I feel like something such as the Great Wall of China would have been a significant landmark to note. Is there a chance he just didn’t realize the size/significance of the wall? Or could there have been some reason why he would have purposely kept quiet about it?

Was there any effort to specifically avoid armed conflict with the United States, or was it seen as inevitable (the better to bring them in on Axis terms rather than wait until America was ready)? Given the state of the American military at the outset relative to Germany and Japan, was the US's industrial capacity and resolve simply underestimated (Americans were lazy, rich, far-away, distracted)? A lot of depictions and descriptions of the early war seem to treat an Allied victory almost as a foregone conclusion after Pearl Harbor (Midway at the latest) in the eyes of all but Hitler and Hirohito themselves (Yamamoto's "sleeping giant" quote gets trotted out a lot; despite questions of authenticity, it's a good example of what I'm talking about).

Basically, there seems to be a lot of hindsight involved in portraying Axis attitudes early on, even in documentaries and other non-fictional sources, and I'm wondering what their opinions really were.

According to President Bartlett of The West Wing:

Did you know that two thousand years ago a Roman citizen could walk across the face of the known world free of the fear of molestation? He could walk across the Earth unharmed, cloaked only in the protection of the words civis Romanus -- I am a Roman citizen. So great was the retribution of Rome, universally understood as certain, should any harm befall even one of its citizens.

Is it true?

Looking for books on knights. I would like the books to go over how knights are trained, how they get there equipment, and other things on a knight's life and him in battle. Thanks in advance!!

Hi all — I am interested in learning more about politics in Spain and France around 1900-1940s, particularly the role of workers’ movements. Can anyone recommend some books? Thank you!

I’ve seen it mentioned multiple times recently and I’m just wondering if it’s a common held belief nowadays or a outlandish conspiracy theory like Hitler escaping Germany .

Being next to China for thousands of years, Korea is left out and survived in the peninsula. Throughout different dynasties of China, there are a lot of attempts trying to conqueror the Koreans, such as the Tang dynasty successfully conquered Goguryeo. In a normal situation, it will be sinicised and integrated into the Chinese people, like the Baiyue. However the culture has never been eliminated and been thriving despite the Chinese culture highly praised in Korea. Why is that the case?

When did it originally become popular to say “gesundheit” in response to a person’s sneezing. I presume this originated and was popularized in German society. Is this correct? During which time period, and why? Why for example did they choose to say gesundheit, which means health, rather than something about God like “bless you”?

The Qing had 18 Han provinces, they added Taiwan and Sinking in the 1880s. Were they planning to add Chinese settled territories like Dungzaria, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai and Manchuria?

I was surprised to find some slaves freed by the British joined them and were given arms to fight the US, one British officer saying something along the lines of "they are fine fellows all they ask for is rifles and the direction of the enemy"

I have read the British were able to raise a company? of freed slaves but was this used and if so was it effective?

Also did the company take part in the burning of Washington?

For those interested; During the course of the war the British provided freedom and transport to British territory, 4000-5000 were freed.

This is sort of a PCMR-History crossover but I noticed that Taiwan seems to have a lot of PC brands, if not the supermajority for Motherboards, GPUs, RAM, Storage, even cooling, cases, and fans.

Off the top of my head, they have Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, Asrock, PowerColor, Lian Li, Coolermaster, Taiwan Semiconductor, Thermaltake, Gskill, the list literally drags on. The island nation plays a major role in the Computer industry.

I noticed most of these companies got their started 20-30 years ago. Did Taiwan emphasize this as some sort of government program? Is there any reason as to why computer hardware play such a critical economic role there?

I was recently watching Claude Lanzmann's epic, 9-hour documentary on the Holocaust, Shoah. During one portion of the film, Lanzmann interviewed several Polish villagers who lived near the Treblinka concentration camp. One villager said that the camp was only about 100 yards from where he plowed his field and that he often heard screams from the camp.

It seems paradoxical to me that, near the end of the war, the Nazis tried to hide evidence of the Holocaust yet, at the same time, they built camps that were so close to towns and villages. Was there any rhyme or reason to the camps' locations?

Examples: “I die triumphant; my soul soars above the snow; released at last” “The crane soars higher; it’s wings brush cherry blossom; my soul soars with it”

Alternatively: “a doll floats downstream; carrying with it prayers; spring has come at last”

I know that the religion of the time was Shinto-Buddhism but Shinto and Buddhism have contradictory ideas about what happens after death, particularly the Shinto idea of becoming a kami and the Buddhist idea of rebirth or enlightenment. Would defeated samurai facing the end of their family line be more likely to take a Buddhist view while those dying of natural causes focus more on the kami aspect?

Surely he didn’t think incorporating them would be devoid of problems?

I've tried researching this myself but the big web of politics and such just gave me more questions.

Did the idea of letting 'commoners' view their collections come about after the monarchy became more of a figurehead? Why are places like the tower of london now full of material that's on display for anyone to see?

Specifically, potato latkes.

Both anti-Semites who promoted holocaust, did Hitler admire Luther or draw inspiration from him?

Most of human recorded history has shown we have been in and out of war for most of our existence, so (what I make in assumption), in that time what we now call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD, previously called shell shock; the 1000 yard stare) has no doubt been a part of soldiers' lives

How was this condition been treated and managed, or otherwise what view did it have and how was it understood by society, particularly in ancient times through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in comparison to today?

So, I’m aware that their history is a little complicated as Natives were known to actually own black slaves. But I’m wondering in a general sense, how did they interact? Because it must have been something maybe even refreshing for either side to see someone other than a white person, as well as seeing that other ethnic group also struggling under said white people. Surely this must have created some sort of bond between the two groups?

Thanks in advance :)

The issue I'm thinking is that in an age of gunpowder, where mass volleys of men can mow down cavalry, what kept these troops around for the Ottomans especially considering they are one of the foremost adopters of gunpowder weaponry. The bow would be outranged by muskets, so why did they not just arm their light cavalry with muskets?