I'm reading "The Ottoman Age of Exploration" by Casale and I've noted that the Ottomans predominantly constructed oared galleys for their Indian Ocean fleet in the 16th century. What was it about Indian Ocean conditions that lead them to favor this kind of vessel? They were up against Portuguese sailing vessels, and had the ability to hire European boatrights, so it was within their power to emulate the Portuguese. Thanks

I get this might be considered two questions, but the principle is the same - obviously many were executed, and many more fled, but did any of them sympathize or join up with the revolutionaries? How many? How were they received by the revolution(s)? What happened to them?

Edit: so formatting doesn't work in the title. Now it looks silly. Sorry.

All history books simply call him Conrad. Everyone else who has a von X name is called by the name that comes after the von. Von Bismarck is called Bismarck. Von Moltke is called Moltke. Von Schlieffen is called Schliefen.

Von Hötzendorf is called...Conrad.

Why?

My understanding is that what is currently recognized as the confederate flag was never flown as actually representing the confederacy as a whole, but as a naval jack. I was interested in how and when it became the most recognized flag of the confederacy.

Without delving into the disagreeing views on the subject, I was also wondering how and when it become recognized as a symbol of racism while the other flags do not appear to be recognized as such and are treated as more historical. I seem to recall reading about an incident in WWII when the naval jack was raised and later removed by a general due to it dishonoring the African American soldiers that died, but I can't remember where that was. I was curious how early these types of events go back and when it started to be recognized as divisive/racist.

Would followers of the Ghost Dance have seen Eovoka as a prophet? Is that even a useful term of reference in the context of Native American religious revival?

Happy graduation to the new secondary school graduates, bachelors, masters, and doctors of AskHistorians!

Dive deep into your anthropology this week, and tell me about some rite of passage in your favorite period of history!

Next week: Snooping Dead People's Diaries

I posted this a little while back, but didn't get a response. Now, finally, it's my time, so I'll post it again:

I've been reading a little bit about South American history post-independence, particularly in the Southern Cone. I'm wondering how various caudillos managed to actually mobilise large numbers of people to fight for them. I read about many situations where someone has managed to raise a force of hundreds or thousands of people to fight for him, in causes which don't usually seem (on the surface at least) to be something which would motivate your average person to take up arms. I've seen it mentioned that caudillos often worked with networks of influence. How did this look in relation to getting someone to fight for you? Or just in general? And just to sneak another question in: was the situation with the conflicts between Blancos/Colorados similar, in terms of getting 'average' people to fight for your side? If not, how did it differ?

Or conversely, roughly what percentage of white Americans's ancestors were immigrants who arrived after the end of the Civil War?

Are they always buried deep? Surely someone found something before the first recorded discovery? Romans dug tunnels all over large parts of the world m, did they find nothing?

Edit- every post seems to be removed, and I don't know why?

According to Wikipedia, the original Globe Theatre in London could accommodate 3000 people and there were about 200,000 people living in London in 1600. So, ignoring tourists, the average Londoner could have visited the Globe more than once a week. And if memory serves, the Globe wasn't the only theatre.

Who would have had the time and money in Jacobean London for visiting the theatre that frequently? Do we have any idea how much of the audience would be idle aristocrats, versus the better-off merchants and clerks and skilled tradespeople taking an afternoon off work? Or passing sailors with money to burn?

Anarchism used to be a huge movement that inspired dozens of acts of international terrorism, from the killing of an American president and multiple European monarchs to the 1920 Wall Street bombing.

Where did that rash of attacks come from, and where did it go? Why don't we fear bomb-throwing anarchists today?

I imagine spending all day rowing and getting whipped wasn't good for anyone's health. How did the men in charge reduce exhaustion and keep them in shape enough to row?

I've noticed a few illiustrations of walled cities showing green space inside their walls, and I'm just wondering if this is simply because we have incomplete archeological records.

I was wondering if anyone had any interesting ideas for thesis topics regarding King George iii relating to the revolutionary war? Something I can investigate that will have some degree of research available?

Hey guys!

I'll admit, that yours is not a sub I often frequent, it seemed the most appropriate for this question. Please forgive me, if this is not the right place to post this. My high school's marching band performs in competitions around the state, all leading up to a state championship performance. (marching band has changed a lot in the last 20 years)

This year, we are doing a show on WW2. Really though, its going to be a social commentary on the nature of war itself: what is worth fighting and dying for, the morality of war, and the multiple perspectives that form around the same war (primarily American and Japanese).

To really sell the idea -we only have ~8:00 mins to make people recognize the idea, understand it, and then have some deeper moral considerations- we're looking for some audio clips to play alongside the music.

These could be parts of speeches, radio interviews, propaganda, slogans, found footage sounds from the fields, radio transmissions... the list goes on. Preferably short -a best line or two, we can't really run a full speech. Some clips in foreign languages would be nice, but I'm looking for stuff in English primarily.

Feel free to send in ideas from anything and everything that you think might fit.

Thanks in advance!!

I understand the USSR deployed significant numbers of women during WWII in combat roles and am interested in reading more about them. Do any of the learned members here know of any good suggestions?

I've recently developed an interest in the Sassanids, and I was wondering if we knew what happened to them after the Islamic conquests.

I know that some of the cadet branches such as the Bavanids would continue to wield power in Central Asia for some time after, but I'm curious if any information survives about the main line- as far as I can tell, the last known record of the dynasty mentions that they fled to Tang China, and that Khosrau (Khosrow?) VI was seen fighting with the Sogdians near Bukhara.

Is there any more surviving information about what happened to the Sassanids? Might there be surviving descendants of them living in China today?