/u/Elphinstone1842's posts in /r/askhistorians

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Could a medieval knight with full plate armor in the 14th-15th century take it off by themselves?

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I notice that paintings became first became highly impressionistic and abstract in the mid-19th century. Am I right in thinking there is a connection between that and the widespread use of photography?

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Is there actually any evidence that the French cut off two fingers from captured English longbowmen during the Hundred Years' War and this is what gave rise to the modern V sign as a gesture of defiance/victory or peace?

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Why did many feats of Roman engineering like aqueducts fall into disrepair and disuse after the fall of the Roman Empire?

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What did naval combat look like for the sailors on destroyers in WWII? Could they see the enemy ships they were targeting? When the ship was sunk, what happened to them?

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On the first day of the Battle of Fredericksburg, how was the Union able to cross the Rappahannock in open pontoon boats and defeat all the Confederate sharpshooters in the town so easily?

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How were the Aztec and Incan civilizations able to sustain such huge populations given their Neolithic level of technology? Were technologically equivalent civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia and the Near East as large?

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Did Andy Warhol have a low IQ? What was his personality really like?

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What were apples like in the past?

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I've read that desertion rates were very low for French armies in the Napoleonic Wars (in contrast to Britain) because of the establishment of the gendarmerie or military police that aggressively cracked down on collusion between deserters and local communities. How did this function?

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Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
Could a medieval knight with full plate armor in the 14th-15th century take it off by themselves?	6
I notice that paintings became first became highly impressionistic and abstract in the mid-19th century. Am I right in thinking there is a connection between that and the widespread use of photography?	6
Is there actually any evidence that the French cut off two fingers from captured English longbowmen during the Hundred Years' War and this is what gave rise to the modern V sign as a gesture of defiance/victory or peace?	6
Why did many feats of Roman engineering like aqueducts fall into disrepair and disuse after the fall of the Roman Empire?	5
What did naval combat look like for the sailors on destroyers in WWII? Could they see the enemy ships they were targeting? When the ship was sunk, what happened to them?	5
On the first day of the Battle of Fredericksburg, how was the Union able to cross the Rappahannock in open pontoon boats and defeat all the Confederate sharpshooters in the town so easily?	5
How were the Aztec and Incan civilizations able to sustain such huge populations given their Neolithic level of technology? Were technologically equivalent civilizations in ancient Mesopotamia and the Near East as large?	5
Did Andy Warhol have a low IQ? What was his personality really like?	5
What were apples like in the past?	4
I've read that desertion rates were very low for French armies in the Napoleonic Wars (in contrast to Britain) because of the establishment of the gendarmerie or military police that aggressively cracked down on collusion between deserters and local communities. How did this function?	4