Over the past year or so I've taken an interest in Chinese history, particularly the ancient and classical eras where some of the most famous events took place, like in the Three Kingdoms era. However one thing that has always struck me is that historians' understanding of these eras seems to have traditionally relied on only a few secondary sources, namely the histories of these periods written after the fact, along with any surviving annotations or commentaries on those works.

How has our understanding of these times evolved in recent times? Have historians been able to cast a more critical eye at these traditional sources, or have other forms of evidence come available which have shaped the way we view these periods? Have there been any studies which look at areas often overlooked in traditional histories, like the lives of the lower classes or women in these societies?

Modern literature often has allegory, symbolism, and metaphor that can be discussed for decades or longer. Did the ancient romans see their literature in this way, or ever write this way? Do we have any ancient Roman literary critiques, about the deeper meaning of a play or story?

It seems most of the world subscribes to abrahamic faiths like Christianity and Islam.

But in Asia many places are either based on Hindu faiths like Hinduism or Buddhism, or they are organic religions from the region.

Western powers conquered Latin America and converted the continent to abrahamic faiths. But they also conquered places like India.

So why did abrahamic faiths never catch on in Asia while places like Africa and Latin America were converted?

I know a few Asian nations are abrahamic. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, etc. But mostly they are Buddhist or follow traditional religions.

In America The First Amendment of the constitution Says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise there for of”

; But various indigenous Practices where banned

How did that happen and How did they Rationalize it?

I've often seen people say that the idea of dragons came from knights and sometimes peasants discovering dinosaur fossils. Is there any historical evidence of that happening?

The US civil war involved very large numbers of men on both sides and had many huge battles with very large amounts of casualties, why does it seem that success on the battlefield had less of a strategic result than those of other contemporary wars? Perhaps it could be as a result of the general American inexperience in large land wars at the time or perhaps the large distances involved in the US theatre compared to European wars?

When taking a world history course, I was surprised to find that there has barely ever been a benevolent leader in the history of Russia. The citizens have been constantly taken advantage of or just ignored by those who are supposed to have responsibility for them. Even going as far back as the monarchy they were treated poorly. Why is this?

(If my assumption or information is wrong, please correct me. I'm here to learn.)

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Were there prayers, herbs, rituals, etc. that I would be expected to use? What kind of superstitions might I have? Am I looking forward to the baby, or understandably nervous about the possibility of death? And am I preparing myself for that possibility spiritually as well?

I'm assuming that most European experiences would be Christian, but I'd love to hear a Jewish or other experience as well. Most interested in high middle ages, but again, not necessarily picky if you've got something interesting to share!

Something like a bovine "cavalry"

I know many women in medieval Europe had fewer opportunities to learn to read and write in any language, but for those women who did learn, was writing and "publishing" a book much the same process as for male writers, or did they face opposition from political and religious authorities solely because of their gender?

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Recently i watched a video of german soldiers caught on both the eastern and western fromts being shown pictures and videos of the holocaust and going into tears and crying. Is it possible only the highest of command knew about the holocaust and of course the SS?

I'm not sure if this belongs here and please feel free to let me know if it doesn't!

I'm a current nursing student and want to be a historian and make a career change. I wanted to ask you guys, what jobs can you get. The history studies I'm interested is mainly royal history; particularly Russian royal history.

The "Wild Hunt" seems to be a recurring theme in west-European folklore, and maybe elsewhere that I don't know about yet. Damned spirits riding forever through woods and fields, on horseback and with hounds, hunting forever, protecting the realms of magic and faerie, and a source of terror for any mortal who might cross their path.

I read about them as the Jagd (hunt) in Holdstock's Mythago Wood (which is def. not a work of History, it's 100% fiction, but it takes from traditional mythology). You have whole wiki articles on them but I don't know how reliable they are. In France, where I come from, you have the equivalent maisnie hellequin which brings me to the whole Hellequin/Hell-king/Höllenköning/Arlequin/Erlenköning (Alder king) thing which I also don't understand, but seems linked in a way to that wild hunt myth. Even a modern pop character like "Harley Quinn" seems to draw inspiration from these words.

I can (and will) read the folklore tales with pleasure but, from a Historian's point of view, what is the meaning of these stories? Where do they come from? Do we have contemporary commentary on their meaning? What did people think of them through the ages?

I realize it is a far fetched question but I know there are some folklore specialists in here, so just in case, here goes. Thanks!

TGLAF

How come no one talks about the generals of WW1? The generals of each major (and minor) countries of WW2 are well known and heavily discussed, but I rarely hear about any important WW1 generals. The only one that comes to mind would be Hindenburg for his stunning victory at Tannenberg but apart from him, my mind draws a blank. Why?

Pretty much the question above. Today I visited Thomas Stone’s house, a signer of the Declaration and wondered just how secret these deliberations on Independence really were.

Maybe I’ve got my timeline a little off, but after the Declaration they then decided they needed to raise an Army. Seems backwards to me. Wouldn’t you want to get your Army ready first and then declare independence? I mean, you’re essentially asking for a fight with the most lethal Army in the world and you don’t even have an Army?

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Hi everyone,

I haven't found a reddit thread for this question yet so I thought I'd create it. Does anyone have any recommendations for books detailing the genocide of Native Americans in the U.S. (or Canada, or Latin America. I'm really just open to suggestions for books about the genocide of indigenous people in the Americas in general.) The first three suggestions from Google are An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-183 by Benjamin Madley, American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World by David Stannard, and Native America and the Question of Genocidecby Alex Alvarez. I'm thinking about adding these three to my "to-read" list.

Thank you in advance for the suggestion!