36 Details About Historical Events Your History Books Just Didn’t Have Room For

History books worldwide must be kicking themselves for leaving these out
36 Details About Historical Events Your History Books Just Didn’t Have Room For

If we were a history book right now, we’d be feeling like we dumped somebody and then saw them completely thriving a week later. 

These random historical tidbits didn’t get a major makeover or anything either. They’re the same facts they’ve always been. They’re just starting to get some serious attention from every history buff out there, and it’s probably making their history book exes incredibly jealous.

The Colossus of Rhodes

CRACKED THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES WAS DESTROYED BY AN EARTHQUAKE JUST 56 YEARS AFTER BEING BUILT. One of the ancient wonders of the world, the statue's ruins lay on the ground for over 800 years before they were finally melted down and sold as scrap metal.

Julius Caesar

After the assassination of Julius Caesar, a large comet hit the Earth's atmosphere. GRACKED.COM It was seen in Rome and China and may have been the brightest daylight comet in recorded history. It led to Caesar being dei- fied, an Imperial Cult, and the building of the 'Temple of the Comet Star.'

Hua Tuo

CRACKED GROUNDS FOR EXECUTION Suggesting surgery to a king In the third century, the Chinese doctor Hua Tuo was killed by King Cao Cao of Wei after the king got mad and thought that his enemies had paid Hua Tuo to murder him. Hua Tuo had simply suggested surgery to cure the king's dizziness.

Tumbleweeds

Tumbleweeds are actually an invasive species that came from Russia. Russian immigrants apparently brought it by accident to South Dakota in the 1870s on contaminated flax seeds, and it spread from there. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Vietnam

The country now known as Vietnam wanted to be called Nam Viêt. VIBion VIBook mL WEL APEC VIE CRACKED COM In the 1800s, Vietnam asked the Qing dynasty to change their name to Nam Viet. The dynas- ty said no, and changed their name to Viet Nam instead.

Pumping Gas

Gross and weird things before modern technology PUMPING GAS Since 1905, Americans have been able to pump their own gas. Before that, they had to buy it in cans and fill up themselves. ALL- PURPOSE GASOLINE CAN CRACKED

Marquis De Lafayette

Marquis De Lafayette became a major general at age 19 When he was 16, he was a second lieutenant. Не was considered a war hero in both the American Revolutionary War and the French Revolution. CRACKED.COM

A Different Kind of POW

CRACKED PRISONERS: FROM BEHIND BARS TO BEHIND THE FRONT LINES. During World War II, prisoners in the U.S. got involved in the war effort in different ways, such as giving blood, buying war bonds, and making things for the military. Some prisoners even got out of jail temporarily so they could join the military.

Cotton

People in the 1300s confused cotton with some sort of vegetable lamb. Sir John Mandeville told tales of his travels, such as the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, which was said to have been a lamb that sprouts from the ground. The evidence of the animal was wool, seemingly bound to plants, which we now know had been cotton. CRACKED.COM

Ancient Egypt

In Ancient Egypt, keeping your heart after death was an upper-class privilege. In Egypt, the heart was the seat of consciousness, but embalmers secretly took out dead commoners' hearts (which would make their afterlife worse). CRACKED.COM

Persia

Timur was Great Khan of Persia in the 1300s. And the day Russians excavated his tomb, Russia was hit with the most brutal invasion of WWII. Timur's tomb was marked with the phrase, When I arise from the grave, the world will tremble. After losing millions of Soviet soldiers and civilians, the Russians finally returned Timur to his tomb with full Islamic burial rights. At almost the same time, the Germans' final attempt at Russian conquest failed. CRACKED GOM Michael Shterenshis: 2002 Tamerlane and the Jews

Ancient Rome

Ancient advertising Й VIN be USCI O EPECIONSS ROGANT NH Ancient political ads In Rome, people would write on the walls to show their support for political candidates. Some were just a few words, while others were more elaborate. One example: I beg you to vote for C. Julius Polybius for aedile. Не makes good bread. CRACKED

World War II

ITALIAN COMMANDER IGNORES WWII FOR MUSIC IS Gen. Soddu Out as Chief 1940 n Of Italy's Albanian Army it DE W EN CRACKED.COM Italian General Ubaldo Soddu had a bigger y appetite for pasta than war; for his entire 4 week career as General, Soddu would retire to his tent early to compose music for imaginary movies while a World War raged on outside. The defeats under General Soddu led Mussolini to call on Hitler for support, delaying the German invasion of Russia, which ultimately ended with a victory for the Allies.

Thomas Jefferson

CRACKED THOMAS JEFFERSON CALLED JOHN ADAMS AN UGLY HERMAPHRODITE. Jefferson hired journalist James Callender to write nasties about Adams, so he went all out and wrote that Adams was a hideous hermaphroditical character which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.

Radio Fax

RADIO FAX Mondensator SOLK CRACKED.COM Back in the '30s, companies sent newspapers into people's homes wirelessly, using radio and fax machines. Instant news before the web or even TV? Didn't work- advertisers preferred regular print.

Bank Robbers

America's First Bank Robbery was nearly the perfect crime. DAY GRACKED COM $162,821 ($3.8 million to- day) had been taken from vaults of the Bank of Penn- sylvania in 1798. The cul- prit Isaac Davis was caught because he deposited the money back into the same bank.

Senators

The first female state senator to be elected in the United States ran against her own husband. GRAGKED.COM Martha Hughes Cannon was a Mormon polygamous wife, earned four degrees by age 25, opened a private prac- tice, was a suffragist, and beat her husband to be a Utah State Senator in 1896.

Bread

In the years preceding the French Revolution, the price of bread cost 88% of a laborer's income. The average 18th-century worker spent half his daily wage on bread. But when the grain crops failed two years in a row, the price of bread shot up to 88 percent of his wages. CRACKED.COM

Toothpaste

Toothpaste used to be made of lizard livers. CRACKED.COM The field of dentistry is still astonishingly unregulated. But back in the day, you could get bamboo pegs or copper shards pounded into your jaw, depending on where you lived. Early toothpastes were made of ground up tiny animals--oh, and urine. Dentists didn't even wear gloves until the AIDS scare of the 1980's.

Plagues

The Black Plague made everyone afraid of bathing. CRACKED.COM Bathhouses fell out of fashion after The Plague started making everyone rot. But instead of deciding that a fetid public f*ck tank was inherently unhealthy, they figured it must be the act of bathing that made you sick. Regular bathing for commoners didn't come back into style until the early 1900's.

The Thames

British parliament debated a resolution for bankers to be sewn into sacks with snakes and dumped into the Thames river. One of the first recognisably modern financial crises was the South Sea Bubble in 1720. Many thousands of British citizens, including Sir Isaac Newton, invested their savings in a scam and were impoverished when it burst. CRACKED.COM

Stalin Tattoos

Russian prisoners tattooed images of Lenin and Stalin as protective amulets. While the USSR existed, some prisoners believed guards weren't allowed to shoot Lenin's and Stalin's faces, so they got those tattooed on their chests. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Coffee

In the 17th century, coffee was thought to make men impotent. At one point, in an attempt to restore their husbands' virility, a bunch of London women petitioned against coffee houses. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong initiated a campaign to crack down on people with the wrong opinions. CRACKED.COM In the Hundred Flowers Campaign, Mao Zedong in- vited people to openly ex- press their opinions and have free discussions. Once this happened, he cracked down on those who said the wrong things.

The Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty almost had a massive phonograph installed inside. That was Thomas Edison's idea, when the statue was still being planned - he wanted to broadcast speeches through the entire bay. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs - at least some of them- laid eggs that were colored. Which is surprising, because scientists thought colored eggs only appeared once birds showed up - - but that's apparently not the case. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Mummified Animals

Egyptians liked to mummify animals SO much, they almost made some extinct. And if anyone objected, they probably wouldn't have got it - to them, mummification was a great honor. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Uncle Sam

Uncle Sam was given a wife in the 1920s that had a radio show. Aunt Sammy was created by the US Dept of Agriculture as a radio show for farm wives, and would gossip about social activities & gardening. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

The Titanic

The Titanic's captain was indirectly responsible for the disaster. The Titanic's captain, Ed- ward Smith, was first the captain of the Olympic when it collided with a warship, the repairs of which delayed Titanic's maiden voyage that ended in catastrophe. CRACKED NOW YOU KNOW

1904 Summer Olympics

An American gymnast competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics with a wooden leg. CRACKED.COM George Eyser won six med- als: 3 gold in long horse vault, 25 ft. rope climb, and parallel bars; two silver in the 4-event all-around and pommel horse, and one bronze medal in the hori- zontal bar.

The Hundred Years’ War

The first phase of the Hundred Years' War was ended by a hail storm. CRACKED.COM Called Black Monday, a hail storm killed an estimated 1,000 English soldiers in Chartres, France in 1360. King Edward of England con- sidered it a sign from God and soon after he signed the Treaty of Bretigny.

The Ancient Olympics

The ancient Olympics always had a sacrifice for Zeus. CRACKED.COM The third day of the an- cient Olympic Games be- gan with a team of priests slaughtering 100 bulls. The thighs were burned, and the rest was served in the victory banquet.

Nobel Prizes

Jean-Paul Sartre declined his Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964. GRACKED COM Не said, a writer should not allow himself to be turned into an institution. Не consistently declined all other such official hon- ors people tried to grant him over the years.

Hitler

Hitler granted his childhood doctor, Eduard Bloch, special protection by the Gestapo. CRACKED.COM When Hitler's mother couldn't afford cancer treat- ment, Bloch reduced his prices. Teenage Adolf de- clared undying gratitude, and when Austria was an- nexed, Hitler kept his word to the Jewish doctor.

Dead Sea Scrolls

One portion of the Dead Sea Scrolls was determined to be a treasure map. W snake island treasure smalt pay S lake of shadows dragon mountains black lake irate bay GRACKED.COM Found in 1952, the copper scroll was not a literary work like the others, in- stead it listed the locations of valuable treasure like silver and gold that have been buried or hidden.

An NSFW Coat of Arms

A war almost started in 1579 over the omission of a bear penis on a coat of arms. D GRACKED.COM The bear in the coat of arms of Appenzell, Swit- zerland, is represented with a visible penis, but a calendar printer in Saint Gallen left it out by acci- dent, enraging the North- east canton.

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