query
stringlengths 19
300
| pos
list | neg
list | task
stringclasses 1
value | instruction
dict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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 Epic of Gilgamesh*](_URL_3_). In the Indus Valley, look for the Harappan civilization, whose language is still being [deciphered](_URL_0_). In the Yellow River Valley, the classic texts are by Sima Qian, [*The Records of the Grand Historian*](_URL_1_) and [*The Bamboo Annals*](_URL_4_), which describe the Xia Dynasty. You might also be interested in Manetho's [*Aegyptiaca*](_URL_2_) that gives a history of ancient Egypt. Ancient historians in each of the geographic areas will no doubt be able to offer a fuller selection. Hope this helps a little. Happy Reading!"
] |
[
"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 Laugardagur, literally washing-day. As far as clothing goes, there were individuals like Olafr pai (Olaf the peacock) who were renowned for wearing brightly coloured clothing. As far as vikings are concerned, they were raiders and warriors, so of course appearance was important; if you're wealthy from plunder and fighting, you want to show it. Egill in his heyday is described (in the eponymous *Egils saga*) as wearing all black clothing with a scarlet-lined cloak, for example. There are dozens of other descriptions in other sagas of the clothing that successful vikings wore, and it is usually all finery."
] |
[
"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 of the RCE official history, volume II, which covers the war. It's called The History of the Corps of Royal Canadian Engineers by Col. A.J. Kerry, OBE and Maj. W. A. McDill"
] |
[
"Did you mean in the USA, or in Japan?"
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
}
|
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 on industrial planning. They used microeconomic tools such as marginal cost and revenue and so forth to determine the most efficient way to produce and price goods. ..."
] |
[
"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:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
}
|
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:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit text:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit text:"
}
|
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 kitchen?"
] |
[
"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 Massachusetts Press, 1988. > > Howe, Daniel Walker. “Church, State, and Education in the Young American Republic.” Journal of the Early Republic 22, no. 1 (April 1, 2002): 1–24. > > Kaestle, Carl. Pillars of the Republic: Common Schools and American Society, 1780-1860. 1st ed. Hill and Wang, 1983. > > Spring, Joel. The American School: From the Puritans to No Child Left Behind. 7th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2008. > > Katz, Michael B. “Horace Mann: What Went Wrong?” Reviews in American History 1, no. 2 (June 1, 1973): 218–223. > > Messerli, Jonathan. Horace Mann: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1972."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"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 books dealing with this are Adriaan van Dis, Jeroen Brouwers, Rudy Kousbroek and Hella Haasse. Some books that might be most relevant: Hella Haasse's *Oeroeg* has been translated into English (sometimes titled *The Black Lake* ) but does not deal with the camps directly. It is however an excellent read. Clara Olink Kelly's *The Flamboya Tree: Memories of a Family's War Time Courage* is a memoir about life in the Tjideng prison camp. Jeroen Brouwers' *Sunken Red* is a novel/memoir about life in the Tjideng camp and its repercusssions on the authors later life, though the writer has been accused of exaggerating the horrors somewhat. Hope that helps!"
] |
[
"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:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
}
|
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:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"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 the StG44 and the G41). Artillery and mortars were probably the largest single cause of casualties. During the Normandy campaign, roughly 60-70% of British infantry losses were caused by mortar and artillery fire. Machine guns were probably the next-deadliest weapon on the battlefield at the time. Infantry small arms came a distant third."
] |
[
"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 were expensive and complicated back then."
] |
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 good. It's maybe a vanished category- Weird Al Yankovich writes funny stuff, but they're parodies. One survival from novelties, though, is the hook: the writers knew that a good novelty had to have a hook, a memorable phrase or musical motif, and that seems to have been siezed onto by country music writers and never dropped...\"She's Looking Better Every Beer\", etc."
] |
[
"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:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"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 armor to be made in order to increase his fame and the magnitude of his achievement! Also I found this great article which might also prove a useful article, titled Giants in Ancient Warfare by Adrienne Mayor. The article provides a great overview of the topic and as well as give a number of comparative case studies from across the ancient mediterranean. _URL_3_ The full citation is The Quarterly Journal of Military History 1999, Vol 2 no. 2:98-105. Let me know what you think!"
] |
[
"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. A kind of marmot is popular. Some people are doubtful enough to suspect Herodotus never traveled in the East at all. I don't know if that counts as a zoo - a single pet ant. It is probably the earliest in the Greek tradition."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"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 experienced in that time and place. But the subsequent stories show extensive elaboration over time."
] |
[
"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 modern example, Joseph Smith was a Christian. Then he started the Mormon religion and became a Mormon. Think of these as branches on a tree and the instigator of each religion being the point where the branch starts."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit answer:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit answer:"
}
|
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:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
}
|
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 history of 20th cent philosophy would have looked very different. If Wittgenstein hadn't moved to England and Carnap to the US things would be quite different."
] |
[
"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:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
}
|
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 Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A Caro 9. A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan 10. A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn 11. 1491/1493 Charles C Mann Sorry, couldn't keep it to 6."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit passage:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit passage:"
}
|
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 common. Medical schools and the professionalization of medicine in the late medieval/early modern period helped push these sort of advancements in Europe. Check out \"Inside the Body of Henry the VIII.\" They used his records to decipher Henry's medical issues."
] |
[
"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 happy to perform heart surgery. First, though, you're required to give us your entire family health history and any instances of heart disease\" People, understandably, don't like giving out personal information. There is a fear that they might be compelled to or else face not having access to services."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit sentence:"
}
|
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:",
"pos": "Represent the paragraph:",
"neg": "Represent the paragraph:"
}
|
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 play Texas? We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. - JFK And to beat the commies of course."
] |
[
"Was any Asian country capable of helping the United States during the revolutionary war?"
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
}
|
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 the treaty, the mob forced them to flee. They then tried to meet to sign the treaty in a tavern and a summer house. each time they were spotted and had to run for their lives. They ended up signing it in a basement. Then everyone left for London that night."
] |
[
"As a related sub-question, how many Scottish colonies were there prior to 1707?"
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the Reddit title:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
}
|
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 Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A Caro 9. A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan 10. A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn 11. 1491/1493 Charles C Mann Sorry, couldn't keep it to 6."
] |
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 Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A Caro 9. A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan 10. A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn 11. 1491/1493 Charles C Mann Sorry, couldn't keep it to 6."
] |
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:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
}
|
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 world is to fly."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the question:",
"pos": "Represent the passage:",
"neg": "Represent the passage:"
}
|
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 refer to this a few times in the show. Also, there have been several threads here before about the historical accuracy of the show, which you might find instructive."
] |
[
"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, was careful to preserve the outward forms of the republic. He called himself first citizen and made a show of consulting the senate, even while wielding de facto dictatorial power after his assumption of the tribunician potesta. Plus, Caesar left most of his enemies alive to plot his murder, while Augustus had them proscribed and killed. So, the short answer for the differences between Caesar and Augustus: valuing appearances and ruthless practicality."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
}
|
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 successes were largely limited to stopping American invasions of Canada, seizing peripheral territories like Mobile and Northern Maine, raids in force in Washington and along the Chesapeake Region, and the blockade of the United States which wasn't complete until late 1814. You also have to recognize the tremendous growth of the geographic size of the United States since the end of the revolutionary war, made the chances of Britain returning the United States to colonial rule extremely unlikely from a purely logistical standpoint. It's hard to give a more in-depth answer since the plausibility of British returning the United States to colonial status is virtually zero."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit comment:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit comment:"
}
|
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 small thefts and the like."
] |
[
"Kinda related question: What are the first records of a last meal being offered to those about to be executed?"
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
}
|
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) and a number of other military posts, rather than a clearly defended border. Indeed, by the time it was conquered by its colonial Dutch neighbours (1655), there were only about 300 Swedish men, women and children in the settlement. It included settlements that are now within the borders of Wilmington, DE, Salem, NJ, and land just to the southwest of modern day Philadelphia. The land claimed encompassed about 1300 sq. miles, but this was not a firm border. Taylor, Alan, American Colonies, (New York: Penguin Books, 2001), pp. 254-55, 276."
] |
[
"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:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit post:"
}
|
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 more than 'carpet bombing +1' in their decision making process. The methodical way Dresden was eliminated suggests that nuclear destruction was just a cleaner way to achieve the same effect."
] |
[
"Follow up: What *were* his reasons for siding with the British?"
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the Reddit query:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
}
|
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 predicated on the idea that most historians of early modern military history ignore the “wheels” and mechanics of conflict, particularly those of the war between Spain and the Dutch (c.1550-1650). His central argument is that by examining the difference in ability to wage war— in logistics, resources, and capacity to finance soldiers—we can see why one of the largest and most powerful empires failed to subdue a small revolt in the Netherlands and lost a series of major entrepots along the North Sea. While this book parochially focuses on a single conflict, it effectively explores the ways in which logistics play into military enterprise."
] |
[
"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:",
"pos": "Represent the document about Education:",
"neg": "Represent the document about Literature:"
}
|
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 not—you will be unable to reason with one before it shoves its horn into your abdomen and sends you flying. [Here’s an old thread](_URL_0_) on the same topic with a much more thorough answer from u/MesozoicStoic."
] |
[
"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 domesticate lions to assist humans in hunting, hippos as beasts of burden and giraffes for, uh, something. Secondly, some species are just difficult to domesticate. Their natural behavior might be so at odds with human behavior, that we haven't gotten the chance to domesticate them. Hippos could be beasts of burden, but they are so aggressive that it has been difficult for humans to co-exist with them in harmony."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
}
|
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 Schnusenberg, Christine Catharina (1988). The relationship between the Church and the theatre: exemplified by selected writings of the Church fathers and by liturgical texts until Amalarius of Metz, 775-852 A.D. Lanham, MD: University Press of America."
] |
[
"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:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
}
|
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 iterations of the speech throughout the 3rd Army formations and up until the commitment of the Army to France. There's quite a few books that source the speech, or certain iterations of it, and they generally tend to have the same wording as to corroborate one another. However, there's an [open source](_URL_0_) copy of the speech through the Patton museum of Cavalry and Armor, based in Kentucky."
] |
[
"Another question: Would he even want to get rid of it?"
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the Reddit question:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
}
|
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 they are definitely an influence. Another possibility are the Mamelukes. Used throughout the Middle East (and for a long period of time), Mamelukes were bought as slaves from Turkic tribes and trained into professional troops over time. This is similar in some ways to the Janissaries that /u/SchurkjeBoefje mentioned, and like the Janissaries they eventually obtained a high level of political power, even setting up a dynasty that controlled Egypt for a prolonged period of time. Source: Hathaway, Jane (February 1995). \"The Military Household in Ottoman Egypt\". *International Journal of Middle East Studies*"
] |
[
"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 Dothraki."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the query:",
"pos": "Represent the sentence:",
"neg": "Represent the sentence:"
}
|
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 the active service of the United States Army were made in a component known as the Army of the United States. Enlistment in the Regular Army was thus de facto suspended until 1945. On [December 13, 1941](_URL_0_), members of the United States Army inducted under the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 were retroactively and from that date on, considered members of the Army of the United States. These men were only enlisted as such for the duration of a conflict or emergency plus six months, and then discharged. The men could then go on with their lives, or choose to enlist in the Regular Army again."
] |
[
"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 be obtaining his paper work and noting his division, regiment, and unit, and then finding HOPEFULLY a website of survivors of said division who have kept a detailed record of the events or some general information online. My grandfather was in the 7th armored division, so I can look at their website and determine generally exactly where he was and what actions he was part of, such as I know he was involved in the \"Battle of the Bulge\"."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit document:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit document:"
}
|
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:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
}
|
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 various philosophies about life, sex, beauty and politics all converged in a way that drove him to create the circumstances of his death. By dying in that way, he expressed his ideas about Japanese Nationalism, the ideal male, fragility of the human form and attempted to receive penance for avoiding service in WWII all at once. Which is to say, his ultimate goal may very well have been to create a story that would live on, as writers do. Source: John Nathan's biography, if it isn't clear."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the Reddit post:",
"pos": "Represent the Reddit argument:",
"neg": "Represent the Reddit argument:"
}
|
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 Massachusetts Press, 1988. > > Howe, Daniel Walker. “Church, State, and Education in the Young American Republic.” Journal of the Early Republic 22, no. 1 (April 1, 2002): 1–24. > > Kaestle, Carl. Pillars of the Republic: Common Schools and American Society, 1780-1860. 1st ed. Hill and Wang, 1983. > > Spring, Joel. The American School: From the Puritans to No Child Left Behind. 7th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2008. > > Katz, Michael B. “Horace Mann: What Went Wrong?” Reviews in American History 1, no. 2 (June 1, 1973): 218–223. > > Messerli, Jonathan. Horace Mann: A Biography. New York: Knopf, 1972."
] |
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 \"pillaging\" conquered territory through strict economic controls and land grants for military officers. This is a very brief explanation, Doyle's *The Oxford History of the French Revolution* goes into significant detail over economic reforms if you'd like to read more. It's a pretty dense read though. You can also get some good information from *Napoleon and Europe* by Dwyer."
] |
[
"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 cementing itself as the new economic superpower with more industrial output than any other nation. Both World Wars amplified this benefit as America profitted off the sales of weapons and munitions and also avoided the catastrophic damage that most of the European nations suffered during these wars (Britain also suffered very little infrastructure damage relative to other European powers, but they did accumulate a massive amount of debt fighting the war)."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
}
|
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 chaff within samples taken from digsites across the South-East that fell within the neolithic context. The closer to the coast one moved the settlements became a little harder to pin-down and in some instances the inhabitants were intransient fishermen which huddled around river estuaries. To go deeper would be to surpass the extent of my knowledge on the time period, as I didn't study ancient Britain in detail, so it would be best to take onboard other answers besides mine. The notion that the Britons were just hunter-gatherers who liked chariots is utter nonsense however."
] |
[
"Edwardian when Edward was king Victorian when Victoria was queen"
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the post:",
"pos": "Represent the text:",
"neg": "Represent the text:"
}
|
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:"
}
|
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:",
"pos": "Represent the document:",
"neg": "Represent the document:"
}
|
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 them see Hugh Kennedy or Fred Donner. There's also the Oxford Handbook of Late Antiquity, but it was checked out when I was doing my essays on this last year haha."
] |
[
"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 M. Inner and Outer Nature: An Islamic Perspective. 2012. Richard C. Foltz. Animals in Islamic Tradition and Muslim Cultures. One World Publications, 2006. Quadir, Tarik.Traditional Islamic Environmentalism: The Vision of Seyyed Hossein Nasr. University Press of America, 2013. Speth, James Gustave. The Bridge At The End Of The World. 1st ed., [New Haven, Conn.], Yale University Press, 2008. Tlili, Sarra. Animals in the Quran. Cambridge University Press, 2012."
] |
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 their conflict. As for the populace, they'd been through the bloody terror under the Jacobins so allowing some aristos back seems a small price to pay for stability and peace (within France). Plus he had eliminated all of the nobility's privileges, enabled universal male suffrage, made the law more fair (although regressive towards women's rights), and reformed the tax code to make it more fair. He seems to have been generally popular (in the early empire period) as he ruled through plebiscites (there is some evidence of vote rigging but he seems generally liked)."
] |
[
"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 fearful of Revolution. However, things turned worse under the successor of Louis XVIII, Charles X. France never really got over the Revolution. So in 1830, the people revolted in an interest of having a King that would be more properly suited to helping the people, and so they elected Louis Philippe, \"The Citizen King\" but he still wasn't the king they hoped for. In 1848, the people revolted for the last time and instituted the Second French Republic. Louis Philippe was the last King of France."
] |
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 mistakes, and typos (writos?)?](_URL_2_) - featuring /u/textandtrowel ; also follow links to more * [Are there any famous typos in historical documents?](_URL_0_) - featuring /u/erus, with links to more. These threads are more about issues/misunderstanding caused by errors"
] |
[
"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 civilizations? Probably not that well."
] |
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 contact with the chain of command. They were always conducted by soldiers who were burdened with the wounded, weakened by disease and/or starvation, lacking ammunition or even weapons, and often cut off from their own lines and no way to contact superiors. Most commanders tried to prevent their men from committing to futile banzai charges because it seemed just as wasteful and terrible decision making from the Japanese side as the Allied side. This is a big topic and I wrote extensively about it [here](_URL_0_). Feel free to ask follow up questions."
] |
[
"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 as critically as others as the traditional narrative, and is a bit apologetic). You can read a bit [here](_URL_1_). Aside from that, focusing on /u/White__Velvet's suggestion of the *Constitution of Medina* is definitely where to focus much of your efforts, as it is generally considered by modern scholars to be one of the few very likely early documents we have. Both Michael Lecker (*[The Constitution of Medina: Muhammad's First Legal Document](_URL_2_)*) and R. B. Serjeant (*The Constitution of Medina*) have written on it."
] |
[
"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, important but not most important."
] |
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 portrayal of 19th century naval warfare/life at sea?](_URL_1_) Hope this helps!"
] |
[
"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 companion Tiro, and were widely circulated because of his reputation. In the Middle Ages his letters were likewise preserved because they are the best example of Latin prose and so a good resource for instruction. This left them available for the Renaissance humanists."
] |
[
"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 Christmas! :)"
] |
[
"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_3_) * [Was premodern medicine, (e.g. Bleeding, Mercury, leeching) ever effective against disease? If not why did medieval doctors continue to use these techniques?](_URL_6_) * [How efficient/effective was ancient and medieval medicine?](_URL_1_) * [What things did Medieval European medicine get right?](_URL_5_) * [Is there any medical practice from medieval or ancient times that has remained mostly unchanged after all these years?](_URL_4_) * [Cauterization in the ancient/medieval world](_URL_7_) * [Was medicine distributed and prescribed by apothecaries in Medieval/Renaissance Europe effective at all?](_URL_0_)"
] |
[
"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 look of your face. There are a number of \"natural\" chemicals out there that really do have an affect on the human body. But there are an equal number that have not been scientifically proven to do jack shit. Doesn't mean they *don't* have an effect, they're just not rigorously tested and approved."
] |
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 states named above, the other half eliminated it during the decade or so prior to the ratification of the Constitution. Source [pdf]: [Inheritance Laws Across Colonies: Causes and Consequences Author(s): Lee J. Alston and Morton Owen Schapiro Source: The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 44, No. 2, The Tasks of Economic History (Jun., 1984), pp. 277-287](_URL_0_)."
] |
[
"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 the Americas that transformed what were underpopulated backwaters in 1760 into the expansion and progress minded country of the early 19th century. The focus of the government shifted to focus on the needs of the people. On a side note, the system of having the state legislatures choose Senators was meant to be a check on the Federal government's powers."
] |
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 reviews printed in respected journals (which are often listed in the WorldCat record)."
] |
[
"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 not. There's no history of agriculture subheading on the booklist."
] |
[
"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 Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A Caro 9. A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan 10. A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn 11. 1491/1493 Charles C Mann Sorry, couldn't keep it to 6."
] |
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 college tuition. States tend to offer the subsidized tuition only to their own state residents (who come from families who have been (at least theoretically) paying the taxes which subsidize the tuition). They charge out of State students the full (un-subsidized) tuition, because their families have not been paying the taxes to subsidize the college."
] |
[
"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 student, no preference at all. These two opposing philosophies are sources of debate even today."
] |
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 into disrepair during the middle ages but new aqueducts were built in the 13th century and more were built up through the modern period, by around 1800 there were over 80 fountains in Paris. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will respond, as this is a fascinating subject with a lot of detail and many regional differences in approach to the problem."
] |
[
"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 times by low-ranking Soviet officers: [Vasili Arkhipov](_URL_0_) and [Stanislav Petrov](_URL_1_). The Soviets actually had a system installed in the later Cold War era which made it easier to authorise a retaliatory strike: _URL_2_ The US president nowadays can make the sole decision, as can the British Prime Minister. British nuclear attack submarines carry hand written letters of last resort, whereby their captains may choose to launch an attack following loss of all contact with the Admiralty."
] |
[
"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 to the Natufian culture, you might want to have a look at the various books and articles by Ofer Bar-Yosef. For Gobekli Tepe specifically, the primary reports are by Klaus Schmidt, though his focus on the single site might be less helpful if you are looking for contextualisation. To understand Gobekli Tepe it is also fundamental to look at Nevali Cori (excavated by Harald Hauptmann). This site is more 'complete' in its assemblage, though less famous. Have fun exploring, the earliest neolithic is a fascinating period."
] |
[
"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* \"amazed\" and verb *amasian* \"to confound, confuse\" (compare *amaze*). Perhaps related to Norwegian dialectal *mas* \"exhausting labor,\" Swedish *masa* \"to be slow or sluggish.\" Meaning \"labyrinth\" first recorded late 14c. [Maize](_URL_0_): > 1550s, from Cuban Spanish *maiz*, from Arawakan (Haiti) *mahiz*."
] |
[
"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 heavily on personal accounts and following certain groups of men throughout the leadup and duration of the battle. That also sounds right up your alley. I'd also say that, since you're listening to Dan Carlin, you should read the counterpoint to the tone of his podcast, Dan Todman's *The First World War: Myth and Memory.*"
] |
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 set of inheritance issues. Interestingly, the term [agnate](_URL_1_) in English now means a relative related through the father's side of the family, similar to the term [enate](_URL_2_), which means a relative related through the mother's side."
] |
[
"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.\" So it would appear that from their perspective, the act itself was not as significant as the social rank of who you did it with."
] |
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 detailed post by /u/uncovered-history: [What was going on in America that caused the Founding Fathers to create the Second Amendment and sign it into law?](_URL_1_)"
] |
[
"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 must sound like someone with an an agenda but this is an honest question. I have no reference to the Roman period I mentioned but I am under the impression that this has happened many times in the past."
] |
[
"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 number of technicians, engineers, and machines in China also increased greatly. Another possible benefit, that Roderick MacFarquhar examines in *Origins of the Cultural Revolution, vol 2*, is that the Great Leap Forward sort of \"galvanized\" the Chinese masses, meaning it gave the Chinese the belief that they could take control of their destinies and \"leap forward\" instead of sitting under the yoke of nature. Source: MacFarquhar, Roderick. The Origins of the Cultural Revolution. Vol 2 Oxford: Oxford University Press for the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the East Asian Institute of Columbia University and the Research Institute on International Change of Columbia University, 1983. pg 300-340"
] |
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 less because of the risk of scalding. It sounds frivolous, but the woman in question was hospitalized for quite a while, and the suit DID cause McDonald's and other companies to change their rather dangerous policy. It would be similar to someone suing over food poisoning and changing company policy to require safe food-handling procedures."
] |
[
"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. Hillary is going to run for the next president of the United States as a Democrat, so the Republicans did everything they could to make Benghazi look bad for her. This resulted in the long hearings. The email thing only related in the sense that it is a new thing Republicans are focusing on to discredit a Hillary presidency. They really, really, really don't want her to be president."
] |
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 longer. You can also be more accurate when firing in semi-automatic mode and the MG-34 was quite accurate at range. Ultimately though it wasn't that useful a feature for the German army since they preferred higher rates of fire for more killing power in short bursts and it was harder to build so they didn't add it to the MG-42."
] |
[
"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 alley theoretically. I've no idea what specific titles he has on the subject though. Another name to check is the (wonderfully terrifying) Wray Vamplew, who has written about the economics of sport in late-19th Britain, as well as \"crowd disorders.\" I don't know his work too well, but he appears to be cast from the same mold as Walvin, with a focus on the cultural effects of industrialization."
] |
[
"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 was quickly learned that enemy reconnaissance aircraft could see those reflections. The enemy could gauge troop size by the number of discarded cans, and their movements by following a trail of them. The obvious solution was to bury them, but that wasn't always possible in rocky areas or in the winter when the ground was hard. So, the canning industry developed coatings that dulled the metal or camouflaged it so they wouldn't reflect sunlight. Olive drab was the most common color used, but black and brown was used too. And yes, beer was made available to soldiers. It was typically offered in mess facilities behind the front lines."
] |
[
"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 tumble down a rabbit-hole of links to conspiracy sites until you realize that in all likelihood....no source exists. This guy here seems to have done a pretty good job of explaining this: _URL_0_"
] |
[
"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 Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A Caro 9. A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan 10. A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn 11. 1491/1493 Charles C Mann Sorry, couldn't keep it to 6."
] |
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 topic, it would be hard to verify the authenticity of it; it could easily be some teenager in the Midwestern US pretending to be a Palestinian, or whatever."
] |
[
"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 to spiritual supremacy over secular rulers. The humanist Lorenzo Valla proved it as a forgery in the mid-15th century based o linguistic grounds. To be fair, the Middle Ages had a different slant on forgery than we do. If they had, for instance, a charter that had gone missing, they didn't hesitate to draw up a new copy, reasoning that its content mattered more than its age. But the Donation may not fall under this generous explanation. (Sorry for the Wikipedia link; the \"Donation\" is such basic knowledge for medievalists that it's in every textbook of the Middle Ages.)"
] |
[
"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 of Allied propaganda reels, and it wasn't hard for British and American newsreel producers to get hold of the German reels and vice versa, shipping them back home for further use. Military intelligence also poured over the cans particularly at their unit at Pinewood Studios for analysis."
] |
[
"_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 then recover his body. When the soldier sees the empty cross he tells immediatly to the widow that this tomb will see the death of two men. In the end the couple uses the corpse of the deceased husband and hang it to the cross to save the life of the soldier. Apparently he expected to be executed, even if he was just guarding corpses."
] |
[
"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 this right. Perhaps a better theologian can correct me on the nuances."
] |
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 from impressment. But roughly, the idea was that all men who were seamen or worked at sea were eligible to serve in the Navy and obliged to do so at moments of national emergency. Take a look at these links and see if they help: _URL_0_ _URL_1_ _URL_3_ _URL_2_ Edit: also, looks like maybe autocorrect got you. The late Patrick O'Brian, born Richard Patrick Russ, is the author; Patrick Bamford is an English footballer."
] |
[
"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 sentenced to death, so while European pirates could commit some atrocious acts when at sea they very quickly changed their tune about morals when death was a certainty. There is at least one instance of a privateer captain being stripped of his licence after his crew reported his abuse of them to the British authorities, however I can't for the life of me find the reference in \"The Pirates Pocket Book\". A great little read with some good source material, but poorly organised for finding the quotes you want..."
] |
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 not a legal term. It's just a saying that is sometimes confused for one."
] |
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 sound to 'ch' in Pinyin. But it is different than the sound written as 'ch'. I would say q is softer and ch is harder in pronunciation but I think a linguist can explain the difference better than me by using correct terms."
] |
[
"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 kilometers. For example take [this picture](_URL_0_) it shows the trenches near Loos. The area to the upper left is the British trenches the area to the right and bottom is the German trenches. From space it is unlikely that anyone could make out the individual trench lines, but the entire formation would be plenty visible. To get a feel for what it might look like, step back from your screen and squint until the darker trench lines disappear and all you see are the lighter surrounding areas. That'll give you a rough idea what it would have looked like from 400 km up."
] |
[
"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 consider to be wars."
] |
[
"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 would take care of some of this for people -- in the Royal Navy, sailors were allocated 14 inches of space (width) to sling their hammocks. In practice, only half or one-third of the crew was off watch at a given time, so they would have 28 inches of space, but you can imagine the amount of heat produced by several hundred sailors sleeping cheek by jowl."
] |
[
"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 several days by which point the other gave up waiting and returned to England alone. Yes, in fact the Santa Maria ran aground and sunk off Haiti so the entire crew transferred to the other two ships for the rest of the return journey. Transferring people and supplies moved between ships was generally done using small boats in calm water, but it was also possible to use ropes to swing supplies or a person on a bosun's chair between ships."
] |
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) and Cleitus saving Alexander's life was too important a moment to leave out, they decided to include it in the battle of Gaugamela instead. One thing going for the battle's accuracy is the immense dust cloud that picks up. With thousands of men and horses tramping around in desert conditions, the likelihood of the Macedonian phalanx being able to see the end of their sarissas at all was very slim, and the film accurately reflects this confusion. The ancient sources attest to a large dust cloud during the battle, and Diodorus claims Darius fled the battle hidden by the dust. (Diodorus Siculus XVII.61.1)"
] |
[
"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, Jews emancipated, the metric system, a new calendar, and more..."
] |
[
"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 allegedly involved in don't include him at 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 the celebrations. A coin by a contender for the imperial throne, Pacatianus, explicitly states \"Year one thousand and first\", which is an indication that the citizens of the Empire had a sense of the beginning of a new era, a Saeculum Novum. EDIT: In fact, I don't suppose any Byzantine scholars want to wade in... did they celebrate 2000 years since the founding of the city in 1248? I know they still considered themselves Roman."
] |
[
"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, and how these skills are broadly applicable."
] |
[
"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 little more official and not so much local trivialities."
] |
[
"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 word of mouth to filter the news. Especially for a democracy the people have to know what the government is doing in order to make informed decisions about it."
] |
eli5_question_answer
|
{
"query": "Represent the title:",
"pos": "Represent the argument:",
"neg": "Represent the argument:"
}
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.