How did the Cyrillic Alphabet (or some version of it, at least) make it from Greece to Russia? Did it even originate in Greece?

1 Answers 2017-08-29

How well traveled and educated were early medieval nobles and royals? (Chiefly from 500-750)

I'm asking this because I seem to read about many Frankish and Gothic nobles traveling to places like Constantinople and knowing about the geography and culture of Persia and Egypt.

1 Answers 2017-08-29

Was the German instrument of surrender pre-drafted? Why would they have to hand write in the dates?

In the second article under the act of military surrender the date and time are hand written. It is penciled in that Germany will surrender at 2301 hours on may 8th, (1945) but the rest of the document is type written. Any reason?

I guess what I mean to ask is why couldn't they type in the dates, why did they hand write them.

I didn't see anything when I search for it.

Here is the document. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Instrument_of_Surrender

1 Answers 2017-08-29

How were drugs prepared in the middle ages? And what kinds of drugs existed back then?

Sorry if this was asked before, but I am curious about how they went about it

1 Answers 2017-08-29

I recently purchased a Flintlock Pistol from an Antique Store and on the handle it had some markings that I cannot identify.

On the handle of the Pistol is the engraving:

  • UC EL *** (with the stars (5-point stars) arranged in a equilateral triangle pattern).

I have searched a few historical databases regarding the markings usually found on Flintlock Pistols (or pistols in general) and not found anything concrete.

Here for example it states on page 5 that 1 or 2 Stars represent the Proof Marks of an 1897 Flintlock Pistol with Smokeless Powder of French Origin.

However I cannot find any reference to "UC EL" or the 3 star variation.

Has anyone come across these kind of markings on any weapons before or have any historical references that might list such things?

Sorry if this is an inappropriate question for this subreddit but I didn't know where else to ask.

Thanks for your time and help.

1 Answers 2017-08-29

GRRM said "The medieval world was governed by men, not by laws. You could even make a case that the lords preferred the laws to be vague and contradictory, since that gave them more power." How true or false is this?

The full blog post is here.

5 Answers 2017-08-29

What were the predominant schools of economic thought before Adam Smith wrote The Wealth of Nations?

1 Answers 2017-08-29

Battle of Stalingrad

Between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943, did Einsatzgruppe 4a or any of the Sonderkommando units serve with Paulus's 6th Army at Stalingrad?

1 Answers 2017-08-29

To what extent was the Vatican aware, or perhaps complicit, in the fascist Ustaše regime's genocide against non-catholics?

1 Answers 2017-08-29

It's common knowledge that reporters opted not to report on Franklin D. Roosevelt's use of a wheelchair during his Presidency. Do you think this was this due to their sense of patriotism caused by the Great Depression or was it a normal level of discretion in reporting up to that point?

Either they kept his wheelchair from the public out of a feeling of duty for their country during the Great Depression or out of a sense of decency in their professional field. Or of course a combination of the two, but I'm curious which one you think was more dominant and why.

1 Answers 2017-08-29

What kind of resources should I look for to learn about how different types of "dwellings" were developed by cultures based on the environmental challenges they faced?

An example would be Kombai tree houses, and the environmental factors that led to this design.

Is there a name for this subject? I'd like a relatively comprehensive reference to read over so that I can better understand what types of dwellings should exist in different types of environments. I'm really interested in studying up on this, googling every combination of "ancient architecture why environment" hasn't yielded any relevant results. Any pointers in the right direction would be highly appreciated.

1 Answers 2017-08-29

A teacher once told me that long hair went out of fashion for males during WWI. She said something about the long hair attracting lice and people having to cut it short, which then stayed after the war. Is this true?

2 Answers 2017-08-29

Why did Germany support Ethiopia during Italy's invasion of Ethiopia in 1935-1936

I found this odd since wouldn't it be in Germany's best interest to have good relations with another fascist state in eupore?

1 Answers 2017-08-29

How did China come to have so many massively populated cities?

China is the third-largest country in the world by area, ahead of even the United States. And everybody knows that it has the largest population and quite an extensive history behind it. I get all that so far.

What I don't get is how this idea that all of China's population is concentrated only in a few large cities... doesn't appear to be true. There are massive megalopolises everywhere throughout the country:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_China_by_population_and_built-up_area

According to that article, there are fifteen cities in China that have an urban population over eight million. That's the population of New York City. I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of eight million people living in a city in my country, let alone fifteen such cities.

In the United States, the largest cities' populations drop off pretty quickly. Not long after NYC, you start seeing cities like Philadelphia and San Antonio, which are not particularly significant. But in China, you can go a bit down the list and run into cities like Wuhan, Suzhou, and Shenyang.

These are all NYC-sized cities, but unheard of on a global scale. China is the only country in the world with so many of them. Especially if you take the one-child policy into consideration, how did China end up with 102 cities with over 1 million people while the United States only has ten?

1 Answers 2017-08-29

In Game of Thrones, Tyrion tells Jon the population of King's Land: around one million. How familiar were noble lords (Or the intellectuals) of feudal Europe with the concept of "large numbers"?

1 Answers 2017-08-29

Are there many recorded interactions between the Holy Roman Empire and the pagan Norse?

So I've been reading about Emperor Otto II and his subjugation of Norway/Denmark in the 10th century. What did Norsemen think of the Germans in this time period? Also interested in German perceptions of the Norse.

1 Answers 2017-08-29

How did we decide on time increments? (Hours, minutes, and seconds)

I understand how we came with the concept of days and years. Those are fairly easy with the sun coming up and down and the seasons.

However, I have always been curious how or why people decided to divide a day into 24 even "segments" why not 10 or 50 or any other number? And how and when did people decide to divide a 24th of a day into 60 smaller segments and those segments into 60 smaller segments.

1 Answers 2017-08-29

I'm trying to do research on naval leaders of the 1700s.

English, Spanish, and French specifically. I'm looking around online and not having much luck finding a good database for captains, admirals, and the like from 1700-1720. I understand this is kind of specific, but there must be some info somewhere.

1 Answers 2017-08-29

Why does it seem that Kings were referred to as Princes in 17th century texts?

I'm not sure if this applies to all literature and whatnot, but I was reading the Licence to establish a colony in Virginia by King James I in 1606, and it mentions things like land "not actually occupied by Christian princes". I also see the usage of 'prince' for what seems to be a King in Hakluyt's appeal to Queen Elizabeth I. Am I just not understanding correctly? Am I wrong in thinking that they're Kings but in reality they're Princes? If so, were Princes historically given control of colonies? If they actually were referring to a King as a 'prince', how has English evolved to make Prince-->King?

1 Answers 2017-08-28

Have any castles ever been built across rock outcroppings like Game of Throne's Pyke?

There seems to be a popular castle type in fantasy settings, like Game of Thrones, where a castle is built stretching across one or more rock outcroppings that are separate from a mainland. Are there any real life historical castles that match this? Building a castle this way would be incredibly expensive and so I doubt there are any real life ones, but I was curious.

The closest I can find is Lichtenstein Castle, which really just has a bridge across a valley.

You can see what I'm talking about in this picture https://awoiaf.westeros.org/images/9/9d/Pyke_HBO.jpg

An extreme version is Maleficent's castle. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/11/ca/76/11ca76907a5713a15f45ab222ed0f377.jpg

2 Answers 2017-08-28

Who are the current descendants of the Native Americans who stayed behind in Asia instead of crossing the Bering Land Bridge?

2 Answers 2017-08-28

How fid the transition from the fall of the Roman empire to the feudal systems?

Edit: happen?*

1 Answers 2017-08-28

I can't help but notice similarities between Norse mythology and many Christian beliefs and stories. Which came first?

From Odin hanging from the World Tree and taking a spear in the side to formation of humans from natural matter, there seem to be a lot of similarities between old Nordic tales and common Christian themes. Can we know how much the Norse influenced Christianity, and vice versa?

1 Answers 2017-08-28

In 2039 will the US have to give back the naval bases from the 1940 so-called "destroyers for bases" agreement?

1 Answers 2017-08-28

Can someone please explain each roman era? How it changed over time?

1 Answers 2017-08-28

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