texts: Why did manuscript production increase rapidly?

texts:
What are the reasons for the significant increase in manuscripts being produced during the later medieval era? Was it due to improving financial conditions, or were there technological advances that simplified production techniques?

I find either potential explanation not to hold much water as these increase can be witnessed even in the midst of the Black Death, or the many disasters that befell European society during the 13th century. Also manuscript production is a process that seems predicated on extensive manual labour rather than technology.

What am I missing?


texts: How does a country give "aid" to another?

texts:
This may not be historical because it's a contemporary event. However, it's been going on for a while. Suharto said, "No to your aids" (or something like that).

For instance. Say US gives aid to Pakistan.

Does that mean:
1. US write a $1 billion check to Pakistan?

US lend $1 billion check to Pakistan at some rate?
US sells weapon to Pakistan?

Which one is correct?

The same goes to Israel, arabs, etc. If it's the number 2, why is it called aid? It looks the same as usual to me.


texts: What was the area of the Mamluk Sultanate?

texts: Both in the Baḥrī period and the Burjī period. I've been trying to find an answer for about 30 minutes and I've found nothing, so if you know, a source would be good too.


texts: What is the age of Machu Picchu principal temple?

texts: Brian Foerster in this video tells a theory that Incas built their city on top of an older one, judging by the difference in the block material (granite), size, and the precision of their composition. Couldn't we verify this using scientific methods of age detection?


texts: What does the Latin "prorex" mean in reference to Louis II de Bourbon?

texts:
On the cover of the Paris edition of Raymund Martin's Pugio Fidei, it states,

  AD SERENISSIMUM REGIÆ STIRPIS PRIMUM PRINCIPEM LUDOVICUM BORBONIUM CONDÆUM BURDEGALÆ ET AQUITANIÆ PROREGEM OPTATISSIMUM.

As one can see, this "Ludovicum Borbonium," whom I believe to be Louis II de Bourbon, is is referred to by the Latin title Proregem (or Prorex in the nominative case). What exactly does this Latin title mean in reference to Louis II of Bourbon? What would have been the French equivalent? What was his royal position?


texts: Should the 2500th anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC) be 2020 or 2021?

texts:
The Economist (2020-10-10):

2,500 years ago a small Greek fleet thrashed a huge Persian one. ...

It is the 2,500th anniversary of one of the greatest naval battles of the ancient world. In the early autumn of 480BC, in the strait between Salamis and the mainland, a few hundred Greek triremes (warships with three banks of oars and bronze battering-rams) defeated a much larger Persian armada.

However, there was no Year Zero. So, shouldn't

2,500 years ago be 481 BC?
And 480 BC + 2500 years = AD 2021, so that the 2500th anniversary of this battle be AD 2021?


texts: Which town or village in Britain lost the greatest percentage of men in WWI due to "Pals Battalions"?

texts:
The British decision to create "Pals Battalions" of men from a single town or village led to unanticipated disasters when  Pals battalions  ran into heavy resistance, with large numbers of men from a single town or village being killed in a single day.

Which town or village lost the greatest percentage of its men in such a disaster?


texts: Was the high consumption of (red) wine in Ancient Rome preventive of scurvy?

texts: With daily consumption of wine estimated to be about 1 liter/day based on production, vitamin c requirements may be about covered. Was that a reason why these enormous consumption levels were thought to be healthy, despite some side-effects that would not have escaped the medics of the time?


texts: Why did France put so many resources into fighting Algeria in comparison to its other former colonial holdings? Was there anything unique about the French-Algerian relationship. On Wikipedia it says that France regarded Algeria in a way similar t how the USA think of Hawaii and Alaska. Is this true? If it is, why?


texts: Was there self-censorship in private correspondence in the early 19th Century?

texts:
I've been reading collections of letters and journals (generally relating to the Napoleonic Wars) published in the first half of the 19th century. Often these contain words that have been partially censored.

Lord Wellington when he came back, only said, "I am glad to see you safe Crauford." The latter said, "Oh, I was in no danger, I assure you." "But I was, from your conduct," said Lord Wellington. Upon which Crauford observed, "He is d____ crusty to-day."
The Private Journal of F. Seymour Larpent, Vol 1, Pg 133

While censorship of potentially blasphemous or othewise rude words is not unexpected, it also happens in people's names. In many cases, this is where the reference could be considered as unflattering but other times the reason is much less obvious.
So, in the following example, the reference to illness could be seen as a personal weakness which required some censorship to maintain the Deputy Paymaster-General's dignity;

I have taken a ride to Malliarda de Sorda, and found the Deputy Paymaster-General H_____ very unwell, with an attack of fever.
The Private Journal of F. Seymour Larpent, Vol 1, Pg 103

However, in the next example, the person whose name is omitted is not referred to again and no further insight into the person or their status is given. So there must have been some other reason for this censorship.

I sat at the grand dinner directly opposite to E_____ who introduced himself to me afterwards in the ballroom.
The Private Journal of F. Seymour Larpent, Vol 1, Pg 118

[NB: While the quoted document is described as a 'private journal', it is actually a collection of letters written home to his family. Also while these examples all come from the same volume, I've seen the same style used in many other publications of the period.]
Was this style of censoring words purely a publishing convention or would a similar form of self-censorship have been expected in private correspondence, between respectable members of polite society? That is, did this form of censorship, which appears in published works (of both fact and fiction), simply mirror conventions that would also be seen in personal letters?
Please note: I'm not asking to have these particular examples explained and I'm fully aware of the reasons for their use in published works.


texts: "Three Pines" as code for British Loyalists during the Revolutionary War

texts: I half expect this to be closed, but in Louise Penny's novels set in and around Quebec, three pine trees are said to have been a sign of sanctuary  for British Loyalists fleeing the Anglo-American War. I can find no confirmation of this, and considering how long it would take for the trees to grow, and how short the War actually was, seems unlikely. Is there any truth in this suggestion, or is it merely a fictional device?


texts: Which single-car accident in history caused the most deaths?

texts: I was looking for the answer to this question. It brought me here, but the closest question was [closed]. The most that I am aware of was when driver Pierre Levegh's race car killed 83 spectators at Le Mans: June 11th, 1955. Was wondering if this was the most or if there might be more. There were 84 deaths in all, including the driver. Technically it could be considered a 2-car accident, as his car launched off of another car. Maybe question should be 2-car accident?


texts:
Today, when you want to acquire something that you don't make yourself, you buy it with money.  How did people acquire things in the pre-Roman Celtic world?

Let's say you wanted to acquire something expensive, like a chariot.  Would you gather up enough things to trade for it?  Would someone simply give you a chariot and you'd be expected to give gifts in return?

I'm aware that currency showed up at once point, but I'm particularly trying to learn about non-currency methods of buying things.


texts: Why did the US getting involved in the European theater in WW2?

texts:
From this question: World War II - Have Historians Envisioned How  The Axis Powers Might Have Won? I understand that it is unlikely that Germany with its allies could have won WW2 even if they had decided to do things "differently".

I am wondering what the reasons were for the US getting involved in the European theater. From what I understand, after Japan declared war on the US, Germany also declared war on the US, so one would think that the US didn't have much of an option to just stay out of Europe. Could the US just have ignored the German declaration of war? Even if Germany did have plans of invading the US some time in the future, I am guessing that it would have been unrealistic.

In hindsight if Germany would have lost anyway, what are the main reasons today for saying that it was the right decision for the US to get involved? The only reason that I can think about would be that the US prevented the USSR from taking over all of Europe.

I am sure that most Europeans today are grateful that the US did get involved, but can one make a good argument that the US shouldn't have gotten involved in Europe - like when people today say that the US shouldn't have started the latest Iraq war?


texts: Did the Arab League create a Joint Defense Council and a Permanent Military Commission?

texts:
Were the Arab League's Joint Defense Council and the Permanent Military Commission ever created?
There seems to be a lack of information concerning this topic on the internet, but by the Treaty of Joint Defense and Economic Cooperation Between the States of the Arab League (Articles 5 & 6), a Joint Defense Council and Permanent Military Commission should have been created in 1950.


texts: Why didn't Marathas rule Delhi officially?

texts:
During the peak era of Peshwa(Maratha), they were the most dominant power in India and had most of the area under their control. But they didn't control Delhi directly even after capturing it.

  The Marathas had gained control of a considerable part of India in the intervening period (1707–1757). In 1758 they occupied Delhi, captured Lahore and drove out Timur Shah Durrani,[8] the son and viceroy of the Afghan ruler, Ahmad Shah Abdali. This was the high-water mark of the Maratha expansion, where the boundaries of their empire extended in the north to the Indus and the Himalayas, and in the south nearly to the extremity of the peninsula. This territory was ruled through the Peshwa, who talked of placing his son Vishwasrao on the Mughal throne.[10] However, Delhi still remained under the nominal control of Mughals, key Muslim intellectuals including Shah Waliullah and other Muslim clergy in India who were alarmed at these developments. In desperation they appealed to Ahmad Shah Abdali, the ruler of Afghanistan, to halt the threat.

Why didn't they place Maratha Emperor on Delhi throne and ruled directly? What was the rationale behind it?


texts: Why didn't the German population leave Dar es Salaam before the outbreak of WWII?

texts:
In the chapter 'The Beginning of the War' of his autobiography Going Solo, Roald Dahl recounts his role in stopping the German population of Dar es Salaam from fleeing to Portuguese East Africa (the nearest neutral territory). There was a considerable population of Germans in the city because of its former status as a German colony. Dahl writes that only a few hours after the declaration of war, a large and organised convoy of Germans took the coastal road heading south. They were stopped by Dahl and his platoon after the leader of the German convoy was shot.
Why did the German population wait until war had been declared before fleeing?
In August 1939 the prospect of war was all but certain, as evidenced by the organisation of the German convoy out of Dar es Salaam. By waiting until war had been declared, the British could legitimately stop and intern them as enemy aliens, but had they left just one day earlier, could they not have made their way unimpeded to Portuguese East Africa? Or is it all just simply a case of Dahl using artistic license?
I have tried looking for a secondary source to verify Dahl's account, but all I seem to find is (lots) of information about the East African campaign.

EDIT In the comments it has been asked: 'How would they know that Poland would be invaded soon?' The German population of Dar es Salaam would not have known exactly how and when the war would start, but I really do not think it can be reasonably believed that they were unaware of the distinct possibility of the imminent outbreak of war. For instance, Dahl recounts what an Army captain told him: 'The prison camp is ready, and the Germans know it is ready.'
The same comment also says: 'After Germany got the Ruhr, Austria, Sudetenland, Memel, they could believe that the UK/France would back down again.' This is a good point and perhaps the start of an answer?


texts: Identification of location of ship yard or naval base

texts: I need help in identifying the location of this ship yard or naval base.


texts: Was the German Empire responsible for the advancement of German technology?

texts:
After the creation of the German Empire in 18 January 1871, there was a boom of advancement in Germany. Especially in chemistry, motors and electricity.

At the same time Germany quickly grew as an economic and military power that tried to compete with Britain and there was great advancement in many areas like the chemical industry, Aviation, Submarines, Automotive and many more.

My question is what happened in Germany during that time that prompted for such a growth, and was the creation of the Empire somehow responsible for this?


texts: Why did silver gain prominence in trade over gold in Early Medieval Europe?

texts:
After the Roman Empire's slow decline, and its withdrawal from much of northern Europe (France, Germany, Britain), gold coin use seems to have declined to the point where it would be a rare to see any. For example, in the archaeological record, huge silver hoards have been found in Britain and Scandinavia, but gold is extremely rare.

Why was this? Was there an economic or logistical reason for the decline of gold use in this period? Or were their political factors involved with trade agreements from the old empires, and the emerging powers in central and northern europe?


texts: How widespread was literacy in classical Greek in Europe during the medieval period?

texts: How widespread was literacy in classic Greek in Europe during the medieval period? I assume "every" (?) educated person, such as clerks, monks, nobility, judges, doctors and similar knew Latin at the time, but how many knew classic Greek? By Europe I do not mean to include Byzantium. I am mainly referring to central, south and western Europe (todays Italy, Austria, Germany, France, Spain and UK).


texts: Would newspapers in 1890 London have printing presses in their offices?

texts: For a story I'm writing, taking place in London around 1889/1890, I'd like to know if the main newspapers, like the Daily Telegraph or the Daily Chronicles, who had their offices in Fleet Street, would have their printing presses in those same offices. If the answer is yes, does anyone know what they looked like ?


texts: Why do people in Melbourne Victoria Australia get a public holiday for a horse race

texts:
Every year on the first tuesday of novemember there is a public holiday for the Melbourne Cup the arcticle in wikipedia explains when it became a public holiday but not why.

  As early as 1865, Cup day was a half-holiday in Melbourne for public servants and bank officials. Various businesses also closed at
  lunchtime. It took some years before the purpose of the declared
  holiday was acknowledged in the Victoria Government Gazette. The
  Gazette of 31 October 1873[63] announced that the following Thursday
  (Cup Day) be observed as a bank and civil (public) service
  holiday.[64]


texts: Until what time was the Ancient Roman calendar era used?

texts: Until what time was the Ancient Roman calendar era, based on the founding of Rome, used? Or what was the latest historical event that was mentioned in chronicles with an Ab Urbe Condita year?


texts: Why was fellatio considered so horrible during the XIX century in Europe?

texts:
The mentioned sexual practice was extremely frowned upon during that period, basically only prostitutes were to do them and even in this case, only with huge amounts of received money, that, in the case they accepted, which in a lot of cases it wouldn't even happen.

Why was this? I can understand that at the time there was a huge pressure of having sex just for procreation, but it's not like it's the only way to enter into a sexual practice that isn't related to procreation, and, in the case of prostitutes, they weren't having sex for procreation in any case, so according to that logic I think they shouldn't mind that much to do it. So I guess there must be some extra reasons, apart from that.

Which are the reasons that practice was so frowned upon?


texts: Was anyone in Spanish or Mexican California tried for homosexuality?

texts:
In "So Far From Home" (Farris, ed.) a Russian visitor to California describes seeing trangendered natives, as Cabeza de Vaca also did three centuries earlier in what is now Texas.

The military and Franciscan authorities in colonial Spain probably looked more unkindly on homosexuality than those native societies. Did anyone in the Californias get tried, convicted, or punished for homosexuality during this period?


texts: How important were "columnar" strategies in Japan's invasion of China?

texts:
In trying to invade a large country like China, there are at least two main strategies 1) a narrow "columnar" strategy, usually based along an artery such as the Yangtze River that provides a natural line of communications 2) a "broad front" strategy of trying to occupy as much of the country as possible.

Japan applied a "columnar" strategy at least twice in its war with China: 1) in 1937-38 with the Shanghai Offensive that proceeded upriver to Nanking,Hangkow and Wuhan and other key cities along the Yangtze River. 2) in 1944, with the Ichigo Offensive southwest through Hunan and Kweichow toward the Burma border to clear a line of retreat for Japan's Burma army.

Taking the 1938 strategy to its logical conclusion, Japan should have "dropped everything else" and massed all her forces for a push up the Yangtze to "run down" Chiang Kai Shek's army in Chongqing, or even further west. But Japan declined to do this.

In order to assess the impact  of the columnar strategy in China without going into alternative history, I have two questions:

1) Were Japan's greatest successes in China after 1937 during the two periods of columnar strategies discussed above, or were there comparable successes during periods of non-columnar strategies?

2) If the Japanese suffered reverses, or even periods of prolonged stalemate, was that when they used columnar or non-columnar strategies?


texts: How accurate is the fatalistic samurai culture in James Clavell's novel Shogun?

texts:
Background: I'm reading Shogun, and enjoying it enormously, but the portrayal of the samurai, their families, and their subordinates as authoritarian and death-obsessed has been setting off warning bells.

It seems likely to me that Clavell has an interest in playing up the exotic and "oriental" aspects of Japanese culture to keep with his theme of cultural clash. I'm also skeptical about the sustainability of putting whole villages to the sword over trivial offenses, the likelihood that so many of the Japanese characters would be eager to commit seppuku, and the suggestion that the samurai would have been totally baffled by the Christian commitment to love and value all human life.

To be clear, I'm not looking to smear Clavell-- he intersperses the above elements with more positive depictions of the samurai, harsh criticisms of the Europeans, and a good dose of universal realpolitik to boot. I'm also interested in the theme of cultural conflict, and think it's both  real and valid. But I'm also aware that so called east-west divisions are often simplified or overstated.

Question: How accurate is the portrayal of fatalistic samurai culture in Shogun?


texts:
In school curriculum in several countries, students learn national history in a very detailed manner, in addition to the collective world history.

One reason for this is to promote the formation of national identity.  Many politicians refer to protecting national interests and emphasize the importance of patriotism.

Why has national identity or being part of a country, become so important, as opposed to being part of a neighborhood, a city or the whole world?

Is it possible to voluntarily change one's national identity? For example, feel like an American, and not, say, a Russian.


texts:
Apologies if the History Stackexchange is the wrong place for this question but:

In what ways could a cadet branch come into life? Why would a younger sibling in a royal or noble house start his own as a cadet branch?

This information is for personal, non-historical, writing; therefore the most useful answers would be ones that simply give me the reasons why it would happen in general. For instance, the specific political reasonings behind the making of a cadet branch in a single house I fear would simply go over my head. I would like the general reasons why it could happen that could apply to any royal or noble house, real or otherwise.

Many thanks.


texts: Was Fredrick the Great considered a strong military leader or was it all because of the superior officers that came out of Prussia at the time?

texts: Was all the military success due to Fredrick II's strategic ability or was it due to his commanders During his reign 1740-1786


texts: What is the evidence for North Korean famine of 1990s?

texts:
What is the evidence for North Korea famine in 1990s?

The most accounts about the famine in the Internet comes with references to US congress members who visited N. Korea, defectors or closed/unpublished estimations.

Is there any solid evidence about the famine(s) in North Korea in the 1990s?

Current life expectancy in North Korea at 68.39 is higher than in Russia and Ukraine, although lower than in the 1990s.


texts: What politics were implemented to accomplish the Christian tradition and try to keep what is written in the Holy Bible?

texts:
Once the Roman Emperor; Constantine the Great; made that Christianity began the transition as the dominant religion of the Roman Empire:

What politics were implemented to accomplish the Christian tradition and try to keep what is written in The Holy Bible?

I would like to know, if it is possible, detailed ways rather than general things as for example, accept Jesus as the God revealed and not profess any religion other than Christianity. I am guessing than not only were given freedom to manifest the Christian faith but also ways to respect the Christian tradition and the promotion of arts, architecture, literature, etc. as a manifestation of the Christian faith.

If any of you people, could provide me books, papers research or personal knowledge, I would really appreciate it.


texts: Did people near antebellum Asheville N.C. own slaves?

texts:
In 'The Hills Beyond' T. Wolfe, a native of Asheville, suggest that in many mountain counties of the Appalachia people had not owned slaves and that blacks were unknown before the civil war.

Is the above a confirmed demographic assumption?


texts: Why are there so many depictions of pre-Christian gods built in Medieval and Renaissance Rome?

texts:
I wonder why Church officials not only allowed but also endorsed and paid for depictions of pre-Christian gods.

Examples include Pietro Bracci's Oceanus, which was funded by the Pope,

and multiple others like this depiction of Venus and Mars.

These works were created even at those times when for worshiping Jesus Christ somewhat different way you could be easily burned alive.


texts: Why did the Korean War result in a stalemate?

texts: In the Korean War, the United Nations forces lead by the US held overwhelming military and technological superiority over the Chinese. Even with the initial set back from the Chinese ambush AFTER the sudden Chinese intervention, it is of reason to argue that the US should have the capability to push the Chinese way above the 38'th parallel line if not all the way back to the Chinese-Korean border. Is it solely the mountainous terrain being not the best locale for the expansion of the mechanized forces the reason for the eventual stalemate?


texts: When and where arose the first civilization?

texts:
I'm reading a bit about early human history, and was asking myself when and where the civilization showed up.

First of all, Ancient Egypt came to mind, and I figured out that this civilization started to get such a culture somewhere around 4000-3000BC. But I also read that there were a lot civilizations in the Fertile Crescent earlier than Egypt's.

So was Ancient Egypt the first civilization and the others were just humans who settled, or were there other civilizations before?


texts: Why did the price of eggs in Britain increase much more than for other basic foods during WWI?

texts:
At the beginning of WWI, Britain was only about 40% self-sufficient in food, a major problem given the tonnage of ships sunk by German submarines. Unsurprisingly, food prices rose.

In First World War Britain (2012), Prof. Peter Doyle states:

  Prices of most commodities rose by 50% over the period of the war,
  others by much more. Fresh meat would increase by some 100% (imported,
  frozen meat almost twice this); fish by almost 200%, sugar by 250% and
  fresh eggs by 400%.

(my highlighting)

In 1914, Britain (pdf, 2014) was 100% dependent on imports for sugar yet was 50% self-sufficient in fresh eggs. For meat products, the percentages were not that much better than for eggs.

Why did the price of eggs rise so much more than for other basic foods?

Some possible reasons I've thought of are (1) people started eating more chicken because of the shortage of meat or (2) other areas of agricultural production were prioritized. However, I've found no evidence for either. In fact, for the latter, the opposite may have been true as people were allowed to keep chickens (and pigs) in allotments.

Another possible reason might be that demand for eggs rose sharply because of the high protein content, but the only evidence I've found for this is this article, The National Egg Collection for Wounded Soldiers and Sailors 1914-1918.

One source which might provide the answer is Peter Dewey, British Agriculture in the First World War but Google books doesn't allow much searching in this case.


texts: What happened to Israel when Persia attacked Egypt?

texts:
See Wiki :Battle of Pelusium:

The Persians attacked Egypt while going through the territory which is today Israel:

What happened to that territory when this happened?

Who was the king?

Is this account mentioned in the bible?


texts: Why was the Le Chapelier law annulled in Belgium?

texts:
The Le Chapelier Law was an important law in Belgium, as it implicitly disallowed the proletariat from associating, or organising a strike.

As the parliament at the time (1864) was dominated by the Liberal Party and Catholics as the only two parties, with a slight majority of the Liberal Party, I am puzzled why the law was annulled. Both groups had interests in keeping the working class quiet.

I can imagine the Liberal Party annulled the law because it was against the economic principles (although it protects the free market), but I find this hard to believe. Only wealthy people were allowed to vote so the parliament was dominated by people with interests in keeping the working class quiet.

Why was the law revoked?


texts: Soviet reaction to Battle of the Denmark Strait

texts:
At the time of the Battle of the Denmark Strait - 1941-05-24 - Soviets were still officially friendly with Germany. I wonder what the reaction to the battle was, e.g.,

Did they send an official letter of congratulations to the German government?
Did they cover the event in the newspapers (and what was the tilt of the coverage)?

Similarly, what was the reaction to the Last battle of the battleship Bismarck on 1941-05-27? Did they express condolences?


texts: What kind of coin is this? (From Jordan?)

texts: 15 years ago I bought an old looking coin in Jordan in the vicinity of old Roman temples. The diameter is aboout 14 mm.


texts: How did ancient China invent such wonders as fear systems and calendar before ancient Europe?

texts:
What were some methods Chinese used to come up with such amazing creations like paper, compass, clocks, steel with chrome for keeping the blade from rusting etc.

What were their "scientific methods?"
Is it the same as today but they use it just way before most?


texts: What were the proportions of state militias in Continental Army?

texts:
The wikipedia article on the Continental Army suggests that "The army never numbered more than 17,000 men." but also lists a number of 80,000 as the peak size.  The former number refers specifically to those enlisted for the federal army.  Presumably the latter number includes the state militias, giving a value of about 63,000 state vs 17,000 federal, but this logic seems a bit tenuous.

What were the proportions of the Continental Army federal enlisted troops to state militia?  Preferably with reliable sources.


texts: Could freedmen join the army in ancient Rome?

texts: In Cyril Edward Robinson's book "A History of Rome" he describes how freedmen could join the army in ancient Rome.  Has this been corroborated anywhere?  Are there specific examples?


texts:
There is a simplistic model of history that roughly goes:

  In the beginning people wandered the land with pointy sticks and the most masculine guy beat up all the other guys and made himself king. Societies were governed by those who were most brutal.

Even Marx had a more sophisticated model than this - as I recall he postulated an idyllic pre-communist society before the invention of evil capitalists where people sang songs and played games and there was no conflict.  Because of course there can be no conflict without capital.

Both models contradict what we know of preagricultsural societies, most of which are formed on models of big men. My understanding is that current models assume that hunter-gatherer societies are so interdependent governance takes place within the context of a carefully maintained consensus. Certain individuals are recognized to have greater influence or wisdom, and their opinions matter more.

I recall a theory that when such tribes cross certain thresholds of complexity, Chieftains emerge with relatively defined powers (an unwritten constitution), balanced by alternative institutions (such as the warrior societies and women's lodges of the Amerindians).

There is another threshold which catapaults the Chieftains to Kingship; in Western Europe Kingship was originally based on the ability to lead in war (elected by peer war leaders), and eventually codified into lineages through a strong desire to avoid civil conflict.

Obviously any theory that attempts to encapsulate the manifold complexity of human social conduct into less than a dozen discrete stages will be grossly flawed, but it can still be a useful model (more useful for example than the "men with pointy sticks" model).

Is there a name for this theory/model?
Can someone articulate it more clearly?
Is there a more useful model? Has a superior model emerged??
Is there a model of enfranchisement through social development?  (Aside: I'd actually be particularly interested in what might be called fractional enfranchisement social structures and institutions that accord (formally or informally) different individuals different levels of franchise.)

I'd also like to apologize to OP for hijacking the question


texts: What was the official language used across European monarchies in the XII century?

texts:
I have been reading about European history in the XII century and I am finding out that several of the modern day languages hadn't yet evolved to what they are now: Langue d'oïl was still being used in France & Belgium, Old Saxon was still in vigor as well as Anglo-Saxon and Old East Slavic / Old Russian.

Was there an "official" language among monarchies just as English is nowadays for most governments? There were already agreements, marriage pacts and even crusades planned among different monarchies so they must have established communication somehow... I'm leaning towards the equivalent of French at the time, however I couldn't get any official sources to confirm this.

Wikipedia lists some of the monarchs of the time here:
12th-century monarchs in Europe


texts: How much oil did the USSR export in the 1930's?

texts:
The Grozny-Tuapse Pipeline appears to be the first major crude oil pipeline in the USSR, built in 1927 - 1928. (Note, the Russian version of that article has more information.) Tuapse is a port city on the Black Sea, and crude oil was exported there.

I would like to know how much crude oil the USSR exported in the 1930's, and what did the Soviets receive in exchange for oil? Obviously to build such a large pipeline, they must have been exporting a lot. Note the capacity of the pipeline is stated as 1.5 Mt per year, but that does not mean it was always used at maximum capacity.


texts: Did FDR support Hoover for the presidency of the US in 1920?

texts:
Franklin Foer writes in a new Guardian article:

  Americans of all persuasions began yearning for the salvific
  ascendance of the most famous engineer of his time: Herbert Hoover. In
  1920, Franklin D Roosevelt – who would, of course, go on to replace
  him in 1932 – organised a movement to draft Hoover for the presidency.

Here is a similar claim:

  It is no wonder that Progressive Republicans as well as such
  Progressive Democrats as Louis Brandeis, Herbert Croly, and others on
  the New Republic, Edward A. Filene, Colonel Edward M. House, and
  Franklin D. Roosevelt, boomed Hoover for the presidency during the
  1920 campaign.

However, FDR was the Democratic vice-presidential candidate himself in 1920!
(wiki)

Isn't there something of a contradiction here? Perhaps FDR was supporting a Hoover run before he decided to run himself? Am I engaging in an anachronism here?


texts: What was the American policy on colonisation and why?

texts: What was the official policy of the USA on colonisation? How well did America follow it officially and non-officially? What were the reasons behind it?


texts: What is the background of writing the c in McLastname with the small c on the top of the line with a line under it?

texts: In a recent conversation with my mom she mentioned how as a child she would write her last name with the small c parallel to the top of the big M and a hyphen under it. (See example below, not real name of course)  My mother lived her childhood in British India. Her parents were both American citizens, but they lived in India (where her dad had grown up) so there was a heavy heavy British influence on her childhood. Was this a British way to write Mc names? Or was this standard across the English speaking word until typewriters/computers eliminated it?


texts:
What was the general breakdown of casualties per their cause during American Civil War?

E.g. bullets vs. artillery vs. edged weapons vs. disease vs. natural death.
Did that breakdown change in meaningful way between the beginning and the end of the war?


texts: What knowledge may have been lost at the Library of Alexandria?

texts:
Of course we'll never know for sure, but do historians have some reasonable ideas about what knowledge may have been lost at the Library of Serapeum of Alexandria, when it was destroyed by the Decree of Theodosius in 391?

From the movie "Agora" it is shown that the pagan occupants attempted to save whatever they could, and suggests that there may have been philosophical, mathematical, and astronomical research. However, Wikipedia information suggests that at this time the library may not have had such information:

  The Serapeum housed part of the Great Library, but it is not known how many, if any, books were contained in it at the time of destruction. Notably, the passage by Socrates makes no clear reference to a library or its contents, only to religious objects. An earlier text by the historian Ammianus Marcellinus indicates that, whatever books might earlier have been housed at the Serapeum, none was there in the last decade of the 4th century. The pagan author Eunapius of Sardis witnessed the demolition, and though he detested Christians, and was a scholar, his account of the Serapeum's destruction makes no mention of any library.

So, my question is: in this or other destructive events, did the Library of Alexandria house information that was lost, and caused for lack of a better term, a setback for the progress of human knowledge?


texts:
Recently, I was working on a project concerning the Cold War, and cultural themes throughout the period. I mentioned in my report that popular culture often took part in shaping the conflict during the Cold War, whether it be media coverage of the Fischer v. Spassky chess match or the Rocky films.

In the Rocky series (written by Slyvester Stallone and starring him) however, my professor pointed out something of interest. There is an interesting racial theme in the movie Rocky IV: both Apollo and Rocky fight Ivan Drago in the movie, but  Apollo is sacrificial lamb that sets up the eventual Rocky vs. Ivan showdown. My professor wondered aloud whether there was any potential commentary on race in this, when you consider the contrasting images of Apollo (the black boxer) taking a beating at the hands of the Soviet machine, while Rocky defeats him.

To what extent is this just a movie plot choice (Rocky using the death of his former rival/friend to motivate him in his fight), and to what extent do you think this could be a commentary on race during the time period?

NOTE: I am new to the History Stack Exchange so please let me know if I can improve the question/title/where I post so I can use that for the future. THANKS!


texts: Why did former Yugoslav republics dispute the legal successor of Yugoslavia?

texts:
In Wikipedia's article for Yugoslavia:

  One of the seven successor states was also known as the Federal
  Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) until 2003. The FRY aspired to be a sole
  legal successor to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, but
  those claims were opposed by the other former republics. After the
  overthrow of Slobodan Milošević from power in 2000, the FRY rescinded
  those aspirations, accepting the opinion of the Badinter Arbitration
  Committee about shared succession, and reapplied for and gained UN
  membership on November 2, 2000

My question: Why did the FRY (Serbia) and the other states dispute which was the legal successor? I roughly know that a legal successor inherits the predecessor state's treaties, positions, rights and obligations, etc. But specifically in this case, what are the benefits of being the successor state of Yugoslavia?


texts: Before the Land Bridge Theory, how was human presence in the Americas explained?

texts:
The Land Bridge Theory argues that humans crossed over to Alaska from Siberia, via a land bridge created by glaciation. The theory developed in the 1930s and became the popularly accepted explanation for human settlement of the Americas.

What were the predominant theories on how humans came to be in the Americas, before the Land Bridge Theory? I'd also be interested in competing theories, not just prior ones.


texts: British Diplomat's Guide to the Balkan Races

texts:
Reportedly (from a source I cannot recall) the British had a very "interesting" guide about the Balkans.

It had a sort of cheat sheet to the peoples around that area, with the stereotypical appearance, political views, and relations to other peoples in the Balkans.

I saw an excerpt of this, but never managed for find a copy of this strange manual. Does anyone know any more details about it?


texts:
I would like to understand how monarchs actually came about.

Who was the first ever monarch (king or queen) of any country, ever? What date did they become monarch and how was it even decided to take some people and start calling them 'royal', for some reason?


texts: Why did Union troops like General McClellan?

texts:
I have read that when President Lincoln dismissed General McClellan for the second time (after he didn't try to beat Lee to Richmond in 1862), the troops almost mutinied (The Civil War by Shelby Foote and Ken Burns).

Did they think he was a military genius?  Did they like that he was cautious?  Did Pope's screw-ups make them fear any replacement?


texts: Where was the dateline before the concept of the International Dateline?

texts:
Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in Wonderland, had a lifelong obsession with a paradox involving time zones.  His 1850 article "A Hemispherical Problem" describes it well:

Half of the world, or nearly so, is always in the light of the sun: as the world turns round, this hemisphere of light shifts round too, and passes over each part of it in succession.
Supposing on Tuesday, it is morning at London; in another hour it would be Tuesday morning at the west of England; if the whole world were land we might go on tracing1 Tuesday morning, Tuesday morning all the way round, till in twenty-four hours we get to London again. But we know that at London twenty-four hours after Tuesday morning it is Wednesday morning. Where, then, in its passage round the earth, does the day change its name? Where does it lose its identity?
Practically there is no difficulty in it, because a great part of the journey is over water, and what it does out at sea no one can tell: and besides there are so many different languages that it would be hoeless to attempt to trace the naem of any one day all the year round. But is the case inconceivable that the same land and the same language should continue all round the world? I cannot see that it is: in that case either there would be no distinction at all between each successive day, and so week, month, etc., so that we should have to say, "the Battle of Waterloo happened to-day, about two million hours ago," or some line would have to be fixed where the change should take palce, so that the inhabitants of one house would wake and say, "Heigh-ho, Tuesday morning!" and the inhabitants of the next (over the line), a few miles to the west would wake a few minutes afterwards and say, "Heigh-ho! Wednesday morning!" What hopeless confusion the people who happened to live on the line would be in, is not for me to say. There would be a quarrel every morning as to what the name of the day should be. I can imagine no third case, unless everybody was allowed to choose for themselves, which state of things would be rather worse than either of the other two.

I've even seen detailed hand-written notes by Lewis Carroll recording what time it would be in various cities around the world in an attempt to solve the problem.
In any case, nowadays the issue no longer arises, because we have the International Dateline, a de facto line going roughly through the 180 degree meridian (with many deviations) and it works exactly as Lewis Caroll describes in bold above: when people on one side of it wake up to Tuesday morning, and an hour later people on the other side of it wake up to Wednesday morning.
But when Lewis Caroll was writing, the the International Dateline didn't exist yet.  So my question is, what was the situation before the concept of the International Dateline?  Was there any place in the world where it was Tuesday morning in one location and Wednesday morning a short distance from it?


texts: Was drowning a form of mercy killing in Colonial America?

texts: In doing family history research I came across this death notice, "John French, his wife drown’d herself 13 May 1701."  Curious wording.  Last summer I visited the French-Andrews house, still standing in Topsfield, Mass. The current owner suggested she must have been terminally ill and that her husband/family drowned her as a form of mercy killing.? He also said this was a known practice in Colonial America.  Try as I may, I have been unable to find any sort of reference to such a practice.  Any thoughts?


texts:
Are there any other "Delphic Temple"-like sites in the world?
I recently read that, in 2001, scientists studying the Temple were able to detect ethylene gas being burped from up beneath Mt Parnassus in southern Greece. Ethylene had a brief history as anesthesia in Western medicine, in about the 1920s. However, the gas was good at knocking-out patients, but not so good for their health, it being a volatile gas. Ethylene emissions from the earth's interior seems to at least partially explain the ‘divining stupors’ of the Pythia -– the female oracle -– whom acted as Apollo’s mouthpiece.

Ethylene is sweet-smelling and “produces a narcotic effect described
as a floating or disembodied euphoria.” In addition, it can cause
anesthetic properties. Similar to nitrous oxide but ethylene is
flammable and made up of carbon and hydrogen.
“According to traditional explanations, the Pythia derived her
prophecies in a small, enclosed chamber in the basement of the temple.
De Boer said that if the Pythia went to the chamber once a month, as
tradition says, she could have been exposed to concentrations of the
narcotic gas that were strong enough to induce a trance-like state.”

My question is, are there any other known examples of 'Vapor Cults' being based around a source of naturally emitted gases, either for shamanic/divining purposes, or just for plain narcotic reasons?
Thanks!
~Dan
Links:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/08/0814_delphioracle.html
For anesthetic effects of ethylene,  see: Trout, 1926. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1399426/?page=1


texts: What was the ratio of French to English speakers in Upper Canada before and after the American Revolution?

texts:
Immediately before the American Revolution, the area that would become Upper Canada (modern-day Ontario) was largely French-speaking, having been a French colony until 1763 when the British took over. After the American Revolution, however, a large number of English-speaking loyalists migrated from the Thirteen Colonies to the area. This caused such a shift in the demographics and culture that in 1791, the British split the old Province of Quebec creating Upper Canada in order to accomodate the loyalists.

In the area that would become Upper Canada, what was the ratio of French to English speakers before the American Revolution (~1764-1774) and after the American Revolution (~1784-1790)?

I'm trying to determine how big the loyalists' impact on the language demographics really was, because to a decent extent, the relationship between English and French speakers in Canada is still an important and sometimes controversial topic.

Please cite sources, as I've had difficulty finding good sources, and many of the relevant statements in the Wikipedia pages I linked did not have citations.


texts: Is Chicago the most regularly laid-out city that has ever existed?

texts:
The World Series is being broadcast on TV and before going to a commercial the network treats us to a view from the blimp or drone or something flying over Chicago at night, and the regularity of the pattern of streets in that city is conspicuous.  In measuring "regularity", I give credit for the pattern persisting over a long distance, so that absolute perfection in a tiny city of say twelve-by-twelve city blocks, doesn't make it up to what Chicago has achieved in any regularity-of-streets competition.

Is Chicago in fact the most regularly laid-out city that has ever existed?


texts: What ancient sources discuss the importance of the Sacred fire of Vesta and why it needed to stay alight?

texts:
Dionysius of Halicarnassus in Roman Antiquites touches on, in brief, that the entiguishing of the flame was an omen for the destruction of the city.

There are many indications, it seems, when a priestess is not performing her holy functions with purity, but the principal one is the extinction of the fire, which the Romans dread above all misfortunes, looking upon it, from whatever cause it proceeds, as an omen that portends the destruction of the city; and they bring fire again into the temple with many supplicatory rites, concerning which I shall speak on the proper occasion. - Dionysius of H. Book 2, LCL 319, Pages 509

Livy also talks about the Sacred Fire of Vesta twice and speaks of it as an omen but again does not go into greater depth about WHY it needed to be alight and what would happen if it went out

Here is the Capitol where in the old days a human head was found, and this was declared to be an omen, for in that place would be fixed the head and supreme sovereign power of the world. Here it was that whilst the Capitol was being cleared with augural rites, Juventas and Terminus, to the great delight of your fathers, would not allow themselves to be moved. Here is the Fire of Vesta; here are the Shields sent down from heaven; here are all the gods, who, if you remain, will be gracious to you. - Livy 5.54.7

and

What need is there for me to speak about the perpetual fire of Vesta, and the Image —the pledge of our dominion — which is in the safe keeping of her temple? And you, Mars Gradivus, and you, Father Quirinus, what need to speak of your sacred shields? Is it your wish that all these holy things, coeval with the City, some of even greater antiquity, should be abandoned and left on unhallowed soil? - Livy 5.52.7

Cicero in Book 2 of De Legibus also says that the flame must be guarded but again does not touch on WHY

The several gods shall have their several priests, the gods all together their pontiffs, and the individual gods their flamens. The Vestal Virgins shall guard the eternal fire on the public hearth of the city. - Cic. De Legibus 2.20

Plutarch, Pliny and others, talk to great lengths about the punishments Vestals received for letting the fire go out. However, apart from the excerpts above, I cannot find any other gobbets about WHY the fire needed to stay alight.
Could anyone help me out with any further ancient sources that talk about this? Thank you!


texts: What did those who walked the First Crusade wear? I'm not just talking about the noblemen etc. but also the poor people who allegedly went (or is that a myth?). And how did they dress according to their own fashions/standards/habits once on the road? It took them quite some time to get to Jerusalem so I'm thinking that at some point they've had to get new threads?


texts: Has the USA offered aid to every sovereign nation?

texts:
My history teacher said that the USA has offered aid to every other sovereign nation that has existed the same time at us. He defines aid as being humanitarian, economical, or militaristic. Is this claim true? I know it hard to prove a negative, but has there ever been a sovereign nation that the USA has never aided?

Note: I thought of the Confederacy, but apparently it was not a sovereign nation.


texts: What did Hitler say in Mein Kampf about the possibility of other nations allying against Germany in response to her aggression?

texts:
In Mein Kampf as well as in Zweites Buch, Adolf Hitler advocates the idea of securing Lebensraum ("living space") at the expense of other nations in wars of aggression. His substantiation, as far as I remember, is that the ultimate goal of any Volk (a people/nation) is to survive and that land is needed for better development of a Volk and, in particular, to improve its resources and population, which are needed for survival. Hitler goes to great lengths in his attempts to free the reader from moral objections against wars of aggression. In particular, he says that borders between states are not drawn in accordance with some sacred idealistic principles of justice, but are outcomes of past wars, thus simply refelect past balances of power, and hence do not need to be respected much, especially if balances of power changed. He also says that although people die even in successful wars of aggression, the losses will be quickly recovered in peace times. To put it simply, the sword is the path-breaker for the plow.

It seems to me that the best argument against such an ideology is that if you attack and annex countries for no good reason, then nations are likely to ally against you rather than to sit on their hands and watch you absorbing them one by one. Even if you are stronger than any given nation of such an alliance, you are likely to be defeated and lose land in the end (which is what actually happened to Germany in WWII).

Did Hitler attempt to rebut such an argument, in Mein Kampf, Zweites Buch, in speeches, or elsewhere? If so, what did he say?


texts: Why didn't the WWI Allies attack through the Vosges Mountains after 1915?

texts:
The Western Front in WWI stretched between the North Sea and the Swiss border and it changed very little from when it was established at the end of 1914 for much of the war.  This stagnant line defined the WWI as one of stalemate despite battles with massive casualties designed to break the dead lock.

The Battle of Verdun(1916) with 700,000 joint casualties
The Battle of Somme(1916) more than a million joint casualties
The Battle of Passchendaele(1917) 487,000 joint casualties.

I was recently reading Eddie Rickenbacker's Autobiography(*), "Fighting the Flying Circus".   where he described the front on April 10th 1918.
(see green box in the image below).

  From Fighting the Flying Circus, page 14 Chapter 2.
  We were two miles east of Toul, one of the most important railroad connections on our side of the front and a town that the enemy tried almost daily to demolish with aeroplane bombs.  We were barely 18 miles from the lines and in a country covered with rolling hills and extensive forests.

  Nancy lay fifteen miles to the east of us.  Luneville 12 miles further east and the highway from Toul to Nancy to Luneville lay parallel to the enemy lines and within easy shelling distance of the Hun guns.  But along this highway one would not have realized that a war was on.  East of this point no efforts had been made at an offensive by either side.  Business went on as usual in Luneville.  Children played in the streets and traffic pursued its leisurely way.  An occasional German sentry faced a French sentry along the lines from Luneville to Switzerland, at intervals of a hundred yards or so, but it was said that these sentries messed together and slept together for the sake of companionship.  This unnatural situation was considerable altered later, when the Americans came in.  The country of the Vosges Mountains was thought to be too rough to permit invasion by either side.

Checking for WWI Battles in the Vosges Mountains I found a few battles in 1914 and 1915 but after October 1915, and the battle of Linge (17,000 soldiers died) there doesn't seem to be a lot of activity on this broad 120 mile front.

Read more at: http://us.france.fr/en/information/great-war-vosges-front

My question:
With casualties so high in the war why had their been no serious effort by either side to exploit this supposedly lightly guarded 120 mile (200 km) gap between Luneville and the Swiss Frontier?  Were the Vosges Mountains so un-passible that an army on foot was better off charging into interlocking fields of machine gun fire west of Nancy at Verdun, the Somme, and Passchendaele?

(*) Eddie Rickenbacker was The United States top ace during WWI.

Sources:
Fighting the Flying Circus.
The Great War on the Vosges Front.
Locations of the 1914-1918 Battlefields of the Western Front.


texts: To what extent did the "Arab Spring" protesters meet their goals?

texts:
Too what extent did the protesters throughout the Arab spring in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt achieve their aims?

What happened after the various regimes resigned, what has changed and what would the protesters still like to see happen in their country.


texts: When did Frankfurt am Main adopt the Gregorian Calendar?

texts:
The Gregorian Calendar was adopted in Habsburg lands in 1583. As Frankfurt am Main was a Free City within the Holy Roman Empire, it fell under direct control of the [Habsburg] Emperor. However, if I recall correctly, the majority of city inhabitants were actually Protestant, and thus less likely to adopt the new, Catholic calendar.

Taking this into account, in what year was the Gregorian Calendar adopted in Frankfurt a/M?


texts: What's the explanation for the similarities seen between the Rapa Nui script and the Indus Valley Script?

texts:
The Rapa Nui and the Indus Valley Civilization are found 20,000km apart, the former on an isolated island in the Pacific Ocean (Easter Island), and latter in modern day Pakistan.

As far as we know, the two communities are also separated in time by at least 2,000+ years, with no known "Rosetta Stones" to decipher to scripts.

Is it really a coincidence?

  (https://iaoj.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/indus-script.png?w=474)


texts: What is the origin of heraldic buffalo horns?

texts:
Büffelhörner or Buffalo Horns are quite common in Scandinavian and German heraldry (called Vesselhorns in Danish), "although virtually unknown in other heraldic traditions", where they usually only pop up in reference back to a Scandinavian or German history or tradition, such as in the coat of arms of the Rothschilds.

I can find plenty of unsourced claims that they represent "Strength and Fortitude", but no serious discussion about their origins and original symbology. Where, when, and why did they originate?


texts: How did Germany claim self-defense in WW1?

texts:
WW1 broke out after a series of ultimatums and warnings against each other. However, I understand that every power claimed that the other powers were acting against its interests, and it was participating in the war only for self-defense.

I can understand these claims from the points of view of Austria-Hungary, Russia, and even France. Britain participated protesting against the violation of neutrality of Belgium, so even that claim is clear (at least it's not false, though it might have been just an excuse).

However, how could Germany make this claim, as it had given ultimatum to Russia against its military mobilization? How did Germany convince itself or its population that this war was only for self-defense?


texts: In the USSR, what if any was the formal, ideological response to the Cultural Revolution in China?

texts:
How did the USSR parse and explain an ostensibly uber-communist movement which was dedicated to overthrowing the leadership of the country's communist party? Did they see this as 'Trotskyism', or some other kind of deviation?

The cleavage between the PRC and USSR was firmly established by 1966. The Soviets were a major target of cultural revolution rhetoric. What did the Soviets 'say back'?


texts: Ratio of commerce to residence in preindustrial towns

texts: Is there any research that has attempted to estimate the ratio of commerce to residence, or of shopkeepers to residents in other trades, for preindustrial towns? Or are there old census sources where such data is recorded?


texts: What did Dr. Peter Smith do with his windfall?

texts:
Dr. Peter Smith cared for the indigent in 1850 San Francisco, and the city paid him in interest-bearing scrip. Soon he was owed $64,000 and the city was forced to make repeated sales of real property to pay him back. According to Nancy Taniguchi's "Dirty Deeds", Senator David Broderick bought many of the "Smith lots".

With that terrific amount of money, where did Dr. Peter Smith go, and what did he do?


texts: First Century (or earlier) gesture signifying peace between two parties?

texts:
I am working on a painting set in the first century which shows a military group confronting another group in the Middle East.

I am trying to find a gesture which the leader of one army would make to indicate that they are at peace with, or have peaceful intentions toward the other party.

Does anyone know of anything like that?

Specifically I am thinking of a gesture which would be understood this way in the first century, but a gesture from previous eras would probably also work.


texts: What were the effective dates of this 1968 Delaware law and this 1967 Nevada law?

texts:
What were the effective dates of each of these two laws? I am asking for purposes of my academic research, which relates to the history of the American family.

1968 Delaware, 124th General Assembly, Chapter 296.
1967 Nevada, 54th session, Chapter 278.

The effective dates are not mentioned in either of the two laws. Usually the state's statute books or constitution would provide for when a law becomes effective, if it is not explicitly stated in the law itself. But for Delaware and Nevada I have not been able to find such information.

(Pending the establishment of Law.SE, I thought History.SE was the next best place to ask this. Please let me know if there is a more appropriate SE for this question.)


texts: Did New Imperialism differ in nature from earlier Imperialism?

texts:
In Wikipedia, there is an article about New Imperialism, which refers to the territorial or colonial expansion during 19th-20th century. The article also says that the qualifier "New" is to contrast with earlier imperialism (particularly, European colonization in 15th to early 19th century).

Did the "new" imperialism differ in nature from 15th-19th century imperialism/colonialism, other than the difference in time frame? How was it different?


texts: Building a house in the middle age in europe (specifically germany)

texts: How was is to build a house in the middle age in europe? Where did people get the materials from? How long did it take? What were the differences between building outside the city and in the city? How many people did it take to build a house?


texts: Why would native women of the Russian Far East undergo Orthodox baptism?

texts:
Russian colonism of the Pacific Rim included religious missions which sought to perform baptisms. As an incentive to conversion, baptized native men were exempted from imperial fur tax (they then had to tithe to the church, but this may have been a relatively advantageous position.)

As women never had to pay fur tax, they must have had other motivations for converting to Orthodox Christianity. What were those?


texts: Why has the khopesh never been used since ancient Egypt?

texts:
The ancient Egyptians used a weapon called the khopesh. It was a curved blade that was excellent for getting around shields and puncturing body parts like kidneys.

Why did no other army in the ancient or medieval world later ever use the khopesh again, at least as a weapon type intended for specific enemies?


texts: When was King Alfred first called 'Alfred the Great'?

texts:
In his book on Alfred the Great, historian Justin Pollard notes that it was in the 16th century that King Alfred was first called 'Alfred the Great' - no reference, no note, no bibliographical text that matches up with this claim.

Can anyone shed light on exactly who the bright spark was that named him thus - when, where, and why?


texts: When did people start believing aliens are abducting cows?

texts:
I think all of us must have seen the following scene in a film, or read it in a book:

It is night, and there are cows standing in a field. All of a sudden, a flying saucer appears, and starts to beam the cows up to perform horrible with them.

This cliché has been used countless times, and the green aliens with big eyes clearly has a preference for cow.

I suspect this rather odd scene has a single origin, somewhere in the 30-ties or 40-ties. What is the origin of the cow abducting 'meme'?


texts: What's the Ancient Egyptian phrase/word for “Royal Road of Life”? And how would it have been spelt?

texts:
I have been looking to translate this for a while, but unfortunately I cannot find any Ancient Egyptian "dictionaries" nor do I possess any knowledge of the Ancient Egyptian grammar at all. So, maybe somebody experienced on this topic here knows more and could help me out.

Basically, what would be the closest equivalent of the phrase "Royal road of life" in Ancient Egyptian? (Additionally, how would this word have been spelt in Ancient Egyptian language)?

The concept that I mean by "Royal road of life" is

  The road of a person to kinghood. In the beginning, the person has no knowledge, is a fool, in the end, he possesses all knowledge, became a "king" so to speak. Or another (easier) approach: A person who was a slave, but on his road of life, he learns and collects experiences, triumphs over his weaknesses and becomes a king. But a king of the world, a king who triumphed over himself. (Maybe God like)

Thank you in advance.


texts: India and Egypt: What enables a culture to endure?

texts:
What traits exist in Indian Hindu culture to allow it to persevere to the present day that did not exist in Egypt from ~3100 BCE to ~30 BCE?

EDIT by Alex: What destroyed Egyptian civilization?

Alexander's conquest?
Roman takeover? Introduction of Christianity? Muslim conquest? Some kind of ``natural death"? What else?


texts: What was the hippie movement? Why did it decline?

texts:
When we look back at 1960s-1970s, many times we come across the term 'Hippie movement' or 'Counter-Culture'. Hippies were described as people who made themselves stand out from the rest of the world. For example, they wore non-mainstream clothes, had weird hairstyles, did not follow conventional religion, and did drugs. However, I would prefer to have a more specific definition around this culture?
What particular events during the 1960s in the Western World led to the establishment of the Hippie Movement and culture? What were the causes behind its rise in popularity during the counter-culture era of the 1960s and 1970s? What events/factors led to their decline? What effect did it have on sociopolitical landscape of Western culture afterwards?


texts: Is the depiction of the Stirling Castle Knight historically accurate?

texts: For some reason BBC depicted him with a shaved head. I was wondering if it is historically accurate for a 700 year old English nobleman to have a shaved head?


texts:
I'm asking a question elsewhere and I'm sure I've heard some historical text to back this up as well as sound reasoning: you want your strongest arm to stop yourself from getting killed by using a shield. Any attack you make is a bonus.

Is this at all historically verifiable?
If so where was this style dominant?


texts: When did London newspapers start to use typewriters in their offices?

texts:
I'm a French journalist writing a book, whose main character of is also a journalist working in the 1890's, but I lack some background.

I wonder when typewriters started to get used in British national newspapers? I know they were invented in the mid-century, and that after WWI journalists commonly used them, but was that the case in 1890? Would it be unlikely to find such an invention in The Daily Telegraph or the Daily News in that year?


texts: Where were there growing economies in dark age Europe, excluding Iberia and Constantinople?

texts:
Question:

Were there major places where the economy grew, inversely to wider situation, in the late Roman Empire and dark age Europe, c. 350-950? The examples that I can think of are Venice and the Carolingian kingdoms.
I know that economic activity continued to some extent along the major rivers. I think that Moravian Prague was wealthy, and maybe a city corresponding to modern Budapest? What about the Mediterranean coastline- Gascony, Provence?

Response to close votes:

This is not a random list generating question. The places in dark age Europe with prospering societies would be small enough to count on your hands. It obviously would have been cities or ports, but perhaps it could also be argued why the rural economy flourished in places (I don't think so.), or more remote places like Gascony did. It can be properly answered in a textbook fashion, for us regular people.


texts:
From reading the Bible and from studying from various lectures I have tried to synthesize who was or who were the first leader/s of the Yahwistic sect (Yahwism) in ancient Israel (the allegedly Cannanite Israelite-Judean society, that is). Maybe such leader/s will remain unknown.

Biblical reports

Shemo-el ("Samuel") promoted Yahwism among the united monarchy of Israel (if the kingdom didn't exist, as some hurry to claim, it was probably done in its vicinity).
Eli-yahu of Gila'd ("Elijah of Gilead") led his supporters against other Israelites that worshiped Baal and the Bible gives a supernatural, very violent account of the peak of this conflict.
I further understand that Elijah despised king Ahab and his Sidonian wife Jezebel and made her be killed.
Just before the Israelite's Babylonian exile, during the rule of last king of Judah, Zedekiah, polytheism was common among many Judean Israelites from most if not all casts of society and the prophet Jeremiah led a group of Judean Yahwist monotheists, harshly condemning the polytheist Judean israliets:
I understand that in the Babylonian captivity Yahwism was established as the sole form of Israelitsm as no other form of Israelitism is reported afterwards (but I might be wrong about that)

My problem

It is hard to assume whether was it an historical Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Jeremiah, or some unknown character before or after the historical Moses; perhaps a religious leader of Shasu Yaho / Jacobelites / kenites / Habiru /  Mitanni / Hyksos / other group
Knohl suggested that some Mitanni migrated to Canaan.

  'Jacob-el in the Land of Esau and the Roots of Biblical Religion', VT 67 [2017] 481-484 by Israel Knohl, PhD.
  Other works of Knohl about the formation if the Israelite nation

My question

Who were the first leaders of the Yahwistic sect?


texts: Why was the seventh day of the week in Quichua named after the sun?

texts:
In Tawantinsuyu, Incan society had a seven day week. The days could be enumerated as following:

Monday:    AWAKI puncha
Tuesday:   AWKARIK puncha
Wednesday: CHILLAY puncha
Thursday:  KULLKA puncha
Friday:    CHASKA puncha
Saturday:  WACHA puncha
Sunday:    INTI puncha

source

(please note: small/subtle differences could exist among different dialects, but roughly every kichwa / quichua / quechua / qechua / runasimi dialect has these days pronounced equally).

The only day I care about is the last: INTI puncha (or punchaw, punchay, p'achay...), which stands for sun's day.

When I think about Europe as invaders in roughly 1500, I then see that by looking in references like this, or wikipedia, the seventh day was renamed domingo instead of dies solis in at much IV or V century.

Question: From where did Quichua-speaking people get the reference to the sun in the 7th day? Considering European people who reached the Inca empire had references to God instead of the sun for that day?


texts: Did Sir Isaac Newton ever claim that his mind in 1666 was "remarkably fit for invention"?

texts:
This is a passage from Leon Lederman and Dick Teresi's The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?.

Most Newtonian scholars agree that he believed in a particle-like structure of matter. Gravity was the one force Newton treated mathematically. He reasoned that the force between bodies, whether they be earth and moon or earth and apple, must be a consequence of the force between constituent particles. I would hazard a guess that Newton’s invention of the calculus is not unrelated to his belief in atoms. To understand the earth-moon force, for example, one has to apply our formula II. But what do we use for R, the earth-moon distance? If earth and moon were very small, there would be no problem in assigning R. It would be the distance between the centers of the objects. However, to know how the force of a very small particle of earth influences the moon and to add up all the forces of all the particles requires the invention of integral calculus, which is a way of adding an infinite number of infinitesimals. In fact, Newton invented calculus in and around that famous year, 1666, when the physicist claimed his mind was “remarkably fit for invention.”

I'm particularly interested in the last sentence. Call it idle curiosity, but I was interesting in finding where this quote was pulled from. Unfortunately, the text doesn't specify a source. The author continues into talking about Opticks, but the Gutenberg EBook doesn't seem to contain the phrase. A Google and a Google Books search just take me back to The God Particle. The book provides a bibliography of sorts, but it's very scattered. To quote:

I profited from several biographies of Newton, especially the version by John Maynard Keynes and Never at Rest by Richard Westfall (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981). Abraham Pais’s Inward Bound: Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986) was an invaluable source, as was the classic A History of Science by Sir William Dampier (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1948). The recent biographies Schrödinger: Life and Thought by Walter Moore (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989) and Uncertainty: The Life and Science of Werner Heisenberg by David Cassidy (New York: W. H. Freeman, 1991) were also of great help, as were The Life and Times of Tycho Brake by John Allyne Gade (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1947), Galileo at Work: His Scientific Biography by Stillman Drake (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978), Galileo Heretic by Pietro Redondi (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987), and Enrico Fermi, Physicist by Emilio Segré (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970). We are indebted to Heinz Pagels for two books: The Cosmic Code (New York: Simon & Schuster; 1982) and Perfect Symmetry (New York: Simon & Schuster; 1985), and to Paul Davies for Superforce (New York: Simon & Schuster; 1984).
Some books by nonscientists provided anecdotes, quotes, and other valuable information—most notably Scientific Temperaments by Philip J. Hilts (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1982) and The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics by Robert P. Crease and Charles C. Mann (New York: Macmillan, 1986).

I've dug through what I can using just a computer, but I haven't had much success myself. At this point, I'm more confused that I can't find any trace of this quote, and yet the author uses it as if it was as ubiquitous as the story of Newton observing a falling apple. Is there anything to suggest that Isaac Newton said it?


texts:
From the spring of 1918 to the early months of 1919, the Spanish flu
  pandemic ravaged the world, killing an estimated 50 million to 100
  million people. It came in three waves, with the last wave being the
  most deadly.  This flu was unusual in that it was both extremely deadly and seemed
  to target the young and healthy, being particularly deadly to 20 to 35
  year olds. By the time the flu had run its course, it had killed
  upwards of five percent of the world's population.

Source

Question: Since I discovered that many of my family in Ireland died as a result of the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic I have read many articles on the subject from many sources (I included the above paragraph to "set the scene").

To be specific, my question isnt about the details of the flu itself (this is well documented), I would like to know more about what a person would have experienced once contracted,  how was it diagnosed?, was prognosis given immediately? how families coped?  where they able to visit their loved ones in hospital or did they die in quarantine? etc


texts: When did the Holy Roman Empire collapse?

texts:
In the 1500's, the Holy Roman Empire was a relatively powerful country. By the mid 1800's, it seemed to be superseded by in importance by its states.

When did the unified "Holy Roman Empire" really collapse and why?


texts: Who was the last English king whose first language was French?

texts:
What I remember from my college course is that whenever a delegation of barons came to discuss their grievances in English, the King would hear them out politely without understanding a word, conclude the meeting by saying "J'accept," and leave it at that. This went on for quite some time after the Conquest.

John Lackland must have spoken pretty good English: he negotiated with the provincial barons expertly. His own brother's nickname, however, was French: Cœur de Lion. Their father, Henri II, thought of himself as the king of both England and France at times.

Who was the first king of England to speak English as a first language, and what brought about this change in the ruling house's philosophy?


texts: What was Pope Innocent III's response to the Children's crusade led by Stephan of Cloyes?

texts:
In 1212, two groups involving children embarked on crusades to the Holy Land. They are generally lumped together and known as the Children's Cruade. They were not true crusades in the sense that the pope did not call for a crusade and nor did he sanction it (or them).

One group (from Germany) was led by a shepherd called Nicholas. They had been inspired, according to History Guide, by an earlier group from France. When they arrived in Rome, they were told by Pope Innocent III to return home.

The earlier group, also led by a shepherd, Stephan of Cloyes, got to Marseilles where they boarded ships under false pretenses - they were sold into slavery. They had been advised by the French King Philip II to return home.

According to Brittanica.com, the participants of at least one of these groups took the Crusader's vow, and this vow was recognized as valid by the church, but it is not clear whether this recognition was at the time of the crusade or at some later point.

I can't find any reference to any response of the Pope to this first group. Was there any, or did the pope just react to the second group (from Germany) because they turned up in the Papal States? Also, did the church take any action to prevent further groups of 'unofficial' crusades involving children?


texts:
As the title implies I am wondering as to the reasons why Indonesia is a Muslim country? When visiting Indonesia a few years back, I surprisingly learnt that the country had the largest Muslim population in the world. Even though it was new information I never gave it all that much thought, but a few days ago when looking at a world map I started wondering about how it happened.

The other religions are generally bounded with some geographical connection from centralized hubs, for example Christianity in Europe, Hinduism in India etc and otherwise been spread by conquerors for example the Christianity to the Americas by the colonialism (a very broad generalization but I hope you get the idea of what I mean). And in this respect Indonesia is quite far away from the Muslim middle eastern "hub" being surrounded by countries with other major religions.

Trying to read up a bit about it I learn that Islam came to Indonesia with traders from India?? which also seems strange to me, and it also seems a bit "unusual" that the religion got rooted by simply being brought in by traders?

So why is Indonesia a Muslim country?

More in detail, how and why did Islam migrate to Indonesia and overtake Hinduism and Buddhism in the country?
How did it root in the country (from what I can understand without any forcing factor)


texts: What was the congressional level of support for Emancipation Proclamation?

texts:
Wikipedia covers pretty extensively the political details surrounding the 13th Amendment, including difficulties in passing it in the House.

However, it doesn't note what the level of Congressional support was for the specific changes made by Lincoln in Emancipation Proclamation, in September 1862.

Assuming there's enough data (based on polls/surveys of congresscritters at the time, or their public statements/memoirs/letters), how would the House and the Senate have voted on a proposal which was identical in scope to the details of Emancipation Proclamation if that vote was held on the date of Lincoln's announcement?


texts: What / When was the first use of concentration camps in history?

texts:
I distinctly remember a history teacher of mine claiming that the first use of the concept of concentration camps was done by the English against the Boers in the Anglo-Boer wars, I have wondered for many years if that was true?
I did go to an Afrikaans school and those old prejudices were not completely extinct, so I have always wondered if that was true.


texts: Is Carolyn Seymour (the actress) related to Alexander von Benckendorff (the Russian statesman)?

texts:
Browsing Wikipedia (I know) the other day, I came across the page for the British actress Carolyn Seymour. The page in question states that she was born Carolyn von Benckendorf (note that this is only with one f) to a Russian father and an Irish mother.

I know that there was a famous Baltic German family, in Russian service, of a very similar name, of whom Alexander von Benckendorff (note the double f) was probably the most illustrious member. Does Carolyn Seymour come from this family? (I've not been able to unearth anything, either for or against, myself.)


texts: Given Hitler's Austrian ancestry, why did he develop German nationalism rather than Austrian nationalism?

texts:
Hitler's parents were Austrians, and Hitler had spent his childhood in Austria. However, Hitler expressed loyalty only to Germany but not Austria.

This seems strange to me. Why did Hitler develop German nationalism rather than Austrian nationalism? Why did Hitler want to build a German empire instead of an Austrian one.


texts: When did books first become affordable to the general population?

texts:
Gutenberg certainly had a great impact on the availability of books, but his printing press didn't help bring books into the hands of the poor. The price of books dropped from thousands of days worth of wages to hundreds, but this was  still far too expensive for commoners.

By the 17th century many commoners in Europe could read, but they probably had nothing more to read than the Bible which I would guess was sponsored or at least heavily subsidized to make it affordable. The poor still couldn't afford to just go to a bookstore and buy any book they fancied.

Compare it with the 20th century and onward, when books can be bought with pocket change.

When did books first become affordable to the poor? This means that even low income families could afford, if they wanted, to own several books without significant financial sacrifices. In the early to mid 19th century there were already popular authors in Europe who wrote for the tastes of the poorer classes, so I would guess it was around that time, but can this guess be improved upon?


texts: Raising children in Europe in the Middle Ages

texts:
This question might be a little broad, but I would like to know about child rearing practices in Mediaeval Europe. To narrow this down, the time and place that I am particularly interested in are those regions that today comprise France and Germany, and specifically from the 11th century onwards. The sorts of questions that I am interested in concern:

How involved were men in the raising of children?
Did people co-sleep, or place babies in separate cribs?
Did babies wear some kind of napkin to catch their excrement?
How frequently were babies washed? (I know that people in general didn't wash frequently, but adults are better adept at keeping themselves reasonably clean)
Were babies carried throughout the day or were they left to play? What sorts of toys did they play with?

And probably a dozen other questions of that nature. General information about this would be interesting, even if it doesn't address the five questions above.


texts: Why didn't Caesar hire free men to do slave work?

texts: So one of Caesar's significant policies in Roman politics was helping the peasants have land and work to make a living. Wonder why didn't he push laws that restricted the use of slaves and made those jobs available to free men. In fact, he had slaves himself doing jobs that indeed a citizen of the republic could do.


texts: How much of an impact did the Roman emperors' civil wars have on their decision to debase the coinage?

texts:
From Adrian Goldsworthy's How Rome Fell: "Civil war remained a common event, ...the economy collapsed, as successive emperors massively devalued the coinage to pay for their wars."

Other sources say the emperors debased the coinage to pay soldiers for wars for the empire (i.e., not for their own civil wars): "This income was not enough, however, to cover the entire cost of the new army [made in response to the new Persian threat], and in the late third century emperors also pursued two further strategies. First, they debased the coinage..." (The Fall of the Roman Empire by Peter Heather)

So did the emperors debase the coinage for their own civil wars, or for wars against external enemies?

"By 268 there was only 0.5 percent silver in the denarius." (mises.org/daily/3663 - transcript of Professor Joseph Peden's lecture)

Did such huge debasement occur as a result of the emperors' need to fund troops for their civil wars, or for foreign wars? It seems that it was likely a combination of both, but which played a bigger part in causing the coinage to eventually be reduced to less than 1% silver content?

If it is hard to say, are there any examples (hopefully more than a few, and at least fairly significant) of certain emperors debasing the coinage mainly due to their civil war?


texts: What is the name of this ancient mean of identification based on broken objects?

texts:
I'm gathering data about the origins of identification/authentication means. I remember having read about a way of identifying a friend, during the bronze age. Maybe during classical antiquity also.
It was by using a rock, or a pottery / ceramic shard that you broke in two or more pieces. Joining the fragments served as a mean to identify the holder. I remember this was used in ancient Iberia (this very name suggests a Roman source) but I could be mistaken.
This practice is described in several local legends, notably around the Pyrenean area (mountain range separating Spain and France), but from a much later age (medieval age, starting from the Xth century) and by using torn papers or broken jewelry. Such a legend, as an example, is the legend of Bos de Benac (english version (translated) and french original version).
The relevant excerpt is : "The Lord married a young woman full of virtues. Forced to follow the king to the crusade, he leaves his wife by agreeing to a sign of recognition: marriage contract (Bladé) torn in two, ring or diamond (Cordier) cut in half.".
My understanding is that this practice echoes an ancient practice, the one I'm seeking to identify.
Is there a name for this specific practice?
I know about the "bulla", and the notion of "shibboleth", this is not the same usage and I believe there is a term and studies about this subject.


texts: Which Japanese military officers helped Ho Chi Minh?

texts:
According to Wikipedia, in 1946 during negotiations between the French and Ho Chi Minh,

  One demand by the French was the return to French custody of a number of Japanese military officers (who had been helping the Vietnamese armed forces by training them in the use of weapons of Japanese origin), in order for them to stand trial for war crimes committed during World War II. Ho replied that the Japanese officers were allies and friends whom he could not betray. Then he walked out, to seven more years of war.

Any ideas who these Japanese military officers were, and what were their crimes?


texts: Has an offensive ever succeeded without an advantage in artillery?

texts:
I am asking if an offensive has ever succeeded without an advantage in artillery. You can quantify this in any number of ways:

Number of guns
Shell tonnages
Some qualitative technical advantage in artillery

I looked through military history. Most of the wars before the 20th century were poorly documented. As I recall all of the major offensives in WW1 were preceded by a artillery barrage. The other wars were either overwhelmingly one sided and I can't find much details on any tactical engagement were the attackers did not have the advantage in artillery.

Exclude conflicts were one side simply surrendered due to overestimating or misperceiving the opposing force. Include naval fire support, but exclude purely naval engagements.


texts: On what accomplishments does Theodore Roosevelt's present day reputation rest?

texts:
Teddy Roosevelt appears on Mount Rushmore, and Wikipedia's Historical rankings of Presidents of the United States page reveals almost unanimous love for Teddy. But why? From what I know about his time in office:

He was perhaps the presidency's most colorful figure of all time
He was a great conservationist
He won the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating a peace between Japan and Russia
He invested in the navy and emphasized the growing perception of the USA as a global naval power by, among other things, sending the Great White Fleet around the world
Outlined an ambitious, progressive domestic policy but was blocked by congress on much of it

Is there other, major stuff that I'm missing?


texts: What did the Scott expedition feed their ponies?

texts:
During Robert Scott's British Antarctic Expedition (1910-1913), they used ponies in many cases to haul supplies across the ice.

What exactly did the ponies eat?

I've found many references to the fact that their food had to be carried along by the expedition, but I haven't been able to find out what exactly that food was.  Normally, horses eat a mix of roughage (like grass or hay) along with something more nutritious, like corn or oats.


texts:
I am doing a research related to history of military medicine. I came up with a book published 1596 by Cornelius Shilander.

https://archive.org/details/corneliusshiland00schi

I have tried to do some background research on this author. I have found absolutely nothing. The first couple of thousand Google pages include only searches which state this said book. How could this be possible? Each and every other Medieval surgeon and physician I have come across have been mentioned countless of times across different websites and other books.


texts: The decline of Buddhism in India around the 12th century

texts:
How can we explain the fall of Buddhism in India, which is the geographic origin of Buddhism?

Were there ever any direct conflicts between Hinduism and Buddhism?

From what I understand, the rise of Hinduism directly led to the decline of Buddhism. The White Hun invasion in the 6th century followed by a series of other military invasions and conflicts definitely hurt the influence of Buddhism but these events seem disjoint and regionally limited.

From wikipedia, what exactly does this mean? I am not satisfied with this explanation because Buddhism is strongly rooted in other Asian societies.

"By that time, Buddhism had become especially vulnerable to hostile rulers because it lacked strong roots in society as most of its adherents were ascetic communities."

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


texts: Why did Uesugi Kenshin never marry? Was it common practice for Japanese Buddhists of the time?

texts: It seems that the famed Sengoku-era lord Uesugi Kenshin never married anybody in his life because he was a devout Buddhist. This seems highly unusual, considering Japanese Buddhists at that time seem to lead lives no different than any normal person, i.e. they can freely marry and produce offsprings and even continue family lineage etc. Can his behaviors be considered extremely rare? Are there any other example of such people? Or did I get the wrong idea and actually a lot of Buddists married at that time? And is it reasonable to suppose that Uesugi Kenshin also maintained celibacy, or was his behavior only limited to refraining from formal marriage.


texts: How much salt did people in agricultural societies eat?

texts:
Industrialisation has made many commodities extremely cheap, including salt. These days we eat more than enough salt for our dietary needs, probably more due to its presence in processed foods. However, salt used to be a precious commodity: it was used as salary and currency, salt mines provided lots of revenue.

Therefore it occurred to me that pre-industrial peoples may have consumed very little salt, since it was so expensive. On the other hand, salt is also an essential nutrient. Although hunter-gatherers may have sufficed with no added salt by getting it from animal foods such as seafood and blood, moving to a grain-based diet would have meant some amount of salt was necessary.

How much salt intake did people in agricultural, pre-industrial societies have?


texts: How were USSR oblasts and cities governed?

texts:
From Wikipedia “During the Soviet period, the high authority in the oblast was shared between three persons: The first secretary of the “Oblast” CPSU Committee (who in reality had the biggest authority), the chairman of the oblast Soviet (legislative power), and the Chairman of the oblast Executive Committee (executive power).”
What was the roles of these three persons? And how they interacted with each other and with the other powers of the USSR (the Party, the Military, the KGB...)?
PS: This is the only information I managed to find about oblasts' politic organization. It’s not a big part of my story and I’m focusing my research on other topics, therefore I’m sorry if the post lacks efforts, if you guys can give some shortcuts I’ll be grateful.


texts: Is there any overland route to Kamchatka?

texts: The port of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky was founded and visited by sailing ships. Even today no road connects it to the network of the rest of Russia -- it is reputed to be the second largest inaccessible mainland city in the world after Iquitos, Peru. However, people must have at least attempted to reach or leave it by land. Has there ever been any kind of overland route to and from the Kamchatka peninsula, and if so, who has taken it?


texts: What are the stages of traversals of the Mediterranean Sea?

texts:
Different tribes and nations have existed all around the Mediterranean sea in the bronze age and later. They would know their land-neighbors, and may have communicated and traded with each other directly via sea travel (during calm summer months, as soon as seafaring was advanced enough). Yet they would not have been a military threat to each other as long as the sea travel was too risky and expensive, compared to campaigns over land. So I imagine that for some time, the Mediterranean allowed trade but blocked conquest, until a time when conquest became viable due to ship technology allowing safe travel of armies. The question is when (with what nation) those dynamics changed.
I imagine that in prehistory, rafts and canoes only followed the shorelines at best, but at some point in antiquity, it must have become common to cross the Mediterranean sea at different points every year for communication, raids and trade (at Gibraltar and Sicily mostly supposedly), maybe during the calm season only at first.
Similarly, I imagine that for waging war, there must have been evolutionary stages of shipbuilding that allowed to cross the Mediterranean en masse with an armada, not too expensively, and without risking not being able to return. I imagine during the Greco-Persian wars, technology was not advanced enough for direct (non-shore-following) warfare across the sea, while during the Punic wars it was advanced enough.
So are there in literature known stages for when the Mediterranean became traversable for different purposes? Possibly with the required advances in shipbuilding and navigation required?
The purpose of my question is to understand 1. when knowledge transfer became reliable across the Mediterranean and 2. when countries on the other side become viable military targets / significant military threats, compared to neighboring territories reachable on land.
I have trouble finding details about bronze age sea trade routes. It seems established that tin got from the British isles to middle east, but other than crossing the English Channel, I am not sure where sea-faring ships were used as opposed to river-boats.
Update1: as an example Wikipedia has a map of Phoenician trade routes, but it's not clear if the Phoenicians also had a navy to attack lands along those routes, in particular without following the directions with the ships (As opposed to conquering North Africa by land, and establishing other colonies without need for warfare).
Update2:
Some websites declare: "The Phoenicians were famed in antiquity for their ship-building skills, and they were credited with inventing the keel, the battering ram on the bow, and caulking between planks". So it seems that before the Phoenicians, only near-shore travels were common, and at the end of their period, seafaring was advanced enough to cross the Mediterranean with more safety in greater number, but maybe there was no definite time when such traversals became significant for military conquest. It would still be interesting to know which nation first became an existential threat to all other nations in the Mediterranean due to seafaring.
Update3: The sea peoples mentioned in wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Peoples as: "The Sea Peoples are a purported seafaring confederation that attacked ancient Egypt and other regions of the East Mediterranean prior to and during the Late Bronze Age collapse". But it does not indicate where those were based, nor what ships they used, nor whether their ships could travel away from the coast: "The Sea Peoples remain unidentified in the eyes of most modern scholars".
Udate4:
It would seem that a safe upper bound would be the roman conquests of Sicily in 241 BC and then Carthage itself in 146 BC, at which time any nation bordering the Mediterranean would likely have to consider defenses against a roman invasion via the sea.