I was looking for a good biography of de Gaulle to supplement my general French history readings. Ideally, something that is accurate and readable - too often bios tend to be a bit long-winded for me in trying to cover every minute detail. If there is such a book, or even an article or essay that anyone could recommend I would greatly appreciate it.

More specifically, if there are any that examine his desire to prevent France from being divided up following the war, and how that influenced his foreign diplomacy - bonus points!

I heard from a friend, then found at least one corroborating quote that leads me to believe Pope Gregory I declared Laurices/Rabbit Fetuses to be fish/marine life?

Where did this notion come from?

Hi, I'm writing a short story set in around mid 19 century in Europe and I was wondering if peasants had guns at the time? Or did they hunt with bows? Or did they hunt at all? Sorry if this is a dumb question but I can't seem to find much info online.

I know this might sound dumb and all but recently, COD WW2 released a dlc about the French resistance. I know I prob shouldn’t use these games as a source for reliable information but I just can’t help but feel they’re over exaggerating what the resistance was maybe? But according to said game, the resistance played a major key in taking back France but somewhere I read that the resistance wasnt even close of that caliber. So how effective was the French Resistance ?

I recently read in another history sub Reddit that the decline of the ottomans is considered by most historians to be a myth, but if you look at the power of the ottomans in the late 17th century relative to other European powers and then compare ottoman power relative to other European powers in the late 19th century there appears to be a clear "decline of power"

So am I just missing something, or did the decline actually happen? Thanks

I've always wanted to know more about this entire conflict and after reading the wiki page I'd like to get a more in depth understanding of the conflict. I don't really care how long or dense the book is, I'm just hoping to get some recommendations before I go ahead and purchase the book.

Thanks for any help that might be offered!

I've heard that a lot of advanced metalurgic techniques were required, but a breastplate seems like it would be easier to produce than say scale mail.

I just finished Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, and found the sections on George Washington’s moral and economic struggles with the institution of slavery to be interesting. He was apparently morally opposed to it, but couldn’t find a pragmatic solution to the issue of southern plantations depending upon slavery for their livelihood. Most legislative attempts to end slavery were non-starters, and the “kick-the-can down the road” approach became the de facto policy.

But it also seems like owning slaves was (at least for Washington) not really all that profitable due to low motivation of the slaves as well as having to pay for their meals, lodging, health, etc…. So why not try the approach of freeing his slaves, allowing them to live and work on the land, and splitting the profits? Was this approach or something similar attempted at any point? Would such an approach even have a chance of succeeding?

When the ancient Cyrillics invented the language that almost all the north countries speak(Bulgarians,FYROM,Russia etc)

Like I asked in the title, I'm curious about how Muslims in the Central Asian members of the USSR. I know the Soviet Union downplayed the Russian Orthodox church, but what about Islam? What was life like for Muslims in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkmenistan, and how different was it from that of neighboring independent countries?

As the title says. I'm just wondering how each source covered the event.

My history teachers says that they only lived until 15 on average, but I feel that that is a bit ridiculous. He doesn't have a source for that claim, so here I am.

so if bows used in war had poundage that required training since childhood, what was the poundage of a bow used for hunting, since penetrating the skin of an animal with an arrow is most likely easier than whatever armor soldiers wore

My grandfather was a Cossack calvary officer from just outside Tblisi, Georgia. After attending a military academy he fought against the Germans in the Csar's Army in WW-I, and when he returned home, joined the White Army fighting the Reds during the Russian Revolution. He eventually emigrated to the US in the 1920's. He once told me of a traditional toast made by Cossacks, a farewell courtesy provided by their hosts. Phonetically it sounded like "Striminoya" -- sorry, don't have the actual spelling in Cyrillic. I think it meant, "One for the stirrup" or "For the stirrup" meaning one final shot of vodka just before the first boot stepped into the stirrup as a Cossack mounted his horse to gallop away. Can anyone confirm or add to that memory?

NEW: Just found this word for stirrup -- стремя. If I recall my Russian alphabet pronunciation, that would sound like "strimya". So maybe the word was actually "Strimyanoya." Sorry, it was a long time ago.

Hi r/AskHistorians, my name is David S. Anderson. I am an archaeologist who has a traditional career focused on studying the origins and development of early Maya culture in Central America, and a somewhat less traditional career dedicated to understanding pseudoarchaeological claims. Due to popular television shows, books, and more then a few stray websites out there, when someone learns that I am an archaeologist, they are far more likely to ask me about Ancient Aliens or Lost Cities then the Ancient Maya. Over the past several years I have focused my research on trying understanding why claims that are often easily debunked are nonethless so popular in the public imagination of the past.

*Thanks everyone for all the great questions! I'll try to check back in later tonight to follow up on any more comments.

**Thanks again everyone, I got a couple more questions answered, I'll come back in the morning (1/31) and try to get a few more answers in!

....This is admittedly somewhat prompted by that nightmare-inducing scene of Robb Stark in Game of Thrones, but my inquiry is more general.

Was this level of mutilation and humiliation - eg. for lack of a better description, sewing bits onto other bits, followed by a parade in dubious taste - at all common? I know stories like that of William Wallace's brutal torture and execution, but it was my understanding that enemy leaders were often imprisoned, ransomed, or executed 'normally' when not killed in battle. Is it naive to assume this manner of respect for a foreign or rebellious nobleman? Or was it common to mutilate and parade about the body of a vanquished enemy?

Many thanks, and apologies for the ghoulish question.