32 ‘That Escalated Quickly’ Moments from History

‘A 40-year war between two clans 1,500 years ago because someone killed a camel’
32 ‘That Escalated Quickly’ Moments from History

There might not be a single quote from the movie Anchorman that’s proved quite as timeless as “That escalated quickly.” Not that there’s a lot of competition, since most of the other quotes were worn out by the end of the fiscal quarter thanks to frat bros. “That escalated quickly” sticks around because it holds a certain timelessness, as proven by the fact that it applies to much of history.

The same way someone quickly found themselves impaled on a trident, so did non-fictional people in the past. In fact, a couple times, it might have actually been a trident. As proof of this phenomenon, Redditors shared cause-and-effect combos from history that fit the quote to a T, collected below.

Mr_Random . 9y ago The fire of London. One seconds it's just some idiot burning a batch of bread, then the bakery is on fire, then the entire street, then the entire city.
FiveRoundsRapid 9y ago A long time ago in China, a captain was leading his men to their new posting; unfortunately heavy rain and flooding meant they were going to be late. Не asked one of his men, Wu, what's the penalty for lateness, exactly? It's death, captain. I see. And uh, what's the penalty for taking up arms against the government? So began the Dazexiang Uprising of 209 BC. Because of rain.
michaelmikeyb 9y ago The war of Jenkins ear. One day a British smuggler gets his ear chopped off by some Spanish patrol, eight years later he finally brings it back to Britain and shows it to parliament and then all of a sudden war with Spain, over 25000 casualties and then merges with the war of Austrian succession.
 9y ago The US Army/North Korea Axe Murder incident. It started with a simple task by two US Army officers within the DMZ: cutting down a poplar tree blocking view between UN Command and an observation post. The officers were slain by the North during their work by the axes they held. It ended up with a show of force of the South Korean and American militaries - over 800 men on the scene, countless attack helicopters, bombers, fighter jets, and a couple aircraft carriers (plus thousands of troops and other equipment on standby) to, as the UNO states, peacefully finish
Sadistic_Toaster a 9y ago Maybe not the best or biggest example in history - but before going to Egypt a few years back, I was reading up on places to see there, and read the following about a town called Dahshur: In July 2012, Dahshur's entire Christian community, which some estimate to be as many as 100 families, fled to nearby towns due to sectarian violence. The violence began in a dispute over a badly ironed shirt, which in turn escalated into a fight in which a Christian burned a Muslim to death. This, in turn, sparked a rampage by angry Muslims,
obviousthrow3 9y ago Not that quickly, but still interesting... Tai Ping rebellion. Some dude fails several times the examinations to get a job as a civil servant in 1837 , feels sick for a few days, then says he's had a vision and he's Jesus' brother, with a duty to overthrow the Qing dynasty. In 1843, he founds his sect. In 1851, 10,000 of his followers defeat the government soldiers. This eventually leads to a 14-year-long war, and 20-30 million casaulties.
arengold55 . 9y ago The Arab Spring Man in Tunisia lights himself on fire to protest the government. 5 years later and we have seen 5 civil wars, 3 revolutions, hundreds of thousands if not millions dead, nearly 20 million refugees, and the largest wave of global terrorism in modern history.
BeyondTheFail 9y ago Edited 9y ago The Haitian Revolution. Went from white- dominated French colony to the slave population controlling a third of the colony in less than a year. Only successful slave revolution in history. Edit: Success meaning the slaves got in to power and stayed there. Not that any actions on either side are condoned.
0149 . 9y ago 1515: Martin Luther teaches a class on the Epistle to the Romans. 1524: German Peasants' War (aka the largest popular uprising in European history to that date)
 9y ago In 1859, the US and UK almost went to war because one farmer shot the trespassing pig of another farmer. The British sent 2,000 troops and warships after the Americans sent infantry and artillery under the command of one George Pickett, who swore that he would make a Bunker Hill out of it! A British admiral was ordered to land troops and engage the Americans; he refused to do so. This all took place without the respective governments in London and Washington even knowing about it, and when word reached them about what was taking place they
TomtheWonderDog 9y ago The Spread of Islam. Founded in 610, in 100 years they would control everything from Spain, North Africa, All of Arabia, All of the Middle East and former Persian holdings, and The Indus region of India. It slowed down for awhile after that, but by 1450 Islam had spread to nearly all of the Imperial Eastern Roman territories, all of Northern India and Indonesia, and everything down to the Equator in Africa. Much of that slow period is referred to as their Golden Age.
John_key_is_shit . 9y ago In 1945 the first nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. A little over 10 years later we had enough nukes to destroy the world and the peace was kept through mutual assured destruction.
bl1y 9y ago The Space Race. 1957 - Russia puts the first artificial satellite into space 1971 - Dudes riding dune buggies and playing golf on the moon
clausport 9y ago The collapse of the Berlin Wall. Basically some East German official mistakenly said oh, you can cross now, thousands of people started doing so even though they weren't supposed to be allowed, but when it came to it no one would order the the soldiers to start shooting everyone, so thousands pushed their way through, and then thousands more started physically tearing it down from both sides. Kind of symbolic of the nearly-as-quick collapse of the rest of the Iron Curtain.
Fornever1 . 9y ago Irish nationalism in 1916. Went from a majority of the population wanting home rule achieved peacefully to the majority wanting full independence through any means over the space of a few weeks.
Loverboy21 9y ago https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol conqu est of Khwarezmia The Mongol conquest of Khwarezmia, or why you don't kill the messenger. See also the 1258 sacking of Baghdad, in which the Mongols torched the Grand Library of Baghdad, depopulated the city to a point it never recovered from, and destroyed all of the ancient canals that kept Baghdad from being the agricultural wasteland it has been ever since.
PM_me_compliments 9y ago Edited 9y ago February 1917- Russian women demand the czar provide more bread for the people. April 1917- Germans bring Lenin via train back to Russia. November 1917- October revolution begins. Monarchy to Communism in less time than the gestation period of a baby.
flammablepenguins 9y ago A group of assholes high-jacked some planes and crashed them, super tragic stuff. Almost overnight (well by the time aircraft were allowed to fly again) everything associated with air travel was flip turned upside-down. No more walking your loved ones to their gate, waiting and watching planes land trying to guess which one was carrying the person you were picking up, understanding that full body groping and a lack of liquid more than 2 Oz was necessary for everyone's survival. Oh yeah, and for those who weren't around/didn't fly the fact that it became normal to see
хухухухухухухухухуху . 9y ago Donald Trump Went from a minor celebrity to wrecking the Republican party in less than a year.
Behenk 9y ago Humans can't fly - Pretty much everyone, for countless centuries up until somewhere in the 18th century. That's not flying, that's floating - Pretty much everyone from then to the 20th century. Holy shit I'm flying - Some guy in the 20th century. I'm on the fucking moon - Some guy in the 20th century.
Scrappy_Larue 9y ago The escalation of ISIS. Hardly anyone was aware of them until they made their first land grab in 2014. The seeds were born in 2003, when hundreds of thousands of Iraqi soldiers lost their jobs when their government was overthrown.
llosa . 9y ago February Revolution. 8 March (our calendar), International Women's Day march turns into a huge anti-monarchy protest. 12 March, most of the army crosses sides. 15 March, Tsar quits his job. 1 - 0 to the revolutionaries.
THEJAZZMUSIC 9y ago Edited 9y ago Maybe not fast, but... Ivan the Terrible, tsar of Russia, gets mad at his daughter-in-law over her dress, beats her, possibly causes a miscarriage, Ivan's second son, also Ivan, gets mad, attacks daddy, daddy kills him. Also Ivan now dead, when Ivan dies the throne goes to his shitty son Feodor, who dies childless, ending a 700-year-old dynasty, and spurring on the Time of Trouble, during which time a third of the population died, mostly due to famine. Not exactly a quick escalation, but going from you're not wearing that dress to millions dead
Or the great Chicago fire. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great Chicago Fire Fucking cow
Alterd_mind . 9y ago Industrial revolution. If not for the industrial revolution/animal agricultural boom we wouldn't be able to destroy the planet as fast as we are.
samanater456 . 9y ago 9/11? In all seriousness that day went from being a nice sunny morning to an event that shocked the world.
 9y ago Stephen and Matilda (12th С England and Normandy). An heiress with a sense of entitlement, who has been promised one of the most profitable kingdoms in world, tears her prospective inheritance apart because she can't wait for her fathers (Henry I) imminent death. She literally started a war against her father months before she would have taken the throne because he declined her demand for control of all the castles in Normandy. In the end she got a fraction of the original promised territory.
QuadCannon . 9y: ago The Boston Massacre Those wankers threw snowballs at us! Shoot the fuck out of them!
 9y ago Before the French Indian war broke out, a young Lieutenant who was little more than mailman (he would deliver messages between the French and the British) was on his way to Pennsylvania to check out a new fort being built. Along the way he came across a small band of French soldiers waiting to ambush him. Не and his team slaughtered them all Oops. Turns out the French party werent going to ambush him, they had no idea who he even was. And one of them was a very high ranking official. War was declared against the
sosta . 9y ago Basus war. A 40 year war between two clans 1500 years ago because someone killed a camel
spew2014 9y ago In 1992, a young military captain in Sierra Leone's army decided to leave his barracks and take a handful of soldiers to protest outside the presidential compound over a delay in their pay. As they approached the compound the presidential guard made the assumption that they were there to stage a violent coup and began firing at the unsuspecting protesters. They returned fire in self defense and within minutes the president hopped in a helicopter and peaced out to a neighbouring country. Strasser had inadvertently staged a coup d'etat, and at 25 years old he became the
Carp8DM . 9y ago You're all wrong! The correct answer: The Big Bang

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