Sorry about the extremely broad question but I've been curious to learn more about lives rural peasants. For obvious reasons the narrative of history is dominated by the wealthy and powerful, while the lives of the vast majority of people are often written off as "they're just farmers". I wonder how did the culture of peasants change over time, was the experience of say, a French peasant during the French Revolution very different from that of a Russian serf during the same time period? How many hours a day did they work? What kind of resources are there to answer these types of questions?

It's a pretty popular idea that Patroclus and Achilles from the Illiad were lovers but is this a modern interpretation or is it something the author intended? I would love to read up on how the view of the relationship between the two has changed over the course of history and how different cultures studying the Illiad saw and reacted to Patroclus and Achilles. Cheers!

I'm missing something when I read about WWII and the fear that many nations had of Communism. Hitler hated Communism, even though his party was Socialist. From what I understand, Socialism leads to Communism (and is, hence, "Communism Lite") Why didn't he hate Capitalism MORE? It seemed that the Nazis hated Communism and Capitalism equally.

My friend told me that initially, France and the UK thought that the Nazis were less of a threat when they invaded the Sudetenland than the threat that Communism posed. Was "Communism" really a proxy term for "Soviet Union"?

Why wasn't there an aversion against Capitalism?

Finally, what aspects of an economic-distribution system bothered people so much?

I’ve been tasked with finding the top 10 mini events within a larger historical event or time period. Eg for an event like Olympiad would be significant for the Ancient Greece time period. How do you discern what is important and what is not? I feel like even smaller things are the catalyst for the next event. Advice welcome.

One thing I've noticed in old movies that feature pro wrestlers is that there's little to no indication that the people in the movie world think wrestling is fake. Is this just for the sake of the plot or were there huge numbers of wrestling fans that thought the fights were real? If so when and why did that myth disappear so suddenly?

- Did they continue traverse and occupy the lands, as they always had done despite British activity?

- Did they respond negatively to trees being felled for timber and buildings being propped up on their land, as well as the use of other resources?

- Were the British perceived as a menace from the beginning, or were they eventually perceived as such over the years when 'frontier' warfare really began in Australian history?

As a follow-up question, what degree of "proof" was required to arrest someone? I am assuming the answer to the main question depends on whether the Stasi found something or not - or would they just arrest the person regardless? I would also be grateful for answers to the same question in other historical contexts (and not necessarily in totalitarian regimes).

Hey y’all, I was watching Saving Private Ryan and when they talk about when they quit grouping brothers together bc of an incident where the company got annihilated.

It got me thinking, how were Divisions, battalions, squads everything were divided up. If 5 friends from a small town all volunteered for the same type “job” together, were they kept together or separated to different groups.

Also if 1 guy volunteered, was he grouped with people from his town, area, region or totally random?

Let me start off by saying that I often support science and believe in widely accepted theories such as the big bang and the holocaust and what have you. Secondly, I'm not big on conspiracy theories although I do find it interesting to read and talk about them.

That being said; how do we ACTUALLY know any of our historical facts or indeed facts? For example: When I speak to Christian historians they explain how certain documents verified that Jesus lived, but I wouldn't be surprised that Lord Voldemort would be perceived the next Hitler in 3020 because they found many HP books in different places. And I can imagine that people can fabricate documents in multiple regions if there was a cult like following was happening. To me, it doesn't prove anything.

Now, when I see Martin Luther King speeching on video and related protests of those times on video, that's enough for me to verify it happened. But if you tell me that Genghis Khan swooped in and dominated almost half of the world, how do you really know?

The main reason I don't tend to accept that 'found documents' prove something its existence is that the Victor of any war determines the outcome. I would argue that every piece of history we know is either false or adapted. Who knows how many cultures and religions have been obliterated from this world by their enemies who then changed the whole logbook.

Sorry for the rambling. I'm just curious when you Historians actually determine History is valid or accurate?

There will probably not be a specific year when the word converted, and there will most likely be a good few years/decades of crossover as the former word sank out of common usage. I'm watching a video where somebody is imitating the dialect of a late 1600s "Witch Finder General" and he uses "Jesu". Maybe this is historically, inaccurate, I don't know.

I enjoy eating different foods. I have, effectively, the entire world's culinary traditions at my fingertips. If I want to eat fresh tropical fruit, freshwater fish, Polish stuffed cabbage, and Chilean empanadas in one meal, it's trivially easy.

But what would I have eaten 500 years ago? How many different meals would I expect to eat over the course of a month?

Perspectives from other time periods and places are welcome too.

My understanding was always that the Civil War was a fight of democracy and socialism vs fascism and monarchy. However, Stanley Payne seems to argue that the Popular Front unjustly seized power, and the Communists intended to create a Soviet style dictatorial system, and that was what started the war.

Hi everyone! I have a personal interest in U.S. religious history. While I’ve read many books regarding it that summarize a lot of the source material for you, I’m ready to start investing time in collecting and organizing the source material myself to deepen my understanding and knowledge of events.

I’m wondering how you all manage so many documents yourselves. I’m a software developer, so I imagine my solution would be some kind of document indexing software in which you could upload a file or provide a URL, write notes on it, tag the document with keywords that help you search for it later, that sort of thing.

Is there a name for this kind of software? I imagine something of the sort exists. If you guys use some sort of software yourselves, what do you use and what would you recommend for me?

Thanks for the help!

I get that it would be coming out of a canteen or something and not a cold tap so not being picky makes sense (not that they had kegerators or refrigeration but you get me), but this line comes after them galloping for miles, wouldn’t the beer be all foamy?They mentioned it being strong ale so that’ll be heavier by nature, but still, how could you stop after a gallop and try to take a swig of any kind of beer and not just get a mouthful of foam? Am I misunderstanding how it was packed or was the nature of beer just that much different than what we have today?

Why was Germany not occupied at the end of WW1 unlike at the end of WW2 when the allies occupied all of Germany

Were those bizarrely shaped arrowheads used by the Persians in the movie 300 real, or were they just the product of a prop master's overactive imagination?

I don't quite see any bit in the rules about asking this, so I hope it is fine? I will continue to look.