This almost veers into what if territory, but I've been rereading Connie Willis's Blackout/All Clear and wondering what historians think of the history in it in general and on one point in particular: how close Britain came to losing.

For those who don't know, the conceit is that time traveling history students from future Oxford are embedded in 1940s Britain but wind up stranded in the Blitz thinking they changed the outcome of the war.

It serves the plot well to emphasize how much the war at this point balanced on small chance events, like a chain that leads from two lost pilots in the fog to Hilter breaking off short of destroying the RAF. Those events happened, and I'm sure everything seemed quite uncertain to folks on the ground, but my hindsight-informed understanding had been that Germany made a mistake even engaging in the Battle of Britain.

(Also, how much does it bother you that she's got future historians doing fieldwork? I can't figure out what they're supposed to be producing from these expeditions aside from good adventure stories.)

I read this in an article somewhere. Is it true? If so, why?

When did clothing begin to have pockets? Can it be argued that pockets had any social effect? Or can the invention of pockets be seen as the result of social change happening at the time?

After the fragmentation of Roman Empire, European in the west lost much of the Greek heritage, while Arabs in the east picked it up through the translation movement.

What happened in Byzantium, where Greek was still the official language? Did they still read the Greek tragedies and history? Did the Orthodox Church studied Greek philosophy and tried to incorporate it into some kind of a theology? Did they study Greek science? They had access to the Greek books, didn't they?

I was reading a wikipedia page but the reference lead to a secondary source I don't have access to. Any idea what it may be reffering to?

1. What was the most common bladed weapon? Why was that the case?
2. Is there any documented evidence of Pirates using medieval broadswords while boarding? (ie no basket hilt, etc, etc).
3. How much training did an average sea rover have with a bladed weapon?
4. How common were swordfights and melee exchanges?

Thanks!

Once the Umayyads expanded to their height, who comprised the governing elite of the empire? Were they all Arabs from the Hijaz?

What role did local elites play in Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Iran?

Non-American here. I am quite sure this question has been asked over here. Although, at the moment I can't seem to find a list in the popular questions. I am searching for at least 10 movies that accurately depict life during Wild West, and the movies must be SFW, ie watchable by everyone over 10. So no NSFW films like Jdango Unchained or such.

I've read an Army at Dawn years ago and liked it. I've had the next book, the day of battle sitting in my shelf fir years and now that I'm considering reading it I want to know if it's a credible series at all. Is Rick Atkinson respected?

From what I know most modern MBTs are environmentally sealed and had many other life support systems that would protect them from Flamethrowers, I doubt older tanks had this luck however.

Also, what reading would you recommend to learn more about his role in the fall of the roman republic?

Two follow up questions, if anybody is able to answer:

• Were the Winged Hussars really as effective as people claim? If so, how were they able to be such a decisive force?

• (This question is a bit less historic than the others) What are Polish-Lithuanian diplomatic relations like today? Do the two countries still feel strong ties to each other, or have they mostly forgotten their past of friendship?

More specifically, did German soldiers shoot at Ally (Allie?) medics during the Normandy invasion? I imagine it was hard not to, with all the chaos and frenzy. If they didn't, were they explicitly told by superiors not to aim for medics?

it would seem that after the pentuarch and the book of joshua you leave the area of mythology and enter a area thats probably accurate other than a few embelisments and exagerrations, also its bias is not torwards the king (its torwards god but still its unique in that regard) so why don't historians say its mostly true aside from the miracles and really large numbers

If say a captain was told to patrol a certain area would the ship be allowed to pursue a target for a long distance And a simple explanation of how captain were told to act in different areas like the Atlantic Mediterranean and pacific

I bit off a little more than I can chew and signed up for a course in the Classical Studies department while studying abroad. I'm facing two (and a half) major hurdles: the jargon, German likes to make up its own and I wouldn't know the English terms anyway, and the dialect, somehow Classical Studies department are beacons to those of thick dialects (the half being the echoy room the class is in, makes it a little harder to discern words).

I took the class, though it has nothing to do with my discipline (German Studies, angling towards Medieval Studies and/or Folklore), because it truly fascinates me and I really want to learn what I can (and I really need to insure I pass the class).

The class covers, mainly, the Scythians, Sarmatians, Almani, a group the starts with a 'k' in Greek but a 'g' in Persian (kar-something I think -- that's embarrassing), and the Xiongnu/Huns. I would really appreciate being pointed in the direction of books and/or articles on these folks. I'd ask about them in more detail, but the scope of what I need to know is much too large for an internet forum, I think.

I appreciate your help.

EDIT: I realize now that it could only start with a 'k' in Greek because 'c' was a Roman invention.

Over the course of history mounted warfare involved mostly horses, with to my knowledge some exceptions of camels. I also know the common belief that war elephants were used by hannibal, but other than that they seem unknown.

Is there a particular reason why other beasts such as bison, cattle ect. were not particularly used? Why not some more aggressive predators, is the difficulty in training such animals to act as a mount to difficult compared to horses?