I specifically ask because I remember seeing this text on here years ago where someone mentioned a writing by some Spanish religious man in the 1500s who wrote about the atrocities in the Americas and why they were bad, but I can't remember what it was called.

Basically, my question is about trying to understand what the common solider understood about Germany's larger war plans. In July/August/September of 1940, did German soldiers, pilots, and sailors believe the war was going to be over soon, that they'd invade Britain soon, or that they were going to soon be embroiled in eastern Europe?

Why is the North Pole "north" and not the South Pole?

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I'm curious about the USSR's official opinion of the French Revolution. Did they view it as a legitimizing forerunner? A flawed early attempt? Etc?

Some Chinese and Japanese forces also carried swords during world war 2, but I don't know of any stories of them being used successfully, or capturing enemy troops like Jack did

I know line formation makes sense when you're fighting with muskets, but since both sides had rifled muskets a line formation just seems to have made the soldiers easy targets to me. Was it to keep the soldiers organized during battle?

Specifically regarding ancient Greece and Rome, how common was it for statues to appear much better looking than who they portrayed? It is forbidden to ask for examples so just some general background or something to guide me the right way in examples of this if there are any.

Please and thank you

If America was settled by the English who had been building castles of centuries, why did they almost immediately abandon this style of architecture? There are some big churches that resemble castle style building, but in general the oldest parts of the United States don't have historical castles to go and visit.

I looked through the previously asked questions and everything seemed to focus on why Russia sold Alaska or the changes Alaska experienced in the transition, but I couldn't find a good reason as to why Alaska was purchased by the US.

From how I read into the little wikipedia article it has more information on the Russian purpose of the purchase rather than the American interest in it. Why did the US purchase a territory that they couldn't access easily and was generally frozen? What interest did the US have in Alaska other than messing with the British and fur trapping?

Also, how did it become a Thalassocracy? Like, were there great forests or something around Venice? Isn't easy, cheap access to wood one of the most important factor in becoming a sea power?

I am looking to better understand the Victorian era (mainly in the U.K., & Europe) and I have realized that, to a real extent, what I don't know is very limiting.

What are some Victorian businesses, trades, and occupations that would be common or at least normal during that era that are now rare or extinct?

I’m currently about halfway through “The Conquest of New Spain” by Bernal Diaz (trans. by J. M. Cohen), and I noticed a pattern in Diaz’s account of clashes between Cortes’ army and the natives. He will describe how they outnumbered them, often hundreds or thousands to one, and how they were so many that even by throwing clots of dirt they could have blinded and overtaken Cortes’ army, how arrows and darts and stones rained down on them “like hail,” and yet Cortes’ army seems to have sustained relatively minimal damage, only losing a few soldiers (and many of those to injury days after) in clashes with thousands of natives. This sort of seeming invincibility, Diaz writes, is part of why the natives called Cortes and his men “teules,” or gods.

Diaz often says that the reason for this is that God is looking after them. I was wondering what the true reason is; is Diaz exaggerating the number of Native Americans? Was European weaponry and armor really that much superior to those of the natives, that even when outnumbered hundreds to one they could not be killed?

I've recently been enjoying looking at various cave paintings, particularly from Europe. The detail and skill of many of them are absolutely astonishing. However, I suddenly realised that I'd not seen any of people - only animals.

Looking around I found some aboriginal drawings of people but that's about it - why are cave paintings of people so rare?

On sheer numbers it looks like Israel should've been in big trouble, how did they come to not only win but so decisively that they gained territory from it?

Perhaps a better question would be, how did the Arab attackers lose?

The English are a mix of many different groups: Anglo-Saxons, Normans, Vikings, Celtic, blah blah... I'm an American of half English decent, so I've been interested lately to learn about the history of that country (specifically the Middle Ages). I had always thought the kings of England were English. After reading into it... I was surprised to find out that the kings of England seem to have been everything but English. They were French for most of history. I knew about the Normans (who I guess were more Viking than French), but the Plantagenet family really surprised me. They were just so blatantly and unabashedly French and ruled England for so long. I know that obviously those English didn't go anywhere just because a French family was in charge. England and France were constantly at war, but that seems funny to me now because both sides were being run by French kings. So my question is about the English army... was it still made up of English (Anglo-Saxons/Normans/Vikings/Celts) or was the army purely French at that point as well?

Were there black Roman soldiers in Britain? The British press often conflated North African with black, but is there any proof they were black rather than Caucasian Berbers or Moors? Septimus Severus is often called black despite being of Berber and Italian heritage.