Why didn’t German Empire in WW1 bypass fortified French border through Switzerland instead of Belgium to keep Britain out of the war?

For specificity, I'm thinking of the era of about 1945-1980. I'm skeptical that housework alone could not have been all that time consuming (let alone diverting), given the relatively modern appliances and conveniences of the middle and even lower classes at this time, but perhaps it was. If so, I'd be interested in what quotidian tasks a woman might spend her time on. If not, what else might she do in her leisure time?

(and therefore the burning wasn't as bad as we think it is)

I have heard people saying that Netzahualcoyotl personally fought assassins more than once, this sounds like an urban legend, however, it is strange that he, having relatively few resources (specially after Maxtla captured the aztec tlatoani) was able to avoid assassins and bounty hunters by some of the most powerful people in the whole world back then, and yet we know he did it, how?

My uncle, a religious man, assures me that the books genesis exodus Leviticus numbers and Deuteronomy differ from other portions of the bible in that they were communicated directly from god to Moses by way of a vision, the original 'word of God' which all other judeo Christian texts are additions to. Does any of the available historical and archaeological record support this possibility? I had understood that Isaiah was at least the book of which the oldest copy exists, among the dead sea scrolls. Are there any texts or oral narratives adapted in the bible that we can know for certain to be "the oldest?"

How did they build complex machines or large structures without the ability to describe things algebraically, or represent unknown quantities that would be determined later?

Title says it all really. Waterloo is my favourite film and I have this question every time I watch it. I've tried google multiple times, but haven't come up with any answers. Thanks for reading! :)

Hey all. Just looking for some resources on this topic. I know that the Congo had/has the purest uranium deposits in the world. I've also heard that it was a source for the fissile material in the Little Boy bomb. I just find it really interesting (and sad/troubling) that the bombs are historically remembered as the winning blow for freedom and democracy, while possibly being fueled with materials extracted with slave labor.

Follow up. Where did the Plutonium for the Nagasaki bomb (fat man) and Trinity test come from? Was it extracted under the same circumstances?

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Joining it seems like a relative easy way to gain some extra influence and prestige on the social ladder. Were their situations or sectors where a SS membership would hinder your career?

Is there any record on what may have started the tommy knocker legend amongst miners? I believe it was the Welsh who started the legend but what are the earliest stories of them and have they always been seen as mischievous little creatures?

I am recently studying finance and welfare. I came up with this question as I am trying to understand more the economic system of the COMECON countries during the Cold War.

Let me be more precise: I am a common worker living in the USSR, after the Second World War. I have recently acquired an amount of disposable income (the source of this income may be salary, inheritance, or whatever shady things you can imagine), and I already have all the things I need in order to live a decent life. I would like to therefore invest my money somewhere. Here's my question(s): What are the different and most common ways I could do this? Could I invest in real estate in a country where private property is not a guarantee? Are there banks, financial institutions or credit unions that I could rely on, and if yes, how? Is there any way in which I could invest in foreign markets, inside or outside the Soviet sphere of influence?

I also have a follow up question since my father also served in the Rhodesian SAS although from 1976 until his desertion in early 1980. The men he served with called themselves "The Magicians since every time they would walk into a rebel village, said location would always disappear." I assume he meant they killed everyone within. Was the SAS really this effective during the war or was this just my father's way of telling me that he and his unit regularly committed War Crimes without repercussion?

By "proof," I mean that a claim has been established beyond a reasonable doubt, so that any reasonable person who examines the evidence will come to the conclusion that the claim is true.

What kind and quantity of evidence constitutes proof (in this sense) of a historical claim?

I know that the Spanish-American war was largely driven by US opposition to European colonialism, but from that point their involvement in the 20th century seems more complicated. I don't think the US would intervene if they didn't gain from it in some way so I'm interested to see why people think they got so involved.

The association between Daoist/Buddhist monks and various Chinese martial arts is pretty well known. It would seem strange for them to be unique in this connection between mysticism and martial arts.

Of course there's the famous Assassins, but what were their martial arts/fighting styles like? Were there other militant groups like them, perhaps associated with Sufism?

And even earlier--what about the Zoroastrians and zurkhaneh?