It seems that Britain and France did a lot to contribute to the war; -The Treaty of Versailles for one demanded unrealistic reparations & unjustly blamed Germany for starting the war etc.
Had Britain and and especially France not been so clouded with anger when creating the Versailles treaty it appears to me that WWII would not have occurred. Why are they never called out on their behavior that possibly contributed to the war?
3 Answers 2014-01-19
First off, yes I'm hideously biased on the issue of guns and gun ownership in the United States (I'm for it, bring back mail order guns!) However, I also try to be objective and fact based with historical research.
Once upon a time, Michael Bellesiles wrote a book Arming America which won the Bancroft Prize, and was widely lauded as a fine work. However, in very short order, Bellesiles was stripped of his Bancroft Prize, and wound up resigning his position at Emory University over his deeply flawed, biased and possibly fabricated research. Quite frankly, I'm amazed that in 2014 anyone would even think of citing this book as a valid source, yet it consistently comes up and is presented as a viable source of information, despite having been shown to be flawed, to the point of the publisher inserting a disclaimer in the book after the scandal broke. (I've seen copies with this, it's a printed piece of paper pasted into the front of the book).
So the question, or perhaps rant, is why do people insist on presenting such a discredited source as useful well over a decade after it had been so roundly "shot down" by the academic community?
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When did the idea of intellectual property become tangible? How were these rules enforced?
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How did coal miners become businessmen? How did people so divided (the Hakka and Cantonese fought not only in Guangdong province, but in Malaysia) become united? How did Singapore develop so fast from being 'one of the worst slums in Asia' (British report from the 40's) to one of the most developed countries in the world? Why have the other SE Asian communities and states not progressed as fast, despite having liberal economic policies all this time?
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I know I'm attacking him right off, but I just do not understand at all how he is a famous person, and not a crazy person that flings paint and calls it art.
What was the situation or environment that lead to Jackson Pollack becoming a respected and historical artist? Was he controversial at all? Were there people at the start of his career that just shrugged him off as silly?
1 Answers 2014-01-19
Wikipedia tells me that crocheting has only been documented from the 19th century onwards. This astounded me, as it seems to me that crocheting is a simpler technique than knitting and I therefore assumed it was much older. What's the lowdown on the history of crocheting?
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In famous movies Casino and Goodfellas, and as well in the Sopranos there is a Jewish Character who usually handles money in some way. I'm curious if there is some historical context to the the reason this is a reoccuring element, and whether the US Italian and Jewish communities had some sort of special connection predating the US Mafia.
Thank you
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Hello, I am curious as to the level of involvement the Hispanic population of Texas had in the American Civil War. Was Texas heavily conscripted and was there a large Hispanic population as there is in Texas today or was the population made up of Americans that came to Texas during the 1830s-50s?
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What were/are the reasons behind the reluctance to convert from Fahrenheit to Celsius? Does it tie in in any way to the reluctance to convert to the metric system?
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It's a serious question. Not trying to troll. I can't find this online anywhere.
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This might be a tough question, as it is about a very distant and undocumented era. I am not looking for a definite answer, only your ideas.
Our distant hominid ancestors were certainly ''ape-like'', and must have been aware of their relative similarity to apes, right? I know genealogy and knowledge of distant ancestors were neither documented nor passed down at that time, but still, our ''ape-like'' pre-human ancestors must have had a clue about their physical and behavioral similarity to the apes they coexisted with, in the same way modern animals recognize members of their own species.
Now, at what point in evolutionary history did our ancestors start considering themselves unique enough to collectively ''forget'' about their kinship with other primates?
Also, why do you think they did? Linguistic factors? Lifestyle? Lack of education? Insufficient transmission of knowledge from parent to child? Religious reasons? I want your ideas.
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Does anybody know which collection this story comes from?
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What was the main motivation also? If it were financial, why did Britain's colonies have those financial incentives but France or Spain didn't?
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What year(s) are considered to be the height of Rome.. I remember reading somewhere around 117? I've heard a lot of contradictory things... especially about how the military was organized.. and I'm just wondering if anyone can shed some light on the subject.
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And how were houses designed (and lit) before then?
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I was curious as to whether the people living in New Orleans and the like were dismayed or accepting of their territory being acquired by the (still new) United States. Was there any social unrest or was it just business as usual after the turnover?
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How much did he integrate Persians and Aramaeans, also?
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Is there any truth in the following claims?
"This is one of those dirty little historical secrets that’s hidden in plain sight for seven decades. Ask any aged German veteran, he’ll be happy to tell you just how weak American infantry, drawn from the unwilling and the weak, actually was. Historians have known this for a long time, it’s just not something very politic to harp on, as it doesn’t jibe with Greatest Generation myth-making. There’s a reason our movies tend to focus on elites like the 101st Airborne Division, comprised of highly motivated and superbly trained volunteers, since the average U.S. Army division was routinely chewed up by the tired Wehrmacht."
Heres the rest of the article, the relevent part starts at paragraph 9.
Did the US Army really get beat "anytime it was a fair fight" in WWII? Its a bold claim, one I haven't heard before, but seems plausible I guess.
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