Who was the poorest person to sign the U.S. Declaration of Independence?

I was reading about the beginnings of World War I and read the following passage in Sir Edward Grey's Wikipedia page about the July Crisis:

On Wednesday 29 July two decisions were taken at [the British] Cabinet. Firstly, the Armed Forces were placed on alert (the "Precautionary Period" was declared and the War Book was opened at 2pm).

I also found a second reference to a "war book", again about the July Crisis:

At the same time, and having a strong expectation of Serbian rejection, the Austrian Army opened its war book, and began preparations for hostilities.

I had not previously come across the phrase "opening the War Book." I thought it was a metaphor, but in the first reference it's capitalized and associated with a specific time.

Is this a metaphor, or is the "War Book" an actual book? If not, to what does the term refer?

There have been great discussions here on job market odds for being an academic historian. But I find myself stumped in finding consistent statistics on how many historians have American university and colleges (let's just say PHds) since the Great Recession as compared to how many full-time jobs that have been produced.

The AHA has the annual numbers, but, when I've reviewed the bureau of labor's listings of full time work in this field the number was roughly 3000 this year. And I admit a deficiency in qualitative methodology for finding accurate data and analysis with labor stats.

My real desire it find out - how many Academics have been produced since 2008, how many actual full time jobs as historians exist. What kind of intellectual braintrust in history is walking the streets of the US and not practicing their trade? I know many participate in AskHistorians to stay with their fields, but given the massive public dialog on the national narrative in the US, the irony of this occuring while most historians are not historians is rather striking.

If I am missing an obvious metric here, please tell me.

Japanese doesn't have a native word for "spy" instead using an English loanword "supai", is this because it's a type of espionage that wasn't historically used in Japan?

Can any of you recommend books on the second French Empire ruled by Napoleon III

Charlemagne (Karl der Grosse) and his brother Carloman (Karlmann) famously competed for power, but is there a reason for the two brothers to share similar names rooted in Karl?

This is probably a "help me find an already-written answer" question but: I had always understood Patrician and Plebian to be a class distinction, indeed I would have imagined it was the archetypal example of a class distinction by which we understand all other class distinctions; but recently I've heard they weren't "classes" at all, which is extremely surprising to me. So if they weren't classes, what were they? And what distinction is being drawn between the patrician/plebian divide and that between, for example, nobility and commoner?

What countries were most geographically distant from each other when they went to war with each other? Bonus points if the answer does not include 'Great Britain' or 'France'.

Iconoclasm was a direct response to the failure of Romans in their struggles against the Arab onslaught. Can you think of other state-sponsored religious movement springing up in response to state seemingly loosing god's favor? Were they successful?

I realize this may be somewhat unclear. I recall hearing about a specific battle in early Canadian history, either during the war of 1812, or before.

What I remember is that the Indigenous people were fighting alongside either the British or the French. I believe that the combined forces were outnumbered, or they were attacking a fort of some kind.

During the battle, the Indigenous attacked by basically running in, striking, and then running out again, making it appear as though they had a much larger force. I believe that this was successful.

I have tried to find the battle, but have been unsuccessful. Does anyone know the battle I am talking about?

Does China have historical musicians who are regarded similarly to how Classical composers (Mozart, Beethoven, etc.) are in the West?

What is the highest number a monarch has had in their reginal name? For example, Tsar Peter "The First," King Henry "The Eighth," Pope Benedict "The Sixteenth." The highest one I can think of is Pope John "The Twenty-Third," but I'm curious if there's a higher one.

I have an old Sixto-Clementine Vulgate, and I am wondering how to find the printing date. There is a roman numeral on the decorated first page, MDCCXLIII; would that the printing date or is there another place where I can date it?

What version of the Old Testament was used by Greek-speakers in the Byzantine Empire? Was it just the Septuagint, or did they create any other translations at any point?

What was the name of Alexander the Great's empire when he was alive ? Did the people called it the Macedonian empire ? Hellenistic empire ?

How did chili and firefighters become associated with each other?

Was the Napoleonic code really fairer to everyone,?

The video I watched mentioned (Course material )

made the system fairer to everyone

Though when i looked this up I get

> deprived women of any individual rights, and reduced the rights of illegitimate children

Then this reddit post

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/2hbvax/til_the_napoleonic_code_gave_women_the_right_to/

The Napoleonic Code' gave Women the Right to Divorce, Freedom of Religion,

In the age of sail how did they get fresh water on long voyages?

I'm reading a book on "British and Foreign Spirits, their history, manufacture, properties, etc.", by Charles Tovey, from 1864. In one of the gin recipes, it uses units for juniper berries that I'm not completely familiar with. It states the following:

3 cwt. 3 qrs. 12 lbs. German juniper berries

Now, I've figured out that 3 cwt is probably 3 hundredweights (3 x 112lbs), but what is 3 qrs? quarters? So 1 quarter is 2 stone, and 1 stone is 14 lbs, so 3qrs would be 3 x (2 x 14lbs) = 84lbs?

I'm just trying to verify if my cwt = hundredweight (112lbs), and qrs = quarter = 2 stone = 28lbs, is correct for 1864 literature?

Also, would I add up all 3 units together? So 336lbs + 84lbs + 12lbs = 432lbs of juniper berries?

p.s. This is a fascinating book, it goes into a lot of the social and political impacts of the times as they related to liquor production, and consumption. I got the pdf for free from Google Books. Link, this gin units issue is on page 131 of 431 of the PDF, page 98 of the book itself, 6th line down.

Why was processed cheese invented? I’ve read all the wiki, I understand how capitalist markets work. But I can’t figure the why, besides that it would be profitable. Is that all it is? Why would anyone mix grated Colby, milk and gelatin unless it was to make more “cheese” out of less cheese? Was it in reaction to something?

Has anyone who's controlled Egypt attempted to divert the Nile inland for agricultural purposes/trying to make more green land in Egypt?

Do the American state governments, as of 2002, still have the power of military conscription?

It's marked that the US civil war was the first time the American government had the power to conscript soldiers however the Militia Act of 1795 permanently allowed the president to call up state militias. And those state militias could call up all (white) men 18-65 for service and required arms and training.

As well as all male citizens are divided into unorganized and organized militia.

So I'm curious if the state governments could technically establish universal military conscription.

What languages would (educated) colonists have known during and post-American Revolution? I know many knew French, Washington and Jefferson famously, given the partnership and friendship with General Lafayette, but did they know Greek, Latin, Arabic, Spanish, German, etc.?

This is probably a "Link me to a source" question, but could anyone give me an overview of the architecture of the Simon computer from 1950?

Who is this bust of? Many thanks. https://imgur.com/gallery/FdDiGcJ

Are there any historical instances of war, or military conflict, prevented or ceased due to public protests alone?

What would this type of government be called?

I’m writing a fantasy book and have been calling the fallen government an empire because “it’s fantasy” and I think “kingdom” is overdone. I don’t think “empire” is the correct term, though.

(Using irl peoples/history for simplicity)

Basically, it’s like if the Native Hawaiians invaded America while the Native Americans were at war with the Europeans, then became the rulers. The NAs (confederacy?) had been pushed to the West Coast. The NHs joined them and together forced the Europeans back to the Northeast. They agree to end the war, with the NHs as the absolute rulers and the NAs getting their land back.

Would this be the Kamehameha Kingdom? Kamehameha Empire? Kamehameha Something-else?

Thank you.

Would Saint Olga of Kyiv have spoken a dialect of Old Norse since she was apparently of Varangian stock or would she have spoken a dialect of Old Slavonic?

This was inspired by a fan casting of Katheryn Winnick as Saint Olga and speaking her native Ukrainian in the role.

I'm looking for a general metric by which to estimate the speed of a sailing ship in the Age of Sail (late 1400s, early 1500s) when loaded up with its share of cargo, versus when not loaded. Does anyone have materials/expertise on this matter?

Were Brigades as a formation unit not used in US Army during WWII?

From what I know, in WWI, there were brigades in the formation between divisions and regiments. A division had 2 infantry brigades and each brigade had 2 regiments.

But in WWII, brigades don't seem to be present? A division has multiple regiments and supporting units.

Am I correct here? What was the reason for this change?

How was sterilization of people done in the 1800s and early 1900s, and was it different compared to today? I'm wondering if they used anesthetics and if the procedures were more risky back then.

In the 1800s and early 1900s some forced sterilization happen because of society saw some people as unfit to parent children.

What color of hair and eyes did King Louis XIV have? I always picture him with black hair due to his wig, but a portrait of him as a child has him with blonde hair and what appear to be blue eyes. Surprisingly I can't find much about it online.

Are Tony Judt and James C Scott authors I should avoid like Jared Diamond?

Could someone please tell me the GDP of Australia in 1929 ? I'm unable to locate it, the earliest I can find is 1966.

Thank you :)

Were most Roman Legions stationed on it's borders to protect from external threats, or were they fairly evenly spread out between the heartlands and the borderlands?

As my 2020 resolution I started journaling and now I have just over 2 years of fairly regular journal entries. My question is, Would any archive or something be interested in my journals one day? I'm in my early 20s, so maybe in 40 years would that be of interest to anyone? Or is it that there are so many people journaling now that they're pretty unremarkable?

Why does the week start on Monday in most of Europe and South America, and on Sunday in the North America and East Asia?

Are there any countries that become full healthy democracies without violence/uprising or colonialism power?

Were there any Italian or German slave-owners in the "Antebellum period"?

The Wikipedia article on the Crimean War says "the causes, in one case involving an argument over a key, had never revealed a 'greater confusion of purpose'" with a link to a History Today article without sources. It's not further discussed in the Wikipedia article and answers I've seen on AH haven't (to my recollection) ever mentioned the Church of the Nativity key situation. Is the article correct?

How much were Napoleon Bonaparte's secretaries and valets paid?

Did the british keep control over some or all of Bhutan's territory with the peace treaty 1774 or with the Duar War 1864?

The Prime Minister of the UK is supposed to also be the leader of their party, as the person most likely to command a majority (or at least a plurality) in the House of Commons. What was the reaction to John Major remaining Prime Minister during the 1995 Conservative Party leadership election despite having resigned as party leader?

Could the way Native Americans lived pre-European colonization be a good way to gauge how primitive man would have lived back in the stone age?

I remember learning in high school that they passed election reform for the 1864 election. I remember specifically that they had National guardsmen at the polling stations and supposedly had colored ballots so people knew who you were voting for. This led to some people calling Lincoln a “tyrant” for these illiberal measures.

I can’t find any sources for this though and was wondering if it’s even true. Pointing me in the direction of any source would be greatly appreciated :)

Trying again--can anyone recommend a good single-volume history of the Korean War? The one in the FAQ is fairly old, just wanted to see if there's something from after the 1970s that is worth reading.

Are the main characters in Generation War (2013) based on real people?

Is there any guide book for what to do after a rebellion? I'd like it if they have a historical example as reference, but it's fine if they don't

Is the cross-legged style of sitting called "Indian style" based on Native American Indians sitting around a fire or people from India who might sit in this position when meditating?

Acts 15:20 waives Jewish dietary restrictions for gentile converts, but specifically notes that the consumption of blood is still prohibited. Despite this unambiguous injunction it seems every Northern European country has a traditional blood dish. What is going on here?

I was watching a certain white-shirted YouTubers video about how a girl started a huge Twitter flamewar by telling people she had a boyfriend. It got me wondering: what is the oldest/first simp war? What I mean by simp war is essentially a large-scale conflict caused by primarily a love interest, perhaps in the form of a love rivalry or a kidnapping. I was thinking of the Trojan War and it being caused by Helen of Troy but surely history is more than just the Greek right?

Wars involving Yugoslavia after WW2 - but not the Yugoslav wars e.g. Portuguese Colonial War, Rhodesian Bush War, Iran-Iraq War, Angolan Civil War etc etc?

How did Nat Love pronounce his own name?

Obviously upon first glance one would presume "Nat Love" is pronounced to rhyme with cat. But I listened to the audiobook titled "Nat Love: The Life and Legacy of the Former Slave Whom Became the Wild West's Most Famous Black Cowboy". And throughout the whole book the author pronounced it "Nate". Then at 13:54 into the audiobook, the author says it's pronounced "Nate Love".

According to wikipedia, he spelled his name both ways, Nat and Nate. There are three sources listed for that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_Love#cite_note-autobio-1

But everything else I'm finding calls him "Nat" (including The Harder They Fall, the incredibly inaccurate movie). And I'm pretty sure that's because everyone is just assuming and hadn't come across this book I mentioned. But how do I know if the book is accurate?

Did the Boer States Ever abolish Slavery? So, I can't seem to find much information about slavery in the Boer
states of South Africa. I know that the Great Trek and the setting up of
Transvall and the Orange Free State was largely in responce to the
British imposing abolitionist laws in cape colony, but I can't find any
information about slavery in the Boer states themselves. Did they ever
abolish the practise? or was it legal there until the British annexed
their territories in 1902? I'd really appreciate any information on this
subject.

Is there a solid, non-academic history of Germans in America (or German-Americans)?

I realized that while I know we have a huge population of people with German ancestry (including me!) it's a cultural background I know remarkably little about compared to, say, Italian or Irish Americans.

When were clothes hangers first used and what were they made of?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_tree_of_British_monarchs

from 1714 to 1830 there were 5 English kings, 4 of which were named George. What happened in those years that made the name George that popular? Seems kinda crazy that 4 out of the 5 last monarch at the times had the same name.

any examples of slaves who were either unable to fulfil their potential or only able to do so after achieving freedom? an example would be Mir Sultan Khan.