I'm watching the broadcasts of the referendum today, and I'm wondering if Crimea's population would be so heavily in favor of rejoining Russia if Stalin's deportation of Tatars and other ethnic minorities to Central Asia had never happened.
Everyone keeps talking about how Crimea used to be part of Russia 60 years ago, and so that it's "historically Russian", but I'm wondering what the story would be if you looked back 100 years instead of 60. I know it was part of Russia 100 years ago, but I don't know if the population there at that time (1914) was majority Russian or Tatar/others.
1 Answers 2014-03-16
When the Soviets finally broke the Mannerheim-line why did they not continue to get all of Finland under their control? The Finns should have been pretty much broken at that point?
I can assume that the western powers would be quite annoyed by that, but would it greatly worsen the relations?
Does this verify Molotov's claim that the Soviet union only wanted to secure the area around Leningrad?
1 Answers 2014-03-16
1 Answers 2014-03-16
I'm specifically thinking of this scene of the movie Das Boot. The crew seems to be able to hear the ping sound coming from British destroyers without using a hydrophone or SONAR headphones. Is this historically accurate?
4 Answers 2014-03-16
When I read old Russian novels (19th century, Dostoevsky or Tolstoy) I see many archaic words and structures. It's not "ye olde English", as any modern Russian person would understand it, but it just sounds wierd. Part of it can be explained by very different historical situation (titles and stuff). However when I read documents from the era, they look much closer to modern language.
Furthermore, when I read English literature of the same time it looks much more modern.
So what's up with that? I uderstand there was some special literature style with little resemblance of actual spoken language. Was it different per culture and English literature became closer to natural speech while Russian literature was still in previous phase?
2 Answers 2014-03-16
2 Answers 2014-03-16
A few years ago, I read Sudhir Venkatesh's book on the fate of Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes housing project, entitled "American Project: The Rise and Fall of a Modern Ghetto." Recently, I also saw a documentary on the Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis, entitled "The Pruitt-Igoe Myth". In both instances, the housing projects succumbed to decay, rampant crime and eventual demolition.
Having grown up in a large urban housing project in Eastern Europe, my experience could not have been any more different from the abovementioned American examples. Most of the stereotypical pre-fab concrete tower blocks that were a housing staple in urban Eastern Europe continue to function into the present day as vibrant communities. Over the years, these certainly had their share of crime and vandalism, but nothing like what I read about in Venkatesh's sociological study.
Why was the final outcome for urban housing projects so different in the US as opposed to much of Europe? (I'm aware of some of the exceptions in Britain, such as the Aylesbury Estate in London or the Red Road Flats in Glasgow.) Did it come down to differences in funding, maintenance, government urban/anti-poverty policy or demographics? A combination of these factors? I'm eager to see both general explanations as well as comparisons of location-specific examples.
3 Answers 2014-03-16
1 Answers 2014-03-16
some say they wanted more land, others say they wanted to establish a communist government, what do you belie ve
1 Answers 2014-03-16
The Iberians occupied the peninsula as far as we can tell but when did the split occur and what caused it to occur?
1 Answers 2014-03-16
1 Answers 2014-03-16
In Samuel Pepys' diary, he refers to a young woman as a "girl", during a recollection of the time his wife caught him having an extramarital liason. However, the television show QI insists that until the 18th century or so, "girl" just meant a child of any gender. What is the origin of the use of "girl" to mean a young woman?
1 Answers 2014-03-16
China is a huge state both in territory and in population. Why isn't it more diverse, like India or Indonesia?
1 Answers 2014-03-16
Texas left Mexico in 1836, and seceded from the Union in 1861, so I imagine both these movements involved some of the same people. Did they think the Union had become oppressive? Were they wary of joining yet another country? Did they want to become independent once again? Also, did Lincoln treat Texas specially because both movements involved the same people?
1 Answers 2014-03-16
It seems like it could make sense in a desperate situation.
Edit: convicts
2 Answers 2014-03-16
Specifically I was wondering if the rise of the US and USSR and the decline of former European powers like GB, France and Germany is considered by historians to be a primary factor.
A lot of the stuff I'm reading seems to be saying that post wwII European integration was mostly just an issue of containing Germany.
If anyone could point me to good books/articles on the influence of the new superpowers in European integration or European integration in general, that'd be great.
Thanks!
1 Answers 2014-03-16
Sorry for the broad title, but here's the context:
I saw these photos of late 19th century Korea. The photo that was most striking to me was this one, a photo of a crowded restaurant in Seoul.
Perhaps it's just ignorance on my part, but I honestly hadn't even entertained the thought of restaurants being affordable for the vast majority of people until the 20th century, even worldwide. It just seems absurd imagining some Roman pleb turning to a friend and being like, "Yo, wanna go grab some lunch at Apollo's?" In my mind, this sounds like a uniquely modern and extraordinarily decadent scenario.
And given my ignorance, it's hard for me to narrow down this question to a specific era, so please forgive me: would marketplaces of the pre-industrialized world be analogous to modern malls and shops (restaurants, stores selling clothing, jewelry, furniture, etc.)? Did commoners go 'shopping' in the modern capitalist sense?
Thank you in advance.
(original post: http://redd.it/20ivve)
1 Answers 2014-03-16
I look at how expensive my cell phone bill is and I have a backup landline that only costs me ~15/mo. and I wonder if the first users of landline phones in their homes paid as much (in their time's dollar value) as we do for our wireless phones.
1 Answers 2014-03-16
Often it is mentioned that the Great Pyramids were adorned with a pure gold(?) cap, so that it would shine bright, visible from miles away. I've tried some basic research into this and have mostly come up dry.
What all is known about these massive metal works? These would have theoretically weighed TONS, is there any data about their existence?
1 Answers 2014-03-16
1 Answers 2014-03-16
Looking at traditional medicines (Chinese being an easy example), early cultures tried all sorts of weird stuff in the pursuit of medicine
Given that infection has always been a huge danger, and alcohol has pretty much always been around, how did no one ever stumble upon the fact that dousing a wound in booze stopped it from becoming a fatal rotting mess?
3 Answers 2014-03-16
I have been playing classical guitar for about 4 years, and there is a generally accepted method of how to sit/orient the guitar/etc. that has been written in works such as Christopher Parkening's guitar method book. Was that different with the Baroque guitar, and is Vermeer accurate in his depiction of a Baroque Era guitarist?
EDIT: Here is the painting in question.
2 Answers 2014-03-16
3 Answers 2014-03-16
