Stalin was an ally because "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" right?

Well was hitler also in that same boat? The West hated communism and considered them to be a looming enemy. With someone who was also as vehemently anti-communist as Hitler, why not ally with him against the USSR?

I've read that many of the ottoman sultans such as Mehmed II often ended up having to kill their brothers. Why did the previous sultan not not pick his successor rather than leaving the empire prone to internal strife?

I'm a big fan of watching old footage on the history channel of World War 2, how were cinematographers able to record video during battles and who was in charge of procuring the equipment?

I'm just wondering when so-called "curse words" became bad, and why. Thanks in advance!

Dogs are generally, not always of course, seen as beloved members of families today in the Western world. In some Islamic countries, dogs are viewed as a combination of unclean pests and tools for practical jobs like herding sheep. Was this ever the case in Western nations like France, the UK, US, or Canada?

Edit: *Were dogs ever viewed by Westerners the same way they tend to be viewed by some Islamic nations today?

Were any royal lines killed off due to plague? Did any houses cut themselves off from the outside (as much as possible at the time)? Would domestic staff be barred from leaving the premises? Did anyone take advantage of the plague to force claims and take land by force? What kind of practices were used to protect families from the disease?

Was reading an article and realized I've never really heard about what happened among the aristocracy, just that millions died. Interested in anything of note among these lines.

I'm trying to understand the whole situation, but it's hard with huge controversies like this. I'm interested in any reliable articles on the topic as well as differing opinions on it. Thanks!

I was just watching Rocky IV, where Rocky Balboa battles the near-unbeatable Ivan Drago. As the fight approaches, the link between this monster of a man and his country is heavily stressed, as it occasionally is in other American movies from that time period.

Did filmmakers in the USSR portray American culture and/or western capitalists as villains, just like we (Americans) often did to them?

This question might be far too broad, but I will ask it anyways.

My grandfather was theoretically ethnically Polish (at least, our name is Polish, and he spoke Polish). However, he always identified as "Prussian", as did his father and grandfather, who immigrated to the US around 1870. This confuses me.

Is there a Prussian ethnicity?

What were the distinct aspects of Prussian culture? Or was it just German culture?

Was Prussia ever distinct from Germany? Not just on a map, but in a cultural sense.

Why would an ethnic Pole identify as a Prussian? What was the relationship between the Poles living in Prussia and the state itself?

Not sure how many art historians hang out here but I'm curious to know.

Perhaps I'm being too cynical but I'm imagining someone buying his works on the cheap, suddenly "discovering" his genius and promoting his works for their own gain, kind of like a penny stock pump on wall street.

Would there be anybody who would tell me that it's a waste of resources and/or immoral to colonize other countries?

Edit: Apologies for the switch between first and second person in the title.

It's interesting to me that it seems like this was a sustained feeling from the governments in Britain, over many years. Such a drastic and outwardly self-harming principle seems unlikely to have lasted for so long, and to have yielded the massive fruits that it did.

Besides the Old testament, of course, do we have any specific examples of books that influenced the structure, style or content of the Gospels?

It always seems like Europe picks on the Irish. Just curious if there is a reason.

Countries like the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia all experienced communist insurgencies. What was China's stance to these groups? Did they supply them with arms and training?

I'm polish, in school we always called it Poland. I know that it was made up of the merge of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania but it was ruled by one king, under one flag, and had basically one capital. It was one country for several hundred years so why is in not simply refereed to as Poland?

It might probably a stupid question but never the less I want to know why is it universality refereed to as the commonwealth, outside of Poland.

I know that conventional wisdom and Wikipedia say quite the opposite, but I was wondering if there is evidence that King George directed the whole thing, so that he could be king.

My question comes from that scene in the film, "The Kings Speech," when King Edward accuses his brother of pushing him off the throne. I don't recall the exact words used in the film.

Perhaps I'm watching too much "House of Cards".

So I'm asking the experts.