When I grew up (in the UK), one thing that was pushed a lot in the general ambience of discussion about world war 1 were what I know are misconceptions and disservices – e.g. Blackadder 4, which I love, but is obviously not historically accurate. Before asking this, I did some reading and found that a lot of the origins of many common takes are from the 60s (Lions led by Donkeys coming from a book by British MP Alan Clark, who later admitted to lying in the book).

My question is not about if the “Butcher Haig/disregard for the lives of the soldiers/etc” reputation is true or justified, but rather about the origin of that public perception and the political forces behind that emergence.

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Hi. I’m a high schooler and my favourite subject in History is the middle ages, I haven’t had a unit on the middle ages in years and it was so interesting to me. I loved learning about it, my teacher made it so magical and amazing. What I’m asking is if there are any interesting books on the middle ages, possibly not written like a high school textbook, maybe something a little more gripping. I enjoy the fantasy genre in books/movies so decided to give real history a try.

Thanks!

I'm looking for resources and any facts on precolonial days of the Philippines and also meanings of our tribal tattoos and culture in general!

I’m Building a German Stalingrad force for bolt action Miniature’s game and I want it to be historically accurate for the Battle of Stalingrad. What weapons were used in the Battle of Stalingrad for the Germans ? Thanks

The Second Polish Republic was formed in lat 1918, the Polish-Soviet war broke out in February 1919. At maximum strength the Polish army numbered over a million soldiers. How did Poland manage to raise, organize and equip a million man army after just a few months of independence?

This was just after the Great War and a lot of Polish manpower must have been conscripted into Austrian, German and Russian armies during the war - and must have suffered casualties. A lot of Polish infrastructure and part of the Polish economic base must have taken damage during the war as much of the Eastern front was fought in Polish lands?

Did they inherit regiments/armies from the other countries? Did they receive extensive support from other powers (I see on wikipedia that they were supported by the entente and the US, but to what degree?)? The Soviets were also very hurt by the Great War - and the Civil war, so I see how Poland won - but I just can't see how such a new country that must have received so many casualties and so much damage during the Great War could be able to raise such a big army in just a few months.

The first autopsy was performed on Julius Caesar to determine which of the 23 stab wounds he received actually killed him. My question is: why did this matter? Was the perpetrator of the mortal wound punished more severely than the others? Did some of the others claim that they were just stabbing him for appearances?

Hey there.

I am watching Vikings (the TV Show) with a friend and he always claims that it were the Danes that conquerored England, not Vikings. I argued that the Danes were pretty much a subgroup of Vikings, but he disagreed and said they were completely separate. Who is right here?

I know Lorica segmentata is sort of like semi plate-armor but I think the Romans really missed out on something here. I think after 200 a.D the Roman's began slowly loosing their military edge to barbarians and didn't make any real advancements in armor wich could have helped them to remain dominant and survive, also cataphracts armor isn't plate armor its scaled armor wich isn't as stable.

Did medieval society consider the eastern romans to be the roman empire, or did they refer to them as something else?

He mentioned the palaces would be used for storing grain and then redistributing it among the people, but to me this is pretty much how every other society pre money functioned. I believe it's called a palace economy and I don't think it could be considered communism.

This professor is a PhD in Egyptian history (art history I think?) so he said that in Egyptian trade texts they refer to "the Minoans" as opposed to "George of the Minoans" like they did with other societies. So this to him was proof of a communal society. For example, he says a trader from Rome would be listed as "Julius of Rome traded 5 apples" whereas the Minoans are just "The Minoans traded 4 horses".

The Nazi's did many experiments a lot of which were inhumane and monstrous, but what did they learn? What did we take from these experiments? Did we learn anything from their experiments at all?

I'm a Swede, a pretty young one at that, and I've been taught since 3 grade about the relationship between Sweden and the Sami: how we expanded into Sapmi in the 17th century, burnt their religious instruments and forced Christianity upon them, exploited them for tax revenue and sent settlers into their lands in the 18th century, confiscated and exploited their lands, made the reindeer-herders the only "true" Sami and tried to erase their cultural identity during the 19th and 20th century. I've seen a documentary about the treatment the Sami experienced during the 19th and 20th century, it covered their treatment in Sweden, Norway and Russia, but I want to know more about how Norway and Russia treated the Sami before the assimilation attempts become so pervasive during the 20th century, how was it for the Sami in Norway and Russia before then?

Films such as Saving Private Ryan and even more unbelievable films like Inglorious Bestards have characters who are Jewish Americans (usually from NYC) and are angry at the treatment of their people. Was there any truth to this? Or did they only know towards the end of the war?

I’ve seen people arguing for both sides: that either he was of African descent and used body doubles and makeup when going outside, or he was definitely white with no African ancestry (besides the average ancestry we all have as humans from modern Africa).

Which is right? Or is it difficult to tell for certain?

Most people know about the story where Cronus and most of the titans were overthrown by Zeus and his siblings. However, were the Titans simply created to give the Greek pantheon an origin story; or were they actually worshipped before the Olympians came about, necessitating a story for how the titans fell?

Do metals that have been smelted rust, or is there a certain way to prevent them from rusting by heating them a certain way or are they stored properly. Does anyone know how it was done?