Was it just a matter of India being a loosely organized collection of different cultural groups and the UK being united? Was it a matter of technological superiority? Why did it take until 1947 for India to receive its independence?

I'm working on a novel, and a key plot point revolves around a man leaving his home in the dead of night. What would his wife & loved ones (historically) do in this situation? The character(s) in question are lower-class, living in the area of New York that would later become Central Park (from what I can tell, by 1850 it was a lower-class community, so I figure a decade or so prior would work as well, and it ties in to my usage of the SS Sirius).

Nowadays, we would go to the police and a search would begin. Browsing the popular questions of this sub, it sounds like a local magistrate would be involved in my scenario, but I'm not sure as the question I found that particular answer to references crime and not missing persons.

Edit:

It has been brought to my attention that some other aspiring novelists/writers may have tainted the well of knowledge that /r/askhistorians is, whether due to differences in opinion (their scene/character trumping historical accuracy), or sheer neglect (ignoring the greater point being made).

My dilemma - and the reason I seek your answer(s) - is that I have no idea what the appropriate action(s) for those left behind would be. Would they wait? Appeal to the magistrate/police? Take matters into their own hands? It doesn't matter what the actual action is/would have been, I just need to know what it is. I just can't have an abandoned family sit on their hands and be unmentioned for 50k words, or have the police (or historical analogue, etc) suddenly decide to look for someone they otherwise wouldn't waste their time looking for.

All knowledge is worth having, and I thank you in advance for any of it you would care to impart.

Did they wheel out onagers, scorpions, ballistae, etc in pitched battles?

I just came home from Berlin and i started wondering how to british, american and French got hold of West Berlin when everything surrounding was under soviet control?

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How democratic, if at all, were the Soviets? If they weren't democratic at all, would it be possible to have a POD where the USSR would keep it's socialist economy but become much more open and democratic? Thank you.

Hi Reddit,

I need help with getting literature for my historyclass at university. My topic is Austria an Italy in modern times (1500 - 1800). Does anyone know good literature for an overview?

For a little more context, the man from China had just committed multiple murders with a saloon keeper's crew intended to keep the man from China in charge of the Chinese in the mining camp.

It may seem like a dumb question at first, but we’ve categorized past centuries into time periods, like the renaissance, the age of exploration, etc., so how would we know when a “new period” begins?

The question popped into may head when I saw a documentary about an old cathedral getting restored with old materials. They did however say that the built in materials span an age of nearly a millennium. So I assume people of older times didn't really bother with preserving already old buildings and structures the way we do?

So I am from Europe therefore we get just a basic level introduction in american history we learned the big things 7 years war ,revolution those things but the war of 1812 always sounded so interesting because of the destroction of the white house. For that am I here so what happend in the US during the Napoleonic era ?

Maybe it did, and I’ve just never read about it? I know that the US provided some support to the democratic government that was exiled to Taiwan, but I look at things like the Korean War and the Vietnam War and various other international “adventures” the United States engaged in after the end of World War II and I wonder why it didn’t try harder to stop the rise of Communism in China. Like the US practically bombed Korea into the Stone Age to stop a communist regime. What made China different?

I was wondering how have estimates of the number of deaths during the holocaust changed since the finding of the concentration camps to the end of the cold war and modern day estimates.

It seems to go without saying that killing children is wrong but many of Richard’s predecessors killed off unwanted deposed kings. Did he simply think killing the Princes was an extension of this or were there other things in play? Or are there legitimate reasons to think he was framed?

I'm writing a work on linguistic changes that Old Norse brought into English during this period, but I'd like to start with a semi-indepth historical overview.

Any go to books?

thank you!

A friend of mine made the observation recently that the Roman economy was unsustainable outside the conquring of new provinces and the subsequent influx of income from tribute, plunder, and the sale of slaves; and that once Hadrian set up fortifications in the Rhine, the East, and the north of Britain, that it was the end of Rome's territorial and economic expansion - which in his view was a mistake.

What is the truth about Roman economics?

Was it a sustainable system with long-distance trade with China, India, Africa, and the surrounding territories? Is there evidence that there was massive economic decline due to the end of territorial expansion or was this due to more complex issues such as lack of taxation of the rich in the dominate period, and the economic damage that civil wars and invasions cause?

Edit: For clarification I was thinking of Europe compared to middle east.

I was going through a article on medium regarding the protests of Women's rights to vote. Something that encapsulated my attention is that after they were taken into custody, they went on hunger strikes. There, they were forcefully fed. I remember the same thing happening during the Indian Independence Movement, when Bhagat Singh and his colleagues went on a hunger strike, they were forcefully fed; there was however, one person, Jatin Das, who died of it after like 50 days or so.

What confuses me is, why feed them? They are revolting, let them. What good would it do to break their strike. Their death doesn't make any difference either, as all revolts are eventually taken by iron hand.

P. S. Noobie here.