I am half-Jewish, with the Jewish side of my family mostly coming from Eastern Europe to the U.S. in the early 1900s. Do Eastern European Jews' ancestry trace back to generations of people who lived in Israel at some point?

I am fascinated by the Eastern Front theatre, I read War on the Eastern Front by James Lucas and few other books but they all seem too general. What is the most detailed book or series of books that I could read? I am interested in the whole story - battle tactics, military equipment, chronology of operations, politics and economics of war, lives of leaders as well as ordinary soldiers.

I'm interested in self educating myself in the classical sense through the Great Books model, including studying Latin and Greek.

Does anyone have information for this or against this?

The deficiencies of Italy and the surprising effectiveness of Finland have been discussed on here in detail but what about Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Slovakia? They served all over the Eastern front but I see little mention of any great triumphs or defeats on their part while in, for example, Normandy it seems that Poles, the Free French, and other minor actors played a disproportionate role in many lynchpin battles. I've occasionally seen them referred to as holding flanks and bridge crossings and other such glamorous roles.

What was the reality of the situation or did they have more of an impact that's been overlooked by popular history?

I was discussing this with a friend earlier while we were thinking up a topic for her to write about and we came to the conclusion that no one really has much of an idea of when it came about. Wikipedia is sparse and all the googling I could do found nothing. It seems to have just sprouted up out of nowhere around 70+ years ago? Surely that can't be the case. It seems to have evolved into a cultural phenomenon and it's almost guaranteed that if you talk to anyone about it they'll say they've done it at least once. But no one really knows why.

I mean they had under their control most of Europe - one of the richest, most developed and populous regions in the world.

I remember reading something about a Scythian Princess being buried with a jar of marijuana. Just wanted to know if there was any historic evidence. As a smoker, I'm interested in the develop of smoking as a cultural practice.

What is so important about the rich to the Titanic's crew, that the poor could not sit with them? And what factors in society had influenced such a tragedy as this?

I'm curious more about the looks and style of pre-Marian reform Roman equipment. Often, I see Roman soldiers stylized in red uniforms, with red shields and banners with gold standards. Likewise, the Byzantines/ERE are depicted purple.

I feel this is more of a symbolic look, to show they're imperialistic, and the Byzantines/ERE were the "counter-part" to them. I've read this as well where dyes, especially red, were not common and even quite rare in some cases.

I've also read that they wore more neutral colors, tanned leather brown, maybe even some greens and whites in some cases to blend in with the European landscape, depending on season.

Is there any evidence or examples of what the Roma hastae wore into battle?

I recently finished my degree in American history. Since American and modern military history has been the bulk of my studies since I began reading nonfiction I'd really like to branch out. The samurai have always been an interesting topic to me.

I know fascism was one alternative, but were there other proposed systems?

How clean, both visually and pathogen-wise, would the water in a top class later Roman city have been? How vulnerable would this supply have been? Could a dead sheep fall in and poison the city, or could a rather sinister character dump poison into the channel at some point and cause havok?

Follow up questions:

How would the water have reached my home. Do I go to a public fountain? If so, were there ever examples of access to fountains being controlled by various groups to exert power?

If I was rich enough could I have the water run straight to my house?

Is /r/onetruegod correct in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" when he says that before the Civil War, the United States was referred to in the plural rather than the singular as it is now? Any significant primary sources that show the truth one way or the other?