AskHistorians

Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
Snipers from WWI & II are often credited with "confirmed kill numbers". How do we know the exact count? Did they keep some sort of log while in a warzone? How do we know it's accurate?	31
Belief in witchcraft is still prevalent and punishable in some Muslim countries but is there actual documentation of magical rites/rituals in these cultures (Middle Eastern, Pakistani etc)? If so, how does it differ from Western witchcraft?	31
Did the mass sale of weapons from the Soviet arsenal, particularly by private gun runners, at the end of the Cold War really happen as portrayed in the movie "Lord of War"? If so, how did they manage that?	31
Back when much of what is now the USA was reserved "native territory", to what extent did the USA care about the internal goings-on of that territory? Did they ever arbitrate between native tribes/nations in events of war and such, or was the area considered encapsulated "anarchy"?	31
How did 'bluestocking', a term contemporarily used for an intellectual woman but earlier meant for an open society of men and women with literary interests, come to be known as derogatory? Was there any inherent sexism involved then or now, that led to this negative connotation of the word?	31
What is the history behind Dalmatians being associated with fire departments?	31
How widespread was polygamy under Insular Christianity in Ireland?	31
After spending so much time in Prison, did Nelson Mandela reform Prisons in South Africa after his release?	31
What are the origins of modern American pimping culture and is the culture itself substantially unique to America or the modern day? NSFW	31
Why did the Nazis take pictures of the Holocaust? Why did they want their war crimes to be so well documented?	31

« < > »