Recently Active Questions

17 votes
4 answers
2k views

Were the 19th century decades referred to as 40s, 50s back then?

I was just thinking what will happen to our reference of "the 50s", "the 60s" when we get to the end of this century. So I began wondering if this collision has already happened back when the 20th ...
-1 votes
0 answers
76 views

Is this a Crusader coin or an imitation Spanish Cob? [closed]

Someone gave me this coin, any idea what it is? Is this a Crusader coin or an imitation Spanish Cob?
10 votes
2 answers
3k views

In Scandinavia, was there a cultural continuity from Goths to Vikings or were they two different groups of people?

The earliest origin of the Gothic people/culture is commonly placed on the Scandinavian peninsula, in the region of Götaland (in southern Sweden) and/or the island of Gotland (off the eastern coast of ...
3 votes
1 answer
284 views

Which uniform is this soldier wearing?

I think this uniform could be from the hussars, possibly 1800s. I have examined pages from the Imperial War Museum but had no luck.
55 votes
10 answers
20k views

Is the claim that Hitler came to power democratically justified?

I often encounter a claim that Hitler came to power democratically, exploiting democratic procedures, was "elected" etc. Such claims are usually made by right-wing Liberals who use this ...
0 votes
0 answers
54 views

Does the mn (Y5) hieroglyph represent a Senet or Mehen board?

I am currently learning to read Egyptian hieroglyphs and have come across a contradiction that I am struggling to resolve. According to Ilona Regulski from the British Museum, as per this video, the ...
12 votes
2 answers
2k views

What's the best way to transcribe 19th century, English, Urdu, Arabic, etc.?

For my PhD project, I'm processing a large amount of handwritten text from the mid to late 19th century from one person. I'm struggling with his handwriting in English. Although I'm still learning ...
7 votes
2 answers
428 views

Which floating-point representation did Konrad Zuse's Z1 use?

Wikipedia notes: "The Z1 was a 22-bit floating point value adder and subtracter". But the specific format used is nowhere to be seen.
15 votes
2 answers
19k views

What is the real story of the Lion of Gripsholm Castle?

In 2011, one of the popular stories over the Internet was a history of The Lion of Gripsholm Castle. The Swedish language version of the linked blog entry was the one responsible for spreading this ...
2 votes
0 answers
78 views

Did „superannuated“ Athenian men retain full rights?

My understanding has always been that old Athenian men retained their right to participate in the popular assembly and jurys. Aristoteles, when trying to define the citizens in Politics Book 3, is ...
2 votes
2 answers
180 views

How come an FBI agent like Robert Hanssen had access to spy lists?

Just watched the movie Breach on the flushing-out of the FBI spy, Robert Hanssen. I just don't get two things: How did Hanssen have access to lists of spies and other top-secret information like ...
3 votes
0 answers
107 views

What % of the Roman military budget was paid by the silk tax?

Somewhere in my research, I have a quote that compares the revenue collected from the tax on imported silk to the outlay for Imperial legions (circa 98 CE). (I have not included the quote because my ...
9 votes
3 answers
5k views

Did Karl Marx openly advocate violence? (or oppose it?)

Whether Marxism is inherently violent is often a point of contention. The supporters of Marxism often claim that the violence of the Communist regimes of the XX-th century was of their own making, and ...
5 votes
1 answer
205 views

When were property taxes first assessed in California and what was the rate?

After California became a U.S. state in 1850, land taxation was one of the factors that bankrupted the Californio ranchers. Apparently, it had not existed in the Native, Spanish, nor Mexican periods. ...
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 ...

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