From just a Chinese perspective the sight of the Rising Sun had to be a strong reminder of the millions of people that perished as a result of the Japanese invasion. Did China voice any protest?

Also, in a similiar topic, the Emperor-war crimes. It seems hard to believe that any top Japanese official could not only escape war crimes, but, actually retain such a high position.

This topic has prob. been discussed in much detail, especially Douglas MacArthur's role in, yet again, from a Chinese populace position, this must have seemed beyond absurd, that, the leader of a country that commited a holocaust not be hanged.

Did this mark the demise of of the Chinese- American relationship, that, though both fought on the same side during the war all goodwill ceased?

Since it appears that Viking and Polynesian contact with the indigenous peoples of the Americas is well-documented, is there any evidence for other claims, such as that of João Vaz Corte-Real, Didrik Pining, or Alonso Sánchez? How likely are these claims?

[deleted]

I can find some parenthetical reference to children and even infants being sacrificed to Tlaloc either at the Templo Mayor or on hills surrounding the city, but nothing else. How frequent were these sacrifices? Were they performed in the stereotypical Aztec style (stretched across a stone, heart cut out, thrown down the steps) or was there a different ritual? How old were the children being sacrificed?

Conversely, what is the likelihood that these events were invented by the Spanish to paint the indigenous populations as barbarians?

There was just recently a change in the Polish law giving jail time for implicating Poland in the Holocaust. Why would such a law need to exist?

I know that cats are thought to have domesticated themselves, but why did early humans let them? We of course bred wolves/dogs for hunting and made them into the ultimate companions, but what did early cat "ownership" look like? Did we want them around primarily because they are cute and friendly, or were they so good at pest control that humans felt they could share resources with them, or was there another purpose? Did early cats take humans as patsies for care and we bought it?

Recently some new footage of FDR walking along the White House balcony with assistance was discovered, and it got me thinking about what the public thought about his disability. Was it shown as a strength of his resilience and determination or was it used against him to show him as weak and not fitting of the office of the presidency? Also did any international leaders have any opinions of his disease?

It sure made me question what I was taught, but my Japanese is non-existent and I can't double check his sources. For folks in the field, what do you think of this Pulizer Prize winner?

I'm listening to Hardcore History and Dan Carlin said that Kennedy chose to place an embargo on Cuba instead of attacking Cuba.

I recently went on a tour in Iceland and our tour guide said that the folklore of Huldufólk was inspired by Celts that lived in Iceland before and were displaced to the interior after the Scandinavians began to settle. Is there any accuracy to this statement? I know that the Faroe Islands were first settled by Celtic monks, so it’s not a long shot to think that they might have sailed a bit farther and discovered Iceland before the Norse. Is there any hard evidence (either textual or archaeological) pointing toward celts living in Iceland?

Here's the relevant passage:

There was a time, two centuries ago, when dirty laundry used to be shipped from California to Hawaii--by sailing ship, mind you--and clean laundry returned. Special circumstances. If we ever see water and manure shipped to Luna and grain shipped back, it will be just as temporary.

The book is set in 2075, so the circumstances he's referencing appear to be around 1875.

This anecdote has always stuck with me since I read the book and I'm really curious if its true, and if it is, what the circumstances were. Was it a strike? Was there some sort of law against laundry businesses? Was there a huge tariff on laundry soap? What was going on and how was it resolved?

Please dont mind my poor English, im 14 and English is my second language so the gramma and spelling isnt the best :))

Im very interested in religion (though im not religious), and believe there's both bad and good in it, and i wanna learn more about it, because i find it interesting.

As of now im reading the Torah but would love to read some more religious text that changed history, or which is just interesting :)) and it dosn't even need to be a religious texts, maybe something like where it explains about the history of that religion or anything else just as long as it has something to do with religion :))

So what do you historians suggest?

As of now im considering after i have done reading the Torah to read one of these books: The Avesta, Origin of God, The Quran, maybe i will read something else if you suggest something more interesting to me :))

[deleted]

Mark Twain claims in the preface of Tom Sawyer that the superstitions he describes were real in the American ‘West’ among children and slaves circa 1836-1846. Is this true, or did Twain really make them up?

Also, as a follow-up question: the boys acknowledge slaves as experts in these supernatural beliefs. What kind of religious / supernatural beliefs did slaves have in that era, and how did this compare to what the free population believed?

This is by no means comprehensive, but here are some superstitions which I recall from the books:

• Spunk water and a verbal charm will remove warts

• Throwing a dead cat at the devil at midnight in a graveyard will remove warts

• A loaf of bread filled with quicksilver will float to a drowned body

• Firing cannons will cause a drowned body to surface

• If a dog looks at you and howls you are going to die

• Touching a snakeskin is the worst luck

• If a murdered body bleeds it means the killer is near

• A worm crawling on you means you will get new clothes

• If you have a hairy chest you will be rich

• Friday is an unlucky day

• If you lose a treasure (the text says a marble), bury a like treasure and come back in two weeks to find your lost treasure

• Killing a spider is bad luck

• Turning around three times and crossing your breast will ward off bad luck

• Counting the things you cook for dinner is bad luck

• Shaking out a tablecloth after sundown is bad luck

• If a bee-keeper dies you must tell the bees before dawn or else the bees will die

• Seeing the moon over your left shoulder is bad luck

• Young birds flying a yard at a time and landing means it will rain

• An unburied corpse is more likely to result in a ghost than a properly buried one

Hi. I'm a history student, and I've been given an assignment to write a paper. We got to choose the topic for ourselves, so I've chosen to write about differences between Caribbean, North American and Arab slave trade/slavery. Ideally, it would've been good to find a brief guide to history of slavery of all three of listed areas, since the paper shouldn't get too detailed and it's due to day after tomorrow, so I don't have time to do a bunch of reading. The basic idea is to explore certain ideas such as: different economic and political incentives for the divergency in slave practice, cultural prepositions behind the treatment of slaves, and how did eventual abolition fold out.

If none of our experts on slavery shows up, it would be nice if someone gave me a guide to the Albingensian Crusade, as well as some narrative sources regarding the endeavor. Thanks!

A lot of questions asked on here are for very specific time periods and places or something you would not expect to have been recorded in depth (a recent question about Humpty-Dumpty for example). I can’t imagine there being an original text written in 1790 or whenever just to document a rhyme for the future

When were Muskets considered obsolete and phased out of European Armies?