AskHistorians

Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
"History will be kind to me for I intend to write it." -How kind has history been to Churchill? How do his historical works stand up today?	1315
25 years ago Nirvana released 'Nevermind', What was it about this album that catapulted grunge into the mainstream? What was it about this new found fame that disillusioned Cobain so much? & What affect did Cobain's suicide have on the grunge scene?	349
Historian, Thomas Pakenham states that The Boer War "proved to be the longest, the costliest, the bloodiest and the most humiliating campaign that Britain fought between 1815 and 1914." How true is that statement? What effects did the war have on language(s) & culture(s) of the belligerents?	288
Between 1839 and 1914, Were Britain & Belgium aware of the others' colonial atrocities? Did any of these atrocities affect the Treaty of London (1839), that would eventually protect belgium come WWI?	108
Between 1911 and 1949 China had overthrown the Qing, dealt with warlords, the creation and divisions of a republic, fought foreign invasion as well as the consolidation of communism. During this time what was the average person thoughts on their quality of life? How had this changed by 1976?	103
When talking about Japan's WW2 surrender Robert Powell states "it took weeks for the news to reach isolated troops,some Japanese soldiers would remain hidden in the jungle for more than 30 years". How true is this statement? Do we know how the troops felt & adapted to normality when they resurfaced?	97
I've seen innumerable historical & fictitious TV shows and films about Henry VIII's reign, but they just seem to constantly go over old ground. What are the current historiographical debates surrounding this infamous king?	76
Waldemar Januszczak states that the early christians didn't know what Jesus looked like. Januszczak also says they had to improvise by basing "jesus" on the "pagan" god Apollo, Why didn't Jesus's disciples describe to others what he looked like? And why of all things use a pagan idol?	53
According to a /r/TIL thread, Winston Churchill's GP wrote him a prescription for Alcohol during a visit to Prohibition-era USA. Was this a legit way of circumventing the ban? Did many other people do this?	40
HG Wells said in 1901 'Queen Victoria was like a great paperweight on men's minds when she was removed their ideas began to blow all over the place haphazardly' How widespread was this view? Considering the notable advancements of her reign	39

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