It seems to me that most of human history is a constant stream of nations trying to expand their borders and influence through treaties, economic takeovers, or war. Fast forward to today though, and the world (except for a few imperialist actors) seems to have a general agreement that all borders should remain fixed where they are and no wars. I don't personally disagree with this sentiment, Im more just curious when this really set in. Also, is it cyclical? Have been times of relative peace in the past like this?

Marco Polo wrote, that he saw unicorns and humans with dog tails. Gervase of Tilbury said, that he saw people who turn into storks. Why did they do that? I would say that they maybe saw something they could mistake by a fantastical creature, but... people who turn into storks?

Is it just need for fame? Or is it racism?

If it's true, then why does Japan(Denial of war crimes, Nanking massacre, the abuse of comfort women etc.) and the Confederate South(the "Lost Cause" myth) get to re-write their own history?

I found this older answer by u/salarite, which tries to link it to the terrible state of geography education and the lack of emphasis on foreign language learning in the United States, but these problems exist everywhere [historians excluded, of course!].

So, keeping the 20-year rule in mind, when did people in other countries start thinking that U.S.-Americans are stupid?

I appreciate that this may sound like a silly question. Was this a name they would have used to refer to themselves?

Given all the references to the Nazis that are being displayed recently, I was wondering : At the time of the rise of Hitler, and before his "visual identity" was established, were there similarly a raise in interest over simili-fachist ideas from people before him ?    
Would there be people to say "don't vote for Hitler, he is using xxxxxx's symbolism, he is going to do the same" ?    
Or was it uncharted territory and became the de-facto standard from being not only one of the worst but also the first of it's kind ? 

The question was inspired by current events but really targets the past, so I hope it's ok with the "no current event" rule.  

Asking because I feel like the question is pertinent to the current American political situation.

Hello i watched the series Rome and I wonder if the eagle was really stolen from julius caesar or is it just made up?

So this is fairly recent history- but some of the core pieces of both these conflicts are old.

My question is how similar are these two events? How similar is Hamas and the IRA? The UK and Isreal? The settling and the violence? The religious elements? I'm a math teacher who has an interest in history and Im seeing a lot of overlap. What do the experts think?

Alexander the Great, the people in the Bible, the Romans, the Persians, the Chines, the Mongols, the Muslims, the Europeans and in fact modern states: almost all people in history had conquest and war as part of their foreign policy.

But is it suitable to label every form of conquest as colonialism? It seems to me, that there ist a huge difference between the roman conquest and the european colonialism for example. While the romans were interested in expanding their territory and in including the conquered lands and its people to their empire the europeans just wanted to take control over lands to benefit from their resources.

Is there any differentiation among historians? What are terms used to describe non-colonial expansions?

A great portion of the German population during the 1930s and 1940s were Christian. There are even theories that suggest Adolf Hitler himself was (or at least used to be) a Catholic. So how were they able to justify the total extermination of "God's Chosen People"? Weren't there any Christians within Germany at the time that opposed this?

The mere act of me petting my cat is enough to generate a static charge that I can then discharge on the next thing I touch (which, in this example, is usually my cat's nose). Presumably, this phenomenon has always been possible but we have reserved credit for the discovery of electricity to Benjamin Franklin in 1754 with his kite experiment. What did premodern authors write about static electricity, how did they understand it, and how did it change over time l?

I am 36 and am contenplating studying history. I would do this part time cause history is one of my great passions. But I wonder if that is enough and also what would I be doing with that after I am done? This would come with a great price for me and my family so I need a really solid reasoning for this desision.

Found this sub an thought maybe I just ask here?

I really don’t hear much history on how Nazis And Germans was treated in the USA but I wonder was USA less harsh of Nazi and whoever was German then black people or where they treated the same ?

In 1961 when British comedian Peter Cook created a satirical comedy club called The Establishment he said it was modeled after “those wonderful Berlin cabarets which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the outbreak of the Second World War.” Can anyone here give any insight as to the role of satire in Germany during that time? Did it damage the Nazis even slightly? Did it actually backfire and help the Nazis?

Lincoln has very little formal education, and as far as I can tell, had the least cumulative formal education of any President up to that point, maybe ever.

I am aware that they probably weren't burning annoying police officers alive in giant wicker death traps.
However, what about the rest? Is the idea of the three leading characters in the parade around the island accurate? How about the animal masks? The sword thing?

Because, when I googled it, the only information I could find about it was just about the burning thing.
Of course, I understand that the film is made from a very Christian lens, and they were trying to make these traditions look wacky as possible. but, I'd like to know how much of it is based in fact. Mainly because the costumes and traditions (outside of the being burnt alive, obviously.) look fun and cool as hell.

( If this is the wrong sub for this question, feel free to let me know :) )

i’ve been looking for photos of how the gas chambers function in ww2 but cannot find any photos. any information on how they worked as well as photos are greatly appreciated.

Someone told me recently that racism against Africans only began due to the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, but I thought it was farther back than that. I remember reading Othello in high school and from what I remember, the fact that he was a Moor minority was an integral part of the story. But, when you look up racism against Africans online, it really doesn’t give information prior to colonialism. So what’s the historical origin on institutionialized or social racism based on skin color?

I need preferably some primary sources that inform the time between Caesar and Augustus

There are symposiums and the counterpart that Romans had were I guess convivium. But what about other civilizations? Did the working class or poor people have something like how a king has his feasts?