Say a time traveler, dressed in the common style but not having done any other studying on history, waltzed into a market in the later end of the era of castles and asked "so, what's been happening around here?" to some random passing stranger, how well can we expect this conversation to go?

I've heard through some sources of battle fatigue in veterans suffering from what we now know as PTSD in wars earlier than the 20th Century. And of course logic would dictate that soldier of earlier wars still struggled with battle horrors. So while I think I know the answer to my question, is there any stories or evidence of say a crusader or roman legionnaire committing suicide or beating his wife or becoming a recluse after being seasoned in combat?

For sake of an anecdote, there are many stories of my great-grandfather losing his sense of humour and have angry episodes after his experience with the Canadian Army in WW1. He had to move to the prairies because his lungs couldn't deal with the smog in the east after he was mustard gassed in the trenches. Though if he had a few brews and a scotch after dinner, sometimes he would just start sobbing and become an open book telling anyone who would listen what he experienced. Heavy stuff.

I have to imagine an English longbowman would have felt the same way at some point in history.

Hello my fellow history loving Redditors. :) I don't know if this is the proper sub-Reddit to ask this question, but I have to write an assignment in my history class, and the topic I have chosen is the Stalin regime from 1922-1952 with my primary focus on the Five Year Plan and the Red Terror/Great Terror, but I am in lack of material, and I don't want to use Wikipedia and other untrustworthy sources. I have already read The Great Terror: A Reassessment by Robert Conquest, but I don't feel like I got enough examples of the Stalinist cruelty against the supposed enemies of the party. I would be very happy if you could help me in the subject matter. Thank you before hand. :)

I've found only one little remark about lawmaker Charondas, of the Greek city of Catania, in Sicily who forbade to enter into the assembly with weapon but broke this rule himself and killed himself.

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I know that the Romans are famous for incorporating conquered peoples into their empire, but when they saw people that didn't look like them, did they have any preconceived judgements?

It seems very hard as a nation or an empire to convince large amounts of population to leave their old faith behind. What methods do missionaries or the conquering nations and empires use to convert large amounts of population to their religion, such as Spain converting the Mayans and the Aztecs to Catholicism, or the Muslim caliphates converting lots to Islam?

I'm currently rereading the book 'Hunt for Red October' by Tom Clancy. One of the characters in the book is a militarily blundering, party centric commissar. This character has no military or combat effectiveness. All he does is impede the effectiveness of the "real fighting men". Clearly this is a work of fiction and the author paints a good character. But another book called 'war of the rats' by David L Robbins has another commissar similar in portrayal. Are these portrayals unfair? Did the Soviet commissars attached to combat units hinder the operations or am I simply reading an American take on the situation? Did Soviet soldiers and sailors dislike having a party man looking over their shoulders or were they respected and useful in their eyes? Thank you for any feedback

I recently read a book arguing such, and it came across as pretty convincing, but that's to a layman with little knowledge of the USSR during WWII (or WWII in general).

From some light researching it seems the theory is generally regarded as pretty fringe.

Trump being an outsider appeals to a lot of the electorate in this election, but I have to imagine this isn't the first time it's happened. Was Reagan viewed that way?

If Lykurgus decreed that they use only iron money that was valueless outside of sparta, how did they not remain super poor? How did they become pre-eminent in the peloponnesian league?

I justill read article claiming that some Muslims in Europe helped the Nazi party and even supported theme because of their antisemitic views. Their was even a claim that Himmler had a friend who was Muslim who goaded himy into continuing and expanding his genocide against the Jewish people. Any historical records relating to this? Or any truth at all to these claims? The article provided no sources at all. Any help is appreciated.

EDIT: ok, if the Allies knew of the massacres and genocide, why didn't they threaten the German soldiers and citizens with genocide if they didn't immediately stop?

Via leaflet, radio and television: 'To the people of Germany. We have learned and verified via our spies that German military forces are murdering millions of Jews, Gypsies, and political enemies in death camps. You must cease this genocide immediately!

If you do not comply we, the Allies, will show no mercy to German soldiers, and when we eventually conquer Germany, all German citizens will be annihilated. Every man, woman, and child of Germany will be executed by firing squad, and your land will be given to your neighboring countries.

You must stop your murder camps, or all of you risk extinction. '

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