askhistorians

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As hosts of the 1980 Summer Olympics, the USSR was invited to host that year's Paralympics. In response, they issued a statement denying the existence of any disabled people in the country (and hence the lack of disability sports). Why did the Soviet government state such a ridiculous claim?	3292
The full name of Pedro I, the first Emperor of Brazil, was "Pedro de Alcântara Francisco António João Carlos Xavier de Paula Miguel Rafael Joaquim José Gonzaga Pascoal Cipriano Serafim" - 18 words (and the full name of his son Pedro II was 17 words). Why did Portuguese royalty give such long names?	580
Reportedly, the renowned polymath C.B. Fry was approached by the Albanian delegation at the League of Nations, who were looking for an English gentleman with a personal income of £10,000 a year to become their king. Was 1920s Albania so poor that they literally couldn't afford to support a King?	172
Throughout the history of Muslim rule over Jerusalem, Jews were given access to the Western Wall. However, during the Jordanian occupation from 1948-67, Jews of any nationality were forbidden from accessing the wall. Why? And what was the global reaction to this blatant religious discrimination?	134
At the founding meeting of Nottingham Forest FC in 1865, the committee decided that the team colour should be "Garibaldi red", in honour of Giuseppe Garibaldi (and until this day, the club's players wear that colour). Why was a group of amateur athletes from the English Midlands honouring Garibaldi?	110
The island of Great Britain has been under the same government system since 1689, with no revolutions, coups, or civil wars. During that period, no part of the island has been conquered, or even occupied, by foreign forces. What are the historical explanations for this uniquely long-lived stability?	106
In 1792, the British Colony of Sierra Leone held elections for political representatives. The heads of all Settler households, including women (who constituted a third of those household heads), were given equal voting rights. How and why did women's suffrage start in Sierra Leone, of all places?	74
Ulaanbaatar was founded in 1639 as a nomadic monastic centre which served as the seat of the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism in Mongolia, and changed location 28 times before it permanently settled at its current location in 1778. Why did such an important religious centre move so often?	62
Joseph Stalin, despite being a Georgian, became the leader of the USSR. Was this celebrated as a sign of how Communist ideals led to accepting diversity, (similar to how the election of the first non-white President in the USA was celebrated), or did it disturb the primarily Russian population?	40
In 1516, the Fuggerei, the world's first social housing complex, was opened in Augsburg, with the rent set at one Rhenish guilder per year (the price has never risen - currently an apartment costs €0.88 per year). How much cheaper would that have been than the normal rent for that period?	36

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