It seems rather odd that Pre-Christian Vikings ended up integrating pagan religions when they raided early medieval Britain and France instead of spreading their religion.

Why didn't Norse religion became the new religion of western Europe?

Like why did this phenomenon happen in the first place?

Wouldn't the victors be positioned in a superior position that decided what was the new state religion?

Isn't that what happened when the Ottomans conquered continental European territories and Islam became the new majority religion?

Why weren't these Norsemen hostile and dismissive of this unfamiliar religion? Like what caused them to abandon their heritage in a relatively short time span?

What was so alluring about Christianity that made Valhalla seem so dull?

Note: Repost from r/AskAChristian and r/Norse

I’m assuming most merchants in the time of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty weren’t literate, so I’m curious about what sort of directional aids would’ve existed to help them (and others) navigate a sprawling city like Rome. Were maps and street signs available or did people just follow the crowds/learn their way around from experience?

Does anyone know where I could find an archive or a list of British POWs interned in concentration camps in Germany? I have a distant (long dead) family member who came back from the war after being in a labour camp. To narrow it down, other family members think it was either Buchenwald, Dachau or Bergen-Belsen. I am not sure if it is a true story, although I have no reason to doubt it, and also I’m not sure why he was in a concentration camp (could be due to political views, I don’t think he was Jewish), was it ever normal or routine for POWs to be sent to SS concentration camps? If anyone knows of any archives where I might be able to start looking for his name, it would be greatly appreciated. Feels overwhelming like a needle in a haystack at the moment, no idea where to start.

If I were a young woman in the European Middle Ages, and I got pregnant out of wedlock, what were my options? What if the father refused to marry me, or if I were a prostitute? Were there any protections for me from the church or local government, or were there legal consequences? Social ones?

Of course, I'm assuming there was a troop buildup, but surely it wasn't all that surprising since logistics had to be in place. Any insight here would be great (the BazBattles video that was uploaded earlier about the Battle of Raseiniai made me wonder this).

Is archivism a good career route for historians. I would like to research History and also feel as if I am doing something meaningful, like preserving artifacts and records. Is this what archivism is really like?

Were the Scythians Turkic or Iranian?

During the Middle Passage, slaves were kept in appalling, inhumane conditions, often chained to one another for long periods of time. This has led to wonder how they managed to relieve themselves during the journey, were they allowed to use some sort of toilet or a chamberpot, or were they just expected to relieve themselves where they were?

Would Persian be easily understood by Ottoman citizens of Constantinople? Would Persian culture be compatible with 16th century Ottoman culture? Would I be stigmatised due to my religion/ethnicity?

I have been very interested in Viking history lately. I have watched shows like "Vikings" on the History channel, and I want to learn more about the real history behind the show. I was interested in taking a Viking Archaeology course at university, but that didn't work out.

What are some good books or documentaries to learn more about Viking History?

I was reading about Churchill and it struck me that his favourite whiskey was apparently Johnnie Walker Red Label. This seems like a shockingly low end tipple for an extremely posh Englishman of his era (I'm personally not prejudiced against blended whiskey- I love Black Label but the Red tastes like turpentine).

A bit more casual googling led me to find that Dewars and Chivas Regal were patronised by Queen Victoria. Again, while not bottom shelf, these aren't exactly prestige brands by modern standards.

Exhaustive reading of PG Wodehouse research into Edwardian England seems to indicate that brandy and gin were perhaps more in favour (at least with Bertie Wooster).

Was single malt just not widely available? Or was whiskey mainly served as a highball or in cocktails?

I have a hobby of tracing family trees, and one day I decided to trace royal family trees. I started with the British, then the French, then the Spanish. Now I am tracing the Japanese Emperors. I use Wikipedia and Google for the family trees, and I saw that the earliest Japanese emperors had lifespans going beyond Jeanne Calment (the oldest verified person at 122 years old). For example, the first Japanese Emperor, Jimmu, died at the age of 126, and Emperor Suinin was reportedly 138. Is this true?

I know that cenotes were used for religious purposes in Central America, and that in South America caves were sometimes used for mummy burials, but I don't know anything about the Native uses of caves north of Mexico. Did Native people use caves for anything such as shelter, storage, burials, or religious purposes?

Example: Why was the "Qing dynasty" not called the "Manchu dynasty" ?

At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the Red Air Force was devastated on the ground and the Germans quickly established air superiority. How did the soviets recover from this? Did they face a shortage of experienced pilots like a Japan and Germany eventually did?