Judaism, is not only a religion, it's also an ethnicity. (historically I think) (Not sure about that, but I'll gladly listen to an explanation on why it's not)

I want to ask this question because 2 of my grand parents hide during the war, but they did not seem to be jews in a proper sense, since I never saw them or their family practice Judaic rites. They knew how to talk yiddish though.

I was asking myself this question, not to doubt their motives to hide during WW2, but to understand how people denounced jews: did they just point the finger at people who "looked" like jews? But if they don't practice their religion, and if their skin is white, how did they recognize a jew at the time? Does that mean people were sent to death camps while they weren't jewish? I know there weren't only jews who were sent, but also gypsies, but were there precise directives as who to send to those camps, or was is a the discretion of the Nazi officers ?

I admit that they could have told me more stories about this era and what they could remember of it, but they didn't have time to and I wanted to ask here if you had a clue.

I'm not a conspiracist by the way, so please refrain from contributing to such non sensical theories (especially the negationist ones).

Was Humpty Dumpty sometimes depicted that way before Carroll? Was he supposed to be an egg in the earliest versions of the rhyme?

After splitting from the British, how did the American colonists see themselves identity-wise and how did it evolve into the way it is today?

By short time I mean within about 50 years. By nation I mean a nation, kingdom, or nation-state with a population size of about a few hundred thousand people at least.

The instances I know of are the mongol invasions, the bronze age collapse, and epidemics causing the population collapse of indigenous peoples of the Americas.

But I don't care if your examples fit these criteria exactly. I just want to know more about this overall subject of catastrophic societal collapse. So any and all vaguely relevant examples are welcome.

edit: there may be too few examples of this happening to nations with over 300,000 people so if that's the case then let's say population of at least 10,000 people then. 10,000 is the estimated maximum population size of Easter Island and Norse Greenland.

For example, would, had they been successful, the Spanish have executed Elizabeth? How would Catholicism have transformed the country and people's right to choose their religion, had it taken root? I planned to go to the library today to research about the Spanish Armada for a side project, but the weather and my wallet have me in a stranglehold. Checked online, but most credible sources are locked behind a paywall, does anyone know of anything to get me started- books, journals, documentaries, or even names of historians specializing in this area? Youtube videos/podcasts would also be appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

I mean in the way that comparing someone to Hitler is one of our strongest condemnations, and the way that everyone uses Hitler as a standard example of an evil person that the world would have been better off without (e.g. stories of going back in time to kill Hitler).

(So that this isn't a vague "throughout history" question, assume I mean immediately before the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party.)

And as a follow up, how long did it take Hitler to achieve his current status in the popular imagination as history's worst human being? At what point did he go from being "the bad guy" to being "the worst guy"?

How was the seats of the Christian patriarchs of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem treated?

For example, if a Pope dies in a given year, then he is soon replaced, and for that year there were 2 Popes. However, sometimes a Pope dies shortly after his appointment, and that year may have 3 Popes. At various times there have also been multiple people claiming to be the pope, so they could cause the number to increase further. What was the year with the most Popes?

Have been involved in some debate regarding the empire, and would like some input from those well-versed in this topic. It is my understanding that empire is a fundamentally violent institution, but can anyone confirm and add to, or correct this?

As in did he personally pull the trigger or was it always ordered?

And if so, what do historians do today to avoid enabling the propagation of such myths? As far as I know, the success of the "lost cause" myth enabled Jim Crow, so the "historical failure" may have been responsible for a lot of oppression.

I watched a documentary a long time ago, about a battle that was fought underneath a hill, in a massive tunnel system. think it was during one of the world wars. i might be remembering incorrectly if no such battle has taken place that would also be nice to know.

I've tried researching and am at my wit's end. Surprisingly, the internet has let me down. Maybe r/askhistorians can help. I appreciate any help because these games are some of my favorite. Thanks

I am familiar with the reformation movements of Christianity with Martin Luther. Has Islam had similar types of reformation, where a wave of people move away from more traditional, stricter fundamental ideologies? If not, why?

So this is both a general and specific question.

First what are your favourite databases to subscribe too? I've just about exhausted the freely available sources for some subjects. I hated using databases back in college but I'm willing to give them another shot. What are some that worth the effort?

Onto the specific question. I am looking for some way to access a series of articles that appeared in scientific American in the mid-1800s (1859-1866). I've looked in project Gutenberg, LOC.gov & the Internet Archive, & Google Books to see if the specific issues are in their collection, no dice. Scientific American wants $8 per article and only give the title of the article along with the date etc, I have no idea is an article is long or short or if it's one of the right ones until it is purchased. So is there a database with all the old Scientific American articles already in it?