The Battle of Kadesh in Ancient Egyptian history was an unbelievable campaign that ended in Egyptian victory as well as being known for creating one of the first peace treaties between the two civilizations. A lot is known of the ancient history of Egypt, but I can't recall anything about the Hittites other than the fact that it existed. I just know there's more to it than I was taught. What can the marvelous historians of Reddit say about the Hittite Empire? I'd love to know everything about it that the community can share.

I've recently moved to the US and was willing to know more about the country's history. I'm not a history reader but I thought it's necessary for me to know more about the country I live in. I've heard of "A Short History of the United States" by Robert V. Remini, and "A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn. However, I'm not sure how balanced they are and whether the authors have done a good job or not.

After reading about Aum Shinrikyo, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, and the famous cults in America, I have to wonder why there were so many cults during the 20th century, especially in the 70s-90s?

Lets say around the 1700s is when I'm looking for

I've never heard of either, but I'm very curious as to the general reaction to these phenomena, but also spiritual reaction.

I'm wondering what they did for safety, but also how they viewed them in a traditional sense.

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Did he/his administration think about the possibility of doing reforms like Deng did in China and open the country to foreign businesses?

Was the creation of special economic zones ever considered? and if so which areas were planned to be declared as such?

Hello /askhistorians, I am a history major in my second to last semester of undergraduate college. My focus is on the Holocaust and Nazi Germany with a second focus into anicent Mediterranean studies. I'm currently doing a research project of Unit 731, a Japanese unit that was deployed outside of Harbin, China during WWII that committed horrible medical atrocities.

I am here on the search for new research materials, I apologise if this is not allowed. I currently have works by Sheldon Harris, Kenneth Port, Hal Gold, Daniel Barenblatt, David Wallace, Peter Williams, and a few medical articles discussing the medical practices that contain many authors. If you have any insight on to the topic I am willing to learn more as well as be headed in good directions as far as research goes. Thank you /askhistorians.

So I am doing this crazy ass Alternate history that started when France and Mexico help the CSA in the Civil War basically. There's alot I want to cover in a series of Alternate History posts, but that's neither here nor there. If you were wondering though, I have gotten up to past WW1 (Axis Victory) and at this point so much has changed, the map is nearly unrecognizable. If you were wondering, the two sides of WW2 start forming to be salty guys from WW1 + nations that are salty from increased messing with internal affairs and powerful empires striving to keep status quo. The exact aides are the French Empire, Italy, Greece, Iran, the Confederacy, and China vs the German Empire, the USA (complicated land losses and gains), Quebec, Turkey (no longer an empire), Russia (but Capitalist), and Japan.

Anyway, back to the question, why did Hitler start relations with Japan when they were so far apart and would gain much from teaming up at that distance.

I imagine once dentistry become a science they would just pull the teeth but beforehand how did people deal with their wisdom teeth?

Populations were expanding and everyone needed fire wood on a daily basis. So how was it managed? There must have been something to prevent people from just cutting down the entire forest or we'd have done it by now. Did they replant trees?

Hell, could expand this to the Roman empire as well.

I'm a settler trying to move to San Francisco from Independence. Unable to find a wagon train I can afford, and seeing the odds stacked heavily against me should I encounter violence, I decide to preemptively learn every language I would need to get across by negotiating peacefully. What languages did I learn?

If somebody had taken out large bank loan or mortgage prior to the hyperinflation of say 200,000 marks, could they have paid off that once expensive loan with the same worthless currency which at that point would otherwise only buy them a loaf of bread?

I’ve seen photographs of WWI-era seamen being barefoot both while working on deck and in more ceremonial circumstances. I’m wondering if there’s any sort of story/reasoning behind this because it strikes me as odd that in one particular photo I found there was a line of Sailors being inspected and not one of them was wearing shoes while standing at attention

To clear up terminology, I think genocide is the large scale murder of those who belong to a certain group with the expressed intent of murdering them. E.g. Adolf Hitler expressed his intent to eradicate all Jews and murdered them on a large scale, so that's genocide. But: cities might be sacked in Medieval warfare and murder on a large scale would take place, but since the expressed goal wasn't to murder everyone, this doesn't count as genocide (in my book).

With that said: when did genocide become recognized as a distinct act? Is there concensus among historians on what constitutes the first genocide? The earliest genocide I can think of coincides with the advent of modern war, namely the Armenian genocide. Is this in fact the first genocide recognized as such, and if so, is it a coincidence it happened when it did, namely when modern warfare made killing people easier?

What I mean is rather than attempting to depose leftist governments or funding fighting against leftist rebels did any high level United States officials or politicians suggest aiding the leftist groups or leaders in an attempt to shape their relations with the US towards the US with aid or a more "dollar diplomacy" kind of tact? If so what became of their proposals and how did such proposals impact their careers?

Since the second war is within 20 years, I'll just ask the question within the context of the first war, which ended in 1996.

The author spends a lot of time detailing the horrific treatment of subordinates by those of higher (actual or perceived) rank, frequently culminating in serious injury or the death of soldiers in various segments of the military.

Was this a new development in the post-communist army, or was this already established?

It seems to have caused huge problems for morale and even safety, as soldiers regularly went AWOL or sold arms, food, and other items to Chechens in exchange for various necessities, since their officers seemingly wouldn't provide these items for the soldiers out of simple spite in many cases (according to the author).