Hi all, I am new to this sub and was wondering if anyone had any links to academic books or articles on the Cuban Revolution as I’m looking for source to write a college paper on?

So who are the actual ancestors of modern Japanese, Jomon or Korea derived Yayoi? Recommend any related literature if possible. Thank you!

The title might be not so clear, so I will try to explain myself the best I can:

Nowadays, historians have formal ways to define what an empire is. For example, wikipedia says the following: “An empire is an aggregate of many separate states or territories under a supreme ruler or oligarchy.”

Because of that, many entities are called nowadays empires by historians even if during their time their rulers never called it that way nor were they called emperors.

Some emperors of the past would get that title from the pope, like Charlemagne or Napoleon, in two epochs when many other rulers in Europe just called themself Kings.

Other entities would be called empires just by themselves, like Mexico, Brasil or Haiti, even if Spain, Portugal or France were not called empires at the time they had those territories.

Then, my question is, what avoid rulers from middle age to say “I have a pretty big territory, I should stop being called king and start being called an emperor”?

To put a few examples:

• Why do Spanish monarchs never call themselves emperors (excepting Charles V, who was emperor of HRE, not Spain) not even during the iberian union? Alfonso VII of León would call himself emperor of Spain long before Spain was unified, but then when the Spanish rulers had the right to call themself emperor, they didn’t.
• Why were Portuguese monarchs never called anything more than kings but the rulers from Brazil were able to call themselves emperors?
• Why were British monarchs called emperors of India (one of their possessions) but never were called British emperors? Even George III rejected the title of Emperor when it was offered to him.
• Why did the catholic monarchs of Spain and their successors never called themselves emperors of Rome after the first ones purchased the title?

I mean, being an emperor was the biggest distinction in the western world. Seems like everyone wanted to be like the roman emperors, then why was that title so uncommon?

Thank you and I hope I explained myself clearly. I’m really confused about this topic and I think I lack some important information to understand it.

As the title says, I was wondering if there were any good books on Canada's developing/maturing national identity in the 20th Century. As someone in the States learning about our little brother up North, 3 main figures have caught my eye: Mackenzie King, Pearson, and Trudeau Sr.

The former two are more germane to my question though. Mackenzie king in particular, from what i've learned of him, appears to have really made a concerted effort to solidify an identity for a Canada independent of future British influence, i.e. Canada's future as a 'grown up country'. Pearson seems to have done a fair bit in his own right, but more-so with Canada's identity with regards to its place in the international community (which makes sense, given the man appears to have been a seasoned diplomat).

Typing all this out, I suppose something that is more along the lines of MK would be nice.

(However, recommendations about those other two periods are more than welcome, too!)

Both for the effect and our of curiosity, I have begun using flame for lighting at home. In doing so I have become acutely aware of how expensive candles are. I now use only one to light a room most nights and have even begun collecting fat from the butcher so as to make own. But there are times during which it's completely dark that I need a light. I just flick a switch, grab my lighter light a candle and turn the light off and this has led to a lot of questions

What sources of lighting were there, where and when and who used them? How did the cost and risk of lighting influence everyday life? Any recommendations as to where can I learn more about lighting prior to electricity would be greatly appreciated.

I always wondered how soldiers fighting in ancient battles avoided killing people on their own side. If the two sides got mixed up together in hand-to-hand combat, how would they tell their own soldiers apart in the midst of such chaos? Unless they wore distinct uniforms, or were very disciplined and never breaking ranks?

I have searched the archives and have not found a decent answer, or really even this question be asked before.

But the question is, how important was the U.S in WW1?

Did the U.S literally come to the rescue of England and France?

Had the U.S not intervened, would Germany and their allies been victorious?

I am from the U.S, so we have always been taught how important of a role we played in WW1 and WW2. I know we were necessary in WW2, but is it the same for WW1?

Whenever I read about the crusades you hear a lot of nonsense about Christians thinking Muslims were polytheists, worshiped Muhammad as a god, etc. But given the centuries of continued peaceful contact between the two in Andalusia, shouldn't some accurate knowledge have filtered to Church leadership? Or were they just not interested?

EDIT: Obviously I'm talking about scholars and politicians here, not illiterates.

If some revolutionaries came up to me and said, "We're making a new, very big state that's very existence is gonna change the balance of power on the continent*, do you want to lead it," I'd say yes in a heart beat. But Frederick William IV rejected the offer. Why?

*The creation of the German Empire in 1871 upset the balance of power of the Concert of Europe, as one would expect from a couple dozen countries coming together to make one big one, so I foresee that this would upset it even more, seeing as it was larger. Then again, this one would be created after a revolution, not after defeating one of the great powers of Europe hot off the heels of a victory against another four years prior, so maybe it'd be different.

Hello i want to ask for a recommendation about chinese history.

Does anyone have a good serious author/book to read about the history of China? It can be any period of time, maybe the transition into capitalism, or the origin of the first empires, as long as it is serious and not some guy saying that things happen because of family mischieves and treasons as if real life were game of thrones it works for me. I am specially interested in the economy of early China and in understanding the mode of production but also the transition between different modes of production.

Anyway, all topics are interesting to me as long as they are well written.

I mean, the Imperator was more or less a despot, right?

I'm in the middle of Game of Thrones season 5 (PLEASE NO SPOILERS) and it seems that nearly every guy main character has raped someone and no one cares. Since these people in real life, in the times these are based, had family structures and women they had emotional connections with, why were they so quick, to destroy another womans whole life? When did it become and actual crime and something people would disown or kill you for?

I'll often have a range of songs stuck in my head - a far wider variety than I would imagine the average hunter gatherer or medieval peasant would have. Am I wrong about that assumption? Is there a historical record for having a song stuck in your head?

Hi,

My grandfather was a sergeant in the AAF during WWII. I found photographs of him with another soldier and was wondering if anyone knew if there was somewhere to attempt to figure out who he is? They were stationed in England at the time. I wanted to get the photographs to the other family to have. Anything I find of his that has people in it, I try to send to the other families once I do some research. I am unsure if I’m allowed to post the photos, but I have them if anyone wants to see them. Thank you!

before and after Alexander's conquest

I looked over the book section to see if one was already recomended, but I couldn't find one.

I don't mind the size of the book, I just want something that can thourughly teach me about the thirty year war.

I love studying and learning about history and for some reason am on a kick about the Khmer Rouge.

I know who Pol Pot was etc, and I knew they moved most of the population to the countryside but what exactly happened?

Did Phonm Penh just sit completely empty for a few years? Did they move the peasantry back into the cities at all? Some other alternative?

I'm reading this book and I'm enjoying it a lot so far, having a passion for the subject matter. Still, I have never read a book so comprehensive and dense on the Thirty Years' War. Since it's a 1938 book, I wonder, is it particularly dated? Is there any particularly wrong or outdated information inside? I mean, I know the answer is probably "yes", but I'd like to know "what" and "how so". Also, is there a better and more modern monography (in english) you would suggest?

In the episode Jerry wants to get signal for his tv and Kramer insists he should get illegal cable because apparently the cable companies have some sort of dispute and there is the expectation this problem will last for years as the companies sue each other

I also assume this wasn't an issue with money because even if he's not rich Jerry is wealthy enough that he should be able to afford it

I want to know what was the problem and I also want to know what happened in the end

Finally I assume they were making reference to real life because otherwise they would have given more context for why Jerry couldn't have cable. The writers knew this was an issue their audience would be familiar with