Questions tagged [18th-century]
The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 to December 31, 1800 in the Gregorian calendar.
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What were late eighteenth century British models of heroism?
The late eighteenth century (1780s, 90s) is sometimes characterized as a period of high idealism. Although it would be another few decades before Napoleon arrived in full force, and about half a ...
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To what extent does the dictionary of Samuel Johnson represent English as it was spoken in his day?
My understanding is that Johnson embarked upon his dictionary precisely because he found others useless or archaic, and that his work was very well received within his own time. But I wanted to ask if ...
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How did steppe-nomad military tactics change in response to widespread firearms in the 18th/19th centuries?
Please forgive my ignorance of the cultures extant in the Eurasian steppe at this time, but I was wondering how the military tactics of steppe-cultures changed in response to the massed musket tactics ...
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How many British navy officers were from lower classes at the end of 18th century?
Helping my daughter with a presentation about Cook, I looked for English sources about his biography and was surprised to read that he was a son of a farmer hand - practically, the bottom of the lower ...
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Was Robespierre in the pay of the British?
I was looking for interesting books on French Revolution, when I stumbled across this history of British espionage in the late 1700s. The book is several hundred dollars, so I won't be able to procure ...
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In Georgian England, what was a water-party?
In the early 20th century novel The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy, there are several references made to something called a water-party, with no elaboration other than that it's happening on a ...
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What are the dates of these panoramas of Paris?
As part of a personal project I've been looking for period etchings, engravings, and black and white illustrations of Paris as it might have looked during the French Revolution of 1789. Those who are ...
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Compare skeleton crew to normal crew on a galleon
Consider a typical galleon used for cargo around the 18th century.
How would the number and roles of the crew differ between a normal, full crew, and a "skeleton" crew, on a voyage of a few weeks?
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When did Europeans make their first well-attested visit to mainland Alaska?
To my surprise, I could not find a straightforward answer to this question. When did Europeans first set foot in mainland Alaska? I could easily find that:
Vitus Bering, a Dane of Russian allegiance, ...
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Identify the caricatured countries in an illustration about the XYZ affair
I've been reading about the XYZ affair and I've found this cartoon, in which a woman representing America is stripped by a group of Frenchmen in the presence of John Bull and other anthropomorphic ...
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Was there a military practice of reloading while marching/running, in Europe or America during the 18th and 19th centuries?
This reenactor does a fine job of reloading a flintlock rifle while running. He is attempting to recreate something from the Indian Wars in America, in the 1770s. My question is about the historical ...
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Why did many Hungarians support Maria Theresa?
In the first decade of the 18th century, Hungarians fought a very exhausting and, in the end, unsuccessful war to secede from the Habsburg Empire and re-establish their old kingdom.
That time, the ...
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Were commandants in Kamchatka from the Army or the Navy?
The Imperial Russian Navy operated out of Kronstadt, next to St. Petersburg. Well before sending the Nadezhda and Neva into the Pacific in 1803, the empire had Pacific ports like Okhotsk, accessible ...
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Were high wages the root cause of the industrial revolution?
I was listening to a (German-language) podcast where this argument was made (translation into English courtesy of Google translate):
The decisive change came in [...] 1760 in England. And that is ...
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Was it widespread during the 17th and 18th Century for British country people to be evicted and replaced with more profitable agriculture?
We can read about the Scottish Highland clearances. It does appear that the driving motivation was that sheep pastures were more profitable.
This was the time of the Industrial Revolution, when many ...
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Did armored cavalry have an advantage over unarmored cavalry in 18th/19th century?
Armor was being phased out during the 1500's as muskets capable of penetrating armor proliferated. By the 18th century, hardly any units on the European battlefields wore armor. Except for one - the ...
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How accurate was rocket artillery in the 18th and 19th centuries?
In the 1700s and 1800s, how accurate was rocket artillery in Europe (or Asia, if you prefer to speak of her)? Its accuracy is frequently made a joke, that rockets couldn't be relied on to hit their ...
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Who lived on Golden Square in London in the 18th century?
Is there a database or an archive where I could find a list of the inhabitants of Golden Square in London in the 18th century?
I know that a famous musician of that time was living on that square, ...
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Can the Cassini maps of France be found online?
I am looking for online versions of the Cassini maps (i.e. "the first general maps of the territory using a measuring apparatus were made by the Cassini family during the 18th century" from https://en....
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Why was the Declaration of Independence handwritten, rather than printed with a printing press?
The United States' Declaration of Independence was handwritten by Thomas Jefferson. Why was this done instead of being printed with a printing press?
The Dunlap broadside was the first printed copy ...
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In England in 1700, would defending property with lethal force be illegal at all?
My limited understanding is that without an extensive police force and good communications, much of what modern people would leave to police was handled directly. If so, were any questions asked of a ...
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What kind of training did Imperial military officers receive? [closed]
In the early modern period, European empires maintained their faraway colonies with great armies and navies. Many enlisted soldiers and sailors were barely trained; imperial officers were often ...
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Origin of scientific racism?
Modern scientific racism became wide spread during the age of enlightenment. Is there a single person that could be labeled as the 'father' of modern scientific racism?
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How direct was the Enlightenment's role in the French Revolution?
John Thomson, in his book "Europe after Napoleon", argues that the Enlightenment had little direct role in creating the conditions for revolution. Neither the thinkers prescribed revolution nor the ...
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How did people apply for university in the 18th century?
Universities have been around for a while.
I am reading a book called Frankenstein.
One of the main characters, Victor Frankenstein, attends the University of Ingolstadt in Germany.
Now, it makes ...
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How was Washington and Jefferson's relationship in Dec 1799?
Bottom Line Up Front(BLUF)
George Washington died December 14th, 1799.
My question is what are some examples that demonstrate this period when these two preeminent founding fathers were bitter ...
user27618
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Was an adobe fort or a palisade fort more defensible?
All else equal, when these types of forts were in use, was an adobe fort or a palisade fort more defensible?
A bit of what-if led to this question. Russians ostrogs such as Nizhnekamchatsk and Fort ...
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How many criminal exiles were sent to Kamchatka?
Exile in Siberia was a well-known punishment for criminals in Imperial (and Soviet) Russia. Exiles, who could be common criminals or political prisoners, were forced to walk in irons to their new job ...
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Who was the 18th century French eccentric who proposed the Dutch colonize SW Australia?
Some time ago, I read a story on the internet about a French eccentric/scientist living in the 18th century who had studied climate zones on the Earth. He came to the conclusion that there were a ...
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The boundary between New York and Quebec before the seven years' war of 1756‒1763
This is related to this earlier question, which deals with events after the war.
Before the Seven Years' War of 1756‒1763, if I understand correctly, Quebec was ruled by France. In that war, Britain ...
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Time to travel around Europe in the 18th century
Is there a database, or something, available to find out what the average time for travelling inside Europe was in the 18th century for somebody not from nobility or diplomatic service.
Was carriage ...
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Did Freemasons hold Enlightenment ideals?
I was doing research on early US presidents and read that men like George Washington probably were attracted to the Masonic Lodge due to the Lodge aligning well with popular Enlightenment ideas around ...
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Are any Liberty Poles around today?
My American Revolutionary War research has led to an investigation of the Sons of Liberty (SAR). This organization was known to erect Liberty Poles (see picture) as a way of angering Britain in a show ...
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What is the London Enemies List 1775?
This London Enemies List 1775 has come up in American Revolutionary War research regarding Paul Revere and other revolutionaries. I believe it is a document of some sort and find a referenced source (...
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What were the Lines of Ne Plus Ultra in the War of the Spanish Succession?
After reading another biography of Marlborough, I am annoyed by the fact the authors mention but do not describe the Lines of Ne Plus Ultra. They make it sound (I have read Chandler and Konstam) as if ...
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Convict stowaways crossing the Pacific in 1796
According to H.H. Bancroft's "History of California", in 1796, English convicts stowed away on the Otter in Botany Bay, and were forced ashore in California at gunpoint. Governor Borica was ordered by ...
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In the 18th c., did/would China accept gold from Europe as trade payment? Why / why not?
In reading about the historical Opium situation in China, the silver trade is mentioned again and again. I get the impression that China only accepted silver, even though I have never seen gold ...
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What is a "Johnsonian world of clubs and coffee houses" in the context of 18th century England?
I was reading the biography of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Richard Holmes and came across this line:
[Coleridge had his] first unforgettable taste of the great talking-shop of London, the ...
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To what extent did the 1793 yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia influence the process of relocating the capital to Washington DC in 1800?
Yellow fever outbreaks were frequent in the southern US in the late C18th. The 1793 Philadelphia epidemic was one of the most severe outbreaks of infectious disease in US history, killing 10% of the ...
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Is there a proper title for a woman betrothed to a king?
Does the title of a princess change when she is betrothed to a king? If she were in line for the throne of England and was betrothed to the king of France, how would the French court refer to her?
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Where and how did scientists of the 18th and 19th century learn foreign languages?
I'm always amazed by the the apparent amount of foreign languages that scientists in the 18th and 19th centuries seem to have possessed. With the end of Latin as the main scholarly language, ...
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Recommended electronic versions of old public domain US history textbooks?
I realize it's common practice for historians use primary sources, but what I want is some old US history schoolbooks pre-copyright, say 1700-1900. Something high-school level or higher (i.e. not for ...
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Financing of the Continental Army vs. Legion of the United States/United States Army
As the concept of having a standing army gained acceptance, the Legion of the United States was raised which later became the United States Army. How was funding for this new army accomplished ? How ...
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Did international politics drive the creation of American political parties?
Knowing how much early American statesmen disliked the idea of factions, it seems contradictory that parties were formed. Surely, something changed the minds of even the staunchest anti-faction ...
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Was there any restriction on private citizens owning cannons and other large weaponry in 17th, 18th and 19th century Europe? [closed]
Were there laws limiting what kind of guns a private citizen in Europe could own? Could John Doe go to a shop and commission a cannon to be made for his own personal use?
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Did California mission priests administer, not merely call for, corporal punishment?
California missions were staffed by a Franciscan priest or two, and a half a dozen soldiers. The former addressed spiritual and administrative concerns and the latter established physical security for ...
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Six pregnant maidens from Kamchatka
Yuri Semyonov's history "The Conquest of Siberia: An Epic of Human Passions" says:
Journeys to Siberia were always measured in years. In an old book the author, in order to make clear how ...
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Is there a difference between original 1768-71 and 1968-71 facsimile of 1st edition Encyclopaedia Brittanica
I was browsing a second hand book store and stumbled upon a 1968 facsimile of the 1768 1st edition Encyclopaedia Brittanica.
I am aware that a facsimile is an exact replica, but I still assumed that ...
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Around 1750, How many Native Americans (if any) spent the winter in the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan?
This is the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan:
I've been reading about it's history during the colonial era. Apparently the Native Americans mined copper from this area because there were great copper ...
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Who were the chief executives of the United States in the thirteen years before George Washington? [duplicate]
Fully thirteen years passed after the Declaration of Independence before George Washington became President—first under Congress, then under the Articles of Confederation. It's a famous trivia fact ...
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