How is it that the US Civil War proved to be such an exception to the adage that "history is written by the victors"? How is it that Southern scholarship dominated academic discussion of the war for a century after the conflict (or is this a misconception)?

3 Answers 2018-10-27

What are the furthest points which were discovered by ancient Greek and Roman travelers?

[deleted]

1 Answers 2018-10-27

What happened to Mauser (or any of the great German companies) after WWII, what happened to the executives and designers?

1 Answers 2018-10-27

Why didn’t baseball players and other athletes get drafted? I mean, they’re all physically fit young men.

2 Answers 2018-10-27

What’s the story about an abandoned piano in WW2 media?

There’s always an abandoned piano in series like Band of Brothers or games like Call of Duty and Company of Heroes, but don’t know why.

2 Answers 2018-10-27

The Black Cat Cafe handed out "I'm a boy" nametags to feminine male patrons to avoid having them arrested for "female impersonation" in the 1960's. How much did examples like this contribute to the notion of sexual entrapment in the following decades? [Repost]

This previous thread discussing how gay bars in New York were predominantly run by the mafia has the following section:

In San Francisco, Sal Stoueman's Black Cat Cafe (made particularly famous by Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg) handed out "I'm A Boy" nametags to patrons, so undercover cops could not arrest its drag performers, "gay screaming queens" (TM Ginsberg), or even "gray flannel suit types" for female impersonation with intent to defraud or deceive someone into sex.

In the present day, GLADD's website condemns the notion of "trapping someone" as defamatory to transgender individuals, stating:

Gender identity is an integral part of a person's identity. Do not characterize transgender people as "deceptive," as "fooling" or "trapping" others, or as "pretending" to be, "posing" or "masquerading" as a man or a woman. Such descriptions are inaccurate, defamatory and insulting. (See "passing" and "stealth" as problematic terms above.)

This particular form of pejorative language appears to have originated in its application to transgender and transvestite individuals in the early 1990's if not earlier.

Is there any direct, causal link between the laws prohibiting female impersonation in the 1960's and the defamatory language directed toward transvestite and transgender men in the 1980's and 1990's?

In addition, are there any activists that addressed this issue of sexual entrapment directly in ways similar to the Black Cat Cafe in the mid-to-late 20th century?

1 Answers 2018-10-27

Why is there so much hatred towards the Jewish people all over the world from different races and religions in political parties?

Does it all comen from them killing Jesus, even though He died a Jew? Or does it have to do with people supporting Nazi ideology? I just can't wrap my head around it. They have been some of the most hospitable people I've ever met as well as some of the funniest comedians and maybe I'm wrong and I know I don't know that much about it but I have read the entire Old Testament and it seems pretty chill to me basically like Jesus was saying - just don't be a dick. Why do Jewish people get so much hate?

Edit: words.

1 Answers 2018-10-27

When and why did Hitler change his mind from the Haavara agreement to plans much closer in sentiment to the Holocaust?

Could the plans for the Holocaust be the brainchild of one of his henchmen, Himmler for example, and not Hitler's idea at all?

my response to kieslowskifan's comment -

When Zionists contacted Eichmann in 1937 for a further agreement with Germany, Hitler personally shot down this proposal

It says in the wiki - "Initially, Hitler seemed indifferent to the economic details of the plan, but he supported it in the period from September 1937 to 1939."

My original question being, what changed his mind?

I never said the Haavara Agreement was Zionist.

the basic foundations for a mass genocide were already apparent as early as 1933.

How so, you could possibly say that for all of the 15th century Europe, so what was different about 1933? Was there any explicit mention of killing or genocide in 1933? When were the first mentions of it?

Would it be wrong in thinking the Nazis first tried to get rid of the Jewish people out of Germany by means of forced/coerced emigration, rather than by mass killing or genocide?

Is there any indication to say that Nazis would have rathered genocide than forced emigration?

1 Answers 2018-10-27

I was just curious as to when oral sex became a thing

Because thinking about it, it’s counter productive to reproduction. So I imagine the Catholic Church was highly against it back in the day.

1 Answers 2018-10-27

Were there witch panics in any of the other European countries' settlements in Northeast North America (Dutch, Swedish, French)?

In the 17th century during early European settlement of the northeast of the Untited States and Canada did any of the settlements of other countries experience similar witch panics or live in fear of the devil/demons as New England is purported to have?

1 Answers 2018-10-27

When did it become a thing to have torus shaped dough products, namely doughnuts and bagels, and was there any practical reason for their coming about?

If I had to guess it was so many doughnuts/bagels could be placed on a stick and taken around, eg to be sold, but I’ve never come across this in real life or in media.

1 Answers 2018-10-27

Why is 18 the age at which you’re deemed to be an adult in western culture?

1 Answers 2018-10-27

How did saloon brawls work in the Wild West?

In films and games (notably Red Dead Redemption 2), brawls in a saloon might start with two people and then erupt into a big whole bar brawl. How realistic is this?

1 Answers 2018-10-27

Were ships ever boarded during combat during either world war?

1 Answers 2018-10-27

Did mainstream audiences in the 70s & 80s really not know Freddie Mercury was gay (/bi)?

This article in the Guardian essentially claims, at least in the UK (if not in the US), it was basically unthinkable that a rock star like Freddie was not straight. Is there evidence either way, and if so, what explains it: Mercury’s own actions, the culture of glam rock, naivety on the part of the public...?

2 Answers 2018-10-27

In Western culture, 'Paradise' is often used to describe tropical islands. When (and why) did we start revering the stereotypical white sand and palm tree studded islands of the West Indies and others?

1 Answers 2018-10-27

How did people pay for things while traveling abroad before modern banking?

Nowadays it’s easy to exchange your local currency for foreign currency when traveling, but what was it like before this? For example, if an American travels to China in the 1700’s, how could they pay for things there? Their American money wouldn’t work in China, so was there a way to exchange money? How would that work?

That’s just an example off the top of my head, but I’m curious about any time in history, no matter how far back or where.

1 Answers 2018-10-27

Saturday Showcase | October 27, 2018

Previous

Today:

AskHistorians is filled with questions seeking an answer. Saturday Spotlight is for answers seeking a question! It’s a place to post your original and in-depth investigation of a focused historical topic.

Posts here will be held to the same high standard as regular answers, and should mention sources or recommended reading. If you’d like to share shorter findings or discuss work in progress, Thursday Reading & Research or Friday Free-for-All are great places to do that.

So if you’re tired of waiting for someone to ask about how imperialism led to “Surfin’ Safari;” if you’ve given up hope of getting to share your complete history of the Bichon Frise in art and drama; this is your chance to shine!

1 Answers 2018-10-27

I’m not sure if this is where I should go but maybe someone could point me in the right direction :)

I’ve been very curious recently about Greek mythology and all the stories behind them. A lot of them tie into one another though so I’d like to know if there’s a good way to start learning about it without too much confusion

1 Answers 2018-10-27

Why is Europe a continent, but Greenland isn't?

1 Answers 2018-10-27

How did 18th Century Colonial warfare look like?

I am kind of mostly looking for warfare in the Americas , where the French and English reigned and Did they have formations? How was their use of these formations? And could you give me any other tactics used by them? Thank you for reading and hopefully contributing.

1 Answers 2018-10-27

What were the Native Americans' perspective of the American Revolution?

After playing Assassin's Creed 3 (yes, I know that it is not historically accurate but it is based on the historical era of the American Revolution), I started to become more curious of what the Native Americans who lived in the thirteen colonies had about the American Revolution.

Where they promised any benefits from the Loyalists or from the Patriots? Did the Native Americans even pick a side during the war?

2 Answers 2018-10-27

Why was Bonn, fairly small and insignificant German city, selected as a capital of West Germany? How the city was affected by becoming a capital? What was the effect of changing the capital back to Berlin after reunification?

1 Answers 2018-10-27

Why did so many countries expel the Jesuits?

2 Answers 2018-10-27

Typical food in 1910

[deleted]

1 Answers 2018-10-27

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