Hi! I wonder about the route American soldiers took to Europe during WWII. What route did they take? What ships were they on? How long did the journey take?

I know they were sometimes a bit tense, but I’ve just watched a documentary that have made it sound like she was the mother (and mother-in-law) from hell- is that what it was like?

Maybe kind of a strange question, but I remembered recently that as the Catholic church grew in power in Italy, they began censoring the nude works left behind by the Romans (example, putting leaves on genitalia). I also know that Vatican City has it's own museum and it contains Roman works. Over time, what was the Church's opinion on Ancient Rome, and did it censor anything else like the allusions to paganism? When did it come to admire the Empire and Republic like many people did in the past and continue to today? Or did it ever condemn it? You would think that as someone who grew up Catholic I would know this hahaha but I'm curious.

So, I'm thinking about starting to study at a History University. I always loved and considered the idea. What should people who want to be a historian know before they start studying?

I see that there are some other places like Astrakhan, Rasht, and Makhachkala, but all of them only have about 500,000 people compared to Baku's 2 million. Even historically, there seem to be a real lack of major cities along the Caspian Sea. Looking at a geography map, the mountains between Tehran and the sea may have been a limiter, and the desert/steppe of the eastern bank might have limited settlement. But otherwise, were there historical reasons for this?

I know that waiting the siege out was preferable to attacking but in the case that the attacking army would need to use force, what did the Cavalry do?

Would they stay back and wait for the battle to be over? Would they dismount and join the fray?

I just can't see them being involved on horses. Narrow streets with plenty of turns and corners would make for poor cav attacks and would see more dead then getting any kills I would imagine.

So they must have done something during these battles.

Any era would do with this question. Ancient up to Victorian.

Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Crete, Cyprus.

Are versions of these the first names we have for them, or do some have older unrelated names?

Lately I've been reading up on the Byzantine history, however as a result, this triggered an interest in the persian empire. However I have been unsuccesfull in finding a proper book, which can enlighten me on their rich history. Hence my question, if someone can recommend a book in regards to their history.

Kind regards

I'm fascinated by the Bronze Age, and I'm a materials engineer. So recently I wondered if any human societies advanced on their own to iron metallurgy, without following the classic pathway of: copper metallurgy ==> bronze metallurgy (tin on itself is kinda worthless as a metal) ==> iron metallurgy.

The only example I'm aware of is the Egyptian New Kingdom using meteoric iron, but this happened over a millenia after bronze metallurgy appeared in Egypt (so they already had techniques to produce the relatively high temperatures required for iron smelting in their kilns). And the very limited iron resources that can be found in meteors make this an extremely unlikely independent path towards iron metallurgy.

So is anyone aware of societies that used a different technological pathway to metallurgy?

And if not: which other metals COULD have been used in a credible pathway towards iron metallurgy if copper and tin hadn't been readily available (to be fair, tin wasn't very readily available) [*]? What ores should have been readily available to early humans for your alternative pathway to work? (please dismiss at this point the actual metal content of the Earth's crust)

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[*] Note that the first metal to be used in such a pathway should melt at temperatures that can be obtained in a campfire (it is believed copper was discovered accidentally by using copper ore as rocks to line a campfire), should be easily workable, and has to provide a pathway towards iron metallurgy.

It seems very odd to imagine reading something and not hearing it sounded out in my head. How do you cope when one leg of the visual-auditory-meaning trio is taken out of the equation? How does it make you feel? How did you, personally, manage to learn the language in the first place without being able to link characters and speech?

I can't imagine that people would forget that the people guarding the city walls could potentially turn on the citizens, so how could they be within the city and not be supposed to not be there due to the sacrosanctity of the pomerium?

The timeline I’m looking for is anywhere from Roman times to the invention of gunpowder. After listening to a podcast about WWI, the narrator made it seem like the idea of entrenching oneself for protection was revolutionary in the way it was done, but that it had been done before. I’m curious if there were any major battles with swords and bows that utilized the idea of trenches for defensive positions.

Since after all, it was the allies that defeated Germany and forced it to pay heavy war fees.

I’m not talking about adding bombs after production but did they manufacture planes knowing that they’d be used for suicide attacks?