AskHistorians

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From what I understand, what is now part of Ethiopia had an ancient Hebrew-speaking population (the Kingdom of Semien) and now contains some of the oldest populations of both Christians and Muslims. Why was this region seemingly so hospitable for followers of Abrahamic religions?	218
While serving in the KGB, Vladimir Putin was stationed in Dresden - part of the Stasi's jurisdiction. Do we know anything about Putin's relationship with the Stasi? Furthermore, would Putin have been privy to information about CIA sources there who were double agents for the Stasi?	88
What kind of influence did Eastern Christianity have on Islam in the geographic regions in which they overlapped, and vice versa?	55
It's 1900. I am a 100 year old middle-class man who was born in London and have lived there my whole life. What would be the most significant social, economic, and political changes that I would have witnessed over my life? Which changes would be most relevant to my life?	39
In a 1960 letter to Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan accused JFK of being a Marxist and likened contemporary liberalism to Hitler's "State Socialism." 20 years later, he was elected President. How did Reagan's views go from being disreputable in "respectable" circles to becoming the conventional wisdom?	38
What were the intellectual origins of studying history “from below”, and what factors led to that approach becoming more widely accepted in academia?	33
The regimes of Hafez al-Assad in Syria and Saddam Hussein in Iraq were both Ba’athist, yet they despised one another and the two countries became bitter enemies. What led to this?	21
Much has been written about the 18th century Enlightenment in Europe from a "Western" perspective. How did intellectuals and elites elsewhere (for example, in the Islamic world) think view Enlightenment? Furthermore, were there any similar intellectual trends elsewhere in the 1700s?	17
The "rags-to-riches" stories of upward mobility, such as that of Andrew Carnegie, seem to be a staple of American popular culture. How often was this actually the case, historically speaking?	15
From what I understand, the committees in both houses of the US Congress - and their chairmen in particular - used to have more power than they do now, relative to party leaders. What led to their decline as power bases, and has this hurt both bipartisanship and the overall legislative process?	13

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