texts: Is there a group picture of RMS Titanic's 8 officers?

texts:
This photograph was long believed to show Captain Smith and some officers from  RMS Titanic.

However, it actually shows Captain Smith and 8 of his officers from when he captained  RMS Olympic. In order of left to right:

Standing: Purser Hugh McElroy, Third Officer Henry O. Cater, Second
Officer R. Hume, Fourth Officer David W. Alexander, Sixth Officer
Harold H. Holehouse.
Seated: Fifth Officer A. Tulloch, Chief Officer Joseph Evans, Captain
Edward Smith and First Officer William Murdoch.

Is there a similar photograph for Captain Smith and his officers for RMS Titanic?


texts: Was there a semi-professional soldiering class in Early Middle Ages Europe?

texts:
We're all familiar with the basic setup of feudal society: a large class of peasants supporting a small martial-administrative class of knights. In the event of a big war, peasants get handed some cheap weapons and told to march off to someplace. The reason that invasions by nomadic societies were so successful was partly because the quality of an average peasant conscript was atrocious.

Later on, mercenary armies would become more of a thing, and some states would force their peasantry to train (for example, the classic English longbowman). But in the early Middle Ages (500-900 CE) was there an intermediate role? Not a knight (expected to be a professional soldier) and not a peasant (no training at all) but someone who would own arms and armor and train with them, while still dedicating some time to farming a personal plot of land for sustenance?


texts: How much was cost for a regular (standard class) passenger to come on passenger ship from Liverpool England to Canada between 1906-1908

texts: What was the approximate, cost and length of trip in days to cross Atlantic from Liverpool England to New York USA or Quebec Canada, in the regular class of a passenger steamship between 1906-1908.


texts:
Before the US Navy eclipsed the Royal Navy one of the closest threats to the Royal Navy's dominance of the high seas was the German U-boats of WWI.  The German Naval program started in 1898 by Alfred Von Tirpitz quickly created the second largest navy in the world second only to the Royal Navy.  Using one of the most advanced submarine programs the Germans were able to successfully change strategies of luring capital ships toward subs to using submarines against more vulnerable merchant shipping.

When the Germans were starting to break the English's supply chain with submarines the USA placed an ultimatum that if the Germans did not halt their unrestricted submarine program the US would declare war on Germany.

Had the Germans ignored this request they could have starved the British out.  With anti-submarine warfare in its infancy - resorting to ramming being most popular among captians.

Why did the Germans wait until it was too late to reinstate their unrestricted submarine warfare in WWI?


texts:
On March 9, 1933 Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) called Congress in for an emergency session, which would result in the speedy passing of the Gold Confiscation Act. According to FDR's Executive Order (6102) the Act would "provide relief in the existing national emergency in banking, and for other purposes".

The law required all citizens to hand over to the government via the banks almost all gold coins (US and foreign), bullion (bars, nuggets, dust, etc) and gold certificates within a few weeks after the order was issued. A short eight months after the confiscation a new piece of Federal legislation, the Gold Reserve Act, was enacted. The Gold Reserve Act revalued gold versus the dollar. In theory, a 1934 $20 gold coin would then be equivalent to 35 paper dollars. This was a substantial difference in that the value of the paper dollar prior to the Gold Confiscation Act was much less.

From an historical perspective in what way(s) was the Gold Confiscation of 1933 beneficial or detrimental to U.S. citizens?


texts: Why do Spaniards have their lunch and dinner so late?

texts:
I've been reading about it and many sites explain (unconvincingly, for me) that the reason why Spaniards currently have lunch around 2 and dinner around 9:30 is because during the 40s (after the civil war), people had to get a couple of jobs to make ends meet and could not keep normal meal times, like in other countries. Spain seem to be the only country in the world with those meal times and the explanation given does not clarify things in the lest. Other countries suffered equally the effects of wars and nothing changed.

Are there any other reasons?


texts:
Cicero Minor (full name: Marcus Tullius Cicero Minor) was the only son of the great Roman politician Cicero. They both served as consuls, Cicero in 63 BC and Cicero Minor in 30 BC.
The years that Cicero, his first wife and Cicero's daughter Tullia died are all known, but when I tried to find the date (or year) that Cicero Minor died, I couldn't find anything. According to Wikipedia he was born 65 BC, but I couldn't find the death year. However, I found that it seems like his last years (Cicero Minor) were spent in Syria.
I don't expect anyone to know the answer to this question from off the top of their head, but I would be glad if anyone found some references to the question on the internet/books etc.
When did Cicero Minor die?


texts: How did people put down a drinking horn?

texts:
It's easy to put down a glass. You just put it on the table. It won't spill unless somebody tips it over.

How did people put a full drinking horn on the table? Did they have some sort of thingy to keep it in an upright position? Or were you supposed to empty it always before putting it down?

(If it makes a difference, I am thinking about the Viking period. Lacking direct info about Vikings, any other period would do)


texts: Cover Art of "Álbum de la Revolución Cubana"

texts:
On the cover of the famous "Álbum de la Revolución Cubana":

Who is the person whose face is painted in the top-right corner? What is his importance?
Is the cover (where we see Fidel Castro actively participating against the landing of some soldiers) depicting actual events?


texts: What was the purpose of a division staff in a US Navy Task Force/Fleet in WWII?

texts:
Just watching Midway, and in the scene of Raymond Spruance taking command of the Midway Task Force, I remembered an old question that nagged me. Apparently, the US Navy equipped task forces and fleets with whole divisions of cruisers and destroyers as escorts. These divisions had their own commanders and staff carried on some division flagship.

Given that a division has typically consisted of 4 ships each, that seems like an awful lot of staff per task force. At the battle of Midway, that would imply 2 cruiser divisions and 4 destroyer division staffs. So why did the navy keep this organization in war time (or did it do so only in exceptional cases)? What was the purpose of e.g. a cruiser division staff attached to a carrier task force (which would probably never send her cruisers on a detached mission)?

edit: To add some more precision to my question: I understand the general concept of a chain-of-command that splits larger forces (armies, fleets) downwards into smaller pieces (corps, divisions, regiments/brigades, battalions, companies, platoons). However, in the army, if one of these formations has its own staff (e.g. a division or regiment), that staff has a clear operational role, e.g. a particular area of the front to defend. A task force is inherently a combination of different ships specialized in different roles (e.g. a destroyer squadron might be attached for air defence or ASW purposes). So when a cruiser division is attached, would the division's staff be handed over the task to deal with that division's role?

E.g. "Adm. Spruance, take your division and protect us from enemy cruisers! Adm. Foo, your destroyer division handles air defense for us and the cruisers! Adm. Bar your destroyers catch all submarines that might interfere with us, Adm. Spruance or Adm. Bar! Oh Admiral Baz, I forgot you command all the destroyers since coincidentally, they form a squadron. Sorry, but I have no task for you."?

Sorry for the ludicrous example, but I really have a hard time understanding how such a command structure would work during a real operation. Since different roles need to supplement each other, every staff would have to reconcile its plans with the all the others in the task force. That seems to imply a lot of friction. Why not task one (sufficiently equipped) staff aboard the flagship with all that?


texts: What organization/agency/unit wore this uniform?

texts: The woman in the attached photo worked as a teletype operator for the Army Air Corps on Geiger Field, near Spokane, Washington 1941-44. I don’t believe that she was enlisted, but worked in a civilian capacity. Can the uniform identify the organization/agency/etc. that she worked for?


texts: Why did few French and no Dutch pilots (but many Poles and Czechs) take part in the Battle of Britain?

texts:
Among the non-British pilots, at least 141 were Polish, 84 Czech and 28 Belgian, but only 13 were French and none were Dutch, Norwegian or Danish.

The reasons why there were many Polish, Czech and Commonwealth pilots are clear enough, as are the reasons for the relatively low number of Australian pilots.

The reasons for the lack of Norwegian and Danish pilots can also perhaps be explained: there weren’t many of them in the first place, and reaching England was probably more difficult for them than the French, Belgian, Polish and Czech pilots who fled at the fall of France.

France, however, had Europe’s largest allied air force at the time of the Battle of France (764 fighters), which presumably means they also had far more pilots, yet only 13 or 14 French pilots fought in the Battle of Britain, compared to 28 pilots from Belgium (81 fighters). And what happened to the Dutch (up to 76 fighters)? Of course, some were killed in action before the Battle of Britain, but that was also true for the Poles (about 280 fighters in Set. 1939) and Czechs.

I’m wondering if the formation of Free French Forces destined for North Africa had anything to do with the lack of French fighter pilots in the Battle of Britain. However, given that the RAF had more planes than pilots, that surviving French pilots had invaluable combat experience (as did the Poles and Czechs), and that the fall of Britain would have been catastrophic for the allies, surely the Battle of Britain had to take priority over anything else?

Note: All the figures cited for fighter planes refer to operational planes. It seems fair to assume that the number of operational fighters was not hugely different from the number of available pilots.


texts: What is this household object from early 1900s rural Russia?

texts:
At the Kalashnikov museum in Izhevsk, one of the exhibits includes this item:

It is a yoke-shaped square bar of light, unvarnished wood, roughly 100 cm long, with rounded corners. There is a hole about 5 cm in diameter drilled vertically through the center of the bar. The two raised ends of the yoke are each pierced by a rod of dark metal, which splits into four smaller rods which spread out at a 30° angle and extend about 20 cm high. In one of the split metal rods is cradled a small piece of rough wood, with black scorch marks at both ends. There are also some scorch marks on the yoke, directly below one of the metal rods.

The exhibit shows objects from Mikhail Kalashnikov's mother's household in the early 1900s:

I recognize a spinning wheel, bowl and spoon, sewing machine, several pieces of woven fabric, and a small vase with some dried flowers.

What is the yoke shaped object called and what was it used for?


texts: Did the Maratha Empire use cryptography techniques for military communication?

texts: After this question of mine was put on hold as being too broad, I would like to know if there is any historical evidence of usage of cryptography techniques for military communication in the Maratha empire of India.


texts: Etymology of Pine Street in San Francisco

texts:
In San Francisco, California, what is Pine Street named after?

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etymologies_of_place_names_in_San_Francisco and other internet sources about SF street naming do not give any information regarding this street naming.


texts: When was King John of England given the name 'Dollheart', and who first used it?

texts:
As if being called 'Lackland' (by his father, Henry II) and 'Softsword' (by "some English chroniclers") was not bad enough, King John also acquired the very unflattering-sounding nickname of Dollheart.

This is mentioned on this University of Sheffield page, in this blog and also in this article Royal Nicknames. None of them, though, give any further information. The Wikipedia page John, King of England doesn't even mention Dollheart.

When did John acquire this nickname, and do we know who first used it?

It might also be worth confirming if the 'doll' part is a reference to the children's toy, or if it has some other meaning.


texts: What is the name of the Phoenician religion?

texts: I am writing an article about a Phoenician king, Ithobaal I, and was curious about what religion Phoenicians had. Is there any technical term for it or is it just "Phoenician Religion" or "Phoenician Mythology"?


texts: Could women be crucified under Roman law?

texts:
Were women eligible for crucifixion in Roman society?  I found plenty of sources saying something along the lines of "women and Roman citizens were exempt" but also found some sources saying women lacked legal rights and thus could be subject to crucifixion.  Which is correct?

Regardless of what the law said, is there any record of a woman actually being crucified?  If so, what were the circumstances that led to the crucifixion?
(A few days ago, a user posted a couple of good questions about the historic practice of crucifixion in Ancient Rome on Christianity SE. Unfortunately, they posted the questions as an answer to this question, so naturally they were deleted.  I encouraged them to bring the questions here, but they did not so I am doing it now.)


texts: US legislative efforts to abolish tipping

texts:
Viviana Zelizer claims that

  In the early 1900s, as tipping became increasingly popular, it provoked great moral and social controversy. In fact, there were nationwide efforts, some successful, by state legislatures to abolish tipping by turning it into a punishable misdemeanor.

What exactly were these legislative efforts to turn tipping "into a punishable misdemeanor"? I'm especially interested in those efforts that were successful (and when and how any such laws were later repealed).


texts: How were concentration and extermination camp guards recruited?

texts:
I'm interested in knowing how the Nazi regime went about hiring the guards and other camp personnel who did the dirty work.

Were they screened for sadism, callousness, obedience, or some other trait that was conducive to the job, or did they not do much about it until someone turned out to be too gentle, compassionate, or principled to dish out the abuse?

Related, was it ever a practice to parole criminals in exchange for their obedience (sort of a, "Do as you're told and we'll let you abuse all of the victims you want")?


texts: Was Winston Churchill really responsible for the 1943 Bengal famine?

texts:
Indians think that he was the one responsible for famine.

Is there any other fact that contradicts above ?


texts: Identification of two leaders in Hungarian revolution

texts: Who are these two figures involved in the revolution in Hungary after the first world war?


texts:
I’m looking for help in identifying this figure. I bought this box at a thrift store a few years back because it was silver and because it looked nice. Every once in a while, curiosity hits me as I look at it and wonder who the figure on the top is. There is no text or trademark on the box, only a very small line of text at the bottom that says “Silver .925”

The figure looks Asian, and it’s art style is that of Chinese porcelain I’ve seen in stores. The porcelain looks like it has been taken from a larger picture, since there is a small bit of paint at the left side that is abruptly cut off. I’m very curious as to who this figure is, as he seems very iconic, but my historical knowledge is not so good. He’s got what seems to be a sword on his back, a flag (possibly) in his left hand, and a long cloak-like outfit. Somewhat iconic hat, expression, and outfit.
Any ideas would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance. =D


texts: Statement Issued by Communist Party regarding Collectivization: Contradictory?

texts:
As seen in the following statement issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party: (https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/e2livest.html)

Addendum to point 20, Politburo minutes no. 94
                  of April 20, 1931

         ON FORCED COLLECTIVIZATION OF LIVESTOCK
[Handwritten line:] Resolution of the Central Committee [TsK] of
the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) [VKP(b)], Mar 26, 1932

In many regions of our country we can observe the
collectivization of cattle and smaller livestock by forcible
means.  This practice is a flagrant violation of repeatedly
issued directives by the party's TsK, as well as of the
provisions contained in the statute of the agricultural artel.

The TsK VKP(b) stresses that only enemies of the kolkhozes
would permit forced collectivization of livestock from individual
kolkhozniks.  The TsK emphasizes that forced requisition of
kolkhozniks' cattle and smaller livestock is contrary to the
party's political program.  The goal of the party is that every
member of the kolkhoz have a cow, some smaller livestock and
poultry.....

The TsK of the VKP(b) proposes to all party, Soviet and
kolkhoz organizations:

 1.   Cease all attempts of forced collectivization of cattle
      and small livestock belonging to the kolkhozniks and
      expel from the party those guilty of violating TsK
      directives;

 2.   Organize aid for the members of the kolkhozes who have
      no cattle nor small livestock to purchase and raise
      young animals for their own personal needs.

                          Signed:  TsK VKP(b)

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union declared that collectivization of cattle and small livestock was contrary to the goals of the Party. This was signed in 1931, during Stalin's first five year plan when he was collectivizing farms that were previously individually owned by the peasants. If the Party's goal was to impose socialism on agricultural production in the Soviet Union (that is, collectivize these farms to make them Kolkhozes and Sovkhoz), then why were they allowing the peasants to own these animals individually? Is that not contradictory?


texts: Jean III de Grailly, captal de Buch's strange title

texts:
The title of Jean III de Grailly, Captal de Buch, seems odd to me. It was acquired by his father Jean II de Grailly (so it was passed down from father to son like other titles of nobility):

  Jean III’s father, Jean II de Grailly, acquired the captalat of Buch (i.e., the principal seigniory in the land of Buch, the chief town of which was La Teste de Buch).

  —http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/240795/Jean-III-de-Grailly-lord-de-Buch

It was apparently granted by Edward III:

  And 'tis evident, this Knight of the Garter must be the Grandson of Peter, because we find that Edward III, in his thirty second Year, confirms to him, by the Title of Captal de Buch, the Lands that Peter his Grandfather (not his Father) held ..."

  —The Register of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Volume 2

It apparently derives from the Latin capitales domini, meaning "chief lords" (though I can find no other reference to this term):

  Captal de Buch (later Buché) was an archaic feudal title in Gascony, captal from Latin capitalis "prime, chief" in the formula capitales domini or "principal lords."

  —http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captal_de_Buch

The title was used by more than just the de Grailly family, but not many:

  The title of "captal," which Jean de Grailly inherited in 1343, was used by only a few of the most prominent noble families of Gascony, such as the lords of Buch.

  —Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War, Wagner

So the questions I have about the title captal:

Why was de Grailly granted this title, which was apparently used by only a few families, and not some other title? Was it just some strange title invented on the spot because Edward couldn't or didn't want to use a more commonly-used title?
Was Captal used in the same way as other titles, such as Duke or Viscount, where the title is used in place of the name? (E.g. "Who lead the charge?" "The captal did.")
What was its order of precedence? Britannica says Jean I de Grailly was granted the "viscountcies of Benauges and Castillon" but Jean III is almost universally referred to by the captal title. Was Captal considered more prestigious or had the de Graillys lost all their other titles by the time of Jean III?
What were the other families that used this title?
Why did the title not outlive the Middle Ages as the titles of Duke and Count did?
Was that title ever used outside of Gascony, or was it limited to Gascony as the Encyclopedia of the Hundred Years War above seems to imply?
Why did the title derive from Latin rather than something in French? Did it have any connections with something used by the Romans?


texts: Why is/was the world's expo 1967 so important to Montreal, Canada?

texts: Although I have read Wikipedia's article on Expo Montreal 1967, I haven't been able to figure out why Expo 1967 still continues to strike an emotional chord in Canadians some 45 years after the event. Can anybody explain why ?


texts: Why was the requirement for Impeachment set at simple majority for House of Representatives, but supermajority (2/3) for a trial at the Senate?

texts:
According to the US Constitution - Article 1, Section 3:

  The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two-thirds of the Members present.

However there is no such clause in regards to issuing the Impeachment and therefore it only requires one-half of the votes in the House of Representatives. What was the historical reason for not requiring a two-thirds vote in the lower chamber as well?


texts: Did the Roman testudo protect the sides of the formation?

texts:
I have seen several images like these, where the soldiers in testudo formation hold shields above their heads and to their sides as well.

The soldiers standing in the extreme left or right column of the formation could either hold their shields over their head or to their side. Did those particular soldiers carry two shields for this? Or are these images inaccurate?


texts: Who are these red flag worshipers from these early maps?

texts:
While doing some research into maps over the last month or so, I came across an interesting item which I found recurring on two different sources. I first encountered this scene on a copy of the Abraham Ortelius Atlas, the 1570 Theatrum orbis terrarum. From page showing the map labeled Russia at the Library of Congress site:

It looked like a curious scene, and I thought to look into it later.  When looking at an different map, the earlier Carta Marina of 1539 by Olaus Magnus, I was surprised to find a very similar scene, this from Bell Library:

Interestingly enough, the later Ortelius map seemed to have more information in its legend than the earlier. As Latin was not part of my education, I attempted to feed the information on the legends into Google translate, but the machine translation was confusing, and did not really clear things up for me.

Further research found another image yet, at the same UofM Bell Library site,  also from a Olaus Magnus publication, The Historia pg 98, showing another slightly different version of the same scene:

So, what is this scene representing? I understand we can't take everything we find on these maps as fact (I do enjoy the sea monsters, unicorns and dragons however), but the placement of this scene on two different maps, both in northern regions, makes me wonder if it isn't a representation of some cultural behavior specific to a group,  or perhaps a historical event.

What is the story here?

Just wanted to add a link for some more information about the cartographer Olaus Magnus in the History of Cartography, Vol 3, chptr 60 • Scandinavian Renaissance Cartography which has a discussion of Magnus and his Carta Marina and Historia. A section there addresses a concern I had about whether or not his maps vignettes also might have been copied from an earlier source (emphasis mine):

  A complementary text, Historia de gentibvs septentrionalibvs,
  published in Rome in 1555, contains a small modified version of the
  map. As with the Carta marina, the Historia offers a splendid
  mixture of fact and fancy— a veritable hyperborean apotheosis. The
  large number of vignettes are in the same style as those that decorate
  the original map. They are the work of Olaus Magnus himself: he was no
  mean artist. Indeed, the Swedish historian Hjalmar Grape juxtaposes
  some of his woodcuts with those of Hans Holbein, whose style possibly
  influenced Olaus Magnus. The illustrations belong to the bold,
  vigorous, and occasionally naive artistry of the north. The pictorial
  content seems to have been designed to show the Catholic world of the
  south what had been lost through the Reformation in the north. At the
  same time, Olaus Magnus remained a Nordic patriot who was anxious to
  replace the concept of a barbaric north with a more civilized image.


texts: Is the Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL) still used for anything?

texts:
Section 411 of the USA PATRIOT ACT of 2001 (8 U.S.C. § 1182) authorized the Secretary of State, in consultation with or upon the request of the Attorney General, to designate terrorist organizations for immigration purposes. This authority is known as the Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL) authority.

The TEL list has not been update since 2004.
Is it still used for any purpose?

Has it been sort of superseded by the FTO list (which has a different definition, but is updated regularly)?


texts: What is Washington holding in the painting "Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States"?

texts:
Here is Howard Chandler Christy's 1944 depiction of the  Signing of the Constitution of the United States.
  You can see clearly  Richard Spaight of North Carolina signing the constitution.

I'm just curious, what is George Washington holding in his right hand?


texts: Why was agriculture more conducive to slavery in U.S. South than the North?

texts:
The most common explanation I hear for why there was more slavery in the South than the North in is that farming was more profitable in the South due to climate, soil quality etc. and the North had more industry.

This explanation seems slightly anachronistic to me because the divide between Southern slave states and Northern free states was already evident by the time of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. At the time, my understanding is that both the North and South were agrarian economies (most people date the start of U.S. industrialization to the 1820s).

So, if both economies were based on agriculture, why were slaves common in one, and not the other?


texts: Did the passage from Latin to English, in England, help science flourish?

texts:
On a YouTube video about the origins of English, they said that replacing Latin with English in science was beneficial to the field; scientists were thus able to easily discuss and understand the matters on hand.

Said video passed through this very quickly — in less than 10 seconds — and didn't say much about the subject.

My research was a bit disappointing as I couldn't get hold on sufficient details.

My question is: did the move towards English in science really help scientific research, and science in general, flourish? Are there any resources documenting this trend?


texts: How many digits of Pi did the old Egyptians know?

texts:
From "Rhind Papyrus" from 1600 BC we know that the Egyptians had an estimate for pi, namely 3.16, meaning they knew only 2 digits of pi. According to this article they knew more digits, at least 4 digits of pi. Around 200 BC Archimedes estimated pi to 22/7 which is 3 digits of pi. This indicates that the Egyptians knew more digits 2000 years before Archimedes, however, it's not clear to me how many digits they actually knew.

http://www.bcamt.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Yochim.pdf


texts: Why did the English name of "Pacific Ocean" stick if it has been known by many cultures since ancient times?

texts: As far as I understand, the largest ocean on Earth is know worldwide as the Pacific Ocean, a name given by Ferdinand Magellan in 1519. However, it is surprising to me that such a name stuck given that it is an ocean that was known for several millennia before then by literate cultures such as those in Japan, China and Korea.


texts: How tight were shield walls in Saxon England?

texts:
After watching the BBC show The Last Kingdom, depicting conflicts between Saxons and Danes in the 800s AD, I was surprised by the multi-layered shield walls depicted. For example:

or even:

I had always imagined shield walls as much looser and only one shield high, like

Is this just Television writers having trouble staging the pushing and grinding forces of shield wall combat, or were there actually shield wall tactics in this period where soldiers knelt to protect the legs of their compatriots, forming an almost literal wall?


texts:
According to Wikipedia:

  He [Lenin] was... fond of pets, in particular cats.

So did Lenin, at some point, have a cat? I have seen some pictures of him holding cats, but I guess they could just be him holding someone else's cat (for popularity points).


texts: Was Alexander Coffroth for or against Slavery? And in what instances?

texts: I am watching the 2012 film "Lincoln" and there was a character Alexander Coffroth. Doing some research on him, it is quite vague whether or not he supported or didn't support slavery. If he did support it, on what instances and what did he do, and if he did not same thing?


texts: During the Sengoku-jidai, what were shinobi (aka ninja) used for?

texts:
During the Japan Sengoku-jidai, several clans of shinobi were recruited by various war lords to help their military campaigns. What were they primarily used for?  Was it covert espionage, assassination, or scouting?  Or was it something else?

I am particularity interested in primary source.


texts: Where did the South Dublin/"D4" accent come from?

texts:
I've lived in Ireland for a decade in Dublin and outside Co. Dublin. I've noticed that many of the accents sound similar with the exception of the South Dublin accent. It sounds entirely different from the rest of accents in Dublin and around the country.
I read somewhere that the accent was influenced by English settlers during the English occupation of Ireland when Dublin was known as 'the Pale'.


texts: What is this Victorian era British Uniform? Royal Horse Artillery?

texts:
Please can anyone confirm whether the photo shows a uniform of a Corporal in the R.H.A.(Royal Horse Artillery) of the British Army in about the 1870s?
An ancestor of mine was in the R.H.A in the 1870s stationed in India. I am attempting to identify if the photo is of my ancestor.
In 1876 he may have been a Corporal in RHA the Exeter Barracks . He died age 25 in Campbellpore Bengal, India in 1880 of heat stroke.
Any help would be grateful.
Thank you in advance.


texts: Does any copy exist of the Papal bull which authorized the Spanish Inquisition?

texts:
I have been trying, without success, to find an exemplification or any lesser copy of the Papal bull (issued by Pope Sixtus IV on November 1, 1478) known as Exigit Sinceras Devotionis Affectus (sometimes Exigit Sincerae Devotionis) which authorized what became known as the Spanish Inquisition.

I have looked high and low and other people I know (including academics, librarians, and theologians) have also engaged in this search to no avail. Numerous papers, books, articles, and websites cite or reference this infamous document yet I have been unable to locate even a mere index listing for the actual text of this historic bull.

I am wondering if this could be a lost or destroyed document yet I also have found no mention of such an event happening.


texts: What is the earliest example of Aryanization in Germany?

texts:
In the book by Martin Goldsmith Alex's Wake which describes the experiences of his family in Germany and the Nazi Germany, he tells (on page 46) of the forced sale of his grandfather's house for a quarter of its fair market price in 1932 and says this is one of the earliest examples of Aryanization. Everywhere else I read that such sales did not even start until 1933.

I wonder if the author got the dates wrong or if this while not being technically/legally Aryanization was the result of Nazi influence on a local level or simply bullying by local officials.

In 1932 there were still Jewish judges and attorneys and professors -- I do not think the status of Jews had legally changed at all in Germany but if this is an accurate description of such an event occurring that year, it is very significant and I wonder what similar things might have happened before 1933.

(I did try to write to the author but the book is not new and there is no contact information that I can find for him.)


texts: I don't have more information, I'm sorry.


texts: What was the name of the father of Mesha, king of Moab?

texts:
In English translations of the Mesha Stele, the opening words are "I am Mesha son of Chemosh-melekh, king of Moab the Dibonite".
However, the truth is that the actual text of the Stele (rendered in Hebrew characters) reads:

אנך משע בן כמש** מלך מאב הדיבני.

The stars are apparently unreadable letters, which some scholars have deciphered as ית, rendering the name of Mesha's father Chemoshyat.
So where does it come from that his father's name is Chemosh-melek, but that is not what the text of the Stele says. This explanation, it seems takes the word מלך and repeats it twice, the first attached to Chemosh- as in Chemosh-melekh and then again to mean king. I think this is a mistake. Can anyone corroborate my findings or point me to a paper which discusses this issue?


texts:
I don't know whether this is a myth, but I've run into this in various publications, and a few Egyptians I know personally have confirmed it: that the Egyptians of today and those who lived in the times of the Pharaohs are genetically identical.

Unlike their neighbors. Whatever Mediterranean state you take, the denizens' DNA will attest to all the migrations their country has witnessed over the past 4000 years or so. In Libya, next door to Egypt, the average citizen will have strains of Sub-Saharan, Greek, Roman, and Arab DNA. Sicilians have Norman blood in their veins, and Greeks have Turkish. And so forth. The Egyptians seem to be an exception: they don't mix with others. At least not genetically. Is this true, and if it is, how do they even manage it?

I mean, they fought all those wars with the Nubians; they once had a large population of Hebrew slaves; they lived under Persian, Greek, and Roman occupation - centuries upon centuries; and then there were the Caliphs; and the Brits; and - nothing? Not a trace? How can that be?


texts:
I am reading that before the 8-9th(10th?) century, Franks  were a Germanic-speaking nation.

How it is possible to explain that in later centuries their language became a totally different Latin-based language with no traces of German origins? How many centuries did the switch from Germanic to a Latin-based language take, and was the switch related to Catholicism?

Are there traces of German roots in old/modern French language?

Are there other examples in history where a nation completely switched its language?


texts: What was Richard Owen's status within the Royal Society in 1858?

texts:
I'd like to know if Sir Richard Owen was still a distinguished fellow of the Royal Society by 1858.

The information I have collected is controversial. The RS website shows his being VP in 1849-1850 and 1857-1858 and receiving the Royal Medal 1846 and Copley Medal 1851. However, other sources say in 1846 he was voted off the councils of the Zoological Society and the Royal Society on account of the Chaning Pearce scandal on Owen's paper on belemnites. The book The life of Richard Owen does not shed much light on this issue.

Could anyone give me more precise information?


texts: How did Japanese small boats win against Mongolian ships?

texts:
During the first attempted Mongolian invasion of Japan, fighting mostly occurred on land, just after Mongolian landings. Only local landlords were there to fight, and they did not manage well. In this video we can see that Japanese fought on the beaches, but this is from a movie, probably not that much historically accurate (Mongols are using Naffatun is true, but Mongols were fighting in tight formation). No sea fights occurred, but the Mongolians feared to face larger formations and fell back to Korea.

During the second attempt, Mongols failed to land on the same position since the shogunate had built more defenses (both walls and human defenses). Mongolian fleet stood on an island in order to group with the second force of the attack. But they faced multiple attacks from Japanese small crafts, during the battle of Koan.

This put the Mongols in a difficult situation, and later the famous "kamikaze" storm put them down.

According to the wikipedia article and this source, Japanese attacked by night, on small, rowing-powered boats, and used them to close Mongoian ships and set them afire.

Question:
Why didn't Mongolians react with their bowmen, who were very well known for their capacities? They used Korean crew: didn't those crews knew how to fight such small boats?


texts: Did the Czech Legion bring POWs to Czechoslovakia? And if so, why?

texts:
In this question, it is established that the Czech Legion went back to Europe in 1920 merely on US boats along three different naval roads.
@Felix Goldberg quotes a master's thesis by Major Robert Dziak of the Czech army that says:

Finally, the Czechoslovaks stayed in Russia until 02 SEP
1920 when the last Legionary was evacuated. Totally, 36 transports were dispatched and over
67,700 people were transported through three main directions: First, around Asia, then via Suez
Canal to Trieste; Second, across Pacific ocean, Panama canal, Atlantic ocean to Trieste or
Hamburg; Third, through Pacific ocean to Canadian West coast, by rail road across Canada, then
through Atlantic ocean to Hamburg.

So far, so good. I'm very interested in the next two sentences :

Many passengers were not members of the Legion. The transports took also care of the Legionaries’ family members, civilian personnel, and POWs.

"POWs" here means Prisoners of War. As far I understand, they would be fighters captured by the Czech Legion during its long adventures in Siberia, most probably Bolsheviks.
Dziak doesn't explicit further who are those POWs. There is only one additionnal endnote:

In addition, several Russian anti-Bolshevik commanders undertook the travel to Czechoslovakia and became
members of the Czechoslovak Armed Forces.

I am a bit skeptical though : why would the Czech Legion, who didn't plan to play a role anymore in Russian civil war, bother to bring POWs all around the world to their newly founded homeland, Czechoslovakia ? Why not rather release them, or handle them to the Japanese Army that was occupying Vladivostok ?
Possible explanations that I could imagine :

Maybe some POWs were notabilities and the Czech Legion expected them to be ransomable when back in Europe ?

Maybe some were adventurers who willingly followed the Czech Legion, to escape a not-so-bright future in Siberia (where Bolsheviks were clearly winning against the White Russian warlords), and try to build a new life in America or Europe ?

Similarly, maybe prisoners from western Russia might have thought it would be easier to go back home this way rather than crossing war-ravaged Siberia westwards ?

Maybe here POWs doesn't mean POWs captured by the Czech Legion, but non-Czech, non-Slovak Europeans, captured by the Russian Imperial Army during WWI and released after Brest-Litovsk treaty, who similarly tried to go back to Europe ? Or, as suggested by @Svick in comment, would they be Czechs and Slovaks captured, then released by the Russian Imperial Army, who did not join the Czech Legion ?

Did the Czech Legion really bring POWs during its evacuation ?
If yes, who exactly, and how many, were those POWs ? What motivated the Czech legion to bring them along ? What happened to them when they reached Czechoslovakia ?
In addition, any more precise figure about how many family members, civilian personnel, and POWs did accompany the Czech Legion evacuation would be appreciated.


texts: How was Alexander the Great able to rule so much territory?

texts:
Alexander the Great conquered so much territory so quickly that I'm always surprised he was able to maintain control of it as his army pushed further east. What kept territories from reverting to something like their old government once he was gone?

I understand that Alexander's time as king didn't last very long on the scale of ancient history, but the fact that we refer to much of the world after his death as "Hellenistic" indicates that Greek rule took root sufficiently to having a wide, lasting influence.


texts: How did the Swedish soldiers pray during the Thirty Years' War?

texts:
During the Thirty Years' War, how did the Swedish soldiers (for instance, the pike-men) pray to get mentally relaxed or to feel more powerful or to get prepared before a battle?

Which prayers did they used to say?


texts: What is the meaning of the quadruple symbols combination on a possibly Roman monumental piece?

texts:
During my visit to a village central western part of the Asia Minor I saw monumental pieces. Which were emplaced on some part of the buildings by villagers. I see a sword, sickle (hook), pickaxe, and an unidentified one on the piece.

What is the small symbol lying on the side of the sword? What is the one below the sword?

I am wondering about what these symbols altogether mean on a single piece and which civilization it belongs to?

Does the Corinthian style column capital of acanthus(?) leaf, perhaps imply a Roman heritage?

(click to enlarge)


texts: Why is there an Islamic revolution in Iran?

texts: If Zoroastrianism is so strong in Iran, why was there an Islamic revolution? Why is it proclaimed as the Islamic Republic of Iran?


texts: American presidents on secession legality?

texts:
I am writing article (in Russian) on secession legality, and would like to include and analyze expressed opinions of antebellum American Presidents on the subject.

My favorite is Andrew Jackson’s clear and unequivocal:

  Secession, like any other revolutionary act, may be morally justified by the extremity of oppression; but to call it a
  constitutional right, is confounding the meaning of terms, and can
  only be done through gross error, or to deceive those who are willing
  to assert a right, but would pause before they made a revolution, or
  incur the penalties consequent upon a failure.

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/jack01.asp

What about other antebellum Presidents? (update: I would prefer references or direct quotes, not explanations)

UPDATE:

Considering Tom Au vote to close the question as a "list" question, I removed the last sentence. I can (and probably will) ask another question; hopefully no one wold vote to close it as duplicate


texts: Examples of ancient maps that gave names based on a cardinal direction

texts:
Years ago I read that civilizations had maps like that of the Herodotus, who was an ancient Greek historian. Said maps named lands or peoples according to cardinal directions, but without referring to them as a continent or an ethnicity. Besides the Herodotus maps, I only know of the below Chinese maps. Does anyone know of any other such maps?

To to clear, the person/civilization didn't actually have to draw maps necessarily. They only had to name  lands according to cardinal points. If I'm not mistaken, one of the societies that did that was the Persians.


texts: Did Muslim women in colonial India before 1939 have to become Christian to divorce?

texts:
Muslim Law in India in 1939 did not accept a women's right to divorce before the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939.
Prior to the enactment of this Act, 1939 (DMMA), conversion of either spouse had the effect of automatic dissolution of the marriage under the Muslim personal Law..

Question:
How prevalent was it for Muslim women to convert to get out of their marriages in colonial India before 1939?


texts: Why the different jail terms for the brigatisti involved in Aldo Moro's death?

texts:
Wikipedia's summary of the sentences applied to each of the brigatisti involved in Aldo Moro's death shows a wide range of jail terms.

In particular Barbara Balzerani served 21 years until 2011 while Mario Moretti who is thought to have actually carried out Moro's execution only served 15. Why the differences?


texts: How did age affect the probability of being drafted during WWII?

texts:
Did the Selective Service System and the draft boards select younger registrants first?

Were 30-year olds less likely to be selected in the early years of the war, or more likely to be selected in 1944-1945?


texts: What was Finland's position in World War Two? Apparently, they were fighting against the Soviet Union, but not as Nazi Germany's ally. Are there reasons for this, and were they actually on Germany's side?


texts: Has there ever been a war between two service branches in the same country?

texts: We all know about the army navy games. Often armed services hate each other. I am sure that somewhere, somehow, there has been a war between two armed services in the same country.


texts: When did Northern India and N. China begin to dominate in global demographics?

texts:
Video: Human Population Through Time

This simple video says that there were 170 million people in the world at the beginning of the current era. Each dot represents a million people -there are about 170 dots on the map- and over 120 of them are in Northern China and India. The video portrays about 70% of the world's population residing in these two regions, so it can be assumed that the majority of the people resided in these regions. There was nowhere else like these until Europe around 1500 A.D. When did Northeast India and NE China begin to dominate in global demographics?

Northern India and Northern China are both very fertile places that would support a large population of farmers or hunters. This was probably a good starting point, but population density triggers societal advancements that increase the population more. I think that it would be this snowball effect at some point in history that created the concentration of population portrayed in the video.

Discussions on global population usually start around 1 A.D. The consolidation of China and Rome at this time created useable census records. Earlier statistics just aren't there, making the discussion theoretical, and estimates varying often by 200%. There are some older census records in China, such as from the Zhou dynasty (c. 900 B.C.), that can't be reliably used.

Pieter Geerkens had a good answer. He said that rice has a caloric advantage over other types of grains, and that the the Ganges river system is the one of the largest, most fertile places. The user Rahul had a good point; that the development of river systems facilitated social development. Still these are all partial answers, and I'd like to bring up some other points.

The date that Pieter Geerkens gives for the adoption of rice cultivation in India is about 2000 B.C. There are issues with considering this as a starting point. This period of history in North India is called the Late Harrapan phase; it is characterized by the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization, and a shift to more rural society. Regardless of the character of society, though, both the IVC and the Late Harrapan cultures were located in the Indus River system, not the Ganges river system, which was the region of great density shown in the video. The Indus Valley is shown with a more typical density like that of the Mediterranean. Being that it was the region of the previous Indus Valley Civilization, it seems like it would be the site of the greatest population in North India at the time. This picture of Late Harrapan archaeological sites shows the regions associated with it, as well as other archaeological sites in North India in non-bold text.

Due to this black hole of easily available information, I'm inclined to think that the Indo-Aryans were the ones who developed the Ganges River system. Vedic culture was initially focused in Northwest India, and moved into the Western Ganges river system around 1200-1000 (Painted Greyware). Some time after 800, the development of the iron plow revolutionized agriculture in North India.

Around 600 B.C., urban centers sprung up as a result of increased river based commerce. This is Adam Smith's explanation, as provided here in the answer by Rahul.

I know nothing about Ancient China. What is called the Warring States (475-225 B.C.) period did produce a lot of cultural works, so it may be mischaracterization of the period, economically and socially.


texts: In the painting "Ariadne", by Arthur Streeton, why are the sails of the ship white?

texts:
In the painting Ariadne, by Arthur Streeton, seen here:

Ariadne is seen crying, with a ship with white sails in the distance. Presumably, this is depicting a heartbroken Ariadne watching Theseus sailing back to Athens. However, we know two things from the myth:

Theseus sailed back to Athens using black sails, which caused his father, thinking this his son was dead, to kill himself (as they had previously agreed that returning from Crete with black sails meant a dead Theseus).
Theseus sailed with black sails because he forgot to switch to the white ones, suggesting that he was originally sailing with black sails. (In other words, I am assuming that on all other trips related to the Minotaur myth, Theseus typically sailed with black sails.)

As such, either:

Streeton is indeed depicting the departure of Theseus, and merely painted the sails of the wrong colour.
Streeton is depicting a different event/myth/trip altogether, in which case, which one ?


texts: How many days of supply did units in WW2 carry?

texts:
A typical infantry, and armoured battalion of the various sides....
(and if possible, at various stages of the war)

At what level were supplies (surplus to the immediate projected consumption) stockpiled? Brigade level? division level? army group level etc. ? Or was it centrally, through some sort of supply corps?

A breakdown on lines of this US classification perhaps. I am not looking for an exhaustive list of this table. Rough estimates would do. Food - ammo - fuel - spare parts.

I do not need a single exhaustive monolithic answer. It would help if you can give parts of the picture.

Was researching for making some mechanistic models in SQL. Perhaps even the backend of a game someday.

Also do any organised records of such exist? I tried looking but did not find it on the surface internet. Perhaps some books that I'll have to buy, which quote primary sources.

Class I Subsistence (food), gratuitous (free) health and comfort items

Class II Clothing, individual equipment, tent-age, organizational tool sets and kits, hand tools, unclassified maps, administrative and housekeeping supplies and equipment

Class III Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants (POL) (package and bulk): Petroleum, fuels, lubricants, hydraulic and insulating oils, preservatives, liquids and gases, bulk chemical products, coolants, deicer and antifreeze compounds, components, and additives of petroleum and chemical products, and coal.

Class IV Construction materials, including installed equipment and all fortification and barrier materials

Class V Ammunition of all types, bombs, explosives, mines, fuzes, detonators, pyrotechnics, missiles, rockets, propellants, and associated items

Class VI Personal demand items (such as health and hygiene products, soaps and toothpaste, writing material, snack food, beverages, cigarettes, batteries, alcohol, and cameras— nonmilitary sales items) and paperclips.

Class VII Major end items such as launchers, tanks, mobile machine shops, and vehicles

Class VIII Medical material (equipment and consumables) including repair parts peculiar to medical equipment. (Class VIIIa – Medical consumable supplies not including blood & blood products; Class VIIIb – Blood & blood components (whole blood, platelets, plasma, packed red cells, etc.)

Class IX Repair parts and components to include kits, assemblies, and sub-assemblies (repairable or non-repairable) required for maintenance support of all equipment.

Class X Material to support nonmilitary programs such as agriculture and economic development (not included in Classes I through IX).

Miscellaneous Water, salvage, and captured material.


texts:
In Montaigne's essay "Of Cannibals", Montaigne writes:

  "I know not," said he, "what kind of
  barbarians" (for so the Greeks called all other nations) "these may be; but the disposition
  of this army that I see has nothing of barbarism in it."--[Plutarch, Life of Pyrrhus, c. 8.]--As much said the Greeks of that which Flaminius brought into their country; and Philip,
  beholding from an eminence the order and distribution of the Roman camp formed in his
  kingdom by Publius Sulpicius Galba, spoke to the same effect.

What is the sentence in bold referring to, when it talks of "that which Flaminius brought into their country"? The wiki link for Flaminius seems to imply that all he did was sell cheap grain in Rome, but I don't know how that has anything to do with the sentence.

(There's also another person called Flamininus, so was it maybe a typo?)


texts: Why did Western Christian monasticism really take off in Ireland?

texts: I'm reading this wikipedia article and it seems like Western Christian monasticism came originally from Egypt, and then had small followings in Italy and northeastern France before somehow skipping England and going right to Scotland and Wales, and thence Ireland, where it became such a big deal that the article has a really long section about it, and there's another really long list of monasteries in Ireland.  Why was Ireland so amenable to monasticism?  Was it the geography?  The culture?  Something else?


texts:
I'm studying Nicolaus Copernicus' work, and this certain website mentions multiple people who inspired his heliocentric theory. Among the people mentioned, there's Peuerbach, Heraclides, Muller and this person called "Rhadir of Seville."
I've looked everywhere online and can't find a single thing about him. The name might be misspelled, considering Peuerbach was written as "Feuerbach," but I cannot find any name that resembles his. The post I read was made in 2010, so it's considerably old; I cannot contact the writer. I've also looked into Isidore of Seville, though he didn't seem to have a connection to this. Has anyone ever heard of this man, before?
Text on the website I'm consulting (it's in Portuguese, so forgive me for that):

Por anos investigou com instrumentos pouco capazes para tamanha pesquisa. Fez observação metódica empírica, e análise rigorosa às teses clássicas que suportavam e se opunham ao geocentrismo – respectivamente Pitágoras, Aristóteles, Platão, Ptolomeu, Eudóxio, Apolónio; e Aristarco de Samos, Filolau, Heráclides, Rhadir de Sevilha, Nicolaus de Cusa, Feuerbach, Muller.


texts: Why did the death rate increase in US cities in 1934, when it decreased in each year from 1929 to 1933

texts:
This question was prompted by a particular statement by user Pieter Geerkens in the discussion about the deaths due to famine during the Great Depression found here. My understanding of the Great Depression was that it was at it's worst at the start, and actions like the New Deal led to recovery, but in this chart:

There's a clear, and fairly substantial increase in the rate of deaths in 1934, and then again in 1936. The conclusion of the other discussion seemed to be that the Great Depression did not lead to an increase in deaths from starvation, but at the same time as some medical advances appear to be reducing the deaths from certain diseases, deaths from illnesses you can attribute to 'weakness' and therefore malnutrition such as Heart disease and Pneumonia sharply increase, and actually continue to increase substantially for the remainder of the 1930s.

Wouldn't these deaths be consistent with both the short term, and long term effects of malnutrition? Particularly among children whose development was stunted by calorie deficiencies?


texts: Were heroin addicts used to help Spanish flu patients?

texts:
In Burroughs' Junky, he mentions that addicts appeared to be immune and so were safe around infected patients. Can't find anything about this outside of Burroughs and if it is indeed true can only guess that cough suppressive effect of the drug had something to do with it.

EDIT: I don't know why this is not clear but my question is, Were heroin addicts used to help Spanish Flu sufferers?

If they were, is it really true that they were immune to the disease and if so, what was the suggested mechanism.


texts: What changes were made to address the Junkers 88 initial high accident losses?

texts:
There were three main German bombers in use during the Battle of Britain: the Dornier Do 17, the Heinkel He 111, Ju 87 Stuka and the Junkers Ju 88. The Dornier 17 was an old bomber, no longer in production, Heinkel 111 was a slow (although heavily armoured) machine while the Junkers 88 was a new, fast plane:

  Of the four types of bomber used by the Luftwaffe the Ju 88 (the original Schnellbomber) was considered to be the most difficult to shoot down. As a bomber it was relatively manoeuvrable and, especially at low altitudes with no bomb load, it was fast enough to ensure that a Spitfire engaged in a tail-chase would be hard pressed to catch up.
  source

Yet it was also the plane that suffered the heaviest (after Stuka - which was completely unsuited for the bomber role in the BoB) losses:

  In reality, the Ju 88, although operating in smaller numbers than the Do 17 and He 111, suffered the highest losses of the three German bomber types. Losses of Do 17 and He 111s amounted to 132 and 252 machines destroyed respectively, while 313 Ju 88s were lost. ibid

Further search in wiki informs us that

  Of all the losses suffered by the Ju 88 at that time, however, a number were due to the tricky behavior of the plane, especially when compared to the proven He 111, and to the crews' lack of experience on the type – many having converted to the Ju 88 only shortly before. Of the 39 losses recorded for July 1940, for example, only 20 were due to enemy action. The others being written off in training accidents, crashes, or malfunctions over mainland Europe source

That gives almost 50% loss due to accidents, which would make Ju88 probably one of the most unsafe combat planes from WW II. Was this trend continued during the rest of the war? If not, what changes have been made to improve crew safety? How is it in comparison to other new planes from the same time period?

I know that Ju88 was very versatile and dangerous to the enemy, but did it continue to be unsafe for the crew?


texts: Was smoking allowed aboard hydrogen-filled zeppelins?

texts: The question is self explanatory:  Were passengers aboard rigid airships filled with hydrogen, like the Hindenburg, allowed to smoke?


texts: What was the general attitude of people in states without anti-miscegenation laws toward interracial marriage?

texts: Can we say that interracial relationships were somehow tolerated in states that had not passed any anti-miscegenation laws?


texts: Do we know of any course of action chosen based on historical precedents which was successful?

texts:
Hegel famously held that we could not learn from history, since the particular circumstances are always too special. The German quote from his „Lectures on the Philosophy of History“ goes as follows:

  Was die Erfahrung aber und die Geschichte lehren, ist dieses, daß Völker und Regierungen niemals etwas aus der Geschichte gelernt [...] haben. Jede Zeit hat so eigentümliche Umstände, ist ein so individueller Zustand, daß in ihm aus ihm selbst entschieden werden muß und allein entschieden werden kann

I tentatively translate:

  But, what experience and history teach us, is this: that peoples  and governments have never learned from history. Each time has such peculiar circumstances, is such a peculiar state of affairs, that therein, decisions can only and have to be made based upon it.

Do we know, perhaps from the memoirs of politicians, of any momentous course of action, chosen based on historical precedents, which was nearly undisputedly successful?

For clarification of what I hope for: I don’t care whether the person elected to do or not do something. As far as we have an account of the historical lesson they heeded and of a pretty undisputable good effect. For example, a lot of people saved from famine.


texts: Was there something in Lord Palmerston's career that made him associated with temporary appointments becoming permanent?

texts:
While researching the quote "nothing more permanent than something temporary", I stumbled upon this quote from the "Royal United Service Institution Journal" from 1888:

I fear they will verify Lord Palmerston's saying, that nothing is so permanent as a temporary appointment, not improbably our grand-children, visiting the Cape on pleasure or on business, will see this astounding, this everlasting memento, of our foresight.

I presume that the attribution was apocryphal rather than a literal quote but why was Lord Palmerston chosen for the attribution? Was there a famous episode in his career that resulted in him being associated with temporary appointments? Or perhaps he really did use this phrase and was directly famous for it?
I tried checking Lord Palmerston's biography but couldn't find any relevant episodes.


texts: Why didn't Native Americans have big sailing ships?

texts:
Many European and East Asian powers had very large sailing ships: clippers, junks and the like. Polynesians had sailing capacity, although theirs ships weren't as large.

Why didn't Native Americans build large ships like that? In my West Coast experience, they were limited to canoes and the like.


texts: Why did Charles the Bold have long fingernails?

texts:
After his death in battle at Nancy, Charles the Bold was found in a stream. He had been stripped of his armor, cloths, and jewels, and partially eaten by animals. His face was horribly mutilated and barely recognizable. His personal physician was chiefly able to identify him due to his hair color, long fingernails, and old battle scars.

Cursory googling suggests that while nail clippers are a fairly recent invention, nail trimming was nothing new.

Why did Charles the Bold carry such long fingernails that his stood out among those of his contemporaries?

To clarify the question, the latter link explains that since Antiquity is was common for nobility to exhibit long nails as a sign that they weren't working. My question is really about why his were so long that he stood out. Was it merely that he was one of the richest nobles in Europe at the time and made a point to have the longest (practical) fingernails around, or was there something else to it?


texts: Who said these Canadian quotes from WWI?

texts:
CANADIAN quote help (just need to know who said it).

Quote 1: “Je ne me sentais pas vraiment canadien avant Vimy. Après j’étais canadien jusqu’au bout. On avait le sentiment qu’on ne pouvait pas perdre, qu’on était capable de gagner la guerre nous-mêmes.”

(TRANSLATION) "I did not really feel Canadian before Vimy. After I was Canadian to the end. We had the feeling that we could not lose, that we were able to win the war ourselves."

Quote 2: “Il a fallu tremper nos mouchoirs dans l’urine et ensuite couvrir nos nez. Des milliers ont souffert parce-qu’on ne savait pas comment se protéger, mais, on a gardé notre position”

(TRANSLATION) "We had to soak our tissues in the urine and then cover our noses. Thousands have suffered because we did not know how to protect ourselves, but we kept our position."


texts: Why was Copernicus not persecuted by the church, but Galileo was?

texts:
The Catholic Church's persecution of Galileo Galilei for embracing heliocentrism is very well known today. He was subjected to the inquisition and spent the end of his life in house arrest. However, Nicolaus Copernicus who was the initial proponent of heliocentrism before Galileo apparently did not suffer the same. Why was it that Galileo was persecuted but Copernicus wasn't?

Note: There are two previous questions in this website about Copernicus and the church, but they don't seem to have answers for this question:

What were the responses to Copernicus' heliocentric theory?
What corrections did the Catholic church make to the Copernicus work “De revolutionibus”?


texts: Was any significant percentage of Mongol army infantry?

texts:
Mongols of Khan's time are generally considered to be a cavalry army, which makes sense logistically, given the width and speed of their military maneuvers.

But is there historical evidence of Khan's Mongol armies ever using infantry in any significant degree (e.g. >5% of a given fighting force)?

I'm mostly interested in timlines around Gengis (1206-1227) but pretty much anything till the time of Kublai Khan (1294) is fair game.

Please note that I'm using a narrow definition of infantry: soldiers trained and equipped to fight primarily on foot (they may have horses for movement but always/primarily fight dismounted, using infantry tactics).

I'm only including front line soldiers - e.g. auxiliary engineering, logistics, and whatever equivalent of military police/garrison troops inside the empire the Mongols had do not count, even if they were not cavalry.

Non-horsed-archers are probably in-scope, but again, only if they were explicitly meant to fight on foot as opposed to simply regular cavalry archers that were dismounted for accuracy at a specific part of the battle. Depends on details.

Inspired by this Q&A.


texts:
The Sino-Soviet rift/split is a complicated issue. But there can be little doubt that it was complete by mid 1963, when the «Polemics on the General Line» were released by the Chinese Communist Party.
However, From Lorentz M. Lüthi‘s book «The Sino-Soviet Split» I gained the following understanding of the hefty grain aids that the Russians (shortly before the complete split) agreed to deliver to China - but Semaphore‘s comment says that the first three are actually the same!

1961 Feb. Need for emergency grain purchases, volume unclear [Lüthi, 199]
1961 Feb. Khrushchev offered 1 million tons of grain and 500,000 tons of Cuban sugar on a loan basis. China agreed to use the sugar loan and asked to keep the grain offer in reserve. The PRC however used part of the offer soon after [Lüthi, 200]
1961? Mar.  In late March, Zhou also approached the Soviets with a request to deliver on loan another 300,000 tons of grain [ibid]
1962: the Soviet government agreed to deliver 350,000 tons (grain) immediately in exchange for the delivery of 150,000 tons of rice later in the year.49 With this, Soviet food aid ended [ibid]

Question

Does anyone know if or when these were payed back?

For some of them, I noticed, Lüthi states they were granted, but that doesn’t mean they were received!


texts: In the Great Purge, how many purged military officers served in Tsarist times?

texts:
During the Great Purge, a lot of military men were removed (executed, imprisoned, exiled, expelled from the party). I have heard in countless documentaries that those on the list were "perceived as politically unreliable".

So I would like to know, how many of them served as officers in Tsarist times? (Which would make them former Imperials.) That should be an objective criteria investigatable.

I did a brief investigation into the 3 Marshalls who were purged: Tukhachevsky, Blyukher, and Yegorov.

Tukhachevsky indeed served in the Imperial Russian Army, went to two military schools, and made the rank of Second Lieutenant. I don't know if that's an officer or maybe NCO.

Blyukher also served the Imperials and made it to the rank of Corporal. I'm not sure if this is considered an officer, but I would think it's at least an NCO.

Yegorov was also an "army officer", according to Wikipedia, in the Imperial Russian Army until 1905.

So the Marshals, which I believe were the highest ranks in the Red Army at that time, are 3 for 3. Hopefully someone knows of a study into this so some percentage can be had for the whole batch.


texts: What was the Soviet plan to respond to a nuclear first strike post WW 2?

texts: I'm interested in the period between the war ending and the Soviets making their own bomb. Did they have a plan? Were they expecting a first strike?


texts: Where can I find a PDF of the Commission on Industrial Relations?

texts:
Where can I find good primary source website?

I need to find a PDF of the Commission on Industrial Relations.

But, the only place that I can find it is within the University of Miami website, which requires a password. If someone could direct me to a primary source website, or better yet, the PDF of the Commission on Industrial Relations, I'd be very happy.


texts: Where were ancient Romans supposed to dispose of their waste and garbage?

texts:
On page 35 of Gregory Aldrete's Daily Life in the Roman City he states "The majority of sewage that found its way into the system did not come directly from latrines [...] Most waste was dumped in the streets, and from there might find its way into the sewers." But just a few pages later, on streets, he writes "... property owners were at least in theory supposed to look after the section of the street that abutted their property. One text states that 'each person is to keep the public street outside his own house in repair [...] they are not to throw excrement, dead animals, or skins into the street.'"

It sounds as if this law was wildly ineffective. But what surprised me about it was that I'd assumed dumping waste into the streets (presumably to be cleared away by fountains or the next rain storm) was an accepted norm. And yet clearly there was some pushback. So if not the streets, where? Did the Roman government want everyone to visit public latrines? Where did they want them to dispose of their other garbage?

In short, if dumping waste in the street was prohibited, what was the contemporary alternative?


texts: Did Mao want to convert written Chinese into a phonetic system?

texts:
Quote from The Economist (April 2009)

  for all his success in overturning traditional values and institutions, the founder of modern China came up short in his desire to convert written Chinese from its character-based system to an alphabet.

What evidence is there for this? Did he try very hard to get this done? How was this desire of Mao's denied fulfillment?

Update: More similar claims again from The Economist (Jan 2017), this time with Stalin playing a role too!

  Mao Zedong (who was Mao Tse-tung before pinyin, under the “Wade-Giles”
  romanisation system) wanted a radical break with old ways after 1949,
  when the civil war ended in mainland China. He was hardly the first to
  think that China’s beautiful, complicated and inefficient script was a
  hindrance to the country’s development. Lu Xun, a celebrated novelist,
  wrote in the early 20th century: “If we are to go on living, Chinese
  characters cannot.”

  But according to Mr Zhou, speaking to the New Yorker in 2004, it was
  Josef Stalin in 1949 who talked Mao out of full-scale romanisation,
  saying that a proud China needed a truly national system.

Edit: Many here and on the linked post claim that it is impossible to create or impose an alphabetical or phonetic writing system for Chinese (or China), supposedly because China has many languages.

But this is as absurd as claiming that it is impossible to impose a single official/national language in China because of China's many languages. Which, of course, is something that has been done — in the form of putonghua in the PRC or guoyu in the ROC or huayu in Singapore. And this is something that can be done anywhere in the world if you have the political will and power to do so (as the CCP/KMT/PAP have done in those respective countries).

(This is not to say that everyone in China can understand putonghua — according to Xinhua, as late as 2017, only 73% could. But the question of whether you can create/impose a particular language/writing system is entirely different from the question of whether 100% of the population can understand it.)

It is also false that all the Chinese languages use the same ideographs/characters. Try asking someone from Beijing to explain what the following simple Cantonese and Hokkien/Minnan/Taiwanese phrases mean:

“佢叻D。”
“你袂使佮伊出去迌。”

See if she is even able to read these sentences out in her native Beijing Mandarin.

Note that there is no standard/accepted Chinese character for the Cantonese "D" (it is sometimes rendered as 啲 and sometimes 尐). Indeed, it is most commonly simply rendered as the English letter D!


texts: Why did Romania create a personality cult long after Russia's "overcoming of the cult of personality"?

texts:
During the Cold War the Socialist Republic of Romania was aligned with the USSR and within the Soviet sphere of influence.  What appears odd is that while Russian Communism slowly liberalised after Stalin's death and Khrushchev's 1956 speech "On the Cult of Personality and its Consequences", Romania went the other way.

Nicolae Ceaușescu's denunciation of the invasion of Czechoslovakia and brief liberalisation of the press preceded a slide into a decidedly more totalitarian society.  Russian politics over the same time frame appeared to grow less about personality cults and the like, while Romania became more about this sort of thing.

Russia underwent de-Stalinisation beginning 1956, while Ceaușescu started his personality cult (inspired by Kim Il-sung's) around 1971.  This was long after Stalin's was no longer in effect, and became far more powerful than the cult of Ceaușescu's predecessor.

Why did Russian Communism evolve from Stalinism into Glasnost, and yet Romanian Communism mutated from denouncing the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia into a Maoist personality cult inspired by North Korea?

Soviet leaders appeared to alternate between progressive and regressive policy.  From Stalin's purges to Khrushchev's thaw, from Brezhnev's freeze to Gorbachev's openness... and then a coup to try and stop Gorbachev.

The general character of repressive policy became less severe each time. Brezhnev's repression never went as far as Stalin's, and Andropov's rule included the first publication of economic facts and anti-corruption efforts. Furthermore, each time liberalisation went further than it had before. This does suggest a slow but continual liberalisation since the death of Stalin and appointment of Khrushchev.


texts: What proportion of women died in childbirth before modern times?

texts:
I am researching the life of a woman whose mother died in 1615 when her daughter was aged four. I am wondering how likely it is that the mother died in childbirth.
Is there any general information on the proportion of women who died in childbirth before modern times and modern medicine?

Edit from comment:
"She [the woman whose mother died in 1615] probably lived in the parish of Auchinleck in Scotland and her parents were probably minor landed gentry. She had one younger sister."


texts: Who were the traders involved in the triangular slave trade in France?

texts:
There is currently a big polemic in French news media about antisemitism. A French comedian is accused to propagate antisemitic ideas in France. I have no intention to propagate this polemic on this forum but one of his claims is that triangular trade and black people slavery was organized (at least in France) by Jewish ship owners. He repeated this claim several times in the media so I was curious to do some fact checking, as I know almost nothing about that difficult event in French history.

I found nothing real to support those claims (as I was expecting), but I'm not sure where to search real information about that specific fact. So I'm asking this question to know more about who were the traders who organized the triangular slave trade. And what can I say to people who support such claims ?


texts: Why was America much better prepared earlier in World War II in the air than in other respects?

texts:
According to sources such as Paul Kennedy's "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, America's total armaments spending in 1941 was about half that of the Axis (Germany, Italy and Japan). It was also less than Britain's military spending, which was equivalent to Germany's alone, and Russia's, which was equivalent to that of Germany plus Japan.

Yet by 1941, America produced 26,000 planes, more than either Britain or Russia (singly), as well as all the Axis nations combined. Put another way, the 1941 base was so high that U.S. aircraft production rose "only" threefold from 1941-1943, versus eightfold for total armaments spending.

Why was U.S. aircraft production already superior to that of both allies and enemies in 1941 when the country only had something like a million men in the Army (about as many as prewar Poland), and e.g. a merchant marine production that grew eightfold (in line with armaments, rather than aircraft spending) over the next two years? Was the air force more "hawkish" than other branches of the service?  Or was air defense considered more critical than ground forces?


texts: What were sandbags used for in medieval duels?

texts:
I was hesitant whether to ask this question in history or Shakespeare stack exchange, but I eventually decided it is more of a historical question. In the play "King Henry The Sixth" there is a fragment concerning a duel between an apprentice and his master, where their entrance is described in such a way:

[Enter at one door, HORNER the Armourer, and his
Neighbours, drinking to him so much that he is
drunk; and he enters with a drum before him and
his staff with a sand-bag fastened to it; and at the
other door PETER, his man, with a drum and sandbag,
and Prentices drinking to him.]

What was the sandbag for? What was the sandbag?


texts: Rape perpetrated by American soldiers during WWII?

texts:
A while back I had a disturbing encounter with someone related to a Jewish survivor from the Auschwitz death camp. This survivor apparently claims that not only Red Army soldiers, but also G.I.'s perpetrated rape during World War II.

While rape perpetrated by Russian soldiers is often discussed (What is the historical evidence behind the claim that the Soviet armies perpetrated mass rapes during their stay in Germany?), rape perpetrated by American soldiers is news to me.

Is their any evidence that rape was perpetrated by American soldiers during WWII? If so, have estimations of the number of victims been made? Among the allies, have other armies been involved? (Numbers per country if available would be most welcome.)


texts: Did Friedrich Engels support the Chartist movement?

texts: Does anybody have primary sources of Friedrich Engels explicitly supporting the Chartist movement? (Chartism was a mid-19th century political movement)


texts: What prevented empires with territory in North Africa from expanding south of the Sahara? And vice versa

texts:
Almost all empires I've seen that existed north of Sahara, did not expand to the south. And the empires south of the Sahara did not expand to the north (except for post 15th century European colonialists, and the Kushites). Why is this?

I understand supply lines may have been difficult to establish through Sahara interior due to lack of water, but I also know that there were several trans-Sahara trade routes going through the interior. And the corridors along the Red Sea and west Africa had sufficient water availability.


texts: Are there any universally accepted or non-Abrahamic based books in history that have mentions of longevity of prophets?

texts:
Reading from here and Genesis 5 we see that there are mentions of longevity among prophets:

Adam – 930

Seth – 912

Enosh – 905

Jared – 962

Methuselah – 969

Noah – 950

Shem – 600

Eber – 464

Abraham – 175

Moses – 120

My question is are there any other historical books (a book that has nothing to do with Abrahamic religions) that mention any of these ages? Basically what I'm asking was there any non-religious, secular book written that cites these ages? OR perhaps a book written by Abrahamic followers that is still somewhat universally accepted?

I personally consider the old and new testament as (partially history) books that can be referenced but consider that out of the scope of the question.

I'm not asking whether what they've mentioned is accurate. I'm only asking if it's even mentioned at all...


texts: Historical examples of replacing blood heir by impostor?

texts:
Both fiction and (contemporary at the time) conspiracy theories have many examples of "The king chooses to place a worthy replacement on the throne instead of his own not-qualified-to-rule offspring; with said impostor being presented to the populace as an actual heir by blood" trope.

Were there any actual historical events that fit that pattern? If there were many, who was the latest known?

Just to be clear, I'm interested in cases where (almost) everyone was told that the "heir" was indeed a child of the monarch, at the monarch's wish, and replacing an actual child (independently of said child surviving).

This does not include an usurper (like LzheDmitry I) who claimed blood relation to the previous king without being acknowledged by that monarch himself.


texts: Are there any remaining existant texts that describe the styles and techniques of Medieval European swordsmanship?

texts: We have, in the modern day, no shortage of movies which feature characters from the Medieval period of European history engaged in combat, with swords, cavalry, and arrows.  Do we have any historical documentation that describes the way that such a character may have trained and fought with his weapons, on an individual scale (i.e., not concerned with large scale combat, but more focused on training and single combat)?


texts: Did anyone in Alta California pay in cash?

texts:
In the Spanish and Mexican eras, California was an economy very cut off from its mother countries. Most trade was by bartering goods [Josiah Belden by Doyce Nunis, Jr., 1962].

Is there evidence of the use of cash for transactions? Presumably the money would have been reales, the "Spanish dollar".


texts: What is the pre-schism Christian church called today?

texts:
I've come upon numerous instances where a pre-11th century person or artifact is associated with either the Orthodox or Catholic church. The most recent example is in Francis Fukuyama's "The Origins of Political Order", where Gregory I is titled "pope of the catholic church" and where further the "influence of the catholic church in Europe in the 7th century" is discussed. The wikipedia page about Gregory I also states that he was a "Pope of the Catholic Church from 3 September 590 to 12 March 604 AD".
Technically, at that time before the Great Schism, there were no major denominations in the Christian church. For example, the pope should be considered the Patriarch of Rome, equal with the other patriarchs. While I'm aware that "catholic" can mean "universal", these instances are clearly in the modern connotation of a Christian denomination and are not exclusive to the Catholic faith, but also prominent in the Orthodox case.
What should we call the pre-schism Christian church today?
Or, if there is an accepted name, why isn't it used instead of Catholic and Orthodox when referring to events, people, etc. before the Great Schism?


texts: Was there some law formed in US after Jonestown mass suicide, regarding religious or such kind of clique/sect/cabals? or what actions were taken regarding limiting and monitoring cult activities by US government?


texts: Did Franco consider Hitler a "son of the Catholic Church" who "died while defending Christianity"?

texts:
Did Francisco Franco, who established Catholicism as the State religion of Spain, consider Hitler a "son of the Catholic Church" who "died while defending Christianity"? If so, why?

Hitler acted contrary to what Pope Pius XI wrote in his March 14, 1937, encyclical on Nazism, Mit brennender Sorge, e.g. where it says:

  Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State, or a particular form of State, or the depositories of power, or any other fundamental value of the human community - however necessary and honorable be their function in worldly things - whoever raises these notions above their standard value and divinizes them to an idolatrous level, distorts and perverts an order of the world planned and created by God; he is far from the true faith in God and from the concept of life which that faith upholds.

Despite this, Francisco Franco, Head of Spain, allegedly said on 3 May 1945:*

  Adolf Hitler son of the Catholic Church died while defending Christianity. It is therefore understandable that words cannot be found to lament over his death, when so many were found to exalt his life. Over his mortal remains stands his victorious figure. with the palm of the martyr, God gives Hitler the laurels of Victory.

*This is quoted on p. 25 of this book (hardly a credible source), which says it was published in the Spanish press the day after Hitler died (which isn't 3 May 1945, is it?), and in the last scene of this documentary, but I have never seen the original newspaper article.

Is this a spurious quote, or does this reflect Franco's views of what Hitler's religion is?


texts: Was Kamehameha I unique in elevating so many foreigners?

texts:
In the early 1800s, King Kamehameha I of Hawai'i made liberal use of foreigners as advisors and counselors. His favorites included John Young, an English boatswain, Francisco Paula de Marin, a Spanish sailor and horticulturalist, John Eliot d'Castro, an English-Portuguese supercargo, and Alexander Adams, a Scottish sailor. Kamehameha gave them land and responsibilities such as military advice, medical attendance, diplomatic contacts, and liquor distilling.

Hawai'i was a country that was only recently exposed to the outside world, and it is understandable that the king would have sought outside knowledge and advice. We should assume that he had in mind the best interests of himself and his nation. Through these foreigners he might have sought to stave off colonization and to profit from trends in trade. Whether his strategy looked good to his compatriots is another matter.

Has any other sovereign installed so many foreigners in such powerful positions?


texts: Did people ever pour drinks on the floor to reject a toast or indicate an end to civilities?

texts:
In a fantasy book called "Jack of Shadows" by Roger Zelazny I read this:

A disgraced member of a ruling party is being forced to ceremonially drink to the coronation of the new king, but instead defiantly lifts his cup, proclaims himself the new king, & drinks. Everyone else in the room pours their drink upon the floor.

Spilling wine on floors almost certainly wouldn't be acceptable in the present day, but the act makes me curious as to when it might have been commonplace & in what situations it might have been done. Disapproval of a wedding? A breakdown in negotiations between diplomats? A fight erupting amidst a dining hall?


texts: Why the belt or strap in some plate armor and some other armor exposed in the middle front side?

texts:
(the belt or strap locate at the middle side of the breastplate or the plackart)

Won't the belt become easy target to be cut or to be worn out? Making the armor prone to break up or unable to cover properly because it's getting loose during battle?

examples (click to enlarge):

image from pinterest

image from https://steel-mastery.com/milan-style-full-plate-armour-1450-1485-years.html


texts: When were public tariffs and taxes for water supply introduced for the first time?

texts: Early Rome had indoor plumbing, meaning a system of aqueducts and pipes that terminated in homes and at public wells and fountains for people to use.It was in the 18th century that a rapidly growing population fueled a boom in the establishment of water supply networks. I've searched most of the sources referring to Water Supply, History of Water Supply, Water Tariffs. There is no exact date or institution mentioned as tax or tariff initiator. I suspect that it will match the scientific discoveries of the 17th - 18th century in fluid mechanics.


texts: Who was the last European king to actively engage in combat?

texts:
Specifically, I would like to know who the most recent European monarch (or monarchs, if they lived roughly at the same time) is that actively engaged in combat whilst reigning: that is, used a sword, gun, or any other weapon himself during fighting. I do not mean merely "commanded his soldiers in battle" as a general would.

For example, I am under the impression that Richard III actually fought on horseback with sword (and lance?) at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, and was distinguished by his bravery. Surely, however, there must be a later example, at least from the Early Modern era.

Edit. This question is different from the older question, since the older question specifically did not require the monarch to use his weapon during the battle (the requirement there was to be an armed participant).


texts: How did the email client industry develop?

texts:
I am too young to have used AOL but I did start with Hotmail.

I believe there was email clients before AOL, available to anyone capable running the software and configuring their servers, but that is not what I'm interested in. I'm curious about the client that popularised it, why was it easy for the average user to get started.

I'm interested in knowing why Hotmail trumped AOL, was it an improvement in user experience like Gmail's use of AJAX? Or was it a well deployed advertising effort?

I'm also curious to learn about how did these companies plan on making money before Google decided that it was enough to leverage on the data users store in their inboxes.

Edit: the question was wrongly framed by assuming that the history of email clients started with its arrival to the web. It also assumes that certain events occurred (e.g. Hotmail trumped AOL on its own merit or Gmail having a competitive advantage due to AJAX). I can now say that I was specifically interested in the development of the Webmail markets from a business perspective.


texts: Why do some sections of Great Wall of China seem to be bidirectional?

texts:
Official historiography says that Great Wall of China is built "across the historical northern borders of China to protect the Chinese states and empires against the raids and invasions of the various nomadic groups of the Eurasian Steppe." — (Wikipedia)

Eurasian Steppe is located North from Chinese states, so the fortifications supposed to face North, toward the place where possible invaders may come from.

However, looking at pictures of Great Wall, I notice many places where the fortifications rather look like bi-directional, e.g. the parapet seems to be convenient to aid defense from both directions, to North and to South, merely equally.

Here's what I mean:

(Left: Unidirectional; the parapet is built for defense on one side; right: Bidirectional; the parapet is built for defense from both sides; it is convenient for shooting arrows from parapet slits in both directions)

It is not only about walls itself. Some towers also look like they are built to assist fire in both directions.

Question: Is there a decent explanation of this phenomenon?

Disclaimer. I'm not a military expert, so answers like "your question comes from a false premise, because…" are also greatly appreciated.


texts: In the 19th century, do we know how armor changed with respect to guns of the time?

texts:
I know that the 19th century was relatively peaceful in Europe according to Wikipedia. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_warfare#Land_warfare) Interestingly, industrial technology has aided in weapon technology during this time however. Examples: around 1825 percussion caps were in use and in 1840 guns began to use pin-fire cartridges. (https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/technique/gun-timeline/)

What I am having difficulty with however is finding the evolution of this technology, and the result on the use of personal armor. Do we know what the cause and effect is between weapon use and use of armor? We know armor was gradually discarded to safe on weight, but do we have records on this?

The sites aren't inadequate, but very focused and lacks a general view, which makes it very hard for me to get a general idea of warfare during this time. The research so far has shown the dates of certain inventions (such as the invention of pin-fire cartridges). These dates don't give the period when it was used, and what the effect was on the use of armor.


texts: Why was Schuyler Colfax not present at the vote to reconsider the 13th amendment?

texts: According to this question about the thirteenth amendment and by extension this source it references, both say that Schuyler Colfax, the speaker at the time did not vote on the motion to reconsider the thirteenth amendment. The question claims that this was due to custom and the source says that the speaker was not required to vote in such matters and therefore does not unless it is "politically useful". Was this true in that time period or is the source backdating a custom? I question the narrative established by the source because their about us page says, "We publish the status of federal legislation and information about your representative and senators in Congress." (bolding mine) This makes me think that it was designed for the modern day leading me to question its accuracy in relation to historical fact. If so, why didn't Schuyler Colfax vote? Otherwise, how did this custom develop?


texts: When did Harvard give its last entrance exam?

texts: I saw this article pointing out how different college admissions used to be, pre World War II. Entrance exams are still used around the world today but it seems like no American universities give out their own exam anymore. When did this practice stop and why?


texts: Did liberalism in the USA degenerate into something more totalitarian than liberal?

texts:
I'm not US resident, so that's a real question rather than pre-election discussion.

Where I live liberalism never seriously changed meaning in public debate (yet) - it is still more or less faithul to the ideas of classical liberalism from XVIII and XIX century. As such it is an opposite of totalitarianism and socialism. (which doesn't necesarilly mean that liberals enjoy wide support).

Bits and pieces of news from the USA lead me to believe that US "liberals" abandoned the idea of maximization of personal liberties and minimization of the involvement of state in various areas of citzen's life (notably economic activities).
Is this a valid observation? Is this used in political debates to discredit "liberals" or did the public generally accept the new meaning of "liberalism"?


texts: Was there a European country that held a referendum about adopting English in universities?

texts:
I vaguely remember that there was a European country (not the UK or Ireland) that held a referendum about adopting English as the primary language of instruction in universities. The referendum failed. I seem to remember that it was the Netherlands in the 1970s, but I might be mistaken.

Googling, I am unable to find anything. So hopefully someone here can tell me if any such referendum ever took place or if I'm imagining things.


texts: What did the paper money of the Ilkhanate look like?

texts:
In the 1200s the Mongols conquered Persia (and a few other places).  The portion of the empire in Persia was known as the Ilkhanate, ruled over by the ilkhan.

Influenced by Chinese paper money, the ilkhan Gaykhatu introduced paper money in his realm, but it was a disaster, and was generally not accepted for trade.

Does anyone know what the ilkhan's paper money looked like?

Or has it been lost to time?

Chinese/Yuan money of that era is still known:


texts: From 1936-45 what was the prescribed punishment in Nazi Germany for failing to join or participate in the Hitler Youth?

texts:
Hitler reviewing members of the Hitlerjugend

Question

I know all other youth programs were abolished in the early or mid 30's, and then membership in the Hitler Youth was mandatory for "aryans" by the end of 1936 under the Gesetz über die Hitlerjugend (Hitler Youth Law), which was later made compulsory (regardless of parents' permission) in 1939 under the Jugenddienstpflicht (Youth Service Duty).

But if a youth chose not to enlist or participate, were they imprisoned, or were the parents imprisoned?  Or was there a fine?  Or both?

The "Membership" tag of the Wiki article merely indicates "Parents who refused to allow their children to join were subject to an investigation by the authorities".  But to what end were they "investigated"?  What did the law prescribe as punishment?  Was the punishment subjective based on the investigator, or were jail terms or fines prescribed in the law?


texts: Was the Athenian generals' trial after Arginusae a political one?

texts:
In 406BC, the Athenian fleet reported a great victory against the Spartans', near the Arginusae Islands. After the battle, allegedly because of a storm, the generals failed to rescue their comrades at sea, and were subsequently trialed and executed.

In the following year, a crushing defeat at the Battle of Aegospotami essentially vanquished the Athenian fleet and won the Peloponnesian War to Sparta.

Was this trial [a result of different political factions fighting within Athens]? What do we know apart from Xenophon's account?