Newest Questions

3 votes
1 answer
97 views

How significant of a role did Japanese ronin mercenaries play in Siam/Ayutthaya's military doctrine?

Towards the end of Japan’s Sengoku Jidai and during the early Edo Period, a decent number of ronin/former samurai left Japan seeking fame, fortune, and/or adventure overseas. A lot of these ronin ...
user69268's user avatar
  • 191
1 vote
0 answers
100 views

Where can I find the London Liverpool Street Train Timetable for 1915?

I'm looking for the time of a train departure from London Liverpool Street to Ipswich in May 1915. Did a train depart from LLS around 09.15 am? Perhaps someone with an old 1915 copy of Bradshaws could ...
Michael Heath's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
189 views

How did the colonial authorities and settlers feel about pirate activity during the Golden Age of Piracy?

Pirates are often portrayed as universally hated villains, but I'm curious about the nuances of how they were perceived in the Golden Age of Piracy. Specifically, how did colonial authorities and ...
Sam Cao's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
234 views

Where did the Elkton Plan gets its name?

The Elkton Plan was the strategy the Allies used in the Pacific in WW2 to reduce the major Japanese base in Rabaul. It was implemented in the field via Operation Cartwheel, as I understand. But who or ...
Mikoyan's user avatar
  • 29
9 votes
2 answers
3k views

What instruments did the first dashboard include?

The dashboard of a car takes its name from the eponymous piece of wood on a stagecoach; the same concept eventually gave its name to a software design pattern showing a row of data readouts. But what ...
SPavel's user avatar
  • 16.1k
-2 votes
1 answer
103 views

How did medieval Siam/Ayutthaya politically function as a kingdom/nation-state? [closed]

For context, I'm working on a story based on Thai/Siamese/Ayutthaya history. I love Thai history and culture which is unfortunately criminally underrated here in the U.S./West. I was inspired to make ...
user69268's user avatar
  • 191
7 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why was Henry VIII's marriage to Anne of Cleves diplomatically valuable?

My understanding of Thomas Cromwell's plan to marry Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves is that he hoped to secure an alliance in Europe with Germany, as a bulwark against the threat of a treaty between ...
Bob Tway's user avatar
  • 4,385
-4 votes
1 answer
164 views

Could Augustus and Agrippa have been lovers? [closed]

While I'm VERY much not a Rome expert, I'm curious, could they have been lovers? I know enough about sexuality in ancient Greece and Rome to know that a relationship between two freeborn guys of the ...
C.A.'s user avatar
  • 1
0 votes
1 answer
110 views

Were Karl Witte and Sergei Witte related?

Karl Witte (1800-1883) was the German jurist and Dante scholar who famously had a strong education from his father from a young age and got his doctorate at 12 or 13. Sergei Witte (1849-1915) was a ...
tell's user avatar
  • 268
0 votes
0 answers
73 views

Could Manuela Sáenz have freed her slaves if she wanted to?

I'm not completely sure what the "case" would've been for Manuela. I don't know if she might have been limited by the legal, social, and political context of the time. Can someone explain if ...
C.A.'s user avatar
  • 1
0 votes
0 answers
93 views

Why is the former castellum (Roman fort) called Matilo in the present day?

It seems that today nearly everyone calls it Matilo, but I started wondering where the name came from. It seems the oldest historical mention of it is on the Tabula Peutingeriana where it is called ...
Anonymous Coward's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
64 views

Why did the Ming dynasty not issue silver coins after choosing silver in the Single whip reform?

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 ...
Arwenz's user avatar
  • 229
0 votes
2 answers
202 views

Was there a failed coup on Madagascar where the soldiers got arrested at the airport?

I remember reading the following yet cannot find any reference now neither by search engine nor wikipedia. One of the adjacent continental powers hires [15-50] soldiers to overthrow Madagascar's ...
Vorac's user avatar
  • 1,085
0 votes
1 answer
127 views

Does any early Gnostic Christian scripture mention Hindu deities?

As per this article titled Indians: Bardaisan of Edessa on Indian ambassadors’ tales and the Brahmans (early third century CE) an early Christian saint Bardaisan of Edessa wrote about Brahmins and ...
Haridasa's user avatar
  • 154
-3 votes
1 answer
173 views

Did ancient Greece or Rome have opposing political factions? [closed]

Did ancient Greece or Rome have opposing political factions? Are they analogous to what we would today would call conservative vs. liberal political parties?
Geremia's user avatar
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