In Eric Cline's 1177 BC, The Year Civilisation Collapsed he notes that the Mediterranean civilisation's principal source of tin was in Afghanistan. Given how important tin was to a bronze age civilisation (Cline compares it to the modern day focus on oil), do we know how this trade actually functioned?

For example, who was mining the Afghani tin and facilitating its transport westward to the Mediterranean? Do we know if there were ever attempts by e.g. Assyria to restrict/bottleneck the supply to put pressure on their more western neighbours?

Thanks for reading

Why didn't they use the same currency across the empire?

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In honor of a Catholic vigil that became a Protestant symbol that became a secular holiday that neo-pagans evolved and fundamentalist Christians boycott:

Scholars usually agree that the "ghost story" as an established genre coalesced in . the 18th century out of ingredients cooking in the 17th. But humans have been telling spooky stories about the dead and their realms as long as we can figure.

So for this Reformation Day/Halloween, tell us your best ghost stories from historical sources!

Next time: Non-Christian Holidays

There seems to be no evidence of this anywhere. Anytime I google it, it simply returns me to the wikipedia page or articles that are simply not about Oswald Mosley.

In January 1914, he entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, but was expelled in June for a "riotous act of retaliation" against a fellow student.

Is the exact quote.

Germany's allies could see the tide had turned after the failure in Stalingrad, and actively began to seek a way out of the war with secret negotiations with the allies. But I'm assuming the German's were under the influence of heavy propaganda, but when did they come to realize that the war was definitely lost?

Specifically, I was wondering to what extent people recruited in republic A and stationed in republic B had a choice in returning to their homeland, getting a new citizenship at their station, or picking a different republic C.

I have been wondering this for ages but there seems to be absolutely no information online about it. Maybe I'm searching the wrong keywords? IDK, an in depth answer about this would be awesome and greatly appreciated :)

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I've always had a vested interest in Soviet history, yet I always became confused at the subject of Soviet Elections. I found everything from Hardline Anti-Communists stating that there were never any elections until Gorbachev and until then, the USSR was a totalitarian dictatorship on all levels. To extreme Communists stating that the USSR had more democracy and elections than most capitalist nations did.

Assuming the Soviet Union did have elections: on what level did they take place, and when (if ever) did they take place?

edit: removed an unnecessary then

I can't find much information or excavations to help me find out what they wore, fought with (what type of swords or bows did they use?), or much of anything about them other than the Ashkenazi debate.

I am looking for something along the lines of a college level reading but without the 200$ price mark. Also, another point of interest for me is being able to find the sources from the book. and confirm/send my friends the source so they can confirm. Right now my interests are The middle east, South Korea, and the American Civil War. But if you have any book recommendations I would love to hear them ( not trying to start a debate on U.S foreign policy here) but would like to be able to talk about it with friends.

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With the notable exception of Zhuge Liang's propensity for cooking thousands of enemy soldiers at a time (which appears to be uncommon), the regular soldiers are frequently well fed and given new uniforms.

Most engagements are described as duels between opposing officers, and the men following whichever officer gained the upper hand would summarily rout their opponents. These routs generally are described as resulting in the capture -- and subsequent enlistment -- of the erstwhile enemy army.

The common soldier seems not to have much say/care for who gives the orders, so long as they're fed.

I understand that the book is romanticized fiction, but it's lead me to wonder if internal conflicts in ancient China were comparatively bloodless with respect to Greek, Roman, and European campaigns (to say nothing of the endless bloodbath of Slavic history).