I was watching a documentary about the Civil War and it showed Union soldiers being celebrated well into the 20th century. So I was wondering if confederates were celebrated but only in the south? Or were they just dismissed or seen as traitors who committed war crimes?

I know cavalry was primarily used to charge into faltering formations and cause chaos amongst the ranks. This in turn leads to a rout where most of the killing happens. I also know that charges into formed pikemen or spearmen was a rarity because a horse will refuse to suicide itself into a pole arm. What about something in between though. What I want to know is how effective was mounted combat against infantry still willing to fight after a charge.

An example: Cavalry charge a rank of infantry on a flank. Infantry was able to brace but wasn’t entirely formed in time. The infantry sustains casualties and is somewhat disorganized but so is the cavalry. The cavalry has pushed far enough to be enveloped. As a member of the cavalry your lance was broken in the charge and now you have a sword and shield on horseback. You are cutoff from returning to your own lines but your infantry will break through to you soon. Enemy reinforcing infantry keep you from simply pushing through. You are stuck with enemy infantry out of formation and your fellow cavalrymen disorganized. You are NOT vastly outnumbered in your local skirmish. How effective would you be at low to no speed from your mount with a sword and shield. (This is a hypothetical, I’m not a military history expert therefore it might not be totally realistic.) If you want a time period let’s go with the 100 years war.

TLDR: When my big stick breaks and I’m stuck fighting angry infantrymen am I better off on a horse?

Side note: I know hypotheticals aren’t appreciated in this sub but it was the best way to clarify.

All cultures were, at some point or other, oral cultures, right? Did pre-literary European peoples take their oral culture (its preservation/passing) as seriously as indigenous American peoples?

I realised that Superman was nicknamed the Man of Steel by American writers, at the same time Stalin, the leader of a country idealogically opposed to the United States had a leader with the same nickname.

Was this commented on by people at the time?

I’ve been doing some late night browsing regarding the Holocaust and entirety of WW2 as a whole. My question is, is that did regular German Citizens have any idea or knowledge of the tragedies committed in the concentration camps such as Auschwitz whilst they were active Or was it relatively swept under the rug from the German public? Sources are appreciated - thank you

I know her oldest son kept her imprisoned and deceived her, but he always visited her and apparently vowed to wear black for the rest of his life upon her death. And what was her relationship with the rest of her children like?

In the Spanish TV series "Isabella" it is implied that king Ferdinand of Aragon arranged the death of Philip the Handsome in order to return to Castile and rule instead of his daughter Joanna the Mad. It is also mentioned that he may have had a hand in the death of his son-in-law, Afonso, the son and heir of John II of Portugal, to prevent the crown of Castile falling into the hands of the Portuguese. Is there any historical evidence for this?

This is my first post here so I hope Im not doing anything wrong, but I was thinking about how before the invention of light bulbs etc, people must have got through LOADS of candles, especially in big, rich households. So I'm curious to how big the candle industry must have been, and if there was any difficulty with keeping up with the demand?

Edit: I guess mainly around the 18th century, so still before gas lamps or anything?

I'm at a total loss. Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this. For any doctors in the audience, how did you go about establishing an original piece of research?

So I just finished rewatching Band of Brothers, and now I’m rewatching The Pacific as well.

My question is, does anyone know why the Marines were primarily in the Pacific and the Army primarily in the European theatre? Was it because the Marines were more suited for island hopping, or something else?

I was listening to Hamilton and King George was in charge of almost everything, the military, taxes, everything. At what point did that stop happening? As of now, the royal family has almost no affiliation with British politics, they have a prime minister, senators and things like that. Did they have them back in the 1700s - 1900s?

Hello, I would like to read up on the Diadochi, it's a period I have no experience in. Right now I've been looking at two books. Ghost on the Throne: The Death of Alexander the Great and the Bloody Fight for His Empire and Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great's Empire.

The first one seems to be the "better" except for the end which abruptly ends in the middle of the Diadochi Wars. Out of the two, I would probably get this one. The second one seems to cover the whole Diadochi period but is less detailed and the weaker work out of the two.

Essentially, I was hoping to see if any of you had any other book recommendations on the Diadochi and their wars, or if you could give an opinion on these two books. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

The Stasi is known as having been one of the most effective and repressive intelligence agencies. However it was founded only five years after the fall of the Nazi regime and disillusion of the Gestapo.

How was it possible that the Stasi was so effective and seemingly staffed by those so dedicated to its aims, when only years before a different organisation had stood in its place, also highly effective and staffed by people seemingly dedicated instead to Nazi aims?

Presumably no Gestapo employees went on to join the Stasi? Due to the opposing political ideologies, and post Nazi purges? But then who were these capable new Stasi recruits? Where did their expertise come from? And what of their ideology? Were they ex-Nazis who’d had a drastic conversion? Or newly liberated closet-communists?

My understanding is that Ghengis Khan is still seen as a national hero and even worshipped as part of Mognolian shamanism up to this day (there are regular pilgrimages to his maosoleum in Inner Mongolia, China). While Mongolia was a socialist republic modelled on the USSR, how did the state deal with the popularity of Ghengis Khan? Was it wholly repressed as reactionary/chauvinist religion or was it similar to how the Ceaușescu government in Romania tried to rehabilitate Vlad the Impaler as a national figure and anti-imperialist for fighting the Ottomans?

Why are there so few female Western classical music composers before, say, the middle of the 20th century? Apart from St. Hildegard of Bingen all the way back in the 12th century, I'm not familiar with any at all.

During that same stretch of time, many women were highly regarded as classical music performers. And there are plenty of renowned women in fields such as writing fiction or poetry, painting and other visual arts, and even the sciences. Yet classical music composition during that period seems to have been not merely dominated by males, but completely exclusionary of women. Why is this?

During the siege of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire, a solar eclipse occurred. How was phenomenon interpreted by each side, and did either side know in advance that the eclipse was going to take place?