And on a side note, what other things influenced him to drop the bombs?

After watching 12 Years a Slave Last night my eyes were opened up to the true horrors of slavery. It's was easy for me to finally see how horrific slavery was through a visual depiction. My question is are there any accounts of slave owners who realized that slavery was wrong in every sense and freed their slaves/recanted their actions? If there are accounts of this happening, did those former slave owners speak out against slavery and actively try to change the ways of others?

Did they even have a theory as to what was happening? How were they able how to do the correct things like maintain cultures for cheese or yogurt making, and perfect processes like beer making, if they didn't actually know what was happening?

I have heard from a few sources that Germany was one of, if not the most powerful country in the world when it was unified. I have my doubts about this, but if anyone could shed light on the situation it would be greatly appreciated.

I'm curious to know if any significant nation (not say, a micro-nation in Polynesia) was able to get through the 1930's unscathed or even in better shape while the rest of the major economies like US, Canada, Europe suffered in either deep recessions or outright depression?

I would appreciate any hard data, GDP/GNP, unemployment, etc., if you know of it.

Thank you.

What fuel was used? Where did it come from? How much did the city require in summer? How much winter? How much did individual households keep on hand at any given moment?

In 1932, the Australian Minister of Defense agreed to the use of military machine guns against wild Emus (And the resulting war obviously didn't go very well for the Australians). Has any other country ever "declared war" on a wild animal?

I know the "Middle Ages" is a very broad amount of time so really any example from any time period is perfect, i'm just looking to get an idea

I was reading some interesting facts and one thing I learned is that women were treated equal in Soviet Union and due to no discrimination, they were allowed to fight on the front lines which boosted Russian numbers significantly. How did other male soldiers view this and treat them?

If you travel through Turkey, Middle East and much of northern India, you are mightily impressed by the Islamic art and architecture. You also hear about the famous poets and artists patronized by Islamic courts. Overall Islam has had a very rich and diverse artistic heritage and a tradition of court patronage to artists.

But if you look at the areas that are governed by Islamic Law (Shariya), those regimes frown upon art in any form, while quoting Koran.

How and when did this change in attitudes to art happen? And why? Also, is the reference to Koran real or just for political gain? If real, how did the Islamic courts patronage arts then, and if for political convenience, why do people buy into this today?

Please note that I am asking this in genuine curiosity, and do not intend to hurt anyone's religious beliefs.

Looking at the casualty figures for pretty much every land campaign in the Pacific is startling, and I am having a hard time accepting the strategic importance of many land targets. For example, Guadalcanal's air field was intended to hold about the same number of aircraft as a single Essex class American carrier -- around 100.

Was there any chance to win the war solely via bombing and naval blockade?

Hello,

Upon doing my daily scroll through Facebook, I noticed an interesting trend. In honor of Columbus Day, the fine denziens of social media have taken it upon themselves to celebrate by making a peculiar note of just how evil ol' Christoph Colombo was. Now I do understand there are negatives to the story of Columbus that must be addressed, but the way social media makes him out to be, you would think the man was a genocidal maniac that was clearly the 1490s version of Adolph Hitler. So I'm curious as to the validity of such claims found throughout social media of how awful Columbus was.

I imagine that they would stay largely indoors and have not much to do in terms of work if they were farmers and the like, or they would be busy tending to livestock as apposed to tending the fields.

I was reading a historical fiction book about the late 50s and 60s and an East German teenager was talking about listening to rock music on Radio America (think that what is was called). He was so enthralled that he escaped to West Germany to play guitar. Apparently they really did not like "If I Had A Hammer".

I was curious if this actually happened and if so, was it intentional or just a by-product of the two Germany's being so close.