Given Germany's early success with U-boats why didn't they try to board tankers of oil bound for England and return them to German ports?

On the one hand, he had a prominent role and access in making major policy decisions it seems. But since Nixon did not pardon him, he turned on Nixon hard. Given his privileged access to how top-level policies are formulated, should he be a source that is suspect because of his well-publicized dislike of Nixon? Are the posthumous remarks credited to him an honest discussion of the Nixon administration's policies? I've seen his remarks repeated as if it is now in general accepted fact for some people. I also have seen it criticized as well as untrustworthy.

Something similar in style to that of William L. Sherir’s book “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich” or that of Mike Duncan’s podcast “The History of Rome,” both of which covered their topics in a very methodical, accurate and all encompassing manner. To find something that is almost unanimously considered a go to source on the history of communism, like the previous two sources I mentioned are for their topics, is proving difficult.

To be more specific, it isn’t the ideology itself I’m looking to learn about but rather a chronological description of communist governments, how they came to be, the core beliefs they latched onto and utilized (or didn’t), their defining moments (good or bad), their key players and any other historically important factors to their existence. This means that suggestions for the Communist Manifesto or biographies on Karl Marx won’t do. I also really want to steer clear of anything that’s meant to drive you towards one side or the other (like becoming a comrade or commie hater).

So if you know anything that is a trustworthy and primary historical source in this regard, please let me know. I keep hearing that communist governments are a failed experiment and finally want to read up on it myself.

Thank you.

I'm reading Ira Berlin's 'The Long Emancipation', and in it, Berlin discusses historian Joao Perdro Marques' belief that slaves had little interest in universal emancipation, specifically because they had no knowledge of the notion. Marques then goes on to support his claim by stating that African-Americans went on to become slave owners as "maroons or free people of colour" after the civil war. How fair/valid is Marques' argument?

I'm wondering what the logic was behind Ming China banning foreign trade at several points in its history (for instance 1525-67), or restricting it to the tributary system. Wouldn't trying to attract foreign merchants to reside in Chinese ports increase customs revenue and strengthen the state?

Were people with poor vision treated as if they had a disability? Personally, I have terrible vision and if I didn’t have corrective lenses, I would not be a functioning member of society.

I was thinking about spending a week eating what was available to a medieval peasant, how many eggs would a medieval peasant eat in a week, and how would they be cooked?

While reading about the Mali Empire, the most fascinating thing about his history for me was the Mansa Abubakari II Keita´s voyage, which consisting of the Malian emperor abdicating his throne and taking command of a massive fleet to explore a newly found "giant river" in the other side of the Atlantic. My mainly questions are about the type of ships were used by the emperor, or by any West African sea-faring people, since my searchs proven to be failed.

PS: I accept any sort of PDF document,link or a book name as a answer.

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In the book of Jonah (3:7-8), the king of Nineveh commands city-wide repentance, which included a fast and wearing sackcloth. He not only commands this for the people, but also for the animals.

We commonly read the animals fasting and wearing sacks as humorous and strange, but how common in 8th Century BC was the inclusion of animals in this kind of activity?

Would someone from 750BC Ancient Near East have considered this normal or would they also have thought this was a funny and unusual action? How would they likely have responded in hearing this kind of narrative?

I've wondered this on and off in the last couple of years while reading or watching histories of the time. As far as I understand it, Henry and his lawyers tried to argue that Henry's marriage to Catherine was illegitimate, based on Leviticus 20:21, which in the KJV is, "And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless."

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Naturally I can see how they might have been able to build an argument on "they shall be childless", but surely they were also far more aware than I am of Deuteronomy 25:5, which in the KJV is, "If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger; her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her."

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Given that they must have been aware of this rather clear commandment, how did they try and pose their argument, and how did they expect it to be accepted?

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(Of course, the KJV wasn't in existence at this point but I believe much of the Pentateuch in the KJV was closely based on previous translations, and I believe Tyndale's in particular so I feel safe enough with these translations - and I also rather suspect they'd have based their arguments on the Vulgate, anyway, though I'd be very interested to know if I'm wrong on that one, too.)

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[Edits: minor corrections]

Whilst exploring ancient ruins, have there ever been traps set in motion killing scientists? In a lot of movies/stories ancient ruins have been equipped with deadly traps to ward off visitors, but are traps of such sorts common and possible to have remained intact?

Can someone give me a more in depth explanation of the historical context and significance of the "dry tree". I was reading The Well At the World's End and assumed that it was made up by Morris, but there was a brief explanation involving Alexander the Great, Christendom, and Marco Polo. It is a very vague and uninformative entry. It alludes to a whole book that Marco Polo wrote on the subject, but I didn't see any references to the source material in English.

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The rest of the google results were also useless, referring back to the wiki or saying that "the dry tree" had significant Christian meaning but not providing sources.

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I guess my question is what is the summary of the legend, What was Marco Polo's contribution to the legend? Why would people in his day care to hear about the dry tree? Are there any good sources for more information?

Asking out of curiosity and because I was thinking about including a similar organization in a story at some point (nothing concrete as of yet).