Why were the Mujahideen so effective against Soviet and Afghan Government forced during the Soviet-Afghan war and why have other groups such has Hezbollah, Hamas, the Tamil Tigers and IS lacked this same effectiveness.

My question only spans the period 1979-2000 in keeping in line with the rules of this subreddit.

Hello, I am a little confused regarding the different names used by the Cambodian communists leading up to the reveal in 1977 that they were in fact the Communist Party of Kampuchea. What confuses me is why or how this would have been such a secret. Even though the party referred to itself as “Angkar” for the first two years of its rule, were people not aware that Cambodia’s new rulers were the communists? Sorry if this is a silly question, I just think there might be an issue in the translation from Khmer to English of some of these names and concepts or a key detail I missed while reading.

Thank you!

At the moment I am in a phase that I need a strong narrative and looking into novels. I still like to keep it with history because this is just my thing.
So, what would you recommend? It should be somewhat historical accurate but doesn't have to be in its extremes. Ohh, and no WWII books!

I am an American and am only somewhat familiar with how the Westminster system works, so I assume that there is a lot that I don't understand about how constitutional law works without a codified constitution. From my perspective, it seems to make sense for the UK, as the tradition goes back hundreds of years, but these countries are so much newer, where does their precedent come from? As I write this I'm realizing how broad a question it is, I seem to be asking both why Australia is different and how does the Westminster system work in Canada and New Zealand. Answer what ever you feel like I guess.

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On another note, is there a better subreddit to ask questions on comparative constitutionalism? I often find myself thinking "I wonder why X" or "how is X supposed to work" and r/askhistorians is the first place I think to ask it, even if it really isn't a history question.

I’ve heard this story - but I’m really conflicted about its veracity.

I’ve seen this story from a couple sources now - but then I found a book passage which claimed it was a myth. The evidence they presented was compelling, neither Nicholas II nor his uncle wrote about this event in their diary.

But does anyone know the whole story?

Especially after the British Empire had abolished slavery, Portugal's numbers rose through the roof. They had around 600,000 Slaves traded from 1776-1800. But after the British left the 'buisness' their numbers were almost double as high as they were ever before. Why did the Government allow this massive increase in what they had abolished ?

And why did they only trade a 'few thousands' in the years after 1850 ?

Sorry for any grammatical errors!

I've found several articles that promised to explain why they became popular, and none of them actually answer the question. "The first pointy bra was the chansonette in the 1940s" and "worn by several leading ladies", etc. Okay cool, but why? At some point some underwear designer said "we want breasts to look like this now". What for?

I've heard it said that the shape was meant to suggest a torpedo, a well known image in post-war America. But some actual documented evidence would be great.

I have read that even though slavery was abolished in colonial Africa during the 19th century, the use that colonial powers made native forced labour continued well into the 20th century.

However I haven’t been able to find information about what constitutes this forced labour and how systematic it was.

Does anyone have information on the subject and could say if the accusation that colonial powers regularly used forced labour in Africa after the abolition of slavery is true?

I was just curious if the secession conventions were rigged in favor of the secessionists. Furthermore, we're these votes representative of the opinions of the eligible voters?

This goes beyond the Romans to any pagan culture, but I assume Roman or Greek records are easier to come by.

As a follow up, if they did believe in them, did pagan cultures make attempts to get rid of the local gods, goddesses and spirits of conquered or displaced peoples?

Today, Germany is counted as a successful country for its economy. How did Germany has survived from that devastation and rebuild is economy?

I’ve seen theories that Europeans who came to Egypt to dig up these mummies broke the noses off of statues on purpose as they were similar to Black African noses. Does this hold any weight or just another conspiracy?

I am trying to find the worth of a non-debased Roman gold Solidii in silver coins such as Pennies or Denarii. I am especially interested in how much one would be worth in Viking age Anglo-Saxon England. The ratio i have found from my research is 1:20 or 1:25 of equal weighted gold and silver coins which seems awfully low considering that gold currency was rare in western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Like could some trader in medieval France be selling a katana or urumi amongst his wares that he obtained in his travels? Could a merchant in Japan have a zweihander or flamberge in his collection?

Was it unnecessary, or did they keep a book of numbers belonging to horses or an index of the horses in the surrounding areas?

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, ever since my history teach said “the never dumped hot oil on sieging folk, for it was a precious commodity, they instead used boiling water, and hot sand.” That got my brain going “why would people even want oil back in that period? They didn’t have cars.” And so, I come to you fine folks. Google can’t answer my question, so I hope you can.