All Questions
1,485
questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
3
votes
1
answer
123
views
Was impressment widespread outside the British Empire and its colonies?
I recently found a source referenced on wikipedia — Hill, J. R. (2002). The Oxford Illustrated History of the Royal Navy. Oxford University Press. pp. 135–137. ISBN 0-19-860527-7. — which allegedly ...
- 565
3
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Were there religious wars between two sects in Hinduism?
Shaivism and Vaishnavism, are two major sects within the umbrella of Hinduism, each with a different deity as their Supreme God.
This difference, is thought to have, in the ancient and even recent ...
- 177
3
votes
1
answer
142
views
Why does Retsö claim that only members/clients of Arabian tribes were considered "real Muslims" in the Umayyad Caliphate before 750?
In his book "The Arabs in Antiquity: Their History from the Assyrians to the Umayyads", Professor Jan Retsö writes:
The conflicts were aggravated by the fact that the tribes identified
the ...
- 39
3
votes
1
answer
264
views
Can anybody identify the cap-badge and/or uniform in this image?
Can anybody identify the cap-badge and/or uniform in this image?
I'm hoping the period is c. 1899/1900 and should be UK based???
My searches to date have turned up a blank; but then I have no ...
- 31
3
votes
1
answer
354
views
Did Kublai Khan's army consist largely of Mongol warriors or native Chinese?
Kublai's army is always referred to as a 'Mongol' army but I suspect that after the initial conquest of China, his army consisted largely of native Chinese. Is this correct? Did the Japanese and ...
2
votes
0
answers
80
views
Did Romans collect notes/minutes/protocols of Senate meetings? Ditto Greeks?
Did Romans have official note-takers of important meetings, such as Senate debates? If so, did any of them survive?
Similarly for Greeks. Plato's "Apology" is the closest thing to minutes ...
- 4,680
2
votes
0
answers
157
views
What were the reasons for the OKH purge of pro-Nazi officers in 1938?
While reading a biography of Walter Model on Wikipedia, I found this fragment:
[...]Model was a supporter of the Nazi Party, and his time in Berlin brought him into contact with senior members of the ...
- 3,420
2
votes
0
answers
191
views
Where there any 'famous people' in the American Southwest before 1500?
I teach secondary history classes. For my American Southwest history class, I am required to teach a lesson on 'famous people before 1500'
in the Southwest, i.e. famous people before the Spanish came. ...
- 1,107
2
votes
0
answers
42
views
Which estates/factions supported the war in Livonia under Ivan IV
The question of war with Livonia was divisive for the social estates in Russia. I am interested in which factions/estates supported or opposed the war.
I know Aleksey Adashev, who was a, okolnichy, a ...
- 61
2
votes
0
answers
217
views
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 ...
- 121
2
votes
0
answers
95
views
What wrecked ship was found near Lyttelton, New Zealand in 1847?
I am currently reading The Strange Adventures of Captain Quinton. It tells the story of a young man who goes to sea, rising in rank to Captain. Captain Quinton wrote the book in 1912 as a memoir of ...
- 125
2
votes
0
answers
276
views
What's the male equivalent of a lady's companion?
I've been wondering if men used to have a paid attendant comparable to a lady's companion.
I've seen it being compared to a valet but valets were normally more subservient and of a lower social status ...
- 121
2
votes
0
answers
470
views
Did J. Robert Oppenheimer ever play chess?
There is an infamous chess game between Einstein and Oppenheimer that has zero evidence of having happened (and that appears every time I try to look something about it and now even the comments of ...
- 789
2
votes
0
answers
546
views
Is Edwin M. Stanton related to Elizabeth Cady Stanton?
After reading part of an American history book over the weekend, I have a frankly dumb question.
Is suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton related at all to Reconstruction-Era Secretary of War Edwin M. ...
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
143
views
What is my Grandpa's collar insignia?
This is a photograph of my grandpa, Douglas Howard. At his retirement, I believe he was a Major in the Devon and Dorset, but my info is vague. This was a photo he gave to his future wife, and my ...
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
143
views
Is there an official historical term for the peephole (with a sliding shutter) in the castle and/or monastery entrance door?
I've searched and searched, and couldn't find anything sensible.
I mean, "Judas window" is associated more with prisons than convents.
And peepholes should not be rectangular, nor protected ...
- 3,435
2
votes
0
answers
87
views
What is the earliest documented characterization of Hitler as "dictator" in Canada's public record?
When did Canadians first label Adolf Hitler as a "dictator" ?
The CBC Article Rise of Hitler documents that former Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King visited Germany's Chancellor Adolf ...
- 121
2
votes
0
answers
223
views
Did the Romans ever get the idea to pardon Jesus or expunge the conviction when they adopted it as the state religion in 380, Edict of Thessalonica?
Given the premise of Jesus as being an innocent man being wrongfully convicted, wouldn't the very legally minded Romans or other jurists have the idea that the government should delete the conviction ...
- 187
2
votes
0
answers
78
views
Can anyone help me identify this uniform? Please help!
I do believe he was part of the Italian military, maybe someone can help me out please.
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
79
views
How did really small municipalities function in The Netherlands in the 19th and 20th century?
I'm always amazed by the small villages in The Netherlands that used to be separate municipalities well into the 20th century.
Take for instance Ellewoutsdijk. It was an independent municipality until ...
- 89
2
votes
0
answers
190
views
Did Roman prosperity peak right on the eve of collapse (in particular c. 399)?
John Rapley and Peter Heather (Why Empires Fall, 2023, in Ch. 1 "Party Like It's 399"):
Rural population densities, and consequently overall agricultural output, reached maximum levels in ...
- 721
2
votes
0
answers
97
views
Identification of military uniform, probably French or Italian
I'm trying to ID someone's military uniform in an old family photo. Not a lot of clues to go on, except that the man was probably French or Italian, maybe in a colonial setting. Perhaps someone can ...
anon
2
votes
0
answers
138
views
Did Harold Pinter create this "old story about Oliver Cromwell"?
House of Commons Speech - October 2002
There's an old story about Oliver Cromwell.
After he had taken the town of Drogheda
the citizens were brought to the main square.
Cromwell announced to his ...
- 462
2
votes
0
answers
168
views
Does "The Deluge" by Mauritius Lowe still exist? Where?
I have been reading "The Life of Samuel Johnson" by Boswell. In the book it describes a painting "The Deluge" by Mauritius Lowe that was rejected by the Exhibition of the Royal ...
- 121
2
votes
0
answers
169
views
Is there any (other) record of white people being sold into slavery in America?
Awhile back I asked a question about a book The Boy John: Story of a White Slave written in 1897. The book tells the story of a white boy who was sold into slavery. His master made him stay outside ...
- 2,526
2
votes
0
answers
193
views
What was the worth of 100 pounds of tobacco in 1620?
I am trying to understand the value of whole leaf tobacco in the early 1600s. What could it buy per pound weight or what would it sell for per pound weight in pounds sterling of the time. Outside of ...
- 121
2
votes
0
answers
157
views
Does the Rig Veda specifically mention any Central Asian places beyond modern Afghanistan?
On doing research on the Rig Veda, I found that the Bactria and the associated rivers were mentioned. But does the Rig Veda contain specific details of any Central Asian places beyond modern ...
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
47
views
Were "African levies" paid during the Hut Tax War of 1898?
The Hut Tax War of 1898 was fought largely between the British, supported by freed African, African-American, and Afro-Caribbean slaves, called the Creole trying to colonize Sierra Leone, and the ...
- 2,526
2
votes
0
answers
153
views
Could anyone please help me identify who this is meant to be?
I recently purchased this bust at an estate sale. It was advertised as an Egyptian goddess, but I don't think that is accurate at all. It looks to be more Asian in design. Any ideas who it is meant to ...
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
157
views
Was Zoroaster a historical person?
I have heard that most scholars consider Zarathustra to have been an existed, historical person. If this is the case, how do they know this, unlike Homer whose historicity is uncertain?
- 61
2
votes
0
answers
210
views
What is/are the earliest first-hand account of a sex worker?
I was just reading Hell's Belles: Prostitution, Vice, and Crime in Early Denver by Clark Secrest. I can't find the part now (it's not that important), but he comments that we have no surviving diary ...
- 2,526
2
votes
0
answers
303
views
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) ...
- 29
2
votes
0
answers
253
views
How did Mao regain and consolidate power after the Great Famine?
Mao Zedong's position had weakened after the Great Famine, and in the period during and leading up to the Cultural Revolution, he regained and consolidated his power. I am interested in getting a ...
- 121
2
votes
0
answers
150
views
Did the microwave listening plot ever yield useful intelligence?
In Spycatcher Peter Wright mentions that microwaves can be used to detect sound-waves in a suitable tuned object without the need for it to have an active power source, and that such a device had been ...
- 524
2
votes
0
answers
98
views
When was the first ship model kit offered to the public?
Following this guy's question [requires login].
According to Wikipedia model ships are dated to ancient Greece, Egypt, and Phoenicia but those, and later models up to sometime in the 1800's, were all ...
- 265
2
votes
0
answers
263
views
How did the Ancient Greeks forge and shape metal gears?
The closest to answer I've gotten is this video:
Wikipedia: Making gears by hand without machines
However, I don't really know if Archimedes and his contemporaries would have the above tools or not. I'...
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
245
views
How often was the 'abominable mystery' used to attack Darwin's evolution theory?
Darwin coined the words "abominable mystery" for the comparatively sudden appearance of flowering plants in the fossil record, and considered it a weak point in his evolution theory.
But ...
- 773
2
votes
0
answers
168
views
Did James I of England have both male and female lovers?
I've read multiple biographies of James, and there is no consensus on whether he was bisexual. He had four children with his wife, Ann of Denmark, but he also had many repeated male favorites, some of ...
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
201
views
Can anyone help identifying markings on this artillery shell casing?
Inherited this shell casing from my grandfather who emigrated from England around war time (WW2) but I don't have any real information or dates. My mother just remembers it always being around. My ...
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
126
views
What percentage of refugees from Yugoslavia returned home after the war had ended?
I'm trying to understand the process of how Yugoslav refugees returned to their home countries after the end of the Yugoslav wars, 1991-2001. How many refugees returned to their home countries ...
- 4,291
2
votes
0
answers
82
views
What is the origin of playing Holi with colors?
How has Holi evolved? And how was it played some time ago, as making color pigments must have been expensive? Was it reserved for the elites like the royal family?
Or is playing with colors a modern ...
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
77
views
What did the equitable of the citizens exactly dislike about Ananus, in Josephus' reference to James?
Josephus' reference to James the brother of Jesus
And now Caesar, upon hearing the death of Festus, sent Albinus into
Judea, as procurator. But the king deprived Joseph of the high
priesthood, and ...
- 107
2
votes
0
answers
96
views
Was the Tetrarchy known under a different name by contemporaries?
It made me curious that the Tetrarchy should be known by a Greek name, so I've spent some time searching for a Latin alternative, but I didn't find any mention of it, including in the Latin-language ...
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
155
views
Can anyone identify this 1900 Russian or Cossack uniform?
This is a picture of my grandmother and her parents.
- 21
2
votes
0
answers
226
views
Was the contemporaneity of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan coincidental or somehow structural?
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan embarked on aggressive war plans on opposite sides of the globe at nearly the same time.
Was this a coincidence, or were there structural factors in the world system ...
- 410
2
votes
0
answers
362
views
Was there anything similar to the World War 1 Christmas truce in World War 2?
I know that there was an unofficial Christmas truce during World War I, so now my question is this: was there anything similar during World War 2? It is close to the holidays as I am writing this ...
- 427
2
votes
0
answers
81
views
Did Washington ever impose any sort of investment ban on Nazi germany?
There is archived coverage about multinational companies, headquartered in the US, that have had operations in Nazi Germany, like here. While these multinationals appear to have received some public ...
- 245
2
votes
0
answers
169
views
What was in those documents Victoria snuck away from Wilhelm II to London in 1888?
Victoria, Princess Royal, and German Empress for less than a hundred days in 1888, saw the signs of death for her husband, Emperor Friedrich III, and apparently both did not trust either Bismarck or ...
- 81k
2
votes
0
answers
152
views
What was Hunanese cuisine like before chili peppers were imported to China?
Today, chilis are strongly associated with Hunanese cuisine, which is regarded as the spiciest Chinese regional cuisine. However, Chinese recipe books didn't start mentioning chilis until the 1790s, ...
- 352
2
votes
0
answers
234
views
What is the dagger at the bottom of this photo?
Could anyone assist with possibly identifying the blade at the bottom of this picture? I know that it is incredibly sharp and maybe a Jambiya. I am trying to date it and also place its original ...
- 21