How exactly does/did a Timocracy work?

I've been unable to find an explanation of how a timocracy REALLY operates. I've only seen brief summaries stating that Sparta operated in this way. I'm looking for a step by step guide, if you will. Any specific examples in history would help.

1 Answers 2014-11-24

Dracunculus Medinensis -- When and where did people start using this to describe Guinea Worm?

Is this part of a culture war? Why pick on Medina?

1 Answers 2014-11-24

Would the German economy have collapsed if Hitler had not started WW2?

3 Answers 2014-11-24

Did the concept of contracting out for protection exist during the Golden Age of Piracy?

I know that ships were mostly responsible for their own defense in the absence of significant protection from their home countries but did any merchants ever sail with an escort solely for protection?

1 Answers 2014-11-24

How large was the Roman army at it's peak?

4 Answers 2014-11-24

Is terrorism really so new as a concept? Was there something similar before?

1 Answers 2014-11-24

Why did Arabs leave the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th century, and settle in places like Iraq, Syria and Egypt?

In Clive Holes' book entitled "Arabic: Structures, Functions, And Varieties" he makes the claim that initially Arabs did not encourage conversion to Islam after they left the Peninsula. He asserts that encouraging conversion would have eliminated jizya, or taxes on non-Muslims and collapsed the income base of the new Arab "conquerors" especially in urban centers in Egypt, Syria and Iraq. Holes says it was only several centuries later that citizens converted to Islam on a large scale, typically because of the requirements that public officials be Muslim.

If Arabs did not migrate for the purpose of spreading Islam, then what sparked their interest in exiting the Arabian Peninsula, and why did their interest coincide with the death of Muhammad?

2 Answers 2014-11-24

Are there any real instances of incredibly skilled soldiers in the ancient world?

By skilled soldiers I mean those from movie productions like Troy or 300, where one man is so skilled in combat that they can just mow through enemies. Are there any reliable sources indicating that such soldiers may have existed or are they just all myth and legend? Edit: spelling

3 Answers 2014-11-24

Did Native Americans make roads?

It sounds like a ridiculous question but I live in Michigan and we have a few old rail lines and a handful of roads that supposedly follow old logging trails which purport to follow old "Indian Trails" (I believe Mound Road is a throwback to an Indian trail that ran abrest to burial mounds, hence the name, but idk. Seems dubious)

The thought just occurred to me that I don't know if any Native Americans made roads, either Native North Americans or Native South Americans. Like I said above, I've heard of "trails" but I guess I imagine a beaten path through the woods that follows natural terrain and is not what you would think of as a road.

Did any native americans make roads? If so - are any still around?

7 Answers 2014-11-24

How responsible were the British in establishing Slavery in the U.S?

I couldn't find a lot of information on this. It seems that if America was under British rule while the slave trade was established, it was more of an inherited policy(for lack of a better word) from British rule.

1 Answers 2014-11-24

I've got a few questions about the deification of the Emperor in Imperial Japan

Hirohito is probably the most extreme example of this deificaiton, and the belief that the Emperor was a living god had a great effect on Japan's actions in 1937-1945 - But were the previous post-Restoration Emperors, Meiji and Taisho, deified to a similar extent?
To extend this, was there a pre-Restoration precedent for the idea of a divine Emperor?
Lastly, how widely would it have been believed that the Emperor was divine in the upper echelons of the Japanese Administration? Would people such as Tojo and Yamamoto, for example, have really thought the Emperor to be a god?

1 Answers 2014-11-24

When making a bibliography for an academic paper, why does it matter what city the publisher is based out of?

My suspicion is that this practice is one of those things that used to matter but is now antiquated because of how easy it is to look things like this up, or that it's used to distinguish between X publisher in one place and X publisher of no relation in another place. Do any academics know why this is emphasized in so many style guides?

7 Answers 2014-11-24

How did the relationship between Germany and the U.S change following WWII ?

I understand that the U.S went to war with Germany, but why are they presently allies ?

1 Answers 2014-11-24

How do we document out history in modern times?

History is full of gaps an uncertainties the further back we go as there's no proper documentation left, there are conflicting stories etc. Have we learned from this and are there people (historians?) who document out current events that will be the history of the future in a way that will allow future historians to better understand life and events of today?

1 Answers 2014-11-24

Has Capitalism and Communism always had such an antagonistic relationship?

I was wondering if Capitalism and Communism have always been systems whose adherents are always at war? When was the first instance of a conflict between the two?

As an add-on, what was the earliest switch between systems and what was the most peaceful switch between systems?

2 Answers 2014-11-24

Why does US colonial furniture in museums and historical sites always look so rigid and firm?

When I see pictures it all looks so wooden and hard. Chairs at dining tables that look like they would hurt to sit in. Sofas that look like painful to sit on. It all looks ceremonial and not something someone would choose.

1 Answers 2014-11-24

Has any monarch claim to be descended from King Arthur?

Just wondering if people in the past considered Arthur to be real or they knew full well he was a myth. Also, did Romans do the same but with heroes like Aeneas, Hercules, etc. or was it simply comparisons?

1 Answers 2014-11-24

Monday Methods | Outreach, Experiences and Plans

Hey everyone, it's the sixth week of this our youngest feature. Without further ado, let me introduce this week's question;

What does outreach mean to you, what have your experiences with the idea of outreach been, and do you have any plans involving outreach yourself?

For anyone reading the thread who is unfamiliar with the term, the general concept of outreach is the providing of services to those who would be otherwise unlikely to receive them. In the context of academia, it's generally expressed in the improvement of publicly accessible content involving those subjects.

The intent of the question is to focus on outreach as involving the subjects focusing study of the human past. But if you have experience with outreach in a different area, and feel that your answer to the question would be helpful to those studying the human past, by all means feel free to contribute.

There is one important caveat with this question, which is that posts should be discursive. There's nothing wrong with utilising materials or resources you've produced as examples with outreach in your responses, so long as you have also taken the time to contribute to the general discussion as well.

This is the link to upcoming questions, and next week's topic will be thus; How do you determine the quality of a work focusing on history, and how do you critically read secondary sources?

1 Answers 2014-11-24

Why was chainmail so common in Europe and widespread from even the Roman times to the middle ages?

It seems that it is much harder to make, especially compared to lamellar or plate, but yet was far more common? If my premise is wrong, please explain why. Thanks

1 Answers 2014-11-24

Exam WW1 and French Estates

1 Answers 2014-11-24

are there any trade relation between Indonesia and japan during sengoku era

I just play shogun total war 2 and it show that we can have trade with Indonesia. how true is that?

1 Answers 2014-11-24

What caused the downfall of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?

1 Answers 2014-11-24

When did branded liquors and alcohol appear, and what was production like prior to this?

I've been searching via Google's ngram viewer for some alcohol-related terms, and find that cocktails date to the 1930s/1940s and many popular drink brands emerged in the 1950s-1970s or even later.

When did large brand-name liquor companies emerge as we know them, what drove this, and how was liquor produced, marketed, and consumed prior to prohibition. Mostly concerning the U.S., though other nations might also be of interest.

2 Answers 2014-11-24

Recommend some books to me!

Having recently finished a several year long binge of Fantasy and Science Fiction Books I think I'm prepared to sink my teeth into something with some significance. I'm looking for some books on various topics that are written in an approachable and entertaining manner. I think of Dan Carlin's style of narrative explanation, or that of Bill Bryson, or Charles C. Mann whose 1492 I found fascinating! I listen to Audiobooks on my way to and from work (and sometimes at work) more often than I read anymore but I'm open to either.

Topics I'm interested in

European History

  • Prussian History
  • English Monarchy/Nobility
  • Creation of Nations
  • Wars of Religion
  • Age of Sails
  • Age of Enlightenment
  • Czarist Russia

World War I

  • Lead up
  • Broad View Narrative
  • European-centric narrative view

Cold War

  • Espionage
  • Diplomacy
  • Communism
  • Life in a Soviet State

Pre-History

  • Foundation of Civilization
  • Spread of Humanity
  • Development of Religion
  • Development of Weapons

American History

  • Colonization
  • Revolution
  • Founding Fathers
  • Native History

Biography/Autobiography

  • Mozart
  • Friedrich the Great
  • Queen Elizabeth
  • Catherine the Great
  • Peter the Great
  • Louis XIV
  • Thomas Jefferson
  • Benjamin Franklin

1 Answers 2014-11-24

Can someone help tell me more about this knife I have inherited?

http://imgur.com/a/PqAmf

My grandfather was in WWII and brought this dagger back from the Kashmir region. It mentions on the scabbard that it was from the "Irvin Cartledge expedition into Northwest India". Searches about the expedition or the "masud indian dagger" part have brought up nothing. r/whatisthis? has told me it's a version of a Pesh-kabz. After that I know nothing. Can anyone tell me more. was it specific to a region? a tribe? who carried these things? does it have a significance? Anything about the expedition or where I could dig up more information about expeditions in the area?

1 Answers 2014-11-24

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