Who, exactly, declared the first year, AD and who agreed to it? Wat did they use before Christ supposedly died?

Between the 19th and early 20th C how popular was it to identify as a Yugoslav rather than Serb, Croat, Bosnian, Dalmatian etc? Was it a well known or understood idea outside of the politically active or intellectual circles?

If so why was it so one sided?

I think it has been established that it's not a complete work of fiction. The people in it did actually exist and so forth. So to what extent is it fact? What degree of accuracy is in the persons/dates/events/timelines etc?

Bear with me. In the tv show "Vikings", which I know is rife with historical inaccuracies, there is a scene where Egbert of Wessex is discussing the Roman Empire and Roman Gods with one of the show's other characters, a monk who has travelled around Europe.

Egbert was exiled to Francia in the late 8th century, before his reign, where he spent time with Charlemagne (according to the show). The monk too spent time in Francia and saw Charlemagne's court.

In the show Egbert is frequently seen relaxing in a Roman bath, and his palace is adorned with Roman statues and murals depicting scenes from Roman mythology. During the conversation in question - Egbert discusses the ignorance of the majority of the local population in England to who put the murals there, and the statues and to whom the roman ruins belonged to / who they were built by. Egbert claims, in anectodal fashion, that the masses think "a race of giants" ruled the land some time ago, and that they credit these works to them.

To what extent is this an accurate portrayal of public perception in England at the time? Would the effect of Christianity have been so strong in 9th century England that any person studying Roman / pagan gods with too much zeal would have been branded a heretic? Would the common resident, albeit the educated one, not a peasant, have any knowledge of the Roman Empire? Would they make the connection between the Emperor Charlemagne, the use of Latin by priests, and the historical and cultural artifacts left by the Roman presence in England? Is the show simplifying public perception? Is it exagerrating the power of Christianity at the time?

I had a look at some of the threads on relevant topics, but didn't find anything that answers this question. The Life of Brian question on the front page touches upon this same issue, but nobody addresses England in the responses, nor do they address the public's understanding of Roman mythology or any knowledge of the history of the Roman Empire.

After visiting a number of world war one battlefields it struck me these monuments where built before world war two and thus where under German control for a couple of years. So, how did the German occupation react to monuments like The Douaumont ossuary, Menin Gate, American monument at Montflaucon and others?

Were they as anti-semitic as the Germans?

Additional question: What are the historical roots of origin of South Indians, who seem ethnically distinct from the North Indians?

I am curious to what extent a peasant during the medieval ages might be informed of what was going on in the wider world around him. Obviously they would probably know when the King died (or their local lord) and perhaps when war was declared, but would they be informed of any other political news the aristocracy would be aware of? Tensions among other countries, scandals and the like?

How was information generally delivered to peasants? Was it mainly through word of mouth or was there a specific system in place to inform them about what was going on or anything like 'The News' as we refer to it today?

I'm not even quite sure if this happened, but in the back of my mind i feel as if i read this somewhere. When i think about it the number of over 50,000 men comes to mind. 50,000 men lost in a single attack on German front lines. Can you guy's help me out or am i just making this up in my head?

I remember hearing somewhere that they saw it as more of a lucrative move rather than one based on principal