I was watching videos of people firing reproduction matchlock and flintlock muskets and as a leftie I noticed that the motions and also the design of the guns themselves seemed predicated on the assumption that the wielder is right-handed. Did common soldiers have some kind of work around or would they be forced to use their right-hand or would they just be assigned to a different role? Are there any examples of left-handed blackpowder guns that someone like an officer mightve had custom made?
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I saw this picture (NSFW nudity, it's Rising Sun panties on a topless model if you don't care to click) and it struck me that you'd never see the same with the Nazi flag (at least without it carrying a lot of racist baggage along with it). A Google Images search shows that the Rising Sun flag is still used by members of the Japanese military, seemingly without concerns about negative symbolism, and Amazon carries many pieces of clothing with Rising Sun imagery on them but almost none with swastikas.
How did these two symbols, each of which representing a defeated imperialist empire, each of which could well represent the murder of many millions of innocent people, should end up reading so differently to modern American eyes? I can't imagine that shortly after the end of the war the imperial Japanese flag would have been seen as a positive or neutral symbol, yet somehow it has become innocuous enough to be seen as mostly decorative or nostalgic.
It's also interesting that while the symbols of each country have been treated very differently, the mainstream American view of both is broadly similar, as modern peaceful economic allies.
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Could someone describe what common elements were during this time for rich noble people in Britain. How wild would these parties get in terms of loud music, substance (ab)use and sex (especially compared to today's parties)? Would there be parties open to anyone (including peasants) or only to an exclusive group? How long could these parties last? Any detailed description or examples would be much appreciated. I am asking for a story I am currently working on. Thanks in advance.
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I only ask because I've heard many ancient historians dismiss the label of genocide for events like the sacking of Carthage and so on. Also I've seen a lot of Carlin's specific claims debunked but he usually does a pretty good job, so how accurate's his overall perspective on the Gallic Wars?
Was it really the systemic destruction of Gallic culture and people?
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From: Keener, C. S. (2011). Miracles: 1. (ch. 6) http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/985103802
The author is discussing whether or not miracle reports can be accepted for study as history or not (arguing in the affirmative). I'm having trouble understanding his analogy with physics in the quoted sentence. Is the point here that physics doesn't tell historians what to study? If that's the point, this seems a rather odd/obtuse/weak way to say it. Other ideas?
The paragraph:
Even conceding these points, the boundaries themselves [what is/isn't proper subject matter for historians] reflect a particular line of historical development, namely a particular Western Enlightenment tradition in our discipline; there is no transcultural or transhistorical assent to these boundaries, and some disciplines have already moved beyond them. We cannot appeal to some cosmic “rules of our discipline” to prevent exploration of these issues; those rules evolved in a particular historical context, and as the guild we are allowed to rethink and revise them if needed. That is, we cannot blame the discipline as we have inherited it; we are responsible for what we do with the inheritance. Freedom to reengage old questions from new perspectives is part of what it means to think critically. From a theistic perspective, the exclusion of superhuman causes is arbitrary or even apologetically motivated against theism; from a neutral perspective, it is at best a suspension of the question for the sake of dialoguing based on agreed-on assumptions, not a metaphysical conclusion. However we define the rules of the discipline, historiography no more excludes the possibility of knowledge outside its conventional methods than historians would grant that physics does. Historians who choose to ask the questions may ask them with the same academic rigor employed when inferring human causation in events where such causation is debated. In a postmodern context, for better or for worse (or some of each), historiography’s rules are shifting.
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Related terminologies: abiku/ogbanje
Perhaps this is more of a sociological research question though I'm also interested in the cross-cultural, literary (Soyinka's Abiku, or Keats' Lamia) and historical materials related to this. Thanks!
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I am watching The Crown and they covered the Suez Canal crisis of 1957. It has me wondering if this was the first subversion of the UN? If not, what was the first?
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Hi AskHistorians.
I've got a picture of my grandfathers medals and I'm just wondering if anyone knows what they all are?
I know the 1939-1945 cross is there and the France/German Star is there but I don't know what the rest are.
Thanks.
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What were casualties like for the population on the ground from aircraft fire generated from air to air combat? Obviously bullets fall to the ground. When the b17s fought off German planes, lots of bullets were fired.
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Today:
Saturday Reading and Research will focus on exactly that: the history you have been reading this week and the research you've been working on. It's also the prime thread for requesting books on a particular subject. As with all our weekly features, this thread will be lightly moderated.
So, encountered a recent biography of Stalin that revealed all about his addiction to ragtime piano? Delved into a horrendous piece of presentist and sexist psycho-evolutionary mumbo-jumbo and want to tell us about how bad it was? Need help finding the right book to give the historian in your family? Then this is the thread for you!
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Question is hard to phrase, but I'm looking for US presidents who won the presidency but didn't get the absolute majority of the potential votes.
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There is often confusion in the literature about the difference between life expectancy and lifespan.
Life expectancy is average age of death calculated at birth, with lots of child mortality in the past we often get the impression that people lived short lives. Yet, life expectancy says nothing about lifespan or how old people became.
Life expectancy in ghana is about 45 but if you would visit the country you would see lots of people who are older because total lifespan is not that different from the rest of the world.
So, did people really live short(er) lives in the past?
I read something about humans having a natural lifespan that reaches about 70-80 years if they are not killed by external events despite the century that they lived in, even in ancient times and in pre industrial society's or even in paleolithic times. Could this be true?
There are also references in the bible about the human lifespan being around 75ish years.
Maybe modern humans living in industrial society only get a 5-6 year bonus instead of the decades you would expect if you only look at one statistic as life expectancy?
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I want to bring it up at the thing, but I understand many of them were annual meetings and that sounds like a long wait.
Were things held annualy or more frequently? Would an ad hoc thing be held to settle an important case? Were there local things for a villages/towns, or was this something reserved for larger regions?
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Is this an example of history being written by the victors?
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