askhistorians

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Every once in a while I come across the term 'First Peloponnesian War', fought between Athens and Sparta in 460-445 BCE. What even was it? Did people at the time recognise some kind of larger conflict going on?	4
In both 2008 and 2015, news media reported widely on supposed new evidence proving that Hitler had lost a testicle in WWI. But this claim goes back many decades. Was this ever supported by evidence, or does this all trace back to a bawdy barrack-room ditty to raise morale? NSFW	3
In 1940, German mediation led to Romania losing Transylvania to Hungary and Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria. Why, then, did Romania ally with Germany against the Soviet Union (which, to be fair, had also taken Bessarabia) before Operation Barbarossa, and supply so many troops to the Eastern Front?	3
When did the term 'ironclad' enter general use, and why does the popular conception of the ironclad seem to be mainly of the coastal ships of the Civil War, rather than ocean-goers like HMS Warrior?	3
Did medieval civilians get PTSD? If so, what from?	3
How did Edward Gibbon explain the fall of the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire?	3
Is the Perry Expedition still generally considered the watershed moment marking the beginning of 'modern' Japanese history by specialists in the period?	3
How did American Jews in the 1930s/40s respond to the US government's refusal to accept Jewish refugees like those on board the MS St Louis? Was there a significant move to put pressure on the government?	3
Stirrups may not have revolutionised Western European cavalry warfare, or by extension society, but did they end up having a significant impact on steppe societies?	3
Why isn't Brunei part of Malaysia?	3

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