To clarify, I was thinking about this with particular reference to European monarchies.

What barriers have existed, both historically and today, to prevent a president from using a nuclear weapon on a whim? How easily could a president authorize a first strike against a power that the United States has not declared war against? How much of this capacity relies on the honor system, assuming that the president behaves reasonably at all times?

Hello all! I'm an undergraduate student with a strong lifelong interest in the medieval time period and military history. After taking a course on warfare throughout history at my university and reading several excerpts from "The Art of War in World History: From Antiquity to the Nuclear Age" by Gérard Chaliand during the course, I have become very keen on finding more works like those found within the book (that is either contemporary, or written shortly after the events described).

In particular, I am interested in those that detail medieval battles or medieval warfare in general. While my main focus is on Medieval Europe, I would be eager to read anything that anyone has to offer. The Middle East and medieval Japan are also regions that I have strong interest in.

I would love to know about other anthologies similar to "The Art of War in World History" that fit this description (at least to some degree) or standalone texts. I'm not particular. Anything that anyone may have to offer is greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance!

Edit: /u/TheApiary has informed me that the resources I am looking for would be described as "contemporaneous," not "contemporary." I was not aware of the distinction but I appreciate it being pointed out and hope that this makes what I'm looking for more clear.

Who was the legal owner of the land in Vandal, Visigoth and Frank of conqured land? How was the land split after conquest?

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I'm translating a Gaelic Newspaper in date of May 28, 1892, and came across a little article on the aftermath of this dispute, that doesn't spell out the details about what it was about. I'm wanting to know more. (Article is on page 3 of that date's Mac-Talla from Cape Breton, for the scant handful here who might want to read it themselves.)

According to this, Newfoundland is acting more friendly now toward Canada (now being May 1892). They had made an agreement (possibly not an agreement--historical translation, the word used wouldn't mean that now, but it seems to make sense in context) with the United States [about what is the key missing information] that aggravated Canada. So Canada complained to Great Britain, which put a stop to it. Newfoundland was then angry at Canada and closed its ports to Canadian fishermen, while allowing access to American fishermen. Then something or other changed (again missing) and now they've reopened ports to Canadian fishermen and it's looking like a resolution is on the way.

So then, I'm wondering, what's the bigger context for this story, and how was the problem eventually resolved? I'm fairly certain this almost has to do with the cod fishery and the Grand Banks, but other than that, no clue.

How were new tribes formed in early Europe? Is this process something that occurs unintentionally or is it done on purpose? How does the same group of people end up being two or more distinct groups of people? I am particularly curious about how this occurred with the various Germanic tribes specifically the Angles and the Saxons. Where did these peoples come from, presumably at on point they were the same tribe, what was that tribe, did it exist in the stone age? When and what happened and that caused them turn to into the Saxons and the Angles?

Also how closely related would the two most distantly related members of the same tribe be?

Is there an ongoing continuum of counter-culture that can be traced from the hippies to the beats and back through the 40s, 30s and even earlier? If so, how far back can this be traced? Are there issues or themes that are consistent threads through this continuum?

Seems like you could accomplish a lot with such a large force. Was this simply a calculation by the British to live to fight another day? We know it worked out later but wouldn't an invasion have been much more costly and risky then making a stand in France?

Where would a European indentured servant in the American colonies live and what were the living conditions like? Would they be treated differently if they were Catholic? I'm pretty sure they weren't allowed to get married, but what if they were already married and had a family at the time they came over to the colonies? Would just the head of the household work, or would everyone have a job, including young children? Would any of this be different in the Carolinas?

If you just want to recommend a source that answers these questions (preferably a primary source), that should be fine. Thanks so much!

Please no shitty Prequel Senate Memes.

Also this is in reference to USA political parties.

I've been playing a game called Total War: Rome 2 lately with a faction called Baktria located in modern day Pakistan. I know there was a kingdom with that name in the 4th century BC and that they were succesors of the Alexandrian conquests. I imagine they had relations with people from India, but I want to know more about them.

In the 15-16th century in late medieval England, full plate armor was at its highest use. From my understanding, this led to the decline of a sword-and-shield combo on the battlefield in favor of polearms and weapons to defeat armor (ie picks, warhammers, maces, maybe the two-handed longsword). Did this essentially eliminate the use of shields such as heater shields amongst armored infantry? What if you decided to use a one-handed weapon, or would there be no reason for that as a primary choice for a battle?

So I was looking at some historian online and at the bottom of his page it said he ran for general elections in three consecutive years 1923/4/5 and I was wondering what on Earth was happening at the time to warrant it

I tried searching online and I couldn't find anything on it so any help would be appreciated