Weekly Historical past Questions Thread.
Welcome to our Historical past Questions Thread!
This thread is for all these historical past associated questions which are too easy, brief or a bit too foolish to warrant their very own publish.
So, do you’ve got a query about historical past and have all the time been afraid to ask? Properly, at the moment is your fortunate day. Ask away!
After all all our common guidelines and pointers nonetheless apply and to be simply that bit further clear:
Questions must be historic in nature. Foolish doesn’t imply that your query needs to be a joke. [r/history](https://www.reddit.com/r/historical past/) additionally has an energetic discord server the place you may talk about historical past with different fans and consultants
Comments ( 34 )
Were there any serious efforts to reunite Gran Colombia?
Why didn’t the Kingdom of England send any troops to New England to aid them in King Philip’s War? England was not actively involved in any wars at the time, although it was involved in the Franco-Dutch War about a year prior. I literally cannot find any resources detailing why England didn’t send *anything*, absolutely no support at all. The Confederacy was left to fend for itself and over 15% of its population was wiped out as a result. It seems like England should have *not* wanted that to happen.
I was playing a Risk like game the other day. I had Greenland and the other player had Canada. At one point during the game, we sort of exchanged counties. He had most of his Canadian troops in Greenland and I had most of mine in Canada. So this made me wonder, was there ever a point in history that two large Army’s exchanged counties on such a large scale? Anything interesting that has a Wikipedia link would be awesome.
The Japanese were seen as insane for their willingness to fight to the death for their country during World War II, yet the British were praised for the very same thing – their stiff upper lip, and their vow, via Winston Churchill, to fight them on the beaches, in the fields, etc, and to never surrender.
Why the dual assessment of these two peoples? I can only guess it’s because the Japanese were the aggressor on one hand, but I also suspect there is a racial component at work here as well. Any thoughts, perspectives?
The Moors were in Spain/Iberia for 700 odd years. Does their DNA figure strongly in Spanish (and Hispanic) people? I’ve read that there is little trace of Roman DNA in Britain even with 400 years of occupation but this may be due to the “Romans” not being actually from the Italian peninsula but other occupied parts of the empire. So wondering about Moorish/Arab DNA.
What’s a good repository for small to medium sized history essays? My reading speed is slow and I’m at work a lot so it would be good to read 10-50 page essays.
This may be a silly question better-suited to another subreddit, but let’s say that magic exists, and the events of *Beauty and the Beast* happened. (The live-action Disney adaptation shows King Louis XIV to be the Prince/Beast’s father.) What would be the realistic and legal ramifications of a long-lost prince of the blood (*fil de france*) suddenly returning to pre-Revolution French society?
Did the first emperor of the Timurid empire ever built towers out of the bodies of the conquered cities? (Sorry for bad spelling)
What were the so-called Germanic tribes in the Migration Period like? Were they distinct groups of people with their own languages and cultures, or were they just large armies united by a chieftain (with wagons full of women, children, and belongings somewhere in the rear)?
For example, take the Jutes. They lived in modern-day Denmark, then relocated to England. Does this mean they emptied out their villages, or did only the tribal leaders, along with their squads, move while being replaced by someone else? Then there were the Danes, who lived on the same land as the Jutes. Were they entire tribes from somewhere else, or just some new gangs who came and taxed local peasants? Or was it something in between?
Is there any proof that this Tiger massacre in Siberia in the 1920’s actually happened?
What is it about Israel and Palestine that was where humans were finally able to make the first cities, before anywhere else?
This query was removed from the main page with a recommendation that I post it here:
I’m looking for information on the stagecoach service from Marysville, CA to Meadow Lake, now known as Summit City, almost non-existent today. October 20, 1866, Mark Twain is reported to have traveled through the mining towns of Timbuctoo, Smartsville, Rough and Ready, to Grass Valley. October 23, he is said to have been in Nevada City. October 24 and 25, he went by horseback to Red Dog and You Bet, returning then to Nevada City. October 26, he went to Meadow Lake City, now known as Summit City, where he took the Pioneer Stagecoach to Virginia City.
I’m hoping to fill in the details of this part of Mark Twain’s lecture tour through California. There are plenty of anecdotes and information about many of the other stagecoach routes of this era and I’d like to find the same for this route.
In the 1910s how did women get up stairs and into cars with hobble skirts? or did they just not do it
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i feel like this is a dumb question but like genuinely
Despite World War II being the deadliest conflict in history, why did the world’s population continue to increase?
Just finished reading “Winter is Coming” by Garry Kasparov. One passage stood out to me:
>Crimea was forced to hold a sham referendum over joining Russia a few weeks later [in 2014], a vote that took place on the Kremlin’s preferred terms, at the point of a gun and with the result never in doubt. That Crimeans had already voted in the past to stay as part of Ukraine did not come up.
Is the 2nd sentence accurate? Which referendum is he referring to? I’m assuming the 1994 referendum, but it’s not clear to me based on the wording of the referendum. Thanks.
In relation to how difficult it is to be chosen to be an astronaut nowadays, how difficult was it to be chosen to be on the crew of monarchy-funded expeditions by explorers, such as Christopher Columbus or Vacso da Gama?
Were these sailors the best of the best, or just regular people?
What books can serve as sequels to *The Bible Unearthed,* by Finkelstein and Silberman? The book ends right around the beginning of the construction of the Second Temple during the Persian period. What should I read next?
How did the Mongolian Empire go from an absolute powerhouse superpower, to a virtually nonfactor entity today?
What are some widely researched aspects of the functioning of ancient Greek society? Eg. politics, slavery, wars, etc.
How did Kleos affect Greek society?
What is the political effect of the Japanese occupation to Sabah and Sarawak during WW2
if the Renesanse started in the 14th century but the middle ages ended when Columbus discovered America by the end of the 15th century , is it considered that both existed at the same time ? had a bit of an argument, my friend claims it started in the begining of the 14th century there for the middle age is done, but i claim both had existed in the same time, just bcs italy got hit with the Renesanse earlier does not mean the entire rest of the world experienced it and that the middle ages were done with . but he made another interesting argument by saying ” some places today have yet to invent the wheel and are still using primitive tools to survive , does that mean we still haven’t left the stone age “.
from my pov only italy entered the renesanse in the 14th century for the rest of Europe the middle ages was very much real and ongoing
Any good long podcast or short audiobook recommendations about the history of communism in the 20th century?
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Eifel Tower sold by a scammer true or false?
I recently watched a documentary about Paris and in there was an information that was briefly described and it was about that the Eifel tower that it was sold by a scammer that didn’t even own is. So my question is if that is true or if I just misheard it and in what time it was sold or if it even was sold. Thanks for reading.
Thoughts on U.S. dropping nukes? Should we have dropped none, one, or two? I have my own opinion but want other’s perspectives!! Thanks
Does [this channel](https://www.youtube.com/@OldBritannia/featured) get the history of Britain right?
They have so far covered the the 19th, late 18th, and early 20th Century.
Are there any good podcasts for learning about the Ottoman Empire from kind of an ELI5 perspective? I know the gist, but would somewhat of a ‘history of the ottomans for dummies’ if anyone is aware of something like that.
My girlfriend and I are about to head out on an 18 hour drive and picked this as a topic we wanna learn more about. Thx in advance!
What diameter were Byzantine chain mail links generally? Do we have any sources?
I would be interested in why we chose 20 years as the dividing line between history and current events. Why not longer lengths like 150 years, a century and a half where no one is alive today, 100 years, which is a non-arbitrary length, a century, where a tiny fraction of people are alive today, 50 years, half of a century, where a small fraction of people are alive today or 25 years, a quarter of a century, where a good chunk of people are alive today, but still distant from the present or shorter lengths like 10 years, which is a non-arbitrary length since it is one decade? I’d be interested in hearing your reasoning behind 20 years and not earlier lengths like 25 years or shorter lengths like 10 years.
In Europe history,what is the most important reason of the development of science ,cause most of the greatest scientists are from europe in recent centuries .
Today is 105 years since Manfred von Richthofen, also known as the Red Baron, was shot down over France. It’s safe to say British pilot Roy Brown wasn’t the one who shot him down. And due to the nature of his injury, Von Richthofen would have at most 2 minutes to live after being hit, which pretty much dismisses other theories such as Robert Buie or anyone else firing the fatal bullet. Which leaves only Australian gunners Snowy Evans and Cedric Popkin, the last 2 people who fired at Von Richthofen’s plane, as the most likely people who shot down the Red Baron, but we’ll probably never know for sure who fired the fatal shot.
Most historians and documentaries credit Cedric Popkin with the kill, partly because he was the last person to shoot at Von Richthofen. But my main problem with this is that they all discount Popkin’s own testimony that he fired on the Red Baron’s plane from the front, whereas the fatal bullet came from the side. People have made claims that Popkin was mistaken, that his memory was incorrect, or even that Von Richthofen was turned in his seat to look behind him, with his side towards the front of the plane when he was hit by Popkin with the fatal bullet.
For me it would seem that Snowy Evans, the 2nd to last person to fire on Von Richthofen’s plane, is by far more likely the person who actually shot down the Red Baron, mainly because he did in fact shot at Von Richthofen’s plane from the side. But other than a 2002 Discovery Channel documentary, most people seem to disagree and insist it had to be Cedric Popkin who fired the fatal shot, despite his own testimony.
Anyone have any other thoughts about this? Is there anything else I’m overlooking as to why Popkin instead of Evans should be seen as the most likely person to shoot down the Red Baron?
So after replaying Black Flag, I’ve gotten quite curious about a certain legendary ship battle. In the fight against the HMS Fearless and Royal Sovereign, upon sinking one of the two ships, the other would set itself on fire and ram at you. Did ships during the Golden Age of Piracy really practice this? Like they’d set themselves on fire as a last resort? And if so, what of the crew? Even if they won, then wouldn’t they be burned to death?
I have read a fair bit around the Stuart Kings and the English Civil War. One thing which comes up consistently and which most writers seem to assume familiarity with, is the way Parliament meets at the convenience of the king, and how it is sometimes kept from meeting for years, and how it is dissolved completely upon the death of the king. I still find myself perplexed – what were the rules for and powers of Parliament, and why did the king need it at all? Was there a constitution ordering this or was it simply accepted formality? Could you recommend any books or articles dealing directly with this subject?