askhistorians

Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
A common saying goes "Society is three days of food away from anarchy" referencing the low food stocks in modern cities. How much food was stored in cities in the past? Was it more than today?	5951
How true is the following statement: "Real communism has never been tried"?	3741
In modern strategy games, it is easy to see if you are winning or losing a battle, because the game simply tells you. But how did foot soldiers and officers discern victory and defeat during the heat of battle? How did they evaluate if they should retreat or stand their ground?	3452
Oskar Schindler saved many Jews from death in the death camps by employing them in his factory. Are there any examples of something similar happening in the US, such as a slaver owner buying up slaves in order to set them free or have them work for him and live under favourable conditions?	2795
[META?] "The Nazis improved the economy", "Clean Wehrmacht", "The Wehrmacht had the best tanks and was a highly mechanised army" ... are but some of the popular history falsehoods that seem to just not want to die. How do historians deal with that?	2732
Why is the 19th century Russian Empire described as being "autocratic", while other similar 19th century states, such as the Austrian Empire, are not described as such, despite also being very illiberal? Why is "autocratic" a description only used for the Russian Empire? What was unique about it?	2509
How did the Dutch acquire such good relations with the Japanese Shogunate, that only they were allowed to trade and exchange knowledge with them? In 1844, Dutch King William II even sent a letter urging Japan to end the isolation policy on its own before change would be forced from the outside.	2280
How powerful were translators during ancient, medieval or early modern times?	2251
What's up with this global western phenomenon of formerly rich industrial areas being incredibly poor now? Areas like the Rustbelt, Ruhr Valley, Northern England and Wales, the former mining areas in the Netherlands, Belgium and Northern France?	2037
At the end of the 2022 movie adaption of All Quiet On The Western Front an unnamed German general sends his troops into a suicidal attack against French forces out of sheer spite, only hours before the war ends. Did such an attack or such attacks really happen during the last hours of WW1?	1980

« < > »