AskHistorians

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Why did CIA not succeed in toppling Cuba's communist government under Castro, but succeeded in masterminding/executing/assisting coups in a large number of Central and South American countries? What human/cultural/historic/socioeconomic factors made Cuba particularly tough to crack for CIA?	3468
In 1500, a traveler from Venice in England found it striking that children of all social classes were put to work from early ages, in jobs of different status to reflect their wealth. Was the childhood of the English children very different from that of children in the rest of Europe at the time?	3163
At the time of Cleopatra, the pyramids and the Sphynx were already truly ancient monuments. Do we know what these monuments looked like at that time, in other words did they still have the original glorious, colourful and shiny exterior and how were they perceived by the royalty and the people?	2593
In Russian golden age literature, such as Tolstoy, a prince or a princess often features in the plot, being a major or a minor character, however it is evident that they are not part of the immediate royal family and sometimes have financial difficulties. Who were these princes and princesses?	2264
Children were sold into slavery in Europe for much of its medieval history. There are peaks and troughs and regional differences, but how were children on principle forced into slavery, legally and morally in Christian Europe and was there any opposition to the practice, popular or at higher levels?	178
Barbara Bush spoke about her support for abortion access, LGBT rights, civil rights, and AIDS awareness during her term as First Lady of the United States. How was this received by her husband and Republicans of that time?	167
Ivan the Terrible killed his son in a fit of rage: how confident are historians about the veracity of the sources affirming this, given the recent revisionist attempts by Russian historians claiming this is a western fabrication?	89
In 100AD Rome had a population of about a million. How did immigration into the city work? What drove people to Rome, was it primarily the prospect of urban jobs and escaping the agricultural labour? Whe did migrants settle intially and how did they find jobs? Were there refuge houses for migrants?	68
Czechia is today highly irreligious - one of the leading irreligious countries in the world and certainly leading in Europe in this respect, and this contrasts notably with its neighbouring countries, including Slovakia, with which it shares recent history. What are the historical reasons for this?	64
How come the Greeks, who defined themselves in opposition to everyone else (the barbarians, that originally included the Romans), ended up calling themselves Romans for many centuries, including during all of the Middle Ages? Did they lost their identification as "Hellenic" people during this time?	56

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