Most Popular
1500 questions
41
votes
9 answers
Where did Medieval Europe's gold come from?
Medieval Europe processed copious amounts of gold into religious artifacts, jewelry and of course gold coins, as evidenced by the large number of those that survive to this day.
Given that today, no European country is even remotely near the world's…
user4656
40
votes
4 answers
Where would the first nuke have been dropped in Germany?
Germany surrendered before the nuclear bomb was ready for production. The Allies had a Germany first policy: if the German government hadn't surrendered, Hiroshima wouldn't have been the first city to be nuked. It would have been a German city.
The…
Jos
- 21,973
- 2
- 63
- 99
40
votes
3 answers
What was the status of Arab Christians during the crusades?
Did Arab Christians take an active role in the crusades in the Holy Land or at any point on their trip to the Holy Land. Or were they victims of the crusaders? Did the crusaders typically differentiate between Christian Arab or Jew upon reaching…
YUASK
- 1,399
- 1
- 11
- 21
40
votes
2 answers
Why were the West African islands uninhabited?
I'm curious about the history of two West African Archipelagos, specifically the Cape Verde islands and São Tomé and Príncipe. These islands were both uninhabited prior to the arrival of Europeans despite being very close to the African continent. …
user2944352
- 503
- 3
- 6
40
votes
7 answers
Why are many African nations poor?
Many African countries are currently in the bottom parts of socioeconomic rankings like GDP per capita, life expectancy, literacy, HDI, etc. Some of them possess a decent amount of natural resources and relatively low population burden, so this is…
Orion
- 3,784
- 5
- 29
- 31
40
votes
6 answers
What were Germany's long-term aims in World War I?
In World War I, according to the Schlieffen Plan, Germany aimed to defeat France in several weeks, before freeing up soldiers to fight on the front against Russia. Suppose their plan would have succeeded — then what was next? What were their long…
gerrit
- 3,754
- 1
- 22
- 39
40
votes
3 answers
Why couldn't Japan crack the Navajo Code in WW2, when they captured a Navajo native speaker?
All quotes come from r/askhistorians comment by User druidofdarrowdelf, but it doesn't answer my own questions.
The Japanese captured a Navajo POW, Joe Kieyoomia, who wasn't part of the Code Talker program. He was forced to listen to the…
user8309
40
votes
9 answers
How severe were the casualties in ancient/medieval battles?
I've heard that in most battles prior to the introduction of gunpowder weapons, the casualties were usually very low (around 5% even in long battles) prior to the moment when someone's formation was broken and the side stopped really fighting and…
Pavel
- 1,108
- 1
- 8
- 19
40
votes
2 answers
Why are many African-Americans in Mississippi concentrated in the northwestern area?
I was looking at a 2016 election map of Mississippi. I saw a that most of it was red, but the western part looked very blue. I looked up one of those counties, and not surprisingly for an American deep South county, it had a high percentage of…
Eilish
- 409
- 4
- 4
40
votes
2 answers
Why did the German army execute so few soldiers in World War I compared to most other armies?
According to Alexander Watson's Ring of Steel and other sources during the whole of the First World War the German army only executed 48 of its soldiers, compared to over 300 in the British and 600-800 in the French, Italian and Austro-Hungarian…
Timothy
- 5,631
- 21
- 37
40
votes
2 answers
Did the Soviet army intentionally send troops (e.g. penal battalions) running over minefields?
You can hear this story/claim stated in various way, from just regular troops doing it, to just penal battalions, to strenuous denial nobody ever did this in the Soviet army. (Just look at a Quora thread.)
So what sources do we have (besides that…
the gods from engineering
- 5,244
- 2
- 17
- 38
40
votes
1 answer
What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
In the 1595 Map of the Arctic, Mercator shows the North Pole as having a substantial landmass surrounding a rock.
Source: Wikipedia
A little over a hundred years later, Guillaume de L'Isle's 1714 map (updated 1741) of the Arctic regions shows no…
Lars Bosteen
- 107,936
- 20
- 483
- 554
40
votes
8 answers
Why didn't the Norsemen colonize North America?
Why is there evidence of (pre-Columbus) Norse presence in North America, but no record of any attempt of permanent settlement?
Samid
- 2,202
- 3
- 13
- 26
40
votes
19 answers
Has there ever been a peaceful overthrow of a dictator or monarch?
Has there ever been a peaceful overthrow of a dictator or monarch? By peaceful I mean without assassination, military coup, major violent protests, killing of civilians, war, etc. The closest thing I can think of is during the Glorious Revolution of…
pErs0nZ
- 602
- 1
- 5
- 9
40
votes
4 answers
What is the reason for the selections of gun caliber size in history?
After being a fan of diverse WW2-games, I was wondering why and how the gun caliber sizes were designed, from the view of history. Is there an explanation why for example the German army choose to step up from 50 mm via 75 mm to 88 mm, and not to 90…
arc_lupus
- 508
- 1
- 4
- 8