The only mention I can find of an enemy ship being sunk by a spar torpedo during the Civil War is by the submarine Hunley but spar torpedo were used before the Hunley in semi-submersible "torpedo boats".

Were there any successful (sinking) attacks by these early non-submarine torpedo boats before the Hunley?

Edit: The CSS Albemarle was sunk by a spar after the Hunley

So while watching some of the world cup games I got thinking about its history. We hear a lot of numbers about say, how long its been since England one a world cup. But when did the World Cup reach its modern form? Do World Cup wins 50 years ago really count?

I'm also looking for authors that have written books specifically about communication and the role communication methods had on society at their respective times. Specifically, I'm wondering if there is a book that covers such things as the Pony Express, the invention of the telegraph, the radio, the telephone, the internet and how the various introduction of new technologies affected previous technologies (how were older services forced to change? What driving forces eventually led to their demise?)

Are there any good authors that have written about the role of communication technology with respect to global society and how new advances helped to change society?

Here are some topics I'd like answered by a well-known author:

Is there a book that answers these questions?

• The role new communication technologies had in reshaping society.
• How new communication technologies changed economies both locally and globally.
• A breakdown of costs between sending a telegraph, calling someone and using short-wave radio around 1900.
• How new communication technologies were first utilized by the common man (were telegraph messages too expensive for the everyday man or were they utilized by all socio-economic classes).
• The role new communication technologies played in war, espionage and politics between nations.
• Which wars were first affected by new communication technologies. Did the telegraph play a big roll in the American Civil War? What was the best method of communication during the American Revolution? Which war was the first to embrace radio communication? Etc.

(If any of the regular contributors to this sub have any answers to the above questions, I'd love to hear your thoughts!)

i got curious and tried to look up these on Google but there is surprisingly little on anything other than chariot races.

Good morning all! This AMA may come as a surprise to you seeing as up until the beginning of last week, the soonest AMA on the schedule was the June 28th one featuring a lovely panel on WWI. /u/Daeres and I have both coordinated to host solo AMAs in the in-between to keep things nice and busy, so be on the lookout both for his sure to be amazing AMA on Pre-Islamic Arabia on the 23rd 20th, and, of course, the can't-get-here-soon-enough AMA on WWI mentioned previously!

Now, onto my favorite part: talking about me. I'm from the US and not a historian by training. Instead, I'm an Aerospace Engineering student who has been learning Mandarin (普通话 with 简体 mostly) for some years now and self-studies the early and middle bits of what I like to call "Dynastic China": essentially from the Qin (being the early part) to the end of the Yuan/beginning of Ming (the Yuan being the end of the "middle" part in my eyes). But, I especially tend to focus on the Tang dynasty which is regarded as one of the most prosperous times in Chinese history (and one that saw lots and lots of change!).

I will try to answer any question that comes this way, but I am also a big proponent of "knowing what you don't know". As unthinkable as it might seem, there ARE gaps, and I will do my best to negotiate these gaps. Most of this comes in the form of deep-down military history (details of tactics used in such-and-such battle or the history of some of the armaments and armor), so don't be afraid to ask about some of the early military reforms or about some of the guard structure in the cities! As some other prods, talking about the organization of cities, this thing called "Buddhism", and tax/land reforms are great.

On with the show!

Germany's Operation Barbarossa and it's Army Group North Center and South are well know, but in light of Viktor Suvorov's Books, is there any actual information about the Soviet Army's placement and arrangement within the borders of the USSR right before June 22 1941?

I was watching "Hitler's Secret Attack on America" and they talk of 4 German spies that happened to land on the only beach within 100 miles that was patrolled 24/7. They were then caught by the law enforcement officers, tried, and executed (and apparently all pretty hidden from the public). Is there any truth to this?

I imagine it was as wild as the interior of South America's Amazon and Orinoco River valleys are today. I am curious what efforts, and by who, it took to transform that wilderness to what we have today? What species were lost in that transformation?

I was wondering if the famous "small step for man, huge leap for mankind" quote was something Armstrong originally planned of saying with maybe NASA or the PR guys. Or was it literally just a spur of the moment thing?

To my understanding, Austria has never been ruled by Germany or any German power, and has a history of political independence and achievement on its own. So why does it speak German? Did Austria have close historical ties with Germany?

I was interested to know since this was the primary long transport vehicle for such a long time in our history I am curious whether the ships improved much over the course of their history. Wooden ships in particular.