AskHistorians

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Henry Kissinger, turning 100 years old soon, has been said to be responsible via his policy decisions to have killed 3-4 million civilians worldwide. How much of Kissinger's role reflected his own personal view and calls, and how much was it shaped by the US government's own interests and agenda?	3389
In 1976 Britain asked the IMF for a nearly $17 billion loan in today's value...apparently the largest ever. The UK today is counted amongst the top nations of the world economically, but what was the state of the UK in the 1970s? What was the affect of having to ask for such a huge loan?	2619
In World War II a third of Native American men aged 18-35 served, with some tribes seeing 70% of that population go join the armed forces. How did this compare to Native Americans serving during World War I, the Spanish-American War or any of America's expeditions after the end of the "Indian Wars"	2456
Before she became queen, Victoria lived under relative isolation under the Kensington System her mother devised for her. How much did the British public know about the system before Victoria's accession? Was there any worries that she may not have been raised properly to conduct her role as queen?	1512
John Ehrlichman had told an author that Nixon's drug policy was motivated primarily to attack his opponents in the antiwar and black communities. Given his hatred of Nixon, how do historians approach a source like this, given he could have ulterior motives?	1022
The 1776 Commission says that it's wrong to call the Founding Fathers hypocrites or liars over the issue of slavery and their belief in principled rights. What was the contemporary response of this apparent hypocrisy at the time of the Declaration and the Constitution?	576
With today's stories about women being forbidden to enter the Sumo ring, I have heard that in the past there have been cases of female Sumo wrestlers. What is the actual history of women and Sumo?	567
Brazil and Argentina saw well over a million Italians emigrate to their countries in the late 19th century. In America, notorious mafia families took root in America. Were there any openings for Italian crime families in South America?	460
In the Book of Deuteronomy (20:17) God instructs the Israelites to commit genocide ("utterly destroy them") the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites in the Promised Land. What archaeological evidence do we have of their destruction ("save alive nothing that breatheth")?	451
Why did Castro's takeover of Cuba under Communist leadership not result in the same scale of violent class warfare that occurred in the Soviet Union and China? Was it a relatively benign communist revolution by design?	435

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