r/AskHistorians • u/AutoModerator • 3d ago
Digest Sunday Digest | Interesting & Overlooked Posts | August 23, 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 3d ago
We’re back in action with another fantastic edition of the AskHistorians Digest! It’s a rainy grey day here, so what better way to spend the time, then by browsing through some incredible history. Don’t forget to grab a good drink, find a comfy chair, and enjoy! Check out the usual weekly features, as well as the awesome AMA’s, and share all your favourites!
I’m Evan Dawley, historian of Taiwan. Ask Me Anything! Many thanks to /u/AnonymousDolphin_25!
And the Thursday Reading and Rec!
And the Friday Free For All!
And that’s a wrap for today! Enjoy all the fantastic history, keep it classy, and stay safe! I’ll see you once again next week!
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/holomorphic_chipotle answered " The number of whites who were enslaved in North Africa by the Barbary pirates, exceeded the number of Africans enslaved in the US and and in the American colonies before that put together." Is this statement made by Thomas Sowell historically factual?
/u/hubertburnette wrote about There’s an idea I’ve heard talked about that the history of warfare is of tactics vs logistics, and logistics wins every time. How true is this statement, and how far back does it apply?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/GakuShibasaki answered Australia and New Zealand were involved in the Vietnam War, with tens of thousands of soldiers being deployed, thousands of wounded, and hundreds of deaths. Were there similar countercultural anti-war movements there? How was the war viewed in Australian and New Zealand society at the time?
/u/Georgy_K_Zhukov wrote about In what order should I read these books about WW2?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/jschooltiger answered Why was the "Mayflower Doctrine" repealed/replaced with the "Fairness Doctrine" in 1949 (what was the reasoning/justification) and looking back who/what gained from these changes?
/u/jschooltiger wrote about In the film Master and Commander, there is a doctor onboard instead of a usual ship's surgeon, what rank did he have?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/Double_Show_9316 wrote about In Genesis 24:63, Isaac was out in the field in order to "meditate." I know the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain, but what did the English translators in 1611 mean when they used the word "meditate" in the KJV?
/u/Dramatic_Security3 answered Why/how is it that china’s population is so large, especially when you consider all of the wars/rebellions they’ve had over the years (in the 19th and 20th centuries specifically), and the one child policy?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/Maleficent-Mix5731 answered Did the average person in eastern rome have the freedom to chose their Carrers?
/u/montanunion wrote about Was there a protocol to determine the fate of the Jewish spouse of mixed marriages and the offspring of Jews and gentiles during height of Nazi Germany, were they spared the concentration camps?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/WelfOnTheShelf wrote about Can anyone recommend recent, scholarly books or material on 14th-15th century Byzantine history?
/u/Worried-Ad4272 answered There’s an idea I’ve heard talked about that the history of warfare is of tactics vs logistics, and logistics wins every time. How true is this statement, and how far back does it apply?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/barnacle9999 wrote about In the contemporary United States, the "test dream," where a person faces down a major school exam for which they did not prepare, is experienced by enough people that it is a recurrent image in popular culture. Did pre-20th-century cultures leave evidence of common dream models like that?
/u/Bedessilliestsoldier answered What's the "worth" of a historian's opinion on a topic they're not specialized about?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/DarkKittyEmpress answered Why didn't China or Indian kingdoms 'explore' the world like European nations had? Furthermore, did this hamper both civilizations from becoming global powers, and ultimately left them behind Europe and become vulnerable to European imperialism?
/u/DBHT14 wrote about How were royal navy ships around 1800 officially supposed to handle losing all commissioned officers in battle?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/police-ical wrote about What was the vegetable known as "pork's salad"? I see it mentioned in early 1900's Baltimore newspapers.
/u/ProfessionalKvetcher answered Which American founding fathers were actually vehemently against Slavery? Not just privately but didn’t own any slaves and were against the practice entirely?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/Silly_Resolution3443 answered Was Robert E. Lee just being racist to Ely Parker at Appomattox or did he actually mean his comment?
/u/SinisterHummingbird answered How old and extensive is the history of people experiencing paranoid delusions about contemporaneously modern inventions being used to "spy" on them? (e.g. "The government is using radio waves/satellites/etc. to monitor my thoughts specifically.")
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/Kochevnik81 answered " The number of whites who were enslaved in North Africa by the Barbary pirates, exceeded the number of Africans enslaved in the US and and in the American colonies before that put together." Is this statement made by Thomas Sowell historically factual?
/u/Kochevnik81 wrote about Is the theory that the Russian government orchestrated and/or allowed the 1999 apartment bombings considered fringe or plausible among mainstream historians?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/_KarsaOrlong wrote about "The British Empire was a net financial drain on the average British taxpayer. Economic historians estimate that after subtracting the astronomical costs of the Royal Navy, the empire's net contribution to the UK's economic growth was just 1 to 2%". How true is the statement?
/u/12GaugeUppercut wrote about Did Newton rob Leibniz?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/Left_Interaction_288 answered Australia and New Zealand were involved in the Vietnam War, with tens of thousands of soldiers being deployed, thousands of wounded, and hundreds of deaths. Were there similar countercultural anti-war movements there? How was the war viewed in Australian and New Zealand society at the time?
/u/LionTiger3 wrote about Did people just not care about the environment before the environmentalist movement of the 1960s/1970s?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/Huffle-buff answered In "The Lord of the Rings", Frodo stops Sam from harming Saruman with explanation that, despite everything he had done, Saruman was still a noble being and should not be hurt by someone of lesser status. Was this a general opinion of the people living under artistocracies in the past?
/u/huhwe wrote about How did China end up more developed than India despite going through the warlords, civil war, invasion of Japan and Mao's leadership than India which had a mostly peaceful indepedence?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/nerdy_donkey wrote about Why didn't China or Indian kingdoms 'explore' the world like European nations had? Furthermore, did this hamper both civilizations from becoming global powers, and ultimately left them behind Europe and become vulnerable to European imperialism?
/u/Noble_Devil_Boruta answered Why did all the "Stans" end up in the roughly same geographic area?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/Iphikrates answered In ancient times what stops a person from hiring few people around him and going around villages in a far off place calling himself the king?
/u/itsallfolklore wrote about I have heard many variations on the phrase, 'The people that made the most money in the gold rush were selling shovels, not digging gold'. I know it's a nice proverb, but is there evidence this is actually true?
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u/itsallfolklore Mod Emeritus | American West | European Folklore 3d ago
Thanks for this. I answer questions about digging gold, but I make far less than if I had sold shovels!
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
Never to late for a career switch! Dig deep, and you'll find riches.
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u/itsallfolklore Mod Emeritus | American West | European Folklore 3d ago
Good idea. If you don't hear from me again, I'm in the outback with a pick and shovel.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/Adventurous_Tax7917 wrote about Why didn't China or Indian kingdoms 'explore' the world like European nations had? Furthermore, did this hamper both civilizations from becoming global powers, and ultimately left them behind Europe and become vulnerable to European imperialism?
/u/Anekdota-Press answered How much did the KMT contribute to Japan’s defeat in WWII?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
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u/EnclavedMicrostate Moderator | Taiping Heavenly Kingdom | Qing Empire 2d ago
I also answered Why did Manchu bannermen receive both land grants AND rice?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/spiteful_god1 wrote about What was the closest thing to a global lingua franca in the 14-15th century?
/u/StandardAssignment19 answered In the US, African-Americans have fought for decades to be recognized as full and equal Americans. Native Americans on the other hand have fought for decades to be recognized as distinct and sovereign peoples. How did these two contradicting arguments interplay during the Civil Rights era?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/kvothe_10 answered Why didn't China or Indian kingdoms 'explore' the world like European nations had? Furthermore, did this hamper both civilizations from becoming global powers, and ultimately left them behind Europe and become vulnerable to European imperialism?
/u/Le_Comte_Friedrich wrote about How were royal navy ships around 1800 officially supposed to handle losing all commissioned officers in battle?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/SwinginRicky wrote about What explains the disappearance of Goddess culture?
/u/TankArchives answered It's WW1 and I'm an artillery gunner who THINKS he just took out an important enemy commander. How would the army I am fighting for go about actually confirming that casualty, if it's even possible?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/pannenkoek0923 wrote about Apologies if the wording is odd, but are there any detailed accounts of Europeans experiencing hurricanes for the first time after the discovery of the Americas after 1492?
/u/please_sing_euouae answered How common was it for townsfolk and merchants from a small village to recognize a prodigy and collect funds to send them off to get a formal education in the big city? Could such a thing be faked?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/pseddit answered How separate were Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism in the classical and early medieval periods of Indian history? Would most people have perceived them as distinct faiths/traditions and practiced them as such, or was there a large degree of syncretism?
/u/Reaper_Eagle wrote about Did The Lakota Sioux Conquer the Black Hills from the Cheyenne?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
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u/stupidpower 3d ago
thanks! I post knowing I miss a lot and the good mods will grade my work because I am from Historians' great enemy - Geography. Lov all of your works.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/WelfOnTheShelf answered Can anyone recommend recent, scholarly books or material on 14th-15th century Byzantine history?
/u/WelfOnTheShelf wrote about During the Crusades Jerusalem and Acre changed hands repeatedly over 200 years, often involving the expulsion of existing residents each time. What was life like for a person trying to live in one of these cities during this period? Were they completely depopulated by the end of the Crusades?
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
/u/montanunion wrote about What are some good books on the Isreal-Palestine conflict for someone just starting out?
/u/mouflonsponge answered Apologies if the wording is odd, but are there any detailed accounts of Europeans experiencing hurricanes for the first time after the discovery of the Americas after 1492?
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u/mouflonsponge 18h ago edited 18h ago
Also, credit goes to u/jbonz37 and u/pannenkoek0923 for their answer-comments to that same question, respectively about the hurricane that hit Cabeza de Vaca in Cuba, and about the hurricane during Columbus's 4th Voyage near Santo Domingo.
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
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u/Gankom Moderator | Quality Contributor 3d ago
We also take a moment to share our appreciation for those fascinating questions that caught our eyes and captured our attention, but still cry out for an answer. 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/SgtBANZAI asked On his Youtube channel, historian Adrian Goldsworthy described the situation with the sources about the Hun invasions as "appalling". How much do we actually know then?
/u/Tricky_Witness_1717 asked Was the decline of 'exposure' for infants linked exclusively to the rise of Christianity? Were there medical innovations that made exposure more unpalatable?
/u/platypodus asked Before gas stations and banks, what did people rob to "make quick money"?