I'm looking for a general overview on the wars in 18th century Europe. For example, the Austrian/ Spanish wars of succession, Seven Years war, Napoleonic Wars, or any others you can think of. Thanks in advance!

Was the original number of the beast from the bible actually six hundred and sixty six? Note that without a base-10 representation system, this number wouldn't actually even have anything to do with the number 6. In original translations, is given in Roman numerals, or what?

Ignoring the fantastical stuff (archers killing thousands of soldiers each day, arrows that transformed into fire / water, etc.), how would weapons like the mace and the bow and arrow have been employed tactically in ancient India (circa 1000 BCE)?

Also, if there are any sources you'd recommend, please do!

According to Wikipedia, there were eunuchs in China, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma, the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East, Greece, and even Rome. But what was the goal of having such a dangerous and painful surgical procedure done to so many people?

After watching a few too many episodes of "Naked & Afraid", I started thinking about clothing for primitive humans. Do we have a timeline of when certain articles of clothing start appearing? Obviously climate plays a part in what articles are most desirable. Anyway...any knowledge would be great! Thanks historians!

Foch was critical of the treaty since, among other issues, it left Germany as a united country. Considering WW2, one could figure that there wouldn't have been another World War with Germany as a major aggressor against the Western Allies if Germany had been thoroughly dismantled like it was after WW2. Or at least, that any Germanic movements hostile to the Western Powers would have a far more difficult time.

So, was there practical concerns that discouraged going further to dismantle Germany, or was it all down to faulty idealism?

So the Confederate flag has been a huge topic on my facebook feed following what has happened in Charleston. During a facebook post, someone commented regarding slavery:

"Many African Americans were outraged when slavery was abolished. Especially the first generation because after slavery was abolished, they had no where to go because slavery was all they knew and many of them were already older and couldn't take care of themselves and relied on their children or their once masters for assistance."

I just want to know if there's any validity in this, because first instinct response is that it's not. Thank you!

I know today, you can find a lot of joke versions of famous paintings, or medieval-style parodies or satires of the art style or the era itself. Do we have any surviving art of that kind from earlier eras?

I got this idea from browsing /r/trippinthroughtime. A lot of the faces and situations in these old works of art look ridiculous to us now, but were any of such old works also meant to look ridiculous to contemporary viewers?

Hello /r/AskHistorians,

Could anyone recommend books which would help in learning/discovering the words associated with medieval France, and the medieval era in general?

To be more precise, I would like to find and read books which would help me learn and understand words such as "squire" or "lord", only rarer. I wish to develop my knowledge about the terminology tied to this period.

Thank you!

I ask this because I was just remembering the stories my grandmother told about her life in Catholic school. Physical punishment was the norm, although never usually harsh enough to draw blood or leave a bruise for too long.

If slave-owners beat their slaves, and teachers lightly beat their pupils, and parents lightly beat their children, what was the go-to punishment for owner/employee?

I recall seeing this picture several years ago, (with a zeppelin in the background I believe) but now it has simply disappeared from the internet.

I have looked and looked in several different search engines. I found links to an internet forum where a user started a similar thread than this one, and another user replied with "here is the picture you're looking for"... The link to said picture is broken now.

Could this picture have been deleted from the internet?

Like an economic springboard? Japan perhaps?