17
votes
2answers
549 views
How would slaves have addressed their masters in Ancient Greece?
In Ancient Rome, slaves addressed their masters as Dominus or Domina (male or female, respectively).
Would the slaves (or servants) of Ancient Greece have used a similar title, or would they have ...
1
vote
1answer
51 views
What uncertainties and questions surround the death of Attila?
Merriam-Webester's Concise Encyclopedia says
Attila died on his wedding night, possibly murdered by his bride.
What uncertainty does the word possibly imply there about the death of Attila?
4
votes
2answers
44 views
Land division to soldiers
In what times and places was it common to give land to soldiers, as a form of payment for their army service?
I have learned in school that this was common in Rome. However, in the wikipedia article ...
3
votes
0answers
21 views
Origin of land-lottery system
A report from 1894 describes the Musha'a land tenure system in the Arab villages of Palestine: the agricultural lands of the village are considered common property, and they are divided each year ...
0
votes
1answer
66 views
Do Navy Seals die in training? [closed]
I didn't know where to ask this but i've heard that sometimes Navy Seals die during traing? Is this true? The same goes fro Green Berets.
8
votes
2answers
137 views
Why didn't the Arab states industrialize?
Why didn't the states of the Arabian peninsula industrialize around the time that Europe and East Asia were? Was it simply a lack of accessible natural resources? Why not import coal?
0
votes
0answers
41 views
Were any “Native American” attacks able to annihilate any European American settlements?
Were all attacks upon European settlers as unsuccessful as the initial attack upon Jamestown?
Was the 400 strong Paspahegh attack that was easily repelled by half strength, Malaria infected English ...
1
vote
0answers
30 views
Has the feminization of the labor force continued after WW1?
I've read that during the World War I, the labor force has experienced a strong feminization, in order to compensate the lack of men (engaged in the army).
At the end of the war, has the rate of ...
8
votes
3answers
180 views
What was the foreign policy of 1791 France?
Having done some research on my own had yielded little to no results on pre-radical revolutionary France regarding foreign policy.
I am specifically looking for arguments during the constitutional ...
-2
votes
1answer
51 views
Why the resurgence of Islamic powers in the middle east in the past three decades? [closed]
Why has Islam made such a resurgence in the Middle East?
Why did it began with Iran? (while Islam originally came from Saudi Arabia)
Is there any relation between US President Carter's open political ...
7
votes
2answers
156 views
Popularity of knight-robbery in the 15th century in Germany, Poland and Silesia
I've found the term Raubritter (German), which is translated to Robber-knight, and I was wondering - was it a popular thing in the 15th century? Were there many such knights? If they were tolerated by ...
-1
votes
1answer
52 views
Why has the United States not attacked Iran in the past thirty years? [closed]
Why didn't the United States of America even try to attack Iran to change it's Islamic regime through a lightning war like Iraq war in past three decades?
According to my own opinion the Islamic ...
-3
votes
0answers
61 views
When did the Arabs become a religious group?
Immediately after the Mohamed death the Arab conquests began and they proceeded with extraordinary rapidity.
But in "History of Western Philosophy" Bertrand Russell wrote
"The Arab Empire was ...
9
votes
1answer
176 views
Did the United States have a third atomic bomb to drop on Japan?
On 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan announced its surrender to the United States, signing the instrument of surrender on 2 September, officially ending the war.
The question ...
-1
votes
0answers
67 views
Why did the United States attack Iraq and Afghanistan, but not Iran? [closed]
Why did the U.S choose to attack Iraq and Afghanistan?
It seems to me that the threat of a nuclear Iran was more serious and Iran was a more serious enemy to U.S. Now U.S is not able to attack Iran ...
1
vote
0answers
21 views
The manuscript Summa Logicae (William of Ockham)
The Summa Logicae (Latin, in English it's the Sum of Logic) is a textbook on logic by William of Ockham (1323). There are articles about the Summa Logicae in Wikipedia and in Logicmuseum.
It was ...
23
votes
0answers
244 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
65 views
What uniform did the Supreme State Arbiter of the USSR wear?
What uniform did the Supreme State Arbiter (главный государственный арбитр) of the USSR wear?
I think I saw it on a site before but I cannot find it now.
1
vote
1answer
77 views
What area of Los Angeles does this historical map depict?
What area of Los Angeles does this historical map depict?
10
votes
1answer
126 views
Is There A Term For The Old Maps That Had Lines Connecting Pin-Wheels?
Many old maps have lines like below. Is there a term for a map with that type of lines?
(from http://r-russell0912-dc2.blogspot.com/2011/01/pirate-maps-and-old-maps.html)
My best hypothesis is that ...
6
votes
2answers
303 views
Why was Switzerland not attacked during the two World Wars?
Why in WW1 or WW2 or ever nobody invaded Switzerland? All other countries was in some wars. How Switzerland do it and should we learn from them?
I hear that many people with power have money in swiss ...
2
votes
1answer
61 views
2
votes
0answers
95 views
Why did Emperor Nero kill his mother and others?
Why did Nero kill his own mother? Was it true that she was dangerous to the point where it was "her life or his?" Did he have "good" reasons (in the sense of being understandable or acceptable at the ...
6
votes
4answers
21k views
If Bill Clinton was impeached, why did he finish up his second term
I don't understand how he could have been impeached but did not have to leave office.
6
votes
1answer
105 views
Did American policymakers seriously consider scaling down Lend Lease Aid to the Soviet Union after the battle of Kursk?
In 1941, Senator (and future President) Harry Truman famously said, "If we see that Germany is winning the war, we ought to help Russia; and if that Russia is winning, we ought to help Germany." ...
4
votes
0answers
74 views
Was there a state in history where influence of sport fans on politics was greater than in medieval Byzantine Empire?
It is known that sport fans got prominent role in Byzantine politics. Initially there were four teams: the greens, the reds, the whites and the blues. But later the reds and the whites were adsorbed ...
2
votes
0answers
39 views
Who was Charles Kingston O'Mahony?
I've read his book The Viceroys of Ireland and am trying to find out more about him. The book was published in 1912 and I can't find any more information about him.
I was able to dig up references to ...
13
votes
1answer
140 views
Why didn't Japan expand into Ezo?
Throughout the first millenium of Japanese history (and before that even) the Japanese rather steadily expanded up Honshu.
Once they had taken the whole of Honshu however they seemed largely to stop. ...
9
votes
1answer
116 views
What role did Lucky Luciano play in faciliting South Europe invasion?
On the night of July 9, 1943, 160,000 Allied troops landed on the extreme southwestern shore of Sicily. After securing a beachhead, Gen. George Patton's U.S. Seventh Army launched an offensive into ...
4
votes
2answers
295 views
Where can I find the history of military uniforms?
Is there any web resource that talk about the history and evolution of military uniforms?
For example, development, history and evolution of uniforms of various Muslim, European, Asian, Indian ...
8
votes
1answer
118 views
What uniforms did each of the American Civil War regiment wear during First Bull Run / First Manassas
During the American Civil War battle First Bull Run / First Manassas, regiments of both sides turned up in either the gray militia uniform or the blue 1858 regulation uniform, in addition to any ...
21
votes
2answers
1k views
What was with the “poofy” pants found in various military uniforms?
I've often wondered why do various uniforms have those "poofs" on the outsides of the legs just above the knee? Was there a particular purpose to this, or a practical reason, or was it just the result ...
8
votes
3answers
163 views
How far could an English war bow shoot?
The range of the medieval weapon is not accurately known, with estimates from 165 to 228 m (180 to 249 yds)
So says Wikipedia. I did read, however, in a semi-fictional, semi-historical work of ...
1
vote
0answers
82 views
Percentage breakdown of wars' casus belli [closed]
Is there a percentage breakdown of wars' casus belli? A probability distribution would be preferable.
The optimal answer would be by statement by the warring body (Roman Senatus funding laws, Roman ...
13
votes
2answers
125 views
Babylonian tablets
The MacTutor History of Mathematics archive writes
Two tablets found at Senkerah on the Euphrates in 1854 date from 2000 BC. They give squares of the numbers up to 59 and cubes of the numbers up ...
5
votes
1answer
155 views
What is this strange uniform?
Colonel John Tiltman wears a very strange uniform in this picture, dated 1919.
The original webpage where I saw the picture is http://www.colossus-computer.com/colossus1.html.
9
votes
2answers
218 views
Did Hitler make the right decision for Germany when he called off Operation Zitadelle (during the Battle of Kursk)?
On the night of 9/10 July, the Western Allies mounted an amphibious
invasion of Sicily. Three days later, Hitler summoned Günther von
Kluge and Erich von Manstein to his Wolfsschanze ...
4
votes
3answers
80 views
How and why did the “Green Gang” hold the balance of power in Shanghai in 1927?
The line ups were a bit unusual, to say the least. On one side, you have some thousands of Communist party workers (probably not well armed) loosely aligned with several hundred thousand workers. On ...
4
votes
0answers
41 views
What family or other connection bound Chiang Kaishek and Cai Yuanpei, two ideological opposites?
Politically, Nationalist China's Chiang Kaishek must be considered a "strange bedfellow with Cai Yuanpei. Chiang was a disciplined, narrow-minded conservative of the type one might expect from a ...
9
votes
0answers
142 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 ...
4
votes
0answers
51 views
Why were women excluded from the succession line in the Meiji constitution?
Article 2 of the Meiji consitution (full text here) says:
The Imperial Throne shall be succeeded to by Imperial male
descendants, according to the provisions of the Imperial House Law.
A ...
2
votes
1answer
105 views
How independent were the Eastern European countries from the Soviet Union?
How much influence did the Soviet Union have over the other Warsaw Pact countries? Did Moscow directly control them, and direct what they did? Did they often disagree with the USSR over policy? If so, ...
6
votes
0answers
83 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 ...
3
votes
0answers
50 views
How many firearms were owned by civilian population between 1836 and 1912 in USA?
How many firearms in total were owned by civilian population between 1836 and 1912 in USA (cumulatively, not simultaneously)?
The timeframe is what I would consider "Old West" timeframe, but starting ...
15
votes
3answers
467 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 ...
6
votes
5answers
166 views
Emigration restrictions in history
In the 20th century many states restricted the capacity of their populations to emigrate. Most famously, Churchill described the variety of emigration, financial and political restrictions in Central ...
8
votes
3answers
274 views
What is the difference between NKVD and OGPU (USSR)
I've been looking at the history of the USSR and while the secret police were fairly straightforward under the Tsarist regime and the USSR under Lenin (Okhrana and the Cheka), for Stalin's rule of the ...
16
votes
0answers
99 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 ...
3
votes
2answers
63 views
Printing - When did advertisements in colour became commonplace?
I wonder when colourful advertisements became commonplace in print (such as magazines or occasionally newspapers). I can imagine that colourful printing was far more expensive - so at what point did ...
6
votes
2answers
197 views
Were Roman emperors officially considered kings of Egypt?
On this statue of Augustus (image is from Wikipedia), he is depicted wearing the traditional dress of Egyptian pharaohs:
I wonder whether Roman emperors were officially declared kings of Egypt or ...
