Here are my personal favorites:

• Manufacturing and Supplying the Armour of Weapons of a Late Medieval Army

• From Ore to Harness: The Steps of Manufacturing Plate Armour

• What does a Guisarme Actually Look Like?

Although it's not my direct field of study, I've always been proud of my answers on the [Late Roman bureaucracy] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/46w392/the_late_roman_bureaucracy/?).

I've got a few that I like quite a lot and put some time into:

• We often hear about the great battles the Allies won during WW2, and how victory in Europe was in some part because of Hitler's poor decision making. But what were some of the largest tactical fuck ups the Allies made during WW2? (Battle of the Hürtgen Forest redux)

• The Draftee's Journey (The experience of the WWII-era US Army draftee)

• How did tank crews in WWII live in the field?

• [Tanks] what exactly is a wet ammo rack? Are the round lying in a pool of water or something?

I'm pretty fastidious about cataloging my answers, so I have a rather long list and its hard to choose just a few...

I'll try to limit myself though. If there is one, single post on here I would like to be remembered for over all the rest, contrary to popular belief it isn't the armored trains response, but rather my answer regarding the trope of Soviet soldiers forced into battle without rifles and with machineguns at their backs, and my piece on the causes of the American Civil War coming in a close second, and a trailing third place would be the "Ten Tragic Days" of the Mexican Revolution, an absolutely facinating little event.

I'd be remiss not to mention a few honorable mentions though. I'm alternatively proud and aghast at my attempt to respond to the question about Hitler's views on masturbation, and shamelessly proud of the response regarding Pubic Hair in 1970s pornography (major shoutout to /u/kieslowskifan in that thread though).

And of course... You'd be hard pressed to find a bigger fan of the AskHistorians April Fools tradition, as I'm the mod who starts brainstorming next year on April 2nd. Its neigh impossible to pick a favorite out of the ones I've done, but I would say that I am proudest of how willingly people fell for the North Korean Staring Contest, and honestly afraid of how many people believed we invaded Panama to stop the Hitler cloning program...

• [What are the chances of the Holy Grail still existing today?] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4pz3tm/what_are_the_chances_of_the_holy_grail_still/d4p0wrf)

• [Are there any records of ancient civilizations showing an interest in space travel? What is the first record of someone actively trying to get to outer space?] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/47nnqj/are_there_any_records_of_ancient_civilizations/d0el5sb)

• [Was there really a "medieval mind"? Did medievals merely hold different beliefs and values from moderns, or did they really "think different" in a way that's difficult for moderns to understand?] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4dtbj8/was_there_really_a_medieval_mind_did_medievals/d1ur4qo)

• [What would happen to a medieval nun if she was raped? What were the theological implications with respect to virginity?] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4a0has/a_medieval_nun_is_raped_would_church_or_secular/d0wnlde)

and of course

• [Would a crew of a ship departing from Venice in the 14th century towards Middle East have any plans ready in case they encounter a leviathan on their route?] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/530x1m/would_a_crew_of_a_ship_departing_from_venice_in/d7pczxo)

Here are a few of my own that I felt good about:

• After centuries of rivalry and dislike towards each other, what eventually leads to Great Britain and France into becoming allies?

• Why has post-Nazi Germany been such an ardent opponent of the actions of Nazi Germany as well as attempts at holocaust denial, but the post-antebellum United States is regularly portrayed and displayed as slavery apologists, and denying the impact of slavery in the south?

• How did Nazi Germany reconcile their treatment of Jews, namely the 'Final Solution' for the Christian majority in the nation?

• How did 1950s and 60s pop culture address Nazi Germany and the Holocaust?

• What led to Hitler’s initial consolidation of power in 1933-1934?

Seeing as I've been here for a very long time, it's hard to pick favourites. Here, however, are some of my personal picks:

• Field Marshal William Slim and the British 14th Army in Burma during WWII.

• The use of torture during the Algerian War.

• The British tactical failure of the First Arakan Campaign (1942-43).

• The Bordels Mobiles de Campagne during the French Indochina War.

• What was the driving force that led to women joining the FLN during the Algerian War?

and finally, my latest contribution:

• What role did Swedish peacekeeping forces play during the Congo crisis?

Here are a few I'm a fan of:

• How did Nelsons tactics work at Trafalgar?

• Ship Design and Construction in the Age of Sail

• Why was Horatio Nelson able to succeed so tremendously at the Battle of the Nile in 1798? What skills did he possess that lead us to characterise him as a brilliant admiral?

and my favorite:

• What did a naval blockade look like in the Age of Sail?

Some of these are answers I'm really fond of, but mostly they're just some of the most fun topics I've gotten to write about.

• Why were primitive firearms used when bows and crossbows were better in every way?

• I've heard that one of the Popes issued a ban on crossbows at one point for use in fighting other Christians. How effective was this ban, and how effective was the crossbow at the time when compared to the longbow?

• How did Byzantine borders change after the first crusade?

• Was cannibalism common among crusaders?

My favourite answer is this one on early Christian reactions to the rise of Islam - it's not often that I get to mention sources as diverse as Bede from Northumbria and anonymous Syriac chronicles in one place!

I'm also quite proud of the following:

• What happened to the city of Rome after the 'fall' of the Western Roman Empire?
• How did the Byzantines react to the loss of Egypt in the seventh century?
• My thoughts on the view that 'Islam was spread through violent conquest'.
• Why were there so many Syrian popes in the seventh and eighth centuries?
• What does modern academia make of Procopius' Secret History?

Here are some I like:

• Why did the 19th century British and Americans have such long and complicated traditions of mourning?

• During the Flight to Varennes, what mistakes did the royal caravan make that gave away their identities?

• Just got married, what is the history of some of today's "traditional" wedding items / rituals? (USA secular)

• When did it become the social norm/standard for women to shave their legs completely?

• What were Marcus Livius Drussus chances of getting citizen rights for Rome's Italic allies right before he was assassinated in 91 BC?

Because I put lots of effort in it, and it's one of my favourite, albeit a bit esoteric, topics from Republican times.

• I want to visit a relative in Rome during the reign of Augustus Caesar. I come from the nearby countryside but I have never been in the city before. How would I go about locating my relative's house?

I also like roads and routes, and the topic of how ancients perceived and navigated their world is fascinating.

• In the Soviet film "Come and See", Nazis lock Belarussian children inside a church and then light it on fire. Did such a practice ever actually happen?

I haven't answered questions on Nazi atrocities or Germany in quite some time, but I kind of liked that one, even though it's a horrible topic.

• How Do Scholars Translate Text they only Have Fragments of?

Because it gave me a chance to write about what I do most of the time.

• Roman legionaries enlisted for a service of 25 years in the army. Were they periodically granted leave to visit their families? If so, how did the state deal with those who deserted while on leave?

Because it was a cool question and I could dig around in the digests and pretend I didn't give up studying law.

Here's my highlights reel:

• Tuesday Trivia on Heretics and Blasphemers - St Thecla and the Seals/Sharks - This was my first real post on this sub, and I'm particularly proud of it as a result.

• During the feudalist system, how did the king prevent the lords from seizing power? - Or, the real Robert's Rebellion!

• How did people join the clergy in the middle ages? - Or, I bet I'd look cool in liturgical robes.

• Could anyone join a monastery or convent in the Middle Ages? If I were a peasant, would I need anyone's permission to do so? And would that change depending on my age or gender? - or, secular clergy are sellouts.

• Thursday Theory - Feudalism - or, Why don't historians like Feudalism?

• How did the class, militarily and socially, of "Knight" emerge from Frankish/Norman origin, change through Merovingian and Carolingian rule, and become the image we know today as popularized in the High Middle Ages? - or, nighty Knight.

• I'm a medieval lord, and for some reason I decided to raid another lord's land. But we both have the same suzerain. Could I suffer some kind of punishment from him because of my actions? - or, How to be an ass and get away with it, medieval-style.

• My all time favourite, and not only because it got me gilded (although it helps) is on Where did medieval wealth in lands come from?, mainly because it actually helped me to sort my own thoughts out and see some things more clearly regarding the medieval economy.

First off, I'd like to shout out three of the people who inspired me to write longer fuller answers: /u/asiaexpert, /u/tiako, and /u/agentdcf. They all seemed like old timers when I first got here and whose early work really set some high standards around here that differentiates this place from almost every other sub on reddit (moderation is a big part of it, but it's not the only part). In quasi-chronolical order:

More than three years old.

• Why did Europe become less religious over time and the US didn't? This was my first huge post, maybe the first time I got gold, too. Though I'm disappointed I've had a draft of an article based on this that I still haven't submitted for publication. All the bolding is based off classic /u/asiaexpert style.

• Why do African states still adhere so closely to colonial borders is shorter than most of the other things here, but I remember writing it and being very happy that I feel like I came up with something new and interesting. I hope in like ten years to turn this into a real article through several hundred more hours of research.

• The origins of the twelve to thirteen tribes of ancient Israel. In a different world, if I were a different person, if I were more humanistic and less traditionally religious, this could have been a PhD topic I would have pursued. It's an interesting question and there's no comprehensive book looking at all the evidence. It's a topic I seriously thought about pursuing and looked into a little while an undergrad.

More than two years old.

• Meditations on the Holocaust and doing the right thing. This could well be my best thing I've written.

• A history of swear words. One of my favorite things I've ever written.

• The relationship between lead and crime. I don't think this is a fantastic answer in how it's written, but it was a wonderful chance to "take down" an answer that gets widely repeated but I find completely unconvincing based on the evidence.

• Why isn't Scots a language?. I'm no linguist, but I love language. I like talking about it any chance I get. More than one year old.

• A history of the mosh pit. In college, for two years I was president of the school's "punk rock student organization". (Our bylaws pointed out "president" shouldn't be taken as a hierarchy title, but rather the necessary name for the collectively chosen representative for dealings between the group and student affairs). Mostly we just used university money to have movie nights and put on shows, but during my presidency, I also organized a lecture series which I'm proud of (I think it lasted two years after I graduated).

Less than a year old.

• A multipart essay on linguistic purism and language reform, one of those questions that I love /r/askhistorians for because it makes me take all these things bouncing around in my head and put them together.

• What is the origin of religion? This question has come up a lot and I think this is most recent, most complete answer. It's one of my favorites and, if I ever have the good fortune to become some some grey eminence, it's certainly a topic (what is religion?) I'll want to write a full book on. This answer I like because it's one that's clear agglomerated over the years.

• Of very recent things I've written, this isn't in this sub, but this off the cuff writing advice (based on the writing advice I've given to students) will be something good if I ever bother to rework it make it more orderly.

I know this was too many already, but I want to give shout outs to flairs that are no longer with us: Rosemary85, 1TwoThr3efour (or something like that--they wrote about the suburbs and post-War American history), and LordKettering (I think). Also, rest in peace to unidan, another dead hero. He was an early model for the kind of "public scientist" I wanted to be on Reddit. Somethings never change, somethings stay the same, somethings they rearrange. But this one thing I know for sure: your heroes always die.

• What made a good army commander during the Early Modern Period

• Why the British supported the Qing dynasty against the Taiping after having just burned down the Summer Palace in Beijing

• The curious case of Frederick Townsend Ward

• Why was the Qing Dynasty so militarily weak compared to Europe in the 19th Century?

• Explaning the German army's success in the opening of WWII.

• There wasn't an 'Age of Battles' starting in the 17th century.

American Civil War

• Did the Confederacy have any realistic chance of winning the Civil War?

• The key changes during the war were organizational, rather than tactical

• [American Civil War commanders had good reason to stick to the tactical orthodoxy of the period] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/4v71bv/during_the_american_civil_war_did_commanders_on/d5w276i/?context=3)

• How Robert E. Lee became a hardcore Confederate Nationalist

I enjoyed answering: Did use of the bow and arrow by Native Americans precede European contact?

Edit: I also liked this one on prehistoric trade along the west coast

I was extremely honored to have co-hosted an AH AMA on U-Boats, where, looking back, can find some definite flaws in my early posting career, but will remain in my favorite "answers" submitted to the sub.

Additionally, my attempt to research, construct, and share a 'Whaling History' here was enjoyable for me as a flair to undertake. It remains incomplete, and finding it has reminded me to revisit my search for this White Whale when I have the time in the future.

Some other answers I enjoyed submitting:

'Dazzle' camouflage in WWI

Naval impressment of American mariners

On Imperial Japanese destroyers, which also became a contest winning submission

A couple of my favorites!

• What was the religious setup within the Mongol 'state' before, during and after Genghis Khan
• What are the military equivalents between the Mongol and Roman empires? For example, is there a Mongol version of the Praetorian Guard or the Roman Legion?
• Genghis Khan is almost universally seen as evil, what were some of the more beneficial advances he had during his reign?
• What factor did food play in the Mongols' conquests in Asia?

Oh, awesome!

Here are so of my favorites in which I put often a lot of work and always a lot of love. Also, these are the ones that were the most interesting and fun to write and research:

• The lives and experiences of Black people under the Nazi regime

• The haute cuisine of Nazi Germany

• Should Jasenovac be seen as an export of Nazi death camp technology, or arising de novo within Croatia?

• San Marino, Monaco, and Andorra in WWII

• Why did White Russians and Soviet troops fight together in the Xianjiang invasion?

• What did the Jews first experience upon arriving to the death camps for the first time?

• Marxist historical analyses of the Holocaust.

• I recently read a line in a book stating that Communists have never taken over in a free democracy. Is this true, or are there examples of free democratic countries who have been taken over by Communism?

and not really an answer but the one time I hit gold with the audience

the Cabaret mod warning

Well, risking the wrath of the rest of the modteam...my most definitive Jacobite answer ended up on /r/askhistory. Sorry.

Could someone please explain the Jacobite Risings?

I include that because I urge people to please read it before asking Jacobite questions, because it goes further than my other ones on explaining the myths that follow the topic around even today.

I also have a soft spot for this answer on Scottish Gaelic: Why has the Welsh language survived much better than Scottish Gaelic, both because it is the only Gaelic question I think I've answered, and it was the very first thread in which I dared type an answer on AskHistorians. I was shaking in my boots in that thread!

I was pretty pleased with these two answers, as questions about medieval Scotland don't come up often:

What caused the First Scottish War of Independence (i.e., the one with William Wallace and Robert the Bruce)

Scottish involvement in the crusades

And I found this question on How the religious knightly orders coped with the modernising world really interesting to answer as the military orders are often forgotten about after the medieval period, even though they continued to be founded after this, the last one being established in 1890.

My final favourite is this one on Templar mythology.

In lieu of sainthood I betray my darkest, most sordid secret: I like it when people see my brain. I may have replaced the top of my skull with a transparent dome, but I can neither confirm nor deny outside the walls of my secret volcano base. The Association of Disastrous Design has strict rules about these things. However, I do have some of its contents in a nice punch bowl from last night still.

The very first, a morsel I sweated for hours over and almost didn't post: What was the role of improved travel and communication in the run up to the American Civil War?

One of my more obscure contributions involves last-minute compromise proposals during Secession Winter: Was secession the immediate response to Lincoln's election, or were there serious alternatives proposed?

In the genre of strange-but-true microhistories: were Americans allowed to own cannons under the second amendment? has me tell the stories of three cannons that put on an appearance in Bleeding Kansas.

I had some good fun here digging into the Nullification Crisis with an eye toward clashing constitutionalisms: Why is there such a controversy about what the American Civil War was about?

For most work gone into a post, it's got to be How did the involvement of New England shipping in the slave trade influence the stance of northern legislators during political debates on the abolition of the international slave trade in the United States?

Winner of the user's choice Best of July, 2016: "Why was the South so worried about Abraham Lincoln's election, and how was this concern expressed before secession?" Or as I privately called it: The Lincoln Menace.

My most recent: On the Northwest Ordinance and slavery in the territories

I think the only answer I generally look back on with a ton of pride is this one on Roman houses. It is actually pretty uncommon to be able to really talk about, well archaeology of Rome, because most questions are answered more simply with historical sources (or are too specialized). Houses, though, I got.

I also like the opportunity to muse a bit about policy of Roman control, which I did in this Friday ramble about "counterinsurgency" and this one about pirates.

And I'll take any chance to talk about the Vindolanda tablets. I can't say this is one of my best answers because I'm sure one of our Roman military folks could answer it better, but it was fun to write.

There's a couple of ever-popular topics in my flair area that get a lot of attention, and I'm very glad whenever my replies in those threads are well received. Here's a couple of posts of mine that weren't so popular, but that I myself particularly liked:

• How did the string of powerful politicians during the 'Athenian Golden Age' fit in with the idea of Athenian democracy?

• Who enforced the Olympic Truce?

• How did the Thebans win the battle of Leuktra?

• I'm a farmer in 500 BC Greece. How often do I get called up for battle?

• What were static defences like in the Classical age?

I've got a few favourites:

• This one on dazzle camouflage in WW1 - it's an interesting question, and let me explore two ways to answer it.

• An answer to a question on RN rations in the two World Wars - a lot more interesting than writing about battles all the time.

• A full explanation of the battles of the 1982 Falklands War - a question that let me write far too many words about the RN's last big war.

• An exploration of the actions of Armed Merchant Cruisers in WW1 and WW2

• A look at planned amphibious operations in WW1 - this is one of my favourite topics, and it's one I could write much more about. This is a good start.

• An investigation of possible definitions of the term battle cruiser - Battle cruisers are something I feel are much misunderstood, and this, along with this answer give my view on them.

• This look at how British naval construction worked in the 1930s and 1940s

• This series of posts on cancelled RN warships

• And this early post on battle cruisers - not perfect, but my first real long-form post on this subreddit, and so one I'm fond of.

One of my favorite answers was this post on how Native Americans might have had their own diseases that attacked early European colonists in the New World. This is one of those questions where me may never have a definitive answer (without a time machine, or good ancient DNA analysis), but I am generally shocked how little attention is paid to Europeans falling ill in the Americas given the abundant primary source evidence. I also really enjoyed researching the answer for suppose I live in Boston in 1717. How far would have to travel to find a Native American tribe who have had no direct contact with white people in living memory?

What I'm most proud of, though, is a series I wrote for /r/badhistory called the Myths of Conquest. The series was heavily influenced by Matthew Restall's Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. Admittedly, I started out a little glib, but as I move more into my research in North America the essays become more serious. In the dream world of puppies and kittens and rainbows I hope to turn this series into a book focusing on the myths of conquest of North America.

This is the only answer you ever need. What beings with a curious user asking if Yoda is the son of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy develops into the definitive history of D.I.S.N.E.Y.: "Differential Integration of Separate Nuclear Existential Yesterdays," an unknown force which has been absorbing and converging multiple realities .

But actually. Most of mine are here, but here's my picks, in no order:

• What would Indiana Jones have studied?

• How did Tiwanaku manage its multi-ethnic constituents?

• What are the Nazca lines?

• What evidence in the Classic period is there for Post-classic Maya myths?

• Oral Sex on Moche Ceramics mostly here for the puns

• What's up with Graham Hancock? I go easy on him

• Were the Olmec African?

Here are some of my favourites/posts that took me the longest to write:

• What is Fascism?

• Were medieval battles ever fought hungover?

• Why did the English hold onto Ireland so stubbornly?

• What were the Nazis' endgame?

• How did Christianity overcome paganism so easily?

• And finally, my favourite shitpost: my Askhistorians mod Navy Seals copypasta

There's also a couple of answers in my comment history on pre-Roman Gaul that I'm pretty happy with, but my current computer lacks RES so I can't search through my comments :/