I'm reading about the history of the Ottoman Empire right now and I've done some reading/listening to podcasts and the like on the Byzantine Empire as well and a strange common feature they both share seems to be periodic outbreaks of unrest/rioting in the capitol that threatens the stability of the regime now and again... is that something specific to these empires or are there other empires where unrest in the 'capitol' had the same result?

So I believe that during the age of sail in a big battle the line of battle ships would duke it out and frigates and corvettes would hang out and relay messages and stuff. It's my understanding there was a bit of an unwritten rule that large ships wouldn't fire on enemy small ships unless they started firing first.

Is this true? If so when did it start to end? I know torpedo boats became a big issue later on in the 19th century.

I realize that the wars in Europe did not begin in 1933, however the activities of the NSDAP have been extensively documented and discussed.

I'm looking for a narrative history that covers Germany from 1918-1933, through such events as the declaration of the Bavarian Socialist Republic, the Freikorps suppression of the aforementioned, and the flowering of German art and science in the 1920s. I've her the last reference, but I've never read anything concrete.

I purchased The Nazi Voter: The Social Foundations of Fascism in Germany, 1919-1933 by Thomas Childers, but it was more of a statistical analysis of German voting patterns. Useful data, to be sure, but not necessarily what I'm looking for.

For example today one can go on a Native American reservation and buy cigarettes for tax free. Could the Native Americans sell alcohol? Could they make it for their own private use? I'm talking legally being allowed to.

When did wooden ships decline in production? And what was the reaction of the public/ sailors of this idea to make ships made of metal?

Were the secondary armaments used purely for close quarters combat or did they fire along side primary guns during an offense?

I'm interested in what the daily life was like for people of different status (peasant, merchants priest, nobles) in Ancient Rome and medieval Europe, mostly England and France but not limited to those two. Since it's such a huge (and vague) topic I'm more looking for sources in English that I could study on my own.

So there aren't enough natural magnets of high enough quality in the world to provide for all the machines we have today, chemical power and natural magnets would give electricity a start, but it couldn't have spread without the manufacture of magnets suitable for use in generators. So how and where did this manufacturing start?

Was there a single factory that at one point made magnets to expand the power grid, or were there many smaller entities that were making magnets at the same time?

I asked this over in /r/askscience and was directed here, just fyi if anyone reads this and thinks it might be better suited over there.

Reading pop history books, you always seem to be able to trace every major civilization to some kind of ancient precursor - Egypt, Babylonians, etc, which themselves developed as a response to invention of agriculture. It only makes sense.

Except Russia. They seemed to just have appeared out of a parallel dimension somewhere after the fall of Rome, already with a developed culture.

What's the deal?

My Korean mom told me that the royalty in Japan were originally Korean. I'm wondering if this is true or just some myth. As an American, I know almost nothing about Asian history, but it would make sense as Korea is the peninsula between mainland China and island Japan so it only makes sense that each migration from China would create a further subset? I mean, all the Asian looking folks must have originated from China and then spread out, gradually settling. Also, why did she specify that it was the royalty in Japan as if to differentiate from the "common" Japanese folk. Very confused and thanks in advance.

This may come as a stupid question so be warned. I've read somewhere that battleships didn't need torpedoes because their main guns greatly exceeds the distance most torpedoes, thus making them unnecessary. Is that the only reason or is there more to it than simply that explanation?

What's the evidence that there was one guy responsible for The Iliad and The Odyssey? And are there other works attributed to the same author, either existent or that we are aware have been lost since antiquity?

In the First Crusade, did the then-occupants of the Holy Land (Seljuqs?) know in advance that the Crusader armies were coming, or was it a surprise? Also, were the Muslim armies familiar with the heavily armored knights of Western Europe or was that a shock to them?

Just a random thought I had. I know Caesar became pretty much the title and not so much a name, but . . . would a family name a son Caesar or was it off limits?