There are a whole list of questions in here, and I can break them up but they are all based on the same topic so I figured to clump them together.

I was watching Louis CK the other night and he was talking about how the catholic faith has dominated the world to the point where we use the death of Jesus as a landmark so referencing years. I know this is not entirely true but...

The whole BCE/CE Common Era to me means civilization has grown enough that we consider it to be the turning point in history, am I wrong (btw I'm ok being wrong, it's how I learn)?

• When did the decision to to reference BCE/CE or (BC/AD if you prefer) happen? i.e. is this something more modern historians came up with?

• Why did it happen? is it just easier for humans to conceptualize?

• How did ancient folks reference time periods back then? Did they know the earth was really old?

I know that her family was from Macedonia and that they didn't really mix with the local population but at the time of (the last) Cleopatra they had been in Egypt for almost 300 years. How long do you have to stay in a place to be considered 'indigenous? Or are there no real 'rules' about this distinction?

Did she wear Greek robes or have the famous cat eye makeup? Did she live in an era with pyramids? Did her relationship help bring peace between two kingdoms?

Aggression is usually portrayed to the invading side's public as defensive (preemptive strike, defence of minorities, official request for intervention, etc.) in nature. Why was there a need for the establishment of a "protectorate" in ethnically already purely czech lands in the rhetoric of the nazi leadership?

I suppose you could break this down into a few sub-questions:

1. How did people pay for goods and services between the founding of the First bank and the closing of the Second? Did they exclusively use the US Dollar, printed by the central bank? My understanding is people used the US dollar predominantly, but were free to use other forms.

2. How were taxes collected? Could they only be paid in the Dollar? My understanding is that was the case.

3. If the dollar was the sole, or at least main, species of currency, then what happened when the Bank shut down? Did the dollar disappear? What did people pay for goods and services with, and what did the government accept as tax payment?

This third point is the crux of my question.

I understand that when the Second Bank was not re-chartered, smaller banks were formed and "treasury funds" were funneled to these, from the Second Bank (although I'm not clear what the "treasury funds" were either - if the US dollar was defunct, then it must've been gold/silver that was transferred from the central bank to these local ones, right? And how the hell do you decide who gets how much?). My understanding is each State formed its own Bank, and private banks also cropped up, each issuing their own currency. But what the bloody hell happened to the US dollar then?! If I had $1m USD, what happened when the 2nd Bank closed? Was I issued their gold amount in return or what?

It is one of my favorite movies, if not the most favorite, but as a history enthusiast I am curious what were the biggest historical errors.

This history of the Zulus under Shaka from the 60s was written by a conservative American opposed to sanctions against Apartheid. Nevertheless it seems to be a thorough study of the rise of the Zulu nation under Shaka. Is it considered a credible work by academics or is it considered tainted and unreliable?

Were there any states/peoples the Mongols did their best to steer clear of around this time?

What happened to the aristocratic survivors after Robespierre died? Did they fled France? Napoleon integrate them during the first French Empire? Or did they returned after the Bourbonic restauration? Where are they now?

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I was volunteering at a nursing home and saw a man sitting by himself playing a harmonica. I sat down and introduced myself, and after a little talking the man revealed he was in the middle of training to fight in the German Army in Romania when World War 2 came to an end.

He had many interesting tales (such as how he wtnessed a strafing run by an Allied fighter) but one thing I found very interesting. One man in the nursing home was singing an old tune on a piano, an African American man named Roger. The vet (who's name was Matt, short for Matthias) leaned over and said, "I remember the first time I saw a black man".

Now Matthias' accent is pretty thick, so I could only understand some of what he said, but he mentioned how they would follow the tanks and Matthias and his fellow soldiers were too afraid to shoot at them. He then mentioned their attire, looking for the word for what they would wear on their heads. Because he mentioned that they would follow the river, I figured that they might be of tribal origin, so I said "Leaves?" To which he replied "Ahhhh yes, leaves!"

Keeping in mind that I'm pretty sure Matthias stayed in Europe throughout the war, was Matthias in his old age (he is 94) recounting nonexistant memories? Or was this, perhaps, an actual occurence?