Thought the sub could use some historiography based questions.

I realized some parallels between these wars. The US were supplying the guerilla fighters in Afghanistan (Mujahideen), just like the Soviets were supplying the Vietcong. The Soviets (and US) lost the war, even though being a superpower.

I think is an interesting war and never learned about it in school. Yet I don't fully comprehend it still. Thank you for answers in advance.

Say that you and your men are in charge of a few artillery pieces and there's a forest in front of you, so you can't see through. Then an officer a few miles ahead calls for artillery fire on the enemy units. How would you then adjust the azimuthal angle (measured from the ground up) and the polar angle (measured on the ground in anti-clockwise direction) to fire exactly upon the enemy position? I know you can easily do it with physics, but you don't have the time to solve equations for every order you receive. So, how would these people proceed?

I checked the FAQs and didn't find a question regarding this, so I thought I'd ask. Does it really matter where you get a history degree from, or are some schools better for history?

I'm wondering if Classical art and music went through the same process as contemporary types of art. Basically the debates of whether or not it is a legitimate form of art. People holding out for both sides? Or was it quite a smooth transition back then because there was no benchmark?

Most of my examples are from fiction, but in TV miniseries such as 'The Game', and movies like 'Red Dawn' the Soviet Union has had plans to either conquer the West or to take over pieces of it with political subversion. What evidence is there that there were plans for the USSR's long-term plans against the West?

I’m doing a MOOC course on EdX on European paintings made from 1400 to 1828. Some artists name themselves after a town or city, possibly the town they were born in like da Vinci and Caravaggio (whose real name is Michelangelo Merisi).

Why name yourself after a town?

In Caravaggio’s example, was he known to the world then as Michelangelo or Caravaggio?

What's stopping townfolks from the city of Caravaggio to claim to be him? How did Caravaggio protect his name and IP?

Hello /r/AskHistorians

According to wikipedia the Brown Bear became extinct in 1000AD and the Grey Wolf much later in 1680AD [or 1786AD in Ireland] I'm interested to know more about both of these bits of British history and the role the British people had in these events.

Did the [wolf/bear] go extinct from over hunting?

Did the [wolf/bear] go extinct from a targeted culling?

What methods were used to hunt the [wolf/bear] during their final days?

What was the publics perception of the [wolf/bear] extinction?

Anything extra interesting about the [wolf/bear] extinction?

Recommended books on either subject?

I know both of these are very different to one another and take place over 500 years apart from one another but I thought there was enough similarities to merge them both into one thread as I'd rather not make two, hope that is not a issue.

If you know a lot about one, there is no need to try and shoe horn the other into your answer if you know little about it.

Thanks for your time.

In college in the 1990s, I recall a great deal of emphasis on geography, natural resources, climate -- a lot of materialism. Jared Diamond added to this physicalist account in Guns, Germs, and Steel in the late 1990s. What are the key points in the debate? Is there consensus? What seems to be accepted "universally"? Does it matter which discipline one approaches from?

I've dug through my library on campus and youtube, google, jstor. I keep finding books that quote him in context, or youtube clips, but I have not yet found a large compilation of his full speeches. Can anyone help me?

This directs to the "wars over history" more specifically, involves the claim that History belongs to everyone and it is when an historical issue is debated outside of academia and is critiqued by the general public.

What does this tell us about the practice of history? Should history represent a view that is dictated by historians? What is the role of collective or social memory of the past, in the formation of history?

I'm curious if America declared war on them because they actually had a part in the attack or if it was simply because we knew they we're trouble with Japan.

Who was the first lord/king/whatever to declare a real physical hat (or other object) as a symbol of their rule? Is bestowing value on these kinds of things a tradition that predates recorded history?

Like who first thought of an Orc-like beast? Where do they come from? and of course, what is the first record of something which could be called an orc. And what is the first explaination of what exactly they are? They seem like a normal fantasy creature in video games nowadays.

My biggest question about this is that since a large percentage of the population in 1950s America was homophobic, how would a straight homophobic male feel about desires to engage in anal sex with his wife? Was it common? If so, what was the narrative used to reconcile one's personal desire with an overwhelmingly homophobic society? Would anal sex have been unfathomable and only reserved for the kinkier of couples?