The Sumerians invented writing, the potter's wheel, wheeled carts, the ox-drawn plow, and the calendar. The Greeks gave us philosophy, democracy, and made huge advances in astronomy, mathematics, physics, and biology. The Romans discovered concrete and built great roads, arches, sewers, and aqueducts. The Chinese invented paper, gunpowder, and the magnetic compass. The Egyptians built awe-inspiring pyramids but invented little of consequence other than papyrus sheets. It seems, therefore, that Egypt was the least innovative among the major ancient civilizations.

Where there two different German armies? Why do some sound like good people and others did terrible things?

The quote is from a vet interviewed in the show Band of Brothers.

I'm new to Reddit and it's my first post on AskHistorians, so I hope I'm not breaking any rule.

That's something I've ever thought about but every time I talked about it with friends, I never reached a conclusion. Every calendar I've ever heard about is based in religion and events that often seem to have little to no historical accuracy. I wonder if there is any alternative calendar that is meant to start in a point that could be of interest or any relevant meaning to the whole of humanity, or at least majority of humanity.

The closest I've seen of such a thing was a professor talking about how humanity changed forever around the late 1700's. Things like world population reaching its first billion, greater social stability and safety (fewer wars, more social and technological changes between generations, meaning the world a son would experience wouldn't be the same as the world his father experienced), the rise of the burgeoisie, among other things. The professor suggested such big social changes could be a great argument for a new calendar starting in 1775 (or some time around there, I'm really not sure).

But then again, even if most countries are secular and most people in the world aren't christians, we still all use the same old gregorian calendar even though the world becomes more and more science-inclined and less religious.

I know that old Icelandic cuisine in particular involves pickled fish and ray. How did ancient and medieval produce vinegar?

The first Crusade was done because the Romans wanted help to defeat the Turks. However it seems the Crusaders had their own ideas. Can anyone tell me if there were positive to the Romans in one way or another and how?

When you think about it, they share the same roots, Castille/Spain have/had as substantially bigger army and population. Why was there no attempt of the Spanish gaining more power and annexing Portugal?

From a cursory search, it appears that the performance of the Iraqi army has been a trainwreck ever since independence. This failure to perform well survives multiple reorganizations and government changes. Why is this?

It seem through out history different countries after a war were split up and handed to different people, yet after both wars Germany was still around?

Could they not give half to Poland and France? Was there something in treaties stopping this ?

Same with Japan?

I can imagine that it would be a huge procession, no? The entire city would have been affected by its presence, and with such religious surrounding, what rituals/ceremonies may have taken place? What do we know, and what do we speculate?

Thank you :)

Why do Calendars in America start with Sunday, but everywhere else in the world they start on Monday? Is there a historical significance or a single person/group that started this? I'm looking for specifics and not so much generalizations or assumptions like "To be different than England" Thanks all

New Spain is a vast area, yet I’ve had difficulty finding scholarship that discusses how the Spanish secured their position militarily. What military forces were available to the viceroy? Was there a sizable presence of Spanish regular forces, or would military forces have been primarily locally-raised units? How did Spanish colonial authorities defend their territory against other European powers and Native groups?