/u/MolotovCollective's posts

Title	Upvotes	Subreddit
I was reading Polybius’ The Histories and was struck by how the Roman style of defeating pike formations seemed extremely similar to how Napoleon’s Corps system defeated linear formations. Given that Napoleonic France was oozing with Roman symbolism, were tactical innovations inspired from Classics?	22	AskHistorians
Historian Gunther Rothenberg describes the Napoleonic Wars as being fought by “skirmish lines supported by assault columns.” How true is this assessment that most fighting would be done in loose order with the only the assaults being fought in close order either by attack column or firing in line?	16	AskHistorians
How affordable and common were firearms to the average person during the 18th century, and if they didn’t own a firearm, what substitutes were used for self-defense, or for protecting the home?	15	AskHistorians
I was reading a research paper on early modern China, and the author made a side comment that the British found the cure for scurvy in 1747, but that Portugal had discovered it “much earlier,” with no explanation. When did Portugal discover it, and how didn’t their ally, Britain, find out?	13	AskHistorians
The Timbisha people have survived in Death Valley for almost a thousand years. How did they survive in such an inhospitable climate before significant western contact? What strategies did they use to gather resources, food, and water?	12	AskHistorians
Following the Industrial Revolution, if working conditions were so bad, and wages as low as often portrayed, why did so many people leave their rural homes to flock to cities for these jobs?	11	AskHistorians
At Waterloo in 1815, when charged by French cuirassiers, Sergeant William Lawrence and his company were ordered by their captain to stop aiming at the armored riders and to instead aim at the unarmored horses. Was it really expected for a cuirass to stop a musketball on the charge?	8	AskHistorians
In Early Modern Europe, what would be the definitive reading list for the well-to-do worker or farmer who wanted to self-study a humanist education?	7	AskHistorians
During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the French employed lighting fast movements, forgoing complex logistics, instead living off the land to outpace their opponents and fight on their terms. But as conflict dragged on and supplies ran thin, was this practice a net-positive in the end?	6	AskHistorians
How true is the often repeated statement from historians that line infantry never aimed their muskets in the era of linear warfare? I’ve been reading diaries of Napoleonic soldiers and I was surprised that many of them mention aiming in combat, and not just the skirmishers.	4	AskHistorians

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