AskHistorians

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The Michelin guide originally awarded only 1 star, then 3. Roger Ebert rated movies out of 4 stars. Hotels are ranked out of 5, and recently, 6 stars. Has there been star "inflation" in history? How, when, and why did it happen?	194
It's pretty widely accepted that Frederick the Great was gay, and it was somewhat of a scandal in his time thanks to Voltaire. How did he then become lionized as a Nazi symbol? Was his homosexuality public knowledge? How did the Nazi regime deal with that?	116
In 1971, the Republic of China was removed from the United Nations, and the People's Republic of China took its place on the Security Council. What was the political background behind United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758?	68
During historical plagues, how did people cope psychologically? Did they make morbid jokes, turn to drink and despair, throw their lot in with religion, find a specific community to blame?	54
In the Wild West, did people actually throw sticks of dynamite at each other as weapons? Or is this an invention?	34
In the Monty Python's Flying Circus episode "You're No Fun Anymore", Scotsmen are portrayed raising their rights fists. Was this ever historically a salute associated with Scotland?	23
In Doc Watson's "House of the Rising Sun", he sings "don't believe what a bad woman tells you... ...unless she's standing on some old scaffold high, saying 'fellas they won't let me come down'".	16
In Return of the Obra Dinn, the titular ship remains at sea even as she loses her crew. During the Age of Sail, how many crew could a vessel lose and still remain seaworthy?	15
Arthur Wellesley once said of von Blücher, "But the Prussians had no experience of blowing up bridges. We, who had blown up so many in Spain, could have done it in five minutes". How were bridges (and other things) blown up in the age of gunpowder?	10
Frontiersmen and fur trappers stereotypically have big beards. What do we know of their hygiene? Did they groom and clean their facial hair? Or did they constantly reek of alcohol and stale pemmican?	8

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