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1500 questions
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Were taiko drums used to determine village sizes?
Were taiko drums used to determine village size? If so, when was this practice in use?
In 'Full Circle', Michael Palin says that the taiko drums were used to determine village sizes in pre-industrial Japan. I took this to mean the Tokugawa…
gktscrk
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How did the world react to Trotsky's assassination?
Exiled former Russian leader Leon Trotsky was murdered in Mexico in August 1940 (with an ice pick) by a Soviet agent in the interest of Trotsky's old rival for power, the then Soviet dictator Stalin. What impression did this make on World opinion…
Timothy
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How was armour rusting in the rain handled throughout history?
Various sources (ex) state as one of the biggest advantages of non-metal armours, that they did not rust in the rain.
However, a knight would have a squire to clean and oil his armour every evening. I suppose even simple footman with chain mail had…
Vorac
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How do new countries legally and without bloodshed declare themselves independent?
I saw an article about the legality of the declaration of independence. For example, when USSR broke up, several countries became independent, but for others, there is still fighting to maintain them as part of Russia. Why were some allowed to be…
xecaps12
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What is the origin of the lake tank image that has become a meme?
This image, the template for the "Panzer of the Lake" meme, depicts a soldier from an unknown nation looking at what appears to me to definitely be a Panzer. However, no-one seems to know the origins of the image. So, where and when was this…
qazwsx
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How did Greece avoid the Soviet sphere of influence?
It seems to me that east of Italy / Germany all of Europe was in the Soviet sphere of influence, with the blatant exception of Greece. I'm sure that the long coast made access to Western influence easier, assuming that Western influence is what the…
dotancohen
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Is there a historical source that might explain why so many countries use 35 as a minimum age for the president / the highest office person?
Reading the list of presidential qualifications by country I have noticed that in many countries the minimum required age is 35 (some countries raise it to 40). I am wondering if there is any historical data related to where this limit comes…
Alexei
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Who was this Roman General/figure of authority who, on his deathbed, named these two regrets?
In my undergrad I took a Roman History/Culture class and remember the professor mentioning someone who died naming two regrets:
He once told a secret to a woman
He once spent a day idle/doing nothing
The second of which I find very inspiring. I…
Wasalu Ahmed
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What publication claimed that Michael Jackson died in a nuclear holocaust?
I have a question about some paragraph in Finkelstein's Holocaust Industry. He writes that
Some years back, the parody of a New York tabloid was headlined: “Michael Jackson, 60 Million Others, Die in Nuclear Holocaust.” The letters page carried an…
Maximilian
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What is known about the Ubaid lizard-people figurines?
I find the Ubaid lizard-people figurines visually captivating. But for obvious reasons it's difficult to search for information about them online without wading chest deep through pages of ancient aliens garbage, for little reward. So far I've…
Flux
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2 answers
Why did the rest of the Eastern Bloc not invade Yugoslavia?
When Tito was resisting Stalin/Soviet rule, according to the Wikipedia article on Tito:
An invasion of Yugoslavia was planned to be carried out in 1949 via the combined forces of neighbouring Soviet satellite states of Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria…
komodosp
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Why did the Germans forbid the possession of pet pigeons in Rostov-on-Don in 1941?
Photograph made by Max Alpert shows a dead boy holding a pigeon. It seems that the child has been tortured before he was killed.
Source: Federal Archive Agency of Russia, Russian state archive of photographic and movie documents, item nr. 0-259138…
user23839
20
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Approximately how much travel time was saved by the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869?
Understanding that there were a few variables involved, approximately how much travel time was saved by no longer having to travel around Africa after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869?
RossAlexander
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About how many immigrants were on the Titanic?
All that I can find is that the majority of the 709 third class passengers were immigrants. Was it the vast majority, or nearly all of them?
Would there have been any immigrants in second class?
Is there an estimate of the number of migrants aboard…
John Dee
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What was the liquor that was based on petrol which was produced in the USSR during the Second World War?
I have a 1971 Spanish edition of the book "Stuka Pilot" by Hans-Ulrich Rudel where he recounts his memories of war.
In the second chapter, in which he talks about the first combats of "Operation Barbarrossa" in 1941, there is a paragraph that seems…
Ginasius
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