Specifically were there any american parachute/paratrooper or airborne divisions? Did any of these participate in the initial invasion of Normandy?

And what prompted the development and dominance of tricycle gear today?

I'm specifically interested in entities with some sort of overarching government structure spanning a large (relative) area (or large population; bonus points for both) and/or multiple peoples, as well as both how that government worked and why it was able to hold together a large polity where others had failed.

I've always heard of the Iroquois Confederacy as the go-to answer for this, so I'm interested in some other possible answers.

(Also, a vaguely related side-question that I didn't think merited its own thread: were Native Americans anywhere pre-Columbus known to use marriage as a political tool to secure alliances or goodwill?)

Finland has many similarities in culture with it's other nordic neighbors, however it is not considered to be apart of Scandinavia. Finland was under the rule of the Swedish empire for many years and there are parts of Finland that people primarily speak Swedish. Even the northern part is technically located on the Scandinavian peninsula. So why isn't Finland considered to be Scandinavian?

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Edit: Should specify I'm asking about WW2 tank crews

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An article by New Dawn Magazine blames vaccine experiments for AIDs. I find this iffy. So I'm asking around about it's claims.

If no to all of it, then what's the accepted source of HIV/AIDs now?

I was watching a sailboat flying the Stars and Stripes the other day, and the thought struck me that if the ship were British, then it wouldn't simply fly the Union Jack, but instead would fly the Red Ensign.

I can understand if the matter of an American ensign simply never came up officially, but if the matter was raised, then were there any concrete designs discussed, and why was it ultimately decided not to adopt an official ensign?

Also how does the British nobility stay wealthy seeing as the government only subdizes the royal family.

Or was it just fashionable to include them in the art work?

The North Sea is... pretty far from Japan. Considering the lack of fighting in the North Sea in the Russo-Japanese war... was there any reason for Russia to believe such an attack was coming?