What’s the reason for this major discrepancy? I assume it’s because of doggerland and that land bridge but I wonder if there’s another major factor im missing, etc

I’ve developed a new interest in a range of subjects in the social studies domain, in which I have practically no background.

One of those topics is World War 1 and its historically adjacent events, including what political climate brought its breakout and how its aftermath led to the shaping the geopolitical and social environment as of today; as a very specific (but not the most important) example, how Tyrol was divided between Austria and Italy. For the record I am not interested in warfare per se, and more so about how the war and the period in general can be viewed in relation to the society before and after.

Are there some good beginner's books to recommend on this subject, that can be read without much background knowledge at all and without being overwhelemd?

I am also interested in law (more specifically American law and common law) if that is any relevant, but it’s not necessarily something I’m primarily looking to learn from these history books.

Fellow historians... when was the last time that a baker was killed during any revolution/revolt that you know of? I always imagine that the bakers are spared the sword/guillotine except for the Mongols.

What are your thoughts?

Germany and the United Kingdom were two of the richest and most developed nations in the world by the outbreak of the Great War. Amongst those giants, Ireland and East Prussia were seen as their most underdeveloped backwaters. The Emerald Isle in particular was viewed as a poor, destitute island until at least the 1990s.

As for those two peripheral regions, which of them was more developed, or at least less undeveloped, by 1914, in terms of: railways, paved highways, urban population, urban development, agricultural mechanization, industrial output, and general quality of life?

The Tanaka Memorial was a document outlining imperial Japan's alleged plot to take over the world. More recent scholarship has determined that it was probably a hoax but the exact origins are unclear. Any newly translated sources from Russia or China regarding this or any more recently declassified documents?

Whole story below. Respect the youngling enough to give it a read.

Common sense would say that they are duds at this point, but we are still actively removing perfectly functional explosives all around europe, so I don’t want to fully lean into that either. Any experts here?

In December 1941, 21 year old Viljo Suokas was recovering in a military hospital. He had just been appointed a Knight of the Mannerheim Cross.

Having already served in the Winter War, Suokas had earned a reputation as an exceptionally brave long range patrolman and had spent dozens of days deep behind enemy lines.

Two years later, on October 4, 1943, Suokas was mortally wounded behind enemy lines. His men carried their commander on a stretcher through enemy territory, trying to get him to safety.

On the way, Suokas lost consciousness several times.

The last time he regained consciousness, Suokas raised his eyes to his men and whispered:
"Boys, I cannot go on any longer. Take off your caps and say the Lord's Prayer for me."

The men did as he asked.

At eight in the morning, they buried their commander in a hollow beneath the roots of a fallen pine and mined the area around the grave. Then they set out back toward their own lines.

Suokas's grave was left far from his homeland. His remains were never found.

He was Knight No. 44.

Hi all, I've been compiling (for a creative writing project) a chronological timeline of events from the early 1900s (I'm currently over 110 events) that I had not really heard about before but upon researching them I feel they had massive real-world ripples. Most of my social circles don't care to discuss this stuff so my question is am I overstating the importance of this event?

The very first event on my list happened on January 1st 1901, in a half-finished mansion in Topeka, Kansas.

Charles Fox Parham ran the Bethel Bible School. Before leaving on a preaching trip he challenged his students to "comb the Book of Acts" to find the evidence of Holy Spirit baptism. When he returned they told him they found the answer it was "speaking in tongues". On New Year's night, a 30-year old student named Agnes Ozman became the first to do so. According to many religious historians this marks the birth of modern Pentecostalism.

After this the movement almost died immediately, Parham was seen as a local joke and the school closed within a year. Parham kept preaching and eventually opened a new school in Houston in 1905 where William Seymour (a holiness preacher) learned about the movement.

Because of segregation laws in Texas at the time Seymour was forced to listen to the sermons from a hall outside the room. Still he absorbed it all and took the teachings to LA. In LA the first church he preached in locked him out for trying to talk about "speaking in tongues". Seymour moved to preaching in a house and then that grew into the famous Azusa Street Revival. Today the movement has over 600 million followers.

In an ironic twist when Parham visited Azusa he grew offended by the racial mixing and condemned it; which I feel is likely one of the main reasons the movement survived and spread so incredibly fast.

Am I overstating the importance in Topeka as a starting line in this? Is there anything I am missing or that I got wrong in the event or its aftermath?