I know that Japan was one of the allies in WW1, but I never hear exactly what happened out there. Did anything of importance happen?

When a volcanoe erupted, I'd assume ancient people freaked the hell out. A mountain was exploding and fire water was flowing out of it! Did they see it as a work of Gods? Did they then assume that any mountain could start exploding out of no where? Or did they have some sort of approximate knowledge on how volcanoes worked? If I didn't know what a volcanoe was and I saw one erupting, I would be scared of mountains forever.

I'm working on a novel that is set in the early era of firearms and I'm looking for some inspiration.

Can anyone tell me a bit about, for instance, journalism during wars in the 18th and 19th century, or point me to some books that might be a good starting point for reading about it? Most of my mental images of journalists tend to be of the early 20th century, and I'm wondering if there was such a thing as an embedded correspondent, or if most of the reporting was handled by governments and propagandists.

Historical semantics like this always annoy me. By a strict definition of "revolution" it seems incorrect. There was no widespread social change as happened in France, and the political elite didn't change. The people in power in the States merely decided to leave the British empire, and won a war to legitimize the decision.

I appreciate that labels such as "classical music" might not be accurate from the perspective of historians, but I am using the label from the perspective of a common person (not a musician or music historian), who might hear that sort of music and refer to it as classical (or similar label). Ditto for opera and jazz.

I know that there are many active landmines leftover from armed conflicts that harm civilians in many places around the world but I really haven't heard much about naval mines still floating around the seas.

I was wondering if Judaism (particularly Abraham) had any historical weight behind it or just scripture and myth. Some things are obviously fabricated (like his age) but some things seem like they may have validity like, his migration from the city Ur and his tribe settling in Canaan. Keep in mind I am not looking for any religious reference unless it is compared or supported by actual empirical evidence. I am not religious and am not looking to be, just curious.

And what was special about "Monterey Purple?" For someone so important and interesting, Bear is discussed very, very little... (Jack Parsons, too.)

The Wikipedia article on the Siege of Tuyen Quang contains the following:

"...the Chinese sapped relentlessly towards the French perimeter wall. If they could mine the walls and collapse sections of the defence [sic] perimeter, they could bring their superior numbers to bear by assaulting the French through open breaches.... Both the French and the Chinese feverishly dug galleries and counter-galleries.... On the evening of 12 February the first Chinese mine was exploded beneath the perimeter wall, but its effect was weakened by the counter-galleries..." (emphasis added)

What are counter-galleries, and how would they limit a mine's effectiveness?

I just received Reddit gold today and under that message was the following Did-You-Know:

Did you know: The word "gold" derives from the Old English word "gelo", which means "yellow".

I find this a bit odd since in Dutch "geld" stands for money. Also, the word "geel" stands for the color yellow, but that's Dutch and not Old English is it?

I read in the book '' the town that died'' somewhere that a ship dident have to worry about u-boats because it was a Belgian relief boat, but i havent been able to find anything about this. any help?

Hello there, I was wondering about when the stone age and hunting and gathering ended in the Middle East. I know that Mesopotamia was the first civilization in the world. When did other civilizations begin the middle east? Where there many neolithic cultures in the middle east that are not considered civilized? I know that in Anatolia there was Catal Huyuk and other cultures that were permanent but not considered "civilization".

What were the first Mesolithic cultures of the Middle East/Near East?

Can you recommend any books/studies on the preshistoric middle east?

Also, was there a Zealand?

Did they intend to exterminate them and replace them with settlers (as German planned for Russia)? Incorporate them into the empire? Was there even a consensus?

Also, are there any reported numbers of half-Japanese half-American children being born in Japanese brothels?

Did Japan's brothel system result in fewer attacks against non-prostitutes?

I understand that they are contractions of "Japanese" and "Nipponese". Why are they deemed offensive?

"Krauts" and "Ruskies" are others, but I don't think Germans or Russians would take much offence to those words (perhaps I'm wrong).