I run an Instagram about WW2 and recently I've found it hard to stay motivated, interested, etc. I was always very interested when I had a cable channel called Military Channel with a wealth of WW2 videos and I was so pumped. Recently I couldn't afford it and had to let it go and I've slowly been loosing my passion and inspiration. I know many of you are Historians and study one thing as your living, how do you stay motivated? Any resources or tips that really helped you? Thanks- Jack.

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I'm looking for stuff that's more focused on presenting the facts of what happened over having a spin like Oliver Stone's stuff. I basically want to watch things that historians would generally agree is factually accurate.

I'm thinking of writing a novel set in the past, centered around commerce and economics, but I have no idea where, when, and how it all started.

How did it begin? What are the major turning points or developments? How is it different from modern commerce and why?

And are there are any resources (Youtube channels, documentaries, books, etc.) on this?

I remember hearing about this lawsuit on the radio when I was a kid, and it being absolutely slammed as ridiculous overreach by the plaintiff. But since then, I've heard little bits about the case, and it seems like it may not have been quite so ridiculous after all...

Why was the USSR having missiles in Cuba such a huge issue to the rest of the world? How were they able to take the moral high ground when they had done the exact same thing in Turkey by pointing weapons directly at the Soviets?

Both of my Grandfathers served in WWII in the United States Marine Corps and Navy respectively. Since they have both now passed on, it is not as easy to learn about their experience in the war (they didn't like talking about it much while they were living anyways).

I was hoping to gain access to their official military records...or at least the ones that my father and mother would be allowed to access as direct family members. I figured this Sub would have some of the best insight and experience in doing this sort of thing and could help get me started in the right direction.

Any suggestions or advice on how to obtain official military information/documents related to my Grandfathers' military service during WWII would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance! Happy New Year!!!

In my observations, most wars were settled in one, maybe two, big decisive battles (example: Austerlitz and the War of the Third Coalition). Why were there so many big battles of the American Civil War? I find that I can name more battles from that war than I can for any other war until WWI. Why is this?

Slings are known to have been used commonly everywhere from the near east to the new world. I have never seen them mentioned in east Asia though. Were they just very uncommon, or did the east Asians just never use slings?

How critical was their massive incompetence to the ultimate outcome of the war? I suppose that is what I would really like to know. In the first two years especially, it seems like they just made so many huge mistakes.

My dad thinks Alexander the Great probably wasn't real, and uses the lack of original contemporary documentation of his life as evidence for this. I've tried pointing him towards documents like the Anabasis of Alexander or other works written by Greek scholars, but he says that all of these were forged during the Renaissance after being "translated" from Arabic. My question is whether the stone tablets or whatever ancient Greeks recorded their works on still exist, and if so where they're stored; do we have the physical remains of the original Anabasis of Alexander?

More specifically, I'm thinking about the period he was eleven or twelve, soon to be king. Could he say "I want a bridge build there" while being in the countryside, and expect people to follow out of fear that they would be sacked once he's thirteen?

I'm writing a text about Genghis Khan, the reasons for his success, war strategies, and how he affected the world in his time. Are there any articles or sites I could check out for information, or other sources? (Required "reliable" sorces) Thanks!

My grandmother wrote a memoir about her experiences as a child in Holland during WWII. In it, she describes an experience where she was chosen to go to Germany by train with a bunch of other Dutch children.

The children were told their throats would be checked, but my grandmother and another girl were chosen for a full physical. She did not know this physical was filmed until she heard about it from her grandmother, who lived in Amsterdam at the time, saw the film in a theater.

My grandmother recalls in her memoir that she was 9 years old. That means the film must have been shot between Sept 30, 1941 and Sept 30, 1942.

The memoir describes the film as being about, "how good the Dutch children have it under Nazi rule."

My grandmother describes being embarrassed because the elastic in her underwear was so stretched out, her mother had to use a giant safety pin to keep them on. (New elastic wasn't available.) Maybe that will help with identification.

My grandmother did not end up going to Germany because her sister came down with a sore throat. It's a good thing, too, because the train also had weapons on it and was bombed by the British.

Can anyone point me in a direction where I can find this footage? Also, a news article or something about the bombed train would be welcome!

Other whales attacking ship story references also welcome -

Dear r/AskHistorians,

What would be a good book, or book series, to read if I want to learn about the events of The French Revolution in chronological order and in some detail, but that is not too dry, and, ideally, provides interesting insight into the context surrounding those events?

I know I am asking a lot, but this is me shooting for the stars in the hopes of at least landing on the moon. Thanks in advance!

Sincerely, Srztanjur

Since the word was coined in the 1550's, I was just wondering if there was a name they were called for the thousands of years in between.