I'm thinking specifically of guns that soldiers could carry with them, not artillery. Were soldiers with these guns deployed alongside troops with swords and shields, or did handguns almost immediately replace things like pole arms as a primary weapon?

Does the difference in the two great works reflect an evolution in the conception of sin? Is it part of the Protestant break with the RCC, to start thinking of Satan as prideful instead of treasonous? Or is it that pride was always the main thing wrong with Satan, and Dante chooses to emphasize the treasonous nature of his act, because, as a 13th-century Florentine, betrayal and disloyalty are more significant for him personally/culturally?

Did they fail? Was it because of the weather?

So I am watching band of brothers with my father and a couple episodes (in particular one about Bastogne) made obvious that a lot of soldiers had difficulty keeping it together sanity wise ( which is absolutely understandable given how nasty the war was). It seems like soldoers would not react to people talking to them, stare off in the distince, say off topics things, shakes, etc etc. It seems like somrtimes the signs were subtle as to who was cracking from stress as everyone is breaking to a certain degree. Are there any accounts of how officers might handle a case like this in the field ie if they needed to fight and the person could not be rotated to the back of the line? For example, meditation is something that is becoming popular. That wasnt a well established thing back then. Was the only option to give the person room to breathe?

I keep thinking of the holes because the shields are round and the enemy slashing at their legs, and the lessened visibility, etc. Was it commonly used? How effective was it?

Unlike say The War of the Roses where individual battles are famous such as Towton is there anything similar with the First Baron's War?

There was even a scene earlier in the movie showing a store selling them specifically as house servant uniforms. Granted, I figure that if they were real, they probably weren't as skimpy as the ones seen in the film, and I'm well aware that Tarantino isn't exactly the most historically accurate director ever, but I was wondering if there was any truth to this particular scene. If so, isn't it a bit disturbing how fetishized said uniform is in America, and other parts of the world?

Would it be as difficult as reading through their texts or is the difficulty in reading just them spelling things more phonetically then we're used to?

I am currently watching the show Rome and it struck me to see the Ptolemy kid dressed as a pharaoh. I know little about history but I do know that the Ptotelamic dynasty is Greek, after the division of the Empire of Alexander. Looking at pictures of busts of Ptolemaic kings, they all look Greek, not Egyptian/pharaonic. Also, wikipedia lists them as "kings", not "pharaons", which suggests me they did not follow the local customs.

Can someone clear this up for me?

Regarding snowy regions with sub-freezing temperatures, how would a war party have approached the issue? Wouldn't it be difficult to strike camp quickly in snow? What of the carry weight of each man?

Can anyone explain the book burning that happened during the Qin dynasty in China? It’s mentioned briefly during the TV show Cosmos, they explain how Mo-Tzu created the worlds first light aperture. Then, Qin Shi Huang came to power seeking to unify China. In doing so, he allegedly burned all the books he could find, leaving only one copy of each in a library. It’s said he also buried many scholars alive who resisted. I’ve read that this library mostly got destroyed. This altogether effectively stomped most of the progress that had been made by Mo-Tzu. It took another 1000 years before another light aperture was created, by Ibn al-Haytham. He apparently picked up where Mo-Tzu had left off. My concern is that the accounts of the book burning and burying of scholars is debated for being false. I find this subject absolutely fascinating, and would love to know more. I also want to know if what I’ve written is accurate. Imagine what could have been had this book burning not taken place. It’s said that Qin Shi Huang feared knowledge in the hands of the common people above all else. He was ruthless, and enslaved a large portion of China that he had conquered. We live in an age where knowledge is more readily available than ever before. I believe living during the time period of Mo-Tzu must have been both scary as exhilarating for anyone seeking knowledge.

First of all I didn’t know exactly where I should’ve posted this. But I thought here would be a good start. Anyway I’m looking for books that are historically accurate and tells of War,politics,etc of stuff happening in the times of 1400-1800 (of course it doesn’t have to be the same book that covers all the times) but also I’m looking for good historical books about ww1 ww2 and even Cold War. If anyone knows books about these times and topics please let me know! Thanks!

I am having trouble imaging how the actual Martial combat of phalanx warfare happened when two opposing armies met.

If both sides had spears pointed in rows then did they just run into each other and hope that the other side chickened out?

I know it wasn't like 300 where people would break formation and have these badass one on ones cause the shield was too cumbersome to allow for it, plus it renders the whole point of a phalanx moot.

So what actually went down?

I've always wondered, how smooth was the transition from the Greek-roman pantheon to Christianity? Why didn't roman aristocrats overthrow an emperor whose suddenly converted to a religion they'd persecuted for over two centuries? And last of all, if the majority of the Roman Empire was converted at the time, how did Christians covert such a massive and powerful empire? As far as I know, there was no organized church at the time, while the Greek-Roman pantheon was organized.

If I've said anything absurdly moronic in this post, please tell me. After all, the point of this is to learn, right?

How developed the sanitary care? When did women start using a early form of sanitary napkins? What did they use?

My Anthropology professor told my class today that the Egyptian pyramids were not built by slaves, but rather it was the people’s duty to do so. He suggested that after the crops were harvested, farmers and labors alike would start working on the pyramids. Is this by any chance true? I was always told that slaves built them. He said we could debate him on this as long as we have 3 creditable sources.

I have had this question in my mind for some time now. I know the advantages of crossing the T as those that did had the ability to raking fire, etc.

I am curious as to what happens after the ships crossed the T? Do they stay in formation? Do they turn their ships in a circle and continue pouring raking fire at the lead ship? Do they duel with single ships? Do they try to cross the T again?

I have not seen any videos or literature regarding this and those that I have seen only discuss the importance of crossing the T, but do not go into detail as to how battles delved after.