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According to art, Italian cities had noticeable black African populations in the 15th and 16th centuries, especially gondoliers.
Where did these people come from? Were procured as slaves through some offshoot of the Triangular Trade or did they come up through East Africa and the Ottoman Empire?
Just a small question. A friend of mine recently told me there is a relative scarcity of first hand French accounts of WWI. Is that true, or is it just that Americans don't really know of them because they're (obviously) in French?
The Soviets changed the names of numerous Russian cities, including some very large ones (Leningrad, Stalingrad, etc.) -- is there a reason why Moscow was spared the name change?
I've just read an extract from an 1850s newspaper column which at the bottom reads:
F. of C. Jany. 14
What does 'F. of C.' mean?
Why is V-E Day celebrated on May 8th in the United States, but it is celebrated on May 9th in Russia?
Did Russian communists make a conscious transition from the term ‘fatherland’ (отечество) to the ‘motherland’ (родина) because of imperial connotations of the former?
When did the attitude of Germany towards Jews change? I mean, when did civilians and government start to think "maybe this was horribly cruel" and have some form of remorse?
Oliver Cromwell is usually remembered as the great general of the English Civil War(s), yet during the first war it was Sir Thomas Fairfax who actually led the New Model Army to victory in its closing months, while Cromwell only commanded its cavalry. Why, then, is Fairfax generally forgotten as a commander compared to Cromwell? Is it just that Cromwell had such a prominent political role later?
In 1830s England (Victorian era, I think?) if an unmarried woman who owned land were to adopt a son, could the son become her heir or would her land pass to cousins/uncles, etc.? Could she name the child an heir even if he normally wouldn't become a default one?
Did people really dream in black and white before the advent of coloured TV? Does this apply to times before the TV was invented as well?
Was there a premodern equivalent as pacifiers?
Was anybody specifically prosecuted for the genocide of the Romani during WW2?
How did the spoils of war work in the classical world, was it split up like napoleonic prize ships?
Did the rulers and educated of the medieval world feel like they were the most advanced people in the world or did they feel like they were still in the shadow of Rome?
Did they feel like other civilizations like Islam and far off China were more advanced than them?
As Pontifex Maximus, why wasn't Julius Caesar sacrosanct and immune from prosecution? As a corollary, why wasn't the Pont. Max. sacrosanct?
Did Ludwig Wittgenstein have any children?
I find myself unable to find an answer to this question. My professor told that he was a descendant of L. Wittgenstein which is what caused my curiosity.
Did the ancient Anglo-Saxons believe in an afterlife? A teacher recently told us they didn't but that doesn't seem right to me.
A bit confused on the Sack of Rome, the downfall of the western Roman Empire, and the relation of these things to Roman Catholic Church/the Vatican. Did the goths/barbarians simply spare the Church when they sacked Rome? Or is it true that the goths themselves were Christians?
I'm looking for a letter to James Madison from Jose Maria Morelos that I read about. I checked the Library of Congress but they don't have anything in the Madison collection. My Spanish isn't good enough to search Mexican databases. Does anyone have an idea how I could find any correspondence they had?
I am working on a Model United Nations project, and I need to find out more about Nathanael Greene's military tactics. Please help! =D
Been reading about the Crusades
One outcome of the Third Crusade as part of the truce was the freedom of movement for pilgrims from Europe to the Holy Land.
Did this condition last? If so how long?
Is it true that enthusiasm for WW1 quickly faded away after the war began? I've read that great deal of soldiers already found the war pointless even before 1915.
I'm an interested layperson who reads and listens to a lot of history, especially military history. Recently I heard the adage "Amateurs study tactics, professionals study supply and logistics".
Are there any clear\quick examples of campaigns \ battles which clearly illustrate the importance of this distinction?
What would be the British equivalent to the Vietnam War?, Russia had their own Vietnam war in the form of the Soviet-Afghan War.
Was Nathanael Greene a Son of Liberty?
Good books on the Sengoku period, particularly focusing on the struggle between Oda Nobunaga and Takeda Shingen?
Doesn't have to be exclusively about them, in fact I'd prefer if there was info on other lords/clans of the time, but I'd really like to know about the political and military maneuvering that went on between the two.
How an when would northern Europeans learn about the features of animals such as tigers, lions, etc. such that they would be included in art? [Rembrandt painted lions, for example, in the 17th century.] Were there what we might think of as zoos? Did wealthy Europeans import them? Or, did European artists copy from depictions on artifacts taken from where these animals live?
Besides Clodius, did any other patrician politicians "convert" to the plebeians, or vice versa? Was the "conversion" technically legal or no?