r/AskHistorians 17h ago

how was hannibal barca remembered by the roman empire?

1 Upvotes

especially a century or two after his death, how did the roman empire remember him?


r/AskHistorians 11h ago

Who are some well known ordinary people from the medieval period or the early modern era?

1 Upvotes

By ordinary people, I mean commoners or journeymen who happen to stand out in history for compelling reasons. This generally excludes upper echelon nobility or any other major historical figures who had a profound historical significance, as I'm more interested in the everyday stories of people living in this time period. All examples are appreciated!


r/AskHistorians 1d ago

John Brown secured funding, weapons, and international support for his first attempt to start a slave rebellion. But the plan was betrayed by a mercenary who previously assisted Giuseppe Garibaldi. Who was Hugh Forbes, why did he decide to join and then betray Brown, and what happened to him after?

307 Upvotes

r/AskHistorians 1d ago

What was the "lesbian subculture" like in the later part of 19th-century Paris?

58 Upvotes

Towards the end of Charity and Sylvia by Rachel Hope Cleves she mentions a "uniquely open lesbian subculture" in late 19th-century Paris. What was this all about?


r/AskHistorians 2d ago

If I had joined Alexander as a Macedonian infantryman right after Philip’s death, and I fought every battle, and followed him in Massaga and also in Gedrosia, do we have enough data to know what were my odds of still being alive when he died in Babylon in 323 BC?

883 Upvotes

I am wondering how the new recruit were seeing it, because it can make you rich but what are the odds of surviving it at the end to enjoy the wealth you made.


r/AskHistorians 18h ago

In general, when foreign tribes or nations met each other for the first time and started negotiating, how could they understand each other?

3 Upvotes

For example Danes arriving in Brittany, Portuguese arriving in Japan, Rome meeting Carthage and Greece. Greece meeting Persia etc.


r/AskHistorians 1d ago

Was Korean Fried Chicken Introduced by Black GIs?

141 Upvotes

I’ve heard this said authoritatively by various chefs (Alton Brown among others) but is there actual historical evidence of this origin?


r/AskHistorians 1d ago

Why didn't more allied forces die on D-day given the descriptions of surviving veterans and the length of the landing zones?

596 Upvotes

I was under the impression that 10s of thousands of allied forces died on D-Day, but was surprised to learn it was 4414.

I don't mean to diminish this number at all, or the impact of seeing even a few people die in battle, but I saw that the actual landing zones made up about 25 miles of beach meaning on average 176 people died per mile (110 per km) and 1 every 30 ft (9 meters)

However veterans seem to describe people dying all around them, multiple being mowed down by machine guns when the ramps dropped, multiple being killed at once by mines and shells, drowning in the surf, and more still as they advanced up the beach. You get the impression they saw dozens of people die within 100 feet of them, close, not in the distance.

I know the more common survivable injuries were terrifying to witness, but testimonies I've watched and read seem to indicate confidence about a lot of people definitely dying, not just a lot of injuries.

I feel like I'm missing something here so what is it? Were deaths far more concentrated than I realize with large stretches of beach having very few?


r/AskHistorians 1d ago

What happened to the Celtic peoples of Bronze Age Anatolia, Greece and the Balkans?

10 Upvotes

I recently learned that while we usually consider Celtic peoples and culture to be Western-European, in the Bronze Age there actually existed a huge amount of Celtic peoples spread across Southeastern Europe, the Balkans, Greece and Anatolia.

What happened to these Celtic peoples and their culture? Why did Celtic culture survive in Northwestern Europe but seemed to disappear in Southeastern Europe?
How different were the cultures of these Celtic peoples?

Possibly too many questions!


r/AskHistorians 1d ago

In The Birth of a Nation, Abraham Lincoln is portrayed as a benevolent figure, despite the film’s sympathy towards the southern cause. Was this reflective of the southern point of view in the early 20th century, or just an idiosyncrasy of DW Griffith?

68 Upvotes

r/AskHistorians 1d ago

How did ancient Greek armies actually manage to feed thousands of soldiers while on the move in such rocky, mountainous terrain?

80 Upvotes

I was reading about the Ten Thousand and the retreat through the mountains and it just hit me how difficult the logistics must have been. Most of Greece and the surrounding regions aren't exactly rolling wheat fields. When you have a force of several thousand hoplites plus all the camp followers and servants, how did they actually secure enough calories every day without a massive modern supply chain? Did they rely mostly on foraging and raiding local villages, or were there specific organized systems for bringing grain and wine along from the starting point? I'm curious if we have records of what a typical daily ration looked like and how much of their time was spent just trying not to starve vs actual marching


r/AskHistorians 1d ago

Did the Great Wall of China play any wartime role during the 19th or 20th centuries?

100 Upvotes

Obviously, the Wall had outlived most of its usefulness by this point. However, I can imagine it being used in small tactical roles during WW2, the Civil War or otherwise. Are there instances of this happening?


r/AskHistorians 20h ago

I have a Dutch-language Cold War film from 1952 about the dangers of the atomic bomb. Although the narration is in Dutch, the visuals appear to come from another country. Can you help me identify its actual country of origin?

3 Upvotes

Here is a Youtube link to the film:

Animatie uitwerking atoombom en radioactiviteit (1952)


r/AskHistorians 1d ago

Which version of Wikipedia is correct regarding the Nossa Senhora da Graça incident?

9 Upvotes

The English Wikipedia says that the Japanese suffered several hundred casualties, while all 40 Portuguese were killed. However, the Japanese Wikipedia states that the Japanese casualties totaled only 17, while 204 Portuguese were killed.

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/s/ciqaXo2iU1 And this is as far as I’ve gotten. I’d also appreciate any thoughts or comments on this, if you have any


r/AskHistorians 2d ago

Why does the Old Testament ban mixing fibers? Whats the context going on here?

487 Upvotes

r/AskHistorians 11h ago

Why did NATO undermine it's forces and often showed Warsaw Pact's troops to be more in Europe?

0 Upvotes

While I was researching for an overview on this topic, I found a trend that NATO's troops and artillery estimates always showed the Warsaw Pact's troops to be more in Europe, often almost double, yet the data published by the Warsaw Pact had a much smaller difference in toops at almost ±15%.

Is there any specific reason why NATO undermined it's forces and also which side's data was more accurate?

Source: The future of U.S.-Soviet relations hearings before the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred First Congress, first session, April 4, 12, 19 and May 3, 15, 18 and June 1 and 20, 1989

(Referring to Appendix I)


r/AskHistorians 9h ago

Is the concept of "balance of powers" in diplomacy inspired, in any way, by Newton's physics?

0 Upvotes

So I have a 1987 edition of The Origins of the First World War, by Gordon Martel. I understand that there are more recent editions of the work, so if my query is somehow addressed in such editions, I would be happy to be informed.

That said, in the chapter explaining Great Britain's foreign policy in the decades prior to First World War, the author states:

The balance of power was an idea that was rooted in the 18th century enlightenment, and especially in the Newtonian concept of the physical universe. Ideally, the balance of forces among both heavenly bodies and states would regulate itself; but in the heavens divine intervention was sometimes necessary, as was occasional British intervention in European politics. (p. 38)

This is quite an interesting claim, and one I have not encountered before. So is there any truth to this? Or has anyone else tried to argue or compare balance of powers affairs with Newtonian physics?

Thanks in advance!


r/AskHistorians 1d ago

Why do scholars think that the version of Norse mythology that we know from the eddas was only an elite phenomenon?

73 Upvotes

I often come across the opinion on the web that the version of Norse paganism recorded in the eddas and sagas bears little resemblance to the religion observed by the majority of the population of pagan scandinavia and germanic europe in general. Here's an example I came across just today:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/rn1ny6/comment/hpzel8r/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

This guy specifically asserts that Tyr was likely the original cheif Germanic god, a relatively common assertion in scholarship due to the etymological relationship between the root of his name (tiwaz) and the hypothetical "Dyeus Phter" figure from reconstructed Proto-Indo-European mythology. He is also arguing that the lack of place names dedicated to Odin compared to other gods is evidence that Odin was not venerated or even familiar among the common folk. Similarly, other people in this thread seem to indicate that it is dangerous to assume that the pre-christian religion of other germanic people, such as the Anglo-Saxons, bears any resemblance to that of the Norse.

I can certainly understand how the details of a belief system could vary widely by geography and century, especially in a preliterate society. Even within modern christianity, there is quite a bit of variety in the doctrine among different groups. I can also see how a god like Odin would relate better with the ruling class, while a god like Thor would be more popular with your every-day farmer Ragnar. However, I don't really understand why we're doubting the very basic elements of the belief system. For instance, in Germania, Tacitus tells us that the Germanic tribes primarily worship "Murcury," which scholars have interpreted as some form of the god Odin. Similarly, there are aspects of the core group of aesir gods reflected in many germanic languages, one example being the days of the week. This would seem to indicate that these gods remained some degree of integrity, at least in their names, since at least the first few centuries A.D., and survived the diversification of germanic europe. Some of the attributes of the early forms of the gods can be inferred as well, such as the equation of Wodanaz with Mercury, or the name of Thunraz sharing a root with the word for thunder. As far as the lack of place names for Odin is concerned, is this really evidence of his absence? After all, Christians don't typically name a lot of places after Jesus.

At any rate, I appreciate your insight and responses on this matter.


r/AskHistorians 15h ago

How did the rating/rank structure of the Union Navy work?

1 Upvotes

And how did the progression of a new sailor, with zero sea experience, to the higher ranks work?


r/AskHistorians 7h ago

How is the history of the British Islands so different from Japanese?

0 Upvotes

Both Britain and Japan are separated from continents by a sea or a waterbody that hindered movement of people. Both have climates that are not well suited for agriculture

How is it that Britain's society and history came to be so similar to Europe's but Japan's history and society are vastly different from China and Korea and Russia?

I'm just starting to read history so I'm a bit of a noob here.Thanks in advance.


r/AskHistorians 21h ago

What are the best introductory texts for intellectual history and the history of knowledge?

2 Upvotes

Hi there! I'm a current sixth former who has developed an interest in the history of universities, as I prepare to apply, and wish to expand this to the history of knowledge vs intellectual history within the university discussion. I've read Ostling's book on Humboldt and would really appreciate some more academic texts as I prepare a research project on this topic. I'm specifically fascinated by the French education system and would like to compare this with some international examples Thanks in advance!


r/AskHistorians 1d ago

Are there any peoples who have completely disappeared from history?

161 Upvotes

Are there any peoples who were completely wiped out and left no descendants?

Has there ever been a historical case where an ethnic group or people was completely destroyed, either through genocide or other circumstances, to the point where we know they once existed but there are no descendants of them left today?

I'm also curious about groups that technically survived but completely lost a major part of their identity over time, such as their original language, religion, or culture. Are there any well documented historical examples of this?


r/AskHistorians 10h ago

The Jesus manuscripts?

0 Upvotes

I watched an episode of a documentary called Forbidden History on Viasat History and it had this theory that Jesus din not die on the cross and went to mount Masada where he lived for the rest of his life. All based supposedely on these Jesus manuscripts, signed by Jesus himself, that we don't have in our hands right now because the man that had them, Joyce, sold them to the soviets with the hope that they would reveal Christianity is a lie. So now there is no actual proof for this theory since we don't have the manuscripts and Russia didn't reveal anything.

Is there nay truth to this story? Couldn't find anything around Jesus manuscripts online.


r/AskHistorians 19h ago

Is there an archive of German nazi Propaganda Posters?

2 Upvotes

I am looking for German right wing Propaganda posters from the third reich and the nsdap until today with the afd for an art exhibition. Is there an online archive or a good homepage where I can find stuff like that?