What are some good books that cover the life of Muhammad, his companions and more generally the history of the Rashidun Caliphate to the formation of the Umayyad Caliphate? I know that Hazelton has written a pop history book on the topic but I'm interested in something a bit more academic

In keeping with this week's theme, I want to develop a better sense of just how wartime financing operates in a capitalist system.

so I'm doing a writing assignment and I watched John green's video on the matter but the gist I got was that the presidential reconstruction just resulted in an all white government that didn't really help reconstruct the south, and that the radical reconstruction just allowed for a republican takeover and the spread of human rights for black people. I don't really feel like either of these were key components, and I'm not Shure if the the presidential reconstruction actually reconstructed anything. Any advice? articles to read? videos to watch?

Hello,

I was reading The Recollections of Rifleman Harris a while ago, and one quote from page 78 of the 2019 edition (in chapter XII) stood out to me. In this quote, the army has stopped to prepare to give a man lashes for insulting Major-General Craufurd

"There was some difficulty in finding a place to tie Howans up, as the light bridgade carried no halberts. However, they led him to a slender ash tree which grew near at hand."

From a quick google search it looks like this could be referring to a halberd carried by an NCO - but how does this connect to preparing to lash this soldier? Tying him to a halberd seems unlikely as I can't imagine they were particularly thick, and at the same time using a halberd to clear branches off of a tree seems unlikely as the engineers must have had axes. How do halberds connect here, or is Harris not actually talking about a halberd at all?

How did the people in ancient times carve such beautiful designs into these stones, such as the cylinder seals of Sumeria, or the ancient Egyptian scarabs? What process and tools did they use? If anyone here can provide an answer, or refer me to a website or book, I would be very thankful. I am looking for a detailed description of the actual process.

I'm referring to Ming Dynasty campaigns like the Ming conquest of Yunnan in which the Ming fielded 250,000 soldiers.

Why is it though that we can see hundreds of thousands of soldiers being fielded in a campaign in the Far East compared to Medieval Europe in which >10,000 seems to be the norm at this time? Was this due to China simply having more population or that there was simply no state in Europe that had political centralization and unification to the extent that the Ming Dynasty did at this period to have the logistics and administration to field <100,000 soldiers?

Were they already Muslim by that point? Was it more like a trickle of tribes or a sudden surge of migrating nomads?

Was there a spike in population decades before the war and those men of marriageable age returning back to the US now needed housing that didn't exist before? Would there have been a shortage even if the war didn't happen?

In modern warfare a person can quickly run out of ammunition especially in a protracted engagement to the point that ammunition runners were a thing back in ww2. During the age of musket warfare, were ammunition shortages ever a problem? Was running out of ammo in combat just a signal to affix bayonets or did units pull back to get more shot and powder? Or did battles (outside of sieges) usually ended soon enough that shortages weren't considered?

In early November of 1519, the Spaniard Fernando Cortés and the Mexica ruler Moctezuma II met for the first time. Less than two years later, the Mexica capital fell to the Spaniards after a brutal siege. Thus began the European colonial expansion on the mainland of the Americas over the next centuries. We use this date as an occasion to critically discuss the conquest campaigns, colonisation, and their effects to this day.

Traditionally, scholars have tended to focus on European sources for these topics. In the last decades indigenous, African, Asian and other voices have added important new perspectives: Native allies were central to the Spanish conquest campaigns; European control was far less widespread than colonial period maps suggest; and different forms of resistance opposed colonial rule. At the same time, the European powers had differing approaches to colonisation. Depending on time and region these could lead to massacres, accommodation, intermarriages or genocide. Lastly, indigenous cultures have remained resilient and vital when faced with these ongoing hardships and discriminations.

Our great flair panel covers these and other topics on both Americas, for a variety of regions and running from pre-Hispanic to modern times: from archeology to Jewish diasporas, from the Southern Cone to the Great Lakes. A warm welcome to the panelists!

/u/611131's research focuses on Spanish conquest and colonization efforts in Mesoamerica during the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. I also can discuss Spanish efforts in Paraguay and Río de la Plata.

/u/anthropology_nerd focuses on the demographic impact of epidemic disease and the Native American slave trade on populations in the Eastern Woodlands and Northern Spanish Borderlands in the first centuries following contact.

/u/aquatermain can answer questions regarding South American colonial history, and more than anything between the Viceroyalty of Río de la Plata. Other research interests include early Spanish judicial forms of, and views on control, forced labor and slavery in the Américas; as well as more generally international Relations and geographical-political delimitations of the Spanish and Portuguese empires.

/u/Commodorecoco is an archaeologist who studies how large-scale political events manifest in small-scale material culture. His reserach is based in the 6ht-century Bolivian highlands, but he can also answer questions about colonial and contact-period architecture, art history, and syncretism in the rest of the Andes.

/u/DarthNetflix examines North American in the long eighteenth century, a time that typically refers to the years between 1688 and 1815. I focus primarily on North American indigenous peoples of this time period, particularly in the southeast and along the Mississippi River corridor. I also study colonial frontiers and borderlands and the peoples who inhabited them, whether they be French, English, or indigenous, so I know quite a bit about French and British colonial societies as a consequence.

/u/drylaw is a PhD student working on indigenous scholars of colonial central Mexico. For this AMA he can answer questions on Spanish colonisation in central Mexico more broadly. Research interests include race relations, indigenous cultures, and the introduction of Iberian law and political organisation overseas.

u/hannahstohelit is a master's student in modern Jewish history who is eager to answer questions about the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition/Expulsion, the subsequent Sefardic diaspora and its effect on colonization of North and South America, and early Jewish communities in the Americas. Due to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, I will only be available to answer questions on Sunday, but will be glad to return after the holiday is over to catch any that I missed!

/u/Mictlantecuhtli typically works on the Early Formative to Classic period Teuchitlan culture of the Tequila Valleys, Jalisco known for partaking in the West Mexican shaft and chamber tomb tradition and the construction of monumental circular architecture known as guachimontones. However, I have some familiarity with the later Postclassic and early colonial period and could answer questions related to early entradas, Spanish crimes, and the Mixton War of 1540.

/u/onthefailboat is a specialist in maritime history in the western hemisphere, specifically the Caribbean basin. Other specialities include race and slavery, revolution (broadly defined), labor, and empire.

/u/PartyMoses focuses on the Great Lakes region from European contact through to the 19th century, with a specific focus on the early 19th century. I study the impact of European trade on indigenous lifeways, the indigenous impact on European politics, and the middle grounds created in areas of peripheral power between the two. I'd be happy to answer questions about the Native alliance and its actions during the War of 1812, the political consequences of that conflict, the fur trade, and the settlement or general indigenous history of the Great Lakes region.

u/Snapshot52 is a mod and flaired user of /r/AskHistorians, specializing in Native American Studies and colonialism with a focus on the region of North America. Fields of study include Indigenous perspectives on history, political science, philosophy, and research methodologies. /u/Snapshot52 also mods /r/IndianCountry, the largest sub for Indigenous issues, and is currently a graduate student at George Mason University studying Digital Public Humanities.

/u/Yawarpoma can handle the early colonial history of Venezuela and Colombia. In particular the exploration/conquest periods are my specialty. I’m also able to do early merchant activity in the Caribbean, especially indigenous slavery. I have a background in 16th century Spanish Florida as well.

/u/chilaxinman

Reminder: our Panel Team is made up of users scattered across the globe, in various timezones and with different real world obligations. Please be patient and give them time to get to your question! Thank you.

[deleted]

In The Get Down, I see some wild pictures of Bronx resembling a war zone. At the same time, its New York (a huge economy) and the US (also a huge economy). So, how did it happen that so many people got that kind of poor? And, I assume the problem is not unique to New York. Thus, what was wrong? Those were still the days when one person with a job could support a family.

Also, I am sorry if I ask something obvious, me not American, don't know much about the US history.

Did people know they were in a coma?

I’m currently researching the history of candles, and most sources note that tallow candles (candles made from animal fat) preceded the European discovery that beeswax can be used for candles. I’ve also seen that the Tang Dynasty already had wax candles while Europe was still used animal fat. Could it be assumed that the adoption of beeswax candles was a result of the Silk Road?

Any information on how Europeans adopted the wax candle is appreciated.

Submitting this for the third time with the following acknowledgements:

1. This is for an essay I am writing for a language class, not a history class, so I am going for basic knowledge, not an academically-sound paper through and through necessarily.

2. Please direct me to any sources that may be useful on this, be they in English or in Arabic.

I would like to know what general methods tribes in the Arabian peninsula employed to determine who was a member of the tribe and who was not. I assume that it was blood-based, meaning you were a member of whatever tribe you belonged to at birth, and that women who married into a tribe lost membership from their mother tribe. If my assumptions are correct, then was this system fluid in any way, meaning could someone be a "naturalized" member of a tribe?

Additionally, if you can speak to how this system was changed by different forces, such as Islam or secularism, I would be very interested in hearing about that as well.

Shoutout to /u/crrpit and the rest of the mod team for always being awesome.

Thanks!

Was there a lot of misinformation spread about the Spanish Inquisition because of the Black Legend? Was the Inquisition established to reduce the number of individuals executed for witchcraft?

I read in Martin Gilbert's "Israel: A History" that during the Yom Kippur war, the USSR sent hundred of flights with arms and supplies to the Arab states. According to Wikipedia, around 78K tons of materiel were sent.

I understand Egypt, Syria and other Arab states were in the Soviet sphere of influence. But why was the USSR so intent to supply and stoke the conflict? After all, it started as a surprise attack by Egypt and Syria, and at the time, Israel did not get airlifts of supplies from the USA.

Did they feel like they were balancing the scales between Israel and its neighbors? Was the USSR solely concerned about regaining for the Arab states territory lost in 1967 (and if so, why?), or was their intent to destroy Israel?