As I understand it, one of the key contributors to Christianities spread was its heavy emphasis on outreach and proselytizing, while most of its contemporary faiths were either only interested in spreading themselves to a certain region if they were that concerned about converting new believers at all. Where there any other precursors or contemporaries to early Christianity which also had a strong emphasis on sending out missionaries and spreading the faith?

I hope this is an appropriate question, as its more religious/mythological than historical. But I have seen several websites say that Azrael, the angel of death in Islam/Judaism, is supposed to have 4 heads, 4000 wings, and his body is composed entirely of tongues and eyes. What is the original/primary source for this? All of the websites just list a fairly recent book on angels and religion as the source, but I want to go read a translation of the original scripture/myth/codex/manuscript/whatever. Also if you know any other obscure primary sources with weird angels in them, feel free to recommend those as well. Thanks!

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The book all the websites list is A Dictionary of Angels: Including the fallen Angels by Gustav Davidson. Should I get this?

I know this seems like such a technical detail but I know that a huge part of 1914 was the "Race to the Sea" in which armies tried to outflank each other, and when they reached the coast there was no more room. Except, when I thought about it, there had to have been at least some room, even if just dozens or hundreds of feet; it would seem ridiculous for soldiers to keep digging all the way into the beaches and only stop once waves were crashing over their heads.

Likewise, and more generally, how close could the edges of frontlines get to the borders of neutral countries? If my house was on the border itself, would I be able to look out my window and see soldiers just outside or would there be a "courtesy zone" of a few miles to prevent diplomatic incidents (i.e. like soldiers accidentally invading a neutral country because they got lost, or stray artillery shell falling on neutral territory)?

In his book Deadly Dreams: Opium and the Arrow War (1856–1860) in China , Wong, J. Y. mentioned that the Imperial Commissioner Ye Mingchen offered a bounty in October 1856 for any British heads taken.

That on the 29 December the postal steamer Thistle, which was on its way from Canton to Hong-Kong, was captured and all Europeans on board were decapitated.

And that on the 11 January 1857 when, a few days after a proclamation by Ye ordering all Chinese merchants and servants to leave the colony, an attempt was made to poison the whole European population of Hong-Kong, by putting arsenic in their bread.

I had thought I was fairly well read on this conflict but I hadn't previously heard of these cases. I would like to corroborate the sources where I read them, but it is very difficult to find any reference to them online.

Thank you in advance.

It crops up in clickbait articles every now and again. I haven’t done very much research on the subject, but it seems intriguing.

Is it true that presidential systems often devolve into authoritarian governments/failed states? If it is, why does it happen? And why has it not happened in the USA/Costa Rica?

Edit: i realize it is ambiguous what i mean by presidential system. I’m not an expert on these things, but when i say presidential system i don’t mean one like the one Germany currently has, I mean one like the USA has and those modeled on it.

I mostly interested in knowing why the system hasn’t collapsed in the USA and costa rica

I know Virgil composed the epic in order to provide a legitimizing foundation story for Rome, but was he creating the story himself or basing it off some older story or oral tradition other than? Other than what the Iliad mentions of Aeneas and the similarities it shares with the Odyssey.

I am reading the diaries of Zionist settlers from Russia to Palestine in the 1880s and it is pretty amazing how frequently the settlers refer to the indigenous Palestinian people as dirty and unsanitary. It is pretty common for the diarist to comment at great length how ugly, smelly and beneath them the Palestinians were.

Now Palestine at the time was no five star hotel, but the language makes me think these must have been racist stereotypes picked up in Russia.

The Zionist youth got the idea to return to the land as farmers from the Russian university student culture, which said the only authentic socialism lays in returning to the fields of Russia. So I am curious if they would have picked up certain unflattering images of the Ottomans and Arabs in the same place given that Russia during that period was busy devouring the Ottoman Empire one small slice at a time.

Dictatorship finally ended in Portugal, Spain, and Greece, all within the same two years roughly. And also Cyprus had a coup and was invaded and partitioned by Turkey at this time as well. Portuguese colonial rule in Africa and Asia also ended at this time, because of the revolution.

Is there a reason all these events coincided together? I understand the connection between Greek and Cypriot events at the time. But nothing else that happened seems to be obviously linked.

I've long held the belief that the Vikings had female warriors that stood side by side with the men, but I recently heard that wasn't true. I heard that the belief was founded on the fact that they found women buried as warriors were, but that recent forensic evidence indicates that they were likely not warriors due to a lack of wounds and whatnot, and that the women were likely well respected nonetheless and were given a warriors burial which would be a high honour in viking society

So, what I'd like to know is, is there any truth to that?

I'm thinking of Lollards, Hussites, Waldensians etc. What made the Reformation different. Was the time just "right"? Was the theology more acceptable? Was it all politics?

before the British brought the practice back from India? Or did other parts of Europe do this?

I know he’s not a historian himself, but do you think he does good work presenting the content? Is it a good source to find out something about the periods he covers, in a casual way at least?

And I guess as a corollary, what do people think of some of the other “big” history podcasts, like History of Rome?

As the man with probably the loudest voice, I wonder if he was simply silent and appeared unconcerned (like with the raids on black people in Gettysburg)?

I read some posts about the Battle of the Crater where black troops were killed rather than taken prisoner...did Lee ever express his views on this?

Specifically this was inspired after watching The Three Musketeers on Disney Plus this weekend when D’Artangan chops the main rope from a crane hoisting some logs. How much monetary damage would cutting a rope like that cause?

How about in pirate movies where we see a swashbuckler chop a rope and be flung to safety when its counterbalance falls? I assume ships would carry spare ropes, or were they considered too expensive?

I just finished the musical, and it seems like he single handedly ended his own career. What am I missing?

I don't know if this is the best place to post this. I'm Italian and would like to learn more about American history (my boyfriend is American and we're expecting our first child, so I would like to get to know more about their roots and culture). I love history and I love reading so I'm looking for a book that reads easily (not a massive boring tome) and gives insights on all the important events. Also something that is not only focused on white history would be great.

Thanks in advance!

Hello everyone

I’m at a loss right now and was hoping for some feedback or guidelines from historians. The thing is that I am supposed to be doing a research paper on a diary written by a broker. I spoke to my professor on what to write about and she wants me to analyze the contents of the diary. The only thing is I've never done that before - I’ve only written about events and opinions surrounding that event. I just don’t know how to do my assignment

If someone could please help me, I would really really appreciate it. I just don’t know what questions to ask. There is no way to formulate a thesis right now and my professor said I don’t need one in this case. But without a thesis or some leading questions, I’m at a total loss. If someone could please just let me know how to get started, I’m really at a loss.

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Thank you