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Ok, this has a lot of potential to be a really dumb question but hear me out. I've read a little on WW1, probably the least "fun" war ever, but apparently in early days of this war, many soldiers were writing about how they were looking forward to the war and their expected victory.

Were these people just disillusioned because recent wars of that time were mostly just easy colonial victories, or was there any other precedents for this, of soldiers from medieval and early modern periods looking forward to battle? I understand this probably greatly depends on each soldier and each battle, but let's say that if odds of winning were good and there was some looting to be done after the battle, could the majority of the soldiers of the expected winning side enjoy the conflict or was that always something they had to get through to enjoy their reward?

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The Netherlands doesn't have any mountains...

I've been reading Tim Snyder's Bloodlands, and it's made me curious.

The Byzantines and other eastern powers trained horse archers, Western Europeans encountered horse archers during the crusades, why did nobody in Western Europe decide to start training horse archers?

Let's say I'm exploring new lands and I find an area rich in economic or strategic resources, what happens next? How did the explorer ensure news of their discovery made it home as quickly as possible? What steps did the government take to exploit this news? Is there any evidence of an expedition making a grand discovery but dying before they could announce it to the world?

I'm interested in learning more about the economic effects of the fall the Roman empire in the West. Recently listened to Paul Freeman's lectures for his Early Middle Ages course. In the broad overview that he gives, he noted that the period was one of ruralization and declining populations in former Empire in the West. But I was struck by the fact that even an area as barren of natural resources as the Arabian peninsula could nevertheless support two substantial trading cities, Mecca and Medina, during this time. So, there must have been some trading centers that persisted in importance through this period (circa 300 C.E. to 800 C.E.), no? What were they? Were they the same as the centers of trade for the Roman Empire? What would the life of a successful merchant have been like? Any comments or sources you can point to for more info would be great.

And throughout history, in times of big melee battles, how often was "friendly fire" an issue? Most battles (like the ones in the most recent Moses/Prince of Egypt movie) look like large confusing clusterfucks. How did soldiers know who the enemy was?

Hey! I'm doing a OEA Model about the Cuban Missile Crisis and I'll be representing the USA! It's a very hard position and it'll be good if you could help me on some topics, such as:

• What was the USA's government actions just after the news about the missiles arrived
• If Kennedy decided not to take the missiles from Italy and Turkey, a war could have really happened?
• If Kennedy decided not to take the missiles from Italy and Turkey, would it have been something really far from their foreign policy at the time?

I have some more questions, but I'll think about them a bit better.

Thanks for the attention,

Bernardo Beiriz

I'd always been under the assumption that the soviets had been industrially inferior to all other players in the war, and that their victory came through the sheer number of men they had at their disposal, as well as the Germans poor preparation for winter.

However the first claim seems to be weaker and weaker the longer I read this sub.

In fact, I'm starting to believe the soviet industry rivaled that of the United States, if at least Germany.

Can anyone provide info?

Famously covered in HBO's Band of Brothers, at the end of WWII, many in German towns near concentration camps claimed they did not know of the presence of them... when the GIs could literally smell the rotting flesh wafting through the town.

Obviously many in leadership positions of these towns, and military must have known... but were there germans (in those towns specifically) who were really ignorant? And considering there likely many who weren't, are there any first person records of these people?

I want to know about what it was like for someone in these towns, some germans who knew but also knew that trying to say or do anything about it meant certain death. Were there towns which protested or pushed back and didn't get the camps located near them?

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I wonder this as now I'm studying Aristotle. I've looked on google and couldn't find an answer. I have this personal hypothesis that modern film replaced the tragedy and plays so I'm wondering how close they come together time wise. A normal film you'd expect to last 2 hours but how long would your normal play last?

I was just thinking about Audie Murphy, and how he played himself in a WWII film before, but I was wondering if the same or similar thing has ever happened for someone who was a Nazi during WWII. Were there any who actually played as one in a film or TV show?

Maybe an earlier territory was split by the ancestors of the now French? I've always wondered

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I always here about The use of forts especially by the French. Wouldn't elaborate stone structures like this just be sitting ducks for massed artillery?

This would include groups like the Taureg or Bauber people, and not include civilizations like the Garamedes and Gaetulian civilizations.

My topic is: To what extent did Belgian colonialism pave the way for the Rwandan Civil War?

I want to section my essay into Belgian colonization and then Rwandan Civil War. My teacher said I should focus more on Belgian colonization because I need to explain the extent part of the question. How belgian colonization in a way, caused the civil war in Rwanda. Any type of non-fictional sources would help me, as part of the IA, I need to mention my sources, but it will not be the entire component of the paper.

Sources need to be from books, 8 of them that I can use. They have to be contemporary sources, as I would like to eliminate any possibility of outdate or in other words, the possibility that my sources have been debunked or updated. And I am allowed 2 online resources. So you can see how, as a 17 year old who has never done this before nor has had something like this explained to or guided (and this is my entire IB graduating class we have not been helped..), could be stressing.

So far, I have: "Africa's World War" by Gerard Prunier "King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa" by Adam Hochschild. (If you guys can tell me if these are professional and credentialed and I can count on these, that would be of great help.)

If any of you can help me, I would be most grateful.

P.S.: I, along with my entire class of 2016 IB students, have not been taught how to write something of such massive historiological proportion. We are are scrambling to find 8 qualified sources in a span of two days. She told us about the deadline last minute, and we know not a knick of contemporary history, I mean, none whatsoever. I'm scared and I want to do a good job, and I can't turn to anyone else because I don't know any historians. My teacher does not offer help, I have asked and received none, she just threw this on us.

Sorry if this is a bother, I just really need some help.

Thank you to all.

With much regards, TheAndromedaGalaxy

With WWI now being 100 years behind us, and all the servicemen dead, it is moving out of living memory. How long will we continue to have remembrance ceremonies for it?

Furthermore, there will have been uncountable major battles through human history where many died. Is it a modern concept to keep remembering them to 'learn' from them and honour the fallen? Or, is there still ceremonies going on for battles waged 1000 years ago that I am not aware of? What is the oldest remembrance ceremony that happens?