AskHistorians

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How much do we know about the transmission of Roman non-fiction (e.g. Tacitus’s histories or the letters of Cicero) between initial composition and the 6th century? Were they ever “public”, or were they only privately circulated until making it to, for example, a monastery?	6
The French Revolutions' anti-clericalism is often attributed to the work of Enlightenment philosophes, but it seems many illiterate French—rural and urban—gladly participated in desecrating churches and hurting clergy. How did the 18th century Church lose the faith of so much of the lower class?	5
With the benefit of hindsight, do we see any patterns in which countries and sorts of people were drawn to Trotskyism over orthodox/Pro-Stalin communism?	5
Jonathan Israel is a titan of Early Modern history, writing "Radical Enlightenment", "Enlightenment Contested", "Revolution in Mind", "Democratic Enlightenment", "Revolutionary Ideas", "Enlightenment That Failed", and 6 books with "Dutch" in their title. How are they different? Where should I start?	5
Histories of Central/Eastern Europe which emphasize cross-border trends and comparative history, rather than nationalist histories? (Especially 1000 BCE - 1900 CE) [I have a long list of related topics]	5
It is said the deflation of the Long Depression (1873 - 1896) was caused by the supply of gold growing slower than the economy, and that South African and Canadian gold rushes helped end it. Just how big were the finds relative to global gold circulation, and what effect did they actually have?	5
What are the best histories of Britain's post-war social democratic consensus and its collapse into Thatcherism? Is Dominic Sandbrook credible?	4
Twins are a staple of Shakespeares plays, but what did Tudor England think of twins? Were they considered strange? Supernatural? Demonic? A blessing? Completely normal?	4
Why did the far-right “6 février” coup attempt cause the government to shift right? I would have expected a failed assault to isolate and weaken the responsible fraction.	3
How much do we know about the transmission of Roman non-fiction between initial composition and the early middle ages? Tacitus' "Annals" was found in two monasteries 1500 km apart—do we have any ideas whether they were privately replicated or "publicly" published? What about Cicero's letters?	3

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