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1500 questions
26
votes
2 answers
Was swordsmanship important in the American Civil War?
I know swords were issued and I think they were used but my impression was that men on horseback (officers?) would simply slash at men on foot. Was swordsmanship actually studied with the idea of facing another person with a sword (as I assume was…
releseabe
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Before television sets became commonplace, did people generally watch movies only once?
As I understand it, home television sets first became commercially available in the US in 1938 and grew in popularity throughout the 40s and 50s. Before people had televisions, did they have a way of rewatching movies after watching them at the…
Mark Morales II
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26
votes
4 answers
Why did really old paintings use such bizarre, unnatural perspective/proportions?
I say "really old" because at least in the 17th century, they are all photo-realistic. (I still don't understand how anyone can paint that beautifully and realistically.)
However, let's say the 15h century or earlier, all the paintings seem to use a…
Pawel C.
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26
votes
5 answers
Did they actually have "mushroom cloud tourist attraction" to Nevada Test Site in the 1950s?
During the 1950s, the mushroom clouds, from the 100 atmospheric tests, could be seen from almost 100 mi (160 km) away. The city of Las Vegas experienced noticeable seismic effects, and the mushroom clouds, which could be seen from the downtown…
Arhtur
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26
votes
5 answers
Who had the shortest time in going from imprisonment to head of state within democratic processes?
We know that for example Mandela, Hitler, Stalin all spent some time in prison before they went on to become the head of their respective state or government.
Regardless of the reason why they were imprisoned, or the methods and means of how they…
LаngLаngС
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26
votes
3 answers
How much did a transatlantic telegram cost in 1914?
How much did it cost to send a transatlantic telegram – if the specifics matter, say from New York to Berlin – in 1914? (Early 1914, before the war disrupted communications.) How much per word, and was there a minimum number of words?
rwallace
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26
votes
6 answers
How did archers judge distance before range finders?
Before electronics, was there a method for judging distance in archery?
What methods were used historically?
How were combat archers trained to judge distances?
Amethyst Wizard
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26
votes
3 answers
Are there incidents of ronin travelling outside Japan as soldiers of fortune?
There are time periods where large numbers of ronin flocked to Edo, and roamed the Japanese countryside looking for some source of income; generally during and right after the Senegoku period and around the Meiji restoration. Many of them took to…
Rohit
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26
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3 answers
Is rye bread Turkish?
Scandinavian airline SAS released a controversial advertising video titled What is truly Scandinavian?
It claims that many things considered traditional in Scandinavian countries are actually borrowed from elsewhere. Particularly, at 0:48 it…
user28850
26
votes
1 answer
How did William the Conqueror consolidate his military victory?
Seems to me once you have won the war, your troubles are just beginning.
You've got a small number of men few that can speak the local language. How do you go about putting your men in charge, putting your institutions in place?
You replace the…
Sherwood Botsford
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26
votes
5 answers
Which WW2 belligerents provided military brothels?
Did any of the other belligerents of WW2 besides Japan and Germany provide their troops with authorized military brothels?
coleopterist
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26
votes
6 answers
Why did the southern states secede from the U.S.?
Lincoln's election precipitated the secession, but didn't they have enough congressional power to continue things much as they were? It seems in the preceding two decades the slave states had managed well enough extracting concessions from the free…
mgkrebbs
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26
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5 answers
How did the Axis intend to hold the Caucasus?
We all know how the Axis offensive in 1942 led to the "turning point" battle of Stalingrad and the eventual defeat of the Third Reich, and that this offensive had been launched in order to capture and hold the Caucasus.
The last bit is important.…
Stumbler
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26
votes
2 answers
Has chattel slavery ever been used as a criminal punishment in the USA since the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment?
The Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution provides (my emphasis):
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States,…
Robert Columbia
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26
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1 answer
Was there a priest on the Titanic who stayed on the ship giving confession to as many as he could?
In the fiction book Emily's Hope, by Ellen Gable, there is a passage set in 1912 that describes a news article about a priest on board the RMS Titanic:
She glanced down at the newspaper again and re-read the story of the young survivor, Lillie. She…
Thunderforge
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