query stringlengths 19 300 | pos list | neg list | task stringclasses 1 value | instruction dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Another Medieval Paleography Question... stuck on a couple words | [
"Line 1: > omnibus pertinentus predicte dimidiam virgate terre pertinentibus excepta grava . Illam scilicet dimidiam vir- Line 2: > gatam quantam orni ad boscum habitavit et tenuit . habendam et tenendam de me et de heredibus meis Line 3: > ille et heredes sui libere et quiete et honorifice . Reddendo inde annuatum mihi vel heredibus meis ille."
] | [
"If I may butt in someone else's question... What of the women's names (ending in -ine in the original french)? And do we have any such written traces?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
[Medieval Paleography] What does this word say? | [
"Based on the full image you've provided, you can see that it's not the full word - it's continued on the next line. Building on what /u/Rhodis suggested, the full word would be \"*juramentis*\", part of the phrase \"*instrumentis juramentis interpositis*\" - \"the admitted/pledged instrument of oath\", or something like that, presumably talking about another legal document. Does that help at all?"
] | [
"Actually in several Other languages such as French and Spanish it is pronounced double-V (or the French equivalent) In reality the double-U pronunciation probable come from a handwriting variation where the W was actually written with a more curved bottom giving it a double-U look. Edit: An Image of a double-u W- _URL_0_"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
How did participation in Viking raids effect the Norse economy? | [
"Really, this question is very difficult, if not impossible, to answer, since there are no extant records of transactions in the Norwegian (presumably you mean Norway when you use 'Norse,' yes?) petty kingdoms during the 8th-11th centuries. If you're asking about the unified kingdom of Norway, the answer is again next to impossible to provide, since Norway was unified into a single kingdom in 1020, and again, we don't have detailed records of that sort; we have the development of large trading centres in the mid-late 11th century, but by then *víkingar* were far less common than they had been even 50 years prior."
] | [
"The Vikings did set up a few short term colonies for resource exploitation however. It is thought that the reason they did not set up large permanent colonies was due to hostile relations with the natives, whom the vikings were far too few in number to subdue like the Spanish did later."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Can anybody explain tarring and feathering? | [
"Perhaps these will answer your questions: _URL_1_ _URL_0_"
] | [
"Excuse my ignorance and laziness but can somebody give me a TL;DR on sea org?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
I've heard rumor that the Dragonborn, the hero that saved the world was a member of the Dark Brotherhood and may have even been involved in the assassination of Emperor Titus Mede II, is there any truth to this? | [
"The accounts of the Dragonborn vary to such a degree, the only thing we know for sure was that he saved the world. The Dragonborn has been recorded as male, female, nearly every race in Tamriel, and a member of organizations as far apart as the Dark Brotherhood to the Vigilent of Stendarr. More likely, several notorious figures of their tmr have simply been rolled into the Dragonborn over time, much like the Hero of Kvatch."
] | [
"Until 200 years ago, the empire was ruled (generally well) by the Septim dynasty. That ended when the last of the dynasty died out in the events of Oblivion. The end of the Septims lead to turmoil in the Empire and the high elves' home (the Summerset Isles) and other nearby lands became an independent entity (The Thalmor Dominion). Many years later the Thalmor Dominion attacked the Empire. The Empire managed to reach a peace deal where, among other concessions, they agreed to stop worshiping the god Talos. Talos was a Nord and the first emperor - he became a god when he died. The Stormcloaks and their sympathizers generally wished to keep fighting the Thalmor and are upset by the concessions that were made by the Empire - especially the ban on Talos worship. They wish to be independent of the Empire so that they may continue to oppose the Thalmor and so that they can continue to worship Talos."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Where can I learn about India circa 750 AD | [
"The seminal indian history text to cover the period up to about 1300 AD is * Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300 by Romila Thapar It is a good all round reference to classical india. However, it goes into details of Northern India a lot more than Southern India. If you want to go into the details of Southern India, the classic text is * A History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar by K.A.Nilakanta Shastri (Fall of vijayanagar is 1565 AD) The Shastri text is old and some parts are not accurate* but comprehensive so you get a good overall picture of the social, economic, political and religious conditions in south india. *if I recall, the latest edition has some commentary by R. Champakalakshmi (who is an outstanding south indian historian herself) about how Shastri imputes a lot more centralization to the Chola empire than reality. You can check her (Champakalakshmi) books for lot more detail about south india."
] | [
"What drugs were popular in 19th century Britain?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
In a world that can't agree on anything else, how did we all come to use hours, minutes and seconds? | [
"When Alexander conquered Babylon, the Hellenistic culture seems to have adopted Babylonian sexagesimal mathmatics for dividing a day into 24 hours, and sixty minutes to an hour. There were Akkadian mathmatical texts found at Nippur, that date back to 2100 BC. They used a base sixty method for counting, and recording their astronomical observations."
] | [
"It makes about as much sense as an entire nation using the imperial measurement system while the rest of the world uses metric: someone decided it would be that way one day, made it a standard, and now people just use it. If it makes you feel any better, the US Military uses dd/mm/yyyy for all official forms."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Mathematics:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post about Mathematics:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Broad topic: history of India. Please recommend a comprehensive book that covers it from ancient times to 20th century. | [
"Hate to harp on what you've already acknowledged, but South Asia is a very large, culturally/linguistically diverse area that is one of the earliest sites of civilization. Any one book you read is going to leave out a whole lot. It might be better to pick a particular region or time period or cultural phenomena/group that interests you, and then look for a book from there. That said, these are the three that I would recommend: 1) Early India, from Origins to AD 1300 (Romila Thapar) 2) India Before Europe (Catherine Asher & Cynthia Talbot) 3) A Concise History of Modern India (Metcalfe & Metcalfe)"
] | [
"For a general overview of modern Chinese history I personally liked The search for modern China by Spence, it covers Chinese history in a fairly well from 1800-1990."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about Education:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence about Education:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Lord Palmerston quipped “The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, only three men in Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert, who is dead. The second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third and I have forgotten all about it.” Why was it irresolvable without war? | [
"Was he the referring to a specific mad professor?"
] | [
"Since ancient Athens. Yes, the history of the first democracy is full of examples of corruption and fucking over rivals and rival factions. These things are inherent in democracies, and probably in all other forms of government too. Winston Churchill once said, \"Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.\" I think that sums it up pretty well."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Political Science:"
} |
Can someone explain exactly what happened at the end of WWII when Nazi rocket scientists were recruited by the US and other countries. | [
"Was there a similar attempt to recruit Japanese scientists?"
] | [
"No, or at least not to my knowledge. The Axis Pact was pretty much a hollow alliance and proved strategically worthless for Japan and Germany. Geographic distance and logistics were one major difficulty. But you actually chose the wrong country. The more interesting and relevant country here is not Nazi Germany but the United States. After the war, the US military granted Unit 731 doctors immunity from war crimes prosecution in exchange for the biological and chemical warfare data extracted from human experimentation. So it was the US, not Germany, who ultimately benefited from Unit 731 research."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
"The claim that life expectancy in ancient times was only 30 is only true if you include infant mortality." How true is this statement? | [
"This would depend upon the records we have. It's a very tricky calculation. I'm only familiar with early modern and modern calculations, which rely on much better records. Generally speaking, infant mortality is going to skew the number in the same way any number gets skewed in a statistical sense. The average is not always a good number to look at when analyzing data. If there is a high infant mortality rate, it's not necessarily an outlier, but it would be good to separate the data and analyze the average life expectancy of people who make it past infancy. That might be a better way of getting at the information you are interested in. These are just some brief thoughts on statistical analysis. In terms of antiquity, you'd want to be a bit more specific in terms of time and region in order to find out what goes into birth rate. There is a line between history and anthropology."
] | [
"> Is it a simple average of the age in which all people die including babies who die young, e.g. SIDS? More or less, yes. > What got me thinking about this was the fact that the life expectancy would be pulled downward by things like babies dying or college guys doing stupid shit. However, once you make it past those stages are 40, then your life expectancy is higher than that average that includes these folks. Again, yes. This is why life expectancy long ago was so low. High infant mortality. Once you survived past childhood, your life expectancy was very similar to what it was today, but the high death rate among the young drew the average down."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What historical sites are known to exist in North Korea? | [
"I visited North Korea back in 2012. Two places stick out in my mind, I'll include pictures I've taken: The old town of Kaesong: _URL_7_. Many of the houses built here date back to the Joseon dynasty (which was from 1392-1897). The large building you see is a Children's Palace, iirc. Pohyonsa. _URL_8_ _URL_9_ Located on Mount Myohyang, this is a temple complex with over a thousand years of history, unfortunately American forces bombed and destroyed over half of the buildings in 1951. That green temple I wish I knew more about, because I have traveled all over Asia and have never seen a building like that, and in green."
] | [
"A follow-up and related question: how about young people in other parts of the world in this time period? I.e. South Asia, China, West Africa, South America?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Diet during the migration period. | [
"When I read the title of your post, I almost couldn't believe it, because one of my good friends just completed her PhD thesis on this exact topic. She is an archaeologist and her PhD was about stable isotope evidence for a dietary shift from the end of the Roman period to the Migration period. The short answer is that, at least using stable isotopes (which measure how food has affected your bone chemistry), it seems very likely that there was no shift in diet; that people ate generally the same food as the people who came before them based on their geographical location. So: for example, fish near the coast, less fish inland, but trading networks to move food around seem to have remained intact. Anyway, she's waiting to defend so I won't give any more of it away but I had to laugh when I saw the topic and she and I joked that you were one her examiners. It's an interesting question!"
] | [
"Adrenaline kicking in for flight or fight response."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why is that in Europe and in many parts of the world people hate Gipsys? | [
"I think it's particularly because Gypsies were a nomadic kind of people who didn't pay tax and took up space."
] | [
"Because they like the French more than the Turks, it's closer to home and this happens far more often in Turkey than it does in western Europe."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Historically accurate film for Napoleon | [
"The french show Napoleon (2002) is the best you can find. As far as I know, there is no other film/show that goes through the life of Napoleon. The show itself manages to be entertaining, but suffers of budget. It doesn't go into details, and there is a fair share of inaccuracies. Overall, the film that I would show to anyone without interest on history but want to know a bit more of him. 4 episodes of 1 hour, aprox."
] | [
"The other four are simply a repeat of the last four on the front"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
History Degree not sure what to do next | [
"I also just graduated with a history degree and was kind of unsure of my direction. I would say if you have a vague idea of the direction you'd like to go, e.g. public history, archaeology, law, etc., apply for internships so you can get some experience and try out some different things. Before my internship this summer I thought I wanted to be a museum curator, but now that it's over I'm pretty sure I'm going to get a library science degree and become an archivist."
] | [
"*Junior College* and *Community College* are basically the same thing - They are colleges that provide two year degrees called associate degrees *Bachelor's Degrees* are what you get when you complete your *Undergraduate* program which is a four year program given by a college *Universities* are a group of colleges that are combined into one university. For example, the University of Washington is a school that includes a College of Arts & Sciences, Michael Foster School of Business, Dan Evans School of Public Affairs, School of Law, School of Pharmacy, etc. Each of these schools gives a different degree for their school but under the umbrella of the university. Typically you are accepted into a university and then for your Junior year you must then be accepted into the specific college you want to enter in the university."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What is the argument against geographical determinism and its dominant role in the course of human development? | [
"hi! you may find some useful feedback in this FAQ section * [Historians' views of Jared Diamond's \"Guns, Germs, and Steel\"](_URL_0_) and it may be worth x-posting to /r/AskAnthropology, since they may have much more to say on this topic"
] | [
"Can anyone suggest respected works that deal, on a theoretical level, with the concept of elites? Specifically from the standpoint of history."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
When did people start saying what year it is? | [
"Hi, this is a frequently asked question, you should check the FAQ for more answers but here is one: _URL_0_"
] | [
"Of course not. Why would you think this?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
In Solzhenitsyn's "November, 1916," a character accuses the Romanian officers fighting for Russia as being "effeminate," wearing corsets, face paint and makeup. True / false? | [
"Norman Stone's \"The Eastern Front\" (one of the few English-language histories of that theater I've found) also refers to this. He claims that there were actually regulations governing the type of cosmetics Romanian officers could use according to their rank. This was an illustration of the generally poor quality of the Romanian officer corps, which was noticed by many foreign observers. He also quotes some British officers as noting the Romanians' maneuvers \"made a public school field-day look like the execution of the Schlieffen Plan.\""
] | [
"Simon Sebag Montefiore and Sheila Fitzpatrick at least both mention Stalin's webbed feet. Montefiore says that he was so embarassed by them that when doctors would examine them at the Kremlin, he would cover the rest of his body and head with a blanket. As far as it being \"a sign of the devil in Russian folklore\", this particular quote comes from Anne Applebaum's review of Kotkin's biography in The Atlantic. I can't find any evidence of such a superstition, beyond a mention in Elizabeth Warner's *Russian Myths* of *rusalki* (which are something like a cross between river mermaids and vampires) having webbed feet. It's all a little academic since Stalin was Georgian and grew up in Georgia, so he would have grown up with different folklore traditions from Russian ones. Sources: Simon Sebag Montefiore. *Young Stalin* Elizabeth Warner. *Russian Myths*"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Did Yaghan people know about Antarctica? | [
"The depth of the Drake Passage precludes any islands appearing during times of low sea level in the 500mi wide stretch between Cape Horn and the northernmost of the South Shetland Islands, Livingston Island. Because the currents and winds flow unimpeded around the globe at that latitude, roughly 60 degrees south it is some of the most storm tossed and roughest seas on earth. Its highly unlikely natives crossed that 500 miles and were able to return to tell about it. If they did they would have reported an even bleaker and more desolate landscape than at home and not attempted to repeat the voyage keeping only a myth about the inhospitable land far across the sea."
] | [
"America was discovered that way some 10-20 thousand years before Europeans found it. That is how the natives got there."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Has there ever been a state that has collapsed because it was too liberal? | [
"By 'liberal' do you mean the actual classic economic definition or do you mean it in the historically redundant Fox News buzzword sense? Because there's some interesting answers you might get if we're talking about free trade, lassez-faire economics, or a small state leading to a country experiencing difficulties, but you're not going to get any decent answers if you're looking for examples of empires collapsing thanks to gun control and gay marriage."
] | [
"Basically, they tried to pull off socialism, but they had no funds to support the system they promised."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Historians, I am looking for some good books on the Incan Empire. What are your suggestions? | [
"Not ready any myself but W. H. Prescott's History of the Conquest of Peru is considered one of the best, also some more recent ones are [\"Last days of the Incas\"](_URL_0_) and [\"Conquest of the Incas\"](_URL_1_) . It's disheartening when searching for these it throws up a handful of books about Mayan calendar prophecies ಠ_ಠ."
] | [
"What are the must read books about the American revolution published within the last five years? What are the current arguments being discussed by historians who study the era?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title about Education:",
"pos": "Represent the passage about Education:",
"neg": "Represent the passage about Literature:"
} |
The Catholic Church's sale of indulgences and the construction of St. Peter's Basilica...? | [
"Just to clarify the question: St Peter's Basilica was finished in 1626 but the sale of indulgences was forbidden by Pius V in 1567 ([Etsi dominici](_URL_1_), not to be confused with the 1479 bull of the same name by Sixtus IV) and penalized with excommunication in 1569 ([Quam plenum](_URL_0_)). So I guess what you are asking is whether the money raised by indulgences while they could be sold was enough to see the building process through its final 55 years?"
] | [
"Martin Luther had a history of announcing theological debates this way even before the thesis. This was simply a way to announce publicly to the church and town about him wanting to challenge the traditional beliefs and practices within the church. There was nothing special about doing it this way. Source: \"Here I Stand: A life of Martin Luther\" by Roland H. Balton"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about Religion and History:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text about Religion and History:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Why are communes often so unsuccessful, while monasteries are not? Are there major differences in structure? | [
"I like the question, but can someone substantiate the premises first? What distinguishes the two in the first place, and *are* communes actually less successful?"
] | [
"They have far more in common with each other and have the advantage of being fairly geographically cut off from the rest. I'm sure there are other, more detailed historically based explanations out there."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Humor me. What are your thoughts on Ancient Aliens? | [
"I think one of the problems that helps create the premise of the show, is just how ignorant most people are of the ingenuity of ancient civilisations. This, for me anyway, is what makes the show so irritating; ancient civilisations could only accomplish what they did if they had help from Aliens. If there is anything on the show that SHOULD spark our curiosity it is how little credit we give these ancient civilisations that created ingenious solutions to very complex problems that with our current technology we still can't pinpoint how they accomplished it."
] | [
"Surrealness for the sake of surrealness. What are you confused about?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What did Stephen Ambrose get wrong? | [
"Plagiarism scandal? I have not heard of this."
] | [
"Who says they did, and who says they didn't?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Would a crew of a ship departing from Venice in the 14th century towards Middle East have any plans ready in case they encounter a leviathan on their route? | [
"Maybe a more appropriate question: what was the view at the time of the existence of these sort of sea monsters? Were they dismissed by most as fictional stories? Did scientists attempt to prove their existence, or were they already considered fact or fiction in the scientific community? Were sailors and/or explorers fearful of encountering a sea monster on their travels?"
] | [
"It was the fastest way by sea to asia. Land routes were treacherous and slow, and you had to cross mountains to get to asia."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Thor’s Hammer, Mjolnir | [
"The striking part would be the lower one on the image, the handle would be the middle part, and the upper part would be the pommel."
] | [
"Well, modern English is influenced a good bit by Old Norse. The bynames and patronymics you talk about are, because of that influence, easily translated to English. For example: Eírikr bloðöx = Eric Bloodaxe Eírikr rauði = Eric the Red Ivarr beinlauss = Ivar the Boneless (though legless is a possibility, too) Hrolfr ganga = Rolo the Granger (really, it should be Rolf the Walker, but still) Egill Skalla-Grímsson = Egil Skallagrimsson etc."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why did my grandfather have US *and* RAF wings? | [
"It could be that he was attached to an RAF squadron. Do you know what unit he belonged to?"
] | [
"Would you like a list starting in 1867 or including pre-1867 British Canada?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
Has the third amendment to the U.S. Constitution ever played a significant part in either law or court cases? | [
"there was an interesting court case a little while back were a man sued the police for barging into his home and using it to take up positions for a hostage situation or something in the neighboring house. he told them they couldn't come in and the broke in and cuffed him. hold on, i'll go see if i can find the article. [edit] [first article i found](/_URL_1_). gonna see if i can find a better one: [here's](/_URL_0_) another"
] | [
"The idea was to keep the Court apolitical and not subject to the whims of popular opinion. Their role isn't to decide policy, just to determine if other parts of the government had the power to enact or carry out that policy. At least in theory."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Were "Wanted Dead or Alive" posters ever published as real legal notices in the US? If so, was anyone ever killed as a result of acting on such a notice through mistaken identity? | [
"on your first question, check out a few earlier related posts (tl;dr: yes they are real) * [Were bounty hunters around in the 'Wild West' and were they similar to how pop culture portrays them?](_URL_1_) - /u/kingconani explains that bounty hunters were 'lawmen or detectives' and gives a couple of examples * [How accurate were the \"Wanted Dead or Alive\" posters featured in Westerns? Is it something Hollywood made up?](_URL_0_) - misc examples * [How often were \"Wanted Dead or Alive\" criminals returned alive, and how did Dead or Alive bounties actually work?](_URL_2_) - an old & somewhat meandering thread"
] | [
"There are a few reasons: A) It could be fake, as ET_phone_1900FatGirl pointed out. B) It is difficult to prove that the people in the show are performing an illegal activity. How can law enforcement know it's not fake? Could it be water, not moonshine, in the bottles? While the show could theoretically be used as evidence, it is not strong enough on its own to warrant (pun intended) the issuance of a search warrant. Law enforcement would have to identify other, stronger evidence before they could take action against the parties involved."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Law and Entertainment:"
} |
Uses of animal symbolism throughout history | [
"If you are interested in medieval european views on animals then I would take a gander through the bestiary... [which is, conveniently, online.](_URL_0_) One of my favorites is the ostrich, which was supposedly able to eat metal and was thus a symbol of war/manliness (though I get this from the marginalia of the bayeux tapestry not the bestiary itself) and I particularly like Pliny's analysis: > Its stupidity is shown when it hides its head in a bush and thinks it is invisible, even though its large body is not hidden. Also foxes show up all over the place in medieval works because they are trixy like the devil. And apparently Hyena's can change their sex."
] | [
"Unlike hard facts Songs have a nice pattern and rhythm that makes them much easier to remember as a whole Same reason many stories told before writing things down was common have a notable cadence to them like nursery rhymes"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Cognitive psychology:"
} |
Monday | Games and History | [
"I was never very good at history and never studied it very deeply, but i recently was given Civilization V. Now civ is very innacurate when it comes to events (you get Babylon launching a spaceship in 1860), but actual people, place names, and units (french foreign legion, immortals, etc) are real. It had me looking up and reading about quite a lot of history topics that I had never known about."
] | [
"Next Week's Theme: 'Royalty, Nobility, and the Exercise of Power' To be followed by: \"Eastern Europe\""
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Has an international intervention ever been successful in a lasting way? | [
"Seems like the American occupations of Germany and Japan fit your bill. They were pretty militaristic, nationalist-type polities before 1939; now they are liberal democracies where the mere mention of upgrading the military is controversial."
] | [
"Could the rebuilding of Japan after WWII be considered a partial colonization by the United States?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
When Peary stole the Cape York meteorite, were the Inuit in the area still relying on meteoric iron for tools and weapons? How badly were they affected by the theft? | [
"To answer your question, they were not affected by the loss of iron. At the point when Peary came for the meteorite, the native population had already and was continuing to trade for tools, including guns at this point. In fact, they guided him to the meteorite and watched him remove it. The local population firmly believed that he would fail in his quest to pick up and remove the stone by boat. A large group watched him and were surprised when he succeeded. Most of these details can be found in Dinosaurs in the Attic by Douglas Preston. As an FYI, while both Women and Dog have extensive evidence of being used as tools, no such evidence exists for Ahnighito being used as a tool."
] | [
"The natives of North America never discovered how ridiculously rich the land they lived on was with various ores. Because they never mastered the use of ores and metals in producing various items, they couldn't advance in the same way Eurasian people could. The skill of metal forging was an essential stepping stone to various other technologies, both used through war and day to day life, which shaped the history of the world greatly. In a way, you could say that these civilizations never had their Iron and Bronze ages."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Did American settlers heading west through the Rockies or Sierra Nevadas struggle with altitude sickness? | [
"The passes in the mountain ranges are high enough at roughly 7,000 feet (Donner Pass) and the Rocky Mountain passes at 8,000+ to cause some to experience fatigue more quickly than at sea level, but they are not high enough to cause altitude sickness. I've given many tours of Virginia City - up and down the mountainside at roughly 6,200 - and I found that flatlanders become winded more quickly than natives, but they all survived and a few minutes at a bar with a beer quickly resolved any issues. Granted, this is lower than some of the elevations on the historic trails, but they aren't high enough to cause more than modestly-premature exhaustion."
] | [
"Well, back when we were migratory creatures, we wouldn't. Head north during the warner months and south fir the cooler months. But once we decided that settling down was better. The amount of fertile land and other natural resources was tempting enough for the settlers to brave a few cold months."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence about Psychology:"
} |
To those with history degrees what are they and what do you do now? | [
"Well I went to Aberystwyth Uni and got a 2:2 straight up history after a fair few problems. When I left Uni I started working in a pub, this was before I actually got my degree confirmed. I've moved to a much nicer, better paying pub and my degree is secure. I love this job but I'd really love to do something graduate related. I did some teaching in Kenya for a month last year and my backup plan is save up £3000, buy a house and 10 acres of farmland and live off that. I can get plumbing, electricity etc for that much and can pay people to work the land as well as set up a school/help run the charity I went with. TDLR: Have a degree, no idea what to do with it."
] | [
"How is public history as a graduate degree? I oove theory and I find public history interesting, but I'm really having trouble compairing it to my other options."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
What were the popular games during your period of expertise? | [
"[Crambo](_URL_1_) and [Whist](_URL_0_) were common upper class entertainments that aren't very well known today."
] | [
"What do you mean by downfall? This is still a dominant part of current culture."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
What exactly did the writer of this text intended to achieve with it? US constitution specifically prevented the 3/5th part to be changed before 1808. Was Jefferson really elected for president via "slave" votes? Both the author of this text and Wikipedia insinuate towards this. | [
"Congress was not allowed to prohibit the slave trade before 1808, whether through legislation or constitutional amendment. The 3/5ths clause was separate from this prohibition and was never an [entrenched](_URL_0_) part of the Constitution, so it could legally have been repealed in 1804 if this proposed amendment had been ratified. Of course, it would never have passed enough state legislatures, and as far as I can tell it was never proposed by Congress either, unlike the 12th Amendment."
] | [
"Yes they did, but like most other declarations of rights the right it contains can be limited by law (articles 4 and 5) and the declaration permits imprisonment as punishment (article 7), so infringing on someone's rights legally and as part of a punishment for something that needs to be illegal for the good of society is entirely in line with the declaration. And since several of these articles are specifically about conditions of imprisonment (7, 8 and 9) excluding prisoners from the declaration would make them useless. Though a small note, the declaration of the rights of man and of the citizen is not a constitution. The constitution was adopted in 1791. And another note, it's a matter of debate how much of the declaration applied to women. Quite a lot of people during the revolution would have disagreed with you on them being entirely excluded."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Why is the Korean DEMILITARIZED Zone called that when it's anything but? Is the name supposed to be ironic? | [
"Well, it actually is demilitarized. The border area is indeed heavily militarized, but there is a space of no man's land about two miles wide in which no military are allowed. A buffer zone, as it were, with the one exception being the Joint Security Area, which can have an agreed-upon number of troops. The total lack of activity has turned the DMZ into one of the best nature preserves in the world."
] | [
"Imagine if the Westboro Baptist Church formed an army, created it's own little state for itself in the middle of the US, and aggressively killed anyone with differing views. Now just change religions, and move it to the Middle East and you're not too far off target."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What are some areas of history with little written about them? | [
"For a bachelor's thesis, I would think small, like an author study or a book study. I would pick a book/author who isn't super popular but lived in a well-researched society. Maybe some random guy from a source-book you have used in class. For example: there is a ton on Roman late antiquity and a ton on early Christianity, but there might not be a ton on an author you liked from your ancient history source book. I'm thinking someone like Orosius or who has good body of work but who isn't already super famous to modern people. This type of topic is good because you limit yourself to a small amount of primary documents that you can really sink your teeth into while also having a lot of secondary material to use to better understand your topic. This can also be for any time period and your author can be a novelist, historian, poet, lawmaker, letter-writer, essayist, graffiti artist, etc."
] | [
"What are some of the primary sources that you have found? This sounds interesting. Would you recommend any books for a fun read?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
When learning about U.S. History, it seems that the narrative is that of the executive office. What historians have done the most admirable work documenting Congressional History? | [
"Robert Caro in his bio of LBJ's days in the senate in Master of the Senate does a great job of documenting what things were like in the 1950s."
] | [
"What happened in the past shapes what happens in the present and future. Learning history means learning not only what worked and didn't work for earlier societies, but how their way of life evolved into ours. Plus, history has some wicked awesome stuff."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Are there any good examples of pirates participating in or generally supporting slave rebellions? | [
"In the 1570s, several English pirates (from the Spanish view) allied with bands of runaway slaves in Panama. These included Francis Drake and John Oxenham. Eventually, Spanish military efforts resulted in peace accords with the slaves and the foundation of two free black towns in Panama, the first in the Americas. There is a nice synopsis in a relatively recent article by Ruth Pike: Pike, Ruth. \"Black rebels: the Cimarrons of sixteenth-century Panama.\" The Americas 64.2 (2007): 243-266."
] | [
"I'd like to hijack this and ask a follow up question: What sort of laws did the Romans have regarding treatment of slaves as opposed to the USA?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
How were the United States of America divided into the Nifty Fifty we have today? | [
"Mark Stein's [*How the States Got Their Shapes*](_URL_0_) is a nice quick-and-dirty rundown of how each state came to be the shape it is today. It's just a fun little pop-history book, though. You won't find much in the way of deep, well-sourced historical analysis in it. There's also a [History Channel show](_URL_1_), based on Stein's book and hosted by Mark Unger. It's OK."
] | [
"Follow up. What's a territory as well in this context? How was say, Puerto Rico viewed as a territory and not a protectorate?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
What is History? Having read Carr, Evans and many others I can't find a simple answer | [
"I admit to being a little unsure of what you are asking for. Who are these \"others\" you need to defend history to? Are you defending the practice of history, the discipline of history, the status of historical work, its value in the modern world (value to whom and for what purpose?), or your choice to study it? These are all very different questions, as you can appreciate. I wonder, perhaps, if the reason you find the question so vexing is because you have posed it too broadly, in the same way that many other seemingly vexing questions (e.g. \"Do humans have free will?\") become more clear if you restate them in terms of what you hope to do with the answers (e.g. \"Should we hold people responsible for their actions?\")."
] | [
"I'd like to talk about postmodernism, I think. I'll admit I'm a few beers to the good, but I've always believed that this can only aid understanding of postmodernist historical theory. As a proud member of the institution that gave Derrida his honourary degree, I often hear the argument that postmodernism has given history a great deal, such as the radical idea that sources might need to be interpreted and so forth. My question to the floor is that is this simply postmodernists claiming victory over something that is obvious and has been since Ranke, or is that simply my postmodern education making it seem far more plain than is actually the case? I've long been suspicious of postmodernism since enjoying Carr's What Is History a very great deal, and feel like I'm yet to understand its approach (inasmuch as it can be described as having one) to History."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
During the Age of Sail in times of war (e.g. War of Spanish Succession, American Rev., Napoleonic Wars) how risky was it to travel and tour around by boat/ship or just sail for pleasure? How risky was it if I were just a civilian and I encounter an enemy's warship? | [
"**4.** On the whole, pirates tried to avoid getting entangled with naval vessels, especially something large like a frigate, so for you to hang around with one would give you a fair level of immunity from pirates. However, depending on your own nationality you might want to think twice about going near a frigate. The British in the Caribbean tended not to bother stopping small vessels like your fishing boat, but the Spanish were a different matter. The Spanish naval presence in the Caribbean was fairly limited most of the time, but they relied heavily on *Guarda Costas*, privateers with coast guard duties, who were noted for their unscrupulousness in picking up trading vessels of other nations and imprisoning their crews."
] | [
"they really didnt. But often you knew where ships were likely to be. There are only so many ports, and the bigger a ship the bigger a port it needs to be able to dock. A pirate might wait in the shipping lanes a day or two outside of a busy port and wait for a target. Or he might wait for a ship to dock and become a sitting target in an undefended port. A third choice is to cruise near nautical choke points like between islands or outside sandbars. Large convoys of vessels also usually took predictable routes, there was a range of a few degrees which offered the fastest trip to and from Europe due to trade winds and currents, and ships tried to avoid sailing in storm and hurricane season so there tended to be a good deal of activity when it was optimal for sailing. Once a ship was in sight it was then just a matter of who was the better seaman, or which ship was to windward, and in many cases some luck. Ships might be in sight but 20 miles away and still be in a chase."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
What did people think static shocks were pre-electricity | [
"There's always room for discussion, but perhaps the section [Ancients' views of static electricity](_URL_0_) will answer your inquiry."
] | [
"It works but media has wildly wildly mislead you on what it is and if you look up what it actually is you will basically say \"oh, is that all\" in it being a guided meditation state instead of it being wacky mind control power."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
I have some things here I was hoping you guys could identify what they are! | [
"Those are some very interesting pieces & I hope someone here can identify them for you. In the meantime, consider cross-posting to [r/WhatIsThisThing](_URL_0_). They may be able to help."
] | [
"I believe it has something to do with the light setting off a reaction in the paint because of the materials they used when painting them. It causes it to decay and fall apart. I'm not entirely sure though, so if I'm wrong someone please correct me."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
The Versailles treaty's article 246 concerns the delivery of a human skull. What happened with it? | [
"How do we tag this thread and responses for the best-of-the-year roundup? This is a great unique question and the answers are very interesting."
] | [
"I am astonished to report that this is in fact true. Treaty of Versailles Article 282: ... (22) Convention of November 16 and 19, 1885, regarding the establishment of a concert pitch. ... _URL_0_ This is part of a list of 26 rather technical and fiddly treaties and conventions that the new Germany agrees to be part of. I, too, would be delighted to hear more about it, but I wouldn't take it too seriously as a sign of widespread international concern over concert pitch."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
I started /r/Simulate, a new idea collective dedicated to dreaming the most realistic geopolitical history simulator ever and playing it as a 4X strategy game. Can you submit some sources dedicated to quantitative methods of modeling history or any era? | [
"This seems awesome, and I kind of want to contribute. However, I lack money and programming skills :( What I can point you to is [Zompist](_URL_0_). It's a collection of one guy's worldbuilding and linguistics projects. There's an [algorithm to randomly generate vocabulary for a new language](_URL_2_), [another for applying sound changes to dialects](_URL_1_), and [an explanation of language creation](_URL_3_). He also has a completely fictional created planet, called Almea, which he writes about on his website. Might give you some ideas. I believe he has a book for sale on fictional world creation, but I don't know if it would be worth buying."
] | [
"Are you asking how the mechanics of city states works in the context of Civ 5? Or are you asking what city states in real life are? Two really different questions."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question about Artificial Intelligence:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text about Artificial Intelligence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
In his book "How to Win Friends and Influence People", Dale Carnegie said that he angered a person he was writing to by ending a letter with the phrase "dictated, but not read". Why was that such an insult at the time? | [
"It means that the person writing the letter didn't care enough about the message or the recipient to bother personally proofreading the message. They just dictated it off to a secretary, and then didn't even bother to check that the typist had gotten their words correct. This suggest that the person or message is so unimportant to the originator that they couldn't be troubled to take three minutes and quickly proofread their own message. However \"Dictated but not read\" was particularly insulting in personal letter, whereas in certain kinds of business and medical settings, it was common for short casual communications of the sort that we most use e-mail for today. I've only seen the phase still used today in medical settings where the doctors still get their clinical dictation notes transcribed by typists."
] | [
"The request was phrased in a polite way. That is why you cannot decline it with a simple “no”. To decline without being rude, you must match the tone of the request. Something like “I’m terribly sorry, but dead lizards make me uncomfortable as well” would work."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
I read that Greenlanders, under Norwegian and Danish influence, pushed into north America 500 years before Columb us. What maps, or other evidence, support this. Did they contact American aborigines? | [
"Are you talking about the Vinland sagas? These are stories about a guy \"Erik the Red\" who was thrown out of Norway for being a murderer. He settled in Iceland for a while and got into more trouble, which encourages him to seek new land to settle. The two books you want are: \"Saga of the Greenlanders\" and \"saga of Erik the Red\" There has been research into the contents of these stories, and there is archeological evidence of a Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland which is dated to the correct time period. But I think it would be incorrect that it was \"greenlanders\" who did the exploration..."
] | [
"America was discovered that way some 10-20 thousand years before Europeans found it. That is how the natives got there."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about history:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text about history:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Where does the term "STUDIO APARTMENT" come from, and is it related to an artist's studio? | [
"The OED entry for \"studio flat\", a synonym that inspired the Americanism \"studio apartment\", says that the term originally (late 19th century, perhaps earlier) referred to an apartment which would be suitable for use as an artist's studio. The term probably entered real-estate jargon from there. One of the attestations included, in an architectural publication from the late 1940's, especially reinforces this etymology: > At the foot of the San Jacinto mountains, this small group of studio apartments is keyed to the needs..of a specific class of tenant—artists who spend part of the year in Palm Springs. By 1970 it seems that the term had become applicable to any sort of one-room dwelling (this quotation from a novel): > He had what they call a studio flat—bed, gas fire and tiny kitchenette."
] | [
"So when and where did playing cards as we know them come into being anyways?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
I've heard that a secret goal of the space race was to put nuclear weapons in orbit. If this is true, why didn't we follow through with it? | [
"I'm not sure where you heard that. I mean, the space race was always dual-use — you can use a rocket to put a satellite into orbit, or a nuke onto another country. There were some ideas, from early on, about how you would weaponize space, both with nuclear and non-nuclear weapons. But it isn't anything fancy to put a nuclear weapon into orbit, in and of itself. There were ideas about developing \"weapons platforms\" but they were never the main reason that the US or USSR were interesting in going into space. From a strategic point of view, there are many disadvantages to putting weapons permanently into orbit, as opposed to just keeping them on the ground (where you have physical control over them) and launching when needed. As for why space remained weapon-free, it's because of the [Outer Space Treaty](_URL_0_) of 1967. It very clearly prohibits all militarization of space, especially with nuclear weapons."
] | [
"It's really expensive, and not incredibly valuable scientifically to send humans to the moon. You are far better off spending those dollars on probes sent to other planets and moons in the solar system. The only justification for sending humans to the moon is to 1.) Prove you can do it, and 2.) One up the Soviet Union."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about science and technology:",
"pos": "Represent the document about science and technology:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What languages did CS Lewis speak? | [
"In his autobiography *Surprised By Joy* Lewis talks about studying Latin, French, and German (as a teenager) with a tutor and the tutor's wife. He specifically notes that his German \"has remained that of a schoolboy,\" so we can at least assume that he was less proficient in that language than in the others. *How* proficient he was in the others I'm not sure, since he doesn't mention much about it beyond the fact that the study method employed by the tutor and his wife was to set Lewis to translating as much of his assigned foreign-language text as he could, on his own, and then go over it with him afterwards. But those three languages at least I know he did study and learn to an extent, and he does mention that this study method worked pretty well."
] | [
"Which language do you think would be the best to switch to?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
According to Wikipedia, the earliest "joint stock company" was in 1250 in Toulouse. However, businessmen in Song China are known to have set up joint stock companies even earlier. Is there any link or is it independent invention? | [
"I recently read this article over in /r/economics that you might find interesting. _URL_0_?"
] | [
"'Crown Corporations' are the original corporations, dating back to the early colonial days. The idea would be that money would be set aside by the government to achieve a task, and people would be hired and paid to do that thing. Most colonial projects were crown corporations - you're probably familiar with the East India Company for example. Joint-Stock Companies were an invention that came at around the same time as the American revolution. This was the idea that lots of rich people could finance their own corporation. But prior to that, all corporations were branches of government designed to complete a specific task, like operating a ferry or colonizing an island. Virgin, like the BBC, was a British Crown Corporation."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Why didn't the British Army issue extra magazines for the Lee Enfield when it was in Service. | [
"Well with the magazine seated in a Lee-Enfield pattern rifle you can load it quickly with clips. All you have to do is open the bolt and slide a clip in, load it. And repeat for the second clip in order to fully load the Enfields 10 round magazine. Clips are also extremely cheap; heck I just bought five online for $5.00 with shipping. While a magazine could cost in multiples of excess of that. In addition clips are very light weight compared to multiple magazines. Which are also comparatively bulky. As a former soldier I'm sure you would appreciate anything that saves you haven't to lug several extra pounds. Further with a bolt action rifle (even the famous Enfield) accuracy and range are prized more over rapid fire. That is why militaries adopted machine guns. So lacking multiple magazines for quicker firing is not as large of a concern to a pre-1950s army. TL;DR Clips are cheaper than magazines."
] | [
"Pretty much everyone had a semi-auto rifle in development or limited deployment by 1939, but the European powers were already at war by then, and trying to swap out millions of service rifles in the middle of a war is extremely expensive. The US had a few extra years to get the M1 Garand into production and get the bugs worked out."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Who was the first person to think of using TV screens as all purpose information display devices (IE basically what a modern computer monitor does), instead of just as means of receiving and viewing entertainment? | [
"From an engineering standpoint they have always been interchangeable. Displaying an image is all the same. Displaying bitmapped characters is not that hard either. The issue was what performance you were willing to pay for. A good computer monitor was thousands of dollars in the early 70s, but so was the computer. As the circuit integration levels increased, the cost of a low end minicomputers and hobbyist computers got down to the point where people would accept working on the relatively low resolution screens that the television standards worked at, typically 250 scan lines on a screen. This is what led to first wave of computers such as TRS-80, AppleII, and later Atari 800 and Commodore 64. The big turning point was with the development of digital flatscreen TVs and you could show a lot more information. At this point we are getting inside the 20 year rule."
] | [
"A TV has equipment inside of it to pick up radio broadcasts of TV stations & speakers to play sounds. A monitor is just a display."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
The Imperial Japanese Navy and Army seem to have hated each other with a passion. How did this enmity come about? | [
"Possibly a follow-on question (or maybe part of the answer)? There was a reply in \"Why didn't the Japaneese help or aid the Germans against the USSR in WW2, and instead go full on war with the US?\", by /u/kieslowskifan at _URL_0_ . It notes a divergence between the IJA and IJN after the Russo-Japanese War. > The IJA favored a continental approach with a Japanese-led regeneration of the Chinese and the creation of various imperial satellite states within the East Asian mainland. The navy favored what became to be known as the \"Southern Drive\" for the natural resources and the seizure of the resource-rich lands of Southeast Asia. Was that the first cause of the hatred? Or did such hatred exist before, or did it only develop long after?"
] | [
"It's been seventy-five years since world war two. Pearl Harbour - when Japan attacked the US - occurred in 1941. That's a whole lot of water that's flowed under the bridge, and more than plenty of time for the leadership and political philosophy (where China moved over to Communism) of both countries to change substantially. The US being diametrically opposed to Communism had a lot to do with that shifting allegiance, as did China's somewhat aggressive expansionist policies. Plus, during that same war, the US was allied with Russia to take on the European theater, so the country played nice with Stalin even though only 20 years later the \"cold war\" where the two were mortal enemies was in full swing. War creates allies out of necessity, not out of preference. People weren't exactly thrilled to be in bed with the Chinese or the Russians back then, but it happened, and that little affair didn't last long."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
At several points in his life, Napoleon entertained ideas of invading India. How serious were these plans? | [
"Beyond the Egyptian Adventure, it was nothing but idle musing. In respect to how his coup and subsequent Imperial reign, Continental Europe and France's European enemies took far more attention than a land invasion of India to punish the British. Further, I would argue even further that the creation of the Continental System (created to ruin the British economy) was meant to take place of an Indian invasion since that was a more feasible method of striking British trade."
] | [
"Quick example answer: In the mid seventeenth century it was a relatively common assertion, at least among his political enemies, that Charles I of England had arranged the fatal poisoning of his father, James VI/I, when all official records indicated otherwise."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
How did early mathematicians perform calculations? Was it on paper? If so, we're these people very wealthy since paper was a expensive commodity? | [
"\"Early\" is a pretty tricky time frame here. Can you give some more guidance? For example, the \"earliest\" mathematical work (e.g., from Ancient Mesopotamia) that we have found was recorded on clay tablets. The tools that mathematicians used have varied dramatically by place and time, from clay tablets to the abacus to the chalk board to the modern computer."
] | [
"Custom and practice. If you build it and it falls down, you do it again differently. When it works, you keep it like that. That, and people weren't stupid or uneducated - the Greeks were fairly capable mathematicians, as were the Egyptians"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer about Architecture:"
} |
I'm an Russian during the Great Purges. How do I survive? | [
"If you're in the military you don't want to be an officer. The higher your rank the more likely you were to be caught up in the purge. When you get to divisional commanders and above you were lucky to survive the purge. There were cases of high ranking officers who one day would be presiding over a trial and the next day they'd be the ones on trial."
] | [
"Depends on where you learn your war history. U.S. History emphasises the U.S. role. Australian history emphasises the Australian story. Would be interesting to hear from someone in france how it is described there. Russian kids don't call it WWII - it is called the Great Patriotic War."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about history:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument about history:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Has there ever been an American that was successful in British politics? | [
"Nancy Astor, who was born in Virginia as Nancy Witcher Langhorne, took Waldorf Astor as her second husband and was the first woman to actually take her seat in the House of Commons (though she was not the first woman to be elected to the House of Commons; Countess Markievicz had that distinction, but was inconveniently detained in Holloway Prison). Astor was not tremendously influential politically, being regarded more as a social power. However, for an American to achieve such high social station as she did AND to be elected into the British House of Commons (particularly as a woman), she did rather well."
] | [
"My understanding is that the recession crippled his ability to govern. Combine that with the fact that he ran out of patience with the scum that are career politicians...and his reign was mostly ineffective. My opinion is that he could have been a good governor had the circumstances been different. Nobody could have done well during the time period he was governor though."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
How did the people and governments in China, Japan, etc, react when they learned of the New World to the East of them? | [
"In the 17th century Japan was only vaguely aware in the context of \"here is another place that is being completely overrun by Christianity\". Whether that played a role in the closure is uncertain. They did continue to update their maps of the world with the assistance of the Dutch, and were apparently aware of the existence of the United States by the time Perry arrived."
] | [
"Was any Asian country capable of helping the United States during the revolutionary war?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Did any of the monarchs visit their distant colonies before the invention of steamboats/aviation? | [
"I don't know of any such incident and I highly doubt it: It took you several months, comfort was lacking, the passage itself was dangerous (storms) and so where the colonies (dieseases). Oh, but I remember one exception: The portuguese king João VI fled Napoleons troops in 1807 and reigned from Rio de Janeiro until 1821. But due to his presence, Brasil immediately ceased being a colony and turned into being an integral part of the kingdom."
] | [
"Actually, in 1400, Europe was just coming out of the Dark Ages, so the changes from 1400 to 1500 are pretty significant. Navigation improved, gunpowder started change the face of warfare, trade routes to the East were established, and the New World was discovered. What followed was the Age of Enlightenment. Quantum leaps in philosophy, science, mathematics, and medicine laid the groundwork for the modern industrial world. Steam power alone changes the face of the world. Add to that greatly improved steel, clocks that works on board ships, telescopes, microscopes, electricity, calculus, the cotton gin, vaccination, powered looms, the fall of monarchies and the rise of democracy, one could argue the changes from 1600 to 1800 were every bit as significant as the last 200 years."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Are survivalists and apocalyptic fears a modern phenomena or have they always been around? | [
"There is a similar question already asked here - _URL_0_"
] | [
"In times of peace and prosperity, people tend to chill out and get more tolerant. In times of strife and desperation, people tend to freak out and hate each other. This is a pattern that has existed throughout all of recorded history, but the last half-century has been a particularly sustained period of success."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Reading Casanova's memoirs have given me some questions about 18th century chocolate consumption | [
"Chocolate was a component in a hot drink for the Aztecs and was introduced to Europe in the 16th century, where it was served as a drink with sugar and vanilla. It was popular drink in coffeeshops for a couple centuries before it started to be used in confections. So I expect having someone over for chocolate would be rather like having them over for coffee. Source: On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee"
] | [
"Current research is in the way humour is used in early modern writing, especially as the flair suggests, black humour. I've been finding Erin Sullivan's 'Beyond Melancholy: Sadness and Selfhood in Renaissance England' a really interesting read to provide background on the other side of humour - sadness - but there's WAY LESS written about comedy in this period. [as an aside, my favourite bit of information from this book is that melancholy is actually registered as an independent cause of death in this period - not suicide, not death by misadventure or some other euphemism, since they have their own categories. Just 'melancholy']. Anyone got any interesting reads to send my way? My remit is fairly broad (poetry/prose/drama/personal writings/religious thought, the works) as long as it's early modern and preferably focused on England though that's not so essential since there's a lot of cultural borrowing in Europe through printed books at this time."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Literature:"
} |
What world history books would you recommend? | [
"An excellent book that covers all of history and is used at a university level is *A History of World Societies* which is written by several scholars. It is quite a read but it is richly illustrated and covers both Europe as well as the rest of the world."
] | [
"What are some of the primary sources that you have found? This sounds interesting. Would you recommend any books for a fun read?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Education:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment about Education:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
In doing some research I came across a document from 1918 with the phrase "Good Night Shirt". Apparently this was a popular phrase of the era, yet I can not find what it meant. Do any historians here know? | [
"I think this might be hard to get a good source on, given its specificity and the simple fact that it is a very dated colloquial phrase. I was able to find little beyond [this](_URL_1_) poem, which may not be of much help. There is also a mention of the phrase in [this](_URL_2_) page, though I fear that may be even worse. It also appears [here](_URL_0_). A few others stated that their grandparents would exclaim it. From what little evidence I can find, it seems that it may simply be a general indicator of surprise, or perhaps an acknowledgement of a result, like \"Bob's your uncle!\""
] | [
"The Gay Nineties is actually a term for the 1890s which was quite common in the early twentieth century (although I imagine it started later than the actual 1890s, as it's obviously a term of nostalgia). I still see it sometimes on collections of sheet music. I'm not sure if that is where the custom of referring to decades like that comes from, or not. I'd be interested in hearing about it from modernists, if anybody here knows!"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
How does the ground level in cities rise over the centuries? | [
"Not to discourage further discussion, but this question has come up before, for instance, with [this answer](_URL_1_) by u/kookingpot and [this one](_URL_0_) by u/sunagainstgold."
] | [
"It shifts to a different part of the earth causing a high tide in that region."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
I found an old relic from Jerusalem left by my grandfather, does somebody know what it is? | [
"Centenarian yes, ancient, no. It looks to be, as adduced by the title page, to be a copy of *Flowers and views of the Holy Land Jerusalem*. You can see a similar copy on eBay here for 30GBP claiming that it's from circa 1905: _URL_1_ Apparently the dried flowers in it are quite real though, but it's not exactly rare: _URL_3_ _URL_0_ _URL_4_ _URL_2_"
] | [
"It looks a lot like a lock I used to have... hard to tell from the pics. I think they were sold to tourists in the Middle East. Mine was inherited from my grandmother."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
1890s -- grammatical constucts | [
"Many of these differences are simply stylistic. Different countries and different time periods have different traditions/norms for newspaper article writing. Certain phrases fall out of style while others become more accepted. There's [a journal article from 1983](_URL_1_) which presents a study of readability which points to these differing traditions, at least from the perspective of national traditions. Other [research has been done](_URL_0_) on stylistic changes in headlines. There's surely more to be found as far as analysis, but I'd have to do some digging to get you specific studies. Generally though, it all comes down to shifting stylistic traditions."
] | [
"Same difference between color and colour. Continent-based spelling differences."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Which medieval state had the most dangerous citizenry? | [
"Mongolia or any of the various steppe nomad societies of Central Asia are probably the most troublesome general populace (I don't know if they are citizenry) to any medieval \"political state.\" Most feudal armies are typically elites that subsist on peasant labor. Nomadic herders are trouble to repress because they have no lands or farms that can be easily captured. Their herds and families are highly mobile, and can't easily be found and captured without the kind of logistics a medieval state did not have. Lastly, the steppe herding lifestyle meant the military skills of riding and bowmanship were inculcated from childhood."
] | [
"Not an answer, but a question to add onto this, did the Roman Legion have a series of camp followers? What was life like for these people?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What would life have been like in 1215 England? | [
"There's a great book titled \"1215: Year of Magna Carta\" that addresses your question. Each chapter deals with one or more items in the Magna Carta (the 1215 version), and explains what was going on that inspired that section. It goes over big issues, such as the interactions between King John and King Philip II of France, but it also spends time going over details such as what education opportunities were available to general folks, marriages and other aspects of social life, as well as the training of knights, their equipment, etc. One interesting section of many in the book goes over \"forests\": how they were declared, what restrictions were in place, and how people were able to raise revenue from them. This is, of course, a major backdrop of the Robin Hood story."
] | [
"What drugs were popular in 19th century Britain?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Did Pre Industrial Society have the equivalent of "in my day..." or "kids today don't understand"? | [
"Our time is not the only one when rapid changes have occurred in a society, though. I don't know if complaining about the new generations is one of those things that appear as a constant throughout history, but it certainly isn't exclusive to us. Take for instance this fragment from the *Hojoki*, Account from my Ten-foot-square Hut, written in 1212. The context for this quote is the author talking about the relocation of the capital from present day Kyoto to Settsu province. > When one looks at the road, those who should be on carriages, are riding horses; many of those who should wear court costumes or hunting robes are dressed like commoners. Manners in the Capital have certainly taken a turn for the worse. They're no different from uncouth rural warriors. As expected, we hear omens about chaos in the world. The days keep going by, but our society is agitated, and the hearts of men are not in peace. **Edit:** A word."
] | [
"Here's what I learned from this thread: - Life wasn't really that good anyway - It's my own fault for not saving - My standards are higher than people back then - We have too many bills now - Women joined the workforce - The politicians did it - The jobs went overseas - Corporate executives are taking more money than before .... This is the first time I left more confused after reading an ELI5."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
My mother once told me that there was a time (before at least the 1980's) when people did not use the word "Cancer" when discussing the disease. What was the reason for this taboo in the US? | [
"As far as I can tell the premise of your question is flawed. I haven't been able to find anything that shows there was any national taboo surrounding the word \"cancer\" prior to the 1980's. Rather I've found several sources from the era in question that *do* use the word. *Edit: [Example #1](_URL_1_), [Example #2](_URL_0_)* This is not to say that there has never been taboo surrounding cancer, or that euphemisms have never been employed to reference it. Simply that I can find no evidence that there was a widespread national taboo on the word prior to the 1980's."
] | [
"My opinion on this is that it is as common nowadays as it was two or three decades ago. But now its more accepted to speak about it. There is no stigma with going to the psychiatrist. Just my opinion."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
For most of history, most people have made their own clothes. Did people use this as a form of personal expression like we see in clothing today, or was clothing similar and generic among social groups? Do we have pictures? | [
"The most obvious example of a group of people using clothing as a statement and form of personal expression are the *[sans-culotes](_URL_1_)* of the French Revolution, who neglected the fashionable knee-breeches of the nobility in favor of practical, workmanlike pants. The distinctive dress of the *sans-culotes* served as a political statement, a uniform, and a form of resistance. If that doesn't answer your question, let me know, I have other examples if you can be more specific as to what you want to know. For further reading: [The Sans-culottes by Albert Sobul](_URL_0_)"
] | [
"In Ancient Egypt and a few other ancient cultures the wealthy lacquered or otherwise painted their nails as a sign of status. The fact that they were able to afford the make-up and lived a leisurely enough life that they did not have to use their hands for labor thus breaking/damaging them was a major thing for the wealthy. That carried on through various cultures up until modernity where make-up became cheap and most people's jobs stopped being physical."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
How did the Cold War end? | [
"> Was there just a new generation of politicians/etc. that decided to actually talk about things? On the Soviet side, yes. Gorbachev's launching of Perestroika and Glasnost altered Soviet society and government enough that they moved further away from Brezhnev's neo-Stalinism toward the 'ideals' of the October Revolution and Khrushchev's detenté. The end of the Cold War was mutually decided on by Gorbachev and Bush, the Soviet collapse came soon after for a multitude of reasons. See the following books: [Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives](_URL_1_) and [Armageddon Averted](_URL_0_)."
] | [
"Only if the federal government let it. See: American Civil War"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
So what's the story behind the European micro-states (Andorra, Lichtenstein, etc)? | [
"This was asked a few months ago and got some pretty good explanations. _URL_0_"
] | [
"While I don't disagree with your question, let me find you some examples which invalidate it: - Belgium is part French part Dutch, different languages, different traditions, different cultures. - Yugoslavia, but that was only a stable country under Tito. - Turkey and its Kurdistan part. - UK (or was it GB?) and Scotland and Northern-Ireland. - The former east and west parts of Germany, still cultural very different. - Czech and Slovakia were split up in the late 1990s IIRC. - Italy and Sicily."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Before modern medicine, or even just the general leaps and bounds in medicine in the last few centuries, how long did people think pregnancies lasted? | [
"Not a historian but a physician. Missing a period was/is the telltale sign of a suspected pregnancy, and it's pretty easy to calculate gestational age from there. There are also obvious physiological changes like the Chadwick's sign (bluish discolouration of the cervix and vagina), and Hegar's sign (softening of the cervix) that are present within 4-6 weeks of pregnancy. It is not far-fetched that non-modern cultures are able to estimate average lengths of gestation from these."
] | [
"If you aren't at risking of starving to death, getting killed in a war, or dying from simple injuries like a cut or a broken bone, you'll live a lot longer. Modern medicine, agriculture, sanitation, and infrastructure all go a long way to prolonging the average human life."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Looking for detailed texts and diagrams on roman warfare + a side question. | [
"You may (*edit:* or may not *- see below*) want to have a look at *De Re Militari* (or *Epitoma Rei Militaris*) by Vegetius. It is a book on the organisation, training and tactics of Roman legions written in pretty much exactly the period you're asking about."
] | [
"I am no expert on the topic, but a wikipedia search of \"athenian forum\" may shed some light on Athenian politics. You can also use the \"simple english\" language mode for pre-made ELI5 types of encyclopedia entries. The same goes for a search of Spartan government."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Education:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Education:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What resources should I know about so I can draw Civil War Union soldiers during 1864 accurately? | [
"David Miller's *The Illustrated Directory of Uniforms, Weapons, and Equipment of the Civil War* is regarded as the gold standard work on Civil War militaria. Robin Smith and Ron Field's *Uniforms of the Civil War: An Illustrated Guide for Historians, Collectors, and Reenactors* is more of an entry-level text, but is very accessible. You may also find it worth buying one of Don Troiani's art books. He does meticulous research into his Civil War scenes and does a great job capturing the essence of Civil War soldiers in camp and combat."
] | [
"Do you have a period you specifically want to know about? This is ranges from slightly different to totally different if we're talking about Asia Minor and Syria circa 333 B.C., Italy in 216 B.C., Gaul 500 A.D., Palestine 1066 A.D., Brandenburg in 1630/31 A.D., Silesia in 1740 A.D. or Sedan in 1870. I'm sure we could whip up some kind of generalized answer but I feel by better knowing what you're thinking about when you ask this question I (or someone else) could provide a more in depth, specific answer tailored to you."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
History grad school decisions | [
"1) No one cares what languages you can speak. They care about what you can read. You would also need to show that you have these skills in an application--say by including french or german sources in a writing sample. If you're doing classics, you will need to read Latin and Greek, I believe. 2) That undergrad GPA is low. It helps that you went to law school, and shows you can handle graduate classes. But thats it. Its largely irrelevant, unless you are doing legal history. 3) I don't know. Look up the schools of scholars you like. 4) The job market is horrendous. Its worse than the legal market. Its even worse for classicists. 5) Not good. 7) Honest opinion? Anyone that pays for a humanities phd and isn't independently wealthy is a fool. Funding is a must. The job market is horrendous, and in the 5+ years that you are in school interest will be accruing on your debt."
] | [
"Part of an essay prompt on your take-home final."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Historiography: I’m looking for resources on collecting oral histories from populations that are often neglected or are difficult to convince to participate. | [
"Very interesting question! I have done several oral history projects with former and current drug addicts in Northeast Florida. My best results have come from contacting institutions *around* subjects: rehab, NA/AA, drug courts, clinics, etc. Your project is a little more difficult. Maybe try the vice or sex crime division of your local police force? Lay out the parameters of your project in an email to a relevant official. They will know if those in their orbit will (or are legally able to) talk with you. Remember that this profession revels in selective secrecy. Make your best attempt to keep everyone involved at ease. Feel free to PM me for more information about my methods."
] | [
"Please don't throw them away! A massive problem for historians trying to study the day to day lives of people outside the ruling classes of society is the lack of written documents concerning their lives. The problem is, as you have said, that people regard these letters as superfluous due to their content and don't bother preserving them or just throw them away. This leads to a shortage of actual primary sources that we can use to find out about the day to day lives of ordinary people. Letters between ordinary people are a useful way of finding out about how they lived, what things were of greatest concern to them (usually mentioned frequently in letters or often at the beginning) and what relationships they had. It might be worth trying to find someone who can do a proper transcription and translation and give you a better idea of what the letters say. I'm sure future generations of your family will be fascinated to read about their ancestors lives and to have such a physical link."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Sexually transmitted diseases | [
"Syphilis could be treated by having a sufferer acquire malaria, a discovery which won Julius Wagner-Jauregg a [Nobel Prize](_URL_0_). Essentially, syphilis could not withstand the heat of a malarial fever."
] | [
"Yes, it can. In fact, the Human Papilloma Virus is one of the leading causes of Cervical Cancer in women. Viruses that lead to cancer are classed together as DNA or RNA Oncoviruses."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What is the earliest documentation of a government providing a social safety net for the poor/elderly/disabled? | [
"I am not certain whether this is the oldest, but the Roman state began to sell subsidized grain to the city's poor populous during the second century BC. By the first century BC, this had transformed in large part to a grain dole. This practice continued in one form or another throughout the Republic and early/mid-Empire."
] | [
"Obamacare is a catch-all term relating to the changes to the healthcare system done via the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It isn't a system really in itself. Medicare is a healthcare system where the elderly can have a portion of their healthcare costs paid by a government organization which is funded from most citizens every paycheck. Medicaid is similar, except it's for the poor/disabled."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
What was Viking hygiene like? | [
"This ritual is a direct reference to Ibn Fadlan's account of crossing paths with people usually identified as being Norse \"Vikings\" in 921. (Viking is technically a verb. The Norse people would go viking and preform the actions we associate with \"Vikings\") > Every day the slave-girl arrives in the morning with a large basin containing water, which she hands to her owner. He washes his hands and his face and his hair in the water, then he dips his comb in the water and brushes his hair, blows his nose and spits in the basin. There is no filthy impurity which he will not do in this water. When he no longer requires it, the slave-girl takes the basin to the man beside him and he goes through the same routine as his friend. She continues to carry it from one man to the next until she has gone round everyone in the house, with each of them blowing his nose and spitting, washing his face and hair in the basin. Online Translation Source: _URL_0_"
] | [
"What drugs were popular in 19th century Britain?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Before tourism was a thing, was there any point to finding a pretty beach? For example in the age when the Caribbean was explored and mapped. | [
"For sailors, at least, finding and charting beaches was very useful. Ships had to be replenished with fresh water and sometimes provisions, and finding a smooth beach with calm surf allowed ships to land boats, explore, and find streams and sources of food. A sheltered harbor would be even better than a beach, of course, but the presence of a beach usually implies decent ground for an anchor to hold in and makes communication between the ship and the shore much easier."
] | [
"There's always somewhere else to explore. In the 1400s I'm sure the could have spent money to solve the problems of their time."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
I'm an able bodied man from East Germany during the cold war, if I really wanted to, how hard would it be for me to get to west Germany and how likely would I be to succeed? | [
"Acording to [this table](_URL_0_) your chances of succes would have been like 20-25%. The 2nd collumn is all succesful attempts of that year and the 5th collum are all unsuccesful attempts. How hard it would have been is dependent on a lot of factors, it could be easy for instance: you are allowed to travel to the west and you just don't come back. Or if you are really determined you build yourself a hot air baloon."
] | [
"There's usually very little they can do to physically stop you going to a banned country, but when you come back into the country they'll want to know where you've been, and they won't like what you tell them, and there may be consequences. Those consequences are rarely auto-severe. It'll ruin your week, maybe your month, but you'll be alive and free afterwards, assuming they like the things you say about where you've been. \"I went to north korea to learn how to cripple the west\" is probably on the list of things they don't want :)"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Tuesday Trivia | Wrongly Accused | [
"Well, speaking of Napoleon, he's often wrongly accused of shooting the nose off of the Sphinx, when it's pretty clearly stated to have been destroyed already in a 15th century Arab source, and the destruction was attributed to a Sufi iconoclast."
] | [
"Check out Robert E. May's *Manifest Destiny's Underworld*."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
I found a photograph of JFK in an old house. Is it anything significant? | [
"It's from when he visited the nuclear plant at Hanford, Washington. [The address he gave is online](_URL_0_). The guy over his left shoulder looks like Senator Henry \"Scoop\" Jackson. The other guy, in glasses, might be Senator Warren Magnusson."
] | [
"Native Floridian, never heard a word about this. Any sources?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
American Revolution reading list? | [
"You've got to read Gordon Wood's *The Radicalism of the American Revolution.* Not only is it a fine book (some would say *the* authoritative work,) but it's also the only bit of historiography that has made it into [an Oscar-winning film.](_URL_0_)"
] | [
"Are there any good introduction books to historiography in general? JFK in particular? Thank you"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Was trial by combat ever a "thing" | [
"Yes, they were a thing. Have a look at this [thread](_URL_0_) by /u/TheGreenReaper7 from a few weeks ago. It was in response to a question virtually identical to yours."
] | [
"Here is a [link](_URL_0_) to a thread with some info I wrote on the history and practice of \"trials by water\" during the Medieval period, namely that the purpose was not to kill the accused, and that during the period of its accepted use as a legal practice it was not specifically related to witchcraft accusations."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
How long have week been keeping track of what year it is and how did it start? | [
"hi! This question would be worth x-posting to our sister sub r/AskAnthropology or any of the other archaeology subs, e.g. r/Archaeology or r/AskScience. IIRC the oldest calendar found so far was just discovered a couple of years ago."
] | [
"Thirteen-three-oh-three is like seven years old, and was mooted like five years ago. Can you explain the question, please?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
Why were nightcaps used and when did the practice die out? | [
"Are we talking about the clothing that goes on your head, or the drink served after dinner?"
] | [
"So when and where did playing cards as we know them come into being anyways?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
I've seen "Parting is such sweet sorrow" listed in many places as a Kurdish proverb. Is this false or did Shakespeare borrow this line? | [
"I don't think very many Kurdish Proverbs were proverbially in English. So, I doubt that \"Parting is such sweet sorrow\" was ever a Kurdish proverb (though some similar sentiment in Kurdish may be a Kurdish proverb, for all I know). Shakespeare did not know Kurdish. He was very unlikely to have any sources for Kurdish proverbs. I think we can say, with a great deal of certainty, that Shakespeare created this line, and that it owed nothing to Kurdish proverbs."
] | [
"First it all, goodbye is just an English word, not some kind of universal Western expression. Furthermore, it's not the only expression used for that purpose in English, there is also \"farewell\" which has cognates in many other Germanic languages."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Those of you who work in the field of history, what is one thing you wish you knew as a undergraduate? | [
"As a history grad student, I'd say something I've found important is looking for not just an adviser you want to work with, but a department with possible \"back up\" advisers who are a little close to your interests. These people can help hugely in a wide variety of situations: you decide to shift focus (i.e. from 17th to 18th century, or from Italy to Spain, etc); you and your adviser just don't \"mesh\" (personality conflicts are really difficult to predict), or your adviser leaves/passes away unexpectedly. In my cohort, I know of four or five (of about 12) who ended up switching advisers after the first few years (myself included). Basically, make sure you're not at a department where you're working with the *only* person who is relevant to you. There was quite a few places where I applied that, had I needed/wanted to switch advisers, it would have been a very, very difficult thing to do."
] | [
"Hmmm... what did I do with my degree? I put it in a folder on my bookshelf and got a job in the semiconductor industry so I could afford a house to put the bookshelf in. But honestly, I wouldn't be where I am without the degree. The study of history is fundamentally an exercise of paying attention to detail and knowing how disparate pieces of data fit together to form a bigger picture. Which is pretty much what I do for a living. It isn't the path I'd planned but here I am. And no matter where you go, there you are."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
How was the US government able to muster enough support to pass the 16th Amendment allowing taxation of income? | [
"At the time of the Amendment's passage, tariffs on imported goods and excise taxes on produced goods were the primary sources of government revenue. The burden of the tariffs fell disproportionately on the rural areas of the country (a much larger percentage of the population than today), since it raised the prices of the goods that they bought. They favored an income tax because it would largely be paid by urban workers and industrialist who had regular income, rather than them. The industrialized Northeast opposed the 16th amendment for this reason and favored keeping tariffs high. Support for the 16th was weakest there, and strongest in the agricultural South and Mid-West."
] | [
"The two biggest events that took away power from the States and gave it to the Federal Government was the US civil war, and the expansion of the use of the Commerce Clause of the constitution to do things like ending segregation in the South."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
When did people become aware of the lack of gravity in space? | [
"Your question is phrased a little bit ambiguously. There is not a lack of gravity in space, gravity is present throughout the universe. Are you instead referring to the weightlessness experienced by astronauts in orbit?"
] | [
"Because when you were a kid, you were largely unaware of the problems of the time."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
To what extent did evangelical "Gog and Magog" apocalypticism influence American foreign policy? | [
"Any answer would be speculative, however Reagan did have close ties to some fundamentalist preachers and indeed he did seem to understand himself to have a role in God's plan (so could be said for most Christians). For a more detailed answer I think you will find just what you're looking for in Paul Boyer, *When Time Shall Be No More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture*"
] | [
"Can any early/colonial US historians speak to the evolution of the historiography of Puritanism and the Puritans in this country, especially as it has developed/changed in recent decades? What are the current debates and stakes of those debates surrounding the historiography of Puritanism as it relates to early US colonial culture/politics/society?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.