Hi folks,

I was just wondering if hats like the o be Gandalf wore in the lord of the rings movies were ever really used.

Thanks!

I posted this on Ask reddit also, so if you see it there thats why. But the title pretty much says it all.

I’m trying to find a definite answer of who the dorians were and where did they come from. I understand they came around the Mycenaean age and conquered the mycenaens from Epirus and around Peloponesse (laconia). They are said to have a unique culture and society. Is it possible these people could have been of Illyrian descent, Epirus was never 100% Greek and I find it odd how a Greek civilization would completely conquer another Greek civilization. Also the helmets of the illyrians also looked very similar to that of the Spartans.

I've been watching Vikings and am at season 2. They have used the shield wall rather effectively against a superior number of troops multiple times. I am wondering if the show accurately represents their fighting culture and styles.

It's my understanding that the U.K. was upset that the Iranian government had nationalized their oil industry and asked the U.S. for help. Iran had been getting a pretty terrible deal from the U.K. and was just trying to take back control of it's natural resources. I thought the Iranian public had a very positive view of the U.S. at the time and this started off a chain of events that led the very hostile relationship we currently have. Why did the U.S. think this was a good idea? Why did the U.K. go so far with this even though what Iran did was within it's rights/power as an independent nation? Why did the U.K. decide to ask the U.S. to do this for them?

Based on the search function, most of the questions asked previously seem to be focused on the causes of the Great Depression. Is there a historiographical consensus on whether or not it was the fiscal spending provided by the New Deal that brought the USA out of the Great Depression, or whether the economy recovered naturally/was stimulated by wartime spending and loosened monetary policy etc?

Most of their tombs are empty and don’t have anything

I took a brief introductory course on the holocaust and I am just now going through the required reading material. I am reading a book called Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1933-1945 by Saul Friedlander and he mentions in one of the many things that the Nazis censored and/or banned were Beethoven in 1937 and Mozart in 1938. I was not able to find this anywhere else. Is this true?

How much do I know about infection and preventing it? How will I treat the swelling and make sure the leg heals properly? What are my options for administering pain relief?

I actually posted this about a year ago and forgot about it, and unfortunately it didn't get answered then. But with all the recent anti-Semitism on the rise I want to ask this again:

In 1543, just a couple years before Luther's death, he published a regrettable piece, On the Jews and their Lies. Did any scholars of the day condemn that piece, or was Luther's words the prevailing opinion of the day?

Thanks for any insight.

I know estimates vary wildly about the size of the two armies, but historians such as Devine (1986) and Lonsdale (2004) suggest the Macedonians only fielded 13 000 infantry and 5000 cavalry. Is there a reason why the entire Macedonian force would not have participated in the battle?

Currently I'm reading a fantastic non-fiction book "Red Scarf Girl" which depict the pov of a young girl, Ji-Li Jiang who is growing up in communist China just before the Cultural Revolution and during the Cultural Revolution. In the Foreword, David Henry Hwang wrote the above quote and I felt that quote was really thought-provoking.

In fact, I only know Chairman Mao's Great Leap Forward and his disastrous Cultural Revolution and his attributed death toll by famine. But as I read the book more, people saw the communist as hero's who liberated China.

So this got me to thinking, what did Chairman Mao achieve before his wide famine?

While most ancient societies had some kind of segregation among their people - landlord and serfs, nobility and commoners, masters and slaves, etc., it seems the Indian civilization was the only one that had an elaborate system dividing its people in five classes. While some consider that it was a construct of Hinduism, even Islam, Christianity and Sikhism couldn't get rid of the caste concept among their converts.

Was there anything unique in the Indian civilization that allowed the emergence of those deeply dividing lines?

What happened to the God Worshipping Society and followers of Hong Xiuquan, as well as the Taiping religion more generally, after defeat of the Heavenly Kingdom?

Did the God Worshipping Society continue to exist in China, or anywhere, following 1864? Were there small groups that continued to worship in secret? Are there any believers in Hong Xiuquan's religion alive today?

Alternately, if the Qing did manage to totally eridacte the religion how was this accomplished?

I know that after their defeat some former Taiping armies were pushed south, became bandits and caused problems for neighbouring states. Did these groups continue to practice the Taiping religion?

I also know that the tombstones of some Chinese emigrants to Australia during the Gold Rush show they were followers of Hong Xiuquan and that later groups resisting the Qing sometimes claimed to be inspired by, or successors to, the Taiping. Was there ever an attempt to revive the religion?

Any information on the above questions would be appreciated.

Most notably was General Sedgwick's infamous last words, "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." however I've ran across other references to elephants as well in both northern and southern accounts. How many soldiers at the time would have likely understood what an elephant was?

Much of Australia is covered in a smoke haze this summer, even areas far away from any active fires.

Is this something that would have been more or less common before European colonisation, when we had more natural forest, less European style farming and more indigenous farming, and less, or different, fire prevention control?