As a German speaker I can understand about 85 percent of Yiddish (with the 15 percent being the words that come from Hebrew). Was curious about the origins of this. I know Yiddish is/was the language of Ashkenazi Jews, who (I think?) settled in/around Germanic Europe, versus ladino spoken by Sephardic Jews. But it's curious how Yiddish became the lingua Franca for so many Jews who presumably never settled near German speaking Europe.

Was it just because they were overconfident and overlooked the threat from these invading nomads?

They were less educated, less advanced in terms of technology, and yet they were able to cause empires to crumble, empires with thousands of years of military wisdom. The Mongols were even able to invade and defeat Poland on 2 separate occasions.

What exactly made them such a terrifying force?

When listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcast (Wrath of Khans I), he states that no sedentary population really had a good way of dealing with confederacies of nomadic hordes (like the Mongols, Huns, Xiongnu, etc.) until the invention of guns. How would a, say, 17th century military deal with a nomadic invasion?

For example, the kings of the middle ages in England, why didn't they believe in 'Thou shalt not kill'?

I'm about to start working towards a bachelor's and then Master's degree in history. I'll retire from the US military in about 9 years. I'm seriously considering a second career in a history related field. How would I go about becoming a professional historian or museum curator? What is entailed in that career path?

Thanks in advance for any help and insight.

I understand that best is impossible to define, but to what extent are, say, ancient Greek and Roman civilizations nostalgically and ideally romanticized? Were they actually 'superior' to other civilizations at their respective times, or is our historical and cultural narrative just biased that way?

The way I understand it, Kiel was city owned by Germany, but under Danish rule. If this is so, what kind of currency was used in Kiel? German currency or Danish currency?

I am specifically looking for information concerning the selection of Warren County's name. I know it was named after Gen. (Dr.) Joseph Warren who died at the Battle of Bunker Hill. Is it known who suggested the name? Why it was chosen in 1803? Is there any information on the selection of the name?

Also, when and under what circumstances were they in the trenches? I used to foolishly think they camped and lived in the trenches before I read "All Quiet on the Western Front." How long did they stay in the trenches once there?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm a writer working on a project that involves (albeit tangentially) the ins and outs of railroad planning and finance around 1875 in the U.S. Unfortunately, I know precious little about the topic.

Building railroads is obviously a capital-intensive endeavor, so my central question is simply: How did the old railroad magnates raise all the capital they needed? Please don't spare me the details. The deeper my knowledge, the better. And if there's some definitive source I should be consulting, let me know.

My central question can probably be parsed into these subquestions, to make it a little more manageable:

• Did the railroads—on a large scale—borrow from banks or other lending institutions?

• Did they issue securities? What kinds? Were these general securities (e.g., common stock or general obligation debentures) or were they distinguished in some way? Were they issued to the public or to insiders only?

• Were there government subsidies of any kinds?

• What kind of money are we talking about here? What's an all-in figure (material, labor, etc.) for constructing 100 miles of rail, for example? How much did engines and cars cost? (Figures preferably not adjusted for inflation.)

Any insight you learned individuals could provide would be of great help. Thank you all!

Edit: Specified U.S.

How could the wehrmacht and the U.S. supply their massive armies?

What I really want to know is how they supplied their tank divisions with the enormous amounts of fuel needed to go across the continents they were fighting on. The Germans got all the way to North Africa.

Also, what about the Luftwaffe for when they did Blitzkrieg attacks in remote battlefields. Where and how did they supply all the fuel?

Are we talking literally massive network of fuel trucks?

I'm just interested because the source I have says that the Jews were basically revered as being a very old religion and the Romans were extremely conservative. But it seems to me rather interesting that the Romans, these rather shrewd political actors, would just give away favor for ideology's sake. To me it seemed kind of like a way of shutting up a potentially powerful rival/dissident faction - but I don't have a very good understanding of chronology of the revolts/conquest.

So more appropriately, is there any evidence that Jews were given favor under Rome because of material interest?

EDIT: To clarify, I'm under the impression that Jews enjoyed a certain amount ideological clout and legal status during Roman rule of Judea and samaria. So they were exempted from military conscription and the like. But I don't have much information myself.

How and what were U.S and Iranian relations like post WWII? How did they evolve over time? How did oil influence the relations?

Were they recruited for either side or just stay out of it because of the white man's treatment of them?

Sorry if this is too recent, but I'm curious about the reasons behind popular opinion of Margaret Thatcher. I'm an American, but I get the impression that she's pretty polarizing from British people on the internet. Could somebody give me a summary of her actions and policies that caused her to become so loved/reviled?

I hadn't seen this question asked before but it's entirely possible I missed it. To clarify, I mean giving one's personal weapon a name, rather than a class of weapons.

What are the oldest weapons we know the names of? Do we still have any historical weapons we know the names of? Were there certain cultures in which naming weapons was a more common practice than others? Are there any records of non-standard (e.g. not a sword or, more recently, firearm) weapons that had names?

I have recently read about some of the "Nissen ittai," or "Japan and Korea as One," policies, however I'm not finding a lot of details on them.

The examples I currently know include how newspapers and magazines published in Korean were closed and the Korean Language Society was disbanded, some Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese family names, and there were forced state Shinto devotions. However, the sources I am currently using do not include many specifics.

What were methods of procuring ice, when did it get to hotter climates like near the equator, and whats its evolution of use since first recorded?

Why did 4 kings,32 presidents,22 prime ministers and 47 foreign affairs attend making it the largest state funeral in history

I mean, all those currents leading up to it, huge fertile lands, and that gigantic continent right next to it. The animals there were so tame, they had obviously never seen humans, and I cant find any evidence of human settlers pre-colonization.

Why didnt humans find and colonize it?