AskHistorians

Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
What led to the breakup of Ma Bell, and what were the consequences? Were there any dire predictions before it happened? Did any of them come to pass?	13
Did Martin Luther realize posting his 95 theses could be a world-changing act? Did he want it to be?	13
What do we know of Zheng He's travels, and how do we know it?	13
How common were tournaments of the sort we see depicted in fiction in the middle ages? Are the portrayals of the victor claiming the loser's horse, arms, and armor grounded in real practice? Would arms and armor in fact be uniform enough to be useful to multiple users?	13
"Boy bands" are typically not particularly respected by music critics, yet probably the most respected band of all-time, the Beatles, started as a "boy band". Were they always respected by critics? Was this before there was a stigma? If not, how were they able to transcend it?	13
John C Calhoun served as Vice President under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson in consecutive terms, though the 1824 and 1828 elections were two of dirtiest, most bitter elections before the Civil War. How did he end up Vice President for both men?	13
We now know that Richard III had mild scoliosis. Was Shakespeare's depiction of him as a monstrous hunchbacked mustache-twirling villain consistent with other portrayals of him in this era? What resources would Shakespeare have relied on to base his depiction?	12
When people say Brunelleschi 'reintroduced' the classical orders of architecture, what are they referencing? What exactly did he incorporate that contemporary architects weren't using?	12
How is it that we know about Julius Caesar's epilepsy, if it wasn't public knowledge during his lifetime?	12
Cato condemned Caesar's military actions in Gaul, and accused him of starting a 'war of aggression'; was this a standard other Roman generals were held to at the time, or was Cato singling out Caesar as a special case?	12

« < > »