AskHistorians

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I am a European King living between 1000-1500, I hear from my spy that my sister is shoved around/abused by her husband the king of Random Kingdom with whom an alliance is beneficial/necessary (hence the marrige). What can I do? Do I care enough to do anything? Is it expected of me to intervene?	3617
The House of Lords had 100s of hereditary members until 1997(cut down to 97), just how much power and influence did these families have over legislation and the government? Was there a serious political impact of stripping them from their family seats and thus reducing the number of noble HoL peers	3165
In Avatar, Firelord(King) Zuko lived as a wanderer/waiter before becoming Firelord. This was a contrast with his privileged childhood as a prince. Is there any real life e.g. of kings who were born into power spending years as peasants before taking the throne? Particularly Absolute or Feudal kings?	3052
The Netherlands is famous for reclaiming large tracts of land from the sea. But where did they get all the soil? It's flat land which is already under sea level, and by default has a shortage of land/soil already	208
Considering the competition between Islam and Christianity and that the Bible Pre Protestant revolution was in Latin, how did Muslims react to most Christians not being able to read the Bible like one could read the Arabic Koran, how did Christians react to Muslims reading the Koran without priests?	183
I'm a rich married Roman noble woman. I live either in the late republic or early empire. One day I realise I have gotten very fat. Do I panic, and if yes what is my #1 concern? What is the reaction of society? What advise if any would my peers have in order to lose weight if any?	178
Standard Oil was broken up into the separate oil companies legally, but what about culturally? Did these new companies actually compete with one another? Where there any sense of common identity, did they still view themselves as one and if yes how and when did that change?	108
We consider older generations to be more religious. However when the British conquered Jerusalem they played it as a secular conquest. Is this really true? and if its is, Why was this not a religious triumph? Did people simply not care about the Holy Land? What was the stance of the Anglican Church?	80
Considering that it was not colonised why was Thailand unable to industrialise and become an advanced economy? It had sovereignity, a centralised state and was not a socialist state, etc. What was missing/went wrong?	59
The idea of locking up evil in the attic in your own home instead of an asylum is fascinating. But what began this idea, does it have a real life inspiration?	54

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