The college sports system in america is quite similar to what you see in Germany or Spain. Universities like UCLA and USC have multiple sports, can never be moved to another city like a professional american franchise does once in a while, its identity purely local, and community oriented instead of vying for national and global appeal for the sake of profits.

Yet this athletics is based around schools instead of neighborhoods.

In the ancient near east, especially Persia, could a ruler be stigmatized and face opposition because his mother was a concubine rather than the wife?

Ive read that in Achaemenid Persia, the children of wives were favored above those of concubines in the line of succession. According to answers by historian and independent researcher Trevor Culley, the difference between wives and concubines are that wives had to be Persian, while concubines varied in rank, and those of higher rank were often elite non-persians.

My motivation for this question is because Ive got an idea for a fantasy story which takes place in a world based on ancient Persia. My idea is that the MC, a queen consort, was abused by her husband out of envy because he had been the son of a concubine and not his father's first pick for heir, while both her parents are royalty.

Im not dedicated to making my story completely historically accurate, but when I asked someone who seems to know their stuff about ancient history that my framing is "too modern", that its anachronistic for the ancient near east for a man to be ashamed that his mother was a concubine, because concubines were perfectly legal sexual partners, their children belong to their father's house to whatever they can inherit from him.

They said: "Concubines and primary wives existed for different reasons, one is not "worse" than the other."

My question is more or less a writing question, but I hope its acceptable to ask.

Ive considered that maybe "being ashamed that his mother was a concubine" is a wrong way to frame it. The shame shouldnt really stem from his mother's status, but because ancient Persian rulers needed to demonstrably have royal blood, and if his mother had been the concubine of someone else before his father, that would make his paternity questionable and his claim to the throne more shaky.

An article on Worldhistorydotorg talks about the roles of women in ancient Persia, from the highest status royalty, nobility to working class women. In the Achaemenid empire there were highly-paid female supervisors who received wine and grain for overseeing the work of large groups of subordinates. There was no difference in pay based on gender, only experience and skill.

Pregnant women, however, received higher wages as did new mothers for the first month after the birth of their child. The mother, midwife, and physician attending the birth also received a bonus if the child was male. 

Ive often read that Greeks were amazed at the power and influence Persian women, especially royalty had, whereas Greek women were comparatively more controlled and had less rights. Ancient Athens was often described as more sexist than other greek states, and the reason is commonly attributed to its nature as a democracy of male citizens, where women were barred from voting and therefore official political participation.

Did female skilled, paid workers exist in Athens, and were there female work supervisors?

Hey, I’m doing my history research project on Unit 731. I really want to do it on this topic because it’s rarely spoken about and it’s extremely important.
I’ve found it very hard to find peer reviewed useful sources- especially primary sources. I also haven’t found any historians I could contact (if there are any).

Is anyone able to give a bit of help if they have any knowledge on the topic, or shiro ishii, or even on Japan the years leading up to it. It would be so greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I’m looking for a book that has a comprehensive history of residential electrical equipment. I haven’t found anything that’s encompassing, just old timey manuals or references. Anyone have any links to point me in the right direction? Thank you!

I read that ancient China* used to be matriarchal, which I've read was determined in part because of the fact that men would move into their wives' familial homes, but be buried after death in their family's homes.

This seems like a somewhat...tenuous conclusion. Is there more evidence to support the assertion that China used to be matriarchal? If so, why did it change?

*This would be more than 5000 years ago, so I honestly don't know if you can say it's "China," but yeah the people living in the area that we refer to as Mainland China today.

I can imagine that having a nation bomb yours to smithereens, then assist in rebuilding it, then staying indefinitely, might be a tough subject to grapple with, but I am curious if anyone has insight. Thanks

So I know the Hanseatic League was basically a confederation of German merchants that wielded a lot of political and economic power. And they kept the roads and seas safe from bandits and pirates. But what I don't know is what their military and navy? Did they have an organized army and fleet or did they hire out mercenaries and privateers to protect their routes and interests?

Salutations. I am about to start teaching twentieth-century US foreign policy to a group of 17-18 year olds. This is not my period, so while I have a basic understanding of 'the facts', I am missing 'the story'(/'stories'), as it were.

What are the seminal works of historical interpretation I might look to for inspiration here? Are there any historians of the period who you think write in a way that might be more accessible to teenagers? Not 'dumbed-down' per se, just engagingly written.

Thank you very much for your time!

I've been wondering about the connection between Roman law and medieval serfdom. Roman laws placed certain restrictions on agricultural workers called coloni, including restrictions on leaving the land in some circumstances.

But did medieval serfdom actually develop out of this Roman system, or are we connecting two institutions that only look similar on the surface?

How much of medieval serfdom was inherited from Roman law, and how much emerged later because of changing landownership and the growing power of landlords after the Western Roman Empire declined?

I'd be interested in what historians think about this, especially any good books or sources that discuss the connection.

I get that they were flex pieces and showed off wealth, but I'm curious about the actual logic. Were they mostly for the church and clergy, or did nobles display them differently? Seems like a lot of effort for something so few people would ever see.

- Baghdad fell to the Mongols under Hulagu Khan in 1258 CE.

• Al-Andalus came to an end in 1492 CE, when the Emirate of Granada surrendered to the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.

Over the 234 years between these two events, did any Andalusian scholars or chroniclers write about the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate? How did the people of al-Andalus react to the fall of Baghdad?

I haven't been able to find much on this subject, except for the possible writings of Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī (1214–1286 CE), but that alone is certainly not enough.

Given that The Quran prohibits the consumption of alcohol, due to its intoxicating effects, and throughout history, one of the primary reasons for the consumption of alcohol, besides getting drunk, was due to fermentation being highly effective in its killing of bacteria and diseases, did Muslims throughout Arabia, The Middle East, South East Asia, Anatolia, and The Balkans for example, suffer from significantly higher rates of illness and death from viruses, bacteria, parasites, infections, when compared to their alcohol drinking Jewish, Christian and Pagan neighbours? (Prior to the advent of modern water purification and sterilisation methods)

We always hear about and perhaps are immediately hardwired to think of the far right when discussing historical tragedies that left millions of innocents dead and teaching children as young as five about "bad people". Perhaps the most famous example is Adolf Hitler. But are there any real examples of the far left having committed such atrocities that can be used as examples of evil people when teaching young children? Even though fascism and nazism are exclusively right-wing movements, are there any examples of atrocious, intolerant, divisive, or inherently dangerous movements that are exclusively far left or at the very least include the left? From what I've heard, the left solely target the people who are bad firsthand and thus deserve it. I've never heard of the left targeting innocent individuals let alone as a result of bigotry, racism, intolerance etc.

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.

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?

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?

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?

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?

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

Hey everyone,
I’m trying to prove a point to someone about public perception versus historical facts, and I need your honest, unfiltered opinions to help me settle this.
I have a specific question for you all: Do you think America won, lost, or did neither in the Vietnam War?

CRITICAL RULES BEFORE YOU COMMENT:
DO NOT GOOGLE IT! Please do not look up the answer or check Wikipedia before answering. Just give me your genuine gut reaction, what you remember from school, or what you've always assumed happened based on movies and media.

If you are a history buff or expert: If you already know the deep history and political outcome of the Vietnam War inside and out, please wait and do not comment or answer right away.

Right now, I am specifically looking to hear from regular people who don't study history deeply. I want to see what the general public, everyday people, and casual media consumers honestly think happened based on what they've picked up over the years.

(To the history experts: Please give it a few hours before you jump in and break down the actual historical facts. Let's see what the initial wave of responses looks like first!)

Thanks in advance for helping me settle this debate!

• 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?

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.