What was security like at the White House prior to 1900?

Were there armed guards? A security fence? Could someone walk unimpeded to the front door?

1 Answers 2016-09-03

Why was Macedonia's secession from Yugoslavia comparatively peaceful and unopposed?

1 Answers 2016-09-03

Why didn't the Allies bomb Normandy before the invasion?

It seems that a lot of lives could have been saved if a aerial campaign would have been launched before we sent in ground troops. Why was this a bad strategy?

1 Answers 2016-09-03

What empire was the wealthiest prior to 300 AD

By wealth I mean gold, silver, amounts etc. I just wondered if India or China or Rome or something else was huge.

1 Answers 2016-09-03

How did English armies change during the 15th century, especially in regards to the average footsoldier?

1 Answers 2016-09-03

As airplanes were being developed, were there ever any serious political oppositions to air travel becoming commercial public transport?

Were there arguments against safety from the beginning? How long did these oppositions last?

1 Answers 2016-09-03

Why did soldiers in the 17th, 18th and 19th century typically walk towards their enemy in battle?

2 Answers 2016-09-03

Where can I find scans of historical texts?

Hi.

I am interested in Historical texts, specifically for mathematics. I want to go back to the source to see where key concepts and modern mathematical notation was introduced.

I have tried google, but mostly find modern transcripts, though very arbitrarily stumble upon what I want.

Examples of some books I am looking for:

  • Sir Isaac Newton - Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica
  • René Descartes - La Géométrie (Book 1)
  • Euclid - Elements (Any original fragments)
  • Euclid - Elements (1570, Henry Billingsley's first English translation)

Does anyone have any suggestions to where I should look?

3 Answers 2016-09-03

How Did Native Americans Use Tobacco? How prevalent was its use, how was it consumed?

2 Answers 2016-09-03

Were ancient Greeks ever conquered and enslaved?

Most cultures and societies have a period in their histories in which they are conquered and/or enslaved by someone else. Did this ever happen to Greece in any period before the modern era? What were the circumstances of these events? Could you give some suggestions for reading on the subject? This question is a bit difficult to Google since the results that come up are all about the Greeks having slaves from other nations.

1 Answers 2016-09-03

Is there a hard and fast rule to demonstrate where German war heroics became war crimes & atrocity during WW2?

1 Answers 2016-09-03

Were there really good tanks in WW1?

I'm asking because in Battlefield 1 which is based on the first world war, there are tanks, which actually are good. I am aware that it is a game, but it seemed like they wanted to stay as true to history with Battlefield 1.

1 Answers 2016-09-03

What was the literacy rate in Ireland and the rest of the UK like in 1840?

I'm studying a course in Adult Literacy Education in New Zealand and we're looking at historical literacy rates and the introduction of literacy to New Zealand. In 1815 the first written attempt to record the Maori language was published and in 1841 the first Maori language newspaper was published, showing a rapid uptake of literacy among Maori. This is compared to today where Maori struggle with education and perform poorly compared to Pakeha, or European New Zealanders, largely due to the impact of colonization. The material we're using claims that literacy rates among Pakeha in 1840 were actually quite low and that the Maori had observed that the Pakeha who could read and write were the ones with power, motivating a race among different Maori tribes to become literate and participate in modern life. These two documents:

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/files/documents/peopling2.pdf

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/files/documents/peopling1.pdf

...talk about the ethnic composition of early European settlers before 1840 and from 1840 to 1852. The second has a table saying about 64.3 percent from a random sample of deaths in 1841 were from England, about 20 percent from Scotland and 13 percent from Ireland. So I'm mostly interested in the literacy rates in those countries; some sources say literacy rate in England in 1840 was in the sixty percent range for men and the 50 percent range for women, and Scotland looks better, but I can't find similar information for Ireland so I can complete my crude estimate of literacy rates.

1 Answers 2016-09-03

Was there ever any historical equivalent to "The Hand of the King" from the Game of Thrones?

I was recently reading the books, and I was curious to know what sort of real world basis might have existed in the Medieval period. We have Vice Presidents, and so on, but what did rulers used to rely on?

3 Answers 2016-09-03

In Battlefield 1 there are biplanes with tank cannons attached underneath described as tankhunters did these really exist?

To me it just doesn't seem like something that would feasibly work, surely firing a tank cannon from such a lightaircraft would cause it to loose control of it's flight.

1 Answers 2016-09-03

I read that websites used to have "guestbooks." Whatever happened to them; why don't we have guestbooks anymore?

Oh, and besides guestbooks, what else were common features of the early Internet that are generally not seen anymore?

1 Answers 2016-09-03

When did recorded history begin?

1 Answers 2016-09-03

I'm a Soviet Sailor in World War II; How likely is it that I will see action?

2 Answers 2016-09-03

Were the First Nations aware of other humans and Vica versa

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1 Answers 2016-09-03

Did people in the Middle Ages talk and joke about sex like we do?

Just wondering how long our proclivity to discussing sex has been around. Nowadays, it seems like a funny thing to joke about, but I highly doubt it has been like this for long. Before the Industrial Revolution or so, I imagine people were too prudish or just not interested in talking about it as much.

So I hypothesize that something about recent technology and lifestyle changes has enabled us to freely discuss something that was probably once taboo but certainly around for as long as us. Did we only recently start making sex-related jokes?

1 Answers 2016-09-03

How true is it that Eastern and Western philosophies are generally diametrically opposed?

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1 Answers 2016-09-03

In Ancient China, the rulers are known as emperors, is that as a result of the meaning of emperor in the western sense (eg. have power over kings) or is that just a title given to them like the czars

1 Answers 2016-09-03

What's the historical evidence for Jesus claiming to be the Son of God?

I'm sorry for if this question is more suited for a religious subreddit but I'm concerned with the basic historical fact.

We all know that Jesus Christ existed and preached and gained a following, but is there any actual evidence he claimed to be the Son of God?

If im not mistaken, this would be a foreign concept for a Jew of the time and is more similar to Greek or Roman culture.

Experts or knowledge people in the field, do you think Jesus actually claimed this title during his life of is it a later interpretation and title after his death?

Thank you!

1 Answers 2016-09-03

Why didn't Ross Perot win a state in the electoral college in 1992?

La Follette, Thurmond, even Wallace as late as 1968, all had a lower share of the popular vote than Perot yet still won electoral votes. I'm not asking how the electoral college works, I'm asking why it played out the way it did. What went wrong in Perot's campaign? I know about his dropping out and coming back in, but what factors led to Perot to be the most popular 3rd party candidate since Roosevelt yet the least successful? I'm looking more for things such as campaign strategy, social changes, etc. Thanks

1 Answers 2016-09-03

Was watching the Hornblower series, was it as simple for an enemy captain to hand over his sabre and the figthing was done? (Agen of sail)

1 Answers 2016-09-03

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