In the United states, how and when did child support come into law, and who lobbied for it? Was there any opposition? How was it enforced in its early days?

I am think Archduke Ferdinand but did not know for certain.

After reading the FAQ about the breakup of the USSR, I am still very curious as to why the Russian military willingly gave up areas that had been historically Russian for some decades before the Soviet Union. At the time of the fall of the USSR, they were pressured to give up the Warsaw Pact and allow some breakaway areas (Baltic countries) away, but (afaik) there wasn't too much pressure to give up what was historically Russia.

Given this, why did the Russian military at the time allow many areas that were historically part of Russia become independent? It seems that this action was a pointless loss that the international community had no say in.

Thanks!.

In Hollywood films, sieges typically involve a brief period of preparation during which the invaders make camp outside the city (and usually do plenty of dastardly things, as orcs/Mongols/baddies are wont to do), followed by an all-out march on the walls, guns-blazin - usually involving trebuchets, ladders, towers, etc.

Now, I understand that even in those situations when, during a siege, troops did directly assault the walls, they usually had quite a long time spent softening up the defense, starving them out, etc. And I understand that medieval armies generally just preferred to starve the defenders out and win by attrition. But, two questions:

1. When was it strategic to simply assault the walls - either as fast as possible, or after softening the defense up? When would a medieval commander typically decide that waiting the defense out (and receiving an eventual surrender without an actual confrontation) was not worth it?

2. Could you provide historical instances in which a siege of a major city/fortress escalated to scaling the walls pretty much instantly? Like (Game of Thrones spoilers) when Stannis the Mannis attacks Kings Landing at the Battle of Blackwater (and pretty much attempts to scale the walls as soon as he arrives, not bothering with the whole "starve them out" strategy).

The plot of Stan Roger's song "House of Orange" seems to have this as the rejecting of this as a plot, so I was wondering how true it was.

How were slaves treated differently? What was their work? How did Indian communities perceive them?

Were the Nazis social Darwinists or were just some of them advocates for social Darwinism? Were any of their ideas based of some social darwinist ideas?

I am a historical materialist. What is your philosophy of history?

What are you're opinions of the accuracy of this mini series. It seems far fetched that two soldiers, one a decorated war hero, would associate with a Jew after the invasion of Poland. Also I've heard the Poles were not antisemitic, but no consensus. In the movie this only serves to alleviate German guilt, but is there legitimacy in this claim?

This is a two part question, I suppose. Jesus of Nazareth is widely regarded to have existed as a human, correct? All of the bible was written by those surrounding him or anticipating a messiah. Why is there no personal accounts or teachings by him? And do the missing books of the Bible leave any more information about his adolescence?

In the modern day and age it is generally agreed that wolves don't attack humans very often. However, I have heard and been taught that one of the major contributing factors to the rise of werewolf myths and general wolf fear in Europe was frequent wolf attacks during the Medieval and Early Modern period. I am as curious as to the discrepancy.

Thanks for your time

Was the Christmas truce all of the french front? or was it just a certain area? Also did this just happen out of generosity, desperation, celebration, or stupidity? This year because its the 100th university of the truce, its being exaggerated and i dont believe all of it.

I was just thinking about how much space my garages occupies in my house. It's a lot of square footage for a car. Did people start building special rooms for their vehicles right away when vehicles where new (because vehicles might have been expensive and needed to be protected from the elements)? Or were vehicles moved into another room that was already being used for something else? I am guessing that most vehicle garages were built initially for rich people. Also I am assuming that the first vehicle garages were detached from homes.