Looking at top 50 companies of the world in 2017 made me think; how would it compare to past, preindustrial lists? And even later, Medieval Europe up to the 1500s?. Would it be dominated by Agro-business and arms manufacturers?

Today, our pop culture is ridden with depictions of 'futuristic' super weapons: from satellite beam rays to mass EMP bombs - you name it.

But, to my understanding, pre 1945 pop culture, and society at large, was not aware of the concept of nuclear weapons until Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I've read a fair bit of 'classic sci-fi' and nuclear weapons only become a trope (or are mentioned at all) from 1945 thereafter.

Was society really unaware of the concept of nuclear weapons before they were effectively deployed in Japan?

I currently listen to these history podcasts:

The British History Podcast Revolutions The Memory Palace

I'd really like to be able to listen to the whole podcast. Some of them don't let you listen to the ones in the beginning.

I tried to listen to the History of Rome, but I think I just find Rome boring. Yeah, my husband thinks I'm crazy.

Thanks for the recommendations!

My family and I binge watched The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel last night in an effort to stay awake until midnight for New Year's, and I was struck by how much everything matches in her house. In one scene, her completely color-cordinated pink kitchen even matches her dress. How did this work? My kitchen is a mixture of cabinetry included with the apartment, inherited things, things I found cheap in stores, and things I purposely invested in. I can't imagine buying everything at once from one retailer just so it would match - especially since in this scene she is living in an apartment and would presumably have to move every so often as rent changed. What if her next apartment had green cabinets?? What if her grandmother died and left her blue cutlery?? Was this matching a real thing or is it a TV invention? If it was a real thing, how did it actually work on a realistic level?

The principle of the peace of Augsburg seems logical to me, why did it cause conflict among the HRE princes? Why couldn't it simply be extended to Calvinists?

Forgive me if this belongs in NoStupidQuestions.... struggling to find much information online about this kind of thing.

My grandfather asked me this question recently and it occurred to me that I don't know the answer. If it's a vague question to answer, the analogy I would use would be that France and Germany became culturally distinct (or at least started to be) after the fall of the Carolingian empire which separated East and West Francia.

Do China and Korea have a similar event in their history which marks their divergence into separate cultures rather than Korea just being a province of China?

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Was reading another post that mentioned the Romany and it made me wonder. I'm fascinated by people who live a way of life alien from my own, yet on the same geographic location.

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Or vice verse I suppose, was there a Little Rome in Egypt (before conquest) or South India where they traded often?