25
votes
0answers
260 views
Were well-connected Germans able to park their sons in Norway during WWII?
Reading Antony Beevor's "The Second World War" he makes the point several times that a peculiar obsession of Hitler's was the defence of Norway and that there were close to half a million German ...
16
votes
0answers
111 views
When did the Romans begin using the sword, as opposed to the axe, for decapitation?
According to this article, the Romans first used the axe for decapitation, and then moved to using the sword later. The article states:
[B]eheading, a mode of executing capital punishment by which ...
13
votes
0answers
172 views
When was the concept of “weekly day off” first introduced in Indian Subcontinent?
Did ancient & medieval indians have a weekly day off? Or was there even a generally recognized day as public holiday?
Or did the concept get introduced with Arabs or Europeans?
12
votes
0answers
118 views
Great Wall of China Controversy
Until several years ago the eastern end of the Great Wall of China was considered to end at Shanhaiguan where the wall goes into the sea, but the Chinese have revealed (in 2009) new portions of the ...
11
votes
0answers
75 views
Language of early French (West-Frankish) kings
When did Old French displace Frankish as the language spoken in the West-Frankish court, and who was the first natively "French" king?
10
votes
0answers
82 views
Are photos of WWII US Navy damage reports available online?
I have located a PDF of the USS Marblehead's Bomb Damage Report from 4 Feb 1942. The report lists plates of photographs which are not included in the report I have found.
Do copies of this report ...
10
votes
0answers
127 views
Why was Queretaro chosen as a fail-safe capital of Mexico?
According to this article on a person's experience in the country of Mexico, Querétaro was used as a temporary capital city of the Mexican Republic three times. What I am having trouble finding out ...
9
votes
0answers
156 views
Has history mistreated Nero?
Nero is (wrongly) "known" as the Emperor who "fiddled while Rome burned." But he did kill a number of prominent people, including his own mother. He is treated by much of history as a psychopath, and ...
9
votes
0answers
76 views
When did songs extolling leaders of companies go out of fashion?
When recently visiting Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA I came across an exhibit called "Songs of the IBM". It's from 1930s and has a song called "Ever onward" which extols then IBM ...
9
votes
0answers
79 views
Was there any connection between the Ottonians and Benedictines?
The Ottonians and Benedictines were expanding across Europe around the same time. However, other than in Rome they didn't have much overlap. I've heard references in some history and medieval ...
8
votes
0answers
76 views
What is the source of this quote about Demosthenes by Philip II of Macedon?
I've read that Philip II of Macedon said that if he had listened to Demosthenes, he would have declared war on himself.
Ref. (it's an old book, and in Spanish): Historia de la literatura griega, 2, ...
8
votes
0answers
122 views
What was the situation of homosexuals in the early Soviet Union?
Between 1917 and 1930, homosexuality was decriminalised in the Soviet Union. From the Wikipedia article on LGBT history in Russia:
The Russian Communist Inessa Armand publicly endorsed both ...
8
votes
0answers
81 views
Horace Walpole on Richard III
Thus reads Wikipedia:
In Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of King Richard III (1768),
Walpole defended Richard III against the common belief that he
murdered the Princes in the Tower. In ...
8
votes
0answers
83 views
How did lower classes with aspirations to high social standing greet each other in the Paris of the 1630's?
I am running a game of En Garde over on the RPG Stack Exchange. For purposes of verisimilitude, we're wondering about station-specific greetings in Paris in the 1630's. What would be an appropriate ...
7
votes
0answers
74 views
What is the difference between a professional historian and an amateur?
Some historians appear to practice history professionally, in the sense that they produce histories that are accepted by other historians as "real" and "full." In this sense there is a profession of ...
7
votes
0answers
107 views
In England, how many Jews died during the persecutions of the crusades during 1190-1200?
As is well known Steven Runciman, a British historian known for his work on the Middle Ages, definitively clarified what the Holy War had been: "The Holy War itself was nothing more than a long act of ...
7
votes
0answers
133 views
What was the Nature of Resistance in 1938 Czechoslovakia?
I wonder if someone might help me. I'm writing a novel. My protagonist is a dual national (English born, German parents) bio chemist contracted to work for Freiburg University 1938. At the time ...
7
votes
0answers
81 views
Syphilis affecting e.g. noble courts and wider society in 17th century
I've read that one reason that the nobility attending e.g. the French kings' court in the 17th century had a passion for wigs, powdered faces, and gloves was the then prevalence of syphilis (the ...
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 ...
7
votes
0answers
69 views
What was the societal wealth demographics when the major pyramids were built?
All this talk about wealth distribution (1% of US Citizens etc. etc.) got me wondering about the wealth distribution in other periods of history when - let's call them - great edifices were built.
...
7
votes
0answers
17 views
Was the Church of St Simeon the Elder at Aleppo built while Simeon was still alive or decades after his death?
I recently read in Diarmaid MacCullochs 'A History of Christianity' that the pillar dweller and hermit, Simeon had a church built around him, almost like a "living exhibit in a Christian zoo". However ...
7
votes
0answers
188 views
How did Finland treat Jewish locals during WWII?
First, what facts do I know.
There was no prosecution of Jews in Finland
Jewish POWs were separated in special POW camps for Jews. They were told that Finnish people hate them and they are to be ...
6
votes
0answers
85 views
Did Hannibal start the Second Punic War prematurely?
IN 221 BC, Hamilcar, Hannibal's father, made a peace with Rome that divided Spain north and south between Rome and Carthage. The latter got the larger "piece," the area shaded in green on the map ...
6
votes
0answers
68 views
How successful were Einsatzkommando Tunis and how much was Rommel complicit?
This Einsatzkommando was headed by SS officer Walter Rauff and according to his wikipedia article it had great effect on the local Jewish population. An example is given, a quote from a German TV ...
6
votes
0answers
33 views
How did ancient Nomadic communities conduct trade?
Given that nomads are always on the move, how would you conduct trade with one another? Or maybe a better question did they even conduct trade with one another?
Were there always cities/villages ...
6
votes
0answers
97 views
When has serious unemployment among educated young populations not led to revolution or war?
For background: The Eurozone crisis has moved on to the next chapter and we hear a lot of bad news this time from Cyprus. While I emphatize with the people of Cyprus, I have little doubt that also ...
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
0answers
77 views
Role of Indian princes and aristocratic landowners under British colonial rule?
I am currently reading Ludwig von Mises' Human Action and find it rewarding in various ways. For instance, von Mises points out the following about volunteers' roles even around autocratic rulers:
...
6
votes
0answers
72 views
Who were the elites in ancient China ( 1200 - 1800 AD )?
Generally the merchant class was viewed with disdain while peasants were viewed with more respect as they were the producers. Scholars were perhaps most expected, and many important posts were held by ...
6
votes
0answers
38 views
Did Britain briefly recognize Mahmud Barzanji as King of Kurdistan?
I am trying to find out about the Kurds after WWI and the internet so far proved to be disappointing as a reliable source of information on this topic.
The wiki entry on Mahmud Barzanji is very ...
6
votes
0answers
84 views
Did genocide occur in the Football War?
In the Football War between El Salvador and Honduras, the El Salvador claimed that genocide had occurred in Honduras. However, was anybody actually prosecuted for these actions, or were these claims ...
6
votes
0answers
26 views
Which of LBJ's fellow representatives were less active than him in the House?
In the first book of Robert Caro's series on Lyndon Johnson, The Path to Power, he observes that in his time as a member of the House of Representatives, LBJ had introduced only 5 bills of national ...
6
votes
0answers
116 views
Were the Nazis the first to use phenol as a means of execution?
Phenol was discovered in 1834 by Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge.... Injections of phenol were used as a means of individual execution by the Nazis during the Second World War. It was originally used by ...
6
votes
0answers
77 views
Why did Ieyasu Tokugawa oppose Hideyoshi's plan for expansion?
When Hideyoshi wanted to invade Korea, the Tokugawa clan noticeably stayed out of the conflict. What were the reasons for them doing so?
6
votes
0answers
89 views
Is there a study about what would have happened if Khmer Rouge remained in power in Cambodia?
The Khmer Rouge killed about 25% of the Cambodian people. They become aware that only an external force could change the power structure, and this happened with the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.
If they ...
5
votes
0answers
50 views
How true is the statement “Soviet troops got into Berlin riding American trucks, walking in American boots and using American trains”?
In other words, how significant was American lend-lease in helping the Soviet front? Would the Soviets be suffering a lot more had lend-lease not happen, or was it not as significant as people make ...
5
votes
0answers
44 views
How do historians deal with Historical Bias?
A while ago while watching Crash Course World History, John Green mentioned how Alexander the Great died from the flu despite many people from that time claiming that he died in battle (because this ...
5
votes
0answers
49 views
How is history studied?
What are the unique and distinct features of the study of history in terms of:
Epistemology
Purpose
Theory
Method
Methodology
Does the study of history produce unique perceptions?
Does the ...
5
votes
0answers
67 views
How much of an impact did the Roman emperors' civil wars have on their decision to debase the coinage?
From Adrian Goldsworthy's How Rome Fell: "Civil war remained a common event, ...the economy collapsed, as successive emperors massively devalued the coinage to pay for their wars."
Other sources say ...
5
votes
0answers
174 views
Did Hitler not intend a major war while invading Poland?
A J P Taylor in his book "The Origins of the Second World War" writes,
"Hitler never intended a major war and at most was prepared for only a
limited war against Poland."
"In 1938-39, the ...
5
votes
0answers
58 views
What scholarly positions exist evaluating Thatcher's competence and the desirability of her government's policies?
I am aware of a variety of normative accounts of the desirability of Thatcher's politics in the social domain; and of the broad opinions regarding her competence (generally highly competent, poll tax ...
5
votes
0answers
30 views
Cuban medical internationalism
In the decades since the Cuban revolutions the country's medical doctors famously served on many semi-official missions abroad. For instance, it has been reported that Venezuela under Hugo Chavez ...
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
117 views
What role did the Ancient Samurai heritage play on Modern Japan during WW2?
Some of the policies adopted by the WW2 japanese army , seem to be along the lines of the ancient samurai code of Bushido. Policies such as extreme loyalty to the emperor , honor unto death and ...
5
votes
0answers
61 views
What is the real story of the Lion of Gripsholm Castle?
In 2011, one of the popular stories over the Internet was a history of The Lion of Gripsholm Castle. The Swedish language version of the linked blog entry was the one responsible for spreading this ...
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 ...
5
votes
0answers
61 views
What literary or philosophical works did the ancient Egyptians have that have influenced ancient civilizations or the modern word?
We all know of the Roman and Greek literary and philosophical works which still resonate to this day and read by many. As a an ancient and long old civilization, what works of equal importance do we ...
5
votes
0answers
45 views
Were any California presidios conquered?
During the Spanish and Mexican eras in California, there were five presidios in the region: San Diego, Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Francisco, and Sonoma. Were any of these ever conquered, taken ...
5
votes
0answers
75 views
Legendary visits by Alexander the Great
There is a story about Alexander the Great visiting Jerusalem. This story is not supported by other sources, as far as I know, and so is probably not literally true (it may well reflect some ...
5
votes
0answers
75 views
What is the origin of Indian weekday names?
The days of the week in several Indian languages are named after the same planets/gods as the Graeco-Roman days of the week.
Did these arise from some common source predating both (PIE?), or was the ...
