Manned balloon flights were invented 100 years before serious geologic and topographic were conducted in Panama and Nic... France chose the wrong path based upon little evidence. Why wasn't there an attempt to scope out potential paths and lowlands from the air?

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I realized I didn't really understand how Germany moved forward immediately following the end of ww2. Did the allies install a government? I know the east/west Germany divide began a few years later. But what happened with the government right after the war and how would an average citizen be affected ? We're any official in Nazi Germany alllowed to keep their positions? It seems impossible to replace an entire government that quickly so surely some Nazi paper pushers stayed in a similar position following the end of the war.

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In the middle ages, witches were supposedly people who sold their soul to the devil or who studied arcane texts to learn magic. But in modern pop culture (e.g. Harry Potter, Sabrina the Teenage Witch), witches are often depicted as a distinct species or race who inherit their powers, and normal humans cannot learn witchcraft. When did this change come about? The earliest example I can think of is the TV show "Bewitched" from the 1960s. Related, did any ancient civilizations hold the view that witches were a distinct race or type of being?

In history you hear of the great devastation that diseases such as smallpox did to isolated continents such as the Americas, but you never hear about Japan having such issues even after long periods of isolation.

Ok so my father and I were just sitting here talking about the Pyramids. Im pretty sure we were all taught the same thing, I was taught in school that they used logs and rolled these giant stones and that the Egyptians used slaves. Millions of slaves. I am aware of the theories involving aliens and that they were the "gods" and not being the religious type that makes the most sense to me. My question is, if we are excluding all possible outside help for the construction, where in gods name did they get that many human souls? We have a overpopulation problem and i dont think we could accomplish what they did using just "man power". And back then how much of the world was discovered by the the Egyptians? There has to be a finite number of places they could have traveled to and conquered, and even then how many people could you possibly enslave using what swords and bows? A chariot at best? Also i was taught that millions of slaves DIED doing this. I would imagine the level of labor involved combined with lack of modern medicine would kill your work force faster than you can replenish it.

TL;DR Egypt apparently used Slaves to build Pyrimids. Where did they get so many whithout them all dying or revolting?

If I asked a ~1750 layperson what heaven looked like, then a ~1890s layperson what heaven looked like, how would those images differ?

I just finished Margret Mcmillan's two WW1 books (The War That Ended Peace and Paris 1919) and am looking for some similar books. Ideally about the mid to late 19th century, but I wouldn't say no to earlier periods as well.

Assuming they kept supplying the allies with weapons would the victory one the western front have been possible.

I have seen a figure that is often passed around saying that Stalin killed 80 million people,I would like to know where this figure actually comes from.In the book the notebooks of sologdin by soviet dissident Dmitri Panin it says that authors in the west say that the number of people murdered by the Bolsheviks range from 45-80 million.The rest of the book is factually accurate so it would be strange for him to just make these figures up.So if anyone can not tell me where the figure that Stalin killed 80 million comes from.Then could you at least try to tell me where the figure that the Bolsheviks all together killed 80 million people comes from.All help is appreciated.

Preferably in-depth one!

I wander how long did it take to forge farm tools, weapons etc from iron?

Also, I have found quite a lot info on iron smelting in a bloomery, but not much on the forging of the resulting "bloom" piece of metal. How long did it take to make an iron billet from a bloom?

Most textbooks and articles that describe the organelles within living cells refer to the mitochondria as the powerhouse of the cell. Why is this metaphor so prominant and when did it originate?

Or is it just a whimsical saying?

From what has been recorded about Moses' actions while in the seat of power, what can we infer about what that seat of power was? Was Moses a prime minister? A treasurer? What *was* he?

I noticed today's Google Doodle involves Mount Olympus, and reading Wikipedia page for it tells me the first time it was climbed was in 1913, but I have a tough time believing there wasn't at least one Greek guy who thought "huh, I wonder what's up there" and gave it a go.

Do we know of anyone even trying an ascent back then? Or of anyone in Ancient Greek or Roman times trying to climb anything even relatively benign by our standards for the sheer hell of it?

barring the more miraculous events, how accurately does it cover the reign of kings, etc

What is the public perception of Mao in China? Does it differ than the official state perception? How have both changed over time?