So, it would seem you had 2 union states, and one confederate state, with no natural borders, just sitting next to each other, and yet the region seemed to have no major battles.

Were there encampments? Guarded borders?

I was reading on Juche, and one of the theories of its origin saw it as a return to the isolationism of Yi Dynasty. It occurred to me that I've heard about isolationist empires a lot in terms of the region's history. Japan was isolated until the United States forced it to open its ports, China only allowed trade through limited ports like Hong Kong, and so on. I am not too knowledgable of the history of the region, but I can't think of famous isolationist kingdoms in Europe or the rest of Asia of the top of my head. Is there something unique about the way this region approached foreign policy, or is there something wrong with the way I understand its history?

I remember back in the 90s when I was a kid, the first rapper I heard that had "lil" in their name was "Lil Bowwow" and that was mostly because he was a kid and basically a mini-Snoop Dogg.

But then you started hearing other "Lils" popping up, like Lil Kim, Lil Zayne, Lil Wayne, Lil Nas...etc.

Where does the "Lil" title originate from, and how did the mainstream trend begin, and why has it persisted for so long?

Hitler was pretty eager to declare war on America after Pearl Harbor, and it's pretty clear that he expected to go to war with the USA sooner or later.

But what exactly was the German plan to defeat America?

USA was a huge country with an equally huge population and industry. Defeating them would require an operation like Barbarossa, but across the Atlantic ocean. Even with everything going in German favor I just can't see this happening.

Did they expect Americans to just surrender after the Soviet Union was defeated? Or did they hope Japan could deal with America on their own?

When it comes to the Silk Road, for centuries Europeans could learn to trade with someone in Eurasian region over generations, who could then trade with someone who could trade in the Indian subcontinent, who would trade with someone who could speak enough Chinese to trade in China.

This all changed after people set sail on a global scale. Voyages took months, and one would assume they did not have translators. The Portuguese who had rights to stay at the fringes in Japan probably did not speak English. So how did Commodore Matthew Perry expect that the letter from President Fillmore would be read and understood by the Emperor?

200 years earlier, when it comes to Italian painters like Giovanni Niccolo and Portuguese missionaries around same time period, how did they communicate with the Japanese? Did they just settle near a beach somewhere and just tried to give gifts to locals as a means that they were not invading forces?

A character I'm writing is a wealthy European with syphilis in the year 1899. I think I want him to have secondary-phase syphilis. What would be the treatment for this at this time period?

I need some pointers to get better educated on late-20th Century Africa. While I have some very basic concepts down and probably know key events a bit better than the average person, I want to really understand the driving forces and inter-connections.

I'm looking for any sources from books, articles, and documentaries to better understand the continent better. I understand that's a large ask given the size and scope of the continent, but I want to better understand it all both more broadly and more specifically.

Any helps is greatly appreciated.

I've always been interested in learning more about my grandfather as he passed away before I was born. I know for certain he served in ww2 in Italy (for the Italians) and I know he contributed to the war efforts as an engineer. I kept trying to find where I could locate the records but I've had no luck.

Most archives I've found thusfar have no information about him. Where can I find his records?

In fact, what was the fighting like?

I always hear that after the Fall of Constantinople, the Ottomans somehow blocked ALL trade in the Eastern Mediterranean. How is this possible since the Bosphorus straights only control trade from the Black to Mediterranean seas? How would it have blocked the Indian spice trade or other routes? Also, the Ottomans already controlled lots of territory around the city, how wasn’t it blocked before?

I'm interested what were the liturgical practices of that era, and if possible, how did the mental world of a layman look like.

Thanks in advance!

Childbirth was obviously much riskier for women and children of the past before much of modern medicine was available. My question is approximately what percent of pregnant medieval women could be expected to perish in childbirth? Or, put another way, if I were a pregnant woman in medieval Europe, how worried would I be about dying in the birthing bed?

I know that we don’t have great records about this kind of stuff, but I’m really just looking for a rough estimate. I’m asking about medieval Europe particularly but would also be interested to hear about other cultures, too!

In a world full of sensualized history books, I am curious if anybody here has read it and has an opinion on it? Thanks so much!

As I understand it, Latin expanded through Europe along with the Roman Empire, which gave all Roman citizens and subjects a common language. It also makes sense that different regions would develop their own dialects as a result of marrying their native tongue with Latin.

However, I don't understand why Italy would change their national language from Latin to Italian. Couldn't Latin continue to evolve through use over time? When did they make that switch, and why?

Edit: typo

I was watching a what if video on Vikings when this question popped into my head. Why didn’t the Vikings sail south of Newfoundland? I know they established a colony there, but lost it due to native resistance. Did the Vikings ever try sailing south to explore more of the Eastern coast of the U.S.? If so, why didn’t they settle in a more hospitable climate?

Aramaic, Hebrew, Arabic, and other semitic languages always use abjads, which makes sense because these languages are uniquely suited for it because of their consonantal root system

However Amharic uses a syllabary, and yet they must have had contact with other semitic people using abjads, how did this happen?

Sorry if this sounds ignorant but as a non American I don’t understand American history that in depth. From what I’ve learnt about it through tiktok and other social media it seems to be public consensus that the by far biggest factor for the civil war was over the south wanting to keep slavery and the north not wanting to but I don’t get why a working class man would want to lay down there life over this and surely it would benefit them if there was no more free labour as slave masters would probably wanting to hire white due to racism if it was for the same wage? I seen people say it was due to the south feeling deprived but I’ve seen this shot down as whitewashing history?