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1500 questions
22
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2 answers
Why did other German political parties disband so fast when Hitler was appointed chancellor?
Not long after Hitler was appointed chancellor, opposition groups began to shut down. He, of course, had already criminalised the Communist KPD and alleged sympathisers, but I was astonished to learn that many other parties closed themselves…
Bob Tway
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Did firing trials of pre-WW1 British dreadnoughts involve actually firing at them?
On the Wikipedia page of HMS Dreadnought it is mentioned that during firing trials against HMS Hero there were some vulnerabilities of its fire control systems revealed: namely, wiring and voice tubes were cut by splinters, and key positions…
b.Lorenz
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22
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1 answer
Was there a Japanese equivalent of the Gestapo during WW2
Colonial Japanese rule on occupied territories has been described as harsh as has been their treatment of prisoners of war. In some cases, this was not a fleeting occupation but one lasting years or decades (e.g., Korea, Taiwan, or Manchuria).…
Tom Kelly
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22
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4 answers
Why does the CIA report on the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich refer to it as "Operation Salmon" rather than "Operation Anthropoid"?
SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich. Source: National Archives
I have been researching Operation Anthropoid (the assassination of SS-Gruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich on 27 May 1942 in Prague, Czechoslovakia by Czech operatives Jozef Gabčík and Jan…
Kerry L
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22
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1 answer
Who are the three men standing and what are they holding at this University of Paris Doctors' Meeting?
The image below is used on several sites but none of them give much information on this painting other than "Medieval Education in Europe: Meeting of Doctors in the University of Paris" and the source ("Chants royaux" manuscript, Bibliothèque…
Lars Bosteen
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22
votes
2 answers
Has a battering ram been used to breach a gate?
I am looking for a specific example of a battering ram used to breach the gate of a castle or fortification in Europe. I can find lots of indirect references to the use of battering rams on gates (Valturio's De re militari, Vegetius' Epitoma) but no…
John
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22
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4 answers
Are there any underground cities known except those found in Cappadocia?
I've recently read the story about the discovery of the underground city of Derinkuyu. Now I'm a bit curious if there are other similar archaeological discoveries: I mean something we could really call a city, a place where many people would be able…
Medi1Saif
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22
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Why are the majority of Dresden inhabitants atheists or agnostics?
German Wikipedia says that
Four fifths of the inhabitants of Dresden
do not belong to any religious community.
Approx. 20 % of the population is predominantly Christian.
Original German text:
Etwa vier Fünftel der Einwohner gehören keiner…
user23839
22
votes
4 answers
Were Mongol or Chinese cavalry charges among the largest in history?
In 1683 at the Battle of Vienna, 20,000 Polish, German and Austrian cavalry charged the Ottoman lines in what Wikipedia says is the largest cavalry charge in history. Other references are more cautious: this page and one of the Wiki references say…
Lars Bosteen
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22
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Where were ancient Romans supposed to dispose of their waste and garbage?
On page 35 of Gregory Aldrete's Daily Life in the Roman City he states "The majority of sewage that found its way into the system did not come directly from latrines [...] Most waste was dumped in the streets, and from there might find its way into…
Random
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How did Christianity replace Roman Paganism and other ancient religions?
Christianity seems to have been the first world religion that was interested in and successful with establishing itself as not only the state religion of but practically the only in an empire - namely, the late Roman Empire as its client and…
0range
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22
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2 answers
Was Churchill's "backwards" victory symbol a rude gesture to Hitler?
Churchill was sometimes photographed giving the V-for-victory symbol with the back of the hand to the photographer or crowd. Was this meant as a sly "up yours" gesture to Hitler, or just a less common variant of the gesture?
Amorphous Blob
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22
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How long did it take to get news of the sighting of the Spanish Armada from Land’s End to London?
When the Armada was sighted, fire beacons carried the warning from Land’s End (western tip of Cornwall) to the rest of the country (this link has some details on how the system worked).
"Armada Beacon on Culver Down with Spithead in the…
Lars Bosteen
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22
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2 answers
Did NATO promise Gorbachev not to accept membership applications from former Warsaw Pact nations?
There have been several claims that there was an agreement between NATO and USSR at the end of the Cold War. This agreement supposedly required NATO to reject any membership applications from the nations formerly part of the Warsaw Pact. If this…
Zeick
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What would a Roman slave be legally required to do if his master vanished?
Say that I were a Roman slave around the time of the Empire, perhaps as someone who maintains his villa. I serve my master faithfully and then one day, without warning, he doesn't come home. The day turns into weeks and the weeks turn into months,…
Thunderforge
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