Short Answers to Simple Questions | October 03, 2018

by AutoModerator

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Please Be Aware: We expect everyone to read the rules and guidelines of this thread. Mods will remove questions which we deem to be too involved for the theme in place here. We will remove answers which don't include a source. These removals will be without notice. Please follow the rules.

Some questions people have just don't require depth. This thread is a recurring feature intended to provide a space for those simple, straight forward questions that are otherwise unsuited for the format of the subreddit.

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OnionVegetable

Was Christian worship in the time of the Roman Empire purely vocal, or did it involve instruments as well?

SquareCounterculture

I know this question gets asked a lot on reddit but can anyone direct me to any historical YouTube channels that actually make content geared towards adults?

I'm not trying to sound like a jerk here but the YouTube channels that have been recommended in reddit threads (outside of this sub) are pretty terrible. Most of them consist of videos with kids animations that make videos no longer than four minutes long. Seriously.. the history of Rome in four minutes? The top post in another thread I was reading recommended a channel solely because it had "the cutest Hitler on YouTube".

Historia Civilis, Dan Carlin, and the Great War seem to be the only recommendations I've gotten for this so far.

IkkarinACT2

What was Abraham Lincoln's stance towards Native Americans? I know he was an all-around good fellow but it's kinda appalling how I can't find much information on that specific matter - all I know about it is the anecdote about his time as a captain in the Black Hawk War where he threw himself between his men and a Potawotami native who wandered into their camp and was about to be murdered for being mistaken for a spy. Since that's a relatively early moment of his life, did he have any anti-native sentiment that he might have carried with him into his later years?

godfather_actual

The trenches of WWI extended for hundreds of miles. I understand some areas were calmer and had more of a ‘live and let live’ policy, but was virtually every yard of the front line outside main areas of conflict really manned at all times? Did they all stand and take pot shots at each other daily later in the war in inconsequential areas? What would that look like? How densely were these calm areas in the middle of nowhere manned and why weren’t massive breakthroughs more common in ‘unexpected’ areas?

I guess I just have a hard time picturing men every few yard for hundreds of miles of trench...

timinator95

Did Romans frequently use slaves for sex during the Republic period, around the time of Spartacus’ rebellion? I was watching Spartacus (the Starz series), and there were lots of scenes where the Romans would force slaves to have sex with them or with each other, orgies involving Romans and slaves, and being used as “fluffers” when a couple has sex. Is any of this based in reality, or is it just for TV?

LikeAMonkey101

Why did the British army of the Napoleonic era flog soldiers as punishment while others at the time wouldn't? (And the British wouldn't flog their Indian sepoys.) I would imagine that France, as a nation using conscription, would require harsh discipline while the British, using what was on paper a volunteer service, would not require such harsh discipline. So what was the rationale, and do we have any proof of its effect on discipline or troop performance in battle?

iorgfeflkd

Is much known about the process, about 5000 years ago, when someone saw copper, and saw tin, and thought "hmmm I wonder what happens if I mix those together?"

Clay_Pigeon

Is there any history of American or Canadian pirates? They'd almost need to have been colonists in what became those countries.

dapperpony

Did women through history ever fake riding side-saddle?

This might be somewhat silly, but I’m rewatching the Princess Diaries 2 and the queen gives Mia a wooden leg to hang over her saddle pommel so that she can fake riding side-saddle. She claims “women have been doing this for centuries.” I was curious, so I tried to look into it, but couldn’t find anything. Did women actually need to fake riding side-saddle, or would women who rode always have ridden that way anyway, and have no need to fake it? I know side-saddle was considered the proper way for ladies to ride for many western cultures, but I wondered if this part of the movie has any truth to it, especially the wooden leg?

Kapitalist_Pigdog

I've posted it on this sub before, it was upvoted a decent amount but went unanswered. As detailed in "The Prince": In order to pacify the newly conquered Romagna, Cesare Borgia appointed one Remirro De Orco to bring order to the region. De Orco did this, but in the process became well known for his cruelty. Borgia had De Orco publicly executed, which earned the support of the now orderly region. My question is did Borgia count on De Orco's cruelty from the beginning in order to execute him and reap the benefits? Or was this a discovered opportunity for Borgia after the Romagna was in line and the hatred for De Orco became well known?

bonejohnson8

Are there any subs that have the type of discourse and moderation found here for current events. I'm dismayed at how radical and political everything is and need more good content like this sub.

BudgetWeather

Can someone help me remember the details of this historical legend / fact. I seem to recall a Roman emperor that had a work commissioned that turned out to be exceptional. He asked the artist if the work could be reproduced. When the artist answered in the affirmative, the emperor had the artist killed to avoid anything so splendid from being re-created. I may have this confused with the story of Hadrian executing an architect that had critiqued Hadrian's work. I thought maybe it was Augustus, but I cannot find anything to back that up. Maybe the artist wasn't killed and was just blinded. Maybe it wasn't even Roman history.

I'm hoping someone can illuminate what lays shrouded in my mind or can offer other historical accounts that are similar to this.

JardissApe

For how long did Julius Caesar rule Rome before he was killed?

thepineapplemen

When did the Holy Roman Empire start? With Charlemagne, Henry the Fowler, Otto I? (I’m including Henry because my mom’s old college textbook counted him as the first.)

fg-flat

This is technically over twenty years old but obviously it's a deeply political question and so I don't want to make it into its own post.

I've seen this quote:

Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find.

attributed to James Carville in 1996, and according to these attributions he is speaking about Paula Jones.

  1. Are there sources from that time period alleging this?

  2. Was this reported in a newspaper or televised? I could only find sources from '97 that reference it. For example, the Wapo.

  3. Is it possible that the quote is real but the attribution is incorrect?

It seems it may be in Newsweek, possibly in an article by Evan Thomas, as some sources seem to imply an inflammatory comment made by Thomas happened in the same context as Carville's. However I'm really having a hard time finding any 1996 usage, and a 1997 Weekly Standard says it happened in 1994.

S_Leonardo

What politics makes the Nazism far right, and what makes a government far left?

SadisticKamikaze

I read about a Turkish television program that made an imam, a priest, a rabbi, and a Buddhist monk convert 10 atheists. As I was reading about this, I could have sworn I heard about a similar thing happening before in history. I think it was about a steppe horde leader gathering religious leaders in one place and letting them discuss which religion is the correct one. However if I recall correctly, they just ended up drinking alcohol at the end. Did this really happen?

Mortalpuncher

How did the lifestyle of being a gladiator change throughout the history of Ancient Rome? Was it always a good occupation?

I remember watching Adam ruins gladiator video and someone saying in the comments how the video cherry pick the best times of being a gladiators so I’m curious what was worst time for gladiators?

Mortalpuncher

When did the first grim reaper scythe appear

corruptrevolutionary

Did the Romans patrol and build outposts beyond Hadrian’s Wall? Were these permanent or temporary?

DaanyBoi

Hey Reddit,

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I have some Korean friends that keep claiming that after/during the Korean war, the US took a load of resources like oil and such from South Korea. He said that they are even taught this in school. I tried to do some research to see if there was any truth to what he said but I didn't find anything. I once even watched him try to find a source about it in Korean writing (As I can only find English resources since I'm American) and he couldn't find anything. He said its just because its been covered up. Either way the question still remains. Did the US exploit/take resources from South Korea similar to that of Iraq or at all?

soakednoodles

I'd like to ask about how the Romans structured their army in the 3rd Century Crisis (mostly in the early period of it)? Did they still maintain the old school legion-cohort-centuria system? Or were they going to the newer smaller unit system (I read that this is more associated with Diocletian/Constantine)? Or a mix of the two? I came late to this sub so it's very possible I missed discussions on this. If there's a link(s), please tell me.

Thanks in advance!

ludis-

I want to write a paper on the impact of ancient civilizations on the modern western legal system and political structure. While ancient rome and greece are obvious influences, I was wondering if would be worth reading about the ancient middle eastern civilizations, Assyria, Babylon etc, for example, did the code of hamurabi set some sort of standard which future civilizations followed? Is there any literature decicated to this subject matter?

Nach0Man_RandySavage

What were the lives of soldiers like on the boats to England or the Pacific their way to fight in WW2. Did they have responsibilities or did the just sort of hang out.

Youngflyabs

When is the earliest instance of earliest recorded written history?

Darth_Acheron

What was Napoleon’s plan for Europe, assuming he defeated Russia?

ikkyu666

Hi. I'm doing research on a man that served in WW2. After the war he was a military governor in Dillingen, Germany (Bavaria). I was given these documents (see below) addressed to him about War Crimes/Criminals but I'm at a loss as to why he received this and what it means. Thanks!

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https://imgur.com/a/G9PgUKe