I know there were plenty of private contractors in Vietnam, but I'm specifically curious about security forces and the functions they served, particularly those that would be akin to the contemporary Blackwater (or Xe, or Academi, or whatever they call themselves now).

I know this is a debated area and I'd like to get some informed opinions.

Was the period from Henry VIII's death to Elizabeth I's accession a time of unusual turmoil in England and Wales? If so, was it caused primarily by the government or by other factors?

I have seen this term being used a few times on this subreddit and been referred to in a quite negative manner.

What is a teleological view of history and what is wrong with this line of thinking about history?

First of all, thanks to all of you for your hard, under-valuated and beautiful job.

And about my question: For example, how people coped when suddenly there was no more Jupiter (or Mithra) but Jesus? Or no more Ahura Mazda, but Allah? The new religion was always imposed by force? It was like a king goes "Now we do this!" and whoever didn't comply was killed? Do examples exist in history of easy, slow and pacific religion changes?

Sorry for the dumb question, and if this is not the correct place (or way) to ask, let me know and I will change it. Thank you very much!

I asked another question about medieval farming families, and I know the answer to this is going to also be culturally dependent, and the medieval period encompasses a large amount of time, but if anyone could answer this for the time and place of their specialty I would appreciate it.

My question was for the US specifically, but is be interested in learning why this is the case for other countries as well. I asked my history teacher this back in high school, and he threatened to write me up for asking inappropriate questions. I find that my curiosity remains piqued, and I hope the wonderful historians around here would be willing to pick up where the public school system left off.

Thanks!

I understand that a primary grade student in England probably wouldn't know names like Paul Revere or even Thomas Jefferson. It is still an event a part of England's history so what material is presented?

Have the two aforementioned always, in history, had this kind of rapid increase in people? Why hasn't this happened in say, America, or Europe?

I'm no historian, but certainly someone who's interested in it, and Medieval Europe especially isn't something I know too much about, outside of the usual common knowledge - But I was just wondering - In a Feudal Society, with most of the population being Serfs who never really left their villages, before the idea of a middle class - Who did the trading?

I mean, who took goods to other countries and sold in markets? Was it just a few lucky Serfs who managed to escape the classist mould?

Incidentally, I'm probably being an idiot, so sorry for that in advance.

So during the Salem witch trials it was mostly women who were accused of using witchcraft but barely any men. I know that a majority of those women were single and either powerful or wealthy and that's a main cause for why people accused those women of using witchcraft but what other resins led to a majority of women being accused of witchcraft and not as much of the men?

Also sorry if there is any bad spelling, I've been off my game today.

I know this is a broad question, so I'll specify: for the sake of simplicity, let's say that I'm talking about an English peasant around the year 1000.

I was under the impression that peasants did a various assortment of repair jobs and the like during the winter months. Like, you know, build fences and dig ditches and stuff like that. But what I'm wondering is how frequent those various jobs came up; what their day to day schedule would have been like. Were there any weekdays where the peasant simply had nothing to do? If they had nothing to do, what did they do to occupy their time?

I cant help but notice when reading older examples of English text. The spelling of words are very very different from our contemporary English words. In most cases there's no fixed spelling for a word, yet today we have a standard of spelling for every word we use. How did this come about?

I don't think knights and dukes just stared at walls all day. Where they're any board games? Any sports?