All Questions
13,642
questions
-1
votes
0
answers
131
views
Did Nazis ever refer to the symbol "hooked cross" (hakenkreuz) as "swastika"? [closed]
In "Mein Kampf", Hitler explained how he came up with the idea for a flag for Nazi Party (emphasise mine):
Ich selbst hatte unterdes nach unzähligen Versuchen eine endgültige Form ...
- 115
0
votes
0
answers
107
views
Was the theory of many extraterrestrial worlds considered blasphemous by the Roman Catholic Church during the 16th century? [migrated]
According to Martiniz A. A., the main accusation of Giordano Bruno from the inquisition is simply the ideas of many-worlds: No other accusation was invoked even half as much.
In another reference ...
- 261
-4
votes
0
answers
88
views
Historical analogs of the war in Ukraine [closed]
I realize that there is a strong opinion-based component to this question, so I will try to eliminate it as much as possible. On my side I will try to keep balance, although it is very hard for me. On ...
- 261
0
votes
0
answers
109
views
When did the cost of living differences between Switzerland and neighboring countries became noticeable?
Today it is widely known that prices of general goods in Switzerland are somewhat double those of Europe (rough generalization). There are a number of factors that contribute to this, notably the ...
- 379
1
vote
1
answer
180
views
Do you recognize this story of prison resistence?
I read of a prison resistance story some years ago I'm struggling to track town, I believe from WW2. Can you help identify the place/time/people involved from the following details?
There was a prison ...
- 31
6
votes
1
answer
264
views
Who is the Pentagon General nicknamed Darth Vader referred to by Arthur C Clarke?
In an introductory blurb to his story "The Golden Seas" in "The Collected Stories of Arthur C. Clarke", p.935, Arthur C. Clarke writes
This was my first response to President ...
- 163
-1
votes
0
answers
100
views
What were the religious deviations ("sins") of the Hebrews of the Prophetic times? Was it widespread homosexuality? [closed]
The Prophetic books are about the times of late Hebrew kingdoms, and exile, and return from exile. And the prophets seem to communicate strong anger from God. This anger is described to be caused by ...
- 99
-3
votes
0
answers
44
views
Did the continental Indians originate the weekdays? [closed]
As per the ancient Indian book Suryasidhanta. Indian created weekdays by arranging the main celestial planets or the major planets seen by the naked eyes from fastest to slowest and then put them in ...
- 1
-4
votes
0
answers
42
views
Which are better, Popes or Kings? [closed]
I wanted to see what people thought is better, Popes or Kings and why?
1
vote
1
answer
294
views
After the First Opium war, Why didn't Britain demand large amounts of territory from China?
The first Opium war was a total British victory. With such a total British victory, and with the expansionist ideals that existed in Britain, forcing China into an unconditional surrender seemed to be ...
- 41
-1
votes
0
answers
76
views
Were public libraries available for blacks and coloured (Indians) in South Africa during apartheid? [closed]
Were there any public libraries for black people, "Coloured" (mixed race) people and Indian people? Could black people work in a white library as a librarian?
I have looked everywhere. I ...
6
votes
2
answers
744
views
Who were some of the specific people in the Renaissance who wrote about their period being different from the Middle Ages?
I remember reading about people in the Renaissance who characterized their age as being different from the Middle Ages, but I haven't been able to find who some of the people who made those statements ...
- 79
0
votes
1
answer
119
views
Did Harry Dexter White obstruct a proposed $200 million loan to Nationalist China in 1943 as a U.S. Treasury department official?
Another example of White acting as an agent of influence for the
Soviet Union was his obstruction of a proposed $200 million loan to
Nationalist China in 1943, which he had been officially instructed ...
- 154
-1
votes
1
answer
156
views
Best children's books on the history of Ancient Rome?
I am looking for a book about the history of Ancient Rome for my upper-elementary school child who loves history. I would prefer a book with the following features:
A "chapter book" with ...
- 9
-3
votes
0
answers
180
views
When did artillery first become the largest cause of casualties in a war?
In WW1, "58.3%" of German deaths were from artillery. Was this the first war where artillery was the primary non-disease inflictor of casualties?
I personally would suspect so, as prior wars ...
- 1,593
25
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Why does the US use the opposite convention to the rest of the world for colour-coding harbour buoys?
According to the this answer, in the US buoys on the right are red when returning to a harbour, with green on the left. This is in contrast to most of the rest of the world.
What caused this split in ...
- 431
2
votes
0
answers
109
views
Were deportations committed by Stalin during WWII covered in Allies' press? [closed]
Was the deportation of the Chechen and Ingush populations (carried out in 1944) covered in the media of the Allied powers?
0
votes
0
answers
187
views
What led Chiang Kai-shek to do a U-turn against the Japanese?
The Japanese feel that Western countries are unfair in imposing the status quo on Japan and calling it “peace.” Their whole conception
of diplomatic machinery and collective security is that it is ...
- 154
0
votes
0
answers
58
views
Why didn't Aurangzeb destroy shivalinga during demolition of Vishweshwar Temple?
Gyanvapi Mosque was constructed by Aurangzeb in 1669 upon demolition of Vishweshwar Temple
So why didn't Aurangzeb destroy Shivalinga during demolition of Vishweshwar Temple?
3
votes
0
answers
97
views
What was Northern Ireland electoral law pre-1972?
I have seen claims that the voting system used in Northern Ireland pre-1972 was discriminatory. In particular, I've seen the claim that voting was allocated per household and not per person; I have ...
- 817
1
vote
0
answers
106
views
Did mother Teresa ask to allow to Christianise Arunachal Pradesh to receive Bharat Ratna?
Mother Teresa is a popular person, generally known for her humanitarian work. But from my childhood, I repeatedly used to hear that she promoted and converted many Indians to Christianity either ...
- 119
5
votes
1
answer
322
views
What was "primitive labor rent" or "mains mortales"?
In this quote from Hellie, R. (1971) Enserfment and military change in Muscovy, Chicago, USA, page 14 (archive.org):
B. D. Grekov, in periodizing peasant history, offered the following three forms of ...
- 561
-3
votes
0
answers
98
views
When invading a country, why is it important to take the cities along the way? [duplicate]
(Context: Russia has been trying and largely failing to take major cities in their 2022 invasion of Ukraine.)
Could someone versed in contemporary military strategy help me understand why it is ...
1
vote
0
answers
113
views
How did this Order of the Odd Fellows health insurance plan work in this 1845 newspaper article?
The newspaper in question comes from the Library of Congress's Chronicling America collection, an incredible resource if you are unaware of it. It is a massive online collection of old newspapers. ...
- 477
20
votes
11
answers
5k
views
Is there any instance of part of a country successfully seceding and then unifying with a neighbouring country in the last century?
There have been and still are plenty of groups who are fighting for independence of their home regions, and many who have been successful, but is there any precedent for groups fighting to leave the ...
- 313
3
votes
1
answer
292
views
Who is the "celebrated author" of this quote?
"We who are only the people will not cease to tell Kings, or Governments, that to them alone wars are profitable: that the true and just conquests are those which each makes at home, by ...
14
votes
2
answers
3k
views
How did the First Emperor of Qin "burn the books" prior to the invention of paper?
The first emperor of China, Qin Shihuang, is recorded as burning books (among other things). At the same time, the invention of paper is generally ascribed to the Han Dynasty, i.e., the dynasty after ...
- 1,127
6
votes
3
answers
1k
views
What is the evidence that Galerius raised Severus II to the rank of Augustus?
It is widely reported that Severus II was made Augustus by Galerius.
But Zosimus in Historia Nova reports: "Maximianus Gallerius, when he had learned this, sent Severus Caesar against Maxentius ...
- 173
-4
votes
1
answer
108
views
In the US Constitution, did the Three-Fifths Compromise apply to Native Americans?
In the U.S. Constitution, the Three-Fifths Compromise is part of Article 1, Section 2, clause 3. It says:
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be ...
- 2,518
1
vote
1
answer
108
views
Do the Federalist papers ever mention the Native Americans in any substantative way?
The Federalist Papers were written by Madison, Jay and Hamilton to support the then proposed constitution of the USA starting in October 1787 in response to articles critical of the constitution. A ...
- 2,518
4
votes
2
answers
172
views
Why did the Targowica Confederation not realise its armed opposition to the May Constitution of 1791 would result in the entire annexation of Poland?
Poland-Lithuania was one of the great powers of continental Europe after the treaty of Lublin in 1569. But after the rise of Russia as a great power after its defeat of the Swedish Empire it became ...
- 2,518
-1
votes
1
answer
68
views
What are some examples of Enlightenment works that would definitively not be Romantic?
I've been researching the Romantic era and am confused by how expansively people seem to define it. It seems that the scholarly emphasis is more on encompassing as much as possible with this ...
- 79
2
votes
0
answers
142
views
Did Deng Xiaoping really break his leg playing billiards?
I am reading the biography of Deng Xiaoping by Ezra Vogel. In the biography, it mentions that Deng Xiaoping once broke his leg playing billiards. I personally find that highly unlikely. Billiards is ...
- 129
2
votes
0
answers
48
views
Did William Ward write "An Address At a Meeting of the Society for Political Information held at the Talbot Inn in Derby, July 16th 1792"?
William Ward (1769–1823) the Baptist missionary assistant to William Carey (1761-1834) was a Derby man and, as a youth at any rate, a radical. He is said to have been the author of "An Address At ...
-1
votes
0
answers
90
views
What did the "exclusive social distinction" and "superiority of the man on the horse" in the UK/Britain/England c. 1973 consist of?
Reginald Allen Brown (1973, Origins of English Feudalism) wrote:
To our own day cavalry regiments have an exclusive social distinction, and the superiority of the man on the horse (for which there is ...
- 561
17
votes
5
answers
5k
views
Did any ancient polytheistic religion hold that theirs was the only pantheon? [closed]
There are a handful of polytheistic pantheons that we are generally familiar with today, The Greek pantheon, the pre-Christianity Roman pantheon, and the Norse gods; while I see this from a western ...
- 483
1
vote
2
answers
245
views
During the Indian removal were native Americans fed rotten food and taken through diseased areas?
In 1993 Stannard wrote a book called American Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World. In it, Stannard mentions (page 124) the Indian marches where they ...
5
votes
1
answer
192
views
Which is the oldest of all Hindu Puranas? [closed]
I was trying to answer Which scripture was first to identify Buddha as an avatar of Lord Vishnu? (Hinduism SE) but then I don't know which is the oldest of the Purāṇas.
I'm not looking for references ...
- 290
1
vote
0
answers
124
views
When and how did Britons' (and offshoots like Americans) aversion to eating some parts of animals/fish (e.g. head/organs/blood/feet) begin?
Britons (and their offshoots the Americans and others) are today averse to eating some parts of animals/fish (e.g. head/organs/blood/feet). For example, chicken feet were worthless in the US until c. ...
- 561
28
votes
2
answers
4k
views
When did horseback riding start? Are Doosheh cave petroglyphs authentic and correctly dated?
I am trying to reconcile 3 answers I have got so far. Perhaps there are more. My main question is about when horseback riding started.
In Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, UK), the information panel in the ...
- 1,563
-3
votes
1
answer
152
views
Was the unemployment rate in the Nazi regime lower than the Weimar Republic?
We know that the Nazis didn't count women, Jews, and National Labour Service in the unemployment statistics, which was called 'invisible unemployment',
Putting the 'invisible unemployment' scenario ...
0
votes
1
answer
180
views
What was the Western involvement in Finland's deal with the Soviets to be neutral?
There was being some comment about this from Yanis Varoufakis (see below). But some people are challenging if Varoufakis is making any sense...so I don't know the facts. How much was the West involved ...
8
votes
3
answers
492
views
Did the Europeans benefit economically from the scramble for Africa?
In the following video Rudyard Lynch, owner of the youtube channel "whatifalthist" claims that
Nearly every African colony cost the Europeans far more than they got out of it – the ...
- 609
5
votes
1
answer
174
views
Why did three states delay ratification of US fifth amendment?
Massachusetts, Georgia, and Connecticut were states in 1791 when the constitution and bill of rights became law. But they did not officially consent until 1939.
It seems from USConstitution.net that ...
- 181
4
votes
0
answers
74
views
Who coined the phrase "City of the World's Desire"?
In 1995, the British author Philip Mansel published a book titled Constantinople: City of the World's Desire. The same phrase also appears in the game Europa Universalis IV: one of the Ottomans' ...
- 1,767
1
vote
0
answers
165
views
Which specific equipment did Italian submarines lack for Atlantic?
I read the book Kretschmer, in which the author Lawrence Patterson quoted one of Dönitz's report concerning the collaboration with the Italian submarine service. One element given for the bad ...
- 4,976
7
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Who are these "Millennial Folk" being referred to?
This came up on an episode of QI where the question was, "When was the First World War, first called as such". The answer was:
The First World War was given its title as early as the ...
- 173
0
votes
0
answers
207
views
Which Roman writer wrote this passage?
I'm operating off of fuzzy memory here and I’m unable to find the source of this passage. Some time ago, I read a passage from some ancient Roman writer that went something like this:
“He came and he ...
- 1,657
-1
votes
1
answer
128
views
What was at the start of Early Roman codices?
What was on an early Roman codex before the actual text of the author? For example, we have the title, author, copyright notifications and other publication information. In contrast what would you ...
- 101
2
votes
2
answers
133
views
Has the USA ever sanctioned Israel? [closed]
The USA has always been a strong supporter of Israel. In comparison, USA has repeatedly sanctioned Iran. When searching if USA has ever sanctioned Israel, didn't find anything.
Has USA ever sanction ...
- 145