The context for this question really drives the type of information I'm looking for:

A friend is writing a story in which two of her characters have to cross the tsugaru strait; it's about 1185-1189AD. We're having trouble finding the kind of information that would help her write this scene realistically: Who had boats, what were the boats like, how were they operated. What we're finding instead is a lot of "yep, they had boats" and "yep, people crossed the strait" - big picture economic or historical information, rather than the smaller details.

Could a small boat - one that could be manned by one or two people - cross the strait, assuming that one of the people knew what they were doing? And what do we know about smaller boats at that time, in terms of their construction and operation?

I feel like this information must be out there, but we just can't hit upon the right keywords that gets us there, instead of ... like, Japanese naval battles. (Even if you don't know Japan, if you know this kind of info for another region, what kinds of keywords might help us?)

My friend can read Japanese, so Japanese sources are fine.

Back when the Papacy held temporal power in the form of the Papal States they were often at war with neighbouring monarchies. But the Pope was much more that just the monarch of the Papal States; he was the spiritual ruler of all of Europe, including the monarchs he fought against. You might think this would have caused quite the moral conundrum, but apparently Catholic kings had no problem at all fighting against their own religious leader.

The Holy Roman Emperors in particular were at war with the Popes throughout the Middle Ages. The staunchly Catholic Charles V, for example, fought and won wars both against his Protestant princes and the Pope, even sacking Rome in 1527. The modern Kingdom of Italy (even today one of the world's most thoroughly Catholic countries) was only created after King Victor Immanuel II conquered the Papal States. For this he was excommunicated, but was buried in a Catholic church nonetheless. I found this very confusing.

So why did the threat of excommunication not deter monarchs from antagonising the Pope? Did the office not have the respect and authority then that it had in more modern times? Was it simply seen as a temporal dispute and not a religious one?

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What book would you guys recommend I read to learn about El Salvador’s history. Recently I realized that I know very little about my home country. Thanks!

Why did Nixon and his cronies wiretap the phones of his political opponent when he easily won the 1972 election in a landslide? What were polls indicating during that period? Is it possible that he didn't order the wiretapping as he claimed?

According to Max Hasting's Inferno, the commander had to wait until the target was within 500 yards to actually fire upon them. It also said they used shore-launched torpedoes. Why not lead with the torpedoes? Was antique weaponry really that effective?

I've read that one of the main reasons he had done so much work on the gasses is that he had been working extensively for the crown. I'm reading an introductory text of epistemology and the study of sciences (like, really introductory level but it's very cool) and the main concept through the text is that science isn't "led" by singular illuminated subjects but it's a product of social relations and the relations of production. Thus in a rising capitalist society science follows certain capitalist necessities in which augmenting production and reducing costs is important, military investigation was needed for colonialism, etc (very summed up version of what I remember from the text).

It also talks a lot about Kuhn and his paradigms theory.

Such systems often include “water being strong against fire” and so on, which has a natural internal logic to it, however were there also historical/mythological precedents for these systems?

I found this on a forum. I'm still trying to double check the info. Any help on verifying the validity is appreciated.

First paragraph just says "The results of measurements of average speed in combat conditions, tests were conducted on the Kubinka and Ural polygons in 1941-1943 (in the summer):"

Результаты замеров средней скорости в боевых условиях, испытания проводились на Уральском и Кубинском полигонах в 1941-1943 годах (в летнее время):

Most of my interests around European history past the renaissance and such. More interested in things involving art, religion, cultures, and language.

If anyone’s read anything good involving this, let me know! Not shutting down any kind of history though, if you’ve read something really Interesting and worth it, I’d 100% be down to try it. Thanks guys! :)

I have recently heard that Rhodesia did allow anyone to vote but only if they were educated. Is this true? And if yes, did this function as voter suppression similiar to the american south after civil war?

What is the accepted evaluation of why Europe rose out of the Middle Ages into the Renaissance? Why didn't it happen earlier? Why was there suddenly an interest in old texts?

Does it relate to ecclesiastical scholarship? Such as Thomas Aquinas "rediscovering" translations of the Attic Greek texts from Arabic?

Wasn't there a thriving Greek -- Koine Greek -- scholarship in Byzantium?

The stuff about the new Fallout game actually got me thinking of this. I also saw something recently talking about how U.S. children of the Cold War time were plagued by nightmares and how supposedly around half of them thought nuclear war was imminent; but I can't find anything about whether average Soviet children were aware and fearful of the same thing? I assume most of the Russians at that time didn't even know about the "Cold War", but maybe I'm totally ignorant and this is a real dumb question?

While so many people in the U.S. were building fallout shelters in their basements were Soviet citizens as scared as the Americans were? I am pretty sure average families in the U.S.S.R. during the 50s would not have been able to build their own shelters like people in the U.S., but I'm wondering if typical Soviet citizens at that time would have had enough information about world affairs to share the same mass anxiety, or whatever you'd call it, as was so widespread in the U.S.?

How about Soviet elite such as top military or government people? Did their feelings compare to the feelings of middle class Americans during that time in any way?

Division commanders appear to be in a odd state of limbo to me. Unlike their subordinate officers, it seems like they would have responsibility over far too many troops to make useful decisions on a tactical level, and yet it also seems like they have too few troops to make a decision on the strategic level. What were the duties of a division commander? What was their average day like while in combat?

Was it produced by the state and given to soldiers, or was it made privately and sold on the open market? Was it a mix?

In Land and Privilege in Byzantium I found this passage: A few Byzantine writers protested over the confiscation of monastic property. In the second half of the fourteenth century Nicholas Kavasilas, in his Discourse Concerning Illegal Acts of Officials against Things Sacred, addressed the issue of the confiscation of monastic land for military ends. He wrote that his opponents would argue, among other things, that such confiscations were justifiable because “we arm soldiers from these things.” Similarly, in 1383 Isidore, the metropolitan of Thessaloniki, complained that church property which belonged to his see in Thessaloniki was threatened with confiscation for military ends.

Does that mean to imply that the state was providing equipment for the military? Was that a usual occurrence or an emergency measure?