texts: Was there a precursor to the Bolshevik Party?

texts:
My family is originally from the Odessa, Russia area and my whole life I've been fed the following story about my great grandfather:

My great grandfather, a man named Isaac Wasserman, who apparently was Russian Orthodox Jewish, was a socialist and was a ranking member to a political reform party that was a precursor to the Bolshevik Party. So, he was not a Bolshevik, but according to my family, this was a party similar to the Bolsheviks that preceded them and failed miserably to overthrow the czar/monarchy.

Apparently my great grandfather was some form of leader in this party, and when their coupe failed sometime in the early 20th century (1905-ish is the year I've been told a few times), he was sentenced to some Siberian gulag...from which he escaped, returned to Odessa, grabbed his wife (my great grandmother) and the two of them fled to America. They changed their name when they came to America so as to sever ties with their Russian roots, and thats how I got my surname. That's the story I've been fed for the last 30 years at least.

I'm interested in trying to vet out this story's accuracy and figured I'd start here trying to figure out what this "Bolshevik precursor" party might have been. Anybody have any idea what party this might have been?


texts: Middle east and North africa population during the high middle ages

texts:
I am looking for this information everywhere, but I can't seem to find the population of anyone else but the Europeans during the middle ages.

We know that the population of the European countries reached 70 to 100 million people during the high middle ages, but there are no estimations about anyone else.

I have found some information about Egypt in the early middle ages, that a cencus estimated the male adults where about 12 mil people, which I think is highly impropable.

Can anyone provide any actual numbers about the neighboors of the Europeans during that time, backed by any kind of credentials (even not widely accepted)?


texts: Under which conditions does the losing party actively commemorate a battle?

texts:
I am trying to understand under which conditions battles are predominantly remembered and commemorated by the losing party (who acknowledge their defeat), not the victors. This is not who gets to write the history of a battle but which losing party appropriates it and why. And directly related: When do winners refrain from commemorating a battle?

I am not interested in a complete list, but in the conditions under which the loser comes to actively keep memories of the battle alive.

Examples which come to mind are the Battle of Kosovo 1389, the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of Arnhem - both 1944.

My question somewhat differs from this one on the writing of history by the victors (Is history always written by the victors?)


texts: Is the modern German language the same as it was in Roman times?

texts: Was the German language influenced by any other languages? How did the German language get to what we hear today? I know that the letters were influenced by Latin, but did the language change or just adopt Latin letters?


texts: Are there ways to measure "how much power did "Russia" lose when the Soviet Union broke up?"

texts:
Russia today is the largest country in the world (by a fairly wide margin). That is true after the other 15 or so "Socialist Republics" left and went their separate ways in 1991, leaving Russia with a bit more than three quarters of the former Soviet land area. If physical size were the main determinant of power, Russia would not have lost all that much.

Another measure of Russia's lost power is the decline of population. Here, the loss was more serious, because Russia was left with only about half of the population of the former Soviet Union. And today's Russia seems to be a shadow of its "former" (Soviet) self.

So is one fourth (based on land) or one half (based on population) a better (rough_ guess of the decline in Russian power when the Soviet Union broke up? Are there any other other measures of power (e.g. GDP, nuclear warheads, troop strength, Nobel Prize winners, or any other relevant power source) that might provide a better estimate of Russia's loss?


texts: High-altitude naval bombing in World War II

texts:
When reading through Wikipedia's articles on naval battles of World War II, you'll often encounter sentences like the following:

  Also during this time, several U.S. B-17 heavy bombers attacked the crippled Ryūjō but caused no additional damage.

Were there any instances where high-altitude bombing of ships had a significant impact, or even managed to hit the intended target?


texts: Where is it recorded that Spartan common meals were followed by a recounting of noble deeds?

texts:
I'm having trouble finding a particular historical reference.

In On Manly Courage: A Study of Plato's Laches, on page 57, the author implies that Spartan common meals were followed by the recounting of noble deeds. "[Lysimachus] and Melesias are raising their sons in the bracing military discipline of the Spartan syssitia (common meals), and evenings after dinner they tell the boys tales of their ancestors' noble deeds (kala erga) in war and peace." While he doesn't outright say it, in context it seems fairly clear that he means that recounting deeds after meals itself emulates a Spartan practice.

If this is the case, I'd like to confirm it with a primary source. If not, I'd like to confirm otherwise from someone more familiar with Spartan history.

Wikipedia seems to confirm the point, at least for Crete if not Sparta, saying meals were followed by "conversation, which was first directed to the public affairs of the state and afterwards turned on valiant deeds in war and the exploits of illustrious men, whose praises might animate the younger hearers to an honourable emulation." But it does not cite a clear source for that. Plutarch in his Life of Lycurgus says "They used to send their children to these tables as to schools of temperance ..." Aristotle makes several references to common meals in Politics, but a word search did not turn up what I was looking for. I also looked at book four of Athenaeus, which is referenced on the above wiki page, but the Lacedaemonian section didn't have the answer.

Is there a primary source that confirms Spartan (or reasonably comparable, i.e. Cretan) common meals were followed by the recounting of public affairs and noble deeds?

Edit: As sempaiscuba rightly pointed out, the Wikipedia article is quoting Athenaeus after all (found here) - I'd just gone a little cross-eyed and went off looking in the wrong place. But this still refers to Crete of course. As stated above, that works just fine for my purposes, and it may very well be the passage the Laches commentary is obliquely referencing, but I'll leave the question open for another day or two in case anyone has an answer for Sparta in particular.


texts: What is the significance of "Flappers" in American history?

texts:
The Flapper image of the 1920's  American history of cosmetics seems to transform the cultural image of the feminine. However, I cannot piece together exactly how this change came about. I read about the Gibson Girl and the new ideal of feminine beauty, but it doesn't quite explain how that fad became so immensely popular and widely adopted. Why was the mindset of the Flapper is so jarringly different from the women before that generation?

What is the history of Flappers and this new image of femininity?


texts: What does the forward "Bullnose" of a Bailey Bridge that is under construction look like?

texts: I read an excellent book titled "First Across the Rhine: The 291st Engineer Combat Battalion in France, Belgium, and Germany". In it, they describe some of the many functions that are performed by a WW2 Engineering Company in combat, including the construction of Bailey bridges under fire. They call the repositionable forward section of a Bailey bridge under construction the "Bullnose". As the bridge is being built, the Bullnose gets repositioned forward as each section of the bridge is put in place behind it until the span is completed and the Bullnose is removed. Although I have found several sites on the internet that discuss Bailey bridges, I cannot find an image of the forward most section known as the "Bullnose". What does the Bullnose of a Bailey bridge under construction look like?


texts: Why was the Council of Nicea held in Nicea rather than Rome or Constantinople?

texts:
The title sums it up quite nicely. At school, we refer to the 5 centres of the Christian world as being Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria. I'm only wondering if there is any evidence as to why Nicea was chosen as the location for such an important event.

Edit: I'm referring to the 325 first council where the Nicene Creed was written.


texts: Why were the Istein and Schliengen enclaves transferred from Switzerland to Baden?

texts:
Before the French revolutionary wars, the principality of Basel had 2 enclaves in the Rhine valley of what is modern Germany.

Istein (also including Huttingen and maybe Wintersweiler)
Schliengen (also including Steinenstadt and probably Mauchen).

At restoration time, the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved and many small German states were united to form the Grand Duchy of Baden. It is however unclear why the two Swiss enclaves were given to the Grand Duchy of Baden.

It could be that "this simplifies the map", however I do not think that's the reason, as the border between Switzerland and Baden was kept very complicated near Schaffhausen, where it is still very complicated to this day (even though one small enclave was removed in the 1960s). Plus, I do not think simplifying maps were the priority of people at the time (I could be wrong).

Is there any particular reason Switzerland could not keep those enclaves ?


texts: How did Hitler view his botched career as a painter?

texts:
It's well known that Hitler wanted to be a painter. But his painting were pretty drab and it is said that he lacked the talent.
My question is how did he view his botched career as an artist in the years 1924-1945? Did he admit that painting wasn't his strong suite or was it more like he thought he was an amazing painter but even better Chancellor? Did German art critics dare to say what they thought about the paintings?


texts: Is there historical evidence on what might have been a maximum hair length for males in 1st century Judea?

texts:
I am interested in getting a better idea of what a maximum acceptable hair length might have been for Jewish men in the Roman province of Judea (i.e. Israel).

Because the province at the time was populated also by Roman and Greek peoples, I am also interested in what the hair length standards might have been in those cultures within this territory.

Is there any evidence of men wearing shoulder length hair, or does all evidence that we have point to even shorter hair lengths? What would the available evidence consist of?


texts: How (not why) did the Bolshevik party seize such complete control of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets?

texts:
How (not why) did the Bolshevik party seize such complete control of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets ("the supreme governing body of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1917 until 1936, effectively").

I'm not asking why it happened, as there's all sorts of explanations (individual persons, the party's platform or structure, the civil war, the failure of the German revolution, and so on) but how the Bolshevik party did it, as (says Wikipedia, and it makes sense I feel) their

  combination was theoretically designed by Vladimir Lenin and
  placed into practice by Bolshevik party


texts: Mouse as an Ancient Remedy - Official Critique

texts:
The mice has been extensively used in ancient times as a healing remedy; Claudius Galenus (AD 129-200) quoted from Cleopatra’s book on cosmetics:
“The following is the best of all, acting for fallen hairs ... Of domestic mice burnt, one part...”

It is clear, however, that chopped up mice is not an effective remedy. I need a citable source (preferably an article) that critiques the use of a mouse as a remedy. Due to the obscure nature of my query, google searches haven't been able to find me any critiques.

Can someone point me to a modern article that refutes or praises the ancient use of a mouse as a remedy?


texts: Was Napoleon as short as "common knowledge" states?

texts:
I once saw a mention (on cracked.com) that Napoleon, whom pretty much everyone believes was of very short stature, was actually close to average height for his time/demographics, and that the short height that is commonly ascribed to him was due to lack of standard measurement in Europe during his life.

Is there any plausible historical evidence to address this issue?

E.g., impartial textual or painting artifacts depicting his height (from sources who would have had no reason to distort it up or down); or better yet, biological reconstruction from skeletal remains; or some material artifacts that he owned (clothing/bed/weapons/etc.)?


texts: Was Ashoka motivated more by economics rather than religion in giving up war?

texts: Is there any evidence to support the idea that Ashoka's aversion to war might have been due to inflationary economics rather than religion or remorse? Such as say the degradation in the value of coins over the period of expansion of the empire?


texts: Were Roman marching songs still bawdy during principate/dominate?

texts:
We know from writers such as Suetonius in his Vita Divi Iuli that legionnaires would sing some quite raunchy and bawdy tunes, even during a triumph of their leader.

There were open allusions to sexual habits, political duplicity, such as in the Urbane:

Chap 49:

  All the Gauls did Caesar vanquish, Nicomedes vanquished him;

  Lo! now Caesar rides in triumph, victor over all the Gauls,

  Nicomedes does not triumph, who subdued the conqueror."

Chap 51:

  Men of Rome, keep close to your consorts, here's a bald adulterer.

  Gold in Gaul you spent in dalliance, which you borrowed here in Rome."

I've been looking into whether this was common and considered a perk of the legions throughout the Roman Republic and Empire.

Do we have any records of this going back to, say, Marius?

Was this still permitted during a triumph of a later princeps? What about during the dominate? Are there records from that time (even if disapproving, such as by Christian writers)?

Edit:

An interesting article here: Roman Military Research Society, especially on the scarcity of sources and attempts at reconstruction.


texts: What were an American soldier's chances of being wounded, on the Front Lines of Vietnam?

texts:
The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. Although the percent that died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. - Vietnam War Facts, Stats and Myths

It is remarkable that 10% of soldiers who served in the war were casualties. This number must contain soldiers who were not serving on the front lines, but as engineers, logistics, cooks, and other roles. This lead me to wonder what the casualty rates were like for soldiers serving as front-line troops, particular those serving in the hotter areas of the conflict.

Whatever the rate of being wounded among such men is, divided by the 240 days of combat a year it would likely be very high chance of being wounded every day.


texts: Is there a Russian Black Legend? (a dispute about the morality of Russia's colonial expansion)

texts:
In the early modern era several European nations dramatically expanded their territory through conquest. All of them used violence and coercion to push their frontiers forward.

The notion that Spain's conquest was uniquely brutal and immoral became a meme called the Black Legend. Even now the neutrality of the preceding Wikipedia article is being disputed. Some people see it everywhere and some think it never existed. Certainly more writers claimed to identify it than claimed to accept it.

Is there a similar dispute about the morals and methods of Russian expansion? If so, what is the name of that debate, and in which countries and eras did the key narratives arise?


texts: Is there, or was there ever a venue known as "Cobo Arena" in Detroit?

texts:
I'm having much confusion with identifying the history of the venues in downtown Detroit, Michigan. What was known as "Cobo Hall" at the time was built in 1960. Currently, what is at the site is known as "Cobo Center." This site has been upgraded and renovated several times throughout the years.

Some websites, such as this one, state that Cobo Hall and Cobo Arena were both built adjacent to each other in 1960. The caption for this 2003 photo states that it shows Cobo Hall and Cobo Arena standing next to each other.

 image source: Detroit Free Press

At some point (I believe 1979) there was built the Joe Louis Arena adjacent to the center. Several websites indicate that the Joe Louis Arena has been closed for several years. Some also say that Cobo Arena has been closed for several years.

This site from 2012 talks about the beginning of demolition of Cobo Arena.

This site from February 2018 talks about the impending demolition of Joe Louis Arena.

The website for Cobo Center does not contain any mention of an arena, but shows several spaces marked as Hall A, B, C and D inside the center.

Google maps has indications marking Cobo Center and Joe Louis Arena.

My question is this: Was there, or is there a structure known as "Cobo Arena?" If so, where exactly is/was it. When things say they occurred at Cobo Hall, such as the recording of the 1974 Kiss album Alive! in which space did they occur?


texts: How long did it take to make a 16th Century arrow?

texts: While researching 16th Century arrow making, I read an article on the length of time to produce a complete arrow. My computer crashed before I secured the article, so if anyone can help it would be appreciated.


texts: Why were ships-of-the line not supposed to open fire on frigates during fleet actions?

texts:
Found this passage in the book Patrick O'Brian's Navy (p. 57)

  In the era of fighting sail there was an unspoken convention that line-of-battle ships did not fire on frigates during any fleet action unless the frigate opened fire first. [...] This convention applied only in a general fleet engagement, so a frigate caught alone while cruising, for example, was "fair game" for any larger ship.

I'm curious about this convention. How did it develop and what was its intended purpose? Naturally, in a battle, any enemy should be "fair game", but if this convention was observed, it must have had a clear benefit to everyone.


texts:
There's an old joke to the effect of "Wessex was the kingdom of the West Saxons, Essex was the kingdom of the East Saxons, Sussex was the kingdom of the South Saxons, Middlesex was the kingdom of the Middle Saxons, and the North Saxons disappeared for obvious reasons".

Why wasn't there a Kingdom of the North Saxons?  All the other cardinal directions are represented.


texts: What are the social preconditions for division of labour, when compared in different emerging civilizations?

texts:
I would like to know if historians/economists/sociologists agree on the preconditions required for division of labour in ancient and/or earlier societies. Are there any common preconditions and historical developments concerning the process of an emerging civilized society with differentiated division of labour? Are there any examples of different ancient and earlier societies/tribes with strongly different developments leading toward division of labour, or highly different systems of it?

One may assume different factors and necessary conditions determining and furthering this process, my speculative reasoning would include factors and conditions like:

social classes (as in Maya Civilization), you need someone to do tasks that no one wants to do (e.g. harvesting, building infrastructure, streets), a kind of social hierarchy, established by culture, laws (roman society), religion...or very cheap workers (slavery)
settledness, marriage between different families to further interdependencies and trust between small groups, building a societal network and relatedness.
social order of values, jurisdiction or at least commonly accepted authority like a priest or kind of police, or no one will do investments and specialize in his craft (worst case for example "peasant wars", which I would judge as an imbalance of division of labour)
minimum level of craft, so you can make a living of it, your knowledge and craft cannot be easily substituted
minimum population size (modern geography scientists mention minimum of 500-1000  habitants for a modern village, otherwise it's not economically sustainable, no shops, no physicians will settle down, not enough volunteers for fire brigade, of course this will be smaller for different ancient and earlier villages with less complex daily needs and economic output)
redundancy, having only few weaver, alchemists, tinsmiths might be too risky to concentrate purely on your craft in smaller tribes
(money or another "currency", probably a furthering, but not necessary factor)

Therefore I would assume that nomadic tribes cannot show very differentiated division of labour or huge potential for a differentiated social organization (this might be one place to start search).

You may say that animals show division of labour also, but I mean really a degree of division of labour where somebody has to rely on somebody else (e.g. producing enough food for the winter so he can concentrate on and specialize in his, e.g., carpenter/weaver work).

Which of these items (I probably missed some) are necessary to establish a lasting and growing in differentiation division of labour? I demand more than personal reasoning for an accepted answer, at least quotes of a historian, who compared several civilizations (Norbert Elias might be a hint, but I don't know his complete work), like, e.g., Maya, Egyptian and Roman Civilization (there might be better examples with more data).

Do historians agree on common preconditions for development of division of labour or are there different ways leading to such a state of society? Do we have an accurate picture of how differentiated ancient economies must have been or can we deduce from today's knowledge about division of labour how social and economical life in ancient economies must have been and was organized? I'm more interested to understand how a differentiated system of division of labour originates and evolves in smaller tribes. I assume it's a pretty continuous and self-organizing process, especially in pre-ancient societies, more driven by needs and chance than economical and political managment. Division of labour is (iin my opinion) the difference defining a un-/civilized society, and a im-/balance will often trigger societal/economical regress/progress and therefore social freedom and stability. Of course, an answer falsifying my speculative reasoning or playing the role of this economic view of societies down would also be acceptable by quoting some historians/sociologists. Surprise me ;) .


texts: Is the Tokugawa escape scene in Clavell's "Shogun" historically accurate?

texts:
In the TV miniseries, Shogun, based on James Clavell's novel of the same name, there is a scene in which the Tokugawa Ieyasu character is one of five regents but seems to be trapped in a castle in some way. Then he disguises himself as a woman and escapes hidden in a palanquin with his large retinue. After he is gone, one of his retainers presents his "resignation" to the castle owner.

Summaries I have read of Tokugawa's career do not seem to mention this episode in his life. Is it fiction or based on history?


texts: Is there any valid basis for this claim that German Emperor Wilhelm II and the Hohenzollern family had Jewish blood?

texts:
In his book Semi-Imperator, genealogist Wilhelm Pickl von Witkenberg claimed that the Hohenzollern family had Jewish blood.

I understand this claim is highly unlikely. Nevertheless, it has aroused my curiosity.

Clearly the official Wilhelm II's family tree, so to speak, does not include any Jewish connections, unless you consider ancestors such as  Ferdinand II of Aragon or Elizabeth of York, who apparently did have Jewish origins.

Does anybody have the Emperor Wilhelm II's family tree built by Pickl von Witkenberg?


texts: What was the state of the art of salt production before the invention of graduation towers?

texts:
According to Wikipedia,

  A graduation tower (occasionally referred to as a thorn house) is a structure used in the production of salt which removes water from a saline solution by evaporation, increasing its concentration of mineral salts. The tower consists of a wooden wall-like frame stuffed with bundles of brushwood (typically blackthorn) [...] The salt water runs down the tower and partly evaporates; at the same time some minerals from the solution are left behind on the brushwood twigs.

The graduation tower produces a more concentrated brine, saving energy in the salt production down the line.

The process engineering behind these devices is quite straightforward, the twigs provide contact surface and the open construction allows air exchange. This is simple stuff with a modern understanding of the physics of evaporation, and trickle down column reactors are an old hat. I want to understand how someone invented graduation towers without the modern analytical toolkit and knowledge, for this I want to know possible precursors.

According to German Wikipedia, the first graduation tower was built (using straw) in the 16th century. Graduation towers were common in  what today is Poland, Austria and Germany. What was the state of the art of salt production in these areas before graduation towers came along? Was there any unit operation/process step before boiling the brine?


texts: After the Japanese declaration of War, what happened to the Japanese Embassy in Washington DC?

texts:
The Japanese Declaration of War against the UK and USA was given on 1941 Dec 7. This happened in Washington DC via the Japanese Embassy.

I would like to know what happened to that embassy and the Japanese diplomats there. Were they arrested and sent to an internment camp? Was the embassy raided for documents and shut down?

I did see this article of Nomura, which says

  On August 20, 1942, Nomura returned to Japan. He continued to serve in an unofficial capacity as an advisor to the government through World War II, and was appointed to the Privy Council in May 1945.

However, it is unsourced and does not give details, e.g., was he arrested and spent half a year in an internment camp before being released to Japan? And I'm asking about all the Japanese diplomats at the embassy, not just Nomura.


texts: Did Argentine President Juan Peron grant free access to the radio, the press and two soccer stadiums to a preacher called Tommy Hicks in 1954?

texts:
The title is a summary of claims I've read from several informal sources. For example, this site claims:

It was in this environment that Tommy Hicks was welcomed into the presidential office. After Hicks informed the president what he was asking permission for [...] and the president then gave Hicks and the evangelism committee their requests:

Use of the 45,000 seat Atlantic Stadium
Free access to state radio and press
Freedom to preach anywhere they wanted

The evangelistic services began in the 45,000-seat Atlantic Stadium on April 14, 1954, with around 6,000 in attendance (it lasted 52 days).

It wasn’t long till the Atlantic Stadium’s 45,000 seats were maxed out, without even standing room being left. Crowds gathered for blocks around the stadium in every direction. To accommodate those outside the stadium, loudspeakers were installed so they could hear the Gospel message that was being preached every night. Out of necessity, the services were then moved to the 110,000-seat Huracán Stadium on May 22, which also began to overflow

Similarly, the description of this amazon product claims:

He suggested to the local church committee the possibility of hiring a 25,000-seater stadium and employing the press and radio to advertise the meetings.
This seemed absolutely absurd but Tommy Hicks, unwavering in his faith, made arrangements to visit the Argentine dictator leader, President Juan Peron. [...] which secured the availability of the Atlantic Stadium with a seating capacity of 25,000.
Soon overwhelming crowds forced them to relocate to the Huracán Football Stadium with a seating capacity of 110,000, which also overflowed.

And this site:

The next day the guard greeted Tommy and his interpreter cordially and escorted them to President Peron’s door.  The President greeted Tommy and his interpreter and after asking them to be seated, asked the reason for them coming.  Pastor Hicks carefully explained to Peron the plans for the city – wide salvation – healing crusade planned. [...] He also asked for full rights for the evangelicals to meet in stadiums and arenas of the nation. [...] At this meeting President Peron sat down and signed the total freedom for the evangelical church in Argentina.

And lastly, this site:

Tommy Hicks returned the next day and was soon ushered into the presence of this feared leader. He quickly explained that he wanted to conduct a salvation-healing campaign in a large stadium, with press and radio coverage. [...] Needless to say Peron gave Tommy everything he requested. The Atlantic Stadium with a seating capacity of 25,000 was rented. Soon overwhelming crowds forced them to relocate to the Huracane Football Stadium with a seating capacity of 110,000.

Are there reputable sources either confirming or refuting whether Juan Peron ever granted free access to the radio, the press and the Atlantic and Huracán stadiums to a foreign preacher named Tommy Hicks and his evangelism committee in 1954?


texts:
I'm interested in battles that were won by much weaker side or even lost by it, but for example making the stronger side to keep fight against this weaker force and thus providing it strategic victory. This might be by high morale, skills of the defending commander (of course also brave attacks of the weaker side are also accepted) or -- last not least -- just luck. I would like not to take into account battles, where "weaker" side was equipped in some devastating weapon, say two tanks against million of spear-men, so eg. conquest of Peru (ca. 1520-1530) with Spanish having muskets and horses is not accepted.

I'm also not interested in heroic suicides that were clueless and achieve nothing but great remembrance in national poetry (like Massada (ca. 72) or both Warsaw Uprisings (1943 and 1944)).

From my first research, the most known are:

Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC), where Spartans kept resistance against much larger Persian army, being defeated eventually, but allowing other Greek forces to prepare to fight,
Battle of Crécy (1346) and similar battle of Agincourt (1415) where English forces, being outnumbered ca. 2:1, won with minimal losses, having better weaponry and combined with terrain advantages,
siege of Rhodes (1480) where Knights Hospitaller stood to much larger Ottoman army, being outnumbered at least 10 times,
Battle of Kircholm (1605) where outnumbered Polish hussars (ca. 3000) destroyed Swedish forces (11000), having minimal losses,
Rorke's Drift (1879), where the weaker side was better armed than stronger one, but in this case it was also high morale of defenders and use of available terrain,
East Africa Campaign (WW1) where combined German and native (askaris) troops managed to keep attention of large Allied forces during the war, surrendering few days after the Armistice, being the German longest-fighting unit,
cruisers of German Empire, like Emden and Dresden (in WW1 too), binding some part of Royal Navy for long time.

These pointed by me are the most popular in culture. Are there any less known, but in which the weaker side should be honored for its bravery?


texts: How was the "backcountry" underrepresented, eventually leading to Bacon's Rebellion?

texts:
"Backcountry" generally means the rural parts (of Virginia, where this all happened) or the lesser-known parts. They were newer settlement areas, and generally had a far larger population than the older "tidewater" region. How did this mean they were underrepresented / not represented in the House of Burgesses?

Was it because the newer regions were not yet established as actual counties, and thus not able to serve in politics?


texts: First US police officer killed in the line of duty

texts: Who was the first US police officer killed in the line of duty? When and where did it take place? By US police officer, I mean any active-duty police officer working for any force in the US post-constitution.


texts: Where can I find data on the amount of fuel carried by WWII Warships and what their operational ranges were?

texts: I am looking for a fairly comprehensive source where can I find data on the amount of fuel carried by WWII Warships and what their operational ranges were? I mean, I want to look up this information for a lot of ships in several different navies. I have found plenty of information about guns, inches of armor, numbers and size of anti-aircraft guns, speed, etc. , but nothing about the tonnes of fuel carried. I would also be interested in learning about the magazine sizes of the ships and how many rounds they could carry or at least how many hours of sustained bombardment they could perform. Anyone have a good comprehensive source for me?


texts: Did religious names catch on before or after the use of last names?

texts:
Last names are interesting. Once upon a time, people had only first names, until growing populations and ostentatious royals started a trend of including a second name, most commonly either patronymic (Johnson "John's son", Robertson, Jameson, Wilson), geographical (Middleton, Paris, Derby) or trade-related (Miller, Smith, Taylor). Here's the rub: In theory, "common" first names require duplication, and duplication  encourages the use of last names to distinguish between people.
Religious names, like Mary, John, Rachel, Sarah, Joseph, Peter, and Paul, are common, implying use of last names, but originated back in the early spread of Christianity around a thousand years before last names entered common use. Did religious first names become common after the use of last names made duplicate names viable, implying a religious resurgence, or before, implying a bunch of Johns and Isaacs running around without a way to tell them apart?
Edit:
On some good advice in the comments from @PieterGeerkens, I'd like to note this question is specific to Western Europe, though I find the history of last names in the Nordics similarly fascinating so I'll have to say they're in scope too!


texts: How did Finland treat Jewish locals during WWII?

texts:
First, what facts do I know.

There was no prosecution of Jews in Finland
Jewish POWs were separated in special POW camps for Jews. They were told that Finnish people hate them and they are to be transferred to Germany. But the intent changed and only Communists were actually transferred to Gestapo. Other Jews were allowed to contact with representatives of Finnish Jewish community.
Finnish authorities installed special ethnic-cleansing conentration camps for Slavic-speaking inhabitants of Karelia and other occupied territories.

I wonder whether the Jewish civilians were treated separately of Slavic population.


texts: What races did Americans classify people into during the 1800s?

texts: I know that in different eras people have had different schemes for categorizing the people of the world by race, or disposing of such schemes altogether.  What racial categories did people commonly recognize in the US in the 1800s?


texts: When did the US invite Iraqi scientists to study nuclear technology/science?

texts:
From an interview with Noam Chomsky in September, 2015: "President Bush I, the statesman Bush, even invited Iraqi nuclear engineers to the U.S. for advanced training in weapons production, an extremely serious threat to Iran."

What was the nature of this invitation and when did it happen?


texts: What was the reason for US Fed rate increase in spring 1928?

texts:
I was reading this wikipedia article on the great depression of the 1930s. This timeline mentions that in 1928, USA Fed increased interest rates. What was the reason behind this move.

I read elsewhere that a lot of gold flowed into US during and after WW1. After WW1, other countries wanted to buy more gold from markets/US to go back to gold standard. A deflation followed WW1 as more goods were available now and lesser people to buy them. So, the interest rates should go down to entice people to borrow more. But interest rates were increased. Why ?

If the international demand for gold was higher, the price of gold should automatically go up. How does Fed's rate increase affect demand/supply of gold. What was the reason for rate increase?

What did the Fed mention its reasons were?

I think I am missing something here. Request help for clarity on this point.


texts: When did furniture become common in the homes of most people in the British Isles?

texts:
When did they (regular people, rich people, etc.) start using stools and benches in the British Isles? My question is about daily life, not just the earliest archaeological finds. Specifically, I'm wondering when constructed furniture (as opposed to logs, rugs, just sitting on the ground) became typical in an ordinary person's home (hut, roundhouse, etc.).

This article on the history of furniture gives some details:

  Furniture from 500-1500 A.D. (Or ‘Medieval furniture‘), was designed
  in European [sic]. Chairs were popular for seating and were often made of
  heavy oak with exquisite artistic designs.

Is it possible to narrow down this 1,000 year time span to something more specific in relation to the British Isles?

Wikipedia isn't much more helpful on this but would seem to indicate no earlier than the late medieval period.

Can anyone provide any more details the use of furniture in the medieval (or perhaps early modern) homes of ordinary people?


texts: Why did the Romans incorporate and rename the Greek pantheon?

texts: I have read on occasion that they kept the pantheon out of admiration and/or to keep the peace with the newly conquered Greeks, but I have never seen any hard evidence or writings that say this in in fact true.  Are there any historical records out there that confirm or deny this?


texts:
I read this article Against Normalization: The Lesson of the “Munich Post” in the LA Review of Books.

At the very apex of the Beer Hall Putsch, a clash between his militia and Munich’s chief opposition newspaper, the Munich Post, may have changed the course of history, giving evidence that Hitler had the potential for a far more ambitious course of evil than anyone in Germany believed. Only the reporters who had been following Hitler seemed able to imagine it.
On the night of November 8, 1923, amid a clamorous political meeting in the Bürgerbräukeller, a huge echoey beer hall where political meetings were often held, Hitler stood up, fired a pistol into the air, and announced his militia had captured the three top leaders of southern Germany’s Bavarian province and handcuffed them in a back room in the beer hall. The next morning, he declared, his Stormtrooper militia would capture the capitol buildings and then head north to Berlin.

We live in a time (Post WWII) when states/countries/nations have a monopoly on the use of force. I'm still trying to Wrap my head around Hitler's status at the time. Was he a government representative? Were there no checks and balances at that time on what he could do?

As Hitler sought to ingratiate himself with the city’s rulers (though never giving up the threat of violence), the Post reporters dug into his shadowy background, mocking him mercilessly, exposing internal party splits, revealing the existence of a death squad (“cell G”) that murdered political opponents and was at least as responsible for Hitler’s success as his vaunted oratory.

I don't understand how Hitler could organise a death squad (prior to coming to power). Were these volunteers from an angry mob he had stirred up? Was his private militia paid by a Corporation or a body of government?
My question is: How did Hitler have his own private militia in 1923?


texts: How was the Karwendel railway important to Germany's plans for WW1?

texts:
While reading Max Hastings' book "Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes To War", I was surprised by the following paragraph (emphasis added):

  In 1912-13 Germany had declined to support a tough Austrian line in the Balkans: key elements of its own military preparedness were still lacking – the Rhine bridge at Remagen, the bridge at Karwendel across which Austrian heavy artillery could move northwards, the Kiel canal, a new Army Bill. Now [in summer 1914] those links were complete: Moltke's machine was at perfect pitch.

The reference to a "bridge at Karwendel" puzzles me. "Karwendel" is the name of a mountain range, an outlier of the Alps, along the Austro-German border. The only significant transport link crossing it is the Karwendelbahn railway line, which goes from Innsbruck in Austria to Garmisch--Partenkirchen in Germany over the 900m high Scharnitz pass. This railway does have several impressive bridges, so I guess Hastings must be referring to that. However, I can't quite fathom how this rather obscure little stretch of railway was important enough to play a role in Germany's decision for war or peace.

The line was built in 1912, so the chronology fits. However, the geograpy doesn't: the area of Austria around Innsbruck (the Tirol) is rugged mountain country, great for a ski holiday but not an obvious place for an armaments factory. I gather that the main industrial regions of pre-war Austria-Hungary were in eastern Austria and Bohemia (in the modern Czech Rep). Given the way Austria and Bohemia wrap around the south-eastern corner of Germany, both of these areas are actually easier to access from the German terminus of the Karwendelbahn than the Austrian.

So, why was the Karwendelbahn strategically important, and why would it make sense for Austrian supplies of war materials to Germany to be moved northwards along it?


texts: Did German civilians really offer the Red Army to publicly shoot 30-40 civilians in exhange for free food?

texts:
According to this article (Russian), in June 1945 General Serov reported to Beriia about the following incident.

On May 28th, 1945, a Red Army soldier was shot at by someone from a window in Berlin’s district Prenzlauer Berg. The military police took several inhabitants of the house to the commandant’s office for interrogation.

Rumors spread among the Germans, that the Soviets would stop distributing free food because of that shot. After a while, several delegations of Germans came to the commandant’s office. All of them offered the same thing: To take 30–40 hostages and publicly shoot them. In exchange the Germans wanted the Soviets to continue to give away free food.

Did this actually happen?


texts: Why were the drawings of Colossus burnt after WW2 and why was its very existence "of course" kept secret?

texts:
After VJ Day, suddenly it was all over. Eight of the ten Colossi were dismantled in Bletchley Park. Two went to Eastcote in North London and then to GCHQ at Cheltenham. These last two were dismantled in about 1960 and in 1960 all the drawings of Colossus were burnt. Of course its very existence was kept secret.

Source: https://www.codesandciphers.org.uk/lorenz/colossus.htm

This boggles my mind. What possible reason could there be to burn the drawings of this code-breaking computer after the war? And why deny its very existence? In the article, it's just stated as something entirely obvious.


texts: How did Jews feels in the Confederate States of America and what was their political position?

texts: Was there any sort of legislated racial discrimination against Jews or not? Or, If not by law, maybe they were oppressed socially by so-called "rednecks"? Did they held any positions in the CSA government? Were there any rich persons of Jewish origin? Etc., etc., etc....


texts: How did the Druids learn the Greek language by the time of Caesar's campaign in Gaul?

texts:
In Latin class, we are translating parts of Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War. One thing that struck me as odd is how Caesar describes the customs of the Gauls, especially in Book 6, where he briefly describes the Druids. He mentions in chapter 14 of Book 6 that the Druids use Greek characters in writing. Greece is rather far from Gaul, so how did the Gauls and their Druids come into contact with the Greek language and learn it by the time of Caesar's campaign?

Source: http://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/gallic.6.6.html


texts: Did emperor Nero later regret his treatment of early Christians?

texts:
Did emperor Nero later, any time before his death, regret anything that he did to the early Christians?

Is there any evidence that documents his opinions on his actions?


texts: Is there evidence people outside USSR were involved in attacks, within Soviet borders, between c.1928 and Stalin's death in 1953?

texts:
As is well known, the Soviet system under Stalin confected countless false reports of sabotage, insurrection, and things of a like kind. It also committed innumerable acts of oppression and violence against the people of the Soviet Union.

However, there were some genuine attacks against the Soviet state, which were not just fabrications or false-flag operations. Is there any evidence these were helped by foreign-based organisations, such as the 4th international, or foreign powers?

In the words of the undervalued author Melvin Burgess, torture reduces the best of us to so much mindless gobshite. For this reason, confessions by people Stalin blamed don't count as evidence. Evidence emanating from outside the Soviet Union (letters planning attacks, etc) would count.

I am excluding Axis powers during world war 2, as imho this was an inevitable part of the war, not a separate phenomenon. I chose the year 1928 because I don't want to get tangled up with long tail of the Russian Civil War.

I'm interested to know if Stalin's accusations against the Mensheviks, Trotskyists, Bukharinites and so on had any foundation. As well as the assassination attempts I posted above, there were the partisans after world 2, the Basmachi rebels opposed to collectivisation, and so on.

There were, in short, a lot of people who had good cause to hate the Soviet rulers in this period. It would be interesting to know if there were any crumbs of truth in the ravings and outpourings of the Soviet propaganda machine.


texts: Are there recommended practices for writing about oppressed peoples?

texts:
This question is about responsible historiography. History as written by winners tends to devalue and misrepresent the experiences of subordinate groups (see Textbooks: Zinn People’s History; Labour: Engels German Peasants War, Hammond & Hammond Labourer [Series], Thompson Making ; Gender: Engels Family, Private Property, James & Dalla Costa Power of Women; Race: CLR James Black Jacobins).

Many Anglo immigrants to California described its natives as lazy and dirty. If this was an attempt at ethnography it backfired, telling us more about the authors than their subjects. This example is extreme, but dominant discourses that reflect majority outlooks and deploy otherness are hard for authors from dominant groups to escape.

Those authors are prone to uphold dominant narratives and "punch down" at other groups even by accident. The result is that writing about other groups can be considered dubious. An article about fiction writing asked "Are White Authors Not Allowed To Tell Stories Involving Black Characters?", while Richard Griswold de Castillo called inadequate Mexican-American history written by others historia chicanesca (Chicanoesque history). Minority groups have sought to tell their own stories instead of having stories imposed on them.

Despite these concerns, privileged historians do often write in good faith about disempowered minorities and the oppressed. Their work does not satisfy  subjects' understandable desire that their history be written by their own people. For this reason I suspect that historiographers have already spilled ink on the matter of writing about such groups without adding to the burden they already face.

Are there recommended practices in this area? I will speculate that deconstruction of known narratives and meticulous history from below could be elements of such a strategy. Hopefully something more systematized is out there.


texts: How and why did the "Green Gang" hold the balance of power in Shanghai in 1927?

texts:
The line ups were a bit unusual, to say the least. On one side, you have some thousands of Communist party workers (probably not well armed) loosely aligned with several hundred thousand workers. On the other side, you have elite Nationalist army units, some 5,000 of the best trained and equipped elite troops in all of China, under General Bai Chong Xi plus gangs such as the so-called "Green Gang" led by Du Yue Sheng.

The four groups initially worked together to defeat the warlords holding Shanghai. Then Chiang's troops and the Green Gang together turned on the Communists and workers on April 12, 1927.

Why did Chiang feel the need to enlist the Green Gang in these efforts? Couldn't his Army troops do the job by themselves? If not, what did the Green Gang add to tip the balance of power in Chiang's favor?

Or did Chiang Kai Shek feel the need to work with the Green Gang because he feared that his Army troops would not be able to counter a "three way" coalition of Communists, workers, and the Green Gang itself?

This question was inspired by a footnote to another question:

Why did the clocks go back in Shanghai on December 31, 1927?

A reference to these events can be found in the link in the footnote of other question.


texts: Why was Northern Ireland mostly peaceful from the late 1920s to the mid 1960s?

texts: After a bloody civil war and partition in the 1920s, Northern Ireland had about 40 years of peace. This was despite the many grievances that the Catholics had at that time. This resulted in violence in the 1970s. Why did it take so long for the violence to happen?


texts: Did Mussolini know that Hitler was going to attack Poland?

texts: Did Hitler inform Mussolini of his decision to attack Poland in advance? Was Mussolini in favour?


texts: Has any other book in history been as "prescriptive" as Mein Kampf?

texts:
Hitler's signature work, "Mein Kampf", was written while he was in prison (!), following the failure of his so-called "Beer Hall Putsch" in Munich in 1923.

In the book, he laid out in excruciating detail, a step-by-step blueprint of his future plans, which included:

Making himself the absolute dictator (not a President or even king with constitutionally limited power) of the country that imprisoned him.
Destroying or pushing to the brink of destruction the enemies of his adopted country, to the point of at least threatening to dominate the whole world.
Using his future (!) soldiers and "policemen" to arrest and kill as many members of his least favorite group as they could get their hands on.

Hitler's subsequent rise to power was improbable for the following reasons:

he was a prisoner (and a convicted felon) at the time he wrote the book;
although "German-speaking," he had been born an Austrian, not a German; and
he was poor, badly educated (a high school drop-out who was turned down for post-secondary school training (art schools in Vienna)), and a former "foot soldier" (not commissioned officer) from World War I.

In short, he was less than obvious "leadership" material.

Unfortunately, Hitler did "execute." But no one in power took "Mein Kampf" seriously, with the notable exception of Winston Churchill (who was, however,"out of power" early on).

Has any other leader (or CEO) in history (political, commercial, religious) similarly followed the script of a book they published before coming to power?


texts: Please post a picture of the mills tonfa were supposedly used to turn

texts:
A tonfa is a forearm length club with a handle protruding sideways. A common claim is that the weapon was originally a handle used to turn millstones. German Wikipedia claims that there are pictures and texts that prove the millstone story - without providing internet accessible sources

There's lot's of uncertainty regarding the origin of the Tonfa.

"The Chinese and Malay words for the weapon (guai and topang respectively) literally mean crutch, which may suggest the weapon originating from the crutch."
There's also the story the weapon was first developed as such on Okinawa in the centuries after the Satsuma invasion, however tonfa apear to be older. It is also said that Sai (A type of truncheon) are derived from Okinawan farming implements, which appears to be completely false, so I kind of doubt any story that attests a "farming" background to weapons associated with Okinawan martial arts.

So to answer the question of whether tonfa could be reasonably developed from millstone handles, I want pictures and text of likely candidates for these mills and how a tonfa shaped object might fit in.


texts: In the British Invasion of Greece, what happened to the British troops who were not captured?

texts:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/british-forces-arrive-in-greece

I also was wondering what happened to the soldiers who were not caught, if any? Where did they  go, and what happened to them?

Also, I am speaking of the invasion of March 1941.


texts: How did pastoral nomads keep winning battles/wars? When did the tide turn against them for settled societies?

texts:
From the Huns to the Mongols, pastoral nomads keep coming up in history books. Entire empires have fallen to them, from Rome to various Chinese dynasties to Persians. And yet, when these nomads settle down and became settled, they would fall to the new nomads who took their old hunting grounds - a good example would be the Magyars who became the Hungarians and in turn were almost conquered by the Mongols.

What advantages do the nomads possess, and how did the tide turn against them?


texts: Was it not clear to the WWI allies that they were over-reaching with the treaty of Sevres?

texts:
In the treaty of Sevres, the Ottoman Empire was made to cede not only all (?) territories outside modern-day Turkey, but also:

Control of the Bosphorus straight and the Dardanelles
Significant amounts of territory with large ethnic-Turkish minorities to Greece and France
A huge chunk of land ceded to Armenia (was it even a thing at the time, after the genocide? Or was that intended to be controlled by the powers?)
Most of the rest of Turkey under official "foreign influence" (mostly France and Italy if we ignore the Kurdish regions); I haven't quite figured out what that means, but let's count that as co-sovereignty.

and there's the oil, and a bunch of islands and maybe other stuff.

Now, even back then - there must have been, what, 20-25 million Turks or so? With a very active national movement, large army over a huge territory, and no strict foreign occupation to keep all that in check? Isn't it obvious that that treaty was made to be broken at the first opportunity?


texts: Who came up with the name "Peloponnesian War"?

texts:
If I understand correctly, Thucydides actually called his book just History. If that is correct, then at what point did it become known as History of the Peloponnesian War?

EDIT: Here is how he begins:

  Thucydides, an Athenian, wrote the history of the war between the
  Peloponnesians and the Athenians, beginning at the moment that it
  broke out, and believing that it would be a great war, and more worthy
  of relation than any that had preceded it.

EDIT 2:

Come to think of, I ran a search on the Perseus website (it's great we have it!) and it turns out Thucydides did use the term once:

  The Median war, the greatest achievement of past times, yet found a
  speedy decision in two actions by sea and two by land. The
  Peloponnesian war was prolonged to an immense length, and long as it
  was it was short without parallel for the misfortunes that it brought
  upon Hellas.

Still, I think it is not obvious that this term should have become the title of the whole book. Or am I missing something obvious here?


texts: Why did Peter the Great crown Catherine I as empress?

texts: Watching a Russian tv-series about the life of Peter the Great, I didn't quite follow why Peter crowned Catherine I as empress. I looked the Wikipedia article but they don't mention any reason.


texts: Can someone give me the history on this Japanese Crest symbol

texts: What is the History and meaning of the symbol #23 (丸に七曜) in this image?


texts: Which was the first civilization to ban slavery?

texts:
Which was the first civilization to ban existing slavery with a law?

For example, if Civilization X never had slavery and it makes a law banning it, it won't count for this purposes. I've looked online but found nothing.

(I'm aware of the other question about slavery. This is different because this is asking which civilization actually banned slavery after having it, not who was the first person to realize slavery was wrong.)


texts: What factors contributed to earlier democratic states failing?

texts:
Conventional wisdom says that democracy is the superior form of government.

If this is true, then factors might have contributed to earlier democratic states like Athens in 500 BCE and the Roman Republic failing?


texts: Why didn't Mao Zedong order to kill locusts initially in the 4 pests campaign?

texts:
It looks somewhat strange that the order was centered into sparrows, rats, flies and mosquitoes, although all of those things have a point into the objectives the campaign had, I guess problems with locusts had to be way bigger than with sparrows in crops devastation before the campaign started. I mean, I hardly know about agriculture and I know how much of a threat they can be, even nowadays, much more it would be known on those times, that without considering the countless historical records about crops devastation by locusts.

So what's the reason they were left out in the campaign? It makes no sense  that what was likely the biggest threat referring to crops devastation was left out intentionally, the most logical thing would have been a 5 pests campaign including the locusts according to the logic of the campaign.

Maybe it's just as simple as that it looked like they weren't the biggest problem and my guess is incorrect.

Thanks for your time.


texts: Buddha in Ardha-Naarishvara sculpture in Badami Cave temples?

texts:
Badami caves are a series of cave-temples built between 6th and 8th century. In the first cave, dedicated to hindu god Lord Shiva, there is an image of "Ardha-Naarishvara".

I was intrigued by the figure to the left of the deity - it shows a starved man with long ears. I could not help but think of starved Buddha image seen elsewhere. If it is indeed Buddha, it seems to me a gentle put-down of buddhism - buddha himself praying to hindu deity.

When I asked the local guide he told me that it is not Buddha but a male-chauvinist devotee of Shiva cursed by Shiva's consort Gauri, but I am not too convinced.

So my question: do we know what the temple builders intended by the starving figure? Opinion of experts of that era would be useful.


texts: What is this building called? (It was built in 2002)

texts: I have tried google image'ing it, but it doesn't work. Also it is a building that has a history as far as from 3th century before anno domini.


texts: Ancient Roman garments apart from the toga

texts:
I'll bet there were as many fashion-minded people in Ancient Rome as there are today in London, Milan, New York, and Paris.

I know what a toga is. I'm also familiar with what tunics, stolas, and sandals looked like. What else, though? I'm stumped. What did fashionable women talk about half the time? "It's all the rage. I just got mine from Greece." What did she get?

Where there any special types of clothes that people wore north of Italy? In Germania? In Britain?

What other types of garments were there besides the toga, tunic, sandals and stola?


texts: Did small rural newspaper offices in 1895 use rotary presses with rolls of paper or sheets?

texts: I'm trying to find out what kind of press would have been used for the Troutdale Champion in Troutdale, Oregon (population 300), which printed for a few years in the mid 1890s. After researching some, I'm thinking they used something like the Washington Iron Hand Press. Finding out for sure will be easier when everything is open once again and I can visit historical societies.


texts: Prominent examples of scientific racism in ancient Greece

texts:
Benjamin Isaac in his book The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity provides a prime example of scientific racism in ancient Greece:

The idea that dark people are cowards, and light people courageous fighters, is found already in Airs, Waters, Places.

Airs, Waters, Places is a treatise by Hippokrates of Kos that deals with the effects of the physical environment on living organisms over an extended period of time, and the exact quote Isaac has in mind is:

And with regard to the pusillanimity and cowardice of the inhabitants, the principal reason the Asiatics are more unwarlike and of gentler disposition than the Europeans is, the nature of the seasons, which do not undergo any great changes either to heat or cold, or the like; for there is neither excitement of the understanding nor any strong change of the body whereby the temper might be ruffled and they be roused to inconsiderate emotion and passion, rather than living as they do always in the state. It is changes of all kinds which arouse understanding of mankind, and do not allow them to get into a torpid condition. For these reasons, it appears to me, the Asiatic race is feeble, and further, owing to their laws; for monarchy prevails in the greater part of Asia, and where men are not their own masters nor independent, but are the slaves of others, it is not a matter of consideration with them how they may acquire military discipline, but how they may seem not to be warlike, for the dangers are not equally shared, since they must serve as soldiers, perhaps endure fatigue, and die for their masters, far from their children, their wives, and other friends; and whatever noble and manly actions they may perform lead only to the aggrandizement of their masters, whilst the fruits which they reap are dangers and death; and, in addition to all this, the lands of such persons must be laid waste by the enemy and want of culture. Thus, then, if any one be naturally warlike and courageous, his disposition will be changed by the institutions. As a strong proof of all this, such Greeks or barbarians in Asia as are not under a despotic form of government, but are independent, and enjoy the fruits of their own labors, are of all others the most warlike; for these encounter dangers on their own account, bear the prizes of their own valor, and in like manner endure the punishment of their own cowardice. And you will find the Asiatics differing from one another, for some are better and others more dastardly; of these differences, as I stated before, the changes of the seasons are the cause. Thus it is with Asia.
Source: On Airs, Waters, and Places, by Hippocrates. Translated by Francis Adams, provided by The Internet Classics Archive.

I've found several other sources that discuss scientific racism in ancient Greece, however they either revolve around the aforementioned quote, or don't provide any references at all. Are there any other prominent examples of scientific racism in ancient Greece?
I'd appreciate answers with references to scientific writings of the time, and if possible by authors we know were influential during their lifetime (e.g. Aristotle, Plato, etc).


texts: Who were the candidates in the consular elections for 80 BC in Rome?

texts:
Wikipedia describes the political process of 80 BC thus:

  Near the end of 81 BC, Sulla, true to his traditionalist sentiments,
  resigned his dictatorship, disbanded his legions and re-established
  normal consular government. He also stood for (with Metellus Pius) and
  was elected consul for the following year, 80 BC. He dismissed his
  lictors and walked unguarded in the Forum, offering to give account of
  his actions to any citizen.

This sounds rather upright. But I am wondering, however, whether other candidates except Sulla and Metellus, his crony, were allowed to - or dared to - stand in that election. Is something known about this?

My suspicions are further heightened by this passage in Appian:

  The following year Sulla, although he was dictator, undertook the
  consulship a second time, with Metellus Pius for his colleague, in
  order to preserve the pretence and form of democratic government. It
  is perhaps from this example that the Roman emperors appoint consuls
  for the country and even sometimes nominate themselves, considering it
  not unbecoming to hold the office of consul in connection with the
  supreme power.


texts: Why did antique guns and swords from the Franco-Prussian War make part of the demilitarization program to which Germany was subjected?

texts:
As is well known, after the WW2 ended, the U.S. imposed a strong program of demilitarization to Germany.

Can anybody explain the reason why the "antique guns and swords from the Franco-Prussian War"—to which Edward Norman Peterson refer in the book "The American Occupation of Germany: Retreat to Victory"—made part of that demilitarization program.

I ask because I don't understand how these weapons could pose a danger for the U.S.

Note: From my country I don't have free access to the book cited in the question and this is the reason why I didn't post a more expanded quote.


texts: Who really controls the area behind the Sahara wall

texts: I would like to know who really controls this blank area which is possessed by Morocco and behind the sahara wall, it's controlled by the moroccan army or by the polisario ? or it's blank area controlled by none of them because it doesn't contain any city or form of civilization ?


texts: Is the claim that Hitler came to power democratically justified?

texts:
I often encounter a claim that Hitler came to power democratically, exploiting democratic procedures, was "elected" etc.
Such claims are usually made by right-wing Liberals who use this argument to justify political restrictions on their opponents as being a painful but necessary measure.
Sometimes the Nazis are counterpoised to the Bolsheviks, who, the narrator alleges, unlike the Nazis, made an anti-democratic coup which makes them even worse in the view of the narrator.
But if we look at the results of the German elections, we see that the share of Nazi party in the Reichstag before 1933 was not much exceeding 1/3. The last elections before 1933 were even less successful for the Nazi party because their share shrank while the share of German Communists rose.
These numbers did not allow the Nazis to form a cabinet according the constitution, and there was no possibility of an alliance with other parties.
As we know, Hitler was appointed to Kanzler office by the president following a behind-the-scenes deal among the German political elite.
So my question is:
how much is the claim justified  that 'Hitler came to power democratically'?


texts: What two direct orders did FDR issue to his commanders in all of WWII?

texts:
Operation Torch Anglo-American invasion of north-western Africa
  President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a direct order that Torch was to have precedence over other operations and was to take place at the earliest possible date, one of only two direct orders he gave to military commanders during the war.

Question:
What was the other direct order FDR issued during WWII?


texts:
What is the source of this quote about leadership and trust? I paraphrase:

"There are three things a military force has: food, weapons, and trust. A good leader should give up the food and weapons first, and the trust last."

I thought it was Asian, so I looked in Art of War but no luck, and search engine queries with Confucius haven't turned it up either, but my query terms could be off with the paraphrasing.


texts: What were the conditions that Pieter Stuyvesant found when he arrived in America?

texts:
I have been studying Pieter Stuyvesant recently, and would like to know two things about him and New Amsterdam:

What were the conditions that he found when he arrived in New Amsterdam? By this I mean what conditions he found that displeased his and that he ended up changing.
What did he do to improve life in the Dutch town of New Amsterdam?


texts: Who was 'Viscount Yi' and what did he do to survive in the court of a madman?

texts:
There is an interesting answer by Valorum over on Scifi, which includes a quote from source material about a 'Viscount Yi':

“I combined that notion with the kind of imagistic shorthand sometimes used in ancient China: like ‘Viscount Yi.’ If you don’t know that Yi was a minister at the court of a madman and what he did to survive, then you don’t know what that phrase is supposed to convey.”
Star Trek Magazine: December 2002 Volume 3 Issue 8

This piqued my curiosity, but a search has me drawing a blank. There is a Wikipedia article on Xiong Yi, an 11th century BC 'first viscount and an early ruler of the State of Chu during early Zhou Dynasty'.
Is this the same person? The article's biographical sketch doesn't mention anything about his liege being a madman or anything alluded to in the source quotation.
Who was 'Viscount Yi', and what did he do "to survive in the court of a madman" ?


texts: What is Charles Babbage referring to when he talks about the 'College of Laputa'?

texts:
In On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, what is Charles Babbage referring to when talking about the College of Laputa in the following extract:

  ...Nor has the wild imagination of the satirist been quite unrivaled by the realities of after years: as if in mockery of the College of Laputa, light almost solar has been extracted from the refuse of fish; fire has been sifted by the lamp of Davy; ...

Link to the original is here.


texts: Did Paul Robeson wash the US flag in protest?

texts:
I vaguely remember a story where the world-famous singer Paul Robeson, probably during an anti-war protest demonstration in the 60s, washed the US flag drenched in blood as a result of the policies of US administration.

Can someone confirm this and hopefully point to a source of information please?

My source of information (not recalled unfortunately) or I might perhaps have got the name wrong though. Perhaps somebody else performed this protest act...

Note: Thanks to the comments made below by justCal and sempaiscuba, we have so far found out the following that implies probably something like this did happen:

Norman Thomas, the perennial candidate of the Socialist Party, did suggest washing the US flag instead of burning it, in protest against the Vietnam war, as seen here, and
Apparently, this even inspired a poster made by George Lois & Carl Fischer, as seen here.


texts: How long ago was the yo-yo first used as a weapon?


texts: Which company offered this aircraft interior in the 60s?

texts:
I found this image on LinkedIn post.

  This was economy class back in the 1960s. [...]

I'm not sure whether it's fake or not.

Was there a company that offered this aircraft interior in the 60s? If this was an industrial design mockup how close did that get to reality?


texts: When did lecherousness, in Western Culture, become a primarily male quality, instead of a female one? Or is that not true?

texts:
When did lecherousness, in Western Culture, become a primarily male quality, instead of a female one?

According to TvTropes:

I'm a Man, I Can't Help It:

  Very much Newer Than They Think. In ancient times (Rome, Greece, etc.) being lecherous was considered a distinctively female characteristic; All Women Are Lustful in those settings. For a man to be described as a slave to his urges was a major insult to his masculinity.

All Women Are Lustful:

  This is a Cyclic Trope, having been popular historically, especially in ancient Greece. Back then, this trope actually replaced All Men Are Perverts: it was assumed that women were too sex-crazed to say no to sex, while men were supposed to hold back for the sake of propriety; being too sexual with women was an insult to a man's virility. Although mostly a Forgotten Trope and/or Discredited Trope today, this trope made a comeback in the early eighties in which beautiful sexually adventurous women are the ones who pick up guys and initiate sexual encounters.

Or... is TvTropes wrong? And I should do more research?


texts: At what stage are the first two digits of a year's name dropped?

texts:
Today, we mostly refer to years in their full name: 2020 as "twenty twenty", or "two thousand twenty".
In the late 1900s, we were mostly using the short form: 1995 as "ninety five".
How did people refer to years a century ago? Did people say "twenty three" for 1923 (for example), or did they spell out the entire thing?
If yes, why aren't we doing the same now? What's different?
If no, when did the language shift occur?


texts: Is Makarios III's harsh quote on Turkish Cypriots accurate?

texts:
There is a quote by Makarios III from 1964 (during the Crisis of 1963–1964), regarding a possible Turkish intervention in the island. It has been very infamous in Turkey, and has gained attention again with the vandalism on a Cyprus memorial in Istanbul. The quote is;

  If Turkey came to save Turkish Cypriots, Turkey would find no Turkish Cypriots to save.

The meaning of the quote has always been suggested as a threat to annihilate the Turks on the island, which is a very divisive and destructive thing to say as the president of the Republic of Cyprus. I was unable to find any reference to such quote apart from some very untrustworthy Turkish forums & websites. The only "proper" source I was able to find is the website of Turkish Foreign Ministry.

How accurate is this quote? I know during that time the inter-communal fights were so frequent, and many Turkish villages were destroyed, and this quote from him, as the leader of the Greek Cypriots, whose words carried weight, might've had more damage and added fuel to an already flaring fire. I'd like to see if there is any credible source that supports the existence of it.


texts:
This photo shows President Lyndon Johnson wearing a medal that I can't ID:

(LBJ, Westmoreland, and Air Force One. ¿In New Orleans?)

LBJ supposedly won the Silver Star in WW2, but that looks different:

So, what is that medal on LBJ's lapel?

Update:
The original image is apparently an AP photo.  And AP says:

  ...Army Chief of Staff Westmoreland had just arrived and will address the American Legion Convention Tuesday evening on Sept. 10, 1968 in New Orleans,Los Angeles. No explanation for (the) medal on Johnson's lapel. ( AP Photo)

(Emphasis added.)


texts: Why is there a Herakles/Hercules sarcophagus?

texts:
I recently visited the Archeological museum of Antalya, seeing two 'Herakles sarcophagi' like this one, depicting his twelve labours.

I learned some about him like how he reached immortality. I was however confused. In my mind (and I double-checked on Wikipedia), a sarcophagus is a funeral container. But here we have a sarcophagus (in fact multiple) of an a priori fictional character that reached immortality.

As far as I saw, gods and other mythological characters are represented with statues, on frescoes or such supports. But not on sarcophagi.

My question is, what/who was this Herakles sarcophagus for? I thought so far that he is revered through a sarcophagus (I would be curious why), it is actually his sarcophagus and the story around him has been embellished, it is a mere mortal sarcophagus and its owner was compared with Herakles or was proud of himself. These might sound ridiculous but I have so far not found an explanation.


texts: What were Rommel's views on the Nazi crimes?

texts: Erwin Rommel is often portrayed as the chivalrous Nazi. I've read on the internet that he once proposed to Hitler that a Jew be appointed a Nazi official, but I'm not able to verify that. What were Rommel's views on the murder of civilians during World War II? He took part in the invasion of Poland, during which Polish civilians were murdered indiscriminately. He must have known about it. What did he think about it? Did he ever take any actions to stop the Nazi crimes?


texts:
Christians are sometimes mocked for having once believed the earth was flat. However, the only references I can find are Lactantius in the beginning of the 4th century, and Copernicus, who says Lactantius was childish.

As Lactantius was largely considered a heretic throughout much of church history, is there any other reputable Christian reference to believe in a flat earth based on religious views?


texts: Are there equivalents of the Domesday Book for other (French or German) duchies?

texts: Is the Domesday Book a one-off census in the wake of the Norman conquest? One can imagine that William wanted an accurate feudal picture of his new kingdom but was it the norm? Did other dukes and kings in Europe have similar records of their realms? Did any such book survive?


texts: What are some well-researched books about ships during the Age of Sail?

texts:
I have tried to find well researched and detailed books, but all I seem to be able to find are books about model ships or fiction books about sailors. As a layman, I’ve entertained the idea that I just haven’t found the right places to look yet or I’m not using the correct search terms. I’ve looked on numerous online book retailing websites, review sites, checked the few shops open around my area and my library is closed indefinitely.
The kind of books I’m specifically interested in would ideally give me not just an overview of sailing ships and the Age of Sail, but will go into detail about the anatomy of various ship types and ships from different cultures, as well as the history behind them and maybe even their primary uses.
I would also be interested in accompanying my reading with encyclopaedias that contain diagrams, pictures and nautical glossary with which to build my research.


texts: Early instances of bacteriological warfare

texts:
Via The Straight Dope, I came across this page which claims that Lord Jeffrey Amherst, commander-in-chief of the Brits in America seriously considered distributing blankets infected with small-pox to Native Americans:

  P.S. You will Do well to try to Innoculate the Indians by means of Blanketts, as well as to try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race. I should be very glad your Scheme for Hunting them Down by Dogs could take Effect, but England is at too great a Distance to think of that at present.

While it is not known if the plan was carried out or not, is this the earliest known example of bacteriological warfare?


texts: Did the Picture Post publish the 1857 photo "Two Sepoys of the 31st Native Infantry Who Were Hanged at Lucknow" in 1939?

texts:
On the front line of empire, colonials had been developing an increasingly aestheticised response to violence since at least the 1850s, when the Italian-British commercial photographer Felice Beato had set up his tripod and camera by a gallows and captured the hanging bodies of suspected Indian insurgents during the Indian “Mutiny” of 1857-58–thus creating what was probably the first ever photograph documenting casualties of war. (src)

The fruitless confusion over the publication history, use and circumstances of two pictures in Is the photograph "England’s Revenge in India" real, staged, or fake? left a loose end.

The book Raubstaat England had on its page 76 a place reserved for a cigarette card it captioned "England's Revenge on India":

   (click)

for which it gave its source as "Picture Post, June 3, 1939". Note the non-German date-format embedded within the picture.

The real source and more common name/title/caption is:

  Felice Beato, Two Sepoys of the 31st Native Infantry Who Were Hanged at Lucknow, albumen print from collodion-on-glass negative, June 1858. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Digital image courtesy of the Getty’s Open Content Program.

As there was a simple mixup that prompted the whole linked question, a search through the archive of Picture Post looked for the wrong picture and concludes in one answer that the (wrong!) picture is not in the archive.

The question now is: did the Picture Post publish this image, and on the date given in the propaganda book?

In this edition: Picture Post Vol 3 No 9 June 3 1939:

(Note that the Getty archive has this picture catalogued twice:
once titled as  [Execution of Rebels, Lucknow] and once as [Retribution, Hanging Mutineers]. "Retribution" being quite closely related to the word "revenge" chosen in Raubstaat.)

The print magazine is archived online, but behind an unfriendly paywall.. Some pictures from that publication are also available from Getty Images. There are of course a couple of alternative venues to get at that. Physical archives at a few libraries, private collections or perhaps some other online excerpts.

The title story for the respective issue is for example reproduced as a spread of the first two pages in Hila Cooper: "Reading Magazines: Stefan Lorant and Picture Post, 1939–1941: A Study Of The Picture Editor's Work from the Archive of Modern Conflict's Collection", Theses and dissertations, Paper 1304, 1-1-2012, p54. (PDF)


texts: What is the meaning of the cross on a Chinese bronze Gu Chalice?

texts:
The ancient Chinese had a bronze chalice called the Gu 觚, some of which feature a square cross near the bottom. Others feature a single slit hole there, as if the slit (cross or single) has a functional role such as releasing heat, but I think other vessels were used to heat wine [Specifically, the Jue 爵.

I'm wondering both if it has a functional purpose and if the cross has a symbolic purpose. I even saw a cross as in inscription the inside bowl of a wine vessel.


texts: Did Ancient Chinese architecture develop anything analogous to the Greek Orders?

texts:
Pretty much every culture in the world has its own tradition of architecture, design principles, etc., reflecting what society considers "ideal." In ancient Greece, these famously became codified into the Ionic, Doric and Corinthian "Orders"; the proportions used are reflective of various perceptions and values in the society (e.g. Doric is more "masculine" whereas Ionic is more "feminine".)

What's the analogue for ancient China? Steeped as traditional Chinese thought was in Confucianism, with its emphasis on hierarchy, and Taoism, etc., I have a really hard time believing that there weren't systematic "ideal" design principles in place used by architects and furniture-makers. Feng-shui and all that (e.g. here's a book written by a European in the 1800's: http://www.sacred-texts.com/cfu/fs/fs04.htm, but I would prefer something actually written by native and practicing Chinese architects, even better if it was a "how-to" guide to their fellow architects.)

I'm looking to learn practical design principles that I can use in my own woodworking, not just the philosophy and history behind them. I want to build doors and cabinets that "look inherently Chinese." I like the Chinese aesthetic and want to understand it better through its history.


texts: What are the precursors of the Bayeux Tapestry?

texts:
Background from Wikipedia: Bayeux Tapestry is one of a kind, cr. 70 metres long, narrative embroidery depicting the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. It is probable that it was created in the 1070s. The authorship of the tapestry is disputed; there are reasons to believe it to be either English or French. It is certain however that it represents a unique blend of styles and influences.

According to F. Sidney Walls, "Anglo-Saxon embroideries, which were famous at the time of the Conquest, are a Scandinavian art. … It was a well-established custom among the Teutonic tribes, after their migration from East Asia, to commemorate their exploits by elaborate paintings, sculpture, and embroideries."

I am looking for pre-Bayeux objects with comparable narratives (battles, processions, ...), both art-history and archaeology departments, objects that could have influenced the Bayeux tapestry (preferred) or had similar influences as the Bayeux tapestry.

I cannot find any objects mentioned by F. Sidney Walls, the closes analogy I can think of is Trajan's Column, which was created in 113, almost 1000 years earlier, and Byzantian manuscripts. What are the existing Scandinavian/Teutonic that are similar, those that are mentioned in F. Sidney Walls's paper? I am after the depictions of horsemen, possibly in other art forms, not after general embroideries.


texts: What language is this artists signature written in and what does it say?

texts: This signature is on a print from the 1960s. There are symbols in the art such as a fish (see ring and vest clasp)and a hamsa (possibly) in the outer border.


texts: Was the inequality of wealth in 1950s in Egypt the result of the Ottoman Empire's former power in Egypt?

texts:
One of Nasser's more historic changes he enacted was land reform. This took the form of placing limits on land ownership in terms of feddans, nationalization of large amounts of land, and the issuance of bonds to pay back owners who had their land confiscated.

Prior to this, land ownership was concentrated in a tiny percentage of the population.

Muhammad Ali of Egypt had broken the Ottoman power hold on Egypt in 1805. But he himself was from the Ottoman empire. So it makes sense to believe that the dynasty he established was of Ottoman descent.

Was the inequality in the 1950s in Egypt the legacy of the Ottoman Empire? Did Nasser's reform end the power of an aristocracy descended from the Ottoman empire?


texts:
Since 1948, Israel's Official Gazette has detailed all of the bills and notices of Israel's government, making it a mine of historical information.

The website of the Israel State Archives says:

  The collections include Rashumot, the Official Gazette (consisting of the Government Notices, Bills, the Book of Laws, the Treaty Series, etc), [...]

Written by Ben Gurion, the first issue is also known as the Proclamation of Independence.

QUESTION: Can the Official Gazette be seen online?
It does not seem to be readable on the website of the Israel State Archives.


texts: Was the 1939 Red Army more disciplined / better behaved than the 1943-1945 Red Army?

texts:
The Soviet Union Red Army had two westbound offensives into Central Europe (approximately the territory that is currently Belarus, Kaliningrad, Poland) as part of World War II:

The Soviet invasion of Poland, 1939, and
overall Red Army progress on the Eastern Front, 1943-1945, into both Poland and Germany (and elsewhere).

The NKVD carried out numerous war crimes in occupied Poland, culminating in the infamous Katyn Massacre.  Later, during the westbound offensive liberating Poland and invading Germany, Red Army soldiers raped many German, Polish, and other women.  How was Red Army behaviour during the 1939 invasion?  I can find plenty of information about NKVD war crimes in occupied Poland 1939-1941, and mass rapes by the Red Army in both Poland and Germany 1943-1945 have been widely documented, but I don't seem to find much about Red Army misbehaviour (rapes) in 1939.  Was the 1939 Red Army more disciplined / better behaved / committing less rapes than the 1943-1945 Red Army, or did rapes occur on a similar scale?


texts: When were the three periods in which the silk road was most popularly used?

texts: Apparently, there were 3 periods when the Silk Road was very popular and I am having trouble finding out when they were.


texts:
I have read that before the reforms of Marius, Rome produced her armies by conscripting them from the citizens by drawing of lot, with every recruit owning his own equipment. My questions are about the time of the Third Samnite War:

1) Who was responsible for the mobilization? Was it simply the consul who was to lead the army, or were there special officials responsible for it?

2) How exactly were the citizens divided into lots? Did they simply take the tables of the last census and raffle until the required numbers came together? Or were the requirements handed down to tribes and centuries?

3) Were there any exemptions? For example, having served in the last campaign? Being newlywed? Being the last descendant of notable family? Being under arrest? etc...


texts: The nature of the Preliminary Articles of Peace of 1782

texts:
The Preliminary Articles of Peace appear to be identical to the peace treaty usually said to be dated 1783 and ratified in 1784.

Since they are verbatim the same, what is the difference between the "Prelimary Articles" and the "Treaty"?  Why is one document considered merely preliminary rather being called a proposed treaty to be submitted for ratification by both countries, while a later but verbatim identical document is called a proposed treaty?

This question was also posted at Law.SE.


texts: Where was the Ixcanha Maya community located during the Caste War of the Yucatán?

texts:
There is mention of a Mayan community of about a thousand people during the Caste War of the Yucatán who refused to break with the Catholic Church. I am trying to figure out where their community was located.

  Another rebel group, the Ixcanha Maya community, lived in the jungles of the lower center of the peninsula.

Is their community synonymous with the settlement at X-Canhá?


texts: Why were the populous coastal areas of China not linguistically united?

texts:
Whilst most of China is quite culturally and ethnically diverse, there are significant areas especially on the coast and river plains which are mostly Han Chinese. These provinces are also united by a strong central government for much of their history, and did not spend any significant amount of time divided since the start of the Song Dynasty. Yet, they remained linguistically divided for centuries until the Communist Party declared that everyone should speak Putonghua/Guoyu/Mandarin, and even then local dialects are still very popular in the south. As an example, my family emigrated from China in the 1930s and can only speak a dialect known as Hakka, whilst my colleagues in Guangzhou are more comfortable with Cantonese than Mandarin.

I can understand why different ethnic groups have different dialects, but why is their a difference in the Han Chinese themselves? Presumably the coastal and river cities would be heavily involved in commerce with each other, necessitating a common language? Yet Guangzhou and Beijing speak differently. Why?


texts: What was the Sully wing in the Louvre originally?

texts: I'm trying to find an exact idea of what the state of the Louvre was in 1677 during the reign of Louis XIV and the beginning of the Poisons Affair, particularly the Sully wing. Would it have still been under construction or would construction of that wing been finished by that time? Would any artists be painting there? Could normal citizens enter?


texts:
This may sound an absurd question, but I have a reason for asking. Leonardo Da Vinci wrote and drew with his left hand, and hence was adept at writing in reverse. Movable type is set backwards, and while I have yet to find a reputable source, I’ve heard that many typesetters were left-handed for that very reason.

I doubt there would be a documented source saying remaking on Gutenberg's handedness, but if any of his handwriting exists, his handedness could be determined based off that.


texts: Do we know who graduated from the University of Mexico in the 1700s?

texts:
The Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico was the country's first and foremost university in the colonial period. According to George I. Sánchez, by 1776 it had awarded 29,882 bachelor's and 1,162 graduate degrees.

Has any list or index of those graduates been compiled?

I'd like to determine whether the secular priest Agustín Fernández de San Vicente studied there (presumably in theology or canon law) in the late 1700s.  The historical archive of the successor institution, UNAM, doesn't go back into the colonial period. I searched the finding guide for the Archive of the Nation without finding an individual record mentioning his graduation.

I will accept an answer either about him specifically or on the broader question about a list of graduates.


texts: Who made these comments relating to the use of the atomic bomb?

texts:
I recall that someone, possibly in Truman's cabinet, noticed that many of Truman's advisers had visible injuries from long-ago fights. This individual commented that their rough upbringing including settling differences by fighting might have influenced their decision to deal with Japan severely.

Who made this observation? What were the details? What are some commentaries from modern historians on this?

EDIT: All I am asking here is about the idea that the boyhood experiences of Truman advisers may have had a bearing on the decision to use the a-bomb -- primarily I am interested in who actually said this (and what exactly was said) and whether any other historians agreed or disagreed.


texts: How exactly was the Second Temple destroyed?

texts:
What is known regarding the techniques used to destroy the Second Temple?

It was quite a large set of buildings made of stone blocks, and Romans didn't know (afaik) explosive techniques good for such destructive actions.

Was it used to build something else, or just turned into a pile of stone blocks?


texts: Is there evidence that the annual pilgrimage to Mecca facilitated cultural exchanges?

texts:
I've read once (but I don't recall where anymore) that the Hajj, that is, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, had an important non-religious consequence in medieval times, namely the fast spread of new ideas within the Islamic world. That is, since, once a year, people from the whole Islamic world gathered together at the same place, new ideas could spread rather quickly (by the standards of that age). It seems plausible, but is there some evidence that this did indeed take place?

Note: Asking only about post Islamic influence.


texts: How would one refer to/address a Shogun?

texts:
In the Bakumatsu era, how would one refer to a shogun (when talking about him with someone else) or address him directly if talking to him? Is it just name + -sama suffix?

I am interest in the answer from both a shogun loyalist perspective (e.g a member of the Shinsengumi) and from an anti-shogunal/pro-imperialist perspective.


texts: Why did Sparta turn on its ally Elis during the First Macedonian War?

texts:
According to Book 28, Chapter 7 of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita Libri, in 207 BC, Machanidas, the Tyrant of Sparta, suddenly moved to attack Elis while its people (the Eleans) were preparing for the Olympic Games.

Why would Sparta suddenly turn on its fellow ally (both being allies of Rome and the Aetolian League) in the First Macedonian War against Philip V of Macedon and the Achaean League?

In addition, why did Philip decide to aid his enemies, the Eleans, by marching to confront Machanidas?


texts: Why was Villa Gaggia chosen as the setting for Hitler & Mussolini's July 1943 meeting?

texts:
Ian Kershaw's Hitler biography Nemesis describes Hitler's hurriedly arranged summit with Mussolini in July 1943:

  After landing at Treviso, Hitler and Mussolini travelled in the Duce's
  train to a station near Feltre and then still had an hour's drive in
  open-top cars in the sweltering heat until they reached the villa
  chosen for the meeting, which began at noon

The villa in question was Villa Gaggia, a pleasant enough villa in the foothills of the Dolomites. The North East of Italy makes sense geographically for a meeting between the two dictators. But why did Hitler, having flown as far as Treviso, then set off north again, by train, all the way back up to Feltre? Feltre is nearly half way back up to the Austrian border. Then, as Kershaw points out, the "Feltre meeting" didn't in fact take place in Feltre but an hour further on, by road.

I know the area. If a comfortable, secure and secluded villa were required, then the entire Treviso area is dotted with suitable residences. Villa Gaggia would seem a strange choice for a lightning visit. Does anyone know why they went there?

Incidentally, Kershaw notes this was Hitler's last visit to Italy. Does that make it his last foreign trip of any kind?


texts: Could anyone please help me identify this soldier's regiment


texts: Did Chinese emperors wear a rectangular hat with suspended gems?

texts:
The mythical Jade Emperor is sometimes depicted as wearing a mortarboard hat with strings of jewels suspended from its edges:

According to Shen Yun's post:

  Hanging from the front and back of the emperor’s hat are twelve strings of beads. They’re called “yù zǎo” in Chinese—pendants of jade beads. “Yù" or jade symbolizes upright character, while “zǎo” refers to the silk strings that are used to string the jade beads together, which reflect a clear and pure mind. The twelve pendants at the front swing with the tiniest movement, and prompt the Emperor to maintain a straight gaze and proper posture. They also serve as a reminder to the Emperor to only make decisions with upright thoughts, and perceive things through a clear and pure mind.

Did the historical emperors of China ever wear such a hat? If so, how often?