/u/ColbyStein's posts in /r/askhistorians

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How much truth is there to the statement that Erwin Rommel and his Afrikacorps were humane and did not commit war crimes? How likely was it that he would be punished at the Nuremburg Trials, had he not been forced to commit suicide?

112 upvotes

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Who would be the modern day European Monarchs if we reinstituted Monarchy across Europe, applying each country's traditional inheritance laws to the modern day descendants of the last Monarch of that country?

110 upvotes

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Were Tasmanian Aboriginals aware of the existence of the Australian mainland by the time Europeans showed up?

92 upvotes

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I have an ancestor who was in the British navy, served with Lord Nelson at Trafalgar, and was recorded years later as "running in Malta from a boat on duty". What was the British navy doing in Malta c. 1811 and why would an experienced seaman go AWOL like that?

68 upvotes

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Why did/do Jews seem to make up such a disproportionately large amount of the European intellectual community?

64 upvotes

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Were the early Christians of Britain even aware of where places like Jerusalem were exactly?

63 upvotes

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Herodotus claimed that "many things prove to me that the gods take part in the affairs of man". Was he referring to anything specific? What did the ancient Greeks consider to be observational evidence that their Gods intervened in human affairs?

47 upvotes

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Why did the Germans elect Hitler as Chancellor, considering he had roughly a decade prior attempted a violent overthrow of the government?

44 upvotes

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How quickly did African slaves in North America loose their traditional language, religion, and culture?

40 upvotes

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Were there any prominent people known/admitting to be homosexuals in the pre-1900s world?

35 upvotes

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Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
How much truth is there to the statement that Erwin Rommel and his Afrikacorps were humane and did not commit war crimes? How likely was it that he would be punished at the Nuremburg Trials, had he not been forced to commit suicide?	112
Who would be the modern day European Monarchs if we reinstituted Monarchy across Europe, applying each country's traditional inheritance laws to the modern day descendants of the last Monarch of that country?	110
Were Tasmanian Aboriginals aware of the existence of the Australian mainland by the time Europeans showed up?	92
I have an ancestor who was in the British navy, served with Lord Nelson at Trafalgar, and was recorded years later as "running in Malta from a boat on duty". What was the British navy doing in Malta c. 1811 and why would an experienced seaman go AWOL like that?	68
Why did/do Jews seem to make up such a disproportionately large amount of the European intellectual community?	64
Were the early Christians of Britain even aware of where places like Jerusalem were exactly?	63
Herodotus claimed that "many things prove to me that the gods take part in the affairs of man". Was he referring to anything specific? What did the ancient Greeks consider to be observational evidence that their Gods intervened in human affairs?	47
Why did the Germans elect Hitler as Chancellor, considering he had roughly a decade prior attempted a violent overthrow of the government?	44
How quickly did African slaves in North America loose their traditional language, religion, and culture?	40
Were there any prominent people known/admitting to be homosexuals in the pre-1900s world?	35