I'm reading Paul Kennedy's "Rise and Fall of the Great Powers" and he talks about the Ottomans' decline. One of points he makes is that "economic notions remained primitive: imports of western wares were desired, but exports were forbidden."

For an empire that's closing itself off from the world, what prompted a policy like this? Just trying to understand.

Thanks! Any more information/sources would be awesome.

I've recently witnessed this claim on Facebook. They also claimed the following:

"we wouldn't have any works from Ancient Greece if Muslim scholars hadn't saved them from Christian book burnings"

"Arabic philosophers kept the Greek tradition alive, whose efforts allowed for Renaissance philosophy to thrive"

"Muslim Moors are what saved European scholars while Europeans were killing any and every scientist/philosopher who said that the earth revolved around the sun, while Europeans were burning every secular book they could find, Moors protected European mathematics and science. Europeans wouldn't stop shitting upstream and killing their own kids with literal piss water"

"Western Europe would have had no Renaissance without the Moors translating ancient Greek treatises and expanding on them"

"Moors had a scientific culture not as limited by political intrigue and manipulation of religion to fight 'unpopular knowledge.' White Europeans burned everyone on the stake and used religion to limit the spread of ideas that could damage the various fragile power structures. The Moors were responsible for moving Europe forward, not white Europeans"

Is there any truth to this?

Edit: So they also said to me that the Renaissance "sucked", that the only European civilizations before the Moors were "shitty" (note that he claims that Greek and Roman civilizations were not European civilizations, but Mediterranean civilizations, as if the two are mutually exclusive), and that Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age European civilizations "weren't civilizations." Quite a perplexing individual.

Is there any validity to the above statements? I'm assuming no, but at this point I can't tell if this person is just ridiculous or if I'm uninformed.

Hi guys,

I'm tempted to start watching I, Claudius tomorrow. I've a flight to catch in the morning and I need something interesting to do.

Out of curiosity: how historically accurate is the series? I know it's well written and everything (from a narrative point of view), but... what about historically accuracy?

Are there any other TV shows worth looking at that depict the same historical period in an accurate way?

Thank you!

Would that include battling them in rainy weather that damages their composite bows? How about Breastplates, were they economically feasible at the time?

Note, I read somewhere that it actually began on Thursday the 24th, so please correct me if Wednesday is a more accurate date.

Basically, how surprised were the people on the Wall Street by the stock market crash. Were the signs there and visible to economists at the time, or were people utterly shocked by the collapse when it happened?

For example, how do we know how large the Roman Empire at the time of Trajan was?

Also, are there institutions/databases that have these size estimates compiled over time? Thanks in advance for your insights.

Thanks to Halik Kochanski's wonderful and excruciating The Eagle Unbowed: Poland and the Poles in the Second World War I am familiar with Nazi plans for the East, beyond the "Lebensraum" brushstroke, but what did they have in mind for z.B. France and Denmark (French and Danish people) a couple decades down the road?

Sorry to ask a Nazi/WW2 question.

Hello guys,

I'm reading ahead for my second year of Uni and this is a recommended book for my Middle Eastern Politics module next, along with 'The Prize' (which I've yet to get to). My knowledge of the conflict prior to nearly finishing this book has been based on light reading over the years.

I feel there may be a slight bias but nothing that concerns me greatly, there are lots of primary sources and I am overall quite happy with it.

What do you think? Are there any texts that are in direct counterpoint to this you'd recomend?

In Wicca and other magical systems, a form of "energy"/magical life-force is believed to be manipulated: it's pulled up from the Earth, formed into shapes, impressed with emotions or thoughts, objects are 'charged' with it, and so on. These kinds of operations are thought to be what makes their spells work. From where did this belief come from, and when?

There are also fairly standardized techniques they use (grounding and centering, for example) that are considered the essentials of magic, like the five positions are for ballet. Where are these from, and when did they take their usual forms?

Do historians consider the American constitution more liberal while the Canadian constitution is more conservative?

As far as I know Auld Lang Syne is song/poem about farewells. But seems like these days (especially in english speaking countries) it's a New Years song.

When did it become mostly associated with New years? And with military marching bands? I get why it is played in graduations since they are farewells.

Sorry if this is more /r/NoStupidQuestions material. Or fit better in some other sub

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It's often said that Charles II was mentally ill and incompetent. But I can't find more specifics. How would you describe his mental health?

Would he be on par with someone with a lower than average IQ? Did he suffer from mental retardation?

It also sounds as if he had other mental health issues aside from a low IQ. Is this true?

It just baffles me that, from what I do read, that someone like him could be king at all (even though I know he did a very bad job at it and often relied on his mother). The way people talk about him, and how inbreeding made him completely messed up and mentally incompetent, it seems weird to me. Because people seem to describe him as if he had no train of thought at all and couldn't function. Do you think he would have been someone who could actually hold a conversation, even if he was dumb as a brick?