I have an interest in Inner Asia, and so have read through a good chunk of the recent stuff on the region. Recently began reading Empires of the Steppe, a book written in 1939. My professor inquired and I said I was reading it for the literary value due to how important it was when it was written. He then told me that a lot could be learned by reading an older work if I was familiar with the more recent treatments. Can someone please explain what he means by this?

By we I mean western society, any state which you may have the answer of. And by equal, whatever metric you may judge that by, economic or otherwise.

It seems from everything I've read on the Empire, the consistent term for the Emperor was Augustus, and Imperator was a much more vague title that was also bestowed on Generals who were not connected to the monarchy in any way. But Imperator became the term for an Emperor, and Augustus doesn't seem to have any continued use. Why and how is that the case?

I have almost zero knowledge of the formation of the countries that make up Britain, so this may be obvious to others. If it is, I apologize.

I know that Wales has its own language, but there must be more than that. Is it geography or dynastic or something entirely different?

Thank you ahead of time for your answers and time!

*Shoot. I used the wrong "its"

Reposting this per the rules and suggestions.

Context: My father was aboard the USS Ranger during the 1983 shipboard fire that claimed several lives. He's retired and has time on his hands so we're sort of co-authoring a book about the culture of the Navy leading up to the incident taken from his experiences in boot/A School, the incident itself in detail, and how the Navy changed since then. The book will also likely include touching base on the Ranger's history and the geopolitical climate at the time as this incident diverted the Ranger from operations in the Middle East during the Iranian Hostage Crisis.

We have a lot anecdotally but obviously want to dig into ships logs, reports, crew musters, fine detail stuff. Any idea how we can go about doing this even though neither of us has a PhD or contacts an established historian might have? My main concern is that these military records are locked away/sealed.

Hello Reddistorians, I've recently completed a little research on my own that covers the last ten milleniums of human history. Something became very, very clear and started to bug me. Architecture was an advanced art at the Roman/Greek/Egyptian age, where most of rules and techniques were invented, and some magnificient places were build. How come this knowledge went completely forgotten around 1400 AD, where the cities turned to slums and the only places that showed some evolution were the castles ? What caused the architecture study to come to a halt, and even backpedal in some places ? I would really appreciate any insight ! Thanks in advance for your time !

On the Wikipedia page for Irene of Athens, under the section "Rule As Empress", the second paragraph says "A solar eclipse and darkness lasting 17 days . . . " This was in reference to to Constantine VI's death. The wiki page for Constantine VI makes no mention of the eclipse or the "17 days of darkness".

I was hoping to have someone clarify what I imagine to be some sort of volcanic activity or perhaps an apocryphal tale.

I was never taught that Lincoln owned any slaves, but I have some coworkers that were taught that he did. Are there any sources for this?

Obviously most people believe that Alexander won the battle, but some claim that he actually lost outright or achieved something amounting to a pyrrhic victory and this was the reason for his decision to head back west. Is there any chance this is correct? Or are these claims merely Indian nationalism at work?

Hello! I am currently looking for a good English translation of The Tactical Constitutions aka. Tactica (aka. Taktika lol) written by Emperor Leo VI the Wise on the Byzantine Military. So far I have been able to find a translation by George T. Dennis published by Dumbarton Oaks Texts on Amazon. It appears to be a good text but the lack of reviews prompted me to see if anyone here knew.

Would this be the only translation currently available? Is it a good one? I would really appreciate some assistance! Thank you!

Historically it seems like pork is often restricted from the diet, I know that Ancient Egyptians, Jews, and Muslims prohibited its consumption at least, was this a thing and if so why?

I have been reading a little about Indian history and in particular the Kingdom of Mysore. During the late 18th century it was apparently run at least in a military sense by Haider Ali and then Tipu Sultan. But the kingdom was established by the house of Wodeyar and they were the nominal rulers of the later princely state of Mysore. Who was the actual ruler during this era?

I've heard people cite other reasons, like finances, economics, states rights, among other things.

My understanding was that the primary issue was slavery. Is this incorrect?

How much of a role did these various issues play? Were there any other factors that had a significant impact?

I remember grade school that this wasn't something that we learned. Recently I've read an article about this but it didn't have academic cited sources. Can someone expand on this topic?

Do they gloss over anything? I feel like it would be difficult to hear some of the things your ancestors could have been involved with.

I heard that flamethrowers were mostly used to clear enemy positions like bunkers, trenches, etc. However, my assumption would be that grenades, shotguns, and assorted explosives would be just as effective. So was the flamethrower a practical weapon, or is it more of a "holy shit that guy can melt my skin off so I better get tf outta here" weapon, used to intimidate the enemy?

I imagine that carrying chain mail, steel plates, longbows, swords, and halberds must be pretty difficult, when you're marching for months, especially when you're marching through your own controlled territory.

Did the soldiers use to travel light, with their weapon and equipment packed in carts?

Did they march in full equipment all the time?

Was it something inbetween?

I imagine wearing plate armor would be especially difficult during long marches to the battlefield.