askhistorians

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In the 1519 election the viable candidates for Holy Roman Emperor were the King of England, the King of France, and the King of Spain, none of whom spoke German. Was this a particularly strange election for the empire, and if so, why was it so strange?	2401
Jesse Owens won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics wearing shoes provided by Adolph 'Adi' Dassler, later founder of Adidas. Dassler was a member of Nazi party. Why was he sponsoring an African-American athlete, and did he get in any trouble with the Nazis as a result?	713
For centuries the Habsburg family increased its land through fortunate and opportunistic marriages across Europe, then the Habsburgs started only marrying their niece and close cousins. What happened? Did they just become risk-averse as they approached hegemony?	282
I am a Senator in Imperial Rome whose lands are all on the Italian peninsula, and I want to establish a new estate in the distant East - maybe Egypt, perhaps Anatolia. How do I even begin to go about making this investment?	280
It seems odd that the Italian peninsula could give rise to the Roman Empire and then largely resist political unification until 1870. How have historians explained Italy's extended political fracture after the Western Empire fell?	266
Why do Alabama and Mississippi both have little handles of land that connect them to the Gulf of Mexico and make them look like spatulas? That can't just be a coincidence, can it?	236
I often see people who say 'Russia' to mean the Soviet Union get corrected. To what extent is it accurate to say that the Russian component was the ruling portion of the Soviet state apparatus?	192
The British Navy dominated its French counterpart during the Napoleonic Wars, so why did the French have so much success transporting troops to aid the American Revolution?	144
What was the Dukes of Burgundy trying to achieve by allying with English kings versus the French crown? Were they hoping to make Burgundy an independent kingdom, and was there every legitimate prospect that might happen?	54
Meta: Mods and other historians on here, what's the biggest thinking error not addressed in AskHistorians' rules that you see commenters here making most often?	49

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