AskHistorians

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When Alexander the Great became king of Macedon, he abolished all taxes. How was he able to maintain a robust military and home front bureaucracy without compulsory funding from the people?	545
Melania Trump was born and raised in Slovenia. When was the last time (if ever) the first lady was not born on what is now U.S. soil?	528
How did Dodge City, Kansas earn its idiomatic reputation for being a place that people want to "get the hell out of?"	515
Englishman, Frenchman, Irishman, Dutchman (or -woman) are all standard demonyms, but 'Chinaman' is no longer the preferred nomenclature. When and why did this term become outmoded in English?	477
The 1988 film "Akira" is often referenced as a landmark in the development and popularization of anime in the West. How was anime viewed in the West like before "Akira," and what made this film a watershed in changing those views?	382
In 1963, President Kennedy was met with adoring crowds in Berlin before his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech. 24 years later, more than 50,000 people protested President Reagan's presence in Berlin before his "Tear down this wall!" speech. What changed?	351
How did Zippo and Bic come to dominate the reusable and disposable, respectively, cigarette lighter markets?	326
In many U.S. states, public universities follow a system of University of [State], which tends to be the more prestigious, and [State Name] State University, which tends to have more campuses. When and why did states decide on this system, and how did it come to proliferate?	306
"Over the past 200 years, women's clothes in the West have trended toward more revealing, while men's have remained more or less the same in terms of exposed skin." How true or false is this statement? And if true, what has been the impetus behind this trend?	287
Were ghoulish Medieval torture devices, such as the iron maiden, actually used, or are these devices the product of later people's imaginations?	284

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