/r/askhistorians

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Today historians seem to reject the idea of the "tree of civilization" and the notion of "progress." Have historians developed an alternative model for what we see, or does history truly have no direction?

502 upvotes • Sure-Reaction1457

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How many US Presidents could be considered alcoholics? And did their alcoholism at any time have a marked impact on US affairs?

501 upvotes • reebreeb

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If modern humans have existed for 200,000 years, and the oldest known civilisations were around 6000 years old, then what stopped us progressing for 194,000 years?

501 upvotes • Adam-West

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In The Shining by Stanley Kubrick the dialogue, and perhaps in most movies of that era, was very succinct and almost unnaturally abrupt from one character to the other. Is there a reason why this and other movies of the time portrayed regular speech in such an unnatural rhythm?

501 upvotes • greengrasser11

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What was the Union of Persian Storytellers, and why did they oppose Apollo 11's trip to the moon?

501 upvotes • chekhovsfun

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How did wealthy people in the Middle Ages or antiquity move their wealth around when they moved from region to region?

501 upvotes • daimposter

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The Hatian Revolution saddled Hati with 90M Francs of debt to France, which took until 1947 to pay off. Why would Hati continue to pay this debt? Couldn’t they have declared it illegitimate after the overthrow of the monarchy? Or the empire? Or the republic?

501 upvotes • zactary

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The Romans famously left their conquered subjects to rule themselves so long as they paid their taxes. Were these local rulers as corrupt as we'd assume they'd be? Were the Romans letting their subjects get double fleeced (flayed?)?

501 upvotes • RusticBohemian

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I recently learned that Sweden was due to invade Norway to oppose its independence but stopped after Swedish soldiers threatened a mutiny and Swedish unions threatened a general strike. Why was there so much popular support for Norwegian independence?

501 upvotes • Comprehensive_Try765

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Joan Baez was a progressive folk singer who was part of the civil rights movement and fought for racial equality. Why did she regularly perform the confederate sympathizer song “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”?

501 upvotes • roalddalek

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Title	Upvotes	Author	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
Today historians seem to reject the idea of the "tree of civilization" and the notion of "progress." Have historians developed an alternative model for what we see, or does history truly have no direction?	502	Sure-Reaction1457
How many US Presidents could be considered alcoholics? And did their alcoholism at any time have a marked impact on US affairs?	501	reebreeb
If modern humans have existed for 200,000 years, and the oldest known civilisations were around 6000 years old, then what stopped us progressing for 194,000 years?	501	Adam-West
In The Shining by Stanley Kubrick the dialogue, and perhaps in most movies of that era, was very succinct and almost unnaturally abrupt from one character to the other. Is there a reason why this and other movies of the time portrayed regular speech in such an unnatural rhythm?	501	greengrasser11
What was the Union of Persian Storytellers, and why did they oppose Apollo 11's trip to the moon?	501	chekhovsfun
How did wealthy people in the Middle Ages or antiquity move their wealth around when they moved from region to region?	501	daimposter
The Hatian Revolution saddled Hati with 90M Francs of debt to France, which took until 1947 to pay off. Why would Hati continue to pay this debt? Couldn’t they have declared it illegitimate after the overthrow of the monarchy? Or the empire? Or the republic?	501	zactary
The Romans famously left their conquered subjects to rule themselves so long as they paid their taxes. Were these local rulers as corrupt as we'd assume they'd be? Were the Romans letting their subjects get double fleeced (flayed?)?	501	RusticBohemian
I recently learned that Sweden was due to invade Norway to oppose its independence but stopped after Swedish soldiers threatened a mutiny and Swedish unions threatened a general strike. Why was there so much popular support for Norwegian independence?	501	Comprehensive_Try765
Joan Baez was a progressive folk singer who was part of the civil rights movement and fought for racial equality. Why did she regularly perform the confederate sympathizer song “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”?	501	roalddalek