AskHistorians

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The Roman Empire is famous for its numerous cities, including the city of Rome. The Inka Empire is commonly compared to Rome due to its complex road system and immense size. Did the Incan Empire ever develop sophisticated urban areas outside of its Capitol, Cuzco?	1155
In 1796, Julien Dubuque received a land grant from the Spanish in what is now Northeast Iowa after mining there for a couple of years. Considering St. Louis, the nearest colonial town of any size was 300 miles away, how did Spanish/French bureaucracy operate in territories so far away?	223
What was slavery like in border cities like Baltimore, St. Louis and Louisville? Did enslaved people attempt escapes more often compared to people in more rural areas?	102
While we often hear/read about the 19th century Dickensian slums of cities in the west during the period of industrialization, did similar problems arise in urban areas in Japan during its period of industrialization in the late 19th century?	83
Noam Chomsky claims that the USA was attacking South Vietnam and that the government there was illegitimate, but it seems like much of the Vietnamese diaspora displays South Vietnamese flags, is (partially) conservative and Vietnam-USA relations are good. How does Chomsky explain this?	77
Did the Boxers really believe that they couldn’t be hurt by bullets?	66
Historian James McPherson, estimates that there were 50,000 civilian deaths during the Civil War. Why does it seem like the historiography of the civil war pays little attention to the large amount of civilian deaths of the war along with undercounting military deaths?	42
Why did the Ottoman Empire, after suffering two major defeats against smaller forces in the few years prior to World War 1, manage to deflect several powerful allied offenses? I’m thinking about the Gallipoli campaign and Siege of Kut which both ended in disaster for the Allies.	31
Were the Balkans thought of as/included in the Orient in the late 1800s by Western Europeans?	21
The Demographer, Colin McEvedy claims that Rome only reached a peak population of 200,000. What is the consensus on this number considering that it seems like most estimates place Rome as having a population of 750,000-1 million?	18

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