askhistorians

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Weimar Germany experienced a period of hyperinflation - what happened to the currency after it stabilized? Did Germans who sat on billions of worthless Marks become "actual" billionaires when it regained its value?	28
My highschool teacher claimed Japan won the Russo-Japanese War because they "had more blackboards" on their warships. Did they really win because they had better or more mathematicians on deck?	25
The CIA built a tunnel to tap into Soviet Army telephone landlines in 1950s Berlin. The KGB knew about it from the start but waited a year before sharing to protect their British mole. Did this create any internal backlash, such as from the GRU, Red Army, or Stasi?	21
How were the Free French Forces able to pay their troops?	19
Recent films like Wonder Woman and The Lost City of Z featured smugglers and smuggled goods (and people) on the front lines of WWI - how prevalent were they really?	14
What was the general sentiment of Germans and Soviets when the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was announced, and then when they invaded Poland together? And were Nazis generally appalled to find out they were effectively working with Communists, and vice versa?	13
What was the political system of Han Dynasty China like preceding the Three Kingdoms Era? Governors acted as nominal vassals to the Emperor but openly waged war against each other. Why keep up the pretense of a functional government when everyone was practically independent?	12
How was the Russian Tsardom/Empire able to explore, conquer, and control such a vast territorial landmass?	11
The Kuomintang largely fled to Japan after failing to overthrow Yuan Shikai in 1913. Did the Japanese make any attempts to infiltrate and influence the Chinese Nationalists while they were in Japan?	10
Why were the Public Health Service (PHSCC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) formed as uniformed services of the US? Why do non-armed uniformed services exist at all?	10

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