/u/Kapitalist_Pigdog2's posts in /r/AskHistorians

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I’ve read that in 17th century Kraków, the various guilds of the city were each assigned a tower they had the responsibility of manning in the event of an attack. How did this work in practice? Was this common practice? And did any guilds ‘perform’ worse than others in this task?

1467 upvotes

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Did slaveholders in the American South ever train their slaves with advance skills—such as smithing, carpentry, and distilling—to extract further profits from them?

15 upvotes

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Among many other statistics, the Polish resistance in WWII destroyed 1,167 fuel tanks, damaged 19,058 railway wagons, derailed 732 transports, and built faults into 70,000 condensers. How greatly did this affect German logistics?

11 upvotes

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I read that during WWI, as many as 1 in 3 shells didn’t detonate. How was such a massive failure rate deemed acceptable to militaries and arms manufacturers? Were there some countries that were much better or worse?

2 upvotes

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How often do historians work with archeologists and curators? Additionally, how much historical research is the 'field work' of uncovering new data (e.g. seeking out old manuscripts) versus analyzing already widely published data?

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How did besieging troops pass the time?

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Would the Trojan Horse of Greek legend be considered a war crime if it were done today?

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Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
I’ve read that in 17th century Kraków, the various guilds of the city were each assigned a tower they had the responsibility of manning in the event of an attack. How did this work in practice? Was this common practice? And did any guilds ‘perform’ worse than others in this task?	1467
Did slaveholders in the American South ever train their slaves with advance skills—such as smithing, carpentry, and distilling—to extract further profits from them?	15
Among many other statistics, the Polish resistance in WWII destroyed 1,167 fuel tanks, damaged 19,058 railway wagons, derailed 732 transports, and built faults into 70,000 condensers. How greatly did this affect German logistics?	11
I read that during WWI, as many as 1 in 3 shells didn’t detonate. How was such a massive failure rate deemed acceptable to militaries and arms manufacturers? Were there some countries that were much better or worse?	2
How often do historians work with archeologists and curators? Additionally, how much historical research is the 'field work' of uncovering new data (e.g. seeking out old manuscripts) versus analyzing already widely published data?	2
How did besieging troops pass the time?	1
Would the Trojan Horse of Greek legend be considered a war crime if it were done today?	0