I'm not really very familiar at all with what the Orthodox church was like at that point. Was that church seen to have the same challenges as the Catholic church? Were there calls for reform?

i.e when you touch something and get a static electric shock, what did they think it was?

I found this series on Netflix called "America: The Story of Us" made by the History Channel. It's 12 episodes.

What do you guys think? Is the History Channel a good source? If not, what would you recommend?

Thank you!

Did they have to change the ammo or was the regular flak good enough?

It seems as though whenever there is a monotheistic religion introduced to an area it seems to dominate. We saw this in various places, such as Christianity supplanting Hellenic, Germanic, Celtic, and Slavic beliefs. We saw Islam supplanting Zoroastrian and African pagan beliefs, and we saw Judaism supplanting polytheistic beliefs in Judea. Why does this trend seem to also carry though history? As whenever Europeans colonized a new area of the world the natives seemed to usually convert very quickly. Is there a reason Monotheistic beliefs have so much more power over people?

I was recently reading a book and I came across a reference that Goethe is revered by many German Muslims as a great German Muslim poet. I was skeptical so I was wondering is there any truth to this statement and if not where did the rumour come from?

1914 not 1814. Sorry.

With all the knowledge I gathered in history class, I'm still not able to wrap my head around this.

Did they just straight up ignored the risk?

Greece recently defaulted in their debts and upon the news, many sources are touting that they are the first 'developed nation' to do so. Why are they a part of such an elite club and what did they do to earn such an honor?

I know the Greeks worked it out quite early, but the concept didn't catch on China until the Ming dynasty received Western missionaries, around the 16th century. Were any New World peoples aware of the shape of the Earth before contact?

I'm aware of some technical default in 1932 but I was wondering if the UK has defaulted at any other.

It would also be good to know if 1932 was considered an actual default.

I ask this as someone with a great interest in ancient classical history. I admittedly have made a conscious effort over the years to avoid siding with or using the ancient roman perspective when learning about or evaluating ancient cultures and the world in which they lived. With this in mind I want to try and break down my bias on the subject with the help of experts here. Mainly I want to focus on four sort of sub-problems that will help me sort out the larger issue of the question in the title.

Please forgive the lack of source on these questions as I admittedly am regurgitating them from memory. So if they were either things Roman writers/citizens didn't believe or they came from something else entirely I apologize.

1. Did Carthaginians ever practice human sacrifice, particularly babies or children?

2. Were Greeks/Parthians viewed as weak or effeminate, particularly due to their supposed acceptance of homosexuality? (I realize this seems inflammatory but that is in no way my intent, this was simply the context I recall hearing when I first heard this.)

3. Did the Celtic or Germanic tribes ever practice cannibalism?

4. Did Rome view Christians and Jews as a threat to be hunted/eliminated/persecuted ?

So I was watching that sketch (you all know which) about German soldiers wondering if they were the bad guys and it got me thinking. German officer uniforms were generally black or dark grey, many of the regular uniforms were similar colors, skulls were popular imagery, and red and black were the colors of the flag and generally brought around everywhere.

How come so much of the imagery seems to have been made to be evil? I know that a lot of our perception of what is evil probably stems from WW2, but still, did nobody look at themselves and say "we look like stereotypical evil doers"?

The Mauryan Empire had many Buddhist and Jain kings. However, did this reflect a majority Buddhist/Jain population in India, or were most people still Hindu?

As a related question, how fluid were the categories of Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain during the Mauryan period? Were they viewed as distinct religions as they are today?

A couple years ago I went to an estate sale of a veteran of the Second World War who was in the U.S. Army air forces. From this I bought a map of the globe on which he wrote the dates and some details about what he was doing through the pacific campaign. However when I went to research the map I couldn't find any details about it. The dimensions are approx 3 ft by 4 1/2 feet and its U.S. Army air forces with restricted. I was wondering if anybody could clue me in on the rarity, or history of these maps! I'll upload a photo tomorrow morning if I can before work.

If so, who supported it & who opposed it?

The "standard" story of WW1 is that of slogs through mud, shoddy commanders leading men to their deaths as they charge into machine gun fire, it starting either from a mess of diplomacy or gross self-service on the the combatants' part, and that the war was "unnecessary" or "not worthy".

In contrast, WW2's famed commanders and heads of state have been portrayed more respectfully (especially Rommel and Churchill), the sides (or at least the Allies) are portrayed as fighting for ideals beyond dealing with threats and advancement, and perhaps most importantly that the war was "necessary" or "worthy".

What made WW2 go down as the "Good War", including everything coming with that? Was it down to the war crimes of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan? The Allies were in a better position to have histories with helpful portrayals for their commanders and heads of state?

I've had a hard time coming up with any concrete evidence suoporting his existence. My question I guess is, what is the most academic, legitimate piece of evidence we have of Jesus' existence or not?