Cracked Archive - History

6 Images That Ruined the Lives of People They Made Famous

WARNING: SOME OF THESE IMAGES ARE DISTURBING. We have censored where necessary, but if you're sensitive, you might still want to stay away.

Authors: By Eric Yosomono, Drew Anderson
Published: June 24, 2013
Comments: 1420

The 6 Most Hilariously Petty Abuses of Military Power

We're all for goofing around at work -- our entire business model is based on it. But when that workplace is the military, you'd hope there wouldn't be people running around doing dumbass things.

Authors: By Xavier Jackson
Published: June 24, 2013
Comments: 582

5 Shockingly Progressive Ideas From 'Primitive' Cultures

We're not only less progressive today than you might think, but there have been some truly shocking moments of tolerance in history that make the modern world look downright bigoted.

Authors: By Patrick McCarty, Patrick Hopkins, Xavier Chavez-Sarria
Published: June 23, 2013
Comments: 1557

7 Popular Old-Timey 'Hobbies' That Will Give You Nightmares

People used to have atomic bomb viewing parties. That is all.

Authors: By R. Jason Benson
Published: June 21, 2013
Comments: 884

5 Insane Strategies That Won Elections (and Changed History)

Sometimes, just sometimes, a politician gleefully ignores all the conventional weaponry and wins the battle by slapping the enemy down with the rubber chicken of nsanity.

Authors: By Xavier Jackson, Evan V. Symon , Micah Duke
Published: June 20, 2013
Comments: 526

5 Lies About the Vietnam War You Probably Believe

Many of the things you think you know about Vietnam turn out to be complete bullshit.

Authors: By Alex Hanton, Eric Yosomono, Adam Page
Published: June 09, 2013
Comments: 1975

5 Conspiracy Theories That Are Shockingly Easy to Debunk

Even among theories like these (which count their believers in the millions), you find that the whole thing is usually based on some embarrassingly simple misunderstanding.

Authors: By Douglas A. McDonnell, M. Asher Cantrell
Published: June 06, 2013
Comments: 5248

The 5 Most Incredibly Badass Acts of Nonviolence

Blessed are the peacemakers, right?

Authors: By Dustin Koski, Sam Jackson
Published: June 02, 2013
Comments: 769

5 Ways Pirates Were Way More Modern Than You Realize

In some ways, pirates were bizarrely ahead of the societal curve. In fact, some of their viewpoints would be heartily endorsed by the campus newspaper of a liberal arts college.

Authors: By David Reidy, Paige Turner
Published: May 30, 2013
Comments: 845

5 Words You Use Every Day With Shockingly Dark Backstories

There are common words that you've probably used thousands of times in your life whose origins lay not in an inspired bard trying to expand the way we communicate, but in some dickholes messing with other people or just plain being nasty.

Authors: By Augustus Johnson
Published: May 27, 2013
Comments: 555

12 Early Uses of Electricity That Proves History Was F#@%ed

When mankind first figured out how this mysterious thing called electricity worked, everyone went a little crazy for a while there.

Authors: By Salla Maaria
Published: May 25, 2013
Comments: 506

6 People Saved by Literally the Last Person They Expected

When the time came to tell their rivals to eat shit, they instead turned around and said, 'Sure thing, buddy, let me help you with that.'

Authors: By Robin O'Lachlan, Alex Hanton, Eric Yosomono
Published: May 23, 2013
Comments: 1093

The 5 Most Ridiculous Outfits Ever Worn Into Battle

If you're going into battle, you've got two wardrobe options: You can dress in something practical -- camouflage, body armor, boring shit like that -- or you can slap on a SpongeBob costume.

Authors: By George Oduor
Published: May 20, 2013
Comments: 914

5 Famous Historical Events You Won't Believe Happened Twice

If we just hadn't forgotten about all of these lesser-known, yet way crazier versions of huge news stories, maybe we could have avoided some of the tragedy.

Authors: By Steve Shapiro
Published: May 10, 2013
Comments: 980