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Specifically im looking for books, documentaries and whatnot on russo-turkish war of 1877-78 italo-turkish war of 1911-12 and the turkish war of independence. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

I understand why the Vichy government in Metropolitan France opposed the Allies (at least publicly) but why did French colonies like Madagascar fight back? They may have been legally bound to obey the legal government of France (the Vichy regime) but it was obviously a German puppet and the Allies+Free French were trying to defeat Germany and restore France, hardly malicious intent.

I may be wrong but it seems to me that various Vichy commanders just thought 'Yea the Vichy regime is just a Nazi stooge deporting Jews to death camps left, right and centre but we're gonna obey them anyway and fight against the people who want to see France free again'.

I just can't imagine British colonies/dominions doing the same if the UK was somehow conquered, I find the idea that Canada/Aus/NZ would obey a British puppet government and fight against the USA absurd.

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I once read an article that explained how soldiers from all sides of the war would go AWOL and try and survive together in no man's land to avoid being executed for desertion, living in abandoned dugouts, scavenging for food at night, and that these groups consisted of soldiers from both The Allies and The Central Powers living together. Unfortunately the article never showed a source and I haven't been able to find it since. Does anyone know if this was actually something that happened or was it just a myth?

If the question is still needs to be more specific, I'd prefer sailors in the Royal Navy, although American, French, or other counterparts are welcome.

I've seen many pictures of Hitler and Mussolini together but why aren't there any pictures of Tojo w/ Hitler or Tojo w/ Mussolini ?

I am aware of the monstrosities that occurred under him, but is there any evidence of Hitler personally killing anyone (outside of his time as a soldier in WW1)?

I know that the educated and the nobility knew that the world was round but what about the uneducated lower classes?

Possibly a question for r/Islam, but I thought I'd ask here first.

I've read several times that Muhammed, having had his first vision/religious experience/whatever, was quite worried that he was possessed by a Djinn, but his wife (and another guy?) reasurred him that it must be indeed from the Angel Gabriel.

But, how do we know this? Is it from the Qu'ran or one of the later biographies of his life? Or a hadith? I'm very interested in understanding the events around this, and how Muhammed thought of it. But for that, I need to know how reliable this story is.

I'm just wondering why the two seem to be equated today when it seems like white would not include, for instance, Indo-Iranians, while Aryan does.

Suppose there are several other children in the family.

• Her nine year old brother. He has some understanding of ideas like "being marriageable," (although he may not fully understand their importance), and has begun reading some things like the Analects (er... I'm not entirely sure whether a nine year old boy in a well-bred Han family would be reading the Analects. What would be appropriate at that age?). He could probably give a short, shallow answer about why foot-binding is desirable -- that it makes his sister more ladylike, refined, marriageable, etc, but when he sees the agonizing and disabling process carried out on his sister, he wants to ask his mother (or father) a lot of questions that start with "why?"

• Her four year old sister. She's heard this is something that will happen to her too. Seeing how awful it seems, she starts thinking she wants to avoid it, and finds the prospect very frightening.

• Her four year old brother (twin of the sister). He also is confused (and maybe a little frightened) by what's happening.

How would the parents explain this custom to the other children in the family?

So, this is kinda off topic but I can't think of a better group of people to ask...

I'm running a pseudo historically accurate dungeons and dragons campaign taking place in England during the time Richard I was off crusading. I need a large sized area map that lists accurate locations and borders without all the modern cities and roads that I can lay a grid over.

To get more on topic, an actual historical question. Where specifically did the kings brother John actually reside most of the time from 1191 before heading to Normandy?

Thanks guys!

Alternatively, how many men could/would it take to smith a large quantity in quick succession. I assume a king or lord would have their own smiths. Would they seek the employ of other smiths if needed? Would smiths be forced to rush their work resulting in a diminished quality?

Sorry for all the questions. My mind went off on a tangent.

I recently read the novel Omon Ra, which is a fictional story of a boy being sent to space on a suicide mission. In the novel the crew was held a secret and the soviets were trying to show they could put a unmanned spacecraft on the moon, but they didn't have the technology to do it yet, so instead of waiting, they sent these 6 boys on a one way ticket to space. Each person was killed off during each phase, until only the main character remained and he landed on the moon. Did the USSR have any missions like this? I did plenty of google searches and couldn't find anything but I have read that they were known to cover up pilot deaths anyway. I'm not sure if this is the sub-reddit that my question belongs in, but after reading this book I must know if they had any type of program such as this.

I think many people are familliar with the defences of Normandy to some degree. Yet when Calais is mentioned books seem to state that the defences were better there and leave it at that. I was curious what features made it appear too risky for an allied invasion. Was it troop presence, infrastructure, static defences? Thanks for any answers.

Forgive me, for I do not know a whole lot about the intricases of Ancient Greek politics. I would assume that ancient Greek leagues were like giant alliances between city-states. So what made this league an "Athenian Empire" instead of just an alliance somewhat dominated by Athens? Did Athens begin to govern the other city states through this league, or is calling the Delian League "the Athenian empire" akin to calling NATO "the American Empire".

According to Dan Carlin's hardcore history, before Napoleon, countries wouldn't dream of forcing their people to fight a war. So how did things like the redcoats made?

"We are close, but I am not easy in my liver"

"Why, the wild men?"

"the manbuwi*" he said. The little brown hunters were no exactly like the pygmies that dwelt near his village far to the North-West but he thought of them as essentially similar. After all they did not grow yams or keep goats, and those were the marks of civilization.

*I'm likely spelling that word wrong, I'm transcribing from an audiobook