AskHistorians

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In the movie "The Patriot", Col. Martin and General Cornwallis enter some kind of formalized parley. Were negotiations generally this ritualized? If so, are the rules written down somewhere?	2183
Who were the "Temple Builders" of Malta, and what happened to them?	1614
I'm in a market in Rome at the height of the empire (say, early 2nd century). What's the farthest an item would have traveled to get here? What's the most "exotic" thing I could get?	1538
In fiction set in medieval (or faux-medieval) times, it seems like people's horses are constantly dying, especially in battle. How dangerous was it to be a horse in medieval (say 1100-1400AD) Europe?	1471
How did the Ku Klux Klan think of Nazi Germany and vice versa? Were there any attempts by Germany during WWII to use or "recruit" the KKK?	316
Why did the Sikhs generally side with the British during the Indian Rebellion of 1857?	279
Is there a reason why the Ancient Egyptians used a sickle sword instead of a (seemingly easier to produce) straight sword? What benefits does it have?	250
When Arkansas voted to secede from the United States (after initially voting to stay), the final tally was 69-1 for secession. Do we know how/why that final delegate managed to resist what must have been incredible pressure to vote Yes, especially after other delegates had switched their votes?	163
The Silk Road ran through some pretty rugged terrain. Before paved roads, how did caravans manage to push through the mountains, deserts, etc? What kind of speed could they manage along the way?	108
For roughly 400 years, Frisia (parts of modern-day Netherlands and northern Germany) supposedly lacked any kind of feudal structure. In practice, how different was this from the surrounding areas?	100

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