164
votes
Accepted
Why is the consensus that WW2 started on September 1, 1939 and not July 7, 1937?
Actually, good arguments can be put forward for both dates as the the 'start' of World War 2. In fact a number of other dates have also been suggested for the 'start' of World War 2, including:
...
- 76.9k
150
votes
Accepted
Did medieval scholars believe the Earth was round?
Lyon's theory is rather flawed.
First of all, the Etymologiae was written in the 7th century. Just because one paragraph from one chapter in the book might possibly be construed as implying a flat ...
- 96.6k
137
votes
Accepted
Why did Native Americans die from European diseases while Europeans didn't catch serious diseases from the New World?
Europeans were introduced to at least one important disease from the Americas (syphilis), but far more Old World pathogens were introduced to the Americas than vice versa. There are several reasons ...
- 18.1k
99
votes
Why was Germany not as successful as other Europeans in establishing overseas colonies?
Which Germany do you mean?
Something that can reasonably called a German nation-state was founded only in 1871, when Prussia first defeated France and then unified most German states under their ...
- 16.4k
96
votes
Was hay invented only in the Middle Ages in Europe?
The Roman writer on agriculture Columella, who died around AD 70, gives a detailed description of the manufacture of hay (Latin: faenum) in his de re rustica 2.18, which reads as follows in the Loeb ...
- 9,578
79
votes
Accepted
Why are the German and French languages so different?
Defense of German heritage against Romans
The biggest reason for how the lands east of the Rhine retained their German identity (unlike the Gauls of modern day France who lost their Celtic identity) ...
- 8,153
75
votes
Did medieval scholars believe the Earth was round?
Thomas Aquinas wrote a number of works in the 13th century, some of which were introductory (at least to medieval students - less so to today's students, who are not familiar with scholastic ...
- 1,283
71
votes
Accepted
Which European Languages are not Indo-European?
Overview
Since there are a fair amount of them, languages are grouped below by language family:
Basque
A linguistic isolate native to the Pyrenees mountains between Spain, and France.
Source: &...
69
votes
Accepted
Did medieval peasants work 150 days a year?
Probably not. The one economist this number can be traced to now says its a huge underestimate.
In 1986 economist Gregory Clark wrote a working paper that (according to citers) contained this estimate....
- 114k
65
votes
Accepted
How did such a relatively minor event as the assassination of an archduke start World War I?
The assassination itself did not cause the war — it only caused the first declaration of war in World War One.
What really happened between the assassination (June 28) and the eruption of war (...
- 6,259
59
votes
Accepted
Was England considered a "colony" of France?
I'm going to say that England should not be considered as having been a colony of France.
From the wiki page for colony
a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state, ...
- 4,717
58
votes
Accepted
How were Martello towers supposed to work?
That was the whole idea behind it. Not every bit of coastline is liable to invasion. Only on certain beaches troops could be landed. Steep cliffs and dangerous shallows didn't need protection. Place a ...
- 19.1k
57
votes
Accepted
Who is this young 'Prince'?
I don't know uniforms well enough to be completely affirmative, but all your clues and the physionomy of the boy remind me of French Imperial Prince Napoleon, son of Napoleon III.
He was born in ...
- 5,552
55
votes
Accepted
How common were marital duels in medieval Europe?
Not that common.
Very curiously, we do not see husband and wife, necessarily, in these pictures. Talhoffer only writes of man ("er") and woman ("frow"). (More illustrations, with ...
- 80k
54
votes
Why aren't there major cities on the Atlantic coast of France?
First because most cities in France are much smaller than cities in the US. Compare a list of French cities by population with the same for the US. There are 11 cities in the US bigger than the 2nd ...
- 54.4k
53
votes
Why was the Scout movement so successful?
Baden-Powell had been besieged in the town of Mafeking during the Second Boer War. He had formed the Mafeking Cadet Corps, which was a group of youths that supported the defending troops by carrying ...
- 76.9k
53
votes
What is the oldest European royal house?
In terms of continuously dateable genealogy, it is probably the Bagratids of Georgia, the current head of which is disputed between three branches.
The Georgian branch was founded by Adarnase in the ...
- 96.6k
51
votes
Accepted
Why did Europeans (and not people in other regions) dominate oceans?
Europeans had an incentive to explore the Atlantic because they were dependent on the trade routes which pass through Arab territory. The Arabs and other peoples living in the Middle East made a lot ...
- 633
47
votes
Why did Europe not see Roman-era numbers of men participating in battles until the 17th century?
A major reason would be logistics. It's not all about population sizes.
The strength of an army is constrained not just by its manpower sources, but also by the logistical infrastructure available to ...
- 96.6k
47
votes
Did medieval scholars believe the Earth was round?
Well, it isn't exactly true that medieval scholars understood the world to be round. They were much, much more subtle in their thinking that that. You see, it was quite clear that the world couldn't ...
- 1,781
46
votes
Why did Native Americans die from European diseases while Europeans didn't catch serious diseases from the New World?
Several good answers have already been suggested, but there are a few very important points that are worth mentioning: Native Americans were badly unprepared for the emergence of epidemic disease ...
- 2,259
45
votes
Why is the consensus that WW2 started on September 1, 1939 and not July 7, 1937?
Because it was the participation of the British and French empires, beginning with Declarations of War against Germany on Sept. 3, 1939, that turned several isolated regional conflicts into a World ...
- 70.4k
44
votes
Accepted
Why was France given such a lenient peace after Napoleon was defeated?
The attitude in the early 19 century was somewhat different. No one considered these wars as wars "against France", I mean against the French people. These were the wars against Napoleon, and earlier ...
- 38.1k
44
votes
Accepted
Has there ever been an archbishop or bishop younger than the 16-year-old James of Nicosia?
I'd imagine that the youngest ever bishop would have to be Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, the second son of King George III.
Image source Wikimedia
Born on 16 August 1763, he was ...
- 76.9k
43
votes
Are there any accounts of everyday life during the Black Death?
Chronicle of the Black Death
There is a chronicle from the British Library which I will link to. It was written at the cathedral priory of Rochester between 1314 and 1350, and deals with everyday life ...
- 3,032
41
votes
How literate were common people in Medieval Europe?
Here are some semi-random quotes. I do not have time to chase the references, but they are coming from a modern professional historian, not from a You-tube personality, so I'd take his numbers ...
- 6,085
40
votes
Accepted
Did people use to marry much younger during the last millennium?
Not really.
Generally speaking, most European women since married in their early to mid twenties, to men in their mid to late twenties. The age gap for the commoners, i.e. the vast majority of the ...
- 96.6k
39
votes
What is the most number of times someone has become leader of a European country?
Aristide Briand was Prime Minister of France 6 non-contiguous times:
Jul. 24, 1909 - Mar 2, 1911
Jan 21, 1913 - Mar. 22, 1913
Oct. 29, 1915 - Mar. 20, 1917
Jan. 16, 1921 - Jan 15, 1922
Nov. 28, 1925 ...
- 70.4k
39
votes
Accepted
Why didn't Europeans before Gutenberg print with woodblocks?
First I would say that during the medieval period the demand for books was much lesser than after the books became comparatively cheap after Gutenberg. The key here is the expense a quickly worn out ...
- 80k
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