I understand that we celebrated it on the last Thursday in November for almost a century, after Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation, until it was changed in 1941 to the fourth Thursday in November. But why did Lincoln pick Thursday, specifically?

I know the ancient world had libraries (most famously the one in Alexandria) but weren't they private collexions?

The idea of a repository of books where everybody has the privilege to use just by there virtue of being a citizen/resident of that country - how far back does that go?

I'm particularly curious as to what kept the soldiers of the HRE from joining with the peasants- it seems to me that most of them were peasants themselves, so why wouldn't they be sympathetic to the cause?

Did people at the time think that WWI era ships looked good? I know for hundreds of years sailing ships had a romantic quality to them and tons of paintings were made of their full sails and pretty lines splashing merrily along in the waves. I ready the two Robert K. Massie books about the subject and I think I remember him discussing the romantic element of the cruisers, and how the ships in general were used in peace time as public relations tools. To me that generation of ship is really ugly, somehow much less interesting than even the later WWII generation of ships. Were contemporaries fond of them?

Bonus question, what are those bars along the side of the ship at a 45 degree angle backwards? They seem to have disappeared from later ships.

I am doing research on how Indian (country) people and culture has had an influence in Latin America as well as the Caribbean. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Most non-academic history book I've read say something about the land is mostly grass, not suitable for agriculture. In my university biology class, it says the land north is the best biome for agriculture, same biome as the one in mid US and Ukraine. Is there any limitation such as technology that made Chinese think it is infertile?

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This could be in many different ways. Most importantly, what were the main differences in theological belief between east and west of Europe? Did more changes come after the Byzantine Empire lost control of Italy by the end of the 6th century?

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I don't know if "sub-Amazonian" is a term, but basically I mean not the Inca, and not Brazil, cause when I think of South America before 1492, I think of the Incan Empire, and Amazonian groups. That's about it. But there is a huge chunk of space missing out there, seeing as the Inca didn't control (modern day) Argentina, or southern Chile. So what was going on in that part of the continent c. 1400-1500? Was there anything approaching the level of development found with the Inca or Mesoamerican peoples? Was there conflict with the Inca... trade... did they know each other existed?

Cant't find any reputable sources online but I have read the claim before, any sources for its legitimacy?

In more than a few biographies ( Teddy Roosevelt comes to mind) I remember mentions of him going to 'read' with friends.

Was this a common past time?

If so, when did it die out?

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The War of 1812 is said to be the second war for independence. Why?

Giving the precedents and powers at the time of the US civil war, did Lincoln act justly or unjustly in his actions such as suspending habeas corups and others (I've heard that the blockade was one but I don't know and I don't know of much else lincoln did).

Hello /r/AskHistorians

So full disclosure: Part of this is for a research paper I am writing, but this is only a small aspect of it. I believe this limited scope is withing the sub's rules for homework help, if not I apologize and will remove this post. Secondly, my educational background is in engineering, not history, so please consider me a novice in this realm.

On to the question: I am working on an analysis of the English Cryptanaysis efforts in WWI and II. Namely I am focusing on Room 40 and Bletchley Park. The larger scope of the paper is a general analysis, compare and contrast style. However I am trying to understand why it is that the British efforts at code-breaking allegedly outstripped their counterparts in other nations. I know that in WWII other nations caught up slightly (the polish enigma cracking project, for example), but in everything I have read it seems that the English code cracking teams were better. Was it just that they got started first? or is it a modern fascination with Alan Turing? So my question is: Were the English cryptanaylsis efforts truly more advanced than their counterparts in other nations, and if so, where did they derive this advantage from?

Most attention to the Swahili city-states emphasizes how cosmopolitan they were, as a meeting point for the Indian Ocean-Arabian-African interior trade. What kind of native environment did that breed? What was the experience of childhood, attitudes towards children, children's activities (education, work, play) in a multicultural medieval world? How were things different for boys and girls? Above all, what was distinctive about growing up in (Islamic) Zanzibar versus Baghdad or Damascus?

If this was not the case, how would one find themselves in an elite unit in late antiquity?