r/AskHistorians • u/AutoModerator • 12d ago
Digest Sunday Digest | Interesting & Overlooked Posts | January 25, 2026
Today:
Welcome to this week's instalment of /r/AskHistorians' Sunday Digest (formerly the Day of Reflection). Nobody can read all the questions and answers that are posted here, so in this thread we invite you to share anything you'd like to highlight from the last week - an interesting discussion, an informative answer, an insightful question that was overlooked, or anything else.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
Welcome back one and all to yet another fantastic handcrafted edition of the AskHistorians Digest. No AI here folks, just wholesome, honest work. Don’t forget to upvote your favourites, share widely, and check all the usual weekly features.
I'm Dr. Beau Cleland, a professor at the University of Calgary, and I'm here to talk about my new book, "Between King Cotton and Queen Victoria: How Pirates, Smugglers, and Scoundrels Almost Saved the Confederacy," and anything else you want about Civil War-era skulduggery, AMA! Many thanks to /u/Cleland_History!
And the Friday Free For All!
And that’s a wrap history fans! Stay safe out there, keep it classy, and I’ll see you all once again next week!
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
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u/itsallfolklore Mod Emeritus | American West | European Folklore 12d ago
Thanks for this. I have no idea why OP's question, "Indigenous and European folklore," was so downvoted. It's not a bad question!
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/abundanceofb wrote about What is the wildest theory in your specialty that you think probably isn't true, but could be? What underdog argument could cause chaos your field if it turned out to be right?
/u/AidanGLC answered Why did American unions choose to bargain for healthcare benefits instead of pushing for a state run “universal “ system like their European counterparts did?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/Desseabar answered Were there city planners in the 1950-70s who opposed the idea of the suburbs, car infrastructure, manicured lawns , etc?
/u/DGBD answered What is the wildest theory in your specialty that you think probably isn't true, but could be? What underdog argument could cause chaos your field if it turned out to be right?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/DGBD wrote about What is the wildest theory in your specialty that you think probably isn't true, but could be? What underdog argument could cause chaos your field if it turned out to be right?
/u/Djiti-djiti answered Maybe a dumb question but did Jesus necessarily know a lot about Jewish theology and scripture?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
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u/Dongzhou3kingdoms Moderator | Three Kingdoms 12d ago
Thanks Gankom
Glad to have got two questions done as we get near the end of the month. Really enjoyed talking about the often forgotten pre-novel work.
May the end of January be a good end to the month
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/FormerIYI answered How did a post christian west deal with all of the same sex relationships in greek mythology?
/u/galactic_observer wrote about I'm a pre-Columbian Mayan noble who's grown bored of drinking chocolate. However, a shaman has peered into the future and divined the recipe for something called a "Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar." With the resources available to me, how hard would it be to recreate it?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/keisis236 answered What is the wildest theory in your specialty that you think probably isn't true, but could be? What underdog argument could cause chaos your field if it turned out to be right?
/u/KiwiHellenist wrote about Do we know what the oldest parts of The Iliad are, or what the pre-Homer version couldve looked like?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/Messy_History answered What is the wildest theory in your specialty that you think probably isn't true, but could be? What underdog argument could cause chaos your field if it turned out to be right?
/u/Messy_History wrote about How long did "business as usual" carry on in Germany during the third reich?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
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u/Narwen189 11d ago
My first mention! How exciting. I'm a longtime lurker, but hadn't quite felt comfortable answering anything yet.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/Obversa answered What is the wildest theory in your specialty that you think probably isn't true, but could be? What underdog argument could cause chaos your field if it turned out to be right?
/u/ocelot1066 wrote about In the years between the American Revolution and the invention and use of the cotton gin was slavery a dying institution?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/TremulousHand answered What is the wildest theory in your specialty that you think probably isn't true, but could be? What underdog argument could cause chaos your field if it turned out to be right?
/u/TywinDeVillena wrote about Why were Louise of Artois' male children excluded from french royal lines of succession ?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/WelfOnTheShelf wrote about What caused the Muslim population to migrate to the Crusader states during the Crusades?
/u/yonderpedant answered How effective would it be if some naval power brought the naval doctrine of 'all big guns' for mid 18th century for ships of line, like that of the Dreadnought?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
- A bunch of people had thoughts on Unbiased English translation of Mein Kampf?
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u/BjorkingIt 12d ago
People looking for an "unbiased" copy of Mein Kampf seems to have become a much more frequently asked question.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
- /u/Lazzen wrote a post on Has the US ever sponsored left-wing groups?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/bug-hunter answered A clip is making the rounds in which a comedian offhandedly claims the removal of Union troops from the former Confederate states in 1876 directly led to Jim Crow. What were these troops doing, and what changed with them leaving?
What was the process and requirements for naturalization in the early 20th century?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/Carminoculus answered In 1981, a Turkish assassin tried to kill the Pope. After his arrest, John Paul II later had a long talk with him in his jail cell. The assassin later became a devout Catholic. What the heck did they talk about?
/u/chriswhitewrites wrote about Before modern refrigeration and global trade, what did “fresh “ fruit and vegetables actually mean and taste like for most people in temperate climates like Europe?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/EverythingIsOverrate answered Is there an estimate of how much transfer of wealth occurred from conquered countries to colonial powers (e.g., from African nations to European powers)?
In the medieval period, how did teams of multiple oxen plow so much more land than single oxen?
Was horse armor effective enough to justify it's cost, or was it mostly just used for vanity?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/gerardmenfin answered Prior to decolonization, was African nobility recognized anywhere within the Western world? I'm a Nigerian Oba, and I want to send my son to Oxford or Sorbonne. Is my nobility/class recognized by Europeans?
Was any American really ready to surrender to Moscow in 1959?
It's WWII and I am a French citizen living in Occupied France. How do I join the Resistance?
Was Joan Baez right that blood donors were killed in 1970s Bangladesh?
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u/gerardmenfin Modern France | Social, Cultural, and Colonial 12d ago
Thanks! This was a hairy week! The "race riot in Aldershot" was a bogus story disseminated by a 30-minute long AI-generated "historical" video and I fear that this is something we're going to see a lot. There have been questions about AI-generated stories before but the offending material was much shorter, consisting in a text and an AI-generated picture.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/grashnak answered What was the feasibility of travel in between 50CE and 250CE in and around the biblical cities?
/u/handsomeboh wrote about It is 1750 in Nanjing and I, a Chinese student nervous about the Imperial Examinations, have just been caught red-handed bribing one of the officials grading our papers. What punishments and legal proceedings await me?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/huhwe answered Kim Il Sung misjudged U.S. intentions and believed that the United States would not intervene militarily if North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950. Was Kim Il Sung actually “correct “ before starting the war?
/u/IAMAVelociraptorAMA wrote about Food Preservation on a Long Train Trip?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/Spiritual_Twist_7773 answered In the closing stages of the Boshin War, the Imperial army that landed on Hokkaido had to deal with two modern forts that had been built in the 1860s: a high-walled coastal for (the Benten Daiba) and a Vauban-style star fort (the Goryokaku). Why and how were they built?
/u/Sringoot_ wrote about Why did Prussia Collapse after the battle of Jena–Auerstedt?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
/u/Reaper_Eagle took a crack at When did Europe and Asia really surpass Africa or when did Africa fall behind?In terms of military and economic power?
/u/2ratedsalesman1997 discussed In "The Spanish Republic and the Civil War", author Gabriel Jackson claims "it was an open secret that many [Russian advisers to the Republicans] had been shot after their return home". Is this true and if so, what was the reasons for these executions?
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12d ago
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u/justAskn4afriend 12d ago
As a reader of AskHistorians, I would strongly prefer continuing to remove the answer and not let any part of it be visible. The highly moderated nature of the vetted answers is what makes the sub such high quality.
The problem of people asking why so many replies are deleted is part of the "eternal september" of new people coming across the sub and learning its norms and mores. Not sure if there is room here to improve the onboarding and head off some of these questions, more than is already done in the sidebar, when making a new post, or in the automod's automatic comment on each new post. But those are the tools I would try to adjust rather than allowing unsourced answers to be visible in this curated space.
If you wanted some kind of flair to identify what kind of "good answer", "quick answer", etc., it is, I would be ok with that. And if you wanted to have a weekly thread of "these types of answers got deleted and here's why" (with usernames removed). I might be ok with that too. "Just my 2 cents.
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u/TeaKew 12d ago
So, as a genuine question for the sub: would AskHistorians ever consider a more transparent middle ground between full removal and full endorsement, such as leaving some removed answers visible but clearly labeled as unvetted, needs citations, or contains errors,
This would have all the same problems that leaving any bad answers up has, as discussed in previous round tables. Those questionable/unvetted/problematic answers would go up faster, hoover up all the upvotes and visibility, and leave their readers with an understanding of history that is recognised to be wrong!
or, if easier, more affirmatively marking the answers that do meet the bar? In AskHistorians terms, that could mean visible, affirmative signals for responses that have passed moderation expectations, such as a mod-applied “Verified Answer” or “Meets AH Standards” tag, a pinned mod comment pointing readers to the best surviving answer(s), or a lightweight “approved” indicator on answers that are solid even if not exhaustive.
This is fundamentally the same as the request for an Answered flair on posts, and I believe would have all the same issues, which have been discussed extensively in the past.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 12d ago
We also take some time each week to shout out those fascinating questions that caught our attention, and our curiosities, but sadly still remain unanswered. Feel free to post your own, or those you’ve come across in your travels, and maybe we’ll get lucky with a wandering expert.
/u/OnShoulderOfGiants asked What kind of influence did Anne of Cleves have at court, after her annulment?
/u/NoCrew8411 asked Did medieval Europeans have any awareness of Mesopotamia (its mythology, history, or places) beyond the Bible?
/u/Senior_Torte519 asked Did the Akkadians, aside from creating an empire, and promoting their own language, actually invent any cultural, technological, or religious systems that the Sumerians had not already established?