Why did Britian want to get Hong Kong as part of the deal after the first opium war?

It's all over the media right now but even Wikipedia doesn't go into any detail about why Grant didn't want his predecessor to ride with him...

Are there any accounts of racist feelings toward him because he was Georgian? Did his Georgian heritage in any way influence his actions or perceptions in the context of their time?

U.S. President Donald Trump says he will not attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20th. Only 3 outgoing presidents have not attended the inauguration of their successor: John Adams in 1801, John Quincy Adams in 1829 and Andrew Johnson in 1869. Does anyone know the reason for the first three?

Whenever we see depictions of viking longships, they never show any kind of shelter to protect sailors from bad weather. Obviously they must have used something. Is it known or speculated as to how they dealt with this?

I read a post on a r/history dicussing the failure of France during WWII, with one comment pointing to the political divisions that had occurred in France in the inter war period as a reason. I have tried to find a good book that might describe this process in more detail but haven't had any luck. Any Recommendations?

Any recommendations concerning Japan’s actions in Korea leading up to the rise of Kim Il-sung? Thank you I’m advance!

As a fan and participant in both sports Ive always wondered why professional “wrestling” has evolved not into the highest level of wrestling as a sport, but into a worked sports-entertainment deal. Whereas the natural path for many boxers (besides Cuba) is to do well in the amateurs then move on to pro. The Olympics essentially are as far as one can go as a wrestler but many famous boxers didn’t turn pro until after winning olympic medals. What gives? Why are wrestlers doomed to being amateurs for life unless they diverge into MMA (nowadays) or sports entertainment, whereas boxers can have a shot at that sweet million dollar purse if they decide to go pro?

Thanks !

I know Mesoamerica had a very complex belief system regarding magic and it often used shapeshifting, but no sources tell me what exactly they did.

Magic practices in Europe and elsewhere are well documented with specific rituals and arcane words with iconography of witches with bubbling couldrons, but Mesoamerica is barren.

What did magic in Mesoamerica look like and how was it practiced?

So I have an assignment to write an essay about this and I'm really struggling with question! I cannot think of any other problems other than it was a minority and marginalised religion, which would be a problem for the Christian community to get converts. Am I missing anything?!

I'm curious to see what everyone's thoughts are on this.

We have had over 70 years to study the events leading up to and through Germany in the 20-40s. With all of that knowledge and these decades of analysis, what could someone done to stop the Nazi party from taking power?

Why did tens of millions of people in Europe die? Most Europeans lived in small isolated villages. Why didn't the isolation of the population act as a quarantine and prevent people from getting the plague?

I've studied the Achaemenid Empire and have read in some source a while back that Armenia converted to Zoroastrianism under the Achaemenid regime. This got my mind going as Armenia also converted to Christianity when that faith became popular. What's notable about these religions is that they're both Axial Age religions. While Axial Age religions often converted pagan or pre-Axial religions into their faith as a general rule Axial Age religions rarely ever overtake other Axial Age faiths. After this I started thinking about the Arab conquests of 7th century and how the majority of Iran converted to Islam by the 9th or 10th century despite having a millennia old religion that had dominated the region since the inception of Iran.

These ideas coming together make me ask for the nature of Zoroastrianism. I as an uneducated history nerd came to the conclusion that either this religion was more of a religion of the elite/nobility in the religion's frontier, barely followed by the masses. And/or there is some trait about Zoroastrianism that makes it easy for its followers to convert to other religions despite its monotheism.

I'd be very interested to see what professional historians have to say!

As the title says I’m looking for some civil war book recommendations. Preferably something that could be described as pop history. Thank you for the assistance!

The whole concept just seems to just violate the independence of US courts.

(A key tenant of democracy)

Why would the founding fathers insert such a thing in the US constitution?

Sorry this is my first post here, but I am looking for any resources that cover how the Franco-Prussian War may have contributed to WW1. Specifically, prior research from Michael Howard's "The Franco-Prussian War" mentioned how European powers felt increasingly insecure and turned towards militarism in the 1871-1914 period. I'm also interested in anything on how the success of the Prussian army in the 1871 war may have normalised German leaders seeing war as a major tool in preserving stability. Thank you for your help.

Did the British leadership see the War of 1812 as a chance to recover the American colonies or was it just another war in an era of war? Did the British public care or have an opinion?