AskHistorians

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During the medieval period in Europe, what were common fates for common soldiers if they were not ransomed, when a war was over?	14
Pike and shot formations would eventually have the pikes far outnumbering the shot, if too many pikemen died would any of the individuals with guns become pikeman or dod they just operate with less pikemen? How did that decision work?	13
What sort of administrative or bureaucratic challenges might an African American Soldier serving in Western Europe face if they wanted to remain in France or England after the end of WW1 or WW2? How much immigration of US black troops to Europe occurred after the war?	13
History seems to be full of many examples of people claiming to be dead or exiled or defeated royalty and then trying to claim a throne, only to be defeated. If they won they are of course whoever they claim to be. Are there any examples of people who probably lied about who they were but then won?	7
Many people knew how big the world was at time of Columbus. Using that knowledge and knowing how long his trip was, how widespread among academics and scholars was the belief that Columbus had not actually made it to Asia early after his first voyage?	6
I am a refugee from a Nazi occupied country during World War 2 who managed to make my way to the UK, what happens to me?	4
Not POWs, but American soldiers who were stationed in Europe at the end of World War I and II and whose term of service were up and were being sent home. If they wanted to stay in an Allied country, did they have any options to do so? Did the army or navy force them to go back to the US first?	4
Sometimes bombs fail to detonate. When the US was planning to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, was there any plan on what to do if the bomb fell but did not detonate? Was there any concern that the bomb might still have components left intact enough to still be useful to the Japanese?	4
During WWII were there soldiers imprisoned for desertion or otherwise imprisoned for crimes related to dereliction of duty in Germany? Probably in Japan too? Is there any information available on what happened to those sorts of people after the war ended? Were they released?	4
The advisors in the Spanish Royal Court New Columbus was wrong about the size of the Earth. Is here any support for the idea that Columbus knew he was wrong about the size of the Earth but lied about it to make his trip seem more feasible and hoped he could manage the distance anyway?	1

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