All Questions

In 1948, the Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) organized the first Chess World Championship after WW2. Its winner was Mikhail Botvinnik. Further Chess World Champions were Vasily Smyslov, ...

Where proven science results contradict political views, the most obvious solution is to try to discredit those results, by creating your own versions. It has been done multiple times in history, for ...

What are the odds Jesus Christ was a real historical figure? Is there any solid evidence that points toward him or is he likely mythical only existing in storys.

At the beginning of Oranges are not the only fruit, Jeanette talks about listening to the radio with her mother as a child. Sunday was the Lord's Day, the most vigorous day of the whole week; we ...

After Ronald Reagan defeated the incumbent Jimmy Carter in the 1980 election, in the midst of the crisis of a large group of American diplomats being held hostage in Iran, it was obvious that they ...

There has been an infamous quote by Makarios III from 1964 (during the Crisis of 1963–1964), regarding a possible Turkish intervention in the island. It has been very popular in Turkey, and has gained ...

I was reading through some articles on Wikipedia and long story short I ended up reading about 11th century dukes of France. I noticed that a lot of their wives had names such as, e.g. Adelaide of ...

On page 297 of the book Sapiens, the author says: ... [T]he Old Testament [...] never claims that the souls of people continue to live after the death of the body. Yet Job 19:26-27, KJV says: ...

After the Battle of Kursk, Hitler called back a lot of his forces to defend against the British and American invasion. My question is how much of his forces did he call back from the Eastern front?

Question: What is the date that the Internet could be said to have been born? Terms: Such a complex and significant creation relies upon many contributors. I want to ...

I ran across a curious sentence today, in a Mesopotamian prayer to a personal god (the grammar looked better in verse format): "Daily worship your god with offerings, prayers and appropriate ...

Taiwan is claimed by PRC and is a disputed region but Taiwan sees itself as an independent nation. This has created a lot of controversies in the past and present internationally. So, it is seen that ...

Luis Argüello was California's first Mexican governor. He died in 1830 and was buried next to San Francisco's Mission Dolores. His grave marker doesn't appear contemporary with his death, though. I ...

The Hungarian kingdom employed scorched earth tactics against invading Mongols to great effect. Similar tactics were also employed by Polish. King Stephen III 'The Great' of Moldavia also used ...

In the TV show, The Tudors, they make it seems as though Anne and Mary were meant to sleep with Henry in order to sway him away from Cardinal Wolsey who had French interests in mind. Is this true? ...

Identification of port and country. Identification of ships. WWII era, from a German Kriegsmarine album

Apparently, international travelers didn't need any papers to travel (before WW1), at least in USA and most parts of Europe. So how did a person 'prove' their nationality? EDITED IN OP'S COMMENT I'...

During the summer and fall of 1942, German Army Group A advanced into the Caucasus pursuant to Fall Blau. This consisted of two armies, the First Panzer Army and the Seventeenth Army. The advanced ...

William Penn wrote three different frames of government documents. All three are different, so therefore which one do we go by? How do we read them? And which one is the final document that PA uses?

It is a long-circulating claim that the Pripyat residents and policemen who watched the Chernobyl explosion from a railway bridge, mostly (or even all) died. Sometimes even a dose of 500 rem (which is ...

In between the warrior on the right, and the serpents in the center, is a small object. I’ve circled it in blue. This is from page 57 of the Codex Borgia. Full scans can be seen here. What is it? ...

In the U.S. of the 1950s, the Space Age and molded plastic flying discs (Frisbees) were both novel. New materials and a supposed resemblance to UFOs made this linkage irresistible for early disc ...

How popular was the name Imhotep in Ancient Egypt, and what other great personages bore this name? His name is said to mean "the one who comes in peace", and there are similar names like Amenhotep, ...

Who was the first American born citizen to become President of the United States of America, we had this question recently in a pub quiz, the answer was George Washington, but several people said that ...

A similar question has been posed on this site in the past, "When did Frankfurt am Main adopt the Gregorian Calendar?. I'm trying to discern exactly when the city of Nuremberg adopted the Gregorian ...

For a story I'm writing, I'd like to know how long it would take to travel by ship from Calais to Dover in 1890's (as I read it was the easier way). Also, was it possible to take a boat from Calais ...

I know that all modern cattle, whether they are bos tauros or not, are descended from aurochs, and that aurochs were allowed to mix with early domesticated cattle several times. I want to know more ...

Along with Yangtze river in Ancient China, around 3200 BCE, Liangzhu culture originated. According to prof.Colin Renfrew it might be earliest state like society in East Asia. The emergence of complex ...

The Italians were very religious Catholics but why did they paint/sculpt heroes from Greek mythology? Weren't the Greeks considered pagans? In the examples below, some artists like Michelangelo were ...

Papadopoulos is the most common Greek surname. It means "son of a priest". The female version is Papadopoulou. I wonder why. As far as I know, priests don't marry and are celibate, meaning they can'...

During World War II, something like one half of Lend Lease supplies reached Russia via Vladivostok and the Trans Siberian railroad (what I call the eastern route); one quarter to south Russia from the ...

I have read the references from Wikipedia. But they were mostly talking about the American oversea trade in the Europe market. But I am more interested in Britain's reactions to the challenge posed by ...

The automobile street signal colors of red and green were adopted because those colors were already in use by the railroads. Was the color red associated with "stop" before railroads? Was it ever ...

In the past due to the communication lag the hostilities could proceed long after peace agreements were signed. This was especially severe for the overseas territories and ships. I'm somewhat more ...

Alternately, "anything that can be done by a machine, should be done by a machine". I have heard variants of these quotes attributed to Brigham Young, but I have not been able to find any reliable ...

The bombing and sinking of RMS Lancastria popped up in the "on this day" Wikipedia feed. RMS Lancastria In the article there is this paragraph: When German aircraft began strafing survivors in ...

Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia. Its name means "New Flower" in Amharic (አዲስ አበባ), and the tale of how it got its name is told thus: The location of Addis Ababa was chosen by the Empress ...

The Star-Spangled Banner was adopted as the official national anthem of the United States in 1931. Up until June 1942 there were no guidelines given as to how people were to behave during the playing ...

The German conservative Party "Deutschkonservative" voted in 1890 against the annual renewal of the "Sozialistengesetze" ("Laws against the revolutionary machinations of social democracy"). This ...

Celebrity endorsements of various products, such as perfumes, soft drinks, or cars, are commonplace today. What is the earliest instance of such an occurrence? I’m considering a celebrity endorsement ...

According to Wikipedia, there were a wide range of currencies in the Middle Ages: The various Germanic states in the west all had coinages that imitated existing Roman and Byzantine forms. Gold ...

During the decline of the Western Roman Empire, various Germanic tribes that had been settled as 'foederati' or federates effectively took over swathes of Roman territory, being settled in these ...

According to the Wikipedia page of the M-24 Chaffee, ten of these tanks were sent to the french forces in Dien Bien Phu, where they provide "fire support". Considering the French were outgunned by ...

According to the wikipedia page, the M7 Priest where in service in Tsahal during the 6-days War and the Kippur War, but also during the Attrition War. What were there achievements during these wars? ...

This ruler was originally handed down to an aunt on my (English) mother's side of the family. One side is a standard ruler in inches but, curiously, the other side is unlike anything I've been able to ...

I was wondering, as in the title, what stages the typical weapons employed by militias in European villages and towns went through. In particular, when reading about traditional German marksman's ...

My school is currently teaching us European History in the 20th century, and we were on the topic of the Weimar Republic. It got me thinking, how exactly did redenomination of currency save the ...

I am wondering why there are so much airplanes made in USA in the world's air forces prior to WW2, since I don't think the US Air Force had the better reputation. You can count the: Glenn Martin ...

Long ago, I saw a Nazi propaganda caricature showing a headless Churchill serving his own severed head on a plate, the joke being that he foolishly claimed the Germans would be unable to take Crete. I ...

Is this a real quote from Napoleon, and if so, what is the context? “The reason I beat the Austrians is, they did not know the value of five minutes.”