AskHistorians

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Did the British Empire really outlaw slavery for moral reasons and at great cost to themselves, as I have heard it being described, or were there some kind of mercantile reasons? I hear Britain banning slavery described as the single greatest moment in human history and I wanted to know more.	62
I am a downed RAF pilot during the Battle Of Britain. My Spitfire is falling down into the English Channel, but I manage to safely eject from the plane. I then fall into the Channel myself. What are my chances of survival? Will the Royal Navy pick me up? Do I try to swim ashore? Am I dead already?	55
My question is regarding the Falklands War and Margaret Thatcher. I have heard that she was happy to have the people of the UK distracted by a foreign invasion instead of looking at domestic issues. Was this truly the case? If so, what was it that she tried to hide or deflect attention away from?	23
How did the British Empire lose its technological edge in Aviation and other areas so quickly after WWII?	10
Was the Portuguese refusal to follow Napoleon's Continental System motivated purely by their old Alliance with Great Britain, or were there other reasons? If it is the former, then why did the British Army not help repel Napoleon's subsequent invasion of Portugal? Why did they wait to land forces?	4
I am Queen Victoria in the late Victorian Era. How much power do I actually have regarding laws, politics and other issues? Could I order a new Prime Minister to be chosen? Could I refuse to grant assent to a law I didn't like? Could I order Britain to go to War?	4
I keep reading that the American slaves would try and escape into Canada after and even before the Fugitive Slave Act. Why is that? What did Canada (or Britain at the time?) do to the escaped slaves? Did they just let them go free?	4
A question regarding the sinking of the U-864. So, the sources I have read state that the Admiralty knew about U-864's movements via decryption of the Enigma Code, and, upon finding out which course the U-Boat would take, they dispatched Venturer to engage and sink it. Why was this decision made?	2
What single battle would have the greatest impact on society today had the result been different and the side that lost actually won the encounter?	1
How accurate is the narrative that without even one single Big Three Ally in WWII, the war would have been lost to the Axis Powers?	0

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