The traditional story as I understand it is that many of the poems in the Shijing were folk songs that were compiled as a sort of barometer for public opinion. I am curious how credibly that narrative is taken, particular as, if it contains even some truth, it must surely contain some of the earliest examples of the voices of traditionally marginalized peoples (such as peasants, women, common soldiers, etc). Or should this be seen as primarily the work of elite taking on particular literary personas?

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting the national museum of archaeology in Cividale, Friuli, Italy, and found something slightly unexpected: of the numerous langobard sword findings shown only the smallest number had the H form hilt that I had known as typical for the period (late 6th century, Northern italy) Most have a pommel of bronze (pyramidal for example), but apparently no guard. Now, that doesn't seem to make sense, but I can't find anything that would indicate that there was anything left out from the exhibits, or lost in reconstruction. My question therefor is: are hilts conceivable with guards made of perishable material? Or is this deemed an artifact or an exception? Or do the finds really indicate that there were no guards (comparable to the long-saxes, which had none either).

Considering that the Falklands war was a logistical nightmare for the British, and it was an attack upon British forces and an invasion on her territory, and aside from initial friction from the US, wouldn’t it be more convenient to do so?

The United States spent a long time conquering islands on the way to Japan, finally setting up air bases in places like Guam to bomb Japan directly. Looking at a map, there seems to be a much more practicle place to set up air bases - Russia, which was our ally.

So why did not the United States not simply set up on Russian land and attack from there? Did Russia refuse or was it not technically practical for some reason?

I know Russia was not at war with Japan until 1945, but given how much material this would have saved the United States that could then be directed at Germany or given to Russia, I would think they would leap on the deal to let the US launch war on Japan from their space in return for the benefits.

I know that the United States started a bombing campaign during the Vietnam War which grew support for the Khmer Rouge and I later know that the United States supported the Khmer Rouge against the Vietnam-aligned Cambodian government.

Other than that I don't have much to go off of and a lot of leftist spaces I inhabit online make up conspiracy theories that put the majority of the blame on the Americans for their rise.

To what degree (if at all) do these theories have their basis in reality?

Whether you read books, play video games, or tabletop RPG’s, one thing is very common among them; swords. Swords are ubiquitous to the point of being considered the basic weapons of pre-modern melee fighters. I read however that swords historically were much less common in warfare than is widely believed and that the most used weapons tended to be spears, javelins, and other cheaper weapons with a longer reaches that were easier to replace.

Throughout military history, were swords as prevalent as depicted in fiction or is this just a result of romance stories featuring swords as a central symbol (Arthurian legends for instance)?

I am trying to do a project for the Crusades but want to know what are some primary sources I should read. What are the ones that would be considered the most important? Preferably I would like to read some written by both Christian and Muslim authors. Thanks

The Parthians lived on what today is the border of Iran and Turkmenistan. The Khwarezmians lived in what today is northern Turkmenistan through central Uzbekistan.

At the time and in past centuries, this part of Central Asia (known as Transoxiana) was quite often under Persian rule. Hence why I ask about Khwarezm. The Parthians on the other hand lived in the very border of what is considered Iran today. Was Parthia Iranian? Were both groups not Iranian but Central Asian and merely "Persianised" when they created their empires?

I am rather new to this topics like these.

We know that Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded into Rus' lands, which led to the rulers using Church Slavonic as the main administrative language. But why did Lithuania not develop their written language earlier? And when they did, why? and why so late?

Oxford Professor Michael Broers has already published two books of his trilogy on Napoleon Bonaparte. He wrote that he chose to write this biography because new sources had become available. On the first page of Philip Mansel's new biography of Louis XIV, he writes that he used a recently published correspondence with Louis's wife Madame de Maintenon. How is it the case that these sources, which are hundreds of years old, are only becoming available today?

How were they able to negotiate agreements/peace etc. with cultures they have just encountered? Was there like a period of no communication between both sides until some Roman official learned the language?

It's my understanding that the paintings in the Quinta Del Sordo were never meant to be seen by anyone, were not named, and also were not found until after Goya's death. Could the paintings not have just been the artistic vision coming from a man losing his mind? how do we know it is in fact a painting of Saturn eating his Child?

Recently I read about William Duke of Normandie and his approx. 7,000 men being stuck on the French side of the channel for several weeks while waiting for the winds to change so he could invade England. How would he cater for such a vast number of men for such a long time?

I work in the hospitality industry specialising in large scale events requiring catering for thousands of people at a time, but this is all done with huge amounts of planning, modern logistics, supply and equipment.

They say "an army marches on its stomach" but I cannot begin to comprehend how feeding such a vast quantity of men is possible in that time period.

In the Historia Regnum Brittonum, Vertigorn warns Constanc about Dacians and Norwegians in Pictland. Why does he talk about Dacians? We’re there Dacians in the region?

I'm Indonesian. While I know Japan occupation was harsh (with murders, rape, etc) and even worse than the Dutch despite the Japan only here for 3 years, I don't get any info about the fate of the preparators at school. Like Korean and Chinese know their "old enemies" are revered in Yasukuni shrine and they are rightly get angry over it. But what about Japan war crimes (and the criminals) in Dutch East Indies, are they also enshrined? If yes, then where? What treatments did they receive after the war? And, what were crimes they commit to the Chinese minorities in Dutch East Indies? Anything about the Chinese minorities is usually skipped in official text books (I grew up during the New Order).

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*edit: why is this marked as nsfw?

So i read that the first mental hospitals were opened during the golden age of islam, can anyone add to that?

As shown in 1997’s Titanic and the story Charles Joughin apparently told, he made himself drunk with many bottles of alcohol to keep himself warm. But from what I’ve heard, alcohol only keeps you warm temporarily and it actually makes you more cold. Not only that, it also dehydrates you. So how did Charles Joughin survive and apparently not have any sort of hard illness or injuries and started working after a couple of days?