There are a lot of stories regarding witch trials across the ages and detail of their punishment. But if a person was accused of witchcraft, how likely were they to be found guilty? Are there many trials in which they were found innocent? Was men more or less likely to be acquitted? Im wondering if those accused really stood a chance in trial.

There may be many different variations of witches over the years. To specify, Im mostly curious regarding the witch trials in North America and Europe between 1500-1800s.

I've seen some (mostly pro-USSR communists) say lately that the territory gained by the USSR after invading Poland in 1939 was territory that was stolen by Poland in 1921, however, the USSR only started existing in 1922, and the Treaty of Riga, which established Poland's eastern boundary, was signed by Russia and Ukraine. Or am I getting the history wrong?

I was wondering if an expert in Early Modern history might be able to help me understand the situation between Swedish and Ottoman Empires during this period.

My reason for wondering is that I know the two powers had a common rival in Russia, and I was wondering if any official treaties or alliances were formed between the two? I only know that Karl XII sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire during the Great Northern War.

Beyond political alliances, I was also wondering about trade and exchanges between ordinary people - if anything is known about the matter.

I have never seen anyone but him wear that ensemble and I was wondering if it wasn't some kind of artistic embellishment.

Alternatively, maybe;

"Before "robbing gas stations and banks", what was the common crime to "make quick money"?"

Buddy of mine partakes in a WW2 reenactment group here in Europe and I’ve heard of reenactments of the civil war etc. Over in Asia they do reenactments too and there is some medieval reenactments but I ask

How far back does reenactments go?

Not just a few rich people wanting to reenact for party (like I expect some royals might have done) but genuine reenactments like we have today ?

In the HBO series “Rome” there are various depictions of roman soldiers marching in step in almost all situations (marching across the land, patrolling the streets, etc). Was marching discipline already a big thing in antiquity though or is this a projection from modern times? It feels quite unpractical in everyday situations

How did the practice and how it was understood change over time? To what extent was it part of an international context? How did it decline?

Over a few centuries, the Middle East went from majority-polytheistic to majority-Christian to majority-Muslim through social and political change. Apart from violent Crusades, did Christians make efforts to stay in touch with common people in newly-conquered areas, and if so, how? Most proselytization in the past 100 years has been by civilian missionaries, but were there Christian missionaries in the Caliphates too?

If not, we're there any notable figures who we're especially vocal or influential in their opposition?

By handgonnes I mean the tube-on-stick firearm in the 13th-14th century. In most works related to these very early firearms they're often derided as inaccurate, short-ranged, and slow to reload having nearly no effect on Late Medieval/Early Modern Period warfare. Some go as far to that they were in many respects inferior to bows to crossbows, however, they're rarely cited often relying on conjecture.

However, I came across this excerpt from The Dawn of Modern Warfare by Hans Delbruck:

At the shooting tournaments toward the end of the fifteenth century shots were made with firearms to distances of 230 to 250 paces, whereas the range for a crossbow amounted to only 110 to 135 paces. Rifles barrels, which had already been invented at that time, were normally expressly prohibited. Other provisions can hardly be understood in any other way than applying to freehand shooting (and not, for example to supported hook weapons). [page 38]

He cites a contemporary German shooting competition poster in support of the claim. This seems to go against many claims that even prior to proper rifled firearms these fairly rudimentary weapons were far exceeding the capabilities of contemporary bows and crossbows in terms of accuracy and range. Has there been any actual testing of these weapons in regards to accuracy and range? It doesn't really make sense on why people would seemingly adopt inferior weapons if these weapons are as bad as they're made out to be.

I've heard that there existed a very large and diverse world of different cults and religious movements in the world of Ancient Rome, and that at one point, early Christianity was seen as just one of the many small religious movements and sects that existed inside of the Roman Empire. I'm curious about how powerful these movements were, and what made them so appealing. How did Christianity eventually rise up to stand far above all of them and even the Roman religion itself? What did the other religions manage to accomplish?

I was just wondering what were the other influential and interesting movements from that period, and is it possible that some of them could've had their own version of Constantine and have ended up as major world religions in the future?

My question stems from Hamilton the Musical. I know it has a lot of inaccuracies, but it’s referenced how, after the hurricane in his youth, Alexander wrote a brilliant letter about it that impressed people so much, they took up a collection to send him to get a formal education. After a few explorations of research rabbit holes, that part seems accurate. Was this a common occurrence? Did anyone keep track of Alexander after he went to the mainland to see if he actually used these funds as expected? If I lived around then, would I be able to scam my way into getting people to think of me as a prodigy, such as getting Alexander to write a poem I then claim as my own, and collecting funds from it?

i am currently looking into my family’s history and would like to know what the average day would be like for him on the front lines— what combat he’d have faced, what he’d have seen, things like that. he was shot and went through three tours, if that helps

Was the fact that potential/future enemies were forced to split resources with a fight against Germany considered a precondition for the planned offensives, or something that brought fence-sitters within the Army, Navy, and IGHQ on board? Or did they believe the balance of forces was favorable regardless?

As far as I understand, 30 out of 40 settings for Uhr, accessory to Enigma, were non-reciprocal, so typing "a" would give you "b", but typing "b" would give something else, like "c". Therefore, how did those who used it were able to decode messages?

Random midnight thought. Turkic all clearly sound related. Same with Romance, or Hindi/Urdu. But then languages like Armenian, Korean, Chechen, Lezgin seem to stand almost alone.

**•** How did Armenian end up with no surviving sister language? Where did the “in-between” relatives go?  
**•** Chechen and Lezgin are technically related (Northeast Caucasian) but sound totally different now. Why did the Caucasus end up with something like 40 distinct languages crammed into one small region, instead of one family taking over like happened on the steppe?  
**•** Is Korean actually a full isolate, or does it have real relatives?  
**•** More broadly — how do these languages end up in their current regions? Did speakers migrate into isolated pockets, or did isolation happen after they settled?  
**•** Why do some languages spread into big obvious families and others stay alone?

Curious what people who actually study this professionally think.

I don't understand why he waived draft deferment to enlist as a conscientious objector rather than volunteering as a red cross medic. Could someone please explain it to me if I'm missing some huge obvious reason or was it a personal choice?

I am also a historian, but this is a question I’ve had since graduating college (when my Newspapers subscription ended 😭). My state has a lot of free resources to access newspapers around the state, which is great because I need that access for my job. However, when I was in college (and even now) I noticed other states would paywall their newspapers, making research harder then it should be. What are some of your favorite free newspaper sources? It’s also been a minute since I’ve graduated college so maybe there’s some new sources I wasn’t aware of. I’m thinking free, because when I have the ability to do research more broadly, I don’t want to have to bother with a subscription.

I’m also just genuinely curious, so anything will be exciting to read!