I have been reading a lot about conspiracy theorists (the crazy ones) because I find them fascinatingly insane, and the way they justify their blatant prejudice and hatred even more fascinating.

I know enough to know that it's completely insane to assume that Jews were the sole cause of communist Russia, and that many factors came into play, however I would like to know what these people could possibly use to justify this nonsense (other than the obvious anti-semitism)

From the little research that I did, it seems that there were a few (possible) Jews involved in the beginning of political movements like Bolsheviks, but the main people were not Jewish at all (Vladimir Lenin and Alexander Bogdanov), however it would make sense if some Jews were part of those political movements given how economically and socially disadvantaged they were at that time in Russia. The only other thing I can think of is that Marx was an atheist/secular Jew, but so was Freud and Einstein I really don't see how that has any effect on their respective fields.

can someone please give me some more background on this? Thanks

Did they continue to be government officials? Were they suddenly private citizens? Were their properties confiscated?

Taken from the wiki about the Suez Crisis of the 50s...

"Despite this convention, the strategic importance of the Suez Canal and its control were proven during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, after Japan and Britain entered into a separate bilateral agreement. Following the Japanese surprise attack on the Russian Pacific Fleet based at Port Arthur the Russians sent reinforcements from their fleet in the Baltic Sea. The British denied the Russian fleet use of the canal and forced it to steam around the entire continent of Africa, giving the Japanese forces time to solidify their position in the Far East."

How did this affect relations between Russians and the British. Why would they become allies 10 years later during WW1? I assume it was just a de facto alliance since they both happened to be fighting Germany by then?

It took a long time to make an Ax or any other tool which would be able to complete the job. I doubt they would risk their tool by hitting it repeatedly with another tool like a wedge.

Coming from an Anglo (I'm American) culture, when I study the history of England, it isn't until the Norman invasion that names I really recognize (Henry, William, Robert, Richard and so forth) start popping up. That being said, I didn't notice the name "Drogo" much at all if any during the conquest, although it seemed to be pretty popular among the Normans on the continent just prior. Was it just that there weren't many "great" Drogo's afterward so the name, although in use, had a steady fade into obscurity? If so, how long was it in circulation? Same goes for Tancred and to some degree Bohemond. These are pretty awesome names and I'm looking for why they faded out and if there is a notable end to their usage in England and England's territories.

Were "House" slaves better off than slaves who were used for labor, or was it roughly the same level of treatment?

My grandfather has argued that he is. I argue that he is not. Please give us your opinions

For example, cutting off a horse's tail was a great way to insult a knight because of the status that came with owning a horse.

Was wondering this the other day. Assuming Germany or Japan had the capability to hit the mainland US with bombers during the 2nd World War, how effective would a city wide blackout have been? It seems to me that the pilots would have maps of the area, and that they could use their rate of travel divided by total distance and figure out, fairly accurately, where they were in relation to where they should be.

That being said, would a blackout have actually been effective in preventing the bombers from hitting their targets?

Sub-question: Given the technology of the time, weren't bombers already fairly inaccurate? Would it actually have mattered if they couldn't see exactly what they were bombing?

The Tiki aesthetic is often associated with a nostalgia for the 50's and 60's with Martini's and Hawaiin music. Is there an origin for the rise of this style?

I am amazed by how the Polynesians were able to settle the pacific, but one question always got to me; how isolated were all these far spread islands? Did these peoples engage in transarchipelagic trade? Did people travel or at least know about the wider world? Did they remember how they got to these islands or had that been forgotten? How isolated were the Polynesian peoples?

Did the U.S. government encourage then-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to invade Iran in 1980; and if so, how?

I would like to hear the opinions of people in the know. I love museums and would love to hear about the best one, and why it's the best.

As a Jew myself, I've always kind of wondered why Jews as a whole stuck with western culture and civilization instead of their eastern counterparts. As I've read more about history, it seems like the Muslim empires were much more tolerant of Jews than the Europeans of the time. What changed that led Jews to gravitate more to Western countries and culture?

There was an answer someone gave on here to a question I cannot remember (I think it was one of those old poll-type questions). I have used so many different keywords in this reddit's search and google and I have come up with nothing.

The war and/or battle/siege in question was started when (I'm fuzzy on the names and title) one noble fellow plays a prank on another which ends up with a bucket of excrement on the prank victim's head. When the prank victim goes to the King (who maybe is his father?) for restribution and gets none delcares war and besieges the castle, or city, or whatever it was.

As I said, many of the details are very fuzzy, so I am very sorry for possibly mangling that piece of history, or remembering a highly fictionalized version of something.