What problems or misconceptions could there be when trying to use the Tapestry as a historical source?

Some cut outs appear to be symbols of the group, such as Christians with a cross cut out. This appears to be a bad idea, ruining the structural integrity of the blade of the weapon. It looks interesting but did it ever exist or serve any purpose?

I am compiling a collection of articles about deaths from local newspapers. These will be placed in a book I’m working on for my local historical society. To me, it’s a really interesting way to see how our area has changed. How things like industrial and domestic dangers evolved and how things like suicide seem to be an ever present problem.

For those of you who write about morbid topics, how do you reconcile with rehashing and putting the details of the worst moments of peoples’ lives on paper?

I am starting to get worried about offending people by presenting the deaths of children or especially sad events.

I’m having a hard time with this lately. I’ve been working on it for almost a year, and it was solely my idea and project. Maybe it’s the state of the world at the moment, but I just feel bad for these people. And hope I’m not doing a disservice to them or their families by publishing this. Especially since I’m just compiling the articles and they can get graphic.

There are some things I’m doing to try to be respectful of the people in the book. I will be at 1920. I will not be going any closer to the present than this. I do not want to write about someone people knew. I don’t want to write about someone’s child or sibling or parent.

I am also looking up biographical information on each person. I have decided to include a small amount of biographical information that can reliably find for each person represented. DOB, burial, and any fun facts I can find. Each person is researched.

All money made from the book will be made directly by the historical society so I am not profiting in any way.

I'm not entirely sure if it's relevant, but the show posits that Bundy did once score four touchdowns in a single football game while in high school, which may have affected his earning potential.

I understand Benjamin Franklin wasn't exactly a Puritan, but he seems to share this view with them. What exactly does it mean to abstain from frivolous talk?

I understand that my title assumes a reductive and simplified model of periodization, I'm just trying to reflect a layman's understanding.

I'm a pesant in rural Ukraine during the Holodomor.

What items would I have in my home?

I was randomly reading WWII history articles, and came across an interesting anecdote that the governor, Dietrich Choltitz refused the order because he loved French culture, but it was later alleged that he would have been incapable of carrying out the order due to the rapidly disintegrating military situation.

What was the situation like in Paris when the order came in, and do we know if it was given any serious consideration/preparation?

This is a two-parter:

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1. In Mike Duncan's History of Rome podcast, he says that written accounts of the kings, the decemviri, the 12 tables, etc. were lost in the sack of Rome. I'm assuming this was the Gallic sack of Rome by Brennus..

However, it also sounds like Brennus seiged Rome for about six months and was then paid 1,000lb of gold to leave - I didn't hear anything about them gaining access to the city, destroying records, etc. Though a fire was mentioned...

Am I correct in understanding it was this sack that led to the loss of records of history up to that point?

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1. In Dan Carlin's Hardcore History (episode: The Celtic Holocaust) he mentions that the Gallic sack of Rome had left a profound impression in the Roman psyche (fear of Gauls, e.g.). This is the same sack? Again, I ask because Mike Duncan said Rome was effectively destroyed and had to be rebuilt... but the account of Brennus' sack doesn't seem to line up with "destruction of the city"

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I'm probably misinterpreting the events, and hope to gain to some clarity on it. Thanks so much!

This might be a "Hindsight 20/20" sort of thought, but why did anybody think that having the US and USSR occupy two halves of the same country would be a good idea? I understand why they did it for Germany, since they thought Germany should never be reunified. But Korea was only a Japanese possession, so...
A. Why would they Soviets get it if the US was Japan's enemy for the war
B. How did nobody think this was a terrible idea?

It is well known that the Communists in South Vietnam were very proactive in fighting in the Vietnam war which happened a decade or so after the Korean conflict so I'm interested to know the level of support that communist sympathisers in South Korea provided in the Korean conflict.

I was reading of political violence that occurred in Turkey in the late 1970s between communists and ultranationalists, which led to around 5000 deaths before the 1980 coup. Was such violence felt outside of the major cities, and were there credible threats of a major uprising by either of the factions?

Hi. Just finished Eric Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile. I found it an excellent read. But, I’m still a little at loose ends about how quickly the Blitz came to end. According to Larson (and a few other decidedly non-academic texts I’ve read), the Blitz “ended” on 11 May 1941, with the Luftwaffe’s deadliest-to-date raid on London.

Larson and others say there were other raids, but none as regular and destructive/deadly as those of 1940-41.

What accounts for this abrupt stop? Was it really just Hitler/Goring’s intense new focus on the Soviet front? Were there any other factors at play?

Or even the much later Russia under Ivan the Terrible was ungodly big. Was the river network just that effective at allowing such large & centralized states?

If so, when did the rivers stop being able to keep up with the West and Russia become a backwater?

Nowadays, we can head to the bench and load up the plates. I'm curious as to the methods spartans/other ancient warriors in general used to gain weight/muscle. Did it come through fighting/sparring? Did they lift makeshift weights and throw discuses? Sorry if this is an ignorant question, but I am curious about this.

Throughout history we see stories of civilisations discovering and invading new territories that would’ve been completely new to them. During these times a common theme is having allies within these new territories giving them vital information on tribes, land lay outs, religious customs and so on.

While they may have had native translators to help. How quickly were these translators able to learn new languages that could’ve possibly never heard before until needed?

Did any invasions ever halt or slow down while these languages were being learned ?

I understand if this comes too close to violating the 20-year rule, as it's at least partially about something that's happening right now. If it's not history-adjacent enough either, too, I'll be happy to remove it. I really do want to know what some medievalists here think of this, though!

Hello dear Historians, so what made me open this thread is a 75 year celebration of ending of WWII in Europe. So the ending of WWII is coming, Soviet troops are closing in on Germany. How much in that moment did they need help from Western allies? From my understanding they got momentum, could they occupy Germany by themselves? I am strictly talking about west invasion, I know that Lend lease had also played a big role. But did Soviets need west front in that moment? Stalin did ask for west front during the whole war, but at the end of the war did they really need it? I know this is a relatively sensitive topic to everyone, so trying to get some educated answers.

This part of history always seems weird to me. Apparently Native Americans used to be called Indians because Columbus thought he was in India.

Wouldn't he have noticed that there were no Indian spices, Indian languages, Indian architecture, Indian religious symbols, etc?

I also once heard that India wasn't even called India back then but Hindustan, so it makes even less sense to me