What do historians mean when they use the word "modern?"

1 Answers 2016-05-13

How did medieval jews justify not living in the promised land?

If you asked a random jews from 15th century Frankfurt about the fact that Jerusalem is mostly muslim (or a 6th century jew that it's mostly christian), what would his reply be?

2 Answers 2016-05-13

Why didn't the USSR conquer all of europe after WWII?

4 Answers 2016-05-13

What on earth am I looking at?

https://imgur.com/sHDvc7R

A Weird Twitter user posted the linked photo. It appears to be a coin or token stamped 1932, along with a Star of David; a Swastika; an Eye of Providence; and a Four-Leaf Clover. The simultaneous presence of all of these symbols on a single token seems to demand some explanation.

I assume the user's story that he found the coin by punching a goblin in the belly is an embellishment but I would be happy to be demonstrated wrong.

3 Answers 2016-05-13

Why are there so few last names in ancient China?

I've been reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms lately, and I'm surprised by the amount of characters seemingly unrelated with the same last name. There are so many Liu's and so many Zhang's and so on. I understand that last names where relatively new for the majority of the population back then, but still, seems a bit illogical to have last names that won't actually help differ each others.

Thanks!

4 Answers 2016-05-13

I'm a European seaman in the early 18th century and my ship is about to be taken as a prize. We have no chance of fighting them off and we're heaving to - how scared am I?

1 Answers 2016-05-13

How accurate is the movie/documentary Bitter Lake?

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2 Answers 2016-05-13

What was the Stalin era Soviet leadership's stance on Tsar era or before Russian military heroes and leaders like Nevsky, Suvorov and Bagration?

It seems to me that such men would be a pretty strong symbol of Tsarism and would be considered counterrevolutionary, yet you see homages to them like Operation Bagration and photos of tanks with "Suvorov" scrawled on them and the like. Was this simply tolerated as a part of Russian military tradition or were they actively honored by the Soviet leadership, or something else entirely?

2 Answers 2016-05-13

Is it true that Aristotle told Alexander the Great that his army should boil water before drinking it?

My microbiology lecturer mentioned this, but I can't seem to find any primary sources about this.

2 Answers 2016-05-13

Did John Wilkes Booth get what he wanted after he assassinated Abraham Lincoln?

1 Answers 2016-05-13

How was Ethiopia able to remain independent throughout the Scramble for Africa?

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1 Answers 2016-05-13

How defensible were Japanese castles?

I was looking at some Japanese castles lately, and many of them appear to employ predominantly wood construction, for example, the Himeji Castle uses typical construction. Compared to European and Middle Eastern stone and masonry forts, these seem far less defensible - for example, why did they not simply burn to the ground when besieged? There are countless castles that are many centuries old still standing in Japan? Are they more defensible than they seem to a layman? Are they still around due to military custom or political stability?

2 Answers 2016-05-13

Can any Historians recommend any really great history audiobooks (particularly ones available through Audible?)

For reasons too complex to elaborate on, I've found myself sitting atop a king's ransom of credits for free audiobooks (it was a billing error that screwed me out of a few hundred dollars that's been corrected after I saber-rattled, lest anyone think I'm shilling). I've got about 25 audiobooks' worth of credits that I need to burn through before I can accumulate any more, so this calls for a spending spree.

I love roman history, and based upon recommendations from /u/Celebreth in other threads I've shoved Adrian Goldsworthy's full catalogue into my shopping cart. Can anyone point me towards any other good stuff (or away from any bad stuff)? Roman history is best, but anything is fair game.

3 Answers 2016-05-13

How were battlefield orders communicated from commander to infantry leaders during the Napoleonic Wars?

While playing the Total War series it always struck me as odd about how my units of infantry would always automatically conformed to my order instantly no matter how far away they were from the general's unit. During this time how did the army commander relay orders to units of infantry on the front lines?

2 Answers 2016-05-13

How in God's Name was Prohibition Ratified in the United States?

Considering how widespread alcohol consumption was in the early 1900s; and how popular alcohol has been, pretty much since it was discovered. How could prohibition possibly have been democratically passed in the United States?

2 Answers 2016-05-13

Ropes of the ancient andean people: uses, scale, materials and craftmanship

I know this subject is slightly engineerish in nature, but since it's considered past, I decided to ask my questions here.

I've understood that the ancient Inca used not only quipu to communicate/organize but also utilized massive ropes to build bridges across canyons and likely for other tasks as well. I know of Q'iswa Chaka, the bridge locals keep rebuilding to this day, but I think I read somewhere that the Spanish wrote of significantly larger ropes that were (partially) made of leather, unlike the pure reed/hay/grass bridges of today. If this was the case, what else if anything is known of the materials used in the "original" ropes? Have any of them been discovered by archaeologists?

How about other applications? I've understood the inca did not have wheels (to utilize pulleys), but perhaps they used ropes in other ways for leverage/transportation/other. Any known methods?

I know there's a barrage of questions here so I'm more than happy to get new insight to even one of them. My current knowledge is basically limited to this video, but am googling around "as we speak."

Bonus: Was it Caral or some other earlier Peruvian culture (more to the coast of Peru) that had these coarse "webs" made of grass rope, filled with stones and used as building elements not unlike sandbags?

1 Answers 2016-05-13

There was military involvement by the United States Army to reduce American Bison populations as a way of starving Native Americans. Some Questions.

This sounds like something we say about Stalin. Is this real? Which presidents presided over this policy - is there a document signed by someone saying they are going to force starvation/migration against a people's signed by any American officials?

What did this policy specifically call for? How was it executed?

1 Answers 2016-05-13

Unique Story from IE's Annals of the Four Masters

Are any users here familiar with a particularly unique record or interesting entry in the Annals of the Four Masters from Ireland? I am looking for something dated to the Mid-Late Medieval era.

1 Answers 2016-05-13

Are the Native Americans considered to come during Ice Age or possibly were here already after Pangea split?

Were the Native Americans believed to have migrated here from Asia over a land or ice bridge from Russia/Asia, or were they here before the last Ice Age and possibly already if the continents were all connected as Pangea or whatever?

3 Answers 2016-05-13

Former British colonies speak English, former Spanish colonies speak Spanish, and former Portuguese colonies speak Portuguese. Why do former Dutch colonies like Indonesia not speak Dutch?

3 Answers 2016-05-13

What was Napoleon's opinion of the black race as a whole?

1 Answers 2016-05-13

Why is the Palatinate called by a Latinate name, "Palatinate", in English when it is "Pfalz" in German?

2 Answers 2016-05-13

Until 1861, Ohio and Virginia shared a border. Did Ohioans and Virginians across the Ohio River hold oppoing views on contemporary issues such as states' rights, or was it more of a grey area (particularly in modern-day West Virginia)?

1 Answers 2016-05-13

How would black people from other countries have been treated in pre-60s America and Apartheid South Africa?

The question is pretty self-explanatory; I was just wondering if there was any difference in the way black foreign nationals would have been treated in such segregated societies.

2 Answers 2016-05-13

During WWII, what did the axis powers referrer to themselves as?

1 Answers 2016-05-12

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