1 Answers 2021-10-20
Please Be Aware: We expect everyone to read the rules and guidelines of this thread. Mods will remove questions which we deem to be too involved for the theme in place here. We will remove answers which don't include a source. These removals will be without notice. Please follow the rules.
Some questions people have just don't require depth. This thread is a recurring feature intended to provide a space for those simple, straight forward questions that are otherwise unsuited for the format of the subreddit.
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18 Answers 2021-10-20
If not, is there ample evidence to support this idea?
1 Answers 2021-10-20
I’ve heard different accounts from Molotov but if this is just a rumour where did it stem from
1 Answers 2021-10-20
11 Answers 2021-10-20
Welcome to Day Two of the AHDC 2021!
We hope that you enjoyed our first day's offerings. You can catch up on any panels you may have missed via our YouTube channel, while the questions and answers from our first three panel AMA threads (here, here, and here) are sure to provide some fantastic reading material. We will also be hosting Dr. Devon Mihesuah's keynote address this morning at 11 AM EDT and releasing the recording of it as soon as we're able. Keep an eye on this space and register here if you haven't already!
Today, there will be even more to see. We premiered three more panels yesterday evening whose Q&A AMAs will go live over the course of the day. We also have two more networking sessions scheduled for this morning and evening as well.
Again, check out our conference program if you are interested in the history of the AskHistorians conference, its background, rationale, and the details of this year's event (including information about the participants, papers, and panels), please check out.
This thread contains an overview of today's events, with direct links added as soon as they go live, and an explanation of how to get involved. If you have any questions, leave them below and we'll address them as soon as possible.
Networking Session Three (8 AM EDT): Trivia with AskHistorians
Panel Four AMA (9 AM EDT): "All Aboard the Orient's Expression: Reclaiming Asian Perspectives and Identity in the Age of Imperialism"
Keynote Address (11 AM EDT): "Ned Christie and the Consequences of Fake News" by Dr. Devon Mihesuah of the University of Kansas
Following yesterday's force majeure of our keynote speaker's internet going down, we will be presenting this year's keynote address this morning at 11 AM EDT instead. If you haven't already registered, you can do so at the link above!
Panel Five AMA (3 PM EDT): "I Make the Governor Call Me Governor: Rewriting the History of Women's Agency"
Day Three Panel Livestreams (5 PM EDT)
Panel Six AMA (7 PM EDT): "Never Forgotten, Never Again: Recentering Narratives of Historical Violence"
Networking Session Four (9 PM EDT): Casual Networking
Watch talks: The central feature of the conference is its collection of recorded talks. These talks have been divided into nine panels of 2–3 speakers, each taking ten minutes to present on their own research before joining in a group discussion with their fellow panelists and an expert moderator. Today's panels were premiered as livestreams yesterday evening and can now be found on our YouTube channel. The recordings will be available indefinitely, so you can always go back and catch up on anything you may have missed!
Ask questions: Each panel will have its own AMA-style Q&A thread where you can ask the speakers anything you'd like to know about their work. These will go live according to the schedule posted above, and will continue as long as the participants feel like answering more questions!
Attend live events: Although our conference panels have all been pre-recorded, they will be premiered at 5 PM EDT as livestreamed talks on YouTube the evening before their associated AMA (hence, Panels Four, Five, and Six were livestreamed yesterday evening, and Panels Seven, Eight, and Nine will be livestreamed today at 5 PM EDT). Once they have been premiered, they will be made available indefinitely on the AskHistorians YouTube channel.
Throughout the conference, we will also be hosting live networking sessions for participants and audience members to attend. There will be one networking session focused on talking shop about all things history and one social session focused on chatting and getting to know fellow guests each day.
Last night, we hosted our first-ever AskHistorians Trivia Night. This morning, we're doing it again. If you've ever been to pub trivia and thought "Damn, I wish I had a historian on my team", here's your chance: today's social session at 8 AM EDT is AskHistorians Trivia hosted by u/Starwarsnerd222 and u/Kugelfang52. If scavenger hunting is more your cup of tea, though, then you'll want to join us for tomorrow's social session at 1 PM EDT! Find all 12 hidden items for your chance to win conference merch!
You are welcome to register for and attend as many of our networking and social sessions as you like. A full list of these events, and information about registering, can bee found here.
Be a part of the conversation: We'll be treating these daily conference megathreads like our Friday Free-for-Alls: you're welcome to use them to discuss the conference, leave questions or comments, or chat informally about today's papers in this thread. Keep in mind, though, that our rules about civility are still very much in force. You can also follow updates on Twitter via @askhistorians and #AHDC2021. We encourage you to tweet about our conference as well if you'd like. Just remember to tag us and use the #AHDC2021 hashtag!
8 Answers 2021-10-20
Hello fellow historians,
recently i learned about the current debates about the Spartan myth and the so called Debunking of the battle of Thermopylae and the 300. If been sucessful at finding plentyful of books about that topic, but can't find any articles etc. for some reason.
I don't know if this is the right place to ask. But on the other hand who better to ask, as historians themselves.
I would be glad for any suggestion.
1 Answers 2021-10-20
I'm having a hard time finding helpful resources to help me satisfy my personal curiosity in the subject. I don't have many specific questions, because I don't understand much in the topic at all. I've heard of Christianity taking over pagan holidays and using themes from Egyptian Gods and would be interested in learning more about that, but I'm generally just interested in Christianity origins and schisms if anyone can give me some resources, thanks!
1 Answers 2021-10-20
I was watching the comedians in Cars episode with Obama when he brought up this claim of how Teddy would go AWOL for weeks at a time in Yellowstone Park while in office, which just sounds insane to me the president disappearing for that amount of time. How did the Whitehouse function with the president gone and no one could get a hold of him?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM-Q_zpuJGU
The claim is at 7:45
1 Answers 2021-10-20
I understand a lot of ancient people celebrated on the summer or winter solstices, being the longest and shortest days of the year. But for the Gaelic people of Ireland and Scotland, the two most important festivals was Samhain and Beltane, celebrated today on October 31 and May 1. But neither of those days are on a Solstices or Equinoxes, so how did the ancient people know which day to celebrate?
Did they just choose randomly depending on the weather? To my understanding, Samhain was the beginning of Winter for the Celts. But it can sometimes feel like winter as early as September. How did they know to wait until late October, rather than late September. I assume they didn't have our current concept of a 30 day, 12 month calendar.
1 Answers 2021-10-20
The US told France and the UK to back off Egypt, for example. So why didn’t the US stop the UK and Argentina from going to war? Was that the end of the Monroe Doctrine?
1 Answers 2021-10-19
I sort of think I have the basic idea that light cavalry was great to be swift on their feet. They would fly in with bows, shoot into formations and were great at running down enemies while heavy cavalry broke through their lines with pikes and swords...however, I find it hard to picture these used in my head.
With Heavy Cavalry, it seems like they would run out of lances and then would have to run into dedicated formations, some of which would easily bog down a horse before either killing it or dragging the rider off his mount. Not to mention that the most common weapon in a soldier's arsenal, the spear, gave him enough reach that he could easily just jut the weapon forward and let the mount run itself on the end.
Light Calvary also seems to encounter this same problem and their lack of armor also means that they would be really easy picking for archers, would they not?
1 Answers 2021-10-19
And what does this tell us about gender roles in that period? Disclaimer: I'm not trans, and I'm not the most well educated about trans issues, so I deeply apologize if my question causes any offence.
1 Answers 2021-10-19
I was browsing Reddit when I found this meme. I’ve always thought that Robert E. Lee was a fearsome general who put serious pressure on the Union during the American Civil War. But now I’m curious, how good (or bad) of a general was he actually?
1 Answers 2021-10-19
The village from the Asterix and Obelix comic books were completely autonomous from the Roman empire even though the rest of Gaus was conquered. Of course that specific village is fictional, but I'm wondering if it is based on anything real. Were there any such villages in the Roman empire that were actually autonomous? Did the Roman state have any control of villages at the edge of the empire at all?
1 Answers 2021-10-19
Background: Japan invaded the Dutch East Indies in early 1942 and that included the island of Timor, which was split in two between the Dutch half and Portugese half. On December 17th, Allied forces occupied Portugese Timor, which the president at the time declared was an invasion on neutralterritory and breach of Portugal's sovereingnty. In February 1942, the Japanese seized Portugese Timor and occupied it, along with the rest of Timor, as a single unit for the rest of the war.
My question is, what was Portugal's reaction to their half of the island being occupied? It seems, from what I can tell, that they were extremely offended at the Allies occupying it, however I can't find their reaction to Japan seizing it. The vibe I'm getting from this is that they didn't care anymore now that it wasn't in their hands, sort of just "ok since you stole it from us it's your problem now". After the war, they promplty returned to control the colony and attempted to reassert their control over it much like the Dutch or French did with their colonies in the region.
The invasion was technically also grounds for war, why did Portugal never declare war on Japan for their invasion? Was it apathy? Or was it a fear of Spain's very Axis-friendly dictator?
I realise this topic is extremely obscure, but I've become kind of obsessed with it as of late. Especially as I'm a history student in uni and so I need material to write a thesis on, so if you could come with sources too that would be great!
Thanks!
1 Answers 2021-10-19
Already posted in r/AskAnthropology with no luck. In Camilla Townsend's book Fifth Sun, she recounts how the Mexica king Axayacatl takes a male lover, the poet Quecholcoatl. However, other sources have led me to believe that homosexuality was discouraged in Nahua society, even being punishable by death in Texcoco. Obviously, the probably didn't conceive of sexuality in the way we do now, but it got me thinking:
What sexual practices were acceptable/discouraged among the major civilizations of Mexico from 1400-1500 AD?
1 Answers 2021-10-19
13 Answers 2021-10-19
I've heard it claimed that Tibet prior to annexation to the PRC and socialist economic reforms was a Theocracy that had a feudal slave based system, to what extent is this true?
1 Answers 2021-10-19
You know it if even just subconsciously - the oscillating sound that implies "Outer Space". It's most associated with science fiction of years past but it's been rehashed in so many things, especially for children, that it's basically an audio queue at this point.
But...where did it originally come from, exactly? And why that sound, given that with space being a vacuum there isn't any audio sound, and extraterrestrial radio signals converted to sound are more like a dull roar or screeches.
It's not even like Sputnik's iconic telemetry sound, nor is it really like radar or sonar. So where did this sound effect come from?
1 Answers 2021-10-19
16 Answers 2021-10-19
Unfortunately, the title says it all: a widespread internet outage affecting our keynote speaker, Dr Devon Mihesuah, means that we have had to postpone the talk until tomorrow.
If you are already signed up for the keynote, you should shortly receive an email confirming the rescheduled time and you do not need to reregister. If you would like to come along at the new time tomorrow and haven't yet registered, you can still do so here.
We understand that not all attendees will be able to make the new time tomorrow, and we share your disappointment. We will be doing our best to get a recording live as soon as possible, so that you can catch up on what promises to be a fantastic, timely talk.
Other conference events - panel AMAs, video releases and networking and social sessions - will continue as scheduled.
2 Answers 2021-10-19