I'm always curious how squads and such would react to a soldier ACCIDENTALLY, no purposeful, killing an ally and them knowing.

I have recently started out studying WW1, and have some questions which seem fairly confusing. In no particular order,

• What was the logic or rationale Kluck had in wheeling his troops in an inward wheel right before Paris?

From my (limited) reading so far, this just doesn't make sense. Lanzerac's 5th Army was beaten and retreating in a Westerly direction, French and the BEF were rushing headlong towards the Marne. Only Manoury and Gallineni with their rag tag band of corps stood in the way of Kluck AND Bulow.

Why then did Kluck decide to wheel left instead of going straight for Paris? Was it a fear of being drawn into urban combat that drove this decision?

• Why was Lanzerac so villified and later fired when well, he seems to be the only General on the French side who seemed to have read the Germans right and fought competently enough. Was it only because he openly went against Joffre and his bad relations with Sir French?

• Some sources suggest that war between Germany and England was inevitable. They themselves quote sources from that time period. Yet, the English cabinet went through so much turmoil just to declare war, and if Belgium had not been violated, war might have not even been declared (my own limited understanding). If this was the case, is the belief that war between these two powers was inevitable a false belief?

• America & Russia - America had only a 100 years before (roughly) fought a war with Britain. Russia had not 60 years before fought a war with both France and Great Britain allied on one side. America was staunchly neutral, Russia well...was bogged down by her own problems. Why then did they choose to ally with those they had fought wars with? Till WW1, America and Germany had never been in a conflict.

Follow up question - With Britain seizing merchant shipping, shouldn't this have actually bothered American interests more? Trade was being affected, and despite this what drove America to align with the UK (even before Germany opened the submarine war)

I have so far read,

Keegan's The First World War. Barbara Tuckman's Guns of August. Midway through Hew Strachan's WW 1 (volume 1).

I particularly loved Tuckman, any other authors with a similar style? She came across like the Beevor for WW2 as compared to Keegan. I am loving Strachan as well, so no complaints there.

I've always heard that Babylon was the first great human civilization. What caused its decline or why did it get superseded by other civilizations?

Obviously from their book burnings you can see that the Nazis weren't above destroying material they found ideologically objectionable, so I'm wondering why they encouraged viewers to see this art. Why go to all the trouble of showing art which they considered contrary to their aims?

1830-1840 in particular.

Hey guys, first of all thanks for your time and help here :)

So basically I'm really interested in the whole Age of Discovery (broad I know) and I want to have a in depth knowledge of those events, but I have no idea where to begin to accumulate that kind of information. Books, essays, records?

To specify, the main areas of that period of time in which I am most interested are around the Spanish and the Portuguese's travels to South America, their impact on the cultures there, what the cultures (Aztecs, Incans etc) were like before [as a side note if any one knows where to read about Aztec and Incan history I'd love to know that as well] and the general journeys undertaken during that period.

Another main focus would be the discovery and exploration of teh Caribbean and America and the countries that arrived there, their journeys and all other information about it.

I hope that I have been clear enough so you guys are able to help me out, any suggestions on what to read about these areas, or the age of discovery in general would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again everyone :)

It's the 70th anniversary of World War II, and this question came about when I started thinking about the anti-Japanese sentiment that is deeply embedded into China, Korea, and other East Asian countries, even today. Germany doesn't seem to have this problem (at least not that I know of, and at least not with America), and I would like to know how Germany took steps to heal the wounds of World War II and the Holocaust. I would also like to know how this compares to what Japan has done (or hasn't done) to mend its relationship with its neighboring countries.

Were there scientists or witnesses brought to him to explain what had happened? How did they describe it? Was he ever brought to the site to witness the destruction? Are there documents or records of how and what were his the initial reactions were after the bombs were dropped?

Were there any recipes from their culture that survived?

I barely remember being six, much less writing letters. Here is the passage.

Writing to his (Edwards) stepmother, the six year old urged her to keep a careful eye on the princess: "preserve her, therefore, I pray you, my dear sister Mary" , from all the "wiles and enchantments of the evil one" and "beseech her to attend no longer to foreign dances and merriments which do not become a most Christian princess." At the same time he praised Mary, telling her, "I like you even as a brother ought to like a very dear sister, who hath within herself all the embellishments of virtue and honourable station."

I could barely spell my name at this age, so what's up?

Well, there are multiple questions here, lemme break them down.

1. Did the average Slovene learn Serbo-Croatian in school? If so, did they learn to read in Cyrillic?

2. Would the average Croat be able to read in Cyrillic? Where would s/he have learned it? Or is it completely foreign to Croats and only familiar to ones that are part-Serb, live in Serbia or studied Russian?

3. Could the average Serb or Macedonian read Latin? Or only the ones that took French/English/German classes?

As a historical collections of scriptures and texts to study, what is the best version of the bible to understand the foundation of all abrahamic religions in it's most accurate translation and meaning?

I often hear this from Holocaust deniers but the only sources I find are also from known Holocaust denial websites. I don't want to just write it off because the have a different view than me. Anyone have info on this subject?

It seems only former British colonies became global financial centers. No French, Belgian, Portuguese, Italian, or Dutch colonial cities seem to have achieved the same level of success. Many of the cities I listed have become their dominant regional financial centers; Johannesburg-Africa, Hong Kong-East Asia, Singapore-Southeast Asia, Dubai-Middle East, Sydney-South Pacific, etc...I could have easily included US cities, but I'm mostly interested in places held after WW2.