When the Vandals occupied parts of Spain and North Africa, how did they handle going from a migratory tribal confederacy to controlling a number of cities and their administrations?

is there anyone on here who can translate Japanese Iconography? I am trying to translate an inscription n a sword, but I can't seem to post it here, and I have no clue how to decipher it. The local University has next to nothing on this.

This is questions that has always fascinated me, how the Romans engineered things.

Did they have engineering standards, material specifications, uniform factors of safety? How did they calculate the load bearing requirements of an arch for a bridge or aqueduct and how did they then use these requirements to design the structure itself.

Where did they get their education? Did a Roman engineer go to school or was it an apprentice program?

Have any engineering documents from Roman times survived? Architectural sketches, blueprints, calculations, etcetera.

If the Romans did calculate things like loads and stresses, would this mean they developed mathematical techniques and like concrete many of these were only rediscoveries?

I’d be interested to see some kind of analysis of Roman structures and see what margins exist in them and if these margins are uniform. Uniform margins would indicate some kind of standard.

De architectura hints at some of these answers, but I would like to know if there is more out there.

Thanks!

It's clear from the material I've read that people were aware of the Spanish Flu (sometimes referred to as "La Grippe" in Europe). Given that the flu's transmission was perhaps helped spread by troop movements, I'm wondering whether or not any of the militaries participating in WW1 had any protocol for helping the minimize infection among their troops. Certainly, there are photos of large wards set up among the civilian population in old gymnasiums and the like. Given that the flu attacked younger adults with stronger immune systems, I imagine it would be a big concern for any army.

I know that Roosevelt's condition was hid from the American public. But how well kept of secret was it? Did most politicians know that FDR couldn't walk? I imagine that at conferences with world leaders it would be obvious to foreign heads of state. Thinking about it, I feel most photos of FDR, Churchill, and Stalin are shown with all three sitting down.

I did hear this in my ancient China course, but approximately ¼ of that course was about the American Civil War, so I was never too sure on the accuracy.

By economy, I mean slavery based on contracts or debt.

EDIT: Thank you to everyone for some enlightening answers, especially /u/Tundur and /u/anthropology_nerd.

From the early Gallic invasion, through the Samnite wars, and up to the second Punic War) the history of Rome is full of losing battles and sometimes wars. They seem to win just by being indomitable; they just keep coming. Everytime they lose, they just form up new legions and try again. How did they keep forming new legions? Was Roman success a result of a massive population that other areas lacked? Did they have a denser population? Were they able to draw recruits from a wider area than just local areas like other city states? Or were casualties usually quite low, and there was lots of survivors to just put into new legions?

Should we investigate history to know our place in it? To learn from it? Is it a goal worth pursuing in itself?

They went from being hitler's solution to transport to being a hippy's dream car pretty quickly. How did they do this?

There were differences during the civil war and the southern states continue to be more republican than the northern states at present. What caused these differences?

Hi,

Arab slave trade was never even mentioned in my history class - yet after a little bit of research, it seems it was much more impactful than the slave trade done by the West, lasted for longer and led to more people dying. Is this the case, and if so, why are we not taught this in history class and why is that never part of the conversation in modern, politically correct Europe/US?

Hello! The question might be a bit wierd, but i'm intersted how much russian is Lenin? I'm asking because i know that his mother is non-russian (if Wikipedia hasn't lied to me) and i'm intersted in what cultural sphere did he grow up, how did he identify himself and what nationality can we give him today knowing his roots (Russian or other)? Thanks in advance!

I'm wanting to do some research into Medieval robberies and heists, but having no look trying to find information. Google is just giving crap about modern day ones.

Any help?

I've realised that while I of course know Caesar ended the Roman Republic and laid the foundations for the Empire, I've never really wondered why he did this. Was it a selfish quest for power - was he that sort of person? Did he believe he was reforming Rome for the better - and did others?

Some people say it is a myth, but most people who have friends from different countries in Europe would agree there is at least some truth to the idea there is a cultural difference between places like the UK, Germany and Sweden and places like southern Italy, Spain and Greece. This particularly manifests itself in things like punctuality, attitudes to following rules, open emotional warmth in conversation etc.

So what was the historical cause of this difference? When did it first emerge?

From what I understand, the native American tribes were often at war with each other. As with most continents, somebody starts winning and before you know it there's a unified civilisation (the Roman Empire, Chinese empires throughout the different dynasties).

Is there any historical proof that the native Americans of what is now the US, were starting to become one nation? Which tribes were the "masters" then, that conquered?

Pauwels has some rather strong claims about the Allies' schemes towards Germany in WW2. I ask how accepted Pauwels' book is.