We know today that confessions gained through torture are quite often unreliable. It seems to me that this could be observed without modern knowledge. I would think that people might have noticed that information given under duress often turned out false. Is there any evidence that people ever doubted the usefulness of torture?

We've heard stories of how capitalist countries (United States, Germany, etc) were affected by the Great Depression, but how did the Great Depression affect the Soviet Union, considering that it had a different economic system from the capitalists?

I'm curious if there is any archaeological evidence from any of the ancient Egyptian periods south of Kerma. Do we know if Egyptian scholars knew about Lake Victoria or the source of the Niles other major tributaries?

Also, not sure if this should be another topic, but do we know if the Roman empire had any desire to explore south from Egypt? I understand the Sahara was considered an impasible frontier, but the nile seems like a nice fertile highway to new lands for conquest.

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Effective in terms of improving the chances of breaking through on the Western Front, or in terms of in terms of preserving manpower (using troops more effectively) on either fronts.

Less well-known things would be greatly appreciated...

Thank you in advance!

Hitler is always portrayed as having lifted Germany out of the post WWI economic crisis, spending massive amounts on building projects and secretly re-arming. Where did all of that money come from? It seems like 1930s Germany was doing better than the 1930s US, was that just propaganda?

This is much like our weekly Friday Free-For-Alls, but will run all month. This is the thread for all your black history-related outpourings that are not necessarily questions. Minor questions that you feel don't need or merit their own threads are welcome too. Discovered a great new book, documentary, article or blog? Has your Ph.D. application been successful? Have you made an archaeological discovery in your back yard? Did you find an anecdote about the Frederick Douglass telling a joke to George Washington Carver? Tell us all about it.

As usual, moderation in this thread will be relatively non-existent -- jokes, anecdotes and light-hearted banter are welcome. Rules regarding bigotry and racism and civility will still being enforced

My friend has told me numerous times that thanks to the Church in the middle ages, we were essentially neutered as far as technological advancements go, and the Church purposely kept people the dark so they wouldn't learn. He has a hatred of the Catholic Church from this. From my understanding this notion is wrong, but I'm not sure of the facts behind it. Can anyone shed some light on this?

Today the US and the UK are allies, but 240 years ago that obviously was different. Were the two countries enemies following the war or did they set aside their differences fairly quickly? What were US-British relations like during the decades after the war and how long did it take to have the kind of relationship they have today?

I've found myself having to look up the translations and then realized there would be no easy way for a reader to easily access translations when these stories were written. Were the foreign language portions included as simply a means of showing Holmes' brilliance or was there something more to it? I know very little about the Victorian period and thus don't know the intellectual expectations with which Doyle was working.

Does anyone have any book recommendations concerning the culture, society, or archaeology of the Atlantic, Italian, or perhaps Nordic Bronze Age (such as the Nuragic, Proto-Villanovan, or Urnfield cultures)?

And the identification of Lee Harvey Oswald as an aspiring Communist.

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For example, the Greeks settling along the coast of the zones we know today as Valencia or Catalonia or Marseilles. How come the Phoenicians weren't a power established there already? Or were they expelled by the Greek settlers? Sardinia had a confrontation between them besides the natives, I think, but Marseilles specifically is so well situated in the trade route that I cannot fathom why the Phoenicians were there before and if they were, how could not they fortify it so as to never be lost such a trade point.

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