I've been reading Cold War on the Periphery and McMahon's book about US, India, and Pak. IT has me curious about all the missed opportunities for the US to have won india over before the Carrier incident in 1971. I would appreciate your insight and reading recommendations.

There are whole shelves of books dedicated to unique and exotic weapons of the Civil War, but one area that seems to receive less attention is the least expensive models. With the advent of mass manufacture and the need to arm and equip hundreds of thousands of men, what was the cheapest firearm to produce? What firearm showed up the least for repairs? What did soldiers in the field prefer for its simple design?

the movie The Favourite is'nt incredibly historically accurate, never the less it made me wonder whether there is any professional historical speculation as to her sexual preference.

I know there are several cases where historians though not being sure question historical figures' sexual orientation, and manage to make a pretty solid case against said figure being straight.

I watched the 3rd season of The Last Kingdom recently, and in the final episode there's a large battle where one army is ambushed by the other while it's on the march. Partway through the battle, two more armies join in, both of which were a surprise to the two armies already engaged.

Was this a common occurrence in the past? If not, how effective were scouts and pickets at relaying accurate information?

Paris shows up in 18th and 19th century English-language novels I've read as the fashionable place for women's clothing, and apparently the Napoleanic wars were a grave interruption to fashionable ladies' interests. Why Paris? And was this just an English language thing or did wealthy ladies with a desire to be fashionable in countries like Germany or the Netherlands or even Italy also follow Paris fashions?

I’ve read that the aces from the British RAF were sent to Australia to help train the RAAF pilots there during WWII. I have a list of questions, if anyone is able to answer any of them it would be greatly appreciated.

How would the aces have gotten to Australia in terms of transport?

What were the travel conditions while they were being transported?

How long would it take to get there?

Did they bring planes with or use the planes in Australia?

What were the training protocols they used to train the Australians?

How long would they spend in Australia training the pilots before they went back home?

Where in Australia did the British aces go to do said training?

Were they sent anywhere else in the world to aid other air forces or was Australia the only country?

Any info on the topic in general would be appreciated!

Including Denmark to cover both Finnoscania and Scandinavia. Hopefully I did that right.

I know that noble families would have had family names for a long time. But for common people I simply have no idea when the transition happened. How, specifically, did ‘John the Miller’ become ‘John Miller and all your descendants shall be called Miller also’? Was there a census? New laws? Did people just do it themselves? I suppose I’m asking largely from a European (and British) perspective, but I’m interested in any answers, regardless of time period or location.

Were the greek titans really colossal in size like giants?

Specifically it’s from a speech on 5 October 1937 in Chicago. He begins talking about the devolving “political situation in the world.”

In this speech he often references how other countries trying to create war but I’m unfamiliar with these specific events in 1937 that FDR seems to believe are contributing to “world lawlessness.”

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I’ve heard that he could be and should be considered in the same breath as even Alexander the Great. Would you say this is fair?

Also, if possible, do any accounts of Soviet commanders ordering men to pick up guns from their dead comrades for their weapon even exist?

The witch trials are well-recognized as a tragic event in our history. When you travel to Salem, however, it’s like a “Halloween” town. You can even buy “magic recipes” from “Tituba.” As far as I understand, the residents of Salem were pretty ashamed of the trials in the decades afterwards. What changed since then?

As depicted in pop culture, when pirates boarded an enemy ship, the cannon fire has already stopped. Is it even remotely accurate? Why didn’t the enemy ship keep up the firing after the pirates got close enough to board, causing potentially great damage from up close? Or has the cannons already been disabled to the point they couldn’t fire them?

Thanks in advance for any answer!