It seems like a lot of our words and cadence seem to be closer to the Latin languages like Spanish and seem to not have much in common with German or other Germanic languages such as Dutch.

I know hindsight is 20/20 and we have the benefit of looking back, but it seems like a clash of at least two of the great powers stacked with new industrial revolution weaponry, mobility, and lethality was inevitable, much less plausible, and yet, it seems it went largely unexpected by the experts. Why?

Supposedly knowledge of firearms and gunpowder were transmitted along the Silk Road from China to Europe. Did it spread along the trade routes to India and Africa as well?

I'm studying corporate governance and the duties attached to being a board member. I'm curious how this style of governance developed? When was it started? Did it loom at all like it does today?

I quite surprised Germany had accepted the loss of large after the war had partially been about recovering land lost in the First World War?

Yeah, I know I'm kinda asking about my own area here, but I've never really been particularly interested in the Bonnie Prince and thus never looked into how his escape was viewed. It seems easy to assume he would have been ridiculed at the time, but multiple tellings of the escape, including one from Flora MacDonald, are included in The Lion in Mourning, which was intended to make the Prince's exploits look good after his eventual victory. So if the "disguised as a woman" thing was shameful, why would it be noted in that collection? (Note that some of these letters include restless spirits and other less-than-credible tales, so the collection wasn't against bending the truth.)

The crescent is often seen as a symbol of Islam. Why did Atatürk keep this flag?

I am currently doing a research project on the construction of national identity through coinage.

In the British museum coin section there is a placard which states the Roman Republic printed their coins with images of architecture, nature and cultural activities. After Caesars ascension to Emperor he decided to change the coin prints to the now widely adopted profile portrait image.

The British museum argued that this decision would have been viewed by his contemporaries as an unjustified break with tradition. As such, it would have in part, contributed towards the negative attitude of him and his subsequent assassination (the same year he first commissioned a portrait coin.)

The placard didn't contain any sort of reference and I would really like to use this as an example in my thesis. I was hoping someone might have heard this idea before and be able to direct me to a book or a name.

Otherwise do you think it would be okay to reference this as from the British Museum, without a direct reference to a quote from a piece of historical research?

I've seen photos of British troops on D-Day with "foldable" bikes. And I believe the Germans used them in France 1940. Seems like a rare occurrence in WWII, and warfare in general for that matter. So I wonder who's idea it was and how it worked out in the field.

Chinese reads right to left. On maps china is on the right. English reads left to right. On maps US/England is on the left.

How were the earliest known world maps designed? Did china place themselves as the east on the right because of the importance of feeling when reading right to left?

Did the west accept these maps because they felt equally important on the west left?

Does this make any sense? Should I probably have posted this in /r/nostupidquestions ?

Might be an AskScienceFiction question, but I think the answer's more historic than fiction based. He was a legendary British king, but there are famous texts written about him in French, as well as names in the stories more of a French origin.

I recently read Walter Mignolo who says that slavery became a racial concept with the colonization of the Americas and prior, take Greece, slavery was based on cultural differences. Is there an accounted history or source for the rise of slavery as racial vs this ethnic difference that the ancient world used to have? So in other words, when did the idea of slavery become one centered around racial difference instead of cultural difference?

Seems like everyone and their dog managed to sneak back a service weapon. Own great-grandfather came out with three carbines. I'm aware that the US allowed/turned a blind eye to taking captured Axis firearms as war trophies, but how were so many soldiers able to successfully steal their weapons?

Also, what changed in US military policy and inventory control that made it significantly harder for American soldiers who fought in Korea and Vietnam to run off with an AK, M14 or M16?

What motivated him differently from others?

Also, without treading too much into the twenty-year mark, how was he important in the formation of modern Afghanistan?

I am currently watching Peaky Blinders, and in it Thomas was a tunneler during the Great War, when it is mentioned, everyone seems to think better of him.

What was the war like for them?

Thank you in advance!

Who originally cast the statue of William Penn? Founder of the great City of Philadelphia?

I'm sure that there are multiple correct answers here, depending on the particular time we're talking about, but I've seen a bunch of websites claiming with great confidence that the Romans primarily ate spelt, or emmer, or millet, or wheat. So what did the majority of the people actually eat?

I have an idea for a novel that takes place around the era, but I want to get a real good feel for the time. Are there any resources the good people at askHistorians could bestow on me? The locations my characters will visit will be Vienna, Munich, and Berlin.