Every so often, I read that when Alabama insurance companies refused to insure cars involved in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Lloyd's of London filled the gap. (Fun fact: Lloyd's has also been known to insure celebrity body parts.) A quick search doesn't say much more on the topic, though I did find a brief mention specifying that the cars of Christian churches were insured.

Can anyone give more insight into the situation? Given that Lloyd's wants to make money, did they charge inflated rates due to the lack of competition and likelihood of violence? Or was there a socially conscientious underwriter? Number of cars involved, total policy worth, any actual payouts?

Last night I was watching Kagemusha by Akira Kirosawa (great film, a must watch), and strangely became curious about the haircuts of the various daimyos, and their retainers. Each rank appeared to have a different hair style.

What started these various hairstyles and what were their meanings?

Hello, everyone. I know this isn't a historical question but I do know this subreddit is a very good resource. I am undertaking an independent study on the entirety of Japanese history from the Heian Period to Modern day. The professor has given me free reign on the books and text to use for the course. I was just wondering if any of you students or professors have a good textbook recommendation that provides a general but concrete analysis of Japan's whole history. Thanks!

Ive heard the claim many times that alcohol was safer to drink than water in old societies. But boiling water seems so obvious, im curious as to why this procedure wasn't ever discovered.

I was reading about Fabian strategy and it mentioned something about interior lines and I did a quick google search which yielded a wiki article with no pictures, and the image search produced several diagrams that either I don't get, or don't explain what the symbols within the diagram mean. Is there a simplistic way I can understand what each movement or formation is made for? What sort of advantage is it supposed to bring to those who execute this military maneuver?

Hitler is going to be infamous for things he did for many many years but I want to know who the previous world renown "bad guy" (literally Hitler).

I know it seems a bit silly but I truly am very curious.

Are Pliny the Younger's actual, handwritten words, sitting in a museum somewhere? Or do we just have copies?

What works would you recommend?

At some point in anglo history school for children seems not to have been universal: e.g., John Stuart Mill in the 19th century seems not to have gone to school as such (source:John Stuart Mill: A Biography) and Benjamin Franklin in the 18th century is widely cited as only having a few years of schooling (source: Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin). I also gather that there was much discussion of the pros and cons of schooling in the 18th and 19th century, that compulsory no-cost school started sometime in the mid-19th century in the US, and become universal by the early 20th century. This discussion seems to be much quieter now, with just a handful of people more or less on the fringes questioning our basic approach to schooling children (e.g., A.S. Neill, Peter Gray, John Holt).

So my question is how, why, when, and by whose ideas did we arrive at the near-universal consensus that schooling is good, and details of same (e.g. age segregation, desks, summer break, start and end ages, etc).

Also looking for any good, well-cited books or other works that summarize this history.

-EDIT: simplified question. Focus is on 18th, 19th, and early 20th century history (or earlier), and just schooling for children under age 18. Also title would more aptly read "schooling" rather than "education".

-EDIT 2: a description for people questioning our basic approach to schooling that is more objective than "more or less on the fringe" would be "small minority that inspire a strong reaction in many people ".

I'm sorry if this is a strange or incorrect question. I'm reading a Japanese novel about Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and I'm getting the impression that commoners didn't use last names in the Edo period.

By 117 AD The Roman Empire was like huge, like trans-continental. How did they conquer so much territory?

First post here in r/AskHistorians, so I'm sorry if I should of just Google this beforehand or if this has been mentioned.

Hello, r/askhistorians. I hope you can help me.

My husband's grandparents met in a German work camp. His grandfather was a French soldier and his grandmother was a farmer's daughter from the Ukraine. Both have passed on now, so we cannot ask them any questions.

Basically, I am helping my husband piece together his genealogy/family history. I am trying to find out what camp they were in. I am taking a guess--perhaps incorrectly--that they were likely in one of the ilags, of which I think there were four, but I am really not sure. It was not a "concentration" camp. I know the camp was in Germany.

I have tried to use online sources to try to figure this out, but it seems like most of them are run by Jewish historical entities, and focus very specifically on Jewish survivors.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a resource that has an account of non-Jewish survivors?

As far as I can tell, I can't seem to find any military records for my husband's grandfather. It appears as if you actually have to go to Paris to find that sort of stuff out!

I would very much appreciate any help you could give. Their story is really quite extraordinary, and very romantic, and it would be lovely to know a little more.

Would a musician born in Toledo, ca. 950, expect to travel back and forth between Arab, Frankish, Basque, and "Spanish" land?

I've just finished a 5 week class on Russian history/culture, and I'm confused about what exactly Ukraine is. The class focused more on the rulers of Russia, peasant life, culture, and European influences over time than territory and war, and the class ended at 1900.

So I was surprised to learn that Ukraine is made up of most of the Dniepr river and Kiev when, for a good part of "Russian" history, Russia is known as "Kievan Rus". It'd be like taking a class on early America only to learn that Boston and New York were in a different country in present day.

So I know there's a date Ukraine became independent, but my question is when did Ukraine become culturally separate from Russia such that there was an organized body to declare independence in the first place?

I was wondering about the evolution of movie showings/cinema. For example, what was the process of going to a movie in the 1910s, 1920s, 1930s, to the 1970s? For example, how much did it cost, how did you know if a movie was showing and at what time? What, during each decade, would you except to see, for example, in regards to short-subjects, serials, main features, news reels, and coming attractions? What were the main changes seen during each decade in how we watch a movie in the theater? And are there any websites I can go to to find this information without bothering everyone?

Since guns were a new thing for them, how would they treat any Native who was shot? Would the bullet remain? Or were they smart enough to remove the bullet?

If so, were there any European pockets of Turkic settlement in places they served?