askhistorians

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It seems like Asia, more specifically the Chinese knew about gunpowder for such a long time before it was used for wars by the Europeans. Did the Chinese use gunpowder for combat too, and if so, why did they even sell it considering they could've conquered the world easily with even primitive guns?*	6
In viking culture, what was the difference between a chieftan, earl, jarl and king?	6
Why really caused the Punic wars? It doesn't seem like Carthage wanted to expand like Rome did and were content with their trading empire, and they even had (commercial) alliances with Rome. Was there some insult or betrayal that sparked this century-long conflict/tension?	6
We commonly hear that suicide rates have gone up compared to the past. If this is true, when was the turning point, and what (possibly) caused it?	6
How brutal was medieval warfare, or more specifically, the aftermaths of battles and sieges? NSFW	6
Did any other animals aside from horses/camels/elephants get ridden into battle, or were there at least any attempts to do so?	5
How were dogs treated through the ages, starting from when they were domesticated? (Pre-history up until now). Were there differences in the areas they lived in too? (E.g ancient Greeks kept dogs as pets while in the same time period, [other people] despised them)	5
Fantasy shows us that every king or castle had it's own "wizard". Did any kings or lords have wizards employed? If so, what did they actually do? If not, why not? Surely someone could bluff their way in with sleight of hand and what not, right?	5
Onoda Hirō spent 29 years in hiding, still thinking WW2 was being fought. Are there more cases like his that I can look into? Nationality or the conflict doesn't matter, I'm mainly looking for stories of soldiers/warriors who kept fighting for a notable amount of time, unaware there was peace?	5
How did the term "mongol" become an offensive slur when not used in the context of nationality or history? Was the stereotypical Mongol depicted as slow of wit or is this a long lasting historical resentment towards the Mongols for their invasions?	5

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