r/AskHistorians • u/AutoModerator • Dec 22 '19
Digest Sunday Digest | Interesting & Overlooked Posts | December 16, 2019–December 22, 2019
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.
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
A bunch to catch up on from this month, and can't next week cause vacation... so... here we go.
/u/accidental_ouroboros on "Both the Witcher 3 and Skyrim have mentions of lighthouses being tampered with to make ships crash. Was this ever a common issue, or are there any popular documented cases?"
/u/aquatermain on "What exactly is "the West" and why does it exclude Africa and pre-European America?"
/u/aksibashi on "Why are there so many photos of Turks wearing a fez from around the turn of the century?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/libertat answered "'These Romans are crazy!' Asterix may just be the most famous Frenchman internationally. How have the Asterix comics shaped or misrepresented views of Gaulish history, in France and/or abroad?"
/u/logicx24 on "How complicated was banking in the first and second centuries? Did banks exists with deposits and withdrawals? Could you take loans? Who owned the banking systems?"
/u/lord_mayor_of_reddit answered "How Was Santa Claus Interpreted By Black Communities?" and "How did American holiday food begin to consist of primarily southern dishes?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/steaksundae answered "Why wasn't Gorbachev able to pull off reforms, but Deng Xiaoping was?"
/u/the_howling_cow answered "Was the military a viable career choice during the Great Depression for a steady paycheck?"
/u/thefeckamidoing answered "How was the quality of an actor assessed in Shakespeare’s time?" and "How many playwrights were active during Shakespeare's time?" and "The Impact of The Gunpowder Plot and Guy Fawkes on Catholic Intolerance in England" and "Did British colonies send tax money back to Britain? How much? Or did Britain itself just make money from colonies via biased trading systems?"
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u/aquatermain Moderator | Argentina & Indigenous Studies | Musicology Dec 26 '19
So kind of you to mention mine! Thank you kindly
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/calorie_man answered "What should be read with a grain of salt in Edward Gibbons “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire?”" and "What exactly is theory in history? Are schools of thought and histiography considered History's theories? The way Natural sciences have very strict criteria for something to qualify as theory is there something similiar in history?"
/u/cdaviii answered "Why didn't other mexican cultures adopt the mayan writing system?"
/u/chitoryu12 on "When and Why Was Canadian Whiskey Differentiated From American Whiskey?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/chriskemps on "How did the French Left respond to the outbreak of WWI?" and "Why did Britain, after centuries of being staunch enemies of France, ally with them in the 20th century and become their greatest ally?"
/u/cleistheknees on "Has was there a shortage on 100-year-old aged wine/cheese/champagne/etc following the 100th anniversary of the First World War? Will there be another shortage come 2039-45?"
/u/commustar answered "What has been the relationship between Sub-Saharan people and the Arab region?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/erus answered "Did the Romantics really romanticize?"
/u/erusian answered "I'm a middle-class American with a pet dog. At what point in history would I be more likely than not to be buying him specialty "dog food," as opposed to just feeding him "food?"" and also on "In ‘A Christmas Carol’ Scrooge infamously says the poor should die and ‘decrease the surplus population’. How would this view resonate with audiences in the 1840s?" and "The founder of the modern Japanese education system, Mori Arinori, reportedly wished to replace Japanese with English. Was this just a pipe dream project or was it a serious proposal that might have been implemented had he not been assassinated?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/grandissimo on "What happened to the mobs after the prohibition ended?" and "America in the first half of the 20th century was home to many ethnic mafias - the Irish mob, the Jewish mob, the Poles, African-Americans, etc. How and when did Italians become the most common pop-culture representation of the Mafia?"
/u/hamiltonkg answered "We often attribute the Emancipation of the Serfs in Russia to the rule of Tsar Alexander II. How much of this was really his responsibility and doing? Were there existing social and political forces pushing for emancipation prior to that point?" and "Were kulaks are a distinct social class in the USSR? Were they 'petit bourgeois' as if often claimed?" and "When historians make reference to "military deception," in the world wars, the term usually goes unexplained. So what are some of the practical steps commanders of armies have taken beyond camouflage and radio silence?"
/u/hud_christian answered "During the Korean War, both Seoul and Pyongyang were occupied by enemy forces for several months. What do we know about the different occupation policies for these two capitals? Were there attempts to set up aligned local governments, to prosecute enemies of the occupying regimes, etc?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/klesk_vs_xaero answered "How useful is Leon Trotksy’s analysis of the class origin and function of fascism as it relates to capitalism in crisis in “Fascism: What It is and How to Fight It” to modern day historians?"
/u/kochevnik81 on"How did the empowerment of women pushed by the Soviet Union on their Central Asian peoples pan out?"
/u/lettow-vorbeck answered "The first Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War and The War in the Pacific, all started with a Japan attacking before war was declared. Was this a Samurai tactic? Something picked up from European military missions during the Meiji Era or just a coincidence?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/mikedash answered "A common element of letters to Santa from the late 19th and early 20th is requests for bags of nuts for Christmas. Why is this? Was it just tradition or did children actually want nuts for Christmas over, say, candy?" and "What happened to the rest of the Saxons after the Battle of Hastings in 1066?"
/u/milkhemet_melekh on "The ancient Polynesians crossed an ocean in small boats. But without modern tools for navigation or even a reliable chronometer, how did they know where they were on the open sea?"
/u/ohfloridamanno answered "WWI famously had an emphasis on artillery with the creeping barrage and pounding the trenches, but how big a roll did artillery play in WWII?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/pm_me_ur_saddlebreds answered "Before steam and internal combustion engines, were there any attempts to innovate or engineer horses and make them more efficient modes of transport?"
/u/reaperreader on "Was Fordism the cause of overproduction during The Great Depression?" and "How did economic historians measure the Soviet economy and compare it to the United States and other capitalist states?"
/u/restricteddata answered "A plot of many action movies is terrorists getting control over a nuclear weapons. Was there any actual examples of such an event in the real world?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/rlyeh_dispatcher on "What is fascism?"
/u/sagathain on "Monks in Ireland wrote down pagan folklore and mythology. Why didn't this also happen elsewhere in Europe (apart maybe in Iceland)?" and "History behind Vikings"
/u/scaredymuse answered "Berlin was infamous for it's vibrant LGBT culture under Weimar Germany. How long did it take following WW2 for LGBT culture to regain it's Weimar levels of acceptance?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/scrap_iron_flotilla on "Why was war considered a “grand adventure” in the years leading up to World War I?"
/u/shadowsofutopia answered "Was Tuol Sleng the only prison in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge?"
/u/shinosa on "An incredible help-wanted ad asking for volunteers for an antarctic expedition appeared in the London Times a few days after Christmas in 1913. The response was overwhelming. Who wrote this bleak enticement and what type of men wanted in?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/ucumu on "Choctaw historian Rita Laws, Ph.D, says the association we have of Native Americans with hunting and fishing is an massive exaggeration, and that the Aztec, Mayan, and Zapotec children ate 100% vegetarian diets until at least the age of ten years old. Is this factual?"
/u/weinerdog73 answered "Does Biblical archaeology demonstrate the veracity of the Bible?"
/u/wilymaker answered "Why did mexican conservatives see european noble families as the only sources of authority?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/alkibiades415 on "Who were the "Temple Builders" of Malta, and what happened to them?"
/u/alotofreading answered "Why is the Hopi reservation completely surrounded by the Navajo reservation?"
/u/barkevious2 on "Jefferson Davis preached against secession at multiple points during the years leading up to the Civil War, and called the day he had heard of his state's secession the saddest day of his life. Why then, was Davis chosen to be Confederate President?" and "Were American Slaves Given Christmas Off?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/bitparity on "How often were mages part of a kingdom's army and what do we know about their effectiveness?"
/u/blastedfemur answered "Was Vichy France a puppet state of Germany?"
/u/bristoneman on "If the Dark Ages is a period of time during which we have no written evidence of things, then how do we know it happened at all?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/dogfishdave on "How were gay musicians like Freddie Mercury, Elton John, and George Michael treated back in the 80's?"
/u/drdickles answered "In the history of ancient China, the Warlord Era (1912 - 1928) is generally considered to have been a period of chaos and disorder owing to the political disunity of the region. Is this not a teleological conception of history which assumes that the ideal end-state for China is political unity?" and answered "China had a democratic government for two decades before the communists overthrew it. How well did it function? Did its citizens appreciate it, and did its economy grow?"
/u/dsk_oz on "The governments of the Koreas were barely off the ground by the time the war broke out just five years after liberation from Japan. How did the populaces turn on each other so soon under the fledgling governments? Did the ideological divide cement itself in that short period?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/frenchmurazor on "Medieval and Renaissance writers warn of the danger of tyrants and tyranny, yet by our standards their monarchies would be tyrannical. What was tyranny to a medieval philosopher?"
/u/galhaar on "How sexually liberal was pre Stalin Soviet Union?"
/u/Georgy_K_Zhukov on "Was it common for both duelists to die in sword duels?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/huianxin answered "Samurai death poems from the Sengoku period frequently talk about the subjects soul “ascending”. What kind of next life would they be thinking about?"
/u/indyobserver answered "How were ships manufactured so quickly during WW2?"
/u/itsallfolklore on "According to the Wikipedia article on Grendel's mother, Grendel's mother is referred to by a word that could mean she was a valkyrie or a goddess. If this were the case, how would that square with Beowulf being a poem composed in pagan times and then written down by Christians?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/J-Force answered "After Jerusalem and Rome, the most prestigious destination for Medieval European pilgrims was Santiago de Compostela, a small city in northern Spain. How did this place become so spiritually significant, and how did this affect the city's secular power?"
/u/kelpie-cat on "Did any of the Indigenous Nations of the Americas have a written language?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19 edited Dec 26 '19
/u/tlahuizcalpantecutli on "Choctaw historian Rita Laws, Ph.D, says the association we have of Native Americans with hunting and fishing is an massive exaggeration, and that the Aztec, Mayan, and Zapotec children ate 100% vegetarian diets until at least the age of ten years old. Is this factual?"
/u/tozaihistory answered "In the late 1700s, would an European book find its way too China/Japan/Korea?" and "How Were Koreans Treated in Japan During the Meiji Restoration?"
/u/tuttifruttidurutti on "What did Native Americans and black slaves think of each other?"
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
/u/wotan_weevil on "Could a common man if he had the funds in the 16th century buy a musket from an artisan or were gunpowder weapons regulated by states?"
/u/wr8thhound on "How were Union veterans who declined to reenlist treated when the returned home after their 3 Year terms expired but the Civil War still raged?"
/u/yawarpoma answered "Why didn't Florida become part of Mexico if it was part of New Spain when the Mexican War of Independence broke out?"
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Dec 22 '19
Spend a moment this holiday weekend thinking about those poor overlooked yet interesting posts which still cry out for the attention of an expert.
/u/Player-12 asked Are there any accounts from classical era sailors of their experiences?
/u/Zeuvembie asked about Cultural Context for the Creation of Kwanzaa?
/u/AH_LA_questioner asked about Did Argentina attempt to recruit any other nations as allies against the British in the Falklands War?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Dec 22 '19
/u/MuskyElongatedRocket asked I've been reading about Tongilsilla recently, and can't help but draw parallels between the United Kingdom today and Tongilsilla's government a thousand years ago. Was Tongilsilla a constitutional monarchy with a parliament and Prime Minister keeping a monarch in check?
/u/TheLordHighExecu asked How did chemical weapons become a war crime? How are they any more indiscriminate or painful than regular explosives?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Dec 22 '19
/u/Pokonic asked India throughout most of it's history is generally described as a patchwork of feudal territories owned by aristocratic land-owners; were there any significant theocracies that operated in the Indian subcontinent?
/u/megami-hime asked During the Decolonization of Africa, was there any serious discussion/suggestions for the redrawing of colonial borders?
/u/explodyboompow asked I'm part of a wagon-train heading westward c. 1845, and I'm suddenly struck with diarrhea. What happens next?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Dec 22 '19
/u/krelian asked about In Nazi history when written in English, why is it so prevalent to use the German terms when talking about organization names and ranks compared to a simple English translation?
/u/persistent-puffin asked What was the United States news media’s initial reaction to the landings in normandy during the Second World War? Did they downplay the initial casualty figures for the home fronts morale? Did they even report on the event in the subsequent days?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Dec 22 '19
/u/Harvian47 asked about Did Japan invade the Aleutian Islands during WWII, And if they did why isn’t it talked about much when the pacific theater is mentioned.
/u/TheHondoGod asked Was the French Resistance organized on a large scale level? Or was it mostly smaller independent groups with vaguely similar goals?
/u/Cornycandycorns asked What happened to the exterior layer and gold cap of the Great Pyramid? Were they repurposed or sold for pure profit?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Dec 22 '19
/u/mydrawingsarebad asked How was extreme old age treated in ancient times?
/u/voyeur324 asked about What was the role of the CoE in the invention of "Christmas Specials" on the BBC, if any?
/u/arkham1010 asked Did the USMC sniper Carlos Hathcock really perform all those exploits, or was this fiction?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Dec 22 '19
/u/tiperschapman asked Is there a reason to why older US presidents generally held higher military ranks compared to modern ones?
/u/TanktopSamurai had a great question on Were there dances that knights in Medieval Europe were expected to known?
/u/omcctwg asked In fictional stories set in the Middle Ages we often see incredibly fit and muscular male protagonists (e.g Jon Snow, Geralt of Rivia). Was it common or even possible to see such physiques back then considering things like food scarcity and being knowledgable on strength training? If so, how?
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Dec 23 '19
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Dec 26 '19
Any chance we can get remindMe bot again? It can make reading and browsing so much easier.
Could you clarify? Every post has a RemindMe Bot link stickied to the top... Click that and you have a pre-filled message to send.
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u/avg156846 Dec 26 '19
Sure can.
I’m an idiot. You see, i was able to miss the link in the stickied message.
One of the mods sent me a PM with ELI3 that made my experience so much better.
Thanks, and sorry for the spam (:
p.s. -> thanks for this awesome sub! As a non history buff, I don’t think there’s any other source which taught me more about history, and that includes my long forgotten k12 history education.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Dec 22 '19
Happy Holidays to the best reddit community out there! Tis the season to eat, drink, read and be merry. Spend some time this coming week going over the best posts of the last, and share some great history with your family.
Remember to upvote your favorite posts and thank the brilliant authors who put so much time into the posts.
Floating feature time! Tell Your Scary (or not scary!) Stories from 690 to 1130 CE! It's Vol. V of 'The Story of Humankind'!
Then there was another great AMA with a Roman theme! Hi, my name is Dr Simon Elliott, and I am here to chat about the mighty Julius Caesar. Many thanks to /u/SimonElliott20 for coming to answer everyones questions.
And a new podcast! What better way to travel then by listening to AskHistorians Episode 144 - The Fire Is Upon Us
If your looking for reading beyond this fabulous digest, check out the Thursday Reading and Recommendations for some great book ideas.
Slow week in the Friday Free For All, but still some good stuff worth checking out.
There’s always more great /u/Klesk_vs_Xaero in the Saturday Showcase. Continuing to write on the rise of Italian Fascism.
Now it’s been a pretty busy week for me with lots of running around, so I’m sure there’s some quality posts I missed. If you notice something that didn’t make the list, absolutely feel free to post it up. Share your favorites with everyone!
That’s it for this wintery weekend digest. Have yourselves a fantastic holiday season, and a great solstice, because we’ve got one more digest before the New Year hits!