We recently purchased the company in 2013 and cannot find much on our history, and since we know redditors seem to find it all if they don't already know it, we're seeking your help.

Here's what we know:

• We were founded in 1890 by Anthony Aste in NYC.
• Our original address was 85 Cortlandt St, NYC, which no longer exists.
• There's a bunch of antique ads and shoe boxes out there
• We know our founder was an inventor, and invented the shoe shine box and the polish dauber.
• The company was given to Antony's son around 1945 and later was sold around 1950.

Did the dambuster event or the bouncing bomb have a long lasting impact that is you can still see today did it have impact on how bombs or made and so on? I am planning to do this for coursework but i need to know if it had a last longing impact. thank you

This info came from a TV series and it was the first I heard about it. Granted before this, my knowledge of the war is severely limited to hearing about Pearl Harbor, Hitler and the Holocaust.

The "deception" I'm referring to is America being aggressive when searching for German subs on their convoys in Iceland, at a time when they were neutral.

If anyone is so inclined to lean toward ELI5, or at least include a ELI5 in their response, I'd appreciate it.

First off, how did the practice of hanging originate? Who was the first person to realize that tying a certain knot would break someone's neck? And how did the gallows come along?

Second, why were hangings so popular? I know the highly-publicized ones were well-attended because they were seen as historical events, but what about the others?

As the D-day is approaching, I would like to ask the questions I always had about that day. Why the American army had to suffer such heavy causalities specially in Omaha beach by exposing the infantry to German MG42 bunkers? Why did ships did not shell the defensive line first? Why no air cover(RAF maybe as their bases were very close)? Why did they not chose weaker points to land?

Did they get punished, were they accepted back into the Jewish community, etc?

Hi, I'm a few years out of college, interested in leadership, and find my education of great leaders sorely lacking.

"The Prince", which I had never heard of (despite knowing the word "Machiavellian") until a few weeks ago, has me feeling like a former resident of Plato's Cave. I want to take Niccolo's advice and "always follow in the footsteps of great men and imitate those who have been outstanding".

Machiavelli recommends studying figures such as Alexander the Great, Scipio, Dido, etc.

My question to /r/AskHistorians: Which works on leadership and greatness have stood the test of time, as "The Prince" has?

Current reading list:

• The Prince, Machiavelli
• The Art of War, Sun Tzu
• The Art of War, Machiavelli
• Discourses on Livy, Machiavelli
• Will to Power, Nietzsche

UPDATE Recommendations in this thread:

• Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945, Slim
• The Last Fighting General: The Biography of Robert Tryon Frederick

In case I ever time travel, and can't speak the language. I'd like to have a modest two visual word vocabulary.

When, where, and why did they first appear? How have they changed over the years?

I've heard it (or read it) that the French monarch only really governed France and his vassals were de facto independent. Were other monarchs similar?

Also, were the mid-and-late Medieval French monarchs weaker than Charlemagne's successors or were they of comparable authority?

I have an essay on this, and I want to do a good job on the essay, especially because this is so interesting. However, I have been doing some research and it seems that this is a hotly debated topic with many different viewpoints. If you guys could help me out with the big opinion and some support to your ideas, that would be great. Thanks!

What was the mentality behind imposing their culture and taking over other contries?

After settling on the island, the settlers started deforestation, which resulted in a complete removal of trees. How did they stay warm during winter before they had the technology to use the geothermal resources found there?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm not entirely sure if this should be on here or /r/askscience, but it seems like the bicycle isn't an overly difficult idea. Is there a reason it wasn't invented earlier? Plenty of ancient civilizations had very good and creative engineers and it seems like they would have been pretty nice to have, even if you also had a horse.