Questions tagged [political-history]
Political history is the history of: political events, politicians, political bodies, political movements and anything else related to politics. Questions on topic will be related to the significance, evolution, or veracity of things of historical consequence related to politics.
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How were cities administered in the Middle Byzantine Empire (641-1081)? [closed]
So I have found something about urban administration of cities in the Roman Republic and the feudal kingdoms. But how were cities administered in the Middle Byzantine Empire? Did they have Imperial ...
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What measures have been proposed to assess geopolitical instability over time?
History has comprised periods of relative peace punctuated by wars. The 20th century, for example, breaks down into three “peaceful” periods interspersed by the two world wars. The peaceful spells, ...
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Did the Roman Empire lie? [closed]
Some modern countries, including the US, Russia, and the UK in particular are blamed (by the other side, where Russia is confronted to US+UK) to be particularly lying in politics, using their powerful ...
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Did provincial elections occur in 1934 in the provinces of Punjab and Bengal?
I was reading about elections in British India that happened as per the rules of the Government of India Act, 1919. From 1920 till 1934, a total of five elections were conducted i.e. 1920, 1923, 1926, ...
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What does it mean for an empire to fight for relevance?
I read about the Armenian genocide that it was a last-ditch effort from the Ottomans to fight for relevance. Is "fighting for relevance" a common expression in historic commentary? What does ...
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What are the evidences, accounts and notes that prove ancient Indian empires and Chinese empires were friendly states before 300 BC
What are the evidences, accounts and notes that prove ancient empires of India and China were friendly states before 300 BC?
I am personally searching for descriptions/writings of well known travelers ...
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Did the Dutch eat their Prime Minister?
According to this article an angry—one might add hungry—Dutch mob feasted on the mutilated remains of their ‘Grand Pensionary’ (i.e. Prime Minister) De Witt and his brother:
There are accounts of ...
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What about dairy pasteurisation might have made the issue so important to Lord Rothschild?
It’s known that in 50+ years of Lordship, Lord Rothschild only addressed the house twice:
Once was about the Zionist question
The other was about instituting compulsory pasteurisation of dairy
It’s ...
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Has it been common for Lords to only address the House twice in their entire career?
It is often stated by conspiracy theorists that Lord Rothschild only ever addressed the House of Lords twice in his entire 52 year career, once about Palestine/Israel, and once about mandating the ...
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Is there a database of alliances between historical figures?
I've been really interested in the human, individual aspect of political alliances. Those get really complicated of course!
So I started wondering, is there a database / website / platform out there ...
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Is Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, the President of Gabon, related to Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea or to Francisco Nguema? [closed]
Gabon recently experienced a coup d'etat in which Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema was installed as President.
It would be historically relevant to ascertain whether he has consanguineal kinship to ...
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Are there methodologies for the didactic study of history?
When you ask someone what the purpose is of studying history, a standard response is that by studying history we come to understand its patterns which can inform us on our own circumstances and the ...
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How many times have the results of the US presidential election been officially challenged?
Most elections have a process to challenge the results of the election, to request a recount or to identify irregularities in the election process. How often have the results of the US Presidential ...
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Which text asserts that "An assembly with no minority/opposition should be dissolved"?
This 19th century Jewish work, section 20 of Benjamin Aryeh Hakohen Weiss's "Even Yekarah”, refers to an ancient gentile text (this usually means Ancient Greece, but not necessarily) which ...
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When did the Toronto Club become gender neutral? [closed]
The Toronto Club is one of the most exclusive and oldest member's only clubs in Canada. It's entirely gender neutral today, but, presumably, that wasn't always the case.
So I'm wondering, when did ...
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Did early imperial China have a "uniform, multilevel administrative bureaucracy" that the Romans did not?
I'm reading Fukuyama's "The Origins of Political Order", and on pages 92-93 he makes the following claim (emphasis my own):
But most important, the state that emerged in China was far more ...
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How did the Cold War contribute to the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act?
I understand from Dudziak's "Cold War Civil Rights" that Soviet criticism of the US's civil rights record influenced the passing the 1964 Civil Rights Act. However, I was wondering if there ...
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Did Harold Pinter create this "old story about Oliver Cromwell"?
House of Commons Speech - October 2002
There's an old story about Oliver Cromwell.
After he had taken the town of Drogheda
the citizens were brought to the main square.
Cromwell announced to his ...
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What languages did Karl Marx speak and how well?
Isaiah Berlin in Karl Marx: His Life and Environment comments on Marx efforts to learn Russian:
In order to do this he began to learn Russian; at the end of
six months he had mastered it sufficiently ...
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Re-imposition of slavery and racist laws in France under Napoleon
The last chapter of the Tom Reiss's biography of General Alex Dumas tells in some detail the dark story of the re-imposition of slavery and very harsh race-based oppression by Napoleon, abrogating ...
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What were the Oriental influences on Heraclitus?
I'm reading Karl Popper's The Open Society and its Enemies. In chapter two, he mentions in passing that Greek philosophers such as Heraclitus were influenced by oriental ideas.
Is he referring to ...
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Did Roman Consuls have advisors like senior officials of modern governments (ministers/secretaries) have?
I have begun working on an alternative history story where the Roman Empire has survived to the present/near future. There are a few historical turning points where different decisions were made, each ...
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Are there other examples of sustainable propaganda besides USSR: several generations, several leaders
From my understanding of the history of USSR, it was successful enough to dominate in the ideology about events of 1910s-1920s on its territory. In particular, the official party doctrine, the books, ...
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What is the difference between "liege-vassal" and "simple vassal"?
Jean Bodin said in his Six Books of the Commonwealth:
The fourth is the simple vassal who owes faith and service for his fief, but is neither a sovereign himself, nor the natural subject of the man ...
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Is "Lenin’s Testament" authentic?
Context
In 1922, the Communist Party was firmly in control of the USSR (or at least the Russia part of it), and Vladimir Lenin was the undisputed leader of the Party. Lenin was seriously ill and had ...
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Did Edith Wilson influence the passage of the 19th Amendment?
Edith Wilson handled her husband Woodrow Wilson's presidential business, heavily so, after his stroke until the end of his term. As
"In My Memoir, published in 1939, Edith Wilson justified her ...
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Was some form of "kids" an epithet for political leaders during the Bosnian civil war?
I just read Zlata Filipovich's moving diary from the Bosnian war in French translation.
Often, when referring (I infer) to the political leaders and negotiators, she calls them our "chers bambins&...
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What is the oldest continuously circulating story that survived until 1890’s? [closed]
What is the oldest continuously circulating story (specifically prior 13th century BCE) that survived until 1890’s? (eg myths/histories etc)
I am specifically looking for a myth/story/history that ...
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Why did Pakistan choose Islamabad as its capital?
Initially, Pakistan's temporary capital was Karachi -
which made sense as
it was the largest city.
I tried to understand why they moved it to Islamabad of all places.
Here is what I know from my own ...
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Did Martin Luther ever say "The prosperity of a country depends ... "?
Did Martin Luther ever say these quotes? If he did, then since he didn't speak English, what were his original words. Is this translation correct (close enough)?
The prosperity of a country depends, ...
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Did the Joseon dynasty ask the Ming/Qing emperors for permission to crown a new king?
Since they were vassals of Ming and Qing dynasties, did the Joseon kings ask permission for their coronation?
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Has there ever been an election where the two biggest parties form a coalition to govern?
For example, suppose there are 100 seats available. Party A wins 45 seats, party B wins 45 seats, and party C wins 10 seats. "Usually" party A and party B will court party C, and whoever C ...
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Where can I read the 1966 letters opposing Stalin's rehabilitation?
On 14 February 1966, 25 notable Soviet scientists and cultural figures sent a letter to CPSU General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev urging against the rehabilitation of Joseph Stalin. Another similar ...
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What was the political organization of small villages and towns in medieval Transylvania by the end of the 15th Century? (Both Saxon and non-Saxon)
I've been trying to find out about the political organization of small villages in medieval Transylvania during the time the region was part of the Hungarian Kingdom (more precisely during the end of ...
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Has any country ever annexed territory of another country without physically controlling it?
Russia "annexed" some territories that it does not have control over. There are many examples when a state claims territories that de facto are not under its control. But usually such ...
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Has a criminal organisation ever become a formal government?
There are plenty of examples of criminal syndicates attaining local, regional, or even national power through corruption, while still, at least formally, pursued by the judicial system: Mexico, Russia,...
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What was in those documents Victoria snuck away from Wilhelm II to London in 1888?
Victoria, Princess Royal, and German Empress for less than a hundred days in 1888, saw the signs of death for her husband, Emperor Friedrich III, and apparently both did not trust either Bismarck or ...
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When in 1885 did Stafford Northcote cease to be Commons leader of the Conservatives?
Northcote was leader in the Commons until 1885. Wikipedia says:
On Benjamin Disraeli's elevation to the House of Lords as Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876, Northcote became Leader of the Conservatives in ...
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Has Sun Tzu ever advocated for something that in modern society is a war crime, or what has Sun Tzu ever said about war crimes? [closed]
I've read The Art of War 3x, but I didn't yet know the concept of 'war crime'. So I never really paid much attention to the text in that regard.
Question: Has Sun Tzu ever advocated for something that ...
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What religions were persecuted and disappeared (between 1000 BCE – 1 CE)? [closed]
R Gottlieb wrote in his book called "Reason to Believe" on page 66 that many cultures were persecuted between 1000 BCE – 1 CE, and none survived. As far as I'm aware, he does not provide any ...
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In the Gettysburg Address, what is the exact meaning of the phrase 'under God'?
Recently, while studying Chinese translations of this classic speech,
EDIT:
that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and
that government of the people, by the people, for the ...
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How was the Roman Empire officially referred to by contemporaries throughout the 1st to 6th centuries AD?
I understand that the notion of state in the specified period was different from the modern one and maybe was gradually changing over time. However, I still believe that contemporary sources ...
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How did 19th century politicians discredit rivals?
I'm writing a fantasy novel in which a pivotal election takes place (first vote in which everyone above the age of 21 can vote - and the first time women can vote). The setting of the novel is heavily ...
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Were there political parties in ancient Greece?
So I'm reading a Spanish translation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War and he frequently mentions a "popular party". For example:
That is why the Athenians made many other ...
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What impact did Georgists have on the Sixteenth Amendment, and vice versa?
The Sixteenth Amendment, which allows the federal government to directly tax citizens' incomes, was ratified in 1913. That seems to be the same period of time (late 19th and early 20th centuries) that ...
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What was Northern Ireland electoral law pre-1972?
I have seen claims that the voting system used in Northern Ireland pre-1972 was discriminatory. In particular, I've seen the claim that voting was allocated per household and not per person; I have ...
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Did mother Teresa ask to allow to Christianise Arunachal Pradesh to receive Bharat Ratna?
Mother Teresa is a popular person, generally known for her humanitarian work. But from my childhood, I repeatedly used to hear that she promoted and converted many Indians to Christianity either ...
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What is the evidence that Galerius raised Severus II to the rank of Augustus?
It is widely reported that Severus II was made Augustus by Galerius.
But Zosimus in Historia Nova reports: "Maximianus Gallerius, when he had learned this, sent Severus Caesar against Maxentius ...
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Did William Ward write "An Address At a Meeting of the Society for Political Information held at the Talbot Inn in Derby, July 16th 1792"?
William Ward (1769–1823) the Baptist missionary assistant to William Carey (1761-1834) was a Derby man and, as a youth at any rate, a radical. He is said to have been the author of "An Address At ...
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Who are the "Millennial Folk" being referred to here?
This came up on an episode of QI where the question was, "When was the First World War, first called as such". The answer was:
The First World War was given its title as early as the ...