Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2021 March 4

= March 4 =

Skeletons of Chinese rulers
Are there any analysis of the skeletal remains of Ancient Chinese rulers besides Emperor Wanli with photographs of the remains? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.209.14.47 (talk) 05:51, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * The mausoleum of Emperor Jing of Han at Han Yang Ling has been excavated, but no mention of an imperial skeleton - perhaps they haven't got to that bit yet? Alansplodge (talk) 14:17, 5 March 2021 (UTC)

Retaining NATO after the Soviet Union breakup
Was there any formal decision (written or oral) in the West to retain NATO after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and associated Warsaw Pact? Thanks. 212.180.235.46 (talk) 16:10, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * The NATO article seems to explain it pretty well. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:35, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Ok, I found myself at the NATO website: "NATO endured because while the Soviet Union was no more, the Alliance’s two other original if unspoken mandates still held: to deter the rise of militant nationalism and to provide the foundation of collective security that would encourage democratisation and political integration in Europe. The definition of “Europe” had merely expanded eastward". 212.180.235.46 (talk) 20:08, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * (The reference to "Europe" expanding eastward puts me in mind of Tom Clancy's novel The Bear and the Dragon, in which NATO accepts Russia as a member and goes to war against China.) --142.112.149.107 (talk) 06:36, 5 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Understanding the deep themes of Russian history for a LONG time (and not just recent history) is understanding how Russia does (and does NOT) fit in with the concept of Europe as a cultural and political idea; and how that has played out. Russia has always been on the fringes of whatever "European" is, always partially but never fully in the "club".  Understand that, and its implications, helps understand a LOT of Russian history, including Soviet history, but also much of the prior centuries too.  This famous quote by Fyodor Dostoevsky sums it up well: ...The Russian is not only a European, but an Asian as well.  In that work, Dostoevsky argues that the central conflict in Russian history is the internal conflict between Russia's desire to be seen as European, a club to which they will never be fully accepted.  -- Jayron 32 20:52, 5 March 2021 (UTC)
 * See Russian Idea for more of that ilk. Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 11:22, 9 March 2021 (UTC)

Pugin's memorial to Phillipps VC
E. W. Pugin designed a memorial, erected by public subscription, in Charnwood Forest to Everard Aloysius Lisle Phillipps VC, late of Garendon Hall. There is a picture here. According to the Leicestershire War Memorials website "it was taken down at the request of the community". I would like to know more - when was it taken down, which "community" wanted it gone, etc. Thank you, DuncanHill (talk) 21:12, 4 March 2021 (UTC)


 * I eventually found this local history blog which says that: "The tower was demolished in 1947 as it had become unstable". I didn't find anything else to support that. Alansplodge (talk) 23:36, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
 * The 1947 date is also mentioned in our article, Mount_St_Bernard_Abbey, which is referenced to the Pugin Society page that you have linked above. As far as I can see it says no such thing, so hopefully the blogger above didn't get her information from Wikipedia. Alansplodge (talk) 23:45, 4 March 2021 (UTC)


 * I just found The Leicestershire Historian has an article about Phillipps which says the monument was "destroyed by vandals in 1946". DuncanHill (talk) 00:35, 5 March 2021 (UTC)
 * Well done. Presumably the vandalism prompted the demolition - it's hard to imagine the local hoi-polloi dismantling an entire building. Alansplodge (talk) 11:22, 5 March 2021 (UTC)