AskHistorians

Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
Tlingit Native Americans had more advanced technology and craft including permanent structures, metal armor and, arguably, swords. Normally such a group builds a powerful kingdom over their neighbors. Are there any reasons why they never felt the need to expand, despite their advancements?	3394
The advent of nuclear war popularized the post-apocalyptic genre. However, there are examples like Joseph Gandy's paintings that are older. Do we have any classical or medieval examples? Did any Romans speculate on life after Rome?	50
Many ancient cultures, such as Egypt, seem to have had a social model where half the population worked 6 mo and half the other 6. Folks relaxed on the public stores while off. Why did this demonstrably more leisurely system die off?	50
Hitler invented the word aryan from Iranian and viewed Iran as the Aryan homeland. How did Iran come to be considered "brown" today, especially if they are racially Caucasians and have historically differentiated themselves from the darker arabic peoples near them?	22
In the middle ages, the order of the cosmos was considered divinely perfect, yet clearly folks noticed imperfections as they revised calendars between Julian and Gregorian. What were the theological justifications for these imperfections and how were they argued as divinely ordered despite them?	14
Should we think of the Japanese Emperor as more akin to the Pope than a Caesar?	8
What was British experience with tea before the Colonial era? I'm aware of a mythical part of Constantinople known as "New England" where British people frequented, and British crusaders. Are there any mentions of tea culture being introduced to British people before the colonial era?	8
I recently learned that decades before Mehmet conquered Constantinople, Murad I had the Byzantines paying him for protection and establishing a roman kazasker. How did the Byzantines view this arrangement? Was the later conquest more a rebellion than a final showdown?	7
There's a lot of talk about reparations in US politics recently, but didn't the US already try reparations and find it a failure? To what degree was the "40 acres and a mule" policy a form of reparations, and to what degree was it a success or failure?	5
I've been told that during the Charlemagne era, Occitan region soldiers continued to dress and train in a Roman style well into the high medieval era, and that the Visigoths there effectively continued Roman culture in isolation. How true is this?	4

« < > »