askhistorians

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What was meant by "$300, Mexican" and other currency terms in this early 20th century text?	11
How was Catherine the Great — a foreign-born German princess — able to convince a regiment of Russian soldiers and high Russian Orthodox Church officials to support her coup after only a few years married to the emperor?	11
Pope Pius XII famously stayed silent as Italy's Jews were carted away to concentration camps. Was the pope worried he would be dethroned or killed, or that the newly-independent Vatican would be reabsorbed into Italy? How complicit was the pope?	11
Three of Athens' most prominent sons - Socrates, Plato, and Xenophon - did not think highly of the democratic assembly of their home. How common was this sentiment, and just how dysfunctional was the Athenian government for most of its history?	11
The Villa of the Papyri in Pompei had an Epicurean-themed library. Why do historians think it also contained a far larger general library?	11
Why was Pope Gregory X unable to rally Europeans to assist the ailing Crusading States? Had there been some sort of shift that made further crusades less appealing?	11
The Nazi-era Lebensborn were a plot device in Man in the High Castle. Were they really the product of a Nazi-sanctioned, marriage-free, blue-eyed, blond-haired baby drive? What happened to the babies? Did the unmarried pregnant women face scorn?	11
What happened to the British commanders who lost the Revolutionary War?	11
The Indus-Sarasvati civilization had roads constructed in geometric patterns, large cities, and bronze tools, but apparently no temples or sacred places, and no iconography or prayer sculptures. Did they have no conception of or belief in god? Was this unusual? Did they "believe" in anything?	11
I'm traveling around Europe in the 18th century. To what extent can I use Latin as a lingua franca? Does it have less utility than French?	11

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