texts: Did MacArthur ever consider ordering Wainwright's troops to fight an insurgency war, rather than surrendering?

texts:
The American surrender of Wainwright's and Sharp's forces in the Philippines, during World War II, was the largest surrender of troops under the US flag in the history of the country.  Reports at the time stated that US and Filipino troops were fighting hunger and illness in addition to the Japanese, and that there was no chance that the US could get supplies to them, given Japan's command of the seas at that point.  However, American troops who refused to surrender, such as Col. Wendell Fertig, working with other American soldiers, organized Filipino resistence fighters into an effective insurgency of approximately 36,000 troops.  By doing so, he caused the Japanese to divert 60,000 troops to Mindano in an unsuccessful attempt to crush the insurgency.  Moreover, Fertig's insurgency force became one of the most effective intelligence sources available to MacArthur in that area.  The supply problems that led Wainwright to surrender were largely solved by Fertig, an engineer, who creatively used native crops and materials, and salvaged allied and enemy stores and weapons, to supply, equip, and feed his forces.  See John Keats, They Fought Alone: Wendell Fertig and the World War II Guerrilla Campaign in the Philippines, (J. B. Lippincott Company) (1963).

Given that the US Army had relatively recent experience fighting against insurgencies in Central America (i.e. the Banana Wars), did it occur to MacArthur or his staff that Wainwright's and Sharp's forces would have been better off heading for the hills and fighting a guerrilla war, rather than surrendering?  If not, what factors made MacArthur and his staff choose surrender instead?


texts: Would the original readers of Lewis Carroll's books have made connections between the experiences in the books and drug use?

texts:
Modern readers of Lewis Carroll's books (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass) will undoubtedly make some connections between radical changes in perspective following the ingestion of "special" foods and drinks and recreational drug use.  These connections may be partially due to the use of imagery from the books by the "drug-culture" of the 1960s and 1970s but also due to a relative familiarity with recreational drug use in modern culture.

Would the original readers of the book (circa 1865) made similar connections?

NOTE: I am not asking if Lewis Carroll intended the books to be about drugs but whether a Victorian era reader would have considered this to be a valid interpretation.


texts: Did Khalid ibn al-Walid report that he broke nine swords in the battle of Mu'tah?

texts:
The wikipedia entry about Battle of Mu'tah contains an unsourced assertion:

  Khalid ibn Al-Walid reported that the fighting was so intense that he
  used nine swords which broke in the battle. Khalid, seeing that the
  situation was hopeless, prepared to withdraw. He continued to engage
  the Byzantines in skirmishes, but avoided pitched battle. It is said
  that Khalid killed at least one identified Arab Christian commander
  namely Malik.

But it doesn't provide any citation for the claim.

Is it true that Khalid said he broke nine swords in the battle of Mu'tah? What is the source of this information?


texts: Nazism and Jewish persecution awareness during the WW2 years

texts:
I've always wondered how is it possible that an entire nation and beyond (Germany) wasn't aware of the Jewish persecution during the WW2 years or, if they were, that they did nothing to stop it.

Were they comfortable with that as long as Germany could prosper or what else?


texts: Conditions of Upper-Silesian-Poles minority in Weimar Republic?

texts:
The border between Germany and the reborn Poland in 1918 was decided by the allies. It was drawn semi-arbitrarily, following the places where the majority of people were Polish and others where the majority were German.

However, both nations has been mixed for a long while, and there was no clear border in reality. While other areas (such as Greater Poland) had been annexed by Germany more recently, Silesia was part of the hybrid Germanic world since the late middle ages. The ethnicity distribution between silesian-poles and germans was very close to 50%/50% so they were subject of a plebiscite vote on march 20th, 1920.

Because the Soviet-Polish war was on going during the plebiscite, this seriously boosted votes in favour of Germany, as people did not want to be again part of a country involved in a war, and only a small part of Upper Silesia was given to Poland, despite the plebiscite areas being inhabited by a short majority of Poles.

This resulted in a large silesian-polish minority in the Upper Silesian province of Prussia within Weimar Germany. My question is : What happened to the Polish populations in Middle/Upper Silesia and East Prussia after they lost the plebiscite?

The politics of polonophobia and kulturkampf lead by Germany during the 19th century were probably still in memories, despite Germany becoming democratic. What rights were given to the polish minority that happened to remain within German borders?

It's hard to find any information about it. Wikipedia article on Weimar republic says absolutely nothing about the Polish minority and it's condition in neither German, English, or French.


texts: Why was the Deutschland so ineffective compared to the Admiral Graf Spee and the Admiral Scheer?

texts:
Before World War II, Germany created the Deutschland Class of heavily armored cruisers in order to comply with the regulations in the Treaty of Versailles. Three of these cruisers (called pocket-battleships by the British) were built: the Deutschland, the Admiral Graf Spee, and the Admiral Scheer. In 1940, the Admiral Scheer and the Deutschland were reclassified as heavy cruisers, and the Deutschland was renamed to the Lützow.

The Admiral Graf Spee and the Admiral Scheer both had success in their task of disrupting trade and supply to the Allied Powers.

The Admiral Graf Spee was active in the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans where it captured or sank 8 different ships between October 5, 1939, and December 7, 1939 (Wikipedia), (Britannica).

The Admiral Scheer was also active in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and became the most successful capital ship commerce raider in World War II (Wikipedia), (Military Factory).

As far as I am aware, the Deutschland had no such feats, despite participating actively until the end of the war. The ship participated in battles (the Battle of Drøbak Sound, the Battle of the Barents Sea), but was damaged in these conflicts (Wikipedia). Was this lack of success the result of its location in the North Sea, or something else?

EDIT: By success, I mean raiding commerce during the war since that seems to be the main purpose of the Deutschland Class. In that case, why was the Deutschland not sent on commerce raiding missions as opposed to larger battles?


texts: Were "The People's Will" referred to as "terrorist" by their contemporaries?

texts: Narodnaya Volya (The People's Will) was the organization responsible for the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in in March 1881. Is there any evidence (preferably online sources) which point to the idea that the organization was called "terrorist" by their contemporaries?


texts: When and where did it first became usual that the ID Card holder signed his card?

texts:
Just to explain how this question came into my mind:

There's a common joke which I read on Moroccan Website which goes like this: A man hit his wife because when he saw her ID-Card he found the words "signature of it's holder = امضاء صاحبها".

Now the point is that صاحب could mean holder or (in the joke: her) male (boy-)friend!
So this was an act of jealousy.

In fact when one checks Moroccan ID Cards then one never finds a signature of the holder but the signature or stamp of the director of national security!

So my question is which country (countries) was the first to include the signature of the holder in the ID Cards and when?

Maybe I should add I mean "modern ID-Cards" from the time a photographic identification at least should have been possible!


texts: Which cultures did *not* produce alcohol?

texts:
I've been reading Harold McGee's fascinating On Food and Cooking, and the chapter on alcohol has some interesting historical notes.  He describes the widely varied and creative methods used in various cultures to produce alcoholic beverages from available ingredients: wine in the Mediterranean, beer in the Middle East and later in Europe, sake and other rice wines in East Asia, and so on.

It got me wondering:

  Which cultures did not historically have a traditional method for producing alcohol?

For instance, I am not sure that pre-Colombian North American cultures knew about alcohol.  Is there any evidence one way or the other?  (In South America, the Inca had chicha.)

I am most interested in cultures where alcohol was (effectively) unknown.  I am less interested in cultures where it was known but forbidden or discouraged (Islam, for example).


texts: How did the American Civil War help the U.S economy recover from the Panic of 1857 given that civil wars are extremely destructive?

texts:
From the Wikipedia article on the Panic of 1857:

  Beginning in September 1857, the financial downturn did not last long;
  however, a proper recovery was not seen until the American Civil War.

Given the destructive nature of war and the way it diverts useful resources to destructive means, the economy should have crumbled further instead of recovering. This is particularly so in a civil war when casualties incurred on either side are a cost to the country. How could the U.S economy recover given the destructive effects of a civil war?


texts: How was the ceremonial mace presented to unruly members of the US House of Representatives?

texts:
In an answer to a recent question, it was said:

  The Sergeant at Arms, upon instructions from the speaker "presents" the mace to the unruly party.. to restore order.

Which agrees with the Wikipedia article on the mace. The Wikipedia article describes the occasions where the mace has been presented but not how it was presented.

i.e. was the unruly party presented with the business end of the mace as if it might be used upon them, or were they presented with the hilt as if challenging them to take the mace? Or some other way such as simply standing in front of them while generally holding the mace?

How was the mace presented on the occasions it was used?


texts: Did the RMS Carpathia have enough lifeboat capacity for its passengers?

texts:
Did the Cunard Line's RMS Carpathia (which rescued survivors of the sinking of White Star Line's RMS Titanic in 1912) have enough lifeboat capacity for its own passengers to begin with?

According to Wikipedia, Carpathia had a passenger capacity of 2550, but information on its lifeboat capacity is elusive.


texts:
What were the typical types of ships used in the Persian Navy in the 1730's and 1740's? Is the make-up of the fleet known (i.e., how many ships of what class, etc)?

The revival of Persia's power in the Persian Gulf had been building since 1734, when Nader had appointed Latif Khan as his admiral, and had sent him to Bushire to commission a coastal fleet.
Latif Khan had trouble obtaining ships, ... he sailed to Bahrain in 1736 in a borrowed vessel. There was little resistance and after a few skirmishes the island was back in Persian hands. ... This success encouraged Nader to consider wider naval enterprises.
—Axworthy, 'Sword of Persia'

This book doesn't seem to expand on the type of the navy (beyond "coastal" which is not very descriptive) or the ships being built. I looked into Wikipedia's History of the Iranian Navy which didn't expand on this and History of Bahrein which mentions this episode of re-conquest but nothing on the specific vessels.
I found Floor's 'The Iranian Navy in the Gulf during the Eighteenth Century' which is paywalled. The sources for Wikipedia (not Axworthy) were also paywalled.


texts: What does it mean that Hamilton "made American credit competitive"?

texts:
With the Hamilton (a musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda about Alexander Hamilton's life) craze going around, I've heard a few of the songs. While they are typically very easy to understand, one lyric I didn't understand was in "Washington on Your Side" when Madison, Jefferson, and Burr say:

"[MADISON]
So he’s doubled the size of the government /
Wasn’t the trouble with much of our previous government size?

[BURR]
Look in his eyes!

[JEFFERSON]
See how he lies

[MADISON]
Follow the scent of his enterprise

[JEFFERSON]
Centralizing national credit /
And making American credit competitive

[MADISON]
If we don’t stop it we aid and abet it

[JEFFERSON]
I have to resign".

What does it mean that Alexander Hamilton made American credit competitive?


texts: Who compared giving women the vote to giving cows the vote (& in what context)?

texts:
I recall hearing (in History class) that when women were campaigning to get the vote, some (powerful?) people suggested that if women were given the right to vote, you might as well give the vote to cows or other animals.

Is this true? If so, who said/implied it? When did they say it? Is there an original source for this?


texts: Are there any surviving maps from the Delhi Sultanate?

texts: Are there any surviving maps of the Delhi Sultanate that were made in India during that era?  I'm having a very hard time finding any maps surviving from that period of Indian history that actually come from India.


texts: Why has bidet use not spread to the northern countries of Europe?

texts: As wikipedia states, the bidet is quite common in southern European countries (in Italy for example, it is found in 95% of households), in the Middle East and in East Asia. Conversely, bidets are quite rare in Northern Europe. Why the discrepancy in usage?


texts: Why did it take so long for humans to utilise fossil fuels?

texts:
While our ancestors have been around for about six million years, the modern form of humans only evolved about 200,000 years ago. Civilization as we know it is only about 6,000 years old, and industrialisation started in the earnest only in the 1800s.

The Industrial Revolution marked the the beginning of the major use of fossil fuels as our primary source of energy, namely coal. This began around the mid-1700s.

But if humans/our ancestors have been roaming the Earth for around six million years, why have we only began to use fossil fuels in the past few hundred?

Why did it take humans so long to fully utilise fossil fuels?


texts: Why do foreign dignitaries inspect guards of honour upon arrival?

texts:
I've been watching videos of various dignitaries (heads of state, heads of government, important officials, etc.) arriving for state visits in foreign countries. I noticed that upon disembarking from their car/ship/aircraft, the visitor and their host would inspect a guard of honour together.

It appears to me that inspecting ceremonial guards is now a global practice for visiting dignitaries. So the question is: what are the origins of this practice? Where and when did this practice become common? What was the original purpose of showing off soldiers in pretty uniform?


texts: What was the meaning of the following Neville Chamberlain quote?

texts:
In 1938, during the Munich (Czech) Crisis, then British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain expressed his distaste for making war preparations over "a quarrel in a faraway land between people of which we know nothing."

That remark seems strange for just before the dawn of the jet age, during an era when Britain had a global empire, because the distance between London and Prague was a little over 600 miles. For comparison, the distances between London and capitals of former colonies were 3000 miles for Ottawa, 3600 miles for Washington, and 10,000 miles for Canberra.

Perhaps a more plausible explanation was the reference to "foreign" German and Czech people. But that doesn't seem to make sense, given that the British Royal Family was largely of German origin, including Queen Victoria's Prince Albert, and Mary of Teck, wife of King George V.

Perhaps I'm taking the phrase out of context, but in the 19th century, the Know Nothings were a group of anti "foreign" (immigrant) Americans, who professed to "know nothing" about their positions.

Otherwise, why would Chamberlain refer to Germans and Czechs as "far away" peoples of whom his contemporaries would know nothing? Did most of them actually feel that way, or was that sentiment more or less particular to Chamberlain? Put another way, was he addressing a large British contingent with a quasi-American "know nothing" mentality (Lady Astor comes to mind.)

Apparently, David Lloyd George opined that "Mr Chamberlain views everything through the wrong end of a municipal drain-pipe."


texts: Did Woodland period Native Americans seek/value gold prior to European Colonization?

texts:
Did Native Americans actively or passively seek out and/or value gold prior to the arrival of Europeans?

Presumably they were not actively mining for gold. But did they seek it out (perhaps in river beds & streams)? If they did not actively search for it like the later Europeans, did they any special value on gold?

I'm particularly interested in Native American groups in the North American West between, say, 1400-1800 AD. My searches so far have turned up some information about pre-Columbian Natives in South America, and plenty about the impact of the Gold Rush of the 1800s on Native American tribes, but very little about Native North American groups during the late Woodland period.


texts: Why did Oliver Cromwell ban Christmas in 1644?

texts:
I am aware of the religious conflicts between Catholics and Protestants during and after the reign of King Henry VIII, but can't imagine why Cromwell would ban Christmas.  I read this in an article from a U.K. Christian outreach and would like to know what the reasons might be.

I found some basic information on historylearningsite.co.uk


texts: Why does Japan celebrate the Gregorian New Year but China still celebrates Chinese New Year?

texts:
Before Meiji Restoration, Japan used Chinese calendar and celebrated Chinese New Year just as China did.

Nowadays, both Japan and China have adopted Western calendar. However, Japan celebrates Western New Year while China still celebrates Chinese New Year.

Why today's Japan celebrates Western New Year instead of Chinese New Year? Also, why China still celebrates Chinese New Year despite having adopted Western calendar?


texts: Did Admiral Ghormley have access to intellegence reports on Japanese movements prior to the Battle of Savo Island?

texts:
We know that Admiral Turner, the commander of the Landing Force at Guadalcanal had received (heavily flawed) reports on the movements of Admiral Mikawa's force, prior to the Battle of Savo Island. My question is, did Admiral Ghormley also receive those reports?

The only information I've seen suggests that the reports were directly received by Turner. The chain of command suggests that they should have been delivered to Ghormley, as Admiral McCain and his land based reconnaissance aircraft reported to Ghormley as area commander.


texts: Evidence of diets that were exclusively vegetarian

texts:
What evidence, provided by archaeological anthropology, is there in regards to diets that were exclusively vegetarian by choice from Ancient history (4th millennium BC) to Classical antiquity (5th century AD)? Have there been any studies to double-check historical accounts of vegetarianism against archeological records for the same people(s)?

The inspiration for this question spawned from the following articles.

  Did Roman Soldiers Eat Meat?

  We've been led to think that ancient Romans were mainly vegetarian

  ...

R.W. Davies and "The Roman Military Diet"
By N.S. Gill, About.com Guide

  Humans are naturally plant-eaters

  A fair look at the evidence shows that humans are optimized for eating
  mostly or exclusively plant foods, according to the best evidence of our
  bodies.

  ...

By Michael Bluejay  "Humans are naturally plant-eaters"
June 2002 • Updated May 2012 (michaelbluejay.com)


texts: What periods and locations in early European history had evidence based criminal trials?

texts: What periods and locations in European history had evidence based criminal trials? I'm interested in creating a medieval role playing setting and some fictional narratives involving crime investigators. However, some periods of early European history relied on trial by ordeal to determine innocence or guilt. Evidence appears to have little place in the proceedings. Do I need to go all the way back to ancient Greek and Roman courts? Do I need to go forward to the Renaissance? Perhaps there were a few medieval European cities with local legal systems that employed modern standards of evidence?


texts: When did the US start using sniper + spotter teams, rather than solo snipers?

texts:
The US sniper teams are a definite trope of TV and movies, but historically many armies have used solo snipers, without the spotter.

When I look for info, I either find gun info, sniper statistics or things about sniper training, but little info for the transition from sniper to sniper+spotter teams.  Which much have been somewhat contentious as it cuts the potential number of snipers by half.  Note that I don't question the idea in itself, anyone who's peered through a high power scope knows how much it "tunnel visions" you, but I am curious when the transition happened, what considerations went into it and who pushed for it.

Which other major militaries uses teams?  By major militaries, I mean armies who made up their own doctrine rather than acting on the guidance of foreign advisers.  Yes, yes, if you feel unhappy about multiple questions, consider that the primary one here is the US's transition to teams.


texts: Why was the 1944 surrender of 20,000 Germans on the Western Front remarkable?

texts:
I remember very well those days last September when we first heard the rumor that General Elster would surrender to the 99th Division, no one would believe it. "20,000 German troops and their general surrendering at one fell swoop?"  Impossible!  But it's history now that they did surrender.
  Magill

What is the context in which General Major Botho Henning Elster surrendered to that U.S Division and why "no one would believe it"?

Considering the enormous number of pows involed during Worl War II, 20,000 soldiers seems to be not so a great number.

However, before the above episode, what was the largest number of Germans pows to surrender?


texts: When is the Cumaean Temple to Apollo dated?

texts:
Cumae was founded by Ionians from Euboea around 750. Cumae had a Temple to Apollo and Sibyline oracle that channeled Apollo. In Greece, Apollo and its oracle became active in the eighth century. It wasn't a pan-Hellenic god, however, until after the Lelantine War (c. 720-650)

When was the Cumaean temple to Apollo created? Would it have been the religion of the founding Cumaeans, or did it come at a later date?

I will throw something more into the question for fun. What happened to the temple of Apollo in Oscan Cumae c. 421-338?


texts: What was the motivation for the Gregorian Calendar?

texts:
The Gregorian Calendar eventually replaced the Roman calendar at some point, I know this was something to do with the days not being quite accurate so specific days (I think equinox and solstice) were not consistent after some point.  So what was the motivation behind this?  If the change came centuries later wasn't it already known?

Who determined the actual time scale used, how was this established and determined, especially leap years?  Was there any analysis over the method used?


texts: Is History a subject where certain knowledge is accepted by all historians or can any event be a source for debate?

texts:
In science some ideas and concepts are accepted by the vast majority of scientists, like evolution. It's true that scientific knowledge evolves over time and things we believe today may not hold true in the future. However, we always strive for a more accurate picture of the world, and so our original ideas are not invalidated; they are improved upon.

I am trying to ascertain certain things about history, and historical events are subject to debate and controversy. My question is whether the history professors, who are experts within a particular scope of human history, agree amongst themselves about what transpired. Is there a consensus?

Furthermore, in what kinds of publications do they present their findings? Scientists publish in research journals; where do historians publish?

Are historical research papers conclusive, or are they debated? Do historians follow a similar review process as the other fields?


texts: I wonder when the position of lictor was abolished in the Ancient Rome? Who was the last Emperor to have lictors as companions?


texts: Did Jim Morrison ever comment on his father's career choice or role in the Vietnam war?

texts: I'm just wondering if and what Jim Morrison ever said about his relationship with his father Rear Admiral George Stephen Morrison with regard to his position in the Navy, or his role in starting the Vietnam war. Was he open about his father's position? Did the press ever ask him about it?


texts: What was the logic behind Stalin's brutality?

texts:
In this article Stalin's behaviour is argued to be the result of a calculated and fanatical strategy.  Stephen Kotkin's book 'Stalin' is referenced, and the suggestion is that criticism of Stalin as insufficiently Communist stems from his political rivals.  That in public and private he consistently used Marxist-Leninist language to justify policy, and that ultimately his policies were genuine in principle.

But why would that in itself explain the sheer brutality of his decisions?  I would like to know whether there's any evidence to suggest a specific reason for his political violence.

I suspect that being an Old Bolshevik, Stalin never stopped thinking about his country in the paranoid and violent context of the Civil War.  Consequently he always considered the existence of the USSR to be perilous, and thought brutal violence was necessary to defend the revolution.

This might also align with his decision to end Lenin's New Economic Plan; and thus return to something more like War Communism.  It may also explain why his successors like Krushchev became considerably less brutal, as in their minds the existence of the USSR was a given.

However, I have no evidence to support this idea, and would like to know if any evidence exists to explain the logic behind Stalin's brutality?  Why he considered violence on such a scale to be so necessary?  Judging by what he actually said on the subject?

All Soviet leaders were Marxist-Leninist Communists, but each one had a different tolerance for violence as a political tool.  The question is why Stalin's behaviour was so extreme compared to his successors, and importantly what evidence is there to describe how he justified this?


texts: Why did European alchemists seek metal transmutation in addition to the Elixir Of Life?

texts:
From what I understand of European alchemists, they were equally advertised as working towards the transmutation of base metals into noble metals and an Elixir of Life.

What confuses me in why they would target these two goals specifically, when they don't seem to have that much in common. I assume there was some kind of assumption made at the time that these goals were related in some way, but I'm having difficulty finding that information.


texts: Why did it take so long to abandon sail after steamships were demonstrated?

texts:
1807, Robert Fulton's Clermont the first ship to demonstrate the feasibility of steam propulsion for commercial use, but it also carried sail.
1819, The first steamship to cross the Atlantic was the American  City of Savannah, but it also carried sail.
1837, Britain's steam-powered Great Western established regular transatlantic passenger service, but it also carried sail.
1838, SS Archimedes was the first steamship to be driven by a screw propeller, but it also carried sail.
1871, The first British Navy ship not to carry masts or expensive sails the H.M.S. Devastation..
Commercial steam ships regularly carried masts and auxiliary sails into the 20th century (1900s).

  Question:
  IF steam power was superior to sail, Why did it take nearly 100 years for commercial ships to abandon sail after steamships were demonstrated?.


texts: How long were the Greek gods worshipped?

texts: When did the Greek gods reign end and how long did it last for them to be worshipped till when they were no longer worshipped?


texts: Has any generation generally agreed that the next generation was better?

texts:
The tendency of each generation to look fondly on the "good old days" and to disparage the next generation is well-known. I remember reading some poem from ancient Egypt lamenting the moral failings of the younger generation, and it sounded exactly like something that might be written today.

But has the opposite ever happened? Has any generation, on average, developed a consensus that the next generation was more ethical, more worthy, or simply better than they themselves had been?


texts: What were the first "Big Banks" in the United States?

texts: The large financial institutions of the world have dominated the news cycle for the past few years, and it got me thinking, what were the first large banks in the US? I am interested in hearing about the first big retail banks, as well as financial banks. I know that some of the banks that are still in existence today can probably trace their lineage back to much earlier banks, but I'm curious what were the institutions that were the first to become truly national and be dominant forces in the US economy.


texts: Excerpted from China Imperial Maritime Customs, Special Series: Silk


texts: What is the difference between "seigneurie" and "manor"?

texts:
From page 170 of Samuel Clark's State and Status: The Rise of the State and Aristocratic Power in Western Europe:

  In the Spanish/Austrian Low Countries a change in the ancient coat of arms of a seigneurie could not be made except by authorization of sovereign. The coat of arms of a noble family could be appropriated by the purchaser of its seigneurie if he or she obtained letters patent from the sovereign. Clark, Samuel., State and Status: The Rise of the State
  and Aristocratic Power in Western Europe, p170

What difference is there between "seigneurie" and "manor" in a feudal system?


texts: Did Stalin give special treatment for his home country?

texts: Did Stalin during his reign gave any special interest or priviliges to Georgia and the Georgian people?


texts: sense of time in people with no means for time measurement

texts:
How did early, e.g. ancient to early medieval times, people have a sense of time, i.e. an hour, with no clocks around?

I am aware that mechanisms for time measurement existed, sundials, water clocks, candle clocks, etc., but I assume they were not affordable to everyone. Therefore, my question is directed primarily towards common people. As an example, consider a number of guardsmen assigned to a relatively isolated watchtower, who are assigned to watch shifts. I imagine that by day they could orient themselves by the sun, by night they could use the moon and stars, but what when there are no celestial objects to reference? Furthermore, this approach fails to take into account the variability of celestial movements due to the change of seasons.
Finally, the concept of an "hour" is very old, ancient civilizations divided the day for sunrise to sunset into 12 parts, how does one intuitively divide such a large timespan into units, which are rather large by themselves? Was some "chief" assigned the duty to anounce/keep track of time? It appears logical to me that the passage of time was not so crucial to people then as it is now, but I'm baffled by the huge impact of relativity in my above considerations, assuming they are at least partially correct, of course. Imagine what an hour would feel like to a worker in the fields and to his overseer and how the day would be divided if either of them were prompted to announce the passage of one hour.


texts:
Can you help me find a online resource for gendered handwriting styles, like "ladies' epistolary" and "Mercantile running hand"?

Preferably with pictures, as I want an easy reference for their appearances?

This cannot be served by search engines because there is no online resource that has anything close to a comprehensive list of these old handwriting styles of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Searching "ladies' epistolary" and "Mercantile running hand" together gets this question as the top result, and there are only 6 results in Google.

Here: https://www.google.ca/search?q=%22ladies%27+epistolary%22&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=lBFWVtGhCcLl-AGEpJjgCQ#q=%22ladies%27+epistolary%22+%22Mercantile+running+hand%22

Handwriting in America is the closest thing to a comprehensive source and it only adds Roundhand to the list of writing styles. Plus, it is a scanned Google Book, without pictures of those writing styles.


texts: What did people of the middle ages call their periods?

texts:
I initially misread this question and am now left wondering what the answer to my first interpretation is.

What did the people of the middle ages call their periods?  I'm curious not only about medieval England, but other languages and locations as well.  Is there any documentation of ye olde euphemisms?  Did our medieval sisters also ride crimson waves (of grain?) and get visited by unwanted aunts?  What did they whisper while working the fields so nearby superstition men wouldn't overhear, understand, and suspect their evil lady-curses would bring and end to the crops?  How would the unfortunate time-traveler discretely or crudely ask for the time-local equivalent of a pad or tampon?


texts: Did Freemasons motivate Spain's expulsion of Jesuits?

texts:
Carlos III of Spain was a Catholic, but an anticlerical one. After riots in Madrid, he expelled the Society of Jesus (and was followed in this by Pope Clement XIV). The same year, 1767, the first lodge of Freemasons was established in Spain. Letting the Masons compete ideologically underscored Carlos's antipathy for the Church as an organization.

Some of Carlos's ministers were Freemasons, so he was aware of the group's interests. Did Freemasons or Masonic organizations directly influence Carlos's decision to expel the Jesuits?

Addendum: one article whose authorship is unclear blames Carlos's Masonic minister Conde de Aranda for intriguing against the Jesuits. Wikipedia suggests that the minister Campomanes was responsible for a research result that justified the expulsion, but I'm not sure if he was one of the Masonic ministers. Benimeli held that Carlos himself was anti-Masonic.


texts: There is at least one instance where being encircled tactically is an advantage: any path between two points in the interior is shorter than the corresponding perimeter. Has this ever actually mattered? Has an army ever found encirclement preferable? No Chesty Puller please.


texts: Has there ever been a case when a traitorous military commander took command again for the side he betrayed?

texts:
In one novel I am currently reading a traitorous commander who is responsible for atrocities against the people he should protect and killing the remainder of the army he once belonged to was promoted to leader again after getting captured. As "reason" it is indicated that he is the last able commander in the army.

While I found other novels of the series quite entertaining, this is breaking the suspension of disbelief. I cannot think of any other action which is more damning that the person is unfit for command than betrayal. In fact, the usual course of action is that if the traitor is caught, his former superiors show profound displeasure with the actions.

Knowing that humans are capable of truly disturbing amounts of stupidity:

Was there ever a case that a traitorous military commander took command again for the side he betrayed and the superiors knew that he is a traitor?

Because "traitor" is often used as polemical term, I rule out some at least comprehensible edge cases. If the military commander acted because he reasonably feared that he was to be executed or ruined not because of misbehavior, but as a political sacrifice or because someone sees him as an inconvenient person, I don't count it. I also don't count it if the actions of the superiors can be reasonably counted as betrayal itself (Offering a defended city if the own life and belongings are spared). I also exclude whistleblowing, showing that something is profoundly wrong without personal gratification.

What I want is really a stab-in-the-back-and-turn-around-the-blade betrayal. Selling secrets or necessary equipment for money. Fall own units in the back or abandon them because it suits oneself. Trying to build an own empire without provocation. That kind of thing.


texts: How to decode / read US Veterans Bureau Form 7202?

texts:
In doing some family background research, I came across an old military service record which says it is a "Form 7202 - Rev. Sept., 1927". I would like to decipher the meanings of the various codes to perhaps help me find some information about this family member (which no one can tell me anything about.)

I have done three different passes of blurring in order to protect the details, and then typed a description of the fields I found over top of the blur (without using the actual values), and posted the image here.

After a lot of failed Googling, I thought perhaps someone here might be able to point me to a resource that can decipher the meanings of the various codes on here.

The "N" in "N-NNNNN" means "numbers"; the two letters are hand-written in what appears to be pencil


texts: What was the attitude of the other European countries in the 1970s Cod War?

texts:
In the 1970s Britain and Iceland came close to a shooting war in the so called Cod War.

Using these stats (admittedly from some decades later) as a guide, Norway, Denmark and Spain also have significant fishing fleets. What was their attitude towards the dispute?

Incidentally Wikipedia's Cod Wars article lists West Germany as a "belligerent" on Britain's side but says nothing detailed about West Germany's involvement.


texts: Easter Islands: were the Islanders starving when found?

texts:
I was working on wording a food question for Pitcairn islanders (settlers from the Bounty mutiny) when I happened across this article. It suggests that the 'commonly known' theories of the Easter Islanders denuding their island and starving themselves out of existence is false. Supposedly they brought rats with them who ate the trees causing an ecological crisis, however they also state that the surviving Islanders that Cook discovered weren't starving at all.

Can anyone elaborate on the conditions of the Easter Islanders as far as food is concerned?


texts: What kind of cloth did Genghis Khan use in his armor?

texts:
Genghis Khan the king of the Mongolian Empire used a specific kind of cloth material for his military fatigues. This cloth material worked as an armor and was an advantage for his soldiers to win battles with less human loss.

What kind of cloth did Genghis use in his armor?


texts: What type of ancient Chinese headgear is this and what more do we know about it?

texts:
This is Zhao Bing, Emperor Bing of Song, the 18th and last emperor of the Song Dynasty. Is this headgear a Tongtianguan? And whatever type of headgear it is, what more do we know about it? What does it symbolism and who was authorized to use it?

Update: I found these two great resources but still can't figure out exactly which one it is: A list of Guan, Jin, and other headwear, and A Social History of Medieval China, pg. 7.


texts: How did Austrian paramilitary organisations amass weapons during the interwar period?

texts:
According to Wikipedia, the Austrian Social Democrats and their allies had

over 2,500 rifles,
250 revolvers,
1,500 hand grenades, and
10,000 rounds of ammunition

in February 1934.

How did they (and other paramilitary organisations of that time like Heimwehr and the Fatherland front) get access to those weapons?

I suppose that soldiers returning from World War I may have kept their weapons. But I assume there was some sort of oversight (a soldier coming from the front couldn't just say "I'll keep the rifle for me").

Corruption is another possibility: I can imagine some arsenal guard selling rifles and ammunition to support his family during the famine of 1918. Also, these paramilitary organisations were parts of parties at the power. It's thinkable that some politician would order that arsenal employee to give weapons and ammo to whomever the politician wants.


texts: Why were Austria-Hungary's Slavic minorities put into multinational states?

texts:
From the perspective of the post-Cold War generation that saw Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia break up over ethnic squabbles (peacefully in the case of the former, acrimoniously in the case of the latter), it seems weird that such countries existed to begin with.

When the Allies were carving up the defeated Austro-Hungarian empire after WW1, what was the motivating in creating Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia rather than separate Czech, Slovak, Slovene, Croatian, and Bosnian states?


texts: How could England's sporting links with South Africa help reduce apartheid?

texts:
All boldenings are mine – what were  supporting evidence? I'm befuddled because boycotting South Africa under apartheid was the default and more intuitive standpoint.   In Wheeler v. Leicester City Council [1985] A.C. 1054 Ackner LJ wrote

The club was faced with a difficult decision. Its members are independent people. Each is entitled to make up his own mind. If the three men decided to go on tour in South Africa after the end of the season here, the club would not be affected. The club therefore did send the anti-apartheid case to the Leicestershire Rugby Union and did ensure that each of the three players was given a copy of the anti-apartheid memorandum. But the club did not comply with the council request to put pressure on the players not to go to South Africa. This did not mean that the club was supporting apartheid because there is a body of opinion opposed to apartheid which believes (contrary to the Gleneagles agreement) that sporting links will help to reduce apartheid in sport.

House of Lords reversed the Court of Appeal. Lord Templeman wrote

      The 1984 Rugby Tour of South Africa was organised by the
Rugby Football Union which invited individuals, including three
members of the club to join the tour. There were two views
about the tour amongst the opponents of apartheid. The view
taken by the council, a view which I share, was that the tour
would endorse the racist policies of the South African Government.
The opposite view was expressed by Mr. Dodge, who was one of
the three members of the club who participated in the tour and
who gave sworn evidence in these proceedings as follows:

"I personally deplore apartheid as being morally wrong. It is
nevertheless my genuine belief that maintaining sporting
links with South Africa does help break down the evil social
barriers of apartheid, a personal belief which has been
strengthened by observing in 1984 the improvement since
1980."

      The council agree that this belief was sincerely held not
only by Mr. Dodge but by other opponents of apartheid. The
Government had subscribed to the Gleneagles agreement but did
not take steps to ban the tour, leaving the decision to each
individual invited to take part. The club does not practice racial
discrimination, does not support apartheid, has not been guilty of
any infringement of the Race Relations Act 1976, did not support
the decision of the three members to join the tour and sought to
discourage them from joining the tour by sending them copies of
the reasoned memorandum published by the opponents of the tour.
The council does not contend that the club should have threatened
or punished the three club members who participated in the tour
or that the club could properly have done so. Nevertheless, the
club has been punished by the council according Mr. Soulsby for
"failing to condemn the tour and to discourage its members from
playing." My Lords, the laws of this country are not like the laws
of Nazi Germany. A private individual or a private organisation
cannot be obliged to display zeal in the pursuit of an object
sought by a public authority and cannot be obliged to publish views
dictated by a public authority.


texts: Did a runaway apprentice become captain of a ship?

texts:
In the early 19th century it was, and for a long time had been, illegal for apprentices to resign. A "runaway apprentice" could be arrested and returned to his master, to continue working for room and board and instruction until he was 21. Hiring someone else's runaway apprentice was a tort under the law, and the rightful master would sue the illicit employer and be awarded money damages.

On the web I find it asserted that in the early 19th century, two teenagers from Boston signed on as crewmen aboard a ship bound for China, and it is hinted that some illegalities were involved, and I suspect they were runaway apprentices. The story goes on to say that two years later when the ship returned to Boston, one of these two had risen to the position of captain of the ship. That makes me suspect there was a violent encounter along the way, perhaps in Polynesia, resulting in the deaths of the captain and some other officers.

I don't want to include a link to the story since it would give away spoilers to a novel inspired by this episode.

Is it possible to locate the story of what happened based on this much information?

Spoiler below:

   ok, Here's a link. Near the end of the introduction by William Patterson, it is asserted that the story was inspired by this situation in the early 19th century. In Starman Jones the protagonist falsifies his work record in order to get a job aboard a starship. Patterson should not have given away the secret, but there it is.


texts: Is there a difference between Douhet and Walther Wever's strategic bombing theories?

texts:
Wiki introduces Wever this way:

  Walther Wever (11 November 1887 – 3 June 1936) was a pre-World War II
  Luftwaffe Commander. He was an early proponent of the theory of
  strategic bombing as a means to wage war, opposing the theories of
  Giulio Douhet.

I was not able to understand in what Wever differed materially from Douhet, who is also described in Wikipedia as "a key proponent of strategic bombing in aerial warfare".

Is this just a mistake waiting to be corrected or was there a subject on which they held opposing views?


texts: Have there been any notable people that have claimed that classism and not racism is the current cause of racial inequality?

texts:
Particularly in the United States, class and race seem to be interrelated, i.e., people are generally separated by both their wealth and by their race. Given the history of racism in the United States, a possible explanation of the interrelation of classism and racism is that racial prejudice continues to make it difficult for people of minority races to excel to the same degree as those in the majority class.

This explanation is an attempt to explain why it is that americans of minority races are less likely to obtain a college education, or why they are more likely to live below the poverty line.

I am interested in whether there are people who have explored alternative hypotheses including a story like the following: Racism has continued to decline in its effect and if measures being taken (affirmative action, race education, etc.) continue as they are racism will eventually have minimal effect. Even if this were correct, those of minority race continue under a different kind of oppression; they still statistically make less money and are given less opportunities for education. But if racism isn't the cause, it might be classism alone.

To test this hypothesis we would need to collect data about questions like the following:

How well do minority children of wealthy parents fare in comparison to both majority and minority children with parents with lower incomes?
How is a child's success influenced by interracial adoptions between the minority and majority class?

A good answer to my question would point in the direction of the popular literature on this subject, and possibly describe the popular viewpoints being discussed.


texts: Were any California presidios conquered?

texts: During the Spanish and Mexican eras in California, there were five presidios in the region: San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Francisco, and Sonoma.  Were any of these ever conquered, taken over, or destroyed?  (During the Spanish and Mexican eras, that is.)


texts: Has The USPS / APWU Ever Had A Strike Since 1970?

texts:
Here in Canada we presently have the CUPW engaged in a strike which is disrupting mail delivery.
I talked to one of my friends in the US, and he was surprised to hear of a strike. Apparently they don't have strikes there for the mail service, or he's never heard of one happening.

I have been able to look up a major national strike in 1970, and I see the AUPW is providing some support for the CUPW strike, however I have been having trouble finding information on any other strikes.

I found this:

But unlike the UPS and Canada Post situation, federal law prohibits postal and federal employees from striking.
While the APWU technically states, “The APWU believes that the right
to strike is an inalienable right of all American workers,” the impact
of such an illegal work action could be disastrous in a political
climate where the USPS is already under fire.3

I find it surprising if it's never happened in 48 years. Have there really not been any, or am I just failing to find them? I would have thought there'd be a nice list somewhere of USPS strikes?


texts: Microsocial behaviour 500 years ago in western societies

texts:
Not sure how to formulate what I want to ask, so please advice if I should change the question: looking at microsocial behaviour today, we follow a lot of informal rules, practices and typical behaviours.  For instance when sitting together at the dinner table with a group of people, it is polite to talk, handing the salt, talking about positive things, smile.  When there is nothing else to talk we may do smalltalk, talk about the weather.

So question: how similar was the microsocial culture 500 years ago in, say, Europe?  If you would put the people from the past into today's clothes and made them talk today's languages, what differences would be still observable?  Has this topic been studied in the literature to some extent?


texts: What was the main food source in old California?

texts: What was the main food source in California during the Spanish and Mexican periods?  I'm expecting it was either corn or wheat, but I don't know which.


texts: Did a war occured because one country did not want the other to be strong?

texts:
About the Napoleonic wars, I discussed with a friend who told me that the English just wanted France to be weak, and that it was the reason for the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

I have read on the wikipedia page that Britain had other motivations:
"Britain had a sense of loss of control, as well as loss of markets, and was worried by Napoleon's possible threat to its overseas colonies"

So is there any other cases of a war made purely because one country is becoming stronger and stronger, and one or numerous other countries are afraid of that? Even if the stronger country is not willing to attack them?

I am also interested in a specific answer to the napoleonic era.


texts: How much did Israel pay the Libyan Flight 114 shootdown victims?

texts: In 1973, Israeli jets shot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114, which strayed into Sinai peninsula, then under Israeli occupation. This caused the death of 108 of 113 people on board. According to Wikipedia,  Israel paid compensation to the victims' families. I've been trying to find out how much compensation was paid to each family.


texts: What are the ruins in Turkey near Kömürcü Köyü?

texts:
I am curious and I would like to know what the ruins are near Kömürcü Köyü in Turkey (38°15'27.8"N 34°33'05.5"E | 38.257711,34.551535)?

I tried to search but I found nothing. It looks like ancient construction, but maybe it's nothing.


texts: What effect did the execution of Louis XVI have on French foreign policy?

texts: I was studying West Civilization and other events in history and I was quite conflicted here. I know who Louis was and everything but I don't really know enough to be able to answer the question in depth. So what effect did his death actually have in regards to the French Foreign Policy?


texts: Did Rome attempt to justify its conquests?

texts:
In college, a history professor said they did not -- maybe (not sure if I recall correctly) that ideas like that are modern and Rome wanted the slaves and treasure and so they just went ahead.

EDIT: Seems clear enough but what I meant was, Did Rome suggest that they were doing it for national security or to spread civilization or to prevent the domino-like expansion of the Gauls or whatever?


texts: Why do people (governments) hang on to the idea of East and West?

texts:
The idea of "East and West" originated in the (nowadays) Middle East during "Trojan" times. The meaning of "East and West" changed since then but the "Western" governments (and by default, Eastern countries) are still holding on to this idea.  Why is that?

Edit:
As I mentioned this idea originated in the "Middle East". The "West" was pretty much Greece those days and the "East" was nowadays "Turkey".  This idea has evolved during the passage of time, expanding and shrinking geographically.  The world is moving towards a global economy, shredding the idea of "East and West", but politically, we still see the divide.  My question is why can't the world move away from the "East and West" politically?  (I suspect the answer lies in history.)


texts: Why were bridges and tunnels off Manhattan closed to evacuees on 9/11?

texts:
On 9/11/2001, following the second plane crash into South Tower, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey closed all of the bridges and tunnels under their jurisdiction. The MTA Bridges and Tunnels also closed their crossings into Manhattan for at least a day after the attacks.

With half a million people on Manhattan Island and the Twin Towers on fire and collapsing, why did New York/Port Authority shut down all evacuation routes except for the ferries and re-purposed water craft?

Apparently this decision necessitated the largest maritime evacuation in history, in a location that relies heavily on non-maritime travel (50% subway, 17% rail, 14% bus ).

Why did officials choose to do this? Was this standard procedure for a fire, or a special exception made on 9/11 and if so why?


texts: What did the Japanese believe about the USA capability of making/using additional atomic bombs?

texts:
Clearly the Japanese believed that if they did not surrender another atomic bomb would be used on them.

However how soon did they believe this would happen?
And how many atomic bombs did they believe the USA would have access to?


texts: Why did Napoleon march to Moscow instead of Saint Petersburg?

texts:
When Napoleon decided to invade Russia in 1812, why did he target Moscow instead of Saint Petersburg?

At the time, Saint Petersburg was the Capital of Russia, not Moscow (although Moscow may have had a higher population). If Napoleon moved on this capital, it may have forced the Russians to stand and fight instead of continuously retreating deeper into Russia.

Also, I think Napoleon's army might not have froze so much either on the way in or out, because they could stay close to the Baltic coast (the ocean has a mitigating effect on extreme temperatures; an example is Saint Petersburg which is warmer than Moscow throughout the year despite being farther north).

So why go to Moscow? Was he maybe planning on Moscow first and Saint Petersburg second? That seems like quite a lot to do in just half a year. I don't understand why target Moscow. The distance from Central Europe to Moscow seems about the same as the distance from Central Europe to Saint Petersburg.


texts: Was the attack on Pearl Harbor totally unexpected?

texts:
According to "British Intelligence in the Second World War: Security and Counter-Intelligence", by Francis Harry Hinsley and C.A.G. Simkins, Tricycle, a British double agent, complained that the FBI ignored the "obvious warning" of the forthcoming attack on Pearl Harbor (read more below ↓).

Also, according to "Conspiracies and Secret Societies: The Complete Dossier", by Brad Steiger & Sherry Steiger, it seems that the Japanese diplomatic code had been broken by FBI and almost all messages between Tokyo and its embassy in Washington were being intercepted and understood by Washington (read more below ↓).

Therefore, as it is possible to argue, there is no longer any doubt that FBI and, perhaps, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, were aware that an attack on Pearl Harbor was developing and that it was scheduled for December 7th.

Then a terrible question arises: was the attack on the American forces at Pearl Harbor totally unexpected?

If not, why did no one alert defense forces to protect Pearl Harbor?


texts:
Haven't seen anything online, even after googling. Wikipedia seems to only list the countries that support the practice, but offers no history.

Why is it that the maiden name is traditionally dropped when a woman is getting married? Is this something that predates back many civilizations ago? Or is this a relatively newfound trend?

I'm actually pretty curious as to why the woman would drop the maiden name.


texts: Why did classical works re-emerge during the Renaissance?

texts:
I recently read the Annals by Tacitus. Although I am definitely pleased with it, I feel like the best parts are missing. It got me thinking about the history of books in general.

I read on another forum that monks did not feel it necessary to copy those books, but that does not make sense. If they were to leave out the bad parts, I feel they would have dropped the end of Tiberius's last years. It almost seems that someone took the good books to show off and failed to put them back. Wiki has the history of them, but I am still interested in the process of how books where copied and lost.

Why were so many books rediscovered in the Renaissance? Why (for example The Annals) some books lost while others (for example Cyropaedia) are found complete? What was the pre-Renaissance book trade like?

Thanks in advance


texts: Why was there such tension between the Ottoman Empire and Russia during the Armenian genocide?

texts: I'm researching the Armenian genocide on a very basic level, and I've learned that a lot of the tension between Armenians and the Turks was because the Armenians were seen as supporting the Russians, who the Turks hated. Why was there such tension? What did Russia or Turkey do to prove one another?


texts: Did the Indus Valley Civilization use cotton as a writing material?

texts:
Cross-posted from Skeptics SE
In his book, Science and Secrets of Early Medicine, Jürgen Thorwald writes about the script of the Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa civilizations: (in rough translation)

Seals, bronze plaques and clay shells show that the inhabitants of the Indus state had their own script, which was a pictorial script, just the earliest scripts at the Nile and in Mesopotamia.
(...)
Undoubtedly, there used to exist a lot of writings created using this script.
However, while Egyptians used papirus and the Mesopotamians used clay tablets for writing,
the ancient Indians used cotton and perhaps also tree bark.
No one knows it for sure, because the tropical climate probably destroyed everything that the former libraries and archives contained.
Since all written documents were destroyed, our knowledge of the culture of the Indus valley civilization relies on archeological findings.

(empahsis added)
I was able to confirm that the Indus Valley Civilization had its own writing system and that it was used on seals and pottery. However, none of the resources I found said anything about using cotton or bark as the writing material, and this History.SE post actually suggests the contrary.
Do we have any reasons to believe that the Indus Valley Civilization had extensive written documents and that they were lost due to the climate and the material used, as the author suggests?


texts: Was democracy present in India before British colonization?

texts: My friend claims that India had democracy before the British colonized it. I am skeptical and have failed to find any references to democracy in India within the last thousand years. I found one weak reference to democracy in 600 BC but that hardly counts as pre-British. Was democracy present in India when British colonization began?


texts: Did most citizens of the British Empire hold racists views before the post-war period?

texts:
Racism during Imperial Britain has come back to the fore with the recent protests in the US and UK, in relation to the death of George Floyd. In particular, Churchill has been alleged as racists, and by modern standards, that seems to be an accurate description (without this implying a value judgment in itself).

Since the beginning of the slave trade and the entrance of black individuals into the British society, as well as the British conquest of India (17 century, roughly), and until the end of the Second World War (roughly coinciding with the declaration of Human Rights by the UN and the exposure of Nazi's institutional racism), is there any statistic or evidence that "most of individuals" held racists views, either against blacks, Indians, or other non-white races?

The Wikipedia article about racism in the UK is only descriptive, presenting no statistics about the spread of racism. There seem to be a huge literature exploring racism in the UK. This article refers to "popular imperialism" (image building of the empire among citizens as a force of peace and civilization, thereby harboring some of the racists views of the elite), but says this cannot be directly associated to "popular racism". The article does not provide an attempt to measure it either. I have seen a few other papers but so far haven't found an attempt to quantify its spread, not even as a guesstimate. Rather than spending all my time looking for a needle in a haystack, I prefer to ask here.

Anyone can provide more information about this?


texts: What role did the space race play in reducing the nuclear threat during the 1960s?

texts:
Today I visited again the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, a space flight history museum, and noticed for the first time the claim that part of  John F. Kennedy's motivation for pushing for a manned moon-landing by 1970 was an attempt to get Russia (and perhaps the U.S. as well?) to focus research and financial energies on a peaceful space race rather than a potentially devastating nuclear arms race.

To what extent is it possible to know how successful this objective was?

Clearly the cold war never got hot (ignoring the proxy wars that were fought), but would the outcome have likely been different sans-space-race?


texts: What motivated revolutionary France to declare war on Britain in 1793?

texts: France declared war on Britain in 1793 (War of First Coalition). What was its motivation for declaring war? It was already at war with many European powers at the moment, and it was not likely in a position to defeat or conquer Britain. I understand if Britain had motivation to be at war with France (e.g. to stop republicanism or the French conquests in Europe), but I don't know what was to be gained by France from this. Wouldn't it be better to let Britain be neutral and deal with them later if needed?


texts: How common was training with swords and other weapons at Newton's time in England?

texts:
I read in Levenson's book Newton and the Counterfeiter that when Newton was traveling to London from Cambridge, he stopped at an inn along the way to wait for other travelers so that they all could travel together because of highwaymen.  I wonder if a scholar like Newton would have had at least some rudimentary knowledge of swordsmanship.
If he didn't, was there a time that almost every child would have had some sort of self-defense training involving if not swords, quarter staffs or something?
(And if this was a common teaching, when did it stop being common?)

I visualize that the past as being much more violent than today and I think murder statistics bear this out.


texts: Understanding my 96 year old father's US Army discharge papers

texts:
I have my father's discharge papers and medals. I am trying to organize and classify his medals properly.
Line 32 reads - Sicilian, Naples-Foggia, Southern France, Rhineland GO105 WD45

Line 33 reads American defense Service Medal, American Theater Campaign Medal EAME Campaign Medal with 4 Bronze Stars and 1 Bronze Arrowhead, Good Conduct Medal, Victory Ribbon, 1 Service Strip, 5 Overseas Service Bars.

I feel as if I am missing some medals but not sure[![This is the shadow box of his military I made several years ago. Please help. My Dad is 96 Years old and I would like for him to see this before he passes away. All are his original except the Arrowhead patch. The VA visitor recently gave this one to him because he noticed my Dad didn't have one. I do know this Arrowhead is the wrong color. The original should be a blue color with olive green T, if I am correct.

Thank you,
Elizabeth Blair Minor


texts: Correlation between capitalism/democracy and communism/dictatorship?

texts:
Some people often equate capitalism with democracy and communism with dictatorship, is this necessarily true?

What are good examples and counter-examples of these associations?
Should kingdoms etc. be called capitalistic?
Is there an affinity between the form-of-government and form-of-economy on a solely theoretical basis?


texts: Can anyone identify this uniform, the rank and if possible the date?

texts: Can anyone identify and date this image:


texts: What were the regimental colors of the 18th NY Infantry Regiment?

texts:
Im desperatively searching for the regimental colors belonging to the 18th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which fought on the Union side during the Maryland Campaign.

It's a relatively unpopular regiment which also hasn't a fancy story like the 10th Maine oder 69th NY, so it's quite hard to find any historical reference.

I've checked every reference I could find, but without result.

I hope some of you have some secret sources.

Why am I doing this? An ancestor of mine served in Company C and I'm interested in making a little report about this.

Edit: Or did they simply use the Union colors? As far as I'm concerned, the 98th NY Volunteers also used the Union flag, where the 11th or 149th had an own color.

Edit 2: If there's no picture, is it possible to find a description? Based on similar colors I could create a(n) (artistic) reconstruction


texts: How long would it take to sail from New Orleans to Belize in late Summer 1867?

texts:
I’m writing a story where the characters need to travel by sea from New Orleans to Belize. The event takes place in late Summer 1867.  I need to figure out the following:

What route they would take
What sort of ship would be most appropriated for the era and waters (schooner, steamboat, etc.)
How long it would take
What dangers they might face

The direct route from New Orleans to Belize is approximately 750 nautical miles. A medium-sized steamboat could go about 10 knots in the mid-19th century. But determining the time of travel isn’t as simple a distance / speed. The Gulf Stream runs in the opposite direction, so sailing directly across the Gulf might not be the best choice. Maybe skirting around the coast would be better.

I’ve scoured sailing forums and while some people talk about planning trips like this there’s no real information about the route they might take, expected travel time, etc.

General articles on sailing (e.g. Wikipedia) aren’t helpful. There are modern ferries from New Orleans to Belize, but again that isn’t helpful as these are huge modern day ships, not mid-19th century fishing or cargo boats.

I don’t expect anyone here to have the answers necessarily, but pointing me to resources I may have missed would be awesome. Thanks!


texts: Did most colleges in the United States have semesters that began in September and ended in January during the 1890s?

texts:
I have been researching college calendars from the 1890s and have found that their semesters are very different from most "modern" semesters in the United States. Here are two examples: Texas, Bryn Mawr

My question is this: did all colleges operate under this system, or did some begin their semesters in August and end them in December, as many do now? I'd like to know the history of the college semester system in the United States.


texts: Did they actually have "mushroom cloud tourist attraction" to Nevada Test Site in the 1950s?

texts:
During the 1950s, the mushroom clouds, from the 100 atmospheric tests, could be seen from almost 100 mi (160 km) away. The city of Las Vegas experienced noticeable seismic effects, and the mushroom clouds, which could be seen from the downtown hotels, became tourist attractions. St. George, Utah, received the brunt of the fallout of above-ground nuclear testing in the Yucca Flats/Nevada Test Site. Westerly winds routinely carried the fallout of these tests directly through St. George and southern Utah. Marked increases in cancers, such as leukemia, lymphoma, thyroid cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, bone cancer, brain tumors, and gastrointestinal tract cancers, were reported from the mid-1950s through 1980.

Source: Wikipedia article 'Nevada Test Site'
Um... Is this a vandalized article? Is this for real? They used atom bombs as tourist attractions? Five years after the horrible end of WWII? When they bombed Japan and they confirmed (if any doubt had existed up until then) that those a-bombs are extremely dangerous and carry with the explosion lethal invisible rays which basically make your skin rot and brain burn?
Once again, I must ask: "Am I missing something here?"


texts: When were the baskets invented in Australia and America?

texts:
Since the human migration to Australia and America took place way before the invention of the baskets and both the pre-colonized Aborigens and Native Americans were using baskets, that means they invented the technology on their own.

And then the question is: when did they invent it?


texts: What is the history of stay at home moms?

texts:
I am interested in learning more information regarding the history of family structures, specifically as relates to stay at home parents.

The only data I can really find is from the late 60s until now. The USA BLS site has a fair bit of content, but mostly from this time period or later.

Loosely, defining SAHP as a parent who does not work outside the home. In the case of farms, this becomes more complicated, I guess.

I am wondering:

What is the history of stay at home mothers throughout the history of the USA?

How did this change over time?
What primary factors drove this?

Historically what has this % looked like?

Ideally, this would be in the form of a short discussion on the history and trends as applies to SAHMs but with some level of historical background and context. If possible it would be great to have some level of statistics included for the trends, though I understand this may not be possible for time periods further in the past.


texts:
Over the Cold War the many navies of the world moved away from significantly armoring their ships besides splinter protection for some vital spaces, with a few exceptions. What prompted the shift from armoring the ships even though the weapons of that time were about as powerful on average, both penetratively and explosively, as the shells of the Second World War?

Note: I am asking about warships in general, not just battleships. At the end for WWII ships from carriers down to light cruisers had armour. And for what I know, some warships nowadays still have some armour but not enough to defeat any missile.


texts: Were Soviet warships allowed to use the Panama canal?

texts:
During the Cold War, were Soviet naval vessels allowed to use the Panama canal?

I'm aware that no Soviet warships happened to use the canal during the Cold War.  Was there a rule aganst them transiting the canal, or were they free to do so, even if none actually did?

For example, if any Soviet warships went between Atlantic and Pacific by going via a longer route, this would be evidence that they would have used the canal, but that they weren't allowed to.


texts: Did the Romans pour wine down wells for health purposes?

texts: I've heard some kind of story that after the Romans would conquer a new village or city, they would pour wine (or other alcohol?) down the wells to kill the bacteria and make it safe for future drinking. Has anyone ever heard of such a story?


texts: What was the reason for the Ottoman invasion of Otranto?

texts:
In 1480, the Ottomans invaded Otranto and briefly occupied it. However, it didn't seem that the city was strategically important or held particular value to the Ottomans, nor did they seem to follow this up with meaningful actions (e.g. reinforcing it or expanding their holding in Italy). They had to abandon it  in the next year anyway. On the other hand, this act seemed to provoke a sort of Crusade against them

What was the reason for this invasion?


texts: Did Hitler make the right decision for Germany when he called off Operation Zitadelle (during the Battle of Kursk)?

texts:
On the night of 9/10 July, the Western Allies mounted an amphibious
  invasion of Sicily. Three days later, Hitler summoned Günther von
  Kluge and Erich von Manstein to his Wolfsschanze headquarters in East
  Prussia and declared his intention to "temporarily" call off Operation Zitadelle. Von Manstein attempted to dissuade him, arguing that
  Zitadelle was on the brink of victory: "on no account should we let go
  of the enemy until the mobile reserves which he had committed were
  decisively beaten". In an unusual reversal of their roles, Hitler gave
  von Manstein a few more days to continue the offensive, but on 17
  July, he ordered a withdrawal and canceled the operation. He then
  ordered the entire SS Panzer Corps to be transferred to Italy.[87]

While Hitler often made notoriously poor judgments for all the wrong reasons, did he make the right decision for Germany (for the wrong reason) in this specific isolated case? Was Zitadelle really on the brink of victory as Von Manstein believed?


texts: The practice of translating foreign monarch's or noble's name

texts:
In history texts, past foreign monarchs are normally referred to by the English version of their name, e.g. Francis I (not François), Charles V (not Carlos, Karel, or Karl), Phillip II (not Felipe). However, current or recent monarchs are referred to by their native names e.g. King Juan Carlos, (not John Charles) or Wilhelm II, not William. This seems to be the case for other nobilities as well.

Does this reflects the contemporary custom of name usage, or only reflects today's historians' convention? When exactly and why did the tendency change?


texts: What was Texas called after gaining its independence and why was it called that?

texts:
What was Texas' name after it won its independence?

So I know that Texas was either called "The Republic of Texas" or "The Lone Star Republic", but I am not sure which name is more accurate, and why was Texas called that?
edit:I have done some research but I come to a mix of the two names i got above


texts: Why did Jefferson have to 'Stretch the Constitutional Breaking Point' for the Louisiana Purchase?

texts:
Because the U.S. Constitution did not explicitly grant the president the power to purchase territory, when the 'Now or Never' moment came to purchase the Louisiana territory, he had 'stretched presidential prerogative up to, if not past, the constitutional breaking-point'.

Why didn't Jefferson (being a srict constitutionalist) petition Congress to pass an amendment granting him, or Congress itself the right to purchase the territory instead of having to resort to 'stretching' the constitution?


texts: Was Hagia Sophia built over a pagan temple?

texts:
According to Britannica's online article on Hagia Sophia:

The original church on the site of the Hagia Sophia is said to have been built by Constantine I in 325 on the foundations of a pagan temple.

The article does not list a source for this information and I can't seem to find any further information about it. Is there any evidence Hagia Sophia was built on the foundations of a pagan temple?


texts: European colonization of India: contrast with America?

texts:
The European colonization of Americas was a bloody conquest leading to  significant destruction of the native population (and their cultures). Aside from the fact that a lot of natives inadvertently died of disease, some historians (David E. Stannard etc) have argued that European prejudice towards natives resulted in a deliberate/state-sponsored genocide.

Contrast this with India.
Colonized around the same time frame, natives of a different race and religion. Yet the European conquest was considerably more "benign" (unless I am mistaken, there was no large scale extermination or state policy to expunge natives).

Why did Europeans from the same place and time behave differently upon landing in India versus entering America?


texts: Was "Mad Anthony" Wayne of the Continental Army really that cruel like shown in this video?

texts:
In the TV show "Turn: Washington's Spies" (which I like to recommend throughly), there are some scenes in the 4th season which show Brigadier General Anthony Wayne of the Continental Army, who earned himself the sobriquet (nickname) "Mad Anthony" during the war.

In one particular scene of the show, he orders to execute the leaders of a mutiny through their comrades, who were also involved in the mutiny and - this stands out the most - from a distance of approx. just one meter. This is a very cruel way to execute personel and is actually a huge contrast in this war in which - at least I have that impression - usually a Gentleman like conduct was also applied in all aspects, also during hangings, shootings. Through the short distance, the executioners are forced to see the vivid impact of the projectile and the muzzle fire much clearer and it forces them to vomit.

The scene can bee seen here at begin from second 41, to which I linked the video. I suggest not watching the 40 seconds before if you have not finished this show, as thy contain a massive spoiler:
https://vimeo.com/224506690#t=0m41s

My question: Is there any evidence that "Mad Anthony" Wayne ordered such sort of executions as illustrated in the show or is it just a hyperbole purely invented by the showrunners?


texts: How would a strength report be collected from a brigade?

texts: I was reading a book in which I saw that the Baron de Steuben had collected strength reports from each brigade of the Continental Army when he was training them in Valley Forge, but it did not go into any detail. How would a strength report be collected? What would it include? For example, would it be that one brigade can move quickly or that they are good at bayonet charges, or something else?


texts:
William the Conqueror was a bastard and I have heard him being referred to as William the Bastard by a Beefeater on a tour in the Tower of London.

Are there any other examples of bastards becoming kings in history? I'd be especially interested if any  bastards from common bloodlines ever became kings.


texts: How did a nomadic minority group the Manchus come to rule over China?

texts: The population of the Chinese empire was about 120 times larger than the Jurchen tribe, who later renamed themselves to Manchus. Yes, the Manchus were very skilled warriors and the late Ming dynasty was facing internal troubles but how did such an insignificant group of hunter gatherers form a new dynasty in China lasting from something like 1644 to 1912?


texts:
Australian Federal Politics has been tumultuous for Prime Ministers. The last 10 years have seen 6 Prime Ministers (when a political term in Australia is normally four years).

But this is not the first time this has happened. It is the second. When we look at the historic record we see the first time this happened:

Barton - 1901
Deakin - 1903
Watson - 1904
Reid - 1904
Deakin - 1905
Fisher - 1908
Deakin - 1909
Fisher - 1910

What would have caused this?

My question is: This is the second time Australia has had 6 PMs in 10 years. What caused it the first time?


texts: What do the phone number suffixes J, M, R, W in 1940 New York phone book mean?

texts:
Browsing through the Staten Island, NY telephone directory of January 1940, I found that certain phone numbers were printed with a suffix J, M, R or W. What do these mean? I've marked a few of them in the image below.

The phone book itself does not define these suffixes -- I checked carefully. These letters do not seem to represent calling rate zones, as Staten Island had only two zones.

Party lines? I'm aware that up to 4 customers could share a phone number and each would get a distinctive ring so the correct party would know to pick up, but I've never known how one would call a particular party on a party line. This phone book mentions that "party lines are available" but gives no further information about them.


texts: Do any sources confirm this quote from Pope Urban II's speech at the Council of Clermont?

texts:
according to  chronicle of  Robert the Monk, Pope Urban II said -

  ... this land which you inhabit, shut in on all sides by the seas and
  surrounded by the mountain peaks, is too narrow for your large
  population; nor does it abound in wealth; and it furnishes scarcely
  food enough for its cultivators. Hence it is that you murder one
  another, that you wage war, and that frequently you perish by mutual
  wounds. Let therefore hatred depart from among you, let your quarrels
  end, let wars cease, and let all dissensions and controversies
  slumber. Enter upon the road to the Holy Sepulchre; wrest that land
  from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves... God has
  conferred upon you above all nations great glory in arms. Accordingly
  undertake this journey for the remission of your sins, with the
  assurance of the imperishable glory of the Kingdom of Heaven.

There are actually  five versions of the speech differ widely from one another in regard to particulars. What I would like  to know is that, is there any other source that confirms anything similar to the below part-

  Hence it is that you murder one
  another, that you wage war, and that frequently you perish by mutual
  wounds. Let therefore hatred depart from among you, let your quarrels
  end, let wars cease, and let all dissensions and controversies
  slumber. Enter upon the road to the Holy Sepulchre; wrest that land
  from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves


texts:
In Jefferson Davis' first message to the Congress of the Confederate States, he stated that:

  owners of slaves were mobbed and even murdered in open day solely for applying to a magistrate for the arrest of a fugitive slave

What particular event(s) was he alluding to (if any)?


texts: What does it mean to have a "proved son?"

texts:
What is a "proved son?" What does it mean for a child to be "proved."

Here is the context: I was reading on Wikipedia about Lady Godiva and it said

  Lady Godiva was the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. They had one proved son Aelfgar, Earl of Mercia.


texts:
What is the period in French history portrayed in Les Misérables in the early 1800s? Also, who was the French King at that time - the restored King?

I thought the French Revolution was in the late 1700s, and did away with kings. Or did the "Napoleonic" period change that early in the 19th century?


texts:
On June 11, 1782, John Adams secured a much needed loan for the new Republic from Holland. How exactly did this work in the days of strictly paper currency? What did it mean to loan internationally back then (and even today)?
Did Holland send their own currency? Did they send it in the form of some standard, i.e gold bullion? How did the U.S. pay this back? In some other standard? I just have no concept of how an international power could lend anything other than goods in the 18th century.


texts: Identifying the Soldier in this minature painting

texts:
I bought a minature painting in a wooden / gilt frame. The portrait is signed Lila Sampson. Inside the frame was another miniature painting of a man in uniform. I am trying to find out more about both paintings. I would like to know if anyone could help to idenitfy the regiment of the soldier or any information about either painting. Lila Sampson was born in Derbyshire SAMPSON Lila fl. 1904-1922 She was a Portrait painter who lived in Tibshelf, Derbyshire and exhibited many works ar the Nottingham Castle Museum and also showed at the RA.
[minature 01

Here is the minature that was dislpayed in the frame, the painting of the soldier was found when I opened the frame.


texts:
I am interested in studying History. I'm interested in post-Victorian history and ancient history. What books would you suggest for me to gain some starter knowledge? Are you aware of any good schemes/events that may give me valuable experience?
I am 16 and go onto study History next year in sixth form studies. I live in the UK.
Thank you.


texts: Who was this Roman General/figure of authority who, on his deathbed, named these two regrets?

texts:
In my undergrad I took a Roman History/Culture class and remember the professor mentioning someone who died naming two regrets:

He once told a secret to a woman
He once spent a day idle/doing nothing

The second of which I find very inspiring. I would like to know the identity of this man/read more about him.


texts: What might be the "Blue Storm Republic" mentioned by a Chinese history of Europe?

texts:
Today, when I read a book about the history of Europe ,when it comes to the European Union, it described as the following words "Main governing bodies of EU include:The Council of the European Union,...,Blue Storm Republic".

What's the "Blue Storm Republic"?


texts:
From what I know developed countries seem to have stayed developed (or at least recovered quickly) even if there was a devastating war, e.g. Germany after WW2. If it's indeed the case that developed countries tend to stay developed, I wonder why - in other endeavours such as sports, if one does not practice, one's skill decreases quickly. That would seem to indicate that getting to a developed state is hard, but getting "undeveloped" is easy. Besides, if it's easy for a formerly-developed state to become developed again quickly, that should also indicate that currently-developing countries should be able to develop quickly, and that's clearly not the case.

The easiest explanation is that my knowledge is wrong. Is it? Were there any developed countries that became "undeveloped" for reasons other than war?


texts: During World War II, were there any parts of the Japanese overseas empire that was capable of local re-supply?

texts:
During World War II, the Japanese Home Islands stood at the center of an empire, to which raw materials were sent, and from which manufactured goods, included arms, were dispatched.

Toward the end of the war, the Japanese Home Islands were blockaded and cut off from its territories, which is to say that she couldn't send arms to them.

Is it fair to say that most heavy equipment, planes, ships, tanks, heavy artillery were manufactured in, and came from Japan? But are there any parts of the empire where Japanese troops were capable of resupplying even small arms and ammunition locally? Or would the overseas territories "wither on the vine" when they were cut off from the mother country?


texts: How well did William III speak English at time of the Glorious Revolution in 1688?

texts:
In my answer to the question Is there a historic reason for why the Balkans are so fragmented? I discuss political and religious turmoil in the British Isles from the end of the Hundred Years War in 1453 through the Counter Reformation, culminating in a foreign invasion in 1688 by the Dutchman William III. At that time, how well could William converse in English?

In particular, is there evidence that he could hold a meaningful discussion of state in English, rather than simply hold general conversation or speak sweet nothings with his wife and co-regnant (Mary Stuart).

Clarification

I am looking for evidence on William's ability (or disability), in the near prelude or aftermath of the Glorious Revolution of 1688, to hold discussions of state (eg audiences) with his ministers in English.


texts: Is this character based on a real person?

texts:
In the 2014 historical novel Natchez Burning, by Greg Iles, chapter 29:

  A black Mississippian who left his native state in the early 1950s to go to law school, Quentin Avery fought on the front lines of the civil rights movement, wherever those lines happened to be.

And in chapter 38:

  During the 1960s and '70s, Quentin argued four cases before the United States Supreme Court—one a landmark civil rights case—and won them all. He became a hero to many, and his name was mentioned in the same sentences as Thurgood Marshall and James Nabrit. But by the mid-1980s, the young firebrand had turned his mind to lucre rather than to justice, taking on high-profile (and very profitable) drug cases. In the 1990s he moved on to personal injury cases, two of which made him genuinely wealthy.

Is this fictional description modeled after someone real? If so, whom?


texts: Lion in European monarchies' coats of arms

texts:
I recently found out that most European monarchies have the same kind of lion in their coats of arms. As you can see, it is a lion with a strange long tongue:

Netherlands

United Kingdom

Prince of Wales

Spain

Norway

Denmark

Luxembourg

Sweden

Now, of course the lion has always (since when to be precise?) been seen as the king of the jungle, and is an animal that usually symbolises strength. So it makes sense to use it on a monarchy's flag. But my question is

Why do all these monarchies have the same lion in their coats of arms?

It looks like they all come from the same source. Does anybody know what this common source could be?

Here somebody proposed that the rampant lion was a good choice simply because it fits the shields well. Personally, I don't really agree with this explanation... many other designs can fit a shield perfectly!


texts: Is the Lebanese town of Nabatieh related in any way to the ancient Nabatean Civilization?

texts: Was Nabatieh in South Lebanon founded by the Nabateans of North Arabia(ex: Petra). If anyone finds some information on it, could you also please share the source so I can learn more about my ancestral hometown.


texts: Why did Spanish kings repeatedly split their kingdoms between their children upon death?

texts:
In the middle ages, Christian-held Spain were split into different kingdoms and realms. Before the eventual unification by the "Catholic Monarchs" (Ferdinand II and Isabela I), other kings have unified multiple kingdoms, but the kingdoms split again between children. For example:

Ferdinand I unified Leon and Castile but "by his will, [he] divided his kingdom among his three sons: the eldest, Sancho, received Castile; the second, Alfonso, León; and from the latter the region of Galicia was carved off to create a separate state for García." (Wikipedia)
Alfonso VII inherited the unified kingdoms from his mother, but after his death the throne split between his sons Sancho III of Castile and Ferdinand II of León.
Alfonso III also unified the kingdom which later split, but at least the reason for the split was explained because his children rebelled, forced him to abdicate and split the kingdom between them.

What was the reason for these recurring split? From geopolitical point of view, this prevented consolidation of the realms in the fight against the Muslims, and caused infightings because the successors were prone to claim each other's thrones.


texts: Who was the first human to survive a vertical launched rocket flight?

texts:
In 1961 Yuri Gagarin flew a rocket and survived, parachuting safely back to earth.
According to Wikipedia, Lothar Sieber, a German pilot, tested a rocket in 1945 but died in the first test flight.
So the question is who is the first man to have survived a manned vertical rocket launch? This is presumably without reaching space and landing the rocket via controlled flight, or a parachute or other means.


texts:
I'm not a historian at all but would be interested in reading not-too-technical (accessible and "enjoyable" for non-historians) books about a "global" history of nations; or maybe as approximation a history of european nations, or a history of east-asian nations, or any book that sort of adresses the question of how national feelings are born and evolve throughout history.
Let me give an example of what I mean : Germany, as a nation-state, is of course a very modern idea, but as a nation (or proto-nation) has been here for much longer, namely there has been for much longer a sense that such and such people were Germans or "germanic" whatever that may mean.
And this notion may seem anachronistic, and such a book would also adress this point, namely how the earlier notions of "German" compare to the modern idea (which revolves, I guess, around stuff like language, culture, and a shared history).
I used Germany as an example but I'm interested in a broader analysis as I indicated above, ideally something that covers groups of nations that developed similarly to some extent, or even globally an analysis of "all nations", which would compare different evolutions of this notion and not focus on a specific country, studying the similarities and differences between, I don't know, the German national feeling and the Chinese national feeling.
It would be very nice if such books could focus on political things (nation-states, or approximations thereof) but also more cultural things (national feeling) and how they relate; and study the very idea of "nation".
Hopefully I made myself clear and this question is appropriate - of course I don't expect books that do exactly what I want.
Thanks in advance !


texts: What other war crimes trials, besides those of Nazi war criminals, were held after WWII?

texts:
Why were the Nuremberg trials after WWII for the Germans only? The same charges used against the the Germans could be easily extended to the Japanese or possibly Italians. They have committed as much war atrocities as the others against the Chinese and POW.
Why was not the Japanese Emperor and his generals charged as most of the German counterparts?


texts: Is black American history only about segregation, slavery, and the 3 people you get taught about in school?

texts:
I'm a black eighth-grader, and I'm learning about slavery and stuff. But it hit me, in all of the time I've been learning history, I have only seen my people talked about (just in the book) if the topic is slavery, the teacher may talk about segregation and try to connect it with the history book somehow but that was in elementary. I guess you can't get too in-depth with the whole racism thing for 4th graders.
When it's black history month the school, both past, and present, does an attempt at representing my people, but each year I only learn about Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington Carver, and that's it (I learned about Harriet Tubman from a TikTok video so she was excluded). We have to write an essay about one of these people and blah blah blah, rinse-wash-repeat every year.
I don't know my heritage (knowing it won't do anything with me) so I'm focusing on American history.
My question is, did black American history only have like 3 people, 4 if I'm generous, that were notable? And is black history only about slavery and segregation? Or is it my school that isn't teaching me about my culture.


texts: Was there a rational reason for Napoleon to attack Russia while the Peninsular War was still in progress?

texts:
My question somewhat parallels this question. There is one important difference however. In June 1941, Germany and Britain glared at each other across the English Channel, but there was no more land fighting between them in Europe after the Balkans campaign, and only minimal air and sea contact. (Hitler was fighting Britain in North Africa, but even there he "chose to" rather than "had to.") In 1812, on the other hand, Napoleon was still embroiled in the Peninsular War in Spain, which he described as an "ulcer."

The war in Spain was finely balanced, which suggests that Napoleon could have won it, if he had refrained from invading Russia. Why not throw the Grande Armee into Spain in 1812 instead? Even Hitler (much to his annoyance) refrained from attacking the Soviet Union while the Balkans campaign was in progress.

What caused him to choose to invade Russia before winning an ongoing war in Spain? There were some provocations, such as Russia's surreptitiously trading with the British, etc. But were there any existential threats comparable to the one that existed in Spain? Was there a plausible fear, for instance, that if he didn't attack Russia, that Russia would attack him? Or could it have been a case that the dangers of fighting a two front war were less understood than they were a century later?

Clarification

I am going to make explicit an intention that I had earlier only hinted at, that I am asking for "rational" reasons (if any) that Napoleon attacked Russia in 1812 (rather than later after the end of the Peninsular War). These reasons need not be "rational" with hindsight, only with what was believed in the context of the time; e.g. a fear of a preemptive Russian attack or a misunderstanding of a two front war (countries were more inclined to engage in them in the 18th rather than 20th century). What was the "conventional wisdom" at the time about an attack on Russia, given the experience of Charles XII of Sweden, but without the benefit of Hitler's or Napoleon's (later) experience? I am not seeking answers along the lines of "Napoleon was crazy" unless you make a case that rules out "rational" motives.