I have seen in many sources that communism is estimated to have killed 100 million people. How can you calculate that 70 million people died in China? Or that in Stalin's regime there were 20 million? If, as far as I know, those governments did not have a death count, at least it was not made public. What methods do they use to obtain this statistic?

Both Karl Polanyi and E.P. Thompson seem to locate capitalism, as a new social order where labour is commodified around 1790-the mid 1800s (Polanyi makes the precise date as 1834, with the initiation of the poor laws)

But what drove capitalism as a social order? Why did it happen at that time in history?

The topic of sexuality in classical greece and rome is often blurry or not entirely clear. It is commonly said that greek men would often have sexual intercourse with other men. Were greeks bissexual or were they heterosexuals with homosexual leanings? Was sex something akin to a normal activity to pass the time, like wrestling or foot racing? Were there men who had "life partners" instead of having a wive? Do we even know?

With all the stuff in the news about taking down Confederate war memorials , wanted to ask if this is unique to the U.S. ? Do other countries around the world have similar numbers of public displays that celebrate the losers in historic wars?

Just out of curiosity, are there components of music from the East that was drawn upon to influence European classical music?

I keep seeing this in history books but as an Egyptian I know that a large part of our army was fighting in the Yemeni civil war. I’ve heard that the Arabs might have mobilized in the border because of faulty soviet intelligence. Any truth to this?

Did they have a system of police similar to what we have today? I know Jefferson argued against a standing army and for a while states had militias with compulsory service, were those militias responsible for enforcing the law?

In school and in pop culture we learn all about the 5 beaches of D-day, and the role that the various allied troops played. However, Point du Hoc is hardly ever talked about or remembered, often just being a "by the way" tidbit of information.

All I remember about it was that it was carried out by Rangers and they captured it a day later, June 7th. But what was the point? And what was the subsequent follow-up?

My older friend, who is a history PhD was convincing me that newest research indicates that the murder of Kirov, like burning of Reichstag, was not instigated by Stalin but only exploited for his goals. He pointed me to the work of Oleg Khlevniuk, as a definitive guide for the events.

Now I understand, that we might never be absolutely sure, but is there a merit to this argument? Is there any kind of consensus on the matter?

In the English speaking world this concept is often used to excuse the behavior of young men simply because they are young men. Would fathers in the middle ages use such an excuse? Did it ever get a kid off the hook in ancient China? Do similar phrases even exist in other languages? Has it ever worked for girls?

I know there are more innocent uses of the term, but overall it seems emblematic of historical patriarchy. Young men act out, that's what young men do, just live with it... wondering how deep in the bones this idea really is.

I realise this is quite a big topic, so particular historical examples are fine.

Was it only later that arabs scholars wrote about them and then european scholars afterwards?

Did the ancient Roman also have those astronomy and mathematical knowledge or were they lost and destroyed? I don't often hear much about them when it comes to math and astronomy.