I know that Petra was once an important center of commerce that connected Arabia with the Levant. What caused the city's decline?

In spirit of the holidays, I'm watching "It's A Wonderful Life" with my family. There's this scene where George Bailey and Clarence the angel are at the the Martini's alternate universe Bar, Nick's. As they act strange, the bartender calls them 'two pixies' as an insult. Now, this film was released in 1946, so what would "pixie[s]" even mean in this context? It sounds like a real zinger but I don't want to say it if it means like the N-word or something.

Basically why and how did Mongolia go from Genghis pillaging tons of Asia to a medium sized country that nobody really hears anything about?

7 upvotes but no response... At least I'm not the only one interested

I was under the impression that for most of the history of Christianity, being deformed or ill was seen as a sign you were wicked or sinned and were being punished by God. So wouldn't there be prejudices that would mean such a person wouldn't have the backing of the church or very likely common support?

I understand the idea of MAD, but would the USSR really be willing to engage in all out war with NATO without nuclear weapons?

I know they didn't have popcorn, right? Would they have just eaten the free bread or what?

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I've often wondered how landings like these occurred. From as early as the Viking Raids to the start of the 16th century.

In the movie Robin Hood (2010) at the final battle, you see a French invasion force rowing to the coastline in landing craft eerily similar to landing craft used during the Normandy landings. Obviously this is a load of Hollywood rubbish (I could be wrong), but I struggle to fathom how it was done. Few sources I've read say that the ships approached from the stern, lowering ramps, or having some kind of door that allows the troops or cavalry to get onto the beach, looking at some Medieval ships though I can't really see an area to place said ramps/doors. I've also read that barges were used to unload Cavalry and artillery pieces.

This question can also be applied to landings that occurred in ancient times.

Many emperors came to power violently but I've noticed those that came to power peacefully as the officially designated heir were often not the emperors biological son. Non of julio-claudians were the son of their forebear biologically for example. Going through the list it seems that direct succession became more common as time went by (including the eastern empire). Is there why this was the case originally and why it changed?

Please excuse my poor english. This question might be stupid but i just think odd that the greek chose the liver which is the only organ that can actually grow back out of the entire human body.

Thank you very much

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Hi everyone. My grandfather who served in WW2 was trying to figure out an answer for this question. Already searched online for this, too many answers and they all vary.

Specifically, how many Americans died on the beaches and how many were wounded on DDay?

Thank you for your time and we both appreciate it.

Hi,

I recently wrote a paper on the Spanish Civil War and to understand the Soviet side of things I decided to read the most recent biography of Stalin by Kotkin.

It blew me away. It really changed my perception of major history of the last 100 years. My college class covered WWII, and this book really changed my perception.

Basically, Kotkin refutes older psycho-analytical interpretations of Stalin in favor of newer documents. Saying that Stalin was abused and therefore violent is absolute nonsense. So Stalin was really a dedicated Marxist and revolutionary (Kotkin humorously says that the Communists were actually Communists). Behind closed doors they talked about wage slavery, proletariat, bourgeoisie, etc. Not different than Lenin or Trotsky. He was very intellectual and had clear ideological goals.

This goes against my previous interpretation (and I think a popular interpretation) of Stalin as an usurper and rather ignorant.

Now, my question is, how regarded is this work? Also, can WWII be see as an ideological battle between far left and far right? It's usually shaped in terms of Germany vs Russia in terms of nation-states but it seems much more ideological than that knowing Stalin's views (and Hitler's views)

The majority of aviation terminology comes from naval terminology: cabin, pilot, bulkhead, knots, &c.

Many traditions are likewise similar, especially in the world of Naval Aviation (for obvious reasons).

But one tradition has seemed to crop up sporadically at best: naming the vessel.

There are a few aircraft with specific names such as the Enola Gay, but largely callsigns and hull numbers are used.

Why are aircraft named like ships given the large overlap in terminology?

During or before the Second World War did the Germans plan on creating puppet governments in the occupied countries, or where they planning on breaking up each country into German administrative regions? Or did their planning get that far and it was taken on a case by case basis on whether some semblance of national government of the occupied nations were left in place?

I've always been curious about this since I used to work near an old aluminum plant.

I am finding alot of vague information in google searches. Mostly "it was more than gold". I saw 1$/oz on one source, but that only equates to $27 in 2015... which is still far below historic gold prices.

Perhaps it was so rare that there simply isn't a way to find a single price?

Also, I know economical estimates from the 1800s are pretty sketchy at best, including inflation.

What is a good way to estimate how much aluminum would be worth in present-day dollars?

NOTE: This is not a homework question! I don't think there would be a clear answer to this one anyways.

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It's a very interesting mystery and I'm curious if there is some form of consensus among modern historians on who shot him and why?