askhistorians

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Why did a thriving rock music scene emerge in Cambodia of all places during the 60s and 70s? Did South Vietnam and Laos also experience a similar music boom during the same period, particularly from US exposure?	1697
The BBC docuseries "The Death of Yugoslavia" (1995) portrays the breakup of Yugoslavia as a largely elite-driven affair. To what extent is this depiction accurate?	613
How did Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the bestselling Victorian author who coined phrases like "it was a dark and stormy night", become a mascot of purple prose today?	152
In 1949, the Soviets put Kwantung Army officers complicit in Unit 731 in a war crimes trial in Khabarovsk. What made the Soviets put on a trial in Soviet territory about atrocities in China? Did the trial affect Soviet geopolitics in early Cold War Asia?	138
I recently saw a production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing that's set in 1990s cottage country Canada instead of 16th century Italy. When did intentionally recontextualizing Shakespeare's plays in contemporary settings become a popular practice?	124
The True Whig Party controlled Liberia from 1878 until its violent overthrow in 1980. How did it hold onto power for over a century, and what factors led to its downfall?	84
Bram Stoker's fictional character Dracula claimed to be Szekely Hungarian. How did Hungarians (at least between the novel's publication in 1897 and the partition of Hungary in 1919) react to the success of the novel and character?	80
Why is music history traditionally separated from "regular" history departments?	61
When did Irish nationalism develop a consensus for a republican system of government? Were there any debates about setting up a monarchy in the event Ireland became independent?	40
When and how did the norm against presentism become dominant in historiography?	39

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