/r/AskHistorians

Title	Upvotes	Author
Even though much is lost, the overwhelming majority of public knowledge on Western Phoenician civilization is centred on Carthage and it’s empire. But what do we know about the inner workings of other large Punic polities like Utica in North Africa and Agadir/Gadir in Spain?	3576	AustinioForza
While living, Muhammad chose Ali as his successor. But some followers met while Ali was at his funeral and decided that Abu Bakr would be their leader, and their actions caused Ali's wife (Muhammad's daughter) to miscarry and die. Why did many Muslims nevertheless accept the succession of Abu Bakr?	3575	fan_of_the_pikachu
In the infamous "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", Alan Rickman's Sheriff of Nottingham calls to "cancel Christmas." What would Christmas have meant to the average person living in Plantagenet England?	3574	BZH_JJM
I'm a hot blooded young Arab man of the early Rashidun Caliphate hitting the streets of Medina for a night out with my mates and I've got dirham burning a hole in my purse. What kind of vice and wanton pleasures are still available to me?	3571	rastadreadlion
The Hindenburg Disaster was 'only' the fifth-deadliest airship crash, and the last one before WW2, yet seems to have made a far greater impression on (Western) popular consciousness than earlier crashes like the Akron or the Dixmude. Why has the Hindenburg managed to be the best-remembered?	3571	EnclavedMicrostate
Only about 40% of Mexico's population spoke Spanish in 1820. Today, that number is about 94%. Was a policy of thorough linguistic Hispanicization of the country already planned at the time of independence?	3571	JJVMT
Why is Woodstock considered so significant an event in music history and so defining for the counterculture generation? How much of this reputation is due to retrospective mythmaking and marketing e.g. the Woodstock film?	3568	[deleted]
In ww1, when a trench was hit with mustard gas, did that temporarily solve its lice and rat problems?	3566	despa1337o
It's around 1000 C.E. in Europe. A man I don't recognize claims he is the new tax collector for my new lord. How do I know he is legitimate?	3565	AMormonJesus
What are the historical origins of homophobia? From what I understand, homosexuality used to be considered just a normal thing in classical Greece and Rome and the like, how and why did homosexuality stop being accepted and homophobia come to be?	3565	blubat26

« < > »