I'm curious how far the plague spread before the medical community realised it was an issue.

In a number of sources I've come across (all from the Entente side), there has been mention of using machine guns as indirect-fire weapons to supplement an artillery barrage (especially a creeping barrage). This does not seem on the face of it to be an effective use of such weapons, so I was wondering if this was indeed a real tactic, how common it was, and what the intended purpose was- casualties, morale damage, give the machine gunners something to do, etc.

I had a friend reading a fictional book that took place in the late forties I think (child 44 was the name) and in it I am told that there was a practice in the schools for the children to be asked who they loved the most and expected to all answer, "Stalin"

Is there any accuracy to this? Do you know of any respectable websites with print or tv propaganda from the period?

All throughout the Americas, natives suffered from debilitating diseases brought from the old world. I recently read an estimate (who knows how accurate) that up to 80% of the population of the Americas died after being exposed to Europeans. Since the Europeans also would not have an immunity to diseases that existed in the Americas, why didn't they suffer? Are there environmental or socio-political reasons for this?

A Chinese coworker of mine recently expressed curiosity about differences in how history was taught between China and America, and brought up the Korean War in particular. Aside from a year in Canada after graduating from college and watching CNN online to practice his English, he has had very little contact with foreign-educated people and their ideas. To clarify, he is still in China--I am an American living in China--so even now Western attitudes remain somewhat alien to him. And for context, while I don't know his exact age, I would guess that he went to high school in the mid-late 90s, so he would've been learning well after reform and opening up began.

As an American, I was taught that the military engagements of the Cold War were proxy conflicts between the US and Russia. My question is: to what extent did American military and political leaders consider China a threat within the context of the Korean War, independent of the Soviet Union?

I know that the US Civil War was relatively short, but why didn't a single country assist with the confederacy? Were they opposed to slavery? Or did most outsiders see their cause as doomed from the start?

I've been listening to a lot of old.radio shows lately (thanks, SiriusXM Radio Classics channel). While some variety programs had full orchestras for their singers, a lot of the dramas, comedies, and suspense shows utilized only an organ player for all their background and intercession music. Why was this? Why not a piano, or some other instrument?

Or was it more or less like the NFL of the day?

I know they sent volunteer brigades but that seems to have been it. Why didn't they directly support the republican side? Wouldn't it have benefited them to have a republican Spain instead of a fascist one?

I don't see how to expand on it further, but the question is more towards older history, but all eras apply. How do you determine if a source is likely to be true and reliable? Today, anyone can say anything. So people in the past also were capable of saying anything. How do you weed the people telling tall tales or the conspiracy nuts of your era of time?

How often were they seen by passersby? Were they aware of what happened regarding the drought, social breakdown, and collapse? Were they aware that many elements of their culture came from the Anasazi? Were they thought of as cursed or sacred sites? Or were they indifferent and unaware?

From my understanding, whiteness was even a European thing, excluding Italians and Irish, who are both 'white' skinned. And today I'd consider that Asians are considered 'white' by some (from my American pov). But how did that happen?

or did this not become a subject of writing until the modern age?

The United Kingdom maintained an income tax during the Napoleonic Wars and the United States during the Civil War. In a time before most people had regularized wage paying employment which created a paper trail how was it possible for the government to effectively crack down on tax cheating?

Mods, sorry if this violates the "no poll questions" rule, but I'm interested to know how many professional historians actually do speak relevant languages. I'm not so interested in people studying european history- mostly, I'm curious about people like /u/Qhapaqocha, our andean specialist, and others who work in fields that would require languages without large knowledge bases.

Thanks!