David Thornley

1,602 reputation

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	location	Minneapolis, MN
	age	59
visits	member for	1 year, 7 months
	seen	May 18 at 1:35
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	1,602 reputation	bio	website		visits	member for	1 year, 7 months
39 badges		location	Minneapolis, MN		seen	May 18 at 1:35

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Nov 12	comment	How was the literacy rate of Americans impacted by the establishment of public schools? This looks like a political thesis looking for historical support; you might want to change it to be more neutral. Also, check for varying definitions of literacy over time, and the population it's measured over.
Nov 10	comment	How unfavorable were the terms of Germany's “surrender” in WW1? I haven't been able to find anything in the Versailles treaty saying Germany was accepting responsibility for the war, only a clause that Germany and allies accepted full financial responsibility for all damages.
Nov 10	comment	How unfavorable were the terms of Germany's “surrender” in WW1? Are you referring to the Armistice terms or the Versailles Treaty?
Nov 10	answered	Were the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary?
Nov 5	comment	Best books on the politics behind WWII AJP Taylor was definitely not in the mainstream of historical writing, but I haven't found anything factually wrong with it. You might want another book on the origins in Europe for balance.
Nov 4	comment	What were the original casualty projections for Hiroshima and Nagasaki? @Noldorin: That figure was given by Richard Frank in Downfall, FWIW. I consider the lower limit to be way low.
Nov 3	comment	Do most of today's democratic nations with two-party system exhibit a civil war in recent past? How many modern countries haven't had some sort of civil war? To consider Italy, there were the fights before the Risorgimento, the Risorgimento (which wasn't just Italians vs. Austrians) forming modern Italy in the 1860s or so, and the Repubblica Sociale Italiana fighting the rest of Italy in WWII, after Mussolini was deposed. Before discussing the role of civil wars, I'd like to get an agreement on what one is.
Nov 1	awarded	Beta
Oct 29	awarded	Nice Answer
Oct 29	comment	When and why was the samurai class abolished? Actually, the samurai influence was stronger in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-5. In that war, the Japanese were often praised for their very correct fighting and treatment of prisoners. I've seen arguments that the WWII behavior is more typical in Japanese history when arming the non-samurai classes.
Oct 28	comment	Josephus as a Legitimate Historical Text Also, I'd tend to discount the numerous passages that testify to the popularity, influence, and virtue of a guy named Josephus.
Oct 28	comment	Why did the Monitor and Merrimac (aka Virginia) have such radically different designs? Although Monitor's turret was not easy to control, and IIRC the gunners wound up keeping the turret steady and letting the ship maneuver to point the guns at the enemy.
Oct 27	comment	How do new countries legally and without bloodshed declare themselves independent? @WladimirPalant: They weren't part of the RSFRS, once that stabilized. They were part of the Russian Empire. Russia always has had rather fluid borders.
Oct 26	comment	Why did the United States not seriously develop Anti Aircraft Missiles? Do you have any evidence for the relative effort other than number of deployed systems? There's other possible reasons. Perhaps the US improved missiles more while keeping the designation, perhaps the US was more satisfied with its earlier weapons and was therefore slower to replace them. How much of this is naval? The USN had lots of carriers, and the Soviets didn't have any.
Oct 25	comment	At what point do armies tend to break? Some American Civil War battles were extremely bloody, with regiments occasionally taking 90% casualties. They weren't combat-effective any more, but they had to be staying in combat with surprisingly heavy casualties to take the 90%.
Oct 24	answered	When did aircraft carriers eclipse battleships as the “King of the seas”?
Oct 24	answered	What Were the Types of Sieges?
Oct 24	comment	What Were the Types of Sieges? Are we talking about any particular period? The Romans conducted sieges, and so did (say) Germany and the US in WWII.
Oct 24	comment	What was Finland's position in World War Two? FWIW, I was told by a Finn that the Germans were the ones that stopped with the "nice" withdrawal. No idea what he was using as sources, and it could just be one of those ideas floating around a country.
Oct 23	answered	Why weren't aircraft carriers utilized during D-day?