It is the second smallest continent, forming the Western extension of Eurasia.
38
votes
8answers
981 views
Why China was able to unify and not Europe
If you look at a map of China through the ages, you will usually find (from about the Han up) a huge mass representing China. On the other hand, you look at a map of Europe, and you'll usually see a ...
24
votes
6answers
2k views
What were the reasons for the Renaissance / scientific revolution in Europe?
One of the common reasons given for the Renaissance and the subsequent scientific revolution is the rediscovery of classical works by scholars in Europe and the social change that the study of those ...
22
votes
3answers
538 views
Why the Romans were unable to conquer Germania?
Emperor Augustus ordered his army to subdue the Germanic tribes in what is modern Germany. This was promptly achieved and by 6 AD the Romans controlled Germany up to the river Elba.
The Romans were ...
17
votes
3answers
353 views
Did the Romans have winter uniforms?
Standard ancient Roman uniform consisted of a tunic, a cloak and sandal-type boots, resulting in a look like this. Now, this is all very well for Mediterranean climates but I really cannot fathom how ...
17
votes
3answers
386 views
How was the modern geographic boundary between Europe and Asia decided?
Wikipedia puts the boundary as:
The modern definition of Europe delimits it from Asia at the Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles-Sea of Marmora-Bosporus, the Black Sea, along the watershed of the Greater ...
17
votes
1answer
239 views
What were the acceptance criteria in universities of medieval Europe?
Did they have entrance tests?
Were certain groups officially banned from entering?
How much did one have to pay?
Did they have scholarships for talented studends?
How these criteria differed between ...
16
votes
2answers
1k views
When did homosexuality become unacceptable in Europe?
In the ancient greek world male homosexuality was common and didn't attract the same scorn as it did even 100 years ago. So 2,000 years ago, it was acceptable, and 100 years ago it was unacceptable. ...
15
votes
3answers
488 views
Where does the name of the country “Belarus” come from?
I've read the German and English Wikipedia on this topic as well as the translated Belarussian version and some sites I googled.
They all seem to argue that the 'Rus' part stems from the Region called ...
15
votes
2answers
603 views
How did Europeans first acquire gunpowder?
I know that gunpowder was first invented in China around the 10th century, and it seems that gunpowder likely made its way to Europe via the "Silk Road." However, there doesn't seem to be a ton of ...
14
votes
1answer
242 views
How did cities operate in medieval times?
Modern fiction is often filled with fantasy versions of the Middle Ages, from Lord of the Rings to Game of Thrones, and everything in between, but how did the reality of this trope operate?
There ...
14
votes
1answer
147 views
What was it like for a coastal village to experience a Viking raid in around the tenth century?
Were fishing villages really completely at the mercy of these Vikings, or could they defend them selves? Did villagers have their own weapons? Could they expect any support from a Lord or Land Baron? ...
13
votes
3answers
336 views
In what ways did the rise of a true middle class in Europe during the late 19th century become apparent?
The late 19th and early 20th centuries were very transformative for Europe with the rise of a real middle class. Typically before this the middle class was more of a bourgeoisie and not the middle ...
13
votes
1answer
367 views
Who were the pre-Celtic inhabitants of Western Europe?
I've heard it said that the Basque are conjectured to be the last remnant of Pre-Celtic Western Europe. When would have these people existed? What evidence do we have for their culture and habitation ...
12
votes
2answers
344 views
What did squires do in the middle of a medieval battle?
According to wikipedia, a normal squire daily job included:
Carrying the knight's armour, shield, sword,
Holding any prisoners the knight takes,
Rescuing the knight should the knight be ...
12
votes
2answers
140 views
What are the reasons of the ethnical fragmentation of the Caucasus?
While investigating on Albania, I kept finding peoples I never heard of before. Notwithstanding my vast ignorance, this was systematic to the point that I started investigating. Take a look at this ...
12
votes
3answers
363 views
Why wasn't San Marino unified with Italy?
Why wasn't San Marino unified with the Kindom of Italy during the unification process? Where there are plans or efforts at the time to unify the two states? Did either government at any time try to ...
12
votes
1answer
191 views
Why were the Normans such good builders?
The Normans are a bunch of Vikings that settled in northern France, and within a century they were christians speaking French. By 1066 they had become very experienced at fighting wars between ...
12
votes
2answers
331 views
Who were the Huns and/or Xiongnu?
Who were the Hun people who made several appearances in Eurasian history?
Were they Finno-Ugric, Paleo-Siberean, Mongolic or Turkic?
Were the Hun who attacked Roman Empire extensions of the Xiongu, ...
11
votes
3answers
2k views
What does Russia want with Chechnya
I have heard that Russia has been fighting with the Chechens on and off for about 300 years, occasionally losing control and reconquering. What exactly does Russia have to gain by retaining control of ...
11
votes
2answers
142 views
Was the Napoleonic era cavalry armour effective against firearms?
During the Napoleonic wars in Europe, many heavy cavalry units still retain the use of armours, for example, French Carabiniers-à-Cheval below,
How effective were these to protect the cavalryman ...
10
votes
2answers
280 views
Writing month with roman numbers
I got an old wall clock. I'm not at all a clock expert and I would like to know more about its real age.
It has a date engraved in its wood: 18/III 07. I assume that this is finishing-date and 18 is ...
9
votes
8answers
2k views
Why does Europe have so few skyscrapers compared to East Asia?
The European Union has virtually no skyscrapers except the newly built 'The Shard' in London. There are also a series of newly-built state-funded skyscrapers in Moscow.
On the other hand if you look ...
9
votes
2answers
222 views
What was the cultural background of Burgundians?
In the Middle Ages there was a big country in Europe between France and German kingdoms, Burgundy. What language did they speak there? Were they more German or French in origin?
9
votes
1answer
196 views
Why wasn't Monaco unified with France?
Why wasn't Monaco unified with the Kingdom/Republic of France during the unification? I understand France used to be a very decentralized kingdom with many areas ruled by vassal or smaller rulers, and ...
8
votes
5answers
402 views
Why Europe became more developed although metal was first discovered and used in Asia/Africa?
Copper was first discovered and used in Middle East.
Iron was first discovered in Egypt.
What were the factors that allowed the development of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations (the father of ...
7
votes
3answers
169 views
What was the impetus for some African nations to participate in the slave trade?
I know that some African nations participated in the slave trade by providing captured enemies as slaves to Europeans, but what are some of the reasons they did? Was it simply a new economic ...
7
votes
3answers
1k views
Lion in the european monarchies' flags
I recently found out that most of the European monarchies have the same kind of lion in their flag. As you can see it is a lion with a strange long tongue:
Netherlands
United Kingdom
Prince of ...
7
votes
4answers
304 views
Which European countries did not have a revolution in the aftermath of the French Revolution and why?
The French Revolution of 1789 initiated revolutions in a number of European countries, replacing the idea of a monarchy with the idea of a republic built on enlightment ideals. Which European ...
7
votes
1answer
120 views
Early medieval urban development
Does anybody know of research papers or academic resources that study the full development and growth of medieval cities? I mean, from village stage to city stage. Or maybe cities did not develop that ...
7
votes
1answer
178 views
Evidence of cross contamination between Japanese and Western sword fighting styles?
Are there any documented cases of cross pollination between western sword fighting techniques and Japanese ones? Such cross contamination could have happened during the Sengoku-jidai. This period ...
7
votes
0answers
66 views
Was Swedish king Charles X Gustav's horse killed during Siege of Kraków (1655)?
My question is related to Siege of Kraków, which took place in 1655, between 25th of September and 13th of October, during Second Northern War, which is usually referred to as "Swedish Deluge" in ...
6
votes
4answers
654 views
About the reasons for the US involvement in WW2 in Europe
From this question: World War II - Have Historians Envisioned How The Axis Powers Might Have Won? I understand that it is unlikely that Germany with its allies could have won WW2 even if they had ...
6
votes
2answers
173 views
What was the official language used across European monarchies in the XII century?
I have been reading about European history in the XII century and I am finding out that several of the modern day languages hadn't yet evolved to what they are now: Langue d'oïl was still being used ...
6
votes
4answers
227 views
Why were people from the Asian Steppes able to militarily dominate Europeans on a repeated basis?
From the Huns through the Mongolians, why were nomadic people from the east able to create such havoc in Europe? Was it an endless 'first mover' advantage with horse domestication? Was it a higher ...
6
votes
3answers
290 views
Why were there “hussars” all across Europe?
From what I read, hussars are originally a cavalry forces in Medieval Hungary. But then it became a class of light cavalry that were in service in many European nations, and during the Napoleonic ...
6
votes
1answer
395 views
How much faster were the printing presses than hand writing?
How many times faster were the printing presses, which gave Europe an advantage over other continents in term of access to knowledge, compared to copying of books by hand?
6
votes
1answer
109 views
Have the Romani people (gypsies) ever fought back violently against prejudice?
I've noted from my researches that the Romani people (gypsies) have always faced prejudice in Europe. Most countries since the 15th century have marginalized this people, and during the Nazi ...
6
votes
4answers
145 views
How would Eastern European emigres have traveled across Eastern Europe to Warsaw in the early 20thC?
I was looking back at my grandmother's voyage to America, she made the trip from Zbaraz in the Ukraine through Warsaw and then on to Gdanks and through steerage class to the New York. I know she took ...
6
votes
0answers
88 views
Were there any battles in Continental Europe that were decided by “peasants with pitchforks?”
I can think of one such battle in the British Isles; the battle of Bannockburn in 1314 in Scotland. In that battle, a 14,000-man English army despoiled a bunch of "homeless" vagrants on their way to ...
6
votes
1answer
110 views
Why was the movement for Austro-German unity less successful than that of Italian unity? [closed]
Primarily, I am looking at the differences between say, the movements for German unity and that of Italian nationalists.
The record shows that the people of Austria had accepted without much ...
5
votes
2answers
129 views
What was the reaction of Western Communist Parties to Kruschev's 1956 speech denouncing Stalin?
I am also curious about the reactions of left-leaning intellectuals (aka "fellow-travellers").
5
votes
3answers
150 views
Have there been any efforts by the countries of Europe to restore their monarchies?
Have there been any effort, polls, referendum in Europe (especially Eastern ex-communist countries) to restore deposed monarchies, like in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, etc.? Most Monarchies were deposed ...
5
votes
2answers
274 views
Which country ruled flanders in the 16th century?
I am reading a novel The Forty-Five Guardmen written by Alexandre Dumas, it described a story happened after 1572 in which the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre took place.
It mentioned a region ...
5
votes
1answer
70 views
What did contemporary countries in Europe call the Ottoman Empire?
In present texts, it is common to call it "the Ottoman Empire", although the name refers to the ruling dynasty rather than the nation, people or the region. This is not the case with other ...
5
votes
2answers
118 views
Eastern and Southern Europe in the medieval time period?
What were Eastern and Southern Europe like in the medieval period? Did Southern and Eastern Europe have knights and castles like Western Europe? I've never heard for example of Italian knights in the ...
5
votes
3answers
96 views
How did the First French Empire and allies differ from the other European monarchies at that time?
During the Napoleonic Wars (especially towards the end), France and most of its allies (e.g. Kingdom of Italy, Duchy of Warsaw, Kingdom of Spain) are absolute monarchies. However, they seemed to ...
5
votes
1answer
117 views
At what point, and why, did Snuff Tobacco fall out of favor with European Nobility?
Tobacco Snuff was in use by the European nobility from the 16th Century onwards, becoming both medicine and status symbol, even with the health hazards associated. At some point it fell out of ...
5
votes
1answer
51 views
Have any of the Presidents of France taken advantage of its co-princeship of Andorra in a significant way?
The Principality of Andorra is quite interesting, because it is a monarchy headed by two persons, including the President of France (who is basically elected at will of foreigners).
My question is, ...
5
votes
0answers
79 views
What percentage of Jews were in “finance” (money-lenders) throughout Middle Ages?
The stereotypical image of a Jew in Middle Ages (and the portrayal of them) was of course "the money-lender". From Ivanhoe's Isaac of York, to Shakespeare's Shylock, to "Проклятый жид, почтенный ...
5
votes
0answers
131 views
Why has bidet use not spread to the northern countries of Europe?
As wikipedia states, the bidet is quite common in southern European countries (in Italy for example, it is found in 95% of households), in the Middle East and in East Asia. Conversely, bidets are ...
