4
votes
1answer
117 views
Machine gun specs in WW1
I know that machine guns were a vital part of world war 1. I know that they were mainly used in the trenches as fixed position weapons. However, I would like some specifications about the machine gun ...
-4
votes
0answers
34 views
Holistic representation of historical events [closed]
Normally, history books assume that there is one correct interpretation of a particular historical event.
But usually, this is not the case. Consider, for example, the question "Who contributed most ...
3
votes
1answer
67 views
Did New Imperialism differ in nature from earlier Imperialism?
In Wikipedia, there is an article about New Imperialism, which refers to the territorial or colonial expansion during 19th-20th century. The article also says that the qualifier "New" is to contrast ...
-4
votes
3answers
90 views
Why didn't United States replace Mohamad Rezā Shāh with another king during the 1979 revolution?
During World War 2 Rezā Shāh was forced to abdicate in favor of his son.
This way, why during Iran's revolution the Carter's administration had arranged for the shah to leave Iran? Why didn't they ...
6
votes
3answers
138 views
Why the military revolution is a cause of the industrial revolution?
I've heard that the military revolution in Europe helps its to reach the industrial revolution. It's an answer to the question "Why the industrial revolution starts in Europe and not in China", while ...
4
votes
1answer
65 views
How were dogs used in WW1
I know that dogs were used in WW1. I know that they weren’t vital, but didn’t play a reasonable role in helping the soldiers in the trenches. However, there is one thing that confuses me: How were ...
10
votes
1answer
121 views
Was the State of Indiana's legislation changed to fix the value of Pi?
Is the following an anecdote?
Mathematicians describe Pi as an irrational number, that is, a number that cannot be expressed as the ratio of any two integers. This was an irksome fact to the State ...
5
votes
1answer
91 views
How big was the percentage of white people in the USA who were not against granting the blacks equal rights?
How big was the percentage of white people in the USA who were not against granting the blacks equal rights at the time when the blacks finally got the equality of rights (which I think was in 1964).
...
10
votes
2answers
134 views
Could The Soviet Union have continued fighting World War II without Caucasus oil?
In 1942, Germany's Fall Blau was initially aimed at capturing or interdicting shipments of oil from the Caucasus to the rest of the Soviet Union. Even though armies were diverted to Stalingrad and ...
-1
votes
2answers
86 views
Is speaking Russian a privileged lingual habit in Ukraine nowadays? [closed]
Wiki says:
In independent Ukraine, although Russian is not an official language of the country, it continues to hold a privileged position and is widely spoken, in particular in regions of Ukraine ...
5
votes
1answer
93 views
GDP per capita during WWII?
Perhaps this is difficult to measure and maybe not even a good metric for anything meaningful, but what was the GDP and GDP/capita for nations around the world immediately before World War II? ...
-1
votes
0answers
53 views
Was Ayatollah Khamenei a KGB spy before the 1979 revolution?
(1) Was Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, a graduate of the Patrice Lumumba People’s Friendship University in Moscow?
(2) If the answer to (1) is 'yes', then is there evidence he had ...
3
votes
0answers
47 views
Why did Carter force the Shah toward a more open political atmosphere in Iran?
Why did Jimmy Carter force Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi toward a more open political atmosphere in Iran? (This policy led to change the regime in Iran, and transformed it into an enemy of the United ...
5
votes
0answers
164 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 ...
2
votes
0answers
38 views
Israel's Official Gazette online? [closed]
Since 1948, Israel's Official Gazette has detailed all of the bills and notices of Israel's government, making it a mine of historical information.
The website of the Israel State Archives says:
...
3
votes
0answers
58 views
History of terrorist organizations designations/undesignations by Israel
In 1948, Israel passed the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance, which allows it to officially designate organizations as terrorists in the Official Gazette.
What organizations have been designated this ...
-1
votes
1answer
181 views
Was Hitler's genocide of the Jews “different” from other mass killings?
Hitler allegedly killed six million Jews during the "Holocaust." Stalin allegedly killed millions of Ukrainians during the 1933 "Harvest of Sorrow" (Conquest). Mao allegedly killed tens of millions of ...
8
votes
3answers
185 views
Did Heisenberg undermine the German atomic bomb by deliberately hiding his expertise from the Nazis?
Source.
In his massive book Heisenberg's War: The Secret History of the German Bomb, Thomas Powers says that Heisenberg, who never became a Nazi and balked at the immorality of building a bomb for ...
3
votes
1answer
85 views
Why did Germany attack Neutral Belgium in the first world war?
I have a basic idea about the Schieffen plan and I know that Germany attacked Belgium in the First world war. But I am slightly confused about this topic, as despite the fact that the schieffen plan ...
4
votes
2answers
94 views
The practice of translating foreign monarch's or noble's name
In history texts, past foreign monarchs are normally referred to by the English version of their name, e.g. Francis I (not François), Charles V (not Carlos, Karel, or Karl), Phillip II (not Felipe). ...
8
votes
2answers
121 views
Amount of time an aeroplane could stay in the air during the last stages of WW1
I know for a fact that aeroplanes were used at the last stages of the first world war to capture images of the enemy trench system and supply lines. They were also used to alert the artillery how far ...
8
votes
1answer
80 views
Husaria, the winged hussars
The Polish husaria did carry wings -- as can be seen here or here. Their purpose has been debated with no clear answer. What I want to know is was there an evolution in the wings design or just one ...
5
votes
2answers
88 views
Did people have better nutrition before agriculture?
A lot of proponents of new diets, e.g. Paleo, Primal, Atkins argue that grains have made people unhealthier and life expectancy was much better before the transition to agriculture.
Some research ...
6
votes
4answers
272 views
Why didn’t Britain use its vast navy to get past trench warfare?
Before the start of World War I there was a large arms race between Britain and Germany and although Britain didn’t come out with the largest army – they had by far the largest navy in the world. This ...
-7
votes
0answers
162 views
Were Shakira's parents Iranian? [closed]
I've seen a photo and read a story in an unknown Iranian website that Shakira's (real) father, Manochehr Dibafar, and mother, Nosh Afarin Dibafar, were Iranian and members of SAVAK.
After the Iranian ...
1
vote
1answer
101 views
Why is our planet called Earth? [closed]
How did the Earth get its name?
The answer on Wikipedia is a bit short and unhelpful.
I was not just referring to its English name - in the few languages I know it translates to basically the same ...
0
votes
1answer
73 views
What is the evidence for North Korean famine of 1990s? [closed]
What is the evidence for North Korea famine in 1990s?
The most accounts about the famine in the Internet comes with references to US congress members who visited N. Korea, defectors or ...
4
votes
1answer
43 views
Were members of Soviet Republican Communist Parties also members of the CPSU?
I know that each Soviet Republic X had its own Communist Party of X. Question is: were members of these parties also members of the CPSU?
I am interested here only in the formal side of things - I'd ...
9
votes
1answer
135 views
World War 1 Indian propaganda posters
In World War 1, because war broke out between the triple entente and the central powers (and they happened to have a lot of foreign colonies), the allies made posters to recruit soldiers from all ...
3
votes
1answer
39 views
Was Willem the Silent Dutch?
Willem the Silent is widely considered to be the father of the Netherlands, but I have found that he was born in Nassau, Germany, which was then part of the Holy Roman empire. His ancestors were born ...
5
votes
1answer
142 views
Alexander's seizure of “Brahmin” towns
While reading, I stumbled upon references to Alexander's seizure of Brahmin towns in what would today be called Pakistan. Googling did not fetch much information, most results are just references to a ...
1
vote
1answer
49 views
general philosophical question about history [closed]
I come to the conclusion that world history and history of any country, history of wars
is NEVER OBJECTIVE!
HISTORY IS WRITTEN BY WINNERS ! is a well known expression...
also, history is written by ...
6
votes
1answer
65 views
When and where did Louis Blanc say the famous “from each according to his abilities…”?
It seems that everyone agrees that Louis Blanc was the first to say "à chacun selon ses besoins, de chacun selon ses facultés", which is often translated as "from each according to his abilities, to ...
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 ...
-3
votes
0answers
46 views
What motivated foreign volunteers to help Iraq in Iraq-Iran war? [closed]
Sudanese volunteers in Iraq:
What motivated these people?
-4
votes
1answer
70 views
Are these images from Iran-Iraq war authentic? [closed]
Iranian pilots:
Iraqi pilots:
The images seem to me too similar to represent the opposing countries. The composition, the plane camouflage, the uniforms, even some people on the photos seem to ...
4
votes
1answer
50 views
Of which countries was Ludwig von Mises a citizen?
This is a question regarding the economist and political thinker Ludwig von Mises.
A short biography: Mises was born in 1881 in Lviv, then part of Austria–Hungary. He studied and worked in Vienna ...
1
vote
0answers
41 views
Effect of natural environment on the development of cultures [closed]
Let there be this quantitative question: how do the specifics of a natural environment influence the development of a newborn culture?
Following are the specifics of the question:
Which ...
1
vote
0answers
27 views
Did most colleges in the United have semesters that began in September and ended in January during the 1890s?
I have been researching college calendars from the 1890s and have found that their semesters are very different from most "modern" semesters in the United States. Here are two examples: ...
5
votes
3answers
75 views
Military training in the Hijaz during early Islamic era
The expansion of the Islamic rule during early Islamic era was quite impressive. Before 629, Muhammad's rule was limited to one city Medina. 15 years later, at the end of Umar's rule, the Caliphate ...
2
votes
1answer
98 views
What role did the United States government and major corporations have in controlling dissent and protest starting in the late 1940s? [closed]
After the Second World War, numerous movements of dissent and protest amongst workers or soldiers which had been kept in check by the profits of war developed into significant movements, such as the ...
5
votes
3answers
91 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 ...
6
votes
1answer
43 views
Which parts of the Townshend Act were repealed in 1770?
The Townshend Acts were passed in 1767 and partially repealed in 1770. Which clauses were repealed at that time?
I've looked around and found the original text, but I cannot find specifically what ...
10
votes
3answers
542 views
Why was China not colonized by any country?
Why didn't China become a colony of anybody, unlike most other Asian countries?
7
votes
2answers
143 views
What would be a typical rank for KGB intelligence offices spying abroad in the 1980s?
What would be typical ranks of KGB officers spying in the west during the 1980s? I know there were some western spies recruited by the KGB, that after defecting to the Soviet Union got/had ranks in ...
4
votes
1answer
63 views
When did the Greeks start the practice of burying their dead relatives' bodies?
I was told that at the time around 1 B.C. to 2 A.D Greeks were still cremating bodies of their dead relatives. When did the Greeks start burying them?
2
votes
5answers
229 views
Can we classify holocaust as Hitler's war time strategic mistake?
Can we classify the Holocaust as one of Hitler's war time strategic mistake?
4
votes
1answer
26 views
What was the city of El Mirador called in Mayan?
El Mirador was a major city in the Yucatan during the Preclassic Mayan era. The name is obviously Spanish. What was it called by the ancient Maya?
-1
votes
0answers
36 views
Have there been historical precedents for Ecuador's defaulting on Odious Debt?
Rafael Correa, president of Ecuador in 2008 defaulted on Odious debt in 2008. Have there been precedents for this before - specifically for the global south; and within the Global North? Has the USA ...
5
votes
2answers
62 views
Historical and biblical names for bottles of wine
According to sources like the linked sizes list at Wikipedia entry about bottles of champagne and other kinds of wine, various sizes of bottles took their names after ancient Jewish kings and other ...
