In movies and tv shows it's common for kings to ride into battle with their troops but how often did this actually happen? How would they survive when so many others did not? I frequently hear of kings and leaders as being great warriors but how do they gain so much experience and why do we not hear of kings that died on the battlefield more frequently?

I am really curious, knowing about Feudal Japan and the Dynasties of China, but I have no clear idea as to what Vietnam might have been like before 1300. Could anyone clue me in?

Apologies in advance, I understand the question isn't quite what is the norm, so sorry if I'm breaking rules but I'm going to pull the 'it's Christmas' card. I've seen the thread about the gift ideas, but there wasn't anything specific for what I wanted.

So, if you teach or you're interested in Elizabeth I, what would you want as a gift?

Thanks

'Exterminating' was called 'Final solution'.

What other euphemisms were in use, for the details of the extermination, for deportation, for camps, for gassing, for starving, for working to death, for torture, for experimentation, and so on?

What euphemisms were used for defeats?

There was also the announcement at the start of the war with Poland in which Hitler called the attacks 'returning fire', are there any more examples of this?

Artists used a lot of pigments or other materials, that are highly toxic, such as arsenic, mercury or lead. Some of those materials were in use for hundreds of years.

Are there any known cases of great masters, who got sick from working with such toxic elements? Or at least diseases (or maybe fatalities), where such a causality is suspected?

This idea came to me while reading GOT. Arya's sword needle is what inspired this question. How thin/narrow did swords get throughout history and in particular the medieval period?

Every article I read seems to indicate that doctors believed these things but never explain what evidence led them to that conclusion. If you could provide sources (a primary source would be heavenly) I would greatly appreciate it as I am currently writing a research paper on the rise of Circumcision in America.

Edit: I found a quote that discusses it but does not explain adequete evidence: "The evidence for this view, which was surprisingly well accepted, was derived in part from physicians' experience with mentally ill patients. It was unnerving, one doctor wrote, to see that among the feeble minded their "hands seem instinctively drawn to those parts." So logic seemed to indicate that masturbation somehow led to feeblemindedness. As Remondino said, "it may be a question as to whether the feeble-mindedness be not a reflex condition from this excessive morbid irritability of the sexual organs." Other commentators, pediatricians prominently among them, warned parents that the habit of masturbation was often learned in infancy, and that the foreskin was chiefly to blame. "The fact that children under two years of age can and frequently do contract the habit of masturbation is a revelation to many physicians," declared J. P. Wester in a paper he read to the Ohio Pediatric Society. He went on to profile a typical masturbator: a three-year-old boy who was "small, had a scowl on his face, looked wearied and bloated; he was nervous and fretful, a poor eater and a very poor sleeper." The sickly child had developed his habit before he was a year old, according to Webster, evidently "due in the first place to the condition of the prepuce."[54]" (Gollaher p.21)

Source: Gollaher, David L. "From Ritual to Science: The Medical Transformation of Circumcision in America." Journal of Social History 1994: 5. JSTOR Journals. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

Edit: This same passage claims that masturbation led to physical sickness, was there any evidence that led to that (incorrect) conclusion?

I'm just curious.

I have heard a few stories, but nothing useful comes up in Google (I'm not phrasing well). In many cultures, narcotics have been used during religious ceremonies. Is this true with early Christianity and Judaism? If it is true, what was used and why, and when and why did it stop?

If so, did the Aztec think he was that god? Did this prophecy play any role in the Aztec's fall or in the way they treated Cortés?

Like, see it and be aware that something was made better and would continue to be used for quite some time?

Are there any recordings of people speculating on advances in technology, or pointing out things had/would change before 1700?

Our modern calendar is BC and AD - say I lived in the year 100 AD. What year would I say I live in? What point in history or event was I counting up from?

Hi /r/AskHistorians! I would like to know more about the Rancho era of California history. Any good book suggestions so I can learn more? Thanks!

Thanks just a little confused

If you could help me out on this, that would be great thanks