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“By Sheer Coincidence And Bad Luck”: 32 Times History Had Its Own Surprising Plot Twists
Everything is easy to understand in retrospect, hindsight doesn’t require prescription glasses. This can sometimes lead folks to think that expected outcomes are the ones most likely to happen, but life, and thereby history, is a lot more complicated.
Someone asked “What's the biggest plot twist in history?” and netizens gathered to share their best examples. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote the ones you found particularly interesting and if you’re a history buff yourself, feel free to add your own favorites to the comments section down below.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Yi Sun-Sin. Pretty much all of this guy's life was an epic twist. He joined the Korean military back in the 1500s when they were being invaded by Japan. He became a top commander and helped save his nation from being conquered by the Japanese. Then his jealous rivals had him framed and imprisoned. When he was released from prison he re-enlisted in the military at the lowest rank, then was promoted all the way back up to commander and once again saved his nation from defeat against impossible odds.
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#2
Probably the time during WW1 the Germans disguised one of their ships, SMS Cap Trafalgar, as the British liner HMS Carmania, and by sheer coincidence and bad luck the first ship they came across was the real HMS Carmania, which ended up sinking them.
#3
The Republicans in power hated Theodore Roosevelt so they stuck him into the most powerless political position: Vice President. Then McKinley got himself eliminated and made Roosevelt the most powerful man in the country instantly and bringing in all kinds of reforms and change in the country domestically and internationally.
#4
The persecution of Christians during three centuries ended with the conversion of the Emperor Constantine. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Ace 8 hours ago
The "persecution" is largely an invention of later Christians anxious to re-write history in their favour. Mostly they were just tolerated, but conflicts between rival groups were later re-shaped by the eventual victors anxious to present a 'we were the innocent victims' narrative.
#5
Early in WWII the germans had developed a magnetic mine that was unsweepable and so powerful it could split large ships in two. The English had no idea what it was. They figured it was a magnetic mine of some kind but had no way to find them or blow them up without sinking their own mine sweepers. They were literally helpless and these mines were sinking a ton. Englad obviously pretty heavily relies on imported food so this is a huge deal. Then, just about a week after they went into real panic mode, a german aircraft dropped a mine on land right outside of london. No big deal, the mines were supposed to detonate if they were at all tampered with. Only problem? The aircrew that dropped the mine had forgotten to arm it before dropping it. So a german aircrew literally dropped what was possibly the germans best chance to force england to negotiate on their enemies doorstep. The English figured out how to set the mines off without touching them and later how to make their ships undetected by the mines.
#6
The Treaty of Versailles had some unexpected consequences.
The treaty of Versailles. Ends the the worst war known to man at the time, but sparks a Second World War, set up the modern day boundaries of the Middle East with no cultural considerations, and Woodrow Wilson denied Vietnam self-determination from France in order to get the treaty passed, eventually sparking the Vietnam war. The treaty that was expose to end all wars, sparked many of the current problems today.
#7
After a grinding down of both Rome and Sassanid Persia in a titanic 30 year war, both sides depleted and exhausted, one wonders what will happen next. Will the war recommence in a few decades? Will one side collapse? Will the Christian victory cause conversion in Persia?
Nope an army of Bedouin will sweep out of the desert backwater to the south and annihilate the armies of both nations, sieze half the roman empire and destroy Persia, irreparably changing the cultures of both.
#8
Britain winning World War Two and losing most of its empire within ten years. Germany losing the war and becoming an economic powerhouse and dominating European politics a few decades later. Womp Womp.
#9
Battle of Trenton. Washington facing the end of enlistments for a huge portion of his army come Jan 1 decides to risk it all on a December 26 raid on the Hessian garrison at Trenton. He needs to cross the icy Delaware river, march his army to Trenton, and attack the veteran troops there. He believes the element of surprise is crucial. Unfortunately, loyalist spies have warned the commander of the garrison of the date and time of the attack. Washington's crossing of the Delaware is complicated by terrible weather and his plan for a predawn attack becomes hopelessly behind schedule. Even more disastrously, a group of fifty militiamen, not knowing of Washington's plan, attack a part of the garrison before Washington can attack. So not only will they have to attack during the day, but the element of surprise is lost because of the spies and the early attack.
EXCEPT . . . . the Hessian garrison believes that the early, unrelated attack is the one the spies warned them about. So they are NOT on alert when Washington attacks. The Continental army wins the battle, the prestige causes more soldiers re-enlist, and the US eventually wins the war.
nicholas nolan 2 hours ago
Before someone says it: yes, with the great help of the French. But there would have been nothing for the French to help with had the war not been extended by this and other events.
#10
A diplomat messed up because he was tired and caused the massing at the Berlin Wall the night it came down. Gunter Schabowski was an East German diplomat who had just come back from Poland that night and was tired and overwhelmed. But, he had to read an announcement about travel rules changing, at a live press conference. And since he had just got back, he hadn’t been fully briefed. The new rule was that Easterners could apply for a visa to go west for short trips, and wait a few days from the announcement to apply and be approved. The announcement was in clunky language and started by saying stuff like “liberalization of travel rules...blah blah...can now visit the west...blah blah.” Schabowski was reading this for the first time on the air, live. A journalist asked “so when does this, uh, start?” Wanting to look prepared, Schabowski said, “uh...immediately, now.” One applies at the border stations.
This, of course, spread fast and caused people to mass at the Wall, asking to go. There had been important protests before, but nothing in these numbers.
Then, a border guard at the wall was preoccupied because he might have cancer and was waiting for his results. So, he didn’t care enough about his job to stop people and opened the first gate.
#11
Definitely the Miracle of the House of Brandenburg.
So here was the situation. We're deep into the 7 Years War. It's Great Britain and Prussia vs. France, Austria, and Russia (Plus minor allies on both sides.) As you might be able to figure out, this was rather the pickle for Prussia. There was, if I recall, only one or two British armies on the entire mainland and those were more concerned with defending Hanover (a dynastic possession) than helping their allies with actual troops rather than money. So Prussia, the smallest and weakest great power at the time, had to face off against Russia and Austria all by itself. Incredibly they manage to do so for 5 years. But the cost had become very high. They lost, according to Wikipedia "120 generals, 1,500 officers (out of 5,500) and over 100,000 men". In short, despite Frederick the Great's generalship, they were completely exhausted.
Cue the most nonsensical event in history. The Russian Empress Elizabeth (a daughter of Peter the Great) passed away suddenly. And her heir was Peter III, her German born nephew from her sister Anna. And this guy was Frederick the Great's biggest fanboy ever. He decides to save his hero, making peace with him, offers to become his ally, and orders Russian troops to march against the Austrians. So by pure luck Prussia goes from potentially being destroyed to being completely saved.
#12
At the start of the Cold War, Henry Murray developed a personality profiling test to crack soviet spies with psychological warfare and select which US spies are ready to be sent out into the field. As part of Project MKUltra, he began experimenting on Harvard sophomores. He set one student as the control, after he proved to be a completely predictable conformist, and named him "Lawful".
Long story short, the latter half of the experiment involved having the student prepare an essay on his core beliefs as a person for a friendly debate. Instead, Murray had an aggressive interrogator come in and basically tear his beliefs to pieces, mocking everything he stood for, and systematically picking apart every line in the essay to see what it took to get him to react. But he didn't, it just broke him, made him into a mess of a person and left him having to pull his whole life back together again. He graduated, but then turned in his degree only a couple years later, and moved to the woods where he lived for decades.
In all that time, he kept writing his essay. And slowly, he became so sure of his beliefs, so convinced that they were right, that he thought that if the nation didn't read it, we would be irreparably lost as a society. So, he set out to make sure that everyone heard what he had to say, and sure enough, Lawful's "Industrial Society and its Future" has become one of the most well known essays written in the last century. In fact, you've probably read some of it. Although, you probably know it better as The Unabomber Manifesto.
Edit: holy cow, thanks for the gold stranger!
#13
In 1274 and Kublai Khan has run out of China to conquer so now he's going to conquer Japan. His first attack fleet gets fended off by samurai, so they head back to China where they would regroup and plan a bigger, follow up attack. On the way back to China the fleet gets sunk by a typhoon.
It's 1281 and Kublai Khan is back. What does he want? Japan. When does he want it? 1281, I already told you that. He launches the 2nd biggest naval invasion the world *will have ever seen* (as of 2018) (1st biggest: D-Day), and come to find out, the Japanese have blocked their beaches off with seawalls. He trawls around the coast of Japan looking for a place to land, and continues to do so right up until the day the fleet gets destroyed by a second typhoon.
Those typhoons' names? Kamikaze.
#14
Kim Philby — a British intelligence officer and a double agent for the Soviet Union.
A man who was seriously considered to be the future leader of MI-6 (the British equivalent of the CIA) during the cold war with the Soviet Union was actually a highly effective spy for the USSR. If one of his mentally unstable friends hadn't defected to the USSR, casting suspicion on him, he may have become head of MI-6. Name was Kim Philby, and he eventually defected to the USSR.
Another one of his friends from uni ended up as the royal art curator for the Queen, and was highly respected in academic circles for art analysis and he too was a highly placed spy. This was kept under wraps until Thatcher "outed" him in the early 80s
#15
From the perspective of the Japanese. USA dropping 2 nukes on popular cities. The amount of power these things contained were just unimaginable at the time. Maybe not a plot twist but more of an escalation to a level never thought possible.
David Paterson 13 hours ago
The one on Hiroshima was originally thought in Japan to have been an earthquake.
#16
Oil companies did initial research suggesting climate change then deny climate change yet also engineer their offshore oil Riggs to withstand the effects of climate change.
David Paterson 14 hours ago
It's more confusing than that. Scientists based on the Milankovic theory were predicting global cooling. Soot in the atmosphere from coal burning, oil burning and forest burning was creating global cooling. The prediction of global warming due to CO2 was not just seen to be a positive, it was a positive. Nobody wanted another ice age. Nobody wanted New York buried under a kilometre thick slab of Arctic ice - again.
#17
Poland utterly crushing the Soviet army at the battle of Warsaw in the 20s. This stalled Soviet influence in Europe for another 20 years.
#18
During the Korean War the Marines morale was at an all time high despite the freezing weather and low supplies of food. Then the unthinkable happened. As the US was succeeding they decided to continue advancing North on the Korean peninsula when the Chinese surprised attacked them. The Marines easily won the battle and the general commanded the invasion to continue. It was at this time the Chinese were hiking in the mountains around the marines, undetected, completely surrounding them. This left the Marines completely trapped with only one road back to safety. they couldn't even fight back because they were so fatigued. The Marines said all they could do was walk while being fired at and every so often you heard a scream. This was the turning point of the war.
#19
The commerce with Orient was impossible after the Fall of Constantinople.
Christopher Columbus set sails to look for a western sea route to India, and ended up finding a new continent.
David Paterson 13 hours ago
If Ptolemy hadn't got the diameter of Earth totally too small, (Eratosthenes earlier had got it right) then Columbus, using Ptolemy's map, would have realised that the Orient was too far away to sail to. In addition, Ptolemy got the direction of North wrong too. And so Columbus was sailing for the wrong latitude as well.
#20
Backstory:
There was a samurai in Japan, circa 1600(?), named Miyamoto Musashi, who was frequently late to his duels. He was very skilled and world renowned as one of the most talented samurai to have ever lived.
One day, he decided to challenge the leader of the Yoshioka School, Seijuro to a duel. Seijuro agreed, and as always, Musashi came late. He struck Seijuro with a single blow, crippling his arm and knocking him out. Seijuro decided to pass ownership of the school down to Denshichirō, who immediately challenged Musashi back for revenge. Again, Musashi arrived late, disarmed and promptly defeated Denshichirō.
Here is where the plot twist comes in to play. The head of the Yoshioka school is now the 12 year old son of Denshichirō, Matashichiro. He (and his entire force of archers, musketeers, and swordsman) challenged Musashi to a final duel. Musashi decides that this time he is to arrive EARLY and hide nearby! Fantastic! So when Matashichiro and his army come marching by to the place where the duel is to occur, expecting a tardy Musashi as always. He springs from his hiding spot, and runs to Matashichiro, completely demolishing this 12 year old kid. He then escapes from the force by drawing his second sword.
#21
When the Allied troops discovered the horror of concentration camps during WW2. I could not imagine preparing yourself for something like that.
#22
Germany declaring war on France and then invading Belgium.
#23
US losing in Vietnam while using their military.
Eventually, US 'won' in Vietnam while using Levis, McDonalds, and Nike.
#25
Modern history might not exist if one man hadn’t caught food poisoning.
After conquering Chinese and Muslim civilization, and then Eastern Europe, the Mongols made plans to conquer the rest of Europe. The Mongols estimated it would take 13 years, and planned to devote 120,000 soldiers to the task. Given their victory over Chinese and Muslim civilization (both far more advanced than Christendom/Europe and fielding many more soldiers) and their conquest Eastern Europe with an expeditionary force of ~15,000, Mongol victory would be almost certain.
Then the Khan passed away after bad food poisoning; iirc it’s mentioned he was in the toilet for several days. Anyway, the Mongol generals withdrew to Central Asia to advocate their interests in the upcoming Khan election. The election was a mess, the Mongols were never united again, and Europe was spared.
If Europe had been conquered then it would have been taken back a few notches, and maybe the high Middle Ages never happens, so the Reformation and rapid social/technological innovation never happen, the enlightenment and scientific revolution never happen (this is the part that stresses me out), nor does Europe dominate the globe for 400 years.
David Paterson 13 hours ago
I heard that he died from alcohol poisoning, after coming into contact with the distilled and fortified wines of eastern Europe.
#26
Mithridates VI was an the king of Pontus around 100 BC. He was super paranoid of being poisoned so in order to combat this, he took small dosages of poison every day to build his tolerance.
He was eventually captured by the Romans and tried to poison himself but couldn't, since he was immune.
Ace 7 hours ago
It's a common theme through history, including the idea that some women slaves were trained to ingest so much poison that their bodily fluids would k**l anyone they came into contact with. Neither are true, Nearly all of the types of poison used for assassination in ancient times would accumulate in the body causing more and more damage over time, so far from building up immunity you would simply be dying slowly over a long period of time.
#27
The Long March (长征): After suffering massive losses in the Encirclement Campaigns conducted by the Nationalists, the Chinese Red Army made perhaps the greatest "tactical withdrawal" in history. With a force of a few thousand put together from remnants of surviving armies, they crossed mountains and rivers to escape pursuing Nationalists, ultimately winning the Chinese Civil War.
David Paterson 13 hours ago
Even more than that. Whenever the Red Army lost someone, they shared his supplies with the surrounding countrymen, thereby earning the support of all the locals along the route. The military defeat became a groundswell of public support.
#28
Greeks giving the city of Troy a pretty wooden horse that was secretly full of armored warriors.
David Paterson 13 hours ago (edited)
Worse than that. Much worse. The Spartans attacked the wrong city, triggering at least 50 years of deadly war between the Greek and Persian empires. And all because Menelaus jumped to a false conclusion. Helen wasn't in Troy, she was in Thebes in Egypt.
#29
England and France.
England became France when France's rulers emigrated to England, took over, and lost their holdings in France!
TMTMTMTM 12 hours ago
This is spherical nonsense. (Nonsense no matter which way you look at it.) Ruler of a small chunk of France (Normandy) went to England and took over, and then his granddaughter married a guy who had his own substantial land (Anjou and Maine), and their son married a woman who had (more nominal) rule of a lot of land (Aquitaine) ... but nobody in there was ever ruler of more than half of France!
#30
Pope is forced out of Rome. Pope seeks help of Robert Guiscard, a Norman (read: recent viking) who laid claim to Apulia in Italy. Guiscard succeeds in capturing Rome. His soldiers continue to drain Roman coffers. Pope is asked to send him away. Guiscard sacks the city, hard. Romans so pissed that they exile pope and he has to flee under the protection of Robert Guiscard.
#31
We invented plastic as a way to save ourselves incredible amounts of time and money on nearly everything, and now it's going to end us all if we don't spend absolutely ludicrous amounts of time and money cleaning it all up.
#32
Probably not the biggest, but the recent one was those people raising like $400k for the homeless vet who gave the girl gas money, and then it turning out to be a whole scam, and the homeless guy turned on the couple, the couple turned on each other, and all of them have been arrested for fraud and what not.
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What do you think ?
Becky Samuel 6 hours ago
This list is borderline unreadable. This is the sort of content that we are crying out for, but they cannot be bothered to spend a few minutes doing basic rewrites that would make it pleasant to read, or even comprehensible.
Roman Arendt 13 hours ago (edited)
And right now, we all can witness something that will end up on a similar list probably by the end of this year: The Orange Idiot's deal with Iran. The greatest, the biggest, the beautifullest peace deal that was ever made. And the irony doesn't only lie in the fact that it was signed by him at Versailles...
Slapdash1 7 hours ago
The US will pay 300 billion to open a strait which used to be open but got closed after a war that the US started and lost and which cost another 100 billion. Art of the deal.
Load More Replies... Becky Samuel 6 hours ago
This list is borderline unreadable. This is the sort of content that we are crying out for, but they cannot be bothered to spend a few minutes doing basic rewrites that would make it pleasant to read, or even comprehensible.
Roman Arendt 13 hours ago (edited)
And right now, we all can witness something that will end up on a similar list probably by the end of this year: The Orange Idiot's deal with Iran. The greatest, the biggest, the beautifullest peace deal that was ever made. And the irony doesn't only lie in the fact that it was signed by him at Versailles...
Slapdash1 7 hours ago
The US will pay 300 billion to open a strait which used to be open but got closed after a war that the US started and lost and which cost another 100 billion. Art of the deal.
Load More Replies...
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