Irrespective of the 400-years or so colonialism of the Americas or the Philippines, how is it that 19th century European nations could've decisively used her massively technologically-superior militaries to smash the still independent countries of Africa and Asia in the span of months or a few years, only for the Europeans to seemingly pull out so abruptly out of these conquered nations just 60+ years later, whereas it took 300+ years for the conquered areas of the first wave of European colonialism (15th-18th centuries) to declare independence?

Recently I got into discussion with my teacher about the French and Indian war.

He said that the French and Indian war is the same thing as the Seven Years war.

I said it wasn’t. I thought the French and Indian war was partly a cause of the Seven Years war? They happened in different continents right? I thought the French and Indian war was about Ohio river/valley, while the seven years war was an imperial rivalry between the French and British?

Am I wrong?

Sorry if this is poorly worded. Not taking this class in English so things may be lost in translation.

While I've understood that some moments in history are more important than others I've never been able to understand how historians determine which events are the most important.

I know it's a rule to not discuss politics within the past 20 years, but are historians today aware of which current events are going to be the most impactful on human history, or does it require a certain period of separation to recognize what was the most important?

I'm looking for an English translation of Ernoul's account of the Crusades. If none can be provided, a text in Medieval Latin or Old French would also be appreciated. I can use his account for research. Any related sources on the crusader states would also be beneficial to me. Do know of any modern copies of his work?

For the historians on this forum, any further information on Ernoul would be appreciated!

I'm especially interested in architectural methods, but others work too. Most of the historical cooling systems that I'm aware of use evaporative cooling, like qanats, salsabils, Roman and Italian houses with inner courtyards with pools or fountains, or just water-soaked reeds or cloth hung in windows. But those work best in dry climates, and I haven't found any reference to similar things in humid areas, but I haven't really been able to find any information on what kinds of things would be used instead.

The closest is one reference to draft-creation in Fujian tǔlóu, but that was a very specific design that didn't spread beyond one small region (and seemed more incidental than intentional, but maybe I'm mistaken).

I know we will likely never know the true number of people who died. But from what I understand, the number of victims of the Holocaust is usually set at six million, yet I've also seen numbers as high as ten million. Is the six million figure just for Nazi Germany, or does it also include the Soviet Union and Italy?

I was watching the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about the LLWS and was surprised at the deference (for lack of a better term) given to the Taiwanese sides. Turns out between 1969 and 1996 Taiwanese teams won the LLWS 17 times.

Given that I am wondering why their impact on the MLB has been so minimal. It seems weird that none of these junior teams would have players who continued to progress. Is it just about attractiveness of the domestic league, a focus on amateur sports above professional?

I have found plenty of different cultures that have giants in their mythology, but I'm having trouble with a timeline.

Also, are there any mentions of small giants?

I've never met an East or a South but I've met multiple Norths and Wests. What gives?

I just finished Rubicon by Tom Holland and wow, it really made all the big personalities of the time feel alive and dove into the complexities of how the republic worked.

My understanding is that some of Caesar's rivals wanted to prosecute him for invading Germany and Britain, which was technically illegal, so that they could check his growing power and popularity. However, what I don't get is why Pompey agreed to allow his ally to be prosecuted when he had the power to let Caesar avoid prosecution and make a run for console.

The Triumvirate was obviously broken with the death of Crassus, but did Pompey fear that Caesar would eventually turn on him after gaining a better position as a console, or did Pompey just want to appease the senate? Was there anything else influencing his decision?

I've looked high and I've looked low but all I've found on this subject was that a very large Scottish army of 20,000 men under Alexander Leslie lived in the Counties Northumberland and Durham for about a year following the Battle of Newburn and extorted the King of England under the Treaty of Ripon as a way to keep leverage for Parliament to be called to sign the Treaty of London in 1641, and that there was some looting.

But what was the local reaction to this army? Were they friendly, hostile, or apathetic? Were the Scots billeted in and amongst the English or did they keep very separate military camps? Newcastle's population alone would have doubled or even tripled if the Scottish camp followers were in any significant number. And during this time period of heightened politicking was there significant propagandizing via pamphlets or otherwise on either side? I also read somewhere a brief mention that the Northern English Churches of Scotland may have been founded due to this time period, is there definitive proof of that somewhere?

Thanks much!

This might be a niche topic, but I'm doing a paper on the Velasco coup/reforms, and I can't find sources that give me a dive into the reforms regarding the indigenous population of Peru. I was hoping someone could help me out with some sources. Is there also any historiography on Velasco's life, upbringing, career, and political views outside of speeches? Thank you for your time and help.

How does this subreddit have any subscribers? Why does it exist if no questions ever actually get answers? Why are the mods all Nazis/Zionists/Communists/Islamic extremists/really, really into Our Flag Means Death?

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My knowledge of Vietnam is pretty poor, so maybe I'm missing something obvious. However, I was reading about the history of Vietnam on Wikipedia and was puzzled by the US non-reaction to Vietnamese independence.

From my own short reading, it seems Ho Chi Minh created a government that would be amicable to the US and their interests at the time. It filled a power vacuum left by the French and Japanese, seems to have made real efforts to appeal to the US sensibilities, and seems a possibly useful ally for the approaching Cold War. From what I can see, this is before the Soviet Union was too deeply involved with them. Despite all this, it seems his letters for recognition by the United States was ignored. I've seen a couple places give the explanation that, between the death of FDR and the end of the war, the US was just too busy, but that seems a flimsy excuse to me. So, why did the US ignore this potential ally?

Most arguments I have seen rebutting geographical determinism state that societal development is not solely determined by geography, and while certainly influenced by it, development is contingent on many other factors: culture, the societies unique history, the achievements of individual people etc. However, aren't all of these in turn determined by Geography? Sure, two different societies in the same place will develop differently, but, assuming no external influences, won't the same place always develop the exact same society? I'm assuming I'm wrong, as geographical determinism is seen (probably for good reason) as outdated by historians, but why is that?

So, before WW 2 we know that Jews were discriminated, oppressed and long before Jews were killed because they were thought to have brought the Black Death Pandemic as well.

Now, in modern times there are so many conspiracy theories surrounding Jews even though they have been debunked many times before and yet people continue to believe them....

From what point in history did such hate towards Jews start from?

I’m wondering what information is most helpful to historians when determining what every day life was like for average person if they were looking for a primary source. What information would you want to know?

Whenever I watch or read historical youtube channels or blogs, they often are giving me a tailored narrative built on the work of previous historical collections. Which isn't a bad thing.

However with I recently came across a few channels talking about developments in assyriology and that left me wondering.

What is the "cutting edge" in your field? What are you or your colleagues currently working on? What topics are you following and are anticipating the results of?

English has more synonyms than perhaps any other language because it borrows so heavily from other languages. But even including that, it still seems like surely some of the original intent of the words must have been lost in translation when you try to force them to rhyme or still fit in the meter/beat used in the original poetry.