In the Netflix series Peaky Blinders the main character Thomas buys all of his neighbors portraits of King George V in burns them in the street to send a message. Would most people in Britain actually have the kings portrait in their homes at the time? If so has this custom persisted or has it largely died out? Thanks!

Did anyone, particularly black people, attempt to create a community separate from whites? Kind of a "screw you guys, we're going to do our own thing" movement.

Additionally, was there any segregation against whites in black owned businesses or venues?

I'm talking about how multiple large civilizations spread across the world have very similar stories.

For example: the idea that a 'great flood' occurred sometime along with the nephilim or 'giants'.

Or am I asking a stupid question?

The reason I'm asking is because I saw a show in History Channel that showed Hannibal as a tactical genius and another show that presented Hannibal as a mediocre strategist whose acomplishments were exagerated by the Romans in order to make themselves look good for defeating a "military genius". So who is telling the truth?

I feel like there was at least one chance at some point in history where someone could have fixed it.

So I've constantly read and heard that the Jewish and Christian communities of Arabia had a prophecy stating that a prophet would arise from the region, and this is usually found in Islamic articles and books as support for Muhammad's claim to prophethood.

Is there any verifiable evidence for such a tradition, preferably prior to Muhammad's era?

EDIT: this is getting downvoted but I'm just asking a question, I'm not trying to make a doctrinal statement here. Sheesh.

Were there riots or any other significant resistance? I feel as if the sudden conversion would have angered many dedicated Roman Pagans. Am I correct in assuming it came as a sudden shock or was the conversion a gradual process starting with Emperor Constantine? Edit: By conversion, I am referring to Christianity becoming the state religion.

I apologize if this is the wrong place, but for some reason this question has popped into my head. Who determined who makes up the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council?

For example, Fortun Ximenez took a ship from Hernán Cortés' fleet to explore the western coast of North America, eventually landing on Baja California. How did they even get their ships there in the first place?

As above

I've been working my way through Ian Kershaw's Hitler, and it's sparked an interest in early Weimar history. What are some good academic books that cover that time period, or the German Revolution in particular? I have a particular interest in the Sparticist Uprising/Revolt, but I'm open to suggestions that cover the war or that time period in general.

I'm about to finish The Guns of August and Tuchman has been pretty critical of French, Moltke, and Joffre. Some of it I could chalk up to the challenges of coordinating gigantic forces without the benefit of modern communications technologies but the picture that she paints is one of leaders who seem almost criminally inept.

Joffre especially comes off poorly as a leader in the first month as he withheld information from the French government and his own commanders, ignored intelligence reports, resisted modernization of the military, and removed any number of officers from their positions for perceived "failings." John French's attitude towards Kitchener and the French commanders seems practically treasonous. Moltke seems to have been put in a tough spot and didn't fare it very well as he vacillated on the implementation of the Schlieffen Plan when confronted by his generals.

My academic background is anthropology and I've been in the US military but this is sort of my first real foray into the nitty gritty of those early 20th century conflicts. I've started reading Meyer's A World Undone and I imagine that will clear up a few things (he was definitely more clear on the state of affairs in the Balkans) but I wanted to know what you all think. Were these guys really as bad at their jobs as it seems or was Mrs. Tuchman being hasty in characterizing them as too headstrong for their own good?

Native populations in America and the Pacific were devastated by diseases brought by Euroean explorers, but why didn't populations of Europeans in Europe catch these diseases passed on by sailors? And how did colonialists survive initial disease contact at all in the first place?