From the Planets being named after the Roman Gods to Themis and Asclepius being inseparable from their respective professions not to mention Company names, days of the week and animals (take Arachnid, for example, it's not exactly subtle) even Easter (Eostre) gets to keep its pagan name. It seems where ever you look there is a connection to the old gods somewhere. so why is that? why did Europe at its Christian hight dedicate so much to the "Old Gods"?

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The Byzantines and Ottomans ruled over roughly the same area, but the Ottomans also ruled over the Arabic peninsula. What made them able to?

I don't ever recall finding any useful answers to any questions here. All I find are deleted answers. No doubt this question will be deleted, too. Congratulations on moderating the worst subreddit ever!

I learned today that the banjo was developed by Africans in the new world, but for me it's always been a traditionally Irish instrument. How did this happen?

I thought that the people living there a mainly descendent from spanish settlers(as well as slaves and indigenous people)so what were the reasons for not uniting in one state after gaining independence ?(off course Brasil is obvious) Thanks for your answers

Similar to the Jewish Diaspora or when the modern Europeans displaced the basque people over most of Europe, or the Bantu in Subsaharan Africa. The first Native Americans crossed the land bridge about 10,000 years ago. It seems hard to believe that those cultures remained stagnant and unchanged in their areas for 10,000 years.

Hi all,

I was hoping any of you WW2 history buffs could recommend me some reading material on the French Resistance. I usually read when traveling so no voluminous tomes, please. I am looking to acquaint myself with important operations, people, or events where the French resistance played an important role. I am especially interested in the role of foreign fighters (I read Adam Hochschild's Spain in Our Hearts and loved that book, so anything similar) who fought with the French resistance, or important operations done by the resistance. I am also interested in understanding how the SOE and/or OSS worked alongside the French Resistance. - I always have an interest in material related to covert operations and intelligence gathering. I don't speak French so in English please. I work in political science so I would also be interested in understanding organizing, ideology, and strategy. Thank you!

I saw a map of Europe after an end to all military activities and noticed that Norway was still part of the Third Reich. Was there an opportunity for them to become part of Germany instead of an independent nation?

Would they have been treated as deserters if they just did not show up when they were being shipped back to the States? I know that after World War II, pows all had to be sent home even if they wanted to stay. But what about soldiers, Americans, who wanted to stay in Europe? I was reading today about African American soldiers who ended up in France after the war, I'm wondering how they actually ended up there. Did they just stay, or did they go back to the US and then return afterwards?

I'm Spanish and I'm always hearing the transition to democracy was a scam for several reasons. I've never heard or read arguments in favour of the way it was actually done.

Thank you very much in advance!

I was just trying to get an overview pre-modern military equipment and tactics on Wikipedia, but basically all of their articles skip from 2nd Century to 14th century or have very little information on the interim. So what was warfare like in that gap. What tools were infantry and cavalry using and how were they using them?

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Are there any good history books or materials on German Freikorps? Preferably about their actions in Baltic's. I found a couple of books but everyone that I found have no any reviews about them, which is why I would be very grateful if someone could recommend something!

What was the basic timeline of events following Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China that lead to what is considered normalized relations between the countries. I am curious to better understand what changes were immediate (or nearly immediate) and what changes occurred over a longer time frame (months or years). I've seen several documentaries on events leading up to the visit, but I don't recall seeing much about how the aftermath played out. Thank you.

In his book Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, Jacques Ellul mentions that:

Stalinist propaganda was in great measure founded on Pavlov's theory of the conditioned reflex. Hitlerian propaganda was in great measure founded on Freud's theory of repression and libido. American propaganda is founded in great measure on Dewey's theory of teaching.

Can somebody explain to me briefly how these psychological theories are related to the propaganda?

I know that many Waffen SS soldiers helped with the killing of jews, did most of these men hate jews or were they just following orders? If they didn't where they at least psychopaths if they could live with themselves after the war ended?

In the recent thread about Japanese-American detainments, it was mentioned that 11,000 German-Americans were also detained, and some not released until 1948. Were entire families detained, or just suspicious individuals? We're any found to be spies? What were the circumstances that wpuld bring a German-American under suspicion?