Have to be a bit careful with my wording, because I do want to make clear that I don’t mean this as a “what if” scenario, really. I’m not asking how it would have changed the course of the war, more asking how their experiences compared to that of similarly large cities that had fallen during Barbarossa and after.

To say that Leningrad suffered from its siege by Finnish forces and the Axis powers would be an understatement. I probably don’t need to go into why - the death toll, destruction, and famine are fairly well known.

What I am curious about is both what the Nazi plans would have been for Leningrad if they had successfully taken it - as they did other major Soviet cities such as Kiev, and other Eastern European cities such as Warsaw (though Warsaw is, as everything is I guess, a special case) - and how much the soviets would have been willing to pay in all senses to retake it. Did holding on, ultimately, benefit the citizens there in any way, shape, or form?

Is there any merit in the idea that though they would have suffered terribly either way, Leningrad would have likely seen less horror if it had fallen quickly? Or is it really impossible to say?

Hello all, hope you're doing well. I've been tasked with writing a historiography essay for uni, but have no idea how/where to begin. I plan on making it about Thich Quang Duc, the Buddhist monk who burned himself in protest of vitnam war. I have some good sources to use, using a history beyond the west approach and then either political or social history as well. However I just don't have much of a clue how to start writing this and how it should read? Any good suggestions about good historiography essays I could look into, preferably Vietnam based, but not essential.

Many thanks to all who read this :)

I hope this is allowed but I have always wanted to know more about my grandpa's time as a Marine in WW2. I know he signed up and was in the Battle of Tarawa, getting "lucky" and drawing 5th wave but that's about it. He didn't talk about it too much when I was a kid and he developed Alzheimer's when I was around 13. Can anybody lead me to a specific site that will show me some really precise details of his service in particular? Thank you very much in advance.

I understand that this is at the same time a fairly specific and rather broad question.

But I have heard many discussions on the impact of "talkies" on the lives of professionals, audiences, advertisement, etc. - I also realize that this might have been a less than prominent issue compared to the various struggles with education, work, social integration, etc.

Yet, from my perspective at least, it seems that silent movies offered a form of "inclusive" entertainment which the introduction of sound altered significantly. Is there any account from deaf people discussing the impact of the issue? (assuming this was an issue at all)

My question derives from my reading of "Greek Religion" by Walter Burkert, translated by John Raffan, specifically with the discovery of the Cretan-Hieroglyphic and Linear A scripts. To this day they remain undeciphered, unlike the Linear B scripts for Mycenaean Greek which have been decoded. While my interest is in the ancient Greek cultures, my question can apply more broadly to any dead language discovery though specific reference to Linear A would be appreciated.

In my question, I'm assuming the following:

1.) No one simply decides they're going to figure out a dead language. It needs to be funded

2.) There's probably evidence for countless dead languages since history has been written down. I'm assuming there are factors that determine whether one gets translated or not, such as the discovered/available amount of text, aside from curiosity.

Thank you

I was listening to Dan Carlin's podcast about the topic and it gave me a whole new perspective on the topic, although didn't answer the question.

Conquering such vast land even across the sea in such a short time with all the lootings and the slaves surely must have seen numinous by the people around.

Was it considered a genocide?

When Richard Lionheart was taken hostage by Leonel of Austria, he would be freed for a ransom of 150000 marks. I believe the English then had to give 25% of what they earned for quite some time to pay the ransom. Does anyone know how they felt about this?

I remember family visits to Pakistan Azad Kashmir in the analogue TV days pre-2006 or whatever. Villagers could easily pick up Doordarshan (Indian tele) as it was just across the border. So I'm wondering was it the same for those living in USSR regions bordering Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey. Would they have been able to catch up on their favourite Iranian or Turkish soaps in their free time or on current events outside the USSR?

Edit: reposting this with a more accurate title... thanks!

I've developed an intrigue in Spanish history after reading two books discussing the Spanish Empire. Are there any documents/books you'd recommend to me (primary, secondary, or tertiary sources welcome.) Suggestions about Spain or Iberia before the formation of Spain are also welcome. If I'm interested in this period of history, are there any other places/time periods you'd suggest I'd learn about? Thanks,

Here's the passage in question:

Meanwhile the Jews in the region of Cyrene had put a certain Andreas at their head, and were destroying both the Romans and the Greeks. They would eat the flesh of their victims, make belts for themselves of their entrails, anoint themselves with their blood and wear their skins for clothing; many they sawed in two, from the head downwards; others they gave to wild beasts, and still others they forced to fight as gladiators. In all two hundred and twenty thousand persons perished. In Egypt, too, they perpetrated many similar outrages, and in Cyprus, under the leadership of a certain Artemion. There, also, two hundred and forty thousand perished, and for this reason no Jew may set foot on that island, but even if one of them is driven upon its shores by a storm he is put to death. Among others who subdued the Jews was Lusius, who was sent by Trajan.

Recent kerfuffles related to massive factual errors in history books published by commercial publishers--most prominently Naomi Wolf's failure to do basic research on what "death recorded" meant--made me wonder what, if at any, fact-checking or review process such books go through before publication. I'm especially interested in how such processes, if they exist, differ from how academic presses review books they publish. Surely academic presses have a fairly rigorous review process? What does it look like?

I understand that they didn’t understand the risks of aggressive cancers and other diseases.

I’m a former smoker and a lover of 1950’s aesthetics.

However, in research and just casual browsing of fashion, social, and general cultural aspects of the decade, I became curious about how people felt smoking so much.

Even someone who smokes a half a pack of cigarettes a day will feel winded and have tooth/gum damage. This couldn’t have been so broadly overlooked back then. Why does it seem to have been?

DISCLAIMER: Please don’t take this as I am someone who romanticizes the decade and ignores the social and cultural issues that go with it. I am well aware that there were countless issues in society that even to this day are problematic. Just a simple question is all!

Did the Japanese get any african slaves from the Portuguese from the nanban trade or was Yasuke just a one time thing?

If so any idea on how many they might have gotten? It can't have been many since there was no noted sizeable population of them when the west returned to bargain at gunpoint in the 1800s.

If so what happened to them when Hideyoshi said "No more foreigners!"

Also could a person purchase weapons and arms from the Dutch on dejima after the nanban trade ended? Did the ditch sell any african slaves to Japan?

Asking for something I'm working on

Western powers sailed boat-loads of troops into certain-death when invading enemy territory throughout WW2....why do we view suicidal attacks as something inherently bizarre or degenerate, worthy only of an unfathomably exotic "enemy" force?

I recently have developed a bit of an obsessive curiosity over rusalka. The wikipedia article for them reads, "According to Vladimir Propp, the original "rusalka" was an appellation used by pagan Slavic peoples, who linked them with fertility and did not consider rusalki evil before the 19th century. They came out of the water in the spring to transfer life-giving moisture to the fields and thus helped nurture the crops." I'm curious about why this perception changed to one more akin to a siren, how it affected the lore afterwards, etc. Recommendations for further information, whether it's educational or entertainment media (such as Dvórak's opera), would be extremely appreciated!

Did Americans expect that Quebec would become an independent state at the end of the war if America won? Were the Canadian territories looked at any differently from the American ones? What was the goal of the Canadian campaign?

I am just curious about the catalyst that would have led them to making copper tools, if they had to first smelt the ore. I have seen references to Egypt using both stone and copper tools, before going with the more appealing copper.

Thank you.

I am under the impression that most clans were predominantly Episcopalian, some were Presbyterian, and others were Catholic, but which were which? I realise that the religious landscape may have changed somewhat between 1688 and 1746, and that clan chiefs may have had different practices from the ordinary people.