askhistorians

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In a Wendy's commercial from the '80s, a Soviet fashion show is shown as the same grey dress for all occasions. What was the fashion industry really like in the USSR?	201
Modern English is as far as I'm aware the only European language that uses the Latin alphabet without any diacritical marks. Is there a historical reason for this?	200
During the US Civil War, Confederates weren't shy about saying they were fighting for slavery. After the war, apologists said the Confederates were fighting for states' rights. Was there a transition period after the war where Confederates still said "Of course we were fighting to protect slavery"?	183
I mostly know the "Magic Bullet" theory of the JFK assassination from the Seinfeld parody. What is the conspiracy theorists' claim, and why is it wrong?	169
In a Roman legion during the empire, would you be likely to have a man from Sicilia bunking with a man from Hispania or someone from Britain serving alongside someone from Syria? Or would each legion be fairly geographically segregated?	159
I often read that police forces were first created in the 19th century. So in the U.S. Bill of Rights, who were the people engaged in searches and seizures that would be limited by the 4th Amendment?	153
What was a typical day like in the life of Louis XIV?	151
The official residence of the vice president of the United States is the U.S. Naval Observatory. Why there out of all possible locations?	145
As far as I know, English is unique among European languages for having no diacritics. Is there a reason in the history of English why this happened?	131
In The Fugitive, there's a scene in a hospital where an employee in scrubs rollerblades down the hall. Did hospitals in the '90s experiment with rollerblading to speed things up or something?	121

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