Was it practically a death sentence to be put in the very front or was there some sort of system to rotate them?

EDIT: cant fix the typo on the tittle, I meant to write "were".

Sources would be nice. It doesn't have to be only America or someone well known.

And other historic figures like Valeria Messalina would be interesting even if he reputation is fictitious.

EDIT: quick google Empress Wu of china had male concubines (Concubinus)... not really what im looking for but similar... More like her and less like Catherine the great?

I'm trying to keep track of number of events in various parts of the world and I was hoping to make a timeline for easy reference for myself. For anyone who has made large-ish timelines, what software or method(s) do you recommend?

Did one son get the estate? Was it split between brothers? I'm sure this is a complicated question with a lot of different answers depending on country and time, but I'm curious about Europe especially.

This is one thing I've always been curious about. There were centuries of musket warfare, and even into early rifles and breech loaders. But it's always depicted as the two sides standing 100yards away and firing at each other. I have a vague knowledge of different tactical advancements like fire by ranks, platoon fire, and oblique tactics. But I was curious what I was missing and if there are any game changers. Like it just doesn't make a lot of sense to me for a force that knows it's smaller to put professional troops immediately in harm's way. There might be a macro concept I'm missing, but any info about the key advancements in musket warfare would make my day!

I've always been under the impression that Elizabeth II genuinely served as a military mechanic. However, I recently realized that I have not personally read credible accounts of her acting in that role beyond showing off her responsibilities to her mother during a royal visit which, of course, could merely be part of an honorary role. I understand it's not uncommon for dignitaries or famous individuals in the military to serve in honorary roles?

I am aware that, at the very least, she slept in Buckingham Palace each night rather than with the other ATS members.

Reposting because of this weeks theme.

I’m still a Senator, and I don’t have to be present for the Senate to have the minimum number to begin work, but is my seat just not filled while I’m at my governorship?

Trying understand how wealthy such a person is and how it effects their lifestyle.

The game Total War: Rome II has it as a faction and it got my attention. I've been going through the Wikipedia pages reading a little about the dynasties, the wars and battles against other civilizations, army composition...

Maybe I don't know how to search properly but I haven't found as much information as I was hoping to so any book recommendation or any other source to go deeper would be highly appreciated.

I'm curious what ancient Athenians did during their military service as what that meant for Classical Greek warfare. From my readings of u/iphikrates 's answers, Classical Greek warfare seems to have been far less orderly and disciplined than I once thought (especially for the Persian wars) and that we actually know a lot less that what I once thought. In that case, how did this military service to create good citizens factor into this newer understanding of Greek warfare?

so......... this is gonna be a controversial post i bet.

yeah so, white people missionaries from the catholic church helped my country a lot back in those ages that our textbooks mentions foreign catholic people who devoted their lives to help us out, and some who even sacrificed their lives for our country.

but........ there were also quite some bad apples like the very first missionaries who fucking attacked a harbor and civilians to force catholicism to our country, and some who were puppets for china and what not.

so yeah we learn about how white catholic missionaries helped us during our dark ages, but also how they were fucking violent in the beginning. but nothing is mentioned about sexual abuse. and i have no religion so i don't know how long the catholic church has been hiding that shit but i want to know if that shit was common back then as well because i wish it wasn't. like idk, we have a whole chapter for great catholic men and women who built schools, hospitals, other helpful organizations, which most of them became top institutions in their fields. we also learn about missionary people who fought with us for our independence and tried to help diplomatic issues etc. and even though I'm not catholic, i am thankful for them but missionaries always bring a controversial discourse.

so i got to read a comment which was satirical saying the missionaries must have raped thousands of women and little boys cuz well you know. annnnnnnd after reading that it got stuck in my head and i kinda needed to know if well sexual abuse of catholic or other religious authorities were also big centuries ago.

I’ve been looking around, and no one seems to know. Some credit the Cyrus Cylinder saying it banned slavery,some other people say that Zoroastrianism outlawed it, others said it was a decree by Cyrus, but was never enforced, some say it’s just POWs, some say that slaves could convert and free themselves, and so on. So does anyone know, is a there a consensus, and if not, what would be the most likely answer.

I heard a story from a friend that, as the Cuban Missile Crisis heated up, President Kennedy was given Tuchman's "The Guns of August" to read. The book devotes a lot of time to various people who could have halted WWI before it began, and allegedly, the point was that Kennedy was in the position of all those European statesmen, and could prevent the apocalypse by taking the right stand at the right time, or something. Is this just a legend, or can it be sourced?

Alfred the Great's name means something like "Elf Council" or "Counseled by Elves" or even "Elf Wisdom".

This indicates that medieval people, the Anglo-Saxons at the very least, had Elves in their mythology. I've often thought of elves in the context of Christmas or Tolkien, but my question here is basically:

What did elves mean to medieval people?

He points to Rashid al-Din, a Persian historian, that claimed that he was red-haired and blue-eyed.