I've recently been thinking about Tolkien's frustration with England lacking its own indigenous myth. There is, of course, Beowulf, and while it's packed with myth it's a narrative taking place in Scandinavia and, isn't really a FULL mythology in the sense of what we know of Greek, Egyptian, or Norse myths. There's also Arthurian legend which Tolkien along with many others don't see as a wholly indigenous product of England. I'm wondering if there's ANY surviving fragments of English mythology; any evidence of a pantheon, demigods or supernatural humans/more traditional stories of humans interacting with the divine, etc.? I'm really looking for anything that I can find on this subject that I can dig into.

SHORT VERSION: Is there any surviving English Mythology excluding Beowulf and the Arthurian legends?

After WW2, why did the USSR take Königsberg? Why wasn't it given to Poland like the rest of East Prussia?

Of course, these companies couldn't exist before the industrial revolution, but the late 20th Century also seems to have been a curiously bad time for them. There are specific examples of business decisions that were all wrong in retrospect (e.g., Kodak) but what about the larger business/industrial phenomenon?

Recently I read that Roman legionnaires were expected to serve for 16 years, a maximum that was later increased to 25 years. However, it seems to me that a life of battle after battle (particularly prior to modern medical science) plus the other perils of the ancient world (disease etc.) would leave a fairly small percentage of legionnaires surviving sixteen or even twenty-five years.

I appreciate that this is something that will vary throughout the years as the Empire went through peaceful periods and more violent periods, and also by location, but do we have any idea of whether or not a legionnaire could reasonably expect to enjoy their retirement after 25 years of service? Or did only the very lucky live this long?

Before Hitler started invading various European countries, he took over Czechoslovakia as well which included Prague. I’ve never heard any stories of any Nazi leadership seeking to destroy it or even faking it to get Jews to give up hiding or as symbolism. Are there any reports about this happening?

During the beginning of the French Revolution, the king called for the Estates General to meet on 5 May 1789 to resolve the financial crisis. The third estate represtenting the bourgeoise had been granted double representation but during the minister's of finance Necker speech they were informed that voting would be "by power" and not "by head". What did it really mean to vote by power? Did it mean they were forced to vote favourably for the clergy and the nobility? If so, did the king and the ministers consider this as a valid option and did they not consider that it may upset the third estate even more?

In the past on this subreddit, there have been really great answers discussing the impact that increased access to Soviet archives from Glasnot through the fall had on scholarship of World War II and the Eastern Front. Likewise there have also been some very interesting pieces written on how the Holocaust was understood within the Soviet Union, and especially how the aspect of Judeocide was in many ways downplayed in favor portraying it as more focused on the Soviet people generally.

So dwelling on both of these, I wonder what the impact was specifically on Holocaust historiography and understanding of the genocide in the East when Western scholars began to see the increased access that came about in the '90s, as well as the ability for both (former) Soviet and Western scholars to more closely collaborate, and the latter to write more openly and away from the party line.

To my eye, the helmets a) covered very little of the actual head, b) lacked a chin strap, making them easy to lose/prone to falling off, and c) appeared to be made out of a fairly flimsy material. Were these helmets better than they look, or were they more or less ornamental?

I don’t know if this is a stupid question, but did they just talk quicker back then? Or was it the type of cameras they were filming with that made it seem like everything was sped up? Thanks!

Was it simply tradition? Or was there something else?

I know that in the Roman Republic, with Lex Genucia (342 BC), it was prohibited to hold two offices at once, but does being a Senator count as an office? And if it does, could a Senator leave his position, hold another office for a year and then return to his place on the Senate (since the appointment to the Senate was for life)?

I always see on the history channel or youtube Americans winning a lot of battles but I was wondering if the Japanese infantry ever gained any key victories in the Pacific Theatre during World War 2?

I'm wondering if anyone might be able to direct me to any books or articles about the founding and rise of the BBC? I'm trying to understand how it has risen to such prominence on the global stage.

Also, might there be other subreddits that might be able to help shed light? I had considered r/scholar and r/askacademia, though I don't suspect the latter would be so useful.

Thanks for at least reading this post!

I'm aware that they have multiple names depending on their regions but some mythological creatures seem to look similar from one another.

Similarities I noticed:

1. Mostly large. Probably Larger than any living creature today.
2. Reptilian. Whether like lizard-like or serpentine
3. Able to fly. Or Float.

Quote from Gordon McEwan, The Incas: New perspectives

Sounds sort of silly, but we normally seem to focus on the "Columbian Exchange" as being between the Americas and Europe, but New World foodstuffs spread to the rest of the world too...so when and how did the potato get to China?

My (18) class is learning about the great war and me and two other students got the shortest straw when we we're assigned subjects. There is no mention of this battle in our book at all, and the wikipedia page in our language is literally blank. We're gonna have to use english sources but it's a mess. Any of you familliar with this Battle and could perhaps help me get a better image of the timeline for structure and such? And what events, wartactics etc.. should we prioritize in our 20 minutes? Thank you