I'm reading through the Magna Carta and King Henry II is referred to as 'our grandfather'. Was it normal in the Middle Ages to refer to the monarchy with familial titles?

How were Black factory workers in the midwest paid in the 1940s – specifically 1943, after the start of WWII. Were they paid in cash or by check?

(And if paid by check, were there specific banks they had to go to to cash them?)

What caused the population boom in Tonga to end in ~1973?

This is probably a bit of a silly question, but why is the al in al-Andalus no capitalized? What does it translate to? I assume its kind of similar to names like von, and it means "the" or something?

On that Monday, July 16, 1945, at 5:10 a.m., the senatorial voice of physicist Sam Allison began what's now called a countdown. "Minus 20 minutes" boomed over the loudspeakers and shortwave radios in the dark Jornada del Muerto in New Mexico's dry Tularosa Basin.

By space-age standards, it was a very short countdown, but it was probably the first in the about-to-be-born world of big science. "Sam seemed to think it was," McKibben says. "He told me, 'I think I'm the first person to count backward.'''

source: "Trinity 50 Years Later: The Nuclear Age's Blinding Dawn," Albuquerque Journal, Larry Calloway

etymology.com has "countdown" attested by 1953. Does anybody have any examples of people counting backwards pre-"Big Science," either for one-off purposes or something more widespread? My first thought was New Year's Eve. I found a clip from Bachelor Mother, a 1939 movie I watched a few months ago, expecting it to easily prove Allison wrong, but lo and behold, they don't count down! Still, I have a hard time believing no one ever had...

What was the name of the political country/state of the Anatolian peoples before they were annexed by the Byzantine Greek empire?

An editor's comment from Goebbels diaries:

Colonel General Alfred Jodl was Hitler's personal military Chief of Staff.
When he was taken prisoner at Flensburg in May 1945, he carefully carried the
last top-secret military orders of Adolf Hitler in his brief case, saying they should
be preserved for posterity. This editor on reading them was convinced that they
were the orders of a paranoiac. Jodl was hanged at Nuremberg as a major war
criminal.

Is it possible to read those orders anywhere? I tried googling, but couldn't find anything.

Modern Salem, Massachusetts has essentially appropriated what arguably should be a dark spot in regional Massachusetts history and monetized it. There was a question today about the old west in which Dodge City was mentioned to have marketed itself as a notorious old west tourist spot after decades of trying to downplay its relatively brief history of violence.

Are there other cities that have built entire tourist industries around distinct historical moments such as these, or any broader analyses of either the phenomenon or the social transition from "we don't talk about that" to naming the local elementary school Witchcraft Heights?

I tried posting this as a standalone question but it got removed. What language is this stone carving from the Castillo de Trevejo in Villamiel, Cáceres, Spain? I’ve tried looking into this matter and consulted different people but cannot find an answer to this question. Here is the picture for reference: https://imgur.com/gallery/DQy3Bm6

Was operation Tamarisk real, or a myth? Did Soviet soldiers not get issued toilet paper?

Do we know the names of any prominent families in the Neo-Babylonian era of Babylon? Like aristocratic families, or the equivalent?

What was the location of the French court before the construction of the palace of Versailles?

In the Middle Ages, what determined whether the ruler of an area of land was a "King", vs some other title?

Edit: Asking specifically about Europe.

When was the first indigenous and last non-indigenous 'Minister for Native Affairs' or equivalent position, in settler colonies? So far I know New Zealand (first Māori minister 1899, last Pakeha one 1996), Australia (first Aboriginal minister is the current guy who started in 2019, last non-indigenous minister was obviously the previous one), and South Africa (all white until majority rule when the position was abolished), but I'd be interested in any others. Particularly non-English colonies.

Was horse riding a common skill everyone had before the invention of the automobile? Like how everyone nowadays knows how to drive a car, did most people back in the day know how to ride on a horse. Or where horses still rather not as accessible to everyone?

Deliberate Imperfection in Greek Architecture?

I ‘seem to recall hearing’ (MANY years ago) that the ancient Greeks were very mindful of the need to NOT appear “presumptuous of perfection” in the eyes of their Gods.  Apparently; after they had constructed a temple with statues and friezes etc.; they would DELIBERATELY damage, chip, or mar some part of the structure: some part that was not visible by “mere humans” on the ground: but, instead, would be visible to the Gods above.  In this way, the edifice would NOT strive to be “perfect”: any ‘arrogance of perfection’ was removed by the deliberate insult, the damage, the chipped-off ear.  The intention was to acknowledge humility, Man’s lower position in the pantheon; one who could not achieve the ‘perfection’ that was exclusively reserved for the Gods. 

I believe that I heard that there was an explicit word in Classical Greek that described this act of “deliberate imperfection”.  I know of other words that describe attributes of classical Greek architecture, such as ‘entasis’ for example.  The word that I am seeking may be similar: but with the meaning or implication of “deliberately performed imperfection, for the express purpose of avoiding insulting the Gods by presumption or arrogance.”

Other cultures have expressed the same concept: see, for example, The Art of Deliberate Imperfection | Amusing Planet  . 

The word may also be in  Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (hellenicaworld.com) but I can’t find it.

What I am seeking here is one exact single Classical Greek word for this concept.

Is this something that exists, or am I totally misremembering?

When did the ™ (trademark) and © (copyright) symbols become common?

What do the French think of Cinco De Mayo?

Can anyone help me find books or other resources about female sailors during the 17th/18th/19th century? None of the google terms I can think of are getting me what I'm looking for.

Reason is, I had a wildly specific dream about an educated woman who lost her spouse to illness at a young age and joined a ship's crew to cope with or flee from those feelings. They drowned at sea early in her "career" and regretted throwing away her chance at a longer, more peaceful life. I've never had a dream with so much clarity in the emotions, and about someone else, so it's been stuck with me, so I'd like to try and write it out as a story to try and process it. I don't remember any hints about this person's name, the ship, their role on the crew, anything like that, so I guess I'd like to try and understand the history a little more to explore this a little. Thanks!

Hey, can you guys help me identify which country this figure is from? I asked /r/whatisthisthing and the (insert mean word here) mods there decided I already know it and it's spam or something. Added the picture URL below.
https://ibb.co/2ZHB0Lp

We knew about Ngô Đình Diệm's nepotism towards Catholic (and somewhat his fellow Central Vietnamese) during Republic of Vietnam's era, but did the same thing happened in the State of Vietnam's era? Nguyễn Văn Tâm's appointment to Governor of Northern Vietnam seemed to raise a few eyebrows, was this an outlier or did Cochinchinese people have stronger influence in the State of Vietnam due to their previous status as a colony and its predecessor state (as Autonomous Republic of Cochinchina) ?

Did upper-class Romans wear beards around the time of Augustus? Talking about the Emperor's appearance, Suetonius says "...and as for his beard he now had it clipped and now shaved" which seems to imply at least an occasional amount of stubble.

A series of questions from the Salon of the Enlightenment- who was the young man with the "perfect" responses? Years ago I remember reading that there was a game in the salons sort of like 21 questions. The questions were something like, "What would be your fondest desire?" There was a young man who had visited the salon and played the game. They held this young man's responses (and I remember a lot of them had to do with his mother because he was so young) as a virtuous example of a noble young character. I've looked everywhere for this and can't find it. Can anyone help?

In medieval England (specifically the 15th century), were there different execution methods for men and women? I know men could be beheaded, but I don’t think I’ve heard of women having their heads removed. Were women hanged or could anyone be beheaded?

Was military service ever used as an alternative to jail in the US? I've seen it in movies and video games and was wondering if it had any historical merit.

How long has music & song been connected to perceived immorality?

Why is it called Fourth of July, even though Americans say every other date like July 4th? Did this change at some time?

Is there like, some visual guide out there to "wild west" (1850s-1890s American) houses and architecture out there that y'all would recommend? I'm working on a story set then and I have absolutely no idea how my characters' big ranch-style house would look, what their beds would be made of, or what kind of furniture they would have.

Did people survive cholera before they invented the cure? Or did cholera equal to a death sentence in the 19th century?

Book recommendation on crime in the 17th and 18th centuries?

Did the mod team have some kind of talk about whether 11.9.2001 has passed the 20 year rule?

"Whose streets? Our Streets" - When and where was the first recorded use of this protest chant?

I am particularly interested in the initial and dominant contexts in which the chant has been used. Who was claiming the streets originally? Has that changed over time?

Was it a chant claiming the streets from the police and for anti-war protesters (As seen in the film "The trial of the chicago seven", set in 1968)? Or was it claiming the streets for women and queers from men ("reclaim the night" protests)? Or maybe in the stonewall riots? Or the labour movement?

Thank you for your time <3

Is there a post that provides an easy to read/understand the full history of the conflict in Gaza between Israelis and Palestinians?

Going on a long drive, and am looking for a good audiobook on the modern history of Israel. Obviously the more unbiased the better, but since everything has bias, I'd prefer a pro-Israel bias to balance my pre-existing anti-Israel bias

Is it acceptable to refer to non-Jewish survivors of the Nazi concentration camps as "holocaust survivors"?

Did the confederates have a Pledge of Alliance?

What journals should I look for if I'm looking for information on the development of the finnish language from swedish, nowegian, etc? It's for a class and I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to look for.

I'm trying to find a specific youtube video. I have alot of details about it that i remember, but much i don't. the video specifically is about history and religion, specifically about the levant at the time that the torah was written, and the JEPD authorship.

I've posted my detailed question is 3 different subreddits, (breadtube, history, and badhistory) each of which rejected it.

question: Where am I allowed to ask this question?

Why aren't members of the Southern Cross Expedition of 1898-1900 credited for reaching Antarctica first, but Roald Amundsen is?

I love learning languages and I am very interested in the High Middle Ages of West Europe. What languages are the most useful to learn?

I speak English, French and Dutch natively, so I could learn any of the medieval versions of these languages without too much difficulty (although middle Dutch is something else...), but maybe I'd be best off starting with Latin?

I know the question depends entirely on what specific period and place I want to study later on, but I'm interested in Western Europe in the middle ages in general, so I'd love to know what language gives me to most bang for my buck. Any input is highly appreciated !

What does "I.F." stand for in the reference notes of a history book?

Were pitched battles during the middle ages as common as they are depicted in media, games, etc.?