Any tips on how to research, and write, your dissertation topics

I’m currently reading “The Crusades: The authoritative history of the war for the holy land” by Thomas Asbridge. What is the best way for me to retain the info in this book? I enjoy studying the high Middle Ages and wish to learn as much as possible without forgetting.

I know the most recent history, the last century or so. I’m asking more about leg hair, arm hair, facial peach fuzz, etc than I am about pubic hair. Have any cultures throughout history actually prized or valued body hair on women, or has it generally been consistent in that less body hair is ideal?

There's a video I just saw posted on youtube about East Germans being sent to Africa to help train communist revolutionaries, and the whole video I was thinking about what it must have been like for these kids to have grown up with the supremacy of the white race going to Africa to train Africans to fight back against white colonizers. How exactly could these kids cope with spending the most formative years of their life being taught to be Nazis then whiplashing to being Communists?

In Jonathan Lopez-Vera's "History of the Samurai", the author describes the leading Japanese powers as being able to raise military forces of tens of thousands, and occasionally hundreds of thousands, during the Genpei Wars of the 12th century and the early conflicts of the 13th century. However, during the Mongol invasions in the latter half of the 13th century, the Japanese struggle to raise armies of more than a few thousand to repel their initial invasion attempt in 1274 and were assumed to once again be significantly outnumbered during the second invasion attempt in 1281. Why were the Japanese incapable of raising a significant forces to counter what must have been seen as an existential threat when they were capable of fielding much larger armies in domestic disputes a century earlier?

In the Civil War between Caesar and Pompey, Caesar made the choice to go to Spain to secure his western flank before moving on Pompey in Greece. Why after having a chance to assemble many legions did Pompey not move on Rome while Caesar was in Spain? Caesar determined that Pompey's army would be more easily defeated as it was an army without a leader, why did Pompey not make the same calculation? Particularly considering that he had the majority of the senate with him to help legitimize his action. #history #Rome #Caesar #Pompey #ancienthistory

Hello!

I'm looking to read up on the Sino-Japanese war particularly from a military policy perspective, if possible. A focus on how the nationalists and communists responded to the invasion and the policies, plans, procedures, training, etc. they instituted in order to counter it would be exactly what I'm looking for. If there's no work that covers both parties in one I would have a preference for the nationalist response. If the work also examined the Japanese perspective and their planning that certainly wouldn't be unwelcome either.

I'm not solely interested in the military side of things, so any work with significant political/social insights would again not be unwelcome, so long as it covers the evolving military response. I have a particular interest in the first year of the conflict and any defensive planning taken during that period, any Soviet-style industry transfers, as well as how lend-lease and other allied support impacted the war once Japan went to war with the Allies.

I know this is asking quite a lot for one book, so recommending multiple works is fine! Unfortunately my only fluent language is English, and I know that narrows it down, but thanks to all who might offer some suggestions!

I am British and have never heard this term here but have heard it countless times in American media and pop culture. Personally it makes no sense to me as the Caucuses are barely European so to use their name seems illogical. I’m guessing it has some sort of historical reason for this and I was hoping someone here could shed some light on this.

Thanks in advance

Furthermore, could a literate Norseman in England read Anglo-Saxon runes?

The histories I've read of the prohibition movement portray the people supporting it ridiculous for one reason or another. I've always wondered if they were in fact looking for a solution to a real problem (and decided on one that didn't work). How widespread was alcoholism in 19th century America and did it get any worse after the Civil War?

How did word reach Einstein that his ideas were being weaponized by the Nazis? The scientific grapevine?

Also, did the president really read all his mail? Was there someone screening incoming letters for him? Was there a chance Einstein's letter might have been ignored or overlooked?

Newton's laws of mechanics fundamentally changed the world, yet they are relatively simple. The first and third laws seem very straightforward:

1. An object will follow a set velocity until a force acts on it, in an inertial frame

2. Every force has an equal and opposite force

I understand that the second law has a lot of calculus baked into it, but even then, the idea of how something accelerating depending on how heavy it is and how hard you push it is also pretty basic intuition. I also understand that air resistance might make figuring the first law hard, but there are thousands of years' worth of philosophers who never wrote down these relatively basic set of laws until Newton.

Were there any recent discoveries or precursors that led to Newton being the first to understand the laws of motion? Were these laws really impossible to understand without calculus, even in concept? Or did other philosophers know about them, but just didn't bother to write them down?

Hi there dear Reddit historians!

I’d like to ask some reviews about the book “The Glory of the Crusades” by Steve Weidenkopf. This book has recently been translated into my native language and quite praised by some quarters as a revolutionary book for the studies of the crusades. It got me interested, and looking through the reviews in Amazon, at a first look it seems quite well-rated and highly praised by some reviewers, but upon reading them further I got the impression most positive reviewers seem to fall within a very narrow ideological framework that might make them biased.

I couldn’t find the author’s name mentioned in many academic works so it seems that he writes to an specific public, more as a sort of “pop author” than a proper academic writer. The few excerpts of this book that I have seem online seem to be quite mediocre.

As I’m not a professional historian, I’d like to defer to specialists before I invest my money on the purchase of the book.

Thank you for your time!

I'm looking for books where it's clear to see their intentions and goals, as well as fears and daily problems. I wonder if they actually believed they were cleansing the earth in god's name or simply making room for themselves. Thank you for any info.

The term Mohammedan was once commonly used around the world. But it has now been entirely replaced by the word Muslim. And usage of the term today can be seen as offensive. How did this happen? Were there any Muslim organisations that specifically objected to its use or was it just an organic change?

We all know the plight of native Americans from infectious diseases carried by colonizers that they lacked immunity from. However most of the sub Sahara Africa and people in Japan, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia also didn’t have much contact with Europeans. Was it because the land is still connected somehow and they already had immunity from many of the diseases?

Why didn't they just split into small groups of people and go around shooting arrows here and there like in modern guerrilla war?

In your period of study, how was the concept of race approached, and to what degree were attempts made to legally codify it?

I keep on hearing about Rhodesia in things like memes

What was it exactly