askhistorians

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The Medici have a reputation as successful venture capitalists who funded "businesses," drove innovation, and created wealth. But are their results as good as the Florintine guilds? How did the guild competition for funding differ from the Medici approach?	1
What's the story behind the "excessive bowing and rushing back on stage thing" in symphony orchestras?	1
Did the US "force" free trade on the world after WWII in return for protection and loans? How eager were countries to drop protectionism in favor of free trade?	1
Were oak trees ever bred to produce a superior, more palatable acorn (fewer tannins, larger size, sweeter taste)? Acorns were used by aboriginals and as famine food, and could produce abundantly, but never seemed to be domesticated. Was it just too much work when a famine wasn't occurring?	1
Did monks begin to arm themselves and train for war, or harden their monasteries in response to relentless Viking raids? Or were the raids rare enough that it never seemed critical?	1
The Dawes Act of 1887 is often seen as the imposition of capitalism and private ownership on Native American societies that didn't agree with or understand these systems. But did it have any upside? Did private ownership allow natives to escape corrupt government bureaucrats on their reservations?	1
Is there any truth to the claim that reconstruction failed because newly elected black politicans were corrupt and/or incompetent?	1
Women spent two or more hours a day grinding grain during the medieval period. Did they really have nothing better to do?	0
Cambridge says the term Anglo-Saxon is racist. What do historians think of this?	0
I'm time traveling between Georgian England and Victorian England. Are the Victorians noticeably more prude/proper/reserved?	0

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