History

Refine Search

When was indoor plumbing invented?

The earliest evidence of indoor plumbing comes from Scotland in 8000 BC, where water was used to flush waste from indoor troughs to a nearby creek. In 4000 BC, perforated bricks were use to drain water from homes in Iraq to pits that lay beneath them. By 3000 BC, people living in Crete were using rudimentary toilet systems, which required servants to pour water that would flush waste away.During the middle ages, parts of Mesoamerica used basic flushing systems. However, many parts of Europe saw a decline in the advancement of indoor plumbing, leading to unsanitary conditions. This began to cha..

Continue Reading

What are three weaknesses of the Treaty of Versailles?

The Treaty of Versailles also helped to bring peace to Europe through the League of Nations, an international organization created to keep the peace. It also acknowledged countries as individual entities and did not treat countries as members of larger empires or under another country's control.The Treaty of Versailles was negotiated between January and June of 1919 in Paris. It was written by the Allied Power countries with little help from the Germans. The finished treaty had 15 parts and 440 articles. The first part was written to create the New League of Nations and prohibited Germany..

Continue Reading

What does the Rebel Flag stand for?

Supporters of the flag, mostly White southerners, see it simply as a symbol of heritage and pride. Opponents to the flag, consisting mostly of African Americans, view it as a blatant sign of racism because of the Southern states resistance to racial desegregation. The use of the flag by certain racists and hate groups, such as the Neo-Nazis as part of their symbolism, compounds the controversy and its disapproval.

Continue Reading

How did the American Revolution influence the French Revolution?

The first phase of the French Revolution took much inspiration from the works of Montesquieu, Thomas Jefferson and John Locke, whose ideas the revolutionaries in America had also touted. Their ideas came to the fore in the early phases of the revolution, when the National Constituent Assembly replaced the absolute monarchy of the Ancien Régime with a constitutional monarchy, Montesquieu's favored system of government. In 1789, the same assembly passed "The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen," a document that draws deeply from the works of John Locke and from Thomas Jeffe..

Continue Reading

What were the causes of the Crimean War?

The war began in 1853, when Russia invaded the autonomous regions of Moldavia and Wallachia, which resided in the Ottoman Empire.This was not intended as a direct act of war by Russia. Instead, the Russians hoped to force the Sultan into concessions for Orthodox Christians in the areas, while seeing how the Empire would respond. It was assumed that because other major powers, such as France and Britain, were not on good terms, they would be unlikely to get involved, let alone work together in coming to the aid of Turkey.Britain, France and Austria-Hungary all regarded the move as either an exp..

Continue Reading

When was the first mechanical computer made?

The Difference Engine did not resemble the modern computers of today. It was massive and consisted of up to 25,000 components. The machine weighed 15 tons and was 8 feet tall.In 1991, the London Science Museum completed the Difference Engine No. 2 to commemorate the bicentennial of Babbage's birth year.

Continue Reading

Where do Armenian people come from?

More than three million Armenians live in the republic, and 40,000 to 70,000 remain in Turkey. Large numbers live in Azerbaijan, Georgia and other areas of the Caucasus and the Middle East. Five million people of Armenian descent live outside their ancestral home. Large populations reside in Russia, the United States, France, Georgia, Iran, Lebanon and Syria.\nArmenians were dispersed from their original homeland mainly as a result of the Armenian genocide at the outbreak of World War I. In 1915 the Turks viewed the Armenians as a dangerous foreign element occupying the region and attempted to..

Continue Reading

What started World War I?

The complex network of alliances binding these nations together included the Treaty of London, the Three Emperors League, the Dual Alliance, the Triple Alliance, the Entente Cordiale, the Anglo-Russian Entente and the Triple Entente. Most of these alliances were not designed for military intervention, but rather to counter the growing power of one or another European nation, particularly Germany. Germany, only a century earlier a patchwork of warring principalities, had condensed into a powerful, militaristic country under Otto von Bismark during the 1870s, quickly rising to challenge the othe..

Continue Reading

Where did saber-toothed tigers live?

Saber-toothed tiger is only a colloquial term. There is no such thing as a true saber-toothed tiger, because none of these cats have any relation to modern-day tigers. The saber-tooth "tiger" is a state symbol of California, where over 2000 skeletons have been recovered. The specific type of cat in California is known as the Smilodon. The Smilodon is perhaps the most well-known of all saber-toothed cat varieties. The Smilodon lived in closed habitats, such as a forest or in bushes, which was ideal for ambushing prey. Another saber-toothed cat found in North America is the Hoplophoneus. The Hop..

Continue Reading

How many people died in the Civil War?

Both totals include battlefield deaths as well as those from disease, starvation and accidents. More soldiers died from disease than any other cause. The original tally came from an exhaustive study by William F. Fox and Thomas Leonard Livermore in 1889. They reviewed muster lists, battlefield reports and pension records from the two armies. The newer study used census data and included, among other things, an influx of immigrants who served in the war. Either total ranks the Civil War as the deadliest conflict in U.S. history.

Continue Reading
Showing 7211 to 7220 of 8554 (856 Pages)