I can imagine light cavalry being used as scouts to prevent being sneaked upon, but I wonder other roles they fulfilled - especially when storming a breached wall.

I am reading Blood Meridian and McCarthy makes a mention of the "possibles" or as I understand it the supplies that cowboys would carry with them on the trail. I am wondering what this would consist of? Any books or reference material that might help me in my search would be greatly appreciated.

If modern America was settled by people who wrote "3/6/xxxx" and it meant 3rd of June then at what point did those people decide that it meant 6th of March?

Was it the other way round? Did everywhere else switch but America never got the memo?

Anything at all would be helpful. Sources. Whatever you got.

Before the draft was abolished anyways.

Hiya, my name is Ross and I need to know how to write an art history thesis for my class. There is this term paper due by the end of December; I already have most of the research done and I know the topic I want to discuss (I had to choose an antique from the Menil exhibit, I chose a funerary mummy portrait from between 200-250 AD). Now i just need to figure out how to write a thesis.

I know that my thesis needs to be grounded in my research, so far the basic principle is," how did the conquest of Egypt by Rome effect the funerary traditions of the Egyptians." I was hoping to find funerary portraits dating beyond 300 AD(fall of Western Rome) but I'll settle for pieces before then and show how Egypt was then to how it was in 250 AD.

Before you ask me to ask my teacher, I tried that and he said that there were students in the past who asked the same and ended up almost copying the paper word for word. I can respect his skepticism, but it does make things a little more difficult, since the thesis is what separates a B from a C.

Anyway, no hurry or anything; just gives me more time to work on my paper and thank you for if not posting, then at least reading.

Or did Smedley Butler make it up?

I frequently come upon statements like "There were tens of thousands of cuneiform tablets recovered...." in references to the Hittites, Babylonians, Nineveh, etc.

Are these scanned/archived/translated someplace? It would be incredible (I imagine) to be able to read those writings.

So I just watched Pocahontas with my neice. Its easily the best disney film in terms of morals, all about looking after the world, not judging people, love and forgiveness etc.

It got me think how different the world would be if we hadn't done our best to exterminate the natives, or if we hadn't even traveled there until much later.

Then I got thinking again, why the hell were we so much more technologically advanced? What was it that split us apart in that sense? We are from the same ancient heritage, except the Europeans had giant ships, guns, metal armour and weapons, advanced building techniques etc etc. I know the natives technology is under estimated in history books with places in mexico having some seriously impressive farming and building techniques, but it seems nothing like what the Europeans were developing.

Why were we so advanced, and what would have happened if we didn't intercept their time line?

EDIT

"Come run the hidden pine trails of the forest, come taste the sun sweet berries of the earth, come roll in all the riches all around you, and for once never wonder what they're worth"

"You think the only people who are people, are people who look and think like you, but if you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew you never knew"

That is why its the best damned disney film ever

i´m curently watching the danish tv series "1864" the battle at Dybbøl mill, and would like to know how accurate it is. What was it like to live in europe in 1860´s - 70´s?.

I have read that most people expected a short and honourable war, but there must have been some domestic opposition to war from one country to the next. How did this opposition manifest itself? Were there any cross-border efforts to sow the seeds of peace before Armistice Day?

Edit: ^ ?

I know he was involved in excavations at Biblical sites in Palestine, but what exactly did he work on? Was he at all an influential figure? A rising star? Or just a run of the mill guy?

I know this is n broad question but what did the average Greek know about Plato vs. Aristotle. Or the average Roman about Augustine and his battles.

Before they could read the heiroglyphs, did historians know the names of Pharoahs, for example? Did they know the different dynasties? Had the concept of Old Kingdom / Middle Kingdom / New Kingdom been developed? And what non-heiroglyphic sources would they have drawn on?

Maybe Stalin would of pulled the trigger on starting a war with Germany, but not 2 years after signing the non aggresion pact (10 years). they needed that pact to build up their forces, as in 1939 they knew they were no match for the german war machine, espeacially after the purges. to me this is reinforced by the somewhat surprising performance against finland.

So basically i dont think stalin was ever seriously planning to attack, atleast not any time soon. you guys know more about history than me, theres some damn smart people here- professional and amateur historians alike- so what im hoping is someone can play devils advocate and try to argue the opposite, or provide some insight on this debate in general.

I know there was a large population of Jews in Alexandria (and possibly in Rome?). Are there any estimates of the total Jewish population then and where they all lived?

Some other related questions (not sure if these should be their own post):

How many of them were converts (or were most descendants of Judeans/Israelites)? Also, did they practice rabbinical Judaism or did they perform sacrifices and have a priesthood? If the latter, was it connected to the priesthood/temple in Jerusalem or were there other temples?

I assume that Nazi Germany treated it differently from the Allies, but I can also think of several other splits which would be interesting - Russia, Vichy/Occupied France, Italy. Was it celebrated the same way by each respective country each year of the war or did the celebrations change?