What was the relationship between the Vietnamese and Cambodian people during the Vietnam war? Why were the Vietnamese invading Cambodia?

After visiting both of these countries and watching documentaries on both, it is very interesting to me. I was hoping to analyze this conflict from a non-U.S. perspective but having trouble.

2 Answers 2019-10-07

In medieval Europe, did the average peasant care much about political happenings?

The popular image of the medieval peasant makes them out to be simple farmers who just want to raise a family, live off the land, and go to church. This makes a lot of sense because nobles really just wanted laborers to work their lands, and peasants accepted their position in life as a part of God’s will.

However, I also know that in dire times of war, when knights and feudal lord retinues weren’t enough, that peasants would be levied into war with pretty harsh conditions (poor equipment supplied by the peasant, no training, having to live a soldiers life on the march)

What I find kind of odd is that these levied were expected to maintain discipline and fight. If I were in this position, I would have deserted the first chance I got and I’m sure many in those times did exactly just that, because these wars seemed to be just lords playing political games with peoples lives and peasant levied weren’t even being paid!

So my question is, was there any other real motivation for a peasant to fight a war other than just feudal obligation? Did these fighting peasants believe that this guy deserves to be king over this guy? Because to me that seems like something only nobles would care about.

TL;DR Did medieval peasantry actually care about medieval politics? Did peasants have political opinions other than “I just want to feed my family and not die”

1 Answers 2019-10-07

Why did the Nazis invade North Africa?

I love studying WWII, it’s fascinating stuff. Was it to expand their territory? Take the Suez Canal? I know Hitler sent Erwin Rommel (aka the desert fox) and his Afrika Korps to oversee the region but I’ve never been sure why. Was it to help Italy being overrun against British forces?

2 Answers 2019-10-07

What were the major religions of the Seljuk Empire in 1040?

1 Answers 2019-10-07

What were common jobs in Germany for men during the 1920s?

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1 Answers 2019-10-07

How did Switzerland become so wealthy and developed?

Switzerland is a country with one of the highest standards of living in the world. How did a landlocked country with almost no natural resources become so wealthy? Is it purely due not being involved in any wars during the 20th century? And what is true of the Swiss "stealing" gold after WW2 by not returning it to the (family of) rightful owners?

1 Answers 2019-10-07

If the Nazi's and Japanese won both fronts, what was their plan to work together?

1 Answers 2019-10-07

Is it possible for entire civilizations to have existed without us knowing currently due to lack of evidence?

4 Answers 2019-10-06

Lída Baarová also Austria-Hungary..

What was the nationality of people who were born and living in Austria-Hungary classed after it spilt?

Also what confuses me is that on Wikipedia it states that Lída Baarová was born in Prague when it was in Austria-Hungary... but her nationality was Austrian 91914–1918, 1958–2000) and Czech (1918–2000) like how did she gain Czech nationality and how come she gained Austrian Nationality , why didn't she gain Hungarian Nationality.

1 Answers 2019-10-06

[Post-Napoleonic Era] Cuirassiers, Officers and Armour

In the late 19th Century/early 20th Century, certain armies (specifically France, Russia and Germany) maintained cuirassiers who continued to wear cuirasses/breastplates. At the same time, I believe officers at the time wore different uniforms and equipment from the enlisted, and were expected to supply their own gear as "private purchases" (e.g. custom-tailored uniforms, personalised swords) to a set standard.

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With that in mind, were cuirassier officers expected to supply their own armour, along with the rest of their equipment? If so, where did they purchase them from and were there any differences from that of the troopers'?

1 Answers 2019-10-06

How did professional sports in the late medieval Western Europe look like?

The only form of medieval sports that comes to mind are knigth tournaments. I'm curious how did the tournament world look like. How popular were they? What were the most prestigious tournaments in Europe and what prizes were there? Are there any known tournament "superstars"?

Also, were there any other form of competitive sports? Maybe something involving a ball or resebling the ancient Greek Olympic Games?

1 Answers 2019-10-06

What is the most unbiased, in-depth, book about human/world history that you can recommend?

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2 Answers 2019-10-06

Did Hitler and the Nazi top brass realise France and Britain would actually declare war on them if Germany invaded Poland or were they expecting another Czechoslovakia/Austria-like situation?

As a result of France and Britain's appeasement policy, Hitler got away with a lot of small aggressions throughout the 30s. Did the Nazis think the same would happen again? Did anyone think they could get away with a slap on the wrist? Were there any high-ranking officials that thought contrary to the popular opinion?

1 Answers 2019-10-06

What real world examples are there of bank robbers successfully escaping via negotiated access to an airplane?

In so many movies with bank robberies the villain tries to escape by negotiating for access to an airplane in exchange for freeing hostages. Where does this concept originate? Has it ever been done successfully in real life?

1 Answers 2019-10-06

Was WW2 the main factor that ended the Great Depression?

1 Answers 2019-10-06

When can a secondary source become a primary source?

I'm doing a paper on the Japanese Communist Party and I'm finding lots of secondary but very few primary so I got to wondering if a secondary could be used as primary. My topic is analyzing the relevance of the JCP in a number of ways. Could a book on the party written 50 years ago be used as Primary or is my best luck finding old newspaper articles and government documents?

1 Answers 2019-10-06

Did the political parties in the United States switch sides, or did the demographics and values of the geographical areas they used to dominate in change?

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2 Answers 2019-10-06

Female combatants and technology levels of war

There's historical sources of female warriors, from argued viking shieldmaidens to onna-bugeisha, from a thousand years ago, and there's obviously female soldiers in the 21st century, but there's that thousand-year span in between.

Why were female soldiers/warriors/combatants a concept before weaponising gunpowder, and after the invention of modern firearms, but largely unheard of in the middle there?

I feel like there's some key element that I've overlooked here, and I want to figure out what it is.

1 Answers 2019-10-06

Often it is said that the gun replaces the bow due to simplicity in training. Questions about that.

Wouldn’t the training required to load the gun take a long time too and also be complex?

Considering one has to know the proper amounts of gunpowder to put in as well as all the steps required to be done in short amount of time as possible seem like it would put serious strain on gunners.

Was there any other reason guns really phases out the bow? Isn’t the idea of the longbow outranging early firearms also a myth?

4 Answers 2019-10-06

Why did we forget about America as a continent?

Speculated is, that the first point of entry for humans into America was the Bering land bridge, connecting what is nowadays Russia and Alaska thanks to the low sea level back then (between 40000 and 17000 years ago). After the sea level rose, its not like we couldn't find a way in anymore, right? Were there just not enough trade routes / too little people to keep the contact between Asia and America going and after some time we just forgot? Did Chinese/Japanese know America existed?

1 Answers 2019-10-06

What was Sweyn Forkbeard's claim on England's crown, and was it at all legitimate by the standards of the day, or was it something of a simple overthrowing takeover?

1 Answers 2019-10-06

What did Hitler think of Mao? Did he know that Mao existed?

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1 Answers 2019-10-06

Is there a connection between Halloween and Gothic Fiction?

As far as I know Halloween and Gothic Friction have different origins. However, it seems that Halloween and Gothic fiction have many similarities. Is there a point in history where perhaps Halloween was influenced by Gothic Fiction (or vice versa). Or perhaps they both share similar origins?

1 Answers 2019-10-06

What kind of thins have dictated the presence of female combatants in warfare across different eras?

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1 Answers 2019-10-06

When did bolt action rifles become common for military and or civilian use?

1 Answers 2019-10-06

⯇ 1728 / 7255 ⯈

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