I have a Swedish friend who is really interested in Scandinavian history, religion/mythology and old literature (she is studying Old Norse). She knows a fair bit about Vikings and their history, but I was thinking about giving her a book about the topic. It could be pretty 'advanced' (she already knows far more than the basics) and even focusing on a specific topic. Indeed, a book covering unique aspects of this part of Scandinavian history might be the best choice!

For a long time, I have been told that the Red Army defeated the Wehrmacht simply by throwing bodies at them until the Wehrmacht couldn't take it anymore. I now know this is not the case, but I still want to know how exactly it happened. The German tactics in the early stages of the war against the USSR were arguably the reason for there initial success, but I do not know much about the Red Army's tactics in the early stages of the war, or towards the end. So my question is how did their tactical doctrine, and to a lesser extent operational doctrine, evolve over time? Did they simply copy the tactics of the German Army? Or did they develop completely new tactics to counter the Wehrmacht? Did the tactics stay the same, and were just poorly executed in the early war? Or did they really just throw bodies at the German Army? Thanks in advanced for any responses.

Have been lurking here, but finally made an account and decided to ask some questions. Thank you very much for all your hard work!

I was wondering whether we know a lot about women's involvement in said parties. I know I said Europe, but within this I am happy to read about Russia too.

Did women struggle to join? Or maybe the parties struggled to persuade them to join at all? I am guessing there may have been difficulties for women in politics in that part of the century.

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Thank you very much! Hope it's an interesting enough question!

From what I've understood, German helmets were the most efficient and protective, also American M1. Why did British troops keep using an outdated helmet from one war to the other?

My question concerns the religiosity of the chicken. Not only whether it was sacred, but whether there were any religions with rules about them. I was thinking about this the other day, and thought of the cats of Ancient Egypt, cows in India, pigs (pork) etc. and wondered whether the chicken was ever treated in any way by any religion. I've heard of Romans using sacrificial chickens, but I'm not sure. Thanks in advance! :)

I've seen it in countless pictures, especially in the ones of D-day. It also seems quite a lot of them removed it, since there are also pics of them not having it. What was it for? And why some removed it?

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & Sold to the tannery.......if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor" But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot......they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low. The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell . ...... . Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting Married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof... Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old. Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would Sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial.. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive... So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.

Pretty simple question but I don't know if the answer to this one is going to be the same as other navies at that time but if you don't mind you can tell what happens too in other navies

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I've always been curious about the historical accuracy of the diamond and wedge formations. In the games the cavalry basically form into a wedge and diamond shape, where there is a pointy end, but wouldn't this make the front a huge target?

How did cavalry charges led by one guy at the front of all his troops actually work? Wouldn't he just be picked off right away?

A co-scholar of mine and I are at odds with each other on this. As far as my knowledge goes, there was no idolatry representation of the queen of Nile until after her death. And definitely not by Caesar. Please help us settle the debate?

Hey guys so right now all the news about South Africa got me thinking about the history of the country.

From a small age on I've mostly always heard the climate of discrimination in the country at the time being blamed on government policies. I was just wondering if there were any other factors that led to this discrimination of coloured people as well.

I visited Auschwitz and took the guided tour. It was a really powerful experience. When we visited the location where the gas chambers were located, the guide told us that some of the condemned knew or suspected what was about to happen to them. Instead of begging for their lives, they changed/prayed or sang together in a group as an act of faith/bravery.

I had never heard about this before, and I honestly teared up at that point in the tour. I have tried to find sources to confirm this information, but I have been unsuccessful. Most of the accounts I have read say that the majority of people sent to the gas chambers had not clue what was going to happen. I'm not sure if this was a little personal spin the guide put on her tour or if it really happened.

I may have the wrong impression, but it seems to me that during Napoleon's reign France was at an almost constant state of war, and Napoleon did spend a lot of time campaigning abroad, yet, he still had a country to run, one that was perhaps recovering from the aftermath of a major revolution. How did he manage? Who did he left in charge during his campaigns and how were they seen by the French?

Would most of his original followers considered themselves Romans? What about most Jews? What about the other peoples of Roman Palestine?

So from the late middle ages onwards were there any parts of Europe that still worshipped pre-christian Gods?

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I can't think of other major empire falling as quietly as the British Empire. Spain, Portugal and France engaged in everlasting bloody colonial wars. The European Empires like the Ottoman, Germany and Russia refused to renounce their power and collapsed through catastrophic wars or revolutions.

Instead, Britain seems the only example of an empire peacefully leaving its colonies without a bloodbath or starting a world conflict.

Why did it happen that way?

To my understanding of history, England forcibly converted Ireland to Catholicism and then under the rule of Henry VIII England became protestant, so after that England discriminated against Ireland since they were Catholic and England was Protestant. Is this what really happened, or is there more or less to it?