History questions not worth their own thread III

[Lord Baal]

On a related note, has anything new been discovered about Tonga's occupation of Samoa? The texts I read on it were all well out of date, but they stated that no one really knows why the Tongans occupied Samoa, what their occupation was like, or why they left.

 

[Masada]

Dunno either dood. But I don't think we know. Not ma area of expertise to be frank.

 

[Leoreth]

I dunno, I've never heard is used outside of music, art, and architecture, but apparently it's now supposed to encompass warfare and the Average Person's Life too? I imagine all bets are off at that point

I guess this is just a product of the common conception of "all of history" (i.e. not only political, but also cultural and societal) being grouped into eras that formed a kind of stages humanity evolved through. I've often encountered people who thought we "leveled up" in different categories like warfare, music, politics etc. at the same time.

Even popular history usually makes a distinction between different regions and ties its era terms to specific topics, at least from my experience.


Another question, inspired by the "America is not a Western nation anymore" thread: What was the state of German-American relations between the two world wars, and how did the populations of both countries view each other?

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

When I hear people describe history in terms of eras, they are almost always describing Western Europe specifically anyways.

 

[SerriaFox]

What was the place of European women in the 1700 and 1800 hundreds?

An ornament, a piece of property, a silent partner or something else?

 

[say1988]

That will depend heavily on where and what part of society they reside in.

 

[Linkman226]

I believe, in Western Europe at least, provided they were married, they were relegated to the domestic sphere. Towards the mid and late 1800s some jobs also started opening up, but only for unmarried women.

 

[say1988]

Of course the "domestic sphere" was completely different for some poor farm labourer compared to the aristocracy. In the former, she would be an important part of the households economic position (her labour would be essential within the household) while the latter would likely fall into a more ornamental and social role.

 

[Louis XXIV]

When I hear people describe history in terms of eras, they are almost always describing Western Europe specifically anyways.

Does anyone ever group Far East history into any kind of eras? I always hear Chinese history divided by dynasty, which makes a lot of sense when talking specifically about China. But certainly there must be some similarities to Japan that would allow for common eras to describe the region.

 

[Lord Baal]

What was the place of European women in the 1700 and 1800 hundreds?

An ornament, a piece of property, a silent partner or something else?

In Talleyrand's bed, mostly.

 

[civ_king]

What was the place of European women in the 1700 and 1800 hundreds?

An ornament, a piece of property, a silent partner or something else?

Depends on where and class.


From research it appears that virgins were held in high regard during the Middle Ages in Western and Central Europe, is this a correct observation?

 

[Lord Baal]

Depends on where and class.


From research it appears that virgins were held in high regard during the Middle Ages in Western and Central Europe, is this a correct observation?

Virgins were valuable to noblemen, both for prestige and for the more practical concern of not having bastards.

 

[Ajidica]

Depends on where and class.


From research it appears that virgins were held in high regard during the Middle Ages in Western and Central Europe, is this a correct observation?

I think you would be hard-pressed to find a European culture that didn't hold virgins in high regard.

 

[carmen510]

These absurd contraptions are individual armor pieces developed by the French during the First World War. Does anyone have any idea what kind of rationale was behind this, and possibly any additional info on these things?

 

[Linkman226]

They're French.

 

[Phrossack]

These absurd contraptions are individual armor pieces developed by the French during the First World War. Does anyone have any idea what kind of rationale was behind this, and possibly any additional info on these things?

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/4251352

http://www.landships.freeservers.com/french_creep-tanks_walkaround.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_personnel_shield

Here's what I could find. In short, they protected troops as they advanced, usually to cut barbed wire. The Japanese were said to use them pretty well in their war with Russia during sieges.

 

[civ_king]

Virgins were valuable to noblemen, both for prestige and for the more practical concern of not having bastards.

I'm not talking about marriage. I'm talking about women like Hildegard of Bingen

These absurd contraptions are individual armor pieces developed by the French during the First World War. Does anyone have any idea what kind of rationale was behind this, and possibly any additional info on these things?

looks like a way to get to the enemy lines and cut barbed wire without being raped by machine gun fire. However I can't seriously imagine those being practical because they'd be super heavy and not work on bad terrain

 

[Leoreth]

I think you would be hard-pressed to find a European culture that didn't hold virgins in high regard.

It was more the concept of virginity that was held in high regard, rather than the virgins themselves.

 

[aronnax]

Does anyone ever group Far East history into any kind of eras? I always hear Chinese history divided by dynasty, which makes a lot of sense when talking specifically about China. But certainly there must be some similarities to Japan that would allow for common eras to describe the region.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Japan

Wikipedia nicely divides the history of many countries into periods which I would assume are generally accepted.

It's quite confusing as it is not really divided into nice little dynasties and such due to Japan's unique structure.

 

[Louis XXIV]

I meant common titles used to describe China, Japan, and Korea during the same periods.