What first came to mind was the B-52 Stratofortress, because of its name, size and cruising altitude, which as its name suggests is the stratosphere. It was commissioned in the late 40's and performed the majority of its duties in Vietnam, during the Operation Arclight carpet bombing and defoliation campaigns, though I am not sure what aircraft dropped the defoliants and napalm as the Stratofortress, or more frequently informally referred to as the BUFF, the "Big, Ugly, Fat Fucker," only dropped conventional munitions.

What other unreasonably large, well armed, and high flying airships have also been in use during military history, what events were they deployed to, and what were their primary functions? Also, any stories or tales about them could be fun to hear as well.

The Nordic people had runecasting, the Chinese had astrology and the zodiac. Does Islam have any form of fortune telling similar to these?

As posed in the headline. Many books did not make it into the bible as decided by the church. But do historians who use the bible as an historical document give equal weight to these other books or are they considered less reliable because the early church felt that way? Or as a result of the church's decision, are those copies we have today considered less reliable because they are less documented? How do historians feel about these books, like the gospels of Mary Magdalene and others?

Hello,

In my history lecture, my professor told us that in Italian aircraft was taken down with a spear by an Ethiopian, and that he had seen of video of the event taking place. Unfortunately, Google does not seem to have any information other than some very brief mentions of this occurring, by forum posters and the like.

Does anyone have any more info on this, or perhaps even know where I might be able to find this footage? I'm very curious to see what that might have looked like.

Thanks for any info you might be able to provide.

We've heard often about the treatment of people accused of heresy and being heretics in middle age Europe. But what about the treatment of such in middle age Islam/Middle East? Did religious authorities torture like they did in Europe?

The only thing I know of something similar is the Mu'tazilites mihna, but nothing else.

Only looking for the treatment of those accused of heresy, not nothing else (not blasphemy, not religious minorities, I know how they were punished).

Modern languages (English for example) have changed drastically over the centuries, but if a modern Latin speaker went back in time to ancient Rome (lets say Caesar's time) could he communicate with the Romans?

Farsi is my second language and it's always surprising to find out a word here or there that I've been using has been French all along.

I know colonialism has to do with it, but France never really had a military presence in Iran like England did so I'm curious how did the French language start influencing Farsi and why French over all others?

Seems odd to be fighting a standard war against a mroe industrialized foe with more manpower, an overall superior enemy by any definition, except perhaps quality of generals. But that only increases the case for guerilla tactics as Union commanders like good old Daniel Sickles would get himself ambushed a million times over.

In the case of Spain, Germany and Italy were spamming the hell out of expeditionary corps and sending Franco his aid while Negrin got squat and only had a ragtag militia army. No rationale to not use guerilla warfare there either.

Just as the title says, why did the 2 nations with compeletly different ethnic makeup, culture, language etc. form a union, i.e. Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth? Even if they did so for xyz reasons at the time and circumstance, why did it last so long, to only be dissolved by foreign powers rather than internal tensions?

Did they only put a wall on one side of the river? Did both sides get their own walls? Were there any attempts to make fortified bridges part of the wall and just build one?
Did they usually build them far enough away from the river that it wouldn't wash out its foundations, or did they have a solution for that?

It seems that after gunpowder weapons became more commonplace, the armours of the medieval era fell out of favour and then personal armour seems to disappear until relatively recently. Were there any attempts to develop bulletproof armour, and when was the first effective bulletproof armour developed?

What was it about Italy that did not make it a formidable foe akin to Germany & Austria Hungary in WWI.

And

Nazi Germany and Japan in WWII?

Was it lack of industry? Lack of people? Lack of desire? Poor Military organization?

I ask because Italy seems like the weak link in both wars, and the "alternate historian" in me imagines that if it had military prowess akin to Germany in both wars, there would have been a much different outcome, historically.

I've always been surprised that universal male suffrage was called for in England in the 1640s, as supported by the New Model Army. How near did these reforms come to being enforced, and what was the general public reaction to the possibility of being allowed to vote? Were calls for it doomed from the start, or was the elements in the NMA who wanted it simply outmanoeuvred?

I was looking at a map of African-American population at the time of 1790, and couldn't help but notice it actually had a slave majority, which no other state had. Is there any particular reason for this?

Or not?

I've looked through lots of threads about the foundation of Russia now and it seems that /r/askhistorians never have came to a reliable conclusion. What is the actual "common theory" about this subject?

Reading about the ancient Mediterranean, I am struck by the immense amount of movement and colonization. The Phoenicians built Carthage for instance, and the Greeks settled Marseilles. This city settled or colonized that city. What inspired and drove all of this colonization, and what made a city or a group of people choose the place they did to settle? An example I just read was how Aleria in Corsica was settled by Phocaea in Asia Minor. What made people sail for the lengths they did to settle in the places they did? Another question is how were links established and preserved over such distances, and would these settlers assimilate with local populations, rule over them or have nothing to do with them? Maybe there are some books that could be recommended?

Thanks

I know 'spices' is a uselessly broad category, but is there a reason that cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc. are so closely associated with the Christmas season (at least in the West)?

By this I am referring to the Scandinavian ones that launched raids and invaded places with forces like the Great Heathen Army. I have never heard of any particular naval combat they were associated with. (Perhaps this is due to a relatively small number of boats around and low populations not providing a mass of events)