I've heard this opinion expressed on a podcast without any information to back it up and it's pretty hard to look for.

Were there any great sources of calories that could have been extracted with the technology of the time and that could have sustained the entire population of Ireland?

EDIT: "Overlooked" was the wrong word. The idea is that there was some food that they didn't really know about.

I'm not even sure whether there was a significant Muslim population in central Europe at the time. Some brief Google searches haven't turned up anything reliable for me.

Hello!

A name I've come across a number of times while reading on the Roman Empire is that of Nikephoros II Phokas. All I know is that he was a very effective ruler who helped increase the power of the empire. If I may ask, how did he do so? And how much was the position of the empire (domestically and regionally) improved by his reign?

I mean, why were they Christians before all the others, even though they were so geographically remote?

Is the concept of the 'Axial Age' a construct of modern thinkers or is it based in reality?

Anyone know anything about the giant wall calendar from HBO's Rome series and how they worked?

I'm not sure if this fits the criteria for Ask Historians because it doesn't have much to do with a specific era of human history, but there really aren't any better venues to directly ask historians for input.

I earned a Master's in History almost three years ago, but never found work. And since I live in an isolated area it's hard for me to "stay in practice." I'm wondering if there are any organizations, universities or programs that are currently undertaking significant historical projects that need help from the public?

One example I could think of is the War Department Papers project where people transcribed scanned documents from the early years of the American republic for a website. I'm getting bored not being able to do much related to history and I'd like to at least have a marginal role to play in transcribing, researching, writing or helping on an ongoing project.

If this is in the wrong place, I apologize, but hopefully someone will have some insight.

Welcome to the Eastern Europe AMA Panel! We have six participants who study various areas of Eastern Europe and of its history. Let's cut to the chase, and introduce our panelists:

/u/bemonk knows more about Czech/Slovak history (and things that touch upon German history) than anything else, but can probably answer some broader questions too.

/u/brution is currently a Ph.D student specializing in comparative politics. His area of interest is Eastern Europe, focusing mostly on political parties. Did his MA thesis on East German executives. He'll mostly be able to contribute regarding the Stalinization period or more general communist international stuff.

/u/facepoundr is casually working towards a Master's with an Undergraduate Degree in History. He primarily focuses on Russian and Soviet History, looking at how Americans and the West view Russia and the Soviet Union. Along with that, he is interested in rural Russia, The Soviets during WW2, and gender and sexuality in the Soviet Union.

/u/kaisermatias is working on his MA in European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, with a focus on the separatist regions of Georgia during the 2008 war. Thus he's more oriented towards the Caucasus, but also can contribute to questions from the twentieth century, with a focus on Poland.

/u/rusoved is working on a degree in Slavic linguistics. He's happy to talk about the history and prehistory of Slavic speakers and their language(s)--and to a lesser extent Baltic speakers and their language(s)--and how linguistics can inform the study of history. He's also got a secondary interest in language attitudes and language policies in Poland-Lithuania, Imperial Russia, and the USSR.

/u/treebalamb is primarily interested in Russian history, but naturally there's a large amount of interplay between the the history of Russia and Eastern Europe. He can contribute mainly to questions on the central region of Eastern Europe, for example, the Grand Duchy of Litva, as well as Hungarian history. He's also fairly comfortable with any questions on interactions between the Tsars and Eastern Europe.

So, ask away! I can't speak for everyone, but I know that I'll definitely have to step away for an hour here or there throughout the day for various obligations, so please be patient.

Edit (1/17/2015): Thanks for all of the questions! Unfortunately, a lot of questions don't really fall within anyone's expertise--we have a serious dearth of historians of Eastern Europe at /r/AskHistorians (you might note that half of us are Russianists more than anything). So, if your question wasn't answered, please submit it as a post to the subreddit in a day or two, and we'll see if we can't coax some potential flairs out of the woodwork!

Or maybe my premise is incorrect and they actually didn't claim this? I just finished Band of Brothers for the first time; while I had heard this before, they made a point of it in the show. Thanks in advance.

I don't know of any, however as I am not a source I wondered if there were any fringe cases I overlooked/don't know about?

And is there any evidence

My friend claims that Britain developed a chemical which smells so bad that stops the enemies from fighting. I said that might be against the Geneva Protocol, but he says it's not because it does not kill. Is he right?