/u/Wildfire9's posts in /r/askhistorians

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In Netflix's Marco Polo they have a character befriend Marco who speaks "Latin"(English). How likely would this have been for Kublai Khan to have people who could translate readily available?

323 upvotes

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I heard somewhere that almost 30% of trans oceanic voyages on those colonial era ships resulted in failure. That number seems rather high, is this true? And did a failure mean catastrophic end or simply turning back?

250 upvotes

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How many times has a US warplane actually fired an air-to-air missile, with deadly intent, since 1980?

190 upvotes

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Why did NASA choose a massive wetland (Cape Canaveral) as the launch point and not the desert?

41 upvotes

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Is the guillotine that chopped Robespierre and Antoinette still intact today?

28 upvotes

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On the subject of Maggie Thatcher; I heard once that she threatened to nuke Buenos Aires if Ronald Reagan didn't fork over the Argentinian exocet missile self destruct codes during the Falkland conflict.

25 upvotes

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Assassin's Creed.

23 upvotes

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Why is Saturday (spanish: Sabado) called Saturday when the official day of rest and worship is Sunday?

18 upvotes

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Was there any significant social unrest when Nichelle Nichols became the first African American women as a main character on Star Trek?

13 upvotes

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What kinds of methodologies were used in regards to ancient logging/timber practices?

11 upvotes

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Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
In Netflix's Marco Polo they have a character befriend Marco who speaks "Latin"(English). How likely would this have been for Kublai Khan to have people who could translate readily available?	323
I heard somewhere that almost 30% of trans oceanic voyages on those colonial era ships resulted in failure. That number seems rather high, is this true? And did a failure mean catastrophic end or simply turning back?	250
How many times has a US warplane actually fired an air-to-air missile, with deadly intent, since 1980?	190
Why did NASA choose a massive wetland (Cape Canaveral) as the launch point and not the desert?	41
Is the guillotine that chopped Robespierre and Antoinette still intact today?	28
On the subject of Maggie Thatcher; I heard once that she threatened to nuke Buenos Aires if Ronald Reagan didn't fork over the Argentinian exocet missile self destruct codes during the Falkland conflict.	25
Assassin's Creed.	23
Why is Saturday (spanish: Sabado) called Saturday when the official day of rest and worship is Sunday?	18
Was there any significant social unrest when Nichelle Nichols became the first African American women as a main character on Star Trek?	13
What kinds of methodologies were used in regards to ancient logging/timber practices?	11