After combining forces and being supposed childhood friends, why did they become enemies? Ive read several different sources and gotten several different answers. I apologize if this seems like an ignorant question.

Say I'm a Feudal King, and I'm looking to start a campaign to conquer some neighbouring territory, so I need to build myself an army. I'm wondering what things I'd need to consider to take this process from point A (needing an army) to point B (having an army).
As I understand it, armies were assembling as separate chunks of different lordships and commanders, but were these units assembled from the ground up once the call went out for mobilised troops? Or were there standing units during peacetime that would be called up at that point?
One last thing, I'm wondering how accurately portrayed the assembly of units in games like Total War are, whether you could go down to the local bowers and request a unit of archers, or whether military units formed naturally only after which would any consideration for coordination take place?

Hello!

I am looking for a book recommendation on books about the Qing Dynasty, in particular:

(1) the Banner system and the politics behind it, especially as the Aisin Goro clan used it effectively to establish the Qing Dynasty

(2) Kangxi's reign, in particular the period of time when he was choosing the heir (including the part about the 14th/4th Prince)

I am willing to read lengthy books, even academic ones, but I prefer books that focus on people. Like character analysis type books.

I can read Chinese, so Chinese books would be acceptable roo, but honestly I much prefer reading an English book. Thank you so much!

I was reading about Roman concrete and couldn't find any information on the but how did ancient people identify materials such as quicklime or different metals when many of these chemicals were found bonded to other stones. How did they discover or identify aluminum?

I'm thinking of buying some medieval miniatures (13th-14th centuries) and painting them in heraldic designs from Denmark, though I'm considering Sweden and Norway too. So, does anyone know of noble families from this period in the geographical area I'm looking at? I'd prefer families that didn't rule, such as the house of Estridsen (I think) which ruled Denmark throughout the middle ages, so other families are what I'm looking for. If you've got any links to good websites about Scandinavian heraldry and nobility, that would be helpful, as well as recommendations for the best miniatures I can buy for this little project that will fit my time frame and geography. I know that's a lot so thanks if you've read all of it. Cheers!

Specifically why is goat not a major source of meat? I understand that goat cheese is becoming more popular and that goat milk has a niche among american consumers but what events/reasons are there that goat meat is not a major thing. Goats are a major source of food across Africa, the middle east, Latin america and Asia but from what I have observed it isn't popular in North America and Europe.

What are the reasons goat is not a source of meat in America?

I've been reading into this a little and there seems to be two stories. One that Japan had no cannon, or that Japan had poor cannon; in both versions they preferred close range combat with hand held firearms and boarding parties. so which is it?

Secondly if it is the case the Japanese cannons were inferior, in what way were the Korean weapons more advanced?

There are lots of stories of the white man bringing diseases and illnesses that wrecked havoc on the native people because they had no immunity. but what about the opposite? Did they come here and find any diseases that killed off large amounts of settlers?

One hears a lot about the incarceration rate in e.g. the USA nowadays. I think it is up around 800 per 100,000 people. Do we know the comparable numbers for Germany?

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I'm well aware that lice was a major problem, but how much more common occurring were other parasites? Specifically, were there more cases of insects laying eggs on / in people? I've seen a lot of similar stories on r/cringe recently and I wondered if the hygienic habits of those in that time period would lead to a substantial increase in parasites.

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This is largely going to be just a quick series of questions to any Venetian experts out there about colleganze.

A quick intro for the uninitiated in Venetian economic practices so that you can understand the questions and answers - a colleganze was a form of commercial investment which was practiced in Venice around this time. It is somewhat like a loan or a join venture. An investor puts down money for a travelling merchant to invest in a voyage in return for 3/4 of their profits. Yes, I know this sounds like a bad deal for the merchant but it really is not as bad as it sounds. It was a system by which poorer merchants could actually engage in meaningful trade and find a good start for themselves as it would enable them to actually manage the costs of trading while making some money of their own. Additionally, they could take on multiple of these investments for one trip from different sources, allowing them to take home far more money than they would from a voyage otherwise.

I don't mind if you cannot answer them all - any of them being answered for me would be extremely interesting insight to me. I've been reading Lane's 'Venice: A Maritime Republic' and the economic side I found extremely interesting.

1. Who would I meet to find a colleganza? By this, I mean what type of person in Venice was in a position to be investing money into a colleganza? Could a successful young merchant go from accepting colleganze in their youth to investing into them in their older years?

2. Was the investor in a colleganza interested in specifically what goods I would be purchasing or were they just interested in the profit for their investment?

3. How much money would an investor be putting into a colleganza? I understand that a merchant could and typically would accept multiple colleganza from different sources for a single voyage, but how much was each individual usually investing into a voyage? An idea of how far that money might be able to take me would be helpful too.

4. My voyage is a bust. We get to Constantinople or Syria and there are just not the goods there to make a profit on. I do what I can to turn a profit on this voyage, but fail and return to Venice with no profits, just about breaking even. What happens now? How would an investor respond to my failure to deliver their 3/4 profit?

5. Worse yet - on my way back to Venice I run into pirates. They take the goods and make off. The whole venture was a sunk cost for all parties involved. How do my investors respond now? If I end up being forced to repay this debt myself, how do I go about doing this? What if I am simply never capable of repaying the debt or just renege on it?

6. What precautions were taken to prevent me accepting a multitude of colleganze, taking a voyage to a city and then sequestering away to never return? I just take the money and run. Would anybody be sent to track me down? Would I be able to return to Venice? Where would I be able to run off to having done this and be safe? Would the money I could effectively steal be worth the effort of running away with?

7. The weather turns exceptionally sour towards the middle of autumn, or the republic finds itself at war (or even both) causing my voyage to dock up in some port away from Venice for a while, or even for the whole season or possibly 2 seasons until the seas are safe again. How does my inability to return to Venice and repay my colleganze due to unforeseen circumstances affect me or my investors? How do I manage to pay my way through the unexpected docking time - I presume living costs might severely impact my ability to return my colleganza with peak profits. How would my investors see this situation?

8. Were there any measures to prevent me accepting a colleganze, or many colleganze and then taking that money and instead investing them into further colleganze instead of actually going on my own voyage, sort of like a pyramid scheme? Would this even be a concern if I managed to return the promised profits to my investors?

Hopefully we have some experts out there who are equipped to answer this unusually precise series of questions, but it was just on my mind. However, I never want to type the word colleganza/e in my life again after this!

Said 15 year-old is trained to use a longbow.

Also:

How many hours will I practice shooting per day?

How far can I shoot?

What armor do I wear? (A part of my childhood was crushed when I learned "leather armor" wasn't a thing. :( )

I've heard there are a lot of different kinds of gladiators. But two kinds of gladiators seem to come up a lot.

Gladiator one) Heavy armor, limited motion. Gladiator two) Light armor, free motion.

But may I ask, what were the physique requirements for these two niches? Were the physique requirments different for gladiatos that wore heavy armor compared to gladiators that wore light armor?

Was there a preferred: Height Strength Speed Age Flexibility