Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 December 2

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December 2

Which areas were (de jure) part of the Mughal Empire in 1760?

ZFT (talk) 01:46, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

If I compare to This map (change the year to 1760), basically the area in green labeled Oudh and the extreme northern part of the yellow area which is the Maratha Empire. This map was produced by the British, who had their own political reasons for creating it; it may or may not have actually represented the actual control of territory, but in reality it wasn't too far off. By 1760, there was still nominally a Mughal Empire, but it's not really clear that they had undisputed legal control over any territory. In reality, they probably only controlled the city of Delhi and little else; which is why the British basically erased them from this map. As noted at Shah Alam II, the empire basically only existed on paper, and the Mughals were functionally under the suzerainty of the Maratha. --Jayron32 11:53, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

There was no international body for settling jurisdiction disputes; the answer in those days on the de jure question may have very much depended on whom you asked. Note that particularly in 1760, as Alam II first ascended to the throne as a Maratha puppet, the de facto situation was briefly fluctuating; the Bengal War showed that he (or the Maratha) still laid claim to Bengal Subah as part of the Empire.  --Lambiam 13:41, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

Lambiam raises a very cogent point here. The modern concept of the nation-state did not exist at this time, and especially in this locale; a sovereign like a King or an Emperor had claim to the land they could control by having an army to enforce their laws and collect taxes from the people living on that land, and that was about it. It's even more complicated when there are competing claims that go uncontested for a time. Certainly, both the Mughals and the Maratha had armies, at the time, capable of defending such claims, that is evidenced by the fact that the Mughals did fight wars to defend such claims. There's a lot of fiction involved in drawing maps with lines and different colors in these ways. Even in Europe itself, the concept of the modern nation-state was relatively new (see Westphalian sovereignty), and such political theories don't really apply in India at this time. --Jayron32 13:53, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

Provoking the Swiss Guard

As I was unable to find appropriate information, what would most likely happen if you started doing really nasty things to an honorary guard of the Swiss Guard (meaning the guys with halberds wearing the flamboyant Renaissance uniforms) like shouting swearwords at him, pulling his clothes, touching his face, physically attacking him or similar? In which case would he be allowed to react, and how (e. g. walk or run away, inform somebody, or even defend himself)? And what if you tried to get past such guards to a place closed to the public: Will they shout or even come after you, inform officers in charge of security, or will they just keep their position and stand still (as they are only on ceremonial duty)? For clarification, I do not mean the guardsmen in the blue dress or those in plainclothes, who actually are in charge of security!--Hildeoc (talk) 03:34, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

For one thing, the Swiss Guard are recruited from the regular army and (in addition to other requirements) have received basic training. Although they do wear quaint uniforms and display archaic weapons, depending on their duty, they are also equipped with the SIG Sauer P220 pistol and/or a "commando" version (shortened) of a SIG assault rifle. So... messing with them is not advisable. 2603:6081:1C00:1187:45A9:90E5:D977:B574 (talk) 05:53, 2 December 2021 (UTC) . . . When on 'Honor Duty', they "should not be approached".^[1] Details: Zubova, Xenia. "Welcome To The Swiss Guard - The World's Smallest Army". Forces Network.

And of course, while a halberd is an archaic weapon, it is still a weapon, and can still seriously mess you up - hence why they were invented in the first place. Iapetus (talk) 09:50, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

This is not the place for speculation, but they probably have a procedure in place similar to the Queen's Guard.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:19, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

I expect them to turn the other cheek. --Bumptump (talk) 01:36, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

Key works on UFO, 'flying saucers' prior to the closure of Blue Book

Does anyone here have a list of key primary sources related to flying saucers or UFO, that were published prior to the closure of Project Blue Book in the late 1960's? (Ideally, the aim is to put this list on Wikisource, so that the original sources can be transcribed, where possible) ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 13:37, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

Unidentified_flying_object#Early_history_before_the_20th_century suggests Liber de prodigiis by Julius Obsequens, and a January 25, 1878, Denison Daily News article. References there also point to sources for Nuremberg sightings and Second World War sightings. There's also a bunch of primary sources listed at the US library of congress [2]. For more 40s and 50s sources see also Extraterrestrial Encounters: UFOs, Science and the Quest for Transcendence, 1947-1972 and its bibliography. 70.67.193.176 (talk) 17:48, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

You can look at Chapter 5 of Martin Gardner's "Fads and Fallacies". Donald Keyhoe played a very prominent role in the 1950s... AnonMoos (talk) 20:02, 2 December 2021 (UTC)

Ed Ruppelt's (military officer who led Blue Book) Report on the UFOs describes some of the characters who sprung up in late 40s and early 50s, like George Adamski. 46.188.171.123 (talk) 06:33, 4 December 2021 (UTC)

Kumazawa Hiromichi

Is there a published genealogy of Kumazawa Hiromichi descent from Emperor Go-Daigo? Article mentions a koseki he presented but is there a detailed list of names tracing him back? KAVEBEAR (talk) 23:43, 2 December 2021 (UTC)