If you like long reads that go over multiple drafts of archival documents very closely... then all three of you will enjoy my latest blog post, "A “purely military” target? Truman’s changing language about Hiroshima", which parses over five drafts of the first speech on the use of the atomic bomb that Truman himself helped to write (which is to say, not the actual "first one," but a radio speech that he gave on August 9th about the Podsam Conference). It is one of the interesting pieces of evidence I found while researching my Kyoto thesis, which argues that Truman's discussions about Kyoto vs. Hiroshima as the first target of the bomb confused him as to the fact that Hiroshima was a city and not an isolated military base (an article version of which is now in peer review, hooray).

(Also, I re-tooled the stylesheet of the blog a bit and updated a few things. Hooray for winter break.)

Separately... this whole Hawaii false alert thing has kept me pretty busy. I wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post on it, spent some time talking to The Economist about it, and filmed a brief segment that will run on Fareed Zakariya GPS this Sunday. (Fareed seemed like a nice enough guy, but we didn't get to talk very much. It was pretty cool to be on the show though.)

And classes started in the middle of all of that! I'm teaching two sections of a multidisciplinary freshman seminar on "The End of the World" (end times, fun times), and also co-teaching an upper-level course called "Game Development for Civil Defense" where me and another professor will help students design and build playable video games that will, in theory, impart "nuclear salience," the lived- and embodied-sense of nuclear risk, to the players. It's a relatively high teaching load for me (about 70 students across all three sections, and no TAs), but the subject matter is so fun (and none of it is lecturing) that I think it'll be pretty smooth sailing, even with everything else going on in the world...

In another sub I made another (very long) post on Portuguese 16th century ships, this time about the Galleon

If you are interested, take a look and feel free to ask questions and check out the previous parts

• How a Mormon lawyer transformed archaeology in Mexico—and ended up losing his faith

This was a great read. And I know both Rosenswig and Mendelsohn from SUNY Albany.

Week 13

The new year had begun for Italy under the sign of a relative tranquility. The stabilized front saw limited action during winter season and the Chambers would not resume session until February. Any source of conflict had therefore to come from public debate.

There, two things were put in motion, that would have a lasting impact in the following months: the conflict over the figure of the Foreign Minster Sidney Sonnino and the discussion over the principle of nationality.

The publication of Wilson's fourteen points had brought into the foreground a debate that had been previously confined in the background. What was going to happen to the “oppressed nations”? Especially those that were under Austrian rule, whose representatives were by then hoping for a dissolution of the old Empire, that went beyond the generic aspiration to the “freest opportunity to autonomous development”. Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbians, Croats, all could look favorably to a crisis of the central Austro-Hungaric system. For Italy though, things were different: a positive conclusion of the war would in principle have sanctioned the Pact of London, if Italy had been able to find an agreement with some Austrian State and such an agreement implied acknowledging Austrian authority over the former Austrian lands. Thus, various observers felt, an international recognition of the oppressed nations would have made more difficult for Italy to gain its full prize. There was also a more practical matter: that many in the political establishment did not believe a total dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to be a realistic chance; committing to such an “unlikely” project risked being counterproductive, casting suspicions of non-committal or indecisiveness of Italy over its foreign policies.

O course, this idea also did not sit well with the aspirations of the Nationalist groups, that we could characterize – maybe too strictly (if we prefer, let's say that there was a natural convergence on the Nationalist platform) – as expressions of those heavy industry, steel and shipbuilding cartels built around the protectionist choices of 1878-87, that certainly saw with favor a persistent policy of power. The occupation of the Adriatic coast, the extension of the Albanian guarantee to a permanent protectorate, an active role in the Eastern Mediterranean with influence on the Aegean and Turkish coast, became the pivots of the nationalist platform in explicit opposition to the liberal principle of nationalities. Those aspirations had been reassured with the agreements of San Giovanni di Moriana (that had recognized Italy exploitation rights over portions of the Turkish coast, in August-September 1917) that confirmed a foreign policy program dating back to the years of the Libyan War.

It was only natural for those portions of the Italian establishment that had looked with concern, first at Italy's colonial adventurism and later at the “systematic” development of a policy of power, to oppose such a program – favoring on the other hand the principle of a federation of oppressed nationalities. Promoting those positions – not minoritarian within the Chamber and the Government itself – was a large portion of the major press, led by the liberal Corriere della Sera and its chief editor Luigi Albertini.

The ensuing battle took on political ground the form of a conflict over the man who personified the resistance of the Executive to adopt – to adapt – a new strategy, more consistent with the general political climate: Foreign Ministry Sidney Sonnino.

Sonnino, a puzzling figure in himself, with that impenetrable mind that is the defining trait of souls either too deep or too shallow, had been a divisive figure among the Italian political landscape for a long time. A liberal conservative, his competence and personal integrity were often praised; yet, his frequently contrarian attitude and his restiveness under the parliamentary harness made him a somewhat problematic Ministry – especially in a position that offered room for a certain degree of administrative feudalism, such as the foreign office.

On the opposite ground stood a block, less influential within the Government, made of a few nationalist and conservative outlets, and the – not always unitary – action of the interventionist functional arm, the Fascio Parlamentare di Difesa Nazionale, that saw in Sonnino the stopping point against this “conspiracy”. This extended a tendency to personify political choices around central antagonizing figures: as the return of Giolitti had been described as a machination of the system to sabotage the war effort and conclude a separate peace, as the removal of Cadorna had been at first described as an attack against the Military, the efforts to remove Sonnino from the Foreign Office became a symptom of an attempt to jeopardize the war prizes in favor of some vague, inconclusive principle.

Of course there were more complex themes in the relation between Italy and the “oppressed nations”. The general take of a cooperation of the oppressed nations was consistent with a tradition that included founding fathers like Garibaldi and Mazzini; the latter especially had spent a large portion of his activity attempting to create a league of patriots, the Giovine Europa, that included man from nationalities such as Polish, Hungarian and Czech. And in fact Italy, itself once largely under the Austrian rule had founded its claim to independence on the idea that nations were not expressions of their geographical borders but entities whose existence was a perpetual and recognition of the nationalities under the Austrian rule would have resulted almost by itself in a proclamation of their national right. There was therefore a clear, established tradition of “international right” within the Italian cultural and jurisdictional frame, that the proponents of the principle of the nationalities could draw upon to build quite a compelling case.

As prominent jurist Pasquale Stanislao Mancini^3 had declared in his inaugural speech (year 1851) to the Royal University in Turin, where he held the chair of international law, the principle of nationality was the rational foundation of international law. International law, like any law according to Mancini, was not a product of the bare human volition, but a necessity of moral nature - and thus were the two perpetual forms of human association: the family and the nation. Yet, while so many had championed for the defense of the threatened institution of the family, very few voices had spoken in favor of the cause of the oppressed nationalities.

The shapes taken by nationalities throughout history were manifold, from tribes and clans and hordes to modern states. Certain features though could be found in any of those: the geographic region, the race, the spoken language, uses and traditions, heritage, law, religion. The complex of those elements constituted the proper nature of each people in itself, inducing among its members such a deep community of moral and material relations, that gave rise naturally to a community of rights, impossible to achieve among individuals of different nations.

Nonetheless those elements were by themselves still insufficient to determine the rise of a nationality. They were like crude matter, capable of life but not yet imbued with a spirit. That spirit was the national conscience, the sentiment of its own existence, that gives it the strength to establish itself within [its boundaries] and to project its action outside. […] This sentiment was the “I think, then I exist” of the Nations […] Before its development a nation could not exist; with [its extinction] the nationality was extinguished; with [its resurgence] the nationality could rise again.

Compare – exhorted Mancini – Italy in the last three centuries, forgetful and mindless of its own existence, bound and accepting under the Austrian joke, with Italy [of 1850] burning of a perpetual fire, a desire for the supreme achievement of independence.

Such considerations showed clearly what a nationality was […] and gave reason to acknowledge in it a natural association of men, from common territory, heritage, tradition, language, shaped to a common existence and social conscience. From which nothing was more obvious than its legitimacy, and the fact that safeguarding and protecting nationality was for men not only a right but a juridical obligation. […] In fact the foundation of right was given by the unbreakable legitimacy of the exercise of the freedom of each man, or association of men, as long as it didn't encroach to the freedom of others. […] Nationality was nothing but the collective explication of freedom. […] Thus for every nation only one limit existed: that where it begun to violate the freedom of other nations.

As long as such encroachment of other nations right to live did not take place, the preservation and growth of the nation itself was an undeniable right: those who fought it, fought liberty itself.

There was therefore a twofold manifestation [of the nationality]: the free establishment of the nation within itself […] and the independent autonomy of the nation among the others. The union of both was the natural, perfect state of a nation; that of an etnarchy.

So I learned the other day that it was recorded sandal bearers threw the sandal to their lords in the Edo era from about 1m away, and had to have them land perfectly facing the right way for the lord to put them on.

Ever been curious what fandom looked like in 1934? Find out what fanrage looks like when Robert Bloch disses Conan the Barbarian.

Are these threads reserved for flaired users, or can any old goof join in? I went off on a research spiral about Renaissance cosmetics after a really interesting /r/unresolvedmysteries thread about the English sweat. This project at Making Up The Renaissance documenting a study of Renaissance cosmetics, complete with reproduced cosmetics recipes and some sample looks put together for a conference, looks really cool.

I'm also enjoying Evelyn Welch's "Art on the Edge: Hair And Hands In Renaissance Italy". It's a really interesting look at several related aspects of the history of dress, with a particular focus on areas of the body not concealed by dress -- hands and gloves, hairstyles and what we'd now call hair accessories like hats, veils, headdresses, etc. Slashed gloves! Fashion dolls! 16th century dry shampoo! Beatrice d’Este's politically charged fake braids! Also some amazing Mean Girls-level proprietary fashion sense from Isabella d'Este.

Isabella used very different mechanisms than those employed by Beatrice. Rather than fix on a single fashion such as the coazzone [aforementioned fake braid] to be worn throughout her lifetime, she modified her hair regularly. Although only a small number of portraits survive, all show different fashions. Moreover, her correspondence suggests that while she encouraged emulation, she claimed to be annoyed by direct copying. Aristocratic women might only adopt her ‘inventions’ with permission, usually after the Marchioness herself had supposedly tired of the fashion in question.

In 1509, for example, Eleanora Ruscha, the Countess of Correggio wrote to Isabella,

Finding myself in Locarno, I heard that some noblewomen in Milan were wearing a new type of silk headdress, a notable invention of your ladyship. And since I now find myself almost without a hat, with great desire I beg you to consider me worthy of one . . . And so I beg your ladyship that if there is some form of headdress that you have stopped wearing, let me join in with it so that I will not seem to be outside the number of your most faithful servants.

I also ended up down a Scorsese rabbit hole and finally found one writer's account of just how Swedish movies came to be synonymous in the US with dirty movies, exemplified by the "Swedish Marriage Manual" scene in Taxi Driver -- Elisabet Bjorklund's ‘This is a dirty movie’ – Taxi Driver and ‘Swedish sin’.

Who lead medieval villages that were detached from manors/castles? I’m getting confused between the terms alderman/ealdorman, reeve, baron, etc. Would they even be called villages? All I find are references to “shires,” which I think refers to small portions of land.

Hello AH Community! I'm currently teaching The Black Death to my 7th graders, and I was looking for some interesting facts to be shared with them at the beginning of class for the next couple days. If you have any to contribute, I'd appreciate it! I'm sure my students will, too!

It seems that Highborn or wealthy people had attendants for everything: Sandal-bearers, Scepter-bearers, Spear-bearers, Quiver-bearers, etc. this was even with the kings of Egypt, Persia, with Tigranes as well, etc.

So my question is... was it constant, immanent through all ancient cultures or did I just read a few examples and hugely oversimplify it?

Also, how was the organization of ancient armies in market-army and pay distribution? Since the market was done by private merchants who simply followed the camp (Camp-followers so as to not attach it as exclusive to we-know-what-profession) why did the state/king prefer to pay his soldiers and that they seek for themselves rather than buying the food and distributing it to the men? Surely if one buys all that amount of food (or grain and later to be made into bread) by big quantities there would be saving of a lot of money, specially as it means war, the private merchants would be sure to receive a great quantity of money far sooner than they'd expect, and this money would serve for later in case a punitive invasion would come. Why was not that done? Why so much individualization when there is already a drafting/recruitment that is public?

Another semester begins, and another history class offers me the chance to do some more original research as an undergraduate.

Last semester I was researching U.S. Submarines in the First World War (and there's still so much I want to do on that topic, and so many ways I'd love to fix up my paper) and this semester I may be researching the history of my town's ecclesiastical society from its inception in 1716 and its evolution until the Civil War. I'm taking a class on the Social and Political history of New England/Connecticut, and growing up in this environment I've been surrounded by the history but there's so much I'd love to see if I can fill in the gaps about.

Although, before I get too excited about this as a topic I need to do some preliminary research at the local church, town archives, etc... to make sure there are sources I can use. I'm just glad my professor is excited that I may be able to write about this as well!

What's the best documentary on why WWI happened? Cause I'm still not sure.

Hello everyone! A very brief announcement to be made here. The Moderation Team recently decided to modify the "FAQ Finder" Flair. For those who have seen it in the sub before, it recognizes users who are able to navigate the labyrinthian depths of the /r/AskHistorians archives and defeat the mind-boggling hurdles thrown up by the reddit search, and routinely provide helpful links to previous discussions of similar questions. While we of course don't prohibit retreads of old questions, as our philosophy is that no single answer is the absolute last word,harkening back to some of the earlier responses the subreddit has produced nevertheless is an important part of fulfilling our purpose here, since we just can't expect every single question to get a great answer every time it is asked.

Previously, the "FAQ Finder" Flair has been done only by moderator nomination, and awarded to users who we have seen consistently providing links to earlier answers, but we have decided to open it up slightly, and allow it to be applied for like any other flair. For users interested in applying for the flair, the following guidelines should be kept in mind:

• We are looking for consistent, long-term commitment to the practice! Pointing to a few examples in the past week isn't quite up to snuff. We would want to see that you have been linking several times a week, for at least the past several months.

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Now, obviously that is a fair bit of work to get! Take it from a mod who really likes helping people out and linking old answers, it can get exhausting. But there are sweet rewards!!

• First, you get that fancy FAQ Finder flair next to your name.
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So if you don't feel like you quite have the chops to be answering questions here, but nevertheless want to find a way to give back to the community, we hope that you'll consider working to earn "FAQ Finder" Flair, and apply soon!