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1500 questions
31
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7 answers
Has there ever been anything like the oil boom we see today?
Since the discovery of oil, there have been entire nations that have literally been built from the ground up almost completely with oil money. This has been done, and is still being done, in relatively short spans of time. Has this ever occurred in…
user31652
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31
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2 answers
Were there inns and hostels in medieval Europe?
In fantasy novels or roleplaying games it is very common for the characters to stay a night at an inn, hostel or tavern. But I'm curious of what it was like for real in medieval times. I'm particularly interested in Britain, but any references to…
Kristoffer Helander
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31
votes
9 answers
Are there any documented examples of wooden ships which were in active service for 100 years or more? If not, what is the longest?
I’ve found two examples (HMS Rupert at 103 years and HMS Warspite at 105 years, both launched in 1666) but I’m not sure if these should qualify as they were rebuilt, and the Wikipedia entry on HMS Rupert says that
on 16 August 1736 she was ordered…
Lars Bosteen
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31
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7 answers
Did Germany's role in WW2 affect the historical perception of its role in WW1?
In the recent Wonder Woman movie (which I know is not an historical essay) I understand that the Germans are treated as the bad guys, almost like nazis although I am pretty sure that Germans in WW1 were nothing like nazis and there were scenarios in…
Jeff
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31
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2 answers
Were there ethnic Russians in Alaska when the US purchased it 1867? Did they stay?
How many ethnic Russians, or inhabitants with recent roots in Russia, were there in Alaska when US bought it? Were they hunters, farmers, traders? How many stayed and became Americans?
LocalFluff
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31
votes
5 answers
Why were there no agricultural, city-state forming civilizations in the Ice Age?
In spite of various fringe historians claiming to have found remains of Ice Age civilizations on lost continents, Atlantis and what not, there is - to the best of my knowledge - no tangible evidence of any agricultural, city-state forming…
0range
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31
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1 answer
Was the London Blitz accidentally started by lost pilots?
In Connie Willis's All Clear, one of the characters makes reference to the Blitz thus:
... the German pilots who got lost didn't mean to start the London Blitz
The universe this series is set in is meant to match ours, at least as far as the 20th…
Rawling
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31
votes
3 answers
What was the economic basis for West Berlin?
From the 1950s to 1989, West Berlin was physically and economically cut off from the surrounding countryside. Since WWII it had lost the government service functions that help drive a capital's economy. And it didn't exactly sit on a trade…
hmakholm left over Monica
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31
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4 answers
Why does the Great Wall of China follow such a bendy route?
Why does the path of the Great Wall of China bend back and forth so much? Naïvely, it would have taken less material and guards to defend if it had taken a straighter path, so there must have been some reason. But what?
BenRW
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31
votes
11 answers
Why were Civil War battle techniques so bloody, if the US had learned guerrilla fighting in the Revolutionary War?
My understanding (which could be wrong) is that armies in the U.S. civil war were "bloody" in the sense that soldiers did not retreat or were sent directly into fire, until one side was wiped out. If I'm wrong about that please correct me.
I'm just…
composerMike
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31
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2 answers
Why did Switzerland not grant votes to women until 1971?
I was shocked to learn yesterday that Switzerland didn't grant votes to women until 1971. Other European foot-draggers like France granted this right at the end of the second world war, making Switzerland over 25 years later than its cultural…
Bob Tway
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31
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4 answers
Which cultures did *not* produce alcohol?
I've been reading Harold McGee's fascinating On Food and Cooking, and the chapter on alcohol has some interesting historical notes. He describes the widely varied and creative methods used in various cultures to produce alcoholic beverages from…
Nate Eldredge
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31
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2 answers
Why did the French sell Louisiana?
Why did an imperialistic country like France (at that time) sell a territory so large for so cheap? Was it an important region at the time? I heard that the port of New Orleans was particularly valuable. Even if at that time maybe it wasn't so…
Louis Rhys
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31
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4 answers
Who is the earliest recorded person?
Who is the earliest person recorded in history? Whose fame has survived the greatest amount of time to come down to us today?
Joe
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31
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3 answers
What were the reasons that the British colonies in North America rebelled but not others?
I know more about the American War of Independence than about other British colonies, but I have begun to wonder why was it just America. The British had colonies in other places but there doesn't seem to have been any rush to war for freedom as…
MichaelF
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