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Hi folks, So I'm reading "City of Fortune" by Roger Crowley, and I cannot recommend it enough. I love this historian, and he writes so well. But anyway. It's about the rise of Venice and the pivotal role of the sack of 1204. Now, reading his book, it seems like the sack of Constantinople was...

So, I'm doing some light research for my podcast on the VoC and I see that Linschoten, writer of the Itinerario was posted in Goa for a few years. He was Dutch during a time if war of independence, which raises other questions, but he did meet other Dutchmen in the Indies. We also have records...

OK, so this really bothers me. I look at the Nazi occupation of Western Countries, I look at what happened in Algeria, Indochina... and I don't see any real difference. My gut feeling is that, of course it's different, but it feels like my personal bias talking. Any help?

Hello y'all, So, if I gather correctly, the French tanks were Superior technically to the German ones, and were too armoured for the canons of the enemy. The issue was more around doctrine. The other issue in May 1940 is the lack of reactivity after the attack in the Ardennes was spotted by...

Hello, So, 1066, the English nobles get wiped out and replaced. But how does the conquest affect the larger economic structure? Did we see a redirectiln of profits toward Normandy? Were the trade networks changed? I read it lead to a manorial system but not sure what it exactly leans

Hi folks, Question. We know there are many cashcrops which grow in warmer climes, like Tobacco, indigo, sugar cane... But what are possible cash crops available for subarctic climes, like Siberia, Canada or Scandinavia? Now historically, since there was fur and more productive land elsewhere...

A few months ago, I was chatting about history with a taxi driver when he asked me a question that hasn't left me since. Were the Crusades colonisation? Let's start by trying to define colonisation before rushing off to an answer. I believe we can define colonisation as the conquest and...

Hi folks, Let's say the German mindset in 1918 is similar to the German or Japanese one in 1945 and refuses to surrender until all that's left is rubble. Would the Entente gave enough power and will to physically conquer all of Germany? Would a revolution happen? Or would we see a partial...

Right, so this subject isn't for the faint of heart. I was reading "Against the Grain" by James Scott where he talks about the need for coerced manpower in early grain states, with things like helots, slave raids... We can also see chattel slavery and serfdom in that light. . He also talks...

Hello y'all, I haven't seen this pretty simple PoD discussed, but I find it quite interesting. In 1939, during the invasion of Poland, the French invaded Saarland. They didn't seem to face serious resistance and had minimal losses with a big advance. Then, as far as I gather, they kinda...

Hello folks, The Voulet Chanoine mission was a turn of the century colonial expedition around Tchad. Its leaders became somewhat mad and tore a bloody trail through the land. They were eventually presumably killed by their soldiers, after they killed other French expeditions sent to stop them...

So, we know prehistoric European like Otzi had tattoos. We know some other isolated examples like legionaries having tattoos on their hand as identification and we also know pilgrims to Jerusalem would get small reminder tattoos. But how common were those? Were Roman people tattooed often? What...

The Moghol came when there wasn't a big hegemony on the subcontinent. Vijayanagar was in decline, city states were bullied by the Portuguese, China was withdrawn... At that time, the Ottomans advance in the Indian Ocean specifically as a counter to Portuguese influence. What about the...

Initial plan for the line was, AFAIK, to build up to the Channel but the Belgians didn't like having their frontier lined with fortresses and the French agreed to not build all the way if the Belgians built their fortresses on their territory instead. However, Belgian fortresses were not up to...

You are a powerful Roman general during the 3rd Century Crisis, with a loyal enough army. They have not proclaimed you emperor yet but you know they might be open to the suggestion. In your heart of hearts, you know you have a mission, a destiny. From the ashes, the battlefields and the...

A question struck me recently: Many Western European nations have a few variants of cheese, even the most food impoverished nations like England has a couple passable cheeses. But then the French come along and have hundreds of cheeses, with many differences between each of them. It seems...

Hi folks, In the Middle Ages, many monarchies were always moving, keeping their treasure and documents with them. After a while, they stayed somewhere put, with a designated capital and all. What if they never stayed put? What if to this day, it was still customary for Western Governments to go...

Hi folks, So, this is slightly on the ASB-ish side but I'm writing a fiction book and I'd like it as believable as possible (within bounds). As such, I'd need a hand assessing the tactical credibility of a battle scene set in 1880. Basically the idea is the siege of a fortress in the...

Coming from the quote below, it looks like the moment the French Army really held the idiot ball (enemy advance spotted multiple time, in a narrow vulnerable sallient, nothing done about it). So, what if the spot had been acted upon and they had been bombarbed? What would have happened?

Caligula is reviled, basically synonymous with cruelty and madness in modern languages. However, most sources were possibly adversarial and tend to ridicule him and be misinterpreted. For example, the horse appointed as consul was not real but an insult to the Senate, the guys writing the...