Was there any concept in the Ancient Greek city states of there being specific years, starting from one year in particular? If so, was there consensus between the individual city states as to when they counted the years from?

1 Answers 2018-01-24

[Meta] Become a FAQ Finder! (details on our new FAQ Finder flair application process, and some search tips)

Hi there! Do you spend too much time reading /r/AskHistorians? Do you have excellent google-fu abilities, and a desire to contribute to the sub even if you're not ready for a flair yet? Well...why not work towards becoming a FAQ Finder?

Back in the early days of the subreddit before things were quite so set down in stone, the wonderful /u/searocksandtrees got a flair thanks to their efforts to find and link to old answers; they eventually became a pillar of the moderation team. And we basically would love there to be more people doing what /u/searocksandtrees does. We're always thrilled to see people link to old answers and the FAQ, and want to better encourage more users to assist on that front. It not only helps build more involvement in the community, but also helps the Askers get a response to their questions which might be overlooked, but nevertheless can be addressed by quality content in our archives.

As a result, we've decided to alter our Flair Application threads so that people can also apply for a FAQ Finder flair (which would also grant you the ability to add things to the AskHistorians FAQ) and do a bit of promotion of it (such as in this thread!) This FAQ Finder flair has some somewhat different requirements to regular flairs: specifically, we want FAQ Finders to show evidence that they have:

  • Consistently helped find previous answers on this subreddit, on average, a couple of times a week for a period of three months - we want people with the flair who'll keep FAQ Finding at a steady rate well into the future.

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  • That the FAQ Finding posts uniformly credit the original author (unless their account was deleted), and helpfully and courteously explain the general subject of what they are linking to. We want to avoid FAQ Finders simply dropping the link with no contextual information, or attempting to summarise the post - the FAQ Finding post shouldn't feel like a TL;DR for the post.

Of course, we see the FAQ Finders as being something of an ambassador to the sub, and we'd want to make sure that you made a good ambassador:

  • We will hold you to the same standards we do other flairs with your behavior. "FAQ Finder" isn't license to break rules in the subreddit, of course, and we will take into account a history of rule breaking in the sub. Likewise we will take note of unsavory behavior elsewhere. If you are awesome in AskHistorians, but railing about the Jewish World Conspiracy in a Neo-Nazi sub, you are not getting the flair.

So what are the benefits of becoming a FAQ Finder?

  • First, you get that fancy FAQ Finder flair next to your name.

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  • Finally, you get to join the vaunted ranks of the /r/AskHistorians flaired community, joining in the backroom revelry of the exclusive panel subreddit, where we all shitpost and complain have off-topic chats, organize online games, and even arrange IRL meetups.

Anyway, if you fill all the requirements, Apply for Flair! And if this is something you're keen to do, here are some resources for finding appropriate answers that might be helpful:

*Additionally, there are whole courses you can do to improve your ability to search databases like Google or Reddit, but often it's about thinking about different search terms that someone might have used instead - e.g., if you're searching for something about the Cold War and 'Russians' gets no hits, try other search terms: 'Soviets', 'communists', 'the USSR', 'Khrushchev', 'Stalin', etc.

4 Answers 2018-01-24

The value of convoys to protect merchant ships from submarine attacks was well known in WWI. Why was the lesson forgotten in early WWII?

By the mid-end of the First World War, the Allies have established a convoy system to protect merchant ships from Germany's U-boats. The convoys were very successful to that end, and helped win the Battle of the Atlantic.

However, come World War II, it seems all these lessons were forgotten, and for the first 1-2 years of the war, Allied ships sailed to to the UK almost unprotected, suffering heavy casualties. Only around 1941 did the Allies "re-discover" the value of the convoy system, and built dedicated corvettes to escort their merchant ships.

Given how critical merchant shipping was to Britain, and how obvious the WW1 lessons must have been, why were these lessons all but forgotten at the start WW2 and took years to "re-discover"?

2 Answers 2018-01-24

Does mass literacy only exist for national economic benefit?

I just read recently that literacy was shared throughout the masses as a result of the Industrial Revolution; basic education was only required because nations recognized the economic benefit.

How is this true or untrue?

2 Answers 2018-01-24

In the movie "Troy," Brad Pitt's character says that the gods "envy us" because we are mortal and that "any moment could be our last." Is there anything like that in ancient writing/philosophy/stories, or is it just another Hollywood good-guy line?

2 Answers 2018-01-24

I recently found out that Charlemagne was descended from a long line of Roman senators. Is this where royal dynasties tended to originate from in the immediate aftermath of the fall of Rome?

1 Answers 2018-01-24

Research Help (Native American Farming; Specifically slash and burn)

Hi! I have a research project that wants me to delve into how fire is an important material resource from around 1750-1850, so I thought it would be a good idea to look into Native American agriculture and how they used fire to help them create crops.

However, I'm a little stuck trying to find some good resources for my research. Does anyone have a specialist I can try and contact or maybe some good accredited sources that I can use?

3 Answers 2018-01-24

90% of people alive today are right-handed. To what extent can this be attributed to the actions of institutions such as the Catholic Church persecuting those who were left handed?

1 Answers 2018-01-24

Do you know who this german officer is in this scene?

Here's a picture of the scene.

And here's the video, at 0:04 - 0:08.

I'd like to know this because I remember playing Call of Duty: World at War a few years ago and in the mission Vendetta (the sniper mission) you have to kill a guy called General Heinrich Amsel. In the intro to the mission you can supposedly see a scene of this general (the scene I posted), although there was no Heinrich Amsel, as far as I know. Now I'm curious to know who this person really was.

Thanks for your help!

1 Answers 2018-01-24

Did 'brave adventurers' actually exist during the middle ages, or is it just a videogame trope?

2 Answers 2018-01-24

Why is the modern nation of Ghana located far southeast of the medieval kingdom of Ghana?

[deleted]

1 Answers 2018-01-24

Did Confederate soldiers have some kind of slang for Union Soldiers and vice versa?

1 Answers 2018-01-24

It seems amazing that the entirety of Europe was conviced to give up gods they had worshiped for generations and convert to Christianity so rapidly. What were missionaries saying that was so persuasive? What did Christianity offer them that other religions didn't?

1 Answers 2018-01-24

Pierogi is one of the delicacies of slavic cuisine. Is it true that they are an adaptation from the chinese jiaozi/dumplings? What are the earliest known records about pierogi recipes?

2 Answers 2018-01-24

How attractive would wealthy ancient Greek or Roman women be by today's standards?

In modern day films, women of ancient times are portrayed as looking as something along the lines of this or this or this

How accurate are these portrayals(slim, soft skin, nourished hair, attractive clothing) and would a man in modern day find the wealthy females of that time attractive?

1 Answers 2018-01-24

Did The Roman Empire have a grand strategy ?

It was under the Republic that the Romans gained land and generally expanded with the Empire being a time where except for a few wars were essentially focused on consolidating the territories gained under the Republic. At least, this is what I understand - Did the Roman Empire have a grand strategy of sorts?

1 Answers 2018-01-24

How did Martin Luther spark the Protestant Reformation?

2 Answers 2018-01-24

Conquistadors named their new discovery as "Costa Rica" rich coast for the abundant gold they found among the natives but no gold was ever found afterwards. Where did the natives acquire these riches?

The sources on this seem to be really sparse.

4 Answers 2018-01-24

Late medieval/early modern urban geography (?) - how was the population spread in a country in the 1500s?

Apologies if this has been asked before - part of my trouble researching this on my own is I'm not sure exactly how to search for it? Beyond the Domesday Book, which is much earlier than I'm curious about but still helpful, not sure where to look.

Basically, I'm interested in a zoomed-out view of the distances and relationships between cities towns and villages in the 1500s, especially in England. I've got a lot of questions - like how far villages tended to be from each other, how much land in the country was simply unoccupied, population sizes and how they were divided between settlements and to what extent they moved... basically I'm really curious about learning more about this sort of thing, but the only books I have/can find are more specific (eg, village life in detail, but also treated more close up/in a vacuum).

Does anyone have sources or info on this sort of thing? Honestly, just a general search term for looking it up would be helpful at this point.

1 Answers 2018-01-24

Why is the Marine Corp the only branch of the U.S. military without a dedicated four-year college?

While rewatching Homeland, this thought occurred to me. The Army, Navy, Air Force, and even the Coast Guard, have dedicated higher education facilities. I know many civilian colleges have ROTC programs that facilitate commissions upon graduation and the six senior military colleges cater towards military service in any branch.

Why not the Marine Corp? Was there ever an attempt?

2 Answers 2018-01-24

In War and Peace a recurring jest is the saying 'be promoted a German.' While I understood that this was meant to be a contemptuous slur, what's the historical context and explanation for why this would be seen as a quip?

Context this jest was made between 1810-1812 in the novel by the Russian officers.

1 Answers 2018-01-24

History of China

Hi Reddit,

Lately, I'm getting more and more interested by the history of China, but I don't know where to start. Do you have book recommendations ? I'm into "serious" books, not History-Channel-Sensationalistic tier books, so recommend me some hardcore stuff please !

Thank's Reddit

2 Answers 2018-01-24

There's Visigoths and Ostrogoths and Vandals, who spoke Gothic so I'll lump them in with Goths. Did they understand themselves to be Goths or is "Goths" an exonym applied by the Romans to these various East Germanic groups with little relation to one another?

1 Answers 2018-01-24

Life as a Historian

Hello everyone, I am 15 years old and my biggest dream is to become a historian. My questions are: how does one become a historian?
How much are historians paid? What does a historian do during his work days? Any tips? I already know that early medieval ages are what i want to focus on. I want to start studying that period in particular and it would be great if you could recommend me some books on the era. Thanks in advance.

4 Answers 2018-01-24

Were wooden sailing ships ever pitted against metal steamships in battle? How did they fare?

The leap forward from the wooden warships to the metal destroyers and cruisers in the 19th century seems gigantic, and the years between them seem so few. Were these types of ships used side by side in the late 1800s, or were the old ships (think Master and Commander) phased out quickly ones the new technology had arrived? Were there any battles where the two were set up against one another?

4 Answers 2018-01-24

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