askhistorians

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Was officers being fragged by their own men more common in the Vietnam War than previous wars or was this a myth? How big of a problem was it? Were any steps taken to prevent it from happening?	67
Was the First Triumvirate legal? Was it in any ways skirting acceptable norms of behavior? It appears that the negotiations to set it up were done in secret, was this necessary?	66
Was China's influence on southeast Asia ever comparable to European influence in Africa and the Americas in the age of colonization?	65
I've read that for all their lamentations over the evils of slavery, only George Washington among the southern Founding Fathers bothered to free his slaves in his will. Was this true? How unusual an act would this have been for the time?	65
As I understand it, Jesus sought only to convert Jews, and James, the brother of Jesus and the Bishop of Jerusalem, also sought only to convert Jews. How did Paul's (a relative latecomer) view that the gospel should be preached to all win the day over those with more direct ties to Jesus?	65
When Martin Luther published his vernacular bible, how much of the population was literate in German, and did this affect that? At what point was Latin no longer the "go-to" language for intellectuals, and what replaced it?	64
Was there a children's Crusade in 1212? What really happened? If it was a myth, how was it perpetuated, and why?	64
How did the Catholic church wind up with celibate priests? Have they been that way since the beginning? If not, how was the transition handled? Were already-married priests grandfathered in?	63
The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States in 1886 (though it had been under construction for over a decade at the time). What prompted it? What was going on in France at the time that inspired this gesture? Did the US reciprocate?	63
As I understand it, Roman tax collectors would pledge to collect a certain amount of taxation, and could keep whatever they collected above that amount. What sort of consequences would they face if they couldn't deliver the amount they'd pledged?	62

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