Hi All,

Being Chinese (Taiwanese), there's always been debate (amongst both Chinese and Taiwanese historians) about the role of 8th Route army. No doubt, their efforts/activity has been greatly advertised in Modern PRC history but more and more reports (From both sides of the strait) giving more credit to the KMT's war efforts. (For example, my chinese friend who has been through education in China said their college professors actively stated that 8th Route did not participate in very many actual combat against IJA, Partially because KMT didn't want to give them too much power/land to control, and partially to conserve effort for the civil war afterwards)

So I would like to ask Historians, How much did 8th route army actually engage in combat against the IJA during WWII and how much credit do they actually deserve as compared to their KMT counterparts?

In the dark ages, for example, what was the commonly accepted theory on the nature of the moon? Did they already know it was a ball of rock? Or did they equate it to something else?

Are the are any documents or journals written by Napoleon detailing exactly what his mission or goal was and his own rationalization of his exploits? Would be quite fascinating to get in the man's head.

I've been reading Hitler's biography by Ian Kershaw and I'm quite fascinated by the notion of a political leader rallying a nation under one same ideal, even when said ideal was clearly twisted and inhuman. Seems to me Mussolini had the same capacity on Italy, but I'm not aware if there was a similar "activist" in Japan.

I know there was a lot of religious change during this period regarding the 'cult of the emperor' and modification of festivals, but were individual Romans any less religious with these new practices?

Thank you!

It seems like monarchs could have avoided succession crises upon their death by adopting successors, relatives or otherwise, like Julius and Augustus Caesar. Why didn't this happen more often? Wouldn't it have led to more competent and stable rule?

I feel the Caligula in the running, but there is also Tiberius and Nero. Each has there crazy actions.

Question came to mind recently, when I remembered that my grandparents always had separate twin sized beds (in the same room).

Usually we do not associate asian culture with christianity, so why is there such a large Asian protestant (not catholic) religious group in North America? When and where did this mass conversion occur?

Would it not have made more sense for them to be a single nation? After all they are close together and are populated by the descendants of more or less the same people.

I recently bought a Mosin Nagant, and while there's no record of what rifles saw combat, I was able to trace back the serial and manufacturer to find out that my rifle was shipped to Russia from the US in 1937, so it more than likely was given to a soldier at least.

I wondered about all the hands this weapon must have passed through, and all the nicks and scratches in the wood and metal which got me wondering. What happened to all of the other WWII weapons? I know many of the German guns were melted down for the metal, and of course you find ruins on beaches or in the woods, but for the majority of it where did it go? There must have been 10s of thousands of Thompson Machine guns, Garands, Carbines, tanks, etc. Did the US ship back all of their equipment at the end of the war, or were / are there piles of american weapons somewhere in Europe?

I know Lord of War is a fictional movie, but was there a large underground gun trade / smuggling operations after the war like are depicted with current US weapons after combat situations?

I have one source claiming there were 14 petitions on the matter and another claiming that there were 645. This massive disparity in numbers has thrown me somewhat and I'm unable to track down the source of either of these claims. Does anyone here have a reliable number? Failing that does anyone here own the book A Mad Bad Dangerous People by Boyd Hilton? If you do can you check p. 411 and p. 68, my footnote directs me there but i don't have the book.

Edit: No idea why I capitalised the "You" the title is just A Mad Bad Dangerous People.

Or was the prowess of great knights in tournaments (like that of William Marshall) mostly appreciated only by other members of the fighting class?

Like the title said, is there any archaeological evidence suggesting the existence of pyramids or other structures (like those of the Mayans and other peoples indigenous to South America) in the United States?

I've been really interested in Native American history recently and was wondering if they only ever built the classical 'wigwams' and 'tepees' in the US.