Questions tagged [europe]
It is the second smallest continent, forming the Western extension of Eurasia.
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Why did the person in charge of a principality not just declare themself king?
I don't understand the concept of principalities, why wouldn't you just call yourself king?
The job description appears to be exactly the same.
When England was ruled by the Saxons we had a bunch of ...
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In much of Europe, women did gain some regal titles and were queens/empresses/duchesses/princesses regnant. How did that happen in such a society? [closed]
We know that there were law codes at the time that did forbid women from being the actual ruler, like in France applying Salic Law. Victoria could not become Queen of Hannover, even though her uncle ...
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What would "close confinement" look like for a Saxon count being punished by Henry V of Germany in the early 1100s?
While reading the Cambridge Medieval history collection I keep coming across 'confinement' or 'imprisonment' being used to punish or coerce nobles, kings, and even popes.
I'm wondering what the ...
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Ranking Eastern Europe Communist regimes by severity of repression [closed]
I was wondering that the severity of repression, censorship, economic stagnation must have varied greatly across the Eastern bloc countries between 1945-1990. It may even have varied over the years in ...
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What uniform is my Cossack great great grandfather wearing?
The man bellow with the medals and the beard is my great great grandfather. He was a Cossack in the Urals, I have been looking for ages but I can not find what Cossack uniform he is wearing.
I really ...
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What is this large bronze medallion?
Searched many sites but nothing matches this particular lion.
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Why did few French and no Dutch pilots (but many Poles and Czechs) take part in the Battle of Britain?
Among the non-British pilots, at least 141 were Polish, 84 Czech and 28 Belgian, but only 13 were French and none were Dutch, Norwegian or Danish.
The reasons why there were many Polish, Czech and ...
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Why was Cuba not colonized by European empires other than Spain? [closed]
I confused about the following links.
According to Tordesillas and the Protestant Reformation, what part of the world did Cuba belong to during that time?
What was the status of other European ...
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Did the Crisis of the late Middle Ages cause a notable expansion of wilderness in Europe?
There was a lot of wild forest in the early Middle Ages, around 75% in the 9th century according to Wikipedia, much of which was cleared during the population boom in the High Middle Ages. I also read ...
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Who was the longest lived European monarch of the middle ages?
After a lot of googling, I'm still not sure about this. Finding the longest reigning monarchs is easy enough, but I'm less sure about the one who lived the longest.
A good candidate would appear to ...
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Is there any documented evidence that these three North American cities were named due to the locations of their namesakes?
Two years ago, I was studying an online atlas of the world and I happened to notice that there are three cities located in North America which have a geographical similarity with three cities located ...
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How was ethnicity's role in the voting enfranchisement envisioned after the English Civil War?
I am reading Democracy in Europe: A History by Luciano Canfora. In his short section on the English Civil War he states
There is another element in the Levellers' thinking that should also be taken ...
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Rape perpetrated by American soldiers during WWII?
A while back, I had a disturbing encounter with someone related to a Jewish survivor from the Auschwitz death camp. This survivor apparently claims that not only Red Army soldiers, but also G.I.'s ...
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Were there any crops and livestock common to both the Old and New Worlds prior to the Columbian exchange?
The Columbian exchange (this is the correct spelling) transferred a diverse set of crops and livestock animals between the Old and New Worlds. However, I have begun to wonder if there were any crops ...
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Why were Muslims in Western Thrace and Christians in Constantinople excluded from the population exchange?
In the 1923 compulsory population exchange between Greece and Turkey, most Muslims living in Greece were forcibly moved to Turkey, and most Christians living in Turkey were forcibly moved to Greece.
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What was Iceland officially & commonly called before 1918 (1874~)?
In 1918, The Kingdom of Iceland was founded. In 1944, it changed to just Iceland.
I have researched about what Iceland was originally called, and apparently, it's first name was given to the person ...
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In what contexts did male friends kiss in Europe in the 1700s?
In Stanley Kubrick's film Barry Lyndon, there's an scene where the title character's mentor, Captain Grogan, is gunned down by French troops. As he lies dying he asks Barry to "kiss me, my boy, for we ...
CommunityBot
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What was Portugal and Spain's primary export which sparked their trade with Africa in the early 15th century?
I’ve read so many resources about how Europe’s desire to trade with the east, and the resistance by the Ottoman Empire to gain access was what triggered their voyage around the African continent, and ...
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How did Europeans first acquire gunpowder?
I know that gunpowder was first invented in China around the 10th century, and it seems that gunpowder likely made its way to Europe via the "Silk Road." However, there doesn't seem to be a ton of ...
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Traditionally, did Europeans not heat milk before drinking it?
My impression was that before modern pasteurization and refrigeration, most cultures that drank milk considered it a good idea to heat milk before drinking it and so usually did heat milk before ...
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Why the wording "land war" rather than just "war"?
Many media outlets call the Russian-Ukraine war the biggest "land war" in Europe since WW2. Examples:
The Economist (2022-11-18):
biggest land war in Europe since 1945
Reuters (2023-09-12):...
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What was the ethno-linguistic makeup of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth?
What was the ethno-linguistic makeup of the Rzeczpospolita, that is, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth prior to the partitions?
EDIT: Clarification, asking what were the percentages to total ...
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Was there a Japanese Exchange, à la Columbian Exchange?
After the European (re-)discovery of the Americas, there was a widespread transfer of animals, plants, culture, human populations, communicable diseases, technology and ideas between the Americas and ...
MCW♦
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How can I date this carved wood sculpture?
I found this beautiful wood-carved sculpture:
It does look quite old and I wonder around what it was created. Also I'm interested which things to look out for, in order to determine the age and ...
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As newly independent countries after WWI, why didn't Baltic states have sovereignty dispute and war each other like other Eastern European countries?
After the WWI, many independent countries emerged and the borders between these countries, and also the existing Eastern European countries, were not clear, leading to territorial claims, disputes and ...
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Did the Pope's crossbow and archery bans have any effect?
One of the more famous and certainly curious decisions at the Second Council of the Lateran in 1139 was a ban on using missile troops against Christians. Specifically, Canon 29 states that:
We ...
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What caused the imposition of strict celibacy for Catholic priests during the 11th century?
At the Second Lateran Council in 1139, the Catholic Church implemented a rule requiring all priests to remain celibate. Although the Church has already talked about being celibate for the previous ...
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How common was cannibalism in Christian Europe until the 17th century?
When hearing about cannibalism, a Robinson-Crusoean narrative usually comes to my mind, where primitive tribes would engage in limited warfare and probably ritualistically consume their prisoners. ...
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Would a common person in the 18th century have heard Mozart's music during his lifetime?
Mozart was and is one of the most influential musicians and today nearly everyone knows his name and probably some of his famous compositions.
During his lifetime he certainly was a well known ...
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The beginning of Judaism [closed]
Did Moses Maimonides (1135-1204), also known as Rambam, write the 5 books of Moses, known in Christianity as the Pentateuch?
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Where did the Greeks look for descendants of the Byzantine dynasties?
I recall reading in a few books that during the early to mid 19th century, the Greeks where trying to find European nobles who had genealogies linked to the dynasties of the old Byzantine Empire (...
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What was Martin Luther's incentive for reformation? [closed]
Luther was both a theologian and a politician. How much of his reformation stemmed from his political side of consideration?
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Why wasn’t Japan colonized by the European empires?
Why wasn’t Japan colonized by the European empires?
That is a question that I have some doubts, European countries like Portugal had already been there, but they never colonized that land.
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What was the official language used across European monarchies in the XII century?
I have been reading about European history in the XII century and I am finding out that several of the modern day languages hadn't yet evolved to what they are now: Langue d'oïl was still being used ...
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Does anyone recognize these uniforms?
Need assistance identifying the country of origin of a painting depicting men at war. I have also included pictures of the back in case anyone knows the language and can narrow it down. The language ...
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Was it uncommon to see an Englishman with a cane or walking stick during WW1? Specifically, in Europe
Was it uncommon, during the WW1 era to see a man, with a cane or walking stick in Europe?
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What did Europeans do with captured war elephants?
I recently saw this rather tongue-in-cheek graphic:
Now I have no idea regarding the veracity of the above, but assuming it is somewhat true it begs the question: If Europeans didn't eat them, what ...
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Why did the Vikings stop raiding Europe?
Was it because of their defeats by Alfred and the settlement of Normandy?
Were there issues at home which changed their focus?
I did search through quite a few of the questions on here, but did not ...
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Which European Languages are not Indo-European?
I saw this question asked on Twitter today. At first blush it seemed like an easy reference question, but I can't find any place that actually has this spelled out in one place. I ended up having to ...
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How close were the living standards of India compared to England during the medieval period?
India, China and the African continent today are mostly associated with poverty in Europe, the US and so on. Looking at India specifically, did it during the medieval era share a similar standard of ...
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Why were eastern European states larger than western European states for much of history?
For reference, ever since the Treaty of Verdun in 843, large, centralized states in western Europe seemed to be the exception rather than the norm. Of course, there are exceptions, such as England and ...
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Is it true that some early modern Europeans refused to believe giraffes existed?
I remember reading or hearing somewhere that some of the first Europeans to see a giraffe in Europe refused to believe that such a creature could really exist. Presumably they thought the giraffe(s) ...
MCW♦
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What anti-smuggling measures were implemented on the border between Ukraine and Hungary in the late 1990s and early 2000s?
Closely related cross-site: Why did Hungary joining the E.U. cause oil prices fall to be only marginally higher than they were in Ukraine?
Somewhat related cross-site: Were schoolteachers really paid ...
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Was wool packing a main task for medieval peasants?
In Europe/UK, would a main task for peasants/working classes been to pack wool? And, if so, roughly what dates would this have been please? What did the entire process involve from obtaining the ...
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Were the Western World's general political and ideological consensus and consequent actions primarily responsible for the global ending of slavery?
Would one be accurate in stating that it was the general ideological and political consensus and subsequent actions of the Western World during the early to mid 1800s that were primarily responsible ...
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(How) Did criminals in the middle ages get treatment for injuries?
Were criminals in the middle ages able to get treatment for injuries, and if so, how? I mean criminals such as bandits who wouldn't be able to seek whatever medical care was normally available, even ...
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Was it common in Europe in the modern era that proper names were translated?
My question is partially motivated by this question. I know that up until early 20th century in Hungarian many (or even most) foreign names were translated. For example this poster from 1864 mentions &...
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Novgorod means "New city". Given such name, what were the old cities in the region? [closed]
"Novgorod" means "New city". Given such name, what were the old cities in the region at the time of its foundation?
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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 ...
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Did nutmeg really prevent infections during the Bubonic Plague?
Not sure if this comes under biology or history.
Years ago, a chemistry professor gave us a short lesson on the history of nutmeg. He said, the priests in Europe wore pouches around their neck ...
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