I've been reading a book by an Italian historian, Franco Cardini, about the relationship between Islam and Christianity in the Middlw Ages and the Modern Era. He briefly talks about a phenomenon I already vaguely knew, the "Rinnegati" (Renegades in English I suppose?): Christian prisoners who converted to Islam, some of them actually managed to have a good career and held important roles, becoming a Bey or even captain of the imperial fleet. The historian then said that the opposite, prisoners converting from Islam to Christianity, is basically a negligible fact, since very few people did that. My question is: why didn't they convert to Christianity? Did Europe offer less opportunity for converted people than the Ottoman Empire? Was it a question of social mobility? Or was it because you couldn't hold christian slaves and slave labour was valuable therefore it was better to keep them as slaves?

The "Jesus myth theory", that is to say the thesis that Jesus was either not a real historical figure, or if one not connected to Christianity, is certainly not a new idea. However I understand that this theory has had its ups and lows in terms of credibility during the last century. Is there a widely accepted consensus among academics today on this matter, or is it more nuanced and maybe prone to evolve in the future depending on continued research?

It is said that 70-90% of Native Americans were killed by diseases when they first came into contact with Europeans. However, I never read about Europeans dying from new diseases on there end. I understand the population and trade networks in Europe/Asian/Northern Africa were far higher and more advanced than the Americas which leads to a wider spread of diseases and enhanced immunities but the Americas had to have some foreign diseases that would harm the Europeans…

Would Christopher Columbus, in a hypothetical scenario where the north/South American continents did not exist, survived a journey to India? That is, would he and his ship crew been able to achieve a journey this long? Or were they actually saved by the landmass and islands of the Americas from a voyage that would’ve surely ended in death had they actually reached their intended destination? How foolish was their initial ambition exactly?

Pre-covid I visited Italy and toured many ruins, and one thing that stuck out was how many brothels there were. I went in one in Pompeii, and it was big. I think there were 15-20 “rooms” in it. I’ve also read texts that talk about how prevalent it was. But this made me wonder, how many people were funneled into sex work back then? And also, was prostitution considered work or was it more of a poverty/slavery situation, or even women being owned (like with pimps). Was sex trafficking a huge threat?

I know it’s a weird question, but I never have been able to find the answer and i’ve been wondering for years.

I know it's silly to refer to Deadliest Warrior in some capacity here but some friends and I at Deadliest Fiction Wiki (basically fanon version of Deadliest Warrior that has greater merit over ScrewAttack's Death Battle) have looked at using the English Yeoman Archer and the thing that bothered me was that there was a remark that the Yeomans were active during the reign of Richard the Lionheart... who they thought was Richard III. Now I know there was probably a misnaming there because I'm sure as hell that "The Lionheart" was the nickname of Richard I not Richard III.

But I am a bit curious as to whether or not Yeoman archers existed before the 14th Century and the Hundred Years War. I've tried to look for myself but got nowhere. Maybe a historian here might do better?

(sorry for the bad english)i was working on a short novel, and it contains an American going to soviet union to recruit a homeless kid. i’ve done some googling and know that Americans can travel to Soviet Union in 1923, also there was lots of homeless kids then. but due to my bad english, i can’t find whether there’s a restaurant or not, the closest i get was the Aragvi restaurant which opened in 1937. or should i change the year or anything? thanks for answering.

I apologize if this is too specific of a question, but I'm deeply curious about this family in my genealogy and the forces of history that moved them from Nova Scotia to California.

I have a branch of my family named Outterson/Otterson. They moved from County Down, Ireland to "British North America" in the 1720s-1730s -- some went directly to Nova Scotia, some went to New Hampshire or Vermont and then to Nova Scotia. (They are Church of England, since I expect that matters).

Most of the Ottersons stayed in Nova Scotia through the 1800s (there's a large group of them there today). But two brothers moved together to the Bytown (Ottawa) area in the 1830s, where they lived and had children. Around 1840, one brother then moved to Illinois, and the other to Wisconsin. Then they both moved to Santa Clara County, California by 1849, where they appear to have been farmers and "hoteliers", not gold miners.

That's the background -- here are my questions. One, what might have tempted these brothers to move to Bytown, and then to the Midwest of America (I imagine the Erie Canal has something to do with it)? Two, would they have been more likely to travel overland to California, or by ship?

And three (and most importantly to me), is there anything going on in history that might explain why the 18-year-old son of the Wisconsin brother joined the US Army in Galena, Ohio in August of 1847? Judging by the rest of his life, he was definitely not the type to seek a military career (in fact, he joined the US Army three times, once with a fake name, and deserted all three times). But I don't see why he would have traveled to Ohio if he was just looking for three hots and a cot.

Hi, I know this is probably not what the sub is for but I am taking a history class in University for the first time lol even though I am a creative writing student. I have an assignment where I have to watch and write about a movie or TV series which covers some kind of real event. I was going to just do Good Fellas because technically its based on a true story, but I thought I’d ask here to see if you guys have any better suggestions :)

I'm a Japanese university student. I speak three languages and identify as a political liberal. I personally think the entire war is bullshit. I had hoped to just wait out the war in college. Unfortunately, my number came up. Through a series of unfortunate events, I was effectively "volunteered" to be a kamikaze pilot. Through the process I kept my political opinions to myself to avoid potential repercussions, hoping that the war would end before I actually have to carry out a kamikaze run against an American ship.

Well, my time ran out. I'm now sitting on the deck of a Japanese carrier or on the airfield of an island air base, bombs strapped to my plane, ready to take off. This is not where I want to be. This is not what I want to do. I think the entire war is nonsense and I have zero intention of laying down my life for the war, the emperor, or any other cause. All I want to do is maximize my chances of survival and eventually seeing my family again.

What do I do now? If I simply refuse to take off, what repercussions do I face? If I do take off, how in the world do I, a kamikaze pilot, communicate to the Americans that I want to surrender? How can I possibly do that without being shot down in the process?

Both in terms of immediately before their conception, as well as centuries before that down the line - was there a kind of 'town guard' who enforced the peace, or a mafia-type situation, or volunteer brigades, or what?

So, someone just told me this on Reddit and I don't know how to feel. Have a look for yourselves :

"A good example of how communism (or at least socialism) can be just as innovative, if not more innovative than capitalism, is the fact that the Soviet Union, which was incredibly poor before adopting socialism, ended up becoming a military superpower which was incredibly industrialized and won the space race."

I have a few questions about this. First of all, wasn't Russia already a pretty powerful nation before the revolution ? How feared was it amongst the european nations after the Vienna Congress and before the Revolution ?

Second, what was the role of socialism/communism in the build of the Russian army ? Was it really the new system that made them powerful or were there other factors present ? And were they as advanced as this guy says ?

That would be very much appreciated! Thanks!

For context, I absolutely do not mean this as a "gotcha" question. Also, I believe the study of history is very important, and plan on continuing with it.

However, something that bugs me is how subjective our interpretations of past events are, and how oftentimes studying history means studying someone else's interpretation of the past rather than what actually happened. Of course, I am aware of how historical accounts are put together, and how when we study history we also want to learn and interpret that past rather than just learn raw information about it. However, for example I feel like when I am reading a history book I have to think critically just as much about the historian and their biases as the event/subject itself.

So, that said, how do students of history approach the subjective nature of history and benefit from its study while learning from the past?

The chorus famously asks for the real Slim Shady:

I'm Slim Shady, yes I'm the real Shady

All you other Slim Shadys are just imitating

So won't the real Slim Shady please stand up

Please stand up, please stand up?

This was accompanied by his music video that featured dozens of Eminem lookalikes.

But was this just bravado or was there really, in Eminem’s words

a million of us just like me

Who cuss like me, who just don't give a fuck like me

Who dress like me; walk, talk and act like me

And just might be the next best thing, but not quite me

Having grown up during that era I don’t remember any other White Rappers hitting the scene, and I don’t know enough about rap of that era to know if artists began to copy Eminem’s style.

And apologies on this one small part, as it is just shy of the 20 year rule, but in 2002 Eminem would write

a million other white rappers emerge

How much truth is there to this?

My history isn't great but I've always wondered this question ever since learning about JFK's assassination happening only three weeks after Diem's assassination during a coup which JFK actually knew about. Considering how little we know of JFK's assassination would it be completely implausible to say that the two were somehow linked? I haven't been able to find anyone else online suggesting this although I'm not the best at finding things on Google. I know I must be missing something and my idea is probably complete bollocks so I'd appreciate a respectful answer considering I'm not particularly knowledgeable of history and am still learning it at school but I am very interested in it, particularly this area of history has always intrigued me.

So this question just popped into my head while watching a comedian doing a routine about blowjobs. Do we know if and how much heterosexual couples engaged in oral or anal sex before the 1960s or 70s? I fear that other than some isolated writings by people like the marquise de sade good sources might be hard to find so I didnt narrow this question to a specific period in time. If you have any knowledge about this topic during any period I would be glad to read your answer.