The class don't seem to have had much action and as far as i can tell, were seen at the time as being less effective than the RN's other battleships. So why retain ships with such limited use when the RN could have used the manpower elsewhere?

I'm sure like most people here I grew up being taught and educated on the evils of imperialism, of all colours and nations, and I have just finished reading Michael Wood's 'Conquistadors', which goes into some detail about the heart breaking travesties and cruelties inflicted upon the native people by the Spanish conquerors. After that I've just moved onto Paul Lay's "Providence Lost", about Cromwell's Protectorate. I didn't expect to encounter any overlap but early in chapter two he mentions,

"In Madrid, Buckingham had been told by a Spanish bureaucrat, 'Don Fennyn', of an Indian legend, which predicted, 'that there shall come a nation unto them, with flaxen hair, white complexion, grey eyes, that shall govern them'."

Which first piqued my curiosity because thanks to this subreddit I had learned that the idea that the whites were seen as gods was itself a myth. While it's not outright calling the Spaniards gods in that quote it is supposedly a Spaniard telling an Englishman about a native (I'm guessing applied with a broad brush by the teller to apply to all 'Indians') myth that a strange foreign people will come, described as white in appearance, and then rule them. Similar to the idea of Quetzalcoatl returning, I think. This comes from the Clarendon State Papers (Vol1. P.14) but I can't read them to get a fuller idea of the context, and reliability of this 'Don Fennyn', about whom I've been able to find nothing else online.

Paul Lay then goes on to say,
"They were the heirs of 'Don Francisco Draco' - Francis Drake - who along with Raleigh had nurtured the Hispanophobic 'Black Legend' of Spanish cruelty and exploitation in the New World."

​

It was difficult for me to come to terms with the fact that most of what we know of pre-Columbian civilisations comes written decades or centuries after the conquest, because the conquerors destroyed so much, so greedily, so is peppered with insights from the authors time that make it appear that the native civilisations expected to be conquered, but can it possibly be true that the reports of cruelty and genocide are an exaggerated myth? It sounds like a modern Spanish attempt to erase crimes and whitewash history.

What is the view of historians here?

In movies (which I know are not a good source) I see the anti air shells exploding at random heights in the air. How did the shells know when do detonate or did they have a pre set fuse.

Thank you. Hope it's not a stupid question.

So I am not Irish but I find it odd how de Valera became President after his side lost the Irish Civil War. To me it seems like the equivalent of Jeff Davis becoming President of the United States a few years after the end of the American Civil War. I would be grateful of someone who knows more about Irish history could explain it.

I figured that since Egypt was rather diverse for its time i would think i wouldn't be completely out of the realm of possibility

the closest I've got on this were Nubians however their made up of many different groups of people so it's hard to say one description says the Nubians where made of a red and black population

the notion of race didn't really seem prevalent or wasn't really a thing at during that time period

But overall I'm just wondering if was possible

Suppose you are a person living in one of the first agricultural societies, and you are the 10th generation from the people who originally settled.

Would you be aware that your ancestors were hunter-gatherers, or you would only know life as it is now - with farming and some basic society structure?

My layman intuition says that this was probably passed to other generations as some form of story telling or myths. I think that the study of archaeology is relatively recent.

I've heard that in the 1860s the US and UK independently developed revolving turrets for their ironclads.

Namely Coles for the UK and Ericsson for the US, Since both of them outwardly look very similar are there any difference?

I don't mean wealthy people keeping exotic pets, but like having specific laws to protect specific animals and their habitats.

The development of nuclear weapons obviously changed the world, but what triggered their development? I'm aware that the Manhattan Project eventually produced the first bomb, but what initial discoveries showed physicists that a bomb was even possible? Who was involved and what motivated them?

I've seen the 2001 film 'Conspiracy' which dramatizes this meeting, and I have some questions regarding it:

I. Why does any record of this meeting exist? In film itself Eichmann mentions how secretive the meeting was, so why would they ever record it in the first place, and why weren't these records destroyed when the nazis were trying to cover up their crimes?

II. Why wasn't Heinrich Himmler at the meeting? I've often heard Himmler described as one of the architects of the Final Solution, and given his position at the head of the SS his presence seems like something that would be important when working out the logistics of murdering German's Jews.

III. Someone in the film says that prior to this meeting they had executed 30,000 jews, and suspect they still have another 20,000 to shoot. In this case, why was this meeting needed if Germans were already executing Jews in such high numbers?

Hi again folks! In my last post I asked about the different levels of study. Now I’m going to ask for direct advice for myself.

Having completed a good amount of study and reading, I was left with a bit of a problem. My reading was a bit reliant on western historiography I’m so much as it was based on Euro-American History, and particularly early modern to modern history. Roughly from the American Revolution to the Rise of Hitler.

I am not knocking these topics! However in order to enhance my experience and improve my knowledge I am trying to expand my skills. So, how do I approach the rest of the world’s history, and the history of further back’s cultures?

I am very tempted to just start reading and hope for the best! However I have a sneaky suspicion that for one example I should be hunting primary texts. How does one go about this, in terms of translatable texts? And, as applies to methodologies, how should I interact with different older societies?

Basically any treaty that discusses establishing better relations, friendship and cooperation, or peace. Or perhaps even an agreement to agree to meet and discuss an issue further. I would like to read these types of agreements and treaties.

I’m curious about how they’re written and drafted.

After Clovis, the Frankish Kingdom was divided, so you would think that whichever Frankish king was in charge of the Rhone valley would be too preoccupied with fighting his brothers in other parts of Francia to invade Italy. Yet, while the Gothic wars were raging, the Franks sent large armies to Italy on multiple occasions. They weren't even allying with the Goths or the Romans, they were just there to conquer and fight and plunder both sides. What was the situation in Francia that allowed them to pull that off?

I've read about Hitler's WW1 service and they all mention him being a brave soldier and that he even earned the Iron Cross First Class. But one story that I hear is one where he managed to capture a couple of French soldiers (which is why he got the Iron Cross First Class). But in one particular source it states that it was a lie. If it's not true, what is the origin behind it and how did he actually get an Iron Cross First Class?

I need more informations about it, your trades, possible coins, details and others specificities.

​

Sorry for my bad english :D

Hello Historians. I admire this sub and the work you do for free on it.

My question is:

Is there a book (or academic article) that surveys the great empires in world history (e.g., British, Russian, Spanish, French, Japan, Ottoman, Roman, Austria-Hungary, Qing, etc.)? I am comfortable reading books aimed for technical readers. I am looking for a rigorous informative treatment, not entertainment.

Unnecessary background: I am motivated to educate myself about the great empires in history because of how Euro-Centric and US-centric the last hundred plus years have been. I know that world powers change over time but my education is lacking regarding it. I want to understand how each "nation" lived at the peak of their powers. In a broader sense, I also want to hear about how the world was different when different peoples ruled.