So for the standard soldier in the English army around George III's reign, what sort of life can be anticipated? Is there chance for promotion, increasing wages, and a comfortable life and retirement at the end of it all? Or am I more likely to end up penniless in some filthy street, wasting away on cheap liquor -if I don't end up on the receiving end of an enemy soldiers bayonet, that is.

Is the Royal Army a viable career for me then, if I'm an unemployed common Englishmen? Or am I better off seeking my future elsewhere?

I know what it is and what it looked like but I cannot find a lot of information on its origin and use.

More specifically, did the Japanese fight in the European Theater, or the Germans and Italians in the Pacific? Did they just provide economic support or were they more hands on?

Religion aside, when and why did people start identifying themselves as Christians? Instead of Baptist, Catholic, Presbyterians, etc. ew

So as a byproduct of the australian subway accident I got curious about the presence or organized crime in OZ.

Turns out almost, if not, every, listing of an example on wikipedia starts after the late sixties.

My question is, if Australia was built on the backs of criminals, what was organized crime like the 100 years before the 60's?

As the title says, was there any actual recorded opposition to the written word being used in ancient times as it was being adopted?

I know of ancient cultures often using poetry or simple stories to remember history such as the Gauls in what now is modern day France. Were any of the well known poets or people in respected positions oppose the adoption of written word? I can imagine this would be hard to answer due to most likely bias recording in written word or simple lack of recording it.

I have been doing a lot of reading on The Troubles in Northern Ireland recently and am having a bit of trouble really wrapping my mind around what an average persons experience would have been like during this time.

So I guess my questions is what would it be like for an "average" person during the troubles. Was there a tangible fear associated with leaving your house everyday? Would you always be looking over your shoulder wondering if you would be gunned down in random sectarian violence? Was it significantly different living in a city (Belfast for example) vs living in the countryside? Did Catholics have to fear more than Protestants or vice versa?

Has it always been like this? From what I understand it wasn't the case when we were hunter-gatherers.

To me it appears to be the same strategy, but I'm sure there were crucial differences.

Say I was a cowboy in the Southwestern US, circa 1880s. I am sitting around a campfire with my fellow cowpokes. Could we have been passing around a joint or would it have been unheard of? Would it be known to and used Mexican cowboys but not known or ignored by white and black cowboys?

I know that it was used in cough syrums and such. Is there any evidence that smoking it was common in the western US before the early 20th century?

Any credible sources I've read regarding the matter make it seem like it just suddenly appeared in smokable form in the US after the turn of the century, and mostly in the hands of Mexicans, becoming demonized shortly after. Given both the proximity to, and overlap of, the cultures of northern Mexico and the southwestern US, I find it improbable that the recreational use of cannabis just appeared in such a manner, but that is what historical sources seem to imply.

If anyone has any input or can suggest further reading on the subject, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

Was it to make The Church happy?

I'm interested in the Roman Republic, pre-Cesar, lately. Is there any books that you know on the subject that are accessible to a non historian type? Doesn't have to be extremely detailed, but a good overview of how it got started, socio-political situation at that time and place and how it functioned would be appreciated. Thanks!

I've never heard a satisfactory answer to this, why did Hitler hate the Jews so much that he wanted their entire race systematically wiped off the face of the earth?

It seems one of the most basic and important questions in how the 20th century unfolded but I've never heard a good explanation for it; it seems far beyond any usual attempt at scapegoating. This kind of hatred doesn't tend to develop in a vacuum, so what was the driving cause behind this hatred and its subsequent "Final Solution"?

While girls have had dolls forever, it seems that all of our stereotypical male toys are less than 200 years old (toy cars, miniature railways, forklifts and front loaders). Were there other engineering staples that boys played with before?

And why did the disciples continue faith in Christ after his death, especially in the light of the persecutions that came during their lifetimes? Obviously my question is being asked from a secular, mainstream, historical perspective.

I imagine that there must have been reasoning behind the ordering. How precisely did their final order come to be?

Being a croatian i'm pretty interested in the subject of the terrible holocaust in Independent state of croatia which not only included jews, gypsies, communists etc but also included the serbian population. It is pretty incredible that the germans allowed it because the serbians where also under german control and had there own puppet governemnt. It's a really tough subject here in croatia, and unfortunately a lot of people are still sympathetic to the puppet regime that Hitler created. I'm not sure is there any expert on yugoslavia here but if there is i would be glad to hear a good explanation.

It seems odd that despite the large numbers of Africans enslaved in the Arab world, I see no evidence of their descendents today, in contrast to Western countries.