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1500 questions
208
votes
34 answers
Why did Hitler attack the Soviet Union when he was still busy fighting the United Kingdom?
During World War 2, Hitler was fighting a war with Great Britain and her colonies, but while fighting that war, he attacked the Soviet Union even though they had a non-aggression pact. Everyone knows that having to fight on two opposite fronts at…
Massimo
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When did people decide that all caps means the writer is shouting?
Nowadays, writing in all caps tends to indicate that the writer is shouting.
FOR EXAMPLE IF I TYPE LIKE THIS PEOPLE EQUATE THIS TO SHOUTING.
My understanding from cursory googling is that letters were originally only in one case and a separate case…
GGMG-he-him
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139
votes
9 answers
Why was France granted an equal status among victors of World War II?
How is it that France emerged from World War II with a similar status as the U.S.A., Britain, the Soviet Union, and China in terms of possession of a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council, uncontested possession of nuclear weapons, etc?
I…
Drux
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139
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19 answers
Did the ancients or other pre-industrial civilisations engage in unsustainable practices?
A popular rhetoric we hear regarding sustainability is that modern life after industrialization and arrival of plastics and hydrocarbon fuels have led to environmental degradation on Earth and our ancients didn't indulge in such. Another common…
Whirl Mind
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131
votes
7 answers
Do historians agree that most wars are caused by religion?
I'm not a historian, but this is a very common claim that crops up in debates over God's existence and religious scripture. What is the opinion of the community of professional historians?
user33747
127
votes
2 answers
How do historians and linguists know how to pronounce the names from non-phonetic scripts?
If we take hieroglyphic writings like the Egyptian one, an Egyptologist knows that this hieroglyph must be interpreted as Nefertiti.
Or we can see in the following Sumerian cuneiform script that there is a syllabic representation of each cuneiform…
Devin
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123
votes
15 answers
Why, in ancient battles, did being encircled mean defeat?
Why, in ancient battles, did being encircled mean defeat?
The classic example of that is the Battle of Cannae, where 80,000 Roman infantry were surrounded by 40,000 Carthaginian infantry.
Every description of the battle that I've seen talks in…
user26470
122
votes
7 answers
Did China ever consider a phonetic writing system?
I was surprised to learn the following about the Japanese and Korean languages:
Japanese used a lot of Chinese characters in their language and had no phonetic system, until around the year 800 when they made their first kana. (They still use a lot…
DrZ214
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119
votes
10 answers
Were there women who were against giving women the right to vote?
The TV show Sherlock prompted an interesting question about the historical role of women during the United Kingdom's road to women's suffrage.
In the episode "The Abominable Bride" (set in Victorian London in 1895), there was a scene where Mrs.…
Thunderforge
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117
votes
9 answers
Why did Native Americans die from European diseases while Europeans didn't catch serious diseases from the New World?
Why did Native Americans die of European diseases while Europeans didn't have serious diseases from the New World?
I read that most Native American victims of colonization in the new world died of European diseases and not by battles. But why didn't…
CsBalazsHungary
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115
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8 answers
On 1941 Dec 7, could Japan have targeted the Panama Canal instead of Pearl Harbor in a surprise attack?
This question comes from a slightly related one.
At the time of WW2, most US industry was on the East Coast, including all of the shipbuilding for Carriers and Battleships. If the Panama Canal went down, it would greatly reduce the logistics of the…
DrZ214
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114
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18 answers
Why bother attacking castles at all? Why not go around?
Castles were designed to hold people, weapons, and supplies to survive a siege. They were well-defended. Taking one could easily be a long, bloody struggle.
Why attack at all? Most castles I've seen could be trivially circumnavigated. The resident…
spraff
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113
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2 answers
Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
Hitler's ideal Aryan / Nordic appearance was: tall, blond, blue eyed, broad shouldered.
Hitler's own appearance was: short, dark haired, brown eyed, slight and slumpy shoulders.
And most of the Nazi leadership came up pretty short on Aryan / Nordic…
Joe C
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110
votes
14 answers
When did the allies find out about the killing of Jews during WW2
When watching "Saving Private Ryan" I noticed during the opening scene that one of the soldiers (who is Jewish) gets emotional when he discovers a Hitler Youth knife, I could only assume it was suggested that he knew about the killing of Jews.…
Anonymous
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109
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7 answers
Why did the Confederacy think they could win the American Civil War?
The early Confederacy (The 7 founding states) attacked Fort Sumter in April 1861, starting the American Civil War. The Confederacy knew this would lead to war with the Union, yet they seemed to be confident in their odds of succeeding.
Shortly after…
Robert Tausig
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