I read a line about the Nizaris at Alamut possibly just "discovering" that a person was in line for the Imamate after the Imam, Occulted after generations since the fall of the Fatimids, had failed to reappear. This seems like such a difficult area to do historical work in, so I'm wondering what kind of progress has been made at all. Are we confident Imam Mahdi was reflective of an actual person? How developed was the tradition of hidden leadership in the ancient near east? How does the historical evidence of pre-Qajar Ismaili Imams that we seem to know existed despite being occluded look and compare to more obscure ones?

I’m looking for a good pop-history book about the history of fake news, especially regarding new technologies like the Printing Press, Radio, the early Internet, and the like! Any info would be greatly appreciated!!

O ink-stained historians, hear my supplication!

The legend of King Canute (or, delightfully, "Cnut") is known to every man, woman, boy, girl, dog cat and fish in Britain. This is the story of the great king who had his throne placed on the beach, to demonstrate that he could hold back the tide.

Of course he got his feet wet, and is now a byword for vainglorious folly.

But I read once that his motive was not to test his power but to demonstrate his mortal nature to courtiers who believed that he actually could hold back the tide.

What do we know about the courtiers or subjects of King Cnut that may have made him feel that such a piece of theatre was of need? What attitudes and beliefs would have centred on this powerful personage? Might be have actually believed himself that he could hold back the tide?

So that I can set my jingoism correctly, geographically where might this event have happened, if it is known to history?

I'd love to know what kind of man he was. I read a puckish sense of humour in his action, with a side of "I'm not the Messiah!"

Why on earth would Queen Victoria think she’s descended from King David and circumcise her sons? Did Prince Albert have any objections to this? Were obscure relatives to royals circumcised during this time period? Many royals in other countries at the time were related to Queen Victoria. We’re they aware of this and did they ever comment on it? Were any of them circumcised themselves?

It can’t just be because america shipped all its industry overseas. America has always wanted to be self sufficient right? Including procurement? So why do they now buy their tanks from German Rheinmetall, or not make their own guns anymore? Surely the benefit of self sufficiency is still there

Beyond differences in equipment, would he still recognize the basic practices, tactics, and structure of the army? Or would it mostly all seem new to him?

From his perspective, would the overall training and discipline of the army appeared to have changed much, and if so, to what extent?

What are the historical reasons as to why mead, one of the staple alcoholic drinks in the medieval era, declined in popularity in the last couple of hundred years?

As I'm sure most of you know, chariot racing was wildly popular in ancient Rome. Some fans even went as far as throwing themselves on funeral pyres of their favorite chariot drivers. Each team (faction) had hundreds of thousands of fans, an empire-wide scouting apparatus, and state of the art stables.

I recently read a book as a part of my master's study in Sports Mangaement, in which it briefly mentioned that Roman chariot factions were 'privately' owned, as opposed to Byzantine/Eastern Roman teams later in history, who were publicly funded. Sadly, it didn't go into more detail. It made me wonder: Who actually owned these teams? Who funded them? Were they owned by an individual or groups of individuals, or do I have to think more in terms of the Palio di Siena, where each team represents a certain neighborhood or tribe in the city?

I don't know of it's for everyone but Rasputin's story definitely is popular across the world and my teacher told us his story first before going to the actual Russian Revolution, my dad who's not a historian but knows a lot about history in the 19th and 20th century told Rasputin's story before Russian Revolution and Oversimplified on YouTube did the same.

When I asked my sister who's currently in her master for history (specialising in middle ages though), she said she had no idea.

I personally don't see a link between the 2, is it just a fun story people like to tell?

Were they hunted or bred for feathers, or kept as pets, or simply wildlife? What associations, if any, did they have in Chinese literary culture?

Was there hope for the future? Fear? Happiness? Joy?

It had created many many frontline American service firearms. Surely it can’t just be ‘budget concerns’ seeing as how large the US military budget is

Hello, I am working on a project about naval warfare during Age of Sail. I know some basics but nothing in depth really - and that's my goal, to educate myself to achieve better result with my project.

Since I am not looking for high historical-accuracy, more likely to be inspired by history - I'll take any answers you will write down. What am I looking for? If there is any source from which I can study about this era - books, articles, videos, online PDFs, etc.

What exactly I need - anything really. Something where I can find out about what type of ammunition/gunnery ships were used (differences in nations, who used what, etc. - even unused prototypes), sailors roles in and off combat, ranks of officers and what their role was on the ship, what equipment was used (tools, specific weapons, etc.), what kind of life was on the ship (if there were any events during sailing - like, shows/theatres. How good was meal/chef, if there was any kind of profesional staff - surgerons, carpenters etc.), how ship comunicated during combat, if any nations had bigger advantage in technology (like, if one nation had better sails, other one better officers, etc.) or what kind of cargo ships usually had onboard and what it was good/used for. And for last question I have on my mind for now - which nations had in overall (during whole era) best Navy (Ships, officers, equipment, etc.)

As you can see, I am looking for anything what I could possibly use.
I am looking foward to your answers! Thank you very much.

Many stories that describe the political context preceding the French Invasion of 1494 mention his crucial role in maintaining that Balance of Power, even sometimes implying somehow that it wouldn't have happened if he was still alive. However, others claim that King Ferdinand of Naples was the real arbiter of the Peninsula, with some even giving him the title of "Judge of Italy".

I saw this quote on the website Britannica that basically claims that his Lorenzo's role in the Balance of Power was overblown:

"But the claims made for Lorenzo as “the peacemaker” of Italy, even as a “constructor of a balance of power,” have no substance—except insofar as he, as ruler of a militarily weak state in his last years, inevitably took part in a balance of weak states from which only Venice stood out "

So, which one was it? Was he really that important?

I am currently listening and reading a lot about the 1900 time range and the prelude to the Great War. Thinking about it without having the second on in the back of my mind opened me to a more broad acknowledgement of its effects for the Balkans, Russia, Austria, Germany, even the US.

From my school days, getting them presented as WW1 and then WW2 coupled them in a way that had me not understand the profound differences between the two wars.

Especially as a German, this is interesting due to WW2 being as black and white as it is portrayed but WW1 really being an all around catastrophe with basically no "good guys" and a very 9/11 like start.

So my question is - would framing WW1 as "The Great War" allow for a more unique understanding of it, more decoupled from WW2?

I want to learn more about the Anabaptist movement's origins. I am not religious, but I grew up in a high anabaptist population region and am curious.

I have read a bit about Zwingli, Hubmaier, Mann, etc. I want to learn about the broader social context, as I know there were uprisings, wars, etc.

Any books or historians you suggest?

Or, anyone care to do a breakdown of anything you know of this era of Swiss history?

Cheers

I know the concept of mental illness is invented 19th-20th century, but I'm sure that suicide and being depressed is a thing that are universal across time and culture, though they may manifest in different. It doesn't have to be academic literature, but can be anything from lines in books or quotes.

The reason I was prompted to make this is that I've found this passage from the hadith "the afflictions and the end of the world" that describes the event of the end times very interesting:

"the hour will not be established until till a man when passing by a grave of someone will say, 'Would that I were in his place"

I was caught off guard by how raw that was, considering this was recorded almost 2000 years ago