/r/askhistorians

Year:

Only show posts with narrations

In the movie "Conspiracy", SS leaders are describing the Holocaust vaguely. An SS officer angrily says "I'm the one who has to shoot the Jews, so let's stop using euphemisms and admit what we're doing." Was there a lot of friction between SS leaders and soldiers who had to carry out the genocide?

270 upvotes • seattlenostalgia1

Mark as read: Add to a list

Wouldn't most soldiers in WW2 be exposed to asbestos, especially those in urban combat zones?

270 upvotes • Rurikton

Mark as read: Add to a list

How was Genghis Khan able to manage his empire given its size and the lack of technology at the time?

270 upvotes • MyBossSawMyOldName

Mark as read: Add to a list

You know that famous story about the WW1 trench soldiers spontaneously calling a truce around Christmas 1914. Why didn't either the English or German high comand court-martial any of the men involved?

270 upvotes • grapp

Mark as read: Add to a list

During Nazi Germany's air campaign against Britain in World War 2, how did high value targets such as Westminster and Big Ben remain relatively unharmed?

270 upvotes • lifecraze

Mark as read: Add to a list

I was rewatching Disney's Peter Pan with my young nephew and was... taken aback... by the "What Makes the Red Man Red?" sequence. Was there any pushback from Native American groups at the time (or more recently)?

270 upvotes • White___Velvet

Mark as read: Add to a list

How plausible is the theory that Snorri re-wrote Loki into a Lucifer-like enemy of the gods in order to keep the Norse stories alive in a Christian culture, but Loki was more of a positive trickster in the original mythology?

270 upvotes • spermwhalejail

Mark as read: Add to a list

Four Muslim Americans have been sworn into congress using Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Quran. Did he or any other notable Founding Fathers own copies of other religious books like the Bhagvat Geeta or Dhammapada or others?

270 upvotes • nsjersey

Mark as read: Add to a list

Why did the title of "caesar" become the basis for later imperial titles in Europe such as Kaiser and Czar instead of the higher title "augustus"?

270 upvotes • omarcomin647

Mark as read: Add to a list

Why did highschool/college sports become so big in the US when club sports are the norm elsewhere?

270 upvotes • The_Faceless_Men

Mark as read: Add to a list

Title	Upvotes	Author	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
In the movie "Conspiracy", SS leaders are describing the Holocaust vaguely. An SS officer angrily says "I'm the one who has to shoot the Jews, so let's stop using euphemisms and admit what we're doing." Was there a lot of friction between SS leaders and soldiers who had to carry out the genocide?	270	seattlenostalgia1
Wouldn't most soldiers in WW2 be exposed to asbestos, especially those in urban combat zones?	270	Rurikton
How was Genghis Khan able to manage his empire given its size and the lack of technology at the time?	270	MyBossSawMyOldName
You know that famous story about the WW1 trench soldiers spontaneously calling a truce around Christmas 1914. Why didn't either the English or German high comand court-martial any of the men involved?	270	grapp
During Nazi Germany's air campaign against Britain in World War 2, how did high value targets such as Westminster and Big Ben remain relatively unharmed?	270	lifecraze
I was rewatching Disney's Peter Pan with my young nephew and was... taken aback... by the "What Makes the Red Man Red?" sequence. Was there any pushback from Native American groups at the time (or more recently)?	270	White___Velvet
How plausible is the theory that Snorri re-wrote Loki into a Lucifer-like enemy of the gods in order to keep the Norse stories alive in a Christian culture, but Loki was more of a positive trickster in the original mythology?	270	spermwhalejail
Four Muslim Americans have been sworn into congress using Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Quran. Did he or any other notable Founding Fathers own copies of other religious books like the Bhagvat Geeta or Dhammapada or others?	270	nsjersey
Why did the title of "caesar" become the basis for later imperial titles in Europe such as Kaiser and Czar instead of the higher title "augustus"?	270	omarcomin647
Why did highschool/college sports become so big in the US when club sports are the norm elsewhere?	270	The_Faceless_Men