43
votes
Accepted
Where was gunpowder invented/ discovered?
This confusion is A Thing. I actually looked into it a few weeks back.
Its quite likely that ancient Indians were the first people to harvest and make use of saltpeter. We certainly haven't found ...
- 114k
11
votes
Accepted
How do we know when Nero was born?
The best way it could be determined is based on the writings of Tacitus and Suetonius.
In Tacitus annals, he provides info about the birth of Nero, and so does Suetonius, in his writing The Lives of ...
- 146
5
votes
Was there an Act of Oblivion in 1686 for those involved in the Monmouth Rebellion 1685?
I find a couple of references to this particular 'Act of Oblivion' or General Amnesty of 1686. The first appears in the Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, By ...
- 36.3k
5
votes
Accepted
What is the source of "the three most useless things in the world are the Great Wall, Pyramids, and the Yamato"?
I checked the Japanese text, which is as follows:
世界の三馬鹿「ピラミッド・万里の長城・戦艦大和」
I can confirm that this is mentioned in many histories of WW2 as a joke which was whispered between Navy staff. One notable ...
- 2,336
4
votes
Was there an Act of Oblivion in 1686 for those involved in the Monmouth Rebellion 1685?
To add to what JustCal has written in the other answer, this was indeed a Royal proclamation rather than an Act of Parliament. The use of the term "act" is a bit confusing in this regard, ...
- 9,062
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