texts: Did the exile of the Platonic academy facilitate the foundation of the House of Wisdom?

texts:
According to Wikipedia:

...The last Scholarch of the Academy was Damascius (d. 540). According to Agathias, its remaining members looked for protection under the rule of Sassanid king Khosrau I in his capital at Ctesiphon, carrying with them precious scrolls of literature and philosophy, and to a lesser degree of science. After a peace treaty between the Persian and the Byzantine empire in 532, their personal security (an early document in the history of freedom of religion) was guaranteed.
It has been speculated that the Academy did not altogether disappear.[34][36] After his exile, Simplicius (and perhaps some others), may have traveled to Harran, near Edessa. From there, the students of an Academy-in-exile could have survived into the 9th century, long enough to facilitate an Arabic revival of the Neoplatonist commentary tradition in Baghdad,

Wikipedia - Platonic Academy
From what I understand, the forming of the House of Wisdom was facilitated by the carrying over of knowledge by scholars from multiple sources such as Constantinople, Alexandria, Gondishapur etc...
Is there any firm, concrete evidence that the neoplatonic academy facilitated the foundations or the forming of the House of Wisdom as stated in the article?


texts: Is this movie "History of the World: Every Year" credible?

texts:
I love history and one thing, which was showed to me recently in a university course, helped very much to arrange things in my mind.

I'm talking about a video of the map world year by year - History of the World: Every Year

However, is this movie bona fide?
(if it is so they should spread this to history students because is is most efficient).


texts: What scholarly positions exist evaluating Thatcher's competence and the desirability of her government's policies?

texts:
I am aware of a variety of normative accounts of the desirability of Thatcher's politics in the social domain; and of the broad opinions regarding her competence (generally highly competent, poll tax as a form of hubris).  However, I've not had the chance to read the scholarly literature on Thatcher and probably never will have such a chance.

What are the major academic perspectives over both Thatcher's competence and the desirability of her policy?  Have studies of Thatcher ever gone through a cycle of revision or debate above and beyond the initial controversies of the day.  Is Thatcher generally held to be competent by scholars, with opinion dividing over desirability?  Is there unity on desirability, but division over competence?  Where do such schools of thought have their basis—is it alignment with higher order theoretical or political perspectives, or a division by sub-discipline (social versus cultural history, for example)?


texts: How did a travelling Roman army decide where to temporarily camp for the night?

texts:
I seem to remember that Sun Tzu says to avoid mountains and valley entrances, and be close to a river with grass, but how did a Roman army decide where to camp off the beaten track, such as through a Germania forest or Britannia moorland? Did this vary based on size of the unit of soldiers. Follow up questions: were there any practices that soldiers followed when camping, such as avoiding making campfires under X circumstances, etc.? How would a friendly approach a camp to avoid being killed, and how would soldiers decide who was friendly?
Apologies, I am a novice with terminology, dates, and periods.


texts:
Which politician or organization was the first to formally use the name "Democratic Party" for the party of Andrew Jackson? When and where did this happen?

Background: Thomas Jefferson's political party was called the Republican Party by its supporters and the Democratic Party by its detractors. The name "Democratic-Republican" in this early period is an anachronism coined by waffling historians:

  The followers of Thomas Jefferson almost always referred to themselves
  as Republicans. However, the Federalists nearly always called them
  Democrats. The Republicans were also called Anti-Federalists, Whigs,
  and Jacobins. . . One term that was not used by either party during this time was the
  infamous label Democratic-Republican. Neither the followers of Thomas
  Jefferson nor the Federalists used this term. It was invented by
  historians because they could not decide which term should be used to
  describe the party of Thomas Jefferson.

By 1827, the Republicans were the only party that mattered at the national level. When it came time to nominate a presidential candidate in 1828, Republican state parties failed to agree on a single candidate, and so the Republican state parties split into competing caucuses.

The state caucuses that nominated Adams called themselves "National Republicans" or "Administration Republicans" to indicate that the national administration represented continuity with the Republican Party. For example, in Rhode Island the rival caucuses called themselves "Friends of the National Administration" and "Friends of Jackson." In most northern states, pro-Jackson caucuses called themselves some variant of "Jacksonian Party" or "Jacksonian Republicans." In southern states where there was no significant Adams wing of the Republican Party, Jacksonians just called themselves "Republicans."

By 1832 I think the national party was calling itself the Democratic Party, as were most pro-Jackson state parties (at least in the North and Mid-Atlantic states), but I don’t know when and where this renaming occurred. I want to know who formally named the party and when for two reasons:

The new name indicates not just acceptance, but perhaps also a desire, that the Adams/Jackson split in the party would become permanent. The renaming implied that the old Republican Party was dead, even though strictly speaking that was not yet a fait accompli.
It was a significant decision to use a name that had, in living memory, been a term of abuse. Whoever chose to use "Democratic" was embracing the party's increasingly populist direction.

Caution: I won't accept as evidence a historian casually referring to the founding of the Democratic Party by Martin Van Buren in 1828. Even good historians can be loose with party terminology in this period, and most just mean that in 1828 Van Buren created the national organization that would soon be known as the Democratic Party. The answer may very well be Van Buren, but I’d like to see that claim sourced. I would be thrilled if someone found an account of a convention or caucus where Jackson men debated the merits of possible names for their party.


texts: Can the assignment "Depot Battalion" in Hart's Annual Army List be linked to a specific regimental assignment?

texts:
In this question I asked about the meaning of the assignment "depot battalion" in Hart's Annual Army List, a book that lists the assignments of every British officer in the Victoria era, each year.

It appears to mean the officer was assigned to a sort of reserve battalion associated with a regiment, rather than to a service battalion.

However, listings like the third one on this page do not indicate which regiment the officer was assigned to, only that they were assigned to some depot battalion.

Is there some general way to determine which regiment a person was assigned to?

Failing that, why were such detailed records kept of most assignments, but not those to depot battalions?


texts: What languages did Josephus speak?  He lived in the land of Israel during the first century CE.  He wrote in Greek (so he obviously knew that), but did he know Hebrew, Aramaic, or Latin?


texts:
A gunner ace would be someone who manned an AA gun on a ship, on the ground, or at the back of an aircraft, and got 5 or more kills (of enemy aircraft) over the course of the war.

Were there any such gunner aces in WW2 (did they even record such things so we know which person got a kill from which gun)? If so, did they ever talk about how or why they were so good, like what techniques they used? (other than leading the target).

Not really interested in any particular belligerent. German, Russian, Italian, British, French, Canadian, Japan, America, Dutch, many others too.


texts: RAF Vulcan nuclear missions - returning to base planning

texts:
Having seen several documentaries and interviews with Vulcan crew & pilots regarding their nuclear flight plans and proposed missions, there's a reticence to discuss the post-mission plan.

It's assumed the mission is one way, but there must be a plan or consensus on what's to be done amongst the crew once the bomb run is complete and the aircraft survives the blast.

I'm thinking of specifics. What really happens next?

...is it land on anything flat?
...stick it on a road?
...kiss ones backside goodbye, drive it into the nearest hill?


texts: Exact date of Aquitania uprising over Charlemagne?

texts: I read that the uprising of the Aquitainians and Gascons led by Hunald II, probably son of King Waifar, was in 769. But I can't find info about the exact date (only the month name).


texts:
In Chapter 7 of Eyrbyggja saga we are told how Thorolf, the first gođi of Thorsness pledged his chield to Thor:

  Thorolf Most-beard married in his old age, and had to wife her who is called Unn; some say that she was daughter of Thorstein the Red, but Ari the Learned, son of Thorgils, numbers her not among his children. Thorolf and Unn had a son who was  called Stein; that lad Thorolf gave to Thor his friend, and called him Thorstein,  and the boy was very quick of growth.

Now, apparently,the child was not sacrificed or anything, he just got a new name. My questions are:

Was this practice prevealent? We hear of extremely many ThorX-s (Thorgerd, Thorhall, Thorkell, Thorbiorn, etc...), but it is never mentioned that they would explicitly given to Thor.
Were Thorolf fatherly rights in part transferred to the god?
Did they expect any special benefits or obligations to be bestowed on the child? (Other than growing fast)


texts: How do we know that the Tiwanaku Empire actually existed as an empire

texts:
The wikipedia article as well as scientific papers like Janusek 2002 and Ortloff and Kolata 1993 treat the historical existence of the Tiwanaku empire as a fact without offering any evidence corroborating it.

The papers are not open access (sorry for that!) but the perspective becomes clear from the abstracts. The papers go on to discuss archaeological evidence for settlement patterns, technology, artifacts etc etc.

I understand that archaeological studies may offer solid evidence of a culturally and technologically advanced civilization, but how can it be established that this civilization constituted a state or empire?

Pre-Columbian cultures in South America had (almost certainly) no writing system, so contemporary historical accounts do not exist. Is there perhaps evidence from later historical sources?

I had a brief look at (an English translation of) Guaman Poma's "The First New Chronicle and Good Government" written by a member of the provincial Peruvian Native American nobility. He gives the probably earliest comprehensive account of Incan and pre-Incan history of the region. However, what he produces in his chapter on pre-Incan history ("Chapter of the Ages of the Indians") is a rather bizarre mix of biblical narrative, contemporary Spanish Christian philosophy and native American mythology. Other historical sources are probably similar.

In any case, I fail to see any historical value in this particular chapter of Guaman Poma's work - but maybe historians disagree and manage to squeeze something useful out of it? Or maybe, there are other more informative sources?


texts: Why did Nazi soldiers do Hitler's bidding?

texts: The atrocities committed by Nazi soldiers during World War II are well known. I'd like to know what motivated those soldiers to do Hitler's bidding. Were they brainwashed? Did they believe they were doing the right thing in killing 6 million (Jewish) people? How could so many soldiers willingly and consistently execute thousands of defenseless and innocent people, including children, day after day?


texts: Was there a single ancient religion that all others sprang from?

texts: Many religions share same stories, Christianity, Judaism and Islam for example (the ones I know of at least). Some of those stories could even be traced to earlier civilizations in the Middle East region, like the belief in resurrection, God (gods) intervention in the worldly affairs, heaven, hell etc. My question is could we trace these ideas to one ancient religion? That is was their a religion to have been a focal point of all religion of which basic religious ideas came up and been absorbed and modified by other religions? Or were they generally the product of many stories of many unrelated not connected religions which developed separately?


texts: How did Heian Era Japanese Clans work? (esp. Taira vs. Minamoto)

texts:
Wikipedia tells me that certain children of emperors were demoted (removed from the royal lineage) and assigned to Taira as well as Minamoto "clans" during the Heian period.

How did this work?

Was there a special rationale for assigning people to one over the other?
Were clans supposed to be the overriding social identity for their members?
Did they provide/require special services?
How did the generational component (e.g. Saga vs. Seiwa Genji) influence the situation?  For example, did Saga and Seiwa Genji both identify as Minamoto and were therefore more likely to cooperate with each other than with other clans?


texts: Where other than Kronstadt did the Russian American Company train its employees?

texts: The Russian American Company (РАК) used to send students of navigation to study at an Imperial college in Kronstadt, then obligate them to work for the Company for a period of years. This was very expensive, so afterwards it operated its own schools, closer to its operations, such as in Yakutsk, Okhotsk, Petropavlovsk, Kodiak, etc. Where were these schools located?


texts: From what I've heard, when the Mormons left Illinois in 1846 they hadn't decided where exactly they were going to settle.  Did they have some choices they were looking at?  Did they have a route they were planning to take?


texts:
Reading the orders of battle for the Second Sino-Japanese War, it seems that in the major battles, the Chinese side consistently fields large numbers of divisions, but not as many total troops as that may suggest. It seems that the Chinese divisions are much smaller, especially compared to the opposing Japanese.

Divisions don't really have a standard size since they can be organised differently but generally consist of between 10000 and 20000 troops. But a closer look at some orders of battle shows that the Chinese have much less troops than the expected ratio:

Shanghai:

NRA: "700,000 troops in 75 divisions and 9 brigades", <9333 per division
IJA: "300,000 troops in 8 divisions and 6 brigades", <37500 per division

Wuhan:

NRA: "1,100,000 (120 divisions)", <9166 per division
IJA: 350,000 troops, 16 divisions, <21875 per division

Nanchang:

NRA: "200,000 troops in 39 Divisions", <5128 per division
IJA: "120,000 troops in 3 Divisions", <40000 per division

Not all troops belong to divisions, so the actual ratio is even smaller than those calculations.

Why were the division sizes so different, with the Chinese ones much smaller than typical for divisions?


texts:
The Hays Code was a censorship code in the United States which was eventualy replaced by actual age ratings. The code was not an age rating system, basically, all films had to be basically no more than PG-rated.
The earliest information I could find was about the British Board of Film Censors, later "Censors" would be replaced by "Classification." According to Wikipedia, "The UK's film ratings are decided by the British Board of Film Classification and have been since 1912. Previously, there were no agreed rating standards, and local councils imposed their own – often differing – conditions or restrictions."
Beyond what these conditions or restrictions were or how they differed, were there age ratings for things like stage plays? Was the United Kingdom or Ireland, which later created the "Irish Film Censor's Office," the first countries to conceive of age ratings? (Although I was told the idea of age restrictions dates back to Plato's Republic.)
Why base them on the age of a person instead of merely notifying that the film may contain some loathsome content?
Even with age ratings in place, there would be censorship that would be quite strict by modern standards, for example, I don't think you would have been allowed to say the F-bomb.
By the way, I intend this question to focus on either fictional entertainment or documentaries. Things like novels, movies, stage plays, and so on.


texts: Who conducted the first "straw poll" in U.S. election politics, and when was it conducted?

texts:
Prior to Gallup and Roper et al in the 1930's and The Literary Digest in 1916, what was the first election straw poll in US elections? Three sources that I found cite three different answers (though all agree it took place in the election of 1824):

Wikipedia says it was The Aru Pennsylvanian;
Tom W. Smith says George Gallup himself cited pre-election tallies in North Carolina and Delaware as being the first polls, as found in this article on JStor: The First Straw?: A Study of the Origins of Election Polls, Tom W. Smith, The Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Spring, 1990), pp. 21-36, Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Association for Public Opinion Research;
Elections A to Z, edited by David Tarr, Bon Benenson, indicates

  The first published presidential poll was in the Harrisburg Pennsylvanian on July 24, 1824. The publication's straw vote among the people in Wilmington and Newark, Delaware showed a preference for Andrew Jackson over John Quincy Adams.

Which, if any of these, is correct in identifying the first public opinion polls in US election history?


texts: What is the Holy Roman Empire? I have a little background knowledge and I read a little bit on Wikipedia, but I'm still not exactly sure what it is. I know that the states under the "Empire" were still more or less independent. I also know from Wikipedia that the Holy Roman Emperor was the protector of the Catholic Church, and that the Holy Roman Empires consisted of mainly Germanic states, but that's about all I know. Also, who could be named Holy Roman Emperor? Was it Germanic Kings only?


texts: Do we have any information on what the homes of Aristotle or Plato would have looked like?

texts:
I wonder because of how influential and famous they were at their time, immediately following, and effectively forever after that (with the exception of Aristotle's slight dark age of having his materials burned), if there were any attempts to preserve where these famous people might have lived. Granted, I imagine it would look like like rubble at this point, if much of anything at all, but it piqued my interest.

I couldn't find that information on Google.


texts: Why was the Gilgamesh flood tablet such a sensation?

texts:
In 1872 George Smith translated the famous Flood Tablet (tablet XI of the Standard Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh), causing a sensation due to its striking similarity to the story of Noah's Ark in the Book of Genesis (see David Damrosch's comments here, for example). Indeed, in his A History of the World in 100 Objects, Neil MacGregor recounts the story that upon translating the tablet, George Smith was so overwhelmed by what he had discovered that he took his clothes off.

However, why was the discovery so sensational considering the prior knowledge of ancient Greek flood myths, in particular the Deucalion deluge? Or is it simply that the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh is just much more similar to the Biblical flood story? For instance, both the Gilgamesh and Genesis stories mention large ships filled with animals, while Deucalion and Pyrrha just bobbed around in a chest for nine days and nights, presumably with little to no spare room for wildlife.

Just to clarify: This question is about the 19th-century reaction to the discovery of the the Gilgamesh flood story, rather than the origins of flood myths themselves (which is itself a fascinating topic).

Edit: I wonder whether it was simply due to the perceived ages of the stories: Did people in the 19th century view the Greek myths as being younger than the Bible and thus as no challenge to the originality of Genesis, while the Sumerian/Akkadian tablets where unquestionably older? I have no evidence to back up this suggestion though.


texts: Is there a relationship between Gobekli Tepe and Stonehenge?

texts:
I was just reading an article about Stonehenge and about how the archaeological community is essentially agreed that the builders were a people who came from Anatolia (Turkey) around 6000 years ago.
In looking at the pictures of Stonehenge and Gobekli Tepe side by side, it struck me how similar the two are. Huge monolithic stones of roughly the same size stood upright and placed in concentric circles, with the upright stones cut in very similar ways, although oriented along the circle (Stonehenge) instead of in perpendicular (GT).
So a question for the history/archaeology experts here - has anyone considered the possibility that Stonehenge is a sort of "descendant" of Gobekli Tepe, built by a people whose ancestors built similar structures in their homeland, and perhaps for similar reasons ?
--- update June 2020 ---
I just came across this schema which I thought gave a certain credence to my question


texts: How much faster were the printing presses than hand writing?

texts: How many times faster were the printing presses, which gave Europe an advantage over other continents in term of access to knowledge, compared to copying of books by hand?


texts: Is today's Old City of Jerusalem the Jerusalem of the Crusades' period?

texts:
In 1099 the Christian crusaders besieged the walled city of Jerusalem and took it. Here is a map of the Old City of Jerusalem today:

It clearly shows the walls (I don't know when they were built) around the Old City. I measured this on Google Maps, and it's roughly an area of 1km by 1km (1km squared). I'm very confused about this topic, because I've read through much of the Wikipedia articles on the Crusades and history of Jerusalem. From the history of Jerusalem article it says (remembering that Jerusalem was recaptured by Saladin in 1187:

  In 1219 the walls of the city were razed by order of al-Mu'azzam, the
  Ayyubid sultan of Damascus. This rendered Jerusalem defenseless and
  dealt a heavy blow to the city's status. The Ayyubids destroyed the
  walls in expectation of ceding the city to the Crusaders as part of a
  peace treaty. In 1229, by treaty with Egypt's ruler al-Kamil,
  Jerusalem came into the hands of Frederick II of Germany. In 1239,
  after a ten-year truce expired, he began to rebuild the walls; these
  were again demolished by an-Nasir Da'ud, the emir of Kerak, in the
  same year.

  In 1243 Jerusalem came again into the power of the Christians, and the
  walls were repaired.
  History of Jerusalem

So the walls are destroyed and repaired multiple times. Finally I see this part:

  In 1517, Jerusalem was taken over by the Ottoman Empire and enjoyed a
  period of renewal and peace under Suleiman the Magnificent, including
  the construction of the walls of what is now known as the Old City of
  Jerusalem (although some foundations were remains of genuine antique
  walls).
  History of Jerusalem - Early Ottoman period

I'm just trying to understand whether the walled city of Jerusalem from roughly the First Crusade is the same or roughly the same as what we now call the Old City.


texts: Internal crisis of the Roman Republic before the Gracchi

texts:
The beginning of the Roman Republic is traditionally dated to 509 BC, when the Roman king Tarquinius Superbus was overthrown.

Wikipedia article about the Crisis of the Roman Republic states that  political instability and social unrest began with Tiberius Gracchus in 134 BC, and his proposal of land reforms.

Between the death of Tarquinius in 495 BC and the election of Gracchus as tribune in 134 BC, was there any internal political crisis serious enough to menace the Roman Republic?

Besides the outbreak of the First Servile War in 135 BC, that is.


texts:
A long time ago someone told me a story which is very unclear.

They said that Haiti got the name from the American Civil War after the slave trade when the slaves occupied the country it was or something like that. I think I remember Haiti's previous name being El something.

Does anyone know the in depth story as to how Haiti got its name?


texts: Looking at this question I see the tradition of Christmas presents, but where did the tradition of Christmas itself come from? Also, what's with the Christmas tree and Santa (or Kris Kringle)?


texts: Are there any images of old italic or runic inscriptions online?

texts:
Wondering if there are any museums or universities or anything that have any examples of either:

Old Italic script
Runic script

I don't think there are any books in these scripts, but it seems there are lots of inscriptions somewhere. Here it is said of Etruscan:

  The most important example of these languages is Etruscan, evidenced by more than 10,000 inscriptions and some short texts that served to conclude that this language was a non-Indo-European language and not even related to any other language except some inscriptions on the island of Lemnos in the eastern Mediterranean.

Of runic inscriptions is says there are 3 main types and in total 6k different inscriptions in one group, and a few hundred in the others.

Wondering where you can find (a) sketches of these inscriptions in research, and (b) images of the original artifact of them. Just knowing where any of them could be located online would be helpful, then I can look for individual ones.

Here's for example one kind of image/sketch:

A better image would be like a sketch along the lines of this Cuneiform sketch:


texts: How did Ram and Krishna become the dominant Gods in Hinduism?

texts:
Hinduism is traditionally a polytheist religion with a wide variety of Gods. In contemporary times, I find that, Ram and Krishna have come to be perceived as the primary Hindu Gods, atleast in certain parts of India. This is reflected in worships, temples, also in festivals such as Diwali, Holi which are central to Hinduism.
How did these 2 Gods emerge to be central deities in Hinduism?


texts: What's the story behind the original Florida flag emblem?

texts:
I'm doing some research for school and a part of this is learning about the seal of the flag, my question is as following:
What's the story behind the original Florida flag emblem and the story behind the modified ones?

My previous research: In the edited ones, I see a ship a woman with flowers in her hands, a coastal place(port?), palm trees, thickets, shining sun. Looking at this I presume this is a state that has a long story with nature and agriculture.


texts: What was the actual cause of the disaster for the Royal Navy’s battlecruisers in the Battle of Jutland?

texts:
During the Battle of Jutland (31 May 1916), the battlecruisers Invincible, Queen Mary, and Indefatigable exploded with only a few survivors; Lion was almost lost in a similar manner. This provoked the famous quote that is attributed to Beatty: ‘There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today.’

Various, partly contradictory analyses of the battlecruiser action or the entire battle exist. Several major problems of the Royal Navy have been identified:

Departure from the original battlecruiser concept (Originally, battlecruisers were not intended to be used in a battle line against enemy capital ships. In particular, battlecruisers should have avoided combat with the more powerful but slower battleships.)
Tactical mistakes (In particular, Beatty left behind Evan-Thomas’ fast battleships and held his fire for too long until he was within range of the German guns although the larger guns mounted on British ships would have allowed an engagement at greater range.)
Weather (Wind and visibility were favourable for the initial German position.)
Gunnery of the German battle-cruisers (The Germans were quicker in determining the correct range to targets.)
Shell performance (German armour-piercing shells were more effective than the British ones.)
Weak armour (in particular of the decks, turret roofs, and magazines)
Ammunition handling (stockpiling unprotected cordite charges while emphasising speed over safety)
Composition of propellant charges (British cordite propellant was vulnerable and tended to burn violently.)
Signalling (The Germans used wireless communication, whereas the British preferred signalling using flag and lamp signals.)
Fixed standing orders (which prevented individual actions of squadron or ship commanders)

Accordingly, several changes were introduced as a result of the lessons learned in the battle. However, which of the identified problems were actually crucial for the disaster for the British battlecruisers? Can a single cause be isolated that was significantly responsible for the outcome, or was a combination of multiple problems necessary? Were correct improvements introduced as a result of experience gained – in particular, in view of the fact that the battlecruiser Hood was sunk during the Battle of Denmark Strait (24 May 1941) in a comparable manner? (The later loss of Repulse in the Pacific War was certainly not related.)


texts: Economic aftermath in Europe and the Middle East of the Black Death

texts:
The following excerpt is from Blinkist's summary of The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan:

  Europe after the plague was an altogether different place. The
  population had fallen dramatically, but this had served to empower the
  peasantry and to weaken the propertied classes.

  Wealth was now more evenly distributed, and interest rates fell. These
  two changes to the socioeconomic landscape stimulated the economy and
  facilitated the development of new technologies. Of particular note
  were advances in military and naval technology.

I've not read the book itself, but I get the impression from Blinkist's notes that similar economic changes did not occur, at least to the same extent, in non-European territories subject to the plague (i.e. mostly the Middle East). What I'm unclear on is the following:

Why did the distribution of wealth and interest rates respond as they did?
Why did so much of the benefit come in the form of military and naval technologies?
Why were circumstances so different outside Europe?

Not being an expert on this, my guesses are as follows:

The discussion here suggests the money supply didn't fall with the population, resulting in increased wages that moved coins away from the wealthy.
Presumably high interest rates encouraged investment, in whatever people thought worthy of it. The Silk Road's collapse didn't provide a motive for naval development until over a century after the plague ended, so I suspect the events described in the above excerpt were slow-burning. However, I'm probably missing something.
I imagine this was partly due to only Europe having a feudal system (what was applicable elsewhere?), and partly due to the Middle East being mostly landlocked.


texts: Why did Heth go towards Gettysburg on July 1, 1863?

texts:
In Shelby Foote's book about the civil war, he indicates that General Henry Heth send his men into Gettysburg looking after a "supply of shoes".  They ran into Buford's men, Heth approached A.P. Hill, Hill said to get 'em....etc.

I've heard elsewhere that shoes were the proximate cause for confederate interest in Gettysburg that day.  When I toured the Gettysburg battlefield with an official guide from the part, he insisted the shoes story was just a persistent rumor.

Is there any definitive evidence either way about she shoes?  If not the shoes, why did Heth go to Gettysburg?  Was it just recon in place of JEB's missing cavalry?


texts: What was the reason why Americas didn't take to buckwheat as a crop?

texts:
Buckwheat is a very useful crop, resulting in healthful food. It was (and is) extremely popular is Eurasia (especially Russia and China).

However, despite the fact that - as per Wiki - it was one of the earliest crops introduced by Europeans to North America, it doesn't seem to have taken here very widely as a crop - USA and Brazil, two biggest growers, each devote less than 1/15th of the cultivated area to it than Russia or China, and yield <1/10th of crop tonnage. Canada 10 times worse. If you scale that up to the whole continent, Americas are even smaller share compared to entire Eurasia.

Aside from the growing stats, buckwheat as food is virtually unknown in USA - the only 2 subcultures that show it are places with many Eastern European immigrants (Polish, Russian and Ukranian, e.g. NYC) and Japanese cuisine, which is of course somewhat new. It didn't seem to have penetrated any further than that, even in multicultural centers like NY.

Is there a specific reason for that through the last 400 years of history?

Climatological concerns (Buckwheat can't grow in too hot a climate)? This seems weird given Canada's low volume. Soil specifics? Relative cost to nutrient ratio vs. other crops? Pollination issues?

Ideally I'm looking for some sort of research, as opposed to WAGging.


texts: Was Deicide officially taught in American Catholic ("parochial") schools and if so, when did it officially end?

texts:
In the 1970s, which was after Vatican II by several years, the younger brother of a friend was attending a Catholic school -- he was 9 or 10 maybe. He told me that the Jews had killed Christ and went into some details.

What I am wondering is whether the Deicide idea was officially sanctioned prior to Vatican II and if Vatican II immediately made it no longer sanctioned. I can understand of course how some continued to teach as they always had.

I am of course aware of the official position of the church about deicide but what I want to know and I think is hard to research online is how long it actually took before teaching this doctrine was completely extirpated -- I simply have anecdotal evidence that by the early 1970s it continued still, at least at one school in a large, midwestern city. Just as civil rights act did not eliminate racism or indeed segregation.

To make this more clear: I am wondering mainly what happened in practice once the position of the Church changed on Jews bearing responsibility for killing Christ -- were there immediate lectures by nuns saying that was all wrong or did the old teachings continue for years; indeed, does it happen still in some places?


texts: Has being a single mother been always stigmatized?

texts:
Being a single mother was obviously a big economic disadvantage. And in the times when the Christian church morality dominated every day life, being a single mother was obviously a proof of a sin. But from practical point of view, a being a single mother wasn't very different from being a widow with a child, and that wasn't uncommon, considering high mortality rates in those times.

Since when did it become a cultural stigma, or more precisely, what was the severity of such a state in which periods?

(I'm focusing primarily on European history, but I'd be interested to know in other cultures/eras as well.)


texts: Why was "leaping into the river" a valid trial outcome to prove one's innocence?

texts:
The second law of the Code of Hammurabi states:

  2 If any one bring an accusation against a man, and the accused go to the river and leap into the river, if he sink in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river prove that the accused is not guilty, and he escape unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.

Why was jumping into the river a valid way to solve a dispute? Was it a specific river?

(Being Mesopotamia surely brings two specific rivers to mind)


texts: Ages ago I came across a brief mention on the Web of a principality existing briefly within England. It was made up of the County Cheshire and some surrounding territory. I think it was created by Henry VI and it only lasted a year, presumably being undone after his brief second reign. Is this true and, if so, where can I find more information about it?


texts: Was Richard I's imprisonment by Leopold of Austria justified?

texts:
I read in Wikipedia and Britannica about Richard I of England regarding his imprisonment and I was perplexed by the fact that a sovereign monarch, and a crusader at that, could be imprisoned by a foreign power on such shaky grounds as the accusation of a murder (Leopold accused Richard for the murder of his cousin Conrad of Montferrat).

Although generally the feudal lord's will was the law in his territory, I believe a hierarchy was still in place placing kings above dukes, counts, barons etc and as such out of their juridistiction except in cases of open war.

My questions therefore revolve around the following issues:

As there was no open war between England and the Holy Roman Empire and it was Leopold's accusation of murder versus Richard's denial of it, how did Leopold have the legal and moral authority to arrest a king travelling through his lands on his way home from the Crusades?
How did other monarchs react, seeing that a fellow king was abducted while taking a stroll in another country on the basis of personal enmity really?
Was some sort of trial called to prove Richard's guilt in order to justify his imprisonment? I don't expect a UN assembly style trial, but anything that would give legitimacy to Leopold's actions and the irrational ransom demands.

My sources were mainly encyclopedia articles from Wikipedia, Britannica and Ancient History Encyclopedia concerning the involved parties none of which go in great detail about how other powers viewed Richard's imprisonment or the details of his capture. Most of my Google searches return results such as '5 little known facts about Richard the Lionheart' which ended up being pretty known.


texts: Mutual support in Latin American wars of independence

texts:
Nascent Latin American countries expelled Spain with some mutual aid from each other. Between 1815 and 1822, independent Argentina and Chile sent newly acquired naval forces (under Bouchard, Brown, and Cochrane) to hit Spanish interests. They did damage up and down the Pacific coast. (Bouchard even went all the way around the world on his trip, ending up in Peru, where he was killed by one of his own slaves.)

Besides these big-ticket naval expeditions, what did the embryonic Latin American states and their citizens do to support each others' independence struggles?


texts:
I know that machine guns were a vital part of world war 1. I know that they were mainly used in the trenches as fixed position weapons. However, I would like some specifications about the machine gun in WWI, including:

What was their rate of fire (bullets per minute)?
What was their recoil (Regarding how easy they were to fire)?
What was their accuracy at a range of 100 meters?
At what range did they have a reasonable accuracy (in meters)?
What was their average weight (to check if they could be carried)?

I would appreciate it if you could give me those ranges for both the Triple Entente and the Central Powers.


texts: What motivated Marco Polo to share his trade knowledge?

texts:
In his book written with the help of Rustichello da Pisa, The Travels of Marco Polo, Marco Polo (c. 1300) spent much time describing the various products available at different places. Such knowledge must have been quite valuable. Perhaps merchants could have used this knowledge to make much profit.

What motivated Marco Polo to share these details in writing? Couldn't he have made much money if he sold the information to a few merchants?


texts: In this cartoon from Puck, what indicates the identities of France and Britain?

texts:
According to Wikipedia, the participants in the naval arms race depicted in this cartoon are (clockwise, starting from the man in the blue jacket) the United States, Germany, Britain, France, and Japan.  Three of them are easy to identify:

The United States is a classic "Uncle Sam" figure.
Germany is wearing an equally stereotypical eagle-crested helmet, and if that wasn't enough, the ships he's wagering have (upside-down) Imperial German flags.
Japan has stereotypical Asian features, and is holding a ship with a Rising Sun flag.

But what features should I be looking at to identify the two figures on the left as "Britain" and "France"?  To me, they're not national caricatures the way the other three are, they're just generic rich men.


texts: How long was a journey "from the Varangians to the Greeks?"

texts:
Textbooks about Russian history often discuss the importance of trade routes "from the Varangians to the Greeks," which allowed ships to pass from the Baltic to the Black Sea using a network of waterways and portages. I'm interested in some of the practical details of that journey.

During the peak period of the river routes' use, how much time did a journey from "the Varangians to the Greeks" typically take?


texts: To what extent the Jewish theatre of the late Antiquity resembled the Greek one?

texts:
Sometime ago I had watched the film Agora by Alejandro Amenábar Although the film's idea is impressing, it stroke me with some suspicious historical details. For example, the Christian monks are wearing dress with short sleeves and marching in rows as some fascist paramilitary group.

Similarly, the supposed Jewish theatre resembled a performance from 19th century Eastern Europe.

Before I thought that Jewish theatre at the time in most details resembled and imitated the Greek theatre. The performers should not wear any specific Jewish dress and hairstyle and the performance should be a play rather than just music and dance.

So how much the Jewish theatre of the time resembled the Greek one?


texts:
In Cicero's Tusculan Disputations (book I, section XLV), he remarks:

  It is customary with the Magi, to bury none of their order, unless they have been first torn by dogs.  In Hyrcania, the people maintain dogs for public use, their nobles have their own: we know they have a good breed of dogs; but every one, according to his ability, provides himself with some, in order to be torn by them; and they hold that to be the best interment.

This doesn't pass the smell-test for me.  Is there any indication, other than in Cicero's Tusculan Disputations, that this was actually a historical practice?


texts: Was it normal for New York schools in the late 1960s to be desegregated?

texts: I am currently researching late 1960s America in order to being writing a story. The story is set in 1966 in New York. So were schools (specifically Middle Schools) in New York desegregated by this time?


texts: Did indebted families commonly sell daughters into prostitution in Japan?

texts:
I'm writing a Graphic novel with a segment in 1930's and 40's japan. I've looked around on the web but have been unable to find specific answers. I've heard girls were often sold to brothels by their families to pay off debts, and that is the major plot line I am working with.

What were conditions in brothels?


texts:
Did Aboriginal Australians know slings?
Search on scholar.google did not find anything and Google only showed this photo of 1940, so they could get this idea from Europeans.
If they knew slings that would explain why they did not use bows - some groups in Eurasia preferred slings to bows as well.


texts: What was the reason for the geographical error in Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech 5th March 1946?

texts:
In his celebrated speech, at which he used the term Iron Curtain at Fulton, Missouri, on 5th March 1946, with President Harry Truman present, Churchill said the following:

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an “Iron
Curtain” has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all
the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe.
Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and
Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in
what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form
or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in
some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.

But of course if you draw the line from Stettin ("Szczecin" in Polish), it excludes the whole of what was to become "East Germany", or the Deutsche Demokratische Republik from the sphere of Soviet influence.
Now Churchill was making the speech long before Stalin's blockade and the Berlin Airlift, so arguably, it was not foreseen that the USSR would retain suzerainty over the eastern part of Germany in the long run.
However when Churchill then goes on to list the capitals which fell within "Soviet influence", he includes Berlin among them. However Berlin is west of a line from Stettin to Trieste - and hence not "behind" it.
Perhaps what WSC should have said was "From Lubeck on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic...."
Was it just that Churchill got his geography wrong, or was there more to it than that?


texts: What is the status of Weber's protestant ethic thesis?

texts:
Max Weber in his famous book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism elaborates a thesis that relates the development of the capitalistic system is a result of the work ethic that emerged from Reformation.

From an historical point of view, and given that capitalism has expanded with time to many countries where no Protestant ethic is present, is this thesis consistent or not? is there a consensus in the historians' community on the issue?

I'm thinking in capitalism in Asiatic countries, or even inside Germany, nowadays the richest region is Bayern, which is Catholic; or the development of Austria. It is considered that the Protestant ethic permeated other cultures or that the thesis is not accurate? Or that maybe other cultures had to introduce a moral mechanism to be able to successfully apply the capitalistic system?

Is a wide question, but I'm interested in to know which is the status of the hypothesis among the scholarship. Has it been revised critically? Are there scholars that built theories on top of it?


texts: Could some of the Titanic passengers have climbed on the iceberg to survive?

texts: If the iceberg was large enough and not far away so that after the disaster that is was photographed, maybe some passengers could have climbed onto it in an effort to survive?


texts: What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme?

texts: This image, the template for the "Panzer of the Lake" meme, depicts a soldier from an unknown nation looking at what appears to me to definitely be a Panzer.  However, no-one seems to know the origins of the image.  So, where and when was this image taken, and where was the image originally published?


texts: Did people at the time think that the founding fathers were religious men?

texts:
People today think for some reason that the founding fathers were religious men, you know "Good-old Christians" and the sort.

Of course this isn't exactly true. Sure, they did think a god of some sort existed, but if they said things like "It's made one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites", and "Lighthouses are more useful then churches", then it's safe to assume that they were for the most part deists, merely using a god to "Fill in the gaps" if you will.

That said, they were also part of the upper class, a position that often buys you a chance to doubt your faith in a way the more desperate lower class folk often couldn't or didn't want to. Thus, it's safe to assume most people were more religious at the time.

But I'm curious, what exactly did the poorer majority think of their dear founding fathers religious stance(s)? Did they know of their doubts and if so did they think less of them for that? Or is it like today, where most people wrongly assume the founding fathers to be faithful men of the book, oblivious to their actual alignment?


texts: Where did the term "Radical Republican" come from? I know that Radical Republicans is term for a group of Republicans in the early Republican party in the mid 1800s, but was the term used at the time or later added by historians? Did they take pride in the term or was it derogatory?


texts: Ancient and medieval canteens (water-bottles)

texts:
Nowadays, water-bottles, aka canteens, are routinely issued to soldiers who serve in warm climates.

Was it the case in ancient times? In the Middle Ages?

The case I have in mind is the Battle of Hattin where the lack of water was one of the reasons for the Crusaders' defeat. Counterfactually thinking, had they brought along water-bottles, the outcome could have been vastly different. It has always puzzled me that they seemingly neglected this, since after almost 90 years in the East, they should have grasped by then the importance of carrying some water with you. Can anyone shed light on this issue?


texts: What sort(s) of identification were used before driver's licenses were issued in the US?

texts:
In the United States, before driver's licenses became a nearly universal means of identification (i.e., before autos), what form of identification was routinely used?  For example if one was arrested, how did they know who you were (or weren't)?  And all the other things we use them for?  (A big one being proof of age for drinking, but I assume there were no age limits for drinking back then.)

Obviously, passports were around before 1900, but I would think that most people, even if they did have a passport, wouldn't be carrying one with them all the time as an ID.

EDIT.

After first asking this question, I realized that another form of identification, birth records, have been around for centuries.  People use them to trace their family tree. 125 years ago, could you get a certified birth certificate from the county you were born like you can today?  I know they are needed to apply for a passport, and can be used to get a marriage license.  Anything else?  As a means of ID, they are not that useful, since they don't list any physical characteristics except for gender.  And obviously you wouldn't be routinely carrying one around with you.

And of course in addition to driver's license, today you have social security numbers (since 1935A) and credit cards (in general use since the late 1950's-early 1960's).  Sometimes when one is asked for ID, they are asked for a driver's license and one or two credit cards as a means of identification. Neither of these existed 100 years ago.


texts: Would a Syrian King have worn the toga after the Edict of Caracalla?

texts: As you may know, the Edict of Caracalla granted citizenship to all freeborn citizens of the Roman Empire. I'm writing a novel set several decades after this edict, and one of the characters is a Syrian king. His family was known for being a  Romanized Arab family, but since the East was so Hellenized, would he have worn the toga that had long been a marker of citizenship, or worn eastern trousers and a chiton of regular Palmyrenes and Syrians at the time?


texts: In what year was the conquest of the Incas completed?

texts: Following my other post about the Inca and Francisco Pizarro, I would like to know a simple fact: What year was the conquest of the Incas completed?


texts: What is "belligerent ground" as referenced in this 1863 General Orders signed by Abraham Lincoln?

texts:
I came across several things in General Order 100 signed by President Lincoln titled “Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field”, which can be found here. Article 50 states:
“Moreover, citizens who accompany an army for whatever purpose, such as sutlers, editors, or reporters of journals, or contractors, if captured, may be made prisoners of war, and be detained as such.
The monarch and members of the hostile reigning family, male or female, the chief, and chief officers of the hostile government, its diplomatic agents, and all persons who are of particular and singular use and benefit to the hostile army or its government, are, if captured on belligerent ground, and if unprovided with a safe conduct granted by the captor's government, prisoners of war.”
My question is what is belligerent ground? It seems to have some technical usage here that I can’t seem to find elsewhere. “ belligerent ground” is typically used in the context of “belligerent ground forces.” Can anyone help me out?


texts: Was there a fighter jet designed without cannons?

texts:
I have heard in the past that there was a jet fighter somewhere in the Korean War time (might also have been Vietnam) that didn't have any onboard cannons since at that time it was believed that air-to-air missiles made cannons obsolete. That fighter then had a bad reputation because close-range dogfights did indeed unexpectedly ensue and it was quickly realized that the lack of cannons was a big problem.
I think it was a US-produced plane.
Does anybody remember reports of such a plane (or maybe it's even more than one, as in a problem of a whole generation of jet fighters).
Update: Just found this post on the Aviation Stack Exchange site which answers my question


texts: Why are U.S. Northwestern metropolitan areas set back from the coast?

texts:
Why are U.S. Northwestern metropolitan areas (cities) set back from the coast? Everywhere in the U.S. major cities tend to sit close to coasts, because this is optimal for trade. Major continental cities also tend to be trade hubs for other reasons (rivers, crossroads, etc.).

Here's a map I made of Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA component counties are shaded and circles represent total MSA populations).

As you can see, Northwestern metropolitan counties form a strip which is separated from the coast by a breadth of at least one county, a pattern which cannot be found anywhere else in the U.S. Yet Seattle and Portland are substantial cities, comparable to other major coastal cities, if not the biggest.

Perhaps individual explanations can be found, such as that Seattle actually sits on the deep-set Puget Sound and Portland on the navigable Willamette River. Still, I am intrigued whether there is some kind of generic explanation for this pattern, e.g. no natural port on the coast or unnavigable currents or uninhabitable coast for some reason, but the coast is not steep and even seems to have plenty of estuaries. (An intermediate explanation is that population clustered along Interstate 5, but this only pushes the question back further to why the Interstate 5 was located there in the first place.)


texts: What were the native North American concepts of property rights and market exchange?

texts:
I just saw a documentary about the colonial time in North America and how the Lenape people sold the Delaware valley to Europeans. In this program a current Lenape "chieftain" claimed that the Lenape didn't understand the concept of buying and selling property.
I assume that the Lenape (and other people around them) owned property such as tools, weapons, jewelry and that they sometimes exchanged it with other tribes members or outsiders. How did such an exchange work if it wasn't based on a concept of owning and that certain pieces was available in abundance while others were rare?
Furthermore, what about land? Didn't Indians, after conflicts, reach agreement with surrounding tribes about border lines between them? That tribe A owned this area and B owned or controlled that area?


texts: Why would a 16th century Italian painter choose canvas over wood panel?

texts: In the 16th century, Italian artists transitioned from painting on wooden panels to canvas. Is there a significant difference between 16th century Italian wood panel paintings and canvas paintings? Did the medium affect the texture of the final product? Why would an artist choose wood over canvas, or vice versa?


texts:
I recently searched for any pipelines that might have existed in the Soviet Union before WW2. I did not find any. I also looked into the 5-year plans starting in 1928 and did not find any mention of a pipeline for hydrocarbon fuels.

The Soviets were known for their scorched earth policy and I've read much about destroying railroads and hydroelectric dams, but I've never heard of a pipeline. So I'm starting to wonder if any such pipeline existed before WW2.

What was the first fossil fuel pipeline in the Soviet Union? It could be crude oil, natural gas, or even some product like a gasoline pipeline. What was its route and when was it built?


texts: Where did the railroad companies find workers to build the rails?

texts:
In the building of the various transcontinental railroads in the western US during the late 1800s, how did the railroad companies find workers?

I suppose I'm looking for an answer like "They paid a construction company from Omaha to handle the laborers." or "They put an ad in contemporary newspapers in Shanghai.".


texts: How did an input of resources in 16th century Spain contribute to inflation?

texts: My history book claims that the flow of Silver from the New World to Spain in the 16th century contributed to an inflation. However, that seems very unintuitive. How could gaining resources lead to a worse economy? The only explanation I could think of is that the sellers in markets knew that people had more money (silver) so they could charge higher prices. However, I still don't understand, because this would mean all exports are bad, because they bring in outside wealth.


texts:
It seems that Germany must've been under incredible scrutiny especially by the British.

How was Hitler able to rearm?

Please provide specifics on personnel and weapons classes.


texts: in what form did William the Conqueror write the date of his own coronation?

texts:
This is a question about the English legal calendar as viewed by people living at the time, not as historians recorded it later.

New year shifts to 1-January

To the best of my understanding, the English calendar at the time of the Norman conquest was a variant of the Julian calendar with the difference that the new year began on 25-December, not 1-January.  So for example 24-December-1050 was followed by 25-December-1051.

William was crowned on what would have been 25-December-1067, but he altered the calendar, delaying the start of the new year seven days, matching the Roman standard of 1-January.  So how did contemporaneous accounts describe those extra days?  If they were part of 1066, then there would have been two dates called "25-December-1066", the day of the coronation and new year's day one year earlier.  How did they avoid the ambiguity?

New year shifts to 25-March

I'd also like to know about the next new year's shift in the English calendar about a century later.  The year 1154 ended on 31-December, but the start of 1155 was delayed to 25-March.  How were events that took place in the intervening 1-January to 24-March period recorded by people at that time or closely thereafter?

I'm familiar with Old Style / New Style dates used to differentiate between the 25-March year start (old style) and 1-January (new style, as of the most recent change in 1752).  But I'm assuming that terminology must have come much later.

Or is this the kind of pedantry that would not survive in a written record from that era?

The fact that these ambiguous periods existed is partly assumption on my part.  It seems much more likely that the new year would be delayed slightly than it would be started 358 days (for 1067) or 9 months (for 1155) early.

My best source for this is the 1869 book Handy-book of rules and tables for verifying dates with the Christian era by John J. Bond.  http://books.google.com/books?id=Liq4tEW3dc8C


texts: Before his arrival at St Helena, was Napoleon legally a prisoner of war?

texts:
I would like to know whether in law Napoleon was a prisoner of war when he surrendered himself to the British after the Battle of Waterloo, did he retain that status up to the point when he was landed at St Helena and did his legal status change at St Helena because it belonged to the East India Company rather than the British government?

Napoleon surrendered himself to the HMS Bellerophon on 15 July 1815. He was transported to the southern coast of England and eventually set sail for his imprisonment at St Helena on HMS Northumberland on 7 August. He reached St Helena on 1 October.

I think two treaties are relevant. First, the Convention of St Cloud was signed on 7 July 1815. This signified the end of hostilities and allowed the British and Prussian troops to freely enter Paris. Napoleon surrendered himself after this date.

More importantly (I think), the Treaty of Paris was signed by Britain and France on 20 November 1815. Article 10 of this stated: “All Prisoners taken during the hostilities, as well as all hostages which may have been carried off or given, shall be restored in the shortest time possible.”

A search of news stories in the London Times suggests in practice the British government did not start releasing French prisoners until late December 1815: “Government gave directions in the course of last week, of the agents of the prison depots at Forton and Dartmoor (Captains MOTTLEY and SHORTLAND) to provide vessels and send home all the French prisoners that are under their charge. Yesterday those in confinement at Forton commenced being shipped, either for Havre or Cherburgh". (The Times, 26 December 1815, p 3).

The relevance of all this is that Napoleon arrived at St Helena on 1 October, BEFORE the Treaty of Paris was signed. Since St Helena belonged to the East India Company, I suspect the island lay outside the jurisdiction of British courts AFTER the Treaty was signed (regarding the EIC's independent powers of legislation, especially pages 19 and 20). In other words, once he had been taken there, the British authorities were no longer obliged to release him according to the terms of the Treaty of Paris. It may be that that this was an important motive for sending Napoleon to St Helena, not just because it happened to be very isolated.


texts:
I have in front of me a map of South-East Europe (as depicted below) from the inside cover of the 1967 German edition of John Stoye's The Siege of Vienna. A detail shows  three then dukedoms situated to three sides of the Carpathian mountains: Transylvania to the West, Moldavia to the East and Wallachia to the South.

What is interesting to me is that one sometimes finds this pattern (different territorial domains on different slopes of a mountain range), whereas sometimes one finds the inverse (a single territorial domain with a mountain range at its center). The latter e.g. seems to be the case for the former princely county of Tyrol in the Alps (also pictured below), for modern Switzerland also in the Alps), and possibly for Georgia-and-Azerbaijan (both form parts of the Ciscaucasus and Transcaucasus respectively), Lesotho ("the only independent state in the world that lies entirely above 1,000 metres"), Timor-and-East-Timor, Haiti-and-Domenican-Republic, Guatemala-and-Belize and Honduras-and-El-Salvador vs. Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Norway-and-Peru (the latter two at least partly to both sides of major coastal mountain ranges.

I am wondering whether there is any systematic rule which may determine whether a given region will likely host one pattern or the other. For instance, if there are different cultures and languages from previous migrations on both sides of the divide, this clearly favors the first pattern; if there is a local important pass connection over the mountainous region, this may favor the second option (e.g. the case with the Gotthard Pass in the Swiss Alps, but certainly not universal: e.g. the Khyber Pass connects Pakistan and Afghanistan).

Are any such rules apparent from the study of human history (as well as geography)?

(dukedoms of Transylvania, Moldavia, Wallachia in the 17th century)

(princely county of Tyrol; notice the west-east main ridge of the Alps and the resulting a north-south drainage divide)


texts: Why did the Erdoğan government like to worsen Turkey's relationship with Israel?

texts:
Turkey has long been an ally of Israel. Turkey bought a lot of military products from Israel.

If Turkey hates Israel, they could have handled the situation much differently. Israel was in the process of delivering some major military products and Turkey is still not self-sufficient in those areas.

Why does the Erdoğan government not consider the alliance important? What is in their mind?


texts: WWI mainly developed in Europe. It only included the USA because Germans attacked a US ship. What did Japan have to do with Europe?


texts: Did the Canadian Tuxedo emerge out of the Wool Shortage of 1973?

texts:
I understand that the Hudson Bay Company is responsible for the proliferation of the "Canadian Tuxedo".  The Canadian Tuxedo is described as a denim jacket with jeans.  The denim jacket must have patches on it to fully qualify. However, I can't place a date on when this was done.

The wool shortage I refer to is mentioned in this Chicago Tribune article.  I understand this must have caused a change in consumer fashion and I have to imagine that it would have meant that making clothes out of cotton would be a suitable alternative.  However, I don't know if the wool shortage was that bad in that it would have made such longer lasting fashion trends.

Anyone have any firm dates on when the Canadian Tuxedo emerged and whether these two events are linked?


texts: Need help interpreting "silver" hallmark - 1706?

texts:
I'm looking for some assistance in interpreting the silver hallmark in the image below. EPNS tells us it's not real silver, could 1706 really be the true date with that in mind? What does the shell-like stamp tell us? Origin? Found in Sweden, while this may not necessarily be its origin.

Thank you very much,
Fredrik


texts: What was done to prevent electoral fraud in Texas following the controversial 1948 election?

texts:
In his second attempt at the Senate in 1948, Lyndon Johnson narrowly defeated Coke Stevenson in the Democratic primary when a box with 202 votes, largely in favour of LBJ, was found late in the counting. In the aftermath, Stevenson accused LBJ of having stolen the election and made unsuccessful attempts to overturn the result. There were allegations also surrounding earlier elections - Ross S. Sterling unsuccessfully charged Ma Ferguson with fraud in the 1932 Democratic gubernatorial primary and LBJ's first Senate attempt in 1941 was thwarted when his early lead was overturned due to late returns favouring W. Lee O'Daniel.

What actions were taken by the Democratic Party or by lawmakers to ensure that electoral fraud did not affect subsequent Texas elections?


texts: Why was salt so valuable? I don't understand it since it's very abundant in most areas and can even be taken from seawater. I have read several books and articles and none are very clear on this.


texts: How did medieval fishermen work a long line?

texts: How did medieval fishermen use a long line? What did they use as bait? How many hooks were there? When was it put out? When was it pulled in? I want as many details as possible.


texts: Have there been any known cases of governments/military powers PRETENDING to be incompetent, as a sneaky form of security?

texts:
This intrigues me, especially after reading a lot about WW2 ciphers and sneaky techniques by the British, etc.

Are there any known/famous cases of governments/military powers consistently and ambitiously creating one or more fake layers of "incompetence" around their operations, as to trick the enemy? I mean, something along the lines of:

Entity X is actually extremely smart with extremely sophisticated security, way ahead of everyone else.
The same entity "leaks" or "lets the enemy find out" about their seemingly sophisticated security layer, which they believe is the actual security, but is just nonsense/made-up intelligence, made to appear to be real, and possibly even revealing some parts of actual positions/plans, to appear as authentic as possible.
While the enemy rests assured that they have broken their security, they actually go on for a long time (maybe decades or even longer) with their actual secret operations never being discovered, because they have successfully sent everyone on a wild goose chase with their fake "incompetence".
The enemy eventually realizes this and then it's too late.


texts: Is there a symbol associated with Loki from the Norse pantheon?

texts:
I've been looking around for any kind of sign, symbol, sigil, or such that can be said to have anything to do with the deity Loki, of the Norse pantheon.

There doesn't seem to be anything as obvious as what the hammer Mjölnir is to T(h)or, of same pantheon. Is this to be expected? Is a symbol as strongly associated as Mjölnir the exception?


texts: How effective have Shariah-based Islamic Laws been at keeping the crime rate low in modern Saudi Arabia?

texts:
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is one of the strongest proponent of Shariah-based Islamic Laws.

Did it have any effect on the crime statistics of the country?

How effective have the criminal laws in Saudi Arabia been to keep the crime-rate low? Or, have the criminal laws not been effective?

Can you think of any country that has a comparable socioeconomic environment to KSA and has been successful in keeping their crime-rate low without using religious-based Laws?

Also please check this link...


texts: Time to travel around Europe in the 18th century

texts:
Is there a database, or something, available to find out what the average time for travelling inside Europe was in the 18th century for somebody not from nobility or diplomatic service.

Was carriage travelling was accessible to nearly anybody (I suppose not...)? Where all "low class" people then only travelling by walking?

Do you think using only google map in "walking mode" or Orbis would be enough to assume a length (let's see average of 8hours walking a day at 5km/h)?

I'm interested in the travels of a musician going in the 1720ths from Milan to Brussels, and then Brussels to London (including a boat then obviously). And possibility direct travels between Milan and London.

Many thanks for your help


texts: Why didn't Louis XVI print money prior to the French revolution?

texts:
I'm currently reading "Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution" by Simon Schama. It is an ok book.  There is a lot of divergence into the culture leading up to the revolution, which disrupt the flow of the book.
I'm only about half-way through, but a primary thesis seems to be that Louis XVI brought the revolution on his own head by calling the Estates-General.  The Estates-General was called because Frances' creditors essentially refused to extend credit to the effectively insolvent crown.  To quote from the book, p289

Investors in government funds - whether in Paris, Geneva, London or Amsterdam - calculated that a new regime was more likely to honor its obligations than the old one.

In this case the 'new regime' is referring to some sort of parliamentary style of system (e.g. something like the United Kingdom's constitutional monarchy).
Question :
Instead of resorting to calling the Estates-General, why didn't Louis XVI do what many (mostly unsuccessful) governments do and just print money?  Yes there is a (possibly significant) inflationary component, but perhaps it would have bought him time to make the financial and tax reforms to bring France back to solvency.


texts: Was there a law forbidding kingdoms in the Holy Roman Empire?

texts:
The Holy Roman Empire was founded in 962 when Otto the Great, King of Germany and Italy or Lombardy was crowned Emperor. All Emperors since then were kings of Germany and Italy, and since 1032 kings of Arles or Burgundy also.

But I read that it was illegal for there to be any kingdoms (except for Bohemia) in the Holy Roman Empire.

  However, according to Germanic law at that time, no kingdoms could exist within the Holy Roman Empire, with the exception of the Kingdom of Bohemia.

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

Does anyone know if there actually was such a law?


texts: When was Sri Ādi Śankaracharya born exactly? In Wikipedia and elsewhere there have been controversial dates, one claiming a birth in the 5th century B.C. and another around A.D.730-780. Why is there so much confusion amongst the different sankara mathas regarding the date of birth?


texts: Hand signal for suppressing enemy position in World War 2

texts: I've seen this in some movies and video games about world war 2. Basically whenever a ranking officer wanted to signal his troops to suppress an enemy position, he would sort of punch 2-3 times in forward direction. Could someone help me identify what this signal meant.


texts: What does the crested logo with a stacked "A C and I" on this Baldwin-Felts certificate mean?

texts: I was watching a PBS documentary The Mine Wars(25:30) where the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency is discussed. I noticed this crested logo which looks like it says “CIA Police” and was curious what it means and what organization it may reference.


texts: What ancient manuscripts were lost when the Huguenots destroyed the Cluny Abbey library?

texts: I've heard that the destruction of the great Cluny Abbey library (in the Burgundy region of France) both by the Huguenots (1562) and later during the French Revolution meant that a massive number of extremely important manuscripts were lost. I've read that the magnitude of this destruction in terms of lost knowledge was second only to the sacking of the great library of Alexandria. But it's hard to find an actual list of manuscripts purported to have been destroyed at Cluny.


texts: How did Italy and Germany get rubber in WWII?

texts: Japan invaded Southeast Asia and Indonesia to obtain rubber in WWII.  Germany and Italy clearly used large amounts of rubber in WWII to build vehicles and planes, but in the 1940s rubber was only available in South America, central Africa, and Southeast Asia, which the European Axis lacked access to, and any shipments of rubber would have been stopped by the allies' massive naval superiority.  So how did Germany and Italy have enough rubber to manufacture war equipment?


texts: How "excellent" were relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people?

texts:
Major Colin Powell, investigating on the massacre at My Lai, concluded that "relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people are excellent".

Surely in the case of My Lai they were not, but, generally speaking, how "excellent"  were relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese people?


texts: Are there any historical examples of possible alternatives to the "Nuclear Family"?

texts:
The nuclear family we see today is basically the smallest most regular social structure. Others exist like the company or the church, but at the end of the day most people ether live alone or within one of these family units.

That said, I'd argue this is actually not the most ideal structure, as it often results in those who live in ways that differ (gays, unmarried, alone, single mothers, etc) being unfairly shunned simply for not conforming.

With this, I'm just curious, Are there any examples in history of a family structure that could serve as a possible replacement for the nuclear family?

ps: Apologies if my questions suck, I'm new to this part of stackexchange.


texts: Free Silver movement: Why were Republicans opposed to it in the 1890s?

texts:
In history, we're learning about the free silver movement (and populism) that sprang up in the late 19th century. I understand why farmers and western miners wanted silver to be minted: more silver in addition to the treasury's existing gold would make the dollar worth more, which would 1) help farmers out of debt and 2) increase the miners' profit.

In his famous "Cross of Gold" speech, Democratic (populist) presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan suggested that the Republicans were trying to crucify working-class Americans on a "cross of gold". Most Republicans at the time supported the "gold standard".

What (if anything) was so bad about only having gold to back the dollar, and why did the Republicans oppose bimetallism?


texts: Why did so many Saxons emigrate to England?

texts:
I read some interesting DNA research recently showing that vikings left little or no DNA traces in the population of present day UK but Saxons on the other hand left a huge imprint.
It amazes me that so many could have moved across to England. It would surely involve massive immigration. They must have had large ships. Was Saxony very much overpopulated to have so many people able to move across the sea?


texts: What was the most expensive war of the 20th century?

texts:
Putting aside the enormous "cost" of wars in terms of human life and suffering, what about the economic costs? Once I studied the Vietnam war and Gabriel Kolko in one of his books described how much the Vietnam War cost the US in dollar terms.

So the shortlist:
World War One
World War Two
Korean War
Vietnam War
Gulf War

To keep it a bit simpler, my question is: which country spent the most money on a  war and which war was it? So the shortlist:

United States
England
Russia
Japan
Germany
Italy

Answers can use wars and countries not in these lists; there are other candidates.


texts:
Are there any ideas that one would have in History intuitively that would be disproven by analysis?

On the other hand, are there any intuitive historical ideas that have been verified by historians?

This could apply to any period in History. Thanks.


texts: What specific training did members of medieval military orders get?

texts:
What were the dominant martial and clerical themes to the training of knights in medieval military orders? Were there specific fighting or training techniques, or weapons, adopted to meet religious constraints? Also, what degree of additional religious competency or practice was expected from knights, and of their sergeants and officers as they progressed through the ranks?

I'm especially interested about Knights of Saint John and Knights Templar.


texts:
I could find only debates on the subject whether there was a plan "B" or not in case D-Day landing would have had actually failed. I wonder if there was an idea to make an alternative invasion plan.

I would be surprised to see that there was no plan "B" since that would mean the continent's fate had almost completely depended on the USSR's performance against Germany.

So was there such a plan?


texts:
Who built the Moti Masjid?

Google says it's Sahjahan who built it, but Wikipedia says it was built by Jahangir.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moti_Masjid_(Red_Fort) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moti_Masjid_(Agra_Fort) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moti_Masjid_(Lahore_Fort)


texts: Symbol on utility pole in photograph from 1906

texts:
I happened to notice this symbol:

on a utility pole in a photograph from 1906.

What's the meaning of that symbol?


texts: Were some Yugoslav "nationalities" more pro-Axis/Allied than others during World War II

texts:
"Yugo" (South) slavia, is actually a motley collection (mixed bag in the American idiom) of groups such as the Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Dalmatians, Macedonians, Bosnians, and others.

During World War II, "Yugoslavia" first "signed on" with the Axis, then switched to the Allies, leading to an invasion and occupation of the country by Germans, Italians, and Hungarians.

Were the different Yugoslav groups more or less UNIFORMLY ambivalent between the Axis and Allies in this regard? Or did this "ambivalence" stem from the fact that some Yugoslav groups favored the Axis and others the Allies, with the end result being determined by the infighting between them? Put another way, did the Germans and Italian occupiers regard some Yugoslav groups as being more "friendly"/collaborationist  or hostile than others?


texts: Was Columbus viewed as a failure at the time of his death?

texts:
Andrews (1984) writes:

  In his day, Columbus was considered to be more or less a failure, but he opened the way for the success of others. His death in 1506 was scarcely noted.

Are the above remarks true?


texts:
Is there a single, unified place where one can look up cuneiform signs for Sumerian words?  Unicode now supports cuneiform, but every source I've found has only transliterations, not actual cuneiform.

For example, I'd like to find this:

instead of this:

  ki-en-ĝir

Once again, I find myself wishing there were a sumerian.stackexchange.com.


texts: Is history always written by the victors?

texts:
The famous "history is written by victors" saying argues that the victors overwhelmingly influence historical accounts.

Are there any examples of history written by the(or THE) losers?


texts: Why the military revolution is a cause of the industrial revolution?

texts:
I've heard that the military revolution in Europe helps its to reach the industrial revolution. It's an answer to the question "Why the industrial revolution starts in Europe and not in China", while China and Europe had the same development levels in 1800.

But I don't understand the link between the military revolution and the industrial revolution. Could you explain me please ?


texts: Did the ancient Greeks ever climb Mt. Olympus?

texts:
We all know that the ancient Greeks believed that their gods lived on top of the mountain Olympus (and some of them in other places like the Underworld). But Olympus - they knew where it was (between Macedon and Thessaly) and also that mountain was never higher than 3.000 meters, so it was always pretty well climbable even in former times.

Is there any evidence of the ancient Greeks climbing Mount Olympus?


texts: Is the following claim concerning the loss of classical Latin literature substantiated?

texts:
I first came across an uncommonly precise claim that "94% of classical Latin literature was lost during the transition period of late antiquity" while listening to Peter Adamson's History of Philosophy without any gaps podcast. Upon further inquiring with Peter himself, I was able to find the source of this claim in G.W. Trompf, “The Concept of the Carolingian Renaissance,” Journal of the History of Ideas 34 (1973), 3-26:

  Doughty Cassiodorus may have kept alive the seven liberal arts and the
  teachings of Martianus Capella, but if my learned colleague J. A.
  Willis is right, there is some justification in the reckoning that 94
  per cent of of classical Latin literature was lost in the intervening
  period between Rome's downfall and Charlemagne's rise to power.

The article did provide a reference (see the attached image), but I was not able to find the referenced document anywhere after an extensive search online. Therefore, I was left uncertain as to whether the claim was valid or not.

I then thought of contacting Dr. Trompf himself through email, but have not been successful so far. In the meantime, I decided to post my concern as a question here with the hope that someone might either have access to the aforementioned reference, or is able to substantiate the claim with historical evidences.

Thanks.


texts: Why did Dorothy Dixers become prevalent in question time in Australia?

texts:
Anyone who listens to Question Time in Australia's parliament would notice the many questions from government backbenchers that invite ministers to either extoll the virtues of government policy or condemn the opposition as being dangerous for the country. However, there was a time when backbenchers would ask genuine questions regarding the impact of various bills on their electorates instead of Dorothy Dixers, which apparently only became popular in the 1950s.

Why did Dorothy Dixers displace genuine questions in Australian parliament? Did the practice receive similar uptake in state parliaments and irrespective of the party of government? What was the media's response?


texts: Was California named after a Moorish ruler called Queen Calafia?

texts:
I found this excerpt from a website discussing a theory concerning the naming of California. I want to find out what Historians say on this issue. The article is below.

Although some historical documents suggest that California was named
after “calida fornax” (hot furnace) and “cal y fornos ” meaning “lime
and furnace”, there is growing interest in another possibly true story
about the state’s origin: that California was named after a
black
queen by the name of Queen Calafia.
Historians say that a Spanish writer by the name of Garci Rodríguez de
Montalvo wrote a widely popular novel called Las Sergas de
Esplandián (The Adventures of Esplandián) around 1500. Las Sergas was
staged on the Island of California, said to be east of the Asian
mainland. Here is Montalvo’s description:

“Know that on the right hand from the Indies exists an island
called California very close to a side of the Earthly Paradise;
and it was populated by black women, without any man existing
there, because they lived in the way of the Amazons.
They had beautiful and robust bodies, and were brave and very strong.
Their island was the strongest of the World, with its steep cliffs and rocky shores.
Their weapons were golden and so were the harnesses of the wild beasts
that they were accustomed to taming so that they could be ridden,
because there was no other metal in the island than gold”
.–Las Sergas de Esplandián, (novela de caballería); published 1510.

Montalvo’s island of California was named after its Queen, Califia,
who is said to have been a beautiful black Moor and pagan.
She was on a mission to raise an army of women warriors and sail away
from California with a women army so to join a Muslim battle
against Christians who are defending Constantinople.
Though Queen Califia would ultimately face defeat, she captured the
imagination of many around the world, especially that of Spanish
explorer Hernán Cortés who would come to explore and name the state of
California.

So what do reputable historians think about this;
Was there ever a queen called Calafia?
If yes, was she a Moor?
If yes, was she black?
And if yes, was California named after her?


texts: British ship movements immediately after the armistice of 22 June 1940

texts:
The armistice of 22 June 1940 provided that northern and western France would come under German occupation. Walter Rudin, a Jew from Vienna, and a fellow Austrian were together in France at the time. Rudin later wrote in his brief autobiography that because it took some days for the German occupiers to get into place, British military ships remained in French ports for several days after the armistice was signed, taking on volunteers to serve in the continuing war against Germany. That is how Rudin joined the British navy, in which he served until the war was over.

What is the more complete story of the British ships in France after the signing of the armistice?


texts:
I have recently came across several news articles (for example) from various decades, talking about existing underground structures in the city of Rome, which used to be above ground at some point of settlement's history.

I understand that the layering happens due to a number of factors, like Tiber flooding the area, hills of Rome eroding over time, and human-made by-products of civilization piling up.

However, a couple of things aren't quite clear for me.

1) Are some of these ruined buildings actually structurally intact? Specifically, I am confused by certain allegations some articles have made, creating an impression that the older city is literally just sitting there, under a layer of soil, filled with dirt.

2) Assuming the building doesn't just disappear into a sinkhole overnight---how and why would ancient citizens build over them? Are there any historical accounts of this process/implications of having certain buildings be covered so much, you can't even get into the door?

3) Is there any art of a crossection of any such case of intact building under a newer one?

Specifically, I am not talking about basements and cellars, I am talking about surface level structures.


texts: What is the current consensus on the origins of the Brahmi script?

texts:
There seem to be two hypotheses about the origin of India's Brahmi script: It developed either from the Aramaic script or the Indus Valley script.

Is there any scholarly consensus regarding which of these hypotheses is correct?


texts: Did the treasure ship Cortes first sent from Mexico ever arrive in Spain?

texts:
When Cortes first arrived  in Mexico in 1519, some of his men threatened mutiny, saying they'd return to Cuba instead of fighting Indians. To prevent this, Cortes committed one of the most daring acts in the history of conquest—he burnt or beached 10 of his 11 ships. (That way no one could go back to Cuba.)

The last ship, though, Conquistador Cortes loaded with gold and other treasure and sent it to Spain. It is known that this treasure shop stopped at Cuba en route to Spain. (That's why the Cuban governor sent another expedition to Mexico—after learning of Cortes' success). After this stopping at Cuba, however, the treasure ship disappears from the annals of history.

Did it, after all, arrive in Spain and deliver its treasure to King Charles? Or did it sink on the way there? If so, is it recorded approximately where it sank or when it arrived in Spain?


texts: Where is or was the place called Apapis?

texts:
I've been trying to find out more about the origins of my rare surname Apap (from Gozo in Malta) and have been reading about its origin through military men with the surname De Apapis.

The first recorded of this name that I know was Milite Lancia De Apapis in Gozo born 1450, during Norman rule.

Since the Normans spoke French, De Apapis must have meant "from/of Apapis". What or where would " Apapis" refer to in this scope?

Was it a place in Malta that I am not aware of? None that I can find and Malta from what I know has a sketchy history due to lost documents. Could this link in with the word "papal" meaning "from the Pope"/" from the father" ?


texts: What is the meaning of this short passage in Thomas Carlyle's 'French Revolution'?

texts:
Look to it, D'Aiguillon; sharply as thou didst, from the Mill of St. Cast,
  on Quiberon and the invading English; thou, 'covered if not with glory yet
  with meal!' Fortune was ever accounted inconstant: and each dog has but his day.

I am reading Thomas Carlyle's French Revolution. But I have much difficulty in understanding this sentence from Volumn 1 Chapter 1 'Louis the Well-Beloved'.

Thank you very much for anyone who can explain this for me.


texts: Can Alexander III of Macedon's success be attributed to good logistics management?

texts: A friend of mine who majored in Classical History at Berkeley mentioned that we focus too much on Alexander's battles which are interesting studies in set pieces but not enough on how skilled he was in logistics management.  How integral was operational management during his campaigns and can someone provide examples over the course of his Persian campaign?


texts: What was the most important change that took place in American society as a result of the New Deal?

texts:
I'm having trouble identifying a singular, most important factor of the New Deal that changed American Society.

I'm leaning toward saying that the creation of the PWA was the most important factor because it basically pulled America out of the Depression. However, I'm having trouble identifying specifics that would support this argument. What am I not thinking of?

Also, if you do not think the PWA was the most important part, then please explain what you believe to be most important and why.

Thanks for the help! I really suck at specifics when it comes to history.


texts: When during their construction did Bible-era Jewish temples become "holy"?

texts:
As is well documented in the Bible and elsewhere, in Bible times, the innermost area of a temple (often referred to as the Holy of Holies) was only permitted to be occupied by the head priest, and even then only once per year.
My question is: when during planning or construction was that location designated as a holy place?
Until designated as a holy place I would assume that craftsmen, construction workers, etc. would be allowed to occupy that space during construction, but I don't know for sure.  It's also possible that the head priest would do all the work himself, but am not familiar with the culture and skills of that time period to know for sure whether he'd have been a jack-of-all-trades, or if the skilled construction would be performed by others.


texts: Have the Pyramid Texts been translated into German?

texts:
I would like to know if the Pyramid Texts have been "officially" translated into German and, if so, where I can find them. I am interested in the texts of Pepi I.

There are some Incantations of Pepi I. listed in a thesis I am working on, which the author took from "The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts" James and Peter, 2005. I found them in English and French, but am desperate searching for the German one, as the Pyramid Texts are very complex, and each detail can ruin a translation.

I checked (the following resources do not have what I'm looking for):

Hartwig Altenmüllers,
Louise Gestermann
the European Library and didn't find anything.


texts: Why didn't Russia and Japan sign a peace treaty after WW2?

texts:
I have read that Russia and Japan, which had been fighting long before World War I, are still at war, at least technically, since they did not sign a peace treaty at the conclusion of World War II.

So, the question is, why have Russia and Japan not signed a peace treaty?


texts: What is the best book to learn about medicine in medieval times? (research for a novel)

texts:
I am writing a novel where the main character is a healer in medieval times / a low-technology environment. Most of his work would involve field medicine, or treating people generally as a village healer.

I don't know anything about medicine myself, so what is the best source for me to learn about things like medieval first aid, stitching and closing wounds, herbal medicine, and other medieval medical practices (like stopping infection or the spread of disease)?

This is a fantasy novel so there's no specific time period.

Notes about the time period/medical practices

Healers follow everyday/traditional wisdom.
There are no serious things to deal with (like plagues).
Healers mostly use natural/herbal remedies that have been tried and tested by previous healers.
They are open to research/innovation

Thank you for all your suggestions.


texts: Is the Afghan hat related to the Macedonian hat?

texts:
This is a Greek king of Bactria (Afghanistan):

The fashion was followed after Alexander the Great. It is based on Macedonian berets ("kausia"):

This is an Afghan hat ("Pakol"):

Worn here by a Pakistani politician Imran Khan

Worn here by an Afghan political/militant leader Ahmad Shah Massoud

Is there a connection?


texts: Why did the Germans spare Allied troops trapped at Dunkirk?

texts:
I haven't seen the movie but know enough of the story to understand that Allied troops had fallen back to Dunkirk for evacuation but were trapped there until transport came.

I also understand that the German army called off the invasion/annihilation of these troops for some reason.

Why did Germany not pounce on this easy opportunity to wipe out large numbers of Allied troops?


texts: Did the Republic of Venice use range voting?

texts:
It's claimed on RangeVoting.org that

The 41 elected the Doge (from among nominees they chose; any of the 41 could write a name on a slip of paper, and from then onward, that name was a candidate) by range3 voting!
This choice theoretically was subject to approval or veto by the mass of the people (assembly) but I am unaware of any instance in which that veto was exercised. This perhaps meant this step was a mere formality with the People not really having any power. But another interpretation is that the threat of a veto kept the Grand Council honest in its choice – they refused to risk the embarrassment of a veto.
The voters employed "range3" voting to elect the Doge. That is, each voter gave a score from the 3-element set {-1, 0, +1} to each candidate (this was accomplished via a scheme involving balls you could put into boxes, where there was one box for each candidate). The candidate with the greatest score won. However, there was also a supermajority requirement: in order to win, you had to get at least 25 "approval" (i.e. +1) votes. This, note, exceeds a bare majority (which would be 21). If the winner did not achieve this 25-approval threshold, then deliberations by the 41 would continue with re-votes as necessary until somebody achieved the threshold.

The page seems well-enough researched, but it is also not beyond a reasonable assumption of confirmation bias toward proving that range voting is not without precedent. Is the historical record as viewed by other contemporary sources on the Republic of Venice consistent with this range3-voting interpretation?


texts: Were there interstate tariffs before the US Constitution (1789)?

texts:
I've heard many times that the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution was (in part) designed to end tariffs between the thirteen states.  Now that I'm trying to learn about those tariffs, I'm having a very hard time finding any information about them at all.

Were there tariffs charged on goods moving between states in the US before 1789?
How about before 1776, between the thirteen colonies?

(I'm expecting the answers to be yes (regarding the states) and no (regarding the colonies), but I have no evidence at this time.)


texts: Is there an example of one picture painted by different painters?

texts: s there a (famous) example of the same art work created by different painters? I mean the following situation: painter X starts a painting, painter Y continues the same painting, and painter Y finishes it. What is the final result? Mix of styles? The homogeneous work looking like a product of a single artist? Anything else?


texts: What were the post World War 2 effects on Germany?

texts: What were the impacts of WW2 on Germany? Obviously the war meant that a lot of resources were spent and that the youth population was significantly reduced. How did this affect Germany's post war economy and the life of people in general? Were the Germans discriminated against thereafter for being supportive of the Nazi regime while they were under it?