AskHistorians

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a lot of the illustrations I've seen of New England Native Americans depicted them wearing just loin cloths or kilt like garments. is that accurate to how they dressed in day to day life? if "yes" why did (culturally) evolve to wear so much less than Europeans at similar latitudes?	747
In 1002 in the king of England(Æthelred) ordered that killing of all the Danes in the country. as I understand it England didn't have anything analogues to a police force or a standing army back then, that being the case who would have been charged with actually carrying out that genocide?	696
There's a lot of (or there used to be) older British people who regret the loss of the our empire, as if we've fallen from greatness. Would a Byzantine Citizen, circa 1395, feel similarly about how much their empire shrank over the previous two centuries?	628
In HBO Rome there's a scene where Augustus's mother asks a slave what's for lunch. she's given several options by the slave. Is it realistic the kitchen would make her several unwanted dishes just for the sake of variety?	627
In HBO Rome there's a scene where Titus Pullo thanks a slave he has a crush on, and Lucius Vorenus tells him that thanking slaves is bad for discipline. Is that in keeping with how Romans really viewed slave management?	608
Were ancient Germans, Celts and Gauls actually bigger and better at fighting than Romans, or did the Romans just say that to explain why their "superior military organisation" ever failed?	605
When I and a lot of modern people look back at the common beliefs & attitudes of 100 years ago we see them as extremely conservative and reactionary. Would someone (from Europe or North America) in 1814 think the same thing when they look back on 1714?	581
during the cold war did the Russians really make their spies have fake marriages and even children with each other to maintain cover?	557
I've been told that at the hight of the Romen Empire most people in Rome (the actual city) lived in slum like apartment blocks, due to how crowded the city was. Did Constantinople have similar living conditions before it started hemorrhaging population in the 13th century?	550
you know in cowboy movies everybody has a hand gun. How common was hand gun ownership in the USA of the 1890s?	549

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