askhistorians

Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
AskHistorians Podcast Episode 212: Public Transport in North America with Jake Berman	115
In 1399, King Richard II of England was effectively militarily deposed by Henry Bolingbroke, who became King Henry IV. How much of a constitutional crisis or just crisis of legitimacy resulted from this?	113
When Japan closed itself off to foreign trade (sakoku), an exception was for one Dutch ship a year. Why not Portugal, which seems to have had a longer history of involvement in Japan?	109
The surviving sources on Nero largely portray him as a cruel tyrant, but if we read between the lines a bit, was he actually as bad as the sources want us to think?	109
Why, despite the apparent rise of science-based medicine, have quack treatments like Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), homeopathy, chiropractic, reiki, crystal healing and so on managed to remain reasonably popular?	106
Western European armies in the 18th century typically excluded married men from recruitment. Was it typical for there to be a general rush for young men to get married in order to avoid enlistment if war seemed on the horizon?	101
After the execution of Charles I in 1649, what was the basis for the continuation of the peerage and knighthood in the British Isles? Did the Commonwealth and Protectorate governments have the ability to create and confer titles? And did other states in Europe recognise them?	98
The Romans believed that it was (usually) inauspicious to bury bodies within city bounds, but the pomerium (city boundary) of Rome was frequently expanded. Did these extensions end up encompassing burial grounds, and if so what was don about it?	97
Why did Sweden join the Coalition after Bernadotte became Crown Prince? What did Bernadotte think about having to fight his former comrades and superiors?	96
Aischylos' The Persians is both the oldest surviving Greek tragedy, and the only one to portray a recent historical event. Is there a significance to this? Was there an older tradition of drama about recent events that died out? Was it a one-off experiment? Or is this just an accident of survival?	93

« < > »