I feel it has something to do with the difference in how each branch of Charlemage's family grew, but I feel there should have been some sort of consolidation in Germany at some point prior to the 19th century. Was it that the HRE was 'state' enough to not need to federalize? Was it the structures left behind by the Romans or the strength of the Carolingian power bases? Was it geography?

Is it not worth the effort to dismantle them and sell for scrap or other useful materials?

Seems we discover ancient greek writings all the time(though most are incredibly fragmentary and are rarely translated) in the Egyptian desert. Though for latin that appears to be very rare that new Latin works are discovered in this manner.

Something I've been pondering, Central Eastern European countries (Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary) seem to have quite smoothly moved from Communist dictatorship to democracy quite smoothly, even the break up of Czechoslovakia was peaceful. How did this happen after some 30+ years of Soviet propaganda? Does propaganda not take when it's too contrary to everyday observation?

I know that traditional Judaism places the writing of the Old Testament ("Torah") ~1300 BCE, while historians generally believe it was written significantly later than that. What is the earliest contemporary evidence of its existence- either in the form of a manuscript (according to Wikipedia the earliest one is late 2nd century BCE) or other sources referencing it?

It strikes me that Hood was destroyed by an exceedingly lucky shot, while Renown Repulse performed about as well as a large ship without air cover or effective screens could in the face of massed aerial attack. Is there a more nuanced way of looking at them than "too little armor, sitting ducks?"

It involved pretty much the same actors - most of Europe plus North America and Russia, just allied slightly differently: France playing Germany's role and the USA on the wrong side! What made the 1914-18 war the first official World War instead?

I know that there were slaves in Britain and America, but I have no idea if Canada had them or not. We definitely didn't learn anything about that subject when I was in school.

I'm looking for one that is preferably not just a recount of his military exploits. If it comes as an audio book even better, long drive this weekend.

It seems as if a time during which food intake is limited would be a severe weakness for soldiers. Are there any examples of this influencing warfare?

I'm assuming that composers in the early and mid 1800 s did not make much money. so how did they make a living and maintain the lifestyle that they led?

I remember reading something that claimed that Israel actually supported Iran with spare parts and technical know-how for their American made weapons to win an ally against Iraq. So I was wondering if their is any truth to this.

I've also heard airport novels called trash/pulp fiction. They are, naturally, the sort of mass market books sold in places like airports and dollar stores. They are novels written to appeal to a wide audience to ease the boredom of travel. They have simple vocabularies, are often fast-paced and showcase exotic adventures, and are printed very cheaply.

I've always thought that until relatively recently, reading for pleasure was a thing reserved for the upper crust. Is that true? If it isn't, what was an early example of a book that was widely popular and accessible to the common person? Who was the first John Grisham or Tom Clancy?

As we all know, the New World was discovered and colonised largely by Europeans travelling West. Notwithstanding the difference in distance requiring travel (the Atlantic being narrower than the Pacific, making it more traversable; having said that - the Bering Sea?), why didn't any of the large Asian civilisations, such as the Chinese, 'discover' the New World or Australia?

Furthermore, even when such lands were discovered by the more modern world, why did they not colonise these new places, whilst, for example, the European settlers were slowly making their way over-land across the Americas towards the Pacific? Why not plonk new cities along the American-Pacific coast themselves?

Basically, why do we have San Francisco and not San Fransokyo?