On the small islands such as Iwo Jima and Peleliu, why did the Allied Force opt for an invasion instead of placing a naval blockade/bombardments for weeks until the Imperial Japanese Army was too weak to mount much resistance? Considering the U.S Gov knew what fighting the Japanese was like.

In contrary to almost all sub saharan African countries, Botsuana saw steady and strong development right off the start. While most neighboring countries decended into civil unrest or civil war or saw strong men taking over power, Botsuana build up a relatively stable, democratic and free political system. While most African countries suffered economically, Botsuana saw steady development. When it comes to human rights and corruption Botsuana seemed to have performed the best from the start. What are the reasons for the difference, especially when compared to other ressource rich African country that seem to have fallen prey to the ressource curse?

I'm writing a paper about status of women in Athens during the time of Isaeus(early 4th century BC) and Lysias(c. 445 BC – c. 380 BC). Could you please provide me with historical sources and publications concerning the time period ? Many thanks.

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If the British had a blockade of the American colonies' east coast during the war, how did Franklin get past the blockade to lead his diplomatic mission in France to persuade the French to enter the war?

Had prominent party members used their influence to enrich themselves? If so, were there any attempts to punish them for it?

Mark Forsyth claims in his recent book, A Short History of Drunkenness, that the vodka ban contributed towards the Russian Revolution. I've not heard this claim before, and can't find anything about it online. Is Forsyth just making this up, or did the vodka ban seriously cause the Russian revolution?

For reference, the claim is in chapter 17 of his book. The book is popular history and written in a humorous tone, so it's hard to know how serious he is being. He claims: "Historians have an awful lot of fun debating to what extent vodka caused the Russian Revolution." He cites factors such as the huge loss in taxes from vodka sales, the ban exacerbating social tensions (as the rich could get round the ban) and the newly sober populace realising how bad the government was. I don't know if these are serious factors which contributed towards the Russian revolution or not.

Roman paintings and statues are very realistic. Body proportions make sense

Why do medieval mosaics and miniatures look so unrealistic?

Why is there a 750 year gap between the Romans and the Renaissance where art declines in realism?

I've read that the reactions to the auspicious event(Vaka-ı Hayriye) -that they even call it Vaka-ı Şerriye, exact opposite opposite of the Turkish term in the Balkans- from the Balkan population were very hard, there were some revolts regarding the aftermath of the event. I can imagine a few answers to this because the Janissarries were very influential in the Ottoman state and they could potentially take care of the interests of their origin places, but then my question becomes why the population was against the blood tax if this were the case? I mean, in other words, aren't opposing blood tax, and thus the recruitment of Janissarries, mutually exclusive with opposing to the disbandment of them?

So I just got back from a trip to Japan, and naturally the Sengoku Jidai really piqued my interest. I learned, however, that before this period there were another series of wars fought between the four great clans:

1. The Taira clan

2. The Fujiwara clan

3. The Tachibana clan

4. The Minamoto clan

The question is: the impression I get is that these clans despised each other, so why do we not hear about their actions during the Sengoku Jidai, when the country was again at war? Did they all die out?

Because of the success of Hamilton and Chernow's novel, a lot of recent work is very pro-Hamilton, while (in my experience) my education was very pro-Jefferson. If I can be cheeky, reddit is also pro-Jeff more often than not.

I'd like an objective account that just lays it all out there for someone to make their own opinion. Can y'all recommend any titles like that?

While the rest of American commanders in the European theatre were angling for an invasion of France to relieve the Soviet Union, Churchill was the only lone voice insisting that the US Army should begin at North Africa where the opposition is relatively light (note that Roosevelt was also in favour of Sledgehammer).

Churchill felt that the green Americans should start with the less-organized Italians and Vichy French troops than the organized Nazi machinery in Europe.

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Obviously I mean samurai that either broke the code of Bushido or did some other bad thing. Were they forcefully killed? Banished? Japan is an island so were they forced off the island?