texts:
The image of Hitler is very well-formed in the modern public imagination: stern, stoic, focused, commanding and intimidating, with a powerful oratory skill and a terrifying ability to stir up passion within his followers.

Ask anyone to do a Hitler impression and they will immediately do one of two things: shout and wave an arm defiantly, or clasp both hands behind their back and glower. He is an iconic villain, and there is very little footage or testimony that I have seen which "humanizes" him as anything other than stern, commanding, and deadly.

That being said, we also know that Hitler's public image was very carefully maintained. Public events were staged with care and precision, personal information (such has his family and his relationship with Eva Braun) was withheld to keep him seeming larger than life, etc.

Hitler wanted to project an image of power and command, both to his followers and to the rest of the world.

However, on the flip side, we also have bits of information about Hitler's personal life that go counter to this image of the dour commander. He was an artist, for example, and his paintings (at least the ones I've seen) have generally shown quaint, tranquil, even idyllic scenes.

He may have enjoyed doodling Disney characters and he was a huge fan of American popular cinema, such as King Kong and Snow White.

Taking both sides of this into account, do we have any idea of what Hitler was like in private? Was he actually a stern man when he was with friends, or was that simply a facade? Obviously he needed some backbone to do everything he did, but when he wasn't commanding armies or ordering construction projects, did he ever relax? And if so, how? Do we have any accounts of his sense of humor, or whether he was personally a very funny person? Was he a picky eater or a foodie, did he enjoy dancing? Did he tend to quietly "preside" over parties and gatherings, or was he always the center of attention?

Do any unbiased firsthand accounts exist of Hitler's general personality and demeanor, either during his time as Führer or before it?


texts: Was the East Prussian operation "unequalled in munitions expenditure"?

texts:
In his memoirs (text in Russian), Marshal Aleksandr Vasilevsky claims the following (emphasis added by me):

  I will note in passing that in terms of munitions consumption the East Prussian operation had no equal in the history of wars. The two fronts received 13.3 million shells, 620 million bullets and 2.2 million hand-grenades. During the 13-14 of January alone, the troops of the 3rd Belorussian front consumed over 1000 railcars of munitions, while 2nd Belorussian used 950 cars on the 14th. Altogether, both fronts received 15,000 railcars of munitions. For their transfer from the railcars to the troops (via 2.5 tonne road vehicles), approximately 100,000 automobiles were required.

Is it possible to substantiate this claim? Of course, the quote does not precisely define what length of time is meant by the "operation", nor the exact tonnage (it is unclear what is meant by the 100k trucks) or caliber of the shells.

My immediate thoughts would be to compare this with the great barrages of WWI, when according to Wikipedia for example, 2 million shells were used in about a week by each side at Verdun and similar numbers at the Somme. In WWII, El Alamein seems too small to compare and I can't find aggregate numbers for total tank/shore bombardment/close air support during Overlord. Presumably Vasilevsky was able to discount other Soviet operations in Eastern/Northern Europe, Manchuria and possibly also those of Tsarist Russia as surpassing East Prussia.

edit: I had initially neglected, and a commenter pointed out, that Operation Rolling Thunder (complete by the time Vasilevsky wrote his memoirs in 1978) would almost certainly have exceeded the total tonnage. This also raises the question of whether the Marshal meant sum or the rate of consumption.


texts:
Many historians,  politicians and economists find a link between the economic success of a nation and its form of government. For example, the idea that the USA's form of government was responsible for its economic success:

America must remain freedom’s staunchest friend, for freedom is our best ally and it is the world’s only hope to conquer poverty and preserve peace. Ronald Reagan

History suggests that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom. Clearly it is not a sufficient condition. Milton Friedman

Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate. Bertrand Russell

Can we cite historical examples of nations or empires that had a distinctly autocratic or totalitarian central government yet still achieved great economic success and dominance with a capitalistic, entrepreneurial economy? Does History confirm that prosperity, capitalism, and some form "democracy" or representative republican form of government always go hand in hand?

One supporting piece of evidence that the two are inexorably linked might be contemporary China: Its form of government has slowly become more open and "democratic" directly in correspondence to its accession as the dominant world economy.

Still, China's form of government is very far removed from anything akin to the western democracies. Does or does not contemporary China refute the aforementioned hypothesis?

( Unexplained down-votes are not constructive. Please state your reason - I often edit or even remove posts in response to comments. Questions, answers, and the site at large, are improved thereby. )


texts: How common were duels in Tokugawa Japan?

texts:
It is my understanding that during Tokugawa era Japan, Samurai could and would occasionally engage in duels to the death. But how often? Do we know from any record keeping how common deadly duels were? How does the number of duels fought relate to how many Samurai there were, how large or small was the risk that a given Samurai would have to fight a duel over his lifetime? Were there noticeable ebbs in the number of duels throughout the period?
Wikipedia is surprisingly sparse on the matter. I believe noble families in Japan used to keep records of family members; if these also mentioned cause of death, one could get a pretty good estimate of actual numbers. I'm more interested in "typical" Samurai, not in exceptional figures like Miyamoto Musashi.
ETA: This answer indicates that private duels where outlawed and punishable by death by many Daimyo even before the Edo period, though enforcement was not 100%.


texts: 18th-century understanding of the word "colony?"

texts:
In 1750 there were thirteen British "colonies" on the east coast of North America.  If I'm not mistaken, the words "colony" and "province" were both used at the time to refer to any of those.

Today the word "colony" is often used to mean a state ruled by another state, so that one might hear it said that after the war of 1898 the Philippines became an American "colony".
I think the term also means a geographic region that gets populated by a large number of people who have relocated from another country with the result that those who came from that other country or their descendants outnumber and dominate the indigenous population.

Either of those two senses is applicable to the thirteen colonies.  But when people in the 18th century used the word, did it mean the first of the two senses, or the second, or something else?

One data point is that the Articles of Confederation (proposed by Congress in late 1777 and ratified and effective as of early 1781) say that other "colonies" can be admitted to the Union as new states provided nine states consent.  (I presume that means nine votes in Congress, where each state at that time could cast one vote.)  But actual discussions in Congress of the admission of new states concerned the de-facto independent republic of Vermont (which was repeatedly denied admission in 1777 through 1785 because the state of New York adamantly and vociferously objected, saying Vermont was legally a part of New York and the government that in fact existed there was illegal) and Kentucky, which was a part of Virginia. (The legislature of Virginia had consented to the separation of Kentucky from Virginia.  Congress's deliberations on whether to admit Kentucky were interrupted by a notification that the proposed new Constitution had been ratified by the ninth state, New Hampshire, so that it was in effect and so the new two-house Congress had to get elected.  They decided that was not a good time to admit a new state. (That was only the first in a series of delays in the admission of Kentucky.))  In 1787 Congress also decided that at least three new states should be created in the territory northwest of the Ohio, and some have suggested that that exceeded their powers under the Articles.


texts: What were the religious effects of the initial Arab conquests in the Byzantine Empire?

texts:
I've been reading some articles and books about the early Islamic conquests that started at about 634 CE, mainly in areas that belonged to the Byzantine Empire. Problem is, the majority of works I've read until now emphasize the military or administrative aspects of these events, and when religion is mentioned it is only to explain discussions and polemics about Monophysites and Chalcedonians, making it seem that Islam didn't affect the empire at all. That can't be the case because, already in 656, Syria proclaimed Mu'awiya as a Caliph, starting a civil war that would end in 661 with his victory and the creation of the Umayyad Caliphate.¹

As I am very interested in contacts between different civilizations and how they affected common people, I am curious to know if there was some kind of major conversion to Islam in the conquered provinces of Syria, Egypt, Palestine, and others in the 7th century, or if that was a slow process.

¹The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire, pp. 230-231


texts: What can be considered to be the single most important reason for the decline of muslim Golden Age?

texts:
In the middle ages, Muslims established some powerful empires.

They conquered vast land and shown considerable advancement in arts, science and culture.

There were lots of Muslim philosophers and scholars born.

What is the single most important reason that was responsible for the decline of their Golden Age?

In other words, why did they fail to sustain their Golden Age?

Edit
N.B. Please emphasize on "Muslim Golden Age".


texts:
Looking at my grandfathers files from Canadian military archives WW 1.
He was in the medical corps as a stretcher bearer. One of his tasks was
to be put on water detail. Would anyone know what being on water detail would encompass ?


texts: How was 19th century ship tonnage reported?

texts: I see the following in historical ship records: burthen 1050 75/95 tons. What does the "75/95" mean? I don't see anywhere else on the web where this question is answered.


texts: What sources describe the ending of the right to murder family members in 1st century BC Rome?

texts:
The right to murder family members ended in the first century BC,
although, even then, they kept a few exceptions. Now, the law said,
fathers could only murder their sons if they’ve been convicted of a
crime. (listverse.com)

Which law? Is there a source to backup this (at this date or later on)?
I read several articles, including:

This interesting study (which concluded that the practice was abandoned after a while: "While the paterfamilias could kill, he could not get away with it"). But the study doesn't mention the law(s) this quote is talking about.

Stephen Tempest answer on Quora also think this "right" finally ended (but he doesn't provide a source)

However, it seems that at least by the beginning of the Principate
[around  30 BCE] the theoretical power of life and death held by a
father over his children was very rarely used, and it was regarded as
horrifying when it was.
Seneca describes a case during the reign of Augustus where a man named
Tricho had his son flogged to death for some crime or other; but an
angry mob then lynched Tricho himself, right in the middle of Rome.
In the second century CE, Emperor Hadrian discovered that a father had
killed his own son after discovering that the son had been having sex
with his stepmother (the father's new wife). However, Hadrian stated
that "A father's power should be based on affection, not cruelty", and
ordered that the father himself be punished by banishment. It then
became the law that a father could not kill his child unless the child
had first been convicted by a regular court of law.
Selling children into slavery also seems to have fallen into disuse as
a custom by the time of the Principate, except in the purely token
form of the ceremony of emancipation, and also sometimes in the case
of children charged with a crime, where the child was handed over to
the victim in recompense. It may have still happened occasionally in
cases of desperate poverty, and with newborn children.
After the Empire converted to Christianity the concept of patria
potestas lingered on in some legislation, but by then it was very much
changed from its earlier form.


texts: What was the average height of Roman men and women?

texts: On a field trip to Philadelphia as a child I visited Betsy Ross' house. I was only 11 at the time and yet my head almost reached the ceiling. The tour guide said that Americans used to be shorter than they are now, and so their homes reflected this, with comparatively low ceilings. Did the Ancient Romans leave a record of the average height of men and women during any period (Republican, Imperial)?


texts: Which tax year was used to identify former Confederates belonging to the $20,000 exception of the 1865 Amnesty Proclamation?

texts:
The Amnesty Proclamation of 1865 granted near-universal amnesty to former Confederates in exchange for taking a loyalty oath; however, fourteen classes of individuals were excepted from amnesty, including those with taxable property exceeding $20,000. Individuals belonging to the $20,000 class were allowed to petition for amnesty directly to the Johnson Administration.

In Alabama, the assessment was made on the basis of 1861 property values (Fleming 1905, pg. 350):

  According to the proclamation the assessment was to be in 1865, but it was made on the basis of 1861, at which time slaves were included and a slaveholder of very moderate estate would be assessed at $20,000. In 1865 there were very few people worth $20,000.

Did other southern states use 1861 for the assessment, or did the basis vary across states?


texts: Who was a Roman General for a short time?

texts: I'm trying to remember the name and battle that a Roman General. I might be unintentionally mixing parts of it up with other historic parts. The story goes the Roman Empire need someone to lead their armies for a battle; they drafted this "farmer" from their own territories. This "farmer" lead the armies to victory and was sent back home within two weeks.


texts: What actual proof is there for Carthaginian child sacrifice?

texts: Is there undisputable proof for Carthaginian child sacrifice? I know Roman sources wrote about it, and burned bones have been found, but those could be cremations. I read the last confirmed human sacrifice of the Carthaginians was in the late 4th century BC on Sicily. While the Romans buried 4 people alive during the second Punic war.


texts: Did people during the Renaissance believe that the heart had two chambers?

texts:
Short question (adapted from @Oddthinking at Skeptics.SE):
How many chambers did the scientific population of the world (excluding Leonardo da Vinci), think the human heart had during the Renaissance?

Longer question (adapted from my original question at Skeptics.SE):

2 weeks ago, ADInstruments published an article commemorating the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death (1 paragraph quoted below; emphasis added).

  For example, during the Renaissance, the common belief was that the heart was a two chambered system, made up of the two ventricles. The atria or filling chambers were considered part of the venous system. Da Vinci clearly states in his papers that the heart consists of 4 chambers, separated by valves.

Was common scientific belief in the Renaissance that the heart "was a two chambered system?"

I have read variously that common belief in the Renaissance was that the heart has 4 chambers 1. However, Aristotle 1 and Galen 2, both of whom predate the Renaissance, believed the heart had three and two ventricles respectively. This belief may have carried into the beginning of the Renaissance (I am unsure if this is really the case). This would appear to contradict ADInstruments' article. What did the general scientific population think?

Original question at Skeptics.SE. (More detailed and since deleted.)


texts: How frequently were heated metal torture implements used?

texts:
There is a fairly widespread stereotype that throughout history, it was common to torture someone by heating some metal implement in coal or fire, and use the hot metal tool for torture (heat only, or pain from the implement too)

How common was its use in actuality?

I'm not very focused on a specific timeframe (just want to know how accurate the stereotype is) so we can either pick Medieval time, or any time for which good research on the topic exists.

I'm making a distinction between actually using, and merely using the threat of them, but if that makes answering difficult, they can be combined.


texts: I can't seem to find any evidence that would place the origin of diff tool to the year 1972 (as stated on wikipedia). So where is any initial research paper on it, first release, source code?


texts:
In 1931, a congressional resolution designated that "[t]he composition consisting of the words and music known as the Star-Spangled Banner is the national anthem." Unfortunately there isn't any other clarifying language as to exactly what the lyrics are.
The most commonly-heard rendition includes only the first verse of Francis Key's poem "Defense of Fort McHenry" to the music written by John Stafford Smith, but his original poem included four verses, which of course can be put to the same music. Several decades after Key's poem was written, Oliver Holmes also wrote a fifth verse, which has often been put with the other four, sometimes even spliced in between the original third and fourth verses, as in Thomas Beveridge's rendition.
When the Star-Spangled Banner was made national anthem in 1931, what lyrics were meant to actually be part of the anthem?


texts: Did Jesse James ever take part in a duel?

texts: We all know that Jesse James was an American outlaw and bank, train and stagecoach robber. He lived in the mid to late 1800s, and things were different back then than they are today. One way of settling an argument or dispute was participating in a duel. A duel is a contest with deadly weapons (usually a firearm), arranged between two people in order to settle a point of honor. Jesse James killed approximately 20 people while he robbed, and I am lead to think that surely at one point during his career as a robber that he participated in a duel. So my question is: Did Jesse James ever take part in a duel with another person?


texts: How did Islam and Hinduism thrive together in Medieval India?

texts:
In countries in the Middle East, Indonesia and many North African countries, the onset of Islamic rulers spread Islam in a rapid manner, eventually wiping off the local religion. However in spite of widespread Muslim rule for several centuries, Islam seemed to have co-existed with Hinduism in India.

How was this possible? Was India lucky that it had tolerant rulers?


texts: How were mounted infantry (like dragoons) used in battle?

texts:
During the Napoleonic Wars, Some troops performed as "mounted infantry", i.e. they rode horses to move, but dismounted and fought like infantry. Dragoons are usually given as examples. How was this force actually used in battle? Cavalry normally use their speed and momentum as advantage, e.g. by charging into infantry flank or rear. But dragoons kind of gave away this advantage by dismounting and fighting like infantry.

Also since they are train to fight like infantry, they most probably will be easily defeated by regular cavalry. And since infantry is normally more numerous and fire better than cavalry, they would be outgunned by regular infantry. In any case, there were no advantage.

How was it used in battle? Any example of battles in this era where mounted infantry played an important part?


texts: Who was blamed for shell failures on the Western Front?

texts:
According to the website for the Imperial War Museum, shell failure at the Somme was a significant issue:

To make matters worse, it has been been estimated that as many as 30% of the shells failed to explode.

Similarly, shell failure was a problem at the Battle of Jutland. In that case it was Churchill who took responsibility although he did not know about the shell defects.

(from British Naval Supremacy and Anglo-American Antagonisms, 1914-1930 by Donald J. Lisio)
Despite the problems with testing and manufacturing, it was Churchill who accepted responsibility. Regarding shell use on land however, I can not find any scapegoats or anyone who faced repercussions for  duds. Were there similar cases like the one referenced above, either in regards to the the Somme or the Western Front in general?


texts: Are there examples in ancient history of honor killing?

texts:
Honor killing, most often, the murder of a woman or girl by male family members. The killers justify their actions by claiming that the victim has brought dishonor upon the family name or prestige. Britanica

Or

  An honour killing or shame killing is the murder of a member of a family, due to the perpetrators' belief that the victim has brought shame or dishonour upon the family, or has violated the principles of a community or a religion, usually for reasons such as divorcing or separating from their spouse, refusing to enter an arranged, child, or forced marriage, being in a relationship or having associations with social groups outside the family that is strongly disapproved by one's family, having premarital or extramarital sex, becoming the victim of rape or sexual assault, dressing in clothing, jewelry and accessories which are deemed inappropriate, engaging in non-heterosexual relations or renouncing a faith Wikipedia:Honor killing

Honor killing is not death to preserve honor, but rather inflicting death on another to preserve familial honor.

I thought I had found two examples of honor killing in ancient literature, although people online have disagreed with me.

In Livy, the killing of Verginia by her father Verginius in ancient Rome might have been fictional, but was probably at least based on events that had actually occurred. So the issue would be whether when something like the Verginius episode did happen, it fits the modern definition of honor killing.
Whether or not the Odyssey is fictional, would an event like Telemachus's killing of the woman slaves who were disloyal to Odysseus be considered an honor killing? (Telemachus does give his "honor" as a reason for hanging them rather than killing them with a sword).

Also, there's at least one other kind of honor killing in modern times: the killing of a family member who rejects the family religion. Is there any example of this in ancient history as well?

Wikipedia gives some background, saying, for one thing, that the killing is a protection of the honor of a family. But if there are historians who have made a special study of honor killing and know whether or not the concept and practice have or have not changed over the centuries, I would prefer to go by their definitions.


texts: Was African slave trade ever directed towards Europe? If not, why?

texts:
The capture, shipping and sale of African slaves was most famously directed towards the colonies of European empires in the Americas, where they were put to work on plantations and other harsh, labor-intensive jobs.

Since African slaves were known to be an abundant and cheap source of labor, it seems like the Europeans of the time could've profited greatly from importing slaves to their home lands too, instead of just colonies. Did this ever happen, and in what scale? If not, why?


texts: What is the purpose of this Roman siege tactic as shown in this Illustration?

texts:
When browsing Wikipedia, I came across this illustration that displays some of well known siege weapons of Roman empire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_engine#/media/File:Roman_siege_machines.gif
However, something in this illustration caught my eye and it was the second "Wooden shield/blocker"(sorry I don't know the technical term for it) that is on the ramp. I am referring to the wooden shield that's located right by the wall. What is the purpose of a wooden shield so close to the wall? Why didn't defenders simply set it on fire or destroy it with some other means if it was that close? Is the Illustration misleading about the actual position of the second wooden shield? Are there any references that suggest Romans(Or some other faction in history) did indeed placed wooden shields that close to the enemy fortifications?


texts: What factors enabled the New York Journal to survive the yellow journalism wars?

texts: The height of yellow journalism was a battle waged between the Joseph Pulitzer owned New York World, and the William Hearst owned New York Journal. However, even though these two papers boasted large circulations, only one of them survived for some time after the yellow journalism period. What did the New York Journal do differently or more successfully that enabled it to survive?


texts: What percentage of British people during the industrial revolution were rich?

texts: I am doing some research for school and I was wondering what was the percentage of British people during the industrial revolution (The 1760 to 1840 period) were rich? By 'rich' I mean a person that owned a house and was employing 2 or more employees/servants. I tried searching Google but I didn't get an answer


texts: Are there any Midas portraits from the ancient era?

texts:
This is not strictly a history question, but I hope you can help me: I'm looking for original ancient art depicting king Midas (Ideally a mosaic, but anything will work, as long as it is from the "ancient era"). Searching online with the most popular search engines has been an absolute waste of time, and I find it hard to believe that there is not a single "original" art piece depicting Midas (I thought he was one of the popular ones, even back in the day?).

Ideally, the image should be large, in high resolution and royalty/copyright/whatever free, as I plan to use it as cover art in my doctoral thesis (I am on a completely unrelated field, but Midas' myths provide a perfect metaphor for my research, and I'm really into Greek mythology, so...).

Links, actual names of the pieces (maybe the search engines will be less useless if I tell them exactly which piece I am looking for?), links, downloads, anything at all will be helpful. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out!!


texts: What was the size of the British East India fleet at the end of the War of 1812?

texts:
There was a recent quote from the television show Taboo, set in 1814, that

  "The British East India Company has more ships than the combined fleets of all the nations of the world"

I know that the power of the company was vast, but is this hyperbole?  What was the size of the British East India fleet, both owned and contracted? Did it include military vessels such as privateers, and if so, to what extent?


texts: What were the conditions of joining or leaving the Holy Roman Empire?

texts:
Seeing as several countries in Europe are regularly rethinking whether to join or leave the European Union, I wonder how did countries join or leave the Holy Roman Empire, which was also more like a loose federation of countries.

Were there instances of principalities joining or leaving the Empire peacefully? Was there ever an instance of a principality voluntarily wanting to join? Would it be possible for a member country to decide they wanted to leave, without the emperor ordering its neighbors to attack it?


texts: What did ancient countries call themselves?

texts:
Especially non-European nations -- I'm under the impression that the names given to these countries, e.g. "the Maurya Dynasty", "the Qin Dynasty", "the Akkadian Empire", "the Old Kingdom of Egypt", etc. are modern inventions, not the names given by the countries themselves.

There seems to be a rather clear shift in naming once you enter the Middle Ages -- France is referred to as France, Travancore as Travancore, etc.

I know the answer for some of them, like the Greek city-states, for instance, or the empires created by them, like Macedonia. And then there's China, which generally believed in unification, so kingdoms were just considered candidates to rule the nation. But in places where fragmentation is the norm but so are territorial changes, like India, the Near East and the West, this isn't so clear.


texts: I’m studying the history of emigration and immigration in the 19th century. My question is: How did an immigrant become a citizen in the nineteenth century? Thank you!


texts:
Is there any information on what numbers of American families have what numbers of children, for any time period?

Like, "How many families / couples have more than 7 kids, in 1950?"

'Cause all the info I've found in a cursory search gives me "3 kids +"...

I suppose this could be answered by giving me raw census data, but I'm not sure that's ever given out...


texts: When did "Africa" become the name of the whole continent?

texts:
I learned from wiki that Africa was the name of a Roman province during Roman times, and that the continent was divided into Libya, Egypt and Ethiopia.

So when did Africa become the name of the whole continent, while Libya's meaning was restricted to only a small part of the ancient Libya?


texts: Did the French violate the Washington Naval ConferenceTreaty limitations?

texts:
I was surprised to read in connection with Mers el Kebir that in 1940, France had the second largest navy in Europe, with seven battleships. The reason was France's participation in the 1922 Washington Naval Conference, which set ratios of 5, 5, 3, 1.67, and 1.67 to the American, British, Japanese, French, and Italian navies. That implied 15 battleships for America and Britain, 9 for Japan, and 5 each for France and Italy. My understanding is that "Washington" limitations applied to each class of ship, so a country could not build more battleships than allowed and compensate by building say, fewer cruisers.
The two newest French battleships were the Richelieu and Jean Bart, laid down in 1935, before the "treaty busting" rounds of the late 1930s. In 1935, Germany, which was not party to the Washington Conference, signed a treaty with Britain allowing its navy 35% of British tonnage. That would, in theory allow the Germans to build more than the 33% of British tonnage allowed the French. Yet Germany built only four capital ships, the Bismarck, Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, instead of five, unless you count the three "pocket" battleships. Even then, you get seven German battleships versus seven French, with three of the Germans clearly of "smaller" size than standard battleships. You could therefore make a case that the Germans had offset "greater numbers" with lower tonnage.
Was the French navy stronger than the German navy in the 1930s even though the treaties dictated otherwise? And were the French in violation of the Washington Conference, or were they in compliance, either because Britain had underbuilt her quota of battleships, or for some other reason that made the allowable British "denominator" larger than I have characterized it?


texts: How alcoholic were ancient Greek and Roman wines, before and after dilution?

texts:
My understanding is that people in ancient Greece and Rome used to dilute their wine before drinking it. Do we know the ABV values for diluted and undiluted wines?

EDIT: I realize there is a similar question about why they diluted their wines, but I'm specifically looking for the amount by which it was diluted. Basically, would the ancient Greeks and Romans consider us savages for drinking our current 10-14% wine.


texts: Is there any evidence of naval ramming in the 9th and 10th century North Sea?

texts:
In Bernard Cornwell's 'Sword of the Kings', his main character uses the tactic of ramming to sink an enemy ship before engaging in hand-to-hand combat with surviving ships which get leashed together. Given that the actions take place in early 10th century England, with the main character's ship built by Frisians but sailed out of Northumbria, this sounded anachronistic to me.  Is there any evidence of ramming as a viable naval tactic (i.e., not done out of desperation) in the North Sea of 9th and 10th centuries?

The possible origins for the main character's ship may involve incorporating traditions from Scandinavia, Frisia, and Great Britain. Hence, I tried to look into the availability of ramming as a tactic in those places during this time.
Longships
Searches online didn't come up with anything relevant for the 9th and 10th centuries, but later Norse ships that were built for ramming (barði) did come up:

A sturdy warship with a special, ironstudded prow construction which may have been a kind of battering ram to strike enemy ships. The word comes from barð, meaning beard/brim which denoted this particular prow.

The specific context of this seems uncertain, however, and general opinion seems to be against such uses. For example, overviews of Medieval warfare generally describe Norse ships as poor for ramming:

Not built for ramming, Viking ships could not duplicate the tactics of the ancient triremes...
—Allfree, 'Warfare in the Medieval World'

Durham's 'Viking Longship' agrees with this by not mentioning ramming at all (not even in the context of the barði that were mentioned in the above link).
Alfred's Navy
Alfred's navy is also generally of the opinion that ships were not for ship-killing but a platform on which to kill the sailors of the opponent:

The author of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle related that Alfred's ships were larger, swifter, steadier and rode higher in the water than either Danish or Frisian ships. ...
Alfred had seapower in mind—if he could intercept raiding fleets before they landed, he could spare his kingdom from being ravaged. Alfred's ships may have been superior in conception. In practice they proved to be too large to manoeuvre well in the close waters of estuaries and rivers, the only places in which a naval battle could occur.
The warships of the time were not designed to be ship killers but rather troop carriers. It has been suggested that, like sea battles in late Viking age Scandinavia, these battles may have entailed a ship coming alongside an enemy vessel, lashing the two ships together and then boarding the enemy craft. The result was effectively a land battle involving hand-to-hand fighting on board the two lashed vessels.

Then again, it also offers this entirely contradictory phrase:

It is probable that, under the classical tutelage of Asser, Alfred utilised the design of Greek and Roman warships, with high sides, designed for fighting rather than for navigation.

And the preponderance of ramming as a tactic in Greece is well known, but I'm not sure this is the intended emphasis of this paragraph (though I read it as such). Regrettably, all of Wikipedia's sources for these claims are locked for me so I cannot look for them in the original sources.
So, is there any evidence?


texts: What kind of atomic bombs were anticipated after Nagasaki?

texts:
After the bombing of Nagasaki, what type of A-bombs were being readied? The Little Boy types were uranium-cored with blast of about 15 kt. The Fat Man types were plutonium-cored with blast of about 21 kt.

This is what wikipedia says about more A-bombs being prepared for Japan:

  Groves expected to have another atomic bomb ready for use on August 19, with three more in September and a further three in October.

Then a bit later it says:

  Two more Fat Man assemblies were readied, and scheduled to leave Kirtland Field for Tinian on August 11 and 14, and Tibbets was ordered by LeMay to return to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to collect them. At Los Alamos, technicians worked 24 hours straight to cast another plutonium core. Although cast, it still needed to be pressed and coated, which would take until August 16. Therefore, it could have been ready for use on August 19. Unable to reach Marshall, Groves ordered on his own authority on August 13 that the core should not be shipped.

There are sources for all of this in the article. The first one was a brief pdf that was hard to read and I didn't find what I'm looking for in it. And anyway, the paragraphs seem to contradict one another because first it says Groves expected one more in August, then the second paragraphs says two more were scheduled in August, with a third tried but delayed. But both seem to indicate that all further types will be Fat Man (plutonium).

So what types were being readied for August, September, and October? Had America stopped the Little Boy types for some reason?


texts: Did the Germans try to "Pearl Harbor" Russia's Black Sea fleet?

texts:
Pearl Harbor of course, is a reference to the Japanese sneak attack that destroyed half the battleships of the U.S. Pacific fleet. Earlier in the war, the Germans managed to decimate the Russian Baltic Fleet during the evacuation of Tallinn, sinking about a third of their ships.
For some reason, the Germans were not nearly as successful at destroying the Russian Black Sea Fleet, even though it was weaker than the Baltic fleet. Their two main opportunities were the evacuation of Odessa, where they destroyed only a handful of ships, and the evacuation of Sevastopol, where they sank a number of smaller Russian ships, but not the battleship nor the cruisers.
The continued existence of the Russian Black Sea Fleet made it inadvisable for the Germans to try to ship supplies across the Black Sea. Did they make one or more attempts to "Pearl Harbor" the Black Sea Fleet that I have overlooked? Or was that basically impossible, given the logistics of bombing the Russian fleet in their new bases near the Turkish border?
Edit: Germany might have tried to "Pearl Harbor" the Russian fleet by running convoys in the northern part of the Black Sea/Sea of Azov, after establishing air bases e.g. on the Kerch Peninsula. One of two things might have happened: 1) The Russians would decline to come out and fight, allowing the German convoys to go through. 2) The Russian fleet might have opted for a policy of "mutually assured destruction," sinking one or two convoys, and being destroyed by German airpower. The Germans would have sacrificed one or two convoys to protect future shipments.
In the "actual" Pearl Harbor situation, the Japanese considered (and rejected) the idea of letting the American Pearl Harbor fleet head for e.g. the Philippines, and sinking it en route.


texts: How historically accurate Is this replica "15th century hand and a half" sword?

texts: Sorry, not a plug, but this sword at this shop called The Medieval Store has a 15th century hand and a half sword and I am curious the historical significance of it. What makes it 15th century? Can anyone explain?


texts: Name of Operation that Brought USA Troops Home at End of WWII?

texts:
I once heard or read the name of the military operation used at the end of WW-II to bring all of the US troops of the several service branches back to US soil. I have forgotten the name of the operation and would like to learn more about it. As I recall the operation was started right after Nagasaki when Japanese surrender was imminent. In the article or show I am thinking of, it was explained that troops were brought home piecemeal in whatever conveyance was available. E.g. Army troops were given passage on US-bound Navy ships, merchant marine ships, oilers, etc. Others came back in small groups on US-bound aircraft in partial legs of their  complete homeward journey, or across the US to their home towns in a similar manner.

Does anyone know the name of this operation and where I can learn more about it?


texts: Why did Byzantine champions (consistently) lose duels to Muslim armies' champions?

texts:
I studied Byzantine history lately. I am familiar with the tradition of champions from opposing armies to duel before battles in the east. What baffled me is that time and again, the Byzantine champions kept losing those duels to Muslim ones.

Why was that the case? One would expect some kind of parity but it did not seem to be the case.

This is my first history question, so sorry if I make mistakes.


texts: Why didn't the Ottomans besiege Malta after 1565?

texts:
The Great Siege didn't work out but one would think that given the crucial strategic position of Malta, the Ottomans would have made another attempt at a later date.

Why didn't that happen?


texts: What were the largest European Treasuries, in gold and silver, at the end of the Seven Years War?

texts:
From a related question, I'm now looking to compare the size of European Treasuries as they existed at the end of the Seven Years War (1763).

I'm only interested in gold and silver that existed in official treasuries. The Empires I'm interested in are Portugal, Spain, Britain, France, Prussia, Austria, Denmark-Norway, Sweden, Russia, and Ottoma.

Estimates are OK. I can make a guess and say that the Spanish Empire had the largest, because of their gold and silver fleets from the Americas (and that Spain didn't join the war until 1762 so they proly didn't drain their finances like France did). However, "largest" is too vague for me. I want to know how large and how much larger it was compared to the others. For this we need figures for each empire.

I've come across very little hard data, probably the best of which is this site for gold, but it only gives numbers to the Bank of England. The closest wikipedia chart I found was disappointingly this historical GDP table, but the nearest dates are 1700 and 1820 and it's only GDP, not silver or gold of treasuries.


texts: How many Reichsmarks would a piano lesson have cost in Germany during 1930 - 39?

texts:
I have learnt in history that the Reichsmark became extremely inflated, but I think people still used it as currency, just in ridiculous amounts to buy otherwise "cheap" produce (such as bread) using a huge stack of cash. But if a piano lesson is, say, 60$ an hour, how many Reichsmarks would that have cost? Or was another currency used instead? Google doesn't really give any results and I expect its a pretty niche thing to ask.
I am writing a piece of historical fiction, that's why I'm looking for this information.


texts: How were Icelandic bishops elected before the union with Norway?

texts:
By reading some basic texts (in English translation) (like Hungrvaka) I came to know that the bishops were elected on Iceland, and then had to make a journey to mainland Europe to be consecrated (Audience with the pope, then consecration by some north European archbishop) It is also hinted that the 'chieftains' had much influence on the election.

So my question is, that who were to vote for bishops? (After Iceland accepted Christianity in 1000, but before they went under Norwegian rule in 1262).

Where the clergy to decide? Or the gođar who had a say in the Allthing? Or some more general circle of landowners? And after there were more than one Episcopal sees established, were only those to decide, who lived in the now vaccant bishopric?

And where there a majority vote, or they simply talked over the question and came to an agreement?


texts: I guess the answer may be different for rich people who had their own baths and others who visited the public baths.


texts:
Did 20% of the Soviet Population use a Latin script in 1935?

The literacy campaigns in the Soviet Union between 1917 and 1940 taught many people to read. Many people who did not speak Russian had no alphabet for their language, so appropriate alphabets were devised for these populations. Before 1940, most of these new alphabets used Latin letters.

This non-peer reviewed article about Soviet language policy says that about 36 million people used Latin letters in 1935.  Is this accurate, or is it an exaggerated claim? Another website says the Soviet population was 170 million, corresponding with about 20%.

Was 20% of the Soviet Population using a non-Cyrillic script in 1935? Is that possible?


texts: What is the meaning of people "looking elsewhere" on medieval paintings?

texts:
Looking at some medieval paintings I noticed that there are sometimes people "looking elsewhere" even though they take part in an important event and would be expected to pay attention:

Is there a significance to this? Or is it just a question of style ? (to add some dynamics for instance)

I read somewhere than in the case of religious paintings of Mary and Jesus, he was often looking away to symbolize the future, but this could hardly be the case for the normal (although probably important) people in the illustrations above


texts: How did the Alien and Sedition acts pass?

texts:
The Alien and Sedition acts, passed in 1798, are said to have been an attempt by the Federalist Party to suppress opposition.

In Chapter 74 Section 2, the law seems to put restrictions on freedom of speech, which violates the first amendment. How did a bill that violates the constitution manage to pass Congress, the president, and (although judicial review had not yet been established) the Supreme Court?


texts: Anyone know what this stone building is?

texts:
It's located next to a beach and below a small hill. It has three sides and a large metal grid on top, on each of the three sides is an arch which tapers down toward a small opening on the ground. I came across it while walking a coastal path in wales.  I have no idea what it is, or what its purpose could be ... does anyone know please?

It's located on a beach between Clarach bay and Borth. It looks like a small castle (without any turrets) and stands about 10 feet tall. The beach is very secluded it's not one used by tourists. Not sure if that helps or not


texts: Were the names in 'Les Miserables' ever common?

texts:
Victor Hugo used a variety of unusual names in 'Les Miserables'. Lets look at some of the major characters. Were the names in Les Miserables, other than Jean and Marius, common in France at the time of the book's setting (~1815-1830) or writing (~1860s)?

Jean (Valjean) - One of the historically most common masculine surnames
Javert
Cosette - Her actual name was Euphrasie which is a reasonably well attested name.
Marius - The 34th most common masculine name in 1900, according to Behind the Names.
Fantine
Eponine
Enjolras
Gavroche - translates as newsboy?

For the names with no notes, a Google search did not find any useful instances of name use. I considered that they may be surnames, but then Marius (Pontmercy) and Eponine and Gavroche (Thenardier) at least already have a surname. Cosette and Fantine may also share a surname.


texts: What was the first major technological advancement that occurred after the fall of the Roman Empire?

texts: Popular perception is that technology and science stopped advancing for quite some time after the fall of the Roman Empire. Is this true? Or were significant advances steadily made, just at a slower rate? When did these advances occur, and what were they?


texts: I am trying to help someone.  She has sent me a black & white photo.  I think the battle dress is post WW2? And the man could be an officer? Ie the wearing of a tie.  I just cannot work out the medal ribbon because of it being black and white also there seems to be a metal rosette attached to the medal.


texts: Percentage of Christians (Greeks, Armenians, Assyrians) in Asia Minor/Anatolia in the early 19th century

texts:
I'm wondering about the percentage of Christians in Asia Minor/Anatolia in the early 19th century. There were significant Muslim immigration and Christian emigration later.
Immigration: 19th century expulsion of Circassians (Muslims in religion) from Caucasus by Russians. Also, in 19th-20th century expulsion or voluntary immigration of Muslims from Balkans, after independence of Balkan states.
Emigration: Greeks in many waves, 1821, 1912-15, and their last exodus in 1922-24 after the Greek military disaster in Asia Minor and the forced relocation of reminder Greeks to state of Greece. Armenians, emigration of the reminder after the Armenian Genocide.
From what I've read most Circassians resettled in Ottoman Anatolia. The same applies for Balkan Muslims. Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople's statistics, there where about 2.2 million Greeks, Christian Orthodox faith in 1912 Anatolia. There were also slaughters of Greeks and emigration to state of Greece after the Greek Revolution of 1821, which decreased their numbers. About 1 million Armenians, according to Armenian genocide numbers, were in Anatolia before the genocide, let's assume until 1900. Couldn't find much data on number of Assyrians/Syriacs of Christian faith (Oriental, Nestorian etc) probably less than a million. With a total population of about 13-14 million in Anatolia at the start of 20th century, about 3 million Christians, some thousand Hebrews, the rest Muslims, Christians were a sizable number at about 22-25% (I also expect Ottoman statistics of the era to report less Christians than their real numbers, that's why I believe Christians could be up to 25%). So before Circassian and Balkan Muslim resettlement to Anatolia and also before the first slaughter of Greeks and expulsion in 1821 from Anatolia, could Christian population in Anatolia be somewhere between 30-40% in the early 19th century?
All these numbers are debatable, gross estimations and assumptions from personal amateur reading. That's why I'm looking on scientific research on the matter. Guide me if you have knowledge of any such research.


texts: What actually happened during the elephant duel (Songkram Yutahatti) between King Naresuan of Ayutthaya/Siam and Mingy Swa of Hongsawadee/Burma?

texts:
Before we start, I just want to say that I find Thai history and the history of Southeast Asia in general to be extremely fascinating and interesting. I think that it’s just as interesting as Chinese history or European history and I believe that Southeast Asian history is criminally underrated.

Anyway, with that said, during the Burmese-Siamese War of 1584-1593, the official story (according to the Thais) state that King Naresuan‘s elephant along with Ekathotsarot and his elephant went into musth and broke ranks, stampeding into the army of Hongsawadee/the Burmese. King Naresuan took advantage of the situation and spotted Mingy Swa (Crown prince of Burma) on top of his own war elephant under the shade of a tree. King Naresuan called out something along the lines of “come out and duel me, no kings will ever do what we will do” and after that, a goddamn badass elephant duel commences between both royals. The duel between them was apparently so badass that both Burmese and Ayutthayan/Siamese troops stopped fighting each other and just watched. Eventually, after Mingy Swa got a lucky shot and cut off a piece of the brim of King Naresuan’s cover/hat, King Naresuan countered and managed to cut down the Burmese prince from his shoulder down to his hip. After Mingy Swa was killed, the Hongsawadee/Burmese troops retreated.

But that’s the Thai version of what went down. According to Burmese military records, Mingy Swa was shot and killed via musket fire and that Mingy Swa and King Naresuan never took part in any formalized duels. And according to this one source that I read, there are over 10 different accounts of what really went down during the Songkram Yutahatti, all of which are either Thai/Siamese, Burmese, or foreign accounts.

I know that it’s incredibly fantastical and I obviously doubt that it actually happened since it just sounds so mythical but I like to pretend and prefer the version where King Naresuan’s elephant was backing away from the duel and retreating, only for King Naresuan to pour some holy water onto the elephant, say a prayer to heaven as well as some words of encouragement to the elephant. After which, the elephant was back in the fight and he managed to stop Mingy Swa’s elephant by planting his foot up against a tree, using it to push against the Hongsawadee elephant, which allowed King Naresuan to take the chance to slice down Mingy Swa. Again, I like to think that that’s what actually happened but obviously it sounds too legendary for it to have happened.

But what do you guys think? What REALLY happened during the Songkram Yutahatti/Battle of Nong Sarai?


texts: Did Hitler get called a fascist by his opponents within Germany? Did he or other Nazis have a problem with that?

texts:
Hitler wrote of his admiration for Mussolini, but when it came to naming his party something they did not call it fascist (according to Konrad Heiden, Hitler did not want the party to be called National Socialist but that's another story).

Did the Nazis' opponents use the word  fascists to refer to them? If so, did any of them object to being called this in speeches, articles, etc? Or viz their modus operandi, did the Nazis go out of their way to beat people up who called them fascist?

Edit: per my comment about the Nazis beating people up, I'm asking whether their opponents in Germany called them fascists. The Allies justifiably called them every name under the sun once the war had started.


texts: Was 'Jade Mirror of the Four Unknowns' published in 1303, and how do we know?

texts:
Wikipedia gives the date for Chinese mathematician Zhu Shijie's Jade Mirror of the Four Unknowns (四元玉鉴, Siyuan yujian) as 1303, citing

Elman, Benjamin A. (2005). On their own terms science in China, 1550-1900. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. p. 252. ISBN 0674036476.

That reference says

  On the other hand, the editors had not yet recovered Zhu Shijie's Jade Mirror of the Four Unknowns (Siyuan yujian) and his 1299 Primer of Mathematics in time for inclusion in the Qianlong Imperial Library.

Searching Google Books and Amazon Look Inside I do not find any other references in this work to the year 1303.

I'd like to know where this information comes from to be so casually dropped into the text. Usually dates like these are hard-won pieces of information, stitched together from different calendars or more obscure references, and scholars generally leave information on how they determine these things. I would expect a date to be expressed something like Dàdé 7 (the seventh year in the second era of Temür Khan's reign; note I'm neither a historian nor familiar with Chinese dates).


texts: Beliefs on the Fragility of Ruling Class Women in and Around the 18th and 19th Centuries

texts:
One thing that has always struck me as bizarre when reading the likes of Austen or the Brontes, for example, is how pathetically fragile they make ruling class women.  Get caught in the rain or go a day without food?  You're on death's door!

Is there evidence outside of novels (medical advice, magazines, anything really) that indicate whether people really believed ruling class women were so fragile?

Is there a class dependence?  I.e. did a significant portion normal women, who were perfectly capable of living in poor conditions and missing meals, believe that if a Lady were thrown into their situation she'd be dead in a day or two?  Did the upper class women themselves raise an eyebrow at the portrayal of their reaction to a little bad weather or hardship?  Were such events widely accepted as a useful plot device, perhaps because describing actually life-threatening events may have raised objections?


texts: How did destroyers protecting convoys operate in bad weather during WWII?

texts:
Remembering the scene where the U-Boat meets the destroyer during the hunt in "Das Boot":
Destroyers have a low gauge (2.5-5m) and are very top-heavy (all those guns and waterbombs over the waterline with high wind resistance and only a small, lean body below to achieve speed).

How were they able to operate under storm conditions ?

Normally I would expect that the destroyer tumbles and wobbles like a drunkard on ice, barely managing to ride out the storm. That they were still able to spot and hunt boats seems like a small miracle. Did they had stabilizers or how did they manage it ? Were there losses when destroyers encountered bad weather and finally capsized or even turtled (hope that is the right word) ?

BACKGROUND:
I have now read the described scene in the book again (the author Lothar-Günter Buchheim was really on the boat U-96 as observer). In the book the destroyer was met when the wind was Beaufort 5 (fresh breeze) and sea state was 4 (moderate wave height), it was raining with an overcast sky, so no stormy conditions. Still the captain decided to attack the destroyer; the author mentioned that he thought the captain is crazy because destroyers are very hard to hit (low gauge, high maneuverability, changes course too often) and they have already been spotted. The destroyer was 1000 m (1100 yd) away, coming from the left when the destroyer captain charged with flank speed.


texts: What historical evidence do we have for the Prophet Muhammed?

texts:
In the Sahih-Bukhari, a generally accepted collection of the times and sayings of the Prophet, there are a number of reports of contacts with other nations & empires; for example:

  Allah's Apostle wrote a letter to Caesar saying, "If you reject Islam, you will be responsible for the sins of the peasants (i.e. your people)."

and

  Allah's Apostle sent his letter to Khusrau and ordered his messenger to hand it over to the Governor of Bahrain who was to hand it over to Khusrau. So, when Khusrau read the letter he tore it. Said bin Al-Musaiyab said, "The Prophet then invoked Allah to disperse them with full dispersion, (destroy them (i.e. Khusrau and his followers) severely)".

What independent corroboration of official contact between the Early Islam (the ummah) and the nations surrounding them is there during the Prophets time?


texts: How did the monks whose job was to copy books react to Gutenberg's printing press?

texts:
It's typical to see people whose job it is to perform a manual task to - collectively - object when a new technology is introduced which makes their job obsolete (as the quintessential example, see Luddite movement).

Was there a similar situation when Gutenberg's printing press (once it started being used more widely) impacted the job of the monks and scribes who copied books by writing previously?

Or did they welcome the relief?

If the former, was there any sort of documented organized opposition to the press' use?


texts: What were the political goals of the United States' intervention in the Russian Civil War?

texts:
My understanding is that the United States sent two separate ground forces to take part in the Russian Civil War

Polar Bear Expedition
American Expeditionary Force Siberia

Only the Polar Bear Expedition would see combat, fighting the Red Army. The Red Army would of course later emerge victorious.

Although the ideology of the Bolsheviks was undoubtedly different than that of most American politicians, there was not yet a clear track record of the atrocities committed by the Soviet Union. Stalin had not yet conducted his purges for example. I find it unlikely that the US would have intervened solely on the basis of ideology.

What did the United States' hope to achieve by intervening in the Russian Civil War? Were they simply trying to gain favor with the other powers in Europe? Or were they trying to protect American interests in Russia?


texts: What was the purpose of Lt. Gen. Frank M. Andrews' flight when he was killed in the Iceland crash on May 3, 1943?

texts:
Lt. General Frank Maxwell Andrews. Source: Wikipedia
Question
What was the purpose of Lt. Gen. Andrews' flight in May, 1943 aboard the B-24 Liberator Hot Stuff?
Was it a routine inspection tour of remote facilities as some sources indicate?
Or was it a flight home to the USA for an important meeting (with perhaps the "inspection tour" being a cover story for security), taking the opportunity to pilot the B-24 Hot Stuff on its way home to the USA for a war bond tour after being the first heavy bomber to complete its 25th mission (not the Memphis Belle, by the way)?
Background
While researching an answer to this question asking why Eisenhower was chosen to be Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (more on that later this week in another question, by the way), I came across some interesting and inconsistent information about Lt. Gen. Frank Andrews flight which ended in his death in the crash in Iceland on May 3, 1943.  Some sources (below) indicate the purpose of this flight was merely an inspection tour, while other sources (below) indicate Andrews had been summoned back to Washington D.C. to meet with Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall, ostensibly to receive a promotion with his 4th star and to be given the position of Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force (SCAEF), the position which then went to Eisenhower because of Andrews' untimely death.
Sources indicating the flight was merely an inspection tour:

Wikipedia: Bio of Frank Maxwell Andrews;
Arlington Cemetery: Frank Maxwell Andrews, Lieutenant General, United States Army;
Wikipedia: Bio of Gen. Jacob L. Devers - ETOUSA;
The Nashville Post: Nashville now and then: What might have been.

Sources which indicate it was a flight back to the USA for an important meeting with the Chief of Staff:

Wikipedia: Hot Stuff (aircraft) (see: Crash in Iceland);
Warbird Digest: WWII B-24 Liberator Hot Stuff – Setting the Record Straight.

Note:
I have found some additional potentially credible sources (looking for primary sources) which support the claim that Andrews (for whom Andrews AFB is named) was the original choice for SCAEF, not Eisenhower, which lends tangent or indirect support to the claim Andrews may have been on his way home for the appointment. (This is also controversial because I have also found other credible sources which either contradict this or neglect to mention it at all in the context of SCAEF and SHAEF topics. But this is worth another separate Question).


texts: When did people decide that all caps means the writer is shouting?

texts:
Nowadays, writing in all caps tends to indicate that the writer is shouting.

FOR EXAMPLE IF I TYPE LIKE THIS PEOPLE EQUATE THIS TO SHOUTING.

My understanding from cursory googling is that letters were originally only in one case and a separate case was developed later, with most people considering the first case to be capitalized and the second, newer case to be lowercase. Newspaper headlines and advertisements sometimes lapsed into all caps, but I can't find any indication that the all caps typography was meant to be interpreted as literally shouting the headline at people.

When did people start making the distinction that using the default capitalized letters means the writer is shouting (assuming this practice is old enough that "default" has any meaning)?


texts: Did any European ever witness a major Inca religious festival?

texts: Did any European witness an Inca religious festival?


texts: How do the kings and important figures in history get the titles?

texts:
What I mean by the titles is: Alexander "the Great", Julian "the Apostate", Henry "the Navigator" and so on.
Do such important figures choose titles for themselves? Or do the subjects or historians unanimously choose them? (To me, at least people unanimously choosing the same title sounds unlikely).
Also, what is the specific term for such titles?

Note: I can't think of any relevant tag for this question, nor can I create new tags because of low reputation. If someone can think of appropriate tags, please add them.


texts: Is Malenkov wearing some sort of uniform in this picture?

texts:
Or just a mildly ridiculous sailor suit?

He is the third from the right.


texts: Why did Argentina invade the Falklands when they did, rather than wait for the pending sale of the UK aircraft carriers to complete first?

texts:
At the time of the Argentinian invasion, the UK was in the process of selling its aircraft carrier and reducing its naval capacity. If Argentina had waited a short time, it would have been much harder — if not impossible — for the UK to quickly put a task force together.

So, why didn't Argentina wait? Were there internal political, or other factors that caused Argentina to move when she did?

Background on sale of HMS_Invincible (from wikipedia)  (see wikipedia for references to news papers reports etc.)

  On 25 February 1982, after several months of negotiations, the
  Australian government announced that it had agreed to buy Invincible
  for £175 million as a replacement, under the name HMAS Australia, for
  the Royal Australian Navy's HMAS Melbourne. The sale was confirmed by
  the Ministry of Defence.

Background on decommission plans for HMS_Hermes  (from wikipedia)  (see wikipedia for references to news papers reports etc.)

  Hermes was due to be decommissioned in 1982 after a 1981 defence
  review (that would have made the Royal Navy considerably smaller) by
  the British government, but when the Falklands War broke out, she was
  made the flagship of the British forces, setting sail for the South
  Atlantic just three days after the Argentine invasion of the Falkland
  Islands.

Note at present the UK has no fixed-winged aircraft carriers. If the Falklands was invaded today...

However, the Falklands have a lot more defenses, so they would be a lot harder to invade.


texts: Does the appearance of cremation support the Aryan Migration theory?

texts:
Aryan invasion theory supporters usually say that the practice of using cemetery appears in the late Harrappan period, i.e., in 1900 BC and before that many burials were found. The Vedic practice is to burn the dead body, not burying. As the burning process and cemetery appears after Indus valley, does its support Aryan Migration theory?

Note: Rig Veda 10.15.14 declares that their forefathers were either cremated or buried.


texts: Did the Soviet Union investigate greenhouses in the early 1920's?

texts:
The Soviet Union had major food problems in the 1920's, what with the civil war and an attempt at forced requisitions. Their solution was the NEP, which used grain taxes instead of total requisition, and did state capitalism for the economy.

Did Lenin or anyone else investigate greenhouses around this time? It seems enclosed greenhouses would allow food production anywhere in Russia, rather than relying on the grain belts and transporting huge distances. (In fact I remember reading about Khrushchev's agro-town concept in the late 1950's, though I don't know if those were proposed greenhouses.) It would require much more work to build, but if they successfully electrified the country in the 20's, I would guess they could build them.

Instead, Stalin abolished the NEP in 1928 (and also re-instituted internal passports to tie the peasants to the land), and proceeded with total collectivization to support total industrialization very soon.


texts: Who was a "gentleman" in USA in the times of Tom Sawyer?

texts:
Reading american books about that time, (mostly Mark Twain), I often met the term "gentleman". But what did it require to be "gentleman" these times in America? Were there some official definitions of the term? Or do you know about some definition in the literature?

How non-gentleman could become a gentleman? And vice-versa.

Were there some regional differences?

(I am not talking about the times of O'Henry, for his heroes became gentlemen simply taking on a suit.)


texts: Does non-post-modern historiography posit objective grand narratives?

texts:
Ghasemi "Revisiting History in Hayden White's Philosophy" Sage Open DOI:10.1177/2158244014542585 (Open Access) asserts strongly that non-post-modern historiography attempts objective grand narratives.

Are Ghasemi and White correct in characterising non-post-modern historiography in this way?

Ghasemi and White both seem to produce an idea of the "professional historian" who is guilty of all the crimes of Whig History, and none of the actual practices of professional historian's approach to texts.


texts: What did they call Gothic and Baroque architecture before the modern terms came into use?

texts:
In the modern sense, I mean. All the reference sites explain the origin of the word Baroque and mention that up until the late 19th Century it was a derogatory term:

  It was only with Heinrich Wölfflin’s pioneer study Renaissance und
  Barock (1888) that the term Baroque was used as a stylistic
  designation rather than as a term of thinly veiled abuse, and a
  systematic formulation of the characteristics of Baroque style was
  achieved.

Britannica Encyclopedia, definition of Baroque

What terms would a 17th century architect use when he wished to describe, say, the Lessay Abbey in Normandy (Romanesque), Notre Dame in Paris (Gothic) and the Versailles Palace (Baroque)?


texts: What happened to the imperial archives stored at the Tabularium?

texts:
The Tabularium in Rome was used to house the archives of the Roman Empire.

Unfortunately, these archives do no longer exist. What happened to them?


texts: Did Gandhi ever make a comment about Islam?

texts:
Gandhi famously said about Christians:

  I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

I realise that in his time the Indian subcontinent was being divided between Hindu regions and Muslim regions, so I would have expected him to have some comment or opinion about Islam or Muslims in general.

Did he ever make a similar comment about Muslims or Islam?


texts: Which technologies/commodities were available during the 30s on USA?

texts:
This is for a RPG story, so I don't need too much accuracy, but the common stuff would be very useful :)

I've already found this site: http://www.paper-dragon.com/1939/ but would like more suggestions!


texts: Where can I find high-resolution images of these Sumerian tablets

texts:
I've looked around quite a bit and couldn't find them. Looking for sketches, and a bonus images of the tablets, of the following Sumerian documents:

Kesh temple hymn (maybe that is in here, not sure)
Enheduanna Hymns
Debate between Bird and Fish

For example, I see sketches of the Enheduanna Hymns here, but they are a bit too low quality, and I would like to find the primary source if possible, like the site/place that has the original document about it. Also would be nice to see the tablets. Looking for these things for the above documents, which don't seem to be found here. All of the other wikipedia stuff on the ancient Sumerian documents can be found at etana.org.


texts: How were the prime ministers of Japan selected during the Taisho era?

texts:
During the Taisho era in Japan, how was the Prime Minister selected?

Were they appointed by the Emperor? elected by the Diet? chosen by the Privy Council?

I'm finding lots of information on how Prime Ministers left office (usually resigning due to some kind of problem) but very little information on how they were chosen for that office in the first place.


texts: What coin/token is this? Copper "1 1900" Rev: Austro-Hungarian arms

texts: I am unable to locate any information regarding this coin/token. Can anyone help?!!


texts: Who was the earliest historian of the Greco-Roman world to write something substantial about China?

texts:
I recently came across an article about the Byzantine historian Theophylact Simocattis and learned that he wrote about the reunification of China by Emperor Wen.

I also know that Cosmas Indicopleustes wrote somewhat about China 60-90 years earlier than Simocattis.

Were their any historians in the Greco-Roman world that preceded the two above that gave anything more than a mere mention to the societies of China?


texts: On the epistemological repercussions of 1492

texts:
Lecture 11 of Yuval Harari's online course A brief history of humankind is titled "The discovery of ignorance."  In it he presents the thesis that by arriving at a land mass entirely different from the one that the then-standard geographical treatises had led him to expect, Columbus unwittingly dealt a mortal blow to all of the conventional wisdom of his time, especially that received from tradition and from ancient texts.

Harari therefore concludes that the so-called "discovery of America" was also, in a very literal sense, a discovery by Europeans of their ignorance (hence the lecture's title).  Indeed, according to Harari, up until 1492, the general and unquestioned belief was that all that was worth knowing was either immediately apparent to the senses (i.e. "common sense"), or else it was contained in the traditional wisdom transmitted from one generation to the next and in canonical texts preserved since antiquity.  Columbus's landing on the New World made this belief untenable, and Europeans for the first time got an inkling of the extent of their ignorance.  (Of course, this realization did not happen overnight: it took generations for the implications of 1492 to be fully digested.  Also, it should go without saying that none of the above should imply that Europeans were more ignorant than anybody else.)

According to Harari, there is a direct connection between the events of 1492 and the publication in 1620 of Bacon's Novum Organum Scientiarum, generally considered the first enunciation of what we now refer to as the "scientific method."

(Indeed, it is consonant with Harari's thesis that the frontispiece of Bacon's work features a galleon sailing beyond Gibraltar's Pillars of Hercules, into the ne plus ultra: a clear metaphor for the newly discovered Unknown, and for the challenge to venture into it.)

Harari's lecture was the first time I ever heard this causal link, as it were, from Columbus's 1492 to Bacon's 1620.

My question is: Is Harari the originator of this thesis, or is he quoting earlier thinkers?


texts: When did the trademark symbol come into use?

texts: Trademarks existed and were recognized before the Trademark symbol  was used.  When did we start using the ™ and ® symbols?


texts: When did Soviet authorities first plan/conceive of migrating their industry if war broke out?

texts:
This comes from a related question. It seems Germany never conceived of the possibility that Russia might migrate its heavy industry to safe locations beyond the Urals. So now I want to know if Soviet officials always had this plan, or if it was suddenly thought up at the last moment.

When was the migration plan first mentioned? What is the earliest written record? Did Stalin or Voroshilov always have this backup plan ever since 1933? (the year Hitler came to power.)

Or, did no one ever think of it until suddenly Barbarossa was launched? That would be pretty tough to believe IMO, but if there's no mentioning of it by anyone until June 1941, I guess we would have no choice but to believe it.


texts: In the early 1900s, how did US politicians treat black dignitaries from other countries?

texts:
Are there any historical records of US politicians (especially southern politicians) treating black dignitaries (especially royalty) with great pomp and ceremony, while simultaneously and hypocritically refusing to acknowledge the equality of the black people living in America?

Perhaps prejudice was also shown to the visiting dignitaries, but I'm curious to know if there are any examples of a double-standard.


texts: Why were Catholic priests prohibited from participating in ordeals but allowed to participate in inquisitions?

texts: Pope Innocent III prohibited priests from participating in ordeals during the Fourth Lateran Council, but Pope Innocent IV later allowed torture in inquisitions. What is the ideological difference?


texts: Did Nabataean traders use linen, or cotton, for their sails?

texts:
While studying the Arab and African sea trade along the Red Sea and points south, I read an article on Nabataea.net that reads It is thought that originally sails were woven from coconut of palm leaves, and that eventually cotton cloth became the favorite for merchants on long voyages. Cotton cloth was manufactured in India.
On the other hand, Wikipedia indicates in its discussion of "Western tradition" in sailcloth that  Linen was the traditional fiber of sails until it was supplanted by cotton during the 19th century.
Given that the Nabataean's lived at the south end of the Levant, they aren't really "western", but at the same time, they would have had ready access to linen from Egypt. Why would they ship cotton fabric all the way from India for their sails?


texts: What do they do with corpses after a battle?

texts:
In the ancient time (maybe Roman era) when a war finishes, when an army killed (yield) another army, generally speaking what do they do with the corpses? My question is specified to a war in a ground or forest where a castle or kingdom isn't near; do they have the time to burn them all? Is it safe after an exhausting battle to burn them or maybe to bury them all together? (The winning army especially needs to manage its dead soldiers.)
If they just left the bodies wouldn't that cause diseases? Perhaps a soldier of the defeated army is slightly injured and pretends he's dead, and when he feel safe he can leave and tell what happens.


texts: Origin of San Francisco's water lots off Candlestick Point

texts:
There are about fifty blocks full of surveyed and zoned "water lots" in South Basin, southeastern San Francisco -- property which is presently part of the San Francisco Bay. See these blocks on Zillow; 5000 square feet of bay appears to change hands for a few hundred dollars.

Water lots in the port section of the city were once the subject of speculation and political drama. The city government was badly indebted and not supposed to draw or sell off water lots, but did so. Much of today's downtown is land that was once water lots.

On the southern waterfront near the present county line, quite a few city blocks of South Basin were never filled in. Maybe it had somehow to do with the adjacent naval shipyard at Hunter's Point or the establishment of today's Candlestick Point State Recreation Area.

When were these blocks and lots defined?


texts:
It seems to be commonly accepted that the amount of Jewish people killed in the holocaust was about 6 million.

Are there any numbers on how many of the other categories of non-Jewish "non acceptables" that the Nazis killed?

(In this case I am referring to them being killed in concentration camps or in other settings where they were specifically targeted, not in general warfare.)

Are there any numbers for each category (i.e. "political enemies", "disabled", "gypsies", etc) of victim?


texts:
Belgium was occupied during both the first and second world wars. I know that the Belgian Congo gained land after WW1. And I guess the Belgian Congo had some sort of independence, but I'm not sure about that.

How did Belgium manage to maintain control over their colonies while they were occupied? And did Germany intended to gain control over Belgian colonies like they did to French during WW2?


texts: Is there any evidence that the practice similar to Jauhar existed in places other than India? It seems like a pretty effective way, however brutal it may be, to escape slavery, rapes and imprisonment at the hands of invading armies. It would seem natural to assume that the practice might have been in place in other cultures too, and yet I have been unable to find any other record of it.


texts: What did the Phoenician sailor trader eat?

texts:
I am not a historian my self, but I like to read history, ancient history. I am reading now about Phoenician civilization.
I noticed in Wikipedia :

  the Phoenicians were the major naval and trading power of the region.

then I saw this picture

in this picture, were they referring the fishes as their food while they are sailing(hunting fishes) or what ?  then my question is, while the Phoenician were strong naval civilization and sailed to really far places(I heard that they reached america, though not sure about it, I am still reading), how did they eat then while they were on a trip?


texts: Can anybody help identify this uniform ? Circa WW1

texts: I presume this photo is circa WW1. Can anybody identify which unit, regiment and rank, this would be very helpful.


texts: How far were women able to advance in the Gestapo?

texts:
I'm trying to write a story happening during World War 2, and I'd like to include there a female Gestapo agent/interrogator as a main character. However, I've been searching and I can't find evidence that women had such an important job at Gestapo.

Did the Gestapo hire women as agents or interrogators? Did they have any opportunity to advance to top positions, or were they confined to middle/lower ranks?


texts: Are there any records of Charlemagne's baptismal (ie. Christian) name?

texts: Just like the title states, I am curious if Charlemagne took on a baptismal name.


texts: When were the Germans aware of British airborne radar during WWII?

texts:
During (and even before) WWII, the British developed Airborne Interception Radars.

When were the Germans aware of these developments during WWII?

I am asking partially because of curiosity and partially because of this answer on another SE site.

I will accept the answer with the earliest date. I will upvote all answers.


texts: What did the Emancipation Proclamation exactly do?

texts:
I'm a bit confused about what Lincoln's proclamation did exactly. It's thought by some the Emancipation Proclamation gave all slaves the status of free. However from reading the introduction of the Wikipedia article this belief seems wrong.

  The Proclamation did not compensate the owners, did not outlaw
  slavery, and did not grant citizenship to the ex-slaves. (bolding is
  mine).

I know the Thirteenth Amendment did unequivocally outlaw slavery, but I would like to clarify some things about the Emancipation Proclamation.

  It changed the federal legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved
  African Americans in the designated areas of the South from slave to
  free. As soon as a slave escaped the control of the Confederate
  government, by running away or through advances of federal troops, the
  former slave became free.

So if a slave in a slave state could escape a Confederate slave state into territory controlled by the Union army, they were made free. This I understand.

  it did not apply to those in the four slave states that were not in
  rebellion

It did not apply to states which practised slavery but were not in rebellion, such as Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware. This I understand.

However what I don't get easily is the following:

  The Proclamation ordered the freedom of all slaves in ten states.[3]
  Because it was issued under the president's authority to suppress
  rebellion (war powers), it necessarily excluded areas not in
  rebellion, but still applied to more than 3.5 million of the 4 million
  slaves.

The proclamation changed the status of slaves in the Confederate states in rebellion against the Union. What I don't understand is say for example you were a slave in a rebelling state not controlled by the Union army, were you made free by this proclamation? Say you had not managed to escape your master and leave the state, did this proclamation legally give you the status of free, even though your master forced you to continue to be a slave?

Also there seems to be a contradiction, or at least a redundancy, because first it says if a slave was able to escape Confederate controlled territory past the advances of the Union army they were made free. Then it says that the proclamation instantly gave the legal status of free to a slave in a rebelling Confederate state.

Source of quotes: Emancipation proclamation


texts: Why did James Baldwin call it "magnificent twenties"?

texts:
In his "Many Thousands Gone", Baldwin wrote

  The Negro, who had been during the magnificent twenties a passionate
  and delightful primitive, now became, as one of the things we were
  most self-conscious about, our most oppressed minority.

It seems like there was a change in attitude towards black community. And there was a time--"magnificent twenties"--that African American was "passionate and delightful". I wondering what events or period of time Baldwin was referring to? Thank you


texts: Were toilets used more than once as a weapon in a military conflict?

texts:
So I was reading about the Douglas Skyraider airplane on Wiki and then I saw this:

(reuploaded from Wikipedia because SE refused to hotlink it, original url)

You probably have some questions right now, let me answer them quickly:

Yes, it is a toilet.
Yes, it is attached where a bomb should be.
Yes, that plane took off with it for a bombing run.
Yes, you can read more about this brave little toilet.

So now back to the question, is this the only (recorded) case when a toilet was used as a weapon in a military conflict?


texts: Usability of fingerprints on ancient objects

texts: Today, I was reading an article on early image of Jesus found in an Egyptian tomb. Along with it, one tomb of a scriber was found buried together with writing tools consisting of a metallic inkpot so full of ink and two new pens. One question propped up in my mind whether archaeologists record fingerprints that might be present on the inkpot, before touching and opening the pot to see the full ink inside or whether fingerprints are rendered unusable due to dust gathering over time. Fingerprint technology has become an indispensable part of forensic analysis. Do ancient fingerprints reveal any significant information, considering the fact that they are of ancient people like a new info on human evolution by comparison with the present ones?


texts: Has there ever been a battle with only a single survivor?

texts: Do we have record of any large scale battle (for example more than 1000 combatants) where only one person survived? I just thought of it randomly and wondered whether it may have ever happened.


texts: What was the first solar eclipse that was demonstrably predicted in advance?

texts:
There is a famous story going back to Herodotus according to which Thales of Miletus predicted the solar eclipse of May 28, 585 BC, which interrupted a battle. Given that we have not a single contemporary source for that claim, and it is unknown how Thales could have even accomplished such a prediction with the methods available to him, the reliability of this claim should be considered doubtful at best.

What, then, is the earliest Solar Eclipse that was verifiably predicted in advance? Certainly, that eclipse occurred no later than May 3, 1715, as Edmond Halley predicted that eclipse, with very high accuracy. But is there any instance before that where an eclipse was successfully predicted?


texts:
Here is the ticket :

I have at home since several years a old ticket (originally, I thought it was a stamp) and I would like try to determine its value and where it was printed.
I think it is written in Greek but I don't understand the text because I don't speak a word of Greek. If you can help me, thanks =)

Here is the complete image with a new ticket.
What is the abbreviation ΕΠ ?
Thanks for this, I will already learn more about the Greek orator :)


texts: What is the significance of "Pharaoh" versus "King" in ancient Egypt?

texts:
On Wikipedia, I started from the page of Ramses II, who is described as a pharaoh, and kept clicking on the 'predecessor' link. Every predecessor was a pharaoh until I got to Ahmose I.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmose_I
Ahmose I is also listed as a pharaoh but the page shows that he had two predecessors, Kamose and Khamudi, both of whom are listed as either 'king' or 'ruler' instead of pharaoh.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamose
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khamudi
The predecessor pages of both Kamose and Khamudi omit the title of pharaoh for several generations. I didn't go too far up the Khamudi predecessors, but the Kamose predecessors are all listed as kings up until Sobekemsaf I, who is listed as a pharaoh.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobekemsaf_I
Sobekemsaf's predecessor, Rahotep, is also written as a pharaoh, but my predecessor search ends there as there is no predecessor link on his page.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahotep
Rahotep is in the 17th Dynasty. I checked some previous dynasties, and it appears that all the prior rulers were called kings, up until the 13th Dynasty where they are called pharaohs again. I stopped searching here because I'm guessing going back to the 1st Dynasty will have similar results as switching back and forth between king and pharaoh.
So, my question is, what exactly is it that makes a pharaoh and how does it differentiate from king? In other words, why aren't Kamose and Khamudi listed as pharoahs?


texts: How was Christian intermarriage with the Muslim Turks viewed by the Byzantines?

texts:
While learning about the Battle of Manzikert (1071) I was surprised to hear that the emperor Romanos IV agreed in the aftermath to a political marriage by giving his daughter to be married to Sultan Alp Arslan's son. How would the Byzantine Eastern Orthodox Christians have viewed such a marriage? Is it safe to assume that such marriages of marrying off a Christian daughter resulted in their forced conversion to Islam, and that they were not allowed to remain Christian?

In reading about another similar proposition/offer not long after to Alexius I Comnenus, I read the following:

  The Great Seljuk Sultan Malik Shah was not unhappy with the apparent disintegration of the Rum Sultanate.  He still felt that suzerainty over all Seljuks was his by right and in 1090AD he made Alexius an extraordinary offer.  In exchange for a peace treaty and a marriage alliance the Sultan would withdraw all Seljuk forces from Anatolia and restore all Byzantine lands lost since Manzikert.  It may have been a tempting offer but Alexius refused.  Publicly Alexius could not consent to a marriage between his Christian daughter and a Moslem; while politically, the Seljuks of Rum were a useful buffer between Byzantium and the much more powerful Great Seljuks. 1

This seems a bit more understandable in terms of his reticence to condone such a marriage, because the public perception of this surely would have been unacceptable to official Eastern Orthodox beliefs. I'm curious also how many such intermarriages happened where the daughter was given in marriage to a Muslim Turk (for political reasons) including under the later Ottoman Empire up until the end of the Byzantine Empire, but more so how even a single instance would have been viewed by the Christian Byzantine EO Church? This is as much a church history question as a general historical and cultural curiosity.


texts: How did the layout of a Medieval European village typically change as it grew into a town?

texts:
Some of the research I've done so far

WordlbuidingSE: How did the layout of a village change over time?

This question was too broad, it's now more specific:

It is not about settlements that were constructed as a town, but rather a village that changed/grew into a town.
It is specifically about Europe.
It is about the typical change.

It is now on the correct StackExchange

I looked into some cities to see their background but they weren't specific about the layout details over time I'm interested in:

EG: Wikipedia:Lincoln

historicengland.org.uk
This shows some typical layouts but they are too modern
It also does not go into detail on how they changed over time
There are some books that generally go over change as a whole in the middle ages but they are quite old, perhaps that are some better and more specific insights nowadays

Village, Hamlet and Field: Changing Medieval Settlements in Central England (1997)
The Rural Settlements of Medieval England (1989)

What I'm asking
I know there is a lot of variation between the villages, but what was the common pattern or the most typical way layouts changed over time to accommodate more people in this medieval era? Specifically villages in Europe that grew big enough to be called towns.
By layout I mean the road shapes, the types of structures/buildings, and their density.
EG: Did a village grow out or did it become more dense (maybe walls rebuilt to accommodate growth)? Did the building of a castle have an effect on the layout?
If you have researched this at all, feel free to leave your take. The best answer would be the most detailed and reliable (have sources).
If any of this is unclear, please comment your concern and I will try to improve the question.


texts: How was the Czech sudetenland repopulated by Czechs?

texts:
After Nazi Germany's defeat in 1945, many Germans from former minority communities were expelled from central europe. In addition to that, two significantly large areas with German majority were cleansed of all Germans, and repopulated with people from other places.

The first place is what is today western Poland, which was repopulated with poles from the Kresy, former eastern Poland and today western Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.

The second place is the Czech/formerly Austrian sudetenland, which in reality are multiple mountainous territories in Bohemia and Moravia not restricted to the Sudetes themselves that were assigned to Czechoslovakia. There was however not a very significant Czech population to settle the lands, so with whom did the Czechoslovak government repopulate those areas?

I know that there was some Czechs living there before Hitler annexed the areas and were expulsed, and there was Czechs that couldn't return their homes after being freed from camps because their homes had been bombed or burned down. However were those enough to repopulate all the sudetenland ?


texts:
In Master and Commander (book 1 of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin series), the 54-man, 14-gun Sophie captures the 319-man, 32-gun Cacafuego.

Is this really plausible? How would it work? Is it the confined space of a ship's deck that makes the boarding party able to defeat a much larger group?


texts: What was the relation of Barons to Counts/Dukes/Earls in England during the medieval ages?

texts:
Barons from what I gather, were under direct obligation to the king.

What was the position of counts or dukes? Was their position that of viceroy? As in the barons in the area under the county/duchy answered to the count rather than the king?

Or was it a title of recognition only, and the most powerful barons were counts/dukes/earls, and held more knight's fees and wealth generating fiefs under them as compared to the other barons?

Complementary Question

What do you think about the feudal structure in the game Crusader Kings 2?
What was the significance of shires and sheriffs, when all land was enoffed to barons?


texts: What rank is S. SGT in the Army Air Force during WW2?

texts:
I am looking over my Grandfather's DD214 (Military Discharge Paperwork) from WW2.  His grade says "S. SGT" I am trying to figure out his rank conclusively.  Nowhere on the DD214 does it display an E-5 or E-6.  What is his rank?

The question seems easy, but here's the catch: In today's Army a Staff Sergeant is an E-6, but in the Air Force it is an E-5.  He served in the Army Air Force, so I'm not sure what his actual rank is.


texts:
This question comes from an interview I conducted many years ago. The question about drafts reminded me. The subject was a grad student and medical researcher. His research project was canceled and he was assigned to the early stages of the Manhattan Project, which first started at the university level. He worked on the project until the end of the war.
According to the Selective Service, defense contractors were a form of deferment and thus were not drafted. That sounds like someone should be a defense contractor first, but this subject was not. His civilian assignment was non-voluntary.
This Wikipedia page gives a little bit of a clue as to a possible mechanism:

Industry realized that the Army urgently desired production of essential war materials and foodstuffs more than soldiers. (Large numbers of soldiers were not used until the invasion of Europe in summer 1944.) In 1940–43 the Army often transferred soldiers to civilian status in the Enlisted Reserve Corps in order to increase production. Those transferred would return to work in essential industry, although they could be called back to active duty if the Army needed them. Others were discharged if their civilian work was deemed essential.

Does anyone know how a lower level scientist or other support staff were brought on to the Manhattan Project specifically? Was there a way for the government to target specific kinds of skill sets, for instance, similar to the "doctor draft" instituted during Korea. And was it common during WWII to use non-voluntary "deferments" for strategically critical civilian personnel?
Note: The other possible mechanism I can think of is that his grant was cancelled from war-time cut-backs and he was offered the job on another project with the government, even though he didn't know what it was and this prevented his possible drafting. The interview is unclear. Any information is appreciated!


texts: How much did a ship cost in Ancient Greece?

texts: I'm exploring the history of the Peloponnesian War and I was wondering how much money a trireme cost and how long it took on average to build such a ship.


texts: Age of majority in Washington state in 1945?

texts: What was the age of majority in Washington state in 1945?


texts: How tall was Frederick the Great of Prussia?

texts: Frederick's father, Frederick Wilhelm I of Prussia, was somewhat short at 5'3'', as discussed in an article on the Potsdam Giants. But how tall was Frederick II?