askhistorians

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In the famous scene from the movie 'Der Untergang', Hitler orders all of his generals to leave the room except of Keitel, Jodl, Krebs and Burgdorf. Who they where and why were they different or more important? Is this accurate?	2413
In the movie "Saving Private Ryan", the character of Corporal Upham spends most of his time sneaking away to avoid combat out of fear. In the real WW2, would such behavior be tolerated, or measures taken against him by his superiors?	698
In the movie 'Kingdom of Heaven', we see Saladin picking up a cross and placing it on the altar with respect. Is this kind of behavior accurate? Do we know about explicit displays of respect to Christian symbols by him, or is it an artistic license?	616
Did the Maya really worship Ixtab, goddess of suicide by hanging, or was she made up by Spaniards?	389
In the movie 'The Downfall', Hitler gets angry when he knows that Steiner "wasn't able to carry out his assault". What exactly was Steiner's mission? What did Hitler expect from this assault? Did Hitler really believe that Steiner's assault could change the war and save Germany at that time?	381
Classic philosophers usually mention God. What did they really mean? Were they actually referring to God, or was it added by translators?	369
Did Romans bow or kneel before the Emperor?	322
Why did the British Empire fall so "peacefully"?	241
In "The Man Who Would be King", the people of Kafiristan are depicted worshipping Alexander as a demigod. How accurate is this? Do we have any historical evidence of some people worshipping Alexander as a god in South Asia?	165
Why did Europeans focus on conquering the Americas, which were on the other side of the ocean, and for so long ignored Africa which was their neighbour continent?	146

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