I was interested in the biological and chemical weapons conventions. Why was there blanket bans on chemical and biological weapons while only limiting bans on nuclear weapons (I.e non proliferatio treaty)

I read an article a few months ago, that I can't find now sadly, where an old Georgian couple described with nostalgia the cheap subsidized weekends to Moscow they used to do through Aeroflot under the USSR. It sparked an interest for how tourism worked for the "average" soviet citizen.

Was tourism encouraged by the Communist Party ? What where the hot destinations of the time, both inside and outside the Soviet Union ? What could they expect in term of accommodations and activities (I am under the understanding that restaurants and hotels were not ubiquitous during that time, unless you were a big shot in the Party) ? Were the prices really that cheap ? And finally what sort of procedures and hurdles would you need to go through to be able to travel ?

When im talking about peasant rebellions im mostly talking about rebellions like the Jacquerie and the Yellow Turbans, rebellions driven primarely by peasant which had the explicit goal of overturning the social order. did any such rebellion succeed and did that bring about any meaniful changes in that society.

When and where did the first European women arrive? What roles would the earliest women to travel to the Americas from Europe have?

I learned that beer and wine were consumed on a daily basis to substitute contaminated water in middle age in Europe.

Making wine is still a very laborious process today with mechanized farming, pumping systems, stainless steel vessels and cleaning agents.

From my experience of working in wine industry I have learned that especially mechanization of work progress and the availability of cleaning agents are essential to produce wine in a price range that is affordable to broad mass of population.

According to my limited knowledge about ancient winemaking, nearly everything was made by physical labor with nothing but hot water and sulfur as cleaning agents. I’m aware of the low quality of wine back then but the amount of work to produce enough wine to provide for everyone seems immeasurable to me.

This might be a dumb question but I don’t consider myself a ww2 buff so please understand.

I have seen many paintings depicting Elephants in battles but were they actually useful?

Elephants are relatively slow so can bring down the speed of the army, they are also not so easy to maneuver, they are large and can be aimed from a distance. So was having elephants really worth the hassle?

I just watched a documentary about the archeological discoveries in Egypt and I was wondering what the Egyptian people thought about the tombs and the pyramids before they were thoroughly scientifically discovered by mostly European archeologists.

I asked a question here a few days ago about historical interpretations of certain Greek myths. It wasn't well received, and I was told most of these interpretations are not justified and mostly nonsense, fair enough, I can see how such thoughts can attract lots of unwarranted speculation.

But this made me think of the following questions: there is a plethora of Greek myth that revolves around a great kingdom on the island of Crete ruled by a king named Minos. Today we know from archeological evidence that there was such a civilization in the bronze age, we call them "the Minoans" after the aforementioned mythical king Minos. But how did the Greeks know about the Minoans? I can think of three possibilities:

-Surviving ruins: They knew about some past civilization on Crete through ruins or other evidence, perhaps Minoan ruins were still visible without need for excavation sometimes after the 8th century BC, they weren't that old, and they just made up stories about them, much like we know about the ancient Romans but the movie Gladiator was made up in recent years based on the knowledge we have about the Romans.

-They didn't: The Greeks just told stories about people on Crete, and the fact that they mention people living there doesn't mean these mythical people have anything to do with real people. For some reason Crete itself assumed some importance in myth, and it was populated in myth because people are everywhere and stories are about people. The people in the Greek myth have no relation with the people who actually lived there in the Bronze age, or at least there is no evidence of this, and the name "Minoan" is just a modern association.

-Oral tradition: The Myceneans interacted with the Minoans in the late 2nd millennium BC before their demise, they told stories about them (either completely made up, or with some core of real events that then got exaggerated) and the stories were orally passed down all the way to classical Greece. Greeks in the 5th century BC told stories about a great king on Crete because they were told those stories, but they had no other evidence of the existence of the Minoans. In this sense, at the very least, the existence of the Minoans is something historical that was passed down through myth. In this case it would be conceivable that some other aspect of Minoan culture might have survived in the myth.

To what extent are either of the three solutions correct? Are there other possibilities? The Greeks didn't do archaeology, did they?

I often encounter a claim that Hitler came to power democratically, exploiting democratic procedures, was "elected" etc.

Such claims are usually made by right-wing Liberals who use this argument to justify political restrictions on their opponents as being a painful but necessary measure.

Sometimes the Nazis are counterpoised to the Bolsheviks, who, the narrator alleges, unlike the Nazis, made an anti-democratic coup which makes them even worse in the view of the narrator.

But if we look at the results of the German elections, we see that the share of Nazi party in the Reichstag before 1933 was not much, barely exceeding 1/3. The last elections before 1933 were even less successful for the Nazi party because their share shrank while the share of German Communists rose.

These numbers did not allow the Nazis to form a cabinet according the constitution, and there was no possibility of an alliance with other parties.

As we know, Hitler was appointed to Kanzler office by the president following a behind-the-scenes deal among the German political elite.

So my question is: how much is the claim justified that 'Hitler came to power democratically'?

I was watching Sharpes Eagle recently and I couldn’t help but wonder if the veneration of these regimental symbols were at all realistic? And if so why? Also, would the flag really have been touched by the King himself?

For those who perhaps haven’t watched Sharpes Eagle, a flag bearing the ‘Kings own colours’ is lost by a British Regiment. The regimental leader is seriously admonished with one man even recommending he blows his own brains out.

I have been reading a history of Scotland and there is much made of the various English-Scottish battles that left thousands of men dead (937 Battle of Brunanburh, 1297 Battle of Stirling Bridge, 1314 Battle of Bannockburn, etc.). I am left wondering what happened to all those that were killed. In modern warfare, there seems to be an effort to retrieve (and bury) the dead. What happened in the era before 'modern' warfare?

I am currently doing a research project on the introduction and spread of Christianity throughout Scandinavia. I have tried to contact specialised Historians regarding this but to not much avail. There does not seem to be much written history regarding the transition from Pagan to Christian in the time period I am focusing on (If I'm correct about the 9th century onwards? It varies from country to country.) but I am probably mistaken and just not looking hard enough.

Does anyone have any books or particular authors they could recommend regarding the subject?

In movies and shows the bar patrons just yell “More ale!” And that’s about it. How was beer and alcohol purchased? Was it standard to just put a couple of coins on the table at the beginning?

Hello there, I am looking for a full translation, wheter in english or spanish, of the Travels of Ibn Battuta, preferably a translation that I can buy physically as a book. Can someone help me?