsaw. The movie takes places in the 30s in Poland and we're currently searching for the prices of basic food during that time. Generally speaking, what was the price of thing likes a loaf of bread or soup seasoning in 1930 Poland?


texts: What was the Seven Years War called at first?

texts:
When the Seven Years War broke out, obviously they had no idea how long it would last. What did Europeans call this war at first?

I know that in the North American Theater, it was called the French and Indian War. But I'm looking for the name of the war in Europe. What did Europeans call this war? Was it known by different names among the different empires?

EDIT: Also, it would be good to know when it generally became known as the Seven Years War.


texts: How were the Incas able to build such great works of architecture without using mortar?

texts: What are the greatest remaining structures the Incas built without using mortar? How could they do it?


texts: What kind of ID Number, if any, did the Soviets institute for all their citizens?

texts:
In the United States, every citizen has a social security number for income purposes. It's a 9-digit number. This began in 1935, though I was surprised to learn from wikipedia that until 1986, most people only got their number around the age of 14. Today, everyone gets it at birth.

Did the Soviets also give everyone a ID number? Was it a 9-digit number? 10-digit? A 7-character alphanumeric sequence?

I searched for this on wikipedia's Passport System in the Soviet Union, because I know they used internal passports. I looked at both the English and Russian versions of the article, but could not find examples of ID numbers.

I did of course also google images and found this:

The first entry appears to be a birth date because I see the number "1946". There is a printed number, "I-T3 No. 681711". However, a 6-digit number can have at most 10^6 = 1 million unique entries. The USSR around the time of the war had 170 million people, and around 1990, around 290 million people. So a 6-digit number is nowhere near enough to hold that many unique ID numbers. You would need a minimum of a 9-digit number.

This makes me think the internal passports were not issued to everyone, only certain people of whom there could only be a million or less. But then, the "I-T3" could be part of it?

(Edit: It's actually I-TЭ, where Э is the 30th letter in the Russian Alphabet. TЭ is a district code. The I is a roman numeral but as of yet I don't know what it really means.)

Is there some ID document given to everyone, that gives you a unique ID number? I looked at birth certificates too but came up emtpy.


texts: How were noblewomen named/titled in Medieval France, c. 11th century?

texts:
I was reading through some articles on Wikipedia and long story short I ended up reading about 11th century dukes of France. I noticed that a lot of their wives had names such as, e.g. Adelaide of Aquitaine, in which Aquitaine is the duchy their father is from, and not their husband. That's fine I guess but wouldn't it have been confusing? If you told someone that a woman was Emma of Blois, how would they know who her husband was and what duchy she is a duchess of now that she's married. I know that nowadays a woman is her own person independent of her husband but back then that really wasn't the case, and I just found it really strange.

Tl:dr- Were women really named after their fathers, even in marriage, or were they named after their husbands and are now being "re-named" by historians?


texts: Were the Japanese aware of Desmond Doss's actions?

texts: I read about the amazing story of Desmond Doss and wonder if the Japanese at all aware, during the Battle of Okinawa of the extent of his actions at the time? I know a few individual Japanese would have noticed him helping them, but were any Japanese aware of how much he was doing this, the scale of his accomplishment, or of his refusal to kill? After the war, were his actions ever recognized officially by Japan, such as through some ceremony, award, or meeting of some of the former Japanese soldiers involved?


texts: What did people in 13th century England know about Greek mythology?

texts:
I understand this may depend on various factors, but I am interested to find out whether many/some/any people in 13th century England would have knowledge of the stories out of Greek mythology.  Specifically, an east coast port town, if that would make a difference.

If so, would this knowledge have been limited to any social class more than others, or depend on a certain level of education/literacy?

Third, what was the most likely source of this knowledge?


texts:
I was fascinated to learn about St. George's Monastery, a Greek Orthodox site that was first built in the 5th century CE. It's obviously neither Jewish nor Islamic, and is located in a disputed territory 12.5 miles from Jerusalem.

What has been its fate as part of the larger history of and more recent political developments in the West Bank? For instance, did it receive equal protection from both Israel and the Palestinians?


texts: How were the "richest and best endowed universities" funded in the 1700s?

texts:
Adam Smith (1776):

In some of the richest and best endowed universities, the tutors content themselves with teaching a few unconnected shreds and parcels of this corrupted course; and even these they commonly teach very negligently and superficially. The improvements which, in modern times, have been made in several different branches of philosophy have not, the greater part of them, been made in universities, though some no doubt have. The greater part of universities have not even been very forward to adopt those improvements after they were made; and several of those learned societies have chosen to remain, for a long time, the sanctuaries in which exploded systems and obsolete prejudices found shelter and protection after they had been hunted out of every other corner of the world. In general, the richest and best endowed universities have been the slowest in adopting those improvements, and the most averse to permit any considerable change in the established plan of education. Those improvements were more easily introduced into some of the poorer universities, in which the teachers, depending upon their reputation for the greater part of their subsistence, were obliged to pay more attention to the current opinions of the world.

Edward Gibbon:

Incredible as the fact may appear, I must rest my belief on the positive and impartial evidence of a master of moral and political wisdom, who had himself resided at Oxford. Dr. Adam Smith assigns as the cause of their indolence, that, instead of being paid by voluntary contributions, which would urge them to increase the number, and to deserve the gratitude of their pupils, the Oxford professors are secure in the enjoyment of a fixed stipend, without the necessity of labour, or the apprehension of controul.

How were the "richest and best endowed universities" funded? Who was paying for the professors' fixed stipends?


texts: New York City as "the greatest city in the world" in 1776?

texts:
In the musical "Hamilton," the Schuyler sisters sing of New York City as "the greatest city in the world".  The scene is set in 1776, I believe.

This feels like an anachronism. Was New York regarded as even the greatest city on the eastern coast of North America in the 18th Century? At the time, Boston and Philadelphia may have had a greater claim. And it can't have held a candle to London or Paris.

Perhaps the song is intended ironically, to show how provincial these girls were despite coming from an extremely wealthy family, but I see no other sign of that in the play.

So this leaves us with the question -- would any reasonable person have described New York as "the greatest city in the world" in 1776?


texts: Is there a consensus on when history began?

texts:
When did history begin, according to the most accepted view among Western historians'? (credible sources would be appreciated)

I vaguely remember from my Marxist-oriented history courses in high school that history began when the first form of government arose. Is that the case for Western historians? If not, when? Around the time the first anatomically modern humans arose? The date of the earliest written records?


texts: What did the administrators of secularized California missions do?

texts:
The Alta California missions built in the Spanish period were initially run by Franciscans, then secularized in the 1830s, becoming regular parish churches. Some lay people officially served to "administer" the mission property after secularization; for example, Ynocente Garcia was administrator of Mission San Juan Bautista.

What were the job responsibilies of the administrator? Who appointed them and who paid them?


texts: Did Diderot say "Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest"?

texts:
The following quote is often attributed to Diderot - co-founder of the Encyclopédie and one of the most notable figures during the Enlightenment:

  Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the
  entrails of the last priest.

I have not been able to find the original source. I would like to know the context of the quote and how literal he meant it, given the subsequent French Revolution.


texts: Why were cavalry raids so powerful during the American Civil War?

texts:
In reading McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom" he gives several examples of cavalry groups of less than 2000 men causing tremendous damage, seemingly with tremendous leverage.

Why was the North so slow to catch on?  Why wasn't this tactic used more frequently during the war?  Was this technique used more widely in subsequent wars?


texts: When was it considered fact that rats caused the Black Death?

texts:
Although Numerous sources now consider other factors or dismiss the idea that the Black Death was carried by rats, the CDC continues this claim.  That issue is not not my interest, but a historical perspective is.  \

Were late 19th century scientists, with their advancing medicinal view of the world,  aware that fleas on rats carried the disease?

Current views of that time state that the Catholic Church considered cats the cause of the plague, and persecuted them, so it can be assumed that it wasn't entirely common knowledge that rats spread the disease.  Through searching I cannot find an answer.  When was when this discovery Made: that fleas on rats were carriers of Bubonic Plague?


texts: What is the approximate date of this photo?

texts:
The photo below is of an (as yet) unidentified (English) family member and is from the London studio of Hermann Ernst. There is nothing printed on the back. The photo is part of a collection, the dates of which range from the mid 1860s to about 1916 or 1918.

At the moment, this lady could be any one of about 10 to 12 relatives. As we know her age in this photo, having even an approximate date ( + / - 5 years) could narrow down the number of possibles to as few as 2 or 3.

Information on Hermann Ernst's London studio, unlike many others of the period, is hard to find. Pages such as RCS Photographers Index and Victorian and Edwardian Photographs make no mention of Hermann Ernst. The only information I've found is that Hermann Ernst was a photographer and / or photographic studio owner from Hannover. The English translation of his German Wikipedia page offers very little. A date, 1865, is mentioned but the translation as to its significance is a little unclear. Also, there is no mention of his London studio.

Following the link to the page of Ludwig Hoerner, a researcher and source of the above information hasn't helped as I can't access any of his works which might have the information I'm looking for.

The best clue so far is this circa 1885 photo but it's from Hannover and the card style is quite different. I've only found one other photo online from the same studio as our photo (Waverly Place, St. Johns Wood NW); the design is closer to ours but no date is given. For the moment, I'm assuming that our family photo was taken later than 1885 as the design seems more modern (but this is really just a guess).

Can anyone put an approximate date on this photo? It seems that a big step in the right direction would be establishing when Hermann Ernst's studio in St. Johns Wood was in business. Also, the hairstyle and dress may provide further clues.


texts: Can historiography be thought of as "fractal"?

texts:
In developing this answer, and others, it seems fairly typical that I start out broad and then add more and more detail as necessary to answer the question and respond to comments. Sometimes the act of digging deeper itself leads to a need for more detail. This can be both in detail and quality of sources.

For example, in that answer I started with a broad sweep of the situation on the Eastern Front based on Wikipedia and my own past knowledge. In response to objections and assertions I dug up specific numbers and better sources to check and rebut them. Finally I went into details of individual divisions. Had I decided to go further, I would have started to break the numbers down by year, month, and sector.

In this case my original assertions were strengthened, but sometimes they are weakened by refinement. Or in a more collaborative tone, sometimes our understanding is confirmed, sometimes our understanding is shifted.

It feels a bit like the progress of science: continual refinement of understanding. It also feels like every level of detail acts pretty much the same whether it's at national, unit, or individual level. Like zooming in on a fractal.

Is this a pattern others have observed? Is it a useful way to think about historiography, particularly the casual historiography on this site?


texts: Are there any examples of recurring payments in ancient times?

texts:
I'm interested in the history of recurring payments. The farthest I could get to is the feudal system, where peasants paid rent to knights once every so often. Obviously the banking system in the late 20th century spearheaded a revolution in monthly subscriptions, but I am interested to find out whether there is a known record of any large-scale recurring mechanism system that had been set in place in ancient times.
Not necessarily focussed on feudal societies: Anything since the dawn of Babylon.
Taxes don't count because as far as I know, taxes used to be paid retroactively. That is, the state was collecting them through taxmen who were knocking at each citizen's door, no?


texts: What information would be contained on an Ottoman Tapu deed in the 1830s?

texts:
I'm working on a project, and during this project, the subject of a Tapu deed in the Ottoman Empire came up. Tapu was a permanent lease by the government to someone.

I was able to find this picture of a deed from the 1900s, but:

a.) I'm wondering about the 1830s

b.) I don't read Turkish.

What information was actually included on a Tapu deed in the Ottoman Empire in the 1830s?


texts: How did currency exchange work in the Middle Ages, especially if the coins are not recognized?

texts:
According to Wikipedia, there were a wide range of currencies in the Middle Ages:

  The various Germanic states in the west all had coinages that imitated existing Roman and Byzantine forms. Gold continued to be minted until the end of the 7th century, when it was replaced by silver coins. The basic Frankish silver coin was the denarius or denier, while the Anglo-Saxon version was called a penny. From these areas, the denier or penny spread throughout Europe during the centuries from 700 to 1000. Copper or bronze coins were not struck, nor were gold except in Southern Europe. No silver coins denominated in multiple units were minted.

Say that someone had one of these forms of coinage (such a local German state's coinage, or some coins minted by a local ruler). That person then travels to a far off region and wants to spend their coins at a local inn, but the people have never seen those coins before. How would currency exchange be negotiated? Or would the coins in the new region be considered worthless?


texts: Can we say that the first empire that divided its territory into provinces was the Neo-Assyrian Empire?

texts: It is well known that the Persian Empire was divided into 20 smaller territories governed by satraps, and even Persian territories conquered by Alexander The Great kept their satraps. However, the Neo-Assyrian Empire used a similar system (400 years before the Persian Empire) with provinces and governors, meaning that The Neo-Assyrian Empire could have been the first empire with this political organization.


texts: Are there any writings by blinded and/or exiled Byzantine emperors?

texts: Several Byzantine Emperors were deposed and subsequently blinded and/or exiled by their successors.  Are there any extant texts authored by any of these deposed emperors?


texts: Which European monarch of the middle ages died furthest from home?

texts:
After a lot of googling on this - and thinking the crusades might provide an answer - the best I've come up with is Louis IX of France who died in Tunis on the 8th crusade. That's 920 miles 'as the crow flies'.

By furthest from home, I mean from the monarch's capital city.

EDIT

My reason for picking capital city over place of birth is that I am interested in how far monarchs got from their centre of power. And some English kings were born in France (and I guess some other European monarchs were not born in the country they ruled).


texts: How did slavery become permissible in the French West Indies when it was forbidden in France?

texts:
In 1315, France abolished slavery in continental France. Unless I am mistaken, the first French territories outside of "continental France" were established in 1534 with the North American territories added to created the French colonial empire.
So for 219 years, France did not endorse slavery on its territory and even freed slaves who were brought to its kingdom.
How was it is decided to allow for slavery in the colonies but not on the continental territory? Who were the key players in this (I suspect that the king Francois 1er didn't decide this on his own).


texts: Which works by Kang Youwei attack Empress Dowager Cixi?

texts:
Background

It is widely reported that Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao bear the principal responsibility for the negative image of Dowager Cixi as the reactionary who halted the 1898 reform. As far as Liang is concerned, I believe to have found a good sample of his views in the form of his work «戊戌政變記».

Question

Which works of Kang Youwei contain strong criticism of the Empress Dowager, especially as anti-reform minded?. As I am not in China, works available online would be the most practical. I have tried to spot such titles in works about Kang, and found this article, but I just don’t seem to be able to gain access.


texts: Where in Pittsburgh did the 1883 Congress of the International Working Peoples' Association meet and write the Pittsburgh Proclamation?

texts: Saw this question unanswered on Reddit. Avrich's The Haymarket Tragedy puts this congress (Oct. 14–16, 1883) in an evening reception in Allegheny City's Turner Hall the night before, but doesn't appear to say where the congress itself was held. Where was it in Pittsburgh?


texts: What were the individual soldiers motivated by during World War 1?

texts:
A history book will tell you that the First World War was started due to the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and a tangled mess of alliances and defensive treaties criss-crossing Europe.  And, of course, many of those countries had been vaguely itching for a fight for a while, each feeling like their super-modern weaponry made them unstoppable.

But these seem like poor motivators for a kid from London or a husband from Berlin to go to war.  In World War 2, there were many famous motivators on each side of the conflict, such as the German resentment of the Allies for their post-war treatment or the American fury after Pearl Harbor.

Maybe I'm underestimating the potency of those alliances in the mind of the common citizen, but it seems like "I'm going to enlist because one of my government's allies was attacked by one of my government's enemy's allies because some random guy from one of my government's enemy's allies' countries was shot" isn't enough to get many people to leave their wives and girlfriends.

When the boys marched off to war in 1914, or perhaps more importantly when the later boys joined the front in 1915 or 1916, what were they fired up about?  Surely we have interviews or letters, or even biased propaganda, outlining the issues that the soldiers of each side considered the most important reasons for continuing the fight?  The French were presumably fighting to defend their homeland and the Serbians and Austrians no doubt felt the assassination hit quite close to home, but what about the average German or British or Russian or American or Turkish or Italian soldier in the trenches?  What were the issues that they felt were the most important reasons to fight?

Or were they actually just THAT fired up about "king and country"? What did contemporary chroniclers such as Erich Maria Remarque ("All Quiet on the Western Front") or Robert Graves ("Goodbye to All That") have to say?


texts: When did the Greeks start the practice of burying their dead relatives' bodies?

texts: I was told that at the time around 1 B.C. to 2 A.D Greeks were still cremating bodies of their dead relatives. When did the Greeks start burying them?


texts: When, where and with what propagation through Europe did the idea of gypsies stealing children occur?

texts:
In light of the recent news kerfuffle regarding a child found in a Romani (gypsy) camp; it got me wondering:

At what point in history did the idea1 of gypsies stealing children start?

And from where and in what manner did the idea propagate through Europe?

 1. Real or imagined or some admixture of the two.


texts:
Definition of "Madman Theory":

The madman theory is a political theory commonly associated with U.S. President Richard Nixon's foreign policy. He and his administration tried to make the leaders of hostile Communist Bloc nations think Nixon was irrational and volatile. According to the theory, those leaders would then avoid provoking the United States, fearing an unpredictable American response.
[ Wikipedia ]

A more detailed description with links to source material.

President Richard Nixon and his national security adviser Henry Kissinger believed they could compel "the other side" to back down during crises in the Middle East and Vietnam by "push[ing] so many chips into the pot" that Nixon would seem 'crazy' enough to "go much further," according to newly declassified documents published today by the National Security Archive.
The documents include a 1972 Kissinger memorandum of conversation published today for the first time in which Kissinger explains to Defense Department official Gardner Tucker that Nixon's strategy was to make "the other side ... think we might be 'crazy' and might really go much further" — Nixon's Madman Theory notion of intimidating adversaries such as North Vietnam and the Soviet Union to bend them to Washington's will in diplomatic negotiations.
[ National Security Archive ]

The goal was to get our adversaries to bend to "Washington's will in diplomatic negotiations". I have found no authoritative evidence that the Madman Theory was or was not effective at achieving Nixon's goals.
The Wiki article quotes Scott Sagan as saying the theory was "ineffective and dangerous". The article quoted does make this argument but the same paper says "We have little evidence indicating what the Soviet leaders knew about the U.S. nuclear alert and how they interpreted it." The paper argues from silence and does not address Nixon's goals for ordering the nuclear alert.
Evidence of effectiveness would indicate:

The Vietnam War ended sooner or on more favorable terms.
The Soviet Union reduced its support of North Vietnam or induced Hanoi to make diplomatic concessions.

Is there any evidence that the Madman Theory was effective?


texts: What uniform is this man wearing (probably Austro-Hungarian circa 1900)?

texts: Trying to identify time period, soldier rank and war for this ancestor who live 1876-1918. Probably served in Austria Hungarian war. He was a Croat. It appears that the uniform is dark navy?


texts: What is the origin of astronomical seasons beginning at equinoxes?

texts:
In some part of the world (like the US) seasons are defined as astronomical seasons with spring starting exactly at the equinox and ending exactly at midsummer. (Other countries use other definitions, like meteorological ones based on temperature, or just fuzzy definitions.)
Question: What is the origin of the use of astronomical seasons (in the western world), and possibly its name?
I can see that people celebrated equinoxes and the seasons in ancient times (in Rome and Greece; others might have used fewer or more - some indicate that the Vikings had two that weren't aligned with the equinoxes) and they studied astronomy and astrology.
However, that doesn't necessarily mean that the equinoxes were the start of the seasons - some seem to have the equinoxes as the middle (hence mid-summer), and other celebrations float around the equinoxes (like Easter), which seems odd if the equinox marked the start of something.
It could, of course, be that I totally misunderstand how they viewed the world.
The earliest unambiguous sign I could find was the French revolutionary calendar (but not in the earlier "Almanach des Honnêtes-gens" by Sylvain Maréchal).
The earliest possible sign would be the Babylonian tradition of astrology with star signs starting at the equinoxes (which we still use today), but it's unclear if the grouping of signs defined seasons, and if that is the origin that seems at odds with the name 'astronomical' - as astronomy as a word is more recent.
Added:
It seems one of my original assumptions were incorrect about the ancient world.
The four seasons weren't necessarily of equal length - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attic_calendar
had one lunisolar calendar roughly based on equinoxes, and a sidereal calendar for activities such as farming; where spring and autumn were shorter - and the seasons weren't the same everywhere but adapted to the local variations.
Such variations explain why it unclear if Demeter spent four or six months in the underworld.
Julius Caesar's Gallic War also seem to view seasons as varying with geography "During the short part of summer which remained, Caesar, although in these countries, as all Gaul lies towards the north, the winters are early,"


texts: What were the grooves in the side of the walls at the rear entrance of Harlech and Beaumaris gatehouses for?

texts:
The back of Harlech and Beaumaris castle gatehouses seem to have grooves in the side of the wall for a portcullis, but there is no groove above so if there was one was there it could not be raised. What were the grooves for then?

Picture examples:

Rear of Harlech gatehouse. Grooves clearly visible. (Source: https://flic.kr/p/NcCLYS).

Further back. (Source: https://flic.kr/p/se35nY).

Above the grooves. If there was a portcullis there it would go straight through the window seats. (Source: https://flic.kr/p/KLEhML).

Beaumaris example. (Source: https://flic.kr/p/eCZtzs).


texts: Did French ever have any special status in Austria?

texts: Did French ever have any special status in Austria or the Austrian empire, akin to it being the language of royalty in England (and possibly Russia, I'm not sure) (as opposed to it being just another foreign language)?


texts: How many Western Roman rump states were there?

texts:
During the late 5th and early 6th century AD , there were many Roman officials who defended some parts of the declining Empire, and therefore became rulers of their petty kingdoms and in some cases city states.

For example: Syagrius , who ruled the Kingdom of Soissons, Appolinaris Sidonius , Vicentius, Desiderius , Burdunellus, Peter and Arbogast.

These local rulers established Roman Rump States between the territories of the Germanic Kingdoms in the late 5th and early 6th century AD.

One of these local rulers was Peter , who ruled the city of Dertosa in 506 AD.

My questions are: 1) How many local rulers were there at the time of the Fall of the Roman Empire in the late 5th and early 6th century?

2) What was the last existing Roman  rump state to be conquered by one of the Germanic kingdoms?


texts: How common are the following activities historically?

texts:
In present day India the ruling party has started to rename the cities by claiming to take them to their origins. It has been discussed here, here and here. Primarily the cities with Muslim Names for instance Allahabad was changed to Prayagraj saying that it was it's original name and the Akbar changed it during his conquest. There have been cases when things were named after Muslims as well for instance an Island was named after APJ Abdul Kalam India's Former President and regarded as the Missile Man of India.

Also India's curriculum is being rapidly rewritten as mentioned here, here, here and  here.
This also includes historically incorrect facts and data such as that the Indian Kings defeated the Mughals when they clearly lost and had to run away which are in accordance to claims of members of Ruling Party but are historically wrong.

Illogical scientific claims are also being made as pointed out here, here, here, here and here
These include things like ancient India has Televisions, Flying Vehicles, Stem Cell Research etc.

I was searching for previous historical precedent in other countries in both modern and ancient times for a project where actions were taken due to similar reasons but was unable to find any such incident.
Has there never been such a mass renaming, rewriting of history and changing of facts earlier? If yes please comment on how did people react to losing their heritage and identity. Also please share some specific examples also.


texts: Did John Wesley pray because he had not been persecuted in three days?

texts:
I have read the following story many times:

  John Wesley was riding
  along a road one day when it dawned on him that three whole days had
  passed in which he had suffered no persecution. Not a brick or an egg
  had been thrown at him for three days. Alarmed, he stopped his horse,
  and exclaimed, “Can it be that I have sinned, and am backslidden?”
  Slipping from his horse, Wesley went down on his knees and began
  interceding with God to show him where, if any, there had been a
  fault. A rough fellow, on the other side of the hedge, hearing the
  prayer, looked across and recognized the preacher. “I’ll fix that
  Methodist preacher,” he said, picking up a brick and tossing it over
  at him. It missed its mark, and fell harmlessly beside John. Whereupon
  Wesley leaped to his feet joyfully exclaiming, “Thank God, it’s all
  right. I still have His presence.”

This can be found on many websites with identical wording. Unfortunately, almost none of them mention any source for this story.
http://truelightministries.org/blog1/archives/83 at least mentions "J. G. Morrison" as the author, but isn't any more specific.

And http://zoeperissos.blogspot.de/2013/03/an-uncomfortable-peace.html mentions that the story does not seem to appear in Wesley's journal.

Is there any credible source for this story, or is this just a later invention?


texts: Where do I find treaties/acts granting French colonies independence?

texts: I am a History student researching on the history of Indo-China and African countries that were under French colonial rule. I did not find certain treaties like Franco-Lao treaty and others on the internet. Could someone guide me on where I could possibly find them on the internet.


texts: How difficult was Muraviev's amassing of troops for the forcing of the Treaty of Aigun, and what effects on development did it have?

texts:
I'm reading an account of the Trans-Siberian Railways' construction, and what was interesting was the poor level of development in Siberia, including that roads were very limited and transport incredibly slow. With this in mind, I started wondering how Russia managed to force its unequal treaties on China, specifically the Treaty of Aigun which Count Muraviev forced onto the Qing in 1857–8.
The source for the above Wikipedia writes about this:

In 1857, Muraviev readid 16,000 infantrymen, 5,000 cavalry, 1,000 artillerymen with 40 pieces, and a reserve of 1,000 men and kept them at the rear on the frontier of Manchuria and Mongolia. China was at that time deeply involved in suppressing the Tai-p'ing rebellion and had little energy to deal with the Russians. Under Russia's threat and demand, China signed the Treaty of Aigun in May 1858.

What strikes me odd about this is Muraviev's capacity to gather those troops in the first place. Where did he get them from (e.g., were they a part of his governorate that he could deploy at will or did he have to requisition them from Moscow?) and how long did he have to plan this out for?
Similarly, forty years later trying to feed the workforce for the railway labourers was a massive problem. The WP on the Trans-Siberian Railway says that an impetus for the building of the line was that Mureviev had to import food from China and Korea, but this sounds odd for the time period in which they were in a state of cold war—or at least being threatened with 'hot' war. How did Muraviev keep his troops supplied? How were the goods transported, and did this affect town development in Siberia?


texts: Why does the First World War (WW I) play such a minor role today compared to Second World War (WW II)?

texts:
In my experience, in Central Europe, people are more aware of the Second World War, than the First World War. This seems to be the case in other European an American regions, too.

Do others also see this emphasis and awareness of WW2 over WW1?

How does knowledge of WW1 illuminate and explain current events?

How does understanding WW1 compare to understanding WW2, in terms of understanding current events and issues likely to arise?

Some points about WW1's importance:

It happened exactly 100 years ago
Many modern European (Italy, Great Britain, Austria, Hungary, France) were physically and politically shaped by it.
It brought us modern warfare like tanks, airplanes, submarines
It gave the USA the status of a worlds superpower
It gave birth to important nations like Soviet Union and Turkey
It marked the beginning of the end of world-wide Colonialism and and the end of Absolutism

A related, but perhaps separate question: How have the two wars been treated in popular films and literature? What are some of the better treatments and when were they made?


texts: How well were the African soldiers equipped in the civil war?

texts: I know that Africans ( former slaves) were used on both sides during the civil war (later in the north than in the south I think) now my question is this: how were the African soldiers equipped during the civil war, or did they have different equipment period during the civil war?


texts: Was Rickets commented on as an impediment to Slavery in the North?

texts:
The body is able to manufacture vitamin D from exposure to UV light. Dark skinned people will receive less sunlight than a light skinned person because much UV is blocked.

I once visited Baltimore, Maryland, and saw an unusual number of young African American men walking with bow legs and canes.

Papers on the internet suggest that Ricket's Disease is more prevalent among African Americans, even with 20th century nutrition.

In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, did anyone comment on Ricket's impacting the quality of their slaves in the North (where there is less sunlight)?


texts: What was typical agricultural produce in Rome or Greece roundabout 2000-3000ya?

texts: During worldbuilding for a roleplaying campaign, I realized that I have a reasonable idea of what people have been growing (and eating) in northern Europe (rye, cabbage, turnips, beets and other roots, etc.), but my mental picture of what ancient Roman / Greek fields would typically yield is rather sketchy, beyond barley and olives...


texts: Division of Rome and Its Eventual Decline

texts: What was the effect of dividing Rome into three separate administrative states around 44BC?  How did this contribute to the fall of the empire?


texts: Was Emperor Francis II & I present at the Battle of Austerlitz?

texts:
The Battle of Austerlitz between France, Austria, and Russia on 2 December 1805 is also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, because of the presence of Napoleon I, Alexander I, and Francis II & I.

But somewhere I read someone disputing whether Francis II & I was present at the battle of Austerlitz.  This claim also appears in the Wikipedia article for the Battle of Austerlitz

  "However, Emperor Francis of Austria was not present at the battlefield."

If he wasn't there, it would have to be called the Battle of the Two Emperors.

So was Emperor Francis II & I present at the Battle of Austerlitz?


texts: Why does the Ħaġar Qim seem to have drilled holes / pitted dots on its stoneworks?

texts: Does anyone have any idea or knowledge why Neolithic temple stones have these small holes? They are facing the sun, and the other side of the stones is flat. Smaller object were drilled all over, not just on one side. I saw these in Ħaġar Qim, Malta:


texts: Were natural resources a primary reason for invading Romania during the middle ages-present?

texts: When I was in school in Romania I remember my history teacher saying that historically Romania has seen a lot of invaders (referring mainly from the middle ages-present) because it used to have a lot of natural resources. To what extent is this true? I know that Hitler used to get a part of his oil from a city in Romania called Constanta, and right now there is a controversy in Romania because a Canadian firm wants to purchase the rights to a very large gold mine. But historically was Romania invaded for its natural resources? If not, then for what reasons? (I realize that this last question is VERY general, so I don't mind a VERY general answer, such as "usually to expand territory") Thanks.


texts: What were the original casualty projections for Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

texts: I remember hearing several times that the bombs dropped on Japan were a lot deadlier than expected.  What were the original projections for casualties for both and how much less than the actual numbers were they?


texts: Where and how did pinky promises / swear originate?

texts:
So I found this article around it, but does not mentioned references and not sure if its comprehensive.

  The pinky-promise, more serious than we thought
  Posted by Camayak plug-in | Nov 4, 2015 | Features, People & Culture | 0
  The pinky-promise, more serious than we thought

  pinky promise.jpg
  Photo credit: COURTESY OF:INDIEBERRIES.BLOGSPOT.COM

  By: MACKINNON WESSEL
  progress@eku.edu

  A childhood friend hopefully and intently reaches out their little pinky for the comfort of a comrade’s and ultimately their promise to uphold an oath. For some, that oath is lost in childhood debauchery. In fact, the “pinky-promise” is commonly seen as a childish thing, meaningless and not to be taken seriously. Many are guilty of breaking pinky-promises.

  The pinky-promise is not to be snubbed. Throughout history, this promise has not been taken lightly and the consequences are actually pretty serious. If we all knew the origins and the actual meaning of the pinky-promise, we might take it more seriously. Or we might be missing a finger.

  The pinky swear originated in Japan and has existed in America since at least 1860 when it was mentioned in Bartlett’s Dictionary of Americanisms, accompanied by the following promise:

  “Pinky, pinky, bow-bell. Whoever tells a lie will sink down to a bad place and never rise up again.”

  This seems like a pretty extreme punishment. Unfortunately, for all those pinky-promise breakers, it gets worse.

  In Japan, the pinky swear is often referred to as “yubikiri” or “finger cut-off” and is commonly used in the Yakuza, or Japanese mafia. This promise indicated that whoever broke the pinky swear or did not follow through with the promise lost a finger. The wronged party would cut off the pinky of the one who broke the promise.

  According to sites.psu.edu, the pinky swear is believed to have been coined from the early 1600s to the mid 1800s. Prostitutes cut off the tips of their pinkies and gave them away to customers, implying their affections were so ardent they were willing to commit suicide. That’s some serious dedication.

  How’s that for extreme? Next time someone reaches out their little finger make sure you think twice before locking pinkys. Otherwise, you’ll have vengeful elementary school kids or knowledgeable college students after your finger. Protect the pinky.


texts: Why did the Allies Invade French North Africa?

texts:
Question:  Why did the allies invade Vichy French North Africa?

Operation Torch was the name of the Anglo American Invasion of French North Africa.  Both of the American most senior commanders  General George Marshal and Admiral Ernest King declined to approve the plan.  They believed it was an irrelevant act which would consume  resources and not aid in the defeat of the Nazi's.  A dangerous waste of men and material.  The pro-German Vichy French who controlled the territory were former allies, themselves and were expected not to fight.   The United States expected them not to fight in any case issuing orders to their troops, not to fire on the Vichy French unless fired upon.  President Roosevelt ordered the invasion to go forward at the earliest opportunity,  giving it precedence over a direct channel invasion of Europe.  It was 1 of only 2 direct orders FDR made to his senior Commanders in WWII.

  Operation Torch
  Senior US commanders remained strongly opposed to the landings and after the western Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) met in Washington on 30 July, General George Marshall and Admiral Ernest King declined to approve the plan. U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a direct order that Torch was to have precedence over other operations and was to take place at the earliest possible date, one of only two direct orders he gave to military commanders during the war.


texts: Why weren't pickled fruits and vegetables part of (European) rations during the Age of Sail?

texts:
Why were pickled fruits and vegetables not part of sailors' rations during the Age of Sail? This question is an extension of Cooking.SE:How is sauerkraut rich in vitamin C?
You do not need know or understand Vitamin C and scurvy to want to bring along fruits or vegetables with you. And, as established in the link above, it is possible to pickle produce without destroying the Vitamin C within. Yet, reading around about what sailors' rations consisted of, pickled produce is never among them. So it is moot whether or not the pickling methods employed at the time destroyed Vitamin C.
What was it about pickled produce that prevented it from being taken along?


texts: Distinguish Mitsubishi G6M1-L2 and G4M1 aircraft in this picture

texts:
Here is a picture of Bataan 1 and Bataan 2:

Wikipedia:

  Bataan 1 and Bataan 2 were two demilitarized Japanese bomber/transport aircraft that carried the first surrender delegations from Japan to Ie Shima as part of the surrender of Japan in World War II. The two aircraft, specifically a Mitsubishi G6M1-L2 military transport (dubbed Bataan 1) and a second, disarmed and repaired Mitsubishi G4M1 bomber (Bataan 2), carried eight members of the delegation team [...].

Which one is which in the picture?

Wikipedia article on G4M variants.


texts: Why don’t historians tolerate eisegesis, when they continuously engage in it?

texts:
Historians disrespect excessively eisegetic readings when producing their works. Eisegesis is the production of meaning in reading texts through external inspiration. The inspiration could be divine, or based in theory, but definitively the inspiration lies outside of the documents of the past which are read together. Eisegesis is the reading of external meanings into texts. This is to say for the lay person that historians disrespect works that make the past serve a meaning or “truth.”  Instead historians attempt exegetical readings. (Eisegesis’ comparison method is exegesis. Exegesis is the process of reading meanings out of texts.)

There is a problem though, in that there are gaps all over the place in documents. We read “into” texts that the sun came up tomorrow, that the seasons turned if the texts were from a land of seasons. We assume that institutions separated only by time, but named the same, stayed largely the same outside of noted textual differences. In other words, in order to read texts we have to read meanings into texts. This is known as “the hermeneutical gap,” the distance between the reader and the text where meanings can’t be determined to standards of Capital T Truth in Hume’s sense. As empirical knowledge, we never have certainty or security in the meanings of texts: to some extent we always read meanings into texts (you and I are both doing it right now).

One difference between tolerated eisegesis, and intolerable eisegesis, seems to be scale. Claims that history serves the teleology—the necessary end point of history—of the triumph of liberal parliament (Whig theory), or that crudely determined modes of production dictate all past activity (Stalinist “diamat,” outside of its Great Russian chauvinism) are not tolerated. Claims that Winston Churchill retained his character between one diary entry and another are accepted.  In the middle are questions such as “Does EP Thompson’s English working class exist?,” or “Was there such a thing as the United States,” or “Is ‘men and women’ meaningful about gender in 14th century Italy, and do Italian cultures or Gender exist?”

Is it just that all teleological work is unacceptable? Is it only a matter of scale? And if so what is the tipping point? Is it a matter of something else? Or can a preponderance of exegetical work turn an unacceptable volume of evidence into acceptable for a theoretical claim?


texts: Outdoors Survival Knowledge for Samurai?

texts: Did any era's Samurai know Outdoors Survival Knowledge? If so, which eras, which country (or however Japan separated its land at that time), and how much did they know?


texts: Where can I find American circus or carnival grounds plans?

texts: I am looking for a circus or carnival floor plan, and even combining several search terms ("grounds" "site" "floor plan" and "carnival" and such) I have not been able to find one. Circus history sites do not seem to have them, either. What I am looking for is something like a hand plan of a circus ring and the carnivals that used to go with them circa 1900, I'd like to know the layout which I expect to be very precise to extract the maximum amount of money out of the "marks" (or customers) for a novel project I'm doing but in general I'd like to know if there's a good source for maps or architectural plans from that era. I have also checked the Digital Public Library of America, and there does not seem to be anything there either (looking for circus grounds, mainly)


texts: What did Yuri Gagarin do while waiting for his ride?

texts:
So I found out from a post on skeptics:SE that when Yuri Gagarin landed from being the first human in space during the Vostok 1 mission, he parachuted down and landed in the Soviet Union near the Volga river on a farm.

Wikipedia recounts it like this:

  Gagarin's parachute opened almost right away, and about ten minutes later, at 08:05 UT, Gagarin landed. Both he and the spacecraft landed via parachute 26 km (16 mi) south west of Engels, in the Saratov region at 51.270682°N 45.99727°E. It was 2800 km to the west of the planned landing site (near Baikonur).
  A farmer and her daughter observed the strange scene of a figure in a bright orange suit with a large white helmet landing near them by parachute. Gagarin later recalled, "When they saw me in my space suit and the parachute dragging alongside as I walked, they started to back away in fear. I told them, don't be afraid, I am a Soviet citizen like you, who has descended from space and I must find a telephone to call Moscow!"

It think this is a really cool story - and want more detail.  Did the farm where he landed have a phone? Did they let him use it? Did he wait at that farm, or did they give him a ride into town? How long did he wait there? Did they send a taxi from Saratov? What did he do?

I visualize that there was a local grandma who make him a big meal and he drank a bit of vodka while waiting a few hours for his ride. Or maybe he took a nap at the farmer's house? I imagine it took a few days for him to return to Moscow. Did he tell the people he met that he just got back from space, and did they believe him?  Was he rushed home and treated like a hero, or did they just tell him to buy a bus ticket and save his restaurant receipts? Did anyone hassle him?


texts: How was the Luftwaffe able to destroy nearly 4000 Soviet aircraft in 3 days of operation Barbarossa?

texts:
According to Wikipedia:

  a Soviet archival document recorded the loss of 3,922 Soviet aircraft
  in the first three days against an estimated loss of 78 German
  aircraft.

How were German combat aircrafts so successful? Was it the technology, skill-full/talented pilots, training, organization or something else?

Likewise, in terms of logistics, how is it possible to be so efficient considering the amount of bombs, fuel and everything else needed to equip the aircrafts in a 3 day span?

How do you deal with it psychologically (Russians) when having so many losses in not even the inception of an operation.


texts: What was the median age at first marriage for women in Britain from 1890 to 1970?

texts:
I am interested in not the mean but rather in the median. So far, I have had the highest difficulty in attaining any information on this matter for the United Kingdom or Great Britain. Thankfully, the statistics for this are available for the United States from the late 19th century onwards but not for any European country.

For the 1860s, it is well known that the median age for the UK is around 23.5. However, I have not come across any data for the period onwards.

It would be extremely appreciated if someone could provide any information on this matter.

For example, did women marry later in the UK than the US in the 1940s and 1950s? What about nations like Belgium, Holland and West Germany? In general, it would be appreciated if someone confirmed whether (white) women in the US married later or earlier than those in Western European countries generally in the early and mid 20th century.


texts: If Nietzsche was against anti-semitism, how did he become an inspiration to Hitler?

texts:
I recently read that Nietzsche was against anti-semitism, though I understand that that doesn't exempt him from being anti-Judaism (though, I'm not entirely sure how one would distinguish the two).

Was Hitler portraying Nietzsche's philosophy as anti-semitic when it wasn't really so, or was it altogether something else about Nietzsche that inspired Hitler's ideologies?


texts: How was the British invasion into the US successful in the War of 1812?

texts:
My friend and I are from Britain and we were discussing which country was the least likely to ever see a successful invasion attempt. We reached the conclusion that the United States was simply the most difficult. There are two oceans on either side, with a navy unparalleled, and an airforce equally incomparable,  massive swaths of difficult terrain to the north and south, and hundreds of millions of guns in the hands of citizens, militias, and very large gangs.

Because we reached this conclusion, we started wondering how the British were successful in the War of 1812.

Now, I'm not completely ahistoric here, as I know the United States had an extremely small force of men to defend themselves while we were an unimaginably large empire; but, nevertheless, I cannot imagine that it simply comes down to superior military numbers and equipment. How did they handle the mostly uninhabited terrain, and the native tribes bombarding them? And how was this feasible at all given that they were at war with France?


texts: What does GEORGIUS III·D:G·BRITANNIARUM REX·FIDEI DEF·& c·mean?

texts:
I recently came across this medal created to commemorate the preservation of George III from an assassination attempt in 1800:

(the image was taken by me)

The inscription reads

GEORGIUS III·D:G·BRITANNIARUM REX·FIDEI DEF·& c·

I understand most of the inscription but cannot figure out what the "& c·" at the end means.

The translation that I have come up with so far is:

George III, by the Grace of God, King of Britain, Defender of the Faith, & ________


texts: Why has monarchy appeared just about everywhere?

texts: Why is hereditary monarchy so common across history? It seems to turn up everywhere, yet it seems unlikely to have been spread. For instance various South American civilizations had it.


texts: It's been around for years in the attic and I would love to find out where it's from. Thank you.


texts: What is the source of this quote from Luke Howard?

texts:
In a book on the history of data visualization, we say:
As late as 1844,
Luke Howard [1772– 1864], sometimes called the “father of meteorology”,
apologized for his methodology and referred to it as an

“autograph of the curve . . . confessedly adapted rather to the use of
the dilettanti in natural philosophy as that of regular students.”

But the reference to Howard (1844) is lost. Can anyone help?


texts: What are the dimensions of this pomerium marker?

texts:
The pomerium of Vespasian from 75AD (pictured below) was moved to Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, Rome in the 20th century. What are its dimensions, and what is its height, measuring from street level to the top of the top slab which begins with the etching "IMP CAESAR"?

I found a translation for the text here:

Imperator Caesar Vespasian Augustus, Pontifex Maximus, holding tribunician power for the sixth time, acclaimed imperator 14 times, father of his country, censor, consul six times, consul designate for a seventh, [and] Titus Caesar Vespasianus, son of Augustus, acclaimed imperator six times, pontifex, holding tribunician power for the fourth time, censor, consul four times, consul designate for the fifth, after the borders of the Roman people had been increased, enlarged and marked off the pomerium [by an additional] ?? feet.

I've searched many websites and can't find this information. Here are some of the webpages I've looked at:

The City of Walls,
Il pomerio che non ti aspetti ,
Chi era Costui - Scheda di Pomerio,
http://roma.andreapollett.com/S4/mura.html (dead link),
BASILICA OF St. CECILIA IN TRASTEVERE.


texts: Were metal purities in coins well known and standardized by the 1500s?

texts:
I'm curious how pure metals (such as in coins) were by the mid 1500s in Europe. I know that in some cases metal purities are purposely less than what they could be, such as with WWII era US coins, but if they were trying to make it pure what purity could they achieve and was it very standard between coins with the same minting?

I am just kind of curious in general, but what motivates me to ask is that I bought a 1/2 Grosz Sigsmund II from the year 1567.


texts: Were travelling judges paid in medieval England?

texts:
During the reign of Henry II (1154-89), some key changes in the English judicial system took place. One of these was the introduction of travelling judges:

  In 1166, Henry issued a Declaration at the Assize of Clarendon...

  The Assize of Clarendon ordered the remaining non-King’s Bench judges
  to travel the country – which was divided into different circuits –
  deciding cases.

In his article Medieval English government, Professor Johann P. Sommerville gives more details:

  From the mid 12th Century, the crown sent royal judges to try legal
  cases throughout the country. The circuits of these Justices in Eyre
  (and later of the Justices of Assize) covered the whole realm and they
  heard both civil and criminal cases. They often also performed administrative duties, enquiring for example into the conduct of local royal officials.

There is no mention of any kind of remuneration in either of the above sources, nor in this source which also seems to be referring to the 1166 declaration. However, in the article Why Roman Law Did Not Succeed in England, Bernard W. Hoeter says:

  The English Crown exercised supervision over local courts by
  dispatching itinerant, unpaid judges to preside during assizes.

(my highlighting)

It seems that Hoeter is referring to the same judges as the other sources (but I could be wrong). Later in the article he mentions "revenue from fines" but it's not clear from the context if that money went to the judges or to the crown. If to the former, this would surely be open to serious abuse.

Were these travelling / itinerant judges unpaid? If so, was this because they were already independently wealthy (e.g. lords)?
Did they get a percentage of the fines and, if so, did this lead to
some judges abusing their power?
Were there any fringe benefits? Most obviously, I'm thinking that
there might have been some kind of recognition or 'promotion' if they
did a good job.


texts: Where was Carl Sagan working on a plan to detonate a nuke on the Moon? Where was he applying when he leaked it?

texts:
At 18:49 in Scott Manley's video The Craziest Things You Can Do With Nuclear Weapons he says:

This was an idea to… it was a number of ideas; they thought it could raise morale with the US. The idea was that they would fly a nuke to the Moon and basically hit the “dark side” and create a giant explosion that would be visible to the naked eye from Earth. They would actually try to launch a dust cloud into space that would also be visible over the terminator.
This idea is pretty crazy to be honest, but one of the names involved you might know, it was a guy called Carl Sagan, who obviously had billions and billions of problems with this idea, yet definitely worked on it, and then accidentally revealed it to the public in a research application for a position.

Question: Where was Carl Sagan working when he worked on this idea, and where was he applying when he "accidentally" revealed it to the public?


texts: Who is the youngest monarch to have issue?

texts:
I came across a 14-year-old duke having a child in the 15th century with his wife, (formerly) Queen Isabella. The duke would end up with a son who became Louis XII, but that is just the back-story to my question. While good old Charles of Orléans was an early starter, I would like to know which royal teen or pre-teen found a way to obtain an heir so soon as to make even a queen bride blush.
To be fair, I think the best answer would be the youngest reigning male monarch with a baby, whereas my example is merely a duke that few people have ever heard of.
Please include in your answer the age of the father and the mother, their birthdates, and the birthdate of their progeny.
e.g.

Charles of Orléans (b. 24 November 1394)
Isabella of France (b. 9 November 1389)
married  29 June 1406 (age 11 and 16)
daughter Joan (b. 13 September 1409)
parental age 14 and 19 (Isabella died giving birth, Joan survived)


texts: Why did Egypt forbid entry of Israeli ships into the Suez canal in 1956?

texts: In 1956, as a response to withdrawal of American aid for the High Aswan dam, Nasser nationalized the Suez canal giving freedom of transit through it to all countries except Israel. Why did they do this? I know of the traditional Arab-Israeli rivalry, but what was responsible for this? Moreover, in the 1st article of the 1888 convention of Constantinople, it was decided that the canal would always be free for transit of all ships, irrespective of which country they belonged to. Wouldn't Egypt be going against this by not allowing the passage of Israeli ships?


texts: Why was the Halifax death penalty reserved for thefts of at least 13½ pence?

texts:
Wikipedia's article on the Halifax Gibbet says, with several citations:

  …ancient custom and law gave the Lord of the Manor the authority to execute summarily by decapitation any thief caught with stolen goods to the value of 13½d or more…

and quotes A.T. Carter History of English Legal Institutions, apparently quoting the original statute:

  … cloth or any other commodity to the value of 13½d, that they shall after three market days or meeting days within the town of Halifax after such his apprehension, and being condemned he shall be taken to the gibbet and there have his head cut off from his body.

Even in pre-decimalization British currency, 13½ pence is not a round number; it is 1⅛ shillings.  My question is: What is the origin of this oddity?

The only thing I can imagine is that the criterion was originally established at some round amount of goods, say something like 10 ells of cloth, and the commodity amount was later converted to a money amount at the prevailing commodity price.

(The 13½ is not Wikipedia vandalism; I found the same amount cited in William Smith, ed. Old Yorkshire (Longmans, Green & Co., London, 1887) p.137, and in an article, “The Halifax Gibbet-law” in The Saturday Magazine #132 (p. 32) of July 26, 1834.)

Jeffrey Kegler points out that the amount 13½d appears in English folklore in at least one other place; it is the traditional “hangman's wages”.  For example we find in Samuel Pegge Curialia Miscellanea; Or, Anecdotes of Old Times (J. Nichols, London, 1818):

  HANGMAN'S WAGES. The vulgar notion, though it will not appear to be a vulgar error, is, that Thirteen Pence Halfpenny is the fee of the Executioner in the common line of business at Tyburn, and therefore is called Hangman's Wages.

Supposedly the 13½d were the value set in a proclamation of James I as equivalent to a Scottish mark. (This is not far off from my suggestion about 13½d being a standardization of some commpodity price.)
But Norman Yamada has pointed out that Dr. Zachary Grey, in his annotation of Butler's Hudibras (1744) speculated that the “hangman's wages” were themselves an allusion to the Halifax law:

  I cannot really say, whence that Sum was called Hangman's Wages, unless in Allusion to the Halifax Law, or the customary Law of the Forest of Hardwick…


texts: Which lame moor was the namesake of Rancho Moro Cojo?

texts:
Governors of Mexican Alta California granted ranches to well-connected petitioners. One such piece of land near Elkhorn Slough was called Rancho Moro Cojo (Lame Moor Ranch), granted in 1825 by governor Argüello to María Antonia Pico de Castro. Later, it was only part of Rancho Bolsa Nueva y Moro Cojo (New Hollow and Lame Moor Ranch). On the diseño digitized at OAC appears the name "Bolsa del Cojo" (Hollow of the Lame One).

Bancroft mentions "the Negro Bob", a man of African descent left behind from a British ship and already living in central California at that time. There may have been a few more Black men in the province but I have no information identifying any of them as North African.

Was Bob the lame moor, or is it a Biblical or literary reference, or what?


texts: I can't imagine how it works in a planned economy. Does the government replace your car if you crash it? Was there no sort of insurance?


texts: When was glass first used to protect art?

texts: This could be the glass pane for example? But I'm looking specifically for the time period when glass was first used in art frames to protect the piece.


texts: What was the first recorded instance of burning a city or village in war?

texts:
I'm curious what the first recorded instance of a military putting a city or village to the torch.

Certainly, war predates history, as does the tactic of destroying a dwelling, but I'm focused on when the first recorded instance was...

I think I would include a pre-history event IF there were strong archaeological proofs, solid dates... etc.


texts: Was Cossack cavalry ineffective relative to other troops?

texts:
I know that some people in Europe very much admire Russian Cossack cavalry and think it is very effective. But in Russia there was a proverb that one hussar is equal to two cossacks, one dragoon is equal to two hussars and one cuirassier is equal to two dragoons. This places a cossack to be only 1/8 as effective as a cuirassier.

This possibly is not exactly true but in fact the cossack cavalry rarely participated in battles, making disturbing raids instead (and even in that they were thought to be worse than regular light cavalry).

So my question is whether Cossack cavalry was indeed so ineffective?


texts: Do most of today's democratic nations with two-party system exhibit a civil war in recent past?

texts:
I was thinking about the two-party system in USA and comparing it to mostly multi-party systems in Europe and was wondering, if this national state of democracy is mainly caused by political decisions of a minor group, societal culture or historical developments (wars, cultural assimilation).

I'm not interested in the pros and cons of two-party vs. multi-party systems, you can read this on Wikipedia. But do political historians see identical and common explanations for different nations, why they developed towards two-party systems?

Interestingly, I don't know a two-party system evolving towards a multi-party system, while the reverse situation seems to be more common. Of course, one important reason for the two-party system of republicans and democrats in USA is the American civil war, so in what time scales do political historians think and try to analyse political developments, what phenomenological criteria (linguistic, cultural, ethnological, political diversification in a distinct society) do they compare to judge, what factors will strengthen a political development towards a two-/multi-party system?

I reformulated the question a bit to falsify the hypothesis in the title and to focus on easier to find out negative cases, where we have a long and established two-party system today, but no long substantial & longer civil wars in the past splitting the society politically. As quant_dev commented, Britain would be another example of such a historical development.


texts: Did Western "New Imperialism" actually free slaves in Muslim lands?

texts:
Slavery is fair game in mainstream/traditional Islam. I have heard various commentaries that abolishing of slavery in various Muslim-dominated countries actually coincided with the 2nd wave of Western colonialism (19th century on).

I the particular area is North Africa.

Is that true -- did slavery as an economic system/alternative get abolished in North Africa only when the Europeans started colonizing it?


texts: How did people distinguish slaves from free people in Ancient Rome?

texts: I've tried to find some information about it, but failed. Let's say there is an educated slave living in a relatively rich household of Rome. What would prevent him from fleeing, going to some smaller town of some province to live there as a free man? It's not like they had lists of all free citizens, neither did they have proper identification documents, such as a modern-day passport, which would identify them. And not every single slave wore a collar (which still can be broken).


texts: What mesoamerican culture used long, "pike-like" spears?

texts:
A while back, I read about some Mesoamerican tribe or culture that armed many of its warriors with extremely long spears, that either the Spanish invaders or the article I read itself compared to the European weapon called a pike.  However, I can't recall the name of the tribe that used this weapon, nor where I read about it.  I've tried every combination of search terms I could think of to find this information again, but I haven't had any luck, so I'm turning to this community.

In case it helps, I seem to recall that the tribe/culture in question was either a client state of the Aztecs at some point, or frequently warred with them.  Also, if memory serves, the spears they used had a shaft somewhere in the range of 15 to 20 feet long.  (That's roughly 4.5 to 6 meters for those of you using the metric system.)

Can anyone tell me what tribe/culture it was that used these weapons?


texts: What was housing like in early Medieval Scotland?

texts:
I've read detailed social history on Scotland which goes back to about the 16th century, and it would seem like some of the poorest Scots of that era sometimes lived in housing which was as modest as mud / dirt huts.

If I'm understanding correctly the medieval era saw a very gradual rise of the town and city, or in other words civilization, so my assumption would be that early medieval society may have been closer to tribal and very primitive.

In any case, that brings me to the question of how people in early medieval Europe housed themselves, with Scotland as my case study. How did people in the current state of Scotland house themselves in the early medieval period?


texts: When was the last name introduced in World History?

texts: If you notice one major thing about Ancient-(or Pre-Modern) History, the most well known and studied figures only have one name-(i.e. Homer, Aristotle, Virgil, Ovid, etc.).  When was the last name introduced into World History? If I was to submit an educated guess, it probably began around the early years of the Roman Empire with the various Caesars, as well as with the Roman imperial census.  (Again, this is just an educated guess).


texts: What was the main purpose in Japan trying to capture the Dutch East Indies oil fields intact?

texts:
The Dutch East Indies campaign saw Japan try to capture the Dutch East Indies oilfields intact, i.e. before the local troops destroyed them:

After these main objectives in Borneo were completed, the Japanese forces planned a three-pronged assault southward using three forces named Eastern Force, Center Force and Western Force. The aim of this assault was to capture the oil resources in the East Indies. The Eastern Force was to advance from Jolo and Davao and move on to capture Celebes, Amboina and Timor, while protecting the Center Force's flank. The Center Force was to capture oil fields and airfields in Tarakan Island and Balikpapan. Both these forces would support the Western Force, which was to attack and capture the oil refineries and airfields in Palembang. ...
... However, the Dutch garrisons had destroyed the oil fields before they were captured by the Japanese in both cases.

In short, the Japanese failed. I understand how the oil itself was critical for the war effort as already outlined in this reply by Schwern to a related question. However, what the narrative doesn't explain is why Japan wanted to capture them intact. As I see it, there are three options:

Japan did not have the know-how (at hand, if not in general);
It would take a lot of time and hinder advancing;
Both of the above.

Which of these above guesses is correct, if any? If it is the time-delay, then how long did it actually take for the Japanese to restart the oil fields? If it was the know-how was missing, then who did they have to bring in?

Another source, relating to Burma, writes:

The possibility of having to resort to a "scorched earth" policy had been envisaged when Japan first entered the war and Leslie Forster, a former engineer of Shell-Mex and an expert in demolitions, had been flown out to draw up the necessary plans. He was described by Dorman-Smith as “the greatest saboteur in history”, having previously destroyed the oil fields in the Dutch East Indies. ...
General Alexander reluctantly gave the signal “Red Elephant” at midnight on 7 March, which meant demolition would start at 2 pm. Dead on time a series of violent explosions rocked Rangoon like an earthquake. One of the first targets was the total destruction of the Burmah Oil Company's vast installation at Syriam.
Some time before, Forster and Scott had laid tons of explosives throughout the refinery and drained 150 million gallons of oil, petrol, kerosene and high octane aircraft fuel from the gigantic storage tanks to create a secondary blast. At 2 pm the electric circuit was fired. Tanks disintegrated and machinery and metal sheets were hurled high into the air. Within a short time a great pall of dense black smoke soared thousands of feet into the air. ...
—Draper, 'Dawns Like Thunder: The Retreat From Burma'

This indicates the destruction of the refinery (and not the 'oil fields'). This sounds like a more complex problem than the destruction of the oil mines themselves (I read the 'destruction of the oil field' as the 'destruction of the oil mine' as I don't think they had the skills or capacity to actually destroy the resource)—and would probably incur significant time delays if the Japanese had to rebuild a refinery (but, perhaps not, if the Japanese engines needed a different mixture of fuels or something else that the Dutch industrial process was not perhaps equipped to handle). In this case, the destruction of the refinery could actually have helped the Japanese.
In other words, does anyone have any more information on what the destruction of the oil fields meant in the Dutch East Indies and what the primary reason for Japan wanting to prevent this was?


texts: Was there a constitutional mechanism to overturn the election of Adolf Hitler?

texts: In March 1933 Hitler received 44 % of the votes during the elections and became relatively fast a dictator. Were there any constitutional or other legal mechanisms in place through which this “democratic” takeover could have been prevented, or could have been reversed afterward?


texts: How would the Israelites have girded their loins?

texts:
I stumbled upon the Art of Manliness guide to girding their loins earlier. However, their source is a Historyzine article which doesn't have any references. Also, on Youtube, you can also find an alternative explanation in which the backside of the tunic is instead tied into a belt (like in this video).
So, do we have any primary or secondary sources describing how this would have been done in antiquity?


texts: Is this a pastiche of a particular painting or photograph?

texts:
The children's book Zen Ghosts by Jon J. Muth depicts a Halloween in suburban America, with several unexplained figures trick-or-treating in the background.  Among them are these two children:

This image seems familiar to me.  I thought at first that it might be a pastiche of either a depiction of Romanov children or one of Produkin-Gorsky's photographs.  But a Google image search came up dry.  I also checked for images of Leo Tolstoy's children, because Muth had previously adapted "The Three Questions" to a children's book, but I found only photos of them in their adulthood.
Is this based on a historic painting or photograph?  Or is it just from Muth's imagination?


texts: When did Russia learn about the Philippines and the Japanese and Spanish presences there?

texts:
The Japanese and Spanish did business in the Philippines from the 12th and 16th centuries respectively.

In Russia, Vasili III became aware that the Spanish had reached America after his envoys returned from Madrid in 1525. A few decades later Spain began the Manila galleon trade. Russian awareness of Japan itself began in the 17th century (George Lensen: The Russian Push Towards Japan, p. 22).

When did the Philippine archipelago and the Japanese and Spanish trade routes there become known in Russia?


texts: Operation Enduring Freedom, early results

texts: i'm writing a text about Afghanistan from 1992-2001. And i want to finish of with how "Operation Enduring Freedom" resulted in great losses for the Taliban in a short period of time, but i'm having trouble finding good and direct sources. If anyone could help out, that would be great!


texts: What were the operating principles of Japan's MITI during the 1950s and 60s?

texts:
Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) guided Japan's economy through two decades of unprecedented economic growth.  MITI was the primary instrument of Japan's industrial policy, which did not run the entire economy as a centrally planned communist system might, but "provided industries with administrative guidance and other direction, both formal and informal, on modernization, technology, investments in new plants and equipment, and domestic and foreign competition" (source: wikipedia).  How was MITI set up?  How did it attract competent and well-intentioned bureaucrats?  How did it prevent conflicts of interest between entrenched industries and consumers?

References to a long-form description of how they achieved this feat (in English) would also be appreciated.


texts: Why is the Vatican (Rome) the center of Christianity?

texts: Jesus Christ was born and died in Palestine. Why did Christianity move to Vatican (Rome) and became the center of Christianity?


texts: Why could no one reach the southernmost tip of India?

texts: The southernmost tip of India was almost always occupied by the regional kingdoms of the region like Chola Chera Pandya and so on. However, no Indian empire was able to conquer it from the north. May that be Maurya Mughal or the Gupta empire. Why is it so? Why couldn't empires which crossed Vindhya and Satpura beat through the Nilgiris?


texts: What were the advantages and disadvantages of Mongolian cavalry (compared to European cavalry)?

texts:
My understanding is that Mongolian cavalry fought mainly with bows and arrows, that is, missile weapons, in "hit and run" style, while European cavalry fought mainly with "contact" weapons such as lances or swords (at least until the time of muskets/carbines). Also, European knights were more heavily armored, and therefore rode bigger, heavier horses than Mongolians, whose mounts were sometimes (wrongly) referred to by Europeans as "ponies."

What were the advantages/disadvantages of each type of cavalry, relative to each other, and to infantry?


texts:
In the 1800s, before more modern conveniences such as mass produced oak barrels became available, how long was whiskey aged, taking into consideration the high demand and technological restraints? Were they all aged to e.g. two years like modern straight brands, or was the aging process much shorter (a couple of months)? How did this affect quality, if so?
Were there then different grades of whiskey based on age and quality?


texts:
Were crossbows used in any significant way by the Japanese? If so, what period and how were they fielded?

I found some very brief references:

  Jonathan Clements' "A Brief History of the Samurai" mentions an
  isolated late use. Post AD1000, iirc, but the index doesn't help me
  find the relevant section in the book. Could also be formulaic copying
  of earlier texts. I think you can safely ignore them after the end of
  the 9th century.

  The Chinese varieties were well known in Japan and appear in
  dictionaries under the names 'oyumi' or 'teppo yumi'. Those preserved
  in Nagoya belonged to Tokugawa Mitsutomo (1625 - 1700), whilst the
  Metropolitan Museum's one has a partial signature '... Kunitaka'. One
  of the Nagoya ones has an alternative string and a half barrel that
  can be fitted to convert it into a pellet-bow. (See my article in the
  Royal Armouries Yearbook, Vol 3. 1998).


texts: What was church life in England like after the act of supremacy in 1532? Did churchgoers find any change in the sacraments from day one?

texts:
Where did Henry VIII find the priests to administer the services?  How were they bound?  Could (or did) any priests refuse to follow the new ways?  Why were only the monks targeted for dissolution?

I have found several timelines and history papers, but none of them openly address the question of what the average person would have experienced.  After queen Elizabeth I Protestants and Catholics were legally allowed to live side by side (although the Church of England was still the one official Church with the Monarch at the head) but I can find nothing concerning 'indoctrination' of the priests.  Did the act of supremacy just "assume" that each individual priest had made their vows to King Henry?  Did they retain individual autonomy?  How soon were sacrament changes introduced to church services, particularly in regard to the open confession system adopted by the Church of England?  Did any priests, or entire congregations simply act on their own accord, and or continue vowing allegiance to the pope?

P.S.  Please, I'm really interested primarily in the question of the open and general confession system.  So if anyone knows when that was introduced please let me know!


texts: Did the fairy craze overlap the UFO one?

texts:
One theory goes that cultural interest in technologic UFOs* derived from the same paranormal sensibilities as fairies and elves of previous centuries; and as such when one waxed in interest (presumably due to WWII and the nascent space-race) the other waned.

So did popular cultural interest in fairies overlap the UFO phase or immediately precede it?

* I'm narrowing the definition from all conceivable Unidentified Flying or Hovering Objects to the classical variety of technological UFOs commonly associated with aliens or men-in-black, as manifested especially after the rise of rocketry and space travel in the popular consciousness; eventually dissipating with the rise of smartphones, hobbyist drones and played out memes.


texts: Written sources that mention Macedonia, prior to the 19th century?

texts:
Before the Balkan Wars Macedonist ideas were shared by a limited circles of intellectuals. They grew in significance during the interbellum, both in Vardar Macedonia and among the left-leaning diaspora in Bulgaria, and were endorsed by the Comintern. During the Second World War, these ideas were supported by the Communist Partisans, who founded Yugoslav Macedonian Republic in 1944.

All contemporary sources (that I could find) lead to the name Georgi Dimitrov (head of the Commintern) and his negotiation with Josip Broz Tito on the creation of a Federation of the Southern Slavs, which had been underway since November 1944 between the Bulgarian and Yugoslav Communist leaderships. The idea eventually resulted in the 1947 Bled accord:

  The preliminary plan for the federation included the incorporation of the Blagoevgrad Region ("Pirin Macedonia") into the Socialist Republic of Macedonia and the return of the Western Outlands from Serbia to Bulgaria. In anticipation of this, Bulgaria accepted teachers from Yugoslavia who started to teach the newly codified Macedonian language in the schools in Pirin Macedonia and issued the order that the Bulgarians of the Blagoevgrad Region should claim а Macedonian identity.

Are there documents that testify the existence of Macedonia and the Macedonian people, prior to the 19th century?


texts: Who's the artist behind this popular painting?

texts:
Wikipedia says it's a German postcard dated 1900. But says nothing about the artist.

Does anyone know about the artist behind this work?


texts: Why were schoolchildren in the USA taught virtually nothing about the Holocaust during the fifties and sixties?

texts: I was born  in  1947 just two years after the end of ww2 and went to high school during the  sixties. I can't recall more than a passing reference to the extermination of 6,000,000 Jews. How can this be?  I remember in junior high school drawing a swastika on my notebook thinking it was cool.  Nazis to me meant nothing more than the other side we were fighting against.  I grew up in Pennsylvania, was it different elsewhere in the country?  It wasn't until I was grown and saw documentaries and read books about it did I learn about the atrocities that happened in Nazi Germany.


texts: Which Muslim factions during the Crusade used the crescent in their flags or banners?

texts:
According to NSNoob comments on Did Hungarian Army ever use Crescent banners?

  Crescent was used by Muslims since the Crusades.

Wikipedia seems to agree. For example: the article on Star and crescent says

  The use of the crescent symbol (without the star) on Muslim flags is first seen by Europe during the Crusades.

Wikipedia further listed 14th century examples of flags with crescents:  flags of Gabes, Tlemcen (Tilimsi), Damas and Lucania, Cairo, Mahdia, Tunis and Bud;  blue ensign of Nubia/Dongola; yellow ensign of the Mamluks. But the Crusades in the Middle East was happening earlier, in 11th-13th century. Briefly looking at the major factions, seems like the Seljuk empire, the Abbasid and Fatimid caliphates and the Ayyubid sultanate don't have crescent in their banners.

Which Muslim factions included the crescent as flags/banners during the initial Crusades of the 11th-13th century? Those that included crescent-and-star are also acceptable.


texts: How much did it cost to attend events at the ancient Roman colosseum?

texts:
I recently visited the Colosseum in Rome, where a tour guide explained about the different seating sections for the elite (senators and the like), nobles, ordinary citizens, and slaves/women.  He also talked about the 80 different gates and said that entry "tickets" were numbered by gate.  I later found discussion of all this on Wikipedia.

The tour made me wonder: what did it cost to go to an event at the Colosseum in Rome in the first century, soon after the Colosseum was built?  That slaves and women attended means it was possible for people with little wealth to attend, but the existence of the tickets suggests that it wasn't a free-for-all (anybody can just come in).  Or was it free, but you had to get a ticket first to prevent running out of spaces?

While some of the events at the Colosseum were discretionary entertainment (so if it was too pricy for some that was ok), others seemed to be designed as public spectacles, like executions.  So maybe there were different entry policies for different types of events?  After all, a performance venue today doesn't always have one, fixed price.

If there was a cost, I'd like to understand it in relation to other economic aspects.  An answer like "N denari" isn't as helpful to me as something like "the cost of a loaf of bread" or "N days' wages for an ordinary citizen", because I don't know very much about ancient Roman economics.


texts: Number of artisanal working hours spent on making Terracota Army

texts:
Basing on Wikipedia:

  Estimates from 2007 were that the three pits containing the Terracotta
  Army held more than 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and
  150 cavalry horses

around 8780 human-sized figures were made to satisfy the Yellow Emperor's will. The army looks incredible, even more that it was made only to be buried with the emperor.

I have a couple of questions about the economics of this enterprise:

How many hours would a contemporary art student need for making one single terracota soldier.
Is there any estimation on how many people worked on the project 2200 years ago?
How long did they work? Ideally, I would love to know some estimates on the number of working hours spent in total.


texts: What was the argument for the Japanese pursuing the Northern Expansion Doctrine during WWII?

texts:
The Northern Expansion Doctrine was the idea that Japan should pursue its imperialist objectives through Siberia, which was diametrically opposed by the Southern Expansion Doctrine which was the idea that Japan should pursue its imperialist objectives in the Pacific.

I know that the Southern Expansion Doctrine was supported by the navy and became the controlling doctrine for Japan's military actions after failure of the Northern Expansion Doctrine epitomized by the defeat of the Japanese army by the Soviet Union at the Battle of Khalkhin Gol, but I cannot find any information about the formation of the Northern Expansion Doctrine. There is information out there about the genesis of the Southern Expansion Doctrine, but not the Northern Expansion Doctrine.

My question is what was the genesis of the Northern Expansion Doctrine within the Japanese military, and government?


texts: What were the board dimensions of the Viking era bed finds?

texts: While some boards were lost or too deteriorated to get exact dimensions, the reproduction of the Oseberg and Goteland beds had to be based on something.  The most I've been able to find were the overall dimensions of the beds and reproductions using modern lumber sizes.  What were the dimensions of the boards?  How big were the mortises?  Were all slats the same size?  From pictures I've been able to find, the slats closest to the head and foot of the Oseberg bed were wider than the middle slats.  Thank you.


texts: What were the rejected designs for the Euro symbol?

texts:
The Euro symbol (€), supposedly but not certainly designed by Alain Billiet, was selected from a pool of proposals. According to a very official-looking document from europa.eu:

  Some thirty drafts were drawn up internally. Of these, ten were put to the test of approval by the general public. Two designs emerged from the survey well ahead of the rest. It was from these two that the President of the Commission at the time, Jacques Santer, and the European Commissioner with responsibility for the euro, Yves-Thibault de Silguy, made their final choice.

The BBC writes that the runner-up design is now "all but impossible to trace". However, if the above is true, members of the public saw nine alternate designs, one of which they considered acceptable. Perhaps the survey conducted was small, but unless respondents had to sign nondisclosure agreements, information about it may survive. What were the nine other designs?


texts: Did military politically participate and intervene in the Second Spanish Republic?

texts:
I'm currently studying Spanish Civil War. It seems that it was a tradition, that the military had power to intervene politics in Spain, at least before the establishment of Second Spanish Republic.
Also, since the removal of some military generals was one cause of the military coup in 1936, I think this means the incumbent political party didn't have enough control over the military.