I can imagine that many Pagan records of such complaints may not have survived intact down through the 1700ish years since then. But, just in case - do any? Or do Christian sources from that era write about any pushback they got? I guess as an additional question, did any Christians at the time think that taking over these temples in this way was wrong, in some way?

Recently, during an argument on the Spanish Civil War here on Reddit, a user suggested the other to forgo “biased historians” (his words) and go directly to the primary sources. He then suggested obviously Homage to Catalonia, but also works by Abel Paz, Martínez Bande, Francisco Olaya Morales and others.

This makes sense to me, go to the people that were actually there and get a picture directly from them. But thinking about it more, I realize it is also possible for primary sources to be biased or to have an incomplete view or inaccurate information.

So I ask. As historians, what would you recommend a layman wanting to learn about an event? Go to the primary sources, go to the secondary sources, or somewhere in the middle? Not talking just about the Spanish Civil War here, but in general.

I've read about about the emergence of an Ashkenazi Jewry in the early medieval Rhineland (especially the "Sh-U-M cities") and the small, stable Jewish communities of Rome and Sicily. But the biggest section of the European Jews, and most likely all Jews, were living in Spain and Portugal until the persecution of 1492. Why was this?

I understand that there has been a continuity of Jewish life in Rome and other Italian cities since antiquity, which makes sense because Jews were mostly pushed into urban living and Italy was much more urbanized than the rest of Europe. I also know that those three Rhineland cities were at the heart of the biggest overland trade network in medieval Europe, so Jewish people barred from residing in the countryside could have supported themselves more easily than in other cities.

Iberia seems like an outlier. From what I understand, Spain and Portugal were not part of any great trading networks until the colonial period. While I know that Spain was a major intellectual beacon in the early middle ages, by the time of the Taifas and the early Reconquista, I get the impression that Iberia had lost its significance in the Islamic world and was only marginally connected to the Latin Christian world of mainland Europe. Yet some of the best-known Sephardi Jews, like Maimonides and Benjamin of Tudela, flourished in these last few centuries before their communities were eradicated.

So what happened here? How did Spain come to have such a large Jewish population? Did the general tolerance of Muslim rulers allow Jewish communities to grow in ways impossible in Christendom? Were Spanish Jews not barred from owning and working land like their Ashkenazi co-religionists? Was there mass migration of Jews from other parts of the world into Spain during the Muslim era? Or is this narrative of medieval Islamic tolerance basically an Orientalizing myth?

It is commonly known that the industrialisation and economic strength played a significant role in later wars like ww1 or ww2. How important was the size of the economy and industrialisation as well as things like war production for the Germans/French for their war effort 1870/71?

I'd imagine it was and still is more economical to transport large quantities at a higher concentration and diluting later if desired.

Does anyone know of any good books showing detailed maps of China under the reign of Kublai Khan? This is not a Homework question.

Hey, I'm not totally sure if this is the place for this kind of question, but I thought I'd give it a go. My best TLDR at the end.

So, I'm writing a double honours (combined honours?) thesis in the Fall in History and Poli Sci, because of this I've had to nail down a topic/time period in advance of the semester with my profs as it's being co-sponsored (etc etc). To give some background; the time period I wish to explore is flexibly the French Revolution into the early Napoleonic Era (Roughly 1789-1805). The French Revolution itself is likely to be the period explored for cohesion between the two departments as the prof adviser from the Poli Sci department has some background in Gender Politics during the revolution, so the only foray into the Napoleonic Era I could foresee would be more in reference to the demise of the Revolutionary government into a new absolute government, and exploring the historical and political context in this transition. At a macro level, I somewhat want to explore the idea of the revolution in the sense that the word itself has a conflicted definition as it both refers to a complete rotation of an object back to its original position (when referring to planetary revolution), and also a sudden radical and complete change. I find interest in how the French Revolution specifically matches both definitions as it both went full circle (an absolute government to an absolute government) but also saw real and lasting societal change to France, Europe, and the world at large. This is, obviously, way too broad a topic and won't be the true focus of my honours, but I felt I should mention that, that is the macro aspect of the topic I'm to explore.

At a more interment level, I plan to explore the change in thought and values of the period (e.g. people seeing themselves as citizens of a community rather than just subjects of a king), and how these changes are both remembered as a period in history and the context that this shift in values had in forming political identity and governance going forward within France, Europe, or globally. This could be explored in the identity, both political and personal, women found in the period and the gender issues that came to the forefront of discussion at the time. Or, it could be explored even in the development of individual rights as a concept to the people; a concept leading, in part, to what are now regarded as human rights. The aspect of Napoleon that I think would factor into this, if at all, would be two-fold 1) he was the completion of the 'full-circle' reinstating an absolute government, 2) he also provided an example of the 'common man' being able to become the ruler of a nation without the need for a hereditary title. While not a wholly new concept in history by any means I find it does add something to the topic (though it may be ultimately pointless and so I may refocus away from that if needed). Roughly speaking, I want to explore the historical memory of the period and what it means for history beyond the bloodshed that consumed the revolution; I also want to explore the politicized individual that arose in Europe from this revolution as it spread very liberal ideology for its day in Europe. In summary, the core themes I want to explore are Change, Identity, Class structure, Memory, and Political Movements.

All this to say, as my University will be online in the Fall there is concern about resources. I don't want anyone to do research for me (that's half the fun), my reason for this post is rather to ask any who may know of some reputable online resources or archives open to the public (or are simply an e-mail away) that I may want to look into; as interlibrary loaning will be suspended due to covid and much of my Universities sources on the revolutionary period are physical (and therefore unavailable to me) anyway. I'm currently picking up works by Dr. Lynn Hunt that seem useful, but I welcome any and all suggestions or leads anyone here might have.

Also, if this is the wrong place to post this, I'm sorry I can def take it down, and I'd welcome being pointed to a sub this would be better posted to.

TLDR: Due to covid affecting the resources and research I can access through my university, I'm looking to find resources about themes of Change, Identity, Class structure, Memory, and Political Movements during the French Revolution online. (open-access online archives, pdfs, scanned treasure troves of documents, etc)

What was the price of tea for British-American colonists adjusted for modern day inflation? How much more money did the tariff add (again, with inflation)? How much did this tariff affect the average colonist? Was the price of tea dramatically different for the average consumer or did this primarily affect merchants?

1945, at the end of ww2 the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan. But why did they use two different models and not the same type of bomb twice? They obviously knew how construct a functional bomb (after the tests in los alamo), so the reason wasn't testing which one works. My father speculated that one was a bomb that was build by the Nazis, but that is obviously not true. So I want to tell him the real reason why they used different bombs, but I can't find any.

I know there are people in the Americas of Romani descent, but I haven't heard much about whether they faced the same prejudices - or maintained the same communities and culture - as in Europe. Is this a case of the Americas being more accepting, or...what?

Hello Everyone, I would like to ask you guys on the Afro-centerist (Hotep) claims of Ancient Egyptian history. I wanted to how they are viewed by academic scholarship ?

Hi there, Sorry if this isn't the right subreddit to post this question in but I'm considering writing a story about a French woman meeting an American soldier during the Vietnam war but first I need a viable reason for the woman to be in Vietnam. Could she be a journalist or would female journalists not be allowed to travel to Vietnam during the war? maybe a Red Cross worker or was the French Red Cross was involved in the Vietnam War? could she part of some holdout French colonists like in Apocalypse Now Redux? all ideas & suggestions welcome, thanks.