askhistorians

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Recently Poland has outlawed the term "Polish death camps" with a penalty of up to 3 years in prison. When did this term originate, and how widely has it been used? Was it merely a geographic term used without malice, or was there some sort of agenda to its use?	12
The American Civil War featured some well-known naval engagements, with ironclads, mines (torpedoes), steamboats, submarines, and rams, fought on rivers and coasts. Did American naval fighting in the Civil War lead to any lasting changes in European naval doctrines or tactics?	12
Reading a 1940 comic, the plot revolves around a colonial administrator traveling into the African jungle to find and destroy a slave market run that is run by Arabs. Were illegal open air slave markets still being run in Africa, decades after much of the world made slavery illegal?	12
The Poverty Point culture stands out for construction of large monuments whilst being a hunter-gatherer society over 3500 years ago. What do we know of this culture, and their modern-day descendants?	12
Born 200 years ago today, what impact did Theodor Mommsen and his work A History of Rome have on historiography? Is he largely seen as worthy of his Nobel Prize and the praise he received? What is his status today?	12
The president of France has said that Gauls are resistant to change. Even if tongue-in-cheek, what aspects of Gallic culture survived under Roman rule through the centuries that we know of?	12
The first novel is widely held to be The Tale of Genji, written at a time when Chinese influence was in decline in Japan during the Heian period. Was the novel known about outside Japan, and did Japanese literature in turn influence Chinese literature?	12
What was the reception of Chariots of the Gods in the academic sphere when it was published? Were academics seriously considering the possibility at the time that ancient religions were actually alien explorers before the faults of the books became widely known?	11
I've read that early Confucian and Chinese had no real commitment towards the subordination of women, but that this would develop with Neoconfucian doctrines on to reinforce male authority and patrilineal customs. How did women respond to the new trends in Neoconfucian doctrine?	11
So what exactly is the significance behind the beads on both ends of the 'crowns'(?) of Chinese emperors?	11

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