Do we know why the pyramids or pyiramidal shaped objects were built from Africa to Southeast Asia, all the way to Mexico and South America, all built for some kind of religious purpose by the civilizations that didnt even know that other one existed, at approximatly same time? How do we explain such thing? Thank you

1. How were the solider's actually paid during and at the end of their multi-season tour of duty? Were there thousands of veterans walking around the country-side carrying large chests of loot back to their farms? Were they regularly robbed?

2. Regarding the latifundia. I understand that some veteran families sold their farms to rich Romans because their men were away on tour and they couldn't afford to maintain them. When these soldiers came back to no farm, were they forced to buy the land back from the rich latifundia owners (at inflated prices)? Is there any record of that happening? And with those veterans that were landless, were they just sitting in the streets of Rome protecting all their pay and loot with no where to store it? Did their bury it, perhaps?

3. What did the rich do with all their loot? Where did they keep the millions of all their coin? Was it in personal Scrooge McDuck vaults or was it in the public treasury (bank)?

It is a bit surprising to read that for ex GDP per capita of Italy was one of the highest in 1300 around the world, and that it was higher than in Ancient Rome.

Or also that urbanisation was crazy high like 25%, or literacy also very high.

Was it true? Then if it was true, how come that for ex. Roman infrastructure was so sophisticated, while medieval was so, uh, humble/sober

Pope Gregorius IX issued a papal bull, Vox in Rama in 1233, which is often cited to be the reason behind the massacre of cats (especially black) in medieval europe. These claims seem to be dubious at best and there seems to be only a few mentions of a black cat being idolized by some luciferian cult.

I couldn't find any written evidence to support these claims. Are there any physical evidence etc. about any mass persecution of cats in the region, organized or unorganized?

What did they gain from it?

I want to learn more about spanish civil war and mostly the reasons of it, impact of geography and the anthropological aspect of the war. What Im searching is something similar to the style of Braudel or a book that talks more about the social life in spain at that time. If you know anything can you suggest it?

I recently played Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold war and in the beginning mission Operation Fracture Jaw, there are soviet soldiers in Vietnam. Later, I saw a Simple History video discussing the same topic. Does anyone know if there were any notable times soviets and Americans directly shot each other on the battlefield in Vietnam or if America even knew Soviet soldiers were in the area? If so, how many times did Soviet soldiers and Americans exchange gunfire in the war?

Was this fear linked to prohibition, crime, politics, or just propaganda?

It's Bothering me Guys Why they did not bomb the omaha beach to reduce the defense in the high ground, so the casualty is not that big.

I have always thought that the pyramids were built entirely by slaves, but I recently read that they were actually built by paid labor. Is this true?

The Siege of Suiyang has become pretty much a meme in the community of history fans. The line "20-30 thousand civilians were eaten" is a mental gut-punch if there ever was one. The suffering that entails is inconceivable to my modern mind, and I give thanks for that

What I want to understand is: why did Zhang Xun stay loyal to the Tang Dynasty?. The government didn't care about him enough to let him keep the food he had stored, nor send him food once the siege had started, and a result he was forced to eat his girlfriend, along with thousands of other people

But why?, what was the worst that could have happened if he surrendered to the Yan Dynasty?. It certainly couldn't have been worse than the things that actually happened to him in the end

Zhang's story doesn't seem heroic to me, it seems tragic, a remainder that there are no heroes in war. He was indoctrinated so deeply he couldn't disobey his masters, even as they let him starve and turn to cannibalism

But who knows, maybe the Yan were an evil despotic regime that would have caused untold suffering to millions of people if Zhang surrendered, maybe that was his motivation

Was it indoctrination?, or did Zhang have a good reason to stay loyal to the Tang?

Was it the decline in fur value? The modern world encroaching? What year might you have found the last true mountain men? 1880 or so?

I have noticed a trend, especially among Russian historians, of calling the medieval Lithuanian state a Lithuanian-Russian successor state to Kievan Rus. Reasons given for this include that much of the territory (3/4 by some counts) was peopled by Russian speakers. I am currently reading Riasanovsky, and he is particularly keen on this description. He does, however, acknowledge that in later medieval times there was heavy Polonisation in Lithuania.

Does this argument hold water? Would you describe Lithuania as Russian in any meaningful sense, or as a successor state to Kievan Rus?