/r/AskHistorians

Title	Upvotes	Author
How long after the rise of Augustus did it take the average citizen of Rome to realize that they no longer lived in a Republic? Would it be clearer to patricians than it was to equestrians or plebs? Were there any expressions of dissent, and if so, what were the consequences for the dissenter?	4870	td4999
J.R.R. Tolkein single-handedly created our modern conception of staple fantasy races such as Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs. Are his versions based on earlier legends, or did he invent them wholesale?	4866	dementeddr
Napoleon invaded Egypt with 30.000 man by sea, the British navy destroyed their ships and they were stranded. After a while Napoleon bailed on them, went to France and eventually took power. What happened to the stranded troops?	4859	Cara_Estranho
Ian Fleming’s James Bond is often depicted wearing a Rolex, driving a Bentley (or Aston Martin) and drinking the finest drinks in the finest places. But in the 1950s and 1960s what would a secret agent’s wage actually be and would there be all the perks that James Bond enjoys?	4856	kwkierjote
Native Americans in what is now the USA have often been portrayed as having "idyllic" lives before Western colonizers arrived - is there any truth to this? How much "easier" were their daily lives? Before Western diseases and colonists arrived, was it a life of easy hunting and simple living?	4851	uppity_chucklehead
In Gangs of New York, there's a scene where Irish immigrants disembark the boat they traveled to America on, sign one paper giving them citizenship, and another enlisting them in the Union army. Were new immigrants enlisted this easily? Did this affect immigration?	4850	td4999
In the early NES games from Nintendo (Ice Climber, Wrecking Crew, Kid Icarus), there seems to be an obsession with casting eggplants as evil. Did that have anything to do with the cultural zeitgeist or even deeper history of eggplants in Japan, or was someone just obsessed with purple veggies?	4848	[deleted]
How did a set of political 1950s novels become so widely adopted by high school curriculums?	4844	Flyingskwerl
How many 16th century French laying hens would be required to feed Gaston his five dozen eggs?	4843	BBlasdel
What would a "Top 50 Companies of 30AD" in the Roman world look like?	4843	MrAlbs

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