askhistorians

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Hitler, Stalin, Trotsky, Tito and Freud apparently all lived within a few miles of each other in Vienna in 1913. Why was this and how much of a coincidence is it?	147
Why does it seem like medieval Muslims had a decent understanding of Christianity ("these are confused followers of the prophet Yeshua") while Christians at the same time had very little idea what Islam was about and didn't seem to really differentiate between Islam and "pagan" religions?	143
What factors caused Greco-Roman statue-making to decline during the later Roman Empire (becoming much cruder and less realistic) and disappear entirely by the 6th century even in the Byzantine east, with the same level not being achieved again in Europe until at least 12th century Gothic cathedrals?	143
How was Philippe I, Duke of Orleans (brother of Louis XIV) able to be openly gay and take male lovers in 17th century France with apparently no legal consequences? Was male homosexuality not legally persecuted at all?	102
How many people were really being sacrificed every year in the Aztec Empire before the Spanish arrived? I’ve heard claims it was in the tens of thousands or much lower.	80
I've heard that Che Guevara took pleasure in personally executing prisoners with a pistol. Is this true?	65
I've always seen makeshift signs saying "Free Leonard" along the highway and I've looked it up and know it refers to Leonard Peltier and the 1975 Pine Ridge Indian Reservation shootout. What was this and why is there so much controversy about his life sentence for killing two FBI agents?	65
I've heard at the Inca ruler Atahualpa learned to play chess while he was a prisoner of Pizarro in 1533. What are the primary sources on this? Are there any interesting anecdotes about that?	62
Why are English translations of ancient Egyptian texts usually rendered in an excessively formal and archaic style while Greek and Roman translations sound perfectly natural? Did the Egyptians really write or speak like that?	55
How did Hannibal keep his largely mercenary army so loyal throughout over a decade of difficult campaigning while other Carthaginian commanders struggled with that, most famously in the Mercenary War and later the defection of Masinissa?	51

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