Every year it seems like there are a ton of books published by US veterans. How about some books written by, let's say some old German/Vietnamese/Korean guys?

While we're here, any good books from any Russian veterans?

I'm currently reading 1776, by David McCullough. He mentions that Thomas Jefferson blamed George III for slavery in America, which isn't something I've read before. If anyone has any supporting, or contrasting, evidence regarding this idea I'd love to hear it. Especially any original sources. Thanks!

Kind of a vague question, but I'm really interested in the interactions that the ruling Turks may have had with the Slavs, Albanians, Greeks, etc. with each other. How deep did Ottoman authority delve into day-to-day life in those waning decades (say, 1850s onwards)? In what manner did Balkan natives show their dissatisfaction towards the Turks?

Questions like that. If your expertise lies in another arena, then please share that aspect!

Thanks.

There were many large homes like that of Downton Abbey. They had large drawing rooms, servents quarters and backstairs. Were these built before the start of Victorian times?

(Asked in good faith. I'm not begging the question.)

in Kim Stanley Robinson's book, The Years of Rice and Salt, there's an alternative history discovering of America by the Chinese. When the Chinese encounter the Miwok, the first group of natives they meet, they conclude that the Miwok Don't farm because they don't need to as northern California (I assume that's where they are but it's hard tell) is so rich with game.

is that all accurate?

In a recent lecture, a brilliant university professor of mine stated that the "18 = adult" convention is completely made up. She instead suggested that humans develop the ability to act as responsible, rational adults as their prefrontal cortex develops, starting at puberty and ending around the age of 25. When and why was 18 determined to be the age of "adulthood"?

In a recent post to /r/dataisbeautiful about place names, Clinton popped up as one of the most frequently used place names in the US. Some cursory research revealed that many of these cities and counties were named for DeWitt Clinton. My question is, why would states as far west as Iowa name a city and/or county after a former Governor of New York? Why was his legacy important to states other than New York?

More precisely, do I have to go to a special recruitment office? Do I put something on my application requesting it? Is it just selected at random? Do I get to decide what position I'll have in the tank, or is it decided on skill?

Follow up, what kind of rank would you expect from a tank commander and their crew? Sergeant for the commander, corporal? What about a platoon or company leader?

According to what I understood from my recent reads (articles and book from 1990+), it seems plausible that the nazi leadership created a certain ideology after the experience of the first world War, related to the problem of food production in Germany.

During the first world war the central powers wanted to beat the others to reach (I'm making it short) a superior status, that at that time belonged to UK and France, mostly.

During the war they suffered a blockade thanks to the Royal navy and Germans experienced starvation.

After the war, due to Versailles and the recession of the 29, the Germans continued to not being wealthy neither well feed. Moreover their organization of agriculture was not so efficient, compared to other nations (plus a lot of the workforce was working in agriculture, like ten millions people out of seventy million). Therefore the Lebensraum was needed to achieve self sufficiency first and foremost for food production, then for the rest.

During the expansion of the nazi Reich, the population already present in the east had to be suppressed to avoid keeping a deficit between food production and population even after conquering the Lebensraum, that otherwise would not have fulfilled its function.

This reasoning, although very cynic and brutal, makes some sense, and it is not just "we are the chosen ones, the others have to die", but I never read it in works of history, pre 1990 (i read mostly works written in the 1970s), related to the second world war.

Hence the question.

I've always wondered why Argentina decided to take on the vastly superior British Army, Navy, and Air Force. Did they ever believe the British would just give up the islands?

Why the pineapple representing a symbol of status? Why not something like a banana or a strawberry?

How expensive were they in 18th century English currency (Euros they used, was it?) and what's the equivalency to the modern English coin (or Canadian, since I'm Canadian).

To be more clear: Why is it that European settlers were able to bring their illnesses and spread them to many tribes, while the Natives didn't seem to have their own illnesses that affected the settlers? I'm assuming the natives did have some forms of illness before hand so why were they less prepared?

The Japanese appeared to have an impressive fleet throughout the war, with ships ranging from:

• destroyer classes Fubuki (including the type 2/3 classes, Ayanami and Akatsuki) and Akizuki to the super-destroyer Shimakaze

• cruiser classes such as the Takao, Mogami, Tone classes

• battleship classes Kongo, Fuso, and the flagship Yamato class

• Aircraft carrier classes Soryu, Shokaku, and the more modern Taiho

This surface fleet combined with submarines such as the Type B1 class and the Sentoku I-400 class sounds like an incredibly powerful force on paper - what factors excluding Allied codebreaking and communications interception caused the demise of the Japanese fleet?

I just finished reading Arrian's Anabasis and I was wondering what primary source accounts of the Wars of the Diadochi are out there, given the incomplete nature of Arrian's work on the subject.

Germany could not match (nor Italy) the Royal navy but with a focus on aircraft carriers the match for some zone could have been different. Moreover the idea of aircraft carriers was not so secret, as well as the utility of aircrafts against shipping.

AFAIK Germany tried to build only one aircraft carrier that then was scuttled near Stettin.