How reliable are the Grimms' tales as a transcript for oral tradition? Additionally, where do they stand in respect to collections published several centuries before, or after, their time?

World War II Questions:

How did Hitler rise to power and gain popularity in Germany.

Why did Russia chose Communism. And what were the pros and cons of it?

World War I Questions:

How did it manifest itself in the arts, humanities, and sciences?

How did the war effect Britain, Germany, and Russia outside of battle?

Today we have advanced foams and gel inserts and a great understanding of human anatomy. However, the boots used by modern militaries still lead to people getting stress fractures in their feet and legs. I am in the military today and marching for ten miles is pretty much hell on the feet and legs. During basic training people suffered stress fractures in their lower bodies due to the strain put on them. This is in state of the art boots with foam insoles and different rubbers to absorb shock.

What were pre modern shoes and boots made of? How did earlier people keep their legs and feet from getting massive blisters, and how did they keep their bones intact? We have superior technology and nutrition and even then our bodies are strained by long marches.

If it helps anyone I can narrow it down. During the Roman Empire soldiers were expected to march 20 miles, in five hours, carrying 20 kg. Aside from being in incredible physical shape, how on Earth did they prevent injuries when wearing only a leather sandal?

How did medieval soldiers go on marches alongside their officers on horseback? These men were not professional soldiers, but farmers and such who were recruited to fight wars ad-hoc. What did they wear on their feet? How did they prevent injuries associated with long forced marches?

Finally, what would the King of England, or the King of France, or the Emperor of Rome have worn on his feet? How were shoes made to be comfortable for even the richest of people?

Oh, and to add to the question if you know about things from the "East", what did people in China or Japan wear? I know a traditional type of shoe is the Geta, which is a wooden sandal type footwear. However, I know these were built the way they were to keep one's long outfit from touching the dirty ground ruining it. Did people actually walk long distances in Geta?

I have read about various battles marking the end of the "era of the one-day battle". Which battle holds this distinction? Or is the whole idea of the "era of the one-day battle", a time in military history when battles longer than a day were very rare, a load of crap?

Europeans highly valued exotic silks and spices that was traded on the silk roads. But, what did the Europeans have that was worth trading for these goods?

I'm interested in the time period from when Western Europeans first started trading for these goods and before the discovery of the "new world". I know that gold and silver from the Americas fueled trade at that point.

I know that Hangul was looked down upon as sort of a peasant crutch by the aristocrats when it was first invented, but how long afterwards did it take for it to catch on in Korea?

I have a hard time believing that a peasant could understand Hangul even though it's easier than Hanja. Seeing as how European peasants weren't exactly known for their literacy, would Korean peasants have been any different?

AKA: why are 99% of AP classes Asian/Indian

In politics, conservative policies are referred to as 'right-wing' and liberal/progressive policies as 'left-wing'? When and how did these political divisions become associated with directions?

Like Danzig to Gdańsk or Straßburg to Strasbourg?

I am reading Jefferson and Hamilton by John Ferling, and in the preface, Ferling notes that modern republicans have favored the fiscally responsible Hamilton, while democrats favored the individual liberty rhetoric of Jefferson. Most interestingly, Hamilton was a federalist (strong government), but Jefferson was a democrat-republican that wanted to stay away from anything resembling centralized powers.

When did Hamiltonian strong federal government and fiscal responsibility become Reaganomic strong states and fiscal responsibility? From a modern point of view, it seems weird that Reagan and Bush would praise a man who wanted a strong federal government. Likewise, it is weird that Clinton would praise a man who envisioned a confederacy.

What were the events that led to the formation & dissolution of Imperial Japan (1868-1947)?

What was the Meiji Restoration & Did it have anything to do with the start of Imperial Japan?

Why was it deemed "necessary" for civilians to be tortured during the Late-Shōwa period (1937-1947) of the empire?

I heard of incidents like "Unit 731" why did this happen? What was the aftermath of this incident? What was public opinion of this incident? What actually happened in Unit 731?

Why was "Comfort Women" system developed? What was the public's opinion of this prostitution-type system?

Are there any books that you recommend I read, so I can get a deeper insight into these questions? Thank you :)

As the title says.

I'm a nudist and I was at an event last weekend. Some people I was talking with say that Germany is one of the best places in the world for nudists and the concept pretty much started there in the late 1800s. That had me thinking, what did the Nazis say about nudists? Did nudists still exist there during that time period?

I'm a future English and History teacher, but I've not had the opportunity to study much in Middle Eastern history. Considering the Arab-Israeli conflict, all the turmoil and terrorism, extremism and so forth, I am really interested in looking at anything on the region. However, looking up a lot of the books I've seen somewhat renowned are actually written by journalists. I'd like some suggestions of reliable, but genuinely historical works on issues such as the Iraq war, American Imperialism and involvement in the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict or the growth of terrorism and extremist groups in particular Middle Eastern states.

Any suggestions accompanied with a bit of info about the book or author would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: It's okay if the books are written by journalists, but just that you would judge them to be effective, quite objective and informative.

I recently watched an episode of Supernatural - the episode references Western themed movies as well as the image of two men with their hands ready to fire on each other.

Did duels like this actually happen?

Why did they wait to pull their gun out? I did some like googling and a somewhat sketchy website said people can do actions faster when reacting instead of simply doing it.

So did they wait so they could react to the other person?

I think one of the Presidents, and VPs had a duel - is this how the would have done it?

For example

"Put that down!" he shouted.

versus

"PUT THAT DOWN!"

I noticed Fitzgerald used the former to convey shouting in The Great Gatsby, and was wondering if this was just a stylistic choice or capital words just didn't have that meaning in his time. The technique is viewed as an eyesore among some, but is definitely used, especially in casual writing.

So, when did capitalizing words in dialogue mean the speaker was shouting? When did people begin to associate capitalized letters with emphasis?

From Kamikazes to propaganda and psychological warfare, why did they deserve the atomic bombs? How effective were their war methods against the US?

I just cracked open this old edition of The Odyssey I got at a bookstore, and it had Samuel Butler's preface before his (very well known) English translation.

He claims two things:

1. that the Odyssey was written entirely at, and drawn entirely from, the place now called Trapani on the west coast of Sicily. ...

2. that the poem was entirely written by a very young woman, who lived at the place now called Trapani, and introduced herself into her work under the name of Nausicaa.

However he said his evidence was laid out in another work.

What evidence did he have for these things? Do they stack up to scrutiny?