I watched '300: Rise of an Empire' yesterday and noticed that Themistocles gives a grand speech just before a naval battle. But even while watching that scene, I wondered how could his voice reach anyone beyond his own ship?

This is something that I have seen in many other ancient war movies, like Braveheart.

I have read through some of the previous posts on this sub which describe that those grand speeches before battles were actually a real thing, but I couldn't understand the mechanics of it - as in, how one person's voice could reach thousands of troops in the battlefield?

Explain this to me.

Battle of the Bulge. The US has been fighting the Germans for years. The Axis launch a surprise attack against either understrength or, in the case of the Golden Lions, utterly inexperienced US units. They make good progress, it is the only time in the war that a US division is destroyed, but eventually are ground to a halt and by the end of it, the plan to loop North to encircle the British at the coast failed, the Germans are moved back to their start lines, the battlefield in US hands. Considered a great US victory.

Kasserine Pass, The US hasn't really had much experience fighting Germans The Axis launch a surprise attack against inexperienced US units. They make good initial progress, surround and effectively destroy two infantry regiments, are held up for two assaults until finally the Italians break the American line on the third try. They are finally held at the next defensive line, and at the end of it all, the plan to loop North and encircle the British at the coast failed. The Germans are moved back to their start lines, the battlefield in US hands. Considered a great US disaster.

Outside of the fact that at the time, the US weren't accustomed to the idea that they might not walk over the Axis, so the idea that the Germans weren't a pushover was a novelty, why with the benefits of 75 years of hindsight are there such differing views?

I often hear about how the vikings discovered America first, but little was done in what was then called Vinland, and the information was lost after a certain period of time. How is that possible? How could a discovery of a brand new landmass which is (at least compared to Greenland and Iceland) hospitable and similar to Nordic climate not have seen more settlement or more information about the region disseminated? How could it's discovery have simply been lost to time? And by far the most confusing to me, how do we know they did this if it was supposedly forgotten (and as a side note, when did we "relearn" this information?)

I've heard it claimed that Homer was blind because the descriptions he gives of interior spaces are a bit muddled.

Do we have any other sources to support this? It seems like a bit of a stretch. I wouldn't assume that somebody was deaf just because they were bad at writing about music, for instance.

Has anyone considered the possibility that he might have had a condition such as Aphantasia which made mental visualisation more difficult, or that he was just bad at giving directions for some other reason?

I remember learning in one of my classes about the modern Middle East that apparently the Arabs rejected the idea of giving Jews their own state. But in the creation of Palestine, Jewish people living there would be given 100% equal citizenship and be treated more-or-less no differently at all than Palestinians, but it would be the latter that ran the government. Is this accurate to what was planned for the Palestinian state?

As far as I'm aware, Muslims and Jews lived side by side for centuries with few problems and the anti-Jewish attitude the Middle Eastern countries have now came from the creation of Israel in the 40's. If that's the case, I have no problem believing Jews and Palestinians would have been pretty much treated as equal citizens in a Palestinian state where the Jewish settlers never rose up.

Motor torpedo boats were common in European navies & heavily used by the US Navy. In contrast Japanese torpedo boats seem to have all been heavier built ships more akin to a British corvette or an American Destroyer escort. Was this difference a result of doctrine, experience, industrial limitations, or something else?

For a while now I've been extremely interested in learning more about european medieval hostory mainly the holy roman empire(also the hussite wars and bohemian history), knighthood, and life in general in medieval times. The thing is I'm an idiot and since english isnt my first language I would love a recomendation about a source to learn more about it whether it's a book, documentary or even a podcast which would be interesting for a person like me. I would appreciate any suggestions thank you!

I just want to actually be able to get the answers ;-;

What was the logic behind annexing a piece of land that had never been part of the Russian Empire? I have heard it was due to needing a port that wouldn't freeze in Winter, but wouldn't ports in Lithuania and Latvia serve that purpose?

With the religious strife at the time sweeping across Europe and the Hanseatic league a shadow of its former self, what was its approach to dealing with cities in the league that joined the reformation? with the league on the decline in power due to other reasons, it seems hard to believe that they could afford to be intolerant lest more cities leave the league. how did the league approach this issue?

There are documnets stating the Nazis managed to sink several mexican oil tankers in the mexican gulf, preventing them to reach the US. How did Nazi Submarines managed to get that far from Europe? Could they have orchestrated attacks on the US from there?

My friend and I are creating a webcomic based around Norse Mythology and the Viking era. We've read quite a few books and websites, but there are so many conflicting stories.

As a lot of source material is challenged (especially the Eddas) where is the best place to look for effective information on:

• how the clans lived during that time (not just the Vikings, but also the women, children, and elderly)?
• what role the deities played in everyday life (and what they each did)?
• what other creatures were believed to be around? E.g. dwarves, elves, giants, etc.?

Also, is there someone I can contact to ask more in depth questions? I don't want to overload this very busy subreddit.

Sorry if this is a very open ended question, but I'm finding it hard to do effective research and want to make sure our comic is as authentic as possible.

Thanks in advance for your help, Rhian x

Since that question is a bit vague what I’m asking is what methods would be used by northern native Americans to preserve food, excluding the obvious of pemmican and smoking were there any others? I would love anything particular to natives in modern day Kentucky however anything would be nice. Added details such as what they would preserve as well would be nice, for instance were they preserving plants such as what are now known as Indian cucumber, groundnuts, and other such plants? Were any of these methods other than smoking adopted by settlers? I know this is loaded so feel free to take off one of these questions and go further with it.

I love history but I have two things that are extremely difficult for me

1. Understanding a historical event is ok BUT knowing what else was happening in the world during that same time
2. Retaining details

For further information, I’ve tried listening to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History because everyone raves about it and I just find his voice very dry and I get zoned out easily.

I want to learn more but the two problems I have are really just understanding a timeline as a whole and how some historical events have impacted other countries etc.

Maybe I’m just not as intelligent as the people around me but I just don’t have a good timeline and can recall wars and the details within the war like my husband can. I want to be better but I just don’t know how!

Any tips are appreciated! I just hate when I say I love history but then I might sound so dumb when talking to people that have a really good understanding of it.

Did the Aztec worship a pantheon of Gods? What was Aztec religion like?

In the Aztec subreddit someone is claiming that the Aztecs did not worship any gods at all. This is the complete opposite of everything I’ve ever read about Aztec religion so I was hoping someone could clear some things up. Thanks