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Q&A for historians and history buffs| History Stack Exchange
This may be a long shot, but I have been researching my wife's ancestry and came across James Hoste (17th Century Castle Rising MP). John Hoste was mentioned in the book An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk (Vol.9 pg 67-72) stating that "Jeffrey, eldest son of Jeffrey Cobbe and Elizabeth, daughter of ir Henry Bedingfield of Oxburg sold his lordship about he year 1686 to Sir Edward Atkins, lord chief baron of the Exchequer, who shortly after conveyed it to James Ho...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Sorry if this is not the right place but I forgot the exact title and author of that book I studied in high school (Canada). I think it is titled "World History" or something. I believe this book was published around 1990s (perhaps earlier) and comes in two volumes. First volume is colored blue and has a picture of medieval castle on cover while the second volume is colored red. The first volume covers topics starting from early Christianity ending with the discovery of new world (?). I don...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Can anyone help identify this bayonet? I think it is from a WWII Mauser.| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
It's pretty common knowledge (as outlined by the answer in this question: "This telegram must be closely paraphrased before being communicated to anyone." Why? and other sources) that one of the reasons Enigma was able to be broken by the Allies during WWII was that the Germans were rather lax in their use of best practices of cryptography. If the Germans HAD been using best practices in all of their Enigma use, could Enigma have been broken with the computational capabilities available durin...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I’m researching the origins of the Arab Revolt flag and came across a quotation that is often attributed to Sir Ronald Storrs’ Orientations (1937), supposedly from his diary entry of March 30, 1917: "...and then with Mark [Sykes] to the Intelligence Department where we devised a flag for the Arab national movement. We tried various combinations, detesting always the weak colours and the tricolour; and at last, by much trial, evolved what eventually became the Arab flag." I’ve checked th...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Typically do civilizations which traded with each other have written records of each other? I am wondering if the language, people, rise and fall of society in Indus Valley Civilization is accounted in other civilizations lending to the credence of Aryan invasion theory of Dravidians. Why is it difficult to prove or disprove the hypothesis? General answer and Aryan invasion theory as example. Writing began in 3500 BC before the final of Indus Valley Civilization and trade should be existing i...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I recently watched this 15 minute animated YouTube video about the battle of Midway. Though the United States had the element of surprise from better intelligence, they lost a remarkable amount of dive bombers and torpedo bombers to the superior Japanese Mitsubishi “Zeroes”. The US bomber groups consisting of both bombers and fighters head out in a formation capable of protecting themselves. Together, at the very least with the amount of planes in their groups, they would be able to keep ...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
In a previous question about the origin of the term "blue hour", the research from Dietrich Seybold on the blue hour was linked. Seybold claims that Albert Besnard draw a painting called "l'heure bleue" in 1890. He does not have a picture available in his website. How do I confirm such a painting exists? I tried to search in Web Gallery of Art, WikiArt, Paris Musées Collections and other search engines to no avail. My impression is that there was a confusion either with the work of Klinger (...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Alexander after withdrawing from Hyphasis and conquering Mallian reached the Sea. He sent his Navy back by sea across the Persian Gulf to Susa under the command of admiral Nearchus. He took his Army on a march through the Gedrosian desert. A third of his Army was lost due to its harsh conditions. Why didn't Alexander sail all of his troops accross the Persian Gulf and avoid desert climate just like the Romans sailed thier armies across mediterranean?| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Roman Britain produced 1.4 kg of iron per capita whereas 1000 years later in 1078 Song Dynasty China produced less 1.3 kg of iron per capita. How did Roman Britain produce more Iron than Song China per capita 1000 years later? References : Roman output- Mining and Metallurgy in the Greek and Roman World. By J. F. Healy. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1978. Pg 196 Song China output- Markets, Technology, and the Structure of Enterprise in the Development of the Eleventh-Century Chinese Iron and ...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Developing Cultures: Case Studies Lawrence E. Harrison, Peter L. Berger Routledge, 2006 pg. 158 asserts that Aurangzeb's revenue was more than ten times that of his contemporary Louis XIV of France Recalculating French Army Growth during the Grand Siecle 1610-1715 John A. Lynn says that Louis had an army of 400,000, while The Mughal World: Life in India's Last Golden Age suggests that Aurangzeb's army was 900,000 strong and his military finances bankrupted his empire How did Louis XIV mobiliz...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
During twilight, the light emitted by the sky is of a particular hue of blue for several minutes after the sunset (same happens several minutes before sunrise). This period of time has been termed "blue hour" by painters and photographers. English use The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) says that The earliest known use of the noun blue hour is in the 1870s. OED's earliest evidence for blue hour is from 1875, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine. I found the quote in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazin...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
The Single whip law or the "Single whip reform" was a fiscal law first instituted during the middle Ming dynasty, in the early 16th century, and then promulgated throughout the empire in 1580 by Zhang Juzheng. The measure aimed primarily to simplify the complex fiscal code under Ming law, by commuting most obligations towards the central government — from land and poll taxes to the labour obligations of the peasantry and the tributes of prefectural and county officials — into a single sil...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
The question is inspired by reading The Iron Cage by Rashid Khalidi. While the book provides many interesting insights, its arguments/findings essentially hinge on the claim that the British empire was staunchly committed to Zionism and creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Khalidi does little to justify this claim, beyond the following passages: However, there were deep structural factors of support for Zionism in Britain and for Israel in the United States that remained unchanged in spit...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
When excavating historical Egyptian sites in the past, there was a limited list of Egyptian Pharaohs that were known in ancient times, mainly through the Bible etc. It was not until the decipherment of the hieroglyphics that the list began to expand. I asked an AI engine what was the likely list that was know to the ancients, but I doubt its veracity. For example I was surprised to see Tutankhamun in the list and got me to wondering how could he have possibly been known in ancient times (base...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
The greatsword is a type of two-handed sword that's rather large and heavy compared to it's counterparts, but delivers a more powerful swing. The greatsword doesn't seem to have significant advantages to compensate for its downsides. For one, it's heavy, designed to be wielded with two hands unless the wielder is extremely strong, which eliminates the possibility of an offhand shield. Its swing time is slow, telegraphing moves and giving the opponent time to dodge or block the swing. Meanwhil...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
By "anyone," I mean experts such as military or political leaders contemporaneously, or professional historians in retrospect. By "wipeout," I mean a scenario in which Japan sinks five carriers and eight battleships of the American Pacific fleet in 1941-1942 with their trained and relatively experienced crews, with the loss of no more than one or two capital ships, then decimates the numerically largely but less experienced fleet that American turns out in 1943. Admiral Yamamoto was quoted as...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I know that the idea that humans have 360 joints appears in a few old sources. One is from the Islamic tradition, from Sahih Muslim 1007a, a text that was first written maybe in the 9th century AD. I also know it appears in another text known as the Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals, attributed to Dong Zhongshu in the 2nd century BC, which states that “Man has 360 joints, which match the number of Heaven (the round number of days in a year)” (Wing-Tsit Chan, A Source Book in C...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Helping my daughter with a presentation about Cook, I looked for English sources about his biography and was surprised to read that he was a son of a farmer hand - practically, the bottom of the lower class. Was it real? I mean, he could be really the son of that rich farmer, and had much better support at start? What was the statistics about bourgeoisie/worker/farmer sons among navy officers in England? For me numbers before the industrial revolution and after it are interesting: The end of ...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I was reading Malcolm X's autobiography and what surprised in the book was the fact that he was able to visit Saudi Arabia and numerous African states without obtaining a visa in advance. Nowadays this would be largely impossible as Saudi Arabia requires most visitors to apply for a visa in advance, especially for a visit to Mecca. When did the visa system for regulating entry and exit become widespread as we know it today? E.g. until what year could an Indian/Afgani/Iranian citizen freely en...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
This is about the Sino-Sikh War The Wikipedia article says He had extended his communication and supply line over 450 miles of inhospitable terrain by building small forts and pickets along the way. The fort Chi-T’ang was built near Taklakot, where Mehta Basti Ram was put in command of 500 men, with 8 or 9 cannon. With the onset of winter all the passes were blocked and roads snowed in. The supplies for the Dogra army over such a long distance failed despite Zorawar’s meticulous preparati...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Q&A for historians and history buffs| History Stack Exchange
Some historical documents from WWII have a notice on them stating This telegram must be closely paraphrased before being communicated to anyone. The documents I've found were received by the United| History Stack Exchange
