I have recently been reading up on Venice and it struck me that one of the early problems that they had to overcome was the pirates and raiders of the Adriatic. Why did a trading empire not emerge in Southern Italy that din't have to deal with these problems and might also be able to engage any East-West Mediterranean trade?

From what I can gather, wallpaper was extremely popular sometime in the 20th century and ever since then we've been trying to steam it out of existence. It's extremely hard to remove and replace, and no easier to clean than paint (which you can just paint over), so why did it become so popular? Was there a wallpaper company trying to make it a staple of American life? Were there health concerns over lead paint? Why was wallpaper ever a thing in the 20th century?

If I'm mistaken about anything, please correct me. Thanks!

Might be a bit strange for me to ask that question because of my user flair, but I've been going through my books for hours now and can't seem to find the answer.

This is not about when Dönitz knew that Hitler was dead - I know both telegrams by Bormann and the message from Goebbels on May 1st. The question is when he knew that Hitler had died by suicide, because that is not part of the three aforementioned messages from Berlin.

Did he know it was suicide when he spoke to the german public later in the night of May 1st?

L.A. native here. I'm sitting here in 100-degree heat, in the middle of a severe drought, and I need to drive across town later, which will mean a 20-mile trip while never leaving the enormous urban sprawl of L.A.

How did this vast, arid patch of desert become the world's most important hub for media and entertainment?

There aren't really any Nazis anymore, aside from scattered groups of neonazi hate groups, which got me thinking. After the defeat of the Nazis in WW2, why did the Nazi party and Nazi ideology as a whole disappear?

I was thinking of this in context of recent radical groups in the middle east such as ISIS. The goal of defeating groups like this is to also defeat their entire ideology so that a new group doesn't just spring up when one is defeated.

So how was it done that Germany managed to rid itself of the whole notion of Nazism and become productive members of the global community once again?

And how did a culture governed by Confucian morals justify it and what purpose was it seen to serve?

How do historians determine what is their object of study? In other words, how do historians choose to study one phenomenon (i.e., the history of World War II) versus another (i.e., the history of Justin Bieber (sp?))?

For instance, i've heard quite a bit about the Greece/Middle East area before the Romans came into the picture, but almost nothing about the tribes living in the Gaul/Germany/Spain area until the Romans came into conflict with them

Many people have read or heard of "All is Quiet on the Western Front." Is there a similar famous work that provides the French perspective of the Great War? In addition are there any particularly noteworthy memoirs of French (or Allied) soldiers during WW1 that historians might recommend?

How did the Vatican and the Holy Roman Empire receive the news of the fall?

If anyone could help me out by explaining some things about King James I that would be amazing..

What would be the best way to describe who he was?

What was his most important achievement?

What are some of his successes and failures?

Generally, was he a like person or a hated person and why exactly?

How powerful was he?

Was there any family scandals that he was wrapped up in?

How was the economy when he was in power?

If anyone has any answers to these questions, I would be extremely grateful.

After civilization was "formed" by the Sumerians in 3500 BC, it took 2000 years for democracy to develop in Greece, then Rome.

What were the factors that lead the Greeks and Romans to develop democracy? What made them suddenly think of it?

Not sure if this is the place for this question if it isn't let me know I will delete this.

But I have some free time and want to do some more reading, I have always liked the idea of reading history books and thought maybe you guys can help me to find some to read.

I am not a scholar, I am not looking to write my thesis so please give me books that are interesting to read but don't need a history degree to understand.

I am open to any history/ biographies, I would prefer some sort of action/ roman history or something.

Canadian history would be sweet, although I am not sure if there is actually interesting Canadian history.

At what point in history did people decide to switch from growing and slaughtering their own food to paying somebody to cook for them? Has this concept always existed or did it become more prevalent after the emergence of farming? Did Ancient Greece have restaurants for example?

My great grandfather and my great great uncle were both dragoons in the Royal Canadian Dragoons. For the longest time I've tried to find whether they would have had light or heavy steeds. On this note, I'm wondering what the difference between light and heavy dragoons were, and if the idea of this differentiation was the same across the European nations.

Hi guys, I'm doing a report on African countries and was wondering could someone give me an explanation as to why the ivory coast is so poor? I've heard some people says it colonialism, other that I'd Multi-National corporations and some that its political regimes? Could someone explain to me the main causes or how all of these pieces fit unit the jigsaw?

Thanks, Tiptopgolfy