askhistorians

Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
A major method of advancement in many RPGs is loot from slain foes. Would a medieval foot soldier or levied peasant have been able to keep or use any weapons he might loot if he happened to manage to kill a knight or man-at-arms? Did any ordinary soldiers get rich from looted gear?	5229
The fictional Captain Jack Aubrey, RN, captures a slave ship and is so appalled by the conditions he finds that he chains the captain and officers to the ship and then has his squadron use it for gunnery practice until it sinks. Were the Royal Navy very harsh with slave traders they captured?	2310
In catch-22, Major Major's father makes a living by not growing alfalfa. He is said to be paid large sums by the government for the Alfalfa he does not grow. Is something real being parodied there?	796
How realistic are the horse racing plots in some Sherlock Holmes stories?	403
Theodore Roosevelt insulted his political opponents by comparing them unfavorably to guinea pigs. What did ordinary Americans know about guinea pigs at this time? Were they thought of as unusually stupid animals?	211
Feudal Monarchs in fantasy often have a "Royal Guard," made of elite professional warriors whose primary job was the security of the Monarch and the Royal House. Does this portray anything real?	105
Abraham Lincoln told an anecdote about a chess machine, an "automaton player" which had been around "many years ago." Could anybody prior to 1865 have actually built a machine capable of playing chess, or was it some kind of fraud?	79
The film "Midway" has Nimitz assign Ed Layton to be "my Admiral Yamamoto," but it seems that Nimitz actually said "my Admiral Nagumo." Who did USN officers and men think of as their iconic adversary during the Pacific War?	65
Abraham Lincoln told a story of his client, Melissa Goings, who killed her husband with a stick while he was strangling her. In today's Illinois, this would be a clear-cut case of self-defense. What were Mrs. Goings' chances in court in the 1840s?	62
Did Oswald Mosley have any real power or influence, or was he just a fringe loon like William Dudley Pelley in the US?	52

« < > »