I read about very harsh punishments for menial violations. Didn't these men have better prospects than a job with such harsh punishments and low wages?

I know the narrow gauge had been used first and was spreading by the introduction of Brunel's 7 foot gauge in 1840, but why did it die? It was cheaper to maintain than narrow gauge with lateral cross sleepers, and it meant that an economy of scale was in place where greater numbers of people and goods could be carried. Not only that, there were mixed gauge tracks available and that were used, yet 7 foot track was almost never used following the 1870s.

It seems like Stalin's denial of the possibility of a German attack even as those attacks were happening were hugely detrimental to the war effort. Stalin himself even suspected at one point that he would be arrested and removed from power. Why wasn't he? It seems like everyone in the country hated his guts.

So, this question has been nagging me ever since I first started reading about the Holy Roman Empire and medieval Europe in general. What factors did France, England, Etc, have which aided them in their journey towards centralizing? And building off of that question, were any of the same factors shared across different nations? I am mostly curious about France and the Holy Roman Empire, the former was able to centralize and the latter wasn't. Why? Also, f there are any book I could read on the subject, feel free to recommend them to me. As stated above, my main interest is in the Holy Roman Empire, and to a much lesser degree, France. Thanks for your time!

I can't find it on Google. I am trying to find the cut-off date that we stopped producing atomic bombs.

Did Gnosticism influence early christian thought?

Have far left governments (communist countries, the First French Republic and its client states, etc.) attempted to eliminate the informal/formal distinctions in speech? For example, French and Russian both have formal and informal second-person pronouns (vous/vy vs tu/ty, where vous and vy are used to address social superiors and tu and ty are used to address social equals and inferiors), and many other languages have something similar. Did the First French Republic, the USSR, or other far left governments ever try to eliminate the formal forms from the language as part of their efforts to eliminate social hierarchies?

Hey, I was reading a bit about the October Revolution and I had a hard time finding an explanation of this question that would make sense to someone, like myself, who isn't familiar with the particulars of Socialist ideology.

FDR enacted an alphabet soup of programs designed to help the poor; but before that, where did they go get help? Did they just have to do everything on their own?

I'l crosspost to /r/AskHistorians but I figured I could try to cast a wider net here.

I had dinner with a family friend several years ago. He is a WWII veteran who recently had a stroke. His memory isn't ironclad. He flew as a B-17 crewmember and was reassigned to Bahamas near the end of WWII. During his time there, he volunteered to patrol the Caribbeans (near Bahamas) with the Navy in high-speed PT boats to search for U-boats.

One day, his PT boat's crew came across a freighter. They pulled up alongside it. The first thing they noticed was that the engines were just idling with no forward movement. One crewmember fired his Garand into the water three times to get someone's attention. No one from the ship came over to respond. That crew member climbed up a rope ladder that was already over the side. He looked around and reported that there was no one on the bridge.

The rest of the PT boat crew searched the ship and found no soul onboard. My family friend recalled that the captain's table was set with plates and silverware. The last journal entry was four hours before the freighter was discovered.

So I would like to ask is where can I find more information on this? I would like to find the name of the ship and any more information. My family friend did say that the incident was covered in a newspaper that his mother read about.

Google isn't too much help since results are inundated with shipwreck references and the Bermuda triangle.

Obviously this question has applications to current events, but I hope it is asked and answered in a historical and politically neutral way that can help me better frame the current debate going on. I'm not asking for a Historian's opinion on the current debate, nor their political beliefs. Just the question above.

What were its beginnings in Human Cultures and how have they dramatically changed overtime?

I have a huge interest in Viking Age history but through my readings about the "Why did it start", there are many reasons that there were Scandinavians raiding places all over Europe but I have come across some explanations that I believe could be tied to White Supremacist narratives but am not sure if there is grounding in it or not. Here is the theory I want clarification on:

When Charlemagne came to power he sought to expand his empire and Christendom and invaded Saxony. Events such as the destruction of Irminsul and the Massacre of Verden (4000 men killed for not converting to Christianity) were events that created large tensions between Christians and Germanic heathens. Tensions arose more when Charlemagne banned trade between Christians and non-Christians (this point was told by a reenactment friend but I could not find documented evidence for this which if it exists, I want to know where from) eliminating previous trade with Scandinavians pushing them into poverty. The combined hatred for the foreignness of the Christian religion, what was done by Christendom to people of their faith (Saxony), and the fact that they were heading towards poverty because of the lack of previous trade partners pushed Northmen to engage in small ad hoc raids for supplementing their personal economy (and also showing their battle-worthiness for their society and their gods) but also made a point of targeting Christian targets, especially monasteries (the first recorded raid being at Lindisfarne monastery) because not only were they not well protected since there was the assumed notion of safety but also since they had a lot of wealth with relics and such.

The point of Charlemagne blocking trade against pagans was backed by another reenactment friend that said if you look at the Vendel period helmets, you see a lot of use of precious metals and number of gilded-items essentially cease to exist during the Viking Age. Thus you have the 3 Vendel helmets and only the one Viking Age Gjermundbu.

The other point that shows rising tensions between the Franks and Danes can be proven with the Danevirke and also the proliferation of Ring-forts around Denmark.

Thus how much can we say the (supposed) actions of Charlemagne were responsible for the initial raiding part of the Viking-Age? To what capacity would it be seen as a vengeance or defense of the Germanic heathen culture?

Was the mafia supportive of Benito Mussolini? Are there examples of them targeting Americans that were outspoken in their opposition to Mussolini?

It seems that, other than US-occupied Japan, Cold War East Asia grew majoratively Communist, or at the very least anti-Democratic. How have non-Western attempts fared?

I pulled out my dad's old briefcase, and rediscovered his grandparent's joint passport - issued to my great-grandfather and including his wife - they are pictured together. Issue date 1960. Stamped with half-dozen or so visas from various european countries. When was this valid, and when did it stop? Couple interesting notes: we can deduce she would not have been able to travel without him... She was a professor/phd, and possessed a notable strength of character and progressiveness. Only his occupation is listed.