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What's the oldest writing we can unambiguously read? And assuming that's stuff like accounting or contracts, what's the earliest "interesting" writing, like letters or literature?
Yes I've looked on Wikipedia but it's less straightforward than I'd like, and different pages give 2800 or 2600 for literature.
Does anyone know of an English language book on steamboat travel in 19th century South America, especially the Parana-Uraguay-Plato system?
This is probably one of the only places on Earth I could ask this question and not get side-eyed. Thanks!
Why does a lot of the world refer to 'Japan' as Japan? And not Nipon?
How long did the ancient Roman system of timekeeping survive in Italy?
According to my interpretation of Goethe's Italian Journey it seems to still have been in use in 1786, which seems bizarre to me.
Note: I asked this as a stand-alone question but didn't receive any answers. Maybe the question is better here.
What's the deal with the famous historical queen of Angola's name sometimes being spelled "Njinga" and sometimes "Nzinga"? What's more accurate and reflective of how she would have pronounced her name?
How were the jews generally treated or perceived by the Romans prior to and after the sacking of Jerusalem? Was that a turning point, or what emperors had better/worse policies/views (e.g. Marcus Aurelius' thoughts on Jews are unclear)? Thanks!
Question: I've heard it said somewhere regarding the Pilgrims that, roughly:
The Pilgrims didn't leave England for the Americas for religious freedom, but rather for the freedom to not have to live around non-believers. Is this accurate?
(Also, if this should be a full thread, please direct me to do so.)
Someone claimed to me that Rhodesia was the most progressive (in voting rights and equality) country in Africa during its time, and granted equal rights to the minority whites and majority black population. I’m doubtful of this since neo-nazis seem to worship Rhodesia, but I have very little knowledge of the subject. Does the claim have any truth behind it?
What did French people eat during the Nazi occupation.
Did the average man during the Middle Ages know what it meant when a knight threw down his gauntlet, or was it knowledge specific to the nobility?
Did any types of candy originate in the Kingdom of Kandy?
Why were corner stores/convenience stores traditionally always on corners?
Hey what do historians think about video essays? I'm not sure if it's a topic anyone has thought of much but recently I was watching TIK and his youtube series (as in multiple seasons of 50 minute videos on the battle) on Stalingrad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAfo5mse-ag
And I realized how great a visual medium was for this because of the mapping software. If anyone has ever read David Glantz...well I read his entire Stalingrad trilogy and still couldn't tell you the faintest idea of what happened at Stalingrad because I couldn't understand his maps, or where anyone was, and stuff like that. However something like this makes it so easy to conceptualize and understand what's going on.
Can video essays like this be useful in teaching? What about for actual serious historical discussion, like making a thesis be a very long series of videos instead of publishing in a journal?
Where can I find an - as close to comprehensive - list of Aztec/Mayan symbols and their meanings? I’ve done some googling, and can find symbols for things like death, various animals, and things like chocolate, but am struggling to find anything beyond that. (I’m trying to find symbols I can use for a tattoo basically, sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this question)
What was the population of the Majapahit empire at the beginning of Hayam Wuruk's reign (1350s)? I am trying to write something about the empire but I can't find this information anywhere.
Hello. I was curious why there are humans being solidified into rocks, intact, in Pompeii after the volcano eruption of Mount Vesuvius in CE 79? How is volcano able to do that, and where did all the lava vanish after overwhelming the victims with it, considering that they became solidified for some nebulous reason. I don't really see what the excavations really was, is it implied that the solidified bodies were under the ground itself upon which they dug up them from beneath the ground? Someone please clarify and elaborate regarding this theme.
I hope this isn't rule breaking.
u/The_Jackmeister I was reading one of your posts recently and you cited a source regarding the reign of Mongke and the politics. I've been searching for a couple of days now through some posts and just can't seem to find it. I probably even saw it and I just missed it. If you know which source I'm talking about, would you mind sharing it with me? Thanks in advance.
Have serious plans for repelling an alien invasion ever been declassified?
What sorts of dog breeds did the Romans have?
Do y'all know of any good online resources for looking up really mundane details about "daily life" in the ancient world? EG common diets, occupations/trades, recreation, etc. for the "normal" people?
And a related follow-up question: any similar resources for demographic statistics? EG population breakdowns of specific cities, life expectancies, average size of household, etc.?
Context: looking for a solid resource to draw reputable, "authentic" details for short stories set in a Bronze Age city. EDIT Basically the Hitites.
What is a book you'd recommend about the 'new right' in Western Europe since the late sixties? I'm mostly interested in the French Nouvelle Droite, but would also like a broader view. It doesn't need to be 'popular', but I'd appreciate if it wasn't extremely dry and academic. It's against the rules of the subreddit, but I'd prefer something that at least includes the early 2010's.
The first one I found is Far-Right Politics in Europe by Jean-Yves Camus and Nicolas Lebourg which seems good but I thought I'd ask first.
What primary sources exist for the court life of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain?
What sort of influence did Islam have on the Tibetan Plataeu?
Regarding the Vietnam War, what's our best estimate of the number of civilian deaths, and what's our best estimate of how many of those deaths were caused by each side of the conflict? (e.g. X% of civilian deaths were caused by the Americans and their allies, Y% of civilian deaths were caused by the Viet Cong and their allies, Z% of civilian deaths cannot be firmly attributed to either side.)
Is there evidence of a wave of settlement to Britain and Ireland before the Celts? Or is that just not a well-posed question?
I'm interested in learning more about the way Positive Christianity was treated by the Germans after WW2. Is there any chance someone has a couple of books they can recommend?
Did the Pilgrims or settlers of any of the 13 colonies hail from one specific region of Britain?
Where did tsar Nicholas II go if he was ill? I.e. what hospital would he go to?
I was reading the wonderful White House Historical Society AMA and noticed /u/kimchimaker asked a question I'm also pretty interested in, why is the white house... white?
Since the AMA is over, I figured I'd ask here.
Was hitler objectively a bad artist?
Hi, i was told to post this question here, as it is apparently a very simple question to answer. Here goes:
Can we say for certain if Hitler and nazism were right-wing?
I was curious why so many right-wing pundits keep claiming that hitler was socialist, and after a bit of research i found pretty quickly that they're wrong: Hitler was not a socialist - he simply said whatever he could to gain support and power.
But this question let me down a rabbit hole. We can't say for certain that Hitler was left-wing, but can we say for certain that he is right-wing? I just haven't found any concrete evidence that suggests that Hitler and his party was right of center.
Totalitarianism is seen in both ends of the political spectrum. So is nationalism, and racism. Some historians claim that fascism is confined to the right, but this seems to be a dead end, since the term "fascism" is mostly synonymous with nazism anyways. And i don't see any definitions in the word that would not also include figures like Stalin. Some historians (and many dictionaries) don't even use the same definition, as they don't mention that you have to be right-leaning to be fascist.
Hitler himself never claimed to be either left-wing or conservative. He always claimed to be outside of the political spectrum. And it shows - a conservative in 1930's germany would never support the sweeping changes and revolutions that Hitler spurred, Hitler was simply too radical. But most of all, he was egotistical, and did everything for either himself, or the german race. Not for any particular ideology.
As far as i am aware, the nazi party also controlled the means of production, through the businesses that they controlled. This leans much more left than right, not that i'm saying it was full-on socialism.
Thoughts?