AskHistorians

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Star Trek aired in the mid 60s, when audiences were locked in a proxy conflict with communist powers and in danger of experiencing nuclear war with them. How politically did American viewers interpret Roddenberry's vision of post-scarcity communism? Were networks concerned it was too "Red"?	438
Shakespeare wrote several plays set in classical Rome. How would his theater company have costumed Roman Legionaires and Senators? Did they know soldiers of antiquity were outfitted any differently than the contemporary english Army? Did they try to make sure, e.g., Brutus had an accurate toga?	195
The House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that President Kennedy was "probably assassinated as a result of a conspiracy". Do any professional historians defend this account, or has serious scholarship rejected conspiratorial explanations of JFK's death?	68
Where did the tradition of naming different apparitions of Mary "Our Lady of ______" originate?	42
When Cambodia, Indonesia, and other communities in southeast Asia adopted Hinduism in the first millennium, how did they operate without a hereditary priestly caste, or any indigenous hereditary caste tradition?	41
What differed about the conflicts like the mid WWII invasions of Iran and Iraq that they could be executed and complete in under a month, without expecting or igniting irregular warfare?	15
Between 116 and 299 Roman forces sacked the Persian capital of Ctesiphon five times. Did the Persians never seriously consider moving their capital from the easily exploitable Tigris?	12
What events led Maryland, a colony founded for English Catholics, to be the only state to ever vote for the virulently anti-catholic Know Nothing Party in the 19th century?	12
Celtic culture existed in antiquity from Spain to Britain to Anatolia. Why then was the Roman conquest of Gaul the end to druids? Were there not independent druids in Briton that survived Caesar's genocide who could shed light on their traditions?	11
I am a first century Equestrian-Class Roman Citizen accused of a violent crime that is being brought to trial. What are trial proceedings likely to look like? What rules for entering evidence exist? What shape are my attorney's arguments likely to take?	2

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