Vote Here for the Best of AskHistorians 2017 Award!

by Georgy_K_Zhukov

EDIT: LAST CHANCE TO VOTE! VOTING WILL CLOSE AT 9 AM EST THURSDAY!

Hello everyone! With 2017 now behind us, it is time for a little reflection on some of the answers from this past year that have made the subreddit so great, and while we believe that everyone who has contributed to the subreddit, whether by asking, answering, or just reading, has played an indispensable part, we also want to recognize those users who truly went above and beyond for 2017.

So to that end, we present to you our 2017 'Best of /r/AskHistorians' contest! Throughout the year, we recognize notable contributions with our monthly awards, which also serves as the nomination process for the year end accolades. If you believe that an answer which was overlooked before nevertheless deserves to be in the running here, however, please don't hesitate to submit it!

When the polls close, the prizes, as determined by vote score, will be awarded as follows:

  • First Place: 5 months of reddit gold to the Answerer; 1 months of reddit gold to the Asker
  • Second Place: 4 months of reddit gold to the Answerer; 1 months of reddit gold to the Asker
  • Third Place: 3 months of reddit gold to the Answerer; 1 months of reddit gold to the Asker
  • A Dark Horse Award will be given if no non-flairs place in the top three, with 1 month gold for asker and answerer.

Feel free to discuss the nominated answers as replies to their 'nomination comment', and if you have any questions or comments about the Best of Process itself, please restrict them as replies to this comment.

Georgy_K_Zhukov

Please restrict questions or META comments to this comment.

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"I for one am deeply dissatisfied with the amount and quality of historical information available about the mullet. Can anyone properly enlighten me about the rise and fall of this magnificent hairwreck?" | /u/yodatsracist

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"What is the current Academic consensus - Anglo-Saxon Invasion, Anglo-Saxon Migration or none of the above?" | /u/alriclofgar

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"Did the Hanging Gardens of Babylon actually exist, and has definitive proof been found? Why is it the only wonder whose location has not been definitely found?" | /u/mythoplokos

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"What do we know because of the Dead Sea Scrolls that we wouldn't have known otherwise?" | /u/weinerdog73

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"Did something like the Hunger Games take place in the Easter Islands?" | /u/mikedash

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"In "I Believe" (from The Book of Mormon), Elder Price sings that "I believe that in 1978 God changed/his mind about black people." What did the Mormons believe about black people before this? What is the current stance, and why did it take so long for this stance to be official?" | /u/QuickSpore

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"Everyone loves “Hamilton”. How can it be utilized to make people care more about history?" | /u/TRB1783

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"How did Queen Elizabeth I go from being hell-bent on killing Mary, Queen of Scots to naming her son James as her successor?" | /u/neverwasahat

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"Before the advent of modern travel, did all Muslims really seek to carry out the Hajj to Mecca? How about far-flung territories like Indonesia?" | /u/pangerandipanagara

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"What sort of humor would be unacceptable to a 19th century audience? Do we have any edgy jokes from that period?" | /u/skedaddle

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"Why has Country Music remained so white? What cultural and industry forces kept the genre that so willingly borrowed from blues, gospel, norteño, and mariachi so completely dominated by white artists and tied to white identity?" | /u/kayelar

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"How did the standards and ethics of excavation during the earlier days of Egyptology affect the preservation of information, and our understanding of Ancient Egypt?" | /u/bentresh

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"Bigfoot, Twin Peaks, and sparkling vampires- where does the trope of supernatural or "weird" occurrences in the Pacific Northwest originate?" | /u/bees_in_my_face

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"How did banks work in the Soviet Union? Were people allowed to save money and accumulate wealth? Was there personal lending? How did this all work in the soviet communist system?" | /u/barton_foley

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"How much of the German population supported Genocide/Naziism?" | /u/nate077

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"What is the context for the Major General's song? What is being mocked here?" | /u/lureynol

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"Why did Poland have lower rates of Black Death than other European countries during the 1300s?" | /u/mikedash

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"I hear a lot about the everyday use of "curses", charms and other magic in ancient Rome and Greece, some is superficially similar to Voodoo, but I still wonder how the occult was seen in these societies. In the spirit of Halloween can someone tell me?" | /u/bigfridge224

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"How did "white people" become one race in the United States when there used to be so many nationality distinctions?" | /u/FoucaultMeMichel

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"Were brothels and prostitution as ubiquitous in the American West as is portrayed in film and fiction?" | /u/itsallfolklore

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"Did the Kriegsmarine ever stand a chance of winning the Battle of the Atlantic?" | /u/thefourthmaninaboat

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"Why were such awful colors popular in the U.S. in the 1970s?" | /u/eminenssi

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"What specific battle tactics did Napoleon employ for people to consider him a military mastermind?" | /u/dandan_noodles

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"How did Herman Cortez unite many of the Mesoamerican tribes with him against the Aztecs?" | /u/400-rabbits

Georgy_K_Zhukov

"How were the tiny parts in mechanical watches machined and made with such precision at a small size in the era between the 1500s and the early 1800s?" | /u/bodark43

Lion_And_Sun

If you believe that an answer which was overlooked before nevertheless deserves to be in the running here, however, please don't hesitate to submit it!

"How did Indonesia and Malaysia become majority-Muslim when they were once dominated by Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms?" | /u/PangeranDipanagara