100
votes
Accepted
Why didn’t Japan attack the West Coast of the United States during World War II?
There were several well-known attacks.
Aleutian Islands Campaign
On June 6, two days after the bombing of Dutch Harbor, 500 Japanese
marines landed on Kiska, one of the Aleutian Islands of ...
- 1,845
65
votes
Accepted
How did such a relatively minor event as the assassination of an archduke start World War I?
The assassination itself did not cause the war — it only caused the first declaration of war in World War One.
What really happened between the assassination (June 28) and the eruption of war (...
- 6,259
57
votes
Accepted
How did 300,000 people survive the 3 1/2 year siege of Sarajevo?
A combination of the UN, NATO, the Red Cross, Sarajevo International Airport, the Sarajevo Tunnel, smugglers, and the Bosnian Army saved Sarajevo. While the siege officially ended in Feb 1996, it was ...
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53
votes
Accepted
Has any country ever had 2 former presidents in jail simultaneously?
Quite a few candidates if:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_heads_of_regimes_who_were_later_imprisoned
... [sort by country] is anything to go by...
Andalusia (technically an autonomous ...
- 23.2k
46
votes
Why was Washington State an attractive site for aluminum production during World War II?
Aluminium refining requires huge amounts of electricity so plants are often sited close to things like hydroelectric dams or abundant supplies of coal or natural gas. Bauxite (aluminium ore) needs to ...
- 666
38
votes
Accepted
Why didn't the participants of the Korean War also fight in the Vietnam War?
The Korean War and the Vietnam War are fundamentally very different conflicts.
With the former, South Korea was unambiguously invaded by North Korea in an explicit war of conquest. Due to lucky ...
- 97.2k
35
votes
What is the object moving across the ceiling in this stock footage?
Confirming Brian Z and his answer: this is most likely a penumatic tube mail system. And strictly speaking: "What is the object moving…?" –
It's not a "cuboid box" but a cylindrical container, also ...
- 80.6k
33
votes
Has any country ever had 2 former presidents in jail simultaneously?
Peru has an interesting case of former presidents being incarcerated or in the eye of justice.
Alberto Fujimori in right now in prison, for human right violations, 25 years of conviction.
Ollanta ...
- 4,875
32
votes
How did such a relatively minor event as the assassination of an archduke start World War I?
Whether the assassination of an Arch-Duke is a 'minor event' is a matter of opinion. In this particular case it was also the assassination of the Heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, the Inspector of ...
- 5,621
24
votes
What is the object moving across the ceiling in this stock footage?
That's a pneumatic tube. The tube itself is transparent in this case, but the object you see moving through it is a capsule carrying documents, or maybe cash or other small objects. They are still ...
- 18.3k
20
votes
Why didn’t Japan attack the West Coast of the United States during World War II?
Japan had a lot of targets closer to home. They included Southeast Asia (which they conquered), China, and India (Japan came fairly close). They did attack American possessions on the far side of the ...
- 104k
18
votes
Why was Washington State an attractive site for aluminum production during World War II?
Aluminum manufacturing is very energy-intensive and requires large amounts of electricity, which the other comments have covered.
Washington State and the Pacific Northwest has an abundance of ...
- 2,042
18
votes
How did 300,000 people survive the 3 1/2 year siege of Sarajevo?
Because it was not a complete siege thanks to the Sarajevo Tunnel and Operation Irma. The first one was a tunnel that passed below the siege, and the second one was a security zone protected by the ...
- 4,875
17
votes
Why didn't the participants of the Korean War also fight in the Vietnam War?
Let me add a few details to Semaphore's answer. One is that the Vietnam war actually ended with the North Vietnam invasion of South Vietnam. This happened soon after the US withdrawal, and in ...
- 38.4k
17
votes
Has any country ever had 2 former presidents in jail simultaneously?
South Korea right now has their last two presidents, Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye in jail.
Then again, almost all ex-presidents of South Korea end up either on trial or committing suicide...
- 271
12
votes
Why was Apple not able to compete with Microsoft in the home PC market?
It wasn't just Apple. Commodore and Atari both had technically superior machines available for much of the early history of the PC platform, and both also got destroyed in the market.
The best answer ...
- 117k
11
votes
Accepted
What is the history of this coin? By Mandate of Heaven) Emperor of the Great Qin", Nurhaci - 1616-1626
This particular coin is part of a set of commemorative tokens (aka fantasy coins) made in (modern) China, with a token for each of the Qing Dynasty emperors. This one shows Emperor Nurhaci with the ...
- 4,772
11
votes
Accepted
Any history to the current flag used by ISIL?
The flag is known as the Black Standard of Muhammad. There are many variants of the flag, and as far as I can tell the variant used by ISIS is original, but other variants have been used by many ...
- 2,828
11
votes
Why didn't the participants of the Korean War also fight in the Vietnam War?
It's pertinent to note that several nations other than the U.S. participated in combat on the side of South Vietnam, with the largest contributions coming from South Korea, Thailand, and Australia. ...
- 2,027
11
votes
How did such a relatively minor event as the assassination of an archduke start World War I?
The war was already built-in, because Germany was faced with a strategic conundrum/objective circumstances:
If Russians enter the war, Germany risks losing it, fighting France and Russia on two ...
- 17.6k
10
votes
Accepted
When did the Saxons settle Britain?
The Saxons probably moved in in force in the fifth century AD when the Romans withdrew.
I studied this period of English history at University and have since taken courses in Old English (language of ...
- 5,621
8
votes
Accepted
Why was Apple not able to compete with Microsoft in the home PC market?
The Rise of the IBM PC was very quick. The Apple II had done well and blazed a path but many as a hobby computer more than a business machine, and it was tagged as cute rather than practical. IBM had ...
- 2,146
8
votes
Accepted
Why was Hanford, Washington, selected during World War II as the site of America’s first nuclear energy plant?
A vast, isolated area was needed to produce plutonium because no one knew for sure how much damage the radiation it gave off might do. Abundant power for plutonium production and water to cool the ...
- 6,259
7
votes
Why didn’t Japan attack the West Coast of the United States during World War II?
Japanese submarines did come to the American Pacific coast. I know of one bombardment while visiting Fort Stevens on vacation. The attack did no damage, but appears to have helped foster fears of ...
- 2,042
7
votes
Accepted
How did silk manufacturing become a major industry in medieval Europe?
Before the 500’s, the Chinese and Persians held a monopoly over silk manufacture and sale, obtaining fabulously high prices in Roman and, later, Byzantine markets.
In 550, Byzantine emperor Justinian ...
- 6,259
7
votes
How did China become so **populous**?
Long history of strong agricultural production
Long periods of stability and prosperity
Large land area
Culture that encourages more than 2 children
Long history of a large state encompassing a large ...
- 7,450
7
votes
How did China become so **populous**?
China is not so populous. By population density it is on 84-th place, after
Italy (65), Nigeria (64), Germany (58), Pakistan (56), United Kingdom (51),
Japan (40), India (33), Netherlands (31), ...
- 38.4k
7
votes
Accepted
What were the flaws in the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey?
That article kind of glossed over a rather complicated subject. The oft-quoted conclusion of the Strategic Bombing Survey packed many separate claims into one sentence, and different historians have ...
- 97.2k
7
votes
What is the object moving across the ceiling in this stock footage?
I must respectfully disagree with existing answers to this interesting question.
As Keith McClary noted, this object has a larger diameter than most pneumatic capsules. Capsules have reason to be ...
- 27.6k
7
votes
Accepted
Are there any modern history examples of large scale conflicts where warfare technology provides a great advantage to the defender, except WWI?
Obvious example. Radar.
First radars during WWII were too heavy and had a short operational range. Hence, only the defender had the option of installing a radar to concentrate forces and defend ...
- 4,875
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible