I've always been taught Jews were the primary and main victims of the Holocaust. How does the persecution and killing of Communists, Leftists, Socialists, and Soviet Union population compare to the persecution of Jews? Was it greater or lesser in magnitude?

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Edit: WOW 100 upboats and only 1 answer!

Did Buchanan actually do something to exacerbate tensions leading up to the Civil War, or was he kind of left holding the bag, so to speak, when it came to an existential American issue?

I am a history student in Taiwan. My access to state-of-the-art Medieval studies is limited, still more limited is my knowledge of Islam, so please correct me whenever I'm wrong.

Most scholarly-reviewed textbooks in the west now praise Islam world in the Middle Ages to be advanced in medicine, science, political prowess, access to Greek and Roman texts, and religious tolerance, etc.. Few historians, however, dared to conclude that in general the whole Muslim world was simply more advenced.

It is of course impossible to speak of "advanced" without clear criteria. I am more interested in the following:

1. Education: was the Muslim world in average more literate? Was the Muslim court more "civilized" (in Norbert Elias's sense) than the Europe (at least until the Renaissance)?
2. Greek and Roman texts: We know that Muslims preserved and studied these texts better than the Europeans, and that the former helped the latter a lot. But were these centuries-old texts more important than actual hands-on experiments in early modern scientific discoveries? (Or on the contrary: it is the rebuttal of these texts that led to new discoveries?)
3. Philosophy/theology and Science: Scholasticism was arguably an important predecessor of modern philosophy, even though the Church from time to time had to eliminate "heresies". Was the Muslim world more open to philosophic inquiry and contributed to modern scientific methods (the definition of which is still contested of course)?
4. Medicine: Quite some sources during the Crusade have told me that medicine practice and surgery in Europe was simply barbaric or even lethal (e.g. kicking the devil out of head by drilling a hole on it; healing a minor wound on leg by chopping it off) compared to Muslim counterparts . How much of it was true? Can we obtain reliable life expectancy data or medicine textbooks to discuss the problem?
5. Religious tolerance: in practice and in official ideology (or religious dogma), were the Muslim sultans more willing to tolerate diverse religious communities?
6. Commerce: Did any part of Europe host a commerce and industry as thriving as that in Muslim world? Was Henri Pirenne right to say that Christian Europe was cut from the Mediterranean Sea during the advent of Muslims?
7. Did the Muslims perceive Europeans as barbarians based on aforementioned problems?

Im trying too find books on Medieval Iran that are up too date on scholarship and are pretty comprehensive. I belive the medieval ages in Iran is post sassanid pre safavid correct me if wrong

Disclaimer to say that I'm not a believer in Ancient Astronauts or anything. Just curious about the reaction to these ideas when they were first receiving mainstream international attention.

My mother, who has two Master's degrees in history stated while we were watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone that the goblins in Gringott's Bank were meant to be stereotypes of Scots, not Jews. This is seen as a MAJOR controversy in the Harry Potter fandom. She then said that the Scots were seen as very penny-pinching in those two periods. Is this true?

I tried to do some initial research, but other than clarifying that Rams are generally for Walls not Gates, I wasn't able to determine any specifics regarding timeframe for breakthrough.

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I might assume the Romans might keep detailed enough records if it takes a long period of time, they would track the progress of the Ram over the course of days; and the lack of such records might imply it would do the work within a short period if it wasn't stopped, such as within a single day. However, this seems like a dangerous assumption to make.

The goal for this question is to design a classical era siege game, and I need to figure out if Rams were more "strategic level" weapons you deploy over the course of days or weeks, or a tactical level breach generator you send with your troops on the main assault.

I have listened to member of the Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter-Day Saints argue that the natives, the Central Americans in particular, were familiar with the contents and stories of the Bible as if Christianity and Jesus had spread to the Americas before European contact in the 15th century. Are there any accounts pointing that back this?

When prompted by George Burns, Gracie Allen always responds "Goodnight," but so many people use the punchline "Goodnight, Gracie." I saw this joke on a 1976 episode of M.A.S.H., was that the origin or does it go back further? I appreciate any input.

It seemed like Ethiopia could’ve been the African version of Japan. Like Japan, it was one of the very few countries in its respective continent to not be colonized. It also is next to water which is advantageous and unlike other African countries it doesn’t have many natural resources. This makes me wonder why they never made up for that by industrializing and capitalizing on the advantages it did have

I've been rereading the Richard Bolitho series, and the author makes frequent reference to ships going into battle with marines standing on the quarterdeck, bayonets already fixed. This seems odd to me...wouldn't the bayonet interfere with loading the musket? It seems like fixing bayonets is something they'd do when a boarding was imminent, not when "simply" engaging in a ship-to-ship action.

I’m interested in how medieval Egyptian writers portrayed Pharaonic era monuments such as the pyramids. Did they understand them as being the products of Ancient Egyptian civilisation or did they view them as something else?

In my State, it takes three years to go into tax foreclosure on real property. I would guess maybe the same or less for mortgages/private loans. Was there any government or non-profit organizations set up to protect the assets of Japanese/Asian-immigrant citizens who were imprisoned during Wold War II? If not, is there any recourse that catalogs how much property was lost by Japanese immigrant/Japanese descendant citizens during and immediately after World War II?

I love the art of miming, and I've seen many times in movies, ads, and newspaper strips (like Bloom County) and such mimes being treated as annoying or just mocked. This is purely anecdotal of course so take it with whatever salt you wish. Was there an event(s) or a person that made mimes be seen negatively at some point in American history?

Looking up the testing on Wikipedia, some of the tests were dropped from planes or exploded from a barge, so why not do that in the Pacific and then they wouldn't have had to relocate the people who lived there? What was the advantages of doing the testing on a tiny atoll?

During WWII Hitler bombed London to damage morale and over the years there have been other military forces who have used equivalent tactics. And every so often on line I see someone dropping the line about how if we bomb such and such a city it will break their moral and they will surrender like the cowards that they are.

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However I can't think of a time where indiscriminate bombing has been any other then a way to harden the resentment of the civilian population against the people doing the bombing. So has this 'tactic' ever worked?

Sometimes it feels like the Kingdom of Macedon just sprang into being with Phillip and Alexander. But it's a fact that Macedon has existed since 800 BC at least. Are there any comprehensive works about that period?

Three important Khans of the Golden Horde in the 14th century were Toqta, Özbeg Khan, and Janibeg Khan. At least that's what appear to be their commonly accepted names, there's a thousand variants to them it seems.

Now, the most obvious difference is that Toqta was just, well, Toqta. His successors were Özbeg Khan and Janibeg Khan. Instead of just Özbeg and Janibeg. Am I reading too much into this, or is this perhaps a misunderstanding and Toqta was also known as Toqta Khan?

Also, follow up question: What's the meaning of Janibeg and Özbeg both ending in -beg?