I've been researching the Duchy of Milan, specifically under the rule of the Sforza family from 1450-1535 CE, as a basis for a fictional novel I'm writing. Wikipedia has been less than helpful.

I understand that the Duke of Milan was ultimately in charge of the city and its surrounding territory, but I can't seem to find out how the Milanese bureaucracy below him was structured and administered. The duchy's territory spread well beyond the walls of Milan proper into a sizeable chunk of northern Italy, so I imagine they had to have something. I'm also curious about how upper society was structured in Milan.

So, how was the Duchy of Milan's territory administered day to day? What were the job positions/titles and their official duties? Was there a peerage system similar to the ones in England and France, or was there one unique to Milan? If anyone can provide sources for further reading into Milan I would be incredibly grateful.

H.G. Wells Short History of the World makes this claim. Is/was this true?

I’ve kind of heard that the Westphalian model is about individual states having full, distinct sovereignty without interference from others. But interference from other states obviously didn’t stop, the most obvious instance being, well...war. So what are people on about here? Or is this a case of political science people picking a historical moment and attributing things to it that don’t belong?

At least 3 of my history teachers have quarreled with the subject when asked about it. Was the reconquest of the West squandered by his worry of Belisarius taking power or did it come from a more reasonable understanding of the current climate within the empire, that being one of serious disease and near constant war with the Sassan Persians. I am very curious if this can be objectively proven one way or another.

I've recently learned more about some of the predecessor cultures and civilizations to Mesoamerican civilizations that show up in the common core state standards for American education, and as a history teacher, it reminded me that what I teach to 12 year olds is by necessity a really limited glance into a slice-of-life sort of cherrypicked example...

... which got me thinking about Timbuktu. I teach about Timbuktu in the context of Ghana, Mali and Songhai, and Timbuktu (and Gao, etc) are really interesting for a jillion different reasons, but I was wondering if there are any other great examples of African trade centers that came to prominence in the same way in other regions of Africa.

I'd love to be able to do a better job of teaching Timbuktu in context but I wasn't able to find anything useful when I tried looking into it on my own.

Thanks!

For example, was the assassination of Julius Caesar widely known even in the provinces? How likely was it that the average provincial peregrinus would even know facts about Caesar's life?

For a more contemporary parallel, some Russian “oligarchs” benefited greatly from privatization after the fall of the USSR.

Which individuals were are the right place at the right time to benefit from Rome’s fall?

I’m particularly interested in Romans who were able to turn their misfortune into profit - as the benefits to outsiders such as the Visigoths are comparatively obvious.

I know he depopulated the city of its inhabitants, but what did the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot do with the city afterwards? Did he allow his revolutionaries (and their families) to occupy the homes of the former inhabitants? Or was it just empty till Pol Pot was overthrown by the Vietnamese?

How backward was Europe during the Dark Ages? How did the Moors pull Europe out of the Dark Ages?

Is it simply the "success" of Alexander's domination that gets him remembered as "The Great" rather than "The Terrible"?

There is a joke/quote that goes something like: If you try to conquer the world and fail you're forever a villain. Forever hated. Hitler and Napoleon for example. But if you set out to conquer the (known) world and succeed suddenly you get remembered as "The Great".

This is alluding to Alexander obviously, and the often repeated claim that he "conquered the known world". Does this illusion of success(Alexander definitely did not "conquer the entire known world", right?) play a role in how fondly Alexander is remembered despite the blood his campaign(s) spilled?

If not then how DO we explain why he is not labeled the same way as some of these other villains of history? If it's not about him succeeding and them failing then what is it about? Is it simply a matter of the time period he was a part of? These more modern glory seekers being seen by their more modern times as being "uncivilized" where as Alexander did something that was more common for his time and thus not seen as as evil by history?

A lot of comments I see on good questions I want to know the answers to are deleted. Why is this?

I’m confused. I always though India was part of the common wealth, but I’ve been playing hearts of iron four, and it’s pretty much it’s own country, was it part of the uk or was it something else? Sorry if my question isn’t clear enough.

I know there's not a consent on this topic, but in your opinion how the island's inhabitants managed to survive for centuries in such a small and isolated place? And what are the reasons for its collapse?

A curiosity: There are any registers on the Rapa Nui world view? Did they believed that the island was the only landmass on Earth? Did they have some mystical vision of the "Distant Ocean"?

I've been reading the Hornblower and Aubrey-Maturin books, and the 'tonnage' of ship's biscuit/hardtack comes up fairly often, as do the apparently large facilities where the bread comes from.

What did the operation of producing a navy's worth of hardtack look like?

For example why not tell Seyni Kountché in Niger that he had to have elections?

Hello all, I am very interested in knowing about Spain and it's colonies along with areas it has had cultural influence and how Spain's culture influenced its colonies I am quite curious about spanish culture Please can someone share some posts related to this or suggest some books to read as I am extremely curious about Spaniards and their culture Regards

PS - I am finding it hard to express myself and I tried being as concise as I can Regards

I don't know about this, but many of my friends say that they did.

Recently I had someone rant to me about slavic slavery and how they were enslaved by king otto/ the germans. Is this true? Also I have learned about the barbary slave trade, but almost every article that sites it seems to use it as a tool to diminish the legitimacy of slavery in the west. What is historically accurate regarding slavery in north africa?

Hello 👋 all. I’m interested in reading up on the issues surrounding getting an accurate ‘death count’ for the (nominally) communist regimes of the 20th century. The Black Book of Communism is sometimes cited as a go-to text here, but it’s my understanding that it’s come in for some severe criticism from a number of historians (a common talking point is that the authors’ include Nazi war deaths in their death count for the USSR, among other things.). Is there a more fair-minded overview out there that avoids such pitfalls but also doesn’t outright whitewash the more egregious Stalinist crimes? Thanks 🙏🏿 in advance.