Today:
Welcome to this week's instalment of /r/AskHistorians' Sunday Digest (formerly the Day of Reflection). Nobody can read all the questions and answers that are posted here, so in this thread we invite you to share anything you'd like to highlight from the last week - an interesting discussion, an informative answer, an insightful question that was overlooked, or anything else.
Welcome one and all to another fabulous edition of the Sunday Digest! Hands down my favorite part of the week. Laid out below you will all the incredible answers writer by our awesome contributors this week. Spanning the globe and showcasing bits of history from our little corner of the multiverse, there’s enough material here to hopefully keep you satisfied for another week.
Start off with the weekly features, and don’t forget to show some appreciation for all that hard work with some simple thank yous!
Check out the book ideas in the Thursday Reading and Rec thread!
/u/Starwarsnerd222 had a great answer in the Saturday Showcase.
That wraps up our list for the week folks. Keep it classy out there and stay safe. I’ll see you all again next Sunday!
Time for another installment of "The Real Questions", where take a look at the wilder side of r/AskHistorians! Here, I give a shout-out to people asking the more atypical questions on this sub: questions that investigate amusing, unique, bizarre, or less common aspects of history, as well as ones that take us through intriguing adventures of historiography/methodology or niche/overlooked topics and moments in history. It's always a wide (and perhaps confusing) assortment of topics, but at the end of the day, when I see them I think, "Finally, someone is asking the real questions!"
Below are my entries for the week - questions with a link to an older response are marked with ‡. Let me know what you think were the realest questions you saw this week, and be sure to check out my full list of Real Questions.
Hi all, for my year 12 history study I have been looking at the significance of Australian troops in Europe. I haven’t been able to find much reliable information on this topic and was wondering if some of you history buffs could help me out? Thanks!
The Digest is also a chance to call out some of the interesting questions that got overlooked during the week and still await the attention of the experts. Feel free to post your own, or others that caught your eye and your curiosity this week.
/u/GoldT1tan asked How were combat wounds treated? 13th century and earlier
/u/johannesalthusius asked At the end of his life, Barry Goldwater advocated strongly for gay rights. What spurred this arch-conservative to turn to the left?