In regards to science; I know that many advancements were made in Europe through the influence of early Egyptian and Middle-Eastern science, as well as voyages to India and China. Are there similar instances where knowledge from outside of the European continent had a significant or partial influence on early modern philosophy in Europe?

Like sort of a tactic to turn the case around on your accuser and hopefully not be found guilty? Something like “I’m not a witch, they are the witch and is only accusing me because I witnessed them consorting with the Devil and they didn’t want me reporting them!”

Surely it would’ve been worth a try to hopefully get out of an otherwise impossible situation?

Vampires are so interesting in that they still appear in our entertainment culture today. I wonder what first inspired them. I'm assuming people actually believed in them at one point? Was there a creature or event that brought about the belief and idea of vampires?

Hi,

I know that the Jannisaries in the ottoman empire were such but I was curious if they were generally used as a main army or as a more ceremonial thing. Both the specific ottoman example and any other historical ones. I just wonder how useful an army is when they were castrated before puberty and never developed the strength that comes with testosterone. I've wondered this since game of thrones (which o know isnt historical but still raised the question) since they're specifically a melee force they seem like theyd be out matched is all.

Thanks

I have seem some references to Harald Fairhair supposedly banning prostitution and establishing short term thralldom as a punishment. But I cannot find any references to it beyond people mentioning it on reddit and some random internet posts. Supposedly Tormod Torfæus' Historia Rerum Norvegicarum mentions it but I cannot find a buy able copy or even a excerpt about the topic. I would appreciate any help here.

Rather than the swift advances of the German's designs, that pushed the Soviets to improve theirs, the Japanese armoured vehicles and airplanes had another level of quality (due to their resources).

Said that, did the Soviets took their "outdated" equipment to face the Japanese in the East borders? Like the BT series? or the biplanes that were used in Jajin Gol?

I just purchased the first volume of the series entitled "Twilight of the New Order." However, looking at what the other volumes are, it seems to end right before the French Revolution. Also, I have read the first three chapters already and it seems to be written in an unusual concept. If anyone knows this series, can you give your insight on any thoughts?

I saw this question asked before, but I don't believe it was answered.

Regardless, I've read a bunch of stories about how various ambitious members of the nobility--in multiple cultures, but I'm going to focus on ancient China--in line of succession would be having each other assassinated.

It seems that plenty of people would have to be born into such a situation but not be good at those politics, and some might even know they weren't good at it. What were their chances of getting out of the game entirely and going off to do something safe and boring with their life?

Hey all,

So I was wondering; since gay men were explicitly or inexplicitly banned from serving in the US military until 2011, what happened to openly gay men during periods where they were drafting for a war? Did they see any repercussions for not being able to serve?

I imagine there were not many OPENLY gay men during the 40s, so this is probably more specific to the period of the Vietnam war.

Could people dodge the draft by claiming to be gay?

Thank you in advance.

Edit: I should’ve put US military in the title but I spaced it.

Wouldn’t they be like, eff that, get off our land?

It is sometimes claimed that South Korea is a right-wing puppet state set up by the US, and cite the American overthrow of the indigenous People's Republic of Korea as evidence. However, during the Korean War, the South Korean army acquitted itself very well, after its initial shock, and the South Korean government showed some degree of public support that would be hardly characteristic of a puppet government, and never experienced a significant communist insurgency in the way South Vietnam did.
TL:DR: How and why did Korean political culture across North and South Korea come to be so wildly different?

I saw a picture recently of a candle with nails in it, along with an explanation that people used to place nails in candles so that when the candle melted, the nails would fall and make a noise, thus waking up the sleeper. Is this true? If so, when was this practiced and by whom?

Thank you all for your hard work!

The United States's biggest victory of the war of 1812 was that the British agreed to abandon it's attempts at creating and arming a unified Native American state in return for a promise from the Americans not to invade Canada again. This lead more or less left the door wide open for Manifest Destiny and sealed the fate of the Native Americans to be at the (lack of) mercy of the Americans. What are your thoughts?

I often talk about morality not being subjective and one of the examples I give when facing someone who believes that morality is always a traditional affair, I ask them if they think that it was morally right for a 12-year-old to marry an adult in medieval times.

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That's why I am asking if we have proof or writings about children being married off to adults who we can tell were traumatized by it? It doesn't have to be in a particular era or place. I was just wondering if we have proof that children, even though they lived in a different era, with different cultures, were still similar enough to us to be negatively impacted by such practices?

I've read that once you account for infant mortality, the average lifespan of a medieval human isn't too different from a modern human. But I also ran into the fact that apparently the median age of death was very low in the 6th century. How can we reconcile this difference?

I was listening to a Japanese history book today and it occurred to me that I've never really heard of a Japanese or Chinese Bronze Age.

It made me wonder if the world all kind of got there at the same relative time through trade and war, or if other areas got there on their own at different times, or if any areas skipped any of these ages without interference from another culture.

Before starting, I'd like to clarify my question isn't in any way meant to criticize rape survivors or to say women should kill themselves to avoid rape. I'm wondering why privileged men were OK with their female relatives being reduced into slavery if they lost the war.

With the horrors committed by armies during war times, I'm surprised I never heard of women committing mass suicides to avoid exactions.

I'm thinking in particular of ancient times when losing a war didn't mean "temporary" exactions that ended after a few weeks, like during the Modern era, but being reduced into slavery for your whole life. It would be a disaster especially for "privileged" women who had wedded free citizens to lose everything and be reduced to spoils of war.

So, why didn't men in besieged cities give their wives and daughters poison so they could end things swiftly themselves if things turned awry, and avoid them being reduced into slavery? Socrates even killed himself with cyanide, so I guess it was quite easy to find or produce poison in sufficient quantities, or at least to give privileged women an easy way out.

I know about the practice of jauhar. I'd like to know if there was anything similar in Ancient Greece or in the Mediterranean world at large.

Edit: why am I being downvoted?