I am looking for recommendations for books on the Peninsular War suitable as a Christmas gift for someone with an intermediate knowledge of Napoleonic history: ideally something more detailed than a general history yet still readable and not too specific.

Alternatively, are there any summaries of the literature on the Peninsular War and the main academic disputes accessible online? Thank you.

People broke the church's rules on marrying all the time, especially kings. The church said you couldn't get divorced, but pretty much every French king from the 10th to the 12th century divorced their wife if it suited them. And the church said you couldn't marry your cousin, but Louis VII did this, and so did lots of other kings from the rest of Europe.

So if kings ignored the church all the time, did popes and bishops actually have any power over people marrying?

As a follow-up question, I would be interested in finding out if normal people like peasants followed the church's rules in marrying, even if kings didn't.

Before there were motorcades and Air Force One, what had been the U.S. Presidents' modes of transportation?

From the wiki page, it seems that most uses of the flail were by untrained peasant infantry who modified agricultural tools into their weapons. Military flails are labeled as dubious. But from my Dagorhir experience, flails are really hard to use (although you can get a good payoff if you figure out how). These qualities seem suited for a knightly weapon. Were purpose-built military flails really so rare?

Whenever you see a World war 2 movie or series you can't go with out seeing a soldier having or giving chocolate to either a kid or eating one pleasure. Did chocolate have any factors in war other than for morale boost?

My father, who lived through WWII, claims that the Nazis funded peace moments in Western Europe in the lead-up to World War II. Is this true? What evidence exists?

I was thinking about this today. What did soldiers call it? When was it officially named World War 2?

From what I know, during the festival of Saturnalia, (among other things) slave owners would provide table service to their slaves, and that in general, Slaves were seen as equals during the festival.

This has always seemed really strange to me, because usually when you think of slavery you think of all of the horrible connotations it carries, and not slave-owners making breakfast for their slaves.

Were they more amicable to each other? Or did they just do this because they just saw it as sort of a job that came with this particular festival?

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Perhaps I’m not interpreting the battle lines correctly...

I’m writing a book that while certainly fantasy, is set during the Napoleonic Wars, with the protagonist being a low ranking officer in the French army. I’m looking for books, articles, and documentaries that catalog the timeline and campaigns of the Grand Armee, anything that details how regular soldiers would live and spend their off time, the duties of lower end officers (Lieutenant/Captains) and how french citizens would be living (specifically in Paris). I want to be as accurate and true to as much of history as I can be.

So yeah, the more ancient it is, the better.

I tried the history of civ. but got sick of durants kind of patronizing tone very quickly. I already had a grudge against him from the history of phil although i finished that, but definitely didnt feel like enduring it through thousands of pages.

Couple weeks ago i started listening to the history of rome podcast, it wasnt that great from the beginning but at least it was something and i could doze off to it while at bed. Im at caesars stage now and im really sick of it too. The stuff is just an endless list of uninteresting intrigues really, its shallow and flat. Also really nerdy in a bad way. I dont care about the specifics of so and so 2k year old guy. Drawing analogies from today i cant even grasp how any of it could be true. Most people dont even know anything about their own parents and the world is riddled with propaganda, lies, bullshit.

I want something more abstract, more conceptual.

Number of workers involved, how large where these structures,how long tanks and other equipment where produced? How many workers each facility worked pre-war?

Defensive strategy used, offensive strategy the Germans attempted? Which held out and which failed and at what cost?

Was there anthing similiar, where, factories became their own battleground, able to withstand repeated assault?

It really reminds me of WW1 fortresses designed for a seige attack.

Any good reading on the fight in the factories alone?

I’m reading a lot of Jane Austen right now and there are many references to men being in the navy. What was daily life aboard the ships? Were sailors respected on land, or did it all depend on rank? What was the difference like between officers and sailors who didn’t have a rank? If you were in a high station in society, were you pretty much guaranteed to become an officer?

Thanks Historians!