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1500 questions
19
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3 answers
What numerals did the people of Ireland use before Roman Numerals? (aka, did Ogham include numbers?)
I would like to know if any writing system of Ireland had a system of writing numerals prior to the Romans introducing Roman numerals. There are lots of sites online that show the Ogham writing system broken down into letters. But no one ever…
SRM
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19
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Did any leader say "We may have lost the battle, but not the war"?
I'm wondering if any leader from any era said the phrase "We may have lost the battle, but not the war" that can be backed up with reputable sources.
The meaning of the phrase (by my interpretation) is:
You've have a few failures recently but…
ʰᵈˑ
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19
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What happened to all the historical photos taken by Malcolm X?
In his autobiography, Malcolm X often mentions carrying numerous cameras around, including a film movie camera. There are also plenty of photos showing him with a camera. However neither his official autobiography nor any websites I could turn up…
JonathanReez
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19
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Why were bloody religious wars so incredibly frequent in Europe in the century following the Reformation?
Beginning in 1520, right after Martin Luther's Reformation, bloody religious wars began that kept recurring almost yearly for over a century. The Reformation's rapid spread drew battle lines accross Europe as Catholic armies were fielded to crush…
George A. Solodun
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19
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2 answers
How many barons were there in feudal 10th century France?
Around AD 1000, the king was technically owner of all of France but the land was 'leased' to his vassals: dukes, counts, lower barons, and these in turn leased it to lower barons and knights.
What I don't have an idea of are the numbers in this tree…
Chrystomath
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19
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6 answers
How was the USA able to win naval battles in the Pacific?
I have been researching the battles in the Pacific and it seems like in every engagement the USA was outnumbered or outgunned. Especially with the loss of the Pearl Harbor fleet, what made naval battles successful for the USA? I know at Midway the…
jacksonecac
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19
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1 answer
Why did Guinea vote so differently in the 1958 French constitutional referendum?
In the 1958 French constitutional referendum, 79.3% of Metropolitan France and 82.3% of the territories voted in favor of the constitution. Out of the latter, votes in favor ranged from 64.40% in French Polynesia to 99.99% in Côte d'Ivoire. Except…
gerrit
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19
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2 answers
Was it common to brush off Hitler's radical remarks as just figures of speech to whip up the supporters among US commentators in the 1930's?
I've got to this interview with a historian about the pre-war mood between the American reporters and this quote caught my eye:
If you look back to the very beginning of Hitler's rhetoric about Jews, it was all there -- the talk about extermination…
Probably
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19
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3 answers
How have European microstates survived?
How did European tiny states, like San Marino, Monaco, Andorra and Liechtenstein (excluding the Vatican, whose survival is clearly connected to religious reasons) manage to not be absorbed by bigger national states, in the heyday of their respective…
Filippof
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19
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4 answers
Why did China annex Tibet?
This is probably a very naive question, but here it goes: Was there an economical or political reason for the invasion of Tibet by China in 1950?
It does not seem to me that Tibet is a particularly wealthy place. Is there some resources there that I…
Steven Mathey
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19
votes
2 answers
Why is Spain's base timezone UTC+1?
Looking at the time zone map on Wikipedia we can see that countries such as France and Spain technically should have a time zone of UTC+0. Wikipedia says:
France previously used GMT, but was switched to CET (Central European
Time) during the…
liori
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19
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9 answers
Why was Stalin surprised by the German attack in June 1941?
Although he was warned by many, including Churchill, of the forthcoming German attack on 22 June, Stalin did not believe those warnings and was surprised when the attack started. I believe the question of why this happened has been researched by…
shro
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19
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6 answers
What is the historical reason for 18 years being the most commonly accepted age of adulthood?
Most countries define the age of adulthood at 18 years.
Why is this? Was there some historical precedent set in ancient Rome/Greece or something like that? Why 18 years and not some "nicer" number like 20 or 15?
DrZ214
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19
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2 answers
What was the original process for becoming a US citizen?
So it's 1789 and the US constitution has just come into force. Who is now a citizen of this new government? Were some granted citizenship automatically, or were there also forms to fill out and oaths to take?
ebrts
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19
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1 answer
Does a reputation for cruelty to PoWs give a tactical advantage?
Among warring factions, some groups throughout history have sought to strike fear into their adversaries by 'making examples' of any members of the opposing force(s) that they capture alive, by means of torture and the like.
At first glance, this…
Black
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