I am interested in The Doge (not the meme) and the general governance of Venice at that time. All I know is that there were a series of lotteries to determine rulers. What more can you tell me and what should I read to get interesting stories?

1 Answers 2016-07-23

Why was there a transition from the standard knightly and arming swords of the medieval period to the rapier of the early modern period?

1 Answers 2016-07-23

Romanov wealth

What happened to the Romanov dynasty wealth after the revolution. I have read a Forbes article about Nicholas II being one of the richest men in history. I have also read that some of that wealth was in western banks. So basically what happened to it?

1 Answers 2016-07-23

Where did the British Aristocracy go?

It seems like the British Aristocracy was still prominent as recent as a hundred years ago when World War 1 was going on. If you look at Britain today, you don't really see them anymore. The House of Lords essentially has minimal power and the aristocracy seems to have disappeared.

So..what happened? Where did all these old money families go? How did they lose their money and land?

If they are still around, then why don't we notice them anymore?

Please let me know if I seem to be completely misinformed about anything...

(As per subreddit rules, please keep answers restricted to the state of the aristocracy no later than 1996)

1 Answers 2016-07-23

When did the Old Norse arrive in the Scandinavian Peninsula, and can they be said to have displaced the indigenous Sami people in the southern regions?

Can the Norse themselves be characterized as indigenous to Scandinavia?

2 Answers 2016-07-23

Were the Roman gods literally transplanted from the Ancient Greek tradition or did Rome coincidentally have a pantheon of Gods that lined up with the Greeks and they made the comparison later on?

1 Answers 2016-07-23

Did modern policing institutions in the US originate from slave patrols?

I keep seeing around social media that modern policing derives from slave patrols thus are inherently racist. Is there any truth in this or a bit of a stretch?

1 Answers 2016-07-23

Has the Holy Roman Empire used fire weapons?

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1 Answers 2016-07-23

Why did so many Romans's names end with us?

Julius, Octavius, Augustus, Marius, etc. Did it signify class or maybe it was a naming trend?

1 Answers 2016-07-23

Did any theatergoers or readers before the first wave of feminism (or during, for that matter) ever go on record with distaste for The Taming of the Shrew?

I'm not interested in people who argue that yeah, it's kind of unsettling, but if you focus on that you're missing the point about how Katherina is the smartest person in the play, or anything along those lines. I want to know if anyone said nope, it's upsetting/not fun/morally repugnant and I prefer Shakespeare's other comedies.

1 Answers 2016-07-23

Why did EADG(BE) become the standard tuning for most string instruments?

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1 Answers 2016-07-23

Did ancient & medieval sword owners usually carry around those huge heavy weapons all day/every day, or is that just an invention of Hollywood?

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1 Answers 2016-07-23

Help identify North American (probably) WWI and WWII uniforms

Here is a painting of my great grandfather "Happy". I'm pretty sure he fought with the Canadian armed forces in WWI, being that he was born and raised in Nova Scotia. Can anyone identify what his uniform might indicate? I was told he did corpse removal in the trenches.

And here is a picture of his son, my grandfather, Winston, who fought in WWII. He was also born and raised in Canada but became a US citizen at some point during the war. I've been told conflicting stories that he fought for Canada or that he fought for the US despite being underage and not a US citizen. Can you see any identifying features on his uniform that might prove one way or the other?

I'm fairly certain my brother has ironed out all the details already, but I figured this would be a more fun way to find the facts myself. Any info would be great! Thanks!

1 Answers 2016-07-23

Is there any evidence of a pre-Latin alphabet in Britain?

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1 Answers 2016-07-23

Where did Israelis come from?

1 Answers 2016-07-22

What is the earliest known account of gunpowder weapons, specifically something close to modern-ish firearms, being used?

To expand on this without make the title massive, were gunpowder weapons instantly a game-changer the way things like machine guns or airplanes were or did the technology take much longer to progress? If yes, do early accounts show the gunpowder equipped armies utterly demolishing the non-gunpowder equipped units in battle like how the early machine guns tore through tribal armies during the colonial period?

1 Answers 2016-07-22

During WW1, why did the Austro-Hungarian Empire perform so poorly when compared to their German allies on the eastern front?

1 Answers 2016-07-22

How were the Celts so wide spread?

Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria. That's an impressive range. Were the Celts the original inhabitants of most of Europe?

2 Answers 2016-07-22

Have there been cases of catapults being used to attack castles in the 19th century? Man v Food seems to think so.

An episode of Man v Food contained a scene where the host talked about using a catapult "like we were storming a 19th century castle". My friends and I think that catapults may have been a little outdated by 19th century, but we wanted to be sure. Thoughts?

1 Answers 2016-07-22

Why did the large number of plane hijackings and bombings in the 70's-90's not result in the sweeping safety measures that resulted from 9/11?

2 Answers 2016-07-22

Did muskets have advantages over recurve bows other than faster training?

I keep hearing about there being a huge advantage afforded by black powder firearms, that is usually phrased in general terms. Occasionally people mention armor penetration, but I'm pretty sure a powerful recurve bow can do that too, and has a much higher firing rate. But they take at least an order of magnitude longer to achieve competency with. Is there any other reason besides that to switch to muskets?

3 Answers 2016-07-22

How, and by whom, was it decided to "preserve" Lenins body and publicly expose it for decades? Was there precedent for this type of treatment in russian culture?

2 Answers 2016-07-22

Where the stereotype of American Indians speaking English while constantly saying "Ugh", "(verb)-um", "How", etc. come from?

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1 Answers 2016-07-22

Europe had a terrorism problem in the 60's and 70's from the extreme left (Red Faction Etc). How was this handled by authorities and how come political terrorism of that kind die out? (Bonus points for public perceptions)

1 Answers 2016-07-22

What happened to the original inhabitants of the Shetland Islands (before the vikings came) and were the Orkney Islands uninhabited when the Norwegian vikings came there?

1 Answers 2016-07-22

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