What's the origin of the black eagle on a yellow field of the Holy Roman Empire and modern Germany?

Was it really the banner of Charlemagne as emperor or did it develop later?

I've often heard it said about certain generals(such as Robert E. Lee or Erwin Rommel for example) that they were "great tacticians but poor strategists", but I don't think I've ever heard the opposite said about anyone, certain descriptions I've heard of George Washington sound like he could fit this bill, but other descriptions I've heard of Washington sound like he wasn't very good tactically or strategically. Are there any examples of generals who were great strategically and poor tactically, and what were some of their strategic geniuses and tactical failures? Or is a great grasp of tactics necessary to have an understanding of strategy and there's simply no such thing as a "great strategist but poor tactician"?

Happy to remove if this isn't the place for it.

Any suggestions for a good history of the Catholic church for a non-catholic, non-academic?

How different were Cold War era models on nuclear winter projections from our current models? Did they have a different estimate for the minimum number of detonations needed for nuclear winter?

Figure I would ask again the short answers thread:

​

What was the status of slavery in the Eastern Roman/Byzantine empire? Was it as widespread and essential as slavery was in the late Roman Republic and Western Roman Empire?

Is there a possibility that an ancient european could have made it to north america during the last major ice age? Like how early humans crost the bering strait?

Do any medieval sewing patterns still exist? How did people make dresses back then if paper was more valuable and harder to come by? Did they measure and then do the calculations to craft a pattern? Did they freehand cut or mark the fabric with chalk or charcoal pencil maybe? (It's impossible to Google this because all that comes up are modern patterns for costumes and I'm not looking to make anything I just want to know more about the tailors craft.)

I never really thought about this, but my grandma sews and pattern creation/following a pattern is more complicated than might be immediately obvious if you've never tried before.

I've been reading books on advances in late medieval/early modern clothing recently (I had to do a paper on the history of clothing- which turned out more interesting than I thought it would). I would love to see what a pattern actually looked like.

is it true that ronald reagan, when he had his UTI, wanted to bomb belgium? it was brought up on HBO and people online seem to think it's real, but i can't find anything about it.

A few years back, while backpacking across Europe, I remember hearing a word specifically for tourists who pick pieces off of monuments such as the Berlin Wall or the Colusseum. The constant taking of these "souvenirs" is obviously destroying the structures.

I do not remember the name or word for this. Anyone out there who can help?

Are there any translated texts or stories about the varangian guard about their daily life and battles? Preferably from around the 10th to 11th century

How does An American Dilemma compare to other 20th century studies of race in America? Is Isabel Wilkerson correct in her assertion that it is "still considered perhaps the most comprehensive study of race in America?"

I have a nazi Germany spoon in my house has the nazi eagle then a big M under the eagle what does the m mean? The spoon was made by rostfrei if that helps

I am not sure whether I'm allowed to ask this question:

What are some authentic websites that deal in history? Preferably, ones that can be used as a source for academic purposes.

Does anyone have any estimate of roughly what percentage of ancient Greek/Roman written works have survived, and how that compares to, say, India or China?

Recently had someone tell me that WW2 wasn’t an existential threat to the US. I had always assumed it was, but their argument was the the United States’ geographical isolation, manufacturing capacity, and natural resources made it a foregone conclusion that the country would make it through the war

Is there a prevailing line of thinking as to what the actual level of potential threat was? Or was it an inevitability that the US would come out the other side somewhat intact?

Where's the best place to discuss learning how to discern history from propaganda? Or learning how to differentiate between alternative perspectives versus alternative narratives?

There are certainly some governments that obfuscate facts for propagandistic reasons, but how do we judge which are correct or skewed, or to what degree they have been skewed? How do we account for bias or cultural norms of an author?

I know almost nothing about Chinese history pre-1949 and would like to learn more. Where's a good place to start? I realise it's a truly massive time period, but are there any good beginners overviews out there?

A quick question: i have read somewhere that Georgy Zhukov mixed experienced units with inexperienced ones during the Battle of Moscow. I think the idea being that experienced soldiers could teach and guide less experienced ones. Is this true and how did these mixed units perform in battle?

Was Che Guevara a rapist?

I've seen many claims of this but I haven't been able to find much evidence of this being true, nor any of this being untrue. Want a historians POV that is knowledgeable in this area and preferably unbias. Ive posted this question before but no one answered.

Hope this fits the rules and I'm not too late.

How up to date is The Tarim Mummies: Ancient China and the Mystery of the Earliest People from the West by Mallory and Mair?

Hey! I’m writing a series of letters and need some help.

I’m a self proclaimed writer and am trying to create a series of letters between a mother and her son and am wondering if there are any close examples of this.

In my scenario the son left his nation to negotiate with a warring nation. His mother is the current queen of his home nation.

What happens is the son writes a single letter speaking of his arrival, but that is the only letter the mother ever received. She sends back multiple letters asking about him but recieves no response.

TLDR- Mom stops receiving letters from dead son, keeps sending letters hoping to hear from him. I need example letters.

Apologies if this is the wrong subreddit, but I cannot for the life of me find a better place.

I have an ongoing worldbuilding project that features a war with technology roughly equivalent to ww2. One side has just invented jet engines, and they are facing an opponent with a much more powerful navy. My question is, would a jet powered torpedo bomber make sense? As in, an aircraft that comes in too quick to be countered, launches torpedoes, then flees?

When did John I live in Henry the Young King’s household? I read that he did so when he was young enough to be taught hunting but I couldn’t find exact dates or a timeline.

What are some examples of when prisoners of war participated in actions of diplomacy with the side they were captured by?

What do noble, ilustre, conocida, distinguida, honrada, and buena in terms of Spanish 18th century nobility? I am studying the Spanish army, and see these terms a lot in terms of command officers.

An example is here: https://imgur.com/AWMIFND

There was a series of books recommended to me once on this sub, something that went over the history of western civilization from the industrial revolution to modern day. For the life of me, i can no longer find the comment recommending me these books- does anyone know what they might be?

It is a commonplace in strategy games that one picks types of troops ("units") to counter the enemy, if you think they have a lot of horses you pick spearmen, etc. But did this actually happen ever? Were there examples of the same society fielding different types of armies depending on who they were fighting? Or do people "go to war with the army they have" as the saying goes?

Any era is fine, right up til the 20-year rule really.

Are there historical/ancient sayings (in any language) with the same concept as "don't hate the player hate the game"?

Going off the wikitionary definition

Also asked in /r/askhistory ago few days but I thought this might get a different response.

I’m looking for information on the stock prices of particular companies in the late 19th century. If I wanted to know what the price of Burmah Oil Ltd. was on the London stock exchange in 1895, is there a good consolidated source out there that would let me look this sort of thing up?

Bit of a long shot. Is there any record of any civilisation giving any cultural significance to the loss of baby teeth? It occurred to me that other than puberty which is much later, and widely noted as change the loss of baby teeth is the only other tangible change to the body, that affects everyone.

Is there any mention of it anywhere? Thanks!

What are some examples of wars/invasions that were caused over a woman/love?

When were the cities of python and Ramses built in Egypt. Finding a lot of different times with no evidence

I would like to ask if anyone knows where I can find Census Data for the German Empire for the year 1910. I have been searching for quite a long time for a place where I can find linguistic data for the individual German Land-/Stadtkreise (counties). From what I got the document/book I am looking for is "Statistik des Deutschen Reichs. Band 240" but I had no success till now in finding it.

What I've got till now:

Census Data for Prussia (which though very helpful doesn't have all the data for 1910 and of course lacks the rest of Germany): https://opacplus.bsb-muenchen.de/title/BV012267317

Data for the Eastern Prussian Provinces: https://books.google.de/books?id=tJdPhIkLJ7AC&pg=PP7#v=onepage&q&f=false

This page showing counties with more than 5% Minority Languages in 1900 (which is a bit too imprecise): https://web.archive.org/web/20171004140643/http://www.verwaltungsgeschichte.de/fremdspr_krei.html#wendisc

I am fascinated by the Victorian Era and I want to learn more about Imperial Qing (and also the East) in this era. Where should I start? I am interested in both wide range books on the whole era and more specific books on certain event (like the Opium Wars, the Taiping Rebellion or Boxer Rebellion).

Thanks in advance.

Are there pre-colonisation names for the American continent(s) in any of the native American languages?

Does the Magna Carta say anything specifically about oppressive rulers / tyrants? Also, the duty of the people in such a case?

why did chinese emperors and taoist sages keep drinking poisonous elixirs( sulphur, mercury, amoniac)even tho the first people who took it,died?

the mercury pills seem to spawn some centuries,why didnt they stop after the first dozen people died from it?

Am looking for some of the stories like The Flannan Isles Lighthouse, Mary Celeste or any other ghost ship(the best stories for me would be to 1920s), but am looking for other stories unexplained or weird stories from the ocean.

The main keywords are basically: ocean, weird, mystery.

Thanks so much.

I read WW2 history of Poland facing the German Panzer Blitzkrieg: the Polish command spun a deceit to spur on counter-attack by the soon slaughtered cavalry. The deceit was that the Panzer division was fake and largely paper-mache/cardboard fakes. Result - they got mowed down on the charge. An evil deceit. My question: what examples of such evil deceit are there throughout history ? Diabolical evil death entrapping lies.

Im not sure where to ask this,

Why english is the only language who use "concrete" instead of "beton" like in continental europe ?

There's a quote I've seen a bunch of times but can't find now. It is from the Early American Republic (probably c. 1815, +/- 20 years) and it is a Southerner like John Randolph who says something like "a government which has the ability to build [canals/roads] has the ability to free slaves". The idea is to justify opposition to federal infrastructure spending on the grounds of limiting state capacity which could later interfere with slavery.

I've read that medieval monarchs, rulers, etc, often kept astrologers in their court. The influence of the planets was also considered in medical practices of the time. In a supposedly Christian age, was it ever considered a contradiction to consult the influence of the stars over God's omnipotent.

What did the Ancient Greeks think of their slaves? Did they approve the use of them in a positive light or were there some slave activists?

What were the role of 'ribalds' in medieval warfare and society, in the sense of common foot soldier?

Except for two links, I can't seem to find any reliable sources for further information, or really any other corroborating information at all. Is it just an archaic name for something more familiar?

Was Prussia and the German Empire Totalitarian - I think not, but just need clarification. Thanks!!

I know there are plenty of examples of beasts of burden pulling things like carts, wagons, etc..Are there any examples of carts, wagons or platforms being pushed by an animal?

Is there any documentation/ documentaries regarding tribal cultures (small tribes found on islands forests Amazon etc) found in yeah 1000+

Were there any other armies who uses engineering as much as the Romans in battle besides sieges?

Is Scythian properly pronounced with a hard or soft C?

Was Lavrentiy Beria really as evil as he was portrayed (mass murderer, pedophile, rapist, and serial killer), or were the people who assassinated him smearing him after his death to make his death seem more justified?

Why were the cadogen teapots filled from the bottom instead of having a lid? Was it just for the trick or is there something im missing?

I'm trying to figure out who the first inhabitants of Vancouver were but I can't find any history of people pre 18th century. All the history seems to revolve around Lewis and Clark and Fort Vancouver. I know people have lived in Vancouver for thousands of years but I can't figure out who they were.

What were the people of ancient Rome called, aside from “Romans” or “Latins”?

Would Queen Saint Margaret of Scotland have had her own tartan and if so, what does it look like?

Is the product of reasoning about the nature of humans and societies far far back in time basically a projection of our inmost depths?

I think that history is more like a matter of opinion than factual science. I mean, when a historian creates his view on history of a society that lived like 50 000 years ago, what basis do they have for their theory? We have some archeological discoveries, nevertheless, what the historian really has is just a vast sparse blank map with few dots for which they fill the gaps with their own thoughts and creativity. History is therefore something constructed by a mind which is biased in some way. Then we have some theories which are widely accepted and elaborated on, but that does not make it any less constructed, it only means that it is constructed by our collective mind which also is not free from biases.

For example, the theory of the human nature shaped by Western religions is that the original scheme of things was good but some mysterious accident happened - the fall of man - for which we all bear the consequences. I have not read many books on history but when I read Harari's Homo Sapiens, I can see the same pattern of thoughts. His "fall" is the rise of agriculture. What I meant by the very first question is that we have no evidence for any such "fall" and there is a possibility that it is a projection of feelings which we have now and we just want to find (or rather to construct) an explanation of how it happened. That when a historian creates their theory, they do not go backwards in time but inwards to their/our own nature in the present time.