History

The Balzi Rossi Mask is unique among Gravettian art (~33,000 BP - 22,000 BP), mostly characterized by the well known "Venus" figurines. More pictures and text below.

On the Liguria coast to the French border are the entrances of the complex of the caverns of the Balzi Rossi (literally red leaps). The name of the locality derives from the color of the limestone walls that, because of the iron mineral presence oxidises to a red colour. The complex is composed of numerous coves and shelters, including Grotta dei Fanciulli, Riparo Lorenzi, Grotta di Florestano, Grotta del Caviglione, Barma Grande, Barma del Bauso da Ture (now destroyed), Grotta del Principe, Grotta Gerbai, Grotta Costantini, Riparo Mochi, Riparo Bombrini, cavernette della cava, Grotta Voronov, and Grotta Grimaldi. The first searches occurred in 1846-57, by the prince of Monaco, Florestano I. More recently, between 1928 and 1959, regular diggings were executed by A.C. Blanc, L. Cardini and To Mochi, on behalf of the Italian Institute of Human Palaeontology. Louis Alexandre Jullien discovered, between 1883 and 1895, about fifteen figurines, the greatest series ever found in only one place in Western Europe.

Text above adapted from Wikipedia.

Grimaldi Caves.

The cave of Baoussé Rossé (Balzi Rossi, Rochers Rouges, Red Cliffs), to the east of Menton, engraving by Sorrieu, after a photograph of M. Rivière. Date: 1877

Grimaldi Caves.

The caves of Balzi Rossi today.

From west to east, cave of Fanciulli, cave of Florestano and cave of Caviglione in Ventimiglia area, Italy. Date 2008-02-20

Grimaldi figurines. The fourteen Grimaldi statuettes described by White et Bisson (1998):

1. The Couple, or the Double Venus
2. Woman with the perforated neck
3. The Two-Headed Woman
4. The yellow steatite statuette, or the Venus of Menton
5. Pulcinella or the Venus of Polichinelle
6. Brown Ivory Figurine
7. The Venus el Rombo, or Venus de Losange, (the diamond, or rhomboid, or lozenge shaped venus)
8. The Bust
9. The ivory figurine in red ochre
10. The flattened figure 11 The Negroid head
11. The Hermaphrodite
12. The Woman with goitre
13. Undescribed figure

The fifteen statuettes were discovered in the sites of Barma Grande, la grotte du Prince, and perhaps le Jardin removed, excavated between 1883 and 1895 by Louis Jullien. At present, seven of them are in the vaults of the Musée des Antiquités Nationales (MAN) at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, one (the Woman with the Perforated Neck, also known as the 'Janus' figurine because of the two faces) is in the Peabody Museum of Harvard and the last seven were found in Montreal where Jullien emigrated in about 1898.

The seven Canadian specimens recently surfaced in an antique store in Montreal (Bisson, Bolduc, 1994).They include five representations of women, a possible but uncertain female figure, and a face of indeterminate species and gender. Accompanying documents and interviews with their owners showing that these objects belonged to the collection of Louis Jullien, which had been lost track of in Montreal at the beginning of the 20th Century.

The pieces found are generally in good condition and form a substantial sample of the known Gravettian-Epigravettian female sculptures of Western Europe.

Text above: White et Bisson (1998)

Fig. 13 - Front Views (top) and rear (bottom) of The Figure (coll. Bolduc).

Photo: R. White

Source: White et Bisson (1998)

The Mask, or the Face is a perforated oval disk in the form of a flattened face or mask. It is made of partially translucent green-yellow to yellow chlorite. Variations in the colour and translucence of this material make the observation of detail on darker areas very difficult. The specimen measures 19.1 mm from the top of the forehead to the chin, is 23.2 mm wide, and varies between 3 and 5 mm thick, and its weight is 2.80 g. Although it had been thoroughly cleaned, minute traces of fine-grained, yellow, sandy sediment were detected in one nostril, and microscopic traces of red ochre as well as coarse red sediment were preserved in a number of incisions. The front of this piece is highly polished.

It is flat in profile, with the exception of a carefully shaped bulge in the centre forming a blunt nose. Perforations create the eyes and a mouth. The eyes are circular, ca. 2.4 mm in diameter, and have small notches in the upper lateral comers. This gives them an animal rather than a human appearance. A series of incised lines radiates from the centre of the face across each cheek. A deep, circular hole is situated in the centre of the forehead. Incised lines radiate from this hole, particularly up the forehead. Although now empty, this hole may originally have contained an inlay of some perishable material. The upper margin of the forehead is demarcated by a dashed line. The nose has a faint bridge and small, widely spaced nostrils. The mouth is set in a wide, deep, slightly upturned incision. Very fine serrations on the lower margin of the mouth may indicate teeth.

The reverse side of the face has no facial details and was clearly not designed to be viewed. A series of larger holes was drilled over the perforations in order to thin the stone to facilitate carving of the sharp comers on the eyes and mouth. A deep diagonal incision of unknown function runs along the upper right margin. What this piece represents is uncertain. The radiating incisions on the forehead and sides of the face do not occur in any of the detailed Gravettian human faces from Grimaldi or Brassempouy (Delporte1993) and thus may indicate a face covered with hair. The eyes, nose, and mouth have a vaguely feline appearance, but the lack of ears makes that identification uncertain. It may therefore be either a stylised human or an animal.

It should also be noted that this specimen is unlike any other in Gravettian art and must therefore be treated with some caution. To date, we have been unable to prove that it is a fake. It may be more recent than the statuettes and have come from the rich Early Epigravettian deposits excavated by Jullien in the upper levels of the Barma Grande, but without better provenience information we may never know its precise date and associations.

This is the only one of the pieces discovered by Louis Alexandre Jullien at the Balzi Rossi that does not fit the theme of the Palaeolithic Venus. Fashioned from a small thin pebble, it is a sparse representation of a grimacing face that seems to convey a curious impression of cruelty, or even diabolism.

The eyes and mouth, rendered by perforations, are set off by deep lateral slits that serve to heighten the menacing, cruel aspect of the face - that most likely belongs to an imaginary animal. A depression (its purpose unknown) has been hollowed out between the eyes; below this, a small protuberance corresponds to the nose, the nostrils being marked by two little holes. Finally, a complex series of fine incisions on the lips, under the eyes and on the periphery of the principal features completes this extraordinary countenance, which is, at present, unparalleled in the annals of Western Europe's Palaeolithic age.

Carved on a lightly mottled (greenish-yellow), translucent chlorite pebble, The Mask is approximately 23 millimetres wide.

Despite the cleaning by Jullien, tiny traces of fine-grained yellow sand were detected in a groove. Microscopic traces of red ochre, like a red sediment, were preserved in many incisions. The front of this piece is extremely abraded. In profile, the surface is flat, except for the centre, where, a well shaped 'bulb, represents a flattened nose. The eyes and mouth are perforations in the piece. The eyes are roughly circular and measure 2.4 mm in diameter. There are small lateral notches formed in the upper corner of the eye. These give the figure a look more animal than human.

Two series of parallel incisions cover the cheeks. A deep circular hole is located in the center of the forehead. Other incisions radiate from the hole, especially above the forehead. This hole is empty, but it may well have contained an inclusion or perishable materials. The upper part of the forehead is delimited by a broken line. The area between the wide nostrils is raised. The mouth, with a broad and deep incision, appears slightly upturned.

On the other side of the piece there are no facial features. Apparently it was not meant to be seen. A series of large holes at the level of the eyes and mouth corresponds to what may be a surface preparation: thinning to facilitate the notches for the eyes (?). A deep horizontal incision occurs on the upper part of the piece without any apparent function. What this represents is uncertain.

The radiating incisions on the forehead as well as on the cheeks are not commonly found details on the faces of the Grimaldi and Brassempouy figurines (Delporte 1993b). Thus, this type of line could indicate a face covered with hair. Eyes, nose and mouth have a vaguely feline appearance, but the lack of ears makes interpretation uncertain. This could be a stylized human or animal. Also note that this type of representation is the only one ever found so far in the Epigravettian. From this point of view, this specimen should be treated with caution.

The rediscovered ivory and soft stone figurines.

Photo: J. Cinq-Mars, © Pierre Bolduc, Montreal

Presently held: In private hands, joint property of Pierre Bolduc who found them in a Montreal antique shop, and the descendants (Laurence and Lucie) of Louis Alexandre Jullien, who dug them up. The Bust, Nun, Armless Lady, Ochre Lady, Two-Headed Lady, Couple, and the Mask were displayed in an exhibition at the Canadian Museum of History, Gatineau, Canada, in 1995.

all sourced from the magnificent web 1.0 gem donsmaps dot com HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

https://donsmaps.com/mask.html

https://donsmaps.com/grimaldivenus.html

Ideally covering non-roman non-military history. Thanks :)

This was the first successful socialist uprising in the world, which transformed Russia from a poor and backward feudal country into a leading economic, political, military, scientific, technical, cultural and educational power!

Russia went from a backwards agrarian society where people travelled by horse and carriage to being the first in space in the span of 40 years. Russia showed incredible growth after the revolution that surpassed the rest of the world:

• https://wid.world/document/soviets-oligarchs-inequality-property-russia-1905-2016/
• https://wid.world/document/appendix-soviets-oligarchs-inequality-property-russia-1905-2016-wid-world-working-paper-201710/

USSR provided free education to all citizens resulting in literacy rising from 33% to 99.9%:

• http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/PubEdUSSR.htm
• http://www.revolutionarydemocracy.org/archive/anglosov.htm
• http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0000/000013/001300eo.pdf
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likbez

USSR doubled life expectancy in just 20 years. A newborn child in 1926-27 had a life expectancy of 44.4 years, up from 32.3 years thirty years before. In 1958-59 the life expectancy for newborns went up to 68.6 years. the Semashko system of the USSR increased lifespan by 50% in 20 years. By the 1960's, lifespans in the USSR were comparable to those in the USA:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Soviet_Union
• https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB5054/index1.html

Quality of nutrition improved after the Soviet revolution, and the last time USSR had a famine was in 1940s. CIA data suggests they ate just as much as Americans after WW2 peroid while having better nutrition:

• https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp84b00274r000300150009-5
• 

USSR moved from 58.5-hour work weeks to 41.6 hour work weeks (-0.36 h/yr) between 1913 and 1960:

• https://books.google.com/books?id=x8JYjwEACAAJ
• https://web.archive.org/web/20210509140019/https://b-ok.cc/book/2669908/77497f

USSR averaged 22 days of paid leave in 1986 while USA averaged 7.6 in 1996:

• https://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/1994/94B09_66_englp2.pdf
• https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ebs.t05.htm

In 1987, people in the USSR could retire with pension at 55 (female) and 60 (male) while receiving 50% of their wages at a at minimum. Meanwhile, in USA the average retirement age was 62-67 and the average (not median) retiree household in the USA could expect $48k/yr which comes out to 65% of the 74k average (not median) household income in 2016:

• https://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/1994/94B09_66_englp2.pdf
• https://www.cbsnews.com/news/could-you-get-by-on-the-average-americans-retirement-income/

GDP took off after socialism was established and then collapsed with the reintroduction of capitalism:

• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soviet_Union_GDP_per_capita.gif

The Soviet Union had the highest physician/patient ratio in the world. USSR had 42 doctors per 10,000 population compared to 24 in Denmark and Sweden, and 19 in US:

• http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0735675784900482 (use sci-hub for access)

• USSR defeated a smallpox epidemic in a matter of 19 days https://www.rbth.com/history/331857-how-ussr-defeated-black-smallpox

• The Social Consequences of Soviet Immunization Policies https://web.archive.org/web/20240218132709/https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1997-812-03g-Hoch.pdf

USSR produced many firsts in the realm of science and technology:

• 1957: First intercontinental ballistic missile R-7 Semyorka
• 1957: First orbiting satellite, Sputnik 1
• 1957: First living in orbit, the dog Laika on Sputnik 2
• 1957: First nuclear powered icebreaker "Lenin" weighing in at 19,240 tons of steel
• 1958: First Tokamak thermonuclear experimental system
• 1959: First man-made object to leave the Earth's orbit, Luna 1
• 1959: First communication to and from Luna 1 with Earth
• 1959: First object to pass near the moon, and the first object in orbit around the Moon, Luna 1
• 1959: First satellite hit the moon, Luna 2
• 1959: First images of the dark side of the moon, Luna 3
• 1960: First satellite to be launched to Mars, the Marsnik 1
• 1961: First satellite to Venus, Venera 1
• 1961: First person to enter orbit around the Earth, Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1
• 1961: First person to spend a day in orbit, Gherman Titov – Vostok 2
• 1962: First flight of two astronauts, Vostok 3 and Vostok 4
• 1963: First woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, Vostok 6
• 1964: First flight of several astronauts, Voskhod 1
• 1965: First spacewalk, Aleksei Leonov, Voskhod 2
• 1965: First probe to another planet Venus, Venera 3
• 1966: First probe to descend on the moon and send from there, Luna 9
• 1966: First probe in lunar orbit, Luna 10
• 1967: First meeting of unmanned Cosmos 186/Cosmos 188, this aws not achieved by US until 2006
• 1969: First docking and crew exchange in orbit, Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5
• 1970: First signals sent to the moon by Luna 16
• 1970: First mobile robot, Lunokhod 1
• 1970: First data sent by a probe from another planet (Venus), Venera 7
• 1971: First space station, Salyut 1
• 1971: First satellite in orbit around Mars and landing on Mars 2
• 1975: First satellite in orbit around Venus and sending data to earth, Venera 9
• 1984: First woman to walk in space, Svetlana Savitskaja on Salyut 7
• 1986: First team to visit two space stations Salyut and Mir
• 1986: First permanent space station in Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, MIR
• 1987: First team to spend more than a year aboard Mir, Vladimir Titov and Musa Manarov

These are just some of the biggest technological and social achievements of the Soviet Union.

academic studies on USSR

Professor of Economic History, Robert C. Allen, concludes in his study without the 1917 revolution is directly responsible for rapid growth that made the achievements listed above possible:

• https://web.archive.org/web/20200119044114/https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.507.8966&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Study demonstrating the steady increase in quality of life during the Soviet period (including under Stalin). Includes the fact that Soviet life expectancy grew faster than any other nation recorded at the time:

• https://www.jstor.org/stable/2672986?seq=1

A large study using world bank data analyzing the quality of life in Capitalist vs Socialist countries and finds overwhelmingly at similar levels of development with socialism bringing better quality of life:

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1646771/pdf/amjph00269-0055.pdf

This study compared capitalist and socialist countries in measures of the physical quality of life (PQL), taking into account the level of economic development.

• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2430906/

This study shows that unprecedented mortality crisis struck Eastern Europe during the 1990s, causing around 7 million excess deaths. The first quantitative analysis of the association between deindustrialization and mortality in Eastern Europe.

• https://academic.oup.com/cje/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cje/beac072/7081084?guestAccessKey=01c8dd9f-af1c-48b3-b271-eb5d3a45017c&login=false

So, how do people who lived under communism feel now that they got a taste of capitalism?

• A remarkable 72% of Hungarians say that most people in their country are actually worse off today economically than they were under communism. Only 8% say most people in Hungary are better off, and 16% say things are about the same. In no other Central or Eastern European country surveyed did so many believe that economic life is worse now than during the communist era. This is the result of almost universal displeasure with the economy. Fully 94% describe the country's economy as bad, the highest level of economic discontent in the hard hit region of Central and Eastern Europe. Just 46% of Hungarians approve of their country's switch from a state-controlled economy to a market economy; 42% disapprove of the move away from communism. The public is even more negative toward Hungary's integration into Europe; 71% say their country has been weakened by the process.

• The most incredible result was registered in a July 2010 IRES (Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy) poll, according to which 41% of the respondents would have voted for Ceausescu, had he run for the position of president. And 63% of the survey participants said their life was better during communism, while only 23% attested that their life was worse then. Some 68% declared that communism was a good idea, just one that had been poorly applied.

• Glorification of the German Democratic Republic is on the rise two decades after the Berlin Wall fell. Young people and the better off are among those rebuffing criticism of East Germany as an "illegitimate state." In a new poll, more than half of former eastern Germans defend the GDR.

• A poll shows that as many as 81 per cent of Serbians believe they lived best in the former Yugoslavia -"during the time of socialism". The survey focused on the respondents' views on the transition "from socialism to capitalism", and a clear majority said they trusted social institutions the most during the rule of Yugoslav communist president Josip Broz Tito. The standard of living during Tito's rule from the Second World War to the 1980s was also assessed as best, whereas the Milosevic decade of the 1990s, and the subsequent decade since the fall of his regime are seen as "more or less the same". 45 percent said they trusted social institutions most under communism with 23 percent choosing the 2001-2003 period when Zoran Djinđic was prime minister. Only 19 per cent selected present-day institutions.

• 75% of Russians have expressed increasingly positive opinions about the Soviet Union over the years. Only a small portion of those surveyed said they had negative associations with the Soviet Union. The economic deficit, long lines and coupons were named by 4% of respondents each, while the Iron Curtain, economic stagnation and political repressions were named by 1% each, the Levada Center said.

• Adult mortality increased enormously in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union when the Soviet system collapsed 30 years ago. https://archive.ph/9Z12u

• Former Soviet Countries See More Harm From Breakup https://news.gallup.com/poll/166538/former-soviet-countries-harm-breakup.aspx

The Free market paradise goes East chapters in Blackshirts and Reds details some more results of the transition to capitalism.

On this day November 7th in 1917, the October Revolution began in Russia when the Bolsheviks initiated an armed insurrection in Petrograd, seizing the Winter Palace and dissolving the Provisional Government in a coup with minimal violence. The name "October Revolution" comes from the fact that the revolution began on October 25th in the dating convention of the time.

The October Revolution was the culmination of popular sentiment directed against the provisional government which was achieving little for the majority of people to change Russia from its Tsarist past. In particular, the unelected body continued to participate in the very unpopular First World War opting in July for participation in further military campaigns which provoked outrage amongst soldiers and workers alike.

After the February Revolution which established the Provisional Government, during the period of the Dual Power (February-October 1917), the Bolsheviks gradually gained in strength and influence especially in the soviets and in the army after July. The Bolshevik slogan ‘Peace, Bread and Land’ summarised their programme and was increasingly popular. They established their headquarters in the Smolny Institute. This was a former girls' convent school which also housed the Petrograd Soviet. The Provisional Government now headed by Kerensky, was still officially in power and under pressure from the nobility and industrialists, Kerensky was persuaded to take decisive action against the Bolsheviks. Thus, on 22nd October he ordered the arrest of the Bolshevik Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC). The government was aware of the unstated purpose of the MRC, established on 12th October and led by Trotsky. The purpose of this committee, created by the Bolsheviks within the Petrograd soviet, was to prepare for armed insurrection against the government. The next day, 23rd October, the government attempted to close down the Bolshevik newspapers and cut off the telephones to the Smolny Institute. However, soldiers and Red Guards ultimately thwarted all Kerensky’s plans.

Following this, a long debate took place at a secret meeting of the Bolshevik Central Committee. At this meeting the main issue centred around Lenin’s proposal that the Bolsheviks should take action before the elections for the Constituent Assembly; in other words, the socialist revolution should proceed without delay. Zinoviev and Kamenev dissented, hence the importance of the MRC which had already deployed commissars to all garrison units. In essence this was both a measure of defence and, at the same time, a preparation for attack

Thus, orders were given for the Bolsheviks to occupy the railway stations, the telephone exchange and the State Bank. In the early morning of October 25th, armed workers started occupying key points of Petrograd, in conjunction with pro-Bolshevik sailors pulling into the city's harbour. Power stations were seized and strategic bridges were held. These instances produced very little resistance and were not met with violence.

A blank shot from the Cruiser Aurora in the evening signalled the siege of the Winter Palace, which was to be the final offensive of the revolution. Crowds of Red Guards and insurgents surrounded the palace and secured entry, leading to the surrender of the remaining government officials in the early hours of the morning. Members of the Provisional Government that had not already fled the capital were imprisoned. Kerensky had managed to escape from the city.

Crowds of Red Guards and insurgents surrounded the palace and secured entry, leading to the surrender of the remaining government officials.

The revolution itself was brief, being almost entirely peaceful in its execution. Posters were distributed across the city declaring that "the Provisional Government is overthrown" and "Long live the Revolution of Workers, Soldiers and Peasants!" Lenin emerged from the revolution as one of its most notable strategists and a potential leader in the new era.

On 26th October 1917, the second All-Russian Congress of Soviets met and handed over power to the Soviet Council of People's Commissars. Lenin was elected chairman and other appointments included Trotsky (Foreign Affairs). Two decrees were adopted at the first session: the Decree on Peace, which moved to start negotiations to withdraw from the war in order to bring about "a just and democratic peace," and the Decree on Land, which moved to transfer land away from landowners and the church to peasant committees. ‘Peace, Bread and Land’ was thus transformed from a slogan into a living reality. In addition, the Council of People's Commissars nationalised the banks and workers control of factory production was introduced. The army was demobilised and in December and the Soviet Government announced that it planned to seek an armistice with Germany. In December 1917, Trotsky led the Russian delegation at Brest-Litovsk to negotiate peace terms with representatives from Germany and Austria-Hungary.

Thus it was that the full Bolshevik programme, as outlined in Lenin’s ‘April Theses’ was implemented within three months of the successful socialist revolution.

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Excerp from william Hinton's "fanshen"

April 1897 "airship" reports which mention Cuba, sourced from https://intcat.blogspot.com/

concurrent with the Cuban War of Independence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_War_of_Independence

preceded by the inauguration of McKinley https://guides.loc.gov/world-of-1898/cuba-chronology

1897

January 19

Both William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal and Joseph Pulitzer's New York World, through its sensational reporting on the Cuban Insurrection, helped strengthen anti-Spanish sentiment in the United States. On this date the execution of Cuban rebel Adolfo Rodríguez by a Spanish firing squad, was reported in the article "Death of Rodríguez" in the New York Journal by Richard Harding Davis. On October 8, 1897, Karl Decker of the New York Journal reported on the rescue of Cuban Evangelina Cisneros from a prison on the Isle of Pines.

March 4

Inauguration of U.S. President William McKinley.

followed 1 year later by the sinking of the USS Maine and launch of the Spanish-American war https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Maine_(1889) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish%E2%80%93American_War

I’ve been slowly learning more stuff about socialist history and the like, and I wanted to ask about the “Great Purge”. I only know kind of background things I’ve accumulated over the years, which are very likely warped and wrong given the whole propaganda machine and all that.

So yeah, any good sources to read more about it would be greatly appreciated, as well as potential critiques/justifications from a communist perspective. I know revolutionary violence is just part of taking and maintaining power, so I get that aspect. I do also see a lot of people got killed also, so imagine there’s a bit of debate either way on it.

Thanks for anything shared in advance!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himmerod_memorandum

The Himmerod memorandum (German: Himmeroder Denkschrift) was a 40-page document produced in 1950 after a secret meeting of former Wehrmacht high-ranking officers invited by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer to the Himmerod Abbey to discuss West Germany's Wiederbewaffnung (rearmament). The resulting document laid the foundation for the establishment of the new military force (Bundeswehr) of the Federal Republic.

The participants of the conference were convinced that no future German army would be possible without the historical rehabilitation of the Wehrmacht and so the memorandum included these key demands:

• All German soldiers convicted as war criminals would be released.
• The "defamation" of the German soldier, including those of the Waffen-SS, would have to cease.
• "Measures to transform both domestic and foreign public opinion" with regards to the German military would need to be taken.

Adenauer accepted the propositions and, in turn, advised the representatives of the three Western powers that German armed forces would not be possible as long as German soldiers remained in custody. To accommodate the West German government, the Allies commuted a number of war crimes sentences.

Most casual history youtubers I watch can't go 20 minutes without making sinophobic "jokes". Anyone have better recommendations for learning pre-modern chinese history, everything from culture, monarchs, etc. of China that doesn't include liberal ideology or racism? Thanks!

There are so many women throughout history who are remembered for being the wife of their husband and are often referred to in these terms. How did she escape this? I never hear people say "Pierre Curie and his wife Marie". Is she just that cool?

I knew about Marie far before I learned about Pierre as well.