/u/RusticBohemian's posts
Neville Chamberlain famously sold out Czechoslovakia to the Nazis in return for "Peace in our time." Appeasement didn't work out, but would fighting WWII in 1938 have been better for the Allies? Were they ready for war, and would Czechoslovakia's border forts have made a difference?
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Bertrand Russell said that, "The doctrines of Buddhism are profound; they are almost reasonable, and historically they have been the least harmful and the least cruel." Is there any reason to suspect that Buddhist societies have ben less cruel or harmful than others?
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"The Great Gatsby," was a commercial failure and all but forgotten until the U.S. decided to print several hundred thousand copies and ship them to US servicemen during WWII. Why was this "underwhelming" work featuring unlikeable characters chosen for distribution?
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The obesity epidemic is sometimes blamed on the increasing number of jobs that don't require physical activity. But were sedentary jobs connected with obesity before the 1970s?
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Either travel to the dirty, crowded city to work 70 + hours a week in a dangerous factory or try to stay on your family farm, only to be driven from the land by increasingly efficient machines and consolidated ownership. Was life during the industrial revolution this grim?
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How did premodern cities clear their streets after massive blizzards before the invention of snowplows and snowblowers? Huge shovel brigades? Were horses pulling plows?
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Noam Chomsky claims, "...from the Romans into the late 19th century the idea of having a job was considered an abomination. You’re placing yourself in a position of subordination to a master. No person with any integrity of self-respect should submit themselves to this." Is this accurate?
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The Roman Republic was trounced during its early wars with Parthia, but later imperial-era armies faired better. What tactical innovations did Trajan and his successors adopt that allowed them to defeat the eastern kingdom multiple times, despite their inferiority in cavalry?
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The Lincoln-Douglas debates feature nuanced, in-depth policy discussions lasting as long as seven hours. Their audiences were primarily without much formal education. How were these civic superheroes equipped to understand the debates? Was it common for people to be so well informed and devoted?
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