Questions tagged [contemporary-history]
Use this tag for history from 1945 to the present.
64 questions
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Which artist had a special exhibition in the Kunstmuseum Bonn in summer 2012?
In the Kunstmuseum Bonn in Summer 2012, I can remember there was a special exhibition on show about an (probably American) contemporary abstract expressionist artist who did graffiti like abstract art ...
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Is there a database of wars in Europe since 1945?
I'm currently improving a Timeline I build some time ago, this Timeline of Wars in Europe since 1945. I did used several sources, including Wikidata, to get the list of conflicts to include. Yet, ...
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When did people first think of plastic as bad for environment?
I know that at first plastics was thought of as good. It replaced certain natural materials. For some decades after plastics was invented, it wasn’t thought as bad for environment and nature. Since ...
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Why has the shape of the depiction of Sikh Guru's beard changed?
I was looking at the old pictures of Guru Gobind Singh Ji and Guru Teg Bahadur Ji. I found out that something is odd if we compare them with the modern depictions of both Gurus. I looked for other old ...
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Are there any modern history examples of large scale conflicts where warfare technology provides a great advantage to the defender, except WWI? [closed]
One of the characteristics of World War I was the Trench warfare which shows one of those cases when defender has a large advantage over the attacker:
(..) a revolution in firepower was not matched ...
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Why did the Mafia respect Jimmy Hoffa so much? [closed]
The information that I have about Jimmy Hoffa has come (the impetus,I must say honestly, came from Scorsese's The Irishman) from here.
Jimmy Hoffa was a man with wealth and political connections ...
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What is the object moving across the ceiling in this stock footage?
It's a large cuboid box, looks to be around 2 feet by 1 by 1, tapered/bevelled at the edges, moving across an office ceiling at roughly 1 metre per second on a rail. The narration accompanying the ...
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Has any country ever had 2 former presidents in jail simultaneously?
I suspect that today, this achievement has been granted for the first time to Brazil, with the arresting of Michel Temer, and considering that Lula da Silva is still under arrest.
It is normally big ...
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What were the flaws in the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey?
According to this source, "Some historians have identified flaws in the [U.S. Strategic Bombing] survey, based on contemporary evidence." I have unsuccessfully searched the internet for these ...
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Southern Manifesto main idea
What is/are the central idea(s) underlying the Southern Manifesto of 1956? Is it a concern with local autonomy vs. federal power? Is it racism?
I have found out that it repudiated the Supreme Court ...
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Given the direct involvement of tech companies has there been any strikes over tech companies’ participation in surveillance culture? [closed]
Google employees have staged a mass strike over sexual harassment. This obviously fits into a tradition of labour disputes and is a conflict over contemporary mores.
However, the article does ...
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Are there any images within the time period of contemporary history (1945 to the present) that had different interpretations by historians?
Or could someone provide me with a certain event that I can search for which will have images with different interpretations? I am currently unable to find any images with keywords such as "different ...
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How did 300,000 people survive the 3 1/2 year siege of Sarajevo?
How did the inhabitants of Sarajevo survive a 3 1/2-year siege from 1992 to 1996? Specifically, how did they deal with water, food, and heating?
Background: In 2018, Sweden sent out a leaflet "If ...
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Who has the highest yearly, non-stock, cash-only-considered salary in modern history?
When we consider the world’s wealthiest in history, we use accrual accounting and thinking, considering broad spectrum of assets and instruments. Let us disconsider this.
Historically: Who is the ...
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What is the story of this image?
I've seen this image a lot, particularly since the passing of Steve Jobs. I'm wondering if this is actually a photo of Steve before or after a presentation. Or, has there been a similar photo and this ...
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Have any big events happened during DST changeover?
The alt-text for the XKCD comic published on 2017-08-30 notes:
Someday, some big historical event will happen during the DST changeover, and all the tick-tock articles chronicling how it unfolded ...
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How and why did limerence come to be idolized as it is in modern Western society? [closed]
Limerence - the involuntary, infatuated state that has been romanticized as love.
Before you read in, the basics of my question have to do with the historical forces that have shaped the modern ...
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How did China become so **populous**? [duplicate]
China is the world's most populous nation. But why is it?
In other words, what historical factors made China as populous as it is today?
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How did such a relatively minor event as the assassination of an archduke start World War I?
The assassination of the Austrian archduke was, considered in the context of all Europe's near-explosive politics, a relatively minor event. So how did it cause such a major war?
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How did silk manufacturing become a major industry in medieval Europe?
In the beginning of the Middle Ages, silk in Europe was known only as the expensive fabric imported from Asia. But by the end of The Middle Ages, silk had become one of Europe's major industries. How ...
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When did India become a major trading center?
As stated on this site, India is unique in that it has easy sea trading routes to every continent, and is therefore a major trading center. When did India become one— during British occupation, after ...
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Why was Hanford, Washington, selected during World War II as the site of America’s first nuclear energy plant?
In 1942, as part of the plan to manufacture atomic bombs to drop on Japan, the U.S. Army began to seek out a suitable location to build a factory for producing plutonium, necessary for the atomic bomb ...
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Why didn’t Japan attack the West Coast of the United States during World War II?
In the early months of World War II, the United Stated spent several millions of dollars to fortify the West Coast against possible Japanese attack, going as far as to stretch a gigantic submarine net ...
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When did the Saxons settle Britain?
In approximately what year did the Germanic tribe of the Saxons invade and settle the island of Britain?
Apparently they had not yet arrived when Julius Caesar visited Britain in 44 B.C.; neither ...
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Why was the Nihonmachi sector of Seattle selected for the Yesler Housing Project of the 1930s?
In the late 1930s the Seattle community of Japanese suffered a substantial loss when large parts of Nihonmachi (the city's Japanese district) were confiscated and torn down to make way for the Yesler ...
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Why was Washington State an attractive site for aluminum production during World War II?
Some months ago I read that many aluminum manufacturing plants were attracted to Washington State during the 1930's and 40's. What made Washington so different from other states that these companies ...
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Why has mechanized mining never developed in Congo?
Lack of infrastructure has often been cited as one of the main reasons for the conflicts in eastern Congo. The mining areas are hard to reach, mining work is done by hand and simple, makeshift tools ...
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Changes to the school leaving dates in Scotland and Northern Ireland
I am looking for sources that tell me about when and how the school leaving dates were changed in Scotland and Northern Ireland after World War 2. I define school leaving date as the date you do not ...
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How successful was Bismarck in winning support for his domestic policies in the years 1878 to 1890? [closed]
Going through a few made up questions from my history teacher concerning German history during the "Quest for Political Stability" period and saw this little number come up and could really do with ...
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What is the proportion of Harki descendants in today's French Algerian community?
I was having this discussion once with someone, and now I am curious:
Q: What proportion of today's Algerian immigrants (of first and second generation, who may or may not have French nationality) in ...
user17285
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Why was Apple not able to compete with Microsoft in the home PC market?
Most of desktop market belongs to Microsoft, which is surprising to an Apple user. What went wrong, what factors were against Apple, what decisions were made that prevented it from conquering the ...
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When did the U.S. Postal Service completely transition from horse-drawn to motorized transport?
Simple question, hopefully not too broad.
When did the USPS stop using horses & horse-drawn carriages for most of its transport and delivery?
Were there any private competitors (such as modern-...
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Why didn't the participants of the Korean War also fight in the Vietnam War?
In the Korean war from 1950 to 1953, a lot of countries including the U.S., the U.K., France, Canada, Australia, and even Colombia, the Philippines and Ethiopia participated in the war under the U.N. ...
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What is the history of this coin? By Mandate of Heaven) Emperor of the Great Qin", Nurhaci - 1616-1626
I want to know the complete history of this coin.
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Khmer Rouge Property Rights Destruction
Did Khmer Rouge actually destroy all land titles/ownership records? Or were there certain regions that happened to escape this destruction? If so, is there any documentation on where these regions ...
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Any history to the current flag used by ISIL? [closed]
I know the current flag used by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is black with white letters stating: "There is no God but Allah" and in the middle of a white circle in black letters ...
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Why was Japan not colonized? [closed]
Why was Japan NOT colonised by any of the European countries when practically all of the Asian countries were being colonised by a European nation? Why did no army even clash against the Japanese army(...
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What has prevented the United Nations from failing the same way as the League of Nations? [closed]
The League of Nations proved to be incapable of controlling the Axis Powers in the 1930s and was subsequently replaced by the United Nations after WWII.
What has kept the United Nations together ...
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How did women's roles and rights change during the early Republican period in China?
How did attitudes towards women and their role within the family unit and greater society change under the Chinese Republican government? What rights did they gain? Did they generally benefit from the ...
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What was the justification of morality in Puritan antinomianism? [closed]
As far as I know, Puritans were devout Calvinists. According to Theopedia, it is associated with disobedience to the established authority, so it may be connected with the idea of lawlessness, ...
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What is this strange symbol painted on basement floor?
Given the layers of dirt this symbol and the walkway were found under, I assume it was painted before the 1960s. The house was likely built between 1900-1913, with the basement being dug at the same ...
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Why do (almost) all countries have a flag, coat of arms, anthem, national holiday etc.?
A number of official symbols are used by virtually all modern nations. These include:
National flag1
Coat of arms
National anthem
National Day
Given that it is often difficult to get even two of the ...
user4656
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Are steam engines still in regular use anywhere in the world?
Are there any countries in which steam engines have a regular purpose, or are still dominant on the railway? When did they officially fade out of use in the western world?
In Australia at least, they ...
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How did Saudi Arabia become and remain strongly Wahhabi?
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia staunchly follow Wahhabism, a very conservative and strict brand of Islamism that probably is the major factor of Saudi's strict policy and harsh implementation of Sharia. ...
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Which nation on Earth has been under foreign rule the longest? [closed]
The Philippines was under Spanish rule for over 333 years. After the Battle of Manila Bay and the Treaty of Paris (1898), rule of the Philippines was transferred from Spain to the USA.
From a brief ...
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What evidence is Chomsky alluding to when he states the US is preventing a settlement between Israel & Palestine?
Chomsky in his book Neccesary Illusions, published in 1989 says:
U.S. ... efforts to prevent a political settlement of the Arab–Israeli conflict over many years, readily documented, but unwelcome ...
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How did IKEA design evolve?
How did IKEA develop the characteristic style? I know there is a catalog each year, but I'm looking more for a summary and overview of the design evolution.
I understand it's not as significant as, ...
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Heads of state convicted in international court
From this BBC News article:
Taylor became the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes by an international court since the Nuremberg trials of Nazis after World War II.
What former ...
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Why is Las Vegas located where it is?
Anybody know the history of Vegas and basically why that location was chosen as the main hub for gambling, hotels, and entertainment given that (at that time) it was pretty much a random desert in the ...
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What is the purpose of the bridge to the Russkiy island? [closed]
Russky bridge is a bridge to a sparsely populated Russky island in the Far East whose construction started in 2008 and completed in 2012. It is the world's largest cable-stayed bridge, the 1104 m long ...
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