As I see it, California becomes a state around 1850. Did the Navy see an automatic need to build bases there or did it take a while to create naval bases on the pacific coast?

Why was louis the 14 called the sun King

I teach AP European History and am looking for ways to improve my general understanding of the period "after Rome" leading up to the beginning of the class which begins in 1450.

This era in history has always been one that I considered boring and too obscure when I was younger (because I didn't understand its significance), and I'm looking to rectify that.

I know the simple answer is "look at the book list and do some reading," but I find Podcasts to be more digestible and I can listen to them while walking the dog, cleaning, etc. Also, the more informal tone makes them more enjoyable than audiobooks for me. Yes, I know I'm being picky.

I've really enjoyed Mike Duncan's Fall of Rome and Revolutions, so I'm looking for something similar to that.

I'll also take off topic recommendations. I do listen to Dan Carlin, and I love his colorful storytelling, but he does make me roll my eyes from time to time.

I'm traveling to Europe this summer (Netherlands, Belgium, N. France & Paris) and would love to have something new to listen to during my travels. Or what to make sure not to miss seeing!

Thank you all for the quality contributions around here. The post the other day about the lack of upvoting has shown the importance of diligent support for all of the (FREE!) content, analysis, and clarifications provided to all of us.

Titles says it all pretty much. They were here in country as apposed to across an ocean. I just had this thought pop in my head 'Africans were taken from their home but Native Americans had their home taken from them' and then I couldn't figure out why colonial Americans distinguished one group as slave worthy but not the other.

I've just finished reading Ken Follett's novel 'Winter of the World'. At the end there's a story arc following the fall of the nazi-empire in which a German woman is raped by several Soviet soldiers which results in a pregnancy.

Soviet forced did rape German woman at a quite large scale but you can't find really much information about this subject. Even today this subject seems -understandingly- controversial. So I have a couple of questions:

• Is there known at which scale those rapes occurred? How many percent (in the Soviet occupied zone) of the women fell victim?
• Until which year was raping prevalent? I can imagine that in the anarchy following the fall of the nazi-regime it's easier to rape, but not in a period when the Allies have consolidated their power.
• Did women who became pregnant often choose for an abortion? Is there an estimate how many 'bastard' children did result from the ratings?
• Were such 'bastard'children treated otherwise than legitimate children? Imagine you're a German soldier. You've fought many years. you've survived long and horrific battles. You've fought the Soviets, but then you come home and your wife gave birth to an illegitimate child.

Sorry if this is not exactly a very well worded question. However, I am very interested in Roman history and know a fair amount about it. I am very interested in how a 19 year old kid could achieve absolute power and defeat some of the most famous people in history. Also I am aware that he up kept the appearance of the Republic while holding absolute power. I am interested in how he did this, what was the official extent of his power and how did he do this within the legal framework of the empire>

I'm not entirely certain this is best place to ask this question, so if there is a better place to ask this, please point me in the right direction. I'm interested in learning about the theories and practice of medicine in the ancient world, particularly in the mediterranean and near east in the Hellenistic period and classical antiquity, and things like humoral theory and responses to plagues. I'm not particularly interested in eastern medicine, though if there is a particularly interesting book on the topic you're excited to mention, please do! Looking at the books and resource list, I didn't see much on the topic of ancient medicine, and nothing regarding what I'm interested in.

Does anyone know of any good material, whether it be books, articles, or other forms of media which cover this period of the city?

Many newspapers since 1870 where mentioning often “6 million jews will die in Europe...”. How is this explained?

I'm an Italian-American, second generation immigrant, with basically no knowledge of Italy.

Thanks.

I read a blurb about the Circassian genocide awhile back, and doing some research, it was so horrific that I wanted more information about it. Searching for books on the topic on Amazon and my usual sites found me little, and even the askhistorians book list has nothing on it, so far as I can tell. Searching "Circassian Genocide" in Amazon books gives me 6 search results, while Rwandan Genocide gives me 425 results, and searching the Cambodian Genocide gives me 200. Why is there either little interest, or information about it? Is it because it was so effective, so that there were few survivors to tell the tale? Is it a product of when it happened?

I am interested in the history of the early 20th century, but realized that I had little to no knowledge of how the concepts that constitute liberal democracy formed before the 20th century. Are there any extensive studies about how it developed?

Slightly obsessed with it atm, just curious

Suppose I'm a german man with my family who for some reason thought that winter break 1941 was the perfect time for a nice vacation to the USA. If war was declared while I'm there, would I be detained or allowed to return? Or worse, what if, for a last trip of my children's summer break 1939, we decide we want we've always wanted to visit warsaw? Would I be arrested once Germany invades? If we were to killed by polish, what would the german army make of us when were discovered during the occupation?

Are modern Spanish descended from Visigoths or the Romans? Or were the majority of the population was there before the Romans?

Or has the language evolved so much that they are essentially indistinguishable?

In the show 'Vikings', Ragnar and his warband end up landing at Lindisfarne in modern day England and promptly slaughter the monks living there.

In later seasons you are introduced to the English Kingdoms of Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria. My question is, is that we know that the Normans from Northern France in Medieval Europe are the descendants of the Vikings who settled there from around the same time as the Vikings show takes place and that the British isles during the time of Roman occupation was occupied by Picts and Celts. But who were the Wessex, Mercia and Northumbrian peoples descended from. They aren't Vikings or other Norsemen or Romans or Picts or Celts (as far as I am aware of) so who are they and where did they come from?

Even after Christianization some Vikings continued raiding for many years--notable examples being Harald Hardrada in the west and the Kievan Rus in the east, or the Danish raids in the 1060s. However, the scale was much decreased from the pagan days. Ultimately over the later 11th century they ceased raids completely.

Why did the Vikings stop raiding Europe? And what happened to the trade routes they created during the Viking Age?

Beyond the lions and other African creatures the Romans bought to Italy, what were the first exotic animals to be bought to Europe?