And during the early Middle Ages, while we're at it. If we don't know, then how far back does our knowledge about this stretch?

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In popular culture they're never depicted as having them. If they didn't, why not?

The Soviets ended getting about 10% of Finnish territory, pretty much what they asked for. But if the Finns had just agreed to cede that land, would the Soviet Union have just absorbed the whole country, like the Baltics? Did the Finns play their best possible hand and gotten the best possible outcome, given the circumstances?

While the metaphor of an Iron Curtain was made literal with the Berlin Wall, surely it wasn't too hard to simply travel across East Germany and walk into the west?

I am reading about Benjamin Franklin. He spent ten years living in London while working as an agent for the colonies. He then spent nine years in France while working as Ambassador to France and securing the alliance that would ultimately turn the tide of the war.

I know that Franklin was very wealthy during this time of his life, but he made his money primarily through printing in America. When he traveled to a place like London to stay an indefinite amount of time, how much money would he bring with him to cover his expenses? How would he get more money if he needed it (obviously send for it, but what would this entail?)?

If so do we know who they were between? How many people died? When they occured? Or what the major engagements were?

I.e. a country where people were forced to have little to no interaction with the outside world in any form. Was this even possible before modern technology and Western-style bureaucracies?

I am reading a biography of Benjamin Franklin by Edmund Morgan, and he speaks of troop numbers occasionally. 23,000 here, 12,000 more there, 27 warships under Admiral Howe in 1776 alone.

With England shipping troops and ships and presumably most of their weaponry west to fight the colonists, what measures did they take to secure the islands of Great Britain against a hypothetical French or otherwise European invasion?

By the end of the war they were badly beaten in America. In the waning stages, would this not have been an ideal time for France, already assisting the American colonists, to send troops to England?

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My english teacher keeps saying that the church kept folks out via requiring them to speak in latin, so they made the arthurian tales to teach people about Christ. Sounds like rubbish to myself, but I am not certain, nor do I have sources.

Especially in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

My understanding is that in the 30's, two of the larger factions in the Imperial Japanese military opposed each other as to whether they should strike north at the Soviet Union, or south towards the Americans and Europeans. On the surface, the invasion of China in 1937 doesn't seem to further either of these goals; it's a massive drain on manpower against a second string power, without much in the way of strategic resources. What did the Japanese responsible for the invasion intend?

It's clear that Roman slave women had their children killed all the time.

But there are many stories about boys being killed for political purposes. There are also stories about women having their children killed - if those children were the product of adultery or as a punishment against the woman.

So it is very likely that there was non-sex selected infanticide imposed on slave women and on free women who had their children with the wrong partner.

But is there any evidence for specifically sex selective infanticide?

It seems that in the late 1700s (post Partition) and throughout the 1800s the restoration of Polish independence was a major liberal/revolutionary goal, and that Polish officers serving in foreign regiments were seen as romantic/heroic figures for liberty. Why was this the case? To my limited understanding of the subject, Polish nobles had many rights, but their serfs were poorly treated--hardly a good sign for liberty.

I'm asking of the movie from 1961, I know it's based off the old Spanish poem, but how much of it is truth?

Here in germany, after the the Third Reich, the use of the word "race" has a very negative connotation. We instead use the word "Ethnie" or "Ethnizität" ("ethnicity").

It's just odd to me that in the USA, UK and other english speaking countries "race" is still used to distinguish between black, indigenous, asian people, etc. after the civil rights movement in the 60s and modern science long discarded the theory of different races within the human species.

Today, your typical native speaker of English knows at least one definition for 20K-35K words; how would a typical native speaker of English from four hundred years ago compare? (The man on the street, less so the well-educated man.)

To explain the reasoning behind the question, it's important for analysis of the first King James Bible (1611) as well as Shakespeare (1564-1616); how big were the vocabularies of the intended audiences? How many words could they understand?

Thanks in advance for your time!!

I noticed some vague references in the Wikipedia page on the American revolution to the Colonists being offered seats in the British parliament. I've never heard of such a thing, was an offer ever actually made? If so why was it rejected?

Was there ever a female-dominant type of culture that the Amazons are based off of?

Essentially, I'd like to compile a list of books that are openly anarchist or Marxist in their interpretation, but still offer thorough context and analysis rather than cherrypicking facts to prove some vague point.

For instance, a book that I think does a good job of this is Late Victorian Holocausts by Mike Davis, even if I think he may exaggerate just a little bit in a way to which I'm admittedly sympathetic.

I'm also hoping that James C. Scott's The Art of Not Being Governed, which I'll be reading for a course this semester in my anthropology MA program, is good. Is it?

Anything else you can recommend?

Governing an empire is probably tough work, how did these people do it? Did they assign regional governors? Were they often selected from the governed people or were they assigned by the governing culture? How did these empires enforce compliance and regulation throughout these areas?

I am curious to learn more about Trinity Temple near Carinish, Scotland. My family has historic ties to this place and I would love to know it's history. Sadly I have not been able to find to much on the subject, any information or suggestions on where to look on my own would be great!