So this is two part question I hope someone who was alive in that time could answer

1. Could west germans get a flight to west Berlin
2. Could anyone from around to world book a holiday to west Berlin like you can now a days or could you only see west Germany and if you could what parts of Germany could you see

For example: Early Panzer 4 vs Panzer 4 F2 and up, StuH vs StuG, field howitzers like the LeFH 18, etc... .

I saw an earlier post asking for historical proof of Jesus himself and can't help but wonder if other biblical figures, specifically those who knew Jesus as well as those who claimed to have witnessed the resurrection where mentioned in other historical text.

The Macedonian Sarissa is usually described as being up to 14 feet long. How did they make such a weapon?

Did they find 14 foot tall trees and file off pieces to make long poles, or were the Spears made of multiple pieces of wood glued together with animal products and bound with leather?

I would be hard pressed to make a long skinny pole like that, and have it support weight and force. I have power tools and modern materials.

Thanks! I'm hoping we have found archaeological examples and someone has already worked this out.

I’m genuinely interested in how such complex and elaborate stories were created and what usually were the motivations behind such creations. I understand there’s room for assumption, but: what is the general consensus or hypothesis for this?

Surely, some Germans could see through Hitler's evil plans...

It makes no sense to me. The Romans were their greatest threat and did not think highly of them. I recall a Brigantes Queen allying herself with Rome but of course, the Romans would see her and her people as inferior even if they spared them from death or slavery... The Gauls had a chance to stop Julius Caesar but they waited too long to unite. In one battle, the Gauls betrayed other Gauls after being bribed by Julius Caesar.

Hello redditors! I have a question that Im desperately hoping someone may have some knowledge on. I am doing a research project for school over the chinese Han Dynasty. For my project I need 2 primary (first hand account) sources and 2 secondary sources. I have found one that I think works as a Primary, called "The Classic of Filial Piety (Xiaojing)", but I need help finding more. I have scouted the internet searching and keep coming up dry. Thank you so much for any help you may have I greatly appreciate it!

There has been a lot of focus on how Danelaw was created, Aflred the Great, Guthrum etc. A separate area in England ruled and habited by Danes, instead of English.

But what happened to it? By the time William the Conqueror rolls in, there is barely any mentions of Danes in the Eastern England. Did it cease to exist? I am aware that Danes were partly assimilated to the English population, but wouldn't Danelaw still exist as a separate legal entitity?

Was Danelaw still a thing by the time Normans came? If not, was there any efforts to reconquer it?

The NFU policy (Non First Use) states that it will not use nuclear weapons first. Does this mean that, if the USA had declared war on China, that it won’t launch a nuclear strike until the US does or that it will launch a first strike because the US declared war? I know the chances are almost 0% chance of a war between nuclear powers but the thought just came into my head. Thanks!

I've been listening to Patrick Wyman's excellent podcast series, Tides of History, and recently heard the episodes about the Hundred Years War. I actually have a lot of questions about the war but the biggest one is, why is the Hundred Years War treated as one conflict but the World Wars aren't?

From what little I know about the Hundred Years War, it was 116 years of conflict broken up by periods of peace that sometimes lasted more than a decade. Not only that, the war "ended" in 1453, but the English invaded France again in 1475; however, this subsequent invasion is not considered part of the Hundred Years War. Also, during the 116-year time that the war raged on, several distinct political eras came and went in both England and France, which is not unlike what took place in the major powers that fought in the World Wars.

On the other hand, World War I and World War II are treated as two distinct conflicts by most historians (I'm aware that some historians look at the World Wars as a single conflict, but that view is far from mainstream). This is despite the fact that there are clear, obvious links between the World Wars, cause-and-effect relationships all over the place, and so on. Also, while the period of peace between the World Wars was longer than some of the periods of peace during the Hundred Years War, the long period of peace between 1389 and 1415 was a full five years longer than the peace between 1918 and 1939. I acknowledge that there was internal factional conflict going on in France during that time, but the same can be said about Germany during the peace between the World Wars.

The one glaring shortcoming in my argument that I'm able to identify right away is that Japan's role in World War II does not fit into the "World Wars as a single conflict" paradigm. However, some already consider the Pacific War as a distinct conflict, and I think that's reasonable: Japan was already at war for several years by the time Hitler invaded Poland, and while Germany and Japan did cooperate in some ways, they did not really support each other militarily in the way that the Allies supported each other.

I'm very curious to know what you all think about this. Thanks in advance for what will surely be a fascinating discussion!

What was day to day life like? What were important aspects we might take for granted? I just finished watching Chernobyl, and it almost seems too bleak and... well dystopian. Are these true representations?

Can anyone give me an account of a day or a week? This topic fascinates me, I am old enough and have friends actually born in Ukraine in mid to late 80s, but they were young children by the time it was over. As an American I feel our portrayal may be a little... overreaching. But I don't know, it is the same portrayal I've seen throughout my lifetime.

I have seen that many people claim that the existence of Jesus is almost universally agreed upon by scholars. However, skeptics say a few things:

1. The New Testament is an unreliable biased source.

2. Claims made by “bible schools” or theology schools lack credibility compared to traditional university or academic works.

3. Anything written by people like Josephus (which many biblical scholars reference)lack credibility and most likely forgery.

So what are other extra-biblical source to validate the existence of the historical Jesus that people claim are almost universally accepted by scholars?

Kobe Bryant, one of the best basketball players of all time, essentially ended his career when he blew out his Achilles’ tendon. Kevin Durant, one of the best players currently in the NBA, recently blew out his Achilles’ tendon and will be out for roughly a year.

I know the ancient story of the great warrior that was extremely strong and skilled, and his weak spot was his Achilles’ tendon. Is there purpose to this myth besides just being a good story? Was this story a warning to warriors and an early physiology lesson?

Everything I’ve found online to prevent such an injury boils down to, “be careful and don’t overexert yourself”

Just curious what people thoughts are on this strategically to me it seemed like a better idea to hold up in the north and see him out through winter.

Some background: I am a PhD student in economics; I have taken a lot of history and archaeology courses in college and read a lot as well. However, I wasn't very systematic; I constantly started new books and read half of each. Also, I used to skip most numbers (dates included) and never check maps. So, I always get confused about when a civilization existed, whether two of them coexisted or shared "border", etc. Now I have decided to fix this. My eventual goal is to teach myself about the histories of Europe and Near East from the prehistoric era to today. (I mean, eventually all around the world but I'm starting from where I am close to.) Based on the reading lists here and elsewhere, I have compiled the readings listed below for this purpose. However, I still have some missing pieces to fill and questions about the order of readings.

I thought I would start with the Near Eastern, Greek and Roman histories until the beginning of the medieval period. (I am planning to read about 40-50, (at most 60, if possible) books in next 3 years on this plan to give an idea about the "budget".) My focus is to learn about political, economic and social histories, with about equal importance. Of course, if a society has more influence on the other civilizations in a particular topic or something like that, I wouldn't mind increasing the weight of that topic for this society to dig a little deeper. (I am not particularly interested in art history right now.)

Obviously, I left out many regions and eras. I am looking for resources to fill the gaps. I don't have anything particular to read about Celts, Etruscans, Assyrians and German tribes so I want to add whatever you historians can suggest on these. (Books suggested on these topics before seem to be either too superficial or too specialized; I was looking for something in between.)

What other societies I should have included but haven't for a good enough picture of this era in these regions? Also, what can I read about the prehistory? I have read The Horse, the Wheel, and Language by David Anthony recently but it naturally has a limited scope. If there was one or two books that can give a good overview of prehistory of Europe, that would be really helpful. (I am kinda assuming prehistory of Anatolia and around would be covered in the books in about that region but if not, then I will need something for that area as well.)

I haven't included the primary sources or earlier historians works on this list but I will to read them as supplements after familiarizing myself with the contexts of the texts. I will basically put the reading lists of some Classics departments together and try to read them. (Also, I want to read at least Latin sources from the originals, so I have to brush up my Latin and hopefully learn some Greek later.) However, if there are some important primary sources that are less well-known or not commonly included in the schools' reading lists, I would be happy to add them on a parallel list.

Finally, there is the issue of where to start and how to continue: My plan initial plan was to read them in regional order; Near Eastern, Greek and Roman history. However, considering coexisting societies and their interactions, I am not sure if this is the right course. If someone can make any suggestion about the order in which I should go, that would be really helpful. For example, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Carthaginians and Egyptians all had some shared history with Greeks. What would be the correct order to read about them? If the influence of the interaction is mostly one-sided, then it would make sense to start with the 'influencer', then the influenced but I am sure the relations were more complicated than that; so I couldn't make up my mind here.

Near Eastern:

The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy by Mario Liverani

A History of the Ancient Near East, ca. 3000-323 BC by Marc Van De Mieroop

Sumer and the Sumerians by Harriet Crawford

The Kingdom of the Hittites by Trevor Bryce

Life and Society in the Hittite World by Trevor Bryce

The Phoenicians and the West: Politics, Colonies and Trade by Maria Eugenia Aubet

A History of Babylon, 2200 BC - AD 75 by Paul-Alain Beaulieu

Carthage: A History by Serge Lancel

Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It? by Lester L. Grabbe

Israel's History and the History of Israel by Mario Liverani

A History of Ancient Egypt by Marc Van De Mieroop

Egypt in the Age of Cleopatra: History and Society under the Ptolemies by Michel Chauveau, David Lorton

The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran (Oxford Handbooks) by D. T. Potts

Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam by Robert G. Hoyland

Greek:

Trojans and Their Neighbours: An Introduction by Trevor Bryce

Greece in the Bronze Age by Emily Vermeule

Greece in the Making, 1200-479 BC by Robin Osborne

The End of the Bronze Age by Robert Drews

A History of the Archaic Greek World, ca. 1200-479 BCE by Hall

The Greek World 479-323 BC by Simon Hornblower

Archaic Greece: The Age of Experiment by Anthony M. Snodgrass

A History of the Classical Greek World: 478 - 323 BC by P. J. Rhodes

Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age by Peter Green

The Greek World After Alexander 323-30 BC by Graham Shipley

The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece by Josiah Ober

Alexander the Great in His World by Carol G. Thomas

Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity by Sarah Pomeroy

(Probably later in life, when I am retired or something) History of Peloponnesian War series by Kagan

Roman:

The Roman Revolution by Ronald Syme

Mediterranean Anarchy, Interstate War, and the Rise of Rome by Arthur M. Eckstein

Ancient Rome: A Military and Political History by Christopher S. Mackay

The World of Late Antiquity: AD 150-750 by Peter Brown, Geoffrey Barraclough

The Fall of Rome: And the End of Civilization by Bryan Ward-Perkins

How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower by Adrian Goldsworthy

Troy between Greece and Rome: Local Tradition and Imperial Power by Andrew Erskine

Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town by Mary Beard

Emperor Worship and Roman Religion by Ittai Gradel

(For fun) Mommsen and Gibbon

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