Does anyone know why Mahatama Gandhi is such a controversial personality in India? Some adore him for his non-violent ways but few hate him for the division between India and Pakistan?

Reupping one I asked a long time ago:

In a story called "Poh Yuin Ko, The Serpent Princess" published in 1888 by Chinese-American immigrant Wong Chin Foo, he transliterates a song he calls "Yan Ko Neon", which he describes as "the national love song of China":

Yan yuet ko neon beat ye bear

Ur neon tow yaen chay fa yow,

How ye ko koo neon pol fa tai,

Ku tien lai pot tren san ye hai

Any idea what song this is?

What’s the history of the following poem? I know there are many versions, this is the one I know:

One dark, sunny night
Two dead boys got up to fight
Back to Back they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot each other
A deaf police men heard the noise
And ran and shot these two dead boys
If you don't believe this lie is true
Ask the blind man, he saw it too

What is the best current thinking on the role of the Western Roman Senate after the "fall" of the Roman Empire? When did it actually stop meaning anything to be a Senator, and when did it disappear entirely?

I've been reading a bit about colonialism in the Middle East for University work and found a source which briefly mentions Saddam Hussein's "secret police" as an example of a security institution with its roots in a security institution that would have been established by Britain under colonial rule. But the claim isn't sourced or very detailed and I can't find further explanation on it.

So can anyone tell me if this is actually true and maybe a source to read up on it more? I'm assuming the secret police refers to the Iraqi intelligence service which says it was made in 1973. I can provide a link to the essay making the claim if it would help.

Hey guys, a bit of a personal request.

My granfmother survived WWII and her family moved to Berlin in 1945 to escape being trapped inside Soviet rule. According to my family's knowledge she lived in some sort of shelter for war refugees and was only allowed to migrate out of Germany over a year after.

I was wondering if there is any book, documentary, blog post, website or anything about these shelter at the time, how life was organized for people living there, etc.

She was only 16 years old in 1946 and looking at films from post-war Berlin I find it incredible to imagine that she had to endure living in such a place.

Was the Mandate of Heaven in Imperial China just a social concept or more of a cosmic concept? It seems like a blend of Locke's social contract and the divine right of kings---and an excuse to rebel.

I recently read Guns, Germs, and Steel and loved it, but was disappointed to learn it had a bad reputation in his subreddit and with professional historians generally.

My question is, can you recommend me some 'general interest' history books that are well written, accessible to laypeople, and considered well-researched or "legit" by historians?

Thanks.

When i look in threads that have multiple replies(10+) i can only see 3 replies; one automod, one deleted and one automod stating why they were deleted, is there no other replies because there are multiple deleted posts condensed into one? 🤔

Does the idea of 2+2=4/5/? have a larger cultural presence in the 1930s and 1940s? Was it ever widly used in these decades as a thought experiment to do with political authoritarianism?

It's obviously made famous by 1984 by George Orwell from 1948, but it's also an idea referenced in The Plague by Albert Camus from 1947. I also vaguely remember it being referenced in The loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (which, admittedly could be because of it's debt to 1984). But it seems to me, that its inclusion as a thought experiment in 2 books published seemingly separately close together could indicate that it was used more widly in popular or political culrure of the time.

What’s the point of this sub if everytime I click a thread all the comments are deleted?

What’s the history of “Olly Olly income/oxen free!”?

I'm wrestling with the concept of the "serf" in feudal Western Europe. I don't have a lot of info but what I think I understand is that serf's were indentured to whoever owned the land and worked the land and were sometimes traded with the land when offered to another lord, taken over, etc.

Were serf's property of the land such that they were tied directly to it and always offered up with it? Or were they seen as individual property pieces? Or perhaps were they ever seen as subjects rather than slaves?

US HISTORIANS: What were “the issues” of the 1864 election? For instance, today’s issues are the supreme court, rights for people of color, COVID-19. But all I can think of for 1864 were slavery and the war.

Why did the HRE contain so many different duchies and kingdoms?

My father majored in history and was a librarian. He told me that if France had kept its word to leave then the Vietnam War would've not occurred like it did. Is this true? Why didn't France do the fighting if it was their doing?

What would someone from Chicago call soda in the 1950s/1960s?

Pop? Cola? Coke? Soda Pop? Would there be a specific brand of soda that would be really popular?

In HBO's Rome there's a character named Erastes Fulmen. Would any sane person in Rome go by that name? Wouldn't that be a bit like someone in England being called "Peter File"?

I've been very curious about this for a while

Where were Baltic Germans concentrated? I know there was minority of Germans there but what cities were they most common in, or were they more spread out?

Why didn't the Ottomans bring heavy artillery with them when they sieged Vienna in 1683?

How universal is the Chicago Manual Style outside just the US? If it is not the most widely used standard around the world then what is?

Could anyone point me toward some books that talk about how ancient rome and greece influenced modern western politics and law? How due process evolve over the centuries, separation of powers, constitutions, civil law, roman republicanism, greek democracy and greek/roman political philosophy. Specifically I would like to read on how all these concepts shaped the modern western political and legal traditions. How did cicero influence the founding fathers and help shape america Are platos and socrates views on justice still felt in courts to this day and why? I can find books that talk about these things individually but not in the grand scheme of things that im looking for. im bassically looking for a book/books that talks about the evolution of western law and politics in a sort of biological manner

I keep seeing a feature in Medieval European castles labeled a "domestic range," but I'm not sure what it refers to. It looks like it's a row of buildings on one wall, but I don't know anything more specific. Anyone know?

I just had thought of something about primary and secondary sources. If I took part in an event 90 years ago, and I told the story of how it happened to you, 90 years later, that is a primary source no matter what, right? Even if I recalled every detail incorrectly?

During Hanse league's function, did the league try to prevent Russian commercial traveler from entering Europe countries?

I am looking for help with identifying an author of an entry in the first volume of The Phonogram from January 1891. The author is listed as "C. S. S." bu I have been unable to find any additional information. I know that The Phonogram was the official magazine of the North American Phonograph Co., but not much more. The issue is available here

What sort of music would Proust have listened to? Who were the popular composers of fin de siècle Paris?

Not sure if this is an ok question but here goes: I’m a Master’s student pivoting into history at the end of my MA (Interdisciplinary Studies). I do not have a supervisor versed in history research methods and methodology. What can I read to get up to speed?

Did German immigrants to the United States ever build onion domed churches like this one in Bavaria?

Who invented yogurt? The word is Turkish and I've heard Turkish claims for it. But what about Greek/Roman oxygala? Was that yogurt or buttermilk or something else?

Wikipedia also says it was invented in the Middle East during the neolithic.

The below article also says it existed in the Indus Valley Civilization 3500 BC and Vedic age from 1500-500 BC. What is actually true?

And who decided to take yogurt one step further and strain it (to make labneh and other related products)?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/dining/homemade-yogurt-starter-south-asia.html

what was the reception of Spengler in America?

specifically interested if an American historian agreed with his morphology idea but disagreed that America was an extension of the "West's" (faustian) morphology, but willing to look at other criticisms and assessments, even if they are more modern.

I am interested attaining a version of the Bible that has been passed through "the game of telephone" the least, and is as close to the original writings as possible but... translated to (not necessarily modern) English.

What is the most unchanged bible and do you have any recommendations?

Why didn't the US support the Nationalists during the Chinese Civil War? Was there any regret from American officials during the Korean War and Vietnam War when it was discovered that the North Koreans and the North Vietnamese were being supported by the People's Republic of China?

In the painting Carl Bloch - In a Roman Osteria (1866), what is the name/style of hat worn by the women with red necklace holding a knife and fork?

Is this a satirical portrayal of fashion at the time? Or a true-to-life style that was worn? The painting is beautiful and engrossing, and I'd love to know more. I couldn't find it in my googling attempts, so thought I'd come to the experts!

Thanks for your time!

Is an 18th-century merchant house the same thing as a merchant guild?

Why did John Quincy Adams, as a Massachusetts senator, vote against the bill prohibiting the importation of slaves that passed in 1807? It seems at odds with his later abolitionist stance. Did he just always vote against Jefferson when he was Federalist?

Can George Orwell still be labeled a Trotskyist if Orwell supported democracy and knew Trotsky contributed to the creation of the USSR which he hated?

Why did the germans keep killing jews even though they knew they had lost the war?

Did any westerners not agree with the whole stealing indigenous land thing?

I'm having trouble finding discussion on the documentary The Lost Lincoln and the information contained(as well as the primary theory posited). As this is a topic I don't know very much about, was hoping to glean further insight on the contents and arguments for/against the validity, and I was hoping that someone could point me in a direction where discussions are actively occurring.

I've been trying to research something my grandfather had talked about during his service in the second war that I cannot find any detailed information on. In fact, the only information I vaguely remember (and I use that word strongly), is Stephen Fry briefly mentioning it on QI.

It was a train that was headed north (I think), and carried what British pilots believed was munitions, supply and fuel, however, it carried people. And it was unfortunately caught in sight of their Air Force. They bombed and strafed it, and it disconnected its back 3 or 4 cars and then was continuously strafed and bombed over a 2 week period before being completely annihilated.

Any help would be appreciated.