Today the Americas are a huge part of the global community, but was there any way for people in Europe to know that the 'discovery' (or rather rediscovery) of the New World would result in?

Would there have been an "holy shit" moment when people discovered there was land over the Atlantic, or was it a more gradual realisation of how substantial the discovery was?

EDIT: I forgot to add, by "impact" I meant more "immediate impact" rather than long term; we all know that the New World eventually had a substantial impact in many ways on Europe of course. :P But how eventful was it to European societies in the short term? Was it something akin to finding life on another planet?

I thought I came across this idea once, but I can't find the source. It was something about being outdoors that seemed good to them. It's amazing that something so horrific now (gas masks and trenches) was a preferable way to live to the coal mining.

Why were people happy to sign up for war? Did they really think it would be ok and be over quick?

I'm listening to Dan Carlan's 3-part series on the Great War and he's talking about how, pursuant to their Schlieffen Plan, Germany got held up by the Belgian forts and, later, by French forts (contrary to the Plan) in the opening months of the war. Why wouldn't the Germans just bypass the forts and attack Paris? The goal was to end the war extremely quickly.

Hello /r/AskHistorians, I hope my first question to this wonderful subreddit passes muster.

I have just begun to read How Jesus Became God by historian of early Christianity Bart Ehrman, and have been interested (and amused) by his discussion of ancient authors such as the satirist Lucian (c. 125 CE - 180 CE)

How were authors/thinkers/etc. such as Lucian "published" in the ancient Mediterranean world, and was there a significant "readership" for such works either locally or beyond?

To expand on this question, were Romans like Lucian (who apparently described himself as "Assyrian" and wrote in a dialect of Greek) ever translated into other languages such as Latin in their own day?

Thank you!

Does it deserve credit for opening "a new perspective" on world history, at least for the general public? Have more recent discoveries about specific epidemics supported or undercut any of his arguments?

So I am about to get my AA degree I plan to transfer to a bigger school to get my 4 year degree. However I have no clue what career path I want to go for! The only subject I ever enjoyed in school was History. When it comes to History I can read and write about it all day. I actually shadowed a History teacher in high school and l saw that path was not for me. After some research into what realistic careers are out there I see a lot require me attaining a grad degree as well. I don't plan on getting one for several reasons so I wanted to know what are my options if any?

I've tried to research this myself but either the internet does a terrible job at explaining it or I can't read history. I want to know what the beliefs of both sides were. The Shi-shi's motto was "Revere the Emperor, Expel the Barbarians" but at the end of the war, the new government seemed to embrace western culture. What happened? I hope this question isn't confusing, I just really want an answer. x.x

Roman numerals are fine when you want an impressive looking date stamped on to something, but I can't figure out how Romans got to be so good at engineering, as well as census and tax records, when their number system was so ungainly, and not at all easily lent to doing calculations. Then add in the fact that they had no 0, which would prohibit any serious mathematical development.

The Kingdom of Sweden had colonial holdings outside of Europe, including in Africa, North America and the Caribbean, but they were fairly small and relatively short-lived. What, if anything, remains of this Empire today? Are there any Swedish-speaking areas/islands left from this time?

I've heard a few musings on the internet about Poland having democratic values that inspired America's founding fathers. Is this true? Are there any sort of democratic leanings in Polish history that could've inspired the founding fathers?

I've been watching Ken Burns' The Civil War, and the impressions that I get is somewhat mixed. On one hand you'll get a historian saying "the Union fought with one hand behind its back" and later historians saying that Lincoln was in danger of losing to the peace faction in the 1864 election. What gives?

As a followup, did McClellan have any intention of negotiating a peace in the event of his electoral victory?

I frequently see in debates or arguments regarding the Separation of Church and State that it was meant to keep the State out of the Church, but not vice versa (because the founding fathers were Christian and intended this to be a Christian nation - both points which I know to be false, but that hardly matters to the issuant of the argument).

To be clear, I'm not looking to debate the specific point of Separation of Church and State; I am seeking to learn information about the nature of the entwinement of church and state that would have led the U.S. Founding Fathers to favor a separation. My question is generated from a debate point, but I am not trying to engage in that debate here. Sources or further reading would also be appreciated.

I read through the rules, and whilst book requests aren't explicitly proscribed, if there is a more apt subreddit to pose this question in/to, I'll happily move it. I tried to avoid /r/books simply because I was looking for scholarly and substantive works, rather than laymen authored popular texts.

I'm seeking reasonably broad histories of technology starting with ancient era technologies and finishing with contemporary technologies; ideally, things like the smelting of metals and the creation of machinery.

It's poorly conveyed as an idea, and I realise I'm asking for something enormously broad, but I'm hoping it's general enough to offer scope for recommendations. A set of texts, perhaps individually dealing with ancient technologies, the Industrial Revolution technologies and contemporary technologies would be fantastic, I don't need a single cohesive volume.

I understand that a big reason for the Thirteen Colonies' high English-American population was that many of the colonies were established to house religious dissidents during the 1600s, but what about mercantilism-oriented colonies such as Virginia? I understand that a mass of Cavaliers fled to the colonies after the English Civil War, but they only numbered about 40,000 in Virginia. Virginia's population at the time of the first census in 1790 was 691,737, with the majority being free whites. Did Virginia and the other colonies' populations really multiply up to 20 times between 1660 and 1790 due only to breeding?

I think this is an extremely important question, as the colonies' large white population is a key feature that set the United States apart from other states born out of colonial rebellion. I want to know where that large population came from.

Little to no texts were found documenting anything that happened during this period (as far as I know). I only took an intro level history course so I don't know much, however I'm still very much interested to hear the various hypotheses about this age.

[Edit thanks to EyeStache ]

The date range in question is 1200BCE to 800BCE. In class we've focused mainly on the blackout of information in Ancient Greece during this period. Greeks were known for writing down day to day events, but apparently around this time, there were frightened texts from scholars and scribes about the importance of tightening security on their borders, right before the blackout of information occurred. There are many hypotheses about what happened during that time so I was hoping to ask you all what you guys and gals think!

Did manifest destiny in anyway cause the nullification crisis and struggle to determine the amount of power a state has?