Mistakes - I mean like stopping panzers in France and therefore letting British evacuate. Declaring war on USA. Turning Guderian to the south, therefore missing chance to take Moscow. Forbidding Paulus to attempt breakthrough and relying on air lift instead (which resulted in Stalingrad catastrophe). Ignoring Manstein`s suggestion of implementing flexible defense on the East and going for festungs instead, and so on. Seems to be common opinion.

I always found it strange that hitler declared war on America considering he served in ww1 and he saw what American intervention does and it won ww1 for the allies. And they say he did it cause he wanted to attack american naval ships but that's the same thing that got America involved in ww1 how did he not realise that he was doing the same thing germany did in ww1 which got America involved and he also in private he didnt even value his alliance with japan.

Me personally, I’d love to watch the Battle of Waterloo. Seeing the skirmish at Hougoumont play out, watching Wellington form his hollow squares for defense against the cavalry, etc. Even though I’d probably feel sick eventually seeing so much death, to see something like that and record it would be amazing.

But I’m curious to hear from all of you.

Dr Robert Knox was a pioneering anatomist and race scientist who bought bodies from serial killers. What are some reliable books on him I should read up on if I wanted to do a deep dive on him.

Hey I'm circassian and i wanted to ask about something that might not be so popular among historians which is inal's conquests in the caucasus does anyone have information about them and of so can you tell me when i can find them ?

I've read that before the 19th century, Western societies saw same-sex behavior as acts rather than as a type of person, an idea often credited to Foucault. And this was the case with the Greeks, Persians, and across Central Asia and still is to this day.

So what drove the shift toward 'homosexual' as an identity?

After reading accounts of people living through different battles, how could anyone do it more than a few times? Cannae, Waterloo, Stalingrad, the trench warfare of the first world war or even the war in Ukraine today. No training can prepare a man for what happens on the battlefield. How were the different soldiers throughout history able to keep going, even after witnessing the worst of humanity?

I ask this because in many documentaries and articles and videos in regards to history there is a lot of hyperbole for the sake of making an interesting point. You might see a documentary about how germanys invention of the assault rifle made a great impact on them winning the war. in reality 7/10 soldiers had a regular Kar98k the other 3 most likely had an MP40 and the STG44 was very very rare and likely would’ve been an interesting sight at the time.

I hear documentaries say soldiers were issue pervitin with their rations and to me this sounds like it would mean pretty much every soldier was on meth. Was this only during the beginning with the blitzkrieg? Was this also used later in the war. How often were these supplied in relation to other rations and the logistics of all that. How many were they issued and how often?

The knights Templar invented the modern banking system, that King Philip IV of France was deeply indebted to. Gérard de Villiers, Précepteur de France, was the master banker at the Temple of Paris until he disappeared from records in June 1307. Hugues de Pairaud stepped down from his superior office of Visiteur de France and stepped into the office Villers vacated. Jacques de Molay was the last official Grand Master of the Knights Templar in France, as the grand master de Molay was in full contact with his officers. While King Philip IV, and his Chief Minister Guillaume de Nogaret were paying gold for ex-Templars and false witnesses, the gold they were paying them with came from the Knights Templar banking system. Villiers realized what was going on and fled as Brother Jean de Châlon described in the trial records. On September 14. 1307 King Philip IV drafts the arrest orders, writing that the Templars were guilty of an “execrable evil” and a “thing most inhumane”. Those orders were leaked, and preceding the leak, Villiers disappeared. On the morning of October 12, 1307, Jacques de Molay arrives in Paris as an invited pallbearer. De Molay is often viewed as an unsuspecting guest, blindsided, having no idea the orders for his arrest were already signed. Jacques de Molay was the Grand Master (Commanding General) of the Knights Templar, he was in full contact with his officers, he knew very well what was going on. Jacques de Molay did not arrive at the funeral unaware; he arrived as a masterful chess player. Jacques de Molay stood tall in public on Main Street while Huges de Châlon was carting off Pairaud’s treasury down Front Street. Jacques de Molay remained in Paris to be arrested and serve as a human lightning rod (the grand masters always lead from the front never the rear) along with numerous others while the main body and assets disappeared into the night. Jacques de Molay was no fool. He was, as I read the playing field, the most underrated player on the field in October of 1307.

On May 15, 1293, the Battle of St. Mahé erupts; and King Edward I’s privateers send King Philip IV’s navy into a rout. This was the beginning of the conflicts in Flanders and the English Channel that tied up Edward’s and Philip’s navies. While the king’s battled on the waters, the entire western seaboard was a military blind spot. On the day of September 14, 1307, King Philip IV issues orders for the arrests of the Knights Templar and the seizure of all assets thereof. The orders were given under penalty of death, not to be open until the dawn on October 13. These orders being sent to all of Philip’s bailiffs, seneschals, and royal patrols. With specific, orders to open at dawn, the men enforcing these orders would be gathering (pre-staging) at their command centers awaiting the reading of the orders. With all the bailiffs, seneschals, and royal patrols held up at the commandries, the cities, residences, temples, and docks; the coastal ways north and south of the Port of La Rochelle were complete military blind spot. The only Ships on the Atlantic were the ships belonging to the Crown of Castile, and the Crown of Aragon; both military allies with the Knights Templar. If an 18-ship fleet were to sail into these waterways outside of La Rochelle, they would have an entire western coast of Europe to sail out of, under the extreme threat of a  sunburn.

Was the ghost fleet a myth, or did GÉRARD DE VILLIERS who disappeared from public records 4 months prior stage a masterful evacuation?

Modern descendants of the Villiers family frequently claim that after the initial raids on Friday, October 13, 1307, the Précepteur de France, Gérard de Villiers, simply "went over to the Knights Hospitaller" to find safety.

It is a clean, comfortable family myth because the Villiers family did hold ranks within the Order of the Knights Hospitallers. But it completely falls apart under raw, tactical mechanics and institutional physics.

First, look at the strict structural rules of the era. In 1307, the Templars and Hospitallers were fierce institutional rivals, competing for favor of King Philip IV, and Pope Clement V. The Rule of the Order of St. John explicitly blocked them from taking in defectors or high-profile fugitives from another military order. If the most wanted man in France showed up at a Hospitaller commandery gate in 1307, harboring him would have been an open declaration of war against King Philip IV. The Hospitallers wouldn't have hidden him; they would have detained him instantly to secure political favor from the Crown, that the Hospitallers and the Templar contended for.

Second, look at the timeline math. Pope Clement V did not authorize the Hospitallers to absorb the Templars' assets until May of 1312—a massive 4.5-year (54-month) bureaucratic lag after the initial raids.

Any military evaluator or modern commando will tell you the same thing: hiding out on a heavily fortified European mainland, under an intense royal dragnet, for four solid years without leaving a single paper trail, arrest record, or signature is an operational impossibility. For 4 months? Yes, a master operative can disappear in the initial chaos. For 4 years? Absolutely not. The King's network of spies would have squeezed the region until he surfaced.

Furthermore, Villiers was not a spy trained in deep-cover anonymity. His face was instantly recognized as the high-ranking, elite Templar that he was. He could not simply "blend in" to a local crowd. It would be like trying to hide John Wayne or Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in a crowd on Main Street; he would have been instantly identified and reported for the massive royal rewards on his head.

He wasn't hiding in a French cellar, and he didn't check into a rival monastery. Gérard de Villiers' only path of escape was the Atlantic Ocean. Because he could not stay on the mainland, Villiers exited the theater entirely by pulling out onto the open, unpatrolled waters of the Atlantic Ocean—vanishing from the European map.

If King Philip’s arrest orders turned up little more than a handful of men and little assets, where did they go, and how did they get there?

in response to a more provocative (to put it mildly) post that was just published to this sub Reddit, I have actually thought multiple times about how these two empires might have compared. I have listened with great interest to blogs / podcasts that described the trajectory of each empire, and how they might have known a little about each other as information passed along the Silk Road, but never much information comparing the two. They were obviously separated by tremendous geography, and other intervening empires that prevented the two of them from ever meeting and hanging out. But I wonder, if they ever met at a party, how they might compare their accomplishments and achievements?

Has anyone ever published some musings about how these two large contemporaneous empires might have coexisted, or perhaps who might have won, if they had ever met on the field of battle? I realize they both existed in various states over hundreds / thousands of years, and that making such comparisons can be fraud with many issues… But I would be curious to know if anyone has given serious thought to comparing them at their respective zeniths, or might point me in the direction of someone who has. Thanks!

hiya, so i have always been into history as long as it's not in a textbook, boring format. any beginner history youtube channels you would recommend that are like a conversation or a bedtime story (?) of sorts? thanks!

Good day! I just finished watching Nuremberg , and it gave me a reality check about the atrocities Germany committed in WW2. I understood in school that it was incredibly evil and cruel, but watching the movie gave me a whole new perspective on what they actually did. I'm still in school, but it looks like I wasn't paying enough attention to truly understand the scale of the crimes they committed.

I want to learn history to appreciate it and to genuinely understand the things humanity has done, both good and terrible.

I'm writing this because I have a bit of a writing problem and dyslexia. I know dyslexia doesn't completely stop you from writing, but the words don't always make sense in my head, and reading is quite difficult because I may see a word but sound it out wrong in my head.

I know YouTube is another option for history education, but I want to put in my own effort and try to learn it properly. I would like your advice on how to learn history.

Early attempts at human flight (not counting balloons) tried to replicate the mechanics of bird flight. When did it dawn on humans that was a dead end and they started experimenting with other approaches?

I've noticed when traveling around, and in my own town even, that often the tallest building in town was a bank in the 1890s-1920s. In my own town, for example, there is an 8 story building towering above the small rural town that was a bank. To this day, the next-tallest building is the hospital at 6 floors, and that was only build in the 1970s.

Note: it is possible this is limited to Southern rural towns, because that is the only region where I have visited rural areas. My presumption is it had something to do with agriculture money, but that doesn't explain the exponentially larger bank buildings than everything else.

I am reading about his dealing with Stalin in “1946” by Victor Sebestyen and this is the first person that seems to have been respected by Stalin.

And yes, this is a repost of a question from last year that went unanswered.

How much would a person pay (in period appropriate, native currency) a cartographer for a relatively detailed map for purposes similar to "trail orienteering" (wiki link)?

I feel like this a pretty niche question. I have tried searching the internet a bit, but I cannot find anything related to the retail price paid for the maps being used during that period.

I can find plenty of options to buy renaissance style maps - not what I'm looking for.

I can find information on how the maps were created and similar processes - that's a rabbit hole of pricing labor and materials where I would likely have to ask similar questions about those items.

Am I just missing an inventory or some other accounting document? For context, this is for personal writing project.

Basically what the title says, I’m looking for Middle East Lecturers that are unbiased and just talking and explaining the history of this region. I’m using Sarah Paine as my example because I think she does a phenomenal job of explaining other time periods and parts of the world without intentionally misrepresenting one side or another. If you guys know of anyone who explains this region well, I’d love to know. Thanks.

I’ve seen the quote “People have beautiful things to say about you, but you must die first” frequently attributed to Dostoyevsky online, including in an article by the Economic Times.

I’ve read most of his books and a few of his essays, but have yet to come across anything like it.

Does anyone know if this is a misattribution, or where this quote came from?

Many Soviet cities were renamed to commemorate leaders, such as St Petersburg becoming Leningrad and then back again. What was the process actually like for people that lived in those places? Was it chaotic?

Hi everyone, I'm looking for book recommendations detailing how the Soviet occupied territories of Eastern Europe became part of the Warsaw Pact. Any recommendations would be appreciated

Hi everyone,

I'm really interested in learning about the conquest of America, specifically about the situation in the territory before and after the arrival of the conquistadores.

This is the reading list I have so far:

• 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
• Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest
• The Broken Spears
• The Conquest of New Spain
• The Last Days of the Incas

What do you guys think? If you have any recommendations, know that I can read Spanish and English.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Ive read the first chapter of Osamu Tezuka's epic "Phoenix", the "Dawn" chapter which takes place in ancient Japan during the 3rd century, the yayoi era. The story aims to poke holes in Japan's national mythology to show that in reality, Japan as a nation is artificially formed, and the violence and brutality necessary for that to happen.

The mythical rulers of Japan such as Himiko and emperor Jimmu are depicted as antagonists, filled with human flaws like egotism, callousness etc.

In the manga, we see soldiers from Yamatai slaughtering an entire village of kumaso (tribe in ancient Japan), including the women and children, on the orders of queen Himiko. Later we see emperor Jimmu (who actually predates Himiko based on chronology) declare himself the ruler after systemically killing the inhabitants of the lands he wants to conquer. He is depicted standing in a field of thousands of bodies.

The comic declares that ‘IN THIS FASHION, JAPAN WAS FORMED AS A NATION THROUGH INVASION, WAR AND SLAUGHTER’.

Based on the manga, you would think that the settlement of Japan by the yayoi people was comparable in consequences for the pre-existing inhabitants to the colonization of the Americas by European powers. But is that true?

I sorta wanted to ask how historically accurate the manga is, but that question would be too broad.

Is there evidence that the original population of Japan, the jomon, were demographically replaced by the yayoi, and is there any extensive archaeological record of massacres during the yayoi period?

Additionally, did the settlers cause an epidemic that devastated the original population in a similar way as the columbian exchange?