Marx teaches that the proletariat in industrialized cities were the only groups with revolutionary consciousness. Yet, whenever communism took root and caused revolutions, it was agricultural societies, led by armies of peasants. Tsarist Russia, Imperial China, French Vietnam, Batistan Cuba, and on and on. Am I missing something? Where's the connection?

Hello, r/AskHistorians!

I have a (hopefully) straightforward question for you all. I am looking to read up on Lawrence of Arabia and was curious if one of you might have a suggestion for a good book where I could start. Happy for anything ranging from "pop history" to more serious, advanced works.

Thank you for your assistance!

Also out of interest what would my options be if I were an aristocrat (patrician/equites) with more money at my disposal?

Growing up in Kentucky (and in what I'd consider a very liberal education system) and then attending Alabama, we learned that Robert E. Lee was not fighting for slavery, but instead for the welfare of Virginia and the rights of the states. To what extent was this true and to what extent was this false? Thanks!

I was reading a thread in askreddit about natural disasters and I was curious if there are any well written stories about this. If not, are there any good first hand experiences to know about?

And if they did how many times did it happen?

I mean direct conflict ie Russian's firing on Americans, not proxies fighting each other.

ANy recommended readings? Am mostly interested in the earlier periods/lawless? Appreciate anyone who studied and has opinion of

Trawling through Wikipedia reveals a previous association/inclusion of some Rhenish provinces in Prussia, but I can't quite make sense of it.

I've been given the topic of 'Women in History' and I've just finished the Suffragettes and Emily Davison. I need some more female characters that the students (boys and girls) could engage with. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I had thought that the Serbs had agreed on all but one, to let the AH police investigate in Serbia. However, My teacher insists that this is false and that the Serbs actually agreed with this, but disagreed with letting the criminals be tried in an Austro-Hungarian court instead of a Serbian court.

Is there eny truth to this?

All I have found is some nonsense about Monghke-khan ceding the city to Republic of Genoa in 1266, which is obviously wrong because Monghke died in 1259. Anyway, the territory was at the time controlled by the Mongols / Golden Horde..

Does anyone know how the Genoese gained this colony or is there perhaps some good resource on this?

I would imagine that the average front line soldier in the trenches of WWI became intimately acquainted with earthworks. I further imagine that they must have become fairly proficient at building and maintaining earthworks in all kinds of conditions. When these soldiers went home that skill didn't go away. I would imagine that creative people with need could come up with uses for earthworks outside of warfare.

Is there any evidence to suggest that there was a wave of earthwork construction by veterans of WWI?

For the little that I know Europe dominated scientific and mathematical research at the start of the 20th century. Then due to the wars and improvement in other countries this leading role was lost.

I would like to know how and which gradually changes produced the shift. Can someone suggest sources to read more about this topic? (summaries are welcomed too)

And why do we now think the ideal female body is more attractive with lower body fat when for most of humanity, it was attractive to have more meat on the hips and thighs?

Maps show these three states along with much of the former Mexican territory remained loyal to the Union. However, I have yet to find a history book that mentions anything that happened west of Texas. Did the Confederacy attempt to invade these areas? Did California send troops? Or was there just nothing worth fighting for there?