askhistorians

Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
As a youth, Cicero went to Athens to study philosophy. I've heard about other Romans doing the same. What sort of educational infrastructure was present in Athens that made it a destination of learning long after Rome eclipsed Greece as the center of political power in the Mediterranean?	2283
Hitler was an artist. Mussolini was a schoolteacher. Do we have accounts from people who knew them during their days as private citizens? What did these accounts say about their personalities.	767
I love this picture of Margaret Hamilton standing next to the navigation code responsible for NASA's Apollo mission, but I'd like more context. What language was it written in? What did it "do?" How was Hamilton's contribution viewed at the time?	712
In his memoirs, Ulysses S. Grant mentions "insulated [telegraph] wires...so that they would transmit messages in a storm, on the ground or under water" in use during the The Battle of the Wilderness in 1864. Plastic was invented in 1907. How could this have been done?	203
The inhabitants of St. Kilda, a remote Scottish archipelago, were voluntarily evacuated in 1930. Apparently life there was brutal. What became of the people who evacuated? Were they provided for in any way afterwards? Did they ever express regret about abandoning their homes?	202
Robespierre seems like he initially held enlightened views on violence--opposition to capital punishment & to foreign wars of liberation, for example. What caused him to turn toward advocating violence? Was any attempt made to reconcile his previous views, or did he simply abandon them?	177
What are the origins of latex clothing and why did it become sexualized? NSFW	154
The Battle of Cable Street has been portrayed as breaking the high-water point of the fascist movement in pre-WWII United Kingdom. How accurate is that portrayal, and how significant was fascism as a political force leading up to the event?	121
The Dickin Medal is "the highest award any animal can achieve while serving in military conflict" in the UK. Of the 69 animals awarded it, apparently 32 were WWII messenger pigeons. What did these pigeons do to justify their awards, and more importantly, was there a presentation ceremony?	107
What are the origins of Mrs. Claus?	102

« < > »