The more I read about WWII, it almost feels as if Hitler was intentionally sacrificing his army. I understand we do not know his mind or can ask him directly, but are there any theories as to why he forbade retreat, even when units did not have reasonable means to hold out for significant lengths of time?

As in, did they load up on supplies and go out for days/weeks at a time and sleep in the tank or camp out? Did they generally return to a "base camp" every couple days. Was there a whole mobile support system that followed them? Mostly curious about US tanks being on foreign soil and trying I would assume to advance the front.

You notice the UK's budgets are presented in a red briefcase, so when did this become common practice? Why did we start using a red briefcase, and what form was the budget presented in before?

I'm listening to the History of Byzantium podcast and it's mentioned that the early emperors gave several thousand pounds of gold to the Sassanids and barbarian tribes on several occasions. How did they acquire this gold?

I'm reading a book about the Black Plague (by J F C Hecker, translated to English by Babington) in 1348 in Europe. Here's the context. In this point of the book, the Jews were persecuted and blamed for poisoning the wells and making people sick.

Upon this all the Jews in Basle, whose number could not have been inconsiderable, were enclosed ia a wooden building, constructed for the purpose, and burnt together with it, upon the mere outcry of the people, without sentence or trial, which, indeed, would have availed them nothing. Soon after the same thing took place at Freyburg. A regular Diet was held at Bennefeld, in Alsace, where the bishops, lords, and barons, as also deputies of the counties and towns, consulted how they should proceed with regard to the Jews; and when the deputies of Strasburg — not indeed the bishop of this town, who proved himself a violent fanatic — spoke in favour of the persecuted, as nothing criminal was substantiated against them, a great outcry was raised, and it was vehemently asked, why, if so, they had covered their wells and removed their buckets.

Is it some type of ad hoc emergency court or trial?

Thank you.

There seems to be a jump from 9th to 15th. What are the missing directorates?

I read in some book, I think it was The Changing Face Of War by Martin van Crevald, that Otto von Bismarck had remarked that "humanity begins at the rank of lieutenant". That seemed like an interesting insight into how 19th century Prussians/Germans/Europeans thought, but when I tried googling for proper references I was unable to find any direct quotes by Bismarck on that topic. Was this apocryphal? Mistaken? Misattributed?

If you know of any other historical figure that said something similar I would appreciate getting a source for it.

For example with jobs like Typists, Seamstress heck even Blacksmithing can be pretty repetitive.

I had a look at my university's library and could only find quite dry archaeological texts that went into detail about things like the types of pottery used. I'm really curious about some of the grittier aspects. I've heard a few wild stories like Celts piling up the severed heads of enemies in their homes as trophies, and running into battle at night coated in semen and blue dye, high on magic mushrooms. I can't remember the source for either of these claims, but I think it's probably something I picked up from an episode of QI. I'd really like to hear more of these kinds of details, as well as things like social and family structures in that time period. Any recommendations for books or documentaries that go into this kind of thing? I'm especially curious about what this time period was like in Wales.

Since this week's theme is agriculture and farming I figured I should take the opportunity to ask something very basic of which I am sadly ignorant: How did farming, and agriculture in general, actually work historically? I have to admit that I know next to nothing about agriculture, neither modern nor historic.

My mental image of historic agriculture is basically a guy digging in the earth a bit, planting seeds and such. I exaggerate but only slightly, the point is that I would very much like a description of historical agriculture that is more detailed and in depth than just the basic "peasants would work the land." I want to know what that actually entails, how it's done, how much time it takes, what tools are used; anything you can give me.

I am of course aware that agriculture has changed over time and varied across regions, but as long as you can describe the agricultural practices in some detail I don't mind if it's only for a specific time or area.

Thank you in advance, this ignorant city kid would be much obliged.

It seems that in every western movie other than the 6 shot revolver the lever action rifle is the next most popular weapon of choice. I was curious why didn't they use it in WW1?

I guess I should be more specific: With the rise of the Cold War, did the U.S see any sort of surge throughout the 50's and 60's in gun purchases nation-wide?

Says it all.

Say, in the year 925 was there some sort of clever chimney system, perhaps a high ceiling that allowed a space under the smoke, or did they simply deal with a quite smoky house because it was preferable to the cold?

In US History, we learned about Manifest Destiny. Why wouldn't the United States go on to conquer other nations/negotiate cessions after Hawaii and Alaska and the U.S. territories? Especially once we became a superpower in the world, what stopped us from taking other countries? Why was Manifest Destiny limited to continental North America, but not the entire world?

Just want to know if a concrete number or at least a widely accepted probable number exists for the amount of Europeans who settled in the Americas between 1492 and around the end of the 1800s. I don't want to know about the natural growth or the population sizes of the colonies, just the number of people who left Europe for the Americas.