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There aren't that many historical soruces of the Greco-Roman antiquity. Authors like Herodotus, Livy, Polybios, Tacitus and so on have been with us for a long time. Modern historical research has been active the last two centuries. I know "each generation rewrites its history", but is there really that many ways one can reinterpret things like the Peloponnesian wars, that hasn't already been done by the historical scholarship? Sure there is archeology which can give us new insight and there have in recent decades been new sub-fields of history: social history, women's history, history of slavery, economic history and so on. This is fine, but if I'm interested in the primary, older form of historical subject, that of politics, war and diplomacy, what research can be done? I'm about to end my B.A. in history, and wish to go an with an M.A. which means doing original research. My main interests are those of great power politics, war and peace, the sort of classical theme of history. However given the few sources, the duration of scholarship I'm in doubt whether I could write about such in antiquity. Any historians of ancient history here who can advise?

Been thinking a lot about how prevalent PTSD is in warfare and other tramatic events. Then it got me thinking about ancient soldiers or indigenous tribes and whether or not they got it too. At first i thought no since they had a legit purpose (defending their cities/towns) and the fact that explosions werent as prevalent as today. However, they still went through some same horrors i.e watching their friends die, people getting slashed or beaten to death, rape and plunder etc. But are there other reasons as to why they received PTSD or not?

Considering the huge death toll, it seems like a very bad choice when airstrikes could have been implemented first.

23andMe has determined that I "most likely had a fourth great-grandparent, fifth great-grandparent, sixth great-grandparent, or seventh great (or greater) grandparent who was 100% Yakut. This person was likely born between 1720 and 1810." That equals <0.1%, so I'm not sure about the accuracy.

How could a Yakut person born between 1720-1810 come to be an ancestor of someone nearly 100% European? Could the search for the Northwest Passage come into play, or would they have been more likely to immigrate west?

Hi there, I got asked by a member of family what I would want for Christmas, and being the dork that I am, I am thinking of asking for a biography of Wellesley. What better place to ask that than here? What would be a good biography for me to pick up?

What I am looking for in this biography:

I am not really looking for a glorified, almost pornographic, detailing of his greatest military accomplishments down to individual troop movements. If I wanted to find that, I am sure I could pick up any old book on the Napoleonic Wars and the Hundred Days and find that there. I more want to get to understand the life and personality of the man who is only really spoken about for his military accomplishments and brief time at the forefront of British politics.

If possible, I want it to cover his pre-military life. I would like to get an understanding for Wellesley's personality and how it shifted as he aged, shedding light into how conflict changed him as a person. I would like to know what interests he pursued outside of his careers in the military and politics, and how successful he was at them. His personal relationships with those around him would be valuable, as well as information about how he perceived contemporaries of his era. A book which provides a good, deep dive into any letters and archives from his life would be interesting, as that would shed a lot of light onto the life around him which I was not yet aware of. What made him happy? Which events in his life had a deep personal impact on him?

A book which explores these ideas would be incredibly interesting. Incidentally, is there a historiography of Wellesley that I should be aware of when looking into biographies of him? If so, could you make me aware of it, and if possible, recommend any texts which explore and contrast the differing viewpoints in the area?

Throughout most mythological Tales I've read the Fea, elves, faeries, and there ilk all used to be seen as unilaterally evil. They were blamed for many misfortunes someone might find across in their day to day life, however now when someone says fairy people think of playful and kid faeries like Tinkerbell or Fairy good mothers. When did this change happen, and why?

How to understand this?...

" (...) presumptuously treating the blessed miracle of Loretto with ridicule,and expressing yourself in your writings irreverently of his holinesthe great agent and Christ's vicar upon earth;"

It suggest that "Loretto" is a place in which miracle happened, and then that it's a person, probably the pope. What it is then?

What about LGBTQ "relationships" between slave owners and their slaves? And were there people who would own slaves with the sole purpose of procuring them and establishments specifically devoted to slave prostitution?

I'm researching post-WWII Middle Eastern conflicts but for the life of me I can't figure out why exactly what was the Arab-Israeli War was about, particularly the Jewish interest. Since Israel was a nascent state, I seem to think that it really didn't have the resources for war.

I really hope this doesn't run afoul of the current events/soapbox rule but I promise I am really trying to ask a history question.

I read an article drawing parallels between the situation with the railroads in 1887 and the current situation with the ISPs and I'm curios how historically accurate the comparison was. What was the unregulated rail system like and did the law have a significant positive economic impact?

Just generally being curious about crowns as physical and symbolical objects here!

What happens to marine, anti-ship mines after war? How were minefields cleaned-up and cleared out after the World Wars? Were new ones set-up during the Cold War? Do we know how many old mines may still be out there?

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Today Christmas seems very commercialized and flamboyant, and I was wondering to what extent this was caused by the desire to unite against those "godless soviets". I'm not too familiar with how soviet citizens would have celebrated Christmas, other than it would've been celebrated on the Eastern Orthodox day, but I wonder if some of the over the top decorating and massive commercialization we see today is a result of American pride more than "Christmas spirit", although now it seems to be more tradition than anything else.

Did Christmas always have the sense of unity and togetherness that we recognize today? Would it have been celebrated the same way in 1880's when the US was not involved in major international conflicts versus in the 1980's?

Hello there. I have a Serbian friend who keeps telling me that the massacre was both-sided and how both sides should have been convicted.

Since there is a Srebrenica rememberance day every year, she always complains about how nobody remembers the fallen serbian people.

My knowledge about the whole thing is not really big and the Internet only represents me subjective answers. Thank you in advance!

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