131 Answered Questions for the topic Europe

03/27/19

Why did Europeans (and not people in other regions) dominate oceans?
Having a brief look at civilization history, I find that Europeans have a significant dominance over other regions when it comes to sailing. This becomes more obvious after the 15th century when... more
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03/27/19

Who were the Huns and/or Xiongnu?
Who were the Hun people who made several appearances in Eurasian history? Were they Finno-Ugric, Paleo-Siberean, Mongolic or Turkic? Were the Hun who attacked Roman Empire extensions of the... more
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03/27/19

How did such a relatively minor event as the assassination of an archduke start World War I?
The assassination of the Austrian archduke was, considered in the context of _all Europe's_ near-explosive politics, a relatively minor event. So how did it cause such a major war?
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03/27/19

How large could king Arthur's kingdom have realistically been?
I fully understand that most what is written about king Arthur is shrouded in myth, many stories having been written several centuries after his time period. Most material I found focuses on the... more
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03/27/19

What is known about the possibility of a "real King Arthur"?
I once saw a documentary that discussed a discovered possible "round table" but wondered how "pie in the sky" this possibility was as well as just how much/how little evidence is there for any... more
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03/27/19

Why did the Merovingians and Pippinids adopt Christianity so fervently?
The Western Church was generally in decline from, say, 400 to 700 AD. Yet, Clovis converted, and more to the point, so did many other dukes. In the end, the Pippinids conducted various wars with... more
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03/27/19

How would prospective members join a medieval European guild?
On related lines, 1) How would a young person (young man) have selected a master with whom to apprentice? How did the matching up process work? 2) What motivated a master/practitioner to take on... more
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03/26/19

What did squires do in the middle of a medieval battle?
According to [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squire#Jobs), a normal squire daily job included: > - Carrying the knight's armour, shield, sword, > - Holding any prisoners the knight... more
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03/19/19

Why was there no concerted effort to end the Barbary pirate raids until the 1800's?
Barbary pirate raids on the Mediterranean coast led to widespread depopulation of the coasts from Venice to Malaga with the obvious exception of the larger cities. The pirate raids also seem to be... more
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03/19/19

Did the Pope's crossbow and archery bans have any effect?
One of the more famous and certainly curious decisions at the [Second Council of the Lateran](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Council_of_the_Lateran) in 1139 was a ban on using missile troops... more
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03/19/19

Did medieval scholars believe the Earth was round?
There seems to be almost a consensus that the medieval belief on flat earth is a myth. [Wikipedia even has a whole article dedicated to this... more
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03/19/19

How did the First French Empire and allies differ from the other European monarchies at that time?
During the Napoleonic Wars (especially towards the end), France and most of its allies (e.g. Kingdom of Italy, Duchy of Warsaw, Kingdom of Spain) are absolute monarchies. However, they seemed to... more
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03/19/19

Could a nobleman's land be enclosed within another noble's land?
In medieval (in the broadest sense, I'm not thinking of a specific decade) Europe, lands were split up amongst noblemen, and these noblemen had a hierarchy. Barons are lesser than earls which are... more
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03/19/19

Why aren't there major cities on the Atlantic coast of France?
I see Bordeaux and Nantes, but they are a short ways inland. The U.S. has several like New York, Boston, Miami, Charleston.
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03/19/19

How did Europeans first acquire gunpowder?
I know that gunpowder was first invented in China around the 10th century, and it seems that gunpowder likely made its way to Europe via the "Silk Road." However, there doesn't seem to be a ton of... more
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03/19/19

Why are the German and French languages so different?
My understanding (which could be wrong) is the following: During and before the period of the fall of western Rome (roughly 400 AD), the Franks and the Alemanni were tribal people who moved... more
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03/18/19

What steps were taken at the end of WW2 to prevent a WW3?
I've heard a lot of unofficial stories regarding various steps that were taken at the end of WW2 to prevent a WW3. What were these steps? Did they work? Or is America's status as a superpower a... more
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03/18/19

Did the Romans see Africa as a black continent? Was there a perception of a divide between Africa and Europe?
Nowadays the Western world perceives Africa as the continent of the black people and hence a standard African person as a black individual. How did the people in the Roman empire perceive the... more
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03/18/19

Why couldn't bastards inherit titles?
Why were bastards historically not able to inherit nobility or monarchy from their parents? What about being a bastard made one unfit to rule? For example William IV of the UK was succeeded by his... more
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03/18/19

Why were the Normans such good builders?
The Normans are a bunch of Vikings that settled in northern France, and within a century they were Christians speaking French. By 1066 they had become very experienced at fighting wars between... more
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03/18/19

Who taught Russian in Eastern-bloc satellite countries?
After the USSR gained many satellites countries in central/eastern Europe in 1945, Russian became obligatory at school. It seems those Russian courses were highly unpopular and only a small... more
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03/18/19

Should I include research stays in my CV?
During my PhD I was invited three times by two researchers to stay and do research in their lab, one week at a time. I'm now a postdoc and applying to tenured jobs in Europe (yay). Should I include... more
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03/18/19

Why does Europe have so few skyscrapers compared to East Asia?
The European Union has virtually no skyscrapers except the newly built 'The Shard' in London. There are also a series of newly-built state-funded skyscrapers in Moscow. On the other hand if you... more
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03/15/19

Are there any remaining existant texts that describe the styles and techniques of Medieval European swordsmanship?
We have, in the modern day, no shortage of movies which feature characters from the Medieval period of European history engaged in combat, with swords, cavalry, and arrows. Do we have any... more
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03/14/19

Why did Native Americans die from European diseases while Europeans didn't catch serious diseases from the New World?
Why did Native Americans die of European diseases while Europeans didn't have serious diseases from the New World? I read that most Native American victims of colonization in the new world died of... more
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