This post will obviously contain spoilers, as much as one can spoil a movie over half a century old. It is my understanding that the film is based on a novel, itself based on true events, and from what I gather, executions for cowardice did happen in WWI. I did feel though that Kubrick really wanted to push the anti-war message, and I found the depiction of the generals hard to believe. Are there real instances where officers would make highly questionable tactical decisions purely for personal gain? If yes, what were the consequences of being found out? Also, how common were executions for cowardice and what actions made one guilty of it? Could the punished individuals be selected randomly (or "randomly", as in the film)?

I'm mostly asking about WWI, as that is when the film is set, but I'll appreciate comments on other periods as well.

It seems strange to me that this would be a common practice, I would suspect it to be an extremely rare occurrence done by the most messed up soldiers, but perhaps I'm wrong.

When I was a freshman in highschool, I wrote my second semester term paper arguing for the possible existence of a pre-5000 BC civilization more advanced than the other civilization of the times: i.e. Atlantis. I drew on a large number of sources, most of whom I recognize today to be somewhat unfounded(read: crackpot).

I'm curious if there's actual historical evidence for an advanced pre-Egypt civilization. Also, the items listed below comprise much of my previous arguments; I'm interested as to their veracity.

• Massive amounts of missing ore(used to forge bronze) in North American mines vs. a lack of required ore in the Middle East.

• References to the Sea Peoples, who have never been tied down to a specific civilization.

• Numerous references to a large catastrophe(flood) in various multi-civilization sources

• Matching scripts on both sides of the Pacific Ocean

• Historical accounts of a civilization of people from the sea with a level of technology far surpassing the others

Thanks guys!

How old is Tamil and does it have anything to do with the languages spoken during Sumerian period?

I've learned that the Germans thought they would conquer Russia during Barbarossa and then occupy the country. Did they not plan their occupation? Were they thinking they would conquer Russia and then just go home?

Just read that we lost an ancient piece of history and wanted to appreciate the loss fully.

I'd also appreciate any statistics surrounding the countries that legalized a "right to die".

By successful I mean something like increasing security, infrastructure, and rights for all its people.

Short version of the question: How do I determine the value of "40,0000 Spanish Dollars" in U.S.D in 1816?

Long version: I am writing a dissertation on maritime piracy in the early nineteenth century U.S. A ship pirated in one of my case studies--the schooner Plattsburg(h)--is said to have carried 40,000 "dollars" at the time she was attacked, but what "dollars" means ambiguous.

In a transcript of the trial, published by a commercial press immediately after the trial, the owner of the ship, Isaac McKim, says that the ship carried "forty-one to forty-two thousand dollars in gold and silver." I had assumed, upon first reading the transcript, that this meant "forty-one thousand U.S. dollars in gold and silver."

I was later reading some diplomatic correspondence concerning the extradition of the accused pirates from Europe to the U.S. Multiple authors referred to the cargo as "40,000 Spanish dollars," which I take to mean 8-real coins.

Now, determining the actual value of the cargo is immaterial to my argument, but I wanted to mention the ambiguity in a footnote and describe what the different values would be relative to each other depending on how one interpreted "dollars." So essentially I'm looking for a currency exchange list for USD to 8-real coins in 1816. After searching on Google/Scholar for a bit, I've turned up nothing useful. Any suggestions on where I might begin?

What was its actual end game? It just seemed like they made a made a massively stupid mistake of attacking the US. I can't get my head around what they could have possibly hoped to achieve.

Considering Germany and Japan both lost the war it seems odd to me that it at least seems so imbalanced to me.

I honestly never heard of any.

I searched some on the web but could not find a exact date for it.

If so, how were they explained?

Was it realpolitik pragmatism? Christian benevolence? Or some combination of factors?

I'm interested in learning more about this historical debate, book recommendations on this debate would be much appreciated!

(I glanced through the wiki and I didn't see anything on Bismarck or this period in German history.)

I know that Hitler has a reputation for trying to be very hands on, and is often blamed for notable setbacks experienced by Germany as a result. Also that Stalin kept a very close eyes on military matters, although the USSR propaganda machine might mask just what was his own touches and what are merely credited.

But how much did their Western counterparts stick their noses into strictly military affairs?

Did they mostly keep to the larger strategic picture, or were they ever trying to dictate tactical matters?

Did they cause any setbacks or defeats because of their meddling?

Mainly interested in the Big Two, but I if there is anything to be said for King, or for the myriad of Australian PMs, that is welcome as well.

It just dawned on me that they probably weren't speaking Arabic before 700/800 CE. What were they speaking before that? Latin? If Latin, did they start speaking that during Augustus? Before Latin I assume they were speaking Greek, is that correct? What was before that (Alexander's around 350 BCE?)?

And secondarily, I assume Alexander didn't show up and everyone started speaking Greek. What were the class/rural/urban kind of divisions we should be thinking about when saying X was the language at time Y?

Lastly, are there still any pockets of any of the pre-greek languages? Would it be correct to think of those languages as indigenous?

Thanks if you can help.