West Virginia seceded from Virginia because of it's mostly pro-Union sentiment. East Tennessee was also mostly pro-Union, but only one county seceded from Tennessee.

What was the reasoning behind not seceding?

Looking at the 20th century in American music in an extremely broad sense: in the 1900s-1940s you had the Big Band era, who are all known by the names of their leading men: Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong. In the 40s and 50s these give way to crooners who are still known by their lead man’s name despite having large (though not quite the size of the big band) backing instrumentals, e.g. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. Not until rock and roll takes off do you start to see the modern, creatively named bands, e.g. the Crickets, the Beatles, The Rolling Stones. What caused the change in nomenclature?

I was wondering what the process was for cleaning up minefields lain during the Second World War (or other wars) after the conflict subsides. Was there a concentrated government or military operation to clean them up? Did mines cause problems to commercial and transportation vessels in later years? Could there theoretically still be active mines in isolated parts of the ocean today as is sometimes depicted in film?

Why didn’t they rebel after he Stalin died ?

Hi all,

I hope this question is okay to ask here, I'm looking to buy some new books about ancient greek (or even roman) history, this topic is completely new to me and I can see that there are a tonne of books on the subject!

Can anyone recommend some good starting literature?

I have no particular requirements as I'm just a hobbyist but learning about ancient rulers, battles, philosophy or civilisation would all be really fun!

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

My brother believes the holocaust did not happen or the number of deaths is exaggerated. I would like some documents about the holocaust to prove it happened. He does not believe most credible sites. So actual documents would be nice.

I've been playing Total War games, which, admittedly, might not be the most historically accurate, but the way cavalry sometimes charged straight into men and sent them flying awed me. Did horses in cavalry actually ram directly into the opposing line of soldiers historically and would this have killed or significantly wounded the enemy?

I’ve been learning about him more and more recently, he’s often described as having an excellent military mind, but what are some specific examples him exhibiting military genius? Was he even a “good” general?

What is the significance of the French Tricolour?

I’ve been reading about the French Revolution and was wondering why the French settled on the blue-white-red combination for their flag. Were these colours chosen because they were already prominent in symbolism that represented revolution, or did it come to represent revolution because of the association with France. Why did the Italians go for similar in the 1790s? I also noticed that when the Bourbons were restored they got rid of the Tricolour, but it was brought back after the 1830 Revolution. Why was this, did it remain very popular in France? My perception was that there were not that many republicans in France by this point Are there any good books on the history of flags, particularly the Tricolour?

Philip II of Macedon is said to have lost an eye, what would the approach be to disability from battle? How would an average soldier be treated following the loss of an eye or limb? And how would it differ for a ruler such as Philip?

A bit of a multi-question here! Just interested in injury and disability in the Greek world. Any reading suggestions welcome!

I tried to do some googling but I can’t find a rough description of the alliances in Europe during that time right before the political disruption of the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte.

I specifically want to see what the relations of Bourbon France and the rest of Europe at the time.

Hello all, this is my first post here. I have been fascinated with the history of different wars in American History, and living in Maryland has allowed me to visit lots of historical sites, including Gettysburg and recently last year Antietam.

While visiting Antietam, there was a small museum there with artwork depicting different events from that battle, as well as a short movie detailing the battle. One of the major areas of the battle was a battle for a cornfield.

In this battle for the cornfield, soldiers would march straight through the cornfield into the enemies who were waiting on the other side. I wondered why people would do this as the corn moving makes it very obvious where the enemies are and the enemies have the first jump on you once you appear.

I thought for awhile that you just charged straight into enemies during this time of combat because the weapons were not accurate enough to matter, but I believe I saw that in the Civil War weapons began to have reliable accuracy and precision.

My main question is, why during the civil war, despite there being accurate weapons, did the commanders still use line tactics when attacking such as in this cornfield in Antietam or in Pickett’s charge in Gettysburg? When did warfare evolve into actually taking cover and using good position instead of marching headfirst into enemy fire? And lastly, why did the Americans use some of these tactics during the American revolution against the British, but in a war nearly 100 years later they didn’t use the same tactics?

Sorry for the long post! Thank you for any answers!

A quic one. Did Germans, or anybod, knew about egzistance of oil in North Africa, especially Libia, durinh WW2? I think not...

I watched Ridley Scott's The Duellists the other night and it has gotten me interested in the history of duelling. Yearly, I like to compose a small list of history books on random subjects that I know little about but find interesting and read them over the summer holidays. So now I am wondering if any of you have suggestions on a good book on the (global) history of duelling.

The book I come across most on google is The Duel: a history of duelling by Robert Baldick but it dates from 1965 so I am afraid it might be a bit academically dated. Are there any more recent works that you suggest or is Mr. Baldick's book still the best around?

Hi all,

I'm here requesting resources that deal with the historical connections between wage labor, slavery, stimulant use, and stimulant production (including financing, extraction/processing methods, distribution, and marketing).

Thanks!

I can’t imagine any are still alive, considering all the WW1 vets are now dead. But in the 1990s, surely there were a handful of elderly Russians who had been born around the turn of the century and were old enough to have understood what was going on when the Revolution happened. Did any of them ever write anything?