I'm preparing to write an essay on the Russo-Japanese War. Which secondary works would any historians of the period consider to be vital?

Nowadays it takes about 5-15 years for a piece of clothing to become noticeably dated.

Were people in 1780 saying: "Monsieur, that frill is so 1770s"?

Were there fads in the 1300s that lasted only a couple of years?

Did people in ancient Rome wear the exact same type of toga for hundreds of years or were there differences in styles/fashion?

I just ran into a guy who claimed to be a paratrooper (or commando) from Belgium who fought, and was captured, in Algeria at the end of hostilities during the Algerian war of Independence. I'd never heard of Belgian involvement in this conflict and was wondering if anyone had any more information.

Just in a museum right now and that question hit me.

I know that syphilis was new to europeans, but that can only be transmitted sexually. Were there any new super dangerous diseases that europeans could have been exposed to when colonizing the Americas? Similar to the effects of smallpox to the indigenous?

It is understood that the PKK seeks independence from Turkey as a result of perceived injustices committed against the Kurdish people by the Turkish Government, what do we know about how the Kurdish people were oppressed leading up to the conflict in the 80s and 90s?

It is often repeated that the PKK targeted civilians in this conflict, resulting in them being labelled a terrorist organization, but Turkey's actions in this conflict are also often criticized. What sorts of abuses did the PKK and the Turkish government commit during this conflict? Did the Turkish government ever target civilians?

This may be outside the scope of this sub, but here goes: How has the treatment of Kurds in Turkey changed since the conflict, and how has this affected the behaviour of the PKK when interacting with the Turkish government, and with Kurdish civilians?

I'm sorry for asking so many broad questions, but I want to know as much as I can about the situation, as I fear I may be biased in favour of the PKK for ideological reasons. It also isn't that easy to find good sources on google what with all the recent happenings obscuring search results.

I recently discovered microhistory and have been wondering about this topic for quite a while so I hoped there would be books or other stuff about them.

I am both Half Mexican and half Native American and one of my favorite points in history is the 50's with the culture, but i rarely know what life was like for Native Americans and Mexicans.

This is mostly aimed after the 1261 recapture of Constantinople. Im interested to know if the Byzantine Emperors, people, and officials viewed their fall, and how they reacted to it.

Edit: Hello all, I didn't expect this to get as many upvotes as it did, so I thank you all a ton. However, the question, I believe has been misinterpreted. I am not asking how it fell, I am asking how the Byzantine people, especially the actual Emperors viewed it, and if they did take note of their own decline, if there is any evidence of a strong effort to reverse the fates. Again, thanks, and hopefully we can all get an answer!

Was it likes waves of conversion to Christianity and Islam in small time frames or a gradual linear process? During the Muslim conquests were there more Christians or Jews? Were Christians, Jews, or other groups more liked to convert to Islam? When was each religion dominant? What about immigration, did a lot of Muslims immigrate there? When and from where?

Did the economic downturn of the Depression lead to some sort of moral panic?

I've heard somewhere that the British got their accents to distinguish themselves from the Brits who came to America or the immigrants. Is this true, or did they already have the accent?

The seem to be in England, France, Spain, and Italy. I just noticed that they always pop up in the Tudors, Bordias, Reign, etc. (I know these aren't historically accurate at all).

How about marking them as "questionable validity" -- "No source" -- "did not answer question"

I would rather see the comment, with a mark and judge for myself, than watch 3 comments and 50 deleted comments in a thread with 800 upvotes.