I know that he certainly had interactions with European powers in England's immediate vicinity such as France and the Holy Roman Empire, but did his foreign relations reach as far as what we now know as Russia?

Today, most of Africa, especially the countries that are considered "not North Africa", is extremely poor, there are frequent wars, modern medicine is scarce, and most of the nations are either dictatorships, very unstable, or not powerful enough to do anything against terrorism, extremism and exploitation. I don't know much about African history, but I heard of many thriving and rich societies on the continent. I once heard (even though I don't know where anymore, and this may be really really wrong) that the richest king in history was some African kind whose name I forgot. So how did the continent change from a culturally, politically and economically rich place to the Africa we know today?

Were they really longing to join Germany as Bismark said? Or were they ripped away from the country they thought they were part of? Or, was it a combination of both?

As of 2017, Einstein is a hugely exaggerated caricature. His face and persona is shorthand for intelligence, and even his name has entered the English language as a noun. Is this something that was occurring during his lifetime/career? Was he a celebrity as Stephen Hawking is? Are there any examples of him making fun of the 'Einstein' idea?

Or another way to put it: was meth/amphetamines a key aspect of moving armies at Blitzkrieg speed?

Many video games like to give you different options to choose from, with "plate armor" being the heaviest but giving the most protection.

And "scale mail" or "lamellar" or "ringmail" giving less protection but are "lighter".

Are these armors actually "lighter"? Are there any other "lighter armors" that are metallic? What options do a soldier who wish to have more flexibility or be more mobile have?

Also, is it true that some kinds of hard drugs/snake oils were considered good medicine?

That is, why were the Neo-Hittites of Hatay Province giving themselves a name that didn't resemble "Neshite" but resembled "Hittite" if Hittite was an exonym based on the Hittite control of Hattusa?

What I mean is, how did the Soviets change the ideology and thinking of the Germans in the GDR after WW2, and how did the Soviets get loyal Germans to administrate this SSR? I know the Soviets controlled the GDR for a few years before giving the Germans more autonomy. I'm guessing secret police played a pretty big role.

Thanks for any replies!

I was reading about when humans first started using fire and began to cook meals, but I wonder when the first concepts of culinary arts emerged, i.e. the first recipes, chefs, or even references to cooking things in a particular fashion to improve the flavor.

Why did the Germans never make a hard push and try to take Gibraltar during World War 2? In order to create a bottleneck for the allied ships wanting to enter/leave the mediterranean. I've heard of operations such as Operation Felix, however Operation Felix never left the early planning stage.

Couldn't Hitler have used the promise of returning Gibraltar to Spain to try and drag Spain in to the war?

I've read about how the Satanic Panic negatively affected RPG gaming, but I've never seen anything going into detail about how the RPG community changed.

Did the players change games or terms? Did people stop playing? Did any kind of new games develop? These are the sort of questions I'm interested in.

Thank you all!

Hi all! Hope this post is okay.

There are plenty of records about the development of the human-animal relationship, but I'm curious about what early records there are about individual emotional attachments to animals. What are the first known personal accounts referencing a specific animal with clear emotional attachment to the writer?

If Germany and Italy had any intelligence on D-Day how accurate was that information and how did it inform their ability to mount a defense?

German support, equipment, planes and pilots were arguably critical to General Franco's Nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War, yet the alliance dissolved prior to the start of WWII in Europe, with Spain sitting on the sidelines throughout.

Why didn't Spain enter an alliance with the Axis Powers, and why didn't the Axis Powers work harder to gain their support?

My understanding is that negotiations were entered into, yet fell apart over questions of how to divide French and British territories in the aftermath of an eventual Axis victory.

Why didn't Germany and Italy agree and add Spain to their alliance?

Or if the premise is mistaken, what was the reason no alliance materialized?

Or was there an alignment and support falling short of a military alliance, and why was this not a stronger alliance?

Bonus question: had Spain been a member of the Axis, need for control of the Mediterranean would have made Gibraltar and possibly Ceuta, Melilla, and the Canaries strategically important to the Allied war effort. Did the Allies have contingency plans for a Spanish entry into the war on the Axis side?

I got Anthony Beevor's Battle For Spain on Audible and it's ok. Can any of you recommend some that are particularly good?

The popular Anglo-American team sports are often discussed as having common ancient ancestors that developed into their modern forms relatively late. Proto-football became American Gridiron Football, Association Football, Rugby Football etc. Townball became Rounders, Baseball, Cricket.

People often talk about how small changes in the rules would totally alter these sports. Do we have any examples of variations that failed to develop for reasons of poorly chosen rules?