So from what I have read so far, a semiautomatic rifle gave a solider quite a lot of firepower compared to a bolt action rifle.

Why exactly is it, that Britain (seemingly?) never adopted one during WW2 (Even after meeting German semiautos (The G41/43))?

I'd imagine that getting one wasn't the problem (The US already supplied Tanks, it couldn't have been that difficult to throw in some M1's, right?)

Was it something with the British infantry tactics that made the usage of semiautos superfluous?

Glaives have always interested me quite a lot, because of all the various polearms of medieval and rennaissance warfare, they seem (to a layman observer such as myself) overall less focused on doing what polearms are generally good at, which is stopping cavalry. They seem more apt for cutting than stabbing.

And yet, Wikipedia seems to claim that the naginata, a japanese bladed polearm very similar to a glaive, specifically came into extensive usage because cavalry became more important; the site even puts forth an analogy to the European pike.

Which makes me wonder if my initial assumptions about glaive-like weapons' efficacy against mounted opponents hold water, and thus I turn to you folks here at AskHistorians:

Just how effective were glaives against cavalry? Were they even intended to be used as an anti-cavalry weapon in the first place?

The Habsburgian Empire was one of the most culturally diverse nations in Europe . The biggest minority were the Hungarians , who , I would assume , also had the biggest cultural and political demands on the Austrians . Not to mention the numerous Slavic minorities (Czechs , Croatians , Slovaks and many more). What did they want to do to keep them in line for the long term? Did they plan on culturally converting them , or did they have a live and let live policy ?

Just wondering because it doesn't seem like it. I understand he was captured by pirates during 75 B.C., but did he have anything to do with the 3rd war?

Im wondering how they made every voter aware of who the candidates were. They couldn't take pictures,email them around the country, and post them around every town. How many voters actually knew what they're next president looked like? How did they hear of about them if they didn't live in a major city where there may have been a speech given? How many people worked for each candidate back then and did they even have campaign staffs like they do now?

In episode 3 of the BBC’s Meet the Romans with Mary Beard, she says that only about 50% of children survived to the age of 10. There’s some discussion about the idea that all but the children of the wealthy would be engaged in manual labor by the time they were 5 or 6. Is that what killed them? Exhaustion? Work-related accidents? Malnutrition? Or did the manual labor make them more susceptible to disease?

Hey guys, first time asking a question here. I read through the rules and FAQs. Hopefully people don't think I'm trolling or asking loaded questions.

I've become fascinated with the historical perspective on Jesus over the last month. Throughout my research, I keep coming across the idea that apocalyptic preachers were very common amongst the Jews during Jesus's time period, but I can't find any readings or lectures about the views they might have held or why Jesus's followers endured after his death. Can anybody here shed some light on the subject?

Note: I understand that the religious belief is that Jesus's resurrection proved to his disciples he was more than just a preacher, and they therefore spread what evolved into Christianity. I'm more looking for the content of his contemporaries and how they were viewed by their followers.

Thanks!

We want heroes! But people of the past have that pesky ability to be, you know, human and flawed.

Share your stories of how the ordinary human people with ugly souls and deeds--like all of us--have become today's revered heroes or even canonized saints, the dark smudges forgotten or glossed over with a "yeah but."

Next Week: Spectacle!

Specifically within the European christian sphere, where does the cliched "virgin on a slab" human sacrifice idea come from?

Was this around in medieval Europe during the witch hunts in Germany and the Netherlands?

I recently discovered is a direct descended of the same dynasty that ruled Media. One would imagine even if he revolted against his grandfather he would still continue being king of the same dynasty and gain control over the whole empire. Yet he is considered the founder of the Persian empire and the first great Persian king. Is there something I am missing in this history? Why is he not a Median but a Persian?

I'm looking into the D'Arcy concession and I just found that the russian and british empire were competing for influence in Iran, (I believe was called Persia at the time) Britain was afraid russian influence in Persia because it was worried it would threaten their possessions in India. So does anyone have a map from this time I can look at?

It certainly doesn't get cold enough in New Jersey for the river to freeze today.

Strategies, tactics, plans for handling neighboring states if they intervened, etc.

Imagine there must have been some really grim ideas floating around given their nuclear stockpile, segregated military units, differing laws on gun ownership based on ethnicity, targeted killings of dissidents, etc. The apartheid government's Project Coast biowarfare program is said to have experimented with ways of secretly sterilizing black people, contaminating refugee camps with cholera, and as noted in a previous question here allegedly investigated the feasibility of ethnic-targeted bioweapons.

In honor of All Saints' Day, we'd like to give the flaired users of AskHistorians a chance to post their own favorite answers.

One of the things that amazes me about AskHistorians is how much knowledge, love, effort, and time people put into answers that will get two upvotes on a thread that's already off the "hot" page of the sub before they start typing.

So let's get those threads some visibility and revisit popular ones!

Tomorrow, for All Souls' Day, we're going to open the floor to everyone, to share our favorite questions and answers from other users. Today is for the flairs. :)

Happy historicating!

So, my dad told me recently he had thought about this and I told someone on here might be able to answer.. He was wondering since, they like us, probably wouldn't want to have shell pieces in the meat inside, so what techniques could a man living in the paleolithic time use to avoid this??

Btw I do believe this can be achieved by boiling the shells, but as my dad noted, "but if I was away from the camp and simple wanted something quick to eat, that would be an easy meal"

Were there people in ancient Rome that overcame hardships of birth status and moved into a well respected position? Say theres a man / woman born into poverty and they overcome that and end up a doctor, actor or any other praised position in todays society. Are there similar stories of this occuring back then? Sorry if this isnt clear, I cant really articulate my thoughts.

I was working on an image analysis for university and noticed that a collection of soft core porn images that artists had used as reference all appeared to be white.

So it got me thinking that this might have been coincidence or if there was just a lack of black women undertaking this kind of modeling during the 60s and what was the cultural attitude to black women in soft core pornography?

I'm really just asking this out of curiosity because it's something I haven't heard anything about before.

Yugoslav National Army (JNA) and its heavy equipment was largely owned by Serbia, especially early in the war. The majority of the population of the countries at war was Serbian, and Bosnia and Crotia both had significant Serbian minorities and self-declared Serbian states within them (Republika Srpska and Republika Srpska Krajina, respectively).

The Croats took a large amount of JNA equipment in the initial revolt, but it takes time to apportion it out and train civilians how to use it. Significant JNA assets were blown up to avoid capture, such as Zeljava Air Base.

The Bosniaks had arms smuggled to them from foreign countries, but again this takes time. NATO support did not come until 1999, 8 years after the wars begun.

Why was Serbia, with its military dominance, unable to defeat Croatia and Bosnia?

If it was real, how did this torture affect Native and American views of each other?

I'm having trouble researching it myself because most results seem to be either white supremacist/apologia for colonialism - "look how savage they were" - or Native American activists completely denying it ever happened.

Could someone help me with some more informations about this map (i will post some pictures in the comments) ? So far i only know it's made in 1749 by W.A. Bachiene and it's called Afbeeldinge der Oude Waereld . I don't speak dutch so if someone could translate me some parts i would be thankful.

Under fascist occupation, France had groups such as the French Resistance, which openly waged small skirmishes to combat the occupying forces. There are likely other examples similar to this in Soviet Russia, Germany, and Italy. Are there any notable examples in Japan?