Was Brezhnev considerably more repressive towards artists and political dissidents than Krushchev? If so, would a regular citizen notice these changes?

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I've heard that this was a thing that happened among other unfortunate products of Caligula's madness. However, I've also heard it debunked a few times as something that was more of a practical joke and less of an actual government decision.

How true is the story that Caligula made his favorite horse one of the consuls of the Roman Empire? What became of this?

I recently read a little bit about Giacomo Casanova, it seems he lived an almost unbelievably interesting life. Allegedly he broke out of the Inquisition's imprisonment in the Venetian Doge's palace, met Voltaire, Rousseau, Frederic the Great, Catherine the Great, two popes, Mozart and Benjamin Franklin. His adventures seem like they're taken out of the stories about Baron Munchhausen. Can anyone recommend me a good, critical biography?

Initially humans would eat their meats raw and their stomach's could handle this without getting ill but at some point they started cooking their meat. When did this and happen and why did they do this? Wouldn't it have made them ill? Dogs, as an example, can't eat warm foods because they have never learnt to digest it so how did humans transition from raw to cooked?

why did modern science and mathematics virtually developed within Europe despite the fact the Arabic world, India etc. was more advanced than Europe for centuries

First off, maybe this isn't actually true, in which case I would like to be corrected. But assuming putting nukes in orbit actually was the goal of the space program(s), why didn't either the US or the USSR actually do so?

We both demonstrated a great deal of capability in spaceflight. Were there some technological/implementational barriers, or did the goals change over time? Was that actually never a goal?

Recently went to a seminar about the foreign language tour guides in my country, and yikes, it sounded both hard and unrewarding. They expected a quite difficult-sounding certification and then work in an industry that demands a lot of its workers, like not being able to say "I don't know" to any question and only being allowed a few complaints from customers before companies blacklist you.

I respect the people that can do it, but I decided it likely wasn't for me.

Since most of the locations tour guides took foreigners to around here were history-related, I'd like to know what the historians of reddit thinks of the tour guides they've met on the sites related to their particular field. What makes one a good tour guide, or a bad one? What do you wish would be different about tours at your locations?

I don't have much knowledge on this subject, but I can't think of any other empires named after their capitals.

I was reading up on the Napoleonic Wars for the first time today and it seemed to me that the criteria needed for a conflict to be considered a world war was met. I saw many also considered the War of 1812 as an American theatre in the Napoleonic Wars, which would definitely add to the impression that it was a world war.

I just finished up my first year of my History Degree, and I'm finding that a lot of things I thought I knew weren't exactly true. One thing that I've sort of taken for granted due to how frequently it's been repeated is that the Treaty of Versailles was vindictive and overly punitive to the Germans, directly leading into Hitler's rise. How true is this?

Before America was even founded why did they come here? Was it about creating a new nation or Religion purposes?, On a test which one would it be?

Were there gas stations similar to today? Or was it done some other way?

Being able to drive, becoming an independent and being able to drink are all associated with what seem to be rather arbitrary ages. What's the history and significance behind these ages that have made them major milestones in American culture/law? Throughout history, have other ages been used?

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first people to officially climb Everest in 1953. It seems really weird to me that people have lived in that area for thousands of years and there is no record of anybody ever climbing it before them.

Any published articles, books, other literature or accounts?

I'm fascinated by the dramatic dimensions of this particular chapter of obscure history. Anything about the aspirations of the semi-mythic figures involved in this invasion (Sveneld / Oleg are the two I know about), or about the demographic elements of the occupation, or about the probably narrative of the invasion on both sides, is welcome.