texts: What was the attendance at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970? Was it the largest gathering ever in the UK? If not, what was?

texts:
I'm researching a book about UK hippies. I've seen a few estimates of attendance at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970, ranging between 300k and 800k. I wonder if anyone has a definitive, or near definitive answer.
I'm certain that it was the largest crowd ever gathered in the UK for an entetainment event. But where would it stand in a league table of greatest number of people gathered in one place in the UK? Presumably the Iraq War demonstration had a higher attendance, but estimates vary for that too.


texts: What made early 20th-century Vienna such an incubator for various intellectual activities?

texts:
There are almost too many examples to cite(the Austrian school of economics, Sigmund Freud, modernist figures in culture, Joseph Schumpeter, etc.). Here's a quote from Wikipedia's Vienna entry:

  From the late 19th century to 1938, the city remained a centre of high culture and modernism. A world capital of music, the city played host to composers such as Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler and Richard Strauss. The city's cultural contributions in the first half of the 20th century included, among many, the Vienna Secession movement, psychoanalysis, the Second Viennese School, the architecture of Adolf Loos and the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle. In 1913, Adolf Hitler, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Tito, Sigmund Freud and Joseph Stalin all lived within a few miles of each other in central Vienna, with some of them being regulars at the same coffeehouses.

My question is this: What stood out about Vienna that made it such a hotspot in so many different ways?


texts: Why did the British scuttle the u-boats surrendered after WWII?

texts:
Between November 1945 and February 1946 the British scuttled 116 of the 156 German u-boats surrendered at the end of WWII during Operation Deadlight. They were towed to deep water off Ireland and sunk. The intention was to scuttle them with explosives. Several sank en route to the location and those that made it were sunk by naval guns.

The Operation Deadlight boats were what was left over after some were used for various types of target practice and a couple kept as museum pieces.

That seems like a whole lot of steel to just throw away. Why were they scuttled rather than having them broken up for scrap? Was this to avoid having to negotiate among the allies who they actually belonged to? Was a similar thing done with other weaponry, such as tanks, guns, etc.?


texts: Were the Nazis the first to use phenol as a means of execution?

texts:
Phenol was discovered in 1834 by Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge.... Injections of phenol were used as a means of individual execution by the Nazis during the Second World War. It was originally used by the Nazis in 1939 as part of Action T4.

Thus saith Wikipedia.

Was this the first known use of phenol to purposefully execute individuals? I am not only asking about its use as an official means of execution, but about anybody who purposefully used phenol to execute an individual, whether sanctioned by a government or not.


texts: Jewish Money Lenders in England: What happened to Money Lendings after Expulsion?

texts: When the Jews left England in 1290 by edict of Edward 1, who took over the role of Jews? My understanding is that the primary economic function was loaning money against future sales of farm produce -- liquidity before the grain was actually grown or sold. Was this their role and if so, who moved into this role given religious laws against "usury"? Also, were Jews supported by force of law in collecting debts?


texts: What was everyday life in Mexico like during the early days of WWII?

texts:
I am curious to know what everyday life might have been like for a trio of American foreigners in the northern, near-border regions of Mexico during the early days of World War Two. Specifically, I am interested in knowing how they would have been treated by the people and the government, the technological level of early-WWII Mexico, and what it would have looked like in a fairly metropolitan area close to the border.

Note: This information is for a WWII-era RPG i'm GMing in which the players have decided to evade drafting by fleeing to Mexico (go figure).


texts: Was the danger of radiation in the case of nuclear war overestimated during the cold war?

texts:
This article tells about signal "Atom" and its intended effect on Moscow metro:

All trains stop, escalators automatically start move downwards.

After 15 min, all hermetic gates on metro entrances and in tunnels automatically start to close. They are impossible to stop or disable. The gates are really huge and weighing tens of tons.

In case people block the automatic doors, the police can fire on the blocking people.

Electric substations switch to autonomous generators

The air is starting to be cleaned. The gates between stations open when the air inside is clean.

Toilets, food and tools stores get automatically unlocked.

Groups of scouts-dosimetrists are formed, which start to make scouting excursions to the surface using special suits via airlocks with showers.

Airlock with shower

Exit to the surface is permitted only if air defense stopped any missiles reaching ground, otherwise the people are supposed to remain underground forever.

This list of anti-radiation measures seems to be really a huge overshoot.
The radiation from the bombings seems to be much less than that from any nuclear plant disaster and usually goes away in hours after bombings (at least for the purpose of walking outside). The effect on soil will be more protracted, but the soil can be replaced in normal restoration wokflow.
I do not see any reason for:

Huge, multi-ton hermetic gates

Firing on people who slow down the gates closing
Keeping people underground for days

Anyway, any possible casualties from radiation seem to be tiny compared to the casualties from the bombings themselves.
Can anyone please clarify, whether I am right that this radiation-scare was (is) an overshoot?


texts: How do totalitarian states/empires usually fall? Are there cases or plausible where these states fall without it necessarily being invaded or face a rebellion? When i say fall, i mean the move from totalitarian to at least ''more'' democracy. For example, in the case of north-Korea which option or options are viable to happen.


texts: Was the divinity of Roman Emperors taken as seriously as the actual Pagan Gods by other religious communities?

texts:
Apotheosis of Roman Emperors and their close relatives after their death was a common practice in the Roman Empire. I understand that it wasn't a meaningless ritual, there was an elaborate Imperial Cult around that concept.

We also know that monotheistic religions inside the empire -- like Judaism and Christianity -- were reluctant, or even hostile to the pagan rituals, or even symbolism.
One example of this is that of Pontius Pilate, who tried to bring military standards with pagan imagery on them. This lead to a fiasco, and finally he had to remove that imagery from the standards.

My question is:
Had it been the imagery of the Imperial Cult, instead of actual pagan imagery, would it have resulted in a similar reaction from the Jews? In other words, when the ex-emperors and their relatives were elevated Godhood, would the Jews and Christians also view them as rival Gods? (I know that since they are monotheistic, they won't accept anything else except the God as God. But I hope my question is clear -- I don't know how to frame it)


texts:
Turkey is still occupying almost half of the island of Cyprus.
According to Wikipedia:

United States arms embargo on Turkey and the Republic of Cyprus
After the hostilities of 1974, the United States applied an arms
embargo on both Turkey and Cyprus. The embargo on Turkey was lifted
after three years by President Jimmy Carter, whereas the embargo on
Cyprus remained in place for longer,[164] having most recently been
enforced on 18 November 1992.[165] In December 2019, the US Congress
lifted a decades-old arms embargo on Cyprus.[166]

Why did the USA revoke the arms embargo or sanction on Turkey only after 3 years of the invasion of Cyprus?


texts: When was Susa first mentioned in written documents?

texts:
"Susa was a principal city of the Elamite, Persian and Parthian empires (capital of the Elamites) and was originally known to the Elamites as 'Susan’ or 'Susun’. The Greek name for the city was Sousa and the Hebrew, Shushan."

http://www.ancient.eu/susa/

But when was Susa mentioned with that name in written documents? Do we have Proto-Elamite or Old-Assyrian/Akkadian documents that are using this particular name? I'm particularly interested on this because of the name etymology and meaning, what is said to relate to female name Susan, lily flower, number six, even horse.


texts: Did Andrew Jackson think the earth was flat?

texts:
You will occasionally see references to the possibility that Andrew Jackson believed the earth was flat. One source for this claim is a well-respected history of the period by Edward Pessen:

  [James] Parton passed on the report that Nicholas Trist had been told by a
  member of Jackson's family that "the General did not believe the World
  was round." (source)

I know that Jackson had little formal education, but it's still shocking that a head of state in the 19th century would doubt that the world was round. Is it possible to confirm whether Jackson was a flat-earther? I see several ways to approach this question, though there may be others.

Did Jackson make any other statements on the shape of the earth?

Straightdope members note that John Quincy Adams was willing to support John Cleves Symmes' proposed journey to the center of the earth through a hole in the North Pole, but Andrew Jackson halted it. If the earth were flat, then Symmes' journey would be nonsense. Of course, it was nonsense anyway--but do we know why Jackson quashed the project?

Did Jackson ever approve or discuss westward sea voyages to Asia? Did he ever discuss Russian colonization of Alaska?

If Jackson ever sent a trade, diplomatic, or military mission to Asia, he likely would have talked to someone who could confirm that, yes, if you sail west you reach Asia. Alternately, did he ever discuss Russian claims on the west coast? I know how concerned he was by other European footholds in America, so I'd imagine he had thoughts on Russia-- and Russia's presence there doesn't make much sense if the earth were flat.

Does James Parton have a reputation for embellishing facts in his other works?

The evidence is hearsay, but I see no reason why a member of
Jackson's family or Trist would lie about this. Trist, who was
Jackson's private secretary, is reported to have been loyal to
Jackson. On the other hand, the popular biographer James Parton
may have had incentive to play up Jackson's reputation as an uneducated soldier. If Jackson was not actually a flat-earther, then I'd guess that Parton was the weak link. Then again, Trist lived until 1874 and so would have the opportunity to rebut any false attributions made to him.


texts: Why was there a tradition attached to Crossbowmen?

texts: Medieval literature makes several references to Gascon, Flemish and especially Genoese to denote elite troops wielding Crossbows. However, it isn't exactly hard to shoot a Crossbow accurately and professionalism shouldn't be so hard that you can't train, say, a farmer from York and label them 'Yorkish Crossbowmen'. So what do the labels attached to these soldiers denote exactly? A superior quality over normal Crossbowmen in what attribute?


texts: What did the Musa Dagh monument look like?

texts:
There was a monument built by French/Armenians to commemorate the Musa Dagh defense during the Armenian Genocide. The following image shows how it looks like now:

I was curious how it originally looked like, on Wikipedia there is a reference to "La Reconnaissance Armenienne" in "l'Illustration" page XXII, 29 October 1932. but I couldn't find this issue online.


texts: What do "zones of influence" mean, according to the Treaty of Sevres after WWI?

texts:
After its defeat in World War I, European powers partitioned the Ottoman Empire, annexing some of its territories, and setting up other territories as their "zones of influence". What do the zones of influence mean? Why would they be interested in having zones of influence in the Anatolian lands?

See the following map from Wikipedia illustrating this. It seems that more than half of modern Turkey was intended as "zones of influence" before the Treaty of Lausanne.


texts: How many 'pubs' (alehouses, inns and taverns) were there in England in 1577?

texts:
I came across an interesting bit of demographic information while listening to a lecture:

From early times people had rented out space in their houses for
travellers, but by the thirteenth century Inns became common in most
towns of any size. Inns were like hotels. Taverns, which provided good
quality food and drink, including wine, were more like restaurants.
Alehouses were pubs providing basic food, ale and on occasion rooms.
From the sixteenth century these distinctions were recognised in law
and defined licensing restrictions and the obligations of landlords.
From a census taken in 1577 we can calculate that there were then
around 17,367 alehouses, 1,991 Inns and 401 taverns in England

Looks like the answer, right? Unfortunately, since this is a video lecture, it provided no source for the information.
Looking to the internet was not helpful to say the least (emphasis mine):

A 1577 census of England recorded the existence of 14,202
alehouses,  source

By 1577 it is estimated that there were some 17,000 alehouses, 2,000
inns and 400 taverns throughout England and
Wales.  source

England had many alehouses. Clark estimates from a survey conducted in
1577 that the number was 24,000, or one for every 142 inhabitants
source

Seems like quite a range of answers showing up.
All these sources seem to agree that somewhere, from 1577, there is a primary source of information, but nobody is gathering the same facts from this source. We know this source is either a census or survey. Research showed that the Ale Houses Act 1551 may have been responsible for the collection of this data.
Secondary sources appear to be inconsistent. So it appears to answer to this question will require the location and accurate interpretation of this primary source from 1577. (If you find a secondary source you feel is correct, please explain why it should be considered definitively correct.)
The wide variety of answers floating around the web seems to indicate a correct accounting needs to be done.
So, how many pubs ( 'alehouses', 'taverns' and 'inns') were there in England in 1577.


texts: Were there natives In Iceland prior to the Irish monk's landings?

texts:
The Vikings discovered Iceland quite early on, in the late 800s, although 'Gaelic monks from Ireland had settled Iceland before that date'.

Unfortunately the date was never recorded. The Viking discovery was accidental, after a Norwegian sailor lost his way whilst trying to get to the Faroe Islands.
A settlement was setup in 874 in present-day capital city Reykjavik.

When the Irish monks arrived prior to the Vikings, were they faced with natives who had already setup human settlements?

I would also like to include that island nations like Greenland were populated by natives, without any known landbridge to North America.
I have little knowledge on natives and biology and what they stemmed from (Homosapiens/Neanderthals?) but I do know that they evolved into humans.


texts:
I'm trying to find out more about the First Sekhukhune War, and in particular exactly how and why Sekhukhune won. As wars in historical times go, it seems to be very sparsely documented. Here's what I have been able to find out so far.
The war started in 1876, with the belligerents being the Transvaal Republic under President Thomas Burgers, together with an allied force of Swazi, versus the Marota a.k.a. Bapedi under King Sekhukhune.
News24 has a partisan slant, but goes into more detail than any other source I have been able to find.
It suggests Thomas Burgers led the Transvaal army in person, which would be consistent with other accounts that his health was damaged by the stress under which it was placed during his wartime efforts, contributing to his early death. Is this correct? If so, is the reason documented anywhere? (Presidents usually leave it to their generals to lead armies in the field, and I haven't found any indication that Burgers had military training.)
It gives the strength of the Transvaal force as 2,000 men with 500 wagons and a few Krupp seven-pound field guns.
It doesn't give the number of Swazi warriors, though other sources suggest this to be around 3,000. It does suggest some other African troops joined the expedition.
I haven't found any specifics on the Marota order of battle, though it is clear they had a large number of rifles purchased with money earned by their young men working on farms and in particular in the Kimberley diamond mines.
The consensus is that the key battle happened at Thaba Mosega, the Marota capital, from late July to 1 August 1876.
There is also a consensus that in the first round of fighting, the Transvaal force defeated and killed the Marota chief Dinkwanyane, but in the second round of fighting, there was some coordination failure on the Transvaal side, with the result that they were unable to defeat Sekhukhune and were forced to retreat. However, I'm not clear exactly what the coordination failure was.
The above source says

For some unknown reason, there was no contact between Joubert and the other forces, probably because of the rough land and the distance.

But it doesn't seem to say exactly who Joubert was, or why the forces did not maintain better contact.
The Illustrated at the Fireside: True Southern African Stories says

During the first battle of that war, the Boers, who had linked up with the Swazis, marched on Mafolofolo, and after failing to breach the outer wall with their four-pound cannon, hung back, leaving the Swazis to do the fighting. After a desperate battle, the Swazis managed to breach the town's defenses, killing Dinkwanyane along with most of his followers.

But the destruction of Mafolofolo proved to be the turning point in the First Sekhukhune War. As the Swazis were outraged by the Boer cowardice and duplicity, the Boer commando had to continue into the next battle without the Swazi shock troops. This led to the defeat of the Boers by Sekhukhune, leaving the way open for the annexation of the Transvaal by the British through Natal.

Once again this is very light on detail, but such detail as it does give, differs significantly from the other account in the specifics of how the battles unfolded. (Also describes the Transvaal field guns as four rather than seven pound.)
I haven't been able to find any other sources with as much detail as those.
Is there more detail available on what really happened? What was the Marota order of battle? What tactics did they use? What were the decisive factors?


texts:
I have just finished reading the book Taipan by James Clavell and I am fascinated by the history of International Trade and merchants and how they have affected the course of history.  Can I get a recommendation of a good book about the history of International Trade and also a book with more of a focus on Asia/China?

A quick search on Amazon has turned up "A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World".  Any other books out there that you would recommend?


texts: Did Ferdinand Magellan circumnavigate the globe?

texts:
As we know, Magellan died on the Philippines, so he did not circumnavigate the globe. However, I found an opinion claiming that he actually did, because he'd made some travels to east Asia before his last expedition, so he can be considered to have made the full trip.

I tried to search this and Wikipedia says that Ferdinand Magellan went as far as Malacca, which is at longitude 102 degrees east, while he was killed on the Mactan Island, which is at longitude 123 degrees east.

Had Magellan reached 123 degrees east from the west before his last journey?


texts: After the fall of Constantinople was there a re-evaluation of the basis of Russia's religion?

texts: According to the Primary Chronicle, Vladimir the Great rejected Judaism in 987 with the rationale that they lost Jerusalem. When Constantinople was conquered in 1453 by the Ottomans, was there any serious self-reflection on whether to re-evaluate Judaism or Orthodox Christianity in light of those grounds?


texts: How were the cities of Milan and Bruges spared by the Black Death?

texts:
On this map* we can see that some cities and areas seem to be spared. How did cities like Milan and Bruges manage to protect themselves from the Black Death ? I'm also interested in how Milan, a city which managed to save itself during the 1300s could be this shaken by plague in 1629, up to name the "Great Plague of Milan". Lastly, if you have any information about the Pays Basque, I'll take it !
*French labelled, green areas are the ones spared


texts: Is there a general term for epicycles, deferents, and eccentrics in Ptolemaic astronomy?

texts:
According to Ptolemy's (c. 150 CE) account of the motions of planets, planets moved in circular paths ("epicycles") around center points that in turn moved around the center of the earth along a path called a "deferent", or around point near the center of the earth, in a path called an "eccentric".  (I think I have this right.)

Is there a general term for these three kinds of paths?  "Orbit" doesn't seem correct, since none of the three are orbits in the modern sense.

EDIT: I'd also be interested in knowing of a general term of the centers of these circles.


texts: Book about the story of a WWII photo analyst looking for V1 launching ramps

texts:
I hope it’s not too off-topic, but unfortunately the Literature Stack Exchange site is closed.

When I was a kid, I remember reading in L’album des Jeunes, which was a book containing selections of the Reader’s Digest and translated to French, a story by a British or American intelligence analyst during WWII, who was studying aerial photographs taken by the RAF above France, to look for V1 launching ramps, and how he found some disguised as garages under construction.

As far as I remember, the book was from the late 70s or early 80s. I remember really liking the story and I would like to read the full text, but I cannot find it with so little information that I remember. Does it ring a bell with anyone?


texts: Could someone help me identify this button from a WW2 prison camp field?

texts:
I'm struggling to identify a button found in a field in Italy, where WW2's prison camps were built.
Searching online I found a lot of American's Civil War buttons that could be related to it, based on its shape, but I'm not finding any more than that.

Could someone enlighten me or point me to the right path?


texts: Did the Danes sack Hamburg after the conquest of Hedeby in 983?

texts:
In 983, the Danes reconquered the southern Schleswig area from the Germans. Some sites claim that the Danes conquered Holstein as well during this invasion and even sacked Hamburg in cooperation with the Slavs. Is is this true ? In particular, is there any evidence to support the sack of Holstein and Hamburg?

For how long did the Danes hold it?
Why weren't the Germans able to counter the Danish advance? apparently Otto 2 had taken Danevirke in 974, so it seems odd that in 10 years time the tide had turned totally against the Germans? was it simply a matter of good leadership?
Were the battle/battles that took place during the reconquest of Hedeby 983 a lot of skirmishes or a big battle which crushed the German influence in the Schleswig area?


texts: What benefits were there to the USA of developing both Uranium and Plutonium bombs in World War 2?

texts: Clearly there was a large cost both in money and resources. Working on both very likely slowed down the production of the first nuclear bomb.


texts: Are "I, II, III, ..." versions of archaeological versioning of layers unique to Troy?

texts:
When reading about archaeological research on Troy, one can see that archeologists distinguish between different discrete numbered layers (Troy I => Troy IX).

Is that a standard approach in archeology for long-inhabited settlements, or is having discreet layers something unique to Troy research?


texts: Did humans hunt with dogs before planting crops for food?

texts: Were humans hunting with dogs before they were planting crops?


texts: Is there a way to determine where specific Quartermaster Depot companies were based in WWII?

texts: My father-in-law was a master sergeant of a Quartermaster Corps Depot Company during the Battle of the Bulge.  I would like to find out where his depot was located (and I'm assuming it moved from time to time), and to find out which armies, divisions and battalions it was assigned to equip.  How can I find that information?


texts: Why did people not tend to keep records or consider future consequences until very recently?

texts:
When I'm talking about recordkeeping, I don't mean cave paintings, or anything like that. Instead, I'm referencing writing down how something was repaired onto the object so people know what changes to expect, or how to undo a restoration (e.g on a painting). Or:

keeping track of births/deaths/marriages (I know the Romans implemented some aspects of this, but it wasn't prevalent as a system over most of the world until recently), or companies.
writing biographies (apparently first written formally in 1791) and encyclopedias
describing disasters, tragedies, etc.
map-making (which was practised in Babylonia and Ancient Greece, but not on a formalised, large-scale/non-experimental level until about 17th-18th century in most places)
recording political decisions

Although obviously not all of these have the same history or weight, most of them only became commonplace to record towards the 1800s AD. I can't think of any reason for this, beyond thinking it unnecessary, which we know very well now that they are very important for society. For instance, taking the last point on votes and political decisions, which despite the well-documented democracy and constitution of the Ekklesia in Athens, weren't recorded or written about until the advent of so-called 'modern' constitution, but to us are second nature: we can't even go into a company meeting without minutes; notes; some record of happenings. And rightfully so: when the current generations of politicians are gone, who will know what the laws are? When the restorer of a painting dies, how should we know what has been done to it?

Is there any key period/set of events to pin this shift down to, and more importantly, what inspired this change in mindset? Humans have been capable of making these records for millennia, but why hasn't bureaucratic chronicling of events been commonplace for a similar period?


texts: When did the current 7-day week cycle begin?

texts:
Today it's Sunday.  7 days ago it was Sunday.  7000 days ago it was Sunday.  But what about 70,000 days ago, 700,000 days ago, and 7 million days ago?  Our current 7-day week cycle has not continued unbroken forever.  So my question is, when did our current 7-day week cycle begin?  Note that I'm not asking when any 7-day week cycle was invented, but rather the specific cycle we're still on.

Here is what Wikipedia says:

  The continuous seven-day cycle of the days of the week can be traced back to the reign of Augustus; the first identifiable date cited complete with day of the week is 6 February AD 60, identified as a "Sunday" (as viii idus Februarius dies solis "eighth day before the ides of February, day of the Sun") in a Pompeiian graffito. According to the currently-used Julian calendar, 6 February 60 was, however, a Wednesday. This is explained by the existence of two conventions of naming days of the weeks based on the planetary hours system: 6 February was a "Sunday" based on the sunset naming convention, and a "Wednesday" based on the sunrise naming convention.

So February 6, 60 AD is the earliest identifiable date with a day of the week cited with it, but this was based on sunset naming convention, rather than the sunrise naming convention we use today.  So what is the earliest identifiable date with a day of the week cited with it that is based on the sunrise naming convention?


texts: Did Russian government employ state-sponsored assassins under Russian Empire?

texts:
Did Russian government employ state-sponsored assassins under Russian Empire during 1800-1917?
I know, killings of many figures disliked by the Tsar were arranged in the forms of staged duels, but what about assassinations?
Note: executions do not count, open shootings of rioters do nor count. I am asking about secret killings by order of the government of specific people (called by name).


texts: In which document was the exact course of the northern part of the German-Polish border decided?

texts:
While researching the answer to "How was Germany's border decided?", I didn't manage to find any documents which would precisely describe the borders between Germany and Poland between the points 53° 16' 28.19" N 14° 26' 38.96" E (near Mescherin and Gryfino) and 53° 55' 45.45" N 14° 13' 40.78" E (near Świnoujście and Heringsdorf). Also, I didn't find any documents which would describe the precise sea border north of the second point before 1989-05-22.

The Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (August 1945) conferences' protocols refer to the Oder-Neisse line as the western border of future Poland, even though the Soviets gave the authority over most of Stettin/Szczecin (which lies west of this line) and surrounding areas to the provisional Polish government on 1945-07-05 already. The same happened with Swinemünde/Świnoujście on 1945-10-06, shortly after the end of the Potsdam conference.

The Treaty of Zgorzelec of 1950-07-06 between East Germany and Poland only re-affirmed the Oder-Neisse line as the border and left Świnoujście to be Polish (without clearly defining what this border was), but it left out the question about the parts west of the Oder which were still administrated by Poland. Another part of the treaty called for creating a joint agency to decide on the exact points of the border, whose publications would likely be the normative source of the border course, but I wasn't able to locate any works by said agency to verify it yet.

There was another treaty between East Germany and Poland, signed on 1951-01-27 in Frankfurt on the Oder by the East German foreign secretary Georg Dertinger and the leader of the Polish foreign ministry Stanislaw Skrzeszewski; this could be another normative document about the border course, but I wasn't able to locate it either.

The Treaty of Warsaw of 1970-12-07 between West Germany and Poland only refereed to the border "... as defined in the previous treaties", specifically referring to the one from 1951.

Another treaty, signed on 1989-05-22 in Berlin (see German version) between East Germany and Poland re-defines the sea border north of the island of Usedom/Uznam, but doesn't include the previous course.

Further treaties between unified Germany and Poland only re-affirm the status quo, but don't contain a formal definition of if, referring to earlier treaties.

So, where is this 100km or so of the German-Polish border defined?


texts: I've been watching the Netflix piece on Ancient Rome and noticed a beautifully lacquered desk which I felt might not be accurate for the time. Does anyone have information about their use of lacquer for their furniture?


texts: 1 coin found in Sachsen Anhalt Germany, please help me to identify the coin

texts: My son also found the same coin in spiel platz while he was playing. Have you got any further infornation about your 2 coins?


texts: According to the Wikipedia article on Peyton Magruder he "resigned during his senior year of 1934 partially due to a scandal which has now become a part of Naval Academy lore." What was this scandal?


texts: Why did the July Monarchy dispense with Montgaillard's services?

texts:
This guy, Count Montgaillard, seems to have switched allegiances as often as he used to breath - he was an aristocrat and en emigre who then served the Republic, the Bourbon princes, again the Diectory, Napoleon, and again the Bourbons. (And to be sure he was not a tecnhocrat but rather a political adviser, a profession that does not usually enable one to change employers in such a way). However, all things come to an end ans wikipedia informs us that:

  His career ended after the July Revolution, and he died in obscurity
  at Chaillot.

I wonder why? Did he get too old to perform the allegiance switch trick one more time? Did he genuinely tire of politics (not likely, null hypothesis)? Was he compromised in the eyes of the new regime by some special bad turn he had done them? Something else I am missing?


texts: What kind of device is pictured on this Roman mosaic from Villa Tellaro, Sicily?

texts: Based on numismatic evidence, this is dated in the second half of the fourth century CE


texts: In the Battle of the Coral Sea, how could two Japanese scouts grossly mis-identify two American ships?

texts:
I've been reading the Wikipedia pages about the Pacific theatre in WW2; in the page describing the battle of the Coral Sea there is the following passage:

[...] the scout [from Shōkaku] confirmed that it had located "one carrier, one cruiser, and three destroyers". Another Shōkaku scout aircraft quickly confirmed the sighting. The Shōkaku aircraft actually sighted and misidentified the oiler Neosho and destroyer Sims.

During a battle, mis-identifying a ship is understandable; at Leyte Gulf even Admiral Kurita thought that the ships attacking him were major fleet units instead of mere destroyers.
The thing I don't understand in this case is, how could the pilots see five ships instead of two? How could two independent reports contain exactly the same mistakes? The pilots weren't even under attack, so they had plenty of time to make sure they were getting their facts straight.
If this question is too broad or vague, I'll accept answers detailing the procedures used by Japanese scouts for spotting, identifying, reporting and confirming other people's reports: for instance, was the information transmitted at once by voice radio, unencrypted, on an open channel?
That would explain how the second scout made the same mistake (he could have said "I confirm that" without even spotting any ship).
This is maybe a minor episode, but it altered history in a significant way, so I'd like to understand better what happened.
EDIT: I dug out some more info (even the footnotes on the Wikipedia articles are engrossing); at least some Japanese search planes in the Coral Sea battle had a pilot, an observer and a radioman.
It seems that the information was transmitted in the clear, in fact during the second day of the battle, American ships knew that they had been sighted when they intercepted messages from a Japanese scout plane.
This might explain the identical mistakes from the two scouts - the radioman and observer on the second plane were probably aware of the message from the first one, and even if rank didn't come into play, suggestion probably did.
Finally, another piece of the puzzle might come from a similar mis-identification made during the same battle by an American pilot, John Nielsen: the book Pearl Harbor to Midway explains that "the SBD's coding system was a board with pegs and holes to allow for rapid transmission of coded ship types. In Nielsen's case, the board was apparently not aligned properly". I don't know if Japanese planes had a similar system, but this might explain at least some of the mis-identification problems that plagued the Pacific theatre.


texts:
Manufactured goods in early California had to be imported. In 1842 the prominent merchant Thomas Larkin wrote to John Paty in Hawaii: "Sir, I wish you would purchase in Oahu for me the following articles and I will pay you the cost and fifty pr cent on the same, I paying here also all duties you may pay." His requests included nails, round iron, candles, wallpaper, moulding planes, padlocks, trunks, and a "Set of Signs (handsome) for ball room". [Larkin Papers I:207]

Larkin, originally from New England, had already built the fanciest house yet seen in California. I'm guessing the signage was part of an Anglo-American tradition that he knew and brought to California from the East Coast. That the signs would be available in Hawaii suggest they were not uncommon.

What sort of signage did ballrooms require?


texts: Have any palimpsests been found in medieval Icelandic (saga) literature?

texts: Old Norse mythology and history are mostly known through Icelandic medieval parchements. Have those been found to include palimpsests, like medieval parchement in Europe has?


texts: How much time would it take to mobilize an army during WW2?

texts: How long would it take to mobilize the armed forces of a Western country during the 20th century? Specifically, during and around WW2. I'm also looking for the number of troops as-well.


texts: What happened to Johannes Heinrich Louis Munt after his trial in 1945?

texts:
I was curious what happend to Johannes Heinrich Louis Munt. He was a SS-Hauptsturmführer and Kriminalkommissar during World war 2 in the Netherlands.

He ordered the execution of more than 50 people during World War 2. He did not command it himself, but was rather forced to do by a higher command.

Because of that he had to justify his actions after the war in 1945, during the Nuremberg trials. Several documents can be found where you can read his statement during his trial.

Johannes Munt's statement during his trial, only available in Dutch unfortunately.
https://www.tracesofwar.nl/articles/1672/Verklaring-Johannes-Munt-04-06-1945.htm?c=gw

After looking trough all the documents available online and other information about the trials and Johannes Munt himself, I cannot find any information what happend to him after the trials.

Does any historian under us know what happened to him? Did he get executed? Or was he sent to jail? Or has he received no conviction at all?

Here are some more related sources about Johannes Munt.

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piet_Wapperom
(Dutch resistance fighter, was somehow saved by Johannes Munt while he should had been
excuted.)
https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/detail/dbeebf40-0259-11e7-904b-d89d6717b464
Some personal information and a Archive photo of Johannes Munt
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=129799
Another guy who tried to get more information regarding Johannes Munt. But only received a few Historical Photos and some links that showed he was in Dutch custody.

I find it odd that there is so little information about him, while you can find much more about others with a high position during Word War 2.


texts: How severe were the casualties in ancient/medieval battles?

texts:
I've heard that in most battles prior to the introduction of gunpowder weapons, the casualties were usually very low (around 5% even in long battles) prior to the moment when someone's formation was broken and the side stopped really fighting and just ran away (or was fighting without the benefits of proper formation if the side couldn't retreat), and that most people killed in battle were killed by the pursuing victorious force.

Is it true? Is it a matter of debate between historians? Is it basically true but exagerrated? Or is it considered a myth?


texts: Did relic sellers have a specific name or term for their profession?

texts: Was there a special name or term for people that sold fake relics to Christians on pilgrimage? Like selling swan feathers as angel feathers etc.


texts: Why Antarctica was never conquered before the advent of the modern men?

texts:
Citing wikipedia: "...the first confirmed sighting of the continent is commonly accepted to have occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on Vostok and Mirny".
I wonder why, especially because its location is not so far away from South America.


texts: Were the first African Americans in Jamestown slaves or indentured servants?

texts:
Recently, Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia referred to the first African Americans to arrive in Jamestown as indentured servants.  This quickly created a twitter storm of corrections, first by random users, then by historians.

However, wikipedia seems to bear the governor out.

It's pretty clear that the institution of the pure chattel slavery was in completely in place a generation later, with all the horrific consequences thereof.  But was this something in place from the start, or was it something that evolved in the first few dacades of the colony.


texts: Was there a religious revival in Uganda in the late 1980s and 1990s with pervasive impacts on society and the presidency?

texts:
I recently asked a related question on Skeptics.SE, but I haven't received answers (probably because history is not an area of expertise over there). But here I'm interested in the broader context: is it true that there was a Christian religious revival in Uganda in the late 1980s and 1990s with significant positive impacts on society, to the point that even the president Yoweri Musevini got interested in the religious movement and took part in some of their organized events?
Several religious sites claim such a revival to have occurred (e.g. 1, 2, 3, 4), but these sites are far from being reliable, unbiased sources.
Examples of the alleged benefits of the revival claimed by these sites are:

1990. World Trumpet Mission was birthed as a ministry. WTM actions a call to nationwide prayer & repentance in pursuit of destiny. HIV/AIDs drop 34% to 6%, Church influences all areas of society. Nations around the world hear of transformation taking place in Uganda worldtrumpet(emphasis mine)

In the early 1990s a prophetic word came through Israeli believers that said Uganda would be the breadbasket to the world in the end time harvest.
Jackson says they are seeing changes with people at the highest levels of the government being concerned with moral standards and enforcing principles of God's Word. New government ministries have been established, including the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity. Christians are being placed in the most sensitive positions. Laws are being rewritten to favor God's principles and Word. Members of parliament are meeting weekly for prayer. Judges acknowledge praying privately. Police often send prayer requests to churches. First lady Museveni prays publicly and encourages all sectors of his government to hold morning and lunch-time prayer meetings. Every day from 5:00 to 6:00 a.m. and again from 11:00 p.m. to midnight live intercessory prayer is broadcast across the nation on radio. [...] The crime rate has dropped 50 percent.  CBN(emphasis mine)

According to Wikipedia there was an East African Revival in the 1930s and 1940s having Uganda among the reached countries, but the article says nothing about the late 1980s and 1990s.
The closest to a reliable source that might give a little credence to the claim is the Personal life section of the Wikipedia article on Yoweri Museveni, which states that:

Museveni is an Evangelical Christian and has preached a few times at the Miracle Centre Cathedral, a church he inaugurated in 2004.

However, this still does not tell us anything about his alleged involvement in any religious revival in the 1990s.
Was there really a religious revival in Uganda in the late 1980s and 1990s with widespread effects on society and the presidency as claimed by some religious sites?


texts: Why did it take so long for humanity to be able to cross the oceans?

texts:
Caravels were a key invention that allowed Iberian Peninsula people to sail from Europe to America.

But why it took so long for this to happen? Which problems had to be solved to make that possible?

Was the sailing technology the most important?


texts: German - Yugoslav partisan negotiations 1943 and Churchill?

texts:
Negotiations between Tito's partisans and Germans in 1943 are  well known.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German%E2%80%93Yugoslav_Partisan_negotiations

"Đilas and Velebit were passed through the German lines to Sarajevo and were then flown to Zagreb on 25 March in a military aircraft."

Interesting fact that British who received main part of strategic intelligence from ULTRA operation probably knew this very well, but were silent, and Churchill pressed for recognition of Tito as sole ally in Yugoslavia which culminated on switching Allied support for him on Tehran Conference 1943. Why were British intelligence community ignorant about fact that main ally in Yugoslavia is secretly negotiating with Nazi Germans in 1943? Was it 'I do not care' attitude or Churchill struck some deal with Stalin to leave Tito as only leader of resistance and postwar order in Yugoslavia? Strange fact for me - you know very well that top Yugoslav partisan people are negotiating secretly with Germans and then three months later you read some top intelligence digest and came to conclusion that "it gave a full account of the marvellous resistance by the followers of Tito and the powerful cold-blooded manoeuvres of Mihailović in Serbia."[1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslavia_and_the_Allies

Comments?


texts: Was the last Japanese surrender after WWII in the 1970s?

texts:
Wikipedia in its article on the Surrender of Japan, claims:

  Some Japanese holdouts, especially on small Pacific Islands, refused to surrender at all (believing the declaration to be propaganda or considering surrender against their code). Some may never have heard of it. Teruo Nakamura, the last known holdout, emerged from his hidden retreat in Indonesia in December 1974...

Is this true? How common was this?


texts: Why are Germans referred to so differently in different languages?

texts:
I was inspired by the other question "Why are the German and French languages so different?". But while, for me, the answer was obvious (the Romans did not conquer most parts of today's Germany and so on), another question came into my mind and its answer is less obvious.

Firstly, take for example Germany's close neighbour France. What are Frenchmen called in other European languages?

German: Franzosen
Italian: Francesi
Dutch: Fransen
Polish: Francuzi
Russian: французы (frantsuzy)
Norwegian: Fransk

You get the point. All of these are extremely similar to each other. But now look how the Germans are called in other languages:

French: Allemand
Italian: Tedeschi (reads: Tedeskee)
Dutch: Duitsers
Polish: Niemcy
Russian: немцы (nemtsy)
Norwegian: Tysk

Why are there so many different varieties compared to e.g. French?


texts: What goods did Germany trade during World War II, and with whom?

texts:
I have scoured the internet for numerical figures and an actual list of raw materials to no avail. Moreover, I am reasonably certain that many of you are very knowledgeable upon this subject matter, and are more than able to inform me. I would greatly appreciate this.

In addition, it would be very nice if anyone could recommend any archive/database or book that may help me in my research.

Thanks once again.


texts: Why did Britain place naval mines in their own Channel in WW2?

texts:
Reading about Naval Mines, I came across a curious claim:

  for example, during World War II, Britain declared simply that it had mined the English Channel, North Sea, and French coast.

It's not cited, but there's a similar claim down a ways saying that Britain did the same thing during the first world war.

So the questions begin. Why did Britain mine their own channel during WW2?

Britain's navy was vastly superior to the Kriegsmarine, or so I've been told, so I don't see why they would want to cut off timely naval access between their east and west shores.

Could it actually be the case that Britain mined only the southern part of the Channel? Or maybe they used deep mines only triggerable by submarines?


texts: When did Rome recognize the Christian church as a judical person?

texts:
It is known that since Augustus new collegiums (judical persons) could be established only by the senate's decree.

It is known that under the late empire the church operated as a collegium.

As such, at what date did the senate established the church as a judical body?

There are known edicts by various emperors legalizing Christianity, but I never encountered a senate's act establishing this collegium.


texts: Why did China not become a democracy to cure involution?

texts:
I am new to politics-related questions, then please be kind if I am not asking a good question here(from your perspective). To get rid of being caught and involved in trouble I cannot not post this question on politics. Thanks in advance.
From a paper From Revolution to Involution:
State Capacity, Local Power, and [Un]governability in China I read today, I learned that the central government in China has already lost its power in the 1960s by Mao and the 1970s by Deng, which can be symbolized by the crush in 1989. The ideas in the paper are based on the state-capacity-as-fiscal-extractive-capability theory.
As a Chinese citizen, I can feel a strange situation and trending that everyone is seeking his/her own interests; and equality and certainty just don't exist. Everything is weighed by profits rather than a good environment and sustainable improvement. Everyone wants to make quick money and is indifferent to others' suffering. All these lead to involution in current China and ancient China. No one is guiding the system except numbers of economic growth. It's like living in an anarchy country and history seems to rhyme again.
In ancient China, as mentioned in that paper, especially in Ming and Qing dynasties, the same decentralization inevitably appeared, and then the involution followed and then the regimes collapsed.
The author states that the endless-loop would not happen in democratic systems because of the competition and monitor between parties and because the central government is more capable and then can extract more revenue for its governing.
So, my question is that why democracy didn't appear in China to cure the involution problem? What is the prerequisite for its rise?


texts: Is there any evidence of armies enrolling women in fighting roles in significant number in antiquity or the middle ages?

texts:
Most sources I find seems to portray women's participation in warfare, as leaders and or soldiers, as more of an exception than the rule during antiquity and the middle ages.

Is there any source that gives evidence of women in fighting roles during this period? Were there armies known to enroll women in significant numbers?


texts: Identifying a military uniform from the early 19th century

texts: I would like to identify this military uniform from someone related to my family in Portugal. It is probably from the early 19th century, and it may be from the Portuguese, British or Napoleonic Army or Navy.


texts: When did James Cook's wife learn about his death?

texts: James Cook died on 14 February 1779 in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii. When did his wife Elizabeth hear about his death?


texts: How do I find out some information about a business in the early 1980s?

texts: I live outside the USA, and I need to find information about a certain "LAMO-LEM Laboratories", I have an address: Box 2382, La Jolla, CA 92038. But that's all. The web has not been kind to me wrt to this. Any ideas? A place I can find registration records, for instance?


texts:
An example of triplex plate armour was discovered and dated to the War of the Roses at the Royal Armoury of Leeds. They even had a reproduction made by A Plaisance Armouries for a crossbow and musket proofing test, and an Ancient Discoveries documentary talks up the armour the best they can.

I find the technology fascinating and would love to learn more.


texts: Were Uncles referred to by surname in Victorian England?

texts:
Merry Christmas, everybody!  And speaking of Christmas ...

In Charles Dickens' novelette, A Christmas Carol, the main character Ebeneezer Scrooge is referred to several times by others as "Uncle Scrooge", including his nephew Fred.  However, Scrooge is the character's surname.

In modern English usage, it seems that usually uncles and aunts are referred to by their given name -- hearing "Uncle Tom" or "Aunt Em" is much more natural than "Uncle Travers" or "Aunt Brown".

Nevertheless, the appellation "Uncle Scrooge" appears six times in A Christmas Carol, and "Uncle Ebeneezer" zero times.

Was Charles Dickens following the norm of Victorian familiar address when writing A Christmas Carol, with the custom changing over the course of decades?  Or has the tradition been unchanged and Charles Dickens was portraying an unorthodox address?


texts: Did Japanese castaways land in Spanish California?

texts:
George Lensen's "The Russian Push Toward Japan" says on p. 261:

  In 1815 the transport Pavel under the command of Navigator's Apprentice Srednii left Okhotsk with six Japanese castaways, three of whom had been shipwrecked off the Kuril islands, the others having been swept to California and brought from there by an English merchantman.

I've not been able to verify this story anywhere else. Did Japanese sailors really reach Spanish California?


texts: What strategies are there for analysing omissions in historical sources?

texts:
Individual historical texts record only a fraction of what actually happens, and critical readers may recognize incomplete explanations. Depending on what they know about the author and their interests, omissions could appear to be systematic, negligent, malicious, inadvertent, flattering, or who knows what else. Asking about what an author didn't write may be counterfactual, but can be illuminating.

Is there any historiographical or textual analytic framework that supports the analysis of authors' omissions? Two topics related at arm's length are redaction criticism and reporting bias.


texts: How was agricultural labour organised in Victorian England?

texts:
I'm asking, more specifically, three things:

What might the leadership of a typical farm look like in terms of job titles and responsibilities?
Within a given farm, how were workers divided into teams, and who led those teams?
How did farm personnel, with their varying levels of seniority and experience, fit into the social hierarchy of the time?

Simplifying somewhat, one might say that, in the British Army (then and now), a company was organised as follows:

The company was commanded by a captain, assisted by a sergeant major.
The company was split into several platoons, each commanded by a lieutenant, assisted by a sergeant.
Each platoon was split into several squads, each commanded by a corporal, assisted by a lance corporal.
The ordinary soldiers were often known as privates.
Captains and lieutenants were usually from privileged backgrounds, and ate and slept separately from their subordinates; but it wasn't unheard of for men from less privileged backgrounds to work their way up to those ranks.
The other ranks were usually from less privileged backgrounds; but it wasn't unheard of for a gentleman in dire straits to join as a private.

A similar analysis to the above, but for a Victorian farm, would be wonderful, although of course I realise that such a tidy division may be very difficult.


texts: Have religious figures ever used force to punish royalty like in this TV series?

texts:
In Game of Thrones, an interesting thing happens - mild spoiler alert - a royal figure gives a very honest, humble, devout religious leader the ability to act sort of as a military leader for "the gods". This figure then turns this power immediately onto the most powerful figures in government, locks them up, and puts them trough terrible punishment until they admit to sins (that they were guilty of). It's just very interesting how extremely fast this happens. The religious figure is given permission to physically punish those who sin, and the very person who gave the religious leader power is the one its being used on, with severity. Suddenly this religious figure is nearly as powerful as the king himself.

Has this phenomenon ever happened in medieval times? I know about the Crusades, but I dont know specifically if they could be compared to this particular situation, as this happens locally, not where a religious leader sends crusaders to attack some distant land.

I'm looking for an answer detailing a particular royal figure being brutally punished for sins by a religious leader.


texts: Has a reenactment of the firing of a carcass projectile ever been filmed?

texts:
From a Scientific American blog, on a "carcass" round:

an explosive mortar shell (developed by the French) wrapped with
incendiary material, this round was fully engulfed in flame after
being fired, streaking through the air before exploding.

drawing of a Carcass shell

from the article, "The British Fire Bombing of Quebec City in 1759"
Has one ever been recreated or simulated to produce a visual presentation of what it would look like in flight?


texts: Why did LBJ, a staunch segregationist, champion and sign the 1964 Civil Rights Bill?

texts:
Lyndon B. Johnson with regards to the 1964 Civil Rights Act..
From the Atlantic

  The times called for a leader who could subdue the vast political and administrative forces arrayed against change—for someone with the strategic and tactical instincts to overcome the most-entrenched opponents, and the courage to decide instantly, in a moment of great uncertainty and doubt, to throw his full weight behind progress. The civil-rights movement had the extraordinary figure of Lyndon Johnson.

Question

For LBJ's first 20 years on the hill he was a committed segregationist.  Not only voting with the south to suppress civil rights bills but a political leader crafting the strategies which would be used to defeat such bills. The first civil rights bill Johnson supported was in 1957, and then in 1964 of course Johnson as president would not only sign the most comprehensive civil rights bill in the history of the country up to that point but would champion that bill through congress.

What happened?

Why did this life long segregationist flip and become a politician forever after associated with civil rights?


texts: What was the purpose of military prefectures in Song?

texts:
The Song dynasty administrative system is really hard to understand (at least for me), and I have many questions about it. Here I'll concentrate on the military prefectures.
It's well documented the existence of three special kinds of prefectures (zhou 州) in Song (directly related to the Tang administration):

superior prefectures (fu 府)
industrial prefectures (jian 監)
military prefectures (jun 軍)

Here are some details I'm most curious about.
What exactly was the purpose of the military prefecture? Most sources simply claim these prefectures were placed in dangerous or border areas, but give no details about how they operate and how they helped to diminish banditry or protect against invasions.
Were all the militias stationed in military prefectures? This is actually my guess.
Was any official eligible for a military prefecture or was there a special exam?
Additionally, where the military prefects also transferred every 3 years in these special prefectures?


texts: Why didn’t Christianity spread southwards from Ethiopia in the Middle Ages?

texts:
Christianity, having begun in 1st Century Roman Palestine, in the next few centuries spread rapidly across the Roman Empire and beyond, including beyond the southern boundary of Roman Egypt, via the Red Sea and the Nile. The Kingdom of Axum in what is now Ethiopia under influence from missionaries from Egypt became Christian as early as in the fourth century AD, earlier than much of Europe, establishing a literate, Christian civilization with monasteries and bishops that survives in Ethiopia to this day.

However, if Christianity could spread that far south that early, at least 2 centuries before it had to contend with Islam as a rival, why did it stop there the next thousand years or more? Why didn’t it spread further into Sub-Saharan Africa until brought there by Europeans  from the sixteenth century onwards?

PS Thank you TED and MA Golding for your replies. My gut reaction is that TED is basically right, that there was something to do with the level of development of a society that made it easier for it to adopt a scripture based religion like Christianity.

What is now Ethiopia was already in contact with civilizations in Arabia and the Nile Valley which probably made it different from societies further south in sub-Saharan Africa at that time, although we know little of them due to lack of written records and the limited amount of archaeology that has been done.

I do not think presence or absence of 'colonialism' is as important. Christianity in around the 4th Century managed to spread not only within the Roman Empire but to Germanic tribes beyond the frontier of the Empire like the Goths and Vandals (even if they initially adopted 'Arian' rather than Catholic Christianity), to Mesopotamia and as I have said to Ethiopia, which was never conquered by the Romans and established its own independent kingdom.


texts: Is it true that there are more slaves in the world now than ever at one point in history?

texts:
I recently heard this suggested.  My understanding of slavery today is:

children slave labor
the sex slavery world epidemic
the promised
citizenry in the Middle East to workers who come to build their tall
buildings, only to have their passports taken away

I have no first-hand accounts of any of this, only stories.  Is this a fact?  That we are living in an era where slavery is at an all time high?


texts: Did the Vatican punish France for rejecting Tordesillas?

texts:
The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) divided up all new discoveries between Portugal and Castile, so establishing the position of Brazil. Pope Alexander VI's deal excluded the other Catholic states. England and the Netherlands eventually left the Church, ignored the Treaty, and went ahead to found overseas colonies just like the two grantees.

France stayed Catholic and nonetheless began projecting power overseas soon after. At the time the First French Colonial Empire was being founded, did the Holy See take any actions to try to get France to obey the Treaty of Tordesillas?


texts: Is there an agreed upon earliest recorded name in history? I'm guessing it would be a king, pharaoh, or other important person. By recorded I mean a name that is written somewhere like on a grave marker or something.


texts: What were late eighteenth century British models of heroism?

texts:
The late eighteenth century (1780s, 90s) is sometimes characterized as a period of high idealism. Although it would be another few decades before Napoleon arrived in full force, and about half a century before Carlyle first elaborated his great man theory of history, it appears that a good deal of contemporary attention was given to the search for authentic heroes and suitable role models.

In France, for example, there was a movement among dramatists to elevate historical French protagonists to heroic status via the stage play. I've seen this referred to as an important point in the development of nationalism. Another example might be the (sometimes downright worshipful) attention given to Voltaire and Ben Franklin, as the heroic men of letters and virtuous American farmer respectively.

I don't know about anything comparable going on in Britain at that time, but it may simply that my knowledge is lacking. So I wanted to ask about what the 18th century British though of as heroic. Even if there is a dearth of heroic narrative in Britain at this time, I'd still be interested to know what made up their basic conception of heroism.

Who and what was considered heroic in late 18th century Britain? What individuals, backgrounds, and traits would a seventeenth century British person have likely regarded as heroic? How was this similar or distinct from the continent?

Just to be clear, the question isn't about nationalism or ethics, though it touches on both. I'm asking in a straightforward way about what people considered heroic. Some things (loyalty, martial prowess, etc.) are probably a given, so my hope is that answers either expand beyond this, or will tie themselves to the period by providing examples of revered individuals or highlighting ways in which the late 18th century conceptions differ from our own or the expected. Thanks.


texts: How long would it take to cross the Channel in 1890's?

texts: For a story I'm writing, I'd like to know how long it would take to travel by ship from Calais to Dover in 1890's (as I read it was the easier way). Also, was it possible to take a boat from Calais directly to London?


texts: How did people have access to ice in warm areas before the industrial revolution?

texts:
In some cases, before the industrial revolution, nobles and other elites had access to ice in regions where it wasn't naturally available.

How could they get it?

Was it simply transported in big blocks from glaciers to towns and kept (possibly underground) and used quickly? Or were they actually capable of producing ice through some process?

I'm interested in any time before the industrial revolution, and particularly interested in Antiquity or the early Middle Ages.


texts: Well poisoning: time frame until usable again?

texts:
How long did it take for a well to be usable again after removing the carcass from it?
Did it make the well unusable for years?


texts: How did a student grant work in 18th/19th century Western Europe

texts:
I am making research for a book, and I need details about grants/scholarships in Western Europe around the beginning of the 19th century, ideally for a teenager living far away from the applied school.

How would the application work ? On what criteria the grant would be given ? How would the scholar go to the school without the funds to make the trip ? Would someone come and get him, someone appointed to "collect" scholars, or would the scholarship funds be made available to the student so he can go by himself ?

I read some fiction books where the protagonist is a scholar during that time period, but most of them don't mention the scholarship process at all. At best, they remain very evasive on the subject: usually, a private teacher writes a letter at the end of a very basic education (when the student comes to a certain age, or the teacher feels he does not have anything left to teach him), asking for a college grant somewhere in a big city, describing what the student has learned and recommending him. The positive response comes months later, and the protagonist travels to the school. But I fear the books I read oversimplify for the sake of the reader.

I know each country had its own education system and access to scholarship, but I am having trouble finding even very general details. And even though I am targeting Western Europe (especially the scholarships created by Napoleon in post-revolution France), I really don't need a very specific answer: any real details about a scholar travelling to a big city for higher education during that time period would help a lot.

English is not my first language - sorry if I made some mistakes. Thank you for reading my long and very specific question.


texts: When did we start expecting a store to have bags for our purchases?

texts:
In the United States, I expect that I could walk into any store and they would have bags for me to put my purchase in.

When did stores start providing this service?

I would accept any non-US history as an answer.  I'm mostly interested in how we moved from a world with no mass-produced bags into one where bags are everywhere ( and when that happened, of course ).


texts: When did static electricity become a common occurrence?

texts:
I was wondering if there are references to static electricity in any classic works.
 I understand There were many people experimenting with it over the millennia, but was it also a common household occurrence? You know, wear certain clothes, touch a certain metal, and Zap!

Someone claimed that static electricity only became a common occurrence after synthetic material became widespread which aids in helping the charge. I have not found any helpful leads researching this online.

Is there documentation regarding any of this?


texts: Is the "Great Wave off Kanagawa" a political piece?

texts:
I like the painting "The Great Wave of Kanagawa".

One of the things I recently noticed was that there are 3 boats, and all the people in the boats are bowing to the wave. The wave looks big enough to wash away Mt. Fuji.
Humans bowing along with the cultural significance of Mt. Fuji suggests this had a political message relevant to the artist at the time of painting. For sponsorship, sometimes artists must appeal to the great families, the Medici of their era and geography.  If you look at Dante's "Inferno" it names names and people and is, I think, clearly and strongly a political piece of the time.
Why I think/guess there is a political message encoded in the art:

The wave is 5x taller than the mountain.  That big of a difference is cognitively significant.
There are 3 boats with people face-down in them, bowing in fear or death.  These are emotionally powerful messages for humans.
Mount Fuji is in the background.  The mount is culturally significant, and was so for up to a thousand years before the painting was made.
Mount Fuji is at the center of the figure, and is at the bottom-center of the "circle" of the waves.
The "foam" of the waves are all about the same size, and are curved like dragon claws.  Real foam is multi-scale and multi-orientation.  This can be achieved artistically without the kind of uniformity used here.
Two boats appear underwater, only one is above.
There is a structural arch that appears at religious places on the deck of the non-sunk ship.

Is there any knowledge about a political meaning, given the context of the original creation, of the elements within this painting?  Is the inference of a political implication off base, and if so why?
Update:
This link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/MAPlqOEHRsmI1awIHQzRSQ
Attributes Christine Guth, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London with this quote

It is often argued that Japan was cut off from the world during this
period, but that is not in fact the case there was an enormous
enthusiasm for things exotic, for things from abroad during this
period. Whether things from China or things from Europe. And one of
the reasons that Hokusai’s Great Wave became such a success was that
it was printed in an exotic new colour that had a saturate hue that
was unknown until that time. And this colour was imported and was
synthetic and is colour that we now know in English as Prussian blue
or Berlin blue, and this says a lot about the way in which Japan was
connected through trade to China and to the world beyond.

and Timothy Clark, curator, British Museum

The eccentric composition of the print is a bravura display by Hokusai
to show how he has digested supposedly 'rational' European-style
perspective and made something much more dramatic and exciting out of
it. When European artists and collectors began to discover and
celebrate the print in the late nineteenth, they may well have been
responding - consciously or unconsciously - to this
European-influenced way of seeing that was deeply imbedded in the
image.

So it speaks to printing vs. painting, the elements of European style as seen from Japan, and the printing technology itself.
While these speak to the artists intention to disrupt the internal establishment in a general sense, they do not necessarily point to or away from a particular meaning encoded in the elements of the image.


texts: When and how did Seethekami, the tribal version of Ramayan, come into existence amongst the Haalaki in Karnataka?

texts:
Ramayan, an ancient Sanskrit text, though true or not forms an integral part of numerous cultures not only in India but in several Asian countries.
But across cultures and this text is not consistent and there are around hundreds of versions to it. According to the Wikipedia article Versions of Ramayana, there are around 300 versions.

Did some research and tried to find out which is the earliest known text of Ramayan. Found out in this Wikipedia link Ramayana that the earliest surviving piece of text is a palm-leaf manuscript dating back to the 11th century. This contains the text from Valmiki's Ramayan which is also considered to be the oldest version known. Also, the same link says that references to Ramayan's story are found in few Tamil works of literature dating back 300 BC.

A few days back while reading White as Milk and Rice: Stories of India's Isolated Tribes written by the author Nidhi Dugar Kundalia, got to know about Seethekami a version of Ramayan which is totally different from the original (or mainstream) version where Ram was the husband of Sita, whereas, in Seethekami, the Lakshman was the husband of Sita. The text of the book says

  The Janapads also had their own version of the epics: Mahabharat was known as Pandavakami and the Ramayan, they called Seethekami According to the songs tat Sukri sings, it was not Ram but Lakshman who won Seetha. Lakshman did not break any magical bow to win Seetha; he killed crow that interrupted her father Kind Janak's meditation

I want to know how and when this version of Ramayan got into society, was it slow evolution because the tribes passed on the knowledge of Seethekami by singing and teaching songs to younger generation, so was it like that story evolved into something generation after generation or it was one of the hundreds of the translations of Valmiki Ramayan where interpretation came out totally different in this part of India or a third and very unlikely scenario that Seethekami's history dates back to being older than the Valmiki's version?


texts: Catholic vs Protestant Support for Nazism in Germany

texts: The German population before WW2 was roughly half Catholic half Protestant. Before and during WW2, was there any significant disparity between the support for NSDAP across the religious line? In other words, was one of the religious groups more Nazi than the other or was it pretty even?


texts: Was David Ben-Gurion's marriage to Paula in December 1917 in New York?

texts: I have been trying to find a document online to support the statement that David Ben-Gurion's marriage to Paula Munweis (spelling varies) was in December 1917.  If the document is available, but the date is inaccurate, I would appreciate the correct information.


texts: What did Thomas Jefferson say about "what I say now is only valid now; I can change my thoughts?"

texts:
I've been looking for a Jefferson quote I found some time ago. I've not been able to find it. Jefferson was apparently explaining that he could change his mind:

  What I say now is only valid now; and not relevant in the future. I may change my thoughts in the future and these may not be used against me.

What was the original quote? Can somebody help?


texts: Did Turkey invade Cyprus to keep the USSR out? Is there really CIA files that prove this for real?

texts:
I have watched an video about the invasion but one of the comments made me think a little bit different.

  The real reason behind the Cypriot War of 1974 was to prevent the
  (Greek) Cypriot government of Makarios from allowing the USSR to build
  a military base on the island, a base that would be close to the sea
  or on a coastal position, and thus allow for Communist Russia to exert
  naval influence in the eastern Mediterranean. Sadly, it was all agreed
  upon in advance by members of NATO (USA, UK, Turkey and Greece at
  least), even down to the small details of exactly which areas and even
  streets the Turkish army would capture. Anglo-American divide-and-rule
  tactics at their most strikingly effective. If you want to know more,
  check out the CIA files that were declassified back in 2004.

I couldn't find these files the commentor claimed but lets go on.

Also the translation of the Greek comment replies translated to English by a good person for me.

  He says that the Greek junta was put in power by the Americans. Also
  Cyprus had joined the non-aligned movement and was having talks with
  the USSR. The partition of the island was even agreed upon in 1956
  between the democratically elected Greek government and the American
  representative Kohler , while the Cypriot war of independence against
  the Brits was still raging on.

There is more that brought my attention. Makarious The Third is known for its Communist thoughts.

What I want to know is... Is there any proof?

What I'd like to know is if there are CIA files that proves this. I am not some denier or anything.


texts: Did the medieval Europe have an active "lowbrow" culture?

texts:
When we look back on another age, we tend to skip to the highlights. That goes double for things like art, sports, literature, and music. But in our own time, we recognize that by divine fiat 90% of all cultural production will be trash ... and a smaller percentage of that trash may be all the more enjoyable for it. In other words, I'm talking about guilty pleasures. The kind of plebeian, oddball entertainment that gets you looked down on by your peers. It might be relaxing or titillating, but never edifying.

Did the high middle ages (approx 1066-1300) have anything like that?

Now I'd like to make two caveats.

First, I don't just mean pornography. This question is only a bit about the illicit. What I'm really after is the childish, the weird, the base, or the just plain stupid; the kind of thing we know medievals looked down upon, but still liked anyway. So the pornographic certainly isn't excluded from the question, but it's not really the main point.

Second, I'm not just asking about class differences in cultural consumption, unless those differences are seen in a very dim light by one party (edit: or rather, if it's generally considered in bad taste). So a peasant ballgame or tavern song doesn't count on its own unless the higher classes look down on it, even if some are also secretly into it, despite a strong informal taboo. (As in Prince Hal carousing with Falstaff and his riff-raff.)

So to sum up, sex and class are an important part of this, but not the determining factor.


texts: Why did the later Crusades seemingly focus more on naval traversal?

texts:
I was studying some general Crusade maps and I noticed the first crusades seemed to be more land based as compared to the latter ones and I was wondering exactly why that was (besides just changing their target to Egypt and other locales in the late crusades).
I know the status of Constantinople fluctuated making it a challenge to get to the Tripoli/Acre, but from my understanding Greece was still relatively 'safe' land for the Crusaders, so why would they not traverse and depart from there?
Was it simply because the English built ships to cross to Europe so they figured might as well sail around it? I would have thought the Islamic occupation of Spain/N. Africa would have made that even hassle that it's worth.
I'm pretty ignorant on Crusader history, so thanks for any insight.


texts: When was William Manchester institutionalized?

texts:
William Manchester is most famous for writing the Death of a President (1967). I showed my neighbor a book of his because he is a history buff. He said that he knew of him because his mother cared for him at the psychiatric hospital in Middletown, CT. I would like to know not why, but when he was institutionalized. It seems possible because he was open about his PTSD from World War II, which is reflected in his novel, Goodbye Darkness.

This link says that he fell ill and was in and out of hospitals for a few months in 1989. Afterwords he could not return to his Churchill biography. He would have been about 68 in 1989. Instead he wrote A World Lit Only By Fire, which is a light duty piece of work. He was constantly pressured by fans to finish the third Churchill volume, but in 1998, only had 243 pages of it done. 68 is a little early to stop writing a highly anticipated masterpiece, unless maybe if you're a lifelong alcoholic.

My neighbor only stays here a few days a year. I could track him down in Connecticut to get more details, but I doubt he knows exactly when it was.


texts: Why was the government expenditures of the Roman Empire very low compared to modern governments?

texts:
I was trying to compare the military spending of the Roman empire in the 1st century with modern military spending and how much of a burden that was to Roman people. The Wikipedia page of the economics of the Roman army states that the military spending was about 2.5% of the Empire GDP.

That lead me to search for the figures estimated for the GDP of the 1st c. Roman empire.
I noticed that the government spending was very low compared to modern spending.
For example, this paper estimates the GDP and states that the government spending was about 5% of the total GDP.  Comparing that to the US now with about 40% of GDP as government spending, the difference is very obvious.

So my question here is why weren't the Roman empire able to maintain a government spending level similar to modern governments ?


texts: What is the earliest passage that describes Hippocrates' observation that blood stratifies into four layers?

texts: A few articles (such as "Misconceptions about Medieval Medicine: Humors, Leeches, Charms, and Prayers") state that Hippocrates observed that blood, when removed from the body, would separate into four layers, and that this stratification partially inspired his humoral theory. What passages from antiquity describe this observation? Is it mentioned anywhere in the Hippocratic corpus? If so, where?


texts: What was the rate of premarital conceptions in England from 1850 to 1890?

texts:
Much research has been done on the topic of prenuptially conceived births within England from the 1540s to 1830s, but I have yet to come across anything resembling a statistic for the period from 1840s onward, specially for the 1870s and 1880s.

Wrigley's Reconstitution (2005) provided the rates for 1580 to 1837, but did not go on from there.

Laslett's two books on the matter also do not talk for the periods after the 1830s. Though there is data available for the 1900s, there seems to be a lack of data available for the 1870s. This is surely due to neglect rather than any true lack of data, since rates of illegitimacy and other statistics relating to fertility is available in significant abundance for these periods. I should also mention that rates for illegitimacy are available for 1850s onwards, it is only the prenuptial conception rates that I am looking for.

It would be appreciated if someone were to share the statistics for these periods.


texts: Why does the CIA report on the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich refer to it as "Operation Salmon" rather than "Operation Anthropoid"?

texts:
SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich. Source: National Archives

I have been researching Operation Anthropoid (the assassination of SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich  on 27 May 1942 in Prague, Czechoslovakia by Czech operatives Jozef Gabčík and Jan Kubiš with British assistance from SOE). All of the reference material I have found to date (some listed below) indicate the Czechs’ mission was called Operation Anthropoid (as I would expect) - except one.

The CIA's Secret report (declassified September 1993) on The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich refers to this as Operation Salmon (both in the sub-title and in one footnote).  In no place in this report is the name Anthropoid found.

Was Anthropoid part of a larger operation (Salmon), or vice-versa? I have not found any references to this effect anywhere.  Neither have I been able to find any other source calling this mission Operation Salmon. Why does the CIA report indicate Salmon as this operation's name?

The only reference I can find to an operation called Salmon within the context of WWII is this codename reference to a 1943 British and US operation against U-boats operating in the North Atlantic. Additional Google searches have yielded no other Operation Salmon (during WWII).

Sources searched:
- Wikipedia: Operation Anthropoid;
- Holocaust Research Project: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich - Operation Anthropoid;
- War History Online: The Assassination of The Butcher of Prague – Reinhard Heydrich;
- Warfare History Network: Operation Anthropoid: Killing Reinhard Heydrich;
- The National Interest: Operation Anthropoid: How Czech Commandos Assassinated Hitler's Most Ruthless Henchman;
- Jewish Virtual Library: Operation Anthropoid;
- Private Prague Guide: The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich;
- Wikipedia: List of WWII Military Operations (Anthropoid is listed under Partisan operations, Salmon is not listed anywhere);
- Wikipedia: Category: Battles and operations of WWII involving Czechoslovakia (Anthropoid is listed, Salmon is not);
- Czech Radio Praha: 70th Anniversary Special - The Czech Resistance During World War II (Anthropoid is very prominent in this special Czech Radio Praha report, no mention of Salmon);
- Interesting Histories [Medium]: Interesting Histories: Operation Anthropoid;
- WWII Database: List of Allied Operations (neither Anthropoid nor Salmon appear, probably because it was a Partisan operation)


texts: Has there ever been a war between members of a personal union?

texts: A personal union occurs when two otherwise independent states (each with their own territories, governments, etc.) come to share the same monarch.  Has it ever come to pass that two member states of a personal union fought a war with each other?  Note that I mean to exclude civil wars and rebellions; I am interested in those cases where the legitimate, recognized government of a country prosecutes a war against the legitimate, recognized government of another country, and both governments recognize the same monarch as head of state.


texts: What were the animals on the Coat of Arms of Edward IV of England?

texts:
(Asked after reading this answer in SciFi&Fantasy SE):

I think that whole Stark (York) and Lanister (Lancaster) feud is reference to War of Roses. Both houses descended from house Plantagenet whose sigil was three lions on red background, while Edvard IV , first Yorkist king of England had 2 white wolves on his coat of arms. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Edward_IV_of_England_%281461-1483%29.svg
At least, i think those are wolves :)

Is there some historical/heraldic source confirming just what the animals on Edward IV's Coat of Arms were?


texts: Is there a good source for statistics of holocaust survivals?

texts:
Who had a higher chances of survival, men or women ?
Is there a good source for statistical observations of the survivals?


texts: Was Canónigo Fernández a traitor to Mexico?

texts:
Agustín Fernández de San Vicente was the canon priest of the Cathedral of Durango and the Vicar-General of New Mexico. In between these church posts, at the time of Mexican Independence, he traveled to the Californias to represent Emperor Agustín Iturbide.

According to Alvin Harry Johnson's MA thesis Pablo Vicente de Solá: Transitional Governor of Alta California, December 1814 to November 1822, Fernández was charged with treason in July 1823. By that date he had lost the patronage of Iturbide, who lost power in March. But what had he done to bring on himself a charge of treason, and what was the outcome of the case? Did the generals who succeeded Iturbide object to his having visited Fort Ross?


texts: Unix operating system (and the C language) was developed at Bell Labs by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie in 1970. What city did they invent it in?


texts: What is an example of effective flanking maneuvers in medieval battles?

texts: I'm interested in better understanding medieval military tactics. I know that flanking maneuvers are often considered devastating in battles but I can find any good examples of this tactic being decisive or even important in a medieval battle. Can anyone point me to a good instance?


texts: Are there any exemplars of the 'trope of the exiled poet' prior to CE 8?

texts:
For a class of mine I'm writing a paper on Ovid's Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto, where I argue that underneath Ovid's lamentation of his exile and praise for Augustus, he immortalizes himself as the wronged party and Augustus as the tyrant. I had hoped to say something along that he plays on the trope of the exiled poet to mask these comments, but my professor pointed out to me that the trope of the exiled poet is largely defined, in our eyes, by Ovid and future poets.

Google has been somewhat unfruitful looking for the 'trope of the exiled poet', mostly getting results about Ovid, himself. I wonder if you all are aware of any prior famous exiled poets who Ovid might have used as inspiration / readers of his letters would be aware of as they read his.


texts: Why are Luther's 95 Theses seen as so important?

texts:
I've learned about how Luther's 95 Theses were extremely important to the Protestant Reformation and how they really defined the beginnings of Protestantism. According to History.com's article on "Martin Luther and the 95 Theses", the two main points of the theses were "that the Bible is the central religious authority and that humans may reach salvation only by their faith and not by their deeds", which would support what I've been taught, as the idea of sola fide is heresy, according to the Catholic church.

However, I read through them, I didn't find that. They really only support the idea that Indulgences aren't right and that the greed found in the Catholic Church at the time wasn't acceptable. Most of them even include references to purgatory (which is heresy in Protestantism), and "works of mercy" and "works of love", which is the language commonly used to refer to the Catholic Church's works necessary for salvation, which Luther was supposed to disagree with (also heresy in Protestantism). What causes this seeming discrepancy? Why are the theses so important if they only address the idea that the Church's greed wasn't right? I understand that was a radical position at the time, given that the Church ruled essentially everything and dissenters were punished, but there is a wide margin between saying greed is bad and breaking away from the Catholic Church and beginning a new denomination.


texts: How many naval mines were cleared for D-Day?

texts:
I was interested to read in this question about the clearing of naval mines for D-Day in 1944. There are estimates of the frequency of the mines on the beach -- history.com says there were "4 million landmines along Normandy’s beaches", but I've not found anything on the number of mines cleared in the water.

Does any source indicate or suggest how many naval mines were cleared by the nighttime minesweeping operation?


texts: Has there been a naval battle where a boarding attempt backfired?

texts:
In the War of 1812 battle between the USS Chesapeake and HMS Shannon, the Shannon outgunned the Chesapeake decisively, then closed to board the enemy ship. Hand-to-hand fighting ensued before the USS Chesapeake was taken.
Reading the account made me wonder: if the crew of the Chesapeake had won the hand-to-hand combat, the boarding attempt could easily have backfired. After all, the two ships were close enough that the Americans could've boarded the Shannon instead.
Has such an attempt to board ever backfired? If not, why not? I'm guessing that it can't be that "if one side attempts to board they have already won the fight", because if that's the case, the loser would surrender.


texts: Have any kings ever been serving admirals?

texts:
As the title says, has any person who has held or has gone on to hold the title of King (or some other similar monarchical title) ever been a serving admiral, who has exercised actual command of a fleet at sea, and not just an honorary admiral?
The king/admiral in question need not have ever commanded a fleet in battle or even during time of war, just that they have held the rank and performed the duties of an admiral at some point during their life.
Please provide examples if any exist.


texts: Was Heisuke Yanagawa really censored out in photos, and why?

texts:
Heisuke Yanagawa (柳川 平助) was an IJA Lieutenant General who commanded one of the main armies in the Battle of Nanking. He would have been one of the generals photographed marching into Nanking. I've read in a few places that his photos and news references to him were censored during this time, so that he became known as "the masked shogun". For example, this excerpt from Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking:

  A third force traveled further south of Matsui's men and swerved northwest toward Nanking. Heading this force was Lietenant General Yanagawa Heisuke, a bald, short man with literary interests. Perhaps to a greater degree than most other Japanese involved in the Rape of Nanking, his life during the invasion is veiled in mystery. According to his biographer, Sugawara Yutaka, the fascist clique that took control of the Japanese military had expelled Yanagawa from their ranks because he attempted to stop their 1932 coup. After his marginalization and demotion to the reserves, Yanagawa served as a commanding officer in China and performed "great military achievements...including the surrounding of Nanking," but the military withheld his name and photograph from publication at the time. Thus Yanagawa was known to many in Japan as "the masked shogun."

Is this true? I could not find any censored photos or articles of him, and the primary source for this claim - Sugawara Yutaka, Yamatogokoro: Fukumen shogun Yanagawa Heisuke Seidan - doesn't seem to be on the internet.

Another claim I'd like to verify is the reason, which is that although he was a member of the Kōdō-ha faction, he didn't support their coup so the censorship was a form of payback. I'm skeptical of this as the faction largely disappeared following another failed coup in 1936, and Yanagawa was forced into retirement as part of the purge, only to be brought back during the Second Sino-Japanese War.


texts: Is the name of Askandra Village, Rajasthan related to Alexander the Great?

texts:
I did a wiki walk and ended up on this site:
http://www.livius.org/articles/place/alexandria-on-the-acesines/

Which contains this line:
"The town flourished; in Buddhist texts, it is called Askandra."

Since the town is called Uch, I thought, let's just google 'Askandra' and see where it ends up. And that led me to a town in Rajasthan.

So now I'm wondering, is this town founded in honor of Alexander, by Alexander or is this just a coincidence?


texts: Why was Japan NOT colonised by any of the European countries when practically all of the Asian countries were being colonised by a European nation? Why did no army even clash against the Japanese army(s)? Please list causes apart from Japan's geographical location.


texts: Which period is this game map supposed to represent?

texts:
I have gotten my hands on a handmade Diplomacy variant, however for the life of me I can't figure out which period it is supposed to represent. Of course the author had to take liberties when designing the map, but I would just like to know which generic period we're talking about.

From the research I have done so far I think it's a late medieval period, but I am far from sure, to be honest.


texts: Why did only the English adopt, evolve and use the longbow en masse in war?

texts:
The bow was a relatively common weapon on dark age battlefields as Harold's arrow in the eye at Hastings will attest. But shortly after is was largely superseded by the crossbow, partly because pretty much any man-at-arms could pick up and shoot a crossbow with zero training.

Yet the bow didn't go away. It proved an effective weapon in the hands of the Welsh when they fought against English invaders in the early middle ages. So effective, in fact, that Edward I recruited bodies of Welsh bowmen into his armies. They proved decisive at the Battle of Falkirk (1298).

However, it seems unclear as to what kind of bow the Welsh archers were using. Was it the same as the longbow, so feared by the French in the Hundred Years' War? Or was it more of a common hunting bow: and was it this bow in use during Falkirk that then evolved into the longbow later?

And why was there not an equivalent evolution in other European countries at the time? Most chroniclers seemed to believe the longbow was the superior weapon if one could find the trained archers (although I guess this may be English bias). England got itself those archers by dint of the famed royal proclamation that all able-bodied men should practice the bow on every holiday. Why, then, were there not equivalent proclamations elsewhere?


texts: How would a family travel from Indiana to Texas in 1911?

texts: What trails and/or travel modes would an Indiana farm family--2 adults, 4 children-- use to get to Texas in 1911? I can find detailed information about traveling East to West, but I have found nothing to show travel from North to South other than from within various states' local trails and roads. The Texas Trail served the Arkansas and surrounding area, but I find nothing going farther North. I doubt that they would have the money for train travel the entire distance. What I am trying to do is map a realistic route that they would follow.