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Can you recommend a few texts which cover the birth of history as we know it? | [
"This is a pretty big question. To answer it like you want it definitely covers the 3 big civilizations mentioned in any 1000 level World History Course: Mesopotamia, Indus Valley, and the Yellow River region in China. For the first, look for the Sumerians in places such as Ur and Uruk, shown in works such as [*The... | [
"This as incredibly helpful. I'm doing my master's thesis on the historical memory of free black societies in the north. Could you suggest anything worth reading on that subject?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query about Education:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Education:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How Vain were the Vikings? | [
"Medieval Scandinavians were hardly vain, but they did have pride in appearance; we know from sagas that having clean hair and clothes was important, and the most common archaeological finds in Scandinavian graves at this time are combs. There's linguistic evidence, too - the Icelandic name for Saturday is Laugarda... | [
"Next Week's Theme: 'Royalty, Nobility, and the Exercise of Power' To be followed by: \"Eastern Europe\""
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
Looking for info on Royal Canadian Engineers in WWII | [
"I am not familiar with the RCE specifically, but I can at least point you to [Library and Archives Canada](_URL_0_), through which it's possible to order your grandfathers service record. I believe it requires some documents however. You also might want to see if your local library or University library has a copy... | [
"Did you mean in the USA, or in Japan?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
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Did the USSR have business schools? | [
"My father went to the Main School of Planning and Statistics in Communist Poland, which was the only business school in Poland. pretty sure it's called main school of economics now."
] | [
"Did the troops in Vietnam have reliable access to news?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
What type of "business school" training did people get in communist countries? | [
"There was a recent thread on this: [What did economics classes look like in communist countries, particularly in the USSR?](_URL_0_) Excerpting the top answer by /u/suchacleverguy: > ... the focus of their curriculum was much more \"business\" oriented. Microeconomics courses in countries such as Russia focused o... | [
"Follow up question (please don't delete) how influential were nobility titles on economic upward mobility in the Europe of that same time?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
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Are there any interesting cosmic phenomenon in worldwide records from 775 CE? | [
"From the article: > \"It would be fascinating,\" Baker adds, \"if there were some record in China or in the Middle East that reported powerful aurora or some other such event\" around the same time as the observed 14C increase. So we're looking at that area?"
] | [
"I'm sorry, I'd appreciate it if you could clarify your question: what questions were you asked about 1300? I can't think of any event that took place in the exact turn of the century, are you sure it wasn't a question about the 1300s aka the entire 14th century?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
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Short Answers to Simple Questions | March 06, 2019 | [
"In Old Testament Palestine, Israel was told to slaughter the entire population of cities they conquered. There must have been blood everywhere. When people conquered a city in antiquity, did they have a way for cleaning up blood off of city surfaces, or did they just live life with blood on the walls of their kitc... | [
"It's a bit unclear what you're interested in. (Early US education? Mann? Cremin's perspective?) But here are some resources that may help: > Binder, Frederick M. The Age of the Common School: 1830-1865. New York: Wiley, 1974. > > Glenn, Jr., Charles Leslie. The Myth of the Common School. Amherst: University of M... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
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"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
Can you all help me come up with some interview questions to ask my grandfather, who live through the Japanese occupation of Indonesia during ww2? | [
"Do you speak Dutch? There's a great deal of literature in Dutch from camp survivors who later became novelists, and as a writer you might find that as helpful as any formal, non-fiction history books about the period (which I am anyway not qualified to recommend). Wellknown writers in Dutch literature who wrote bo... | [
"I would love to post; unfortunately all I have is anecdotal evidence from my father's family who were upper class South Viets living in Saigon who escaped after the war. If the moderators allow it, I could ask my dad any questions you'd like to know about what happened and what they did!"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
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Did women practicing corseting while pregnant? And if so, how did this not have a detrimental effect on the development of the fetus? | [
"This question has been answered by /u/mimicofmodes under a previous alias [here](_URL_1_) and [here](_URL_2_) and [here](_URL_3_). & #x200B; /u/kittencyistaken asked a similar question about a month ago [here](_URL_0_) and has received no answer."
] | [
"It's not worse for women directly (at least not as far as I'm aware of), but women of childbearing age are cautioned to watch their intake because it can be harmful to a developing fetus."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
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"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Did the M1 Garand's rate of fire offer a significant advantage for American soldiers? | [
"Did it offer an advantage? Yes. Was it a war-winning, decisive advantage? No. Individual infantry weapons (i.e. rifles and machine guns) only accounted for a minority of casualties inflicted by the both sides of in WWII. Though that's not to say that small arms weren't important (hence why the Germans developed th... | [
"Early rifle caliber automatics had to be large to handle the pressure of a bigger cartridge. Large and heavy guns are impractical for a soldier to carry around all day. The BAR (28 lbs , iirc) was developed in the last days of ww1 but was introduced to late too be of any effect to the war effort. Also automatics... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
How did people *feel* about the music of their time? | [
"I am not sure I understand the question entirely, but perhaps you're just not getting a joke that was funny circa 1940. The category of the music was, in the Tin Pan Alley days, called \"novelties\". Some of them- like Barney Google- didn't age well. On the other hand, some of the Spike Jones ones are still pretty... | [
"To be a little less specific, what did people think the future in general would be like before the Industrial Revolution?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
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"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
} |
Alexander the Great supposedly left behind oversized armor to fool enemies his soldier were giants. But what is the original source of that story? | [
"I found the reference, it's in Plutarch not surprisingly. It's in the Life of Alexander Chapter 62, more specifically the reference to the giant armor is 62.4, here is a link to the Greek and English: _URL_4_ This is such as interesting passage because Plutarch is saying that Alexander order these larger than life... | [
"Herodotus writes about seeing a giant Indian ant (whatever that means) kept at the court of the Persian King. Apparently they're really good at eating camels and digging up gold. [Here's the passage](_URL_3_). No body believes it was a giant ant. Different people have different small furry ideas for what this is. ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
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"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Did Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon church, tell a consistent story of his first vision? | [
"Dan Vogel is a historian (not a mormon, not a ex mormon, just a historian). His view is that Joseph Smith created a pious fraud-- a fraud to convince people to convert to Christianity. In this view, the first vision may have begun as a spiritual conversion experience, not unlike the kind most converts experienc... | [
"They are conflicting today, but there was no Christianity until it was invented. To be Christian is to believe that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah of the Jewish religion. So then there were the Jews who disbelieved and the Jews who believed what Jesus was saying is true (now called Christians). To use a more mod... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
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A question about the history of a place name in the UK - "Nanjizal" | [
"hi! well, it's apparently [Cornish for \"low valley\"](_URL_1_) or perhaps [\"howling valley\"](_URL_0_), so you might try to track down some Cornish speakers/linguists in /r/Cornwall, /r/Linguistics or /r/AskUK for more information."
] | [
"_URL_0_ -ham means farm or homestead -pool means harbour -sea isn't really a regular thing, that depends on the city and how it got its name (Swansea may come from old Norse meaning Sveinn's Island, while the sea in Chelsea means wharf)"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
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What historical factors influenced the distinction between Continental and Analytic philosophy? | [
"Here is a good overview: _URL_0_ I would say that there are two kinds of historical factors involved, internal philosophical traditions and external historical events. The two are entangled of course. Partly it's a division of labor that has fallen along linguistic/geographical lines. Certainly without WWII the hi... | [
"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 question:",
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Did H.P. Lovecraft Become Less Racist Over Time? | [
"Not to dissuade other answers, but u/ancienthistory addressed something similar to this in [It's often remarked that author H.P. Lovecraft was incredibly racist even for his time, just how racist was he in comparison to his contemporaries?](_URL_0_)"
] | [
"1. The First Salute by Barbara Tuchman 2. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown 3. The Civil War by Shelby Foote 4. Reconstruction by Eric Foner 5. The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman 6. Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch 7. Brute Force: Allied Strategy and Tactics in the Second World War by John Ellis 8. The... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
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When did it become standard practice for doctors/hospitals to keep detailed records of patients' medical history? | [
"In medieval Europe, medical texts usually did not document patient information like we do today. They described diseases and treatments, but did not give patient examples for the most part. Henry VIII's physician kept very detailed records, though, although this was a little later when this was becoming more commo... | [
"There is a fear, founded or not, that the government will require specific actions or information in order to provided service. Example: \"Oh, you want kidney stone procedure done? Sure, but first we need to see all of your grocery store receipts to see if your diet is causing the problem\" or \"Yes, we will be ha... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
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George Orwell died of pneumonia died in 1950, nearly a decade after antibiotics were synthesised. Why did this disease kill him in spite of treatments being available? | [
"George Orwell didn't die of pneumonia. He died of a burst artery in his lung as a complication of tuberculosis. Source: New York Times, Jan 22 1950."
] | [
"Penicillin was the very first drug found that would directly kill bacteria inside a patient without harming the patient. It was the first time that we could directly cure a bacterial infection. Bacterial infections used to kill millions of people a year. Now they kill very few."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
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Why did the United States go to the moon? | [
"> Its hazards are hostile to us all. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation may never come again. But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice p... | [
"Was any Asian country capable of helping the United States during the revolutionary war?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
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"neg": "Represent the argument:"
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What was the popular opinion of the Act of Union of 1707? | [
"From Herman's The Scottish Enlightenment. Daniel Defoe reported that the talk on Edinburgh's streets was of slavery to the English and taking away the nation. There were riots in Edinburgh, which was placed under martial law. Rioting then spread to Glasgow and Dumfries. When the members of parliament met to sign ... | [
"As a related sub-question, how many Scottish colonies were there prior to 1707?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
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How accurate is the book "1421: The Year China Discovered The World"? | [
"It is absolute garbage. We have a [FAQ section](_URL_0_) with some past discussion of Menzies' mendacity, in which you might be interested."
] | [
"1. The First Salute by Barbara Tuchman 2. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown 3. The Civil War by Shelby Foote 4. Reconstruction by Eric Foner 5. The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman 6. Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch 7. Brute Force: Allied Strategy and Tactics in the Second World War by John Ellis 8. The... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
How accurate is the book "1421: The Year China Discovered the World" by Gavin Menzies | [
"There's always room for discussion, but perhaps the section [Historians' views of Gavin Menzies' \"1421: The Year China Discovered the World\"](_URL_0_) from our FAQ will answer your inquiry."
] | [
"1. The First Salute by Barbara Tuchman 2. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown 3. The Civil War by Shelby Foote 4. Reconstruction by Eric Foner 5. The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman 6. Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch 7. Brute Force: Allied Strategy and Tactics in the Second World War by John Ellis 8. The... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Not sure if this is the place to ask but why does the song "Auld Lang Syne" seem to hold significance in all cultures? | [
"It's also used in quite a number of Japanese shops to denote closing time. I'd like to append a question as to why this is?"
] | [
"Pretty much just throw it out there and hope. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but the portrayals of the practice in BC are largely inaccurate."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
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Since WWI, are there any real accounts of calling in artillery strikes directly on top of your location? | [
"One account I can think was the case of John R Fox who called down one on himself in Italy in 1944 when Germans overran his position killing himself and earning himself a medal of honour (which was bestowed in 1997 by Bill Clinton). He is one of the few coloured men so far awarded a medal of honour. _URL_0_"
] | [
"One of the main tactics used by the American military relies on overwhelming air superiority. Ground forces discover enemy fortifications and locations, and call for bombing runs. And, of course, there's also the matter that the US military is often fighting around the world, and the fastest way to get across the... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
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In the HBO series 'Rome' set during Julius Caesar's dictatorship and later Augustus' bid for power, the two main characters come to run something called the Aventine Collegium by appointment of Mark Antony. Was this a real thing, and if so what was it? | [
"Great comment by /r/AFancyLittleCupcake Also, when you they're tasked with killing people on the \"list,\" that wasn't actually murder, it was state sanctioned \"proscription.\" Like the original concept of outlawing someone, it was the state declaring \"hands off, you can totally kill this guy if you want.\" They... | [
"For one thing, Caesar claimed the title of dictator for life, perverting the forms of the Roman government which allowed for the dictatorship for brief periods of time in emergency situations; many Romans still remembered Sulla's unconstitutional dictatorship, and he stepped down voluntarily. Augustus, however, wa... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
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What was the Confederate States of America's long-term post-war plans at times when it looked like they had the advantage? | [
"Fire Eaters like [John Quitman Moore]( _URL_0_) actually wanted to conquer Mexico and Cuba to gain more land for plantations and shore up Southern power against Northern aggression. He even tried to lead an expedition to conquer Cuba for the South in the mid-1850s."
] | [
"Sure, they could have tried but would have resoundly failed. All major British invasions during the war of 1812 were defeated notably Lake Champlain, Baltimore and New Orleans. Britain couldn't even even gain control of the Great Lakes which was a perquisite for control of most of the Northern states. British succ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
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What's the most trivial reason you know of that a person has been executed for? | [
"For example, until the 1820s, capital punishment was mandatory in England for grand larceny (over 12 pence) and for many other crimes such as relatively small property crimes and stealing animals. There were similar laws in various other societies. Throughout history, it's not unusual to find the death penalty for... | [
"Kinda related question: What are the first records of a last meal being offered to those about to be executed?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
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Question about the New Sweden colony | [
"New Sweden, as a colonial settlement, stretched along the Delaware River for about 70 miles, its broadest point about 35-40 miles at the month of the river; the precise borders are difficult to define as the colony consist of a number of small farms and homesteads, as well as Fort Christina (modern-day Wilmington)... | [
"Unfortunately this will violate the 20 year rule in here. And there isn't really a connection between the Arab Spring and the Ukrainian revolts."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
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How much did race go into the decision to drop the atomic bomb? | [
"There was discussion that I can recall about both enemies (but not the details). However in the end Germanys imminent collapse forestalled any serious decision to drop the bomb on them. Given the level of carpet bombing of cities that preceded the atomic bomb I do no think that they saw the Atomic Bomb as much mor... | [
"Follow up: What *were* his reasons for siding with the British?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
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Can you recommend a book for learning about military logistics throughout the ages? | [
"One classic work is Geoffrey Parker's *The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road 1567-1659: The Logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries’ Wars* (Cambridge University Press, 1972), which usually appears on reading lists for military history courses at the graduate school level. His study is pred... | [
"Just asked this in the other sticky, but maybe this is the better place for it: Does anyone have any good book recommendations about the Nigerian Civil War or about Biafra as a country?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about Education:",
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Elephants have been used as powerful animals of war, but were rhinoceroses ever used or considered? If considered, why were they decided against? | [
"Temperament and intelligence. Rhinoceroses are extremely aggressive and largely unpredictable. While both rhinoceroses and elephants can and will kill you, it’s much, much more likely with rhinoceroses. You can, to a degree, reason with elephants—they’re instinctually social, much like we are. Rhinoceroses are n... | [
"Mere exposure to humans does not cause animals to be domesticated. Domestication is something done by humans, not something that happens by itself. For lions, hippos and giraffes to be domesticated, it would mean that people want to domesticate them for some purpose. For example it would mean humans would want to... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
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Black Jacobins talks about free, propertied Haitian blacks petitioning for political rights on the basis that "'Protestants, comedians, Jews, the relations of criminals’, all had received their political rights from the Assembly. Yet Mulattoes were still excluded." What does comedian mean here? | [
"I suspect it's a 'false friend'. Comedian/comedienne, en francais, means actor. It's a common malapropism even in contemporary French to English usage. Actors were seen as morally wrong by the church and excommunicated and were forbidden burial on sacred grounds (basically every cemetery in France). see Schnusenb... | [
"Slaves in Haiti were well over 90% of the population at the time of the revolt. What they had that slaves in the US didn't have was overwhelming numbers."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
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Did Patton really give that speech? | [
"Well.....yes, but no. Not quite. The exact wording, the stage (him dripping with medals, the American flag in the background) are fabrications, the spirit of it is true. Patton delivered a series of rousing, profanity-laden speeches to units of the newly activated Third Army in early 1944. He continued to deliver... | [
"Another question: Would he even want to get rid of it?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
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Historians who watched Game of Thrones- what historical groups influenced the Unsullied? | [
"In terms of tactics? Most likely the Phalanxes of Alexander the Great's armies, or even the hoplites of the Spartans. The Spartans are probably more of an influence because they were trained for war from birth, and surpassed most groups in their close-order combat style. Of course they could be beaten but I think ... | [
"Godzilla's rampages of Dany's fleet destroyed the Dothraki's prophecies; of the Stallion who mounts the world. So that began their distrust of the sea, and the repeated kaiju landings at Slaver's Bay and other sea based cities such as Meereen both ravaged the economy and led to the widespread thalassophobia in the... | eli5_question_answer | {
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Questions about my great grandfathers military paperwork | [
"Would you mind posting a picture of the document(s) so I can get my bearings? Make sure to blur out your great grandfather's name in accordance with r/AskHistorians' privacy rules. Was your great grandfather a member of the Army of the United States? Beginning [May 14, 1940](_URL_1_), all voluntary enlistments in ... | [
"As for finding records of his service you would have to have one of his surviving kin, you as a grand child do not count, to request copies of his paper work. My mother got a copy of my grandfathers DD214 among other paperwork. _URL_0_ This is the link to how you start. Your best bet to following his steps would ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
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} |
How effective was Iraq's Republican Guard really? | [
"Can you be more specific as to what you mean by \"effective\"?"
] | [
"Was any Asian country capable of helping the United States during the revolutionary war?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
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} |
It is said that Benedict Arnold died wishing to wear his Continental Army uniform, expressing regret at his betrayal. This may be legend, but do we know how he really felt in his later years about what he did, or his attitude towards the United States? | [
"Not to discourage further discussion, but see /u/uncovered-history's answer in [this post](_URL_0_). He also addresses the Continental Army uniform question a little further down the comment chain."
] | [
"The entirety of Nathan's book essentially tackles this question so it's not something that can be answered simply. Did he want to restore power to the emperor? Certainly. Did he think he was going to be effective in doing so by holding people hostage? Almost certainly not. Nathan essentially argues that his variou... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
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Saturday Sources | Sept 28, 2013 | [
"I just read a *really* [interesting article in Slate](_URL_2_) about how once the archives were opened in the 50's, historians changed their tune on Neville Chamberlain and his \"appeasement of Hilter\" during the Munich Crisis. Our popular understanding of his decisions certainly hasn't caught up."
] | [
"It's a bit unclear what you're interested in. (Early US education? Mann? Cremin's perspective?) But here are some resources that may help: > Binder, Frederick M. The Age of the Common School: 1830-1865. New York: Wiley, 1974. > > Glenn, Jr., Charles Leslie. The Myth of the Common School. Amherst: University of M... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What changed in the French economy between 1789 and 1792 that brought it from revolt-inciting misery to a position where it could sustain near constant warfare for the following two decades? | [
"The liquidation of Church property and implementation of more strict controls over Church financial practices certainly helped rebuild the French treasury. There was also a significant overhaul involved in aristocratic tax practices. A significant portion of Napoleon's campaigns were also funded by arguably \"pill... | [
"By being the currency used by two of the most dominant Western powers in history. Britain, through its vast empire over the past century, controlled considerable wealth and a powerful economy, making the Stirling Pound a stable currency. And around the turn of the 20th century, the United States was already cement... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
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How was it in Great Britain 1 year before The Roman Conquest? | [
"Bloody cold and bloody wet, i imagine. Furthmore it was a much less developed region which tended to lean heavily towards hillforts such as Cissbury Ring (A recent example I visited a while back). Agriculture and foraging went on side-by-side however. I have myself encountered archaeological evidence of grain and ... | [
"Edwardian when Edward was king Victorian when Victoria was queen"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
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Napoleonic Wars historians: Was the United States of America technically involved in the Napoleonic wars? | [
"You might want to expand your question by saying what you consider technically involved to mean."
] | [
"Was any Asian country capable of helping the United States during the revolutionary war?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
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Any good books someone can recommend on the Scramble for Africa? | [
"You'll be unsurprised to learn that Thomas Pakenham's *The Scramble for Africa* deals with, well, the Scramble for Africa. It's a pretty good, if slightly by-the-numbers, popular introduction to the period. A good place to start, I'd suggest."
] | [
"I'd like to flip this and ask a question, can anyone shed some light on wintertime survival in Early Medieval Britain and Ireland?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
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Request for Book Recommendations on Late Antiquity/Early Medival/Early Byzantine Roman Empire | [
"As I understand it Peter Brown is basically credited with \"inventing\" Late Antiquity as a period of study, I've read most of \"The World of Late Antiquity,\" which is excellent. The problem, I think you'll find, is that anything about the Arabs tends to be written by an entirely different set of authors. For the... | [
"Huh, literally *just* was involved in a discussion about this topic with a history professor. Here's a list of some of the books he recommended: Ahmad, Anis. Global Ethics, Environmentally Applied: An Islamic View. 2009. Dien, Izzi. The Environmental Dimensions of Islam. The Lutterworth Press, 2000. Murad, Munjed ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Education:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Education:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How many of the French aristocrats who fled to England/Austria/wherever after the Revolution of eventually managed to come back to France? Did Napoleon allow any of them to return? | [
"Napoleon did offer an amnesty to those emigres (I think in 1801) and some took it up. Note that many aristocrats never left, a lot of his officers were nobility that had proven themselves by merit. If my notes from a course on European history are correct, it was part of his concordat with the Pope that settled th... | [
"Okay, so most likely your book is glossing over the Waterloo and more historical parts that explain the politics behind it. After the defeat of Napoleon, the Bourbons returned to power and worked to undo the reforms of the Revolution. Most of Europe was under a reactionary phase which was more repressive and fearf... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
Did ancients scribes ever make typos? If so, what was done to correct them? | [
"The quick answer is: yes! Here are some posts that can get you started * [Spelling errors in historical texts.](_URL_1_) - a post from just a few days ago, featuring /u/XenophonTheAthenian * [When trying to learn ancient languages through written texts, how do historians deal with poor handwriting, grammar mistak... | [
"But if Civilization gets slaughtered or decimated by illness who are they going to tell their history? Our knowledge of history is based mainly on documents. If we don't have them or can't decipher them (as was long the case with hieroglyphics) we won't know much. Also do WE document our history for future civiliz... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
Is the WWII movie representation of Russian and Japanese rush tactics accurate? | [
"Imperial Japanese forces did have men committing to seemingly (and sometimes were outright) suicidal attacks that had no tactical or strategic merit to them. But it's important to realize under what conditions these attacks were made. Suicidal charges were not made by well supplied, rested units that were in good... | [
"Since nobody else has mentioned it, I frequently hear about conscripted forces being used to man the defenses at Normandy. Is this true? What is the ratio of conscripted to german troops?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
} |
The Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) as a statesman | [
"A good starting point -although quite dated - is W. Montgomery Watt's *[Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman](_URL_0_)*. It is the book that the usual question assigned by professors is born from (\"How was Muhammad both Prophet and Statesman?\"), although it definitely has clear limitations (Watt usually fails to look... | [
"Muhammad is considered by Muslims to be the final prophet in a long like of prophets beginning with the roots of Judaism, moving through Christianity and ending with the final updates from the Almighty coming through Muhammad. Muslims view Jesus much like how Christianity views Jewish prophets like Moses or Elijah... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Have there ever been any notable cases in any cultures history of using sadists as spies? | [
"Just a point of nomenclature, but a Sadist enjoys causing pain in others. A Masochist gets enjoyment from receiving pain. To be clear, you are asking about the latter, correct?"
] | [
"I would love to add an addendum to your question as they're similar in oddity concerning children. Do children get some form of talk or counselling after playing violent, racist or vulgar scenes?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
How realistic is the movie Master and Commander? | [
"You might be interested in one of these: * [How accurately do movies such as \"Master and Commander\", portray naval combat in the late 1600- early 1800s? What was naval combat like from a crewman's perspective and was it really as deadly as the movies?](_URL_0_) * [How accurate is Master and Commander's portraya... | [
"One of these is not like the others."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post about movie accuracy:",
"pos": "Represent the passage about movie accuracy:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
How did Cicero's private letters survive? How were they "rediscovered" only in the 1300's? | [
"This is something that would be covered much better in the introduction of most translations to his letters. In short, Cicero even in his own day was known as a prose author of indescribably unique ability, and his reputation only grew after his death. His letters were published by his slave, secretary and compani... | [
"Because we started counting centuries at 0. Year 1 was in the first century, 101 in the second, 701 in the 8th, 2001 in the twenty first. EDIT: added word “centuries” for clarity"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
} |
Did Phoenicians use human blood to consecrate newly built ships by rolling them over slaves while alive? | [
"No ancient source mentions this practice, as far as I know! Human sacrifice among the Phoenicians seems to have been limited to ritual infanticide, which is actually attested more in the colonies of the Western Mediterranean than in the Phoenician mainland. I welcome any corrections or new evidence. And Merry Chri... | [
"Did sailors generally know the name of the ships they're fighting?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
Did any medieval 'cures' (leeches etc.) actually work? | [
"There's lots of room for more contributions on this, but you may be interested in these posts * [Sunday AMA: I am FG_SF, ask me questions about the history of science & medicine!](_URL_2_) * [How common was the medical use of leeches in the Middle Ages? Where did it come from? How did the practice disappear?](_URL... | [
"Vitamin C helps to keep you from getting rickets, and aspirin is derived from a plant extract to alleviate headaches. Prunes really do help with constipation, and digitalis is heart medication derived from foxglove, if I recall correctly. Botulism toxin, from bacteria, really does paralyze muscles and change the l... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
What effect did George Washington's abolition of primogeniture inheritance have on American wealth and agriculture? | [
"I don't know what George Washington has to do with the history of primogeniture in the US, but at the time of the ratification of the Constitution, only Rhode Island and South Carolina were using primogeniture in cases of intestacy. About half of the colonies had never used primogeniture and, except for the two st... | [
"In \"The Radicalism of the American Revolution\" (Gordon Wood) he argues the opposite. He claims that the Revolution completely changed American society by establishing a sense of egalitarianism that was directly linked with the new political system. He says that the Revolution created a whole new environment in t... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
} |
Has there ever been a documented case of a country being on two sides of the same war? | [
"[France](_URL_0_) in WWII is the only thing I can think of that comes close. You have Vichy France that cooperates with the Nazi regime, and you have the Free French movement who does not."
] | [
"Do you have any examples that show the administration is eager to get into a war?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Did ancient Romans ever argue about which gladiator was the GOAT? (Greatest Of All Time) | [
"Corollary: did Romans have a 'golden age' of gladiatorial games, when the competitors were seen as the best and most entertaining, compared to other iterations in other periods?"
] | [
"Question 1: Am I a celebrity? * Yes: Move onto question 2 * No: Who gives a shit about you? Question 2: Do I like to look terrific in photographs? * Yes: Move onto question 3 * No: Use your iPhone for nude selfies Question 3: Do I mind being raped? * Yes: Call Annie Leibovitz * No: Terry's your man!"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What's the absolute best book about the Dutch East Indian Trading Company? | [
"I'm not a historian, but as an academic librarian who does collection development, one of my favorite tactics is to check the references section of the Wikipedia article, then check local university catalogs through WorldCat to see which ones they own. I also factor in quality academic publishers as well as review... | [
"Just asked this in the other sticky, but maybe this is the better place for it: Does anyone have any good book recommendations about the Nigerian Civil War or about Biafra as a country?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Literature:"
} |
Thursday Reading & Recommendations | July 19, 2018 | [
"Can someone recommend me some books on agricultural history? Like when certain plants or veggies got adopted in certain regions and what caused that or how farming methods changed over time, or how potatoes and corn conquered the world, that sort of thing? Or how plowing and planting technology changed and what no... | [
"1. The First Salute by Barbara Tuchman 2. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown 3. The Civil War by Shelby Foote 4. Reconstruction by Eric Foner 5. The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman 6. Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch 7. Brute Force: Allied Strategy and Tactics in the Second World War by John Ellis 8. The... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title about Literature:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer about Literature:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
How did the large differences between in-state tuition and out-of-state tuition come to be, and what has been some of the reasoning for those differences over time? | [
"State Colleges are funded by the individual States out of State revenues, which derive from State taxation. Most States do not fund all of the costs of their State college or University systems, but rely on Student tuition fees to fund some part. Nevertheless, these fees are less than the full cost of the State co... | [
"There is a difference between equity and equality. Some will argue that some races are at an initial disadvantage due to their history and socioeconomic status and thus need some preference in order to be on an equal footing. Others will say you should not consider race at all in order to be truly fair to every st... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How did people access water in cities during the early modern period? | [
"A combination of aqueducts and wells, depending on location. Although most large cities are near rivers and that would often be a source of water for many. London, for example, was a city of wells, whereas Paris was a city of fountains, many of them fed by aqueducts. The roman aqueduct which had fed Paris fell int... | [
"To be a little less specific, what did people think the future in general would be like before the Industrial Revolution?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
how many people had to be in agreement before the soviet union could lunch it's nukes? | [
"Well you might as well ask the same question about the USA, or any of the other nuclear powers. There were gung-ho advisors and leaders on both sides, and global security often rested on the hope of cooler heads prevailing. There were actually several instances where nuclear war was only narrowly avoided, two time... | [
"So they have a buffer between south korea which is allies with usa for the main plus the part where they would have to deal with millions of north koreans that believe 1 guy is a god"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Any Explanation for Göbekli Tepe? | [
"If you are genuinely interested in the epipaleolithic/pre-pottery neolithic transition and the ancient near east, you might want to start with Ancient Turkey, by A. G. Sagona and Paul E. Zimansky, 2009. Of interest might also be J. Cauvin's 2001 The birth of the gods and the beginning of agriculture. More specific... | [
"Next Week's Theme: 'Royalty, Nobility, and the Exercise of Power' To be followed by: \"Eastern Europe\""
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Is there a hidden etymology between corn maze and maize? | [
"1. You might want to ask /r/etymology. 2. According to Etymonline, the answer is no. One is Germanic, and the other is Arawakan via Italic. [Maze](_URL_1_): > c. 1300, \"delusion, bewilderment\" (also as a verb, \"stupefy, daze\"), possibly from Old English \\*mæs, which is suggested by the compound *amasod* \"am... | [
"On the upside, there is a zero percent chance of catching the flesh of the penis in a zipper."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
How accurate a depiction of siege warfare is the opening scene of Berserk Golden Age Arc I? | [
"You could have at least [linked that said scene](_URL_0_) because there are pronouncedly few mediaevists also conversant in the latest Japanese cartoons."
] | [
"A work not in NMW's reading list, and one of my personal favorites, is Andy Simpson's *Hot Blood and Cold Steel: Life in the British Trenches in the First World War*. It sounds just like the personal experience you want. Martin Middlebrooks' works, *The First Day on the Somme* and *The Kaisers Battle*, both focus ... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post about movie accuracy:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about movie accuracy:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document about Education:"
} |
Why does Latin have a word meaning "A son born after his father had made a will"? | [
"The term [\"after-born child\"](_URL_0_) is a legal term of art in the world of trusts and estates law. As discussed in the link posted, the after-born child might change the way a will or trust is interpreted. I have no knowledge of the origins or meaning of the latin term but I would guess it relates to the same... | [
"Tablet 104 of the Babylonian _Summa Alu_, a divination text, wrote that \"If a man copulates with his equal from the rear, he becomes the leader among his peers and brothers.\" but also gives prophecies for sex with other statuses, e.g. \"If a man copulates with a house-born slave, a hard destiny will befall him.\... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
PHD's of AskHistorians, what is a dumbed down version of your thesis? | [
"Life is hard for some people. Really all people. More research necessary."
] | [
"Is this explain like i'm five or explain like i'm a theoretical physicist?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How did the American (or British) media react to Operation Valkyrie? | [
"Further question: how much did the Allies know about operation Valkyrie?"
] | [
"Was any Asian country capable of helping the United States during the revolutionary war?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
If the purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to allow citizens to overthrow the government, why did George Washington crush the Whiskey Rebellion? | [
"There's definitely room for more answers that specifically discuss Washington and the Whiskey Rebellion, but there's a section of the /r/AskHistorians FAQ titled [Gun Control and Second Amendment Culture In The USA](_URL_0_.) with several answers about the rationale behind the Second Amendment, including this very... | [
"If the failure goes too far, well, that's why it's important we have the 2nd amendment. No, I'm not kidding. That was one of the main reasons for the 2nd amendment to exist: a rogue government."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the answer:",
"neg": "Represent the answer:"
} |
How successful were British and American governments in lessening unemployment during The Great Depression? | [
"I realize this is too simplistic but I keep coming back to it. Is there not a huge parallel with the Thirties and now with how much the wealth has been removed from the economy at the level of the middle classes by the very rich Didn't this happen to the Romans? I wish I could ask all that in a different way I mu... | [
"I actually just wrote a paper on this. Heavy industry in China actually underwent incredible growth during this period, with heavy industry output increasing by 230% from 1958-60. Global output of resources such as coal and steel increased, resulting in China becoming a global leader in those industries. The numbe... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post:"
} |
Was the McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit really as "frivolous" as the popular media made it out to be at the time? | [
"_URL_2_ this was in Readers Digest awhile back. She was severely burned over a significant part of her body, and the coffee was incredibly hot, so it wasn't frivolous. McDonald's required coffee to be served at 180 to 190F, which is really, really hot - consider that your water heater probably is set to 120 or les... | [
"The benghazi hearings were about an attack on the American embassy in benghazi that resulted in some Americans being killed. Hillary Clinton was secretary of state at the time, and took responsibility. In the United States, politics is divided between two major political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats.... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Why did the MG-34 have a double trigger? | [
"The operator can only carry a limited amount of ammunition, sustained automatic fire just isn't sustainable in a battle and if you run out then you are useless. Most firing with machine guns was done in short bursts anyway but semi-automatic firing makes it easier to conserve ammunition so they can keep firing for... | [
"I did a little research and it could either be one of two guns. It could be a Canet Gun (most likely an m890, a 100mm calbre round) from the carriage and shape. I am not a 100% sure but this seems to be the most possible."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
} |
Book recommendations for the development of the English Football League? | [
"See what James Walvin has written on the subject. I've seen him give interviews in which he describes the transformation of football from early modern folk game to urban, industrial sport; he's also a social historian generally, so that kind of transformation of culture through industrialization is right up his al... | [
"What do you mean by downfall? This is still a dominant part of current culture."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Wikipedia says that during WW2 Budweiser made cans green so as to make them camouflaged for troops. was this just publicity stunt or were soldiers genuinely drinking in situations where they were at enough risk that they needed to be camouflaged? | [
"It wasn't to hide them while they were drinking, it was to prevent discarded cans from being seen from the air. For many years, the majority of food and beverages for troops were packed in metal cans since they were convenient and durable containers. However, the metal surface of cans also reflects sunlight, and ... | [
"It acts as camouflage against the sky when seen from the ground. In WW2 we preferred green and brown on top to provide camouflage against the ground when seen from above, but now anything that's likely to see you from above is likely to fire a missile at you without ever seeing you, so camouflage won't help."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
The Jesus Myth: Someone care to explain? | [
"Never seen Religulous, but as for Zeitgeist, the simple answer is that there really are none. All three parts of the original film are filled with factual inaccuracies, but the first part is known to be especially bad. Trying to find a source for a Zeitgeist \"fact\" is an exercise in patience. You basically tumb... | [
"What's to explain? Why we have it? How it works?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Short Answers to Simple Questions | January 30, 2019 | [
"Were the Europeans aware that Japan existed before Portuguese sailors came across it in 1543?"
] | [
"1. The First Salute by Barbara Tuchman 2. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown 3. The Civil War by Shelby Foote 4. Reconstruction by Eric Foner 5. The Proud Tower by Barbara Tuchman 6. Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch 7. Brute Force: Allied Strategy and Tactics in the Second World War by John Ellis 8. The... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
} |
How will social media affect primary sources in the future? | [
"I think it will make it much harder for historians to find *authoritative* sources. For example, if I were searching for first-hand accounts of what is currently going on in Israel, I would have to go through thousands of people just talking about it. Second, even if I could find a post on the internet about the t... | [
"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 title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Why do we traditionally use locks with keys for doors but combinations for safes etc? | [
"Honestly, I think it may be better if you posted this to /r/locksmiths of the more active /r/lockpicking . I would expect that in the security-concious modern world mere 'tradition' would not be a reason that the practice has continued."
] | [
"Your Yahoo email is like the front door of your house. You need a key to enter it. To enter specific rooms (say, a garage), you may need a separate key. Changing the key to your front door does not change the keys that fit into other locks elsewhere in your home."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
} |
AskHistorians Podcast 126 -- AH Is Uncovering History with Dig - A History Podcast | [
"Loved the episode. In the discussion of women doing history podcasts (and actual historian women doing podcasts) I was surprised that they did not mention Liz Covart whose Ben Franklin's World which as of May 2017 was getting 160,000 downloads a month according to this article. _URL_0_"
] | [
"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 document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Are there any major documented cases of history being falsely recorded or reported for personal gain? | [
"The forged [\"Donation of Constantine\"] (_URL_0_) comes notoriously to mind. It was written in the mid-8th century to claim that, when Constantine moved the capital to the new Constantinople, he gave the papacy the city of Rome and *imperium* over the western empire, which popes later used to justify their claims... | [
"What information do you have that leads you to believe that their depictions are accurate, and not merely full of fictional details?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit paragraph:"
} |
Obtaining newsreel footage in WW2 | [
"UFA, the state film studio, produced two newsreels during the war. *Die Deutsche Wochenschau* (*German Weekly Review*) was produced for the domestic market and annexed countries. The *Auslandstonwoche* (*Foreign Weekly Newsreel*) was distributed to occupied and neutral countries. Neutral countries also got copies ... | [
"_URL_0_ Might be of interest to you it includes the Napoleonic War debt and public bonds in the Netherlands from 1624. Details inside!"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Where can I find a chronological database of WW2 newsreels? | [
"You can find a large number of relevant British newsreels, searchable by year, here: _URL_0_"
] | [
"Just asked this in the other sticky, but maybe this is the better place for it: Does anyone have any good book recommendations about the Nigerian Civil War or about Biafra as a country?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the post:",
"neg": "Represent the post about Literature:"
} |
The Book of Acts tells about an earthquake that frees a group of prisoners. The jailor wakes and is prepared to commit suicide when Paul stops him. What would a punishment have been to a jailor who lost his prisoners? Is suicide warranted in this situation? | [
"In the Satyricon of Petronius (paragraph 111-112) a soldier guarding the crosses to forbade proper burials to bandits is distracted by the mourning of a widow crying days after days on the corpse of his husband. He try to consolate her and then began a relationship with the widow. Relatives of one of the bandits t... | [
"Jesus on the cross is dying for our sins, to absolve and protect all the rest of us. He protects us from our own \"demons,\" that is, our sinful nature. Remember, being crucified didn't destroy Jesus. He was resurrected shortly thereafter. It was merely an ordeal he went through on our behalf. I think I've got thi... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
When and why did it become unacceptable for women to be topless in most public situations? | [
"As an FYI, there are many discussion threads about similar subjects to this in /r/AskAnthropologists - just search \"nudity\"."
] | [
"Who said anything was unanimous? There's still plenty of cultures where it's perfectly acceptable to show genitals in public."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
} |
In Patrick Bamford's Aubrey-Maturin naval novels, the author often talks of men being pressed into service. How did this work exactly? What could you expect as a landsman pressed into service and was it permanent? | [
"I've written about impressment several times before. These links below might be of interest, but to briefly answer your question, impressment was the practice of conscripting men to serve at sea. It took various forms throughout the 17th-19th century, and various groups of men were at times targets of or exempt fr... | [
"Pirate ships would have their own moral code agreed on by the sailors (or enforced by the captain) so it would vary from ship to ship. Some were extremely brutal in their treatment of hostages, some quite gentlemanly. The pirates themselves have been frequently documented repenting for their sins upon being sente... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Is the concept of a criminal being "wanted dead or alive" historically accurate, or a Hollywood invention? | [
"[Judge Isaac Parker](_URL_0_), the \"hanging judge,\" certainly gave \"dead or alive\" instructions to the U.S. marshals under his authority."
] | [
"\"Beyond reasonable doubt\" is a standard of evidence in criminal trials, which means it's how certain a case has to be against someone in order to convict them of a crime. If there's any reasonable doubt as to whether they committed the crime, then they cannot be convicted of it. \"Beyond a shadow of a doubt\" is... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
What were significant areas of cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War? | [
"Growing up, my buddy's dad was a pharmaceutical scientist who was an expert on the affects of drugs and alcohol on the brain. He would go to the Soviet Union during the 80's to share research with Soviet scientists."
] | [
"Was any Asian country capable of helping the United States during the revolutionary war?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Why do we spell Qin like it is and not Chin? | [
"There are different systems to write Chinese characters in Latin alphabet such as Wade–Giles and Yale. 'Qin' is the correct spelling in Hanyu Pinyin romanization system which is the official romanization method in China and pretty much the international standart since the early 1980s. And yes. 'Q' makes a similar... | [
"The first is pronounced \"eh\" as in the word \"met\". The second is pronounced \"aiy\" as in the word \"ate\". EDIT: Apologies, for some reason I assumed we were talking about French! As mentioned by others, it does vary between languages."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
Would the no man's land from the Western front of WW1 be visible from space? | [
"Likely. People can make out items in the 10-50m range from the ISS. That means the individual trenches probably wouldn't be visible. The were generally only a few meters wide. But the combination of multiple allied trenches, no man's land, and then multiple German trenches generally reached a width of several kil... | [
"To be a little less specific, what did people think the future in general would be like before the Industrial Revolution?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
Has the US really been at war 222 out of 239 years since 1776? | [
"Technically we haven't been at war since (WWII?). Only congress can declare war."
] | [
"Yes. These are the only qualifications for the US presidency 1. be at least 35 years old 2. be a natural-born US citizen 3. A resident of the US for 14 years."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
} |
I saw a picture on facebook saying that the US has been at war during 222 out of 239 years since 1776, is that true? | [
"There was a similar thread about a year ago: _URL_0_ The executive summary is that you have to be extremely generous with the term \"war\" for this to be anywhere close to accurate. It's complicated since the U.S. has only declared war a handful of times but was involved in conflicts that we would certainly consi... | [
"November 11, 1918 is when ww1 ended, September 1, 1939 is when world war 2 began, This is 21 years. Most soldiers are ready to fight at the age of 18-21"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
During the Age of Sail, how did sailors keep from freezing during the night | [
"The answer is pretty basic, really: ships would have a galley stove and often a small stove in the wardroom (where the officers gathered) that would warm the space. Sailors would wear oilskins to prevent getting wet, and wool clothes that keep you warm even when wet. Space and crowding was also something that woul... | [
"They maintained line of sight. If they got separated too far it was a problem. One famous example of this was in 1733 when James Cook's two ships the Resolution and Adventure got separated in a heavy fog off New Zealand. They had previously arranged a meeting point. Weather meant that one ship got delayed for seve... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
How accurate is the Battle Gaugamela in the Alexander Movie? | [
"One particular moment which is in the wrong battle is where Black Cleitus saves Alexander. That event actually happened at the battle of the Granicus river (Arrian I.15.8). If you listen to the Robin Lane Fox commentary it is explained that because there are only two battles in the film (Gaugamela and Hydaspes) an... | [
"You mean in the D & D sense?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query about movie accuracy:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document about movie accuracy:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
Did tipping in the US become common so that employers wouldn't have to pay former slaves? | [
"[This](_URL_0_) earlier answer touches on this in a follow up which might be of interest to you."
] | [
"Because restaurant owners don't want to pay a decent wage to their employees so they make their customers pick up the difference."
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
What books would you recommend for one studying Byzantine Espionage? | [
"Incidentally, there's [another thread](_URL_0_) just today on Greek and Roman espionage. I posted [this article](_URL_1_) (PDF warning) on Byzantine intelligence there; I hope it and its bibliography can get you started."
] | [
"Are there any good introduction books to historiography in general? JFK in particular? Thank you"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
What were Napoleons plans for a post war Europe if he won? Did these change after Trafalgar? | [
"Install republics, unitary governments, democratic parliaments -- although dominated by directories, new constitutions, outlaw serfdom, reform the civil code (the right to trial), land/agricultural reform that ended the feudal system entirely, curtailing the power of guilds/trade unions, all men had equal rights, ... | [
"By demise of \"its ally\" are you referring to the defeat of Napoleon in 1814 or Napoleon seizing control?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
} |
Did Sun Tzu actually exist? | [
"Sun Tzu supposedly lived from about 545 to 495 BC. He was a Chinese military general and strategist as well as philosopher. However, there is some debate as to his existence and there is little solid historical evidence of him. The Art of War is attributed to several people and some accounts of battles he was all... | [
"Who says they did, and who says they didn't?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the comment:",
"neg": "Represent the comment:"
} |
Were there any "new millenium" celebrations in the year 1000AD? | [
"The Romans definitely celebrated their millenium - one thousand years since the founding of the city. This bit is from wikipedia [here:](_URL_0_) > During 248 AD, Philip the Arab celebrated Rome's first millennium, together with Ludi saeculares for Rome's alleged tenth saeculum. Coins from his reign commemorate t... | [
"Because we started counting centuries at 0. Year 1 was in the first century, 101 in the second, 701 in the 8th, 2001 in the twenty first. EDIT: added word “centuries” for clarity"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
} |
▶ Calling All Roman & Celtic History Buffs!! | [
"I strongly recommend making a web-based game. The second you try adding something like a 3d engine and modeling there is NO WAY you will finish it as a school project. I hope you take my advice"
] | [
"Next Week's Theme: 'Royalty, Nobility, and the Exercise of Power' To be followed by: \"Eastern Europe\""
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question about Education:",
"pos": "Represent the argument about Education:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
Why did the U.S. turn away from progressivism after the "Progressive Era"? | [
"Can you be a little more specific? What aspect of \"progressivism\" are you referring to? It's important to note that the modern usage of \"progressive\" in the political context doesn't necessarily coincide with that word in the \"Progressive Era.\""
] | [
"Was any Asian country capable of helping the United States during the revolutionary war?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
} |
I have a question about history degrees. | [
"Check out [this helpful resource](_URL_0_) from the University of Georgia's History Department. There is plenty of work available for students with degrees in history, the catch being that not all of the work is directly related to hard history. It's more about the skills you acquire through the study of history, ... | [
"To add on to this question, especially the nose?"
] | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
} |
How did an average person get the news before the newspaper and printing press were invented? How much would he actually know of big or important current events? | [
"That's gonna vary a lot by time and place. Outside of plain ol' rumor and gossip, you had things like Town Criers in medieval Europe who would inform the masses of everything from Royal Proclamations to a sale going on at the market. Prior to that heralds might be used for similar purposes, though probably a littl... | [
"Because if the press is not free, the government can do anything and the people won't be able to hear about it. Say a government massacred a whole town for no reason. If a town is massacred and nobody is there (or dares) to report it, does the public respond? The answer is no. It's going to take a long time for w... | eli5_question_answer | {
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
} |
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