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1500 questions
21
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Even though Spain and Portugal had many colonies (15th/16th C), what factors permitted UK/France to become world powers later (18th/19th C)?
Some of the first European countries to acquire colonies in the "New World" (and elsewhere) were Spain and Portugal. They "discovered America" (as the euro-centric interpretation goes), and had several colonies all over the globe (Americas, getting…
Amandasaurus
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What is the London Enemies List 1775?
This London Enemies List 1775 has come up in American Revolutionary War research regarding Paul Revere and other revolutionaries. I believe it is a document of some sort and find a referenced source (picture above) in David Fischers book Paul…
The_MN_MechE
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Why did Lincoln's election prompt the Southern states to secede?
I've just finished Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals. The presentation of the book suggested that the Southern states seceded as a response to Lincoln's election.
I am confused by that timing: Lincoln seemed to have a very moderate anti-slavery…
adam.baker
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21
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What did Hitler mean with the following statement about Franco?
The following was quoted in Albert Speer's diary entry for 26 December 1950 recalling a conversation with Hitler in January 1943 (Albert Speer, Spandau: The Secret Diary (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2000), p. 167):
You know my opinion of Franco... We…
Anguepa
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Six pregnant maidens from Kamchatka
Yuri Semyonov's history "The Conquest of Siberia: An Epic of Human Passions" says:
Journeys to Siberia were always measured in years. In an old book the author, in order to make clear how long a journey through Siberia must take, told in all…
Aaron Brick
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21
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6 answers
Which was the last major war in which horse mounted cavalry actually participated in active fighting?
Which was the last major war in which horses were used for frequent fighting?
Why were these horses used, and about how many were there?
This is not a duplicate of the question (When was the last cavalry charge?) ; I simply would like more…
user23080
21
votes
10 answers
What are some examples of nations that involuntarily gained independence?
I just read that Singapore gained their independence not because they wanted to, but because the Malaysian Parliament voted unanimously (without Singapore representation) to expel Singapore from Malaysia.
I'm wondering if there are any other…
ZeekLTK
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Why was Franklin D. Roosevelt pro-intervention?
In the lead-up to WW2, most Americans were in favor of neutrality and isolation. President Roosevelt, however, was privately in favor of intervention.
One paragraph from Wikipedia summarizes it pretty well:
Roosevelt used his personal charisma to…
DrZ214
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Why did the Merovingians and Pippinids adopt Christianity so fervently?
The Western Church was generally in decline from, say, 400 to 700 AD. Yet, Clovis converted, and more to the point, so did many other dukes. In the end, the Pippinids conducted various wars with the Frisians and Saxons to crush their paganism. They…
Chrystomath
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Which nations have armed prisoners and sent them to war?
I'm looking for examples of countries that have armed prisoners and sent them to war? Were the prisoners coerced, or were they offered amnesty should they survive?
Vorac
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Why did the German air force lose experienced pilots faster than the Allies, even though they were defending their home airspace?
During the 1940 Battle of Britain, German and British planes shot down each other at roughly a one to one rate. This gave an advantage to the British because all of the surviving German pilots shot down over Britain became prisoners of war, while…
Tom Au
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3 answers
What caused the 1979 Iranian revolution to become Islamic?
How did an initially anti-Shah revolution become an Islamic revolution? Was it because of Khomenei's return to Iran such that he seized the Iranian revolution?
dark-history
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What historical conditions (culture, technology, events, etc.) contributed to China's current lead in population?
If their growth rate was comparable to the rest of the world over the past several millenia, then was it only a matter of having a "head start"? (If so, then how did this initial condition come to be?)
If their growth rate was higher than the rest…
Andrew Cheong
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Why didn't Romans conquer/explore the African Atlantic Coast?
I know that the Romans, when their empire was at its peak around the 1st and 2nd century AD, controlled the northern coast of Africa and had the Sahara desert as some kind of natural "wall" as well as a border beyond which they thought that it was…
Orsinus
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Has any foreign embassy ever been entered without permission?
I was just looking at this article: UK 'threatens' to raid Ecuador embassy over Assange
"Today we've received a threat by the United Kingdom, a clear and
written threat that they could storm our embassy in London if Ecuador
refuses to hand in…
going
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