Were there any ancient cultures who domesticated or utilised elephant labour? What was the attitude towards them if yes.

I know about Hanibal and his war elephants but I'm interested to know if there were any ancient cultures who used elephants to help build structures or help out with agriculture etc. Bonus question, with all the research about elephants mourning their dead and other traits which stand as testament to their intelligence were there any ancient cultures who recognised the intelect and "emotions" of elephants?

2 Answers 2014-12-16

Were slaves in the US given trials when they committed a crime?

And if they were given trials, how unfair were they?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

What were the effects of WWI on the visual and literary arts, and why?

In the years following WWI, what changes occured within the realms of the the visual and literary arts as results of the war? What did artists and writers abandon, and why did they feel compelled to do so?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

Did Europeans introduce scalping to Native Americans? Or were they actually developed by both people independently?

The Wikipedia article seems to say they developed independently from each other. But I know someone who keeps saying that it was introduced by Europeans. What do the sources say?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

It is known that a massive supernova exploded in 1054 A.D. that was visible on Earth even during the day. Do any specialists know from there studies if any civilization recorded this phenomenon?

It is known as a handful of Europeans recorded that there was a massive blast that happened during this time, so massive in fact that it was visible during daytime, but were they the only ones?

Are there any recordings from civilizations or people throughout the world, like the Maya, East Asians, Middle eastern Civilizations, specific European nations, and/or anyone else that mentioned what is now known to have been a supernova?

2 Answers 2014-12-16

Why was HMS Hood the pride of the Royal Navy?

It didn't stand out in terms of power, like Bismark or Yamato did. It wasn't even a battleship, nor was it particularly advanced at the outbreak of WW2, as it was in the process of being refitted around that time.

2 Answers 2014-12-16

Why was only the British able to colonies India and not any other European power.

Why was not any french or Spanish influence.

2 Answers 2014-12-16

I love everything about WW2, what fields of study would you recommend going into college?

And also what types of occupation could I pursue to be submersed in all things WW2?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

Why are many Hindu Gods/Goddesses depicted with many arms? Do they represent anything?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

Why is there so little discussion or outrage over Incident 228 compared to the Tiananmen Massacre even though the former is estimated to have resulted in far more deaths?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

We had a "Red Dawn"; was there ever an equivalent (White Dawn?) in Soviet pop culture?

That is, was there ever a specific fictional book or film about an American/NATO invasion that similarly caught the contemporary popular imagination in the USSR?

4 Answers 2014-12-16

If I was a wealthy french merchant and wished to be one, how much would it cost to become a Noble of the Robe?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

Why were the stairs in American vernacular houses behind doors?

I have seen many houses throughout my area (Southern Appalachia) with a staircase behind a door. I just want to know why they built them like that.

2 Answers 2014-12-16

How were the pyramids actually built? Is there consensus?

2 Answers 2014-12-16

Was Napoleon greedy or prideful in crowning himself and conquering Europe?

I'd always heard that he stole the crown from the pope to crown himself to simply say that "I'm more powerful than the Church", but I think there's more to that, because I was reading about the event and the pope kinda just went on and was cool about it. Was the reason maybe that "I was voted into this position. THE PEOPLE have more authority than the Church"?

Also, was it greed that caused Napoleon to conquer Europe or Nationalism, or what?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

After the reunification of Germany in 1990, was there ever movement in Austria to join the reunited Germany?

I understand Austria was excluded in Bismark's Germany, not allowed to join Germany after WWI due to the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, included as part of Hitler's Anschluss, and then split again after WWII.

According to Wikipedia's article on the Germany Reunification:

Article 146 was amended so that Article 23 of the current constitution could be used for reunification. After the five "New Länder" of East Germany had joined, the constitution was amended again to indicate that all parts of Germany are now unified. Article 23 was rewritten and it can still be understood as an invitation to others (e.g. Austria) to join, although the main idea of the change was to calm fears in (for example) Poland, that Germany would later try to rejoin with former eastern territories of Germany that were now Polish or parts of other countries in the East.

Was there any serious movement for Austria to join with the newly reunited German state, either before 1990 or before?

2 Answers 2014-12-16

Were there any ancient Greek, Roman etc... mythological creatures who were basically 'Q' from Star Trek?

Relevant Info

2 Answers 2014-12-16

How might the current era of mainstream American TV journalism be categorized in the future?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

Why were the door lintels in really old dwellings so low?

Were people really that much shorter in olden times?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

How was life like on a Distant Early Warning station?

I'm referring to the string of radar stations in the Canadian/Alaskan Arctic operated by NORAD from 1957 until the 1980s. Do we have any firsthand accounts from the DEW operators? How did they deal with the cold, the darkness, the boredom, and the threat of Soviet attacks? Did the Soviets have an equivalent system?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

During whose administration was the US presidency most powerful?

2 Answers 2014-12-16

Books on the mongol empire

Sorry if this is this wrong place to ask, but I recently took a class on medieval Russia and I found the mongol yoke period to be very interesting. We read Halperin's book about Russia and the Golden Horde , and I'd like to read more. Are there any authoritative and accessible books about the mongol invasions, particularly in regard to to European military campaigns and descriptions? Any books about mongol practices or court dynamics would be interesting as well.

1 Answers 2014-12-16

How is Romanian a Romance language that is far from the Romance-speaking areas and completely landlocked by Slavic ones?

I'm just curious, why is Romania speaking a Romance language even although it's far from the Romance-speaking areas?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

How did Tsar Nicholas II react to Rasputin's assassination?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

Was Pax Britannica an actual thing? Was there a noticeable drop in the number or intensity of wars between 1815 and 1914?

1 Answers 2014-12-16

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