I don't really know anything about this other than having read most of the Wikipedia on the lance, so maybe the premise of my question is incorrect.

So I'm watching a documentary about The Great Escape from Stalag Luft 3 and I was curious as to why Germans during WWII would even keep prisoners of war to begin with. In case the camps were liberated, wouldn't this mean more men fighting against Germans?

What was the point of keeping prisoners of war? It would just be a drain on resources to keep them alive. Was there a rule that prevented German soldiers from straight up killing Allies the moment they were encountered?

I figured that it would just be easier to kill your enemy rather than go through the procedure of making prisons and taking care of them, let alone deal with all the Geneva conventions that restricted mistreatment (I'm amazed that's even a thing).

I'm reading The Punic Wars by Adrian Goldsworthy, and he strongly suggests that consular Roman elections were not determined by a true majority of Roman citizens. This conflicts somewhat with my understanding garnered from Mike Duncan's The History of Rome. Perhaps my confusion is based on ambiguity about the number of Roman residents who were actually citizens.

So: Were consuls selected by a true majority of Roman citizens? Did wealth or influence somehow permit an influential citizen to directly "stuff the ballot boxes" by means apart from the well-established patronage system?

When Hannibal was leading his campaign against the Romans, how was it that the news of Romans launching a campaign near his home in North Africa traveled quickly enough back to him such that he had enough time to go back and engage them? What form of communication/transportation was used in that time period?

What system do people use to record music before the current musical notation system was developed? Do we know what some of the musics sound like 2000 or 5000 years ago? Is there any reproduction of such music I can listen to?

Thanks.

I am interested in knowing how they fared after the war.

It seems like Eastern and Western europe share more similarities than differences, and there seemed to be parity in their technology and culture for most of history. Why is western europe, now, so much more prosperous?

My French friend told me they were created because religion helped with promoting their ideas. Did it involve any form of religious services?

What are the reasons why Judaism (~14 million ethnic Jews + converts) is so disproportionately small in terms of world population numbers compared to Christianity (~2.2 billion) and Islam (~1.6 billion)?

My son and I were wondering when the concentric pattern of rings was developed and in reference to what. We have both traditional targets, along with more realistic targets and targets with other shapes, but the bullseye is ubiquitous.

What gives?

For some reason I'm fascinated by this nation's place during the war. Any primary sources, journals or books would be well appreciated.