In last stands, such as the infamous 300, the ones mentioned in History of Rome podcast that Roman companies suffered in Spain and against Hannibal in Rome, all the way up to Custer's, what exactly happens with the last few people? I'm sure not all last stand's result in total massacres where everyone dies, but in the instances where that does happen, is there fighting until one side realizes there's no one left? Or did they just pelt them with missiles and arrows? My question more specifically goes toward larger battles involving thousands of people (so perhaps Custer's is a bad example in this context).

I hope it is ok to ask for book recommendations here...I checked the book list and the section on Korea is 20th C. only.

My question is: is there something like Palmer's A History of the Modern World that focuses on the Korean Peninsula? I would really like a sweeping overview of the cultural, political, and economic history of the area, if it exists.

One thing that struck me from this film is that a large number of characters spoke like they were reciting Shakespeare, ie with highly refined elocution and what appears today to be a high education level in their speech. This extends even to the slaves; for instance, the first dialogue between Northrup and Clemens or the scene with Northrup and Eliza.

My question is: was it really so common for people to speak like that, or is this just a stylization of the film?

A post that hit the front page earlier today mentioned the fact that Rio served as the capital of Portugal/Azores/Brazil, and I am wondering why, since they seemed to have such a close union of sorts, why Brazil sought independence? I know very little about South American history, so thank you to anyone who can enlighten me!

I ask because for years I was told by my family that our last name was French. After doing some digging I find out it actually originates in Czechoslovakia. So I was wondering was their a point where Czechs moved to France or other countries? The farthest back I can find my last name is early/pre Civil War America in New York which we have no family members from there. Any help would be greatly appreciated, I just want to know where my family comes from.

Eugene V. Debs received 919,799 votes while he was in prison. What would happen if someone won the presidency and were a federal prisoner?

I visited there about a year ago with my brother, and we were pretty taken aback by the lack of any historical context given by any guide material at the site. Did it teach us anything new about the incan empire, or just reaffirm things we already knew?

I've heard the south called the breadbasket of America before, and the North was mostly industrial at this point I think. Could the North have survived without Southern resources?

Were they even very effective?

I know this isn't the usual post here but I'm curious as to what jobs I could get with a major in history. I'm a high school senior and have narrowed my options down to this and one other. I figured I should ask you guys. Any input would be awesome.

I know that 6th-9th century English history can be a little spotty, but I'm trying to figure out what level of education could be expected of a person. Were there educational outlets besides the church and family? How common was literacy, and did it become more common for the higher levels of citizenry? My albeit sophomoric findings have lead me to believe literacy was kinda on a need-to-know basis, but and agricultural society with as much bureaucracy as Anglo-Saxon England seems to have a lot of need to know.

If it's a regional thing, I'm looking a bit more at outer Mercia.

Also, please, feel free to embellish answers as you wish. Any extra tidbits are welcome.

I browsed through the Viking-related questions, but didn't find anything particularly useful (maybe I just didn't look hard enough).

I'm interested in online and fairly accessible (read: short) primary sources of the Viking invasions, raids, and commerce from Vikings' perspective. Anything that documents their travels (though I'm not especially interested in the New World), their settlements, their combat, and/or their social life. I know we have plenty of their sagas, but I'm having trouble finding a collection of them that is focused enough to be useful for an in-class exercise. Any suggestions?

It seems that after World War II, America has a ton of military aircraft named after Native American tribes (Iroquois, Apache, Chickasaw, Sioux, Chinook, to name a few). Can anyone give a succinct explanation to why this is? Did some guy just decide that "these names sound cool"?

I was sent this by my Father and I found it rather disturbing.

Could someone please explain what really happened, and the similarities and differences between the colonisation of Africa and other land grabs?

Believing in the article below makes us in a Black Man's eyes automatically a racist - and yet it is sooooo true . The real truth about the ‘PREVIOUSLY DISADVANTAGED’

The author of this article is right on the money. The fact is nobody owes blacks anything.

Please explain the term "PREVIOUSLY DISADVANTAGED" Kindly make special reference to following:

1. Who "disadvantaged" the black people of the interior Southern Africa before the (supposed) ‘belligerent’ white settlers moved inland in the mid-19th century? What the settlers found was not hugely advanced infrastructures -- deep mines, hospitals, vast libraries of written knowledge, imposing institutions of learning, etc. No, as little as 170 years Ago they found masses of black people (indigenous to the Southern tip of Africa) living on the fringes of the Stone Age. Primitive beings dressed in skins, wielding sticks, living in primitive dwellings, dragging- and carrying their meager possessions around, since they had not been introduced to the benefits of the wheel yet!

2. Ethiopia - a country that was NEVER colonised is today one of the most desolate places on the planet! Who "disadvantaged" the people of Ethiopia?

3. Compare Zimbabwe and Germany with each other and please explain the differences. In 1945 Germany was, for all intents and purposes, flattened to ground and torn in half. Fifteen years later, West Germany was described as an "Economic Wonder". Around the same time as the end of apartheid, Germany was re-unified. It yanked the now-unified Germany back four centuries in time.

Yet, in about fifteen years (for the second time within a few decades) it built another 'economic wonder'. Today it is fast becoming a global leader in almost every field! On the flip side – Zimbabwe’s people were handed one of the wealthiest countries in the WORLD (for eg: a currency that was stronger than the US dollar!). What is the situation today? Competing with Ethiopia as the most desolate hellhole on the planet? Please explain...

I can carry on for days -- but let that be enough for now. Just one more request: please, pretty please, kindly respect the intellect of our audience and refrain from cheap (ANC-like) red herrings for eg. calling people racists. Just answer the questions directly and with tangible substance. In parting, I would suggest the following: The term "Previously Disadvantaged' is as much a fantasy as is the delusional lunacy that threatens voters with the revenge of the ancestors. The same delusional insanity that claims the words "KILL THE BOER" really, only means, "Come over to my

mansion for tea and cookies."

You cannot take something from somebody WHO NEVER HAD IT in the first place! In fact, what is it that white people, specifically white men, are supposed to "give back" to black people? Can someone PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE explain to me what it is that white men took from blacks?

LAND? Blacks NEVER owned any land. Any form of formal ownership is a Western concept. The black tribes of the mid-19th century haphazardly SETTLED in an ad hoc manner -- effectively governed by tribal savagery – in other words, the most savage ruled the land (a bit like Hillbrow today). They simply ran away until they could not run any more -- not having ANY grasp of the concept of a horizon or for that matter any measure of finite land mass – for eg. the boundaries -- that is the fundamental concept of ownership.

MINERALS? More hallucinations aside -- eg ancient gold mines -- a little bit like the Zimbabwe Ruins (the Pyramids, etc) -- next to the magnificent structure, the indigenous people built stone-age dwellings out of dirt and sticks (at best emulating the birds). Minerals beneficiation is an entirely Imperialist/Western concept -- in fact, in many ways it saw some of the most tangible advances, by WHITE SOUTH AFRICAN MEN -- just peruse

some of the academic papers at Wits' Engineering Library.

WEALTH? Money, capital and the pivotal mechanisms of the wealth that allows you to breathe, eat, have children, live a rather healthy productive and fulfilling life, but also allowed the cognitive development that leads you to make your daft comments here -- it is ALL of Western origins. In fact, the key advancements in modern finance and economics were made by the DUTCH. Why do you think New York’s financial centre is called 'Wall Street'? It was initially called 'Waal Straat'.when the settlement was under Dutch control Yes, my dear, the Dutch took their cognitive substance there as well. The same Dutch that were the most direct decendants of the people who landed at the Cape in 1652. In fact, the modern 'WEALTH system' was originated by the Dutch and it funded the explorations around the tip of Africa.

Perhaps we robbed the ‘disadvantaged’ blacks of their private jets, their Breitling watches, their Italian designer suits, or their German luxury limousines, their Blue Light Brigades or perhaps their space shuttles? Mmmm... I just hate the implicit assumption that whites stole from blacks

Late 1940s-50s American McCarthyism is well known as a political development which included red-baiting accusations and sub-committee investigations leading to ostracization and blacklisting of various citizens, often publicly known politicians, community leaders and entertainers, as well as creating a still-persisting ideological discourse.

However, I have not heard much about the social reactions to McCarthyism, and whether any forms of resistance or community groups developed in reaction to it. Are there examples of opposition that developed to defend against, protect against, or even oppose the red scare threats and McCarthyism? I do not mean by this whether existing unions or political groups got more active or political, but more so whether new groups formed in reaction to the accusations and scare tactics. These could be community groups small or large, geographic or industry centered.

Any suggested reading would be appreciated.

I recently read Bernard Cornwell's Warlord Chronicles, and it made me realize how little I know about a time and place I'm fascinated by. What are some good sources for me to study for more information, and as a college student, what jobs or fields of study would allow me to pursue this interest?