Did Japanese/Chinese warriors use exclusively katanas and other curved sword-type arms or did they use some type of broadswords like european did? I'm asking for great imperial and professional armies and not private knights and samurais.

Khalid ibn al-Walid is often presented as a infallible general who single handedly led the armies of Islam to victory in over a 100 battles (a number so often emphasised that it has a strong implication of propoganda). With divine support of course.

How reliable are the accounts by historians about him? How justified is the praise he is getting as a strategist? Do we only have Muslim Arab (and later: Muslim Persian) accounts about him? Do we have any non-muslim accounts ?

I don't know if this is the right sub to put this in, but why is there no Welsh characteristics on the union Jack?

Just any books, chapters in books, or academic articles however broad or niche folks found interesting

I'm wondering what was known or rumored in local places near the larger extermination camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau or Treblinka. There would have been massive numbers of trains with very strange looking cars (yes I know they mainly traveled through cities at night). There would have been black smoke belching out at all hours, also sometimes outdoor pyres of incomplete human cremation which must have smelled characteristically organic. And occasionally a few escapees.

Surely there would have been some clues dropped here and there as to what was going on? Rumors must have flown? Note, I'm not asking to place blame on locals for not interfering and risking death themselves. Just curious about it is all.

I have heard that the Greeks and Romans used and encountered poisonous arrows in warfare, but were these weapons used later? I know for a fact that at this time poisons were often used in foods and drinks, but I am not aware of them ever being used on arrows or other weapons.

Growing up Jewish, I was always taught that the Jews were enslaved to build the Pyramids of Giza. I'm finding contradictory information but I can't find legitimate sources for them.

Can anyone lead me in the proper direction?

Why didn't the Nazis Use ALL their forces to attack Moscow?

I read that in South Korea 29% of the population identify as Christian. In Japan only 1% of the population identified similarly, in China only slightly more. Are there any known historical factors that account for this?

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Has Venice ever had any walls guarding the island part of the city? If not, why not?

Despite being very honorable men and believing slavery to be evil, Washington and Jefferson never freed their slaves while alive. Why didn’t they when other founding fathers such as Ben Franklin and John Dickinson did?

The question is niche and odd but it came up in conversation. It revolves around the anti-smoking campaigns apparently happening at the time in Germany.

I understand there were a lot of factors contributing to the crash, including cheap credit, higher interest rates, and agricultural industry struggles. My question is specifically if there was a hallmark significant transaction that caused the panic - like the failure of the most expensive tulip in Holland to sell in 1637 (this is received wisdom so even it may be dubious).

One of the romantic stereotypes about pirates I've seen often (other than the skull and bones, pet parrots, wooden peg legs, etc.) is that they were much more egalitarian than the very racist mainstream society of the time. Was this true?

I know that Sea Lion could never have succeeded because of the Royal Navy, but why couldn't the Luftwaffe achieve it's goals?