AskHistorians

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I’m having quite a hard time imagining the practicalities of a pistol duel - if two men stand facing each other pointing loaded guns at each other, and fire at exactly the same time, how could they not die simultaneously?	420
'Raiders Of The Lost Ark', in 1936 - would the US government really have tried to convince Indy to beat the Nazis to the Ark, given both the wary US isolationism of the time and the fact that the Nazis had not yet shown their true potential menace?	101
“Mythology is not static” - obviously bedrock traditions do eventually form; however to what extent, in your opinion, is mythology ‘adjusted’ (for use of a better word) as a culture experiences NEW events, histories, invaders. Where do myths (histories) end and living current affairs begin?	24
There's a commonly quoted belief that saying 'bless you' after someone sneezes historically stems from hoping this isn't the first sign of the Black Death - is this correct?	6
Is Zen a Buddhist sect or not?	6
The mediaeval game of hand-in-cap	5
Do any of the purported blurred photos of Hitler post-suicide have any reliable providence? If so, who would have taken and developed the photo, Russian forces?	1
Out of the entire sweep of human history, which ruler/ruling group parallels the Trump administration most accurately?	0
I’ve just started a podcast focusing on all the ‘key’ battles in the history of Europe. Really, to what extent can it be said that, indeed, victory or defeat in these battles turned small areas, entire countries, or Europe as a whole towards vectors we feel today?	0

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