History questions not worth their own thread

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A work I was reading offhandedly mentioned that Kaiser Joseph II was considering entering the American Revolutionary War against France. Could anybody who is knowledgeable on the subject elaborate on the matter?
I've never heard of that, but I imagine it was less an entry into the American Revolution and more simply attacking France while it was distracted by helping the Americans.
 
Why was Britain still rationing food up way into the 1950s?
 
A work I was reading offhandedly mentioned that Kaiser Joseph II was considering entering the American Revolutionary War against France. Could anybody who is knowledgeable on the subject elaborate on the matter?
That would make no sense. The Habsburg Empire of the time relied on their old alliance with France as a keystone of its Western European policy. Further, it had other issues during the American rebellion. In the late 1770s the issue was the old Belgium-Bavaria exchange project and the War of the Bavarian Succession; after 1780 Josef was busy with his enlightened despotism, and was overall more focused on Eastern projects than Western ones.
 
That would make no sense. The Habsburg Empire of the time relied on their old alliance with France as a keystone of its Western European policy. Further, it had other issues during the American rebellion. In the late 1770s the issue was the old Belgium-Bavaria exchange project and the War of the Bavarian Succession; after 1780 Josef was busy with his enlightened despotism, and was overall more focused on Eastern projects than Western ones.

That's what I was thinking, which is why I found that mention to be rather curious.
 
I suppose it's conceivable for Josef, who was a few hot dogs shy of a picnic, to have toyed with such a project. Kaunitz would certainly have quashed such lunacy.
 
Which monarch(s) have had the least amount of different grandparents in relatively modern times? (e.g. no ancient Egypt)
 
Which monarch(s) have had the least amount of different grandparents in relatively modern times? (e.g. no ancient Egypt)
Half of European royalty is descended from cousins who maried other cousins. Without looking it up, I'd say there'd be plenty of first cousin marriages, several of which would have grandparents who were also first cousins.
 
well that'll screw up the royal families. inbreeding sucks. may God have Mercy on the English crown.
 
Why was Britain still rationing food up way into the 1950s?
Just noticed this. During WWII Britain only had six weeks' worth of food stockpiled at any one time, and the mere ending of the war didn't solve the problem. Much British food and fuel still needed to be diverted to troops in the field, engaged in duties such as occupying Germany, fighting guerillas in Malaysia and attempting to keep Palestinians and Jews from each other's throats in Palestine.

In addition, Britain also picked up a lot of the slack when it came to feeding and clothing refugees and the homeless after WWII. Also, many British trading partners, from whom they'd received food in the past, had been devastated in the war and could barely feed their own people let alone the British. Just because the war ended didn't mean that Britain suddenly had suitable food supplies again.
 
i did some calculations and compared manhattan to old Constantinople. i figured out the area of roughly 30 square kilometers for Old Constantinople.

either i did something wrong (i was using google earth, i was using the same height for both cities and rough eyemeasuring) or they really really packed it in these days.

i finally said screw it and took Istanbuls area divided by the number of districts, the average of it is 100 Km2 but since the fatih district isnt that large i reduced it to 90 Km2
 
i did some calculations and compared manhattan to old Constantinople. i figured out the area of roughly 30 square kilometers for Old Constantinople.

either i did something wrong (i was using google earth, i was using the same height for both cities and rough eyemeasuring) or they really really packed it in these days.

i finally said screw it and took Istanbuls area divided by the number of districts, the average of it is 100 Km2 but since the fatih district isnt that large i reduced it to 90 Km2

1 - Remember there are two sets of walls and a very large number of people lived outside of them. IIRC the whole point of the second set of walls was that instead of the standard situation with the plebs outside the walls the districts had, to put it in modern terms, gentrified.

Check where the populations you have data for were living. In modern terms the City of London is 1 square mile while London has a population anywhere between 8 and 14 million depending on where you draw the lines. Really important to check the area and population data is using the same definitions.

2 - The same height residential buildings in Manhattan and Constantinople? This was not the case.
 
1 - Remember there are two sets of walls and a very large number of people lived outside of them. IIRC the whole point of the second set of walls was that instead of the standard situation with the plebs outside the walls the districts had, to put it in modern terms, gentrified.

...i measured the city from the Theodesian walls. not the inner two walls.

Check where the populations you have data for were living. In modern terms the City of London is 1 square mile while London has a population anywhere between 8 and 14 million depending on where you draw the lines. Really important to check the area and population data is using the same definitions.

for the purposes of my project, Old Constantinople refers to the area enclosed by the Sea walls and the Theodosian walls.

plus, London only has 40,000 people in that area.

2 - The same height residential buildings in Manhattan and Constantinople? This was not the case.

no.... i meant the same overhead height. in both cases it was 5 kilometers above them.
 
no.... i meant the same overhead height. in both cases it was 5 kilometers above them.
no.... modern skyscrapers are a lot higher than Byzantine architecture. There is also likely to be a lot more older (shorter) buildings in London than Manhattan.
 
...i measured the city from the Theodesian walls. not the inner two walls.



for the purposes of my project, Old Constantinople refers to the area enclosed by the Sea walls and the Theodosian walls.

plus, London only has 40,000 people in that area.



no.... i meant the same overhead height. in both cases it was 5 kilometers above them.

Wiki says 7,900

Where are you getting your data from? Are the data points for the factors comparable? What do you mean by 5km?

EDIT -

The area inside the walls is more along the lines of 20-25 km2. Population peaking at perhaps 800k, but generally somewhat less than 500k. Since much of the peasantry would have been outside the walls, esp at the peak, let us assume that 300k lived inside the walls. So ballpark 1/3 the population density of Manhattan.
 
Just noticed this. During WWII Britain only had six weeks' worth of food stockpiled at any one time, and the mere ending of the war didn't solve the problem. Much British food and fuel still needed to be diverted to troops in the field, engaged in duties such as occupying Germany, fighting guerillas in Malaysia and attempting to keep Palestinians and Jews from each other's throats in Palestine.

Its notable that similar things happened after the close of the Napoleonic Wars. Many of the economic restrictions, like the Corn Laws, were kept on for decades, though that was more them discovering what we know today as the Infant Industry Theory than it was a genuine need for rationing and control. I guess you could say one fed the other, though.
 
Anyone have any good books about Cecil Rhodes and/or an in depth look at the European colonization of Africa? Especially the former, I've had a difficult time finding a good biography about him.
 
I am trying to find a quote.
Made by a Canadian war correspondent, who I am relatively certain was Ross Munro, about the liberation of Dieppe, with reference to his visit there in August 1942.

Something with the gist of:
I usually avoid taking part in these celebrations [leaving it for the soldiers] but Dieppe was an exception, since so few of the 2nd Division's men were left from 1942.

It may have been made at the time, later, or never published. I recall it from a high school history text (where it was cited) years ago.

I have used all my google skills, but they fail me. Does anyone have any idea of it or suggestions as to how to find it?
 
Its notable that similar things happened after the close of the Napoleonic Wars. Many of the economic restrictions, like the Corn Laws, were kept on for decades, though that was more them discovering what we know today as the Infant Industry Theory than it was a genuine need for rationing and control. I guess you could say one fed the other, though.
The Corn Laws weren't imposed until 1815, and weren't discussed seriously until the Continental war was starting to wind down after the Battle of Leipzig. Such a control during wartime, what with the already weak native British agricultural sector, probably would have been suicidal.
 
Well, Imperial trade was strongly boosted due to French domination over the Continent, making Corn Laws (and other post Napoleonic protectionist laws), in this situation, pointless, since they were importing pretty much everything the colonies would sell.
 
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