I was watching Mel Gibson's Apocolypto last night and was wondering how accurate or inaccurate it is. Granted it is supposed to depict the end of the Mayan civilization and at the end of the movie the Spanish show up, so in that regards its 100% wrong. But I was thinking about how they portrayed the Mayans and the other tribal groups with regards to lifestyle, dress, and religion.

Hi fellow history heads. Long time lurker here. (M 28)

I don't know why, but I've been fascinated by the Assassin's since I was a little boy. Would love to get your insight into who were they in reality, and how important were they in that time period?

The period I'm talking about is from the end of Reconstruction up until WW1, and seems to have been a complete process. A system of racial classification similar to what exists in Latin America was replaced with the black/white binary. America's former biracial and triracial communities were destroyed by this process, often at a great cost to their social mobility and local power. The Louisiana Creoles, once an enormous part of the culture and society of that state, are now basically invisible.

So how and why did this change happen? Why did white lawmakers and property-holders decide after Reconstruction that grouping together all persons of any African ancestry was the most useful strategy? And what did the groups caught in the middle do to resist this sudden change to their racial, and thus socioeconomic status?

It seems like they had all the advantages.

I was looking at drawings of oar driven ships of the ancient times and sail driven war ships of the 16th century, and realized how much engineering went into them. How were they designed and who designed them? How would the engineers draw their designs and then get the components made? Who built them and how did the engineers show them how it was to be put together?

Were they effectively one people? Were they two closely related peoples that had a sense of kinship? Were they completely separate?

Either during the anti-Catholic scare of the turn of the century, or black denominations of baptism in the South.

I know Europe had its folk-magic traditions, which were imported into the Americas, and I know that African-Americans had their indigenious religious beliefs and traditions which became syncretized in systems like hoodoo and voodoo, but were slaves ever subject to charges of practicing witchcraft?

How was handled nazism, not just high-ranking or in charge in Nazi Germany, but as well rank-and-file members of NSDAP or its mass organisations, people that without being hardline nazis (or even not nazis themselves) gave their support and hopes into this ideology, after 1945?

Basically, what happened to nazis and nazism politically and ideologically in post-war Germany?

I'm interested in knowing how the Mongols managed to do the seemingly impossible once again, and I'm also interested in knowing why China didn't expand more if they were so powerful. I get there's been a lot of infighting/civil wars during Chinese history but there's also been times of incredible stability where they could have moved into India or the Russian steppes.

Orgetorix was an helvetian aristocrat that attempted to migrate his people from Helvetian territory to south-western Gaul, right before Jules Caesar gaul campaings.

He was also party to a clandestine arrangement with Dumnorix of the Aedui and Casticus of the Sequani to seize control of their respective tribes by arms and between them rule most of Gaul. The conspiracy was denounced, Orgetorix was called to a hearing in chains before the government of the Helvetii, he arrived with a small army, and was released, but died mysteriously, a rumored suicide.

What really happened? And what are the historical sources confirming his death by suicide?

If not, how are we sure if he existed?

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I apologize in advance for asking a question that does not concern a historical topic, but I believe this subreddit is the right audience to ask. (Moderator please take down if inappropriate)

As a history major, I have always loved this field of study. I am your stereotypical history nerd/junkie. I love memes, books, the whole nine yards. This semester I’m taking a WWII ideology course, and it has taken a rather unexpected turn. Learning about eugenics, the Final Solution, concentration camps, race superiority, etc, on a significantly more advanced level than ever before has me a bit “messed up” mentally and emotionally. Of course none of this has been new news to me, but all of it is getting under my skin just fathoming what victims of that era experienced and the pure evil behind these atrocities. I just don’t get it as a human being... and I’m questioning what’s the point in studying all this if I’m not even able to save any of the millions of innocent lives that were lost. And what do you do if evil is too big to fight? Does even a small action matter? Is it just to be able to say later “oh, well at least I did something”? And what’s my significance now? (Especially in today’s messy world) I’m just one person.

I’m typically an unemotional individual that naturally gravitates towards a more objective viewpoint on issues and has a “go for it” spirit (e.g. Go get justice! Fight for your rights!), so my current state has me both surprised and scared. I’m worried about talking with someone, because most people will probably think I’m just getting too much into the subject. But, as a human being, how can you not be affected learning about all this?! So, can any related to what I’m experiencing, and how did you come out the other side?

TL; DR WWII ideology class has me asking some existential-level and questions and not sure how to process this

Thank you

In the process of moving, my parents found this pin that belonged to my grandpa. They gave it to me. I want to know what it means before I do anything with it. I think he was an engineer in the US army but the details of his career have seemed hazy to me. It’s a hexagon shape (a bit bigger than a quarter) with maroon in the background, outlined in white. There’s a gold torch down the middle with two dark blue rectangles coming out of it kind of at the angle of a peace sign. Engraved along the bottom on a ribbon design is VICTORIA / ES /SCIEN BA (the word furthest right is the most worn away, so I’m not totally sure what exactly the letters are.

Any input would be SO appreciated!

i keep reading/hearing accounts of Europeans spreading smallpox as they explore the new world. from what i remember when i got my sp vaccine its only contractible if you touch the excretion of a pox. so by this logic the only way that smallpox could be spread was if people used to just walk around with smallpox infections... is that how it was?