I've been struggling through "The rise and fall of the great powers" by Paul Kennedy and while I am interested in it, it has been a brutal slog for me. In about 4 months I've willed myself through about 170 pages. A large part of the issue is I don't have a strong enough understanding of the events going on that he refers to, as he mostly spends time on explanations of why and how something happened rather than what actually happened.

With that in mind I am hoping to try to read a book that can give an overview of the main events in European (or world) history from ~1500-present . I am not looking for too much detail (as I would likely supplement missing details with google searches/wikipedia), but just want to get a basic idea of the chronology, purpose and effect of major events, revolutions and wars.

Are there any good books that summarize major historical events without focusing on one period or being extremely detailed?

Thanks!!

What are some good resources for researching Native American myths and legends about tornados? They must have had some, yeah? Where could I look to learn more?

My father grew up in west Galway, speaks Gaelic, and swears that his family lived there for generations, but himself along with his 16 siblings all share phenotypes that are not usually associated with the Irish (i.e. black hair, brown eyes, dark skin, etc.). Is there any Irish, Gaelic, or Celtic history that could shine light on this strange occurrence?

Hey guys I'm looking to further explore this topic, and I was wondering if any of you knew of some good sources I could follow to find out more about this.

Hello historians! I've been looking for some info about this jacket, the plane ("little gal" is the nose-art on the jacket) crewman who it belonged to (R.L.Holliday).

The jacket was made in may 1942 and is a size 38. I can provide photo links if needed (let me know)

If any of you can help out at all it'd be very appreciated!

Thanks!

So I've just finished watching Episode 3 of Lucy Worsley's Empire of the Tsars which details the Romanov dynasty from it's inception in 1613 with Michael I being elected to succeed in leading Russia up until the fall of Nicholas II by the provisional government.

Specifically Episode 3 starts with Worsley about Alexander I's death, his brother, Nicholas I succeeding the throne & the decembrist revolt against the new tsar. Worsley is quick to say that the Decembrist revolt is also known as the "first russian revolution". Nicholas I's reign saw geographical expansion as well as economic stagnation & oppression. However Nicholas saw Russia through three wars which drained his economy & I presume the public morale especially with Russian defeat in the Crimean War.

Worsley makes it seem that by 1855, Nicholas had accepted defeat , almost as if he knew there was nothing he could do to make his people's opinions sway his way. The regal baton then gets passed to Alexander II whom Worsley states is seen in Russia as "The last great tsar" who implemented various reforms in numerous different areas of Russian society but is mostly famed for abolishing serfdom & earning the title of being the first Tsar to be assassinated. In Alex's decree that abolished serfdom, Worsley's says that one of the main reasons for the decree's enforcement was because of fear of revolution.

Worsley meets with Professor Alexi Miller, who discusses who the early revolutionaries were that were against Alex II & his reforms. Miller discusses a menshevik revolutionary called "Vera Zasulich" who tried to shoot government representatives. Miller states that at Zasulich's trial, sympathy was shown & she was essentially let off because the judge wasn't a fan of Alex's reforms.

Other revolutionaries known as "People's Will" assassinated Alex II. Alexander III, Alex II's son succeeds his father having seen what (little) liberty can do to a country reverts back to the old ways. Alex III created an "era of reaction" whereby it seemed liberty would be stamped out at any cost. Worsley makes the argument that Alex III's decisions were working well but she also states that every time he'd gotten rid of a revolutionary another popped up in their place.

Worsley then takes us to 1887 specifically the execution of five revolutionaries, one of whom was Aleksandr Ulyanov, the older brother of a guy that became radicalised by his brother's death, trying to do anything to fight Tsardom. This brother went under the pseudonym of Vladimir Lenin.

After Alex III came Nicholas II, a religious man who wanted to revert back to "traditional russian culture". Obviously that didn't work entirely otherwise he wouldn't have been pressured to abdicate in 1917.

So given all this context, Why did it over 90 years for a revolutionary group to take control of Russia when there were numerous scares & attempts before 1917? Why wasn't anyone strong enough to say "fuck you to tsardom before 1917 especially with all the toing & froing of the regal ideology towards their people?

Would it be fair to say that "Communism really wasn't anything special & merely was in the right place at the right time"?

Also, Does anyone have any reading recommendations for Russian society from 1825 - 1917 as Lucy Worsley's series has a strong a unnecessary (even though it's about them) focus on the Romanov's & only briefly touches on or completely skips events that were pivotal at this time? Thank you :)

After reading multiple different documents about the Italian Wars, the army of Holy Roman Emperors Maximilian the first and Charles the fifth are referred to as "the Imperial Army". Was this army actually an empire drawn from across the empire, and thus truly the army of the Holy Roman Empire, or was it the army that the emperor could draw from his own lands and vassals? Thanks for any responses!

Sorry for lots of questions, but I cant seem to find the answers easily and I'm curious as to whether theres any sources that give even just hints at what the answers could be...

If the Eastern Roman Empire (or Byzantine Empire) never referred to themselves as "Eastern" or "Byzantine Empire" while they were in existence, but merely the "Roman Empire" - how did the Emperors of Constantinople rate himself vs the Emperors of Rome, did they work together to run the Empire as if it was one? Was this like a political division, or an actual physical division? The two Empires adopted different religions (Latin Christianity - Pope, Greek Christianity - Patriach), did this create friction between them? Did they ever go to war with each other?

Also, how did the Eastern Roman Empire deal with identifying as Romans while the Empire didn't hold durisdiction over Rome? Surely that would cause a kind of national identity crisis from claiming to be Romans while another Empire, also claiming to be Romans, actually holds Rome?

Lastly, during the time period that the ERE owned Rome the city itself, what was Rome's role in the Empire? I assume it wasn't made capital as my own research might've come across that, but was it held as simply a province, or was it given any special note within the ERE?

This is intended as a general purpose question. I'm not looking so much for specific information about any particular place (although if you do know any titbits about Sheffield, UK, then I'd love to hear it) but instead about how anybody with a desire to know more about the place that they live can find it out.

What are your methods?

What resources should I look for? Are there any resources that I wouldn't expect (i.e. things that aren't books, e.g. oral histories, newspaper archives, town archives)

Where/how can I find them?

How much detail can you reasonably expect to find about your local area (e.g. the city you live in, or maybe even a particular part of the city).

What are some top tips, that may not be obvious to a novice inquirer?

Thanks in advance

I know that copper-working was fairly widespread among North American peoples, and that Mesoamerican and Andean groups were able to work Bronze, but why didn't anyone in the Americas before 1492 figure out how to work iron? Were there no significant deposits of metal in the Andes or Mexico? Were cultural forces at work here?

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Yeah I guess I'm breaking some rules right now but I'm kind of urgent in my request and hope that reddit possibly will save me.

Unfortunately the only translation available at my University is gone - book currently not available without anybody knowing where it is. Couldn't find a full text of the code.

So - please Reddit. Help me!

I read that only 7 or so vikibg ships have been excavated, so I'm wondering how that number compares to other ancient civilizations?

And as a follow-up, how have they survived for so long? Do they usually regard themselves as Arabs or a different ethnic group, and how have they been treated historically by their Arab masters?

From Colonization, Technological and medical advancements, Space travel, Global wars, Enslavement and exploitation of the rest of the world.

Was it a purely lucky string of events that led to this? I've heard theories that it had something to do with longer harsher winters resulting in more time indoors and thus more exchanging of ideas and writing?

I'm looking for the most commonly and unbigoted or supremacist theory as to the rise of European Power.

I had been reading through 'Rock of the Marne' by Stephen Harris and was surprised when I read a section where Col. McAlexander talked about him in disparaging terms, saying he made quite a show as a civilian in a uniform. I have a great deal of respect for President Roosevelt and what he accomplished as President so this statement caught me off guard.

Doing some minor poking around on the internet I was able to find some brief statements and stories, it seems strange to me now that a former Captain in the National Guard would be appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy, then be given the starting job where he prepared for a war that he then went and fought as a Colonel. This sequence of events seems unusual and very convenient.

What should we know about Teddy Roosevelt during this time, is he the product of a design or is he a boisterous figure who barged through rules and forged his own path unlike any other?

Hi, everyone!

I'm trying to read a couple books about the Thirty Years War, and I'm having trouble wrapping my head around the geography. What part of the Empire was "Germany?"

The maps I've found don't have anything labeled Germany, and of course the area that is now modern Germany was at that time divided into a million different principalities, free cities, etc.

I understand that there was an earlier Kingdom of Germany, but that isn't discussed in what I'm reading and the Wiki page for the Kingdom only goes up to 1028.

Also, sometimes it seems like the authors simply mean "the area where people spoke German" and not a place with actual hard and fast borders.

Any help?

EDIT: Kind of a related question. Am I understanding correctly that the Habsburgs and the Hollenzollerns both controlled land that was within the Empire as well as land outside of it? How did that work?