Are there other figures commonly believed to have existed, who were supposedly prominent but left behind no real historical footprint(i.e contemporary mention)?
2 Answers 2014-03-31
From what I understand, the Kuomintang was older, larger, and more established. What changed?
2 Answers 2014-03-31
I've been playing a lot of Rome 2 Total War as various factions and it's made me wonder how real battles actually worked. In the game battles are generally 5 to 30 minutes long with units inflicting high amounts of kills on each side. Usually after a period of time the losing side will route and flee. In the game the armies can reach up to 7000 or so men on each side and a close battle can result in 3000 or more deaths per side.
I can't imagine this being accurate though as I know real battles could go on for hours or days. What caused battles to last so long? How did various units such as pike-men, cavalry and hoplites fit into the battle? How where troops able to retreat to rest while cycling in new men without the enemy simply charging the breaks in formation and slaughtering them?
I want to know really how a battle would happen and the intricacies of it.
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As explained here, it seems so extremely difficult, because it uses the positions of constellations and moon phases. Did every day people actually use this calendar back then? Also, why has no one really heard of this calendar in China or Taiwan?
1 Answers 2014-03-31
The time period would be pre-colonization of America by the British.
If it didn't sound like either accent, what accent did it sound most like?
4 Answers 2014-03-31
I know the British supplied the South with firearms but what did the British think of it? And the rest of Europe/South America/Japan for that matter?
1 Answers 2014-03-31
I've heard it was about the de facto leader, Noriega. However, I'm still unclear on what was wrong with him. Can anybody shed some light?
2 Answers 2014-03-31
(I apologize in advance if this isn't the right place to ask this sort of thing, but after browsing similar subs I can't find one that seems like a better fit. I'd try genealogy subs, but I feel my research is different because my great grandparents were celebrities. Feel free to suggest any alternative subs. Thanks! Also, sorry about the length of this post... I'm pretty passionate about this and tend to rant.)
Dear historians, I'm researching my family tree (specifically my great grandparents) as a present for my grandmother's 80th birthday. I'm an amateur historian and love learning more about my ancestors; I've had luck and a lot of fun researching my great grandparents specifically because they were semi-famous Vaudeville performers and there is a wealth of public information about them. At the same time, I feel like I've exhausted most of my internet resources. I'm a dedicated researcher and have spent hours scouring Google and at this point I'm looking to advance my research further. (I've also taken a look at the resources section of this sub.)
So I guess my question is really a few questions:
Do any historians here know anything about my great grandparents Bert Walton and Doll Purcell?
I'll give you a summary of what I know with some links to interesting sources in case that helps. (All of this has info been as verified as possible.) My great grandparents were known as Bert Walton and Doll Purcell; those were their stage names, but they were also billed as Bert Walton & Co. My great grandfather was a "noted comedian", emcee, and musician. Early in his career he worked with the musician Al Piantadosi. They toured together as "Piantadosi and Walton". My great grandmother was a chorus girl that he fell in love with and incorporated into his act. [Here is a photo of them performing together in their later years.] FYI it's a very weird feeling to find people selling photos of your ancestors on Ebay.
My great grandparents are not well remembered today, but according to my grandmother and the news clippings I've read, they were quite famous in their day. They worked with and were close friends with famous performers such as Fatty Arbuckle and the original Three Stooges in their early careers before film. (I have a signed photo of Fatty Arbuckle with a note to my great grandparents thanking them for being such loyal friends about 5 years after his infamous fall from grace.) My grandmother claims that she used to have a large photo of the Three Stooges with similar signatures/notes, but that she lost it at some point. My grandmother also remembers knowing Bill Robinson; she told me a story that when she was little, Bill would say that she was his #2 girl, but only because Shirley Temple was #1.
For whatever reason (possibly my great grandfather's advancing age and health), my great grandparents never made the transition from stage to film. They traveled and performed well into the 40s, but seem to have retired after losing the majority of their wealth in a stock market crash some time after WWII. My grandmother grew up surrounded by adult performers and traveled the world with my great grandparents as a child--she was wealthy and never realized the Great Depression was happening and even though this seems like a fascinating life, she remains bitter to this day that she never really had a "childhood". Her parents sent her to boarding school when she was young and she did not see them often after that because they continued to tour and travel. I'd love to be able to surprise her with photos and information about her parents that she doesn't even know; maybe filling in the gaps from when they were separated will help resolve some emotional turmoil.
Where would I find a Vaudeville expert?
Are there any Vaudeville historians in this sub-Reddit? I've tried searching for experts to contact, but it doesn't seem that Vaudeville is a popular topic for historians. I've tried contacting a few people I've found at museums and curators who are experts in film/theater, but haven't gotten any responses. Any ideas on how to get in contact with an expert in this area would be appreciated. I'd also love to speak to actual ex-Vaudeville performers who are still alive, but I'm not sure how to go about finding them either.
Do historians here have any suggestions of other resources or research tactics I can use?
I've already e-mailed a few libraries and museums for copies of articles and photos that aren't available online. Do you guys have any ideas on how to find info on them besides searching their names? I've found a ton of news clippings and random info about them, but I'm having a tough time finding primary source documents such as birth announcements or obituaries because they used stage names. I know their birth names, but haven't been able to find many verifiable documents relating to them under either name. (The only thing I have found is a census report from when my great-grandfather was married to his first wife before meeting my great grandmother.) I know they were both performers during WWII for soldiers over seas (in Germany), but I don't think they were actually in the armed forces, so I'm not sure if I can find any info about them that way. (They brought back some Nazi propaganda telegrams I have in my possession. Linking it for any WWII enthusiasts here that may find them interesting.)
Again thank you soooooo much for any help! This search has become a slight obsession and I'm going crazy trying to find more info. I'm also considering donating a few of the items I have to museums/collections, so if you can suggest someone I might contact in reference to Vaudeville/theater history, I'd appreciate that too!
2 Answers 2014-03-31
I may be wrong, but Judaism doesn't seem to have been a historically evangelistic religion. As I understand it, there were a lot of competing Judaic offshoots around the time of Jesus, and none seem to have taken off with non-Jews. Even Jesus' teachings seem very local until after his death, when suddenly his followers become interested in converting non-Jews.
What was the motivation behind this change? Why didn't other, similar movements convert gentiles?
Again, I may be mistaken, but I have understood the movement surrounding Jesus to be a reaction to Roman rule, and the messianic movements in general gained traction at the time in opposition to the foreign occupation. So I'm wondering, what made Christianity so different, that it broke out of this mold, and became universal?
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Any and all units of the continental army around they bayou areas. Links appreciated also.
2 Answers 2014-03-31
I'm writing a research paper regarding Heart of Darkness and I'm having some issues with piecing together historical context. I know that much of Europe had become involved in Africa by this time, but I'm hoping someone can help shed some light on what Europe's general knowledge of Africa and its indigenous people specifically in the Congo area in the aforementioned time period. Any input is greatly appreciated!
1 Answers 2014-03-31
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If so, how comprehensive are the records of each?
2 Answers 2014-03-31
Oddly specific, yes. There's plenty of resources pertaining to shock therapy and analysis as to how it effected the USSR, but this seemingly simple question has seemed near impossible to answer.
1 Answers 2014-03-31
I've heard of the creation of Esperanto, a language that was created so as to have characteristics that would make it easy to adopt as a universal language. Why did the universal adoption of Esperanto, or any other universal language, fail?
1 Answers 2014-03-31
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It's unfair to make a charging station exclusive only to one vehicle marque.
Imagine if from the start of horseless carriages, Ford cars could only refuel at Ford stations, GM cars could only refuel at GM stations, Packard cars at Packard stations, BMW cars at BMW stations, and so on and on.
A family on a road-trip in the olden days might pass by a GM station, but the nearest Ford station for their 1933 Ford V8 would be more miles away than the range they have left on their fuel tank!
Then imagine a family who has a Packard! Packard and Studebaker makes a merge (albeit ill-fated) so suppose all Packard and Studebaker stations are refitted to take both makes of vehicles.
Then in the 1960s, Packard-Studebaker goes belly-up. That means their gas stations go belly-up, too, right?
WHERE WOULD THAT LEAD THE MOTORISTS DRIVING DEFUNCT CAR MAKES?
If, Heaven Forbid, Tesla somehow goes under, what happens to their charging network? HOW WOULD TESLA OWNERS CHARGE AFTERWARDS?
1 Answers 2014-03-31
My focus is not Asian history but I'm taking a course about wars in Asia. I've always heard that the kamikaze pilots were glad to give up their lives for Japan and the emperor. However, I've recently read that when the attacks began, even the Japanese commanders thought that defeat was inevitable. Why did these young men sacrifice themselves? What motivated them?
2 Answers 2014-03-31
Why did the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches split in 1054? Were the theological differences really irreconcilable? Or did the split come about for economical or political reasons? Or did Leo IX and Michael Cerularius just hate each other? Why did this schism stick when earlier disagreements (Like the Photian Schism in 863 CE) were able to be reconciled?
1 Answers 2014-03-31
