I've worked on small modern commercial vessels (80ft or so) and docked them, and it isn't easy, and watching larger ships such as a 200ft or so 98 GRT boat dock itself also looks like a very slow and careful process.

How did large ships accomplish the docking process during the age of sail? The only think I can imagine is sailing towards your dock as slow as possible and tossing a lot of lines to folks on land as soon as you're close enough, for them to pull you in.

But what about very windy days on which the wind might be throwing you against the dock really hard, or pushing you away with considerable force? Those large ships would be strongly affected by the wind even with no sails out.

Was it the Roman occupation, and the overthrowing of their last King?

The absolutely abysmal job market for history PhDs has got me thinking. I'm still in undergrad, and I have done a large number of internships for my other major (political science). If I do pursue a PhD in history, I know that it's essentially a total crapshoot. I could very well end up never getting a tenure-track position.

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While I remain undecided on whether or I'm willing to take that gamble, I am considering the prospect of my fall-back: law school. If I made it out of that, history could be something I pursue on the side. I know this is anathema to many in academia, but my biggest frustration about academic history is that so few people actually read it. While there is great merit to academia, writing high-quality history books (or podcasts, even) that are aimed at a more broad audience has its merits, too.

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Is this a total cop out? Or a necessary turn given the prospects of today's marketplace?

It seems other missile units, particularly bowmen, continued to be utilised until the widespread adoption of gunpowder weapons - but it seems to me that mention of javelin-throwing troops is nonexistent outside of the classical era.

(Third time's the charm :D)

I'll admit I'm not very familiar with this region/period, but I know that the British had just finished destroying the Sikh Empire, so what was the Sikh's motivation for siding with them?

Or was this portion of the Iliad just a weirdly preserved story that no one understood?

Most people I know have heard about at least Vasili Arkhipov, who possibly prevented nuclear warfare during the Cuban Missile Crisis. For some reason, we don't often hear about American close-calls; what were they, and how were they resolved?

I'm aware this is a controversial topic, but I find migration of different ethnic groups fascinating. The Khazars are particularly interesting, as it's not often an entire nation converts to another religion en masse, that's a sizable Jewish population.

If I asked Americans in the 1850s if there would be a civil war in the next 10 years what would they say?

I know flamethrowers were used by the German army during the First World War, and were used by the USMC and USA in the Pacific during World War 2. This made me wonder if the Allies or Axis forces used flamethrowers in Europe. I had heard in a Hardcore History podcast that they were used on the Eastern Front, but I have never heard of them being used on the Western Front aside from a scene in a movie. So, were flamethrowers widely used on the Western front during WW2?

Mexican Day of the Dead traditions used to be small, family affairs, and now involve large parades and costumes as in the James Bond movie Spectre. How did we get from here to there?

Were they used as covering fire to keep an enemy hunkered down under their shields, or was it really like in the movies where a large formation of archers would just annihilate half an army? And that said, if one was to be shot, were they more likely to die from infection as opposed to the actual wound?

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Hello, I am interested in learning about the foundation and development of post-soviet bloc states. In particular, I am wondering what books would be most appropriate to learning about Armenia and Uzbekistan. Specifically, I am hoping to learn about both the immediate foundation of these two states after the fall of the Soviet Bloc, and of their development in the years following their formation.

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Specific book recommendations would be greatly appreciated, but also advice on how to find, and judge books on subjects as specific as this would also be of great value. Thanks!