AskHistorians

Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
John Mulaney claimed in one of his jokes that in the 1930's, if you weren't still at a bank after you robbed it when the police arrived, you had a 99% chance of getting away with it. How much truth is there to that statement?	783
How did MLK Jr. and Malcolm X relate to each other? Did they have great respect for each other, or view each other as misguided, or what? Were they friends, rivals, or just acquaintances?	193
What were the ramifications to the average British citizen in 1783 when Britain conceded to let America secede? Did it hurt their economy or make it harder to import necessary goods or anything? Were there worries that other colonies would begin to secede too?	174
How many actual ninjas ever existed? Was there any point in time where they actually had an impact on Japanese society, or are they more myth than fact?	57
Why did the Chinese invent so many things thousands of years before everyone else? And when/why did this trend stop?	53
Are there any gaps in history where we're not entirely sure what happened?	50
Did famous mathematicians have puzzles or games that they did for fun 50 years ago? 100? 500? 1000?	49
In the ancient Greek religions, were the various myths about the gods just basically fanfic written by different people, or were there certain people whose job it was to write the stories? Was there some body that determined whether the stories were supposed to be canon or non-canon?	47
A local tour guide likes to tell a story about Abraham Lincoln being so accessible, you could walk straight into the White House and wait outside his office door to meet with him. Is that true? What kind of security did the President have back then?	41
In Europe a few hundred years ago, I know if you were born a peasant you died a peasant. But what if you were born rich - was it possible to lose or spend all of your wealth and become "peasant class"?	33

« < > »