askhistorians

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Otto von Bismarck famously predicted that the next major European war would be the result of "some damned foolish thing in the Balkans" well before it happened; how was he able to anticipate that this would be the flashpoint? What made it a natural candidate to set off a major conflict?	514
The 'Wyatt Earp effect' states that something statistically improbable (like someone repeatedly surviving a number of gunfights) becomes statistically highly likely to occur, given a large enough sample population; were gunfights really that common in the old West, or is that a creation of fiction?	508
Theodora, empress of Byzantium, is described as a former actress, courtesan, or prostitute; what do we really know about her background? She was unusually powerful in influencing social and religious policy, and advancing women's rights, was it her critics playing up the salaciousness of her past? NSFW	487
"Under God" was added to the US Pledge of Allegiance in 1954; what was the background behind this change? Was there any controversy accompanying it at the time?	468
St Augustine argued that prostitution was a necessary evil, to prevent worse vices from taking root. Did his views have an impact on how medieval societies dealt with prostitution, and, if so, how so?	455
How did the Medici bank work? Was there a physical location with employees? Did they have standard paperwork? How were they able to operate (or was the Church's prohibition on usury subject to local authorities, or overstated)? Do we know how they made lending decisions?	448
In the early 19th century, aristocratic England seems awash in romantic scandals (the Lady Hamilton affair, Lord Byron, Percy and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's exploits). Was this a reflection of changes in aristocratic behavior, changes in the public's appetite for scandal, or something else?	426
In the gospels, Jesus gives an awful lot of attention to the Pharisees, a group I'm otherwise unfamiliar with. Who were they, and were they known for anything else?	422
In Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut gives an estimate of casualties in the firebombing of Dresden (which he experienced) as 125000, whereas current estimates place the number at 25000 (one-fifth as many). Was it still common as recently as WWII to have such a large discrepancy? Do we know why?	417
Were the Nazis aware that their policies were driving away many of the finest scientific minds of the time? Did the Allies actively encourage the resulting immigration? Had Germany been as far 'ahead' in physics before this as it seems? Was this typical in other scientific fields as well?	414

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