I am currently reading Scott Anderson's "Lawrence in Arabia", a terrific book so far.

In it, a part of Germany's strategy in the war was to create Islamic insurrection in the Near East. At worst, the other European powers are given another headache to worry about. At best, the Suez Canal is destroyed and supply lines are cut off.

How much did Germany's actions during the war affect Islamic upheaval in the course of history? And if it wasn't for Germany's manipulation, would we have as much Islamic upheaval today?

From reading the delightful historical fiction novels of Forrester and O'Brian I've noticed the naval officers (Midshipmen, Lieutenants, and even Captains) regularly lead raids into enemy territory as well as cutting-out and boarding operations. How did these officers maintain the level of physical fitness necessary to accomplish these tasks? It seems they did not do manual labour like the enlisted men - did they exercise instead?

I've been looking to get a more finely-textured view of the ancient Mediterranean economy, particularly in the Hellenic period, but not exclusively. The FAQ has lots of questions about ancient Greece, but surprisingly few that deal explicitly with economy. So, here we go:

• What was the basis for the ancient Greek economy? What were the main productive units? Family farms, large estates, market-driven plantations? I know that barley and livestock were major products--from the excellent question about Greek food earlier today--but did they have to import food? How important was fish in their diets?

• Materials: What were the main building materials? Was wood a scarce commodity (reserved for ships, perhaps)? Were stone or marble common for buildings other than large monuments and public structures? Were iron and bronze in widespread use, or reserved for military purposes? I assume that wool and leather were their main cloth-like materials; were there others?

• Currency and banking: Is it roughly true that each city minted their own coins, while Athenian currency was sort of a default standard? What metals did they use? Where did the minerals come from?

• Internal divisions of labor: How was labor divided within the family and/or polis? Were there certain jobs or professions reserved for men and women? How important was slavery? Do we have any good ideas what the slave-free demographics were?

• External divisions of labor: We know that maritime trade was important, but exactly what was being traded? Different regions must have produced or specialized in different things, or else there's not much point in trading, right?

Sorry for so much, but I've been looking for good sources on Greek economy for my students, and most of what I find is quite limited. I'd love a sort of general overview, but sources specific to particular aspects would also be wonderful.

Also, finally: One Big Question that I think would be useful and that might help guide answers is this: Does it make sense to think of the ancient Greek world as a "Free Market"?

I'm entertained by the idea of Cicero waggling his finger at the stylistic "errors" of lesser speakers and writers.

I overheard somebody say that this weekend and thought "oh that's goofy, I'll post it to /r/badhistory. Then they said I had to have proof it's bad history, so after a quick google search I couldn't find anything. So was the guy actually right or is he as stupid as I thought?

A workmate asked me that today...

The question is - auschwitz is a smoking gun for the nazis' cruelty, why didn't they bother to destory it before the allies have arrived?

As user Keyilan mentioned in the recent AMA on early and medieval Islam, Islam does not really have a religious class. But Iran seems to be the exception.

From my own knowledge, it seems like this class has existed since the Qajar era.

When did this class form? When did this class become politically powerful?

Watching the film war horse recently, it depicted British cavalry armed with Swords and Pistols for the Officers. I had thought that all British servicemen would have carried Rifles even the cavalry.

So at the beginning of the war what would the typical cavalry soldier be armed with?

Any book recommendations would be appreciated.

I have some type of document from the cold war period. Its entirely in Russian so I'm not sure what it says. It was found on an old soviet submarine. I can post pics if you want me to. Thanks!

As far as I can tell, the American Civil War was one of the last major wars where prisoners could reasonably expect to be paroled shortly following their capture (although I've read of limited uses as late as World War II). For instance, I've been reading about the Gettysburg Campaign, and during Stuarts raiding in late June, he captures a wagon train, and paroles the prisoners that same day.

So anyways, parole was basically a promise not to rejoin the fight. Make that promise, and you can go on your way. But I know that this promise wasn't always kept, since I've read explicit references to various men who were paroled and returned to their units immediately. I know that there were exchanges of names to end parole, but did this actually account for all returnees?

So what I'm wondering is, how frequent was this reneging on parole? Did no one abide by it, or was it generally respected?

If you did rejoin, and were captured again, assuming you weren't a notable officer, what were the chances it would be discovered you had not respected the promise of parole, given the lack of modern computer databases?

If you were found out, what fate awaited you? Imprisonment? Execution? Or just a "comon', actually go home this time" as they parole you a second time?

Ok this is rather more recent history,but still, I belive what we are seeing is history in the making now. I belive all countries wich joined or wanted to join the EU held a referendum beforehand. But I don't recall hearing this happening in Ukraine. Why?And did it also happen to other countries that they joined the EU without the population voting on it?

How did Confucianism contribute to the stagnation of Chinese society when especially compared to the West?

If Confucianism was not responsible, why did China stagnate so much?

I am doing a presentation for my world history class on the topic of the Acropolis, and I would like to include images of how the buildings would have really looked (i.e. brightly painted and decorated). I have found a few representations of the Parthenon and how it probably looked but I am having trouble finding anything concerning other buildings such as the Temple of Athena Nike, the Propylaea, the Erechtheion, etc. Would they have been painted like the Parthenon and are there any representations of them? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

We're they held as prisoners, executed, or did they have to join the German military?

Is there a well-understood historical reason for this? Why not Paris or Boston or Lisbon or Alexandria or Rome or any number of other large, important cities?

I know this sounds crazy, but hear me out.

There was a significant level of exterminationist sentiment among Americans towards the Japanese (10-20% of Americans thought that all Japanese should be killed). Many US military leaders used genocidal language ("Kill all Japs", etc.). But people say a lot of things and the war in the Pacific was particularly brutal, so this was probably just tempers running high. But the US military also plans for lots of contingencies that never occur. For example, I've heard we had plans in case we get invaded by Canada (this may be apocryphal but you get the point).

So, my question is: Did the US military ever plan for the contingency that the Japanese would never surrender and would "need" to be exterminated?

what would you eat for breakfast, lunch, supper if you were...

a peasant

middle class (merchant)

wealthy upper class

nobility

Do Greeks today eat any of their dishes?