Crazy Historical Facts

[Ser Gregor]

Speaking of 'MURICA! it is highly, highly, highly unlikely that Betsy Ross had anything to do with the American flag. To confound this, it's doubtful Ross even ever lived in the 'Betsy Ross House'.

 

[mtntopview]

XD

Good for you

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AAAG NINJA'D!!
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It's a conspiracy!

 

[Maxx]

Quit rewriting history, its already as confusing as it is.

When anesthetic was used for the first time in childbirth in 1847, the mother was so amazed and relieved at how painless the birth was that she named her child Anaesthesia.

 

[Lavi]

Kevlar was an accidental invention. It was created during chemical tests to improve car tires.

 

[mtntopview]

Prescot Bush (George W Bush's grandfather) was one of seven directors (including W. Averell Harriman) of the Union Banking Corporation, an investment bank that operated as a clearing house for many assets and enterprises held by German steel magnate Fritz Thyssen. In July 1942, the bank was suspected of holding gold on behalf of Nazi leaders. A subsequent government investigation disproved those allegations but confirmed the Thyssens' control, and in October 1942 the United States seized the bank under the Trading with the Enemy Act and held the assets for the duration of World War II.

 

[Unreliable Genius]

During the last 3,500 years, it is estimated that the world has had somewhere around 230 total years in which no war took place.

[don't quote me on that, though, cause, you know, the name]

 

[Nightmare Moon]

In the late 1700s an automaton called The Turk (In the likeness of a moustachioed and turbaned man standing over a chessboard patterned case) was created with the purpose of playing chess against human opponents. It won may games and faced up against several famous people including Napoleon and Benjamin Franklin. However once the machine was sold it was found that it was in fact an elaborate trick as the inside was hollow allowing a chess master to operate the automatons arms and move the chess pieces as he saw fit.

 

[Ser Gregor]

During the last 3,500 years, it is estimated that the world has had somewhere around 230 total years in which no war took place.

[don't quote me on that, though, cause, you know, the name]

That's an oft quoted falsity in history. Simply put it's impossible to tell. Warfare predates the written word by thousands of years. Even if you limit your study to begin with the first instance of writing and only count ethnicities that wrote, the record keeping is woefully insufficient. Not to mention that there are areas of the world that have seen near-constant conflict.

Facts like 'there have been x y's since z date' rely on a misunderstanding of how much we don't know. To put it in to context we JUST discovered this year that Portugal had discovered and mapped Australia 250 years before the British. How did we not know this until now??? There is both not enough history and far too much history.

 

[mtntopview]

That's an oft quoted falsity in history. Simply put it's impossible to tell. Warfare predates the written word by thousands of years. Even if you limit your study to begin with the first instance of writing and only count ethnicities that wrote, the record keeping is woefully insufficient. Not to mention that there are areas of the world that have seen near-constant conflict.

Facts like 'there have been x y's since z date' rely on a misunderstanding of how much we don't know. To put it in to context we JUST discovered this year that Portugal had discovered and mapped Australia 250 years before the British. How did we not know this until now??? There is both not enough history and far too much history.

Simply put, all humans do is fight

 

[Brett Stone]

I'd have to look this up again to make sure, but I'm gonna go out and a limb and trust my gut on these things about King Richard I looked up a few years ago.

King Richard was the King of Britain/England, but spoke French primarily. It was rumored that he had homosexual relations with the King of France. He was killed by a child who struck him with an arrow. And his head, body, and insides are buried in three different locations.

 

[Endling vas Precious]

I was born 19 years ago.

 

[Chairdor]

The Sentinelese are a primitive culture living on an Island in the Bay of Bengal and despite multiple attempts by Indian officials and scientists to contact them the tribe has resisted maintaining the lifestyle that had most likely been unchanged in any great degree for thousands of years. Somewhat recently two fishermen wound up on their shore and the tribe immediately killed them, the area is protected and forbidden to land upon for obvious reasons.

 

[Ush]

Oh hell yes.

Jesus' birthday, the 25th of December, actually belonged to a pagan god. This god was mostly worshiped in the northern Roman empire. In the southern world, worshiping him could get you whipped. So why did that day get chosen?

 

[Ser Gregor]

Oh hell yes.

Jesus' birthday, the 25th of December, actually belonged to a pagan god. This god was mostly worshiped in the northern Roman empire. In the southern world, worshiping him could get you whipped. So why did that day get chosen?

That's not true. There was no Roman holiday on the exact day of the 25th of December, it was Saturnalia, which went from December 17th-23rd. It honoured the God Saturn and celebrations were held across the Empire, but most famously in the city of Rome itself (not part of the Northern Empire).

EDIT: I apologize somewhat for the repeated 'that's not true' but it's simply not within my capability to ignore them. I'm terrible to watch historic epics with for this reason.

 

[Raif]

EDIT: I apologize somewhat for the repeated 'that's not true' but it's simply not within my capability to ignore them. I'm terrible to watch historic epics with for this reason.

I am soooo tempted to post something ridiculously wrong just to make your head explode

 

[Solaris]

I am soooo tempted to post something ridiculously wrong just to make your head explode

You should keep it to the proven factually true, like Columbus discovering America and Ben Franklin discovering lightning.

 

[Crosby]

During the Battle of the Sabis in his Gallic Campaign, to keep his right flank from getting overwhelmed by the Nervii after most of his centurions died Julius Caesar dismounted, grabbed a scutum from some random soldier and headed to the front line. He probably saved his army and his campaign in Gual by doing this as his army was able to hold out until Legio X arrived to help them out.

 

[Ser Gregor]

You should keep it to the proven factually true, like Columbus discovering America and Ben Franklin discovering lightning.

Well, really Columbus did discover America. He just wasn't the first to discover it. Europe had lost all knowledge of the Americas by his time.

EDIT: Also, before it's asked, yes, I'm pretty sure I could take any historical half-truth and validate it by being super nitpicky.

 

[Ser Gregor]

During the Battle of the Sabis in his Gallic Campaign, to keep his right flank from getting overwhelmed by the Nervii after most of his centurions died Julius Caesar dismounted, grabbed a scutum from some random soldier and headed to the front line. He probably saved his army and his campaign in Gual by doing this as his army was able to hold out until Legio X arrived to help them out.

I've always maintained a fantastic movie could be made about Caesar and the Battle of the Sabis.

 

[Crosby]

I've always maintained a fantastic movie could be made about Caesar and the Battle of the Sabis.

As long as they don't turn it into "300 2"