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We know, we know - history can seem like a dud. Learning about people who aren't even on this Earth anymore - their birth, experiences, failures, and all those things - can look boring.
And sometimes it is, we don't deny it. At the same time, occasionally it is rather entertaining, especially if you open your mind to that. So, today, let's do just that - let history entertain and enlighten us.
More info: Reddit
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#1
Belgium has a habit of spending years with no governament after the elections. Last time starting in 2018 it took them 652 days to form a governament while theoretically being run by a political caregiver whose only purpose was to avoid the country from collapsing. It sounds weird, but afterall the national dish in Belgium is mussels served with fries, so nothing normal can really come from there.
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#2
Henry David Thoreau invented the No. 2 pencil.
editor's note: he didn't invent it, but rather improved it by perfecting the graphite-and-clay mixture for consistent hardness
Rick Murray 2 hours ago
Have to shrink the rendering down to 75% to dismiss the pop-up that appears when you click the gift... I would suggest you ought to test this stuff actually works on screen sizes other than your own, but then the Notifications thing is almost perpetually dead at the moment (making leaving comments less than useful because it isn't possible to tell if anybody replied, because BP doesn't do *useful* user interaction things like showing vote amounts and reply indications directly in the User Profile -> Comments part) so maybe everybody has gone on holiday or... 😞 Relevance to this picture? It's where the giftbox turned up.
#3
That English people and black American soldiers fought white American soldiers over segregation during WW2 (while they were in England, where segregation wasn't a law).
Also, the white soldiers demanded segregation and some pub owners responded to this by banning the white soldiers, but allowing the black ones in (though I'm not sure if this is true).
editor's note: yes, it's true, there was a movement of “Black Troops Only”
Apatheist Account2 4 hours ago
Burgess Meredith (the Penguin in the Batman tv series) made a propaganda film telling American GIs not to take their prejudices to Britain. I guess they didn't listen.
While at school, we all had subjects we loved, liked, or at least tolerated, and then those we despised. The choices depended on our experiences with teachers, the students we had to take the class with, and the way we are wired.
It means that we are all wired to like certain things more than others. For instance, some folks tend toward STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), others more for languages and social studies, and others are artsy.
#5
The mayor of Rome and the mayor of Carthage met in 1985 to sign a peace treaty to end the Punic Wars, 2131 years after Carthage was destroyed.
editor's note: the treaty was signed, but it was only symbolic
UnclePanda 4 hours ago
Thanks heavens. Now I don't have to return that library book on the history of papyrus. Those fines can follow you for ages.
#6
Frida Kahlo and Leo Trotzki had an affair.
Edit: Typo.
While some of the preferences here can be driven by life experiences, at the same time, our choices are partially determined by our genetics, so it can be said that some things aren’t completely up to us; we’re just meant for certain things from the beginning.
Whether that signifies us not having free will is a topic that usually arises when this fact comes up, but that’s not something we’re going to entertain today (since we already had not that long ago).
#7
You rarely hear much about the president or prime minister of Switzerland because the role is largely ceremonial. Instead, the country is led by a 7-member council.
#9
Mormons (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) possess vast genealogical data, maintaining the world's largest collection of family records, including birth, marriage, census, and land records, largely for religious purposes like performing proxy ordinances (like baptism) for ancestors, with resources available globally and local centers, making them a key resource for genealogists worldwide.
Either way, apparently, our genes determine things like us preferring tea or coffee, what kind of physical activity we like more, or even what kind of hobbies we’re fond of. Knowing this, it’s not really surprising to learn that we can have an inclination towards certain school subjects.
So, if you hate the guts of a certain school subject, you can blame your genes for it. Of course, it’s never the sole reason behind the dislike, as we already acknowledged before. Let’s take history, for example. People tend to dislike it for a variety of reasons, not only their predetermined thoughts.
#10
The official bird of Redondo Beach CA is the Goodyear Blimp.
#12
The first doctor to cure a cancer patient with chemotherapy, Min Chiu Li, was fired for “experimenting” with patients before anyone realized the patient was cured.
Some people find history rather boring – why study things that already happened? Let’s focus on the future instead, they say. For them, it feels disconnected from reality; historical figures are not relatable, and they simply do not care when they were born or did something.
And while such a stance is kind of understandable, it doesn't mean it is not flawed. You see, sometimes, no matter how boring history can seem, it’s important. By studying it, we learn about past societies, systems, how they worked, and why they failed, which helps to understand our current standing better. When we see ourselves better, we can improve upon given examples.
#13
Albert Einstein was offered the Presidency of Israel in 1952 after Chaim Weizmann was gone, but declined stating that he mostly deals in objective matters and just doesn't have the aptitude for people and politics.
#14
Martin Luther King Jr and his wife paid the hospital bill for Julia Roberts' birth.
Bi.Felicia 2 hours ago
A bit more info-Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King, paid the hospital bill for Julia Roberts' birth in 1967. Roberts' parents ran a theater school in Atlanta that welcomed the King children during segregation, which began the friendship between the two families. When the Roberts family couldn't afford the hospital bill, the Kings stepped in to help.
#15
That French residents of eastern coastal Canada (Acadia) were forcefully expelled in an event called “Le Grande Derangement” between 1755 and 1764. Great Britain attempted an ethnic cleansing to give their land to settlers from New England and Scotland who were loyal to Britain. A significant number of the 11k or so who were expelled resettled in Spanish Louisiana, where the catholic spanish rule was more consistent with the French ethos. The word “Acadian” became the root of the “Cajun” identity.
Even without having such a widespread influence over our societies, history can simply enlighten our day-to-day lives. After all, sometimes learning a small fact you didn’t know before can make a day a little better and you a little smarter.
So, for this, take a peek at our list – did you know any of these facts?
#16
Masabumi Hosono, sole Japanese survivor of RMS Titanic was publicly shamed for surviving.
#17
The existence of the Canary Islands and their inhabitants was forgotten by the world for more than 1000 years.
- The islands were originally settled by Carthaginians/Romans with Berber people from Morocco
- Roman ships regularly visited the islands to do trade
- with the decline of the Roman Empire, trading ties were cut and the Romans forgot about the islands.
So far, so crazy, but not unique. But:
- The people brought to the islands by the colonizers were inland mountain folks without any knowledge of shipbuilding or navigation.
- so after the Romans stopped visiting, the islanders had no way to sail to the mainland *or even between the different islands*
- being isolated from all of humanity - and each other - for a millenium, every single island developed a unique culture, language and religion.
🤯🤯🤯
Spanish sailors accidentally rediscovered the islands around 1400 in an early attempt to find India.
#18
Abraham Lincoln was a fan of John Wilkes Booth and even once invited him to meet at the White House.
Booth didn't respond to the offer.
#19
I found out less than an hour ago that Gunter Schabowski is responsible for the fall of the Berlin Wall because he botched a press conference, telling East Germans that they could “immediately” leave the country.
…so they did. En masse. Overpowering the guards in the process.
#20
America actually renamed sauerkraut liberty cabbage during WW1. I thought it was a joke by oversimplified.
#21
3 weird instances from balkan royal families:
I cant get over the fact that greek king alexander (not the great, the recent one) was bit by a monkey and was gone because of it. Happened in 1920.
Another balkan thing was the heir apparent exiled prince of albania, leka lived in rhodesia for a while. He had a small chad moment during his flight:
"When his plane arrived at Gabon for refueling, he found that it was being surrounded by local troops, who were said to have been hired to capture him by the Albanian government. The soldiers backed down when Leka appeared at the plane's door with a bazooka in his hand."
And finally bulgaria... couple of weeks ago i learned that simeon 2 the last czar of bulgaria came back decades after the abolishment of monarchy, only to found a political party and to win the elections. Correct me if i am wrong but that is the first time i've heard such a comeback.
#22
In 1989, PepsiCo made a bizarre deal with the Soviet Union to trade cola syrup for vodka and, due to currency issues, ended up acquiring a fleet of 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer, briefly making it the world's sixth-largest navy by ship count, though they were old, decommissioned vessels sold for scrap to expand Pepsi's market in the USSR.
#23
This is the roundel of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta's air force in the mid 20th century. The SMOM is the continuation of the Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, or Knights Hospitallers, who fought in the Crusades.
We live in a world where the Crusaders had an air force.
Andy 2 hours ago
Sounds more impressive than it was. After WW2 the Italian air force transferred it's planes to the SMOM as they were not sure if they would be allowed to keep them under the peace treaty. The planes were still flown by the Italian air force staff, and by the early 50s when it was confirmed they could keep them, ownership was transferred back to Italy
#24
I went down a rabbit hole recently learning about Switzerland and I’m blown away by their bunkers everywhere and that they have camouflaged military defences in ordinary-looking barns and explosives under key roads and bridges, it’s absolutely surreal. But I am amazed that they still have them for worst case scenarios. It’s a preppers-paradise of a country.
#26
Winston Churchill left behind a debt of Rs. 13 at the Bangalore Club, India which was written off by the committee on 01.06.1899 as an ‘irrecoverable sum’.
Stardust she/her 3 hours ago
You can buy 6.5 cough drops with that much money. I used to frequent the area near the club so maybe I can just help pay it off with my cough drops
#27
I was falling down the rabbit hole a bit in search for "first true sci-fi" story ... I knew that mythology, etc. can be explained as the earliest sci-fi, but then I found out about Lucian of Samosata's A True Story from 2nd century AD and ...
... like I am not saying that time travel is real, but this one would be a great argument for it, lol. Dude wrote about an outrageous voyage to the Moon and beyond, with alien societies, space-war, and fanciful inventions.
It's just crazy to me that a person almost from an ancient history had imagination like that.
Stardust she/her 3 hours ago
It’s honestly really interesting that someone from that far back in the past was able to think of science fiction almost like how we think of it in this current era
#28
The government of South Africa used to issue hunting permits for San people (the hunter-gatherer people in *The Gods Must Be Crazy*). The last hunting permits were issued in the 1930s.
#29
In 1896, at the first Olympic Games, runner Spyridon Louis stopped in a village to drink wine during the 40-kilometer marathon. This didn't stop him from winning the race. His athletic career lasted just five days. He set a record that he only broke 12 years later
editor's note: the fact about him breaking a record is not confirmed
#30
That British Empire prevented American colonists from taking Indian land. One of the drives of the revolution was to take that land.
Michael Largey 4 hours ago
Another reason was that the colonists knew that the UK was on the road to ending slavery. It banned it in 1833.
#31
The guy who played Count Dooku in star wars fought the nazis and once corrected film makers on the sound that someone makes when they are stabbed.
#32
In the 1860s a bunch of Irish Americans - mostly veterans of the us civil war invaded Canada (a British colony) . The idea was to occupy territory and use this as leverage in negotiations with the British about Irish Home Rule.
They beat the Canadian militia, but ran away before the British army came along. It was a military failure , but it did contribute to Canada becoming confederated. .
#33
Prime Minister Mckenzie King bought all his neighbours properties to avoid having Jews as his neighbour.
Lady Eowyn 1 hour ago
Prime Minister of where? More than one country has a prime minister. Antisemite d**k where wherever he was.
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Major Harris 1 hour ago
almost 700 irish american soldiers defected to the mexican side in the war of 1848 and became the st. patrick brigade for the mexican army. they did this because they were catholic and were horrified on what the american soldiers were doing to mexican catholic churches.
Major Harris 1 hour ago
almost 700 irish american soldiers defected to the mexican side in the war of 1848 and became the st. patrick brigade for the mexican army. they did this because they were catholic and were horrified on what the american soldiers were doing to mexican catholic churches.
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