EDIT: And if they weren't speaking Greek by then, what were they speaking?

Could a train in the American West, with any modification, reach 88 mph in 1885? Were trains in other areas of the world able to reach this speed, or go even faster? When were trains actually able to reach this top speed? As an aside, what kind of safety features were required/developed as trains started increasing speed to travel transcontinental distances?

Thanks in advance!

I'm (re)reading Augustus by Adrian Goldsworthy, and on page 127 he says

He was now of an age when in ordinary circumstances he would have been serving as a junior officer in the army or beginning to appear as an advocate in the courts. Instead he was one of the most powerful men in the world.

Thanks!

I love demography, but this time period is a little outside my wheelhouse. I'm interested in how the construction and completion of the transcontinental railroad in the U.S. in 1869 changed the scale and direction of westward migration across the continent.

Were new groups migrating now that the economic and time cost decreased compared to previous methods like wagon trails? How did the new migrants interact with existing European communities in places like New Mexico and California? How did Native American nations respond to the new influx of migrants? Stepping back, what were the logistical challenges faced by migrants seeking to start a new life in areas once too distant/isolated/dangerous to consider settling?

Thanks in advance!

Hi all, I would like to write an essay on 16th century piracy/privateering for a 4k word research essay that my high school program has us to do. I would like to know from the professional historians that you are, what would be a good/easy topic to do research on? I am currently thinking about the role of privateering in causing the Anglo-Spanish War, but I am afraid I won't get too much data on that.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

More specifically, did disease or hunger outweigh actual death from fighting?

(For the sake of clarity, death caused by chemical weapons should be categorized as death from fighting)

...Er, our past.

In today's Tuesday Trivia, tell us how the children of the past changed their world--for better or for worse.

In discussions, I'm often confronted with the view that the holocaust "could have happened anywhere" with comparisons drawn to Armenia, Rwanda, etc. Somehow this doesn't sit well with me. Is it appropriate to consider the holocaust as "just another genocide" historically? Is there a historical debate on the "uniqueness" of the holocaust, or do historians contextualize it terms of other genocides?

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I was watching a documentary about Colombia and The Shining Path Maoist guerrillas that terrorized that country and I became interested in Communism. I'd like to read more about the communist philosophy that inspired these groups all over the world.

For example The Shaping of France, Chronology of the world, the Roman Empire...

Sorry if this has been asked before, I haven't seen it. I have heard mixed reviews on his methods. Many, myself included, think his podcast is wonderfully done and brings a lot of life to topics that can often be dry, at least in its presentation. Others criticize him for perhaps taking a little too much leeway in some cases, and doesn't always make it clear what is more on the speculation side of things and what is more on the documented fact side. I'd be curious to know what actual historians think.

Was it one consistent state, or one that varied quite alot through the years?

All I know is of the yamato, got sunk by aircraft, also a question, was the ship really good? I mean, it was one of the biggest of its time, but that doesn't mean everything.

Also, what "intereactions" happened between the japanese navy and other's ? How "well" did it go?

If possible I'd like some links that I can read in my spare time, thx

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I'm looking for something in depth, where the decisions of the generals/commanders are explained in depth. Anything pre gunpowder goes.

Why is it that people in 20th century london and in the medieval eras never portrade with ance

Hildegard has always fascinated me because of the sheer amount of knowledge she seemed to have, and writings on a great number of subjects.

Did she behave very differently from other abbesses in her time, or are their more women like her in the mid-late middle ages?

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