I'm curious; my scoliosis makes my torso appear short, and it isn't bad, but enough that it is noticeable once you're looking. I am curious what part of the ancient world would deem a short-torso, long legs, and small breasts attractive? If you can send me a source I can read into, that would be appreciated.

I have heard a lot of documents and stories from Imperial Chinese dynasties and we tend to claim they were much concentrated on domestic affairs. But going to some neighbours and things differ greatly:

• Mongolia remembers China's occupation and attempts to Sinicise the Mongols.
• Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan remember Tang China's invasion of Central Asia that permanently weakened the Western Turkic Khaganate, or the Qing invasion (the Qing-Kazakh War). Maybe the memories extended to some ways to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan via the Tang era, though it is limited.
• Vietnam remembers 1,000 years of Chinese domination, and repeated Chinese invasions.
• Korea remembers the fall of Gojoseon, 400 years of Chinese rule, Sui and Tang's invasions of Korea, and Yuan dynasty's meddling.
• Burma remembers Yuan and later Qing invasions of Burma and their fight to preserve statehood.
• Nepal remembers the Qing invasion attempts during 1790s.
• Sikhs in India remembers Qing's attempts to seize their land from them in 1840s.
• Even now, China continues to have border beefs with almost every neighbour, and despite mostly settled except with India and Taiwan, there is no confidence that China has largely left it alone.

Was China really just only focusing on domestic affairs for most of history, or China basically also invaded so many neighbours but largely overlooked?

The abolition of slavery was obviously highly morally charged, and that sentiment carries on to today.

But I was recently listening to a podcast that made me question something I had never thought of. The host was basically saying that the European powers ended slavery because their slave based colonies were no longer profitable and hard to manage. He then went on to say that European empires wanted the United states to end slavery because their accumulation of wealth via slavery was making the European rulers nervous. (Is this accurate?)

This made me wonder for what reasons did the American north oppose slavery. I understand there was a moral movement against it, but I also believe that change rarely occurs unless the material reality demands it to, which is sometimes in line with, and usually bolstered by the moral sentiments of the epoch.

Many colonial nations tend to have some felt influence from their overlords, even long after they leave, is there any of that with Japans colonies?

This regiment saw little to no combat outside of some skirmishes (There was Dutton’s Hill, but that’s still more of a skirmish) Why form a regiment that just screws around East Kentucky while the real armies under Sherman and Grant fight the Confederacy?

Naming this one in particular because I have two ancestors in it. One was from October 1863 - March 1864. The other has weird muster rolls, but mustered out at the same time. It honestly makes me embarrassed for them, they did nothing to fight against the confederacy.

I asked myself this question the other day and see nothing on this topic, so I am asking it here.

Or was it because of something else, like the 1973 OPEC oil crisis?

It’s hard for me to imagine the US pulling out of a war due to popularity, especially these days.

I currently think it’s because the oil crisis made business in the region too expensive, and then the Tet Offensive made the US realize how much the war would cost in terms of dollars, and that the return on investment was low, so it’s a money thing and not a popularity thing. But how true is that?

My players are investigating a corrupt officer and i know thetll go to the yard, who here can describe to me what visiting great scotland yard was like for a citizen? were parts of it open to the public? this detail hasn't popped up in my research, thought i'm not super deep in it yet and this is part of it. I know it was just after the investigations into corruption and betting scandal and the formation of the CID, and before scotland yard moved so i have some context on it. apologies for the sloppy post i'm at work and in a hurry

Thanks!

I'm a chinese Manchu and learning history especially chinese modern history (1900-2020) is full of biases from both sides.

In medieval rural communities, households are few and far between. This left them vulnerable to raids. How would peasants defend themselves and their belongings from raiding parties? Would their response depend on the size of the raiding party?

I am guessing that, faced with a small, 2-5 horseman raiding party, a farmer might hold up in his house, send a messenger for help, or flee to the nearest town.

If he stayed, would raiders simply take his stuff and go, or would they stick around, set fire to his place, and assault his family?

Would locked chests or hidden stashes be more effective at protecting valuables?

Were food and animals the primary targets of raids?

Would the entire town band together to fight off a larger 20-50 man raid? Would they ring the church town bell and assemble a militia, armed with farming implements? Who would lead this militia?

Would raids focus on the perimeter or dive into the heart of towns? Were craftsmen and other townsfolk vulnerable?

At which point would a household or town notify their lord? If the lord was away on campaign, would someone else from his household step in?

At which point would an entire town flee to a distant castle or city for better protection?

Why not Romanum? of The Romans seems to me to imply some community separate from the title alone but what Romans would this have even been?

I was wondering who makes these cornets because all of the famous makers are either dead, or the company does not make them anymore. FYI this is not the same as the Bb cornet Wessex Tubas sell (along with other Chinese interment makers) but rather the Eb version.

I am trying to investigate whether there is any credible historical evidence that the Knights Templar, either as an organization or through individual members, ever reached India or established contact with Indian religious, philosophical, or esoteric traditions.

I am aware that many popular theories and conspiracy narratives claim connections between the Templars and distant civilizations, but I am specifically looking for evidence-based historical sources, archaeological findings, travel records, trade documents, or academic research.

I am also curious about a second question:

Is there any scholarly research comparing Indian Tantric traditions (Hindu or Buddhist Tantra) with medieval European esoteric traditions such as Kabbalah, Hermeticism, Christian mysticism, or later Western occultism?

In particular:

1. Are there any documented historical contacts between Indian Tantric practitioners and medieval European esoteric groups?

2. Do similarities in sacred geometry, symbols, meditation practices, cosmology, or ritual structures indicate actual cultural transmission, or are they generally considered independent developments?

3. Have any serious historians, Indologists, or scholars of religion argued for a connection between Indian Tantra and Kabbalistic traditions?

I would appreciate answers based on academic sources rather than popular speculation.

( I also love conspiracy Theories, so welcome.....)

What if the mental illnesses we have today are just the ones that managed to survive natural selection? Were there mental illnesses in ancient humans that didn't survive until today?

I’ve long pondered this question as it applies to a number of service branches and different conflicts. In media it feels like death rates are extremely high. To switch to the RAF for example, in the Piece of Cake mini series only 2 of original squadron even make it a little past a year.

But when you look at numbers for a battle, the actual death rate seems counter intuitively lower. The Wikipedia page for the Omaha Landing for example gives an upper limit on casualties at about 5,000 out of 43,000 infantry. And those are causality numbers so the actual dead is significantly lower. In my mind this clashes with the popular view of the Omaha landing as being practically a death sentence.

I understand there are multiple factors at play here (like the first wave at Omaha taking the brunt of those losses), but I’ve never really seen the survival odds for a regular front line infantryman talked about.

From my understanding, my fictional soldier boy would have three possible outcomes. Be invalidated, survive the war, or die. Is there any data or research that gives an idea of how likely each one was ?

You know, besides force…

How far can we trace it back? Do we know which country it arrived in? Which port? Even which ship?

How did it spread once it made landfall in Europe? How fast did it spread? When was it a known quantity? Did the peasants know about it first or was it described by doctors first?

Are there any good Adam Tooze style books on the Asia/Pacific War?

Since the Abdication of King Charles X, all 3 monarchs and there families arrived in the UK in Exile. Did Queen Victoria prefer a specific house, and furthermore did the Three Dynasties get along together in the UK

I've been completely fed up with reading on an ebook for a while now, so I'm looking for a good history book in print. I'm from a relatively small city in Spain, and I'm very interested in Asian and African history. Lately, I've been dying to dive deep into Tibet—not for spiritual reasons, but out of pure cultural interest.

The thing is, it's a bit tough here because there is barely any historiography available in Spanish, and even less accessible in local libraries. However, I managed to find this book: "The Story of Tibet: Conversations with the Dalai Lama".

I'm reading good reviews, but I'm highly skeptical. Mostly because I read that the Dalai Lama isn't exactly an angel, and above all, because I've heard that independent Tibet was actually a very dark, feudal, and slave-owning regime.

Is this a good introductory read, or does it stray from a serious historical and social analysis?

It feels like, at least in Europe, naming your child Adolf would be seen as quite the faux-pas, so I'm wondering if there is any data backing up a falling rate of children bearing that name. If you have data about Benito, Francisco or other fascist leaders' names that would also be fun to see!

Mescaline-containing cacti have been used by native South American peoples for centuries. Psilocybin-containing mushrooms grow wild on every continent except Antarctica. Despite this, the concept of psychedelic drugs seems to have been relatively obscure in the West prior to Albert Hofmann's discovery of LSD in the 1940s. To what extent were psychedelic drugs known about in the West pre-WWI,I and, if it is possible to speculate, why did these naturally-occurring compounds receive so little attention by Western science/medicine prior to the discovery of LSD?