/r/AskHistorians

Year:

Only show posts with narrations

Wikipedia's List of Famines has a listing for an Iranian / Persian famine from 1917-1919 which claimed 8-10 million lives, nearly half the population at the time, but doesn't have a page for it, and I've never heard of it. Can anyone here teach us more about it?

5223 upvotes • PISS_PISSOUTMYASS

Mark as read: Add to a list

I'm a young disaffected Irishman in Derry in 1970. How do I join the IRA? What was it like to be in it?

5214 upvotes • QWERT123321Z

Mark as read: Add to a list

Did Caesar actually leave 75 Drachma to every Roman citizen in his will? How would the money have been distributed? Apparently a skilled roman laborer would have earned 1 Drachma a day so how did this affect inflation?

5209 upvotes • JagmeetSingh2

Mark as read: Add to a list

In Vietnam War movies, you constantly see American soldiers wearing altered uniforms like torn sleeves and bandanas, and using non-standard equipment like bows and arrows. How common was this really? Why isn't it as present in WWII or Afghanistan War films / reality?

5209 upvotes • XipingVonHozzendorf

Mark as read: Add to a list

As a non-historian, how can I identify accessible, legitimate writing about medieval history without accidentally reading white supremacist propaganda/invented history?

5206 upvotes • pineapple_private_i

Mark as read: Add to a list

Did people in the past really have more leisure time than we do today? If so, when did this start to change?

5201 upvotes • qcinc

Mark as read: Add to a list

Why was there a Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?

5195 upvotes • royalstaircase

Mark as read: Add to a list

TIL That today the US is responsible for 25% of the world's prison population. Presumably in 1776 we were on par with Europe. Has the US proclivity for incarceration been a historical trait or only a more recent phenomenon? What laws has the US enacted enabling this increased rate of imprisonment?

5192 upvotes • PhilipXD3

Mark as read: Add to a list

"Historians say they were Just Friends, but they were obviously gay!" What are actual historians' strategies for educating the history of sexuality and gender when the audience is wary of erasure?

5188 upvotes • j_one_k

Mark as read: Add to a list

At age 18, Edgar Allan Poe joined the US Army in 1827 as a Private, and left in 1829 as a Sergeant Major of Artillery. How did he attain the highest enlisted rank in just two years?

5186 upvotes • DrHENCHMAN

Mark as read: Add to a list

Title	Upvotes	Author	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
Wikipedia's List of Famines has a listing for an Iranian / Persian famine from 1917-1919 which claimed 8-10 million lives, nearly half the population at the time, but doesn't have a page for it, and I've never heard of it. Can anyone here teach us more about it?	5223	PISS_PISSOUTMYASS
I'm a young disaffected Irishman in Derry in 1970. How do I join the IRA? What was it like to be in it?	5214	QWERT123321Z
Did Caesar actually leave 75 Drachma to every Roman citizen in his will? How would the money have been distributed? Apparently a skilled roman laborer would have earned 1 Drachma a day so how did this affect inflation?	5209	JagmeetSingh2
In Vietnam War movies, you constantly see American soldiers wearing altered uniforms like torn sleeves and bandanas, and using non-standard equipment like bows and arrows. How common was this really? Why isn't it as present in WWII or Afghanistan War films / reality?	5209	XipingVonHozzendorf
As a non-historian, how can I identify accessible, legitimate writing about medieval history without accidentally reading white supremacist propaganda/invented history?	5206	pineapple_private_i
Did people in the past really have more leisure time than we do today? If so, when did this start to change?	5201	qcinc
Why was there a Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?	5195	royalstaircase
TIL That today the US is responsible for 25% of the world's prison population. Presumably in 1776 we were on par with Europe. Has the US proclivity for incarceration been a historical trait or only a more recent phenomenon? What laws has the US enacted enabling this increased rate of imprisonment?	5192	PhilipXD3
"Historians say they were Just Friends, but they were obviously gay!" What are actual historians' strategies for educating the history of sexuality and gender when the audience is wary of erasure?	5188	j_one_k
At age 18, Edgar Allan Poe joined the US Army in 1827 as a Private, and left in 1829 as a Sergeant Major of Artillery. How did he attain the highest enlisted rank in just two years?	5186	DrHENCHMAN