The 20th century began on January 1, 1901, and ended on December 31, 2000.
6
votes
3answers
213 views
Chronology of Political Party Alignment with “Left” and “Right”
I once heard it said that U.S. political parties (Republicans and Democrats) have both spent the last century becoming increasingly liberal, such that 21st century Republicans now hold the same ...
7
votes
2answers
380 views
Why was the US so against Japanese aggression in China but did nothing about Germany in Europe?
The US was very vocal against Japanese aggression in China in the 1930's and early 1940's but said nothing against German aggression in Europe. The US finally placed an embargo on sending oil and ...
8
votes
4answers
365 views
Why was the Irish War of Independence in 1918 successful when other revolts failed?
In a nutshell, what events, occurrences, or mishaps took place that allowed the Irish to win the war of Independence over what could arguably be the most powerful nation of the time, when they were ...
2
votes
1answer
46 views
What factors enabled the New York Journal to survive the yellow journalism wars?
The height of yellow journalism was a battle waged between the Joseph Pulitzer owned New York World, and the William Hearst owned New York Journal. However, even though these two papers boasted large ...
13
votes
3answers
453 views
What do I need to know about Syria's history to understand the 2011-2012 uprising?
Syria is in the news a lot lately due to the current uprising, but it's not a country that many people know much about. It can trace its history back to the origins of civilization, and as a result ...
4
votes
1answer
194 views
Why the USSR insisted on ban of the 1943 German film Munchhausen in Nuremberg?
After the war, many German films were shown in the USSR, popularly known as "trophy films", this included the 1944 "The Woman of My Dreams" which was shown until mid-1950s.
At the same time the ...
17
votes
3answers
386 views
How was the modern geographic boundary between Europe and Asia decided?
Wikipedia puts the boundary as:
The modern definition of Europe delimits it from Asia at the Aegean Sea, the Dardanelles-Sea of Marmora-Bosporus, the Black Sea, along the watershed of the Greater ...
5
votes
1answer
101 views
When was the last time period where one could travel by steam powered locomotive across the United States today?
I'm not sure that it is possible to travel the United States from coast to coast by one single steam powered train today, or that there are enough connected routes that a steam locomotive could run ...
8
votes
1answer
363 views
In WW2, which midget submarine program was the most successful?
In WW2, which midget submarine program was the most successful? I know at least Great Britain and Japan had midget submarines and used them during the course of the conflict. Which WW2 combatant had ...
4
votes
1answer
90 views
Nationalisation during wartime in the West: With or without compensation?
I was just reading about the forerunner to Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (Bavarian Aircraftworks, who designed and manufactured the legendary ME/BF-109 fighter).
Apparently the owner, Herr Otto, was ...
13
votes
1answer
375 views
How do Friedman and Bernanke's explanations about the causes of the Great Depression compare?
I know that both Friedman and Bernanke wrote papers (or books, in Friedman's case) about the cause of the Great Depression. How do their points of view compare and contrast?
7
votes
3answers
125 views
Were there any political checks on the U.S. executive during their covert support of the military junta of Pinochet?
U.S. secretary of state Kissinger- with the support of the executive- actively supported the overthrow of Chilean president Allende in favor of the military dictatorship of Pinochet. After the fact, ...
11
votes
2answers
220 views
Why were the British so reluctant to allow Jewish migration to Palestine?
Not sure this is the correct forum to ask this, but i'm currently reading 'Exodus' by Leon Uris, and i'm curious as to why the British were so reluctant in letting jewish people in Palestine.
This ...
4
votes
1answer
77 views
Did Nikita Krushchev's support of Stalin's purges play a part in his removal from office?
As far as I can tell Krushchev was removed from office because of his erratic policies, and specifically their failures, but did his role in Stalin's purges also play a part in his removal?
9
votes
2answers
275 views
What factors related to the Eastern Crisis contributed to the outbreak of World War 1?
What factors related to the Eastern Crisis contributed to the outbreak of World War 1?
The Eastern Crisis pertains to problems posed by the decay of the Ottoman Empire. Primary among these problems ...
25
votes
1answer
789 views
Why does German money from the 1940s not bear Nazi symbols?
I have a 5-mark German banknote (I think from 1941 or 1942), looking exactly like this:
I am curious why the banknote not only does not bear a portrait of Hitler, but doesn't include any German state ...
2
votes
1answer
85 views
What factors led to the US government issuing nutrition guidelines in 1916?
This timeline from the Washington Post says that the United States Department of Agriculture issued its first food guidelines in 1916 for children, and then did one in 1920 for adults. My question is, ...
2
votes
1answer
102 views
What differences led to Technicolor becoming the dominant color filming technology in Hollywood?
Apparently another technology, Kinemacolor, was invented first in the UK, but it never caught on in Hollywood. Kinemacolor was expensive, and had some other glitches involved, but the fact that it was ...
14
votes
1answer
173 views
How did people react to Cavendish bananas when they first replaced the Gros Michel strain?
I was reading that the bananas we eat today (Cavendish) weren't particularly popular until the 50s, when the more popular Gros Michel variety was virtually wiped out by a nasty disease. Apparently ...
4
votes
1answer
89 views
What is the best way to describe the form of Japanese government during the years before and during world war 2?
Prior to the great depression, how much political power did the military, the emperor, and the prime minister of Japan have? Is it a form of monarchy, or does it resemble a military dictatorship? Did ...
11
votes
3answers
419 views
Did anyone warn about the potential for stock market crashes in 1929, and if so why were their warnings ignored?
I can't seem to find information about economists, or others, warning about the overheated stock market of the 1920s in the US that would culminate in the stock market crashing on Black Thursday, ...
7
votes
2answers
232 views
What sources or documentation exists to indicate Stalin's level of popularity in Russia today?
migrated from comments http://history.stackexchange.com/a/1710/682
To what extent is Stalin still loved and/or respected by Russians (and for extra points former USSR states)
while articles like ...
1
vote
0answers
38 views
Was there a race to patent the use of Freon as a home refrigerator coolant?
Thomas Midgely, Jr.'s hands were in two of the most detrimental scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century: the proliferation of leaded gasoline and the use of Freon (a chlorofluorocarbon) as a ...
14
votes
6answers
304 views
Japan is known for being isolationist, so what cultivated its history of interventionism in the 20th century?
For much of its history, Japan was a very isolationistic country, and in fact, even in modern Japan, there is still a strong isolationist attitude among the Japanese people in some ways.
During the ...
14
votes
2answers
508 views
Why didn't Moldova unite with Romania?
Towards the collapse of the USSR, nationalism rose in Moldova. Nationalists proclaimed the linguistic and ethnic identity between Moldovans and Romanians. It seems that they strove toward unification ...
9
votes
4answers
495 views
What new technology/tactics allowed the breakthrough of the trenches in WW I western front?
Reading the answers to this question about WW1 Western Front, it appears that breaking through the trenches was a very difficult task to do. How did the Allies finally make it? Was it the invention of ...
-8
votes
1answer
112 views
Space Landing proving it happened [closed]
It is common fodder among the masses to quote conspiracy theorists that we never landed on the moon what are the answer to the questions brought up by these conspiracy theorist like the shadow of the ...
11
votes
4answers
476 views
Can someone help explain this floor plan of a mid 20th century apartment?
I was watching 12 Angry Men, which was made in 1957; and they show this floor plan of an apartment:
My main question is, what's the opening in the wall between the hallway and the main room? It ...
7
votes
4answers
263 views
Did the USA win the counter insurgency war in the Vietnam war?
What happened in the aftermath of the Tet offensive to the Viet Cong? Was it actually broken or did it just incorporate into the North Viet Nam army?
Edit: I am fully aware that the USA lost the ...
3
votes
1answer
220 views
Symbol on utility pole in photograph from 1906
I happened to notice this symbol:
on a utility pole in a photograph from 1906.
What's the meaning of that symbol?
14
votes
3answers
866 views
What were Hitler's religious beliefs?
Hitler is often cited as an example of an evil atheist (along with Stalin and Mao). But there are several quotes from him that seem to indicate he believed in the Christian God - and even used this to ...
12
votes
2answers
346 views
Why was the Western Front so static in World War I?
Once the German advance was halted, neither side could seriously advance for two years. This seems like an extraordinarily long time. Why didn't anyone succeed at going around the trenches or striking ...
7
votes
4answers
384 views
Did Stalin want to restore the Russian Empire's borders?
On one hand, it seems so because the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact defined the border between the two spheres of influence to be the border of the Russian Empire before WWI. On the other hand, the USSR ...
2
votes
2answers
152 views
Prevalence of Torture
How prevalent was torture by the regular police force and the army in 19th and early 20th century in the US and Western Europe? When it was practiced, are there documented instances of it being ...
8
votes
1answer
1k views
Why was the Cuban Revolution (1953-1959) ultimately successful?
Communist revolutions have been attempted across the world - what were the primary reasons that the Cuban Revolution succeeded while others failed?
4
votes
1answer
170 views
What are the scholarly opinions on the idea of the “European Civil War”?
On Wikipedia, I ran into an article talking about World War I to World War II and some of the adjacent wars before WWI as being a "European Civil War" or a "Second Thirty Years War". What is the ...
6
votes
3answers
2k views
Is Germany responsible for World War I?
Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to accept all responsibility for the war.
What's their "moral" justification? Is it just, you lose so just agree with this or did Germany do something to start ...
10
votes
2answers
241 views
Why were there civil wars in Croatia and Bosnia, but not in Slovenia or Macedonia?
It seems that during the breakup of Yugoslavia there were civil wars during speakers of the (then officially) same language - Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, but not, e.g., between Serbs and Slovenians. ...
2
votes
1answer
293 views
What Were the Main Causes of World War One? [closed]
It would appear that the very root of the cause of WWI was the assassination of the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne. To me, this is an incredibly odd reason to start a world war. Was the war as ...
23
votes
3answers
922 views
Has Britain's 1940 invasion of Iceland been downplayed by historians?
On the face of it Operation Fork (Britain's invasion of Iceland in 1940) wasn't so terribly different from Germany's territorial landgrabs in 1939 and 1940.
Britain and her allies will have ...
7
votes
1answer
92 views
What institutional precursors enabled labor unions to emerge in the United States?
What institutions and/or organizations existed in the United States before the structured and recognizable labor unions formed as a visible sign of organizations to come? How did these predecessor ...
0
votes
0answers
84 views
Thomas Kuhn's impact on academia [closed]
As Kuhn himself put it (paraphrasing) I wrote Structure as an exercise in using the history of science in order to answer a philosophical question. His impact on historians has been tremendous, but ...
11
votes
1answer
166 views
What set Checkpoint Charlie apart from the other border checkpoints in Berlin during the Cold War?
How did "Checkpoint Charlie" become known as the border crossing between East and West Berlin? Out of the countless border checkpoints, what set Checkpoint Charlie apart from the rest for defectors?
4
votes
1answer
100 views
Was it worthwhile for Britain to side with the USA in the Canada-Alaska border dispute?
In 1903 the Canada-Alaska border dispute was decided by a tribunal of 3 American members, 2 Canadian members, and 1 British member. The British member sided with the Americans with the stated goal of ...
5
votes
1answer
305 views
What rank is S. SGT in the Army Air Force during WW2?
I am looking over my Grandfather's DD214 (Military Discharge Paperwork) from WW2. His grade says "S. SGT" I am trying to figure out his rank conclusively. Nowhere on the DD214 does it display an E-5 ...
2
votes
0answers
106 views
Were Pope John Paul I's views anything that could imply a support for contraception? [closed]
Pope John Paul I was a short lived pope (only 33 days). There are rumours that he was assasinated.
Someone told me that he was quite liberal (as catholic popes can go), and some of his ...
0
votes
0answers
77 views
Book on Russian History [closed]
My very Russian boss who is a history buff, insists that there is no such thing as a 'good' book on Russian history on the grounds that 'Russian history has yet to be decided'. I was re-reading ...
5
votes
2answers
151 views
How besieged was Leningrad after Operation Iskra?
Wikipedia's timeline for the siege of Leningrad is a little puzzling. It has:
12–30 January 1943: Operation Iskra penetrates the siege by opening a
land corridor along the coast of Lake Ladoga into ...
