I'm working on a game that's based around covert ops in Latin America during the Cold War, and I'm looking for information on the topic. Good sources for further research on espionage in that era would also be greatly appreciated

I have a rudimentary understanding of what went on in Latin America during that time period, but I want to learn more about the subject and get some facts straight. Thanks in advance!

The 50% figure is often brought up to compare the large role/importance of the Roman military in comparison to the proportionally smaller investments made in the armed forces by modern countries - but wouldn't Rome, an incredibly advanced bureaucratic state for the time, have had more non-military (infrastructure, etc) financial obligations than other city-states/empires of the time? It seems like the 50% figure should really be on the low end of military expenditures, in the context of the era.

I've been reading about Napoleon, he was a fascinating historical figure. A lot of what he's done makes sense more or less but there is one thing I don't really get. He was trying to enforce the continental blockade to impoverish England and basically defeat it financially. He put LOTS and LOTS of money into that blockade even though it never fully worked. And then when he realized that Russia was still not obeying the blockade he attacked it.

I understand that the French navy was weak compared to the English Navy but wouldn't it have been much cheaper to just build amazing ships and send all of them with a huge army over to England rather than spend tons of money on this blockade plus then trying to invade Russia?

Can someone more read on Napoleon or just that time in general explain it to me? Thank you.

Were they filled in after the war or just abandoned? There were so many of them it must have been a massive clean-up job, or take up too much space to just abandon.

And could they have held off a German attack?

The title says it all.

Im trying to trace some family history from WW1

We had a family member who served in the british cavalry who was sadly was killed in a mined woods. Sadly thats all the information I have as my granddads memory isn't good anymore I don't even have a name or where he was killed.

If you have any ideas where i should look with the limited information i have or if you can help will be brilliant :)

Thanks

I got to thinking: there are dead languages, dead fashion trends and even dead religions (sort of...), but are there any dead foods?

Also, thank you guys for your answers a head of time.

During discussion in class today, we were talking about the different powers Congress has, and we happened to bring up the number of members. Why is it 435 and not another obscure number?

If I'm breaking any rules, feel free to remove this, I'm more of a lurker than anything. But if you have an answer that would be awesome too!

I've watched a couple of documentaries and they all show the same thing, Goering being very shocked when forced to watch film of Allied entrance into holocaust camps. Bodies, disease, etc. Was he faking it? It makes no sense because he was a pretty hardcore racist himself.

(I'm not an anti-Semite by the way and certainly not trying to defend the man, just curious why he showed surprise at being shown the camps)

On the wikipedia page it says :

Nevertheless, it may have influenced the behaviour of later naval officers by helping inculcate "a culture of aggressive determination which set British officers apart from their foreign contemporaries, and which in time gave them a steadily mounting psychological ascendancy".[15] This in turn may have contributed to the success of the Royal Navy and the acquisition and defence of the British Empire, as commanders knew that while there was a chance of failure in battle, not to risk battle was certain to result in punishment.

How true is this? Also I've heard that due to this even small ships would attack ones that far outclassed it, are there any examples of this? Also if this was the case if a small ship found an enemy fleet would they be expected to fight or report the location of the fleet or something like that?

What were there long term ambitions and how did they see themselves realistically achieving them with Britain right on their doorstop, considering their violent methods?