I am interested in if she actually led people in war or was all that fabricated. Some of it seems to unrealistic to be true, I am asking out of interest

I don't really understand what the role of clans was in Japanese society, going off of some games like Total War Shogun they sound like almost different nation states unified in name only under a puppet government. Some anime almost portray them as a gang like entity, with people boasting about their membership to appear tough or to intimidate people although maybe not quite so malicious or anything like that. So what were they?

Lately, I’ve been thinking about cosmetic changes that have occurred since my grandmother would have been a young girl, and I have a few questions in regards to shaving.

When did the practice of females shaving their legs become mainstream? I’m, also, curious about what they used to shave with. What brought about the cultural change that made most women feel that they should shave?

If you can answer one, none, or all of these I’d really appreciate some feedback!

Just wondering over dinner if Perry/other foreigners brought global diseases with them when the country opened up, and couldn’t find an answer. Like how conquistadors brought small pox to North America. If not, what gave the population resistance to the diseases of the last 200 years?

What happened that made Romans less resilient that enabled the fall of Western Roman Empire compared to when they were able to replace their Manpower when fighting Hannibal and King Pyrrus?

Going through older pictures of my grandparents, it seems like all cars were far more colourful than what we see today. What lead to the interest in coloured vehicles and what eventually lead to it's waning popularity?

I know some naval actions are embedded in popular history, but did the USMC play any part in civil way battles? Additionally, was there a ‘CSMC’ and what part did may they have played?

Reading up on famous pirates and it’s said that Henry Every used both a red flag with white skull and the typical white on black style of flag. It’s said that the color red was used to symbolize “no quarter given”. To expand on my question, would there be a particular reason for him to use different flags on different ships he chased? Maybe a personal vendetta on certain ships that he would want to kill every member on board?

I read about Spain goning bankrupt multiple times in the 16th century, and started to wonder how it would affect the public. When a country went bankrupt, what were the effects on the general population? I would imagine taxes would go up, but would a commoner in the middle to lower classes be able to really feel the negative impacts otherwise? Would there be other drastic measures like forced labor or conscription for mercenary armies? I'm thinking more in pre 19th century times before there were international organizations in place to deal with such issues, but any information or sources would be welcome.

For example, the Cambridge History of China began being published in 1978 and continues to be published. Would the first/early books published be out of date? How would I know? What is considered out of date? Is the Cambridge History of China out of date?

I'm specifically curious about the grains that were used and the general process of breadmaking. Doesn't seem like they would have had white all-purpose flour back then. Would they even be eating wheat breads?

Does anyone have ant insight on what an Autistic person would have been treated like or lived in the past? Do we have examples of ancient Autistic people, or is it fairly recent? I’m curious about the difference between high functioning and low functioning in past society as well.

Hello Historians of Reddit, I am a writer and working on a horror movie and I was just wondering what kind of torture/execution happened in French prisons before the invention of the guillotine. I remember something from history class that these were quite gruesome and I was wondering how they went down and where. Any articles, information, anything would be super helpful, Thank you.

I have found a few old tools from the 1800s that have the date the patent was issued on them, but not the number of the patent itself. I have tried using the US patent office's website to find out more but have been stumped on how to navigate it. Does anyone have advice for how to look these up?

In the 1982 film Annie, the movie opens with the young title actress singing a song called "Maybe" where she talks about qualities of the parents who gave her up.

One of the lines says, "She's sitting playing piano, he's sitting paying a bill!" and it got me wondering: How did people pay their bills (presumably from home) in the 1930s when this movie is set?

Thanks,

A caregiver who's seen Annie too many times

(edit for formatting on mobile)

Some of my friends (I don't know if they were being serious) said that Hitler coined money with the star of David on each coin and tried to send the Jews to Israel. Is this true, can I get some historical evidence?

In high school, I used to refer to the eastern half of the Roman Empire after 410 CE as the "Byzantine" Empire. But is that accurate? After all the term Byzantine was coined until after the fall of Constantinople and the residences themselves referred to themselves as "Romanoi." Both the Greek speaking emperors and their Ottoman successors referred to themselves as "Emperor of Rome." Should we keep using the term "Byzantine" or just consider them as a continuation of the Roman Empire?