Around the time of the American Revolution, how would you prove your identity? When would you have to?

Hello, I'm talking to some friends from the UK and I said that the english used to answer the phone by saying their phone number. They said it must have been fake because they never heard of it. I can still remember the video were they demonstrated how they did it but can't find it anymore. I can't even find with Google if this is true or not. Was I misinformed? Did I dream the video? Are they right or am I?

tl;dr: Did the english used to answer the phone with their phone number?

I havnen't been able to find any speeches or statements from Soviets on the Space Race. Were they not very public about their plans and progress? Why/Why not?

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I know -- twenty-year rule.

I'm currently reading up on Chican@ history (in order to broaden my historical understandings, and to have a point of comparison to understand my own ethnic history as an Asian American). One of the things that was noted was that restrictions against Mexican immigration in the early 20th century (1900s-1930s) were rather lax. Part of the explanation for this lax attitude was because employers wanted cheap labor; because the US government had severely curtailed Asian immigration and had strictly restricted European immigration, employers seeking cheap labor looked towards Mexico to find laborers.

Obviously, this attitude has since changed. You would have to be living under a rock to not notice the rhetoric of anti-(Mexican)-immigration by a number of Republican politicians.

So, why did this change? Does the reopening of Asian immigration in the mid-1950s/1960s have something to do with it?

So, a friend of mine recently claimed that the Basileus sometimes was Patriarch of Constantinople at the same time, in personal union so to say. Basically similar to a Caliph. Now I don't really know much regarding this topic and haven't found anything either, so I'd like to ask: Has there ever been this personal union?

So my (admittedly quite cursory) understanding of history is that by the Middle Ages, the sword was considered a largely ineffective weapon - it was used primarily as a status symbol or a duelling weapon, with longswords still seeing some use for breaking pike formations, etc (though I've read they were wielded more as blunt instruments than edged weapons).

However, I'm also under the impression that a few centuries prior to that, the Gladius was a highly effective weapon that was a large contributing factor to the efficiency of the Roman legions.

So my question is, what happened? What caused the sword to shift away from being the dominant weapon of the battlefield? My guess would be a number of factors, including the shift away from professional armies and the resurgence of pikes, but I'd want to hear from someone who actually knows what they're talking about.

Разница между Сталином и Тротским? Difference between Stalin and Trotsky? La différence entre Stalin et Trotsky?

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Would anyone have access to the shipping data in NI in the 1930s?

My wife was reading up on religious studies and her books mentioned that in 1230 Portugal and Aragon was a part of The Holy Roman Empire.

This sounded rather odd to me, and I haven't been able to find any other sources that confirm it. Do anyone here know if this was the case?

I have to write a pre-scientific paper for school and I chose

"The (power) politics behind the outbreak of World War One with an emphasis on Germanies and Austrias plans/politics."

I already found enough books detailing what happened, who was involved and the likes, but I can't seem to find anything specific about this subject.

So now I am in need of a book that explaines the (political) motivations behind Austrias/Germenies actions around that time. Preferably one that is available in German, but only English is fine too.

I hope this makes sense/is understandable. If it isn't I will try to explain it in more detail.

Also, I wasn't compleatly sure if I should post this here or in a politics subreddit, so if I made a mistake, please tell me.

Thanks

Aswell as things like Marco Polo and John of Plano Carpini visiting them. How did they communicate and more generally, how did anybody communicate with other peoples during invasions and diplomatic missions at this time and earlier? What was protocol?

I posted this yesterday so I hope nobody minds me reposting as I didn't get a single response last time.

I've read that it was in order to prove he didn't take money from the Treasury in order to pay the bribe, but could it also be attributed to his penchant for honesty and values?

Also, why was he still asked who he'd vote for during the 1800 election, despite still recovering from this scandal? By all accounts, his political career should have ended then and there.

Edit: The Reynolds Pamphlet.

I've read about this but could never find sources. Some people speculate that if this is true, it could have lead to an unchecked rat population throughout Europe. If so, that could have been one of the many causes of the Black plague.

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