In a letter to his wife Abigail, John Adams wrote that July 2nd should be the date celebrated with great pomp and parade, and would be one of the most memorable in the history of America.

Well, he was right about the celebrations and the historical implications, but he was wrong on the date. Since the Declaration of Independence was officially ratified on July 2, 1776, when and how did the celebration change to July 4?

Thanks for any info.

I've read articles about how during famines in the Soviet Union and China that people had to resort to cannibalism. Are there any records of this happening during the Irish famine? If not does this mean it didn't happen and if not what was the difference between countries that did resort to cannibalism and Ireland?

I'm not thinking about longhouses and halls, I'm thinking about houses in trading centres such as Hedeby and Skringssal. What material did they use in the walls / roof?

Thanks

I was reading briefly about the end of Apartheid in South Africa, and how the USSR had supported the ANC and many people were disappointed when the end of Apartheid didn't herald in a socialist/communist revolution as well, because in their eyes the social and racial inequality did not change, especially economically. This got me thinking, as there are plenty of countries that have gone through socialist or communist revolutions that prior to said revolution had a wealthy elite, but in my admittedly limited knowledge it seems like when this happens instead of going from the few to the many the wealth just goes from the few to some other few and the many kinda get the shaft. It seems like a pretty big selling point for socialism/communism is that, with the workers sharing the means of production, the distribution of wealth should be at least -more- even, if not totally even. Has it ever actually worked out like that?

Or, at least I don't think it is. I don't remember anyone ever being called Cobbler.

I was taught that most people believed it to be a fool's attempt, and so did nothing but observe, and I never studied the event more closely. Was there any an attempt at stopping, or in any way hindering the voyage? I'd really like to know...

I am aware that soldiers spent significant amount of time pinned in trenches by enemy while simultaneously pinning that enemy in their own trenches with no man's land between them.

But how did those trenches got made? I would understand that the first army on the battlefield had opportunity to dug them up in relative peace but the opposing army had to dug them up while under fire, no?

i know soldiers used them in tight formations one handed since that didnt require much flexibility thus allowing the use of shields with the other hand, burt in a one-on-one or small group fight would a spear have to be used two handed to actually be useful?

If I have the story correctly, Oda had ordered Hideyoshi to seige a castle vital to the Mori's before his death and I was wondering why Mori Ranmaru was not only okay with this, but was willing to "follow Oda to death" after Oda fell at Honno-ji.

If I have any part of this mixed up, please let me know. I only have a vague understanding of what happened and I'm really interested in learning more.

Thanks!

Most media portrayals of the Punic wars show Carthoginians as basically the same skin tone as the romans, yet Carthage is situated in Northern Africa, so shouldnt they look more like how Berbers/arabs do?

I was reading recently a debunking on r/badhistory about the crusades, a point of it started saying that the armenian crusades didn't just happen because the ottomans were muslim, but upon doing a double check, an article said that the main reason they killed the armenians were because they were an already opressed and predominentantly non-muslim (Christian to be specific) Minority.

Do you mind sorting out the facts from the fiction, I have a feeling there's probably a bit of truth in both. plus I'd like to learn a bit more about the subject.

I'd be assuming it would be British or European history, middle ages or so. Where have these stories come from in fact? Were there ever people who had such jobs or was it based on advisors to kings? or?

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Sitting with my wife watching Grantchester and this scenario develops in the show. I phrased the question as she asked me ver batim because I think it makes it more interesting. How do we (we being any demographic you'd like, but please specify) feel about execution (presumably by hanging) of pregnant women? Women in general? What was the process of execution like? Did sentencing through actual execution take long enough that it wasn't a big problem? Did we... Just wait?

I have almost no background knowledge of courts/crime/punishment/jails in 20th century England. But I love googling and reading. Would love some insight!

Go just about anywhere and a glass beer or Coke bottle will have a standard cap that can always be opened easily with a standard bottle opener. Where did the size and shape come from? How was is spread the World over?

Living in a democratic nation, I understand how the government works. How different was it to live in a communist nation like Soviet Union? Why was it that they gave up their governing ideology in later years?

The USSR had won many firsts in terms of human space travel, but why/how were they out performing the USA and other world powers at developing the appropriate technologies required for their landmark achievements in space? Was it an element of their culture, a capability of their socialized economy, or something else?

Both were aiming for the same effect. The systematic starvation of the russian/german people. Why is one a warcrime, and the other a legit tactic to defeat your enemy?

I'm aware of China's 4000+ years of History, and I want a general answer for it. For people with more knowledge on the subject, I want specifics on Tang and North Song Dynasty China's policies on conquered territories, maybe in places like Central Asia and Southern China.

In honor of the possible creation of a new "Space Corps" branch of the US military, I'm wondering what were the circumstances that lead to the last time a branch was created. What was the logic behind the creation of the USAF, how did it play out, and how effective was it in achieving it's originally intended goals?