What or where was the first major, organized city throughout history? And why was it the first?

It's common knowledge that people escaped from East Germany to West Germany. But did it ever occur the other way around?

I'm not being thick or anything, I know that West Germany was a more progressive, open and democratic society. But people "escape" western democracies today to more authoritarian countries in hope for another life. So that why I'm curious if anyone did the same back then, and for what reason it might've been?

In other words, were they just a typical Kingdom (despite the election status) that didn't transitioned to a centralized State that most European Kingdoms did, or did they go into the opposite direction, becoming more descentralized with time?

I haven't seen this posed and was curious. Seems the Soviet Union was throughout the Balkans, etc., so what happened with Greece? Were they there and I'm just missing it? If not, how did they manage to avoid Soviet involvement?

It seems that in the 20 century there were hotels where people lived long-term. For example, E.M. Remarque's heroes, poor, many of them immigrants, are living in hotels (not at all fancy, mind you) in post-WWII Europe. The more well-off also did, Chelsea Hotel comes to mind here, and I also know Nabokov lived in hotels in the 1960s. Maybe the rich still do live in hotels, I wouldn't know. My question is, what was the timeframe when the poor lived in hotels in Europe and when and how did they stop? I would think it could be related to cheap housing being built or something.. Ideally I would love to read a book on history of hotels, any reccomendations? Thanks!!

I was reading the book "Plain tales from the Raj" about British India, and it mentioned that at the time, an officer in the British army had to have about a hundred pounds a year of private income to supplement his official income, as the expenses were larger than the pay. This seems rather strange, as why would people wish to serve in the army then? Could anyone shed some light on this? Also, when this did stop being the case? (assuming it is not the case any longer)

I know it means cow's head, but why did he have that for a name? Was it a translation from an Indian name or something? I've never encountered another Spanish name like it, so where did it come from?

I know FDR was not known for pushing hard on racial progress, but did his programs afford blacks the same opportunities as whites?

What year was the Quran Completed?

The highest estimates I've been able to find are about 12-14 meters for the Theodosian Walls in Constantinople, tied with a couple other places in China and India. Maybe fantasy and artistic license have led me astray, but that seems a bit on the small side to be the largest of all time.

Are there any extant or demolished fortifications from before about 1815 that were higher? Towers and keeps not withstanding, I'm mostly interested in the height of the outer defensive walls.

What's up, I'm at an [8] and I'm having trouble figuring out this West and East Germany thing. Who owned W Germany? Who owned E Germany? Why did E Germany not want people escaping to W Germany? I was just watching escape videos on YouTube. What's the deal guys?

Locke, Hobbes, Voltaire, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the list goes on and on. The only non-European I can think of off the top of my head is Sun Tzu.

I know that the Nazis only allowed film, art and literature that depicted appropriate themes like family, hard work, the state, and the glory of the Aryan race. These themes don't really seem to work with the comedy medium. My question is, what was comedy - if it even existed - like in Nazi Germany?

I'm trying to get a picture of how it was truly like. In modern times, sacrifice in the Mayan world is usually depicted as something beyond terrifying (piles of bodies, hearts ripped out of the chest, etc).

What I want to know though, is how was it truly like? (to the best of our knowledge). Would there actually be long lines of people waiting to be sacrificed? How often would these sacrifices take place (like, would the average Mayan be aware of them?)? How does the bloodiness of these sacrifices compare to those of other Mesoamerican civilizations? (I'm under the impression that the Aztec sacrifices were the bloodiest) What prisoners of war the most common type of people sacrificed?

Thanks in advance to anybody who can answer this! My memory of the Mayans is fuzzy, and it'd be totally awesome to get some clarification. :)

In particular for sea travel, at least coastal.

I wondered if there were people that were atheists that used to try to challenge the system and maybe mocked people that believed in Zues, Ra or any of the other gods of those time periods. And if they did, what kind of things would they say?

I was always taught that corn was a new world product - maize being the main crop of the Aztecs, among all Indian tribes - but today I was reading Mythology by Hamilton and it made mention to Demeter being the god of the corn. So what's the deal?