I've been watching Ken Burns' Vietnam documentary, and reading Tim Weiner's "Legacy of Ashes". Both put emphasis on American leaders treating the "Domino effect" of the surrounding nations following suit should Vietnam succumb to the communism as a foregone conclusion and cite it as the main reason for going to war.

However, neither Weiner nor Burns question this logic. In fact I've never in my life seen anyone question this logic. But with the benefit of hindsight, how likely would it have been that all of Southeast Asia would turn communist just because the relatively small Vietnam did? In theory, shouldn't the massive China turning red have been enough to set off the domino effect in Southeast Asia?

Hey guys, I'm sure you get lots of questions like this, but I couldn't find my exact situation in the archives, so I hope mods don't mind.

Growing up, my favorite subject in school had always been history/social studies. But all the adults around me said I needed to get an actual job, so I did the old "Major for money, minor for passion." So far, it's been working out okay, except I hate engineering with a passion, and I've become convinced that everyone who is in this field is secretly a sadist because thinking about it just makes my head hurt. Minor's been mostly fun though, except our university is kind of STEM-focused, and there aren't classes that cater to my specific interests (paleoanthropology to bronze age...ish).

Recently, I've decided that I'd rather die than spend my life working on computer parts for 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, so I was wondering how possible it was to do grad school in archaeology and/or history with a not-so-strong background and eventually transition to some sort of academic life or even field work. Obviously parents would not pay for this, so I'd hopefully work a real job^TM for a few years to save up (provided I even manage to get a job after graduation -- how ironic!)

In addition, is there anything that I should be doing now to make my application stronger in the future? Unfortunately, I have to spend the bulk of my time on my major as to not fail, so I'm not sure how I'd be able to augment my sad liberal arts education. Thanks!

Or: I am a mad poet hanging out on the plains of Morocco or Macedonia in the twelfth century, particularly on the 2nd of July of 1123. Did I have any way of knowing that much without being a statesman or a Catholic priest?

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What did people in Iceland think of the eruption? We’re there any populated areas that got covered over by lava at the time? Did any word from Iceland come to mainland Europe about what was happening, and if so what were other Europeans’ reactions to hearing about it? At the time, was there any correlation drawn between the hot summers and haze in Europe and the Laki eruption?

Hello my name is Sufyan I am a muslim but I have always been interested in history. When I was younger I used to belief in all kinds of conspiracy theories to explain all the bad that happened in the world. These conspiracies were always about the "enemies" of Islam.

After a while I realised in this world there is no good or bad side. We are all humans and we all have our own beliefs and cultures.

Now I want to look back at one of the most influencial theories in Islam. It is one that says that most (90%) of the European Jews come from a certain people called the Khazars. These people are decendants from the "evil" race of humans called Gog and Magog. Many muslims use this theory to explain that the Jews are pure evil. And that the European Jews are looking for world control.

There is a video from a certain sheikh called Imran Hussein where he "objectively" explain the history of these people:

"Khazar: A forgotten history | Imran Hussein" (Its on YouTube, I had to remove the link)

I would like to know how much of his claims are real. And who the Khazars really are.

Thank you :)

If I did something wrong whit this please let me know. I don't really know the rules. Thanks again.

I know both men and women were encouraged to keep journals of their spiritual meditations, so I was hoping we had a written record of women's lives during this period. I know Anne Bradstreet is a popular source for this period and I have read her poems and writings, but I was curious about the hundreds of other women who might have left written records.

I'm currently reading the historical fiction novel Shōgun by James Clavell set in 1600 AD. The main character has just learned that only Samurai are allowed to have names while all other castes are only referred to by their job (like Porter or Fisherman).

Is this accurate, and if so, does this naming convention persist in some form in modern Japan?

Varangians and Janissaries, for example.

Also, how come those slaves didn’t revolt (considering their equipment and role in the military)?

Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but Haiti by this point was a state that massacred most of its white population, run its economy to a ground (not that the Dominican Republic was in much better shape), unrecognised by France and suffered from fourteen years of civil war (1806-1820), not to mention, being different culturally. For the elite, the issue was compounded by the inevitable slave emancipation and land redistributions.

Of course, the Dominican Republic would not be able to resist Haiti invasion anyway as Haiti had larger, battle-hardened army, larger population (six hundred thousand against hundred twenty thousand of the Dominican Republic) and the foreign powers were unwilling to intervene.

Clinton did not seem so liberal as Democrats like Humphrey or McGovern were. As President, Clinton worked with the GOP to pass welfare and criminal justice reform. Despite that, the Clintons were the targets of character assassination and conspiracy theory by figures like Rush Limbaugh. Were the Clintons so different from other Democrats or were conservative and Republican figures simply prepared to assault any prominent Democrat or Democratic President?

I'm not asking for any analysis of the Clintons within the last 20 years out of respect for the 20 year rule.

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What little I know is that they were raiders who came from somewhere unknown, turned up, had some pillaging fun, and then just... went away. Have we found out more? My understanding is that the civilizations attacked were also clueless.

I learned in history class that Hitler was known to cover up his ancestry because he was afraid that his own party would find out that Hitler might of had Jewish ancestry due to his grandma allegedly having an affair with a Jewish man because it’s documented that she didn’t want to reveal who the father was for unknown reasons. The man was allegedly Leopold Frankenberger according to ex nazi Hans Frank?

I mean to read "'A Very Pleasant Way to Die': Radiation Effects and the Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb against Japan" by Sean Malloy when I can pull it up, but if there are other resources I should be looking at I'm interested in those as well.

Another few questions:

Was FDR was informed of the possibilities of radiation sickness before his death?

When Groves told Congress that radiation was "a very pleasant way to die" did he believe it?

Did knowledge of radiation sickness impact US or Allied public opinion in any significant way?

1. Except gunpowder, how much more technologically advanced was France/England/HRE etc. in the 12th-13th century than the Roman Empire at it's peak?

2. With the regression of technology in the Dark Ages, why wasn't information from the Byzantine Empire shared throughout the rest of Europe?

3. Could a Roman legion of the Julio-Claudian time period have defeated a typical feudal army of the same size without cannons?

I'd be really interested to know what kinds of religious prayers and chants other religions were using at the time. I'm also open to other information about them, since I'll admit I know next to nothing about them.

I imagine they would use Crossbows.