32 of the Greatest Real-Life Plot Twists Throughout History

‘Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV’
32 of the Greatest Real-Life Plot Twists Throughout History
Add Cracked to Google

If you’ve ever doubted the veracity of the saying, “Truth is stranger than fiction,” these stories might do well to convince you. Not through the appearance of ghouls or ghosts or anyone rising from the dead, but through the unimpeachable power of weird coincidence. Some of which ended up having an immense effect on the future of the world.

Over on Reddit, people shared their favorite “are you kidding?”-worthy moments from our blue marble’s past. Times that fate, if it exists, tied things up in a deeply weird knot. Keep reading for a collection of plot twists worthy of the small screen, sometimes with world-sized consequences.

. 11y ago Definitely that Japan was saved from a Mongol invasion by a freak, once in a lifetime storm that destroyed the mongol fleet... Twice!
ShutYoFaceGrandma . 11y ago More ironic than anything: I find it amusing that Henry VIII was so desperate for a male heir and yet the only one of his children to have a long and effective reign was Elizabeth I, who had been declared a bastard and never had an heir herself.
Sukmizzle . 11y ago General Tojo of Japan had a X painted on his body to show where his heart was. That way when he got captured he could kill himself. Plot Twist: When he was captured he missed and lived.
Mausar 11y ago When Teddy Roosevelt was up for elections, Carnegie, Morgan, and Rockefeller did not want him in a powerful position because he was against big businesses, and so they ensured that he became vice president (a position of very little power) and that William McKinley stayed in place as president. They succeeded and thought they were safe, except some guy who was pissed off at big businesses shot president McKinley and Roosevelt landed in the presidency, and consequently broke down the big businesses.
e 11y ago I'm from Ireland, and though relations have improved greatly with the UK, they are still seen as the historical boogey-men of the Irish past. It may also explain why the Irish took to Catholicism so much, so as to distance themselves from the Puritan, Anglican villains our country imagined up. So as far as Ireland was concerned for centurys, UK bad, Vatican good. But recently, new documents have come to light, revealing that the Vatican actually gave exclusive orders to the monarchy at the time (which was still Catholic by this point) to invade Ireland. This
sexquipoop69 . 11y ago The Trojan Horse. We grew up knowing the story but at the time, that was a hell of a fucking plan.
Feenix1013 12 11y ago Assassination of Tsar Alexander II. Alexander was traveling through the streets of Saint Petersburg in his carriage. Suddenly, an assassin threw a bomb at the carriage. However, Alexander survived due to the fact that his carriage was bulletproof (a gift from the nephew of Napoleon). Alexander emerged from the wreckage to announce that he had survived. As he was saying this, a second assassin threw another bomb, shouting Do not thank God to soon!.
® 11y ago Edited 11y ago On June 28th, 1914, Gavrilo Princip's group The Black Hand fucked up the first time when it came time to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. His colleague was to throw a grenade under the carriage as the Archduke and his wife passed over. The grenade delayed and blew up as the next car came by. Не panicked, swallowed a cyanide pill, and jumped in a nearby river. Except the cyanide pill just made him vomit, and the river was 6 deep, so he was caught pretty easily. Gavrilo Princip was pretty damn
mslvr40 11y ago The treaty of Versailles. Ends the the worst war known to man at the time, but sparks a Second World War, set up the modern day boundaries of the Middle East with no cultural considerations, and Woodrow Wilson denied Vietnam self-determination from France in order to get the treaty passed, eventually sparking the Vietnam war. The treaty that was supposed to end all wars, sparked many of the current problems today.
spanky8898 11y ago July 7th, 2007. The Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway. With the date being 07/07/07 everyone was betting on the 07 Jack Daniels Chevrolet of Clint Bowyer to win it. It was meant to be. In a surprise twist that left fans and journalists scratching their heads, Bowyer did not win the race that night. Не came in seventh.
Naweezy .11y ago Et tu, Brute?
Donkey_007 . 11y ago Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV.
dmn2e . 11y ago Did anyone see the hbo real sports documentary on Dominique Moceaneau (spelling), an Olympic gymnast? A handicapped girl, who was adopted into another family, idolized Dominique as an athlete, but later found out that she was Dominique's sister and that her birth parents gave her up for adoption because she was born with deformities.
apple_kicks . 11y ago crappy explanation: French monarchy puts itself into debt to help out American revolution so Americans can gain freedom from Frances rivals the British monarchy. This debt plays part in the economic crisis which sparks the French Revolution TL;DR King Louis XVI helps one revolution only to spark the one which cost him his head.
Ingens_Testibus 11y ago George Washington led the Continental Army during the American Revolution fought, in large part, over taxes imposed on the American colonies to pay for the cost of the Seven Years/French and Indian War. Plot twist: George Washington was responsible for sparking the Seven Years/French and Indian War when he attacked a French scout party in Pennsylvania.
tocilog . 11y ago The end of the Philippine revolution against the Spanish. They had requested help from Americans against the Spanish only for the Americans to take over in colonizing the country.
11y ago Falklands War. Britain in trouble at home, Argentina invade the Falklands confident of victory and most of the world doesn't expect Britain to respond given it's the post-colonial era and the Falklands are so far away. Hell, even the US refuses to publically support Britain intially. But the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher thinks fuck it, I'm not having this and sends a large naval and infantry task force half way across the world to fight the Argentinians. Twelve weeks later the Argentinians surrender and the Falklands are returned to the British.
11y ago U.S. helps the Baath party overthrow Qasim in Iraq. Hussein ended up in charge... U.S. overthrows Mosaddegh in Iran and puts the shah back in charge. This led to the Iranian Revolution in 1979. U.S. trains and funds the Mujihadeen to fight against Russia in Afghanistan. We really got fucked over on that one.
AnActualinsertname . 11y ago It's been said before, but how that one army invaded the other with 80 troops and came back with 81
Yunners . 11y ago We owe our existence to not one, but five mass extinctions. What are the odds of that? We're not supposed to be here.
MattRyd7 . 11y ago Greenland is full of ice, while Iceland is green.
. 11y ago The dinosaurs die halfway through the second act
11y ago Edited 11y ago Hitler had this very loyal body guard who escaped the bunker where he died, alive and who later went on to become an avid Holocaust denier. It turns out however, that his wife, Gerda, was Jewish, and he knew it. Their daughter announced this fact in 2009. I can't remember the guy's name though. Edit: His name is Rochus Misch guys. Thanks u/dnlhl :) Edit n°2: It turns out that he ended up admitting that the Holocaust happened in his later years. I didn't quite check out all the facts on the article where
. 11y ago Napoleon Boneparte is defeated after almost conquering Europe. Не is banished to an island called Elba off of Italy. Не takes a ship and heads for Europe. The new young Emperor of France sends his entire military to France's southern coast to capture and kill Napoleon. Napoleon is faced by the army before him and says Go ahead. Kill your king. They then once again accept him as their Emperor and march on Paris, deposing of the young emperor and attempting to conquer Europe again.
. 11y ago Australia began a war with some emus, and the emus won.
FatScooterSaboteur 11y ago Jesus gets executed by the most powerful empire in history to prevent uprising. Christianity becomes the state religion of the Roman empire and the largest center of Christianity is still located on the bones of that fallen empire.
ksudude87 . 11y ago that the guys who we thought where crazy saying the goverment was spying on us was right all along.
Lanowar 11y ago Oliver Cromwell defeats King Charles I in the English Civil war which aimed to end the 'Divine right of kings' and rid England of the kings Tyranny only for Cromwell to end up becoming the closest thing England has to a dictator, dismissing Parliament and generally being a dick. When Cromwell dies they invite Charles I's son to return to England and become king and so Charles II takes the throne and becomes one of the best kings England ever had.
TheBoldMuffin ® 11y ago The First Crusade started as a holy war to protect the city of Constantinople. The crusades went on and stuff but then in the Fourth Crusade a large group of crusaders ran out of supplies and sacked the nearest city...C Constantinople. I'm probably very wrong about a lot of this as I'm remembering it from 7th grade history.
. 11y ago Most of the Hijackers on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia, yet we invaded Afghanistan and Iraq instead.
Starmedia11 11y ago Tsar Alexander II was assassinated in 1881 by a left-wing terrorist group that sought the removal of the Russian aristocracy. Twist: Earlier that same day, Alexander had signed the preliminary forms on a new Constitution that would have created a representative_government branch, the first step in a peaceful transition to a more liberal republic model. His successor, Alexander III, used the assassination to cancel these plans, and we know how that turned out for Russia.
rmoss20 . 11y ago The sun keeps us alive, one day it will kill us all.

Tags:

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

VIRAL ON CRACKED

A WEEKLY
NEWSLETTER OF
JOKES + TRIVIA

Forgot Password?