For simplicity reasons let's say antiquity ended around 500AD.

It seems the amount of salt needed to make an entire cities worth of land infertile would be ridiculous, especially in a time when salt was so valuable. How many instances were there of large amounts of territory being "salted"? What stopped people from simply setting up farms a mile down the road from where the salt was laid? Is salting a historical practice or is it some sort of allegory? How effective was it if it actually was done ?

Is anti-western sentiment prevalent in that region because of what happened?

The Bismark and Prince Eugen had a destroyer escort for the first step of their journey but were left to break into the Atlantic alone. Why didn't the Kriegsmarine sent a fleet to the Atlantic alongside the Bismark? I understand that the Germans were not looking for a large-scale naval engagement but surely as soon as the Bismark had commenced her intended mission and begun convoy raiding, the British would have sent ships after her anyway? So what was the intention in sending just two ships to perform the job of a fleet?

For example the French nobility before the revolution. Would they have their own fortune that they would use for paying their servants, food etc., or did they have access to the entire nations treasury? And how did that compare to other kingdoms of the era (Russia, Habsburg holdings etc.). How did it change after the revolutions in countries that retained proper monarchies, like German states/Germany and Austro-Hungary?

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So with the Mediterranean theme this week, and my personal delving into the topic of Napoleonic France, I came to ponder the topic of navy composition. Powers such as France have two main naval fronts, the Atlantic/North sea and the Mediterranean. Did the ships France employed in its ocean fleets differ in any way from the Mediterranean fleets? If there was differences, what were they and why? What differing challenges and tactics would an admiral face in these fronts?

Native Americans from before 1492

EDIT: answer for any given tribe

I'm a fan of Graham Hancock but I understand people here might be sceptical (so am I). Watching a national geographic documentary and seeing the structures raises so many questions though...

I have no doubt these constructions were possible With stone age tools but where did the knowledge come from? Before agriculture and a written language it seems impossible to maintain such advanced knowledge over many generations.

Does this push back the date of civilization at all? I can find plenty of people poopooing the idea that it wasn't built by cavemen. I can't find a legitimate source for an alternative timeline.

It seems like devolution from the earliest dates we have. Knowing there was a cataclysm that ended the last ice age around the time of Göbekli Tepe, why would they have intentionally buried it after that date?

So many mysteries, so few sources...

Nowadays a person getting hit by lightning is treated as a freak accident. Before lightning rods were invented were people generally terrified by lightning and likely to get hit by it?

I see it get mentioned a lot and still cant really rap my head around it even after some google seaerches.

Hi r/askhistorians,

Beyond the obvious candidates like Victoria, which female monarchs have had the biggest impact on British history, and what did they do? Thanks, I'm curious about the subject but have next to no knowledge of it.

Over on /r/urbanplanning, we are talking about the history of zoning in America, and the involvement of Herbert Hoover and the Progressive movement. To what extent was zoning introduced to improve everyone's quality of life, and to what extent was it intended to exclude minorities and the poor from a better life?

I'm not referring to origin but moreso the style of the writing used.

I'm curious about the intermediary stages between traditional warfare and firearm based warfare. Shields seem like an integral part of infantry loadout before guns came about, and then they seem to vanish instantly. Was there ever a significant attempt to use shields to defend against musket regiments? I imagine it must have failed if it happened.

Was the overthrow fairly coordinated military, by the standards of the time? And how effective was their resistance?

Thanks.

Edison getting all the credit for everything related to electricity, never once did my school give praise to Tesla and all of his contributions.

Then Christopher Columbus' dark side of savage butchery.

It make me feel like schools lied by only sharing one side of the coin. Is there a justification for this (I.e. too young to hear about the Machiavellian nature of mankind) or is this being addressed now by academics?