From what I understand, Russian aviation and military engineering is supposed to be really, really good. Why couldn't this transfer over to an automobile industry?

I found out today that Reich can be translated as Kingdom or Empire. The 3rd Reich was supposed to the successor to the Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire. Why didn't Hitler declare himself King?

I'm reading Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival, by David Pilling. It mostly focuses on modern Japan, but there is a bit of history on the Self Defence Force.

In the book he says the following:

Article 9 of a document scrambled together by young American idealists working for General Douglas MacArthur stated that: 'The Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.'

...

Almost as soon as the ink was dry, the Americans regretted having put Japan in its constitutional straitjacket. With the outbreak of the Korean War and the subsequent onset of the Cold War, it ill-suited Washington to have an emasculated Asian ally entirely dependent on the US for military protection.

The Constitution came into effect in 1947, the Korean War began in 1950.

I suppose my question is two-part:

1. Did the Americans really regret putting Japan in its 'constitutional straitjacket'?

2. Did any Americans, or Japanese sympathetic to the Americans, make any serious attempts to amend Article 9 to allow Japan to wage war again?

Thanks in advance.

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I am under the assumption that is how it was done before. When did it become commonplace for a National Committee to tell me who they think the president should be?

In my US History course, the decline of the Federalists was largely attributed to the election of 1800. Were there any other major contributing factors? Did the death of Alexander Hamilton accelerate the decline?

I'm wondering what effect the German occupation of France had for cities and areas much further away from the German border compared to ones much closer

Hope these types of posts are allowed here, and will gladly remove if not.

In keeping with the weekly theme, I've been doing some light Internet reading on Hawaiian sea-mythology and came across some information regarding sharks in native culture and mythology. Is anyone here able to speak more on it, or at least direct me to academic reading? Thanks!

I recently read about the 5 days at the end of the Aztec year that were apparently considered "unlucky" by the population. Is this concept valid in any way? And if so would the birth of a child during this period be given any special significance relative to the rest of the year?

I did some googling and all I could find was 2 sentences on Wikipedia saying that the Nemontemi was unlucky.

Sorry for the random question, was just in the shower when it popped into my head.

This is my first post on this sub so if I'm breaking any rules I apologize in advance :)

Mostly, I just see it casually referenced (and for me personally, frustratingly unexplained) in American movies and series such as the Wire and the Sopranos.

I haven't heard of trade unions in any other country being so closely tied to organized crime, so why did this happen in the USA? What did both sides benefit from it?

The United States led the way with the Garand as far back as 1936, but the Soviets began issuing the SKS and AK-47 in the late 40's. Even the French began to re-equip with the MAS-49 by 1951. Why did the British delay the change for so long?

I am suddenly overcome by a curiosity about the Sufis. I know next to nothing about them but would love to know the best source to remedy this.

In James Clavell's Shōgun, one of the characters from England is upset when his Japanese captors try to give him a bath, because he thinks that the bath will make him sick.

He eventually comes around to the idea of bathing, and even cites a phobia of bathing as something that he sees as a backwards part of English culture.

Is there a historical basis for the idea that people in England used to be afraid of bathing?