1 Answers 2016-02-02
Earlier tonight, I found a rather silly video that made me rather interested in the crusades. I listened to one very interesting podcast on how our views of the crusades have evolved over time (here). but it's left me hungry for more. After a little while looking around I thought "why am I asking a dispassionate algorithm when I can ask people who are passionate about the crusades?"
So I'm asking historians: what are good books or podcasts for someone who wants to learn more about the crusades? What happened, who did what? I'm not terribly interested in various swordsmanship differences between the Byzantines and the western crusaders.
1 Answers 2016-02-02
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_in_1900
Obviously today Nigeria's population is huge compared to the rest of the nations in Africa, much less the world. I thought it might be a relatively recent phenomenon, but even in the list from Wikipedia Northern and Southern Nigeria have a combined population of 16 million, the next two African regions (Morocco and Egypt) have about 8 million each, and Sudan and Abyssinia having about 4.8 and 4 million respectively. Why such a huge population in that region? Could I just be underestimating the size of Nigeria in comparison to the other regions of the time and countries today?
2 Answers 2016-02-02
2 Answers 2016-02-02
Are there actual historical instances, in the late 19th or early 20th century Anglosphere of any of the following:
a murder solved by an amateur detective
a murder at a classic Agatha Christie setting, such as a gathering of aristocrats and well-to-do at a dinner party
a butler murdering someone in the household
1 Answers 2016-02-02
How did the natives feel about this war? Did they attempt to move on US territories hoping that the US and the Confederacy were preoccupied and undermanned? Did they chose sides, obviously different tribes for different sides. Did they hope for a complete dismantling of the United States and it's enemy? The US didn't finish fighting the natives for another roughly 60 years since the start of the Civil War. So clearly the Natives still had some power during these times. Or at least a somewhat large presence.
2 Answers 2016-02-02
For example if Alexander the Great was Norse would people have believed he would have made it Valhalla because no army could manage to kill him? Or would a warrior of his level not be accepted because he was too good at fighting?
1 Answers 2016-02-02
Who is the first ruler(s) we have definite evidence of? Is it a rex or a pair of consuls?
I assume Romulus and Remus are placed quite far into the territory of legend, but is there consensus about whether the kingship itself was actually a thing?
Or is it something like a legend that legitimizes the political system of centuries and the Senate and so forth?
If it is considered historical, do we know how it worked?
1 Answers 2016-02-02
In this Scientific American article (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/insect-metamorphosis-evolution/), the author claims, citing Darwin, that a German naturalist named Renous was arrested for claiming that caterpillars turn into butterflies. This supposedly happened in the 1830s!
Are there any historical documents which refer to the fact that butterflies come from caterpillars that predate the 19th century?
1 Answers 2016-02-02
The United States fought a war against the Japanese in the 40's, the Koreans in the 50's, and the Vietnamese in the 60's/70's. Was there any amount of extreme racism or leftover hateful sentiment against Asians in general in the 80's and 90's?
1 Answers 2016-02-02
The whole concept of going back to Africa seems laughable. On the whole, the United States seemed so much better than Africa, even with all the segregation. Thanks (First post).
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More precisely, what was the meaning of fraternité back then. Was it akin to Christian fraternity, something like our modern idea of solidarity or was all just a revolutionary call that would mean the same thing despite the wording?
2 Answers 2016-02-02
Why are White People called Caucasian? What is the connection to Caucasus? Are Indo Europeans from Caucasus?
Just guessing I am utterly ignorant of ancient history.
1 Answers 2016-02-02
Venus is the brightest object in the night sky (besides sun and moon of course) which would make more sense to be named after the most powerful god Jupiter. Was the way Jupiter/Venus named intentional, meaning did they know the sizes of the planets around the time when they were named or was this just a coincidence that the bigger planet happened to be named after the more powerful god?
1 Answers 2016-02-01
1 Answers 2016-02-01
I'm not sure if this is a better question for here or /r/askanthropology, or some other sub, so I'm sorry if this is in the wrong place.
It occurs to me that I've been able to read a lot about greek and roman beliefs, legends, practices, etc, same with Norse and Germanic, and Celtic beliefs. But my ancestors came from Poland and I'm having a hard time finding much information on the kind of things they believed, especially anything in English that I can read. Any recommendations or anything you could tell me would be appreciated.
1 Answers 2016-02-01
I dont know about crossbow production, but it's a fast way to arm peasant armies. Also cross bows are extremely effective against armor
1 Answers 2016-02-01
In The Preamble to the Statute of Charitable Uses from 1601 England, one of the categories of charities is
the relief or redemption or prisoners or captives; and the aid or ease of any poor inhabitants covering payments of fifteens, setting out of soldiers, and other taxes.
What exactly is "payment of fifteens" or "setting out of soldiers"? I'd guess that "fifteens" is some type of tax, and charities would help the poor pay them?
The full context is here: https://books.google.com/books?id=_1IzAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA707&dq=%22Payment+of+fifteens%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiImMnFw9fKAhXMph4KHRWNClQQ6AEIHTAA#v=onepage&q=%22Payment%20of%20fifteens%22&f=false
Thanks.
4 Answers 2016-02-01
I bought a book about various world mythologies, and I was reading about knights that would represent kings to settle wars and disputed rather than losing hundreds of men, was this an actual thing? Or is this merely folktales that're larger myth than life?
1 Answers 2016-02-01