texts: Why wasn't Mao purged after the failure of the Great Leap Forward?

texts:
In 1958, Mao Zedong launched the Great Leap Forward, an attempt to forcibly collectivise Chinese agriculture and industrialise the country within just a few years.  This involved the use of pseudoscientific farming practices which reduced yield rather than increasing it, massive industrial and irrigation projects which diverted manpower from food production and placed enormous demands on the remaining farmers, attempts to stamp out the customs and traditions that served as the fabric of the peasant farmers' livelihood, wholesale torture and murder of anyone who tried to point out the impossibility of the demands being placed on the populace or the massive blunders being made, etc.
Unsurprisingly, the Great Leap Forward was an unmitigated disaster, seeing a collapse in food production, the confiscation by Communist Party officials of what little food was left, massive famine (resulting in 30-55 million deaths),1 and tremendous damage to the Chinese economy and infrastructure; armed revolts broke out across China (although not on a large enough scale to seriously threaten the central government's hold on the country), and the catastrophe probably came closer than anything else before or since to causing the collapse of the People's Republic of China.  Mao, the architect of the Great Leap Forward, was forced out of the governmental decision-making process in favour of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping (allowing China to recover from what Mao had done to it), and remained out of power until he made his return in 1966 with the Cultural Revolution.  However, unlike the opponents of the Great Leap Forward, who had been purged (and, in many cases, executed) for daring to oppose him, Mao was allowed a comfortable semi-retirement which left him the opportunity to plan his comeback.  This would eventually come around to bite Liu and Deng in their asses, as Mao had both of them purged in revenge (resulting in Liu's death and nearly Deng's as well).
Given the disaster Mao had wrought, why didn't Liu and Deng have him purged (and possibly executed) as punishment for the failures of the Great Leap Forward?

1: This makes the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-1961 the single deadliest famine in all of recorded history (with even low-end estimates placing it at well over twice the death toll of the runner-up), caused China's population to actually decrease during the years of the Great Leap Forward (one of only three times this has happened in the last 600 years), and left 1960 with the dubious honour of being the only known year in human history where the total number of human deaths worldwide surpassed 60 million (a number that has still not been surpassed, even with the considerable increase in the world's population since then).


texts: Copper and Bronze Age Burials in Western Europe

texts:
Can anyone estimate the number of high-prestige burials that have been found in France, Spain or Portugal which date from, say, 3000 BC to 1000 BC?

For example, supposing that there were 2000 persons of highest prestige over that broad time and place, about how many of those 2000 high-prestige burials (or cremated-ash burials?) have been investigated by archaeologists?  About when did burials give way to cremations?


texts: Which leading Serbs and Croats argued against their own extremists in the wars 1992-95?

texts:
Looking back on the wars in Bosnia and Croatia twenty years on, and having read many of the histories of the period, I can't think of any accounts of commanders on either side behaving with vision or humanity.

Were there cases of commanders on either side who strove to keep their soldiers in order, condemned rapes and war crimes and argued against their own extremists?

I am not so interested in politicians, civilians or church leaders. I am more interested in military commanders who were willing to fight for their own side, and believed in their cause but simply didn't believe in committing atrocities. I am happy to learn about any cases regardless of whether their opposition was founded in principle or pragmatism, snobbishness (per the Prussian aristocrats who scorned Nazi excesses), human decency, or because they sensed atrocities would be counter-productive.

I assume there were some old JNA men who quietly retired when they saw where things were going and wanted no part of it? But I'm especially interested in those who fought, but didn't dishonour their profession.


texts: What is the context for Glennon's 1956 intelligence gathering trip to the USSR?

texts:
In 1956, my father, John J. Glennon (Librarian of the Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences, now the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics) was one of the few fluent Russian speakers in the US, as I was given to understand. He was recruited by the FBI's New York Office by John Connolly to work with the CIA. In November of 1956, my father traveled to Russia after a thorough background check of friends, family, etc. I understood that his assignment was to find out what was the status of aircraft (not sure what else). He spent three weeks there.
Is more known about the context of that trip and about his project? He never spoke of this assignment. Does anyone have any information about John J. Glennon's visit to the USSR or the name he used in Moscow?
He was driven around of course and attended a high level gathering on November 7, 1956. He took 33mm videos which we still have.
From the OP's comments:
This is NOT a technical question relating to spaceflight but it has to do with the history of spaceflight. This is a personal question indeed. You never know if someone who reads this may know. I am 70 now and would like to extend the little information I have. I have applied and applied through the Freedom of Information Act to no avail.


texts:
The following graph from the world bank website shows the world wide military expenditure in percentage of the world GDP over time from 1988 to 2015

I am trying to find similar data over a much longer period of time. Over the last 3000 years would be ideal! Of course, I realize that such data might result from very rough estimations and might eventually be specific to a certain area of the world and arguably not representative.

Where could I find similar data over a much longer period of time?


texts: How did the ancestors of proto-Malagasy in South Borneo reach Madagascar?

texts:
The Malagasy, the original inhabitants of Madagascar, are of both African and Asian ancestry. Both linguistic and genetic evidence point to an Indonesian
origin of the Asian ancestors, specifically the island of Borneo. For example,

Matthew E. Hurles, Bryan C. Sykes, Mark A. Jobling, and Peter Forster, "The Dual Origin of the Malagasy in Island Southeast Asia and East Africa: Evidence from Maternal and Paternal Lineages." Am J Hum Genet. 2005 May; 76(5): 894-901. (online)

  Among the 10 potential ancestral populations in Island Southeast Asia and Oceania that we sampled, the Borneo populations had Y-chromosomal haplogroup distributions that were the most similar to those observed among the Malagasy. This observation is in striking agreement with the linguistic evidence that the Malagasy language is most closely related to the Maanyan language from the Barito River Valley in southern Borneo.

However, I have not been able to find reliable information on how settlers from Borneo would have reached Madagascar. Wikipedia merely states:

  Traditionally, archaeologists have estimated that the earliest settlers arrived in successive waves throughout the period between 350 BC and 550 AD, while others are cautious about dates earlier than 250 AD. [...] Early settlers arrived in outrigger canoes from southern Borneo. [citation needed]

The great-circle distance between southeast Borneo and Madagascar appears to be about 5500 miles, of which about 5000 miles are open sea after leaving
the Indonesian archipelago, with very few islands (Christmas Island, Cocos Islands, Mauritius, and Reunion) along this most direct route.
A map of prevailing winds indicates that they are favorable for a sea voyage from Borneo to Madagascar.
Data I found on the performance of Polynesian outrigger canoes indicates a top speed of about 20 knots (~23 miles/hour):

Geoffrey Irwin and Richard G. J. Flay, "Pacific Colonisation and Canoe Performance: Experiments in the Science of Sailing", The Journal of the Polynesian Society, 124.4 (2015): 419.
(online)

Assuming a more likely average speed of 10 knots, this would suggest that the minimum travel time on the most direct route would have been about three weeks. While this makes the direct route appear unlikely to me, it is still somewhat plausible. I am not aware of evidence that any outrigger canoes that may have been available to the settlers of Madagascar would have had performance characteristics similar to those of (more modern?) Polynesian canoes, or that their navigational skills matched the highly-developed skills of Polynesians seafarers (as evidenced by the Marshall Island stick charts, for example).

A plausible alternative, a longer indirect route from Borneo to Madagascar, would presumably touch on Southern India, the Arabian peninsula, and East Africa, using trade routes that existed in antiquity, and possibly utilize trading vessels in use at the time, rather than outrigger canoes.

What is the current state of our knowledge regarding potential routes and vessels the Asian ancestors of the Malagasy may have used to reach Madagascar, and some key items of evidence supporting any hypotheses that may exist?


texts: How much (area) territory did Chinese dynasties control?

texts:
I am looking for the area of the territories controlled by the different Chinese dynasties since Zhou all the way to the Qing. There are maps available of the different territories but I haven't found the area specified anywhere. In principle the information could be extracted from the images, but I don't want to resort to counting pixels!

Any resource (preferably in English) that contains this information would be appreciated. It doesn't need to track changes every year, only the significant ones.


texts: Is there an accepted explanation for multiple independent "cradles of civilization"?

texts:
Human history begins with millions of years of hunter-gathering and lithic technology:

  The Paleolithic ... is ... distinguished by the development of the
  most primitive stone tools ... and covers roughly 95% of human
  technological prehistory.

Then, within a few thousand years, there are multiple instances of independent developments associated with civilization, including agriculture, domestication, cities, writing, and politics:

  Current scholarship generally identifies six sites where civilization
  emerged independently: Mesopotamia, the Nile River, the Indus River,
  the Yellow River, the Central Andes, and Mesoamerica.

This seems rather a coincidence.  Presumably, either the precursors for civilization were already in place 11-10 ka BP when the American migrants split off from the rest of the world, or there has been significant technology interchange since then.  Is there an accepted (or at least dominant) explanation for the multiple coincidental independent technological booms that occurred in just the last few thousand years of human history?

Note: There are quite a few theories for the advent of the related "neolithic revolution", so I fear the answer to my question is "no", but figured I'd ask.


texts:
Wiktionary's etymology of the term sub rosa reads:

  The rose's connotation for secrecy dates back to Greek mythology. Aphrodite gave a rose to her son Eros, the god of love; he, in turn, gave it to Harpocrates, the god of silence, to ensure that his mother's indiscretions (or those of the gods in general, in other accounts) were kept under wraps. In the Middle Ages a rose suspended from the ceiling of a council chamber pledged all present – those under the rose, that is – to secrecy.

Does anybody know which part of the world the above-mentioned council chamber used to be in? I'm also interested in any other related information.


texts: What is the labelling system for artefacts?

texts:
I have no practical or academic experience with archaeology.

Some well-known archaeological sites have colloquial names. For example Newgrange or its Kerbstone 52. They can be unambiguously referred to as such.

However suppose I am, for example, writing an academic paper about Neolithic Ireland and want to refer to a specific (for argument's sake let's say it's a lunula) which has no colloquial name. I want to refer to it's design in support of my argument, and ideally include pictures in the paper, and a reference to the object itself in the bibliography. Are archaeological artifacts assigned unambiguous serial numbers to allow this?

What would the form of such a serial number be? If there are more than one popular systems, which is most likely to be used in reference to Neolithic Ireland.

It would be very helpful if someone could say, for example, what Kerbstone 52 is called in the literature.

Thanks in advance.


texts: What is the period/term used describe Giuseppe Arcimboldo's style of painting?

texts:
Giuseppe Arcimboldo was best known for creating portrait heads entirely up of objects. Here are some examples:

He is described as a '16th century Mannerist' and the 'Grandfather of Surrealism'. However, I am looking for a more specific term used to describe this type of painting where subjects are composed of other objects upon closer inspection so that I hopefully take a look at other paintings in this style. An analogy would be how cubism was an offshoot of 3-dimensional art form and later became its own art movement.


texts: Is there evidence that Stalin stopped religious persecution during WW2?

texts:
I read in some articles that during WW2 the Soviets reopened the churches and allowed their people to do their religious practices.

Is there any evidence to confirm such things?

If yes up to which level and for how many years this tolerance continued?


texts: How did the Railway Engines get to the Rainhill Trials?

texts:
The five locomotives that took part in the Rainhill Trials came from all over the UK. How were they transported to Rainhill?

The rail network was pretty much non-existent, so presumably by road. I have read here that Perseverance was

  damaged on the way to the Rainhill Trials when the wagon that was carrying it overturned

but I'm only surmising that this was a road vehicle accident as this isn't specified. Did all the locomotives get to Rainhill that way? (Presumably horse-drawn?)

Was it common to move such heavy loads such relatively long distances (Perseverance was from Leith, some 230 miles from Rainhill by our modern road network) by road then?

The only other way might have been by canal but I'm only guessing.


texts: Were there any travel restrictions during the Black Death pandemic?

texts:
From the Wikipedia article Black Death:

  The Black Death, also known as the Pestilence, Great Bubonic Plague, the Great Plague or the Plague, or less commonly the Great Mortality or the Black Plague, was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. The bacterium Yersinia pestis, which results in several forms of plague (septicemic, pneumonic and, the most common, bubonic), is believed to have been the cause.

Did any country implement any form of travel ban during this pandemic?


texts: Has anyone (other than Churchill) indicated that the Germans might have won a negotiated peace in World War II?

texts:
I have long believed that it was possible for the Germans to get to a strong position that might have led to a "stalemate" and hence a negotiated peace in World War II/ The main ways were: 1) conquer the remainder of European Russia; 2) the Germans break through southern Russia and the Japanese break through India, joining hands in the Middle East; 3) U Boat warfare to force the surrender of Britain.
In support of this idea, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, both a historian and a historical figure, was apparently referring to the last possibility with the statement "The U-Boat attack was our greatest evil... It would have been wise for the Germans to stake all on it." Clearly, he thought that the Germans  had done this (and succeeded), there would have been, shall we say, complications in the Germans' favor. (The Americans might then have concentrated their efforts in the Pacific to save China, India, and part of Russia.)
Has any other historian or historical figure alluded to this or analagous possibility that the Axis' best potential was that they could have won a favorable settlement through any of the means mentioned above or others?


texts:
In an early version of my earlier Skoda Works question, I placed the works in the "Sudetenland." A European protested that they were 250 kms. away from the Sudetes mountains, which he considered the heart of the Sudetenland.

That's where (American) Wikipedia begins. But the entry says "The German-speaking regions according to mother tongue (highlighted in black within an outline map of the current Czech Republic) [were] popularly referred to in interwar period as the Sudetenland." That was the "Sudetenland" as I remember it from my study of American history. Basically, it encompasses most of the Czech border region except the eastern boundary with Slovakia.

Are their differing "narrow" (e.g.European), and "broad" (e.g American) definitions ofthe Sudetenland? Is one more correct or accepted than the other? And are the Skoda works located in "my" (American) definition of the Sudetenland?


texts: How was the Urnfield culture represented around 1300 BC in the area the Romans called Gallia Belgica?

texts:
I have been doing some research for the alternate history book I've been thinking about writing for a few years now, and have been happy to be able to fit my events nicely into geography and established history. I have some questions that I'd like some clarification on that are related to the Urnfield culture.

According to several maps I've found online, the urnfield culture was present mainly on the Eastern side of the area the Romans later called Gallia Belgica, and beyond that area to all directions. Where was the border between this area and the West European Bronze Age in terms of modern terminology?
When judged by population, what were the biggest settlements in the above-determined area between the WEBA and the Rhine?


texts:
I've been gathering some information around the history of printing and noticed that the Gutenberg Bible did not feature page numbering. It makes sense pagination was not used then, even if it might have been possible at the time.
Megg's History of Graphic Design (4th edition) mentions:

Vindelinus, de Spira’s 1470 edition of Augustine’s De civitate Dei
was the first typographic book with printed page numbers.

I've read a few Wikipedia entries about History of Printing, History of books, pagination. While some information is found in pagination like a comment below mentions, I'm looking for a bit more context.
How did pagination come to be used? Did pagination start out as numbers or were there other ways to find information that came first?


texts: What was the estimated population of the Mississippi Valley before contact with Europeans?

texts:
According to Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel (p. 211), the Mississippi Valley used to contain populous Indian societies:

When we in the United States think of the most populous New World
societies existing in 1492, only those of the Aztecs and the Incas
tend to come to our minds. We forget that North America also supported
populous Indian societies in the most logical place, the Mississippi
Valley, which contains some of our best farmland today.

In the following paragraphs he also claims that archaeological evidence suggests that North America in total had a population of about 20 million before Columbus' arrival. What was the estimated population in the Mississippi Valley before Columbus' arrival, and how large an area did this society cover? (I want to know this in order to get an idea of its population density).
And how did historians arrive at this number?


texts: What was the first political document that invoked the interest or betterment of humanity?

texts:
What was the first political document or speech that invoked the interest or betterment of humanity as a whole as a substantiation for an action or a move?

Invocation of the betterment for a nation, religion, confession, state, race or ethnic group does not count.


texts: In Britain, what was the "Junior Service" in 1913?

texts:
I read a marriage notice from 1913, which noted that the father of the groom "has four sons abroad, three having served with distinction in the junior Service".
(West Sussex Gazette, Thu 13 Feb 1913, British Newspaper Archive link, paywalled).

I was curious about the term "junior Service". A quick search suggested that the RAF is sometimes called the junior service, as it was established more recently than the army or navy (e.g. BBC and Quora). But the RAF was founded in 1918, and this article pre-dates that by five years.

So what might the "junior Service" have been in the British military in 1913?

I know that all of the groom's six brothers were in military service at some point:
One in the Royal Flying Corps
Two in the Royal Army Service Corps
Two in the Royal Army Medical Corps
One in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps

Not all of them may have enlisted by the time the article was written. I would guess from this list that any or all of them might be considered "junior" compared to the army and navy, but is there a reference that could clarify this?


texts: How did it happen that countries and cities got different names in different languages?

texts: I wonder why a single city's (or country's) name is different in various languages. To me, city and country names are somewhat similar to a person's given name, and it doesn't seem right to call anyone with a translated version of their name. But why is it ok with cities and countries?


texts: What is the significance of a battery charging hulk and how is it used?

texts:
From The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict [4 volumes]: A Political, Social, and Military History 1st Edition by Spencer C. Tucker. ISBN 978-1851098415

From page 961:

  Syria acquired three Romeo-class submarines from the Soviet Union during 1985-1986. An older Whiskey-class was also transferred to Syria in 1986 but to server as a battery-charging hulk to support the Romeo boats.

Obviously, the Whiskey class submarine was not acquired to serve in a combat role alongside the Romeo class submarines.

What is meany by "battery charging hulk"? Is there a need for additional charging capacity in some circumstances? Is the vessel able to move under its own power? Are the electrical systems of the two classes compatible? Are they any vessels produced explicitly as battery charging vessels?


texts: Could the Germans have "sealed off" the Sea of Azov in World War II?

texts:
After the fall of Sevastopol in June, 1942, the Soviet navy retreated to the east coast of the Black Sea.

North of the Black Sea is the much smaller Sea of Azov, with a narrow access through the Kerch Strait. The Germans controlled the two peninsulas on either side of the strait after the fall of Sevastopol.

Did the Germans deny the Russian navy access to the Sea of Azov, making it "safe" for waterborne transport by posting air and artillery units on either side of the Kerch Strait? If not (as I suspect), was that at least possible, given the technology of the time? (Later in the war, the Allies made the Atlantic, a much larger area, almost "submarine-proof" using air and search technology. Perhaps a better example is the fact that the Americans retained complete control over the Panama Canal.)


texts: Why was "Caesar" borrowed for the imperial title in German rather than "Augustus"?

texts:
After Caesar (which simply happened to be his family name) Octavius took the title Augustus which means better, more, augmented. And most Roman emperors and strong men took the title Augustus thereafter. Their second in command was given the title Caesar/Kaiser. Please correct me if this description is flawed!

But then why didn't the Germans use the title Augustus rather than Caesar for their word for Emperor?


texts:
For example, Chinese, Indian,.. did they use something like dot mark to separate sentences? If not, how can they know something is an object of the first sentence or the subject of the latter sentence?

I.e "I love you and Ann and Bruce and Charlie don't love you" is two sentences with two meanings based on different positions of dot mark

I love you and Anna.
And Bruce and Charlie don't love you

I love you.
And Anna and Bruce and Charlie don't love you


texts: Why did the Italians (and to some extent Jewish & Irish) dominate organized crime in the US in the 20th century?

texts:
Immigrants of a great many nationalities came to American shores, so why was it the Italians who reached such elaborate levels of criminal organization? (The Jewish & Irish seem to have come in second.)

Why not German or Scandinavian immigrants? Why did it have to be recent immigrants at all? Why not African Americans? (African American gangs only emerged as a major organized criminal force in the late 20th century.) British organized crime, the so-called "Firms", was "native" until very recently, and still mostly is, according to Wikipedia.


texts:
Believe he was in the Somerset Light Infantry based at Jellallabad camp Taunton sometime between 1890 and 1914.  Any help from anyone appreciated.  We cannot find his birth or death as he used different names so we are trying to pinpoint his army record.
Thank you for any help


texts: Irish Indentured Servitude and African Slaves

texts:
I have been seeing memes online about the Irish having been slaves in the Americas. There's a fair amount of material online detailing the difference between the treatment of the Irish as indentured servants and African chattel slavery.

As I recall, African slavery started out as indentured servitude and became chattel slavery, but the Irish seem to have become part early American society. For example, Andrew Jackson, who was of Irish heritage, was elected in 1829.

How did the switch happen?


texts: How far should I go back in Russian History in order to understand Communist Russia?

texts: I'm writing a story and need information on the Russian communist rule because I'm writing a book about a government much like that of communist Russia, specifically focused on a police state  government like USSR. My question is in order to understand USSR police state and the steps to get their, like Naomi Wolf's book "The E,nd of America", where should I start to understand communism time wise? Someone said 1850 right before the Russian revolution. Is early Russian and Slavic heritage history needed to understand communist rule under Stalin and Lenin?


texts: Who won the wrestling match between Lincoln and Jack Armstrong?

texts:
According to a site whose name is "Muscles of Iron", the above picture shows Lincoln after taking down “champion” Jack Armstrong at the general store in New Salem, 1831.

On the page where the picture is shown, it is written:

  But, before anybody could take Lincoln up on his offer, Jack Armstrong
  yelled out, “Boys, Abe Lincoln is the best fellow that ever broke into
  this settlement. He shall be one of us.” Then, with a touch of dignity
  and class, Armstrong held his hand out to Lincoln and congratulated
  him for his victory. This was the beginning of a special friendship
  between these two powerful men, a friendship that would last until
  Lincoln’s death.

But, Wikipedia, in reference to that match, says:

  His place with them was cemented when he engaged in a wrestling match
  with a local champion, Jack Armstrong. While Lincoln lost the match,
  he earned their respect. (My emphasis)

Therefore, since it seems that Wikipedia and Muscles of Irons, which show even a picture, report opposed versions about the result of that match, question is: Is there a reliable source that agrees with "Muscles of Irons"?


texts: Is David Graeber correct to assert that patriarchy did not exist in Sumeria?

texts:
In Debt: The First 5000 Years, David Graeber incisively claims that

  As we’ll see, there is reason to believe that it is in such moral
  crises that we can find the origin not only of our current conceptions
  of honor, but of patriarchy itself. This is true, at least, if we
  define  “patriarchy” in its more specific Biblical sense: the rule of
  fathers, with  all the familiar images of stern bearded men in robes,
  keeping a close  eye over their sequestered wives and daughters, even
  as their children  kept a close eye over their flocks and herds,
  familiar from the book  of Genesis. Readers of the Bible had always
  assumed that there was  something primordial in all this; that this
  was simply the way desert  people, and thus the earliest inhabitants
  of the Near East, had always  behaved. This was why the translation of
  Sumerian, in the first half of  the twentieth century, came as
  something of a shock.

  In the very earliest Sumerian texts, particularly those from roughly
  3000 to 2500 BC, women are everywhere. Early histories not only record the names of numerous female rulers, but make clear that women
  were well represented among the ranks of doctors, merchants, scribes,
  and public officials, and generally free to take part in all aspects
  of  public life. One cannot speak of full gender equality: men still
  outnumbered women in all these areas. Still, one gets the sense of
  a society  not so different than that which prevails in much of the
  developed  world today.

  [...] “Patriarchy” originated, first and foremost, in a rejection of
  the great  urban civilizations in the name of a kind of purity, a
  reassertion of paternal control against great cities like Uruk,
  Lagash, and Babylon, seen  as places of bureaucrats, traders, and
  whores. (emphasis added)

This struck me as a fairly major claim. This is related to the famous false claim of 1990s feminists that prehistoric, pre-urban human tribes were matriarchies, which does not have any evidence to back it up. But Graeber has a slightly different claim: that the first urban society had relatively equal status for men and women, or at least it did 5000 years ago.

When I check on Wikipedia, it claims something rather different:

  Sumerian culture was male-dominated and stratified. The Code of Ur-Nammu, the oldest such codification yet discovered, dating to the Ur III, reveals a glimpse at societal structure in late Sumerian law. Beneath the lu-gal ("great man" or king), all members of society belonged to one of two basic strata: The "lu" or free person, and the slave (male, arad; female geme). The son of a lu was called a dumu-nita until he married. A woman (munus) went from being a daughter (dumu-mi), to a wife (dam), then if she outlived her husband, a widow (numasu) and she could then remarry another man who was from the same tribe.

However, Wikipedia does not give a source for this interpretation. Can anyone help me out here?


texts: Did Boris Belousov join in his brother's conspiracy to kill the Emperor?

texts:
I'm working on a paper about the Belousov-Zhabotinsky-reaction (a chemical oscillator).

I included some information about the history of oscillation reaction, in particular about Boris Pavlovich Belousov and Anatol Markovich Zhabotinskii.

Boris Belousov was the first to discover the Belousov-Zhabotinsky-reaction (BZ-reaction), whilst Zhabotinsky later continued Belousovs research. See also this question.

In the paper 'An Analysis of the Belousov-Zhabotinskii Reaction' I read the following:

  Boris Pavlovich Belousov was born in Russia during the 19th century
  and was one of five children. His older brother first interested
  Belousov in science while constructing an explosive to assasinate the
  Czar. (It should be noted that they were unsuccessful in this
  attempt.)

I'm trying to check the fact if it is true that Belousov become interested in science because of constructing an explosive with his brother. I searched on the internet, but can't find an other source that confirms or denies this. Neither does the paper where I read this give sources for the claim.

Can anyone give alternative sources that confirm this story or deny it?

UPDATE: I've asked this question also on academia.stackexchange.com, for advice on whether to use it or not.


texts: Did any English duke ever grant away an earldom he held?

texts:
The standard idea said of feudalism is that nobles have vassals, which could have vassals of their own. So that noble might have an extra title lying around and grant it to someone in exchange for fealty.

But I don't think I've ever heard of an English duke having a sub-vassal who was an earl.

I'm assuming that elsewhere on the continent, it probably happened. I figure the Duke of Normandy must have had counts as vassals.

If this is true that English duke didn't do it, is this just due to English custom or law? Or just realities on the ground? (maybe English dukes didn't govern such ungainly territories that passing out titles for loyalty made sense)

Or maybe dukes were just weird in England to begin with, because I gather they were a late import from the continent and for most of the Middle Ages, England just had earls.


texts: What did the average German citizen know about the war?

texts: How much did the average German citizen know about the advancements and losses of the German armed forces; more specifically, did the citizens know in 1943 to 1945 that German forces were being pushed back on all fronts? What did German news papers commonly mention about the war?


texts: Did ordinary people during Hatshepsut's reign know she was a woman?

texts:
Queen Hatshepsut is probably the most famous female ruler of Ancient Egypt after Cleopatra.

Officially, she ruled jointly with Thutmose III, who had ascended to the throne the previous year as a child of about two years old. Hatshepsut was the chief wife of Thutmose II, Thutmose III's father.

At first glance this sounds like she was "just" the guardian of Thutmose III and representative of him until he came of age, but her actions and the way she presented herself point out that she was recognized and accepted as ruler (I'm intentionally avoiding the word "queen" here):

She build a new tomb worthy of a pharaoh (from Wikipedia: "Hatshepsut had begun construction of a tomb when she was the Great Royal Wife of Thutmose II, but the scale of this was not suitable for a pharaoh, so when she ascended the throne, preparation for another burial started."
There are several depictions of her with Thutmose III in which she has the more important role or more prominent position in front of a God, like in this example (Source: Wikipedia. Hieroglyphs showing Thutmose III on the left and Hatshepsut on the right, she having the trappings of the greater role — Red Chapel, Karnak)
She was depicted wearing the false beard, double crown and uraeus identifying her as king, which confused Egyptologists and led them to believe she was male for several decades.

This is called the "Hatshepsut Problem": that the queen of Egypt was depicted with male body and the male insignia of power - the false beard.
Egyptologist Jean-François Champollion wrote (source: Wikipedia again):

If I felt somewhat surprised at seeing here, as elsewhere throughout the temple, the renowned Moeris [Thutmose III], adorned with all the insignia of royalty, giving place to this Amenenthe [Hatshepsut], for whose name we may search the royal lists in vain, still more astonished was I to find upon reading the inscriptions that wherever they referred to this bearded king in the usual dress of the Pharaohs, nouns and verbs were in the feminine, as though a queen were in question. I found the same peculiarity everywhere...

I'd like to know which social classes during the reign of Hatshepsut where aware she was a woman. Any literate person in ancient Egypt would know about the biological sex of Hatshepsut if they read inscriptions using female verbs, but the number of those people was probably very small and limited to higher social classes. What about artisans and craftsmen who could read a simplyfied script? What about ordinary workers and farmers? Did those commoners who never saw her in person know she was a woman or did they assume she was a man?


texts: What was the salary of high ranking Roman government officials during the Principate?

texts:
During the Roman Principate, the Roman Empire was divided into two parts: Senatorial Provinces and Imperial Provinces. Senatorial Provinces were governed by propraetors and proconsuls, who received no salary but received a portion of the tax revenue. Imperial provinces were governed by legatus augusti pro praetore or procuratores augusti, or in the case of Egypt, by a praefectus augusti. These were usually members of the equestrian order.
Equestrian's in government service where divided into three ranks: Vir Egregii, Vir Prefectissimo, and Vir Emminentissimo. Vir Egregii where further subdivided by salary into sexagenarii, centenarii, ducenarii, and trecenarii. procuratores augusti were members of the Vir Egregii, as were praefectus classis.
My questions are as follows:

What rank where the legatus augusti pro praetore? What rank was the praefectus Aegypt?

What was the salary of Vir Prefectissimo? What was the salary of Vir Emminentissimo?

What other government officials of each rank where there?

What were the salaries and ranks of praefectus cohorti, tribunus militum, and praefectus alae?


texts: Why did the German air force lose experienced pilots faster than the Allies, even though they were defending their home airspace?

texts:
During the 1940 Battle of Britain, German and British planes shot down each other at roughly a one to one rate. This gave an advantage to the British because all of the surviving German pilots shot down over Britain became prisoners of war, while most of the surviving shot-down British pilots were "recycled," and with greater experience under their belt.

In 1943-1944, the shoe was on the other foot. The "strategic bombing" initiatives featured roughly one to one losses of British and German planes (the Americans did better and inflicted casualties at closer to a two to one rate).

Even so, I would expect the Germans to get a benefit in relative experience from recycling surviving pilots falling in their territory, while Allied pilots became POWs.

Apparently, the Germans did not gain this benefit. That is, relative German experience levels fell, rather than rose over time. Why might that be the case?

Did the Allies do a better job of "destroying" enemy planes (and pilots) as opposed to shooting them down than the Germans in the Battle of Britain? Did the Allies successfully attack e.g. fuel supplies and other infrastructure that the Germans needed for the training of pilots?


texts: Why didn't Indonesians/Indian Ocean traders bring marsupials to Asia and placental mammals to Australia/New Guinea?

texts:
When Alfred Russel Wallace went to Indonesia and studied biology, he noticed that marsupials lived in the Eastern Islands (Australia, New Guinea, Sulawesi, Makulu Islands, North Makulu Islands, The Spice Islands, and East and West Nusa Tenggara,) while placental Mammals lived in the Western Islands (Java, Bali, Sumatra, Borneo, The Philippines, and Mainland Asia). However, I know that humans created trading empires that traded with both the Eastern Islands and the Western Islands, so there should have been animals that were traded. Domestic animals in Eurasia would have been traded for nutmeg in the Spice Islands, and rulers would have bought kangaroos and other marsupial animals to put in their zoos. The Majapahit Empire controlled much trade and was in charge of the nutmeg trade. They traded with Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, and Papua New Guinea. In fact, the Coins from the Kilwa Sultanate in East Africa have been found from the year 900!! With all this connection, some animals must have been exchanged. Were there any animals that were found on the eastern Islands and the western Islands? The theory we were taught makes me think that there was no trade between the islands and that Indonesia was always a primitive state, but this is not true. The Indian Ocean trade was THRIVING, and the Indian Ocean was definitely well explored. Australia was KNOWN to Indian Ocean sailors. So, can you please help me?
Check out Extra Credits' videos on the Majapahit Empire.
In addition, Eurasian diseases were experienced by Northern Aboriginals, but not the South. Since Australia was not connected, the Eurasian diseases killed half of the northern isolated tribes and immunified the other half. Then, the disease could not continue spreading through Australia, so it had to kick the bucket in Australia, which is why South Aboriginals were vulnerable to Eurasian diseases when the British arrived. However, the north did have diseases.
Check out my answer on this post to see why isolated communities can't spread a disease.
Edit: I understand that colonization/trade with Northern Australia would not have been very beneficial, but Australia has many rare metals, including silver, gold, iron ore, and much more. Like Mali and the Swahili Coast, could these resources have been extracted? Probably not, as Mali had a fertile South and extremely smart traders in the North to learn from. The Swahili Coast was a combination of Arabs and Africans, and they could extract their gold due to

Superior Arab Technology: This could allow easier mining and conquest of inland Africans so they could help get the resources. This also meant that they had technology
Routes to India: They had somewhere to sell it to, so there was more of a need.
As for Northern Australia, they have the resources just like Mali or the Swahili coast. They could have connections to the Majapahit or other smart Indonesians, just like for the Swahili Coast had India and the Malians had North Africans. Finally, just like the Swahili Coast, they could have superior Indonesian technology against the native Australians, so the native Australians could be conquered and put to work. As for arable land, they could do what the Mali Empire did for salt: trade. Java, a major rice producer, could have easily sold their rice in exchange for gold.

So, was there this form of trade? We don't know, but seeing as there were so many Kilwan coins in Australia, it seems true. Was it as flourishing as the Mali or Swahili coast? Probably not, as they had more arable land, although they could have traded with Java for rice.
If none of this happened, they must have at least been discovered, and that is a fact because of the Kilwan coins.


texts: What was different about the "right" (recto) side of papyrus sheets compared to the other side?

texts: Usually only one side of papyrus sheets was used to write on in classic antiquity. What is the difference between the two sides of a sheet, and why would you write on "recto" only?


texts:
Nikolai Rezanov was Russian's envoy to Japan in 1804, sailing there in Russia's first circumnavigation aboard the Nadezhda. This originally English ship was outfitted for the voyage at government expense (Lensen, pp. 133). The captain's cabin was divided in two to accommodate Rezanov on one half (Moessner, pp. 68). As an Active State Councillor (rank 4), he far outranked Captain Krusenstern (rank 9).

Ambassador Rezanov had six men in his suite, including a Lieutenant of the Guards, an Adviser, an Artist, and a Doctor. In all 85 men were aboard, including two natural scientists, an Astronomer, another Doctor, and six officers (Moessner, pp. xxviii). Rezanov quarreled so badly with those officers that he retreated to his cabin for a portion of the voyage (Lensen, pp. 135); the imbroglio was censored by the tsar (Moessner, pp. x).

How big was half of the Nadezhda's captain's cabin? Did Rezanov's suite stay "en suite" with him? Did the doctors and scientists get a cabin or did they have to bunk with the sailors?

Source: Moessner, "First Russian Voyage around the World"
Source: Lensen, "The Russian Push Toward Japan"


texts: Why are stamps put in the top-right corner of post?

texts: I've recently been sending a few letters and one of them has not been delivered yet, and I don't think I stuck the stamp in the top-right corner of the letter. So does it matter if a stamp is not stuck in the top-right corner of a letter and why are stamps frequently placed here on post?


texts: What was the first college in an English-speaking country to use Latin in their motto?

texts: I have looked at many universities and seen how in English speaking countries, their mottoes tend to be written in Latin. What was the first college/university in an English-speaking nation-state (England, Ireland, etc.) to use Latin for their motto and what was their reasoning for doing this?


texts: What numerals did the people of Ireland use before Roman Numerals? (aka, did Ogham include numbers?)

texts: I would like to know if any writing system of Ireland had a system of writing numerals prior to the Romans introducing Roman numerals. There are lots of sites online that show the Ogham writing system broken down into letters. But no one ever explains how to write numbers. Did they simply spell out the letters for the number (i.e. write out A-O-N for "aon" for the number 1)? Or was there some other system?


texts: Did Ancient Egyptians in the 2nd millennium BC practice Astrology?

texts: I'm aware that Ancient Egyptians did chart stars and have a relatively robust understanding of astronomy for the time. However, did they (say, in the 2nd millenium BC) practice astrology, such that they believed the stars and planets reveal or could be affected by human activities? Or did this only come about later, when it was more Hellenistic?


texts:
Are Zoot suits considered an element of the 1940s Hipster subculture?

  Wikipedia: Hipster, as used in the 1940s, referred to aficionados of jazz, in particular bebop, which became popular in the early 1940s. The hipster adopted the lifestyle of the jazz musician, including some or all of the following: dress, slang, use of cannabis and other drugs, relaxed attitude, sarcastic humor, self-imposed poverty and relaxed sexual codes.


texts:
Why is the Ping Yuen river in Hong Kong called River Ganges?

From the wikipedia:

  Ping Yuen River (also known as River Ganges) (平原河) is a river in
  northern New Territories, Hong Kong. Its source lies near Cheung Shan
  in Ping Che. It flows along Ping Che Road and into the River Ganges
  Pumping Station near Chau Tin Village before emptying into Sham Chun
  River.

That is actually the whole article and there is not much information on why it is called Ganges. And although I cannot prove a negative, Frank Welsh doesn't write about it in A History of Hong Kong either.

My theory is that the river was named Ganges by early British/Indian settlers who either relocated from the Bengal province or compared it to the river in the Bengal province (perhaps to equalise themselves with that then more profitable province/trade route) that goes by the same name (River Ganga).

Edit: I should probably mention this. I have been to see this river and it is a natural waterway. In the colonial times it was used as a trade route with posts set up on its banks. No one (who showed me around) seems to know why it is called Ganges. Also, River Ganges was used as the longest trade route in India since late antiquity. Of course, I mention this fact to support my theory but I want to confirm my theory with the experts on this site (who may have alternate theories/more [interesting] information) --hence the question.


texts: Were the pre-WW1 alliances really created to prevent war?

texts:
A scene in Blackadder goes Forth has Captain Edmund Blackadder setting the stage for World War One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGxAYeeyoIc

  Edmund: Do you mean “How did the war start?”
  Baldrick: Yeah.
  George: The war started because of the vile Hun and his villainous empire-
  building.
  Edmund: George, the British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe, while the German Empire consists of a small sausage factory in
  Tanganyika. I hardly think that we can be entirely absolved of blame
  on the imperialistic front.
  George: Oh, no, sir, absolutely not. (aside, to Baldick) Mad as a bicycle!
  Baldrick: I heard that it started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an
  ostrich ’cause he was hungry.
  Edmund: I think you mean it started when the Archduke of Austro-Hungary got shot.
  Baldrick: Nah, there was definitely an ostrich involved, sir.
  Edmund: Well, possibly. But the real reason for the whole thing was that it was too much effort not to have a war.
  George: By Gum this is interesting; I always loved
  history — The Battle of Hastings, Henry VIII and his six knives,
  all that.
  Edmund: You see, Baldrick, in order to prevent war in Europe, two superblocs developed: us, the French and the Russians on one side; and the
  Germans and Austro-Hungary on the other. The idea was to have two
  vast opposing armies, each acting as the other’s deterrent. That way
  there could never be a war.
  Baldrick: But this is a sort of a war, isn’t it, sir?
  Edmund: Yes, that’s right. You see, there was a tiny flaw in the plan.
  George: What was that, sir?
  Edmund: It was bollocks.

This explanation doesn't sit well with me - given that Blackadder goes Forth was made in the late-1980s, before the fall of the Soviet Union, it comes across as the show's scriptwriters giving us an allegory on Mutual-Assured Destruction, and their personal concerns that we'd eventually face nuclear Armageddon; I thought that the idea of deterrent through massive retaliation only came about during the 1950s - so if that was the case then it couldn't possibly be the strategy of the early 20th century.

From what I remember from history class I thought the state of Europe immediately preceding WW1 was not a contrived state of affairs, but the natural consequence of developed nations' designs of empire and a constant military build-up to prepare for the eventuality of war, and not as a means to prevent it.


texts: Can it be claimed there were Bulgarians in the Balkans before 681 AD?

texts:
In 680 Bulgar tribes under the leadership of Asparukh moved south across the Danube and settled in the area between the lower Danube and the Balkan, establishing their capital at Pliska.
A peace treaty with Byzantium in 681 AD marked the beginning of the First Bulgarian Empire. The Bulgars gradually mixed up with the local population, adopting a common language on the basis of the local Slavic dialect.
Thus, the earliest and official date of Bulgarians on the Balkan Peninsula is at the end of the seventh century, however, according to The Ravenna Cosmography compiled by an anonymous cleric in Ravenna around the sixth century:

The label Bulgari on the same Balkan area:

Now, the existence of Old Great Bulgaria dates back to (at least) 632 AD  (if we don't consider the Nominalia of the Bulgarian khans)and its location is on the Western Pontic–Caspian steppe which is far away from the Balkan Peninsula.
Question
Having this in mind, could it be claimed that there were Bulgarians in the Balkans long before the "...Bulgar tribes under the leadership of Asparukh moved south across the Danube in 681 AD..."?


texts: When was acne first recorded in human history and how did it develop?

texts: When was acne first recorded in human history? I have seen some youtube videos from Japan people who said that acne was non-existing many years ago (in Japan) but now it is prevalent. Are there any studies or records that support this?


texts:
Today I learned that Swedish king Gustav III supposedly took two twin brothers that had been convicted for murder and had them drink three pots of coffee and tea respectively per day. He supposedly did this to prove that coffee was bad for you, but ironically he got assassinated before either of the brother died.

However, there seems to be no contemporary records of this twin study so we don't know if it really happened. But that leads me to the question: What was the first documented twin study?

Wikipedia references one in 1905, but that seems to be more about studying twins, than doing the type of twin study where you use twins to look for environmental factors, which is what Gustav III did.


texts: How did Napoleon I succeed in France despite his shortcomings in French?

texts:
TL;DR. My question: The following sources onfirm that despite Napoleon's industry and perseverance, he never refined his French to the level of a native fluent speaker.
So how did he succeed in France, especially were it more elitist from 1769 to 1821?

Optional Additional Information:

[Source:] ... He always spoke with a marked Corsican accent and never learned to spell French properly.[17]' ...

Source: Napoleon: Educating a Genius, by J. David Markham

While at Autun, Napoleon had to learn French; as of yet, the future Emperor of the French could hardly speak the language. The effort did not go well. Napoleon found memorizing difficult, and his natural inclination to hurry did not do him well in the study of language. Worse yet, his French had (and always would have) a strong Corsican accent, a fact that did him no favors throughout his schooling. Still, after three months at Autun, Napoleon had learned conversational French and was able to pass his language exams.
... The opportunity to be an officer was reserved almost exclusively for the nobility and almost exclusively for native Frenchmen. To say that the system was elitist would be an understatement. ...
Worse yet, Napoleon wasn't even French! True, Corsica had become a French territory, but the French had a very low opinion of Corsicans (noble or otherwise), seeing them as just this side of barbarians. ... On Corsica, Napoleon's family was fairly high on the social scale. At Brienne, he was virtually at the bottom.
Add to that the fact that Napoleon didn't speak great French (and spoke it with a heavy Corsican accent), and it was clear that Napoleon was stepping into a situation that could prove to be very difficult. ...


texts: Turko-Mongol horse tactics and Western European response

texts: Did not seem that Western European armies stood up to Turco-Mongol military tactics such as the horse archer.  Did these European armies ever learn to counter those tactics? The Slavs (Polish) had a few successful fights against the Tartars, maybe I'm wrong.... (referring to either Mongol invasion of Rus' or List of Mongol-Tartar raids?).


texts: What was the relationship between the Tories and Quakers?

texts: During the period of the American Revolution, most Quakers supported the British cause. But unlike many of the Tories, they were strict pacifists. What was the relationship between the British loyalists and the Quakers? In other words, how did the Tories view them?


texts:
Is there any country in which a coup has been overthrown by another coup?

In specific I'm looking for a scenario in which:

1) A ruler was overthrown in a coup by person B
2) Person B left the country/was preoccupied and was overthrown in a coup by person C.

-->Person C does not have to be the ruler at this point

The main question is if there was this progression in the past?
It does not have to be a 'military' coup and can be a 'bloodless coup'.


texts: Did anything come from Sparta, besides fitness and war?

texts:
I am telling my daughter nighttime stories, mostly from History, and recently talked about Athens and Sparta. In my tales Athenian turned out to be well-rounded people, great at many things, ranging from arts, philosophy, and sciences to physical fitness and war. Spartans, on the other hand, turned out to be vicious bullies and murderers, slightly better than Athenians at war, but completely inept in anything cultural.

And then I thought that perhaps I was unfair in that cartoonish depiction of Spartans. Were they really mindless bullies and nothing else? After all, they were quite good in speaking succinctly and vividly... Perhaps they did create something great that I'm not aware of?

Thus the question: what did Spartans leave to posterity, if anything, other than legends of their military aptitude and "laconic" speeches?


texts: Yearly population growth rate throughout history

texts:
Has there been a comprehensive analysis of relative human population growth rate throughout history?

I'm interested in seeing how the growth rate (not world population) has evolved in the past several thousand years. A graph would be ideal for this but all I've been able to find is relative growth for the last several hundred years. All the graphs I've found that deals with population growth across centuries only display absolute numbers. As growth is exponential I can't really draw any conclusions about growth relative to population.

What I'm looking for: a graph outlining estimated population growth rate per annum/decade/half-century, ideally since recorded history.


texts: Did the Nazis regard chemical warfare as inhumane and "Jewish"?

texts:
I sometimes encounter accounts that the main reason why chemical weapons were not used in WWII was because initially they were invented by a Jew Fritz Haber, and as such Hitler expressed opinion that use of chemical weapons was inhumane and "Jewish" method of warfare.

There were even some hints that the Nazis made certain propaganda canpaigns against use of chemical weapons which involved WWI war veterans who suffered from gas attacks.

I wonder whether it is true that the Nazis regarded chemical weapons inhumane or was it only a propaganda disguise?


texts: How stable was the Middle East under Ottoman rule?

texts:
Since the outbreak of WWI, the Middle East has been a strategic area; many powers have vied for control.

How stable was the region under Ottoman rule?
Stable is, for the purposes of this question, defined as a lack of wars, and minimal criminal activity.


texts: Has a country gone to war to seek payment of a debt since 1900? Expansionist policies don't count although use of debt as a justification would be interesting.


texts: Why was Wang Zhiming apparently pardoned, unlike other Christian victims of the Cultural Revolution?

texts:
Wang Zhiming is a particularly famous Christian martyr of the Cultural Revolution in China – he is one of ten martyrs of the 20th century to have a statue above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey.

But not only that, he is apparently the "only Christian martyr of the Cultural Revolution to have a monument erected at his gravesite," per Wikipedia, which also says that his family later received small financial restitution. God Is Red, by Liao Yiwu, chapter 9, also mentions the uniqueness of the monument, and indicates that the government "officially reversed the verdict."

I'd like to understand why Wang Zhiming was apparently treated differently following the Cultural Revolution as opposed to other Christian martyrs.  Why did the government apparently admit wrongdoing and allow a monument to be built?  I can think of a couple possibilities:

He had signed the "Three-Self Manifesto"
Family connections – his son apparently came to have some influence, despite having been arrested himself (see God Is Red for more on this)

What made Wang Zhiming's case unique that led to him having a monument at his grave and a reversed verdict?


texts: How long would it take for a young lady in victorian England to walk this distance?

texts:
I'm working a story currently and I ran into what could be a time management issue.

In my story I have a young woman (late teens-early 20's) walking from her home to town, having promised she would be back that same day. However I am now crunching numbers to make sure I did not over estimate her walking speed. Keep in mind this is a young lady that is part of a well off family, to give an idea of what she would be wearing. And while walking leisurely was common in this time in England, would the distance of six miles in north central England be something she was confident she could do quickly?

Most of the estimates of time I can find say it would take about 2 hours to walk that distance, so that is four hours if we count the return trip, allowing her to plan for maybe a couple of hours in town. (For story reasons she does not do the trip back, I just want to know if her plan would have been possible)

Thanks everyone!


texts: Meaning of 19th-century American parlour games

texts:
I would really appreciate it if someone could explain to me the meaning of three American parlour games of the 19th century. I am now translating a novel where these games are mentioned and would like to provide a footnote for the readers saying how exactly those games were played. Hopefully, someone can help :) These are the names of the games (for children): Post Office, Hunt the Keyhole, Dumb Orator.

Thank you!


texts: How did people wake up early before clocks?

texts: Is there any historical evidence of methods that people used to wake up early before widespread use of mechanical alarm clocks? Or is the concept of 'getting up early' an invention of the industrial age and the creation of artificial light?


texts: He was a 2nd-century B.C. Han prince. He is one of the earliest serial killers attested by historical sources. My questions are: how many people did he kill, why did he kill them, and is he depicted in the Book of Han?


texts: Why is Russian far east less populated than Chinese north east regions?

texts:
I was comparing the Russia's Far Eastern zone with the equivalent Northeast China. Anyway the two regions have many difference but by comparing regions at the same latitude I found vast difference to exist in the population density.

For example Primorsky Krai is federal subject with Vladivostok city being it's center and has a population of roughly 2 millions and an area of 165,900 km2 with population density 11.79/km2 while the adjacent Chinese province of Heilongjiang has over 38 millions, an area of 454,800 km2 and a population density of 84/km2. The population density is more than 7 times in the Chinese side.

So, I would like to ask what reasons and conditions led to this situation. I am not familiar with the weather condition which may vary a lot between coastal and continental regions. I know that Russia annexed those regions relatively recently about 1858 but that does not answer the huge difference. Also, I am not familiar with recent population demographics which sometimes give a misleading figure. What was the population say 50 years ago for example, and how has changed since then.


texts: U.S. Marine Corps and Why does the Navy’s army need its own air force?

texts:
A recent interview by C-SPAN host Brian Lamb with Washington Post staff writer Rajiv Chandrasekaran touched on many controversial issues of the F-35 acquisition program where evidently a lot of pork is cut and political favors are passed around. One gets the sense that it all started out with the sensible idea of building a single fighter plane platform for three services (the Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps), but then reality intervened on costs.

At some point they quote an Army officer as asking:

  Why does the Navy’s army—the Marine Corps—need its own air force?

Why indeed and why does the U.S. military maintain a separate marine service in the first place (and evidently in "between" the Army and Navy, and the Air Force as well :)

Were there all-important events in history where the (U.S. or another nation's) marines saved the day, or are there other understood reasons for the existence of four (instead of three) service branches and allocation of funding (e.g. to the tune of 340 F-35 planes for the Marines) in the U.S. military?


texts: How have African countries kept the boundaries divided by colonists and countries unified for decades, despite the many ethnical groups and conflicts?

texts:
How have sub-Saharan African countries generally kept the boundaries divided by the previous colonists and kept countries unified for decades, despite the many ethnical groups and conflicts between them?

There has been indeed border changes, while concerning the many ethnical groups, disharmony between them, and the lack of a dominate majority, the borders have been quite stable for decades, which has been in distinct contrast to the situation in Yugoslavia.

How do sub-Saharan African countries keep the stability of the borders and unification of countries, despite the problems they are facing which are quite serious? If we could assume that this is caused by the lack of nationalism, which had become popular in Europe since the 19th century, is it able for sub-Saharan African countries to avoid the emergence of that kind of nationalism and separatism during their development?

For a specific example, Nigeria has a population of 200 million, mainly composed of three ethnic groups: Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, none of which is dominant. The proportion of Christianity and Islam is nearly half-and-half. Both the ethnic groups and religions have a clear boundary. However, despite a civil war, the country has not divided. There must be reasons which keep Nigeria unified.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigerian_Civil_War

The ethnical diversity is the same for Angola

  (...) It is composed of Ovimbundu (language Umbundu) 37%, Ambundu
  (language Kimbundu) 23%, Bakongo 13%, and 32% other ethnic groups
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angola#Demographics

The second Congo war was also called the African world war.

  It began in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 1998.
  Ultimately, nine African countries and around twenty-five armed groups
  became involved in the war. By 2008, the war and its aftermath had
  caused 5.4 million deaths
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Congo_War

After a war of the same scale took place in Europe, i.e. WWI, Austria-Hungary and The Russian Empire broke up and numerous countries got their independence, while after the second Congo war, the borders have been maintained well.


texts:
Can someone explain a heavy cavalry charge?
A bunch of 500kg animals smashes into a dense crowd of men at speed of 40km/h. This simply cannot end good for neither side. Let's say the charge fails. The front ranks of the infantry are definitely dead. But what about the front line of the horsemen? Wouldn't they be thrown off from the saddles, flying over the battle-line (and into the enemy ranks, where they would be cut down or trampled by advancing cavalry? Isn't it a suicide to be the horseman in the first line, even if the charge is successful?

And what happens if the charge fails, the infantry doesn't rout and the cavalry loses its momentum. How can they safely maneveur out of the melee, when they are surrounded and deep in the enemy ranks, the horses might be injured and have hard time moving in all the armor, while there are piles of bodies below them, slowing down their retreat?

Edit: Additional questions:
How does cavalry maneveur out of a failed charge?
Do the horses disengage right after the first line of the horsemen touches the enemy line?
What about the horses that are in the second and third lines, who keep pushing the front line forward into the enemy?

Interested in Early medieval ages to late medieval ages


texts: What happened to University College of San Francisco?

texts:
In 1859, the Reverend George Burrowes founded University College in San Francisco. Confusingly, it was also known as City College. Burrowes advertised the school in the Daily Alta California newspaper.

First operating near downtown, by 1862 it had also obtained land farther south in a greenfield location called University Mound. The district was laid out around the college, with streets in one direction all named after famous schools (Dartmouth, Göttingen, Colby) and in the other direction after educators, particularly university presidents (Timothy Dwight, Benjamin Silliman, Francis Wayland). A map from 1863 shows a "University College Grounds":

In 1864 there was a "decree entered in favor of plaintiff" in The President and Board of Trustees of University College v. The Trustees of the City College of San Francisco. (In 1935 the city created a Junior College on another site which became the modern City College of San Francisco.)

In 1872 University College's medical school entered a joint venture with the University of the Pacific, called The Medical College of the Pacific.

By the mid-1880s the College seems to be gone. In 1884 James Lick's estate bought up 25 acres including a "college building" to build the Lick Old Ladies Home, and in 1885 a reservoir went in. My friend Elisa unearthed this map:

When did University College abandon the University Mound campus? Did the university go out of business or merge with another school?


texts: Did any relatives of Fritz Haber (the inventor of poison gas) die in the gas chambers?

texts:
I am sorry if this seems a ghoulish question. However, German scientist Fritz Haber  (1860-1934), winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry and co-inventor of the Haber-Bosch process to make nitrates for fertilisers and explosives, during World War I helped the German war effort by inventing poison gas. He continued to work in that field after the War, inventing the poisonous gas Zyklon B, intended for pest control but later used by the Nazis in World War II to gas Jews to death.

Despite Haber's service to his country in war time, once Hitler came to power Haber was driven out of his job and into exile, dying in 1934. Haber was Jewish by race, although he did not practice Judaism.

A sad story that becomes sadder. According to his Wikipedia article relatives of his such as nieces and nephews and their children died in concentration camps during Hitler's genocidal attempted 'final solution' to the 'Jewish Problem'. However, it does not say, and other information I have found on the internet is vague as to whether they died of hunger or maltreatment or whether, ultimate cruel irony, did any of them die in the gas chambers?


texts: Why are the historical large cities in the southern US not the large cities in the South today?

texts:
When you think about the large and prosperous cities in the historical Southern United States, you think of cities like Charleston, Richmond, Savannah, and New Orleans. However, when you look at the large cities in the South today, they are cities like Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, and Houston.

Contrasting this to the North, where the historical large cities like New York, Boston, Philadelphia, etc. are today still the large cities in the North.

What happened in the American South that caused the historical large cities to stagnate while new cities took their place vs. in the North where the same cities continued developing?

EDIT: I want to be more specific. When I say large, I'm talking more about the economic sense, not necessarily population or geographic area (though of course these are well correlated with economics). For example, taking a look at this list, the first historical Southern city on the list is Richmond at 44, but cities like NYC, Philly, and Boston are all near the top.


texts: Where do all the bullet casings after a war end up?

texts:
Are Europe's fields filled to the brim with millions of casings? Or have they all been collected and recycled? What about the contemporary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq...are all the millions of spent shells just left in houses and streets?

It must add up to a fair amount of money if you were to recycle them all! Or is the value negligible?

What about the shells of artillery pieces? Are they just left?

Has there ever been a battle where a nation strapped for resources has made a point of collecting every shell casing?

Brass is a relatively valuable material, especially in such huge quantities.


texts: Why was Austria given the best chunk in the First Partition of Poland, even while protesting it?

texts:
In the First Partition of Poland, Austria was given 2.7 million people, versus 1.3 million for Russia, and almost 1 million for Prussia. Austria got more than twice as much land as Prussia, and only 10% less than Russia, but Austria's share was richer and much more densely populated.
The non-Austrian slices could be considered "border adjustments;" Brandenburg-Prussia got West Prussia to link the two parts of the country together, Russia got some border regions in modern Belarus and Lithuania just outside of Russia proper, with ethnically "mixed" populations.
Austria got the best deal: First, parts little Poland near traditionally Austrian lands around Silesia and Bohemia. This can be considered a "border adjustment."
But also, the province of Galicia, now part of the Ukraine, and formerly the kingdom of Halychia. This went beyond a border adjustment, and perhaps set the stage for the subsequent partitions of Poland.
So why was Austria given "so much"(Galicia in addition to Little Poland), when she protested the arrangement in the first place? The Austrian "protesting" part arose from the differences of opinion between the Empress Maria Theresa, and her prime minister, Anton Wenzel von Kaunitz; the latter won this debate.


texts: What was the process by which the modern border control system developed?

texts:
I know that today, if I take a cruise of the Mediterranean, then each time the boat stops in a new country, and I wish to go ashore and see the sites, that I will need to have appropriate documentation.  At some location near the docks, I will be greeted by a uniformed agent of the host nation, who will inspect my passport, ensure the proper visas exist if required, and possibly search any day-pack I am carrying.  I am interested in learning the history of this concept, at least from the last few hundred years.

These questions How did modern border crossing security develop? and When did passports become common contain some very helpful information.  I'm looking for a more detailed timeline of the development of border controls.  The answer to the first question, " "passports were not generally required for international travel until the first world war" (quoted from the Guardian) is a useful top level summary, but history is more complicated - for example, passports are mentioned in "Around the world in 80 days" (1873).  What changed between 1873 and 1914?

I'm looking not to identify a year or event when border controls existed, but to understand the process by which the modern border control system came into place.


texts: From what part(s) of Germany were the majority of Texas immigrants in the mid-19th century?

texts: A large number of the immigrants into Texas in the middle of the 19th century were from what is today Germany. However, the people were "German" more by language than nationality; the German Confederation of the time was not a monolithic modern nation-state. Did a few principalities, kingdoms, or cities contribute the bulk of these immigrants? Which ones? Or were all German-speaking areas roughly equally represented?


texts: I searched who discovered Iceland? and it said: According to the Landnámabók, Naddod discovered Iceland but then a went to a few other websites that said Pytheas discovered Iceland... I'm confused, can someone tell me the correct answer, please?


texts: About how long ago was the most recent day on which a human did not die

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Currently, we have around 7.5 billion people on earth, and 150,000 deaths per day.

But a while ago, there were fewer people. At some point in the past, there must have been a day when nobody died. Approximately when was that?


texts: Did Kuwait use to ban women from driving?

texts:
News that Saudi Arabia will allow women to drive has been in the news recently. It's been described as the only country that currently forbids women from driving, which makes me wonder about whether other countries recently forbade women from driving.

I thought I once heard that during the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq, Kuwaiti women took advantage of the regime change by going driving, which the Kuwaiti government forbade. However, I couldn't find any evidence of this online, including looking at Women in Kuwait or Women's suffrage in Kuwait, though mentions of women driving is mentioned here ("can women drive in Kuwait") and here ("Kuwaiti men should know that human rights goes far beyond 'being allowed to drive', 'dressing as they like' and being 'allowed to acquire education'.")

Was this the case? Were women banned from driving in Kuwait prior to its invasion in 1990?


texts: What do historians say would have been Napoleon's optimal strategy after Borodino?

texts:
There is a saying that everyone is a general after the battle, but I still could not figure out what could have Napoleon done differently in order to save his army and consequently empire after Borodino. Historically, he stayed in Moscow some time, then tried to go to Smolensk (his supply base) via Kaluga, through countryside that was not devastated by previous marches and campaigns in order to obtain necessary forage and other supplies. But after Maloyaroslavets, he abandoned that goal and went towards Smolensk roughly on the same road he took during advance on Moscow in previous summer. What would have been a better solution for him and his forces according to professional historians?
a) to retreat immediately after Borodino towards Smolensk, before the onset of winter
b) to stay in Moscow and try to prepare winter quarters there, then to resume campaign in spring
c) to push towards Kaluga no matter the cost even after Maloyaroslavets
d) something totally different
e) nothing would have saved him at that point


texts: How to find online newspaper archives between WW1 to WW2 (1920s and 1930s)

texts:
I can't find any online newspaper archives between World War 1 and World War 2, except for the Chicago Tribune Archives, but their scans are so blurry that most words can't be read.  During the early 1940s, the scans seem to be better quality.  I'm trying to read actual newspaper clippings from the 20s and 30s, particularly matters relating to Germany, or Europe and America in general.

Edit--- My interest is a love for history and understanding how World-War Issues (post ww1 and pre ww2) were covered/reported (as they occurred) to the public, for example, stories of Adolf Hitler's rise to power as they were reported in American or British newspapers, Mussolini etc.


texts: Why was there never a tachanka-style cannon or crossbow?

texts: There seems to be a clear line of progression for many weapons. For example, in the west, crossbows were mounted on carts by the Roman empire, while in the east, they were mounted on camels. The Zamburak is a clear improvement on the "crossbow camel", as a cannon instead of the crossbow is used, giving more firepower. But a similar improvement in the west is missing, at least until the advent of the tachanka. Why? The obvious answer seems to be recoil, but why were then the Zamburaks feasible? Maybe the possibility was simply overlooked?


texts: How did Hindenburg and Ludendorff lose WWI?

texts:
In his 2015 book "Towards The Flame - Empire, War and the End of Tsarist Russia", Dominic Lieven claims:

  In Germany, William II was largely replaced by Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg as regards charismatic leadership, while General Erich Ludendorff increasingly dominated the actual conduct of the war. The Hindenburg-Ludendorff combination was supported - indeed demanded - by most of the German elite and much of the parliament and population. Their leadership proved a catastrophe, losing a war that Germany would probably have won without their miscalculations.

What were those miscalculations?


texts: I was wondering has there ever been uprisings in the history of the US that were for gay rights or started by gay people?


texts: Were tobacco and marijuana ever competing products?

texts: My question is whether tobacco and marijuana were ever competing products in Europe. It occurred to me that marijuana is an Old World plant, whereas tobacco is a New World plant, and therefore had to be introduced after 1492—by which time I guess marijuana would already have been available in Europe. So it is curious that of two broadly similar products, tobacco was the one that caught on. (I've never tried marijuana, and I have never had a smoking habit, so I'm not sure whether the products are directly comparable, but the general idea of smoking a dried leaf seems similar.)


texts: Were Archimedes screws used in pre-modern times in the far east?

texts:
Screw pumps or Archimedes screws were used by the Romans in mine dewatering. They were possibly used in ancient Babylon (a few hundred years before Archimedes) to irrigate the famous hanging gardens.

Do we have any account of screw pumps being used in the far east (what's today China, Japan, Korea, etc.) or India, during antiquity or the middle ages?


texts: Was there any empire that was destroyed while still expanding?

texts:
The most famous empires I know had downfall periods of decades, even centuries, and many of them were only conquered after that huge downfall period. The Roman Empire, for example, stopped expanding in the third century AD (correct me if I'm wrong) but needed some two more centuries to finally be considered as gone (the western Empire, at least).

The only empire rapidly destroyed while still expanding that I can think of was the Inca Empire in South America. Their downfall was caused by diseases, superior European military technology at the time and internal struggles caused by a succession conflict some years before the Spanish arrival (exploited by Pizarro). That seems to me to be a quite unique set of characteristics, and I wish to know if any other Empire disappeared in a similar fashion before or after the American ones.

(The term 'destroyed' might be a bit vague: what I mean by it is not the complete and utter disappearance of an Empire in a blink of an eye, but still a rather abrupt downfall, something lasting maybe 15-20 years (opposed to the hundreds of years some Empires needed to disappear). Also, 'destroyed', in this question, is used as a substitute for 'conquered militarily'. So the Macedonian Empire and the Frankish Empire after Louis the Pious don't count.)


texts: Is this story about the Tsar's encounter with a sergeant true?

texts:
I once read a story (about why one should not be rude to strangers or rude in general) in a local magazine that,
once Tsar Peter I asked about directions from a Sergeant. Sergeant (not knowing whom he was talking to) rudely answered. Tsar asked that what did he do for living to which Sergeant replied that he's in the army. Tsar asked whether he was a soldier, "Go up", sergeant replied. And after two to or three "going ups", sergeant said yes. Out of curiosity he asked Tsar what did he do for a living. "I'm also in the army." Tsar replied. "Soldier?", "Go up!". And after going up about some 10-15 times and finally above General the sergeant started crying and begged mercy from the Tsar, for he had been rude.

My question is, is this story true? And if it is, can someone please share the source?


texts: What was the significance of ball bearing factories during the World Wars and in the economy at the time in general??

texts: I have heard historians claim that enemies' ball bearing factory locations were a coveted piece of intelligence.  I have also heard that big money industry for both the allies and axis super powers colluded to NOT bomb each others' ball bearing factories because it would "end the war too soon".  These are some narrative fragments that have always left me curious about the significance of ball bearings to industry and particularly war industry. Were they a high-leverage pinch-point in the type of supply chain necessary to build a modern military?


texts:
From what I understand, the so-called "birther movement" in the US asserts that Barack Obama is not eligible to be president of the USA because he allegedly wasn't born in the US and therefore is not a "natural-born" citizen as required in the constitution.

But I also just learned that Mitt Romney's father ran for president in 1968 even though he was born in Mexico.

I am interested in the the history of the interpretations of the "natural-born" requirement. My question is: when exactly was it defined that natural born required a person to be born within the USA?

From what I understand, the constitution itself does not define the term. The Naturalization Act of 1790 states that "the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens". So at some point the this would have changed.


texts: When did the German people learn that they had a large, powerful military, in violation of the Versailles Treaty?

texts:
According to the terms of the Versailles Treaty at the end of the First World War, Germany's military was limited to a force so tiny as to be utterly irrelevant in any major conflicts.  When Hitler came to power, he began to rebuild the military in secret, in direct contravention of the Treaty.
When and how did the larger portion of the German population learn that their country had a massive, well equipped, and powerful military again?
Hitler's saber rattling and belligerence in the years leading up to the war terrified many of his citizens, to say nothing of his potential adversaries, but this would likely have been true regardless of whether or not the full scale of the rearmament was public knowledge.  I imagine that, some time around the invasion of Poland, Hitler must have revealed his achievements, whether the revelation was intended to intimidate his enemies or reassure his subjects.


texts: The Sumatrans told Marco Polo that there was an island to the Southeast. Were they referring to Australia?

texts:
In 1292, Marco Polo was waiting for the winds to shift so he could leave Sumatra and return to Venice. He spent his time learning about an island called Java, in the southeast. Everyone said that it was the largest island in the world, it had a great king and was very powerful. It has vast sums of wealth and its great spices. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZKHATDgPO0)

The Java we know today is definitely not the largest island in the world. However, Australia could be categorized as the largest island of the world. The Sumatrans obviously knew that Sumatra was bigger than Java. Were they perhaps actually referring to Australia?

First of all, Australia was known far before Europeans arrived. Papua New Guinea, Sulawesi, Srivijaya, China, Tamil kingdoms and even African Islamic kingdoms have traded with Australia! Even coins from Africa were found in Australia(http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/350471)!

So, were the Sumatrans referring to Java or Australia?

As a counterargument, Java IS the largest island in the world… population-wise. I don't know if it was as populated as it is now, though.


texts: Between which years did a trend of violence toward homosexuals begin and end in America?

texts:
Recently, I watched Brokeback Mountain, which depicted the violence risked by anyone who came out as openly homosexual. It seems like a point I might like to make in discussion one day that "only x years ago we as a society were commonly attacking and even killing people who were gay." To point out our long and very recent history of acting terrible as a society and not even realizing it.

How recently did a "widespread and common intolerance" toward homosexuals end? Obviously this is a broad time frame, but the general decade should be fine.

I'm interested to know historically has open homosexuality always been a subject of rejection and disgust? Or is that a trend that began during a specific era?

Note: as for when the trend began, I mean globally, but since it hasn't ended in many countries. I am only asking about the end of the trend in America.


texts: Did Hitler really keep the blueprints of the current Nebraska state Capitol building in the drawer of his desk?

texts:
I recently stumbled upon an article in the now-defunct lit mag Black Table in which the author establishes the un-cited claim that Hitler had designs on making Lincoln, Nebraska the new headquarters for the ENTIRE Third Reich were the Nazis ever to invade and conquer the United States. The article claims that Hitler admired the design of the Nebraska state Capitol building (designed by German-American architect Bertram Goodhue) over all other American monuments and landmarks, and even kept a copy of the blueprints stored in his desk. Owing to Lincoln's centralized geographic location, Hitler also thought it would serve well as the seat of his entire empire.

Can any WWII historians out there attest to even a shred of credibility for this claim?


texts: What was Nazi doctrine towards pro-Nazi Jews?

texts:
What was the stance of Nazi doctrine (officially or otherwise) towards pro-Nazi Jews?
How did this attitude change (if at all) from the early-mid 30s to the early 40s?

To illustrate one example where this question might have been relevant, imagine a person who was a staunch supporter of Nazism who discovered he was Jewish. What are possible actions this person could have taken if he wanted to do the 'right thing' according to Nazism?


texts: Why is physical skeuomorphism so prevalent and when did it become popular?

texts:
Plastic items with molded shapes to look like screws and rivets.

Household items, luggage, or other personal goods with manufactured patina.

Cars with non-functional hood scoops or other vents/intakes along the body.

This never seemed to be prevalent in industrialized history until the last 20-30 years. When I look at changes in taste or design or need from late 19th century through the 1980s, to my knowledge these type of goods were produced to fit the need of the user, with the necessary and available materials. In the past 2-3 decades, it seems like people now want to buy something that looks old, instead of buy something new and allow it to age. Or people want the look of hood scoops...even if the car doesn't need the additional air flow. I would also add that I see more costume jewelry for day-to-day wear than in decades past.

Just not sure why skeuomorphism is now more popular than ever before.


texts: Columbian exchange in European grades K-12

texts:
I went through K-12 partly in Mexico and partly in the US. Children in both educational systems are taught at some point that certain products are native to the Americas and others arrived with the European colonizers.

Now I live in Germany, and I recently discovered that this is not a topic that is discussed in their K-12 classrooms. Asking around I was told the same is true in France and Ukraine.

They definitely discuss colonization, so I was wondering: why do they choose to skip the whole my-tomatoes-for-your-cows lesson?

I couldn't find a history-teaching tag or something related, but I hope this is not too off-topic.


texts: Why are church reformist centers all outside the boundary of the original Roman Empire?

texts:
Is it a coincidence that the church reformist centers are virtually all outside the original Roman Empire border, the Roman Limes?
It seems reasonable these areas - at least from the beginning in their adherence to the Roman Church  were more weakly bound to the center of power than other areas such as France and Spain.
Still, there was a time period of perhaps 900 years - between the years 600 to 1500, that makes this difficult to believe.


texts: Why did the Republic of China retract its simplified Chinese characters?

texts:
The image below shows part of the list of simplified Chinese characters introduced by the Republic of China Department of Education in 1935. They were retracted in 1936, so China continued to use traditional characters until the People's Republic of China made simplified characters official in the 1950s.

What are the official reasons for the retraction?

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ROC24_SC1.jpg

Other pages of the document: pages 2-3, page 4

Side note for those unfamiliar with Chinese characters: It is interesting to note that many of the simplifications introduced by the Republic of China (ROC) are similar to those eventually introduced by the People's Republic of China (PRC), because many of the simplifications have already existed as variant characters. Relative to the current simplified characters in use, the ROC simplifications appear to be more conservative both in stroke reduction, and in the number of characters being simplified (about 300 characters).


texts: When was the first attempt to create a secular society? (a society that was intentionally separate from religion).  Was the French Revolution the first to discard religion as an legitimizing force and to create secular calendars?


texts:
I am reading Simon Schama's A History of Britain Volume I, which often makes reference to this form of punishment. For example, on p144:

  "The assassin's made for Yorkshire, where they lived untouched for a year. Eventually excommunicated, they were sentenced to take the Cross, and some of them died en route to the Holy Land."

Or same page:

  "In 1172 the pope ordered [Henry II] to take the cross for three years as penance. He never went."

What exactly did this form of punishment entail?


texts: Which fortress east of Ancient Megiddo did Thutmose III go to during the siege?

texts:
After the ancient Battle of Megiddo, the rebels fell back to the city of Megiddo and the Egyptian army was victorious. The Egyptian army besieged the city of Megiddo by building a moat and a wooden palisade around the city.

The texts say that Thutmose III was in a fortress east of Megiddo and he gave orders to his army to not allow any of the rebels to get out of the city unless they were going to announce that they are surrendering.

Here is what is confusing me:

Where is this fortress that is east of Megiddo? was it just a small fortress that was near Megiddo but was abandoned by the rebels? Or was it, as some Historians say, Jerusalem?

Breasted did not give explanations regarding this because one third of the line was lacking (Breasted - Ancient Records of Egypt Vol. II, Eighteenth Dynasty, page 214)

Many other historians, like Breasted, either did not explain this part at all or they just said that information was lacking.

But (and this is the more confusing part) other historians say that the "fortress east of this city" means Jerusalem! And they explain that the name of the city at the time was Qadesh and it had peaceful relationships with the Egyptians (Like these couple of pages here Just search for "his majesty himself was in a fortress east of this town" and you will find the pages I am talking about)


texts: What differentiated Rome from other Mediterranean (e.g. Greek) city states?

texts:
What was the reason Rome was able to rise to such heights in the ancient world compared to say, the Greeks? How could they come such a long way and became the masters of the known world at the end when others couldn't?

Why Athens for instance couldn't accomplish the same? Athens was a center of political, scientific and cultural frontier, yet it never recovered from that defeat by Persians?

Rome on the other hand was overrun by barbarians, looted, and was almost destroyed by Hannibal. However Rome unlike Athens always recovered relatively quickly and only came out more stronger then every before. So what was the reason Rome always succeeded when other important city states failed once and never recovered for the most part?


texts:
The country of Belgium derives its name from Gallia Belgica, the Roman province.  This led to "België" in Dutch, "Belgique" in French, and "Belgium" in English.

Why was the Latin word Anglicized this way?  I know of no other "-ium" countries, but plenty of "-a" and "-ia" countries.  So why wasn't "Belgica" left as-is for the new country's English name?  It's a perfectly comfortable pronunciation for English-speakers.  Or why not "Belgia" or "Belgicia," to match the common "-ia" pattern?

Wiktionary gives Belgium as the proper declension of Belgae, the tribe for whom the province was named.  This makes sense, but it would seem  to be the only example in all the world.  Were no other countries named for tribes known to the Romans?  Or were they all Anglicized by a different pattern?

One can speculate that it was a juvenile suggestion by some starhopping truant in 1830, the word "Belgium" being terribly offensive in the rest of the galaxy.


texts: At a family reunion in Alberta my brother showed me a photograph of a young man in a dress military uniform. The photograph was on paper using a process common at the turn of the century. I can't find any uniform that looks like this. Any help in determining what his uniform is would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Is there folk knowledge associating late breastfeeding with low intelligence and/or gullibility?

texts:
In the song "Rich Folks Hoax", written by Sixto Rodriguez (of Searching for Sugar Man) in Detroit in 1970, the hoax is characterized in the following terms:

  only late-breast-fed fools believe it

This line has made me curious. Is it just an idiosyncratic poetic riff on slow development? Or indeed is there (or has there been) some commonly held folk wisdom associating late breastfeeding with low intelligence and/or gullibility?


texts: Why did Persia adopt the movable-type printing so late?

texts:
According to Iranica, the first books in Persian characters were published in Leiden in 1639, almost 200 years after Gutenberg's invention, and in Asia it was used even before that.

Given that Persia was quite advanced in sciences and literature and located on the Silk Road between China and Europe, it seems quite odd.

Would there be any particular reason for this?