This question is prompted by this quote from Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals:

The question reminds of me of a little anecdote about the automaton chess player, which many years ago astonished the world by its skill in that game. After a while the automaton was challenged by a celebrated player, who, to his great chagrin, was beaten twice by the machine. At the end of the second game, the player, significantly pointing his finger at the automaton, exclaimed in a very decided tone, ‘There’s a man in it.’”

Seems to me the chess player must have been right, because I can't imagine 19th century technology would have been up to making a chess-playing mechanical computer, but I'm wondering if any other information about this item is available.

Take Diocletian for instance who reorganized the empire into something like 100 different dioceses to ease the administrative burden on governors. How were the boundaries of these divisions set and then kept track of without reasonably accurate maps? I've seen a number of examples of reproduced ancient Roman maps such as the Tabula Peutingeriana or Pomponius Mela's map and of course Strabo's Geographica. These maps do their best but I wouldn't think them accurate enough to be relied on when it comes to administrative work, or maybe I'm wrong and the Romans just made it work somehow. Or maybe they did have more accurate maps that just haven't survived?

Was it supported by a majority if the population, or was it truly only "radical Republicans" that advocated for total abolition of slavery?

Bearing in mind the presence of pagan mercenaries in the Byzantine army and the historic legacy of ancient Roman paganism in the culture, it seems possible that such events might have occurred at least privately if not publicly.

So, my grandfather was an army engineer shortly after wwii, and one of his main tasks was working to build some of the first missiles. A lot of this apparently involved trying to reverse engineer some of the old V1 and V2 rockets. Anyways, one story he’s told me is that, one day, a missile test went wrong when the missile went off course, crossed the border, and landed in a Mexican cemetery. He mentioned going over to the cemetery after the blast, and seeing parts of decomposing corpses scattered everywhere.

My Grandpa’s memory isn’t that great these days and he’s known for spinning yarns, but this is one he’s been telling for quite a while. I’m curious if there’s any information about this incident? Did it result in a diplomatic incident between the two countries?

Ethiopia, or Abyssinia, and Nubia, modern day Sudan, were two of the first places to become Christian. So, when most of the Christian world was up in arms against the Muslim world, what was the contribution of these states on any of those occasions? They lie just across the Red Sea from Arabia, and Nubia was just to the south of Egypt. Were they aware of the wars taking place? Were they aware of Europe, and vice versa?

I’ve recently been doing a little reading on the legends of the Irish legendary figure Cu Chulainn, and I was wondering if there was any speculation from historians about a link between the stories and one or more historical figures (much like some historians speculate about possible real-life inspirations for King Arthur). Or if there’s historical evidence for any of the other characters in the legends, like his foster father King Conchobar of Ulster or his antagonist Queen Medb of Connacht.

Thanks!

(Apologies if I’ve made any mistakes in the Irish names, I don’t speak the language and am copying what I’m seeing online.)

It seems that most fashion historians agree that corsets/stays were not actually bad for women, and were essential undergarments because, well, bras didn't exist (and bras aren't all that great anyways). However I was at a museum reading about the suffrage movement in New Zealand and I found that it seems like many of the women who were apart of the movement were also against corsets. At first I thought they were secondary sources that assumed corsets were "oppresive", but Kate Sheppard herself was quoted as saying that corsets were restrictive (apologies, I cant find the direct quote online, but it was in the museum). I had assumed that they meant tightlacing, but I don't believe that most women tight laced in the first place, and even if there were some women who did their corsets up tighter than was comfortable, I can't imagine that it were that many women who did so. (I also understand that sport/cycling corsets were becoming a thing around this time) and if they did choose not to wear them, what would they have worn for bust support?

edited: Thanks for the likes, rewards and responses. I really do appreciate it! I wanna gain as much information and insight into ancient African societies. Always special to learn something new!

Vikings did many raids to muslim areas in the Mediterranean, why didn't Islam had a bigger influence on them?

The spelling difference between Chaucer and Shakespeare is enormous yet Chaucer is still barely readable and recognisable compared to Old English and Beowulf. How did populations experience these language changes? Did speech change suddenly over a decade or imperceptibly? Would it ever have been hard for an elderly grandfather to understand his grandson?

Considering the very bold statements made by Nazi officials while the battle was still raging, how was the defeat reported to the German people by their government? I'm especially curious how Goebbels spun it.

When you look at Germany the only route their they could have taken was either the North Sea or the British channel. Did their ships cross the channel? Or did they go all the way around the Scotland? How could they maintain any sort of sea fleet where they had to do either? The English Channel would have been a difficult journey and the North Sea is such a long way.

Thank you.

Everyone knows that after the (staged) 1931 Mukden Incident, Japan invaded Manchuria -- then under the control of "the Young Marshal" Zhang Xueliang, who was nominally affiliated with the government in Nanjing -- and from there they created the puppet state of Manchukuo.

But... how did they go about the actual process of proclaiming Manchuria as "independent"?

I was not raised religious, so I know nothing about Biblical stories. Assuming something like the Exodus actually happened, or even it if was just a convenient origin story, I've always been a little confused about whether what we know today as the Jewish people "became Jewish" de facto by virtue of being the group that left during the events of the Exodus, or if they were already a distinct people from somewhere else that somehow got subsumed into the Ancient Egyptian nation at some point.

BRIDGERTON spoilers (barely)

My wife is watching Bridgerton and I noticed a few women don't know where babies come from or what sex is. It appears they likely don't know what a penis is etc. This seems almost unbelievable to me since even young children talk about this stuff.

Is there any realism to this? Would a woman in the 1800s really not know "where babies come from"?

Watching “Bridgeton” and the family of 8 kids got me thinking, what happened to the ones who didn’t inherit at title and most/all of the land that was the source of the wealth? It’s not unreasonable that a lord might have 30 grandchildren. Surely for all but the very wealthiest nobles, supporting generations of extended family from a finite amount of land wouldn’t have been possible. I would imagine that children of lords might be given allowances and some sort of inheritance, but what would happen a few generations down the line?

It would be difficult to imagine all of the progeny of a member of the landed gentry being able to stay in the ownership class. Did they become members of the bourgeois? Would they buy/start businesses? Learn professions? Fall into poverty? How would I best leverage my privilege to ensure a good life for myself and children?