/r/askhistorians

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Can you explain why such a wide variety of weapons (swords, axes, maces, etc) were used during Medieval times in Europe? Was there true parity in combat that created a paper-rock-scissors ecosystem for weapons?

323 upvotes • wats6831

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I'm a British citizen living in London in 1910. Am I free to travel to any British held lands or do I need a visa or something?

323 upvotes • tactics14

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In Netflix's Marco Polo they have a character befriend Marco who speaks "Latin"(English). How likely would this have been for Kublai Khan to have people who could translate readily available?

323 upvotes • Wildfire9

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How historically accurate are RPG tropes like city guards, groups of adventurers and "quests" compared to the respective eras they draw inspiration from?

323 upvotes • Verinio

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I've heard that Mao Zedong, in order to combat drug addiction in China, gave addicts the option of rehab or death. Is this true? If so, how successful was it? And why?

323 upvotes • nowlan101

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I've seen a few references to the Greeks regularly drinking diluted wine. Is this similar to modern wine with water added or did they drink a different type of wine?

323 upvotes • ChesterHiggenbothum

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How much did firing a cannon cost in Medieval English? How much did a cannon ball(stone shot) cost?

323 upvotes • Jc_sparky

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How did the tradition of men typically keeping their hair short and women typically keeping their hair long start?

323 upvotes • [deleted]

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[NSFW] How did large Roman armies handle sewage? NSFW

323 upvotes • Potapotamus

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Death of English playwright Peter Anthony Motteux in 1718 was one of the first recorded instances of autoerotic asphyxiation. For how long it was known that oxygen deprivation leads to sexual arousal? Do we have any evidence that (auto)erotic asphyxiation was practiced in the Roman era?

323 upvotes • Kerkinitis

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Title	Upvotes	Author	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
Can you explain why such a wide variety of weapons (swords, axes, maces, etc) were used during Medieval times in Europe? Was there true parity in combat that created a paper-rock-scissors ecosystem for weapons?	323	wats6831
I'm a British citizen living in London in 1910. Am I free to travel to any British held lands or do I need a visa or something?	323	tactics14
In Netflix's Marco Polo they have a character befriend Marco who speaks "Latin"(English). How likely would this have been for Kublai Khan to have people who could translate readily available?	323	Wildfire9
How historically accurate are RPG tropes like city guards, groups of adventurers and "quests" compared to the respective eras they draw inspiration from?	323	Verinio
I've heard that Mao Zedong, in order to combat drug addiction in China, gave addicts the option of rehab or death. Is this true? If so, how successful was it? And why?	323	nowlan101
I've seen a few references to the Greeks regularly drinking diluted wine. Is this similar to modern wine with water added or did they drink a different type of wine?	323	ChesterHiggenbothum
How much did firing a cannon cost in Medieval English? How much did a cannon ball(stone shot) cost?	323	Jc_sparky
How did the tradition of men typically keeping their hair short and women typically keeping their hair long start?	323	[deleted]
[NSFW] How did large Roman armies handle sewage? NSFW	323	Potapotamus
Death of English playwright Peter Anthony Motteux in 1718 was one of the first recorded instances of autoerotic asphyxiation. For how long it was known that oxygen deprivation leads to sexual arousal? Do we have any evidence that (auto)erotic asphyxiation was practiced in the Roman era?	323	Kerkinitis