It's always funny to see what other people think are good works of yours. /u/Georgy_K_Zhukov highlighted one of my posts, but it's not one I would have picked (his picks from other people are more interesting and insightful).

My favorite posts I wrote this week (and two of my favorite recent posts) were in the big American revolution post: one which a lot of people saw about the changing meaning of the word "revolution" and how revolution didn't meant revolution until after the French Revolution, and one shorter one that few people saw about the differences between "social" and "political" revolutions. I'm not expert in revolutions so I had one unanswered question in writing each one of them:

1. Was it Thomas Paine who help popularize the term the American Revolution in a way that (implicitly) classed it with the French? Did the term only become common after the French Revolution?

2. Did people separate out "social" and "political" revolutions before Trotsky? I haven't looked closely at Skocpol's book in a long time, but I don't remember her talking about it--I had thought the separation began with her, but Wikipedia tells me it goes to Trotsky.

If anyone happens to know the answers to either of those question, I'm certainly curious.

So here are my top posts from the last week:

• /u/kieslowskifan provides yet another great answer to the frequently asked questions The Nazis refered to themselves as socialists, but also spoke of their struggle against marxism. How did they distinguish their beliefs from the Soviets? Was it just thinly veiled xenophobia? and to If Tsarist Farms had Always Been Collectivized (Obshina) until Stolypin near WW1, then Why did the Reinstatement of Collectivisation (as Kolhoz) Work Out so Badly? How did they Differ?

• /u/sunagainstgold gives an outstanding answer to the extremely difficult question Is there any evidence to suggest that children who were married/taken as "lovers" in previous centuries suffered from similar psychological damage as contemporary victims of pedophilia and sexual abuse?

• Soviet marshal /u/Georgy_K_Zhukov answered When did dueling become illegal? When and why did it go out of style? What were the motivations behind making it illegal?

Quite the productive week on the sub. Big rundown to go through!

• /u/jschooltiger on "Why did sails go from square in the ancient era to mostly lateen in the medieval then back to multiple square sails in the age of sail?"

• /u/Pilot500 on "During cold war both KGB and CIA had high ranking moles inside their organisations. Is it known which side did better job at infiltrating their opponent and getting sensitive information as cold war progressed?"

• /u/bigglesworth_ on "During WW2, what jobs would aircraft ground crew on active, threatened airfields be expected to perform other than aircraft servicing and maintenance?"

I was pleased to read this response to one of those pesky questions that are difficult to answer in an interesting way:

• /u/nyrge on Do 8th to 11th century Angalo-Saxon/Scandinavian Vikings have any influence on the culture and motives of 16th century Caribbean, Spanish and European pirates?

A bit late but a necessary addition:

• /u/drylaw and /u/Legendarytubahero give outstanding answers on As South American independence movements succeeded in throwing out Spanish rule during the early 19th century, where were they looking to for influence and inspiration in the organization of the governments of the new nations?

Shout out to both /u/drylaw and /u/Legendarytubahero for giving me a bit of hope that my crazy experiment has something to it!