How did Incan Mummy Kings work, why did they exist, where did they come from, and why did they (or rather their factions) have so much political influence despite being, well, dead?

2 Answers 2014-12-13

How accurate a depiction of siege warfare is the opening scene of Berserk Golden Age Arc I?

I know it's anime, and I'm no historian, but from what I've read, it seems like a pretty accurate representation up until Guts starts going OP on everyone. Is this more or less how siege warfare would have worked? Is there a film that gives a more accurate depiction maybe?

1 Answers 2014-12-13

How true was the propaganda phrase "Loose Lips Sink Ships" in wartime? Are there any notable instances of civilian conversation providing intelligence to enemies during war?

2 Answers 2014-12-13

What did battles look like in the Thirty Years' War?

Were they more medieval or were they closer to the Revolutionary War? Were rifles the most commonly used weapons or was it still bows, and maces? Were professional armies used or was their mass conscription?

1 Answers 2014-12-13

Is this supposed to be the first prime minister of GB?

http://imgur.com/Sf0BV4g

I keep seeing this "Punch" character in a book of 1780-90's engravings from London. Is this supposed to be Robert Walpole, first Prime Minister of Great Britain? They all feature that same distinctive hat, the weird tasseled thing on his upper back, and his face is usually misshapen with a protruding nose. Though Walpole was nicknamed "Punch", I don't see much similarity between these caricatures and images of Robert Walpole I can find online.

Walpole's career was waning 40 years prior to when these prints were published. So I am confused: are these prints from an artist that had a hate-boner for Walpole, or was there a contemporary figure named Punch, or something else?

1 Answers 2014-12-13

How intensive, and for how long, was slavery among the peoples of the Pacific Northwest?

Hello AskHistorians.

A friend mentioned today that the First Nations peoples of the Pacific Northwest (Vancouver, BC here, but I'm hoping for a more broadly regional answer) frequently raided other groups and took captives as slaves.

I've not had much luck with google, so I'm wondering if anyone can give me an idea of the extent of these practices, and what work captives were put to.

Thanks!

1 Answers 2014-12-13

What historical mystery would you most like to know the truth about?

1 Answers 2014-12-13

Was Theodor Herzl capable of making the Uganda plan to establish a Jewish-African state a reality?

I've recently become interested in Israeli history, but I have some problems understanding almost anything related to Herzl. The particular event I'm referring to is when the British Government suggested that a Jewish state be established in what is now Uganda; obviously, this didn't happen, but it raises a lot of questions about what Herzl's actual role/status in the movement was.

Ari Shavit's "My Promised Land" seems to cast Herzl in a very different light from a different collection of essays I've read, specifically Anita Shapira's "Israel: A history" and it's very difficult for me to tell Whether or not Herzl actually thought Uganda was a good idea. It seems like there is some disagreement about his motivations and whether he wanted any Jewish state, or only a Jewish state in the holy land.

It also makes me question to what extent he actually lead the zionist movement vs. was a figurehead for it, and whether or not he could actually force it through or was just appearing wishy washy on the proposal because he knew he couldn't.

1 Answers 2014-12-13

Would you recommend Ian Kershaw as a good source for studying World War II?

1 Answers 2014-12-13

In the Cold War, how likely would it have been that an accidental nuclear strike would have lead to full-scale nuclear war?

3 Answers 2014-12-13

Are there examples of governments advertising their initial issuance of paper currency to gain acceptance?

1 Answers 2014-12-13

When did humans begin combining foods for taste?

I was just eating a burger and thinking about by all the different ingredients and then lengths a pretty historic man would have to go through to create one. Even French fries are somewhat complex. Diced fries dropped into melted fat with salt. So is there any evidence of when this started in human or other apes?

1 Answers 2014-12-13

How were prisoners of war treated during the Napoleonic era?

I ask this question because I have been reading about Napoleon. In his Ulm Campaign I read that Napoleon captured about 60,000 Austrian soldiers.

Were they sent to POW camps? Prisoner exchanges? How did other nations like Great Britain, Austria, and Prussia treat their prisoners of war?

Just curious, because this was a so called era of 'chivalry' in warfare.

3 Answers 2014-12-13

Is there any record of when the first person was revived after having a stopped heart?

1 Answers 2014-12-13

Help with history books concerning philosophers in the 19th to 20th century?

I am planning on doing some summer research that will cover Hegel, Marx, Weber and then Adorno. I would like to do some background, historical readings on both the French Revolution, and also what sets up the conditions for the writings of Hegel and Marx, Weber and Adorno. I am 100% fine with reading history books that cover philosophically heavy material and anything else.

Thanks for any recommendations!

1 Answers 2014-12-13

Has any cultural group ever absorbed another without ethnic cleansing or genocide? Are there instances of peaceful assimilation?

2 Answers 2014-12-13

Was King Wenceslas (from the Christmas carol) really so good? Or did he just hire the best PR guy in history?

3 Answers 2014-12-13

How accurate are Chomsky's statements on African-American life?

Noam Chomsky recently made several claims about the lives of black people living in the United States and how for most the country's history African Americans have had little freedom, even after the civil war. From this article:

“African-Americans had about two decades in which they had a shot of entering [American] society. A black worker could get a job in an auto plant, as the unions were still functioning, and he could buy a small house and send his kid to college. But by the 1970s and 1980s it’s going back to the criminalization of black life.”

“It’s called the drug war, and it’s a racist war. Ronald Reagan was an extreme racist — though he denied it — but the whole drug war is designed, from policing to eventual release from prison, to make it impossible for black men and, increasingly, women to be part of [American] society.”

“In fact,” he continued, “if you look at American history, the first slaves came over in 1619, and that’s half a millennium. There have only been three or four decades in which African-Americans have had a limited degree of freedom — not entirely, but at least some.”

My question is, how accurate are these claims? Thanks in advance.

1 Answers 2014-12-13

Where did the Chinese term "yang ren," Western peoples, come from? For how long was this term used?

I always hear this term, "洋人" ("Yang Ren"), in Chinese period films and television shows whenever the Chinese are referring to Westerners. Where did this term originate, why is it "yang ren," and for how long was this term used until some other term took over as the main definition for Westerners?

1 Answers 2014-12-13

What is a "Cornysshe chawghe", why was his train so beguiling, and what does any of this this have to do with Henry VI of England?

The Wiki page on Royal Badges of England - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Badges_of_England - lists, among other things, "the Cornysshe chawghe" as being a badge device for Henry VI. This is probably incorrect, since it seems to a be a reference to a Cornish person, one John Trevilian, who was an esquire of the body and usher of the King's chambers in the 1440's.

See here, "Letter Containing Intelligence of the Proceedings of the Court and Nobility, at the Commencement of the Year 1454: Accompanied by Some Remarks", by a Frederic Madden. https://books.google.com/books?id=V7hPAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA12&lpg=PA12&dq=Cornysshe+chawghe&source=bl&ots=S6swG5uTmD&sig=1rhjgTxdlvELPRfOHhAsjhQCXzk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Z6OLVPiEPIHugwTQoIGQCQ&ved=0CDMQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=Cornysshe%20chawghe&f=false

Madden, who wrote this in 1842 as a scholarly work, claims that Trevilian was mentioned in connection with the following satiric verse:

"The Cornysshe chawge offt with his trayne

Hath made our Egull (ie the King) blynde "

All spellings and asides as in the original, which is quoted by Madden.

In the footnotes, Madden specifies that the "trayne" is a "fraudulent device", which I regard as a flat out tease.

So what the heck is going on here? Does it have anything to do with Royal Badges? What does the word "chawge" mean? What was Trevilian's trayne? How was Henry blinded by it? Who wrote those verses and what was their point?

Thanks in advance for your infos!

2 Answers 2014-12-13

Where did the Chinese term "yang ren," attributed to Western peoples, come from? For how long was this term used?

I always hear this term, "洋人" ("Yang Ren"), in Chinese period films and television shows whenever the Chinese are referring to Westerners. Where did this term originate, why is it "yang ren," and for how long was this term used until some other term took over as the main definition for Westerners?

1 Answers 2014-12-13

How influential were the American antiwar movements and protests on the Vietnam War?

1 Answers 2014-12-13

Did the Japanese or Chinese ever try sailing Eastward to North America?

1 Answers 2014-12-13

How historically accurate is the new Marco Polo series by Netflix?

The director has spoken a little about how interested he is in Marco Polo, but I'm still curious as to how accurate the series is, both in terms of visual aspects and story.

9 Answers 2014-12-13

In what ways does gender appear in archaeology?

Other than (perhaps) skeletons, are there ways men and women leave different archaeological records? Say, if you excavated a set of quarters, could you tell if men and women lived mixed, or in separate housing, if it was an entirely homosocial environment (like maybe a monastery or something)? In what ways might eunuchs or other genders be recorded (or lost) in a site?

2 Answers 2014-12-13

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