AskHistorians

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Why did the Romans use the land-based silk road routes — with their many middlemen and tax collectors — when they could just sail from the Red Sea to India and bypass all that? Wasn't the former much more expensive?	95
What's the deal with Catholic churches in Rome?	94
The southern states claimed to be the victims in the US Civil War, but they fired the first shot. How did they justify this contradiction?	94
China went from the most powerful empire on earth to being colonized over the course of a few decades. Was this "traumatic" for the Chinese psyche? How did it affect policy and international relations?	94
The best-selling US book in the 1890s, save the bible, was Progress and Poverty, a book about tax reform. How did this technocratic argument become wildly popular? Why did the land value tax fail to launch here, but got implemented abroad in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan?	94
Credit unions in the United States are often seen as the morally superior option to commercial banks. Have they historically been able to differentiate themselves enough in practice for that view to be justified, or are they mostly just banks that happen to not pay taxes?	93
The Europeans meet in 1884 to decide which country gets to claim the rich lands of the Congo. Everyone comes out on the far side believing these lands should be the personal property of the King of Belgium, who the world will eventually find out is something of a psychopath. What happened?	93
Archaeologists uncovered 1,800 Roman papyri buried in a private library at Herculaneum by the eruption of Vesuvius. Researchers are now using advanced imaging technology to read the carbonized scrolls without destroying them. What important or interesting findings have been discovered?	93
Did Rome post ships or man watch towers at the Straights of Gibraltar and Sea Of Marmara to protect their "Roman lake," from pirates, raids, and invasions from the Atlantic and Black Sea?	92
The Byzantines John II Komnenos and his son Manuel were remarkably successful at war after a long period of Byzantine losses. Their troops were competent, they recaptured cities, and they regularly beat the mounted Turks who'd often bested their predecessors. What was their secret?	92

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