I'm reading Bartolomé de las Casas chronicle on the conquest of the Nueva España and it makes me sick. I was especially impressed by his witnessing of a Spanish soldier who, not finding anything for his hound to eat, took a toddler away from his mother, cut his arms off and fed the dog with them.

I understand that atrocities happened in every war, but the Spanish conquest of Mexico seems especially brutal to me. Also, I found that the Spaniards were not like that when they conquered the Kingdom of Granada, for example, nor during the Reconquista. I read about that a lot and, although horrors and death happened, I haven't found anything like feeding hounds with living children. I don't understand the reasons behind this different treatment of fallen enemies.

Have historians wondered about and studied the possible causes of this brutality? Were they influenced by the food? Was it the weather, illnesses? Weren't they on their minds? Were they extremely scared? What drove this inhuman behavior?

Hello everybody, I am just reading about Japan during the Meiji time. For some reason the Japanese have been able to catch up pretty quickly to the West. Something similar had happened earlier when Western flintlock weapons were copied and improved on during the Warring states period.

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If I am not mistaken the main technological advantage of the West during the time of Columbus and the East Indian companies as compared to India, the Arabs, China, Japan, and other mighty civilizations in Africa or Asia was navigation and ship design. Because in all other matters non-European nations were a good match as well. Just thinking about the Turks sieging Vienna.

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So I am just wondering. Why was there no foreign nation trying and succeeding to kidnap Western navigators and shipbuilders to challenge Western fleets? Or go to Europe to trade goods themselves?

So why was that never tried?

For instance, when the Spanish first sailed to the new world, how did they make deals with the natives? Or when the Portuguese landed in India, how did they communicate with the locals?

Inter-war airliners, particular in the earlier years, have always been interesting to me, and I've come to wonder just how an average person would go about flying on one. How would they feel about flying high (to them) in the sky? What was it like? Were the pilots well trained?

Thank you for your time and attention.

I have a hard time understanding how relevant was the theory of Intermarium in Pilsudski's rhetoric: is it just that, a rhetoric device to spread nationalism or does it have an actual ethnographical and political basis? Furthermore, has it been relevant since the fall of the USSR?

(first time poster here, I read the rules and hope I didn't break any)

There are many cases of PTSD from people in many different situations in modern day, most times from military veterans. I assume combat with spears and swords is pretty scarring, maybe even more so than modern combat. Is there any evidence of Roman soldiers or other soldiers from ancient history suffering PTSD?

Apologies but this happens every time I see one.

I guess I specifically meant Jim Morrison. Of course the Doors met each other, but what about the other possibilities contained therein?

I was told that ancient Egyptian scribes were one of the few professions that offered upward mobility in ancient Egypt. Is this true? Are there any examples of these people climbing to any high ranking positions?

So I read recently about how when the Mongols invaded what is now Europe, Subutai was able to coordinate army groups 100s of kilometres apart. How was this accomplished? I have a mental picture of the Mongols as very primitive - is this incorrect? Is there a certain amount of exaggeration to the Mongol capabilities or were they as fearsome as they sound?

Hello All

I am interested in the fall of the USSR. Do you guys have any good Book recommendations. I know there is a lot of political motivated people who want to talk about the fall of the USSR from a free market and pro capitalism slant. Is there a good book that gives a fair and accurate analysis especially with regard to late soviet economics.

Thanks

I mean they have lots of ideals in common with christianity: equality, helping the poorest people and work (the first things that came to my mind but i guess there are more)

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Are the results of their study published or circulated amongst their community? It seem that out of all Abrahamic religions, this particular subset of Judaism seems the most scholarly inclined as a group by themselves. Compare this to Islamic scholars and Bible study done by young priests as a part of theology studies.

is there any way to help historians in their work without being one of them?

Similarly, was his run for the Presidency in 1960 seen as unprecedented?

It seems like these days the most sought after jobs are reserved for graduates of elite educational programs and/or well connected people. However in many depictions historical depictions such (eg Mad Men, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), people are able to work their way up the food chain at large companies through grit, talent and determination. While I know this still happens occasionally at companies with cultures that encourage this (eg UPS), it is rare. Was this kind of thing actually more common in the past, or is this just fictional myth?

In the recent discussions about the role of race in the country music industry, I see many comments claiming black people invented music. I see the connection between black traditional music and all other popular music genres, but this one seems less clear.

Also, if country music has significant black roots, why do black people appear basically absent from the genre? Not just with artists but in roles like producing, songwriting, legacy/honors, etc.

EDIT: In contrast, Rock music is a genre that originated from black music. Although it is currently a predominately white genre , I still see the black influences since many rock musicians often pay tribute to the black pioneers. There aren’t really acknowledgements like that in country music. How did it get to this point?

Well, some statues are skinny, some are fat, what is the most realistic representation of Buddha? Buddist monks are skinny (most of the time)..