Sorry I do not have any more information, all I know is that my great uncle (?) fought with the Germans during the Second World War, I am curious how this is possible. Did the Germans recruit any Arabs? If so, why would they do this?

A few years back my grandfather made some wine out of potatos, he said it tasted pretty good. How come there's never been a mass international potato wine industry?

Hi, I'm reading about pirates and I was wondering about pirates' identity and sense of belonging whether to a nation such as Britain or to some other formed idea of brotherhood or confederacy in the Caribbean. I mean i know as privateers they attacked ships from a certain nation that would be at war with their own, but as pirates certainly they would attack their own nation's ships. Did nationality play that big a role in pirates lives? Or deciding whether to attack Spanish or British ships. Was it whoever has cargo/money?

I've just been reading about C. Gracchus' lex Frumentaria which made subsidised grain available to Roman citizens.

If people queued up once a month to go and purchase subsidised grain, how did the officials administering it know that everyone who came to collect it was a citizen?

I was wondering what caused the Roman Empire to fall? Any dialogue?

Follow up: Are there certain surnames that would likely suggest someone is a defendant?

Note: I'm interested in any historic militaries, not just Rome's or China's.

First, my understanding of bootcamp is heavily colored by depictions of bootcamp in popular culture (i.e. in Full Metal Jacket or Band of Brothers). While I've heard these are fairly accurate, I do wonder how they differ from the reality, both of training for WWI/WWII/Vietnam and from contemporary training.

That said, some more specific questions:

1. How did physical training change over time? Were the obstacle courses seen in portrayals of US Army bootcamp present in historic training regimes, or are they a recent addition? What about running?

2. What about the psychological aspects of boot camp? Did historic training involve the same attempts to psychologically break down recruits? Where different techniques used by different cultures?

3. How were recruits chosen? Were they draftees, volunteers, or something else?

4. What about instructors? Where they military? Did individual units train their own troops, or were national training standards common?

5. How long was training? Was it a relatively short program intended for adults (like modern bootcamps), or something that occupied a soldier's entire childhood (like ancient Sparta)?

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I am doing a history project on the Black Death and I am wondering- Were an countries really spared from the Black Death? If not, please leave a comment describing an area or country that wasn't very affected by the Black Death.

Has the practice of giving a child two surnames in Latin America become less common? I have two surnames and have realized that I'm part of a minority and want to know why this is, since of course, having two last names is incredibly dope.

can't really find much on it

I was talking to a friend and we were discussing how we are slowly granting technology autonomy, and how our reaction to it as humans would be. Then I began to think that this really isn't that much different than trusting an airplane not to fall down.

So I was just wondering, just as we see discussion about how "we should/should not trust autonomous vehicles with our lives", is there a surviving record of debates/discussions about whether "we should/should not trust airplanes with our lives"? It would be interesting to see how similar or different the reservations are..

Thanks!

The Declaration of Independence says that George III "has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good."

I have sought, but failed to find, examples where this has been true. Does anyone know any?

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I read that Coenus told Alexander that his men "longed to again see their parents, their wives and children, their homeland" and wondered if this meant that he was using the same army at the end of 9 years of campaigning as he was at the beginning. If this is the case, how likely was it for a soldier to survive fighting for that long?

Apologies if my question is poorly worded; after reading a work of fiction detailing the life of a Jewish family in pre-War Germany I became curious as to whether Jews had returned to make their home in Germany despite the shadow of the Final Solution hanging over them. Has Germany's Jewish population returned to a 'normal' level, or are there noticeably less Jews living in Germany, even today?

I'm curious how in depth they go (after all Germany is rich with much more history) and how the German acts were viewed post-war by those in education. Also, did teachings differ between west and east Germany because of the different governments?

I'm asking for a (fictional) book I'm working on. I searched and found some answers but I still have some more questions:

1. How were hostages selected? Would it be common for a country to select a noble who was in disfavour? Could a country ask for a specific hostage from the other nation? Are there any records of someone volunteering for this?

2. If someone selected to become a hostage has a family, would the family accompany him?

Thanks :)