When looking up the sizes of the world economies around 1900, you'll see something like this

1. British Empire

2. United States

3. Germany

4. France

I get the feeling that they're only counting the colonies for Britain.

What was economic size of the European cores of Germany vs France vs Great Britain vs the United States?

And when did West Germany surpass the French and UK economies? Was there frustration that even a reduced Germany beat them?

How did the mafia survive Mussolini's regime?

Has any significant religious schism ever been fully repaired or reversed?

I'm leaving significant open to interpretation, but I do not mean small independent churches with couple hundred adherents resolving issues or cults who had leadership disputes which ended when one of the claimants died. I'm more interested in either long term schisms or significant factions with power, money and influence.

Also, when I mean repaired or reversed, I don't mean a sort of 'let's agree to disagree' situations that often arise such as partial communions in Catholic church. I mean total or near total reversal of a significant schism where the doubled up ruling structures and religious law has been irreversibly merged back together and the resultant religious faction is significantly similar to the pre-schism situation.

Did the United States Congress ever directly debate an end to slavery before the Civil War? I know that many states had abolitionist laws debated or passed, but was there ever an actual bill debated in either House of the US Congress that proposed to abolish slavery?

Did people complain about the turd color of the statues of liberty from the second to 5th years of it being gifted prior to the statue turning green?

Is it true that the introduction of metal helmets in the British military increased the number of reported head injuries?

I've heard this fact stated quite often. The story goes something like this:

At the start of the first World War, the uniform of British soldiers included a cloth cap. Later in the war, this was replaced by a metal helmet in an attempt to reduce the number of head injuries sustained. Surprisingly the number of head injuries reported actually increased after the introduction of the metal helmets.

Was there a design flaw with the helmets? Did the metal somehow amplify the force of shrapnel?

No, the answer is that while the number of recorded head injuries increased, the number of deaths decreased. Previously if a soldier had been hit in the head by shrapnel it would've killed him, and been recorded as a death instead of a head injury.

Today I had a quick look for a good source on this "fact" and was unable to find any. It seems to me that its origin may have actually been as a lateral thinking puzzle, and people mistook it for a real fact and repeated it.

Is there any evidence to support this story?

Where/how did people park their horses in the 18th century? In a large city like London more specifically

This is an exceedingly niche question about French Fighter Jets that I hope someone here can shed some light on. The question is could or could not the Dassault Mirage IIIC carry Magic/Sidewinder missiles while also using the center pylon to carry a Nord AA-20 or an AS-20 missile, and if not how come?

Everything I have ever found stated it could carry Magics/Sidewinders and a Matra R.530 or a Nord missile but it has never specified if it could carry a Nord with a Magic Anti-Air missiles.

How Easy was it to forge citizen papers on the Roman Empire?

Did soldiers ever mention/complain about how hot the Kar98K would get during combat?

Question inspired by two Youtube videos of "mad minutes"; I know "mad minutes" aren't exactly combat situations, but in the two videos in question (details below) the shooter more familiar with the rifle mentions "it's getting hot" after firing 15 rounds, and the shooter less familiar says "I can feel it's warm already" after 5 rounds, and "This rifle is now uncomfortably hot." after just 9 rounds! So, although I imagine German soldiers weren't doing mad minutes, I presume they could fire more than 9 to 15 rounds during the course of a protracted firefight, if not a typical one. So, was the rifle becoming hot ever a problem, or even just something soldiers noticed and commented on?

Videos, for reference:

First, with the more practiced shooter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj90zasSu0o

Mad minute begins almost immediately, ends at 1:07,

At approx. 0:44, after 15th round is fired and as he reloads, says "It's getting hot."

Second, with the less practiced shooter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MRGE5z2EdI

Kar98K portion starts at 3:55, ends at 5:00

After 5 rounds, approx 4:15, "I can feel it's warm already." during first reload.

After 9 rounds, approx 4:37, "This rifle is now uncomfortably hot."

How much in today's money was a silver Florin worth in late 14th century England?

Was watching A Knight's Tale a couple days ago and their tournament winnings from the start of the film was 15 Florins, just wondering what that would translate to in today's money (USD, if possible).

Alternate wording if it makes for an easier answer: What was the buying power of a silver Florin? *in the 1370s

Has anybody ever written a scientific paper about this sub?

To wit: In 1917, one year after Hirohito’s formal investiture as crown prince, Captain Ogasawara had presented his mother, Empress Sadako (later Dowager Empress Teimei), with the names of three princesses he felt would be suitable partners in marriage for the crown prince. She chose Princess Nagako, the daughter of Prince Kuni Kuniyoshi, to be Hirohito’s future wife.

Who were these candidates?

What is the history of Government Cheese in the U.S., and its distribution in the 80s?

A friend mentioned in passing to me that public support around the American Revolution was due in part to racist propaganda, is this true? The common trope was essentially, “They’ll (The British) do to us what we did to blacks.” I’m having trouble sourcing this.

Does anyone have an good book recommendations on theology from a historical perspective? I'm not religious, but I love reading history. I was listening to No Dumb Questions podcast (hosted by Destin from Smarter Every Day) and their episode on Dead Sea Scrolls. It made me realize Ive never explored anything pertaining to religion as a history topic.

I guess I dont really know what kind of topics Im looking for here. My favorite history period is European Medieval but Im not particularly looking for something like the Crusades. Im thinking maybe something about the founding of Christianity or Islam or even Pagan. Really, Im just hoping one of you smart history buffs have a recommendation on a history book about theology that isnt specifically for a Believer or trying to convert the reader.

How would a Nuclear war be fought? Say for example the US and the USSR Cold War turned nuclear, what would their tactics be? Would they just bomb civilian towns off the map or would the two countries at war make some sort of agreement not to target the innocent?

Basically the question I’m trying to ask is, were there ‘unspoken rules’ between countries if nuclear war did occur during the Cold War?

What are the best histories or intellectual histories of liberalism? (As an idea/ideology, not the American Democratic Party)

I'm trying to track down a specific privately-published Waffen-SS memoir and would really appreciate any help.

I don't know the title, only a reference within the editor's introduction of another book (Black Edelweiss by Johann Voss), which describes the other memoir as; "bitter, accusatory, and openly anti-Semitic, the author validates the most unfavourable possible stereotype of Waffen-SS soldiers...the contents of this particular Waffen-SS veteran's work was certainly too vile and incendiary for any publisher to produce. Nevertheless, the work appears to be authentic, and is as such probably a valid part of the genre. If there is a limitation to this book's credibility, it is that the author adamantly refuses to come to terms with indisputable realities (not least, the holocaust) and may not, therefore, have written his memoir in a completely rational frame of mind.

Once the polio vaccine became available in the US, was it provided for free? Or did people have to pay to get it?

Tried this in the regular forum and got no traction: How controversial was Ford's pardon of Nixon at the time?

It's well known that only land owning white men could only vote in the early United States but did it matter how much land?

If I was the village blacksmith who only owned my small lot for my shop, could I vote? Or did I need at least 40 acres or 100 or 640 acres of property?

What might Places of Worship like the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba be called instead of Mosque–Cathedral?

It is my understanding that the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba was build by Abd al-Rahman the 1st to accommodate both Muslims, Christians, and even Jews. Do shared prayer spaces to the Abrahamic Religions still exist, and If so, what are they called, and what are some examples?

If not, what do you think they should be called?

Can anyone recommend a good history of England that focuses on the first half of the fourteenth century, preferably with an emphasis on the world outside of the nobility?

Why did Prince Philip go with his mother's name Mountbatten instead of his father's name Glucksburg?

Does someone know good books regarding Rhodesia?, I'm trying to get familiar with the subject so maybe something that broadly covers eveeything would.be a good place to start

I'm from sweden and my last name starts with "von der" i learned recently that my family moved from germany (pomerania) to sweden in the 1600s. My question is what was the meaning of "von der" in names in northern germany in the 1600?

Were there any kind of "postal ships" in the Age of Sail that regularly carried mails between the colonies and the mainland?

When and how did they start balancing automobile tires?

So I've been reading Water Margin(it's around 1100 year/Song Dynasty ),one of the 4 classical Chinese novels and a couple of times there are tavern,where they put human meat in their dishes when there are no animals.I've searched on the internet,but there is not much except some short answers saying there was such a thing.How realiable is this ? I will be very thankful if someone can answer me or give me sources for further reading. Thank you !

Did the Nazi army have a ban on beards? I never seen a Nazi soldier with a beard depicted in media.

Which U.S. President (allegedly?) told a young boy to never become President? I could have sworn it was Taft but I'm not sure. Basically it was some public event and a young boy asks him for advice, to which he replied:

"My advice for you, little man, is to never become the president."

The jist being that he was exhausted from the Office and that particular day specifically, and wouldn't wish that stress on the boy. I vaguely remember the text from reading it in history and "little man" might have been "little sailor" because this was the early 20th century, every small kid was dressed as sailor...

Google's been poisoned by all the Birther and Not My President bullshit of the past few years, so it's not helping; and Taft's page on Wikipedia makes no mention of it.

What was bee keeping like during the Roman Republic? Did they use modern sustainable methods or did they destroy the hive?

Medieval times: If two royals from different kingdoms met, how would they address each other?

The 1920 film, The Golem: How He Came into the World, is "set in the Jewish ghetto of medieval Prague." The clothing of all of the Jewish characters has a ring of fabric sewn over their hearts, maybe 5" in diameter and an inch or so thick. A couple of examples here and here.

Was this common practice at the time and place, or artistic liberty taken by the director?

When did the term "Spring of Nations" come to refer to the revolutions of 1848? Was the term in use at the time, or was it coined by later historians?

How is the branch of history called that focuses on historic states/political entities?

Who was pretender to Mughal throne during WW2

has there ever been a united states congress where a political party had the required 2 chamber majority to amend the constitution?

Hey peeps, what resources can I look up to see the human migration from Africa to Indian subcontinent? I looked up some papers specifically for Northern India/Pakistan but couldn't find a lot on ancient human remains found in that region. Any help please?

Thank you :)

Also, I'm a noob, so if there's a better resources to study all this than starting directly on research papers, that'll be appreciated too.

What was the minimum age to become a praetor in imperial rome ? A quick google search will state that its 39 yet after doing a bit of reading , I found out that Agricola became praetor at 28 , Vespasian at 30 and Galba at 27. So was there a minimum age at the imperial period ?

Were folks with OCD just as likely to be locked away in asylums as schizophrenics? I'm thinking of the twentieth century.

Who was head of the Timurid dynasty during WW2

Hamilton: “ If I can prove that I never broke the law, would you promise not to tell another soul what you saw?”

During his affair and subsequent blackmail, how exactly did Hamilton not break the law? What were the logistics of him paying Reynolds nearly $1000?

World War 2 Question; German Navy.

Why do U-Boats have wires running from end to end of the ship?

Does anyone know which battle in WWI had Canadian troops laying ladders down in otherwise impassable muddy terrain to run across and seize a position while under heavy German machine gun fire? I want to say Passchendaele but cannot find a solid reference

What is some good history to look at that might explain what caused Slavery of African's in colonial America? What caused African's to be rounded up and brought to the US for slave labor?

(Sorry if this is too complicated for this thread. I figured better to ask here first and if its too complicated ask in stand-alone thread)

How did someone become a doctor in the Middle Ages and where on the social ladder would they be?

What method of travel would someone likely take from San Francisco to northern California in 1862?

Does anyone know what a Captain of the Woodley Cavalry Volunteers' dress uniform would look like in the spring of 1803? Any info appreciated :)

In the vietnam war did they buckle their chin straps

How much were shotgun messengers paid in the 1800’s?

Native American cultures were known to use tobacco for ritual and medicinal purposes, but is there any evidence (pre-industrialization) that they recognized any negative health effects of tobacco use, specifically smoking?

How much was the slave industry worth at its peak?

What nations sent fleets around like the Great White Fleet? Were there copies of this like by Japan?

Were the Nazis Pedos?

Which specific weapon has the highest body count?

For this, I'm talking about the direct bodycount of a specific instance of a weapon, rather than its category (i.e. maybe a specific soldiers or mass murderers gun rather than AK-47s which I think would otherwise be the answer), that is reusable (so no nukes, bombs etc.), and that can be wielded unaided by a single individual (so no artillery, vehicles etc.).

I did try to find the answer to this myself, but couldn't find any useful data so there might not be a known answer to this question, but hopefully some wise sage here can if anyone can.

The movie "Enemy at the Gates" and Vasily Zaytsev's rifle being on public display made me wonder this.