AskHistorians

Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
Why did grappling martial arts seem to predominate in West, South, and Central Asia; while striking martial arts seem to predominate in East and Southeast Asia?	1919
How did the Toyota Hilux become the "vehicle of choice" for armed conflicts and/or guerilla warfare in the developing world over the last 40-50 years?	373
I've recently come across the claim that "Palestinians are an invented people" who "did not exist" before the advent of modern Zionism. How true is this claim?	232
Why did plate armor not catch on in Muslim, or for that matter any non-European lands?	85
As an Iranian, I see supporters of the Islamic regime claming education reforms led to increased literacy. Estimates show around 35% in the mid-70s, and 50% in the mid 80s. Can this increase be attributed to new policies of the Islamic regime, or were they continued Pahlavi era policies?	57
Was ancient Greece really that far ahead in math, science, etc.? Why don't we ever hear about contemporary academia in the "rest of the world", e.g. Persia, India, China?	29
Why was the USSR the "preferable" ally in WW2 if the West knew Stalin planned to invade the rest of Europe? Why not ally with the Nazis against the USSR and later have a Cold War with the Third Reich?	25
What was the Rustamid Dynasty, an Ibadi Muslim dynasty of reported Persian descent, doing in the middle of North Africa, practicing a form of Islam that is predominant in modern-day Oman, named after a legendary Iranian hero 200 years before he became a legend?	13
Why did the usage of "rapier" style swords develop in Europe but not in the contemporary Muslim empires?	10
What made the 80s (and early 90s, by extension) such a persistent, iconic presence in US culture? Do we have anything historically objective to explain it?	7

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