I've been told that the area known as Normany was given to norsemen by the French king to help protect against viking attacks, and that names such as Normandie today comes from Norman -> north men, aka vikings. But if this is the case, what was that area known as before the vikings settled, and who lived there?

Hello, I‘m very interested in the Aztecs again. I‘ve read some stuff regarding the Jaguar, Eagle Warriors and the Cuachic and this got me thinking. Did other civilizations around the aztecs like the tlaxcaltecs, Mixtecs, Zapotecs use similar military units like jaguar, eagle warriors and Cuachic or where those specific to the triple alliance? And if not how did those civilizations warriors look and did they also have military orders?

So I'm currently reading the Instrument of Government (as you do), and in articles IX and X (that deal with the composition of Parliament) is written:

the persons to be chosen within England, Wales, the Isles of Jersey, Guernsey, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, to sit and serve in Parliament

and

That the persons to be elected to sit in Parliament from time to time, for the several counties of England, Wales, the Isles of Jersey and Guernsey, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed

Was the town of Berwick not part of England? Did it have a special status similar to the one of Jersey or Guernsey? Because when the Instrument lists the constituencies of Parliament, it's not singled out , it's in the middle of the list between Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Oxfordshire.

Im looking for a book or textbook to read about the complete history of the soviet union from its formation in WW2 to its end in the 90s, id like as complete and indepth as possible if anyone can recommend somthing.

I need some answers which are concise but relatively detailed. I found multiple sites saying different things and they don't really support eachother. If someone can just give me a few bulletpoints of what the reasons of Japan joining WWII are, it would be really helpful. Thank you

Way back when, I took an university ethnic studies class, and thought I held onto a book that I was planning to use as a starting point for reading up on the topic. Turns out I no longer have the book so I'm at a bit of a loss now. Book recs, both academic and credible popular/mass-market non-fiction, are much appreciated.

(also, long shot... the book had a black and white photo of an Asian migrant farmer in a field. I think the title text was in san serif yellow block letters and the spine and back of the book was turquoise. I took the class 2005-ish, and recall all the texts for the class being relatively recent.)

Thank you for your help!

I know that by the time of Michelangelo, Brutus was popular enough to earn being depicted in a statute. But some time between the era of Augustus and the time of Michelangelo, it seems Caesar stayed in a lionized position but that his murderers' cultural stock plummeted greatly.

I thought I had read texts that stated the Futurists had had a meeting in the 20s or 30s in which basically half the movement, including Balla, had disavowed Fascism and pivoted instead to follow socialism. But I can't find it now. I believe also there was some kind of international meeting within which Pirandello and Marinetti and other artists partnered with folks like Kandinski and heard complaints by German artists about oppression from the Nazis, seemingly implying these artists were sympathetic to anti-fascist arguments and that there was perhaps more artistic freedom under Italian fascism. I'm also curious how the Free State of Fiume factors into all this.

I've heard various cases made that the US civil war was "the first modern war" for various reasons, including that the entire country was mobilized to fight, it wasn't just army against army, but nation against nation, also the strategy of "total war" in Sherman's march to the sea, destroying the confederacies ability to manufacture, and Grant's strategy of defeating the south through attrition rather than military victories.

Is there any validity to this claim, or is it just Amero-centrism?

I'm not asking if the war happened in this way, but rather was it influential in the course of warfare afterwards? Did other generals and countries see these events and use some of the strategies first used the the US civil war?

I’m reading Caesar’s memoirs on the conquest of Gaul and the civil war and he never states he said that. Where was this statement first attributed to Caesar?

It seems to have become more common in the 1920s-30s, but I'm not sure if there are any detailed studies to back up my inference. *I suppose it may not be in some parts of the world to this day.

My general understanding of Columbus' voyage is that he thought it was possible because he figured the earth was smaller than what people had thought it was for thousands of years. This belief was so wrong that he was ridiculed before he finally found someone to sponsor the voyage. Say what you will about him, but I doubt that Columbus was a stupid man. He must have had some "evidence" that the earth was smaller than commonly believed in order to be willing to undertake the voyage. Did he base his belief on his own measurements? Were there scientists or any other scholars who agreed with him? Was there any sort of debate about the size of the earth within the scientific community at the time, even though the 'smaller earth' camp might have been an extremely small minority? Was Columbus' belief based on scripture at all?

I'm good at history. But this is one of the things that confuses me so much.

During the arms race between the US and the USSR which took place from the 1940's to the 1960's, both superpowers had their own testing areas. The US always tested its bombs in Nevada or the South Pacific, while the USSR tested its bombs in Siberia. So, that got me wondering, how come we didn't test our nukes in Alaska? Much like Siberia, Alaska had miles and miles of uninhabited wasteland, so it would make sense to use it as a testing ground. So how come we never tested nuclear weapons there? Was it because Alaska was too close to Russia?