askhistorians

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Why was there so much heroin in the early 90's alternative rock music scene? (members of Nirvana, Sublime, Mother Love Bone, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Stone Temple Pilots, Hole, Everclear, etc. etc)	154
How did Romans view the myth of Romulus and Rhemus? Were they at all interested in "fact" or was that not a principle of historical writing?	76
With all this talk about chemical weapons in Syria, I've been wondering why did Saddam Hussein use chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians in Halabja in 1988?	71
Who were the Cagots of the France and Spain? What do we know about them, historically (in terms of both begins and ends)? Were they really "untouchables"? (obviously inspired by the /r/truereddit article about the "last Cagot")	67
Why does the federal government own so much more land West of the line from North Dakota to Texas (all 30% or more federal land, median 48%) compared to that line and East (13% or less federal, median 3.5%)?	58
The US is just starting presidential primary season. The modern primary and caucus system only dates back to the 1970's. Why did both parties switch at the same to the new system? How did this change happen?	56
Been watching too much Game of Thrones: How much time would an important medieval lord spend in the capital versus in his own lands? How did this change over time?	48
In the 19th centuries and 20th centuries, cities grew massively, largely due to rural to urban migration. In democracies, did these migrants keep their political beliefs from the country or did they develop political new political identities in the cities?	45
In a prominent Russian family before WWI, Vladimir Nabokov learned to read English before Russian. Why English? Wasn't French still the language of literature and diplomacy, German the language of science? What international role and associations did English have at the end of the 19th century?	43
Native Americans generally didn't have beards. Do we know what they thought of the bearded and mustachioed Europeans and their decedents?	39

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