Asking for a fiction piece I'm writing, trying to figure out the appropriate way to name a character. I realize this is getting into somewhat obscure territory since South Asian immigration in that period was minimal, but hoping someone knows something here that might help shed some light

I am going to give a hypothetical case: let's imagine an anachronistic scene where a "Viking" has a Danish ax in his hands and decides to attack the Roman legionnaire who only tries to block the attack with his shield. Would the Roman shield break under the force of the attack or could it be easily deflected or even blocked? Considering this, how good is the Scutum, in theory, against other weapons like one-handed axes and maces?

I was just thinking about it and all sides in WWII engaged in some form of atrocious imprisonment, there is the current uyghur concentration camps in china, slavery has always been an aspect of war in history. Is this a common practice or something that has been recently invented?

It's curious to me that drugs, such a pertinent and widespread political issue in the 20th and 21st centuries - whether it's controversy over legalizing or prohibiting one within a country, trying to suppress their illegal trade, or interfering with another country by supplying them drugs - seem to have almost no impact on history prior to this point despite having been widely used since prehistory. I can't say I've ever heard about drug production, trade, addiction or policy in say, the medieval or classical eras (except, of course, for alcohol - but then, what makes it so unique?).

It seems absurd to picture a medieval villager going to his dealer to buy weed, but why? The drug existed, so why wouldn't it be grown, sold and used, and thus subject to the law and all the complications and conflict that we know come with drug trade and its regulation?

I'm mid 30s and I've been working in business/tech always, but lately I've realised my interest and maybe also talent, is in history and antropology, which isn't surprising since I have more than one historian in my family.

I feel like trying to become a career historian now is too late.

On the other hand, I think I could get through the schooling fast because I am mature now, maybe even skip a year or so.

I could probably support myself while doing so.

Anyone studied to become a historian at an older age?

The story goes that the Earl of Sandwich came up with putting meals in between slices of bread because he wanted to be able to eat while playing cards. But the dude lived in the 1700s and humans have been eating bread for thousands of years; I feel like there have to have been others who did/were doing that and that story just started as some rich English dudes taking credit for, and slapping their name on, something that already existed.

So I guess tell me how older cultures combined bread and non-bread foods, I suppose!

Our even Assyria in the late 8th century? There must be written record by the perpetrators of these events.

I don't have kids myself, but I've been hearing a lot of parents talk about how their kid's school's are having memorials to 9/11 involving things like wearing red, white, and blue, and other such school activities. Of course many places are having events as a memorial or to discuss the history and impact and such. We'll also have lot's of documentaries shown, lot's of interviews, and politicians speaking on the event.

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9/11 is often compared to Pearl Harbor on the effect it had on American society, but in 2021, we don't hold many civic events centered around Pearl Harbor, there aren't any school memorials, and other such activities. iIt's also not a public holiday. We do have the regular news articles and documentary specials on television though, along with a few things such as laying the wreath at the USS Arizona memorial by veterans and politicians, but it doesn't have the same public consciousness that 9/11 has today.

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Did Americans do similar big spectacle events and public memorials in the years after WWII and just have it fade in importance over time, or was it never really a major cultural memorial event?

Furniture is a fairly expensive, yet necessary, aspect of modern life. Heck, IKEA is the "cheap" option and their prices are still fairly high for crap quality pieces.

Yet when we come in contact with surviving furniture pieces from the early 20th and late 19th century, they all seem to be extremely high quality and often decorative. Obviously, there's survivorship bias going on. But it raises the question: for a working-class or middle-class family in the United States in the late 19th century, how much would, say, a new bed or dining table cost? What if they wanted to buy a bureau or a wardrobe? Were high-quality, robust pieces only consumed by the upper-class? Were there "cheap furniture" options for those less well-to-do?

If an immigrant worker from Sicily is settling in a place like New York City and has now rented their own apartment (bare, unfurnished), how long would it take to have enough money to furnish the place? Where could they go to buy that furniture? What would be the expected quality?

I'm asking because there's always more to learn and I'm worried about coming across as naive at best, idiotic and absurdly wrong at worst whenever discussion of history comes up.

Technically, it's the Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda and the Department for Agitation and Propaganda, respectively, but it occurred to me that in most dystopia fiction, and many real world authoritarian states, the name of the departments devoted to propaganda are a bit more veiled, with the North Korean version officially being the Publicity and Information Department, 1984 being the Ministry of Truth, etc.

Am I just reading too much into this? Am I cherry picking? Did propaganda have a different connotation in those days? Did they just not care?

I do not need the actual amount, but if I knew that in the early 1800s an apprentice often only made 10 pounds a year (or whatever) that would really help. Thank you so much

To me Artemis seems like the least likely candidate for fertility based on her status as Virgin, while other goddesses are strongly associated with motherhood in the Greek tradition

I've heard this argument a good number of times, that communism was necessary to industrialize Russia, that it couldn't have realistically happened otherwise, that despite the horrors of the first few decades of it, it was necessary to develop the country, prepare it for WW2, etc.

Is this really true? What about... Britain? The US? Western Europe? Japan? How did they industrialize without communism... Seems like if anything, communism hindered the development of Russia. If they'd followed the British model, they could have produced and innovated much more.

Everything I've heard about the great depression is around the USA. Did it hit other continents, or was it just the States?

A friend and I have a disagreement, they are adamant that after WWII the allies executed most concentration camp guards and gestapo. I was under the impression from what I read that the vast majority ended up surviving and being freed, either because that much mass execution was a logistical nightmare, there was a lack of evidence for who was responsible for what, and they just needed society to move on in the 50's.

What happened to a majority of them? What happened to the ones who were not summarily executed?

Was knowledge about their construction and purpose mostly preserved, or was much of it lost to time? Were they considered important cultural heritage, odd curiosities, not remarked upon much at all, etc.?

By the way, the invocation of Cleopatra isn't meant to restrict the question simply to her reign -- I'm asking about later Ancient Egyptians generally.

A close friend grew up in a traveling group but was sent to the United States as a child in the 90s. I recently asked what the deciding factor was when it came to her clan splitting up and was heartbroken by what came next. I only asked her because I am having such a hard time finding information on my own when it comes to the traveling groups. I would like to be better informed on the topic so if she wants to talk about her past I don’t have those types of possible painful questions to ask. If it helps at all we are in our early 30s so she was a child during the 90s. Anything I find online is in relation to the Catholics, Protestants, and larger ethnic groups. I understand traveler history is less documented but I’m hoping there is some resource I can find to become a better informed friend.

Hello everyone, I was thinking about writing an article on Alexander the Great. But was confused about what Greatness he has really achieved during his reign. Tbh I have very contradicting views about Alexander, I consider him as a Great conqueror but not a great leader. I know I may be wrong hence I'm here to get your views on him. Also, I was confused that should I write articles completed based on 'textbook history' or based on facts. If you know what I mean. Thank you.