A leftover from last week:

1: Certain Napoleonic armies had several varieties of very similar cavalry – the French, for example, had both Chasseurs a Cheval and Hussars or Cuirassiers and Carabiniers, the British had Light Dragoons and Hussars, the Austrians Hussars and Cheveaulegers. Why weren't all light cavalry in these armies one or the other, given that they appear to have had the same role? Was it just aesthetics?

And a new one:

2: The French national anthem under Napoleon, Le Chant du Depart, has a refrain referring to how 'La République nous appelle' and 'un Français doit vivre pour elle | pour elle un Français dout mourir'. Was the Napoleonic version somehow bowdlerised to remove the Republican sentiments? If not, how were these statements reconciled with the imperial system then in place?

EDIT: And another:

3: Lewis and Clark apparently brought Girandoni air rifles with them on their expedition to the Pacific. Did they also bring the pump needed to refill the reservoirs? If so roughly how portable was it? The example I've seen in the Vienna Arsenal looks far too bulky to be easily moved.

An odd question, but;

What material(s) were the projectile portion of a bullet made of in the 1920's?

I'm talking mostly small arms, revolvers, pistols, low caliber rifles.

I've done some searching and I've had difficulty coming up with the answer, I get a lot of results on the gunpowder, the firearms themselves and the caliber but not the actual material.

I'm assuming lead, just want to be sure.

Who is the oldest person referred to by name?

Why were Roman citizens unwilling to serve in the army during the later times of the western Roman Empire? And if they were willing why did the Western empire employ so many foederati mercenaries?

Battle of Agincourt is famous for English archers but what was the reason behind such English composition? In other words, why did English field so many archers?

How did the Europeans communicate with the Native Americans when they first travelled to the Americas? There, as far as I know, would be almost no similarities to the languages, so how did people learn the languages, let alone communicate initially?

Does Goebbels write in his diary during his last days?

Are Arrian's casualty figures for Macedonian forces in Alexander's invasions taken seriously by historians? My understanding was that exaggerations were usually in number of enemies fought/killed rather than your own casualties and his sources could have better info on how many Macedonians died.

But I'm reading his Anabasis, and e.g. at the battle of Granicus river at 1.16 it describes the Macedonian dead totalling to 115 men when defeating 40k enemies including both hard-fought points in the battle and then surrounding and masscaring 10k Greek hoplites. It just seems unbelievable that you could do this.

Also the fact that 25 of the dead are Companions seems like they might have real figures for the important people but not the mass of soldiers (though given the fighting round Alexander high casualty rates amongst the Companions are to be expected)

Why is Qin Shi Huang considered the first emperor of China and not an earlier Zhou or Shang king?

One article claims that advice columnists used to have significant influences in the US:

Take Dr. Benjamin Spock, the American pediatrician whose advice on childrearing had presidents knocking down his door for an endorsement. Or how with just one column, the dueling sisters behind Dear Abby and Ask Ann Landers, Esther Pauline Friedman and Pauline Esther Friedman, could popularize the importance of creating a living will or work toward normalizing gay rights.

How much influence did they really have? Were they actually able to change anything or sway any public opinions at the time? Is it accurate to compare them to today's social media influencers? If not what would be a more apt comparison?

Another question is a leftover from last week: in 1884, during the International Meridian Conference when voting between Greenwich versus Paris being the international standard for 0 longitude, San Domingo, now the Dominican Republic, voted against Greenwich and was the only one who voted against it, France and Brazil abstained. Why did they vote against it? And why were they the only one who voted against it? Thanks!

Back in the early days of the trans-continental railroad, how fast could they repair track that had been damaged or destroyed by, say, natural disasters (avalanches, earthquakes, etc.)?

Who commanded the Russian troops that invaded and occupied Finland in 1714 during the Great Northern War?

In what language was "Revelations" from the Bible written originally?

In the vietnam war, How did americans tell the difference between south Vietnamese troops and north vietnamese?

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone knows who replaced General Patton after he was discharged from his position as Military Governor of Bavaria (~October 7th)? I've searched high and low but can't find that information.

I defer to you, historian-heads!

What were relations like between the self-removed last Shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, and the restored Meiji Emperor? Were they on good terms?

Does every supreme court nominee go through a Senate judiciary committee? Have there been controversial trials?

Every image I see depicting cross bows people are only every holding them in their hands, not in a scabbard at their side like a sword or slung across their back like a longbow. Was there another way to carry crossbows like some kind of holster or did active hunters/soldiers just hold their crossbows everywhere and put them down when they needed their hands? Answers about any crossbow wielding country welcome.

Edit: On further research I can't find any actual historical depictions of people slinging longbows across their backs either. Was that actually a thing people did or is it bad for the bow somehow? Ive seen a few depictions of Asians with large bow holsters. Were those common?

I've heard it asserted that only one-third of US troops sent to Vietnam were drafted and the rest enlisted, whilst the reverse was the case for WW2. Is this accurate?

Peter Stuyvesant surrendered New Amsterdam, capital of New Netherland. However, how did he justify his surrender in Netherlands?

Where the Nuremberg Trials open to the public? If not, who was allowed to attend?

Are the Tarim Mummies people Tocharian or not?

I was told at an 1867-style baseball game that umpires adopted hand gestures for calls in about 1910-1920, and it was done for the benefit of a player who was hard of hearing.

Was baseball the first sport to adopt hand gestures to accompany officiating calls? Is there any information about how and why it became widespread?

I theorized initially it was done for the benefit of spectators prior to wide availability of public address systems. The historians at the game didn’t know about that one way or another, but thought it made sense, as to why it became widespread.

Can someone point me to a general direction for living conditions of Japanese civilians during mid-late to late WWII(Mid 1943+)?

What was that one Greek battle where supposedly one side’s arrows turned on them because of the wind?

How did people care for their leather equipment (what did they use to keep it flexible) in the late Middle Ages in Europe?

So I own a series of books called The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England, Elizabethan England, Reformation England. He goes into tremendous life about day to life, society, and huge amount of other things in the given period, all written in this interesting guise of being an actual guide for a time traveler.

I'm wondering if any historians here have read them and if so, do you think they're good sources of information? He certainly seems to cite a lot of sources haha.

Can anyone recommend books on the writing of the US constitution? I apologize if this is on the sidebar, my phone refuses to load the Books section.

I’m interested in the Second Spanish Republic. Unfortunately, this is a contentious topic in Spain and there’s been recent politically-based revisionist surge that tried to justify the military coup. It also looks like the period is highly romanticized by the opposing side.

So, which works- as unbiased as possible- that cover the 1931-1939 period could you recommend? Thanks!

What date was Hallowed Ground (1984) by the Violent Femmes released?

I can't find a release date, just June 1984.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallowed_Ground_(Violent_Femmes_album)

Is there a resource that might have this information or any way to find the exact date of release?