When I was college, I took a course in East Asian history and I recalled my professor mentioning that many philosophers of the Enlightenment were influenced by ancient Chinese philosophers because around that time Chinese texts were becoming available to Europeans. However, later on in college, my professor who taught a course in critical theory told me that none of the philosophers of the Enlightenment were influenced by Eastern philosophy.

Which of my professors were right? Thanks in advance!

I am trying to learn more about French history. Can someone advise some good texts, books or other resources that would be good reads?

I am from Slovakia, born and raised, and have been reading a lot into history these past few years. I am passionate about European history, WW1, WW2, Germany, France, Spain, etc. But my deepest interests are and have always been those of my homeland, Slovakia. I have searched quite a bit for reading material on Slovakia or Czechoslovakia, to little avail. There are some books that I found, but I am not confident of their quality or reputation to pick them up.

So my question is, does anybody have any good reading suggestions or books to recommend for any form of Slovak or Czech history? I'd be interested in anything that could encompass these two entities. A book about Bohemia or Moravia could suffice, as those are technically the ancestors of the Czechs. Even a good reading on Austria-Hungary could do, or a book about an event central to Slovaks or Czechs, like the Prague Spring or Velvet Revolution for example. If it focuses enough on the Czech or Slovak elements, I will read it!

Thank you for any and all readings and recommendations!

Reading Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty by Charles Leerhsen, he is adamant that Cobb's reputation as a racist is unfounded and indeed contrary to the facts. Is he being selective or dismissive of sources otherwise accepted as genuine, or is Cobb indeed a victim of a smear campaign?

(P.S. It seems I hit an /r/AskHistorians bingo! Searched first and there were 0 mentions of Ty Cobb.)

Follow up questions:

• To what extent did spectators of fights know about the diet of the gladiators? Was it emulated at all in the same way people might read a muscle magazine today and recreate a diet of a bodybuilder they like?

• How different was the standard Roman diet different to the diet of the gladiators?

• Do we have an accurate idea of how muscular the gladiators actually were apart from possibly embellished depictions?

Did the Macedonian phalanx ever totally replace the older greek hoplites/phalanxes, or were various cities/kingdoms in the Mediterranean still using them after if became apparent that the Macedonian phalanx was so highly effective?

So I've been always curious, how did sieges work in, say, 1400? Sis troops just stand around a fort until the defenders gave in? Or did they bash their way through walls with force? And how long would they usually take? I'm talking Europeans, but other parts of the world work, since I would like to know about other siege technologies.

If you can count to 12hrs, then you should be able to count to 24hrs. So what is the purpose of having the day numeration reset after 12? Military time is 24hrs, so they must have realized something is better/more accurate about it.

Also: Why were they involved with the Minamoto?

Every time I read descriptions of Japanese massacres in WW2, they are more heinous and evil than anything else I've read. It seems as though the Japanese didn't regard other Asians as humans. My main question is why did the Japanese act so unbelievably cruelly?

I ended up stumbling on the wikipedia page for the Novgorad Republic earlier. In the box that showed what languages were spoken there, it listed "germanic languages" as unofficial languages of the Novgorad Republic. Is this accurate? Also, if it is, what Germanic languages would've been spoken there?

Title says it all. Family lore starts it's Scandinavian but I can't find anything about it anywhere.

Growing up in the South i've always been taught that the civil war was not started because of slavery, it was because of states rights. Yes slavery had something to do with it, but it was not the main reason of the war. The states believed the government was having too much control over them the same Britain had before. So when I see the confederate flag, I don't see a symbol of slavery, I see a flag condoning states rights, meaning that they are in favor of less interference from the government. I was also taught that whether or not Abe Lincoln created the emancipation proclamation, slavery was on its way out anyway.

Why did the ancient Greeks and Romans have a thing about tripods? Was there something about the number three being mystic or the stability of the three legged stool?

In high school all they really taught us about WWII was that Hitler was taking over countries rapidly until he owned most of Europe (due to an appeasement policy, fearing a second Great War) with Britain being the last hold out, as they got bombed.

While holding Europe, the Holocaust happened (I took a whole class about just the Holocaust, but they didn't give the details of the war).

Eventually the US joins the war after Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, they and Britian do the D-Day thing, and the wars over. (It's obviously not this simple, and I know it, but I don't know the details)

I know nothing about the Russian side, and I know that was a big deal. Stalingrad is a thing I hear mentioned a lot.

But obviously the war isn't just that... Can someone recommend some documentaries, websites, or books that I can look at?

EDIT: I'd really like a timeline style view. Like "this is what happened around the world in March 1942"