Did the Romans have some kind of contact with the people living in Arabia at the time? How were their relations? What did they know about their culture or politics?

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Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad was born in 570, the "Year of the Elephant", shortly after a failed Axumite campaign from Himyar on Mecca, led by one Abraha the Abyssinian. Modern historians dispute this, however, noting that from c. 565, Sassanid Persia governed Himyar and Abraha possibly died even before then. In light of this muddled timeline, when was Muhammad likely born?

Detailed explanation welcome.

I've read plenty of times about how Native American populations were wiped out due to the introduction of previously unknown diseases by Europeans. I haven't heard anything about the reverse. Were European diseases much worse than ones in the New World or was something else going on? Or was there just as much sickness among Europeans and I just haven't heard of it?

In recent months I’ve gotten a big interest in the Ottoman Empire and the birth of Turkey. I have a history on the Ottoman Empire coming in next week, and am almost done with Eugene Rogan’s Fall of the Ottomans. I’m somewhat disappointed that it focuses on the ottoman military campaigns in the Great War, while leaving cultural changes in the state, as well as the Turkish War of Independence, mostly off to the side. I would love to read about these much more in-depth, and I’d love to read about the war of independence and Kemalan/Atatürkan Turkey properly. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I've been reading a bit about Irish history as of late, and something that struck me is why is it that England has been the one to conquer Ireland and not the other way around? Why was Ireland "behind" England for so long? Less economic activity, lower population density, less centralized cohesive government? I realize questions like this are often difficult to answer and often reveal bad presumptions on the questioners part, so please feel free to answer fully!

I'm wondering about both American public schools and American Universities. Were there huge lectures in University like we see today? Were class sizes in public schools closer to the 10-15 range or the 30-40 range? How well were both funded?

I'm working on an Age of Sail novel (the year is 1803/04), mostly taking place in an English squadron holding up blockade.

At the climax I have a court martial over an officer killing another, and I'm not sure how the court would handle it.

The circumstances were, briefly, that the first lieutenant of a ship tried to kill his captain during a battle (and blame it on the enemy). Only the sailing master saw him shoot but he kept silent because the lieutenant was blackmailing him. The captain survived, not suspecting the truth, but one of the younger lieutenants eventually found out, had a confrontation with the first lieutenant and ended up killing him. Not even in a duel, just went berserk and stabbed the bastard.

Afterwards he surrendered to the captain, who, after finding out about the whole story, got the admiral involved. My question is, would the court take into consideration that the victim was guilty of a murder attempt against a superior? Our young lieutenant is certainly in a lot of trouble, although his captain tries to help as much as he can. (These two are secretly in a relationship, which, of course, they have to hide from the court.)

Also: would they have the court-martial right there at the blockade fleet (they have more than enough captains present) or would something like this warrant a return to Endland at least for those involved?

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The most famous story of North American colonialism is obviously the Mayflower Pilgrims, who emigrated to America in order to avoid loss of religious/cultural identity. This seems like a problem which European Jews would likely commiserate with during the period of American colonialism. Were there any Jewish Mayflowers?

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Personally, I have no idea why, I am in no way racially prejudice but I would like further insight into this.

Mods, delete if this isn't appropriate.

I am really struck by the role of the "German Princes" in the success of Martin Luther. I would love to read something detailed about the politics, economic, social and military history of the period 1500-1550 in the region and relationships to the Holy Roman Empire/rest of the continent.

The challenge is that I keep getting directed to Luther biographies or histories of Protestant Reformation. These are great but I am already familiar with much of it and it's not where my interest is now.

Any thoughts on something? Even if it isn't booklength treatment but part of a broader Europe or a longer period, I would be happy.

Thanks!

Was Dundirk the turn around in WW2? Why was Hitler backing his troops and hold them back for 2 days? I thought it was because he was fighting against his own generals. Source: Adolf Hitler Biografie Peter Longuich. (Really good book dunno if it's available in other languages then German.)

Tools from before the Renaissance era, regardless of location or origin, seem really rough and primitive looking compared to those afterward. Is this solely due to damage incurred over time to the individual artifacts because they've been able to build up wear over the years? Or was there a genuine rapid advancement of tool quality and craftsmanship that occurred during and after the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods? If so, did this advancement start to particularly pick up in England in the 1700s just before the Industrial Revolution?

As the title states. I would assume that people wouldn't really know what it was, if they ever encountered it, since it wasn't really understood (by today's standards) until sometime in the 19th century.

Would they have thought it to be witchcraft or supernatural in nature?

I'm interested in where the disabled fit in socialist theory and policy. Because it is probably a broad subject, I am interested specifically in what Marx thought of disabled peoples' status as workers, and how the early USSR and CCP treated them.

What strengths did Islam have that caused such great conversions, conquests, etc. for it to dominate the Middle East? Why didn’t Christianity also spread widely and deeply across Arabia?

Hello fellow historians,

I am a history grad student and I need help on deciding a topic for a primary source research paper (4 pages) on the Dust Bowl. I have found plenty of pictures and letters from people during that time, but I need a focused topic on the Dust Bowl. I would like to focus on the devastation of crops and farmland, but I'm open to anything really. Anyone here have any ideas?