Has there always been a culture of drug use by the military throughout history? I realize my question is quite vague and has been asked before but i would like to here more, if anyone has time.

I can understand the reasons that too current of events might be viewed with harsh bias, but why cap it at 20 years? Who's to say it shouldn't be less or more years until a topic could be reviewed here? Is this a common historian rule or just one set up in this subreddit?

Once again, not complaining, just curious.

Basically self explanatory. What were the main risks, and above all, how dangerous was life for an artilleryman on the western front (in comparison to the infantry in a given sector I suppose). I get the impression that artillery was something of an easy posting, but at the same time it seems that they were exposed to a lot of the risk, and were aware of what was going on ahead of them... Would that be accurate more or less?

In many fictional portrayals of ancient war, there is a trope of two armies facing each other and waiting while each sends forward a champion to fight a duel. Did this ever happen in real life, or is it an invention of fiction? If it did happen, why did it happen? What could a general possibly hope to gain by consenting to a duel of champions?

Headlines this week said that Spain and Germany's sovereign bond interest rates are now so low, that they broke records set 200 years ago. My question is, why did the economic/political climate back then, cause rates to be extremely low? And what changed subsequently, that caused rates to revert to more normal levels?

I hope this wasn't asked before. If so, I am sorry, but I didn't really know what to search for

My question:

As far as I understand, there were much older cultures than for example the British, Spanish or French. But at some point (around the rediscovery of America by European adventurers) European cultures had developed strong advantages over the native Americans, Africans and Asians (for example the Chinese).

How exactly was it possible that relatively young cultures could be so far advanced? As far as my knowledge goes, Africa was ground zero for humanity. Why didn't they discover for example gunpowder or advanced military tactics? How come, Europeans stood mostly against armies with bows and spears? Was it only because Europe was such a small continent with so many warring factions?

Africans, Asians, Americans were certainly not dumber than Europeans, so why did they stop their military development?

I'm curious about survivor accounts as well as effects on cultural tradition.

The average lifespan in 0 AD was something ridiculous like 35 because of infant mortality. Let's say that I'm a healthy person who can afford the best medical care Rome had to offer. Could I come close to living as long as people do today? Would getting past 90 even be possible?

Hello, I just discovered this sub and I have to prepare an essay of about 700 words for school. As the title says the question is "How succesfully did China respond to the crisis of communism in the 80's?". What do you think I should mention? My teacher said we should explore the economical, political and social aspects. Any tips you can give me? Any kind of help will be appreciated!