I've heard it said that an ulterior motive for the American Revolution was that a number of the signatories of the Declaration of Independence owed large sums to English bankers. How much truth is there to this?

1 Answers 2016-02-27

What cloth did early Romans wear?

I am asking what many of the early republic era rome clothes may have been made from as I have heard that many roman didn't wear Toga often as they were quite hot in the Italian summer, so what was the material for clothes as wool is quite warm and silk was rare and expensive, and I don't remember if cotton can be grown in Europe.

1 Answers 2016-02-27

How did a Germanic language get to the British Isles?

My understanding of the development of English is that it stems from the Germanic languages, and was then largely influenced by French (and therefore Latin) during the Norman invasion. But I'm not clear on how the Germanic language got their first, especially since I thought parts of the British Isles were under Roman control at one point.

1 Answers 2016-02-27

Were there any ancient/medieval cities whose economy was entirely tourism-based? (Like, a Las Vegas of the ancient world)

1 Answers 2016-02-27

Where I live, people tend to think that the political right=tradition and left=change/reform. In North American history, are social progress milestones (like civil and women's rights, welfare, etc) usually proposed by the political left or right consistently, or does it vary by historical period?

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1 Answers 2016-02-27

How accurate is the History channel show "Vikings"?

Not so much about the events and characters, since they must have some freedom there to make the show, and that would spoil it for me(i'm only in the second season).

But i'm interested in the battle tactics displayed in the show, the woman rigths (specially divorce rigths, was there some procedure? Minor spoilers but in the show Lagertha kinda just leaves after Ragnar is unfaithful. Was that common?)

And religion? In the first season they have some festival, with orgies and sacrifices. Human sacrifice is common. And they still belive in Odin and stuff, when did the Vikings adopt the cristian faith?

1 Answers 2016-02-27

How were sanity tests conducted in the 18th century England?

And also, what were the procedures people had to go through in the mental hospitals?

1 Answers 2016-02-27

How were members of the first Triumvirate able to get to their position of power?

Also, bonus, what was their rise to power like?

1 Answers 2016-02-27

Were the Soviet atrocities in Afghanistan as described in 'Charlie Wilson's War' (the film) accurate?

In Charlie Wilson's War, Soviet atrocities in Afghanistan are often mentioned - mines rigged to look like toys or candy designed to intentionally maim children, Soviet soldiers slitting the throats of children in front of their parents, pregnant women being bayonetted and so forth. There are also scenes of Hind Gunships indiscriminately strafing villages full of unarmed people. Did these things happen? and if so, were they part of an intentional strategy, or isolated incidents carried out by ill-disciplined troops?

2 Answers 2016-02-27

Saturday Reading and Research | February 27, 2016

Previous

Today:

Saturday Reading and Research will focus on exactly that: the history you have been reading this week and the research you've been working on. It's also the prime thread for requesting books on a particular subject. As with all our weekly features, this thread will be lightly moderated.

So, encountered a recent biography of Stalin that revealed all about his addiction to ragtime piano? Delved into a horrendous piece of presentist and sexist psycho-evolutionary mumbo-jumbo and want to tell us about how bad it was? Need help finding the right book to give the historian in your family? Then this is the thread for you!

5 Answers 2016-02-27

Why did Winston Churchill lose the 1945 elections despite leading Britain to victory against the Nazis?

2 Answers 2016-02-27

During the WWII, were there third party arms dealers that sold to both sides?

And who were they?

1 Answers 2016-02-27

Where did Ancient Egypt obtain all their gold?

This could be hollywood movies tainting my view on Ancient Egypt. But usually tombs are filled with gold and treasure. Im just curious to how the Egyptions managed to get all this gold from?

1 Answers 2016-02-27

How Much Did Ancient Egypt Influence On Greece & The World?

I was talking with someone about ancient religions, and he brought up that all of the gods in Greece and other parts of the ancient world, were really stolen/borrowed from Ancient Egypt (our discussion was on Isis, Ra, etc., so that is what Ancient Egypt is defined as in this context I guess). To me, this sound a lot like blackwashing history, so I was and am extremely skeptical about it. I agree that Egypt had an influence, but I find it hard to say that Greece's religion and culture is just Egypt's rebranded. He went on to say or imply that Ancient Egypt is the root of all religion. I brought up the fact that South America/Native Americans had religion/their own beliefs, and he said that there have been traces of Africa/Egypt found in South America. Several questions:

  1. Ignoring the fact that "traces" =/= significant impact in the slightest, how much influence, if any, did Ancient Egypt have on ancient Americas?
  2. I know that Asia, especially China(?) was pretty/the most advanced at a point in time as well, but I don't know when that was. Was their knowledge, culture, and religion developed independently from outside sources, specifically Egypt?
  3. How many/What ancient areas/states/nations (I know that nationalism wasn't a thing until very recently, I just can't think of the proper word) have traces, specifically significant traces, of Ancient Egypt in their religion and culture?

Edit: Ancient Greece being defined as Zeus, Poseidon, etc.

2 Answers 2016-02-27

Did the nazis self identify as fascist?

I read on Wikipedia that many movements that are commonly called fascist didn't really identify themselves as fascist. Italian fascism under Mussolini certainly did, but Nazi-germany was apparently the second big state, widely accepted to be fascist. So my question is: Did the Nazis or Hitler self-identify as fascists? Regards

2 Answers 2016-02-27

Welcome your new moderators!

Welcome, everyone!

/r/AskHistorians has continued to grow and prosper despite the best attempts of the moderating team after another successful and insightful year, and we find ourselves at a point where it’s become appropriate to appoint a new cohort of overseers moderators to enforce our iron will help in the running of the Subreddit. Please put your shackles hands together for our new moderators!

/u/commiespaceinvader, flaired in the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, and Wehrmacht War Crimes. Rumoured to have built working replicas of the infamous Wunderwaffen in his shed.

/u/commodorecoco, flaired in Mesoamerica and Early Andes|Historical Linguistics. Whispers say Coco’s ancient scrolls hide the road to El Dorado. Satellite imaging says otherwise. But I prefer the whispers.

/u/RioAbajo, flaired in U.S. Southwest and Colonialism. Sources report that Rio has contacts in every library in the North American continent.

/u/sunagainstgold, flaired in Medieval & Earliest Modern Europe. According to ancient texts, contact with Sun can cure you of all historiographical ailments.

Their powers combined, these brave moderators will be a powerful force in advancing the plans of the Cabal keeping /r/AskHistorians well moderated, informative, and positive.

Commie, Coco, Rio and Sun: Welcome to the mod team! May your banhammers ever be shiny!

9 Answers 2016-02-27

During the "Age of Sail", were naval battles sometimes decided by captains dueling?

Hello,

I've been having this question for a while now, and hope that any of you can clarify this for me.

During the Age of Sail, in naval warfare between European countries (so not just in waters connected with the European mainland, but also their colonial holdings), were battles sometimes decided by captains taking part in 1v1 duels? This is something that I often see romanticized in fiction and whatnot, but I don't know in what manner this was true or not.

Also, if it did happen, how did captains declare their intent for this? Flags? And what was the incentive for the other captain to accept this? Was it frowned upon to not accept?

I would very much like to learn about this. Thank you very much.

1 Answers 2016-02-27

Why wasn't anything "done" when the Khmer Rogue and Pol Pot were slaughtering cambodians?

1 Answers 2016-02-27

In Europe now almost everyone is at least bilingual, with many people speaking even more languages. Before Europe integrated (pre-ww2 I would think), what was the status quo for how many languages a commoner would know?

For the purposes of narrowing down the time frame, from when the industrial revolution was in full swing to the end of ww2. Hopefully that's a reasonable time frame.

In terms of where, I imagine comparing the regions would be pretty interesting. Even today, across Europe the number of languages spoken on average varies quite a bit https://jakubmarian.com/average-number-of-languages-spoken-by-the-eu-population/

1 Answers 2016-02-27

USS Sultana

[deleted]

1 Answers 2016-02-27

Is there an account of a Battleship torpedo used in anger?

Currently re-reading Friendman's Bible on the american BBs. The topic of implimentation of under-water torpedo tubes for pre-dreadnough to super-dreadnought ships is mentioned quite a few times. The book states that they were never used and I couldn't find any mention in other sources,at least not for first class navies(USN-RN-Kaisermarine-Marine National-Reggia Marina). Any of you (amateur and prof)historians have any new insight on the matter?

1 Answers 2016-02-27

Did America play sports against Cuba during the embargo?

I read that Cuba boycotted the 1984 Olympics but that would've been in retaliation to the western boycott of the 1980 Olympics.

1 Answers 2016-02-27

What is the story of the french military hero Louis Gillet (1733~1783), aka "Le Maréchal des Logis"?

So my grandfather recently stumbled upon a print called "Le Maréchal des Logis", that shows L. Gillet rescuing a woman from two bandits. It seems like there are a number of prints with motives of this event. I tried to google the story behind the art work on his behalf, but I couldn't find anything. So, do any of you historians know anything this lurker doesn't? Please share!

1 Answers 2016-02-27

In 'Django Unchained', the title character says that every slave has heard of Candyland, the plantation owned by the villain of the story. Would slaves know individual plantations through reputation? How efficient were their means of inter-plantation communication?

I also recall reading James Oakes writing that slaves paid an unusual amount of attention to the 1860 election, believing (correctly) it's result would lead to war and emancipation. How would they keep up to speed with developments?

4 Answers 2016-02-27

When did Troy fall?

Acknowledging now thanks to Schliemann that Troy was real, scholars are placing it in new light and into the framework of history. It went down during or shortly before the collapse of the Bronze Age. Can anyone direct me to scholars attempting to fix a time-date for Troy’s fall? (It apparently had many.)

1 Answers 2016-02-27

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