In 1970 the USSR ranked 2nd in global GDP. Russia now ranks 12th. I know the USSR encompassed more territory than the Russia, but does that really count for 10 GDP spots? Why was the USSR so much more competitive on the world stage economically than Russia?

In my USII Class today we discussed the battle of Dunkirk and how it went, and I asked the question above, my teacher replied with "I don't actually know the specific answer to your question, feel free to do independent research and get back to me with an answer."

There are a lot of occupational illnesses associated with medieval trades - mad hatter disease, shoemaker's femur, etc. - but women were largely barred from many trades. Were there trades and occupational illnesses particularly associated with women in medieval Europe?

Hello all. I was curious as to how specific national sentiments in what were single portions of the Spanish Empire in South America had risen in what I assumed to be a quite hegeminic Spanish/creol populace.

Was a Venezuelan at that time so much different from a Colombian so that he could feel like belonging to a different nationality, much like a Lumbard or a Serbian might have wished not to be a subject of the Austrian Empire? Where has South American nationalism stemmed from?

There's movies like Hellboy and Indiana Jones where the Nazis are involved in trying to summon the occult or use supernatural weapons. Is there any real evidence of this happening or is it just Hollywood needing a bad guy.

Hi AskHistorians,

My French-Mauritian grandfather never spoke much about his time fighting in WWII. He mentioned the trauma of it and that he did not want to speak of it. Much of his life is a mystery, but the war is a mystery in particular.

With the help of his children, he made some cassette-tape recordings in his old age to record some family history and talk about his life, and he does briefly mention the war. They are a treasure for me to have.

He was 18 in 1939 when he enlisted (but with what forces, I have no idea, despite looking). On D-day in 1945, he worked in the office of the British Ministry of War Transport in Diego Suarez, but was so shaken and traumatised that he said he was "incompetent". The time in between is largely a mystery.

He does tell one story of during the war, of 'hell ships', but this story only adds to my questions. Here is the transcript:

"One of the thing that I saw during the war, that for some reason still sat in my mind, was a 'hell ship'. The Germans used to get old ships, fill them up with Jews from all over the place, go out to sea, open up what they call the 'sea cork', and just let the whole blooming thing, ship and passengers, go down with her. We intercepted one of those things in the middle of the ocean just before they started opening of the sea corks. It makes you wonder how people can do things like this."

He did love to tell stories, but there is a sincerity to this one, I think. I wonder if perhaps he didn't literally see this first-hand: when he said 'I saw', he might have really meant 'I came across', and by 'we' he might have meant the Allied Forces. I have read about the Japanese 'hell ships' online, many of which were sunk, but by the Allied Forces, as I understand, who refused to let the Japanese use POWs as shields. Is my grand-père's story just a half-true story, muddled and mixed up after being passed around the barracks in the evening? Or is there possibly more to it? Are there documented cases of the Allied Forces stopping the intentional scuttling of old boats to drown POWs or Jewish prisoners?

I am very interested in what some more knowledgeable people might have to say. It's a subject that I know very little about. Thank you all kindly.

[Edited for clarity and readability]

This is referring the WWI battle GALLIPOLI if that wasn't clear.

Watching the movie Darkest Hour, and Winston Churchill is blamed for the Gallipoli disaster, to which he responds "Our troops were chewing barb wire in Flanders and I saw it. Opening a seperate front, outflanking the Turks was a serious military idea that could have damn well worked if the Admirals of the First Sea Lord didn't dither away our element of surprise!" Is that an accurate assessment? Debatable?

Also if someone could clarify Churchill involvement and culpability in Gallipoli because he mentions that no one trusts him since that campaign. Has he been redeemed at all while looking at it from what we know today?

My grandfather was a bomber pilot in the Korean War in the Black Sheep. On his last day alive, he told me a story that had bothered him since the war. He had been flying in formation with a few other bombers, regular run heading north. It was overcast, and out of nowhere one of the US bombers banked West and dived below the clouds. They lost track of the plane. Highly unusual, no radio reply. Upon return landing they were briefed to forget about the encounter, tell no one about the plane that disappeared. Is there any way to verify this story? Are there any notable disappearances from the Black Sheep squadron?

In looking at every major conflict involving Britain in the 18th century, we find a number of Scottish soldiers and regiments also participating. Many Scots made their fame and fortune fighting in North America and Europe, specifically in the Seven Years War and the American Revolution. But these conflicts, specifically the Seven Years War, fell within the short timeframe following the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. We also see how the Dressing Act of 1746 made traditional highland dress illegal and how the historical record reveals a long stream of repression of gaelic culture. The Highland Clearances, too, were beginning in the mid-18th century and began to collapse traditional clan society. Did this progressive dissociation with the clan system encourge or discourage military service in the British army? The Dressing Act also included an exception making it legal for highlanders to wear traditional dress in a military context. How did this come into play? What sort of strategies did the British use to raise highland regiments or to promote individual service in the British army?

Here in the US, we were exposed to Gorbachev in a good light after he and President Reagan brought an end to the Cold War.

However my Russian friend says Gorbachev is mostly hated in Russia.

Here I am wondering how and why our viewpoints differ. Surely denizens of Russia know their best interests better than us; therefore I could be the one with the misplaced belief? Was the USSR in a better situation than Russia is now?

I'm not sure if this is the right sub due to the heavy emphasis on human opinion, but I don't really know a better place to post.

Thanks for reading anyways!

I get why you'd want to keep slavery if you had a plantation and it made you rich. But if you were just a poor white farmer, what was in it for you?

I have a clear view on what the Compromise was all about. I have done searches online and read books about it but I still have some questions or I do not fully understand some things. I was wanting to know, after the Civil War, why did the Union soldiers kind of just go back up North knowing the South was still mistreating African Americans? Also, why did the southern Democrats want to win the presidency of 1876 so bad? Was it just a Republican vs. Democrat type rival?

I'm writing a sort of dystopian fictional book set in the 19th century. I've been trying to scour the internet for a while now and can get nothing past the vague "working at the factories were often dangerous". So what were their jobs exactly? How were the looms operated and how were the children punished?

All most all modern firearms utilize a center fire, primer in the middle of the casing, cartridge, but for some time in the 19th century rim fire, primer around the circumference of the casing, cartridges were popular. What was the first weapon to make the switch and how long did it take for it to become prevalent?

Or am I wrong in my assumption that cartridges went from rim-fired to center-fires, and they were always used concurrently?

Hi so basically I have an idea, but need help formulating it into a question asap. I sent my supervisor this idea

"I would like to look at the reception of Virgilian myth in Medieval culture using Grandes Chroniques de France as a case study for how the myth functioned in Medieval France."

He responded: "This is a potentially rich area but you’d need to think a little more about the types of questions you’d ask. How, in other words, would this be structured? It’s worth keeping in mind that few authors would have been familiar with Virgil directly."

My question is how do I narrow down the types of questions? Anybody have any ideas? Please and thank you!