Who were the men fighting British during American revolution? Were they really farmers with pitchforks and muskets?

Or did the army included people from British side who fought for them like George Washington?

Did they hire mercenaries to fill the gap?

1 Answers 2019-07-22

Why does the Boy Scouts of America have so much Native American lore/practices in it’s history?

As a Boy Scout, I see counselors dressed as natives at almost every camp I go to, I know the BSA is rich with Native American history but I’ve never known why or how this came to be considering the BSA was founded in 1910 and came from the UK.

1 Answers 2019-07-22

What kind of wine and bread were historically used for Catholic Communion?

Also, how were they procured? Did the church just buy it, or did they make it all themselves?

1 Answers 2019-07-22

I'm a Russian peasant whose principality has just been conquered by the Mongols, however my village has been left unharmed. Will this change anything in my day to day life?

1 Answers 2019-07-22

The role of a "citadel" in a medieval castle

I realized that I didn't actually know that much about the different parts of a castle, despite playing D&D for forever and seeing them everywhere. I jumped on the internet and began absorbing as much as I could.

I think I have a good understanding of the components and terminology of a castle now, but I have one nagging question. In the wikipedia.org article on Citadel, there is this line at the bottom of the second paragraph: " A citadel is also a term of the third part of a medieval castle, with higher walls than the rest. It was to be the last line of defense before the keep."

What the heck does this mean? I have looked for pictures illustrating this sort of castle that contains both a citadel and keep, and have found nothing. I have also tried googling various combinations of "citadel", "keep", "great hall", "great tower", "donjon", "castle", etc. and have also come up empty handed. I also tried to find some sort of standardized list of compnonents of castles where "citadel" is the third component. Nothing.

Can anybody shed some light on this for me please? I am very confused.

1 Answers 2019-07-22

In US President Dwight Eisenhower's farewell address, he refers to the 4 major wars that had taken place in the 20th century as "holocausts" in the plural. Was this a common form and if when did holocaust come to only refer to Hitler's genocide?

and if so*

As an Israeli Jew I do not like the word holocaust very much, but it is here to stay in English. I am reading a book about the Cold War and in it the speech is transcribed, and this usage got my attention.

1 Answers 2019-07-22

What were presidential debates like before TV and radio?

Did the Candidates debate in each state? Each county? I saw quotes from a Lincoln debate on another thread today and it made me wonder how someone from Virginia could get info from a debate in new York.

1 Answers 2019-07-22

In World War II a third of Native American men aged 18-35 served, with some tribes seeing 70% of that population go join the armed forces. How did this compare to Native Americans serving during World War I, the Spanish-American War or any of America's expeditions after the end of the "Indian Wars"

1 Answers 2019-07-21

How complicated was the syntax of Ancient languages? Was it as verbose and refined as it seems? Or is due to the people who translated the inscriptions? (Scope of question: mostly Bronze Age Near-East, and 1st Century BCE Latin)

So a bit of context and elaboration on my question: I often see extremely complicated syntax in old texts, in other words, they say a whole lot of nothing, or they sound sophisticated.

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Consider this text for example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarna_letter_EA_9. It reserves a good paragraph (if they had those back then) specifically to greetings. (There was another correspondence between a Hittite? vassal-king and a Pharaoh that better conveyed my point. The King discussed giving one of his daughters to the Pharaoh)

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This webpage is equally interesting: http://www.pompeiana.org/Resources/Ancient/Graffiti%20from%20Pompeii.htm. Everybody sounds very decent and sophisticated, for being sexually voracious and vulgar peasants.

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Was it the people who found and translated these texts that made everyone speak in a verbose and sophisticated (high-class) way? Or did people really communicate in this way, and communication has declined to a much more simplified form over 1000s of years?

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I hope this isn't too big of a question! Thanks for reading.

3 Answers 2019-07-21

Did Dwight D. Eisenhower and General Zhukov ever meet? If so, what was their relationship like/ what did they think of each other?

As title says. The thought popped into my mind as a “what if two of the most important generals on both fronts met?”, but I also want to find out more details about their relationship, if there was one.

1 Answers 2019-07-21

Why the Americans didn’t attack Japanese before Pearl Harbor occurred?

[deleted]

1 Answers 2019-07-21

During the American civil war, why did the south hate the Declaration of Independence?

My guess would be the line “all men are created equal”.

2 Answers 2019-07-21

Did Native Americans have diseases that could wipe out European colonies?

We know that much of the Native population was wiped out due to European diseases, but were there any diseases deadly to Europeans passed on by Native Americans? Or, in other words, why weren’t European colonies wiped out by disease like Native Americans were wiped out by European disease? This is my first post, so sorry if the wording of my question is confusing or insensitive.

1 Answers 2019-07-21

Were solid round shots ever skipped across the surface of the sea during naval warfare?

I've heard rumors of Admiral Nelson using this strategy, but that's apparently been debunked. He certainly speculated that idea, despite it having been discovered before his time, and that eventually led to inspire the bouncing bombs of World War II. But it's been said that he never utilized that strategy, mostly due to ship height versus the low angle that the cannons would have to be fired at. But are there any historical accounts of this ever happening during naval warfare, despite all evidence saying it's impractical?

Mostly asking because I can only find articles about it on clickbait-y news websites that probably did no research whatsoever.

2 Answers 2019-07-21

Is there any truth to "Mad Jack" Churchills claim that without the atomic bombing the pacific war would have lasted well into the fifties?

Hi all

So im not asking abouth wether or not churchill said this or not (its almost certainly true) but wether his assessment had any merit i have always assumed that japan would have done what Germany did in WW1 and surrenderd after loosing all the ground they gained but im a archvist not a military historian so i could use a hand !

1 Answers 2019-07-21

Where can I find early examples of sarcasm?

I was reading on Wiki about the interaction between Aztec leader Moctezuma and Cortez upon thier first meeting in the 1500’s. Wiki insinuates Moctezuma was satirically overly polite stating "You have come to sit on your seat of authority, which I have kept for a while for you, where I have been in charge for you, for your agents the rulers..." according to wiki this was common in Nahua language (I think mostly for higher ups but not sure) to be be overly polite while meaning the opposite of what was said. (E.g. wiki ) “However, these words might be a polite expression that was meant to convey the opposite meaning, which was common in Nahua culture. “ Around the same time Shakespeare started writing satirical plays. And then in 1600’s Don Quixote was written. I find it fascinating that the Nahua people used over politeness to convey and opposite meaning. Are there earlier examples in history of sarcasm?

TLDR: casually read Wiki about Aztecs using sarcasm ; wondering about other early evidence of sarcasm.[the wiki article ; see Contact with the Spanish, 4th paragraph

1 Answers 2019-07-21

The English Longbow has an almost mythical reputation of stopping armored knights in their tracks. In reality, how effective was the longbow at killing or disabling French knights?

1 Answers 2019-07-21

Do we have the original Plutarch manuscripts?

Has anyone every located the original Plutarch writings, or do we simply have very old copies? I know that it was used for education in the middle ages, so it would make sense that we would have plenty of copies to cross reference in order, but have we ever found the originals?

Thanks!

1 Answers 2019-07-21

Why was Alexander the Great's horse named "Bucephalus" after its brand, if that brand was so common?

On a lark and because I am a giant dork, I was looking at the Wikipedia page for Bucephalus, Alexander the Great's horse. I learned that the horse was named for the brand on its haunch, depicting an ox head.

But the ["Bucephalus" horse brand](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucephalus_(brand)) was one of the three most commonly applied to horses, along with Ϻ (San) and Ϙ (Koppa). In light of this, it would seem to mark a horse as fungible and unimportant to literally name it "Bucephalus."

It's confusing to me that anyone would actually name a horse after a common brand, but doubly so for the favored steed of a warrior-king who loved it enough to literally name a city after it when it died.

What did these three brands signify, exactly? And why would anybody use one as the name for an individual horse? Is there some cultural or historical context that I'm missing?

1 Answers 2019-07-21

Why didn't antebellum South agree to a Constitutional amendment that would enshrine slavery in places where it already existed?

Recently, I've started reading about the US Civil war and the events that led up to it. The primary issue was slavery in newly admitted states. The South didn't want more free states joining the Union because they were afraid of losing their superiority (or, atleast, balance) in the Senate. This, they were afraid, would lead to federal laws banning slavery in existing states too.

From what I've read, to forestall this concern, and to prevent possible secession, a lot of northern leaders (including Lincoln) proposed a constitutional amendment immunising slavery in existing states from being banned, but the South didn't accept.

Why was this? Were they afraid that if they let free states join the Union en masse, it would lead to more than 3/4th of the Union being comprised of such states, thereby rendering any constitutional amendment easily repealable? Or were there other reasons?

2 Answers 2019-07-21

Any recommendation for a good book about the Nurmeberg Trials?

Prefer not to have a personal experience type one, but a more general overview. The 1st type seems more common

1 Answers 2019-07-21

Did people use drugs in the USSR? How was it similar or different to drug use in the USA?

1 Answers 2019-07-21

I am recreating a WWI battlefield but cant decide which one. What are the major battlefeild features of the major battlefields of WWI?

2 Answers 2019-07-21

'Answered' Flairs.

Can mods tag posts that have "acceptable answers".

I'm sick of clicking through to find 50 comments all deleted.

So do 99% of lurkers a favour and moderate this sub correctly. If a post is not flaired with 'answered' I'll ignore it until you allow an answer through.

3 Answers 2019-07-21

I'm a commoner from the middle ages who doesn't live in a major city. Do I know what my king looks like?

So the commoner can be from anywhere in the world, so long as he/she doesn't live in a major city. At what point in history would a farmer recognize his ruler's face?

1 Answers 2019-07-21

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