I understand this is an ongoing debate and both sides can be argued. What were America's motives exactly, and were there other factors such as the economy of it all that caused this to happen? Thanks in advance

These states were relatives small and had majority German or at least Germanic speaking populations. They had historically been part of the Holy Roman Empire. Why didn't the join the German Confederation when so many other similar states did?

For that matter, did any other state consider joining?

As far as I understand it, Nichiren Buddhism focuses on the Lotus Sutra, and posits that individuals can attain Enlightenment in the present lifetime. One of the most famous modern practitioners of Nichiren was Ishiwara Kanji, an officer in the Kwantung Army who launched the invasion of Manchuria. He believed, as part of his practice of Nichiren Buddhism, that there would be an apocalyptic war, after which there would be a golden age of enlightenment, with Japan spreading the truth of Buddhism over the whole world.

What is the basis of this vision in the religious and philosophical traditions of Japan in general and Nichiren Buddhism in particular? Was Ishiwara just nuts, or was this a mainstream belief?

I am am wondering if there is any non-Islamic evidence that Mohammed existed or any evidence that confirms the Muslim historical narrative about the origin of Islam?

I simply can't imagine how such a dramatic loss of a particular gender would affect a society, in this case men. The lack of workers, the lack of fathers and grand fathers, the lack of future husbands. How did this affect German society (and others)? How did they deal with this at the time, and what effects did it ultimately have on their society?

Bonus: were they successful? If not, when was the last time Switzerland was successfully invaded?

So i've been watching Marco Polo, and man i'm hooked! But what really intrigues me is whether or not this is either very creative, based around true events, or.. Both!

I'm reaching out to see if anybody here has seen marco polo and knows the legitimacy of it? IE the wars between the (I may be so wrong here, pls don't flame) The Mongols & the yuan dynasty, and the "hashashin" ninjas ect.

if this stuff is factual, can people please also cite some either documentaries / podcasts / books for me to really learn this?

The last man who was transported here as a convict.

First off, the mandatory disclaimer: I am vehemently opposed to apartheid in all its forms.

What I do not understand is why, as the international community spoke out against apartheid, no one proposed redrawing the national borders of South Africa. I would imagine right-wing Afrikaaners, frightened of their future falling into indigenous African hands, would want to withdraw to a Afrikaaner-majority state and simply "cut their losses" by giving away majority-black areas. I would also imagine that indigenous Africans would agree to ditch majority-white areas to avoid sharing a state and government with their oppressors.

Yet (to my admittedly limited knowledge) all activists and politicians at the time seemed to take South Africa's current borders as a given, and insist on either a continued apartheid state or a new rainbow nation.

Is there any particular reason why this was the case?

Thanks in advance

I would love to know why Americans should look up to him as a General, President, or character. All I hear about him is the bad things he did to Native Americans. It would be nice to hear the good side about him and the good things he accomplished.

It might seem like its a relatively newer cultural event where mass cultural mourning of non political or royal celebrities is a thing. I vaguely remember the death of John Lennon, I remember the death of Kurt Cobain, I recall folks "pouring one out for 2-Pac". Personally I got a little weepy watching them play Johnny Cash's part of "The Highwayman" on his tributes. Nowdays our Facebook walls, Twitter feeds, etc. seem to be full of memorializing and such.

Certainly this is not a new phenomenon that only came out in the 20th Century, I would think. Is there any precedent for great celebrities receiving this type of mass mourning?

We all know the security role they played, but did they ever see combat? Possibly like a support role with Soviet units, or as advisors to friendly countries.

It is not until the time of the Punic Wars c. 250-200BCE that we see a literary tradition emerging in Rome. The earliest surviving works are the comedies of Plautus (born 254BC), who drew heavily on the Greek playwrights.

Fabius Pictor fought in the war against Hannibal and is considered the first Roman historian, but his history of Rome was written in Greek, so he could better challenge an earlier negative history of Rome written by the Greek historian Timaeus. Cato the Elder is said to be the first Latin prose writer of any significance, writing in the years and decades following Hannibal's defeat.

Rome at this time had conquered all of Italy, and much of the western Mediterranean by 200BC, it was fielding vast armies of tens of thousands (80,000 men are said to have died at Cannae alone in 216BC), and was also waging a war of conquest against Macedon in the east. It had a sophisticated and centuries-old constitutional arrangement for government, and the Roman military machine was the probably the most advanced and competent in the world by the early 2nd century BC. So why didn't Latin literature emerge any earlier? It is quite baffling

Sources welcome.

Would they have known it was cold? That if it got warmer, it would melt into water? That it was easily malleable? That it would come from the sky like rain?

Obviously cultures in places where it snowed regularly would have a good conception of snow, but would the same have applied to someone from say, Egypt during the bronze age?

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Some years ago when I was at University we had a single seminar on Computer Ethics. In this session we were given a few historical examples to illustrate the points being made. One such example has stuck with me, but I'm not sure how well I've remembered it (or made it up entirely).

I'll retell it here, as I remember it, in the hope that your collective intellect will repair my damaged memories.

During the chaos of the First World War many soldiers were mistakenly buried incorrectly for their religion (Jews buried in Christian marked graves etc.). Understandably people were upset about this, these young men had made the ultimate sacrifice and at least deserved an appropriate burial.

In Poland a census was commissioned to record the name, age address and religious denomination of every citizen, in the hope that should such a tragedy occur again, those who gave their lives could be afforded this dignity at least.

When the Second World War started, and the Nazis wanted to identify every Jew in Poland, they used this census to do so.

This was given of an example of how information can be collected for the very best of reasons, but exploited for the very worst.

I'd like to know if this is in any way ground in reality or not.

Thank you in advance for your help.

[cross-posted to /r/wwii and /r/wwi - apologies if this is bad form]

Why do so many disparate cultures, from Japan to India to South Africa to Finland, associate a sunshower (light rain while the sun is out) with a wedding for foxes (or jackals)? Where did this piece of folklore originate?

PS - This question has been asked before but went unanswered.