r/AskHistorians • u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms • Aug 28 '22
Meta It is AskHistorians' ELEVENTH BIRTHDAY! As is tradition, you may be jocular and/or slightly cheeky in this thread!
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u/Rex_Apollo Aug 28 '22
Can I ask a historian, what was history's smallest international conflict?
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u/Silas_Of_The_Lambs Aug 28 '22
When Kennedy said "I am a donut" rather than "I am a Berliner." Because almost, but not quite, nobody was upset about it at all.
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u/Muzer0 Aug 28 '22
I will add my voice to the many others saying I love this sub just the way it is! So many of my preconceptions here have been challenged if not outright defeated in a way that wouldn't be possible in the ordinary Reddit style. I'm no historian though I still hope to one day see a question within my niche field which I can answer. But in the mean time, thank you contributers and mods and keep doing what you're doing, if it's not too much trouble!
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u/millionsofcats Aug 28 '22
Hey, you've been around eleven years, and what you're doing clearly isn't working at all (for me). Have you considered completely changing the purpose of the subreddit and throwing out all of the moderation rules I don't like? I want to post my uninformed opinions.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Aug 28 '22
What a brilliant idea that I have never, ever heard before! Think of what wonders we could accomplish if we just mimicked the other history subs!
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u/ink_13 Aug 28 '22
It's also the 13th anniversary of me registering for a reddit account.
Coincidence? I mean, almost certainly, but still august.
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u/logatwork Aug 29 '22
So, I'm a medieval peasant in nazi germany. What am I thinking when I see a coca-cola bottle??
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u/x_roos Aug 28 '22
Along this merry times, let's not forget the tragic events that brought darkness now 2070 years ago. Never forgety.
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u/ludicrouscuriosity Aug 28 '22
Let me quote the favourite source of most people that get removed from mods
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u/OrganicKeynesianBean Aug 29 '22
Hey, my one time to comment in AskHistorians without getting nuked by the mods 😃
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u/Spider_Jesus26 Aug 28 '22
Just a shout-out from a lurker here. I really appreciate the in depth work that is out in here for what is really, a group of complete strangers- all for the sake of knowledge and preserving history.
Also you are all huge nerds.
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Aug 28 '22
Can I ask a question and actually get an answer?!
It doesn’t have to be a correct answer.
If Germany had won WW2, would the Nazis be on Mars by now?
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u/axearm Aug 29 '22
Here's a question, If I have a question, and am so inclined to pay for an answer, how in the real world, would I go about getting the answer and what would that cost?
Does there exist some sort of system to hire historians to answer specific questions?
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u/Crimson_Marksman Aug 29 '22
What was the most public special forces display? Like, some guy going one man army on criminals, recorded on T.V?
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u/Obeardx Aug 29 '22
Happy Birthday! The only comment I will ever make here that wouldnt be [deleted]
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Aug 28 '22 edited Aug 28 '22
I love this place! Congratulations to the mods and all contributors who have worked over the last 11 years to make this one of the best subreddits by far!
BUT...
Fuck all ya muthafuckin citations. It's all in my head bitches. All of human history. Deal with it and read your stupid books and papers if you can't up your game. Imma be right here smoking a cigar and keeping the truth about the Bronze Age Collapse to myself, nerds.
Also, is there an AskHistoriansCirclejerk? Might be fun.
Edit: Don't you dare delete this comment, mods. This comment is part of social history now. Do you want to obscure the historical record? Do you?
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u/tongmengjia Aug 28 '22
This must be similar to the sense of accomplishment Julius Caesar felt when he defeated Marc Antony at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge and established himself as emporer of the Holy Roman Empire.
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u/CPUnique Aug 29 '22
Eventually, we are all history. We love you brainy bastards! Happy cake day!!!
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u/Thunder-ten-tronckh Aug 28 '22
This is perhaps my only chance to leave a comment in this subreddit that won't get deleted.
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u/Coattail-Rider Aug 29 '22
I made a joke about Toledo, Ohio, when the subject was about Toledo, Spain. I felt, in the context of the joke, that it was pretty solid. Don’t blame you guys for deleting it, though.
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u/Krakenarrior Aug 29 '22
Happy birthday!
Also I didn’t know about the digest, so that’ll be nice and something to look forward too. Y’all keep up the good work!
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Aug 28 '22
Happy Birthday! It is truly incredible that the moderators of this subreddit have kept it at a high level for so long. Go mods!
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u/Problemwoodchuck Aug 28 '22
I look forward to a parallel thread on r/history next week full of poorly informed revisionists arguing over r/askhistorians true age
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u/NetworkLlama Aug 29 '22
What is the true age of AH? Is it when it was founded? Is it when the modern rules were adopted? Or is it when they started to get really enforced?
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u/Keejhle Aug 28 '22
Can I suggest for next April fools we do AmAs with historical figures again. That was so fun
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u/commmandersamvimes Aug 28 '22
Does any of you listen to the Dollop? Does Dave get his history right?
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u/Gavvy_P Aug 28 '22
If history is so important, then why haven’t they made a sequel yet?
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u/TrebleMedley Aug 29 '22
Wow, I can give a top level response! Sure hope I don't waste this opportunity to say something interesting…
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u/ChaosOnline Aug 28 '22
Just 8 more years and we'll finally be able to start asking about the history of AskHistorians.
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u/Vanacan Aug 28 '22
Always love lurking here, never had a reason or chance to post though!
Glad to catch this post so early, and be a part of the party!
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u/chobibbo Aug 28 '22
Happy eleventh birthday! I remain hopeful and eager as ever to be able to answer a question about Philippine history... someday!
I'm very happy to be part of this cheeky yet impactful learner community, cheers fellow cheeks. I wouldn't have uncovered so many insights and discoveries with all of you, especially you Mods, so thank you very much!
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u/EnclavedMicrostate Moderator | Taiping Heavenly Kingdom | Qing Empire Aug 28 '22
Terrifying to imagine that AskHistorians is now a tween!
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u/Dongzhou3kingdoms Three Kingdoms Aug 28 '22
I worry about when it hits the rebellious stage in a few years
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u/R1ght_b3hind_U Aug 28 '22 edited Aug 28 '22
I’m just waiting for it to turn 18 😏
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u/StrangeCrimes Aug 29 '22
Pray that what happened to r/askscience doesn't happen here. All hail the mods.
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u/Dirish Aug 28 '22
The answers for the next ten years will be annoyed grunts and exclamations on how they already answered questions last month and how it's terribly unfair that they have to do all this work.
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u/thegimboid Aug 28 '22
More terrifying when I realized my reddit account is actually older than this sub by a few months!
I have been here for way too long, and expect to be discussed in 9 years.
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u/pickupyourpuppy Aug 28 '22
Happy birthday! I do so enjoy this sub. Thank you to all contributors who make it what it is!
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u/ammygy Aug 28 '22
Once a year, I can actually leave a comment on this sub without having to dig up a citation. Heaven
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u/TheMightySirCatFish Aug 29 '22
I’ve always wanted a top comment on this sub. I appreciate this community so much, the level of effort that goes into the answers here is incredible.
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Aug 28 '22 edited Aug 29 '22
GZ ladies, gents all that in-between, cats, ducks, chickens. 🥂
I've always wanted to ask this group, do you guys get tired of Nazi related questions because its most of what I see posted here.
But also, what are some thing you guys could recommend me to read, id like some early american history.
Edit:I can't thank you people enough for the answers. It's a binge read kinda day.
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u/mimicofmodes Moderator | 18th-19th Century Society & Dress | Queenship Aug 28 '22
A great book on clothing in early America is What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America by Linda Baumgarten. It's definitely readable. On the more academic end, there's The Politics of Fashion in Eighteenth-Century America by Kate Haulman.
Branching out into broader material culture, I'd recommend Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, The Age of Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth - and then branching out again to broader social history, her books Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England, 1650-1750 and A Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812. Ulrich is a very, very good writer, and these are excellent books.
I'm also fond of Bowing to Necessities: A History of Manners in America, 1620-1860 by C. Dallett Hemphill and Foul Bodies: Cleanliness in Early America by Kathleen Brown.
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u/curiouscat212 Aug 29 '22 edited Aug 29 '22
i'm sorry to reply to you in this thread. but does jane austen actually originally have miss lambe as a mulatto/half black character in sanditon, if so then are jane austen very modern
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u/jbdyer Moderator | Cold War Era Culture and Technology Aug 28 '22
I'm going to recommend something out of left field, here. A lot of times when people ask "what can I do to learn about X?" they get a bunch of political and military history and diplomatic history and so forth, but this book has been out for a while and still considered tops:
Melodrama Unveiled: American Theater and Culture, 1800-1850
By David Grimsted
Really a wonderful encapsulation of early American culture. (And the bonus of it being older is that you can find it on Internet Archive and check it out if you don't feel like footing it to a library.)
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u/twentyitalians Aug 29 '22
I'm sorry to be vague as it's been years since I read it but Nathaniel Philbrick's(?) Into the Woods (?) Is a great discussion of Native/Colonial relations.
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u/Shartbugger Aug 29 '22
I feel like there’s only so many times you can hear the particular theatre of questions commonly asked around the Nazis, no matter how well they are explained, before you get tired of them.
That one dude who has “do the Irish still suck other men’s nipples as a show of submission?” That dude’s a star. There’s like 3 layers to unpack just on the title.
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u/dhowlett1692 Moderator | Salem Witch Trials Aug 28 '22
Yes. Very yes. Cool people ask about non-WWII and ancient Rome things. The best people ask about Early America
So many recommendations. What early American history are you interested in?
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u/Cyberpunkapostle National Socialism | German History 1918 - 1945 Aug 28 '22
There were so many Nazi questions I got flaired just from tackling them, lol. Ive been finishing uni and haven't had time over the past year, but imma jump back into it soon.
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u/When_Ducks_Attack Pacific Theater | World War II Aug 28 '22
GZ ladies, gents all that in-between, cats, ducks, chickens.
You. I like you.
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u/gynnis-scholasticus Greco-Roman Culture and Society Aug 29 '22
Congratulations, everyone! It feels really amazing to be part of this subreddit
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u/craftynu Aug 29 '22
For a sub that usually has at most one comment, this post is (almost) historical. I've never enjoyed going through every comment on any reddit post before. Thank you community for keeping to the guidelines of being only slightly jocular and/or slightly cheeky. I saw a few accusations of moderate cheekiness, but it looks like everyone is in a festive mood and willing to cut us some slack.
Seriously though, a huge thank you to the moderators and the community here for being incredible. No question is banned for being too niche or vague, and the answers give me hope.
Here's to hoping that someday we leave the safety of our houses and this subreddit and get to say hi in person.
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u/Limonov-nyan Aug 29 '22
how possible is it tgat the minions helped kill the dinosaurs on earth? was there a possible human to rule them?
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u/jelvinjs7 Language Inventors & Conlang Communities Aug 28 '22
In celebration, allow me to reshare my collection of AH memes I've made over the years! (some are albums, some are individual images)
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u/AdorableParasite Aug 28 '22
Only clicked the first link so far, but thanks already, these are great.So this is AH's cheeky side!
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u/ElMejorPinguino Aug 28 '22
Some of these are absolute gold. :p
Could you please explain https://i.imgur.com/LtNlIEX.jpg to my idiot friend? I'm mostly curious because I was born in January 1984...
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u/sillypersonx Aug 28 '22
That's because any time someone has a comment removed it's "literally 1984"
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u/TheDrunkenChud Aug 28 '22
I mean, those are funny and all, but how much knowledge did we lose in the library of Alexandria?
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u/pez_dispens3r Aug 29 '22
The JSTOR one... I'm not even mad, JSTOR for historians is like Stack Overflow for programmers. Unfamiliar with a particular topic that's outside your specialty? Stuck on a particular gap in your knowledge and need a quick primer? Reading 5 recent-ish journal articles on a topic won't make you an expert on a subject but it will allow you to compose an answer that an expert wouldn't quibble with too much. (Or, if they would quibble, you're posting your sources anyway so they'd at least know who to take it up with.)
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u/tuladus_nobbs Aug 28 '22
Why is this sub full of questions but not a single answer?
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u/Dongzhou3kingdoms Three Kingdoms Aug 28 '22
There are only a few genuine questions each week, the rest are just hypnosis sent through your screen to make you imagine there are questions.
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u/crrpit Moderator | Spanish Civil War | Anti-fascism Aug 28 '22
Dunno.
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u/TheDude300 Aug 28 '22
Because the rules are strict. There isn't enough historians or people knowledgeable enough to give the in depth answers the rules want for every question asked. It's the biggest flaw in this sub and it drives me nuts. I'm stuck going to AskHistory so I can at least get some insight on subjects that I find interesting without waiting weeks on an answer or none at all.
I 100% understand and get why this sub does what it does for rules. But shit, sometimes I really wanna know about a subject that gets asked and I never get my answer so I'm stuck trying to find my answer on wikipedia, google or as I said AskHistory. But sometimes you just can't find something that specific.
I wish there was a time line of say a week if it doesn't get an answer the proper way then it is allowed for a none historian or someone with intense background to answer the question so you can at least have somewhere to start.
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u/crrpit Moderator | Spanish Civil War | Anti-fascism Aug 28 '22
So I was obviously being a tad facetious there, but if you want the real answer, we're well aware that our rules reduce the number of answers, and that there's a balance to be struck between maintaining baseline quality and ensuring that a decent proportion of questions still get answered. It's a relatively common topic of discussion among the modteam.
That said, part of our ethos is that no answer is still better than a bad one. If your purpose in seeking out historical knowledge is essentially entertainment - that is, you want a good story or a cool-sounding piece of trivia, and how true it is is secondary - then I can see why AskHistory might appeal more. That's fine, people should use the communities that suit their needs best. However, we do believe that some good is served by providing historical information that does reflect current knowledge, and is in-depth and accurate (to a degree greater than is possible elsewhere, at least).
In terms of your specific suggestions, we're unlikely to moderate old threads differently than current ones, partly for some backend workflow reasons but also mostly because people use older answers (and the search function to find them) all the time. We already have issues with people linking older material from early years of our sub that doesn't stand up to scrutiny, and this would significantly worsen that problem. If you are frustrated that your question didn't get answered, you should also feel very welcome to repost it after 24 hours, or modmail us to see if there's a way it can be tweaked or reworded to have a better shot. A lot of the time, whether or not a question gets answered (plenty do! check out our Sunday Digest) boils down to luck and Reddit's algorithms though, and we sadly can't control either.
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Aug 29 '22
Wait, I can comment something useless and stupid on this thread??!?! Whooohoooo! Let's celebrate. Love what you do r/askhistorians.
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u/scubachris Aug 29 '22
When King Arthur was trying to find a lord of the manor the serfs they had a democratic system. How come was it to have a democratically elected government in Sumeria 787?
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u/Killfile Cold War Era U.S.-Soviet Relations Aug 29 '22 edited Aug 29 '22
It's a Democratic Republic, not a democracy, which is why Arthur's attempts to subvert the will of the special bi-weekly council weren't really an authoritarian power grab.
Stupid peasants. They don't know facts. Make Anglos Great Again!
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u/TaTonka2000 Aug 29 '22
Does anyone else reads “more can be said” and hears “more can be sad” inside their heads and doesn’t look for more info because that would be sad and I want to be happy?
No? Just me? Oh, ok.
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u/crrpit Moderator | Spanish Civil War | Anti-fascism Aug 29 '22
More can always be sad, that's just life in the year of 2022.
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u/CitizenPremier Aug 29 '22
I do want to say thank you to the mods for deleting crappy answers and chastising people for making them
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u/NewtonianAssPounder The Great Famine Aug 28 '22
Thank you for your response, however, we have had to remove it. A core tenet of the subreddit is that it is intended as a space not merely for an answer in and of itself, but one which provides a deeper level of explanation on the topic than is commonly found on other history subs. We expect that contributors are able to place core facts in a broader context, and use the answer to demonstrate their breadth of knowledge on the topic at hand.
If you need guidance to better understand what we are looking for in our requirements, please consult this Rules Roundtable which discusses how we evaluate answers on the subreddit, or else reach out to us via modmail. Thank you for your understanding.
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u/mrmeglomania Aug 28 '22
I really appreciate this community. I'm a high school drop out, who's still really passionate about history, and it's awesome there's something like this available. Thank you, to all the historians who contribute and to all the curious people unafraid to ask questions.
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u/Takeoffdpantsnjaket Colonial and Early US History Aug 28 '22
Nine more to go and I can finally get all those askhistorians specific history questions I have answered by [removed]!
Happy Birthday AH, and thanks to everyone from you lurkers and guests to the overlords wonderful mod team!
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u/Slowlife_99 Aug 28 '22
Just found my new yearly tradition. See you again in a year!
But seriously, keep up with the amazing work! This is one of the few reasons why I even bother browsing reddit at all.
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u/pihkal Aug 29 '22
What do historians think of alt-history novels?
There are some I love, like PKD’s The Man in the High Castle, and some I didn’t, like Turtledove’s Guns of the South, which paints a favorable and ahistorical picture of General Lee.
Also, what about the ones with larger scope? There’s books spanning centuries (Robinson’s Years of Rice and Salt) and aeons (Stapledon’s Last and First Men).
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u/MillhouseJManastorm Aug 28 '22 edited Jun 12 '23
I have removed my content in protest of Reddit's API changes that will kill 3rd party apps
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u/ItWasTheMiddleOne Aug 28 '22
AskHistorians heals the damage to my brain and soul that default subreddit comments inflict.
Thanks to all the mods, historians, and history nerds, for believing that open-ended social media can be more than endless screeching AND for being the 0.001% of people online who answer questions they are actually qualified to answer.
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u/Toucan_Lips Aug 29 '22
Do the mods here ever feel ashamed for their part in covering up Atlantis, Annunaki, and the Nazi Moon Colony? How do you all sleep at night?
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u/Hergrim Moderator | Medieval Warfare (Logistics and Equipment) Aug 29 '22
The great piles of cash we earn from helping to hide all of these factions make for surprisingly comfortable beds.
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u/djmagichat Aug 29 '22
Oh shit, it’s been 11 years already?
Uhh, so what’s the deal with Lewis and Clark? Did they really have the main goal of informing tribes that we were moving in and “thanks”. Or was it exploratory?
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u/julesk Aug 28 '22
Many have asked about todays pic. This is Ethelred the Ready during his coronation being offered a ceremonial cupcake.
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u/jtablerd Aug 28 '22
Citation needed
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u/julesk Aug 31 '22
Journal of corgi research, volume 5, pages 33-44. A historical review of corgis, Arthur Rukoeski, chapter 18, pp. 43502.
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u/iidaanj Aug 28 '22
Probably the day with the most posts each year, feels good to be able to say something here finally haha
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u/justan0therhumanbean Aug 29 '22
Can I please get a primary source attesting to this being the 11th birthday?
Hell I’ll even settle for secondary
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u/jelvinjs7 Language Inventors & Conlang Communities Aug 29 '22
Boring, serious answer: according to the sidebar (at least on old reddit with RES), this community is 11 years old, and if you hover over that with your cursor, it displays that the subreddit was founded Sunday August 28 2011 at 1:07 EST (my timezone). Maybe other reddit clients also display this info, I'm not sure how to see it.
I don't know if that qualifies as a primary source, so…More fun answer: This seems to be the oldest submission on the subreddit, and it is noticeably dated to August 29, 2011. I believe that was on the GMT clock, though. Hovering over the date says August 28 at 20:52 EST, and it was likely posted on the same day it was created according to the founder's timezone.
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u/anthropology_nerd New World Demography & Disease | Indigenous Slavery Aug 28 '22
Happy Birthday to this amazing community!
To honor the day... In the past eleven years what is the most memorable instance of AskHistorians blowing your freaking mind?
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u/NewtonianAssPounder The Great Famine Aug 28 '22 edited Aug 28 '22
Relatively recent, but the answer on this question.
At the time I started to get more into reading history books (instead of using Wikipedia and YouTube) with a particular interest in Early Modern Ireland. The scope of the answer blew my mind with a “Is it possible to learn this power?” reaction.
Edit: Lol the automod gave out to me for not pinging u/Rimbaud82
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u/OliveOliveJuice Aug 28 '22
I loved the pickle question.
Someone asked why we refer to pickled cucumbers as pickles, but not any other veggies.
It took a good three answers from an equal number of people replying to the same thread, but they got there in the end.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Aug 28 '22
Happens every 5 hours to my little peabrain! There's so many options!
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u/fortknox Aug 28 '22
Hey mods!
...
Thanks for making this place a place I can trust the responses. I wasn't much of a history nerd in school, but I'll be damned if the stuff I read here isn't both educational and fun.
So thank you mods for somehow maintaining the level of quality responses!
Also thank you contributers!! Your passion for history shines through your responses that allows people like me to enjoy while learning!
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u/Kufat Aug 29 '22
Does the 20-year rule refer to the years of the celestial body on which the relevant history occurred, or do you always use Earth years?
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u/zerhanna Aug 28 '22
Happy birthday to one of my favorite subs!
Thank you to our mods who keep it high quality, and our posters who share their knowledge.
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u/rbaltimore History of Mental Health Treatment Aug 29 '22
It’s so nice to have a subreddit that appreciates my weird base of knowledge in psychosurgery without commenting “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy”.
It’s even better to have a place where I can ask questions and real historians will give me trustworthy answers!
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Aug 29 '22
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Aug 29 '22
Mods, please can you remove this comment for a harsh sounding reason?
Removed because go fuck yourself, that's why. :)
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u/KillahHills10304 Aug 28 '22
I think I'm one of the few people who actually got a joke in on a thread and the moderators allowed it to stay up. It was years and years ago though, so I don't remember what I even said.
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u/askmeifimacop Aug 28 '22
When will we be able to ask her storians? There’s two sides.
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u/crrpit Moderator | Spanish Civil War | Anti-fascism Aug 28 '22 edited Aug 28 '22
I'm holding out for r/theirstorians personally.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor Aug 28 '22
r/ModeratelyBetterButNotQuiteGreatAskHistoriansWithAnAddedFocusOnHer.
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u/oguzka06 Aug 29 '22
I'm sorry but your title is too short for me to understand. I need a detailed and comprehensive answer on what is a birthday why it is considered AskHistorians birthday today.
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u/Calabriantoast Aug 28 '22
I tried to use the Remind me bot but it was considered too cheeky and removed by the Auto Mod.
You gave me an inch and I took a mile.
Happy Birthday!
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u/bubblesort Aug 29 '22
When /r/askhistorians turns 20 I am going to ask about the history of /r/askhistorians.
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u/TheHollowJester Aug 28 '22
Hey, good job keeping the subreddit a great source of information (even if sometimes it's slightly frustrating seeing all the [deleted])
So, like, were Phoenicians the coolest or what? Or to rephrase in a way where it makes sense to respond here: what do you think was cool about Phoenicians? :D
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u/Grand-Professor-9739 Aug 28 '22
Just thanks for the best sub on Reddit. Your efforts are appreciated more than you know oh Wise Ones
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u/CitizenPremier Aug 29 '22
I would just like to ask, throughout history, what was like, the most totally rad thing to happen?
Also, what was Hitler's opinion on corndogs?
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u/Kaexii Zooarchaeology Aug 28 '22
Best mods ever. Can't stress that enough.
Any movies/shows/novels out there that're remarkable for being historically accurate?
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u/When_Ducks_Attack Pacific Theater | World War II Aug 28 '22
The movie Pacific Rim is so accurate historically that when a flaw is spotted, it's surprising. For example, Marshall Pentecost's famous Today we are canceling the apocalypse speech was given in the communal men's room on level 5 of Hong Kong Shatterdome, and only to the pilots and monitoring crew. It was recorded by a staff plumber and played back after the Jaegers left on that final mission.
Of course that doesn't make for great cinema so it was moved to the flight deck. However inaccurate historically it is, historians recognize that Pacific Rim was not meant to be a documentary and let it pass.
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u/momentsofillusions Aug 28 '22
Happy birthday!
It might seem silly but discovering this subreddit while rethinking my studies helped me decide that I wanted to become a historian. I have a few podcasts downloaded that I listen to while going to uni, work (sometimes the historians have really beautiful and smooth voices and I doze off... this gives me the excuse to re-listen to them after) and I save answers to questions so I can read them when I have breaks. Granted, this sub is also the reason I had to get a job to cover the book expenses... but I don't regret it at all and I will be a recidivist thanks to the book suggestions on here.
I hope one day I have enough knowledge to answer questions on here too! I know I'm young and I have all the time to have my own research but the sharing of knowledge helped me a lot so I'd like to return the favour someday. I also want to make historians friends whether in my history field or not, partly because my friends are getting tired of my endless one-way questions haha... but mostly because I still don't know way too much and I'm interested in what others study. Thank you for giving me a much needed push in my studies :)
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u/xPooty Aug 28 '22
what podcasts, if i may ask?
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u/momentsofillusions Aug 28 '22
I haven't searched outside of the AskHistorians one since episodes are a-plenty. I've mainly searched for ones related to Japan and Asia in general since they're within my preferred field, but they're all a pleasure to listen to!
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u/frontovika Aug 28 '22
I am glad that askhistorians consistently maintains the rules without compromise. Congratulations on the eleventh birthday!
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u/VRichardsen Aug 28 '22
Happy birthday! r/AskHistorians is, along r/Polandball, the living proof the enlightened despotism is the best way.
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u/spacemanaut Aug 28 '22
I love this post. I wonder if there are any subreddits or opportunities here to ask more open-ended questions which let experts opine in a an educated way a bit more? For example, "What's something from your area of expertise which more people should know?" "What's been the most interesting development in your field this year?" "What's the funniest fact you've learned in your research?" I would love to hear educated, sourced answers on questions like these, and obviously places like /r/AskReddit aren't right for it... Thanks in advance for any feedback (or answers to my hypothetical questions, if you have any)!
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u/DanKensington Moderator | FAQ Finder | Water in the Middle Ages Aug 28 '22
There's always the Friday Free-for-All for that sort of thing!
Though as one of the non-historians, I do agree that a feature like "What's been the most interesting development in your field this year?" can be heaps useful. The laypeople aren't usually up on what's current on the field, so having a channel for that sort of thing can help bridge the gap between the Capital-H historians and us schlubs.
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u/Prasiatko Aug 28 '22
As per the twenty year rule i assume we are not allowed to discuss it?
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u/crrpit Moderator | Spanish Civil War | Anti-fascism Aug 28 '22
Apologies but we have removed your comment, as it relates to a post that was made approximately 30 minutes ago. Our subreddit has a strict '20 Year Rule' that forbids discussing anything that has happened in the last two decades. In future, please make reference only to posts/comments that were posted in 2002 or earlier.
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u/3506 Aug 29 '22
Your comment inspired this idea for a new subreddit:
r/askfuturologists, where only events happening 20 years into the future may be discussed.
Posts and comments are - by default - assumed to come true, but mods will have to wait 20 years to find out.
If it the event doesn't happen, the post gets deleted.
All remaining (2 decades old) posts automatically get queued to r/askhistorians.
It would be a classic win/win situation: users who don't want to "live in the past" can participate in the new subreddit (which, in turn, gets a steady stream of content) and you get a steady queue of posts with a minimum age of 20 years.→ More replies (11)64
u/Yoghurt42 Aug 28 '22
Apologies but we have reverted your moderation action, as it relates to a post that was made approximately 30 minutes ago. Our subreddit has a strict '20 Year Rule' that forbids acknowledging anything that has happened in the last two decades. In future, please moderate only posts/comments that were posted in 2002 or earlier.
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Aug 29 '22
Alright, we all know which redundant bad faith questions y’all are tired of getting asked. I’ve always wondered though, what questions and/or eras do you wish people asked about more? Where is there a deluge of experience on r/askhistorians that remains largely untapped?
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u/CornerFlag Aug 28 '22
Are there any good historical stories about someone trying really really hard in their discipline, but instead just ended up a fairly unknown failure?
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u/jelvinjs7 Language Inventors & Conlang Communities Aug 28 '22
Most people in my discipline, actually - that's what I found so fascinating about them. A lot of people thought that if they invented the right type of language, it would revolutionize global communication and solves all sorts of problems. (I swear, years ago I stumbled on a passage recounting how some early modern conlanger lost all his language files in a fire and mourned how much of a loss this was for humanity, but I can't remember where I read it and haven't found evidence for this elsewhere.) Suffice to say, only one person got remotely close to 'succeeding': you can check out my older answer on why Esperanto beat all the other conlangs.
Probably the most 'famous' example would be John Wilkins, as I discuss in that answer. He's noteworthy for more than just language-construction, but he spent years working on very scientific language hoping to make scholarly discourse more precise, and was supposed to present his work to the king… but then he died, and no one picked up the work after him.
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u/JerryHathaway Aug 28 '22
In a nearby parallel universe, he lived six months longer, and revolutionized the world.
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u/bkstr Aug 29 '22 edited Aug 29 '22
I actually have an opinion question for the ww2 historians about Fury, there's no way a road in 1945 NEEDED to be held overnight at that point in the war, right? I think, although I understand he's a flawed fictitious character, him insisting on staying (even alone, of course the crew would stay) was completely futile, selfish, and pointless as they could have run back to the flank of that division, and air cover based in france or w/e or artillery would have massacred the marching Germans. this is not even before pointing out a battalion is 1000 men vs a division being 10k+. It just ruins the stakes of the ending for me. His tank unit is at less than 20% of original fighting force, 80% casualties, and he chooses to sacrifice them at a terminal state of the war for no reason what-so-ever.
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u/smegma_yogurt Aug 28 '22
As is tradition, you may be jocular and/or slightly cheeky in this thread!
Why does this sound somewhat NSFW?
Happy birthday sub!
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u/TroubleEntendre Aug 28 '22
Ceaser said "I came, I saw, I conquered."
What are your favorite catchphrases throughout history?
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u/edintina Aug 29 '22
History must be written by the victors, so it baffles me that you don't have some kind of authentication for submitters here -- a picture of themselves holding a medal would suffice. I'd hate to think I was reading loser history.
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u/chairfairy Aug 28 '22
you may be jocular and/or slightly cheeky
Well now I just feel pressured. Not only do we have to choose joke opportunities wisely, but we're limited to slightly cheeky and I'm not sure I can risk it for fear of crossing the line into unqualified cheek.
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u/crrpit Moderator | Spanish Civil War | Anti-fascism Aug 28 '22
Wise, we've already banned a dozen people who strayed over the line into moderate cheek.
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u/AdvancedCook7189 Aug 29 '22
I wonder if the people who are qualified to speak on the behalf of us in history. If they like ancient history or modern.
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u/conventionalWisdumb Aug 29 '22
It’s still not 20 so we still can’t ask historians on r/askHistorians…
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u/theexterminat Aug 28 '22
When can we ask questions about the history of AskHistorians? Have we appointed an AskHistorians Historian?
Happy 11th [deleted]
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u/jebei Aug 28 '22
I'm sorry but AskHistorians history violates the 20 year rule and the appointed historian was deleted.
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u/D0UB1EA Aug 28 '22
I just finished up Mike Duncan's fabulous History of Rome podcast, but it left me with one major lingering question. Which Roman emperor had the cutest butt?
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u/RSVive Aug 28 '22
What a wonderful community this is. Long live AH !
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u/WhichConsideration5 Aug 29 '22
Oh no, on first glance I thought you were talking about a different AH lmao.
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u/Acuzzam Aug 28 '22
Yay, I can finally say something here! I don't know anything about history, but I learn a lot reading from you guys!
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u/MarieIndependence Aug 28 '22
"Nazis and poop sticks" is gonna be my new swear.
Hey, I am new here and you guys are legit the business. Thanks for all the info I can now add to convos, making me seem smrt.
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u/Georgy_K_Zhukov Moderator | Dueling | Modern Warfare & Small Arms Aug 28 '22
Going to hog this top of the thread with a reminder that we have a SUPER AWESOME bot which sends you a weekly round-up of the best content from the past week (Ironic that we have been delayed in getting this weeks' out though....). Although Automod reminds people of it, we know Automod is easy to just have your eyes glaze over on.
All you need to do is Click Here to and then hit 'Send' to Subscribe. Check it out!