As far as I know, the earliest firearms took ages to reload, were less than accurate, and were plagued by a number of other problems that the bow did not suffer from. What was the advantage of switching to guns?

I'm searching for an accessible (in other words, assumes no prior knowledge and set out in a way one can use without a teacher) primer for reading 17th Century English.

In particular, I'm researching a book using many original documents from James I of England and Charles I 's reign - 1600 - 1640's - and the documents which are not written in Latin (which most are not since James on the whole preferred to write in English) but am finding the Court Papers and Trial Assizes very difficult to read as they are written in old English.

It's frustrating because the documents DO exist (which is so fantastic) and are easily accessible - you can just order them up from the National Archive and then have them in your hands which I still can't quite get over, it's such a wonderful feeling to 'touch' real history!) but I am having to photocopy those which they allow me to as I honestly find them nigh on impossible to read.

So, a simple book which approaches basic Olde English from 1600's please?

Thanks so much. :-) I am indebted to anyone who can help me (I'll even credit reddit historians in the book, promise!)

In the early to mid-1940s when television was in its infancy how was it filmed and broadcast to the viewer? Was it predominately live or was it recorded on film? Did mostof the early TV show recordings survive (if so, how)? Just curious.

I've heard of the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War, but don't know how that helped korea to divide, if it did at all? What's the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth, How did it help the USA? if it did at all. How was the 38th Parallel used to split Korea? How did that turn into the DMZ?

Why did S.Korea thrive & prosper after the War yet N.Korea became very militant & authoritarian? Did Japan have any influences of North-Korean Ideology & the Juche ideals? I know Japan became heavily involved in Marxism during the 1920's did the Russo-Japanese war influence this & did Marxist Japan influence North-South Korea?

Are there any books you recommend I read for me to get a better insight into these areas of history? Thanks

I never understood how it was decided to start counting the calender we know today at its starting point. Did we start counting on Jan 1st 0001? Why? If not, when did we start counting and why wasn't that date chosen to be the start point? (ex, if we start counting on March 5th, 869, where did the year 869 come from?)

Excuse me as I haven't had an early american history class since high school, but I was thinking about this the other day and how in my high school class they never really talked about the reasons for remaining loyalists during the revolution. They simply acknowledged their existence and went on and on about the reasons for independence.

I'm asking specifically about an average tax paying citizen, but answers about any kind of person are appreciated.

Please avoid spoilers if referring to the novel, as I'm still reading it.

I am looking for a book list that contains prehistory to modern times. I am making games that will contain many references to the events and people of the times. I am trying to make the games fun but also historically and historically plausible as possible.

For instance, my first series will be from 750,000 bc to modern day or future dates(I know more modern or future isnt this section but up until 1995 in a few days would be.). I want to show how societies and cultures formed and flowed throughout history in this series... The rises and falls of empires and countries along with the social impact and economic impacts of said areas. The political and military prowness of the leaders, generals, admirals, etc when it comes to farthering their countries needs and wants. Example, Alexander the Great logistical and military mind allowing the Greek empire to span to parts of India. The economic products and the technology advances required and created during this time.

My second series is possibly from 900 ad to modern day. To show the economic and political reasons, along with military, how the "West" became stronger and a more dominate power in the world than the "East" and "Old World." IE How the colonization of the Americas was fueled not just by military or economic reasons but also crowding and religious disorders at home, the displacement of minorities even in Europe and how eventually the American Dream was created in the first place.

I hope the descriptions of these series will assist you in helping me get better books and maybe websites to look at to help in my research.

Feel free to PM me at anytime, I am always looking to talk to someone that is interested in history also.

Thank you for your time, Drew

We often see modern day Navies giving humanitarian aid to disaster-struck countries, but, my question is this; Did this ever happen pre-WW2? In the days of the dreadnought, did international Navies ever give aid to countries which were not part of their empire? Any answer appreciated, Cheers.

I was listening to the song 'No Irish Need Apply' and decided to look it up. There's newspaper ads that show that 'No Irish Need Apply' was a thing, but I keep seeing references to a paper by Richard Jensen (retired Professor of History, University of Illinois, Chicago) saying they didn't exist, and that all the evidence is anecdotal.

Did they, and to what extent were the Irish discriminated against in 1840's - 1930's America?

I understand that for the most part people in capitalist countries tended to be better off economically, yet I was wondering if this applied to the poorest of both countries. Did state provided housing and necessities mean that homelessness was not as much as a problem in the Soviet Union compared to the United States?

(I've also heard that homelessness only became a major problem towards the 80's in the USA, so maybe restrict the comparison to around this time if that's the case)

Wouldn't knowing that they solved Enigma gained the respect of their citizens? There didn't appear to be any negative effect since the war was already over, can someone please explain this to me? Thanks!

Agave plants are native to the Americas and are known for producing liquor. I know pulque was produced using fermented agave, but was there any sort of distillation being used prior to the arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese?