I am writing about Kashmir in the 1860's, and I have run into some difficulty finding primary sources that were not written by the british (Especially because I don't have access to a sweet university library anymore). Because of my particular focus I have read a couple hunting/travel diaries written by british soldiers, and I am hoping to find a less imperial perspective on what was going on in north India and Pakistan at the time.

Even in historical accounts I have read about the the East India Company and the British Raj seem pretty heavy with pro-imperialist interpretations of events. I have several books that I have not read yet but it seems like every book on the subject has the same footnotes and sources so I was hoping to get some recommendations.

This is almost certainly too specific a request. This is basically asking if there are perfect sources. Any 19th century history or primary source written by Kashmiri or Punjabi authors would be extremely helpful though. I would love to find more folktales or lore even. In any case, thanks for help!

Here are the books that I have found but have yet to read: The Jammu Fox, India's Struggle for Independence, Demystifying Kashmir, Kashmir in the Crosssfire, and The Sikhs of the Punjab

I'm having a pretty hard time with this one. A lot of people are portraying him as a monster/barbarian whereas I take the view that what he did ( Trail of Tears, etc.) was morally incorrect by today's standards, but fair by those of the time.

I'm also curious to get your opinion on how we should assess history, given that some parts of it are extremely incongruous with our current outlook on society.

Thanks

I imagine it's something that would have been written about, a horde of heretics from faraway lands invading one of the holiest cities of Islam.

Upon analysis of casualty figures from the world wars one will find incredible discrepancies in terms of the range of supposed deaths. Why are there so many "estimates"? For example the wiki for the battle of Passchendaele lists the casualty count as 200,000–448,614, a MASSIVE gap (I understand that Wikipedia isn't the most credible of sources but this issue isn't unique to that website). Wouldn't soldiers be registered at home? Wouldn't families be notified of their child's death and is that not documented? Why are there be so many forgotten soldiers?

Any help in this regard will be hugely appreciated! I'm fascinated by how he managed to evolve Athens government.

While the Civil Rights Movement practiced nonviolence in the first part of the decade, why did the movement radicalize seemingly after their primary objectives had already been accomplished with the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act? By radicalize I mean the sudden emergence of nationwide riots. Could this be attributed to a radicalization in the ideology of the leadership?

I've heard the story that a number of cities used streetcars or trolleys in the early 1900s, and the car manufacturers bought them out and shut them down out of fear of competition. Yet we still see them in San Francisco today. Why?

Any behind enemy lines sabotage, etc?

In place of allowing the Brittish surrender, did anyone in power from the Americas ever consider continuing the war into Great Brittian or its other territories? As in pursuing total surrender of the enemy.

I know this would probably be ill advised at the time, and unlikely to succeed, but I can image a modern day American government demanding an unconditional surrender of an enemy, and I imagine there must of been similar characters and thoughts at that time as well.

Like the title states, I am a high school student who loves history. Other than general advice I would also like to ask:

• How did you decide on your area of specialty? I find the thought of narrowing my interests to one area pretty daunting.
• How important is it to know a foreign language as an undergraduate? I would like to learn a foreign language for personal enjoyment and use in history, but it is difficult to choose because I don't know which particular area of history I want to focus on yet.

Not only referencing their role in politics but the physical attribute as well.

I was just wondering how those in lifeboats fared? I read that help didn't come for almost two hours after the Titanic sank. What did the lifeboats do once the Titanic was gone? Were there any further dangers?

Christian monks are often addressed as the "bridge" that connected ancient culture and the modern one. Namely, if Aristotle, Plato, Cicero and so on were available in the Renaissance, it is because some copyist in the Dark Ages decided to put the papyr into a scroll and pass it on to posterity.

Now, this is not surprising for religious books or those considered Authorities by medieval culture. And yet, considering the time and money investment necessary to copy a book, how is it that we can still read today authors such as Catullus, Claudius Rutilius Namatianus, Sappho, and a large crowd of authors who were either anti-Christian, foul-mouthed, homosexual, or simply great fans of wordly pleasures?

Before the federation was declared I believe the states existed in a confederacy of sorts and that each state had a militia. Knowing human nature and that there probably existed disputes I want to know if these militias fought against each other in a sort of war between states.

The usual way new nations are created is for a existing nations territory to declare independence, but was wondering if the opposite has ever happened? As if the US congress unilaterally recognized Texas as an independent nation, against the will of Texas?

For clarification I mean personal items as in for example letters, books, privately bought pen knives etc not issued personal equipment.

This has bugged me for a while. I realise some items are problematic, such as diaries or heavy books, and a small and/or useful item like a lighter less so. But people were away from home for months and years, and war is mainly downtime. There must have been some need to have private stuff. Were private things sent home, discarded, put into storage before battle or carried into it? What about souvenirs from the battlefield?

My question still stands for other wars than and eras than WW2 as well if some of you happen to have a good answer but for another conflict.

In "Why the West Rules--For Now" the author mentions that the East (Chinese) invented pottery centuries before the West, an invention which he claims was driven by the need to cook rice. But how were the Chinese cooking rice before pottery? Have they found evidence of baskets and heating stones similar to what the Native Americans used for cooking?

During the 19th century when Italy was being unified into an independent state, the vast majority of Italians of the time would have been Catholic. I can't imagine that it would have sat well with many of them having to attack and conquer the leader of the Catholic Church.

Was it hard to inspire people to want to fight against the Papal forces? Did many Italians take up arms for the Papacy? Did Papal resistance to Italian unification cause popular unrest in unified Italy during the early years of the new nation? Thanks!

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I was thinking about this recently. I've heard that cattle rustling has been around for thousands of years, but I've never actually know the details of how someone in a time where we had a structured society yet didn't have modern technology such as motor vehicles, managed to steal cattle without being caught.

Also, where did they sell these cattle? People have branded cattle for a long time as well, so who did they sell to and where did they do it?

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer this question.