askhistorians

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How did the invention of photography affect the aniconism of Islam? Was taking pictures of people seen as sinful as any other depiction of people in art? How about film?	3643
Why weren't deaths HIGHER in WWI?	3231
There are some semi-popular memes about going back in time to give medieval peasants things like Mt. Dew, Doritos, Warheads candy etc. The joke being that peasants would never have had that 'blast of flavor.' What would have been the biggest 'blast of flavor' they would have had back then?	2496
In popular culture in the West, Russians are noted as being especially tough and 'hardcore.' What led to this? Their suffering in WWII and events like Chernobyl? A fear of Soviets and a vilification of them as 'beasts'? Something else?	341
Was there an Allied plan for taking back Europe if Britain was lost to invasion? Was it to just hope the Soviets could manage it? Or to focus everything on North Africa? Both? Neither?	146
My dad says that young boys/male teens were not allowed to work in the flax fields in Ireland in the 1800s to early 1900s due to the effects of the estrogen from the plants. I have not found much of anything to support this. What's a possible source for this story beyond phytoestrogen myths?	130
Was there any noted 'culture/technology shock' in those who lived through the late 1800s to the moon landing?	127
Why were some earlier books given very long titles that almost became blurbs themselves? Or was the point that it was a blurb before blurbs officially existed on the dust jacket or back of a book?	70
How did people of vastly different language groups communicate complex ideas without a 'lingua franca'?	54
Was there much demand in the Near to Far East for European spices and herbs in a similar way to the European demand for pepper and cinnamon and such?	35

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