I'm trying to get a grasp on the idea as I'm reading a book [fiction] but the author keeps referring to some characters as "political officers" which caused this question. As they have no real "political" ambitions in the plot.

I know Soviet subs had political officers aboard but I didn't really read into them all that much.

My parents found a copy of the Declaration of Independence in my house in 1996 & it was authenticated and dated by a local college as pre civil war. They have help onto it for a long time but haven't done anything to protect it other than wrap the box the stored it in, in cellophane.

It isn't pretty but it is all in one piece. Who can I contact in or near Grand Junction, CO to find out for sure that it is authentic get a better date on it & find out what my next options are?

Hello!

So recently I've been watching some medieval shows, and I found it weird how armored soldiers were constantly getting shot by arrows and falling wounded, which made me pay attention more closely.

I realized that to my rookie eyes at least it seems like they were getting hit as if they were wearing no armor at all, continuously getting pierced by everything.

My question is, how effective was the use of medieval armor? Was it "bulletproof" making warrior "immune" to arrows? How did they get impacted by swords and other weapons?

If they were in fact effective, how did the soldiers die? And if they weren't, what was the point of armor? Is it kind of a middle ground?

Thanks!

I have been fascinated with this period lately and I was hoping to find some book that dive deeper into the financial and economic elements of that time period.

Ephialtes of Trachis is the man who apparently betrayed the Spartans and their allies at Thermopylae, by showing the Persians another route to attack the Spartans from behind.

A lot seems to be known about his life (eg. his place of birth, his fathers name, and how he died) but I really can’t help but thinking that his whole existence is a fabrication made up by the Spartans as to explain why & how they lost at Thermopylae.

However, I can’t find any sources for my theory.

During Sweden’s brief colonial foray into the new world in present day New Jersey and Delaware was there any set policy about trading and alliances with the Native American inhabitants? Did the swedish forts offer something better than the Dutch?

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One of my students asked me this question and I know it isn’t commonly discussed but i thought it could be true considering how they were viewed in a similar way to black people. Did it happen? If it did happen, is there reasons why it wasn’t as widespread?

I hope this is an appropriate question for the sub. When I was younger, I had a deep passion for ancient civilizations and everything ancient in general. Time passed and now I'm a scientist. But a recent photo sparked my passion again, and I am asking if you know of any introductory and non-technical books that describe major ancient civilizations in the world in a captivating story-like manner? Not just a specific civilization, but a general intro to the ancient world.

Zoroastrianism seems to be a much different faith from Hinduism or the Norse or Celtic or Roman religious traditions before the rise of Christianity. It features two gods where the other faiths feature dozens, and has some seriously ancient roots in Iranian history and culture.

What I'm curious about is...how? How does Zoroastrianism fit into the other divergent traditions descended from P.I.E traditions that became the various European pagan traditions in the west and Hinduism, and (arguably) Budhism and Jainism in the east? Where did it come from if it isn't descended from the same traditions as those cultural religious sects?

I was looking at a post about ancient pyramids that got me thinking about the shape of them. When did we decide to start making things that were Square? It's not like squares and right angles are common in nature.

I'm sure the answer is probably that the concept is too old to pin down but if there is any insight into this I would be interested in hearing it.

Just for context here, i am currently trying to write a fantasy novel with most polytheistic beliefs (that have an actual consistency) found throughout history having a massive fantasy influence in today's world, so stuff like the greek-roman pantheon, the Celtic pantheon (mostly the Ulster cycle) Norse/Germanic pantheon, and so on, and i was having a hard time looking for a word to refer to the Romuvan and Suomenusko pantheon, i was wondering if they ever had a name for their Deities other than simply "The gods"

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In the movie "Downfall" there is a scene near the end where Hitler has a mental breakdown and screams. During his rant he declares that the German Army has betrayed him and that the officers have put every obstacle in his way. He even says that he should have shot them all as Stalin did. My question is this: is there any truth to Hitler's claim that he was betrayed by disloyal military officers? Is there even a grain of truth to it? Did they sabotage some of his orders, and did he know about it?