askhistorians

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"It's a Wonderful Life" film director Frank Capra supposedly said in 1946 that one motivation for making the Christmas film was "to combat a modern trend toward atheism". What "trend toward atheism" would he have perceived in 1940s America?	4
Does it matter whether or not Frederick the Great* would be considered gay by contemporary standards?	4
What was the general attitude towards the future in Asian countries like (China, Japan, or the Mughal Empire, & neighbors) from the 11th century to the 1850s? Did they believe that the world was inevitably coming to an end, possibly soon, the way Europeans seemed to?	4
Was the time period during and after the American Revolution perceived, whether by patriots, loyalists, in-betweeners, or indigenous people, as a time of great lawlessness and chaos? I don't remember this being emphasized as a kid.	4
How did political ideological education/indoctrination in the People's Liberation Army and People's Armed Police change in response to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests & massacre?	4
Genocide denial by public figures is mainstream in contemporary Republika Srpska (sub-federation of Bosnia & Herzegovina). Was public political endorsement of genocide denial a thing in the late 90s/early 00s?	4
During the Cold War, why didn't Aeroflot/Soviet civil aviation learn from the safety mistakes of other countries' airlines, the way other countries for the most part seemed to learn from each other? Was there a lack of access? Or a lack of interest?	4
How was an aristocratic Roman man in the late Republic expected to treat his wife in their home? How might he actually treat her (generally*)? Do we have records of wives' commentaries on their men failing to meet their duties or her expectations?	4
Who would have worked in an 18th or 19th century European arms factory? Would guns and ammunition be made mostly by men? What about women? Kids? How did the arms industry's labor characteristics change over the course of industrialization?	3
Video games, tabletop wargaming, and pop history can categorize and divide ancient Greek, Roman, and Persian soldier types in absurd detail but doesn't do the same for Egyptian troop types. Why?	3

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