Hannah Arendt often starts from historical events or societies (like the French Revolution or the Ancient Greeks) to elaborate her Philosophy... How respected is she among historians? Is she even read or debated among historians?

Are there some things that she saw more clearly than other people of her time? Or any views that she held which where really outdated?

Thanks ahead.

And how did writers make a living?

I wish to get a grasp of the regions of the Balkans, Russia, and East Asia (particularly from the period of the 1850s to the 1970s) and I can't seem to find a starting point. What would be the most effective and efficient way to broaden my knowledge of these regions historically; Reading books, watching documentaries, wiki articles etc. I want to be able to know what medium would be the best choice in terms of time, whilst still providing detail, and figure out what events to read about. Any strategies armchair historians take to be able to do as such?

Thinking of the French and American revolutions which I think primarily drew upon Roman Republican forms and precedents, and the UK Parliament which evolved over a long period and where extension of the franchise seems to have been a response to economic realities and fears of a French-style revolution with very little high principle and historical precedent that I'm aware of.

I heard of this rumor in the comments of a YouTube video, but searching for it brings me only to a tumblr post and some meme pages. But I do want it to be true. Especially since it reminds me that no matter how far ago people lived, they were still people. And it made me think; while I have heard about crass Roman graffiti, was this a common thing for Vikings too?

A bit of an over simplification in the title, but how were universities perceived in the Middle Ages? Bologna, Oxford, Cambridge etc all trace their origins to the 11-13th centuries where the majority of people were uneducated peasants. Did these peasant folk see the teachers and students there as practising mystical arts? Or did they know roughly what they were doing?

like mounted guns aimed at the ground on zeppelins, etc (not for anti air purposes)

I never understood this. I can understand things like gas and copper and precious metals and whatever- but I would imagine food production would stay close to wear it was stateside.

I understand many lords may not have had the money to equip their soldiers with armor, but why was there no standardized set like the Romans used? We’re there better tactics during the medieval period?

Until 1949 membership of the Commonwealth required the monarch to be head of state. However at the 1949 Prime Ministers' meeting in London they decided to amend that in order to let India stay. From my quick reading it sounds like India just liked being in it, but as the Commonwealth doesn't really do anything aside from host sporting events, I'm curious why this all happened.

In several books about the time period I see references to the plaques of locusts, both fiction and historical. Then after a certain point in time they are never mentioned again. Was there a biological cause or some form of tragedy that happened to the population?

I know there have been minor evolutions in style over the past few decades, but men's suits and ties have generally remained the basis of formal menswear for numerous decades, if not longer. How did this come to be? Is there a possibility this style will be replaced, if history could indicate?

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The lands of the Western Roman Empire were filled with people, mostly romanized populations. When the germanic tribes took control of these large swathes of land, how did they manage to control the local population? Was there a sufficient number of germans migrating in to form a base of power? Why wouldn't the locals rise up after a while against who I presume they considered outsiders?

Watching the recent mini-series Chernobyl I noticed that the soldiers in episode 4 were drinking lots of vodka. Of course I assume this was issued by the military. With my limited understanding of the Soviet economy, wasn't a majority of resources allocated based off of needs and not commercial enterprise? If so, how do you allocate the need for intoxicants, how much gets made, and who gets it?

To frame it in a easier to digest question, how would an average Russian (especially not connected to the state) receive vodka, how much could they get a hold of, and what would make them eligible?

Did medieval China (thinking Tang and Song dynasties, but answer for any dynasty is fine) use professional armies akin to the roman Legion? Or did they have something like the European levy system? Or something inbetween the two?

I've heard that cracking the Enigma Code shortened the war by 2 years and saved 14 million lives, how is such an estimate made? And, what else did he do apart from cracking the Enigma Code?

In South Asian culture, an unspoken norm is that you commonly refer to respected elders as "uncle" and "auntie" (in English). My understanding is that this manner of addressing elders is also present in other countries, like China and Korea.

How and when did this norm start and spread?

I read that the Tangs can trace their patrilineal ancestry to a certain Li Guang, a general during the Han dynasty, but I haven't been able to find ancestors of the Tang during the turbulent TK (Three Kingdoms) period. Does anyone know who they were?