Back in time Europe was hugely religious between the inquisition, holy wars, kings and queens and this whole society based on religion... So why did Europe (especially Western) became so not religious nowadays compared to USA? Why did USA took the other path with time?

I'd like to know the circumstances & inspiration that led to its creation, and the context it was created in.

Is this something uniquely, distinctly Christian? Is it characteristic of the time and place Christianity emerged?

I'm assuming that guards worked in shift rotations and if you had enough men to double the guards then you would be waking men up who are supposed to work the next shift but I don't know.

If there was did it change with the rise and fall of each dynasty?

Did the Chinese see themselves as one great nation before modern times or was their identity more based on the region and the people they shared the most cultural aspects with?

I have trouble understanding figures like Mao and Chiang Kai Shek and they lived so close to modern times isn't a prevailing common language key to form a nation with a strong national identity like China? Even to this day there are so many incongruities between the north and south. With modern day Mandarin and Cantonese from what I can understand having more disparity than Portuguese and Spanish.

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How did people from different regions communicate? Was a peasant traveling from one region to another common? How did the government even function? Was there a standard court language? There are so many dialects that are literally like another language Its impossible to have a translator for every occasion and there are so many provinces its crazy.

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It's not like the emperors were unable to centralize their power they weren't acting as the figurehead of a loose federation but a highly centralized and powerful empire. If I’m understanding this correctly some emperors were almost like a living god during these times and many had huge impacts on religion and culture.

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China is a large country even in dynastic times. It confuses me how they are able to even stay unified with so much diversity Why did warlords and uprisings all reform China in the end instead of becoming separate nations.

Why would the common man in China fight for the dream of a unified China in so many conflicts over and over again when they don’t even share a common language with their neighbors having long standing cultural differences to this day?

10 different warlords? 10 different dialects it just sounds like a nightmare from logistics to diplomacy.

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I guess all I'm really wondering is how is China able to unify over and over again with such a strong national identity despite having so many different dialects acting as a barrier.

Presidents not serving more than 2 terms was a convention first established by G.Washington, but as we know FDR broke the convention by being elected 4 times to serve as President. I wonder why would Americans seek to avoid that in the future when FDR is widely seen as one of the most loved and effective Presidents in the country's history.

I read that after the Arab conquest of Persia, Egypt, the Levant, and Central Asia, Islam spread first in the Cities and among urban professions like Artisans, metal workers, traders, merchants. Islam was adopted much later in the countryside and among rural peasants and pastoralists. The gap could be as much as 200 years, in the case of Iran and Egypt.

Any reason why this might be so ? Even in India, Islam seems to be disproportionately represented among Artisans such as Weavers, Tailors, Metal workers, blacksmiths etc. Any way that Islam was propagated that made it especially attractive to the artisanal professions ?

My mother and I have begun watching The Princess of Spain on Starz which is about Catherine of Aragon. In the show they referred to Europe similar to as in current time as a whole but retaining the differences of country. We started wondering where this habit of the term Europe began. Was it after the discovery of the New World as a way to differentiate themselves? Was it during the occurrence of the events of WWI? Simply and genuinely curious .

I’m planning on writing a fantasy novel series and one of the countries I’m creating is going to be composed of many kingdoms that are based off the lifestyles of Japanese dynasties and the height of the Roman Empire with a bit of England in during medieval times. What websites should I look at for accurate information to make it somewhat realistic?

I looked at muskets from other parts of the world and they look like they have no provisions for any type of bayonet at all unless they are meant to use plug bayonets but there is no evidence of plug bayonets being used in Africa or Asia.

For example is the Battle of the Bastards from game of thrones a good indication of how bloody the battles were.

What are the best reference books in studying medieval England? (In terms of trying to expand your vocabulary and understanding of this time period?)

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I was recently reading a book that made the claim that US gun culture was largely developed by Scots-Irish immigrants bringing over an already existing gun culture from Britain. While the relationship between the US and its guns was probably influenced by domestic factors, I’m wondering to what extent is this claim true.