texts: Is history of Polish Catholicism exceptional?

texts:
Zygmunt Zieliński in his study called "The myth of a Catholic Pole" in the book Polish political myths of the 19th and 20th centuries observes:

(…) the criterion for distinguishing the nationality was not
Polishness but Catholicism. This was to emphasize certain historical
interrelations: to be a Pole meant to be a Catholic. The limes on
whose eastern side were the orthodox Ruthenian tribes and on the
western the Catholics under the Polish rule is seen as considerably
responsible for the rise of the myth. (…) The stereotype of a Catholic
Pole was strengthened when the neighbouring empires intervened for the
sake of the dissidents living within the Polish borders. Even the
Polish Enlightenment (…) was not able to undermine the conviction that
Polishness and Catholicism were inseparable. The post-partition period
encouraged to manipulate with the now politically informed concept of
a Catholic Pole. It was variously used, often for opposite purposes,
different for the occupants but heterogeneous also among the
politically divided Poles. The stereotype of a Catholic Pole was
growing independently in each section of the partitioned Poland
depending on the attitude of the oppressor to the dominant faith (…)
The stereotype was transposed after World War II, in the communist
period. Catholic values were recognized as the main power capable of
helping the nation to preserve its identity. Instead of an emotionally
conceived Catholicism, there appeared the need of a definite
worldview, whose chosen reference to the Polish historical tradition
pointed to Catholicism as the proper option (…) the stereotype of a
Catholic Pole after World War II was reduced to a series of symbols
providing a simplified but efficient weapon against the communist
ideology by setting it against the originally Polish and Catholic. (…)
The myth of a Catholic Pole belongs to the imponderables, but becomes
an element of reality disregarding its historical truth as well as
present day reality (…)

Given that Catholicism has been helping the nation to distinguish itself from its neighbours since the Christianization of Poland, are there any other countries where Catholicism played a similar role?
Background of my question:
According to rainbow-europe Poland has the lowest percentage of achieved LGBTI human rights. Countries like Malta, Lithuania, Portugal, Croatia, Ireland have similar percentage of Roman Catholics (according to "Discrimination in the EU in 2015", Special Eurobarometer) and they have much or slightly higher percentage of achieved LGBTI human rights (89%, 23%, 66%, 46% and 52% accordingly), so it probably means that the instance of Poland is different; hence, I ask the question about the history of Catholicism in other countries.


texts: Is the USA a superpower today because of WW2?

texts:
I understand that the USA funded the war effort against the Axis, although the Allies in Europe had to pay for this help in one way or another.

It's fascinating to see how not that long ago (roughly 70 years) events unfolded to leave us in the state the world is in now.

In 1941, Life magazine editor Henry Luce predicted that the 20th century would be the "American" century, at a time when World War II was in progress, and America was profiting from the resulting trade (and as we now know, was about to join it). Was it World War II, or some other event(s) that caused the rise of the USA to being a superpower today?

Superpower is defined as a very powerful and influential nation.


texts: Who used to present the Indian Order of Merit?

texts:
I was reading about the Indian Order of Merit, and the Battle of Saragarhi in particular. All of the martyred soldiers were, for instance, conferred with the highest gallantry award for natives of British Indian army i.e. the Indian Order of Merit. I could not find information on who presented the medal.
My question, is not specifically about the 21 Sikhs killed at the Battle of Saragarhi, but who used to present the Indian Order of Merit medal?
Was it the British monarch or the Governor-General of India (or Viceroy after 1858) ?


texts: Did any Chinese scholars propose a heliocentric model?

texts:
After this related question, I now want to ask about the heliocentric model. Did any Chinese scholars propose a heliocentric model of the universe? The time period I'm interested is any time before the colonial European influences, circa 1600.

Wikipedia has a Heliocentrism Article with absolutely no mention of China, but it does mention India and Arabia many times over the years. I think these ideas must have spread to China before 1600, but not necessarily adopted. Did any Chinese astronomers at least mention it?

I also saw this quora question, but no sources were cited and little detail was given.

I understand that the Chinese mainstream astronomic model was a spherical heaven and a flat square Earth, but what I'm asking about is if a few others thought differently. After all, from my previous question, there were some Chinese who considered that a spherical Earth was possible. It just wasn't the mainstream model.


texts: How many people were fighting in the North Korean Army in peak strength in the Korean War?

texts:
According to wikipedia, there were 266,600 people at peak strength in the Korean Army, they source this from Shrader, Charles R. (1995). Communist Logistics in the Korean War

  NKPA strength peaked in October 1952 at 266,600 men in eighteen divisions and six independent brigades.

However, for total casualties of the war, Wikipedia states

  335,000-526,000 North Koreans

How could North Korea have lost 335-526k when at peak strength they only ever had 266k? Did their army cycle twice? What I'm saying is that it seems awkward to have ratios like that. If I have an army of 10,000 people how often could I have said that I lost 20,000 soldiers? For every man on the battlefield on the side of the DPRK, two died that were fighting in the conflict for the DPRK?


texts: What is an example of nostalgia for the past in a design context in the interwar period?

texts: While studying the history of design, I have found a document (FR) that states that during the interwar period, people were both attracted by technology and nostalgic of the past, but I can't find any concrete example of the nostalgia of the past in the context of the design.


texts: When did the majority of Americans stop living on farms?

texts: I know defining a farm is tricky. I will, of course, take any definition available. If I could pick, I would say that if there is one person working full-time outside of a household, that household is not a farm, even if it grows food.


texts: Why does US currency have a 25 cent piece and a 20 dollar bill instead of a 20 cent piece or 25 dollar bill?

texts: Why does US currency have a 25 cent piece instead of a 20 cent piece?  Why is there a 20 dollar bill instead of a 25 dollar bill?  Why aren't both denominations the same, 20 or 25 for both the dollars and cents?


texts: Did Khmer Rouge actually destroy all land titles/ownership records? Or were there certain regions that happened to escape this destruction? If so, is there any documentation on where these regions were?


texts: What was the first recorded non-violent toppling of a dictator?

texts:
There has been a lot of research on non-violent resistance, but looking at Wikipedia's page on the topic, I can't seem to answer this question: What was the first non-violent toppling of a dictator?

N.B.: there is a related but not identical question here What was the first successful non violent independence movement? It gives India as example, but arguably India didn't topple a dictatorship then.

The oldest one mentioned in Wikipedia that seems to unambiguously qualify is perhaps the 1986 People Power Revolution in the  Philippines. But this seems awfully recent. Are there any older examples?

And since people have quibble about terminology "toppling" is a term used by one of the scholars in this field. (And so is "dictator" and "non-violent".)


texts: Why, in general, did the racist theories perceived Germanic as superior?

texts:
I am aware that probably we have tons of examples of racist theories that do not put the Germanic peoples in the top. However, I find it remarkable that most of the proponents of scientific racism in the 18th and 19th centuries perceived the Germanic peoples as being superior to others.

And that is not the case, necessarily, of Germanic "scientists". We have for instance Henri de Boulainvilliers, a Frenchman, who proposed that the Germanic nobility of France was superior to the Celtic population. The usual "whites are superior" doesn't apply here, since Gauls are also white. He somehow perceived Germanic as being superior to Celtic.

Another example somewhat related is the perception of German racists of the Scandinavians as somewhat superior to themselves. This view was probably related to the fact that the North Germanic peoples were the least influenced by the Latins (linguistically and culturally speaking) among the Germanic peoples that survived (excluding east Germanic). This can be visualised here (Taken from an excellent answer by LangLangC in this question:

  To which race do Europe’s peoples belong?

  The peoples of Europe do not belong to a particular race, but are
  rather a racial mixture. Our German people is comprised primarily of
  six races.

  And what are they?

  The Nordic, the Pfalzish (fälische), the Western (westliche) the East
  Baltic (ostbaltische), the Ostic (ostische), and the Dinarish
  (dinarische) races.

  The German people is, along with the English, Danish, Norwegian, and
  Swedish, the most racially pure of the European peoples. With regards
  to the purity of language, the Scandinavian peoples are in first
  place.

  Werner May, Deutscher National-Katechismus 2nd edition (Breslau:
  Verlag von Heinrich Handel, 1934), pp. 22-26. (Quoted here: The German
  National Catechism)

Another interesting example is when the Brazilian government, in the 19th century looking for immigrants, placed Germans and Austrians on the top of the list, even though the Brazilian government was made of people of Portuguese stock (including the royal family itself). This can be found in  the Imperial decree 5.663 in 1873. Unfortunately, I could find the info in the Portuguese Wikipedia article regarding the Italian colonization of Brazil, which states that:

  Como exemplo, no decreto 5.663, de 1873, celebrado pelo governo imperial com Joaquim Caetano Pinto Júnior, no topo da lista apareciam alemães e austríacos, portugueses e espanhóis foram excluídos, mas incluía bascos e italianos do Norte [...]  Por muitas décadas os alemães permaneceram no topo da preferência entre os imigrantes, por sua "índole" e seu "pendor" agrícola.

Which translates to:

  For instance, in the decree 5663 in 1873, celebrated by the Imperial Government with Joaquim Caetano Pinto Júnior, the list was headed by Germans and Austrians, with Portuguese and Spanish being excluded, despite the fact that Basques and North-Italians were allowed [...] The germans stood on top of the preferred immigrants list for many decades, due to their "nature" and their agricultural "inclination".

My question is if there is some sort of a reason for this pattern, or if it is really just coincidence. I find it unusual, since my intuition would lead me to believe that the racists of each nation would perceive themselves as the superiors. It seems it is not the case. Why the bias towards the Germanic?


texts: Collaboration between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter after the 1980 election

texts:
After Ronald Reagan defeated the incumbent Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election, in the midst of the crisis of a large group of American diplomats being held hostage in Iran, it was obvious that they both tried to make it look as if Reagan would be far tougher on Iranians than Carter would. In obvious ways, that would serve the purposes of both of them. Thus it could have been done without any actual agreement between them to cooperate. On the other hand, they both had incentives to deliberately coordinate their efforts with each other.

Carter made a deal with the Iranians on his last full day in office and the plane carrying the released hostages took off from Iran just at the moment when Reagan was getting sworn in. Then on the day of his inauguration, Reagan appointed Carter to a short-term diplomatic post to go to the American military base in Wiesbaden, Germany to meet the newly released hostages there.

So I have these two questions:

Did they communicate to coordinate their efforts between the election and the inauguration?
Did Carter need to get confirmed by the Senate before going to Germany? Did they confirm his on that same day? (That does not seem so implausible in view of the fact that he had just served four years as president.)


texts: Why were the Franks so successful in projecting power?

texts:
Per Byzantine sources the Franks were, as late as 550, a relatively minor Germanic Tribe living in Gaul. Yet within 300 years Frankish Tribes had basically set the foundation for every major Pre-Modern European Power (German City States, HRE, France, Spain, England).

So why were the Franks so successful in land power projection?


texts: What role did Lucky Luciano play in facilitating the invasion of Sicily?

texts:
On the night of July 9, 1943, 160,000 Allied troops landed on the extreme southwestern shore of Sicily.  After securing a beachhead, Gen. George Patton's U.S. Seventh Army launched an offensive into the island's western hills, Italy's Mafia land, and headed for the city of Palermo. Although there were over sixty thousand Italian troops and a hundred miles of booby trapped roads between Patton and Palermo, his troops covered the distance in a remarkable four days.

According to Italian experts, Mafia and, especially, Lucky Luciano, at that time a boss of first order, played a fundamental role in facilitation and, substantially, consenting a simple invasion of the Sicily and, so, of the South Europe.

According to U.S. experts, what role did Lucky Luciano play in facilitation of South Europe invasion? Is there agreement between U.S. and Italian experts in defining that role?


texts: How realistic were von Papen's plans to invade Canada using "German cowboys" during the Great War?

texts:
While reading biography of Franz von Papen, I've found this hilarious information: Apparently, in attempt to stop Canadian support for Britain, he planned to dress up German and Irish Americans as cowboys and conquer Canada:

  Starting in September 1914, Papen abused his diplomatic immunity (which he enjoyed as German military attaché) and US neutrality to start organising plans for an invasion of Canada, recruiting both German-Americans and Irish-Americans who were to wear a cowboy uniform of Papen's own design to seize Canada in order to force the UK to make peace with Germany on German terms. In a prelude to the invasion of Canada, Papen planned on sending men into Canada to sabotage the Welland Canal together with plans to blow up bridges and railroads all over Canada, thereby shutting down the Canadian economy and making it impossible for the Canadians to send troops to Europe.In his reports to Berlin, Papen stated that he gave a US man, a Mr. Bridgeman-Taylor, some $500 to buy explosives to blow up the Welland Canal.

(I am sorry, but the comment of "cowboy uniforms"  made me chuckle and brings the memory of "True American" uniform from the "Slaugherhouse 5")

Are there any information about the size of his "army"? Has any of those saboteurs actually succeed in any task (besides disappearing with the German money and the failed attempt to bomb the Vanceboro bridge)? Are there any pictures available of the "specially designed cowboy uniforms"?

Clarification:

I'm interested in the  general information about the strength of the forces von Papen managed to recruit (or imagined to recruit) and had they even remote chance to conquer (or at very least seriously disrupt) Canada.


texts: Where was the furthest extent of Arabian trade explorations?

texts: Traders from Arabia travelled to and traded with Roman and Asian empires and this Nabataean Sea Merchants article.  How far did Arabian traders travel - where was the furthest extent of their expeditions, particularly in Asia (or maybe Australia)?


texts:
It is difficult to find a culture that does not have some form of flatbread. The Wikipedia article provides a lengthy list, listing types and locations.

Did flatbread first appear in one place and then spread to all of the others?


texts: Were Roman legionaries discharged in one batch?

texts:
I've read the books of Stephen Dando-Collins extensively. He makes a very compelling case that Roman legionaries were enlisted together, served their term and then were discharged together. In the time between, no legionaries would be enlisted. The legion would of course loose troops due to war, diseases, other causes, and shrink in size. But until the day of the discharge, no replacements would come to that legion. Except under very special circumstances. Most often, auxiliaries would be hired to make up for the lost numbers, until the new recruits came in. Which could be many years in the future.

I'm very much taken by this theory, but do have my doubts. The legions did have specific recruiting areas. And many legions fought as a legion under their own eagle, even when it had only one or a few cohorts.

But recruiting a couple of thousand strong young men would be a serious drain on the available manpower in that region. Tax-wise, that would not be a good idea. Meaning that the harvest of that year and the next couple of years would be a lot less. Those now ex-farm hands would be serving in army, instead of working on the fields.

How did the legions manage their recruitment? Is Dando-Collins correct?

Dando-Collins documents his work excellent. I'm not that good in formulating my question, likely. I'm not talking about centurions, they had a very different career path. Ordinary troops normal didn't have much of a career. They signed on as legionary, and usually retired not higher than imunes status. Making a career (as a common man) wasn't really an option in ancient times.

Assume a legion was raised by Caesar. For example, Legio I Germanica was raised in 48 BC. We can assume that all/most regular legionary were raw recruits, the centurions came (of course) from other legions. Service time was about 12 years, so the surviving legionaries were paid of and retired to become evocati in 36 BC. How many retirees is not so important.

As a new full legion it probably was about 4800 man strong. In those 12 years (later up to 25 years) lots of legionaries would die in combat, become medically unfit or died of natural causes. Probably anywhere between 1000 - 2000 legionaries would retire.

That means about 2800 up to (in my example) 3800 man had to be recruited.

I know each legion had its own area of recruitment, completely unrelated to where the legion was stationed. Recruiting officers recruited new legionaries there, and marched them to where the legion actually was stationed.

Between 48 BC and 36 BC no additional troops were send to make up for the losses, according to Dando. At best the legate or governor could hire extra auxiliaries. That seems entirely plausible to me. But this would, in my opinion, be a very large drain on local manpower, which was necessary to grow food and be productive civilians.

It's not a big deal for an area or province to supply a couple of hundred recruits each year. But supplying 2800-3800 strong young men is a lot. Even if it happens once very 12-25 years. It could affect the local economy seriously.

That's what I try to find out.


texts: When did "killing" become wrong in society?

texts:
It occurred to me that in many medieval settings, people getting killed is just a part of life.
If you angered a feudal lord or noble, they could cut off your hands or kill you and no one bats an eye.  There could be bar fights leading to death.  People dueled to the death for honor.  Merchants get killed by bandits/thieves while traveling.  Public executions (hanging, guillotine).
In the modern era, that's not the norm anymore.  A single death will have dozens of LE investigating, people in the community are afraid, media attention everywhere, etc.


texts: In the era before banking was invented, where did wealthy Romans store their cash?  The emperor probably could store it somewhere in the imperial palace thanks to the Praetorian guard, but what about the others? Did they hire guards to protect their "silver room" or did they hide it?


texts: What gave rise to the widespread popularity of coffee? For example, was it a marketing effort by countries with colonies that were suitable for growing coffee? Were there supposed health benefits that made it popular? Was it popularized specifically for its caffeine content?


texts: What was the "Favorable result" that the German admiralty was expecting from the naval attack on the Royal Navy in 1918?

texts:
The infamous order from 24th October 1918 was planning to slam the German High Seas Fleet against the British Royal Navy. If I recall correctly, this was the second time Germany tried to even the odds at sea, but the failed Battle of Jutland showed that it was easier said than done.
However, the admiralty was optimistic that "this time we can do it". Admiral Scheer apparently wrote after the war:

"it was highly probable an expedition of the Fleet might achieve a favourable result. If the Fleet suffered losses, it was to be assumed that the enemy's injuries would be in proportion, and that we should still have sufficient forces to protect the U-boat campaign in the North Sea, which would have to be resumed if the negotiations should make imperative a continuation of the struggle with all the means at our disposal.1

However, the stakes were highly against Germany with a ratio of 2:1 (even 3:1 in case of smaller boats)

Were conditions, crew training and technological advantages that Germany had sufficient for such an optimistic approach, or was it just more wishful thinking to win the war by attrition? Or was this attempt merely a way to get better conditions in the armistice?
1 Scheer, Germany's High Seas Fleet in the World War, Ch.18., 1919.


texts: Was Mid-Night always considered the transition point between two days in Gregorian/Julian Calendars?

texts:
Was the transition point between calendar days (in the gregorian\julian calendar),  always been at midnight?

If not, when did the midnight rule begin?

And what was the determining time before that? The sunrise?


texts: In Chicago, IL, why do most north/south streets change names east of Ashland on the north vs south side?

texts:
It is common for streets that go through Chicago and beyond into the suburbs to change names once they pass the Chicago city limits. Within the city, however, most (not all) streets typically have the same name when crossing between the east and west or north and south sides. However, nearly every north/south street meeting the following criteria changes names when it crosses between the north and south side of chicago, south of roughly Division:

Any north south street, east of Ashland, which is not a thoroughfare (ie, a street who's E/W coordinates are a multiple of 400):

1600W:Ashland<=>Ashland
1500W:Laflin<=>Greenview
1400W:Loomis<=>Southport
1300W:Lakewood<=>Throop
1200W:(Racine<=>Racine)
1100W:Kenmore<=>Aberdeen
1000W:Sheffield<=>Morgan
900W:Dayton<=>Peoria
800W:(Halsted<=>Halsted)
700W:Orchard<=>Union
600W:Larrabbee<=>Jefferson
500W:Cleveland<=>Canal
East of 500W the north end of streets is in or just north of downtown, but even those change
400W:Sedgwick<=>Stuart (I don't believe Stuart is a thoroughfare)
300W:Franklin<=>Princeton
200W:Wells<=>Wentworth
100W:Clark  (doesn't really exist south of 22nd)
0E/W (State<=>State)
100E:(Michigan<=>Michigan) (Michigan is a thoroughfare)
200E:St Claire/Mies Van Der Roe<=>Indiana
300E:Fairbanks/Columbus<=>Giles/Calumet
400E:McClurg<=>King (McClurg isn't really a thoroughfare)
500E:Streeter<=>Vincennes

Nothing east of Streeter exists on the north side due to the curvature of the lake.

Now, west of Ashland, this is not observered at all, to just name the starting few:

1700W Paulina<=>Paulina
1800W Wood<=>Wood
1900W Wolcott<=>Wolcott
2000W Damen<=>Damen

...etc

Why do the streets east of Ashland (~2.5 miles) all change names between the north and south sides, but the rest of west of Ashland (using roughly Harlem as the west edge: ~7+ miles) not observe the same convention?


texts: When was the "New Kingdom" of Egypt first called that?

texts: When was the New Kingdom of Egypt (c. 1550BC to 1077BC) first called "New Kingdom" (or something cognate)?


texts: When was the last time a reigning monarch personally participated in battle?

texts:
A similar question was asked about only British monarchs. The conditions in this question are the same, but for monarchs world-wide.

For the sake of this question, tribal chiefs are not considered monarchs, even if all hundred members of his tribe called him king. The monarch must be a ruler of a state which is recognized as a state by at least some other states.

It is important that he must have been the monarch at the time of the battle, otherwise current British princes will become eligible to this position in the foreseeable future. He also must have been an armed participant (even if he didn't use his weapons), and also not an accidental one (so if the capital is besieged and he just so happens to be in the palace at that moment without taking part in the military actions, it doesn't count).

If the monarch turns out to not be a Western (European or American) one, then I'm also interested in the last Western monarch to participate in a battle.


texts: Is the UK the last Allied nation closing the bases established in post-WW2 Germany?

texts:
An article in The Irish Times, titled "Fintan O’Toole: The second World War will finally end in 2019" says that

  At some point in 2019, British troops will withdraw from Germany. This
  has nothing to do with Brexit. The British Army announced in 2015 that
  over the course of 2019, its remaining field army units will return
  home from their bases in Paderborn, Sennelager, Bielefeld and
  Gütersloh.

  [...]

  The moment will be poignant: the second World War will be over and the
  same, in one sense, will be true of the Cold War. These bases were
  established in 1945 by the invading British Army of the Rhine and
  became semi-permanent during the long stand-off with the Soviet Union.

The article refers to this withdrawal as a closing of the chapter on WW2 so it made me curious on how many Allied bases will be left in Germany.

After the UK withdrawal, are there other Allied bases left from those that were originally meant to control the situation in Germany?


texts: Were there often intra-USSR wars? If not, why not?

texts:
There's an article listing many post-Soviet conflicts on Wikipedia, which indicates that there have been many wars between regions/countries that were once part of the USSR. The causes of the wars, such as ethnicity or religion, often seem timeless (i.e. they ought to have existed during Soviet times too). By implication, that would imply that the USSR itself was a very strained union since its constituents had deep grievances against each other.
Questions:

Were there regularly such intra-USSR wars before the union dissolved?
If no, how did the Soviet government stop the wars?

My research seems to show that there was violence, but for some reason it was less common than after the USSR dissolved. For example, there was fighting in Chechnya in 1940-1944, but nothing from 1944 to 1991.


texts: When were the 'last' pagans in northern Europe converted to christianity?

texts: I've always found it interesting that the Reformation 'began' in Norther Europe.  It strikes me that most of the various Christian sects seemed to form within different ethnic groups.  So, I'm wondering how long Catholicism lasted in northern Europe before being official rejected.


texts: What is the source for the Baal Shem Tov's signature?

texts:
According to Chabadpedia, the following comprises the signature of Rabbi Yisrael ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov:

Is this actually the Baal Shem Tov's signature? Where was it copied from? The article does not say, and I am curious as to whether or not we know for certain that this is his.

Note: I asked this question on Mi Yodeya, but was told that it falls outside the parameters of that Stack Exchange. This is a shame, since it strikes me as the most appropriate place to ask a question of this nature. For those who are interested, here is a good article on the man in question. It makes no reference to his signature.


texts: How did Azerbaijan come to be allied with Turkey and Israel?

texts:
I'm reading a news article (in French) about the resurgence of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and I learn that Azerbaijan is predominantly a Shiite country. This, in my understanding of traditional alliances in the region, should technically place them alongside Iran (a Shiite-majority country) and therefore against Israel (in conflict with Iran) and also against Turkey (Sunni-majority country).
Instead, I learn that Israel and Azerbaijan have a 30 year history of arms trade, Turkey supports Azerbaijan militarily (despite recent tensions between Israel and Turkey) and in fact Iran seems more aligned with Armenia.
This upends my understanding of power relations in the region, can someone explain how these alliances came to be?
Edit: Can the downvoter please explain their choice?


texts: What rules of the ancient Roman game 'Harpastum' are known?

texts: I have heard of the ancient Roman game known as Harpastum. What rules of this games are known? I have two particular principal points of interest, how were points scored and what happened (i.e. was there some kind of penalty or score) if a player holding the ball was 'tackled' by an opponent?


texts: When did the first riots between Hindus and Muslims happen in India?

texts:
I have studied in school that the British used the Divide and Rule strategy to rule in India. But, for them to think of applying Divide and Rule, I think some sort of communal tension between Hindus and Muslims must have already existed. I am just curious to know when the first riots or communal violence between Hindus and Muslims happened in India. The earliest I am able to find are 1905 riots in Bengal, but I don't think they are earliest.

PS: This question came from an engineer, so both the question and language of the question may sound naive.


texts: How did people first discover that food is food?

texts: In ancient times, how did people figure out that certain things are edible? Did someone just pull a potato out of the ground and decide to see what happens if you cook it? Back a long time ago, no one had any FDA or laboratories, so I am very curious what measures people took to figure out if a certain food is edible. Also, how did people know they should cook it or keep it cold or whatever to make it edible if it wasn't already?


texts:
What did the ancient Egyptians think of Khufu? Did they feel he was cruel, strict, kind, greedy, ect?

I need this information for a school project I'm working on about Khufu.


texts: By which year did smiths achieve the ability to handle metal in an exact way that's necessary for the printing press?

texts:
Gutenberg did invent his printing skills 1440 and reportedly used his skills as a goldsmith to do so. To get a good printing quality his work had to be very precise.

By which year did goldsmiths or other smiths acquire the necessary skills to produce work that was precise enough for what Gutenberg did?


texts:
After living in USA for over some years I have come to notice that Swedish women are at times portrayed like sexually "free-wheeling" or "liberated", i.e. as persons for who willingly go without clothes in public areas, and so on.

Sort of like in this picture from an episode of Simpsons.

Now I am not sure if this stereotype applies also to Swedish men, or if its origin is not so much people of certain nationality but perhaps people (or, women in particular) that are blond haired and blue eyed. I am saying this because a past work colleague (who had grown up in America but was originally from Vietnam) told me that he ended up marrying a white woman partially because he was affected by the feminine ideals portrayed in USA.

What is the origin of the American stereotypes about Swedish women?


texts: Were German WWII-era U-Boat crews allowed on deck?

texts:
Were U-Boat crews allowed to stretch their legs and get some fresh air when the boat was on the surface during a war patrol?

I mean for recreational purpose, i.e. not when entering or leaving harbor, when operating the deck gun, or when taking on provisions.


texts: How did tobacco affect the English colonies economically during the 17th Century?

texts: During the Age of Exploration (focusing on 17th century), England went and colonized the Americas, founding the original 13 colonies. They brought back many new wonders, namely, tobacco. I know that there has been a lot of usage of tobacco during the Age of Exploration, such as doctors prescribing tobacco for medicinal purposes, and people smoking it. Tobacco was widely used and was definitely a reason why the American colonies were successful. I'm curious as to how tobacco affected the colonizing nations economically.


texts: I'm reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. What should I watch out for?

texts:
I am currently reading William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. I find it an interesting take on Nazi Germany, particularly with its emphasis on the viewpoints afforded by the Foreign Office and other papers captured by the allies.

On the other hand, there are some parts which bug me slightly, such as Shirer's evident dislike for Ribbentrop (among other characters), which feels like it does lead him to dismiss him as a serious character from time to time. In addition, I'm aware that it is over fifty years old and not very removed from the time it is relating.

I don't think this is a reason to throw the book out with the bathwater, but I do want to ask what to watch out for:

Are there specific or general points in which the historical consensus has moved away from Shirer's presentation?
Are there specific aspects of the narration which have been directly challenged in the intervening years?
More generally, is there anything to watch out for while reading it?


texts: Who was the English Knight Templar holding command in the Mongol Army?

texts:
Excerpt from Great Captains Unveiled (1927), by B. H. Liddell Hart:

  After this holocaust, Hungary was occupied without further fighting.
  An organised administration was set up, and the land settled down
  under its new conquerors. There was no attempt to push farther into
  Europe, apart from one reconnaissance into Austria, which, strangely
  enough, was carried out under an English Knight Templar who held
  command in the Mongol Army.

This is taken from the Genghis Khan and Subutai chapter (bold is mine), right after the Battle of Legnica, where the Mongols defeated Poles, Moravians, and Templar Knights.

In the same book (in fact just before the text I quoted) Hart says "the Knights Templars die fighting to the last man".

Who was this Templar knight?


texts: What were the key difficulties for the Romans in the conquest of Germanic tribes?

texts:
Rome had expansionist policy from its early days since the Dacian conquest by Trajan. During these several centuries, Rome took on powerful and established powers such as Carthage, Macedon, Selucid kingdom and so on. It didn't have much difficulty in conquering loose barbarian tribes either, such as the conquests of Gaul and Britain. However, Rome never managed to conquer the Germanic tribes, and the Rhine Danube frontier was always a potential trouble spot for Romans. Why is that?

Now, Romans certainly tried advances in Germany¹, but they were unsuccessful. Most notable example of this would be the disastrous Battle of the Teotoburg Forest. But I am interested in the reasons at a higher level.

Also, it is curious that they never forayed significantly in this region. Mesopotamia was a key area for Romans, and they had at least managed to conquer it once; even though they couldn't even hold it for a decade (Trajan's Mesopotamia). There is no analog for Germany. Was it because Romans were never interested in Germany?

If the scope of this is too broad, then I am interested in the expansionist phase of Roman history, possibly from start of second century B.C. to the end of Trajan's reign.

¹ By Germany I mean what Romans meant by Germania.


texts: What is the first horse name recorded in history?

texts:
What is the first horse whose name has been recorded in history?

I wrote down a long list of famous people and their mounts, and I realized that Bucephalus, the horse of Alexander the Great, was the first case I had.

Some resources online say that Xerxes' mount was called Strymon, but I haven't been able to confirm it in the Perseus site and I think someone may got confused when reading about Xerxes crossing the Strymon river.

Anyways, what is the first famous horse in history that we know its name?


texts: What was the highest ever win for a decision in a nationwide *democratic* voting?

texts:
A short preamble for the reason of the question:
During the existence of the German Democratic Republic the population had not only the right to vote, they had the obligation to vote - a composed list of candidates. The approval of the list was very easy, you only needed to throw in an unmarked vote. The citizens were proud to show their decision so they demonstratively ignored the polling booths. It should be said that usage of the polling booths was completely voluntarily, there were absolutely no repercussions to expect during the election. To show disapproval, you only needed to add your concerns to the vote which were duly noted.
So even during the protests 1989, one year before the end of the GDR, the leading party claimed 98,85 % "yes" votes with a voter turnout of 98,78 %. Those people saying that they checked the votes and found massive discrepancies, well, don't you trust the leading party ?!
It seems that.."authoritative regimes" have a massive problem with their self image that they put out those ridiculous numbers. My experience is that if in a multi-party system a party gets over 50%, it's champagner time and if they would get over 66%, the party leaders would sell their soul and their grandmothers as give-away.
Which leads to the question:
To get a realistic picture what approval rates are possible for democratic votes with a great number of voters, what is the highest ever win achieved in a democratic decision ?
Goal:
Elections are preferred, but I am interested in every important decision.
Voter condition:
At least 20% of the population in a given area (state/country), at least 500 000 people.
Vote conditions:

Fair   (No tricks like gerrymandering allowed)
Free   (No obligation, no pressure to vote)
Equal  (Everyone has exactly one vote)
Secret (The enthusiasm for a political goal still allowed the people
to vote secretly and there were no repercussions against
polling booths).
Direct (The decision does not need intermediaries. This kills US
presidential voting with electors).


texts: What kind of crew members did ancient artillery teams consist of?

texts:
According to what I understand from Pieter's answer to the question "Why didn't the Persians make and use ballistas and other kinds of artillery?", he said that since 2,000 years ago until now, artillery crew members must have been

big and muscular (to allow heavy lifting and stuff),
educated in mathematics (for aiming), and
educated in engineering (for maintenance and operation of the equipments)

at the same time. He also argued that in order to make artillery corps possible, the culture must accept "a big brawny man to study mathematics and architecture and tinkering instead of melee combat".

Is this true? Or could a team easily combine some grunts who did the heavy tasks and some engineers who instructed them, or some other arrangements?

2,000 years may be too broad for scope, and since the linked thread was about the Parthian Empire, let's limit the scope to the Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 CE) and its contemporaries, the Roman Republic/Empire and the Hellenistic kingdoms.


texts: Where can I find more information about former German internal enclaves and exclaves?

texts:
This question is related to the question I asked previously: Why was the shape of German states pre-WWII (especially Prussia) so complicated?

Most maps of pre-WWII are not detailed enough to see an exhaustive list of enclaves and exclaved territories. Only the major ones are visible.

For example, the municipality of Achberg (today in Baden-Würtemberg) was an isolated exclave of the Hohenzollernsche Lande, itself an exclave of Prussia.

However, since this exclave is so small it cannot be seen on maps containing the entire country. I suspect many municipalities were in similar cases.

Where can I find a complete, exhaustive list of all territorial irregularities of pre-WWII Germany?


texts: What is this tool/thing in an Aztec painting?

texts:
In between the warrior on the right, and the serpents in the center, is a small object. I’ve circled it in blue.

This is from page 57 of the Codex Borgia. Full scans can be seen here.

What is it? What are its meanings?


texts: How was Switzerland able to stay neutral during WWI and WWII?

texts:
It is amazing Switzerland was able to stay neutral. It is not just a matter of choice and only up to Switzerland. Each side of the warring faction can take this hard stand "If you are not for me, then you are against me". Besides, Switzerland is in the middle of the warring action geographically.

How did Switzerland remain neutral? It is an amazing feat.


texts: Why were "holding out" outposts a feature of the European war in 1944-5 but not 1940-1?

texts:
Many far flung garrisons and especially islands were still in German hands at the end of the war in May 1945. Parts of Crete, Dunkirk, the Channel Islands, La Rochelle, St Nazaire and several other French ports, many other Greek islands to name just a few such territories. Clearly a part of the reason lies in Hitler's obsession with holding on to territory beyond the dictates of military logic (but not consistently; other islands, such as Corsica, were let go without a struggle), and a part of the reason lies in the Allies, sweeping all before them in battle, being happy to bypass these garrisons.

There are almost no equivalents in 1940/1 when the situation was (very broadly speaking) reversed. I can only think of Malta as an example. You might think there were numerous islands in Dalmatia, Norway, even Denmark, and certainly the Aegean (which could have been supplied from Egypt) which could have "held out". Of course there were mountainous areas of Greece and Yugoslavia which gradually became free of Axis control but none of them seem to have held out from the beginning.

Why the difference? Why didn't anyone try very hard in 1940/1 to hold out and equally why weren't the Germans happy to bypass garrisons as the Allies were three years later?


texts: What weapons did Yue Fei use against the Jin Cavalry

texts:
One of my Chinese friends said that the Jin troops rode 5 horses at once and charged as a very heavy cataphract.

Yue Fei used a special halberd and cut off the horses legs. The riders fell off their horses and died without having to be slaughtered further. The height of the horse and the weight of their armor along with the fall, killed the Jin riders.

Awesome. That's what I would call time saving.

Where can I learn more about this?


texts: Why did some people not get a UK Birth Certificate before 1982?

texts:
I was born in a major hospital in the UK prior to `1982.. But I never received a birth certificate. People always respond "that is weird" if I write or say that. So my research found

[1] Prior to 1982 birth certificates in the UK weren't enforced as strictly so there was a greater chance of not getting one.
[2] I found myself on hospital records on a certain online genealogy site. I had to know which hospital. I did so I looked that up. It lists the general time window [about 2 months], my name and my parents surnames and my mother's maiden name. All were correct. So there was no way of it being anyone else.

But that makes things weird. Somehow I never got a birth certificate. So you would think that maybe it was lost in the rush of a hospital. But that explanation isn't sound because there was still time for me to end up listed by name in other hospital online records as said above.

So my question: under my circumstances [it's not as though I was any unsual case in the middle of nowhere etc] how common was it to not get a birth certificate? Especially prior to 1982.

Worth adding that there is no doubt that I never got a birth certificate; I applied to the British Government once for something that needed one and they told me that there had never been one for me.


texts: Was touching your nose a greeting in second millenium Mesopotamia?

texts:
I ran across a curious sentence today, in a Mesopotamian prayer to a personal god (the grammar looked better in verse format):

  "Daily worship your god  with offerings, prayers and appropriate
  incense.  Bend your heart to your god; That befits the office of a
  personal god,  prayers supplication,  pressing (the hand to) the nose
  (as greeting) shall you offer up every morning,  then your power will
  be great,  and you will, through your god have enormous success.”

The above translation, taken from Treasures in the Darkness (and according to Google also given in Daily Life in Ancient Mesopotamia) makes casual reference to greeting by pressing the hand to the nose. Was this a custom in ancient Babylonia? And if so, do we know if it was common practice, or only recorded in formal or religious contexts?


texts: What do we know about the organizational structure of the Library of Alexandria?

texts:
The Royal Library of Alexandria is estimated to have had over half a million documents and house about 100 scholars, according to this article. This would suggest a fairly decentralized archiving system, perhaps with every section having its own system of record keeping.

According to the relevant Wikipedia entry, the library also engaged in textual criticism, which implies further detailed record-keeping.

Apart from that I couldn't find any other insights into how the collection was organized. What do we know about the indexing system used by the Library? To clarify: the title refers to the organization of the manuscripts, not the structural organization of the Library itself.


texts: Are there any cases of rewarding an enemy commander for sparing a city from looting?

texts:
According to Wikipedia, after the Battle of Lübeck (1806)

  [...] the city became the target of large-scale looting and rampage by the French soldiers. [Marshal] Bernadotte, struggling desperately to prevent his men from sacking, was given six horses from the Council of Lübeck as their appreciation.

Is anyone aware of other examples of rewards given to enemy commanders as a token of gratitude for preventing their own soldiers from looting a town?


texts: In early WW2, how much of the merchant marine was American?

texts:
WW2, before the US entered, ran from 1939 Sep 01 to 1941 Dec 07. During this time, a lot of merchant vessels sailed in convoy to Britain.

I am wondering, of all the people who crewed those vessels, how many were American, versus how many were Canadian or British.

Note, I'm not asking for a death toll. I'm asking for a composition of them all.


texts: Did the Creole estate in Russian America encompass Siberian creoles?

texts:
A large number of Russian American Company employees and colonists were Creoles, or the product of an ethnic Russian father with a native (Aleut, Tlingit, etc.) mother. They were established as a distinct estate (social class), with different rights and responsibilities than the groups to which their parents belonged.

Admixture had already occurred across Siberia, resulting in Creoles of Yakut and Kamchadal origin who voluntarily entered Company service rather than being born in the colonies. Did they receive the same treatment as mixed children born in the American settlements?


texts: Why is Matgenus, king of Tyre, sometimes called Mattan?

texts: In Josephus' Against Apion (1:18) he writes in the name of Menander the Ephesian that Matgenus was one of the Tyrian kings, but I have seen other sources (like Wikipedia, et al.) refer to this king as Mattan. Why is he sometimes called Matgenus and sometimes called Mattan? Who decided that Matgenus means Mattan?


texts: Were Roman public roads built by private companies?

texts:
According to a civil engineer (video in Spanish), the Appian way was built as a concession. This is, it was built by a private "company", paid by the state.

Unfortunately, Wikipedia is not clear about who built the Appian way. It only states who "commissioned" it.

More generally, regarding public Roman roads:

  Financing road building was a Roman government responsibility. Maintenance, however, was generally left to the province. The officials tasked with fund-raising were the curatores viarum. They had a number of methods available to them. Private citizens with an interest in the road could be asked to contribute to its repair. High officials might distribute largesse to be used for roads. Censors, who were in charge of public morals and public works, were expected to fund repairs suâ pecuniâ (with their own money). Beyond those means, taxes were required.

And:

  Roman roads were named after the censor who had ordered their construction or reconstruction.

All this however doesn't state who built the roads.

Any expert on the topic?


texts: Japan is known for being isolationist, so what cultivated its history of interventionism in the 20th century?

texts:
For much of its history, Japan was a very isolationistic country, and in fact, even in modern Japan, there is still a strong isolationist attitude among the Japanese people in some ways.

During the 20th-century, Japan has participated in the Sino-Japanese wars, the Russio-Japanese wars, First World War, Second World War, and various other wars. What caused a country with a long history of isolationism, to become so involved in external conflicts?


texts: What did ancient Romans wear when sleeping?

texts:
What type of clothes did ancient Roman citizens wear at bedtime? Did they wear anything at all?

I would like to focus on the late republican period, around 50-27BC.

As a bonus, I would love to make the same questions for slaves in the city of Rome.


texts: Did George Orwell go by his alias in private life?

texts:
This is an extremely specific question, but I can find no resource that suggests that he went by Eric Blair except in his family life.

I am curious if he introduced himself as Orwell at gatherings, or in private life on the street.

Perhaps there is a letter or biography that I'm unaware of that would shed some light on this.


texts: How common was it for un-documented ships to bring settlers to the American colonies 1700-1750

texts:
How common was it for un-documented ships (including bypassing common ports of entry) to bring settlers to the northern American / Canadian colonies 1700-1750?

I am looking for some basis (facts, examples, and / or estimated statistics) for the theory and any additional sources that perhaps they traveled to the 'new world' on an undocumented ship or arrived at an common port which would have brought them assuming to a degree that the ship was of reasonable size as referenced in an answer to this question.

For example, being they were undocumented there is still I would expect some sort of approximation on the number of undocumented immigrants just like we do today.

Background:
I have been attempting for some time to locate the passage of several different individuals in the earlier days of northern American / Canadian colonies, particularly the New York's Hudson Valley and Pennsylvania regions.

I am aware that younger individuals under 16 as well as women sometimes were not documented on ship or crew manifests and individuals changed their name upon arrival.

As far as I am aware they did not arrive through the forced in-debtedness, otherwise a convict,  and considering their documented life once arriving in the colonies I have ruled out they came from a life of piracy or privateering.

I have read several books on the time period and region, and contacted some of the authors such as Henry Jones on the Palatine migration to this area during these periods and they have also not found them so I am exploring other possible theories and sources to track them down.


texts: What, if anything, did Native Americans know about the rest of the world?

texts:
Did the indigenous tribes of North America know anything at all about civilization outside the continent before the fifteenth century? If so, how much did they know, and what international relations had they?

I am not asking if they made accurate guesses based on calculation, but if they actually travelled outside the Americas to discover other civilizations.


texts: What was the role of Konstantin Rokossovsky during WW1?

texts:
The Wikipedia article is very poor in this subject:

On joining the Kargopolsky 5th Dragoon Regiment, Rokossovsky soon showed himself a talented soldier and leader; he ended the war with the rank of a junior non-commissioned officer, serving in the cavalry throughout the war. He was wounded twice during the war and awarded the Cross of St George.[4][5] In 1917, he joined the Bolshevik Party and soon thereafter, entered the ranks of the Red Army.

I've taken a look at the cited sources. No. [5] produces the 404 error, no. [4] (in Russian, link here) has also not much information:

Когда началась первая мировая война, 18-летний Константин добровольцем вступил в Каргопольский драгунский полк. Уже через несколько дней службы за солдатскую смекалку и мужество ему перед строем вручили Георгиевский крест 4-й степени. За три года службы Константин дослужился до унтер-офицера, был удостоен трех Георгиевских медалей. С октября 1917 г. в Красной Гвардии, затем Красной Армии.
When the First World War begun, 18-year-old Konstantin volunteered to Kargopolsky Dragoon Regiment. Only in few days of service he was awarded of 4-class St. George Cross for bravery. For three years of service he was promoted to sergeant [?], had received three George medals. Since October 1917 in Red Guard, then Red Army

The site provides links to books one (Рокоссовский: Жизнь замечательных людей - Rokossovsky: life of remarkable people) and the other (Мемуары Маршала Константина Рокоссовского - Memoirs of Marshall Konstantin Rokossovsky) might have an answer. Unfortunately I'm not good enough with Russian to translate it myself.
Is there any English page (or could you answer please) what was the career of the Marshall during WW1?
(all translations are mine, please Russian speakers correct, if necessary)


texts: What is the name of this song about taking Cherokee land?

texts:
I am teaching a lesson about the Cherokee and the Trail of Tears and I have seen many articles about these events quote this excerpt from a song that Georgian settlers sung:

All I ask in this creation
Is a pretty little wife and a big plantation
Way up yonder in the Cherokee Nation

I'm trying to find either the complete lyrics, or better, an audio recording so students can hear the song, and better understand the unfortunate sentiments of the settlers. They didn't grasp this from the small quote. None of the articles I found listed a source, gave a name, author, or any details to help find. Does anyone know the author or title of the song?


texts: Articles 3 & 5 of the Tripartite Pact are unclearly formulated. Was this standard for the period?

texts:
Tripartite Pact: ARTICLE 3 and ARTICLE 5

  ARTICLE 3. Japan, Germany, and Italy agree to cooperate in their
  efforts on aforesaid lines. They further undertake to assist one
  another with all political, economic and military means if one of the
  Contracting Powers is attacked by a Power at present not involved in
  the European War or in the Japanese-Chinese conflict.

and

  ARTICLE 5. Japan, Germany and Italy affirm that the above agreement
  affects in no way the political status existing at present between
  each of the three Contracting Powers and Soviet Russia.

could be interpreted so many ways, that only one sense to formulate defensive military alliance such way is "we need to have an option to do not follow it".

But may be those phrases was absolutely clear for those time diplomats since those formulations were widely used in other pacts? Did they had any precedents?

E.g. "The Triple Alliance" (1882) didn't contained anything like this, all formulations were absolutely straight forward.

What is "uclear" in Article 3:

"Triple Alliance" instead of "assist one another with all political, economic and military means" uses  much more direct "assistance with all their forces" and "casus foederis will arise simultaneously"

Tripartite Pact uses "by a Power at present not involved in .. war" - what is "involved in war"? I've expected there to find "at present not in state of war".  Where meaning of "involved" was defined?  Why list of countries "at present involved in war" left open? I understand that we can't name USA, but what was a problem to name the GB and China (define the list involved at present by enumeration)?

Article 5 text I can understand as "if Soviet Russia attacks you - it is not our common problem". But the same can be stated much more direct way. And the presence of such phrase is very surprising. Do we have any precedents in past of such articles in other pacts?

And also why "Soviet Russia" (Sowjet-Rußland) name was used instead of Soviet Union or USSR (germ. Sowjetunion) ? E.g. Ribbentrop-Molotov pact was singed with
Union der Sozialistichen Sowietrepubiken.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact#/media/File:Molotov%E2%80%93Ribbentrop_Pact_(German_copy).gif


texts: What wars were started when an indebted country refused to pay?

texts: For example, France invaded Mexico (both times) when Mexico stopped some of their payments. What are some other examples?


texts: What was Wilson's mistake in the 1918 Congressional election?

texts:
Keynes writes in The Economic Consequences of the Peace that

  The President's mistaken policy over the Congressional election had
  weakened his personal position in his own country, and it was by no
  means certain that the American public would support him in a position
  of intransigency.

Presumably these are the 1918 midterm elections.

What mistake is Keynes referring to?


texts:
Has there ever been anywhere at any point in history a law criminalizing certain thoughts? I mean a law that says that the thinking of certain thoughts is illegal. I don't mean a law that says that the expression of certain thoughts is illegal. I don't mean a law that criminalizes certain actions accompanied by certain thoughts. I mean a law that says that the very thinking of certain thoughts is illegal.

The closest I can find is The Treason Act 1351, which is still in force in Britain today. This criminalizes compassing or imagining the death of the King. The statute goes on, however, to say that it is necessary that the offender be 'attainted of open Deed', so this is not a pure thought crime.

Are there any other "national" laws elsewhere in the world similar to the above British law? I am not counting the laws of religious bodies, just the laws of states.


texts: As you may be well aware, France has had a notable number of riots, uprisings and revolutions in the last 250 years or so. I believe it the Fifth-Republic has been in existence for approximately 50 years, which is getting on to be one of the longer republics France has had.  My question is, did the uprisings of May 1968 in Paris over student tuition fees mark the end of a trend of uprisings? Why has there been no revolutionary reactions to national or international crises in the last 50 years. I am aware that there have been major riots since then, but why no revolutions over the GFC, European Union etc?


texts: What caused the turning point in Hundred Years' War?

texts:
At school I have learned that the English had upper hand in the war until Joan of Arc convinced the French king to give an army under her command to besiege Orléans and since then, the French forced their enemies to withdraw up to Calais.

How did an illiterate girl with no military experience do that according to the modern point of view? What is her significance?


texts: What effort did the Luftwaffe make to prevent Operation Torch landings in North Africa 1942?

texts: Did the Germans know about the Operation Torch landings in late 1942 and if so what steps were taken in particular by the Luftwaffe to intervene?


texts: During the Normandy landings, were any German naval assets brought to bear against the Allies?

texts:
I know the allied fleet suffered heavy losses during the operation:

  Naval losses for June 1944 included 24 warships and 35 merchantmen or auxiliaries sunk, and a further 120 vessels damaged.

source

But were these losses attributed only to canons and big guns positioned along the Atlantic wall, or was there a naval battle taking place during the landings?

I'd imagine there were mines placed along the coast, specifically I'm wondering were there any U-boats attacking the Allies.


texts: Why was Harry Truman chosen to be Vice President in 1944?

texts:
In 1944, FDR was running for his fourth and final election.  He was starting to age rapidly,  he would be dead in just 82 days from being sworn in to his fourth term.  Henry Wallace had been FDR's VP from 1941-1945.  At the 1944 Democratic Convention FDR would be forced in the name of party unity to leave Wallace off the ticket.   Wallace had recently become a Democrat and some felt too recently.  Wallace was more liberal than FDR and that also was a strike against him.   Finally Wallace was a Theosophist,  which lead many to think he wasn't christian and was just too whacky to become President.

  Question:  Why was the Junior Senator from the backwater of Missouri chosen as Henry Wallace's replacement?   What had Harry Truman a former county Judge who had never graduated from college, achieved which made him favored to ascend to the Vice Presidents spot?  What had earned Truman such great respect that he was the consensus candidate for this important job to a sickly President in a time of war?


texts: How close were the living standards of India compared to England during the medieval period?

texts: India, China and the African continent today are mostly associated with poverty in Europe, the US and so on. Looking at India specifically, did it during the medieval era share a similar standard of living to England (at the same point in time), and if so when did they start to diverge?


texts: Why did the Mongol Empire disintegrate so rapidly after its peak?

texts: The Mongol Empire rapidly expanded to become the largest land empire in history, but then it disintegrated just as rapidly. What caused this so rapid demise of the world's largest pre-British Empire?


texts: Was there any Empire that only used bronze?

texts:
As far as I know, the Hittite and the Assyrian were Bronze Age empires but one of the reasons why they conquered other people was because of their mass produced iron weapons.
Mycenaean used bronze but I believe they expanded their influence based on trading, not fighting.

So, apart from the Egyptians, did any civilization of the Bronze Age became an Empire without developing iron weapons and tools?


texts:
It's common knowledge that the American Civil War was fought by amateur soldiers.

  DISCIPLINE & TRAINING OF SOLDIERS
  Rather than learning in training camp, Civil War regiments had to learn to fight on the battlefield. The training of regiments was lacking and consisted mainly of the manual of arms, little target practice, company and regimental drills in basic maneuvers and brigade drill and skirmishing tactics. Division drill or mock combat was a rare occurrence. Many regiments went into combat only three weeks after being organized.

.
Before the first Battle of Manassas General McDowell wants more time to prepare his troops Lincoln responds

  It is true that you are green, but they are green also; you are all green together.

My question regards the leadership of those soldiers.

When Abraham Lincoln made his initial call for 75,000 troops April 15, 1861 existing laws required him to rely on states to select and provide those troops to the union.   Congress had not authorized this call up and the Union treasury could not afford it.   So the Union was forced to rely on the States for the troops, supplies, transport and to a large extent leadership of its army.

  April 1861-November 1863 Page 9
  The Ohio Governor spoke of his embarrassment he felt at every step from the lack of practical military experience in his staff, and of his desire to have one on whom he could properly throw the details of military work.

The answer to the Ohio Governor's request for anybody with military experience was General George McClellan a 1846 graduate of the Military Academy, who was 19 when the Mexican-American War began and 21 when it ended.  McClellan had risen to the rank of Captain before resigning his commission in Jan 16, 1857.  McClellan would go from Captain in 46, to the Civilian president of a railroad 60 to major general in the Union Army 1861, where he out ranked all but 75 year old, Lt. General Winfield Scott in May of 1861 at the age of 34.

Ulysses S. Grant graduated from West Point in 1843,  was a logistics officer at 23 years old when the Mexican-American War began and saw some limited action before it ended.  Grant who resigned his commission as a Captain, July 31, 1854 for being drunk on duty.  He would end the Civil War in command of all Union Forces but in April 1861, when Lincoln called up his first 75,000 troops was working for his younger brother in the family leather goods business.

Two of the most famous and accomplished Southern cavalry offices of the American Civil War were General Nathan Bedford Forrest and Colonel John Mosby, both of whom started the civil war as enlisted men with no military experience.

  My Question:
  What was the experience level of officers during the American Civil war?

From Comments

  Gort the Robot:
  There are lots of big civil war names with that experience In particular, two you mention, McClellan and Grant, saw real combat experience there. So did Robert E. Lee.

McClellan was 19 when the Mexican American war began( Apr 25, 1846) and 21 when it concluded.  He did see "real" combat there, but would you really call him experienced general to lead all of your nations armed forces based upon experience he had when 21 years old?

Grant too saw "real" combat in the Mexican American war.  He got into a few calvary charges.  But he was still a logistics officer for most of that war. 23 when that war began.  Hardly the kind of experience one would claim in making one an experienced General of the Armies.


texts: Why weren't Indians converted en masse to Islam or Christianity?

texts:
India was ruled by Muslims from around the 12th century until 1857, and then by the British till 1947. However, India still has a large number of Hindus. Countries like Indonesia, Afghanistan, Malaysia now have Islam as the dominant religion.

Many countries in Africa that were ruled by Europeans have more Christians than followers of any other religion.

Given that Indians were ruled by Muslims or Christians for 9 centuries, why  weren't the Hindus converted to Islam or Christianity?


texts: Why, and how, did chain stores come into being?

texts:
Why did chain stores come into being?  What social purposes were they initially used for?

How did chain stores come into being?  What business practices, social and economic contexts allowed early chain stores to be developed?

  Chain stores: Retail outlets that share a brand and central management.


texts: Why is the motto of the Swedish university Chalmers in French: avancez?

texts: Is there a historical reason for the fact that Chalmers university uses a French motto and not a Swedish one?


texts: Why has mechanized mining never developed in Congo?

texts:
Lack of infrastructure has often been cited as one of the main reasons for the conflicts in eastern Congo. The mining areas are hard to reach, mining work is done by hand and simple, makeshift tools and the miners are almost entirely comprised by the (often enslaved) local population. Farming is difficult, because of the lack of roads to bring the produce to town and crops are often stolen by the local militias, so many are forced to turn to the mines for a stable income.
Yet business is booming in the cities and supply can never satisfy the great demand for coltan and tantalum, which is extracted from it.

So how come mechanized mining has never developed there? The demand being so high, means better connections and equipment could increase the throughput and therefore the revenue. The Business has generated local and foreign revenue, so there should be no lack of capital for reinvestment. A better infrastructure would also make the region more secure, therefore holding PR value for western firms using coltan.
So the incentive is there both for businesses and the government. Even the militias would benefit from more efficient mining. How come this has never come to be - neither after the Congo crisis nor after the civil war?


texts: Why do armies fight so hard to capture cities that are completely destroyed by shelling, fires, bombing etc? What's the purpose?


texts:
In the War of the roses how were mercenary units organised and administrated?

Were they paid per lance, archer, knight etc?

Would there be a King's representative who would go the mercenary encampment and check who was there and what equipment they had before agreeing to pay them?

How much would they be paid per fighter?


texts: What was the historical context of the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution?

texts:
The 2nd amendment states:

  A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

There is a lot of controversy in the US about how this should be interpreted. What was the historical context?


texts: What were the criteria for class ranking at West Point prior to the Civil War?

texts:
I was watching Grant on The History Channel last night, and it was mentioned that Robert E. Lee graduated second in his class, while Grant was in the middle*. They also made a point of pointing out how Grant came from humble circumstances (his father was a tanner), while of course many if not most West Pointers were from prominent families. Lee of course came from one of the First Families of Virginia.

This reminded me of something. I've read (somewhere - memory fails)  that until relatively recently, Yale took family into account when determining class ranking. If that were a factor at West Point back then, a middling ranking for a tanner's son might actually be considered rather impressive. Likewise coming in second when your family is very prominent might not be a huge accomplishment.

So what exactly were the criteria for class rankings at West Point during the era Grant and Lee attended? Is there any record of that?

* - Note that they were not in the same class, which this factoid often mistakenly implies.


texts: Since the inception of the United States, has the term "America" ever referred to something more than simply "the United States"?

texts:
Today we use the terms America and the United States as synonyms. The official name of the country is The United States of America. But prompted by a question on another forum, wherein an author writing in 1883 referred to "... America, and the United States ...", I am curious as to whether the terms have always been precise synonyms.

Now, the question in this case may be put down simply to bad writing. But in 1883 the United States of America included states and territories (as it does today). Would the term America have been at that time a larger concept, not precisely synonymous with the United States? In the Civil War did America mean anything that could be pinned down precisely, or did everything depend on the viewpoint of the speaker?


texts: Where did the money come from to build the Colosseum?

texts: Where did the money come from to finance the building of the Colosseum?


texts:
While doing some research I stumbled upon some old Mesopotamian laws. Reading through them I found a series of conflicting laws. They state

196: If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out.
197: If he break another man’s bone, his bone shall be broken.
198: If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina.

The first two laws do not conflict with each other. Yet the third one makes the whole thing a mess.
Did law 198 state that they also had to pay 1 mina if they break bones or eyes (and have theirs broken), or did it mean if they pay 1 mina they did not have their bones broken, or eyes taken out?


texts:
I wonder who was the highest ranking government official working knowingly and clandestinely for a foreign government.

Two nominations are possible:

Traitors

A citizen of country X working officially for the government of X but secretly spying for country Y. Examples:

Cambridge Five
Aldrich Ames
Robert Hanssen
Oleg Penkovsky

Note that Marshal Beria, executed as a British spy, is, obviously, not an acceptable example here. :-)

Infiltrators

A citizen of country Y working for the intelligence services of country Y, also working for the government of country X under an assumed name. Examples:

Stierlitz - fictional
???


texts: Has chattel slavery ever been used as a criminal punishment in the USA since the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment?

texts:
The Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution provides (my emphasis):

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

This clause seems to indicate that the legal status of chattel slave whose use had triggered the passage of this amendment was not fully abolished by it, but that this form of slavery could be imposed upon criminals as part of their sentence.
Did this ever happen?
I am very much aware of human rights issues surrounding the use or abuse of prison labor by governmental agencies and private correctional companies. This quesiton is not about that, but about true, pre-Civil War-type chattel slavery. That is, did a court ever tell a defendant something like, "We find you guilty of Second Degree Aggravated Mopery with Intent to Do This and the Other Bad Thing, Third Offense. You are hereby sentenced to a life of chattel slavery and shall be auctioned off in the town square at high noon tomorrow."?


texts: What calendars were used in Eastern Rome?

texts:
I was hoping to shed some light on the calendars used in the Eastern Empire.

Firstly, this question is related but without answer until now (and by me). It also doesn't encompass the later imperial periods.

Wikipedia notes the Byzantine era (AM), but it is not necessarily clear in how often it was used or how common its understanding was. The Roman method of consular years is another one which was used, but that can only have worked as long as the consuls were regularly appointed -- and would surely lead into difficulties if the same people were to share consulships for the tenth/eleventh time? This site noted the Olympiad calendar, but without much conviction on its common usage. Lastly, regnal years are common in some cultures, but with the East frequently (or, perhaps, more accurately, not infrequently) having the `tradition' of a previously deposed ruler coming back to power this could have been complicated.

So, what calendars were used in the Eastern Empire, and if they were enshrined in law, when did they begin and when were they superseded by a new timekeeping method?

Essentially, I'm wondering when a person was thinking of 'today', what was the system in which they were thinking?


texts: Why did the Soviet Union take the risk of deploying missiles to Cuba, which precipitated the Cuban Missile Crisis?

texts:
During the Cuban Missile Crisis both sides risked further escalation into a WW3. However, under MAD, Wikipedia says:

By the time of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, both the United States
and the Soviet Union had developed the capability of launching a
nuclear-tipped missile from a submerged submarine, which completed the
"third leg" of the nuclear triad weapons strategy necessary to fully
implement the MAD doctrine. Having a three-branched nuclear capability
eliminated the possibility that an enemy could destroy all of a
nation's nuclear forces in a first-strike attack; this, in turn,
ensured the credible threat of a devastating retaliatory strike
against the aggressor, increasing a nation's nuclear deterrence.

So all that risk of escalation that resulted in the Cuban Missile Crisis appears to have served no real purpose, strategically? Then why did they do it?


texts: What was John Buchan's position on Jewish immigration?

texts: Canada was very restrictive about Jewish immigration in the late 1930's.  John Buchan was governor general of Canada at that time.  What was his position on Jewish immigration into Canada at that time?


texts: Why did Stalin keep the famine of 1932 a secret?

texts:
The famine of 1932 took millions of lives, before the Soviet authorities took some measures to alleviate the lives of the peasants. During the whole time, and for decades afterwards, the affair was kept secret. Contrast this to the famine of 1921: Back then, the Bolshevik Government called for international aid very early. The American Relief Administration was granted wide autonomy in how to organize its aid effort and managed to save millions of children.

Why was the later famine kept secret, then? There was a precedent for a rather successful international aid effort. The chief reasons I can think of were:

The actual extent of the famine was not known to the highest authorities while it happened (One reason for the famine was a very good harvest the year before, that led to the authorities setting unrealistically high quotas)
The authorities wanted to keep the famine a secret nationally (this they actually did, by prohibiting travel among other things), and so kept it secret internationally
The Soviet leadership feared an imminent war with its western neighbors (western Ukraine was part of Poland at the time) and wanted to hide its weakness

But ultimately, I don't know, so why did they keep it secret?

My sources so far:
Felix Wemheuer: Der große Hunger. Hungersnöte unter Stalin und Mao
Roman Danyluk: Freiheit und Gerechtigkeit. Eine Geschichter der Ukraine aus libertärer Sicht


texts:
Is there a difference between "post-medieval" and "modern"?

Many of the items in the UK's Portable Antiquities Scheme mention "post-medieval or modern period" and even "post-medieval or early modern period" like they are distinct periods. For example this item.


texts: What was the purpose for Kaiser Wilhelm's visit to Jerusalem?

texts: What was Kaiser Wilhelm's (and it seems his forebearers) stated reason or purpose for their custom of visiting Jerusalem? Also, why where the anarchists trying to kill him?


texts: Who turned the (originally) "anti-slavery" GOP into the "pro-business" party?

texts:
It is my understanding that the Republican Party arose from the anti-slavery movement, and, more specifically, as a reaction against the 1854 repeal of the Missouri Compromise.

And yet, pretty early on (at least as early as the Reconstruction, if not earlier), the Republican Party became, roughly speaking, "the party of big business".

I imagine that the evolution of the GOP from the "anti-slavery" party into the "pro-business" one was motivated largely by the relative alignments of political interests at the time, but I would like to know, more specifically

  the names of those most clearly responsible for bringing about this "re-positioning" of the GOP.

Please provide sources.


texts: How and when was the Temple of Trajan destroyed?

texts:
From Wikipedia article on the Temple of Trajan in Rome:

  The Temple of Trajan was a Roman temple dedicated to the emperor
  Trajan and his wife Plotina after his deification by the Roman Senate.
  It was built in the Forum of Trajan (Rome), by Trajan's adoptive son
  and successor Hadrian, between 125 and 138. It was destroyed in the
  Middle Ages.

The same article states that the exact place of it is unknown.

Is it known how and when exactly was destroyed?

Google searching this can be tricky, as most results are from a Trajan Temple in Pergamon (destroyed by an earthquake), and from another Trajan Temple in Antioch (burnt down by Emperor Jovian).


texts: The Federalist Party in the United States was a significant political force during the early years of the United States' history. Wikipedia doesn't really cite reasons why the party declined and eventually ceased to exist - what would you cite as the one main reason for their decline and collapse?


texts: How much authority did a traveling lord have in England in the late 16th century?

texts: How much authority did a Lord, traveling, like from a hunting trip (as in the beginning of The Taming of the Shrew), have over the surrounding peasants while outside his domains in Elizabethan England? Could the Lord, say, order the (female) keeper of the alehouse to do something?


texts: Who was the VP during these Civil Rights milestones?

texts:
I came across a tweet today with this image and text, which looks very wrong to me:

Putting Kamala Harris as VP into perspective.See the red box?  Until then, she would have been enslaved.See the blue box? Until then, she couldn’t vote. Yellow box? Until then, she had to attend a segregated school.
The green one? Until then she couldn’t have her own bank account

To be clear (since it took me a minute) this is a composite picture of all of the USA's Vice Presidents, in chronological order.
The biggest problem I see here is that the Voting Rights Act wasn't passed until 1965, which is clearly long after the late-mid 19th Century VP circled in blue in the picture. I'm also quite sure that schools remained segregated until at least the early 70's until anti-housing discrimination legislation and court-ordered busing, which happened considerably after the Eisenhower/Nixon administration.
I'm also suspicious that the first red circle likely marks the Emancipation Proclamation, not the ratification of the constitutional amendment that made slavery illegal nationwide.
So where should these colored circles really be?
Additionally, it might also be nice to know what happened during the VP's term to make the picture's creator think that was the right place to put that box, if that's discernible.

Update: Dicussion in the comments has made it clear that the picture itself is not chronological earlier than the bottom two rows. While that renders it pretty damn useless for its original supposed purpose(!!), this question itself seems to be unaffected, because the boxes are still on the wrong men.


texts: Why did Jews have the support of the merchants in the push for Emancipation in England?

texts:
This is somewhat counter-intuitive -- often one reads of Jews being seen as competition or resented for their role as money lenders even though in fact the latter is also counter-intuitive since being able to borrow money is critical for many businesses.

So was there something unique in the role of Jews in England or was it simply, by the 19th century, seen as old fashioned to discriminate against Jews by many, including merchants who had dealings with the Jews?

EDIT: This is mentioned in the Wikipedia article Emancipation of the Jews

EDIT: Perhaps this merits another question entirely, but as I responded to a comment below, I wonder if there are other instances of groups supporting Jews, even in countries where they ended up being expelled? I know of Bishops and Popes who did try to speak against anti-Jewish factions but nowhere other than this instance in pre-20th century Europe do I hear of support. Interestingly, abolitionists (in at least one notable case) in the USA were sometimes openly anti-Jewish. (Wm. Llyod Garrison mentioned J. P. Benjamin's religion in a very negative way.) I am of course aware of the Turkish Sultan who was, out of enlightened self-interest, very helpful to the Jews after the 1492 expulsion from Spain.


texts: Were there biological weapons used in WW1?

texts:
WW1 was, among other things, the first war where chemical weapons were used on massive scale.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_weapons_in_World_War_I

However, I never heard of any mention of biological weapons used in WW1, despite the fact that they were used in warfare for centuries in one form or another.

Is it because there was simply no such use, or because they were used but just weren't effective enough to merit mention/infamy?


texts: Did indentured servants in British North America have job security?

texts:
Most people know about the practice of Indentured Servitude in the British North American colonies - that workers would receive "free" passage to the Colonies in exchange for working for the sponsoring employer for a certain period of time, typically seven years.

We also know that generally, indentured servants, as a result of their contract, could not simply "quit" their job, but had to keep going until contract expiry. How did it work from the other side? Were indentured servants immune to layoffs and firing? If an employer really and truly wanted to get rid of an indentured servant before their contract was expired, what happened?

Was the employer required to keep the servant on until the expiration of their contract?
Was the servant free to go, with no strings attached?
Was the servant given a bill for the remaining portion of their passage (e.g. if they were fired after serving 3.5 years of a 7 year indenture, they would owe half their initial fare)?
Was the employer obligated to sell the worker's contract or remaining contract time to another employer?

Yes, I realize that the culture of work was different back then, with jobs often easier to get, with more employer-provided training and more tolerance of some level misbehavior on the job, so the modern, Dilbert-type fear of looming layoffs and arbitrary firings was not as significant (e.g. the Encyclopedia Virginia (sponsored by the Library of Virginia, a state agency) observes that "indentured servitude became, during most of the seventeenth century, the primary means by which Virginia planters filled their nearly inexhaustible need for labor"), but certainly there were businesses that shut down or downsized back then too, so it would be interesting to know what happened to their indentured servants. Was there a standard practice is such cases?

The Encyclopedia Virginia article mentioned above goes into some detail on how hard a typical indentured servant's job actually was and some potential ways that servants attempted to escape, but that still doesn't really answer the question other than to imply that "job security" was not typically on the top of the priority list for indentured servants or wannabe indentured servants. It does make one wonder, though, what servants could do if they found themselves indentured in a job they really liked or that was very easy for them, and wanted to avoid being sold to another employer, reassigned to a different job, or thrown out into the general job market, and that question is really just my original question in different words.

Although the cite I mentioned is for Virginia, I'm really interested in Colonial America in general if it does not make the question too broad. Considering the dearth of evidence for this sort of thing, I'm guessing that asking just about Virginia would in fact be too localized. Alternately, an answer specific to one jurisdiction is fine, e.g. if you have an answer that specifically refers to New Jersey law or Best Practices, I would consider that a good answer.

Yes, probably many actual indentured servants mumbled "Being an indentured servant sucks - the work is hard, the pay is low, and you can't quit", but were there conditions under which one might say, "Being an indentured servant is great! The work is sort of hard, and the pay really is kind of low, but I enjoy what I do and I'm immune to layoffs!"?


texts:
I am right now reading about the legendary swordsman of Japan, Miyamoto Musashi . It says he ended the rivalry with the Yoshioka school by killing the brothers Yoshioka Seijūrō and Yoshioka Denshichirō and assassinating Yoshioka Matashichiro. I have been reading Vagabond (a japanese comic) and in that there is no mention of the character 'Yoshioka Matashichiro'.

Also, I could not find anything about him/her in the internet. Can anyone please tell me who is this person and what was he/she to the Yoshioka school.


texts: How did the French word 'familier' become associated with the concept of Magical Familiars, historically?

texts:
How did the word 'familier' (French) become associated with the concept of Magical Familiars, historically?

Or do we not know?

Proof for the concept being from French, first.


texts: How do functionalists explain the fact that Holocaust continued until the very end of the war?

texts:
While I haven't read Goldhagen or scholars with a similar viewpoint directly, I frequently encounter the following argument that seems very Goldhagenite to me: "The Germans tried to murder Jews up until the end of the war, the trains went to the death camps even when the war was already being lost and more resources were needed for the war effort, this clearly shows the German eliminationist antisemitism."

Eliminationist Antisemitism was defined by Goldhagen in Hitler's Willing Executioners.
One key feature would be that the germans were "of one mind with Hitler" in terms of antisemitism. This would explain the continuation of the murders late into the war.
Now, among other criticisms, Browning pointed out that the same willing executioners were as willing to kill handicapped or Russian POW before the mass murder of the European Jews began; also he got the diverse ways in which German society was antisemitic wrong.

So to me, eliminationist antisemitism is not plausible - but what other explanations are there? Since Goldhagen's views are not widely shared, I assume other historians tried to answer this question - why continue the killings until the brink of defeat. Those would be the answers I'm looking for.

p.s. In no way do I want to deny that ordinary Germans were willing executioners, or that there's antisemitism entrenched in German society. But I think the actual history is more complicated than made out in the model of eliminationist antisemitism.

EDIT by F.G.: For background on functionalist/intetionalist see here.


texts: Did Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, leader of the Awami league win any seats in West Pakistan in the 1971 elections?

texts:
The Awami League, the largest East Pakistani political party, led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, won a landslide victory in the national elections in 1970. The party won 167 of the 169 seats allotted to East Pakistan, and thus a majority of the 313 seats in the National Assembly. That they were blocked from doing so led to the 1971 liberation war of Bangladesh.

Did they win any seats in West Pakistan?


texts: What was the origin of the Classical Antiquity culture?

texts:
I many times heard a version that the advances of the Ancient Greek culture were in fact borrowed from Egypt or the Middle East. I will not buy this. Classical Antiquity civilization had a lot of features which put it apart from any Asian or African civilization and which thus could not be borrowed. Such features include

extensive and realistic fine arts, especially sculpture
narrative literature of non-religious character
philosophical research based on logic, experiment and cross-references between authors
extensive deductive legal system and idea of the people as the source of power, idea of counter-balances and checks on the supreme power

and others.

Another idea, that these features were inherited from Proto-Indo-Europeans does not explain why other IE peoples did not exhibit similar culture.

It seems that proto-Classic civilization originated in the Balkans and encompassed several diverse peoples of IE origin (Proto-Greeks, Thracians (including Dacians), Illirians, Macedonians, Liburgians, Messapians, Paeonians, Bryges (later known as Phrygians), possibly also proto-Italians).

So my question is

What are the arguments pro and contra of proto-Classical civilization in the Balkans?
Are there any remains that point that such civilization existed?
Whether there are other theories of the origins of the Classical culture?
If proto-Classical culture existed, whether it played any prominent role in Europe such as playing a role of a cultural center?


texts: Where can I find a picture of a billboard from Indonesian campaign against toplessness?

texts:
Years ago I saw a picture on Wikipedia of an old billboard in Indonesia or a nearby country telling women not to expose their breasts. It was part of a Westernization or religious campaign.
I cannot find that picture again. Do you know campaign exactly was that and how I can find the picture of the billboard?


texts:
The other week, my political science professor asserted in class that the United States is the longest-running stable government. I brought this up with my philosophy professor though, and he said that Sparta went longer under the laws of Lycurgus.

What is the longest running government in history?


texts: Why was Tito able to rally the loyalty of so much of the young people in ex-Yugoslavia, and the royalist Draza Michailovich (Драгољуб "Дража" Михаиловић) was not? The so-called chetnicks, loyal to the last Yugoslav king, were in much less numbers than the partisans.


texts: Is this true that the Russian economy was efficient during war II?

texts:
During the second world war (You remember, the one that America was
  briefly involved in), the USSR’s “russian system” recovered from being
  devastated by the advancing Germans, and using a 'communist approach',
  out-produced any country up to that date, From scratch. Hyper
  efficient. Beat the Germans, basically single-handed. Forum Posting

That seems to be amazing given that communist system never produce anything efficiently as far as I know.


texts: Why are Illyrian and Thracian cultures not studied as thoroughly as other balkans people?

texts:
I have read many sources regarding Illyrian and Thracian cultures but it seems that their culture is not studied as much as their more relevant neighbours, the Hellenes... I understand that they have not left many written sources, but still, it seems that despite their role and geographical extension in the Balkans, they have not been studied as others that were similarly situated.

What accounts for the historiography (or lack thereof) for these peoples?


texts:
I have found an ancient statue covered in the ground. I am from Haifa, Israel. There are no old buildings nearby. Here is its photo; I don't know what it is!

I would like to know what period this statue belongs to.


texts: Are there any reasonable sources of data on numbers of religious adherents, for different religions, throughout history?

texts:
I'm interested in historical trends in religion and wondered if anyone knows of any reasonable sources of data on the number of adherents, for any/all different religions, throughout human history.

Obviously, older numbers would be very approximate estimates - and modern numbers would also likely be rough, given that this is a personal matter and somewhat sensitive in some parts of the world.

Does this information get included in census data - or has it ever been in the past? Do you know of any sources of data on this, even for single periods or religions, that I could use to piece together a fuller picture?

I know about this, which is great, but fairly recent and major religions only. Anything older, covering more religions?


texts: Which juridical reasons led the Netherlands to lose control of the seas?

texts:
It has always been my understanding that the Netherlands lost control of the seas because of land wars against France, especially Louis XIV, and because of the difficulties involved in holding possessions in America and the Indies.
But I read in an article (Article: "Venice, maritime superpower", in 'War History', July-August 2019 *) that philosophical and juridical reasons led the Netherlands to consider the impossibility of controlling the seas, and that they only managed to control the commercial lines.
Is this true, and what are these reasons? I am open to other suggestions, but if those juridical and philosophical reasons are any part of the causes, I would like to know them.

*
Regarding 'War History': A magazine whose native tongue is not English. It did just mention "the Netherlands did not achieve the control of the sea because of philosophical and juridical reasons". The article is not available on the internet, so I have no link. And for information, the article was about Venice, so no link with the part they made about the Netherlands