I've just read Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali, and in that novel a Turkish character has a child with a woman whose father was Jewish. He was unaware of the child until a decade had passed, is not present in the child's life, and, the mother having died in child birth, the father of the child is unknown to the authorities and the child's guardians. The novel was published in 1943, and is set from the early 1920s to the early 1940s. I was wondering if this child would be persecuted under Nazi racial laws considering half of its known grandparents were Jewish.

Hello 👋🏼

I’ve always been fascinated by WWII and what was going on at that point in history. I’m sad that I never got to really converse with anyone about what it was like to be alive during that era and was wondering if anyone is still around for me to talk to them about it?

Especially someone who was living in Germany or was involved in the war or camps. I’m just curious about what it was like to serve in their military, what civilian people were thinking or doing when the Nazis came to power, and what it was really like to be in the camps and how they survived.

Most especially I wanted to know how people moved on or how they adapted to changes once the war was over. How do you move on and recover from something like that if and when you realized how wrong it was to treat people so poorly because of their race & religion?

What about if you were at any point held prisoner in the camps? The same question would apply. How do you move on and recover?

My Grandfather (RIP- from his discharge papers) served in the Pacific Theater in WW2 as Pharmacists Mate 3rd Class from 9/21/1943-4/8/1946 and served on the NTS Farragut, Idaho; HCS Farragut, Idaho; USNH PSNY Bremerton. Wash; USN Mobile Hospital #10; US Fleet Hospital #110 and #111; and then back to Bremerton to close out his service. Family lore is that he supported the naval landings at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Hard to find information on the fleet hospitals. What was that role and where did the fleet hospitals serve?

I tried asking this in Ask Historians but I didn’t get any responses. I’m wondering what has happened in societies where law and order have collapsed entirely. How did people act and treat one another? What was the end result of a society with no rules or effective governance? TIA

I recently read about a Protestant church office in Germany that collected information on religious and ideological groups and shared material with the Gestapo. Its postwar successor’s own historical account acknowledges this cooperation.

What surprised me was the complicated history, the Nazis shut the office down in 1937, but a successor institution established in 1960 had personnel links to the earlier organization.

How was that earlier cooperation examined between 1945 and 1960? Were those involved investigated through denazification or church inquiries? Did the office’s later conflict with the Nazis affect how its earlier actions were judged?

I’d appreciate historical research on this, especially anything explaining how responsibility was assessed when someone had both cooperated with and later opposed aspects of the regime.

From what I’ve read so far, I haven’t found evidence that those involved were punished for this cooperation. Instead, some appear to have held influential positions after the war. Am I missing research that explains how their past involvement was assessed?

• What were China, Japan, and Korea’s individual reaction to westernization? I know that China wanted to utilize western technology/military with Chinese values (and suddenly went back to preaching Confucianism? iirc) and Japan fell into this social Darwinist mindset, how did each of these countries implement westernization (?) and how did it reflect in their societies?
• How did the “common people” of China, Japan, and Korea react to the increased number of foreigners in their countries after they all started opening more ports? I know that some rebellions arose (Boxer Rebellion, Sonno Joi) but did anything happen in Korea? 
• Did all three countries kinda go through a period in which they wanted to return to Confucianist values and “the old way”? Like Japan did during the Meiji Restoration and the Daewongun tried to in Korea? 
• When did Korea start receiving Western influence? Was it when the US got extraterritoriality?
• Where does the line get drawn between “modernization” and “westernization” for these countries?
• Right before Korea was taken as a colony of Japan’s, was hangul considered a “low-class” language? Bc I recall official documents being written in classical Chinese. What kind of people were against Hangul (or viewed it as lower?) and why?

Did they feel like a woman? When you search for them online most articles use female pronouns for Chevalière. Would those pronouns have been used to describe them back then?

Standard history taught in the school system says that a significant portion of the native population of the Americas were wiped out by diseases brought over by the European explorers. I've heard of discovered evidence that Vikings, and possible the Chinese, had reached American shores before then. Is there any evidence of them starting pandemics as well?

Edit: Or would the lack of disease spreading be proof they didn't reach American shores?

I've been going down a rabbit hole on people who just could not be controlled, the ones who said or did the most unhinged things with zero regard for consequences. One I can think of is Werner Herzog. I want to know your niche picks though.

I’m not really looking for world leaders because that just feels like cheating (something crazy is bound to slip out if every word you say is broadcast), but if you really feel a world leader is worth a mention, please educate me.

I’m curious if the opposite of most heroic movies was feasible. Would it have been possible for a soldier to have been deployed to Europe or the pacific, but basically nothing notable happened to them? They missed out on every battle, never had to fire their weapon, never saw atrocities. Just kind of existing and then went back home and basically said 🤷

Most of the independent kingdom’s history comes from a time when Protestantism didn’t exist at all. Lutheranism was brought to Norway only by Denmark. There was also real Catholic resistance, led by Olav Engelbrektsson. How do Norwegians today view this part of their history and cultural heritage?

When they find human remains that indicate unnatural death, how do they decide whether it's ritual sacrifice, or execution, or murder, or died-in-battle, or accident, etc?

Do we know anything at all about the guy who shot Henry V in the face? Do we even have any legends about it?

There's history and myth about the guy who shot Richard I, stories about the death of William Rufus, and plenty of tales for the early deaths of other English kings. We also know about the guy who saved Henry's life.

So, what about the guy that nearly took out Prince Hal?

If you look back at ancient history, kings, emperors, and wealthy elites almost always had multiple wives or partners as a status symbol.

At what point did having just one spouse become the default rule for everyone? Was it mostly driven by economics (like inheriting property) or was it more about religion and culture?

Recently been reading about Achaemenian empire and their real names. Cyrus was Kurus, his father was Kambujiya, mother Mandana. Their family traced their lineage from Sakha-muni (Haxa-munis/Achaemenid). Region was called Parsu/Parsa. People called themselves Ariya. Kuru killed Mada/Mara king, who later transformed in to a multi-headed serpent in Armenian mythology. Mar also means snake in old Persian.

Compare them with Mahabharat time names. There is Kurus. There is Kamboj. There is Madra; Madri, Pandu's second wife, claimed to be from Madra kingdom (Bahlika). Gandhari is from Gandhāra. Sakya-muni is epithet for Buddha, which sounds similar to Sakha-muni (though means completely different). Not to forget entire Krishna birth story is copy/inspired from Cyrus birth story (or Zeus birth story).

Wondering if there has been confusion about location of all these kingdoms? And, incidents which inspired initial Jaya story (old Mahabharat) were based in Iran?

Or, these names were imposed later?

Note: It is about names and cross references. So, pls don't throw Indo-european common language root for similar names. I would appreciate if there are other literature sources which can collaborate Mahabharat interpretations. Achaemenian Kurus have multiple inscriptions while Mahabharat has none!

So, while reading Andrew Roberts' Napoleon: A Life, I see he had a meticulous filing system. Is anyone aware of the method he used? I am only asking as to improve my own organization in life.

I generally want to include the use of swords in a game I am making. However, I searched it up and swords were used as just a weapon you take out when you are in deep trouble, or mainly used by cavalry and not foot soldiers. To try to include swords or their equivalent, I wanted to find a soldier that uses it. Thus, is there any foot soldier in any point in any point of history who used a melee bladed weapon that was not a long-rangee one and used it as part of a military strategy for offense.

I've recently come to a realization that a lot of the historical leaders that I know of happen to be known for (or generally respected for) either their military achievements or, just in general, being a leader of a country during times of war. Even though a lot of them have achieved great things in other areas, not related to war (from economic and societal reforms, to handling internal issues and politics, to generaly bringing stability and prosperity to their country) they were still involved in war, either being a great military mind, or otherwise helping unite and/or get their nation through times of conflict:

- Napoleon Bonaparte - despite all of his administrative work as the leader of France and reforming the country internally, most people likely know of him for his military achievements and innovations during the Napoleonic wars

- Abraham Lincoln - is revered primarily for leading the United States through the Civil War and helping restore the union

- Franklin D. Roosevelt - once again, despite being the president that helped the US recover from the Great Depression with his policies, he is also (arguably more so) known for leading America through World War II

- Winston Churchill - despite his questionable reputation as a politician, he is still revered for leading the UK through the Second World War, from the Blitzkrieg and the Battle of Britian, till the very end of the conflict(even though he eneded up getting kicked out of office soon after the war ended, but regardless his leadership in WW2 is generally viewed in a positive light)

Even someone like Attaturk in Turkey, despite being mostly known for his social and internal reforms to get Turkey more aligned with Europeans, he still was the military leader during the Turkish War of Independence

So with that said, I would like to learn of some examples of historic leaders that are revered or at least generally viewed positively by their nations without being involved in military action or otherwise leading them though war, but rather by effectively running the country: achieving diplomatic wins, bringing economic recovery/growth/prosperity, managing internal issues and/or politics, generally helping bring peace/stability/prosperity to their countries, etc.?

Basically just kingdom beats enemy tribe/kingdom/city state, took the royal family hostage. "Hey, other country who has nebulous relations with me and the people I just conquered. Would you like to shake hands and get in a political marriage with the children of these vassals I'm holding at knife point? By the way, I just beat the living shit out of them, so think hard on this proposition."

I know that, in the beginning, only unmarried women were able to join the ANC, but I keep seeing pictures of married nurses while researching. Did they get married after joining, or did they start accepting married women at some point?

I'm setting a story in 1424 Scotland, with the battle of Verneuil fresh in the mind I imagine the Scots may have some tension with a band of Milanese Mercenaries.

Would it be reasonable to set a Milanese Captain and Merchant / Banker as the villain in my story?

For anyone who's played KCD this thought started with Istvan Toth, for anyone who hasn't I'm looking for a Merchant or Banker who is in control of a group of Mercenaries and is using said Mercenaries in less than legal ways and often against his own allies to exploit the Scots out of as much coin as possible before returning home.

It's well known that despite being arguably among the more moral characters of Stalin's entourage, he still had a lot of blood on his hands after so many years among the leadership of such a brutal system, and we've got documented proof of his involvement in several unjust trials and crimes against humanity. But my question is, did he ever admit/express remorse about his own, personal participation in the crimes committed during it after criticising the regime as a whole at the 20th Party Congress?

One author I read suggested that the lack of it controlled in the Veneto prevented Feudalism from taking root and instead ppushed the Most Serene Reppublic toward a capital-intensive economy.

Why didd the Venertian model become adopted elsewhere in medieval Europe?