AskHistorians

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There seems a fair amount of conjecture, borne of Russian researchers, which claims that the apostle Matthew was buried in a monastery in Kyrgyzstan, despite his 'official' tomb being in Italy. Are we to take such a suggestion seriously?	47
The Black Madonnas: Why did dark skinned Marian statues and/or paintings become popular sites of veneration and pilgrimage in Medieval Europe? Reasons for their beginnings and decline?	40
How was Reinhard Heydrich able to acquire nicknames like 'the butcher of Prague' and 'the hangman of Europe' when Nazi atrocities were so widespread? Was Heydrich genuinely and demonstrably crueller than his colleagues?	36
‘The British and Americans dismissed the air warfare lessons of Spain and China, to their cost’. What were the lessons to be learned from these regions, and why did the Anglo Allies ignore them to begin with in World War 2?	29
The Battle of Jutland: A recent expedition (including Admiral Jellicoe's grandson) purports to rewrite the day's events and uncover clear falsifications of previous evidence. How have naval historians reacted?	28
Eli Cohen infiltrated the Syrian establishment by pretending to operate a successful business (as Kamel Thabeet). Surely, even a cursory inspection of his ‘company’ would show it didn’t exist. How did this remain undetected?	27
Oliver North (of Iran-Contra fame) originally got the Sultan of Brunei to send the Contras $10,000,000, which was exposed when it was transferred into the wrong Swiss bank account. Why did Brunei care about American interests in Nicaragua?	26
After German reunification there was a lot of debate regarding moving the seat of government from Bonn and back to Berlin. How and why did we reach the current, compromise settlement?	25
How and why did Hungary become the dominant world force in water polo?	22
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia & co supported Iraq with huge amounts of money during their war with Iran (80-88), fearing the Islamic Revolution would spread like contagion in the region. Was it ever likely that such a domino-effect could topple the Gulf monarchies, or was this simply propaganda/paranoia?	22

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