I teach English in Japan and the majority of schools over elementary education require the students to wear gendered uniforms - i.e., the girls have skirts and the boys have pants.

It got me thinking - where exactly or what sort of events happened that led to the gendered ideas of skirts being for women, pants for men? Was this a cultural norm accepted around many cultures or did it spread from one area and influence others? How old is this tradition?

Thanks so much in advance!

How demographically devastated was Germany from the war, and how long did it take for it to "bounce back" on its population?

It is always mentioned as a fact yet never explained

For example does the idea of "religion" exist in every culture in approximately the same way or do concepts of religion differ drastically? For example did Chinese and Indians view Confucianism and Hinduism the same way Christians and Muslims viewed their religions? Did they understand the distinction from one religion and another, such as Confucianism or Taoism? Do connotations of "religion" differ elsewhere so that they view religion as essentially different entities altogether from what we mean when talking about "religion" in English?

I'm English.

I have seen suggestions that this was due to Rome weakening itself and armies through civil war i.e. killing off veterans faster than they could be replaced.

So obviously, the British army allowed the purchase of commissions, but it was still possible to gain promotion on merit.

So this has me wondering a few things:

• How likely was promotion on merit? What percentage of officers could expect to advance that way?

• Were certain ranks more likely on merit than others? ie it was easy enough to move into a captaincy on merit, but you might stall out if you lacked the funds to gain a majority?

• Did purchase still come into play at the highest echelons of command, or was that all merit based? ie what was the last advancement in rank that could be purchased? I assume that Wellington didn't need to pay for his Field Marshalship, nor did the guys running things at Horse Guards, but I know many a Colonel bought his position, so where did it end?

What I mean exactly is why did armies go about as large masses to fight set piece battles, rather than smaller groups over a wide area?

I was thinking how many cultural items are released with a lot of controversy around them and then over time they become norms. Did the car get received this way? Did people think it was against religion or had like a machine vs beast thing going on

I've heard people say that they believe that WWI would not have occurred without it. I understand the chip on France's shoulder about Alsace and Lorraine played a role but it seems as if Germany was fairly uninvolved in the imperialistic competition abroad? Maybe someone here with more knowledge would be able to clarify re: the gravity of the event.

Hey, /r/askhistorians! Straightforward question, here: how interchangeable (for a military's purposes) are war horses and work horses historically? Namely, I'm assuming that a horse is going to be used for combat (with a rider) - it's obviously better to have that horse be specialized and trained for warfare, but, if you just needed to pick some up from a local farm (say, your horses died or ran off), could they still be used for warfare? What if the horse is a military horse being used for something other than cavalry - like transporting artillery or something?

I'm not asking about any period in particular (I suppose I was imagining medieval warfare in asking this, but I'm interested in any period) - if period matters, tell me about whichever you know about and why it matters! Thanks!

A knowledgeable friend of mine who knows quite a bit of Japanese culture and history had told me this in the past, but has never given me any specific source. With the initial question he also said that this attributed to Japan's lack of resources, as they put many into simply making swords. Is any of this true and to what extent?

Hey /r/AskHistorians! I've got a question about Hitler's search for things like the Holy Grail and Ark of the Covenant, etc.

Do we have any detailed information on his searching. Specifically, where he looked (or probably more clear, where he had his minions look), what made him look there, and so on? If so, can anyone recommend any books that discuss the details of the search? As many of us, I've certainly read enough about the why part of his search, but haven't ever found much on the nuts and bolts of it all.

Again, that's assuming we have that information to begin with.

Thanks!

During his rule was Lenin responsible for any deaths like Stalin was?

This is a question for History of Science people. I know how seasons work, but when did humans figure out that it wasn't a goddess crying over her lost daughter? How did they prove it?