And was smoking as popular in the past as movies/TV portray?

For instance, after WWII, America loaned Germany money so they could pay their reparations to Britain and France. Then Britain and France took that money and paid back their loans from America sending them weapons. Did this involve the actual exchange of cash or was it just more like "I'll pretend I give you this so you can pretend to give me that."

I'm guessing it was religious in nature, but I have no idea. Thanks

I'm reading Alberto Angela's A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome and I ran into 'There are also, obviously, public slaves, owned by a city or by the State, and the emperor's slaves. They work in every kind of public activity, for example the public baths, the fire department, food warehouses, the rationing program, and so on...'.

So I'm curious if there were ever slaves in the US owned by towns, cities, states, or the federal government and if so if there were a significant number of them and if there were not why not in the US when they had existed in Ancient Rome.

I previously didn't think that the Romans knew much about anyone to the east of the Mid East, maybe vague ideas about India, but it seems that there was even limited contact with China at the height of the Empire. How long in this time period would a journey from China to Rome take? I'm sure several factors like weather would come into play (and perhaps raiders or robbers might make the path treacherous. Roughly how long would this journey take, and what would be the most likely route?

Like the question asks I am wondering if there is evidence out there that would help me further understand the internal complications of war.

Volunteers obviously felt convicted to go to Vietnam, for the most part, but how did their experience in the war either lead to continued patriotism or disillusionment?

For the young men who were drafted, what was their experience like during the war, and how did their particular experience affect their feelings towards U.S. involvement?

Thanks in advance you knowledgeable strangers!

Just how common was atheism in ancient Rome and Greece? How did society and the law treat the phenomenon and its proponents?

I seem to hear a romanticized view of life in North America before the Europeans came. Stories of living off the land, of multiple nations minding their own and of peace. However, there were indigenous warriors. Did indigenous people as fighters really only begin when the Europeans came, or were there wars between nations prior? Maybe only minor squabbles? As well, were nations mostly peaceful or confrontational? What could cause fighting? I know these questions might be difficult to answer because every nation-nation relationship was likely different.

My class was watching "Goodbye Lenin" and there is a scene where the characters attempt to exchange their old Ostmarks for Deutschmarks, yet they are two days late so they are unable.

My teacher then says that even if they had been on time, the cash would have still not been accepted, as banks in East Germany had stopped accepting cash for quite some time. She doesn't remember the reasoning behind it (or even how true it may be).

Did this refusal to take cash happen in socialist Germany? What was the reason behind it?

EDIT: Made the mistake of calling East Germany communist.

Today, it's a relatively egalitarian process, anyone possessing a college degree and relatively free of medical issues can at least be considered.

• What differences were there in earlier times?

• How much emphasis was placed on class and merit, respectively?

• Was there active recruitment of candidates like we have today?

• Have there been significant differences between the type of candidate sought by each service?

Sorry for such a broad question, but why didn't they? I would imagine many of the not-so technologically advanced muslims and such to the east would be easier to conquer rather than the technologically advanced and strong nations in Europe - such as the balkans area.

Germany is being bombed, and so is London. The US is fighting the Germans, the Italians and the Japanes. But during these total wars, were there any civilians flying to and from these countries? Say I'm a German businessman during the early 1940s. Would it be considered strange for me to walk the streets of London? Say I'm a German businessman, would sitting down at a law office in New York, signing a contract with an American company, be unthinkable? And in that case, at what point of a war would it become unthinkable?

Can anyone provide or point me to a good resource for learning about markets and fairs (fairs in particular) around the beginning of the 17th Century in Britain - preferably Scotland. I'm looking for the wears on sale, games/competitions that might have been played, either singularly or as a group, and the kind of items that one might win/buy/sell, be it cakes, clothing, toys etc.

All and any help with this greatly appreciated!

I was wondering wether the size of the weapon made an impact on the fight. Specifically I see duels with Claymore type weapons depicted as longer and more intensive.

Hello all, I studied ancient history years ago in highschool and have kept up an interest in it through my adult life. One facet we covered was rome in the time of the Gracchi, Gaius Marius and Sulla, the wars with Carthage in which hannibal marched towards Rome, then moving on to the time of Caesar, Crassus dying in the east and finally Octavian ruling. (so 300bc to 35bc? If memory serves me - not including much of the period of augustus)

I want to finally get over to Rome this year and what I really want to be able to do is picture Rome from these different periods. I had hoped to be able to find some means of getting a map of Rome and how it was laid out between all of these periods. And to maybe recognise where the 7 hills are in each map (in order to get a good idea for the changes etc).

Do any historians know of any sources for such maps where I could see and lay them along side one another? If they can be sources - as I'm a web developer if no side by side notion exists I'd be happy to set up an interactive site for such a purpose.

Anyway on from maps, because the modern period has changed it so vastly, are there particular items of this period I should look out for? Or that I would expect not to see? For instance I believe where Caesar died in the theatre of Pompeii no longer exists?