What is the Geneva Convention? The Geneva Convention is actually the Geneva Conventions because there are more than one. It is a set of four treaties that lay out the humanitarian rules of war. There were four meetings, held in 1864, 1906, 1929, and 1949. Both of them came after a major war, when people […]
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What is a Banana Republic? A Banana Republic is a small, poor, politically unstable country with an economy dependent on one export and usually controlled by foreign companies. The existence of US controlled banana republics have created an environment where drug cartels can rise up. Banana Republic is not a positive term. The economy is
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Why did Alcoholics Anonymous start when it did? Alcoholics Anonymous started in the 1930s because the timing was just right. The US was coming out of the Great Depression, Prohibition had just ended, drinking was becoming a societal problem, the media seized upon it, and AA saw alcoholism as an illness, not a moral failing.
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How much were soldiers in World War 2 paid? It depended on the country, but the average US soldier got $50 a month, the average British soldier got two shillings and 6 pence a day, and the average German soldier was paid 35 Reichsmark a month. During World War 2, all of the participating countries
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What is Agent Orange? Agent Orange is a herbicide that is also a defoliant. That means it makes trees lose their leaves. Agent Orange got its name because the 55 gallon barrel it was stored in had an orange band around it. The US military used several different types of herbicides and they all had
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What is special about the rock in Turkey? Most of the rock in Turkey is just regular rock, but some of it is soft volcanic rock that is easy to carve and sets harder than concrete. This is not just in Turkey, but a lot of it has been found there. In Turkey, there are
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What is the Voynich manuscript? It is a 200 page, vellum codex, with hand drawn pictures. It is written in a language that no one knows or can read. The Voynich manuscript is named after a Polish bookseller called Wilfred Voynich, who bought it in 1912. Today, the book is owned by Yale University and
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What happened on the Bounty? A mutiny on the HMS Bounty was led by a sailor called Fletcher Christian. The captain and his loyal crew were set adrift in the ship’s launch. The HMS Bounty was a British merchant ship. It had been built in 1784 and entered service for the Royal Navy in 1787.
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How many tunnels did the Vietnamese dig? During the Vietnamese War, the North Vietnamese forces managed to dig a 400 km tunnel system that they used to hide and to attack the South Vietnamese and Americans. Tunnels have often been used as a tool of war. They weren’t often used in ancient battles, because it
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Who was Tutankhamun? Tutankhamun was an Egyptian pharaoh who lived from 1341 BC until 1323 BC. He was only 19 years old when he died. He was pharaoh for nine years, from 1332 BC until he died in 1323 BC. He is probably the most well known of all the Egyptian pharaohs because of his
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