I've been watching great war videos recently and got to the topic about trench warfare. I'm currently wondering if ancient people did something like trench warfare? What are great examples of trench warfare pre-greatwar?

I know there were exceptions in both time periods. Basically I'm wondering when Mediterranean polities decided on being less cruel in their warfare, being able to adapt to the people they conquered instead of always destroying them.

I'm a little skeptical of the claim myself, hence the question. The main thing that bothers me about it being that I can't really see how the Germans could send letters to the USA while at war with them, considering these are physical things that would need to be transported on a boat or plane.

I did some research about the reasons for why the Japanese invaded the Philippines. A big reason for Japan's occupation was that it was an ideal base in the south. Why was the Philippines an ideal place to occupy?

Was Dante more concerned with the ancients in Inferno or more interested in the contemporary history of Europe in the 13th century?

I was watching West Wing today, and saw the episode where the President invoked the 25th amendment and recused himself from his duties pending his kidnapped daughter being found and returned safely. John Goodman played the Speaker of the House, who was made acting president while the president vacated his office to the residence.

GW Bush twice recused the presidency to Dick Cheney for a colonoscopy, and Reagan did once for colon surgery. I am curious if someone who served as acting president for a period of time qualifies as a former president?

• Do we call them "President" in address after they return to normal duty?

• Are they entitled to lifetime benefits under the Former Presidents Act?

• Are they entitled to secret service protection for life?

• At which point are they entitled to these benefits? Ever? After a number of days?

Shouldn't the total revised count be around 3 million Jews now?

EDIT: Let me rephrase the question.

After Auschwitz's revision, 4 million estimate was brought down to 1 million. So that means before the revision the death toll of jews were estimated at 9 million?

Leo Frankowski's Conrad Stargard books depict an engineer from late Soviet-era Poland transported to 13th-century Poland ten years before the Mongols invade. In that time he has to make a name for himself and industrialize his country to save it from the hordes.

From what I recall, Frankowski—himself a mechanical engineer—does his homework when it comes to adapting modern technology to a medieval setting, laying out in explicit detail how Conrad uses his limited resources to create rudimentary aircraft and radios. But I'm more curious about his credentials as a historian. In particular:

• Sex is treated with surprising candidness in Frankowski's medieval Poland—nudity taboos are relaxed or nonexistent in many villages, for example. Conrad sets up a Playboy bunny club (the Pink Dragon Inn) but gets the Catholic Church's approval because it's "look-but-don't touch" and the women's virtue (that is, virginity) is intact. Frankowski does use the right of prima nocta as a plot point, so I take his worldbuilding with a grain of salt.
• Conrad is able to communicate with his 13th-century countrymen because modern-day Polish, according to him, is relatively unchanged from its medieval incarnation. He relates an anecdote in which he tells his friends how drastically English changes with time and geography, and they think he's telling an ethnic joke.
• Conrad's close confidante, a Franciscan monk named Ignacy Sierpinski, is commissioned by the Church to report on Conrad's status as an instrument of either God or the Devil. Through a cocktail of bureaucracy and slow communication, a letter of Ignacy's bounces through various channels to the abbot of the Franciscan monastery in Cracow, by which time Ignacy himself holds that position. He answers his own letter again when it's forwarded to the Bishop of Cracow shortly after his elevation to that office.

In short, how did popular views on sexuality in 13th-century Poland differ from Church teachings? How stable is the Polish language over seven centuries? And given the limitations of long-distance communication, could an ecclesiastical official potentially be promoted to the very office he wrote to before the letter reached it?

I know this is the Jazz Age, but I'm wondering who were the outlaws in music of this era?

Was there any "hurried" jazz during this time?

What was the heavy metal of the early 1920's?

I've heard that the British were supporting the Confederates indirectly, but were other European opinions on the American Civil War?

This might be a bit UK focussed, I am not sure if they are a thing outside of my borders. In the UK when you join university, there will be societies you can join. There is usually one for your course, and then societies for particular interests, such as sport, culture or ethnicity. I have a few questions about the origins of these groups.

So, as my question states, what is the history of university 'society culture' and how did it come to exist in universities? Why a university society instead of just a regular club? Was it the exclusivity? How long have societies such as these (not dining clubs, just standards societies, dining clubs I will touch on later) been a part of university life? Do we know what the earliest known university society was?

Dining clubs time. For those who are not aware, a dining club is similar to a society, however, they have selective membership usually based upon a common trait among its members, such as wealth or cultural capital. For example, current UK PM David Cameron was once a member, as are many of his cohorts, and the members of the club go quite deep, including high level businessmen, politicians and royals. Sometimes they are about drinking and rampages (such is the history of the Bullingdon club), other times they could be academic in nature. What is the history of university dining clubs? Historically, were they always elite in nature? Why did dining clubs seem to turn into fraternities and sororities in the US, but remain in the UK? Were these clubs originally started as a sort of leisure activity for the elite while at university, or were they instead started as a means by which the elite can make other high level contacts?

Travelling to the Archives in Quebec City or Montreal is not really the most convenient method, so is there a way to access primary documents for the place and period that are accessible through a database of some kind? I'd love to be able to access letters, censuses and the like.

It just hit me that there must have been a start to that standard and it probably wasn't done by Jesus' disciples since they weren't such great historians themselves.

Unless I'm mistaken, a common battle strategy during trench warfare was to charge over the top of the trench, and run across no man's land toward the enemy. How likely was a soldier to survive this charge?

Did the Germans repurposed it to be used against the invading American troops?

In any period.

I'm planning on getting my Doctorate so I can become a history professor. I'm not at the point where I need to start on my thesis but I've been trying to think of what I would want to do it on when the time arises. Any advice is welcome!

Edit: This turned into more of an advice column than I had originally intended. I actually do want to hear the subjects that people have researched. I know I have a looooooong time before I need to worry about choosing my own thesis, but the advice so far has been very helpful.