I learned in a Native American studies class years ago that Native American warriors, I believe from the Great Plains ie Sioux or Cree, considered it a great show of honor and courage to touch an enemy during battle without wounding him. It was also referenced in the film Legends of the Fall. Did they really do this, and stop fighting another who do this? Or is it a romantic tall tale?

Follow up questions -

How heavily am I relying on the black market?

If I'm not considered an "undesirable," what are my chances of being arrested?

What would I know about the death camps in Poland before 1945?

Did anything improve immediately once the Soviets arrived?

On 24th September 1991, Washington based Nirvana released their second album Nevermind. This catapulted both the band and grunge into the mainstream. A month later the album was certified 'Gold' in the US. Historically, What was it about the album that made it the epitome of grunge?

What was it about the following from "more average people" that disillusioned Cobain so much? Could we say that 24th September 1991 was the beginning of the end for Cobain?

After Cobain's death in 1994, Nirvana understandably dissolved relatively quickly. By the time of Nirvana's dissolution & the founding of the Foo Fighters what state was the grunge scene in?

Or was there ever a time/culture who thought it came by other means?

Is there any in particular at any time that could have decided the war, or was it a stalemate through out until the tanks rolled in? Was there any point where Germany was on the brink of victory?

The most recent major war before the Great War was the Russo-Japanese war where around 150 thousand died and Russias entire navy was decimated...yet the territorial changes after war were pretty minor and neither side ever truly feared a total defeat or the loss of much more than a few provinces and some interenational prestige.

Then just a few years later WW1 breaks out and it very quickly seems to become an absolute deathstruggle. The victory condition seems to suddenly become the complete collapse of your opponents society, whether it be the British blockade starving Germany, the German support for revolutionaries abroad to start civil wars, or all sides seeming contentment to simply bleed their enemies away to nothing if it looked like that would be their path to victory at the time.

When it finally did come to an end its incredible the price they exact on the losing side, even those who's only crime was joining a losing cause. What had changed to raise the stakes so high in such a short time?

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What kept an invading army from just ignoring a castle and it's garrison and just marching on to the next town? What made it necessary to capture, and why was one site better to build defenses on than another?

(A while back I asked "What did the British Army get right in WW2" so I thought I'd do a follow up.)

I've seen the RAF get a certain amount of criticism for various things - the emphasis on strategic bombing at the expense of Anti-Submarine warfare, the Ramrod raids in 1941/2, badly underestimating the Japanese, etc- so I was wondering if /r/Askhistorians could please provide some examples where they got it right. Or significant improvement, even.

Thanks.

I've heard dramatically different accounts of the effectiveness of close air support and fighter-bombers on armored units, with some people saying that they were incredibly effective and were a major factor in tank battles, other sources I've found said they destroyed very few tanks in the whole war. Can anyone tell me which of these is correct? -Gman

I'm reading Colonel Hans Von Luck's memoir, Panzer Commander. He talks about when it was his time to be set free from his Russian POW camp, somewhere around 15% were left behind. Were these men ever liberated?

This might not really count as history but it happened in the past so I assume it counts.

It's not like animals have an instinct to wear clothes and early human civilisation didn't really have social norms (I don't think).

Also, this may be a real long shot, but, if someone can explain why early humans started wearing clothes that would be awesome.

Thanks a bunch.

I'm looking to learn as much as I can when I don't have the opportunity to sit and read. I'm interested in everything from farming to sieging a castle to the daily life for a street urchin in 12th century London. Thanks for any answers.