I just recently had my appendix removed, and I was wondering at what point in history where I would have met my untimely death as a result of it.

If possible, I would also like to know when the procedure came to the Buffalo area and became widespread enough for a middle-class family to able to make use of it.

I apologize if this question isn't up to /r/AskHistorians standards, but an appropriate answer would be very interesting to me.

Hello, I am interested in knowing more about how historians ascertain past events as a fact. I've read some stuff about historical relativism, and I would like to know what criteria historians commonly agree on when debating whether something happened or not.

I'm interested in things like thresholds. E.g., if we say that person a murdered person b, and there is one eyewitness. In that case even judges can have a hard time ascertaining the truth. What if there are ten witnesses though, or hundred, or thousands? At what point is there a threshold that is crossed and after which we can say with conviction that the overlapping witness reports represent a fact, and how would these thresholds be characterized? Couldn't these witnesses all be lying though, and how would a historian refute a denialist argument that those eyewitnesses are lying or are part of a conspiracy and so on?

I would basically like to know what criteria a past event (or the documents, sources, relics etc. OF that event) have to meet in order for the event to be considered a historical fact.

In particular I'd be grateful to get some reading recommendations from a philosophical perspective. Certainly there must be some hallmark texts that deal with this? I've tried to look into some books about analytical philosophy of history, but I find it hard to get answers. Thanks for your time.

What is the history of seeing exotic animals as a public attraction or form of entertainment? How did these "zoos" function and how were wild animals collected and kept alive?

I saw this in some old historical documents. Like people getting some letters of admr for infants or property...what does this mean?

In the 1950s the prospect of Malta being integrated into the UK fully (in the same way that french guiana is for france or hawaii is for the usa) and having maltese politicians hold seats in the House of Commons was seriously considered. There was a referendum held in malta and a debate held in westminister both of which were largely in favour in it until political instability in malta led to it being dismissed as an option.

What I don't understand, and want explained, is why was this on the table for Malta and not for anyone else (such as the Isle of Man, Gibraltar and the Channel Islands most obviously but also say Cyprus, Newfoundland, Jamaica, Belize, Singapore etc)?

And a few other questions (assuming they met):

• What kind of relationship did they have?
• Did Hippocrates and Galen become associates in anyway?
• Did Hippocrates teach Galen a lot?
• Did Galen become as successful as he did, because of Hippocates?

I've heard many people say that Hitler was a good leader before killing the Jews. How true is this?

During the 8th and early 9th centuries, Francia and large expanses of modern day Germany were ruled by the Carolingians, which I assume means that at least the Frankish nobility shared a common language. Why then did French evolve into a Romantic language, while German became very - well - Germanic?

As asked. I understand that Hitler had some personal biases against them in warfare, Churchill advised toward their possible use, and Japan used them but not against Allied forces fearing similar retaliation, but why would Stalin refrain from using them against the Germans?

Hello /r/AskHistorians, I was talking with a friend and the topic of The Siege of Vienna (1683) came up. We were wondering if someone could enlighten us as to why Britian and France did not support defense troops at the Siege of Vienna at the hands of the Ottomon Empire? They seemed well enough equipped but did not help with the defense of Europe at that time. It is only speculation but were they unaware of the dangers of an encroaching Ottomon Empire in Europe or were they preoccupied (or a third possibility I had not considered)?

I'm looking for an audio clip of Hitler saying "Ein volk, ein Reich, ein Führer" for a BBC radio play. I've tried YouTube, various speech transcript sites, clips of Leni Riefenstahl films etc, but can't find one. I know it was on posters, but did he ever actually say it please, and if so is there a recording of it?

I'm planning a rather lengthy trip to the US, and one of the things I'd like to do is visit some good museums. I'd like to ask /r/AskHistorians for their recommended museums in the western United States. (Limitation is due to the added airfare costs for me.)

I'm primarily interested in air and space/military/engineering museums and less so in art/music/entertainment museums. FWIW, here is what I have penciled in so far:

Seattle

• Future of Flight
• Museum of Flight
• Flying Heritage Collection
• Historic Flight Foundation

San Diego

• USS Midway Museum
• Maritime Museum

Tucson

• Pima Air and Space Museum
• Titan Missile Museum

What other museums in the western US are worth a visit?

Roman Emperors had always been using the title augustus or imperator, as far as I know. What prompted Heraclius to use the title basileus? Does he no longer consider himself reigining over a "Roman" empire, but maybe a "Greek" one?

Albert Schweitzer mentions in his book "The Quest of the Historical Jesus":

Not only do the events lack historical connection; we have no indication of a connecting thread in the actions and discourses of Jesus, because the sources give no hint of the character of his self-consciousness. They confine themselves to outward facts. We only begin to understand these historically when we can mentally place them in an intelligible connection and conceive them as the acts of a clearly defined personality.

Looking through the list of nations that thought of, or attempted to get nuclear weapons, I was shocked at how many abandoned the effort for one reason or another. During the Cold War what did the East and West do to spread, and/or contain the spread of nuclear weaponry across the world?

In the vein of how we would watch Star Trek and think about the future of mankind as living on space ships, interacting with different planets. What did civilizations throughout time record on the subject?