AskHistorians

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How did the early Arab Muslim conquests actually begin? Was there an organized plan to invade the Byzantine and Sassanid empires? Or did one thing just lead to another, and the Arab Muslims suddenly had one of the largest empires in history?	45
Most of the Balkans remained under Ottoman control for more than 300 years; a few regions (parts of modern Bulgaria and North Macedonia) were ruled by them for over 500 years. Then why did the Balkans never Turkify and Islamise like Anatolia did?	44
TIL that the sinking of the Titanic is 'only' the sixth deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history (not to mention wartime sinkings). Then why is the Titanic so iconic?	43
What is the history of the ethnic hatreds in the erstwhile Yugoslavia? I know the Serb hatred for Croats comes from the actions of the Ustashe during WW2, but that just leads to the question of where the Croats' hatred of Serbs come from? Where do the Bosniaks and Albanians fit into this?	38
Most of the Balkans remained under Ottoman control for more than 300 years; a few regions (parts of modern Bulgaria and North Macedonia) were ruled by them for over 500 years. Then why did the Balkans never Turkify and Islamise like Anatolia did?	37
Since the 1970s, there has been a new, revisionist trend in early Islamic history, which rejects the standard historiography. Some of their claims are downright bizarre. What is the evidence against the traditional history? What is the evidence in favour of these revisionist claims?	35
The Wikipedia article on the murder of Elsie Paroubek, an unsolved 110-year old murder of a 4-year-old Czech-American girl says that her parents were 'freethinkers', apparently in common with many other Bohemian-Americans of the time. Why was this the case?	34
In historiography, there has been a recent trend of seeing population movements as peaceful migrations rather than violent invasions as was previously the norm. What is behind this trend?	33
What was the pre-modern (before European domination) Arab perception of the Crusades after they had ended? What would an educated Levantine Arab in, say, AD 1600 have said about the long-term impact of the Crusades on his area if asked?	31
Along with Europe, the Black Death also devastated large parts of the Middle East. However, in the latter region, the enormous socioeconomic upheavals that occurred in Europe are not visible. Why?	30

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