What happened? A rock fell into a fire. The average regular fire isn't hot enough. It doesn't make sense! It seems, somehow it was taught. I don't see figuring it out by mistake! Kinda the same with cooking food. How did that happen? Man just didn't think, let's make a super hot fire & melt certain rocks into metal. It seems impossible that thought would cross their mind. Unless lava melted a rock & they put 2 & 2 together. But highly doubtful. Perhaps there were ET'S who visited in the past & gave us the knowledge. But then, how'd they figure it out???

Living in the South and identifying as Catholic, I was told more than once that I wasn't a "real" Christian. It seems to occupy a rung similar to Mormonism in people's minds. I'm curious what the origins are of the American peoples' hostile relationship with the papacy.

I'm specifically wondering if it has to do with the waves of German, Irish, and Italian Catholic immigration in the 18th & 19th centuries.

In The Nichomachean Ethics Aristotle often mentions beating one's own father. So does Socrates in Plato's Euthyphro. I was just wondering why would they use such examples, I'm guessing it must be based on something.

I want to preface this post by making it clear that I am not a Holocaust denier or Nazi sympathizer. I understand this sub's policy on Holocaust denial and frankly agree with the reasons behind the rule. I don't think this post implies either position but thought clarity might be best. Also, since this post surrounds such a personal (to many), and important period in history, I want to apologize in advance if anything comes across as callous toward victims of the Holocaust (especially the sections regarding logistics and manpower). I readily admit that I don't always know the best way to communicate controversial ideas with appropriate sensitivity and thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

My question stems from playing a recently released grand strategy game by Paradox Games called Hearts of Iron 4. In this game, you can play as most of the major (and minor!) nations involved in the Second World War, including Germany. However, the game's developers chose not to include the Holocaust (or any relate logistics or planning, either explicitly or implicitly) as a mechanic within the game. I'm less interested in the controversy that this decision has caused within the game's community than I am in what the war might have looked like absent the Holocaust being carried out concurrently. Since the question "Would Germany have won World War 2 if the Holocaust was not being carried out during the war?" is likely unanswerable with any degree of certainty, I'm focused on what the known effects of the Holocaust on the war might be.

For context, I thought I'd include my thoughts on how the war might have been impacted by the Holocaust. Please feel free to use these as a springboard for your answer or ignore them completely. For ease of communication, when I reference the German military, I am also referencing any relevant paramilitary groups (like the SS).

1. Recruitment of civilians. I see two ways that the Holocaust might have influenced Germany in terms of recruitment:

A. Impacts on potential military recruits. The number of people imprisoned or killed during the Holocaust was pretty huge. I have no context for how many people (whether or not they were directly victimized by the Holocaust) might have assisted the German Military had the Holocaust not have occurred, but the number certainly is not 0. In any case, do we know whether or not the Holocaust had a significant impact on the number of recruits available to the German war effort?

B. Impacts on the workforce. This is similar to the above, but might (in my opinion) have actually been a more significant factor in the war than the above since many of the people victimized by the Holocaust wouldn't have been directly fit for military service but might have still participated in their local industrial economies. Did the Holocaust significantly impact Germany's ability to produce, store or transport any equipment, weapons or other supplies during the war? On the other hand, was the use of slave labor a significant factor on the same capability?

2. Allocation of recruited personnel and materiel. I assume that the amount of people, supplies, equipment and resources required to carry out the Holocaust was fairly significant once you consider all military and non-military personnel and supplies involved(if this isn't correct, let me know). Do we know how significant of a logistical undertaking the Holocaust was in terms of the manpower and materiel offset from the war effort? Was this significant enough to have an effect on German war capacity?

3. Impacts on morale. Was there a significant impact to Military or Civilian morale (whether in Germany or in any occupied nations) as result of the Holocaust? I'm unconvinced by people that claim that civilians were unaware of the Holocaust and can only assume that some people had fairly strong opinions about it. The same seems likely true for military personnel. Did this cause any significant dissent that affected the German war effort?

If there's anything significant that I'm missing, definitely let me know!

I want to thank anyone that answers my question in advance.

I know the show is not accurate historically, but are the clothing, armor, environment and the Khans links with the western world actually as they are in the show. For the untrained the show seems quite well made at least.

I found via an online newspaper database that there are literally dozens of reports of 6,000,000 Jews facing threat of extermination in Russia or starving in various east European countries. This was taking place from around 1905 to about 1930. What was happening during these times? Is there any relationship between the 6,000,000 in Russia and the 6,000,000 who died during the holocaust?

I have heard on many occasions that American Indian boarding schools forced native children to adopt American culture, and leave their tribal identity behind. This is often expressed as a colonial effort to peacefully destroy the Native American tribal identity, sometimes with the term "cultural genocide" used.

As someone that was raised Catholic, who always liked reading stories about saints and historical converts, I know that missionary work is generally portrayed as an enlightening and uplifting effort, with purely wholesome intentions.

What I want to know is, what was the actual intention of these schools? Was it us attempting to help the American Indians get a real education to help them advance their own society? A way to destroy them culturally? The better alternative to outright extinction from repeated wars? Or was it the way we would "make up" for past instances of violence and resettlement?

In his Final Solution, David Cesarani suggests in the introduction that the Germany Army was not that superior to others, but 'achieved decisive victories mainly thanks to the mistakes of their opponents'. Is he right and is the Germany Army of WW2 overrated?

I'm looking to choose a book to explore the history of the British empire. I want the book to be readable and enjoyable. I'm interested in the tensions between Britain and other empires/states, as well as the economics and politics of the empire (and I read that Ferguson specializes in economic/financial history). I also would like to learn about the positive/negative effects of colonization around the world.

At this point, I'm deciding between Ferguson's Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World and Darwin's Unfinished Empire: The Global Expansion of Britain. Which would /r/askhistorians recommend for a casual reader like me?

I've heard concerns that Ferguson is too revisionist, in that his book is a counter to the leftist critiques of the empire. Is he a little too revisionist?

In addition, does either book get bogged down in anecdotal material (of which I'm not a fan)?

Any thoughts on Darwin's thematic approach rather than chronological? For someone relatively unfamiliar with the history, is this a downside?

Should I choose a different book altogether? I appreciate all suggestions, though I ask that the book be of reasonable length (I'm not looking for a massive and comprehensive history of everything regarding the British empire).

Thanks in advance for all responses!

As we see in episode 2: khubilai Khan is faced with the decision wether to kill the chinese emperor or send him to a monastery. Upon receiving the death penalty, the boy runs to Khubilais arms telling him he don't want to die and what folllows is Khubilai suffocating the boy in his arms.

Is this even close to what happened?

I am interested in history philosophy books like the ones above if that make sense? I'm currently reading Thomas Paine's Common Sense (although not that helpful in modern society) and books like these to shape my own political ideology, rather then sensational like today. Ones on the US are preffered, but also like Art of War is also what I like. Recommend away...

(thanks in advance!)

How did people living before the Common Era count time? I understand the "Jewish calendar" (that's how I know of it at least) counts 57XX (I can't remember the current year), but did people living before the switch to BCE/CE count years on that calendar or was their some other count of years passed?