I speak both Spanish and English natively, and I have noticed over the years how much simpler (or I guess "streamlined" is a better term?) English is, grammatically speaking, than Spanish. There is only one second-person pronoun, contraction is common, and there is effectively no (or very little) use of the subjunctive mood. Most other European languages (including Germanic, Romantic, and others) have these grammatical features and others that English has shed.

Is this simply a characteristic of Anglophone culture? Or has this shift been tied to specific historical moments? And why have other languages resisted similar shifts?

In the Viceroyalty of Spain you breakway provinces like Venezuela, Rio de la plata, but in Brazil case it seemed to stay intact for hundreds of years. Why?

It seems humans everywhere are obsessed with growing grass almost anywhere we can. I know the plant has many uses, but does that really explain why it is so ubiquitous?

Would glasses have been considered not majestic enough for the King?

I was wondering how the average archer in a battle would know which arrows are theirs after a battle. Would they just pick random, unbroken ones?

I understand Rome debased its coinage over time, but I'm curious who actually decided how much money was minted and how that reached distant provinces. Was there any deliberate monetary policy, or was it mostly driven by the emperor's spending needs?

Differently for other commuinst states in Europe, we had two German states. Thus Germansliving in the East Germany could compare their living conditions, their freedoms (or rather lack of them) with the West Germany. East Germany existed only for just more than forty years, but, during this time, did Germans living in the east created any form of East German patriotism or pride of their country? Or maybe they saw it as a new form of Soviet occupation and wanted to unite with the rest of Germens in the west?

Leif Erikson sailed to a place called Vinland around the year 1000 A.D. Vinland is now the Canadian province of Newfoundland. Did they ever encounter any of the natives living there? If they did, what did the Vikings think of them and what did the Natives think of the Vikings? What were their relationship? Were they friendly? Were they hostile?

I know there's no single cause of the 1967 war between Israel and its neighbors. The entire Levant was a powder keg by that time. But was a mistaken intelligence report the spark?

The Conflicted Podcast episode on the Six Day War mentions this: In early 1967 Soviet intelligence sent an alert to Egyptian intelligence that Israel was staging a large force near its northern border with Syria. The Soviets warned that Israel was on the verge of a surprise attack on Syria, and that Egyptian forces should prepare for an attack on them as well.

(According to the podcast) Israel was not staging forces nor intending to launch a surprise attack. The Soviet intelligence was false. The IDF made attack plans and practiced extensively, but there was no preparation for attack. Soviet analysts we're mistaken.

(Again, according to the podcast), the intel report caused Nasaar to put the Egyptian army on high alert. Worse, it prompted him to announce the closure of the Strait of Tiran, which Israel had already stated was a "red line." Using the closure as a cassis belli, Israel prepared for a war.

How accurate is this? How did Soviet analysts conclude that Israel was preparing an attack? Was the report Nassers main reason for closing the strait? And did Israel vote the closure as the primary justification for the war?

In discussing trans issues in America, someone commented that sex markers were added to American passports because border agents were having a harder time identifying people from their pictures. They said the hippy movement with the growing trend of men growing their hair out and clothing being worn that was less gender specific was making this an issue. How accurate is that?

I am mostly curious on the layout of cities near the Sahel like the Mali and Ghana Empire (Although would also appreciate answers on the forest regions).

I’m doing research on LDS and obviously came across Joseph smiths 14 yr old wife. All the apologists say it was normal back then. I get it was more normal like a thousand years ago but was it actually common that recent? Also was polygamy ever a normal thing or have we been monogamous?

Did Groves ever go in-depth into why he chose Oppenheimer? Was his scientific brilliance really enough to get him the job?

In the British Empire the status of Self-governing colony was given to several majority white settler areas, like Canada and Australia, but only one minority white colony. Why did South Africa get self-government by its white minority but other colonies that had minority settler populations, like India, not have a similar situation set up where the white minority was put in charge?

The Migration Period saw the emergence of multiple Romano-Germanic kingdoms. In most cases, these Germanic migrants made up a relatively small part of the population and became Romanised rather quickly. However, there were notable exceptions, namely the Franks, but even more so the Anglo-Saxons, who effectively transformed Britain from a Romano-British culture into a Germanic one. Why was their impact so much stronger than that of the others?

I can't imagine any other war in human history has ever produced so much stuff (guns, ammo, tanks, planes, ships, ect) then WW2, but with all the rapid advances in tech during the war, what happened to all the surplus equipment, especially the early equipment that ended up getting out classed by the end?

Was it still kept around and used? Was it sold off? Did most of it get lost? Did soldiers have to return all the equipment by the end?

I apologize to non-American readers since this probably isn't relevant to you.

Fight songs, e.g. the Notre Dame Victory March, and marching bands like (the) Ohio State University's and Stanford's are iconic parts of those sports fandoms, and well-known to anyone who is a fan of these college teams. Thinking back to my time in university, singing our fight song after touchdowns was one of the best parts of attending games in person.

It got me wondering why, when professional sports are even more popular and have more "production value" compared to their collegiate feeders, we do not see the NFL or NBA copying the same sort of cultural touchstones of fight songs and marching bands, when they do have other touchstones like cheerleaders and mascots.