I know the simple answer is “he couped the government” but I’m trying to analyze the degradation of democracy in post-WW2 Italy. What factors allowed for Mussolini to sneak in/what made him capable of success? (Not homework, just curious as it relates to a class I’m taking)

I asked my teacher this and she looked at me like I was crazy. I started to search it up but nothing interesting showed. Could you please explain as I am very curious.

Today, it is common knowledge that Julius Caesar was killed by Roman senators, and we can also ascertain their motives for doing so. But at the time Julius Caesar was killed, did the Roman public know exactly what happened? How was this information spread, and what motivations were there for or against its spread?

I want to dig deeper into the theoretical and practical side of providential history so that I can analyze it and understand how historians do it.

I hope this is the right subreddit to put this question, but if there is a better place I'm all ears.

Because of the 20 year rule, keep it to anything before 1999, because despite me asking this same question, mods ended up removing it.

Listening to an audio version of the "History of Rome" by Cassius Dio. he says the Latins used the word Dictator because they did not like term "King". How did the title dictator come to be viewed as negative?

Hey, so I'm writing a western short story and was just wondering if anyone knew the prison sentence time for a bank heist between 1860 and 1890

I’m named after a farmer from Easley, South Carolina, he was my 4x great grandfather. I know he fought for the confederate army from 1861-1865, what are the chances he was a slave owner?

Many accounts from numerous Japanese veterans and civilians make it clear that they were absolutely certain that all 100 million Japanese would be utterly annihilated in a US invasion, and that surrender was not an option. There was a ‘peace faction’ among the people and government, but it was too small to make a significant difference. Why didn’t the emperor agree with virtually all his subjects? Why would he make them do precisely what they didn’t want to do?

From what I understand, 6 Black Hand members, including Gavrilo Princip shot and killed Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, others were arrested too but were just conspirators. Franz Ferdinand was shot 30 times while Sophie was shot 18 times. Sophie was killed in the crossfire and Franz Ferdinand was of course intended to die. Back to my question, if you, for example, search up the question on Google, "Who killed Franz Ferdinand?" you will get "Gavrilo Princip" as a definite answer. I just don't understand why is he the most famous/blamed out of the 6 assassins. If anyone is available to provide an insight to my question, I'll be grateful, thanks! (Correct me in anything if I'm wrong.)

Suppose it's the 16th or early 17th century, and I want to publish a book/pamphlet/etc that I wrote. Where would I go? What criteria would the publisher use to decide if my book is worth printing? Where/how would my book be sold? How would I get paid?

Most Countries in South America were Aligned with the US at the time and fought against the Axis in WW2. Did the Extreme right-wing dictardorships in South America have a Nazi/Fascist mentality hidden? For example Argentina, who was extremely antisemitic at the time, was one of the favorite destinations.

For my history class, my professor is having us create a webpage about food and history. I chose to focus on the importance of grain for the Roman economy and was wondering how important Egypt was in regards to its contribution of grain to Rome.

My friend just got a reproduction, functional arquebus and every year I get him a history book for his birthday/Christmas. Could someone recommend good, scholarly books about the arquebus itself, early firearms generally, or pike and shot tactics? He's already quite knowledgeable so the more in depth, the better. The book wiki is a little sparse in this area

Thank you in advance!

If it helps, last year he was very into Achaemenid Persia and so I refered to the wiki and got him Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550-330 BCE by Matthew Waters and recommended he get From Cyrus to Alexander by Pierre Brant as a follow up

Whenever I see replicas of old sailing ships they seem tiny, yet had crews in the hundreds. Was everyone on these ships just hotbunking hammocks?

I've heard from a lot of people in the Southern US about how a lot of Union Soldiers, during Sherman's march to the sea and also during the Reconstruction, were involved in a lot of terrible war crimes.

I'm wondering how long it took for the people in the South to in general see the US Military as on their side, especially considering how pro-military the South in general seems to be today.

What did they say? Like did they plant a flag and say “in the name of the king i declare this land part of spain/england”?

Or any famous speech or something?

All the sources I've found are conflicting. Also, where did the word come from?

I just found out that period after the fall of Roman Empire is referred as Dark Ages--because we don't have enough documentation about that era.

How did we approximate what like of Kings/Queens/Knights/Common People?
Is everything derived from mythical stories and folklore that was written five centuries after the events happened?
How do historians fill the gap where you have no information?