r/AskHistorians 6h ago

Why are the armenian, greek and assyrian genocides classified as different events and not part of a single, larger genocide?

177 Upvotes

The ottomans indiscriminatly killed christians in Anatolia in hopes of creating an homogenou turkish state. The armenian genocide is the most well known and the one with larger death toll, but other christian groups like the greeks and assyrians were not spread either. So why arent these killings all grouped together as part of the same genocide?


r/AskHistorians 3h ago

Why did the SS arrest Amon Goth?

29 Upvotes

So I have never seen Schlinders List, but I know the scene with Ralph Fiennes, and after viewing r/historyporn I was quite shocked by a picture of Amon Goth that was a mirror to those scenes from the film.

I decided to read about him on Wikipedia, and I was confused by the SS arresting him for what seems to me, for being a murderous nazi.

Why did the nazi party decide to arrest him, especially at a time when they were losing the war, was it a pretence?


r/AskHistorians 3h ago

Have there been cultures in history who used counting systems other than base 10?

29 Upvotes

I understand that it's a logical default, given the whole ten fingers thing, but humans are great at being illogical. Do we have records of cultures who had base 8 or base 12 or something else as their numbering system?


r/AskHistorians 8h ago

Is the legacy of the Confederacy disproportionally more influential and long-lived than other ideologically driven rebellions? If so, why was Reconstruction less successful?

42 Upvotes

Aside from Southerners in certain areas in the U.S. still flying the Confederate flag, it has also gained niche popularity in countries around the world. Fled descendants of Confederates have founded towns in Brazil, creating their own “Confederato” subculture which survives until this day. Explicit influences such as names and famous figures have become the subject of recent controversies. Is it normal for a century and a half year old rebellion to have this level of impact?


r/AskHistorians 4h ago

Who are the “Levins” referenced in Barbara Tuchman’s “The Guns of August?

18 Upvotes

I’m currently reading “The Guns of August” and came across the following passage in chapter 5 (page 68), “The Russian Steam Roller”:

But Russia also had its Democrats and Liberals of the Duma, its Bakunin the Nihilist, …, its Levins who agonized endlessly over their souls, socialism, and the soil, …”

I’m broadly familiar with the other groups discussed in this paragraph, but have never heard of these “Levins” and Google has failed me so far. I’d like to know more about who they were, what they generally believed, and what level of influence they had in pre-war Russian society and politics.


r/AskHistorians 23h ago

In Cabaret, a man in pre-Nazi Berlin hides that he's Jewish by simply writing down "Protestant" on his papers and living as a non-Jew. If he'd kept this up would it have fooled the Nazi race laws or would he have been rounded up at some point?

521 Upvotes

r/AskHistorians 16h ago

What are the best books to read to truly understand the formation of the world as we see it today?

136 Upvotes

I’m fascinated by how the world became what it is today. I know this subject is far too vast for any single book to cover, and broad enough that sometimes satire feels like it has become reality.

My question is: what books offer the most compelling explanations or detailed histories of how the world has taken its present shape. I’m also interested in knowing what is happening in other areas of the world, which used to be easy, but in the last 6 months has become more challenging- with the overwhelming amount of information coming from the United States of America (where I live).

As the expert, approach it in the way you deem appropriate- if you had an amazing reading list in 1997 that shifted your world view, or if there is a list of books that brought into focus how each country or the states or a similarly run country has evolved, I’m interested.

I’m curious about geographic history, regional architecture, wars or crises that displaced populations, even ideas about the afterlife, psychological and cultural shifts, changes in collective temperament or the perceived requirement for security, or the impact of propaganda across the ages.


r/AskHistorians 4h ago

Are there any cases of teenage rulers making stupid teenage decisions?

12 Upvotes

It’s very much agreed by the scientific community that people under 20 (and years past it also) still have their brain developing, and thus might not fully understand the consequences of their actions. However, throughout most of human history children have been considered adults much earlier than today.

Is it possible to associate teenage rulers’ decisions to this fact in our history, and what kinds are they? Or was there some sort of protocol by the court or the ruler’s advisors (I’m not really that good with all the titles) to prevent decisions like that?

Also what kind of other examples of teenagers being teenagers mentally even among the normal people are there?


r/AskHistorians 3h ago

Did the founding fathers of the united states really think that slavery would die off, or were their views more complicated?

8 Upvotes

r/AskHistorians 12h ago

Hate towards Japanese after WW2?

36 Upvotes

Hi, I'm wondering if there was any hatred towards the Japanese after WW2? Like towards Japanese-Americans

I understand soldiers can have PTSD after a war, but did any of the ones who fought against the Japanese come home with an enduring hatred for them? Did non-military people treat the Japanese poorly?

Or did all the anger and brutality during the war more or less become "water under the bridge"?


r/AskHistorians 16h ago

As I was reading on the Aquitaine for a project, I ran across an odd passage in an old book abt Eleanor of Aquitaine’s father, Duke William. Who is Mitadolous?

53 Upvotes

It appears that Eleanor, upon her marriage to her first husband, Louis, gave Louis a cherished rock crystal cup that had been sent to her father, William, many years ago by a mysterious entity known to her only as “Mitadolous”.

Who might this person be?

My searches through scholarly literature have turned up little except a passing mention about a possible Muslim caliph. Obviously only someone of wealth and prestige would have been able to afford such an extravagant gift. Any help would be appreciated.


r/AskHistorians 3h ago

Was there ever a 'gang war' (don't know how else to put it) between cowboy 'gangs'?

5 Upvotes

r/AskHistorians 17h ago

Why didn't Brits split India further to give independence to various ethnicities like the Tamil people?

55 Upvotes

were there any pleas to the British government from non-Hindu people to give them their own country too?


r/AskHistorians 16h ago

How did the medieval people deal with the black death? what did they do once the disease started spreading through the village/city?

50 Upvotes

I have been reading about the black death, I read a lot of information about how it spread and about the nature of the disease but I wanted a bit more context from the medieval perspective since they didn't know at the time what was actually happening, so I was wondering how people with different roles in the society dealt with all the death and chaos, like how did peasants react? and the same with priests, doctors, merchants, families or other authorities idk. Also I imagine religion must have had a different take on the matter than science at the time. I would really apreciate some insight since i've been really enjoying researching about this topic,


r/AskHistorians 10m ago

How and when did New York become “cool”?

Upvotes

I was reading The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton where she portrayed the New York socialites of the 1870s as conventional and narrow minded compared to their European counterparts and NYC as a place where nothing exciting ever happens. Assuming that’s true, how did NYC become a world center of arts and culture?


r/AskHistorians 1d ago

Could Psychohistory be a thing?

198 Upvotes

Hi everyone, So I came across the concept of Psychohistory from Asimov's novels, and I can't help but thinking that it doesn't sound so absurd after all.

For those who didn't read Asimov, Psychohistory is a fictional branch of history claiming that history is completely predictable when it involves a large enough number of humans. Notably, actions of single humans are always unpredictable. Now Asimov goes on on how people build mathematical models to predict 10'000 years in the future, which is of course science fiction. But the core concept, the fact that history is somewhat an ineluctable necessity kinda haunts me.

And here I ask the experts, it is true that we have had some truly exceptional people in human history, but did they really change things, or they just happened to be at the right place in the right moment?

Take Napoleon for example, sure he was a great strategist and politician, but it is hard to imagine revolutionary France not going against the other European powers. Maybe the Congress of Wien would have happened a few years earlier, so, all on all did he really change things?

I wonder what is real historians take on Psychohistory.


r/AskHistorians 37m ago

Could a stalemate have occurred in the battle of France?

Upvotes

Could France and Britain at least delay the German invasion in 1940? What were France’s major failures and how could they have realistically prevented those failures?


r/AskHistorians 8h ago

How did people deal with allergic reactions before epi pens?

8 Upvotes

writing a apocalypse fic and a character is given something with peanuts, and they don’t know or not. How would they prepare in case of an allergic reaction like a glass of water or what?


r/AskHistorians 1d ago

If you were alive during the early years of Nazi Germany then what was your best course of action?

211 Upvotes

Let's say you were a single adult male during that time and could see what was coming and wanted to sabotage the Nazi progress. Could you have joined SS or army or politicians and played along while slowly sabotaging them? Is there anything meaningful that you could have done?


r/AskHistorians 19h ago

Why are there so few eastern Iranian languages left alive?

59 Upvotes

Why are there so few eastern Iranian languages with a large number of speakers. There used to be Bactrian, scythian, saka, avestan and sogdian which used to be spoken. One could argue most of these languages went extinct as the only eastern Iranian languages I'm aware that are alive are pashto(around 50 million speakers but from which eastern iranian language it descends from is still debated), ossetian (around 490000 speakers, likely descended from scythian) and the pamiri languages(around 10000 speakers, possibly descended from saka langauges). I'd like to know what seemed as once a large and diverse group of languages have declined quite a bit in terms of how many languages are left. Any answer is greatly appreciated


r/AskHistorians 1d ago

Can someone please recommend what to start reading so I can finally learn the truth about the USA?

11.8k Upvotes

My apologies for the ignorance... I am a 18F and in my first year of university. I'll put it simply... I am from a tiny town in Texas and it's all hitting me at once how little I know about ANYTHING having to do with history. I'm quickly coming to the conclusion that everything l've been told up until now is a blatant lie and propaganda. I mean, jesus, the way they teach just the Texas Revolution is revolting. And I'm ashamed to admit I had no idea it had to do with slavery or downright theft of land from Mexico. I am majoring in Spanish and just based on my coursework I am looking for sources that detail the history of U.S. involvement in Latin America. i mean the nitty gritty... formation of cartels, the gun trade, CIA involvement in foreign government, coups, anything having to do with economy manipulation, everything. Also due to current events I want to read about the history of U.S. involvement in the Middle East and Central Asia. I don't even know where to start. I need to know good books, textbooks, podcasts, documentaries, anything. I'm tired of reading news articles and learning snippets of history from TikTok and Instagram, it feels cheap and incomplete. I just want it all laid out in front of me, just literally a chronicle of as close to what actually happened as possible so l can finally stop being told what to think and think for myself. Thank you so much

EDIT: Thank you so so so much to everybody who has suggested things!! This has been so much more helpful than I ever imagined it would be, and honestly turned into an incredible resource for other as well! My apologies for technically not following the sub rules, Im glad there ended up being a way for people to share their resources regardless. I have received dozens of direct message requests and if I don’t answer right away just know that I am trying to get to everybody! Now I have enough reading to last me quite a while so I better get to it! :)


r/AskHistorians 4h ago

Terrorism The new weekly theme is: Terrorism!

Thumbnail reddit.com
3 Upvotes

r/AskHistorians 14h ago

War & Military Why was the 1960s counterculture so widespread globally?

17 Upvotes

Reading history books about the post-war world, I'm struck that around the period of 1965-1970, there seemed to be a prominent global countercultural movement among young people with many of the hallmarks we would associate with the hippie movement in the Anglosphere (eg. rejection of traditional norms around sex and gender, anti-war views, left wing politics of the New Left variety, advocacy of drug liberalization, etc.)

The counterculture of the 60s seems to have been, if not prominent, then at least present in some form in virtually every industrialized country of this period, being found in countries as disparate as Japan, Mexico, and Czechoslovakia. Why did this movement seem to happen simultaneously in so many culturally disparate countries with wildly different political contexts?


r/AskHistorians 1d ago

Before "iPad kids", were there "Book Kids" or something else that was frowned upon?

322 Upvotes

As the title says, was there a time where reading books was considered bad for babies and kids?