As far as I understand it, during WWI and the Arab Revolt, many leaders wanted a united Arab state to be carved from the collapsing Ottoman Empire; a wish that would go unfulfilled due to European intervention among other things.

What were the suggested borders of the state as it was imagined during that time? Did it include places like Egypt and Sudan, even so far as Morocco? Or did it only stay in the Mesopotamian region?

Does anyone have any interesting ideas for an American History Masters thesis topic? I need to start formulating one, as I'm about two semesters away from diving into it.

Before anyone accuses me of asking for someone else to do my homework for me, I'm not asking for specifics so far as historiographic significance or what sources to use. I'm just interested in general ideas about historical questions that have not been asked.

For example the Romans. About everything we've seen about them has shown them really really muscular. How did they do it? How were they able to consume enough calories and how did they train to look that well? Also how did they maintain that muscle? While away during war I doubt they had enough rations to hit the calorie limit of 1000's of men.

Hi! I know this is probably a rather silly question, but what is social history? I get the gist of it -- it is the study of experiences -- but is it limited to that? What kind of topics would go into social history?

Would people's beliefs go into it, or would it be a history of ideas or something similar, and would not be seen as social history? Would the development of medicine? Or is that just history of medicine? Study of every day life, e.g. a medieval woman's daily routine? Is that social history?

If no, what kind of topics would be accepted as social history?

I am aware that the Maginot Line had to be bypassed and that steamrolling through it wasn't a good idea because of the "Russian Steamroller." Was there no other alternative plans that could've effectively dealt with the issue of the Maginot and Russia?

Edit: I am now aware that the Maginot Line had nothing to do with the Schlieffen Plan.

I was thinking while eating dinner as to exactly when it was that the idea of everyone getting together and eating at one place at a certain time began. I feel it would be much easier just to eat whenever you get hungry instead of waiting for these meals, so when and why did we start eating a meal in the morning, a meal in the afternoon, and a meal in the evening?

In the history of ancient Greece, Ionia was the region of western Anatolia, in the Aegean. What's the relationship to the Ionian Sea, the body of water to the West of mainland Greece? Someone in /r/mapporn referred to islands in the Ionian Sea as "Ionian Islands," which I guess isn't technically wrong, but I personally think of Samos, Chios etc.

I'm 12 years old, I live in Tenochtitlán and I'm part of the only Civilization on Earth so far to have mandatory education. Today is a school day, what am I in for?

Am I learning at home with Ma and Pa or going to specialized building with classrooms?

Do I have something akin to a curriculum with grading and tests?

What am I learning? Are my friends learning the same things?

When is lunch?

In my Roman civilization class this week, the professor made a comment that some historians think that Romans had very little of their own culture. Instead theirs was a hodgepodge (for lack of a better word) of ideas taken from other peoples, most notably the Greeks.

How accurate and well-accepted is this claim? Is it more true or less true for different periods?

It's often repeated that the east contained most of the wealth and most of the population. Which begs the question of why Diocletian split the Roman empire up so unevenly?

I am currently 17 and over the past year or so I've been really fascinated with music and ideologies from the time period of the 60s and 70s. From the little literature I've been able to find access, all of them claim that music was a driving force in the movement. I seriously question that thought with all of the political protests and the idea of free love in my opinion being the major part of what the hippy movement was all about. So I have been wondering what you guys think on whether or not music and drugs were a driving force in the hippie movement or whether it is just symbolic of things that hippies liked?

I was discussing with a friend how courageous or scared soldiers would be at the front lines of the battlefield and a question arose where we wanted to know whom was chosen to be positioned on the front lines and what the survival rates were.

I just watched Kingdom of Heaven (Again), which I know is a piece of fiction in as much as a lot of the names and details are slightly different. I know, however, that the majority of the general facts were true; that Guy de Lousingon charged out to meet Saladin's Army, and was defeated at Hattin, and that Bailin of Ibelin commanded the defence of Jerusalem, and eventually handed over the keys to Saladin, whom let many of the civilians leave peacefully to avoid another massacre like in 1099.

So, my question pertains to the individual factions of the Christian Army. We see, in a lot of these films, the Knights Templar, those in white tabards bearing a red cross, but who were they? Who were the Knights Hospitalier, in the black tabards with white cross? And what of the blue cloaks and gold crest? Were there any others, and what were their roles?

I have just finished reading The Black Swan by Taleb and he makes the point that throughout history, events that do not result in a remarkable change, do not get written down or recorded. I imagine this is similar (albeit slightly distinct) form the winners write history idea, in which how events are recorded are changed by who wins.

Are there methodologies for getting around these problems? Or are they a noted limitation in all historical work?

Edit: I want to clarify the "Silent Evidence" problem. Basically, to give an example - if there an event that causes a problem and someone comes in to fix it - then he/she is a hero. But if someone does something that in turn prevents a huge problem, then he/she will go largely unnoticed.

During the Early Middle Ages until about, say, the mid eleventh century, the Baltic was dominated by Scandinavians. By the Late Middle Ages, however, the Hanseatic League was the dominant power. How did this transition come about?

I just realised I know little more about World War 1 than "trench warfare in northern France", and that's probably a bit simplistic, so I'm interested in knowing more about it. If I have more questions I'm sure I'll be back here soon enough, but for now I'm mostly wondering: how come you never hear anything about naval warfare in WW1? What was going on at sea and did it have any significant impact in the war?

Thanks for your time :)

I'd like to know because I couldn't find anything really talking about how they actually did it in the books I checked out from the library. I'm writing a paper on the creation of Venice, how they made it, why, where did they come from and all that. My Writing professor told me about two books but both of them have no more than a page of content on the subject and I need three sources from physical books/articles. I need to know what books I should be reading for this.