One hour after Japanese bombers struck at Hawaii on the morning of December 7, 1941, Prime Minister John Curtin of Australia declared that "from one hour ago, Australia has been at war with the Japanese Empire." War was formally declared at 11:15 A.M., December 9, Australian time (8:15 P.M., December 8, American E.S.T.). Announcing Australia's recognition that a state of war existed, Prime Minister Curtin said at 7:30 A.M., American E.S.T., December 8: World War II: Australia Declares War on ...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I wonder what's the best recent scholarly estimate of the percentages of each of the 3 main social classes of population in the city of Rome around the time of Octavian: Patricians Plebeians Slaves It would be a bonus if in addition the answer includes: comparison with the percentages outside the cities some statistics on the subdivisions of the Plebeians: military freed slaves tradesmen skilled workers like scribes, musicians etc. some statistics on the slaves: numbers who became slaves due ...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I've documented the garrocha pole. Wikipedia discusses the Italian Mazzarella, and the Mongolian uurga. I've also documented the use of the horse in herding horses from horseback. This question is scoped to: sources prior to 1600 (which excludes all the American examples I've found) (and, I believe all Australian examples; to the best of my knowledge, there were no horses prior to colonization.) cattle herding from horseback. exclude the cattle goad unless there is some record of a cattle goa...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I've got three citations documenting the use of the garrocha pole in history. What I don't have are any sources that would indicate how the pole was used, or how it was trained. The first is reasonable quality. In 1450 herd size in the Marismas was set at 500 sheep with no more than two shepherds, and 500 cattle with up to four vaqueros (Ordenanzas: 29 verso), . . . The herders were forbidden to carry arms in order to avoid deadly brawls and vaqueros were only permitted a knife and a pointed ...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Forty years or so ago I was told a story by an Oxford linguist: he'd been attached to Monty's army as an intelligence officer, after undergoing training which included hours every day reading captured documents to ensure that he was familiar with German typography and military nuance. One night he was woken by somebody saying "...there's a Hell of a Brocks' benefit going up in the West(?): what's going on?" "I don't know", he replied, "get me a prisoner and I'll find out". A couple of days la...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Wikipedia's "Historiography of the fall of the Western Roman Empire" article mentions several theories for the fall of the Roman Empire. Edward Gibbon's is "moral decay" and Christianity. What exactly did he mean by "moral decay", and did that include homosexuality?| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Researching the Third Section which was organized under the Tsar's chancery. I get the benefit of setting up a parallel organization outside of the culture and hierarchy of existing institutions but many of the sources seem to make a big deal out of the chancery reporting directly to the Tsar which seemed to jive with how few of them there were. At first, I thought this was a reference to the relative lack of many levels of hierarchy between individual agents of the Third Section and the Tsar...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
In a celebrated American victory in January, 1781, the Americans offered battle in a pastured area in northern South Carolina, then (and later) referred as the Cowpens. In his later memoirs, Tarleton, the British commander recalled his initial satisfaction approaching from the south that this "was as fine a battlefield that Tarleton could desire. America does not produce many such." It favored his style of straight ahead marches, charges or sweeps on level ground with few complications or hid...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
In 1944 USA, were civilians able to buy empty 5 US gallon jerrycans, the type of metallic containers used by the military. Especially in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and other states in the North-East. Questmasters.us shows various containers, but it's not clear that civilians could find some of them in hardware stores during 1944.| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I have an antique and unique photoceramic portrait of an officer, likely dating back to the 1800s. I believe he is wearing a British uniform. I guess that the year is 1860s-1870s. Can somebody with the knowledge identify this uniform?| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Founders Online New York Ratifying Convention. First Speech of June 21 (Francis Childs’s Version), [21 June 1788] quotes Hamilton: It has been observed by an honorable gentleman, that a pure democracy, if it were practicable, would be the most perfect government.5 Experience has proved, that no position in politics is more false than this. So I wanted to know who he was responding to and what they had said. Footnotes 3 and 5 say: 3. H is referring to the remarks made by Williams and Smith w...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I have found an interesting paper ("'Bombing to Win' at 25" published on the blog War on the Rocks) that says, Recent scholarship on historical uses of airpower in World War II highlights the utility of strategic airpower not as a war-winning instrument in its own right, but as a highly effective enabler of other services in joint operations. Unfortunately, this paper has no references. I understand that airpower has several key roles in addition to its strategic bombing capabilities (e.g., a...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
The Bible mentions the deities Baal-hamon, Molech, and Tophet, as deities to which the ancient peoples of the near east would sacrifice children to. Moreover, Baal-Hammon is also mentioned as a place name. They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind - Jeremiah 19:5 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their so...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I know being noble was one of the requirements (not the only) to be a Knight Templar, and the commoners would end up being Sergeants or a lower range, but, could a non-noble be promoted to Knight maybe by experience, or any other achievement, or was this impossible inside the order?| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Sorry for my bad English here (I'm French speaking)... I'm writing an adventure novel occurring in October 1944, in the USA. A woman (lets call her Alice) is working as a scientist in a military hospital of New Hampshire. She has to drive all alone down to Louisiana, with her Ford Sedan Deluxe 1940 (which has a v8 motor). I know that there was a federal speed limit of 35 mph (56 km/h) at that time, and gas restrictions for the civilians. As a relatively important scientist, Alice have a class...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I'm interested in how books have been stored throughout European history, specifically the transition from enclosed bookcases (with wooden or glass doors) to open bookshelves that leave books exposed and easily accessible. From what I understand, earlier book storage—especially in private libraries, monasteries, and institutions—often involved cabinets or bookcases with doors to protect books from dust, moisture, and theft. At some point, open bookshelves became more common, especially in...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
My history textbook claims the Silk Road was more than a trade route—it was also a channel for cultural and intellectual exchange between East and West. But after reading Marco Polo’s account, which covers a time when the Silk Road had already existed for a millennium, I’m doubtful. The geographic and linguistic barriers seem too great for ideas to travel effectively, and even Polo’s descriptions of the East are vague. Wikipedia mentions things like Buddhist temples along the Silk Roa...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I've seen some claims online that Trump (2024) and Biden (2020) were the oldest people to ever be nominated for president by a US political party. However a bit of research seems to show that this isn't true. For example, Peter Cooper (1876:Greenback party) was 85, and William Hope Harvey (1932:Liberty party) was 81. Who were the oldest presidential nominees, and where do Trump and Biden rank on this list?| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Arguably one of the most important military inventions of World War 2 was the proximity fuze. It greatly increased the lethality of artillery shells, since an airburst has a higher chance of covering trenches with shell fragments, and soldiers laying on the ground in as low a position as possible are more likely killed or injured by artillery shells exploding in the air because of the larger cross section when the shell explodes in the air. I would think that, since the invention of the proxi...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
A user of a different stack exchange site recently mentioned a supposed polar bear killing technique devised by Inuit hunters. I found it quite difficult to find any other source for the story, but eventually managed to track down a reference to a book from 1919, Ethnography; a partial and preliminary description of the races of man by Loomis Havemeyer and Albert Galloway Keller, and turned up the following quote from page 151 of the original (or page 163 from this online copy): In hunting th...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I have been searching for information about the creation of the United Nations. The UN website says that the official date of creation was October 24, 1945. The same information can be found in Wikipedia. However I cannot find information for the exact time of the event. Do you know at what exact time of the day the UN charter became official? Can you provide some journal or official document giving that detail?| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I'm reading Brent Winters' The Excellence of the Common Law right now, which relies heavily on the idea that the priesthood of Babylon fled to Pergamum when Babylon was conquered in 539 BC. The authority of this priesthood was then inherited by Rome when Attalus III willed the kingdom to Rome in the second century BC. I'm trying to fact check this idea, and find some ancient source or other that backs it up, but I'm only able to find this idea repeated on conspiracy-theory type websites. Can ...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Original Post There was a shortage of doctors and nurses in the United States during 1960s, 1970s, which resulted in the Immigration Act of 1965. People in countries such as India immediately made their kids study medicine so they become Doctors and immigrate to the United States (I have first-hand knowledge of this) But I am unable to find information on who sponsored these Doctors from abroad. Did the hospital where they did medical residency sponsor them? Or there was no need for sponsorsh...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I've always been baffled and fascinated by this "prohibition" era in the USA between 1920 and 1933. That's 13 years! I know very well about the concept of "speakeasy" clubs, that is, illegal bars. These were physical locations (obviously), allegedly available "in every corner". How did the authorities somehow not find these? All it would take would be one pissed off customer, who gets angry at the bar keeper for any reason, such as not getting another drink on credit or something, to just go ...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
It's known that a number of people of Jewish descent served in the German armed forces or other aspects of the Nazi apparatus, despite the policy of systematic Nazi exclusion and later extermination of Jews. Most of these individuals seem to have been whom the Nazis characterized as "Mischlings": that is, not of entirely Jewish descent. Under the Nuremberg race laws, this would basically mean having no more than two Jewish grandparents. However, was this the case for all of them? Were any of ...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
I stumbled on this "graph". While it is clearly a dank meme, I was wondering if there was any actual science behind it: Is there anywhere a measure of scientific discovery per unit time? Do we have anywhere a scale of scientific knowledge and if so, what is it based on?| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
My understanding (which could be wrong) is that armies in the U.S. civil war were "bloody" in the sense that soldiers did not retreat or were sent directly into fire, until one side was wiped out. If I'm wrong about that please correct me. I'm just curious why the North and South didn't use guerrilla fighting techniques, by which I mean taking cover, spreading out, etc. if these techniques were helpful in the Revolutionary War. It might be that my understanding of battle history is wrong, but...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Until 2020 (starting from 2006), the English Wikipedia’s article for the South Sea Company claimed that: Among the many companies to go public in 1720 is - famously - one that advertised itself as “a company for carrying out an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is”. I was curious as to whether anything ever came of this company (whose name is not specified), but a Google search yielded no real further information on the company. Was this just another company in ...| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
It has been claimed that there are no surviving originals of any of Josephus' works. I have not found any help through Google, and so I wonder if anyone can give me any information about this, along with references.| Recent Questions - History Stack Exchange
Are there Indian accounts of the Battle of the Hydaspes River? If so, what are they, who authored them, and how do they differ from the Greek & Roman accounts?| History Stack Exchange
Can someone please explain why Allen Dulles, former CIA director, was forced to resign? I'm reading one of his books but haven't found any meaningful information on this.| History Stack Exchange
How do historians study the events of Jesus' life, and the person he was? I read a book on the topic, and it held the position that the gospels were revised to appease the Romans - especially the p...| History Stack Exchange
United Kingdom had similar debt to GDP ratio after defeating Napoleon and wining WW2 both time rising above 200%. But how did British Empire rise after defeating Napoleon to create Pax Brittanica a...| History Stack Exchange
This is something I've always wondered but couldn't imagine what the answer could be and haven't found much material elsewhere. Nazi Germany, paired with Italy and Japan, was waging war on the world| History Stack Exchange
Before delving into WW2 History, I used to think that Concentration Camps for the most part were either in Occupied Poland or Ukraine, to keep it away from the German population and make it easier to| History Stack Exchange
I got this lapel pin in the mid-1980s from a retired communist partisan in Hungary. He had more pins, mostly of communist/socialist organisations, trade fairs, and combines.[1] cold-war era Eastern...| History Stack Exchange
How did attitudes towards women and their role within the family unit and greater society change under the Chinese Republican government? What rights did they gain? Did they generally benefit from ...| History Stack Exchange
I found the two quotes below at Pluspedia: Rassismus und Antisemitismus in den Werken von Marx und Engels (Racism and anti-Semitism in the works of Marx and Engels) (and also several other website...| History Stack Exchange
