31 Misconceptions About the Past That Drive Historians Nuts

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31 Misconceptions About the Past That Drive Historians Nuts
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Lies spread quickly and easily. But when it’s a lie that’s both about a topic most people aren’t knowledgeable about, and the lie is fun? Hoo boy, that’s a recipe for people to be wrong about something for decades.

Take history, for example. In America, even the basics of history aren’t necessarily a guaranteed bit of knowledge. But the small details? Good luck. What we do like are fun little stories from the past, and as it turns out, some of those … never happened. 

Thankfully, the historians of Reddit gathered in a thread to vent about that. See if you’re unknowingly spreading lies by reading the misconceptions below.

Poorly-Drawn-Beagle . 4y ago Louis-Michel le Peletier cast the single vote that sentenced Louis XVI Actually the vote was a pretty clear majority in favor of execution
placeholderNull . 4y ago Edited 4y ago Only around 40% of colonists supported the American Revolution. Another 40% was indifferent, and about 20% sided with the British. Most Americans think that it was the vast majority who wanted Independence.
Ralife55 4y ago That people from the past were just less intelligent than modern people. Fact is, humans from even 15,000 years ago were just as intelligent as modern humans (intelligence being the ability to learn and apply knowledge). They just had different things to worry about and had not discovered everything that we know today.
Animalion 4y ago Edited 4y ago During Paul Revere's Midnight Ride he did not shout the British are coming! The mission depended on secrecy so shouting loudly the British are coming kinda defeats the whole purpose. According to several sources (e.g., eyewitness accounts) his warning was likely the Regulars are coming out or some variation of that and probably not loud enough to wake up a village (as I've seen in some media renditions).
Balrog229 4y ago Edited 4y ago Medieval peasant food was bland People seem to think peasants only ate bread and potatoes with no seasoning. In reality, while salt was indeed a luxury they often couldn't afford, they had access to plenty of herbs to flavor their food. They also had access to things like fish and other meats, so they weren't just eating bread, though it was an important staple of their diet.
PhillipLlerenas a 4y ago That Neanderthals were monosyllabic brutes. There's no evidence of that whatsoever. Their brains were bigger than ours and casts of the inside of their skulls show that they had all the same structures our brains had. Their tool making was comparable to any Homo sapiens' took making (at least before the Great Leap Forward) and they lived in communities just like we did.
Nugo520 4y ago That if you were a Peasant you could marry who ever you wanted for love and if you were a noble, royal or the like you could only marry for power During the Medieval period. Higher class people could and did (though it wasn't common) marry for love and most of the time Peasant marriages were arranged for the same reason as noble ones were, to link two families together, you very rarely got to marry who you liked it was usually who your parents liked. Also Prima nocta has, as far as I know was never
_spookyvision_ 4y ago There is no record of Queen Victoria ever saying We are not amused. And Roman gladiator fights usually weren't just pointless, bloody, fights to the death for scumbag convicts. The gladiators themselves were very highly trained celebrities who were very well looked after. It was entertainment done for show, much like WWE or similar today.
crazynekosama 4y ago Edited 4y ago People didn't die at 30-40. The high infant mortality rate skews the average. If you could survive into your teen years you had a pretty good chance of living into your senior years. Obviously there are a lot of factors to consider(eg class, gender, occupation, where you lived, etc.)
Bignasty197 . 4y ago Edited 4y ago That Rosa Parks was just some nice old lady who wouldn't give up a bus seat. She was a political activist who meticulously planned that specific instance of civil protest.
Imfinejusthomeless 4y ago Knights weren't exactly chivalrous. It was a concept designed to make them appear magnanimous, and to justify their brutality among the common folk of their enemies when they weren't at war. Knights could even pay their respective kings to chicken out of fighting in a war if they were summoned to do so, which many did to keep on pillaging hovels full of bumpkins because it was easy sport. In short, a lot of Knights were rich, murderous bullies with too much free time on their hands.
4y ago That Jewish people and other victims of the Holocaust went willingly to their death and no one fought back. While it's true that a lot of victims did not believe the genocide was occurring and they were simply being relocated (Nazis/Hitler were very persuasive and no one could imagine a genocide), plenty fought back. There were resistance groups all over the place as well as people fighting from their homes when they were being taken for deportation. Guns were used, makeshift bombs, stolen bombs, etc. Not everyone was going to go to the concentration camps/death camps/detention centres
oamnoj . 4y ago Marie Antoinette's famous let them eat cake or let them eat brioche. She literally never said it. She was 9 at the time and it was entirely made up.
Th3_Accountant 4y ago The myth about the Vomitorium The story goes that Roman nobility would go there to eat so much till they puked and would then continue eating. It was just the name for the Colosseum entrance.
Age-Zealousideal 4y ago French revolution storming of the Bastille freeing hundreds of political prisoners. When in actual fact there were only 7 prisoners. (4 cheques forgers, a lunatic, a sexual deviant and a man who tried to assassinate King Louis XV 30 years ago).
poetslapje . 4y ago That People thought the earth was flat. 637 ...
. 4 y ago That AD means after death.
youarelookingatthis D 4y ago That the American Revolution was fought between British soldiers fighting in lines and american colonists using all sorts of cover and walls and strategy that the British were too dumb to figure out. While there are instances of that, there are also instances of British troops doing the same thing, and of many (many) set piece battles where both sides would have fought in a european manner.
Cathy-the-Grand 4y ago Edited 4y ago That Napoleon was short. Dude was 56'. Making him downright average for the European standard at the time. A brief investigation shows this was a rumor that his enemies spread in order to deminish his reputation and how serious his subjects took him. Funny error, but still an error
snickerdoodle-- a 4y ago Edited 4y ago That the Library of Alexandria was callously destroyed in a big, dramatic event in which all of the ancient world's knowledge was lost forever. Like most things, the Library of Alexandria had its rise, its peak, and its ultimate decline, with highs and lows in between. It also certainly was not the only prestigious library in the world at the time, not to mention personal collections kept by the wealthy. To act as if all of the world's knowledge was recorded one time only and then stockpiled in one place is ludicrous.
. 4y ago There is no evidence that Franklin ever said that beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. But it is a cool quote so | will continue to use it.
bandanasarebest . 4y ago Classics buff. It's Pandora's jar, not Pandora's box.
ErZicky . 4y ago Italy switched side in ww2 NO IT DIDN'T the country was divided by a civil war one side loyal to the axis and the other to the allies
Jak_n_Dax . 4y ago The United States spent the majority of its time and resources in WWII fighting the Nazi's to free the Jews. The majority of US fighting was in the Pacific theatre against Japan, because they bombed the shit out of us. We weren't even going to join the war at first, only assist Britain.
Reigebjj . 4y ago That bushido is some ancient, archaic code of honor held by samurai that made them totally infallible and above the dishonorable acts that shinobi would commit.
4y ago Edited 4y ago That carrots magically make your eyesight better. I still hear people say this to this day. Carrots are good for you, but not any better for your eyes than any other vegetable. In World War 2 when the Nazis were bombing Great Britain, they couldn't figure out how the Brits were able to shoot their planes down at night. British propaganda stated that their gunners and pilots ate a lot of carrots to improve their eyesight. In actuality they were covering up the fact that they'd invented RADAR and didn't want the Jerrys to
Serebriany 4y ago That Navajo speakers were the only Native American code talkers, and that they only served in the Pacific in World War II. Native American code talkers first served in World War I. In WWII, the program expanded to soldiers from a bunch of tribes, and they served in all active combat areas. And yes, the Germans knew about them in WWI. Hitler sent people to study them. The Germans told the Japanese they might encounter them in WWII. They just misunderstood how many distinct languages there are, and how many completely separate language families.
HeyHeardAboutPluto 4y ago As a historical costumer: CORSETS ARE NOT EVIL. They're more comfortable than some of my underwire bras and they're fantastic for back support and posture
DQ608 4y ago That African kingdoms ( ( except for Egypt) had no contact with the rest of the world prior to colonization. There is evidence that east Africa traded with Rome.
honeeyghost 4y ago Edited 4y ago Cowboys were not cool white guys with endless independence!!! Cowboys were in fact largely black, Mexican, and Native American men who were in need of money and were seen on the low end of social hierarchy. Originally they used whips and dogs to control their herd. Eventually the lazo became the lasso, chaparajos became chaps, and the sombrero turned into the ten gallon cowboy hat we know today. Herding cattle was hard work and was beneath respectable white folk. Cowboys worked in groups of 12 or so to herd thousands of cattle over hundreds
blart_institute a 4y ago That President William Howard Taft (the big guy known for getting stuck in a bathtub) really didn't get stuck in a bathtub. The urban legend stemmed from the fact that his tubs weighed a ton and could theoretically fit multiple adults. It is historically accurate that he's an absolute unit though.

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