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39 Historical Trivia Tidbits That Changed Our Idiot Idea of the Past

By:: Cracked Writers; Brian C. Miller

November 01, 2021

39 Historical Trivia Tidbits That Changed Our Idiot Idea of the Past

"Those who fail to remember history are bound to repeat it," as the old adage goes. (Or something along those lines…we can’t quite recall it).

Yes, knowing your history is vital—not just the major personalities and key events, but also the minor facts that help us improve comprehend a historical individual or the age wherein they lived.

We think we have a pretty good idea of how a lot of history played out… But some of these facts and statistics are enough to shake that faith. Do we even know anything… about anything!?

Perhaps it's a startling discovery that causes you to reconsider common wisdom. Perhaps it's a bizarre anecdote that's too good to be true. Whatever the case may be, it's the small, startling bits of history that are possibly the most entertaining—the kind of information that is so bizarre and out there that it can never be replicated even if someone tried to. In no real logical order, here are 39 such facts. Just because we care.

39

The Manhattan Project CRACKED.COM One would assume the Manhattan Project had rigorous safety standards, what with the atomic bombs and all. One would be wrong. When scientist Don Mastick tried uncorking a vial of plutonium, it popped open and sent the contents spewing into his mouth. Не washed his mouth out and repeatedly pumped his stomach, then handed the contents to a colleague and told him to go separate out the precious plutonium. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

38

The Civil War CRACKED.COM During the extremely bloody Battle of the Wilderness, one Union and one Confederate soldier ended up hiding together in the same gully. Naturally, they tried to take each other prisoner, which devolved into a bare-knuckle boxing match. Eventually the fight spilled into view of the rest of the battle, which promptly halted as both sides stopped firing ... so they could get closer to the fight and cheer for their boy. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

37

Storming the Bastille GRACKED.COM By the time the Bastille fell in 1789, the oppressive wing had been out of commission for years, so the event didn't involve any mass release of political prisoners. Only seven inmates were housed in the sprawling complex, including four counterfeiters, two men guilty of the crime of being insane, and an aristocrat convicted of deviance. The Marquis de Sade had been transferred out days before. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

36

Pearl Harbor CRACKED.COM When Marines examined the wreckage after the attack on Pearl Harbor, they heard banging noises from inside the USS West Virginia. There were people alive and trapped in there. Worse still, they were doomed to stay there. Cutting a hole in the hull could flood the ship or spark an explosion. It wasn't until six months later that we were able to raise the ship. The men had survived 16 days before suffocating. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

35

The American Genocide GRACKED COM You've surely heard about how tribes in America were devastated by European settlers. But that's not the main reason the native population dropped so much. By the time the Pilgrims landed, 96 percent of the Native American population had been wiped out by a plague. Before, America's population was somewhere between 20 and 100 million (Europe's was 70 million). After, it was less than a tenth of that. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

34

The Library of Alexandria GRAGKED.COM In 642 CE, the Library of Alexandria burned to the ground. But that's only half of the story. What really doomed the place were budget cuts. Sometime in the second century, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wiped out the library's finances. With no money for upkeep and its reputation as damaged as its walls, many of the scholars moved out and the library's collection fell into disrepair. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

33

Bra Burning CRACKED.COM The story goes that at late '60s protests, feminists defiantly removed and set fire to their bras. But this never happened. Women protesting the 1968 Miss America contest did toss several items into a trash can, including bras and shoes, but no fire was involved, and no one stripped at the protest itself. This happened in the era of Vietnam protesters burning draft cards, so a journalist or two must have conflated the events. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

32

The Crash of '29 UNION AMERICAN UNION BANK BANK 4 %THRIFTACCOUNTS PAID ON the W.37 ST AMERICAN UNION CRACKED.COM Ruined investors jumped en masse from the windows of their towering buildings ... or so you've heard. In reality, the legendary string of dramatic suicides never happened. A popular comedian made a quip about speculators needing to stand in line to get a window to jump out of, and the myth grew from there. Only two jumped between the crash and the end of 1929, and one of those was an elderly female clerk. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

31

Bin Laden's Death CRACKED.COM After Navy Seals raided Osama bin Laden's compound and killed him, they needed to authenticate the body. The first point of identification was checking bin Laden's most distinguishable feature: his freakish 6'6 height. Except they hadn't brought a tape measure. The soldiers quickly improvised. One of them was about six foot, so they had him lie down next to bin Laden on the ground. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

30

The Challenger Disaster CRACKED.COM It's commonly thought that the crew perished immediately. Unfortunately, there's evidence to suggest otherwise. Everyone was in a spacesuit equipped with a PEAP, or Personal Egress Air Pack. When salvage teams located these PEAPs, they observed three had been activated. And not by hitting the water-they were manually activated. Some of the crew were probably alive when they hit the ocean. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

29

AROUND 400,000 MUSLIMS FOUGHT FOR BRITAIN IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR. The Muslim role in the War to End All Wars is rarely discussed, but many fought and died for the victory of the Allies. The Indian Army consisted of 1.3 million soldiers, among them were 800,000 Hindu soldiers, 100,000 Sikhs and 400,000 Muslims. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

28

Over 1,400 African Americans held political positions right after the Civil War. These included secretaries of state, mayors, congressmen, and (briefly) even one state governor. It wasn't until later that poll taxes and literacy tests kept African Americans from being represented. GRACKED.COM — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

27

CRACKED.COM Spartan women owned about 40% of the lands in Sparta. This is due to their inheritance system which allowed the father to divide his property among his children - both son and daughter. — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

26

WITH ONE POSSIBLE EXCEPTION, THE DONNER PARTY a.k.a. THE DONNER-REED PARTY DID NOT KILL AND CANNIBALIZE ONE ANOTHER WHILE STRANDED IN THE SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS DURING THE WINTER OF 1846-47. Only after killing and eating their horses, oxen and family pets did survivors resort to cannibalizing the human dead already frozen in the snow. TOTAL IN PARTY........ 87-90 GRAGKED COMI DIED BEFORE REACHING SIERRAS.....9 DIED OF EXPOSURE/STARVATION....22 DIED DURING/AFTER RESCUE..........13 SURVIVED......... .......43-45 — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

25

The Space Race Adidas CRACKED.COM The Soviet Union was not the first country to reach space, and neither was the U.S. On October 3, 1942, almost exactly 15 years before the launch of Sputnik, Nazi Germany became the first people on Earth to fire anything into space. They launched a V-2 rocket which went right through the stratosphere, reaching a height of 150,000 feet. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

24

Thanksgiving CRACKED.COM Thanksgiving as we celebrate it today was established in 1941, coincidentally only one year after America's favorite turkey supplier first trademarked the name Butterball. It's true that a meal took place in 1621, but like most meals, it was pretty much a one-off thing. There were a few local celebrations held on varying dates, but people were generally too poor or busy running revolutions to bother with another holiday. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

23

The Titanic sinking GRACKED.COM After the Titanic sank, Congress forced ships to carry enough lifeboats for everyone. They meant well, but overloading ships created a whole new danger. On July 24, 1915, the Eastland operating out of Chicago set sail for Michigan City. The journey ended within seconds when the ship pitched its 2,573 occupants into the Chicago River, killing 844. It had been weighed down by lifeboats, as mandated after the Titanic sinking. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

22

The American Revolution CRACKED.COM All mainstream accounts of the American Revolution dramatically downplay France's contributions. The truth is, the 13 colonies would never have earned their independence without French intervention. The whole American Revolution was essentially a proxy war between Britain and France. To the French, America was nothing but another theater in their grand feud against Britain. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

21

Women's Suffrage VOTEGA The women's suffrage movement wasn't just housewives in frocks picketing. Many within the movement were militant and committed acts of actual terrorism. In 1912 Dublin, four suffragettes tried to burn down the Theater Royal during a performance where Prime Minister Herbert Asquith was in attendance. The prime minister had just barely dodged a hatchet thrown at him by a suffragette earlier that same day. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

20

Lewis And Clark CRACKED.COM Lewis, Clark, and their adventuring party tried to have sex with every local woman they encountered, with a respectable rate of success. To their great fortune, plenty of Native communities believed that sex was a great way of absorbing other cultures. All of this fun had its downsides, however. Within months, most of the expedition had been diagnosed with venereal diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhea. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

19

The Dark Ages Ро Mercia England East Wends Welsh Anglia Frisia Wiltze SLAVONI Saxonia Middlesch, Poles Hundenwic Wessex Kere Sussey VEGA Wirtsh Cologne Aux la Tournais Serbs Chapelle Mainz Soissons Czechi Austria Rouen Riems Verdun Bohemia Britannia Paris Chalons Neustria Metz Strasburg Orleans Alemannia Vienna Tours Alsatia FRANKISH EMPIRE avaria Autun- Rinetia Carinthia Poitiers Chalons Aquitania FIRST Lyons 0 Chrobatia Milan Bordeaux Vienne Venice IVgroud Pavia Qviedo / A L Y Servia Eact Ravenna Vasconia Toulouse ngdom Arles Burgund Genos Dalmat Adria fun rebellion) Sen Florence Asturias Ancona Gothia Marsilles GRACKED.COM Narhanne You've probably heard the Dark Ages were a — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

18

CRACKED.COM Between 1882-1968, there were only 5 states in the U.S. in which no lynchings took place. (Alaska, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut) — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

17

A plague that killed 25% of the population probably dealt the killing blow to the Roman Empire. The plague appeared in 542 A.D., and whittled down the Empire's tax base and pool of new soldiers. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

16

For most of American history, the majority of the country's immigrants have been German. Between 1870 and 2000, 7 million of the immigrants to the United States were from Germany. Mexico was in second place with 6 million. GRACKED.COM — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

15

TRANSGENDER AMERICANS HAVE ALWAYS SERVED IN THE U.S. MILITARY. Some 150,000 transgender adults have served in the armed forces. About 8,800 are currently on active duty, and another 6,700 are serving in the Guard or the Reserves. Transgender people enlist at a rate of nearly double that of all Americans (21.4% versus 10.7%), with transmen outpacing cisgender recruits by nearly three to one. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

14

13

During the Great Depression, only 2 people on Wall Street actually committed suicide by jumping out of a building. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

12

1.2 MILLION AMERICANS HAVE DIED IN WARS. Nearly half were from the Civil War CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

11

Civil Rights VOTING IN FREED M ORAVE PUBLIC RIGHTS SCHOOLS NOW! UK EMPL CRACKED.COM Schizophrenia diagnoses in angry black men skyrocketed. Moreover, a specific type of schizophrenia was suddenly discovered: paranoid schizophrenia, sufferers of which were typified as having delusional anti-whiteness. The psychiatrists who changed these guidelines probably weren't being consciously racist, but the result was a huge number of black men unjustly committed to mental institutions. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

10

World War II CRACKED.COM Ice cream rations were more coveted than cigarettes and fresh socks. Look at the Battle of the Coral Sea from 1942. While engaging the Japanese, the USS Lexington sank. But before the crew abandoned ship, they carried out one important task: They ate all the ice cream. The men broke into the freezer and scooped all the ice cream into their helmets, licking them clean before evacuating at the last minute. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

9

Ancient Rome CRACKED COM In ancient Rome, laundromats pretty much ran on urine. The practice continued even after the invention of soap, as many Europeans preferred the all-natural goodness of bladder water. And long before toothpaste, 9 out 10 Romans agreed that gargling urine was the best way to keep your teeth clean and sparkly. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

8

World War I GRAGKED.COM When Russia exited World War I, they scheduled a peace conference, and the Bolsheviks made a point of bringing along a soldier, a sailor, and an urban worker to hammer home that communism was about the common people. But the politicians were on their way to the train station when they realized they'd forgotten to bring a peasant. So they grabbed a random elderly guy in ratty clothes and brought him along to meet royalty. — **Source:** **20 Facts That Change How You Picture Historical Events**

7

During the Civil War, generals were 50% more likely to die in battle than privates. Unlike modern warfare, generals back then had to lead by example - by being the first person to charge into battle. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

6

China had the second largest death toll of World War II. China's involvement in the war is rarely talked about in the media, but they played a very important role of defending against the Japanese. Approximately 20 million Chinese people died in the war, with 16 million of those deaths being civilians. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

5

Many pre-Columbian peoples lived in huge cities rivaling their counterparts in Europe, ranging from Cahokia, in Illinois, with a population of about 20,000 up to Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City), whose pre-conquistador population was ten times larger--about five times that of London. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

4

Mahatma Gandhi's famous passive resistance campaigns had massive support from Chinese people. 1 in 9 protestors in the first non-violent movement, starting in 1906, were Chinese and more Chinese people than Indian people were in prison when his second ended in 1911. CRACKED.COM — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

3

CRACKED COM NEARLY 5 MILLION AFRICAN SLAVES WERE BROUGHT TO BRAZIL DURING THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE, MORE THAN 10 TIMES THAT OF THE UNITED STATES. — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

2

CRACKED.COM U.S.AIR FORCE The U.S dropped around 8 million tons of bombs during the Vietnam War (three million tons on Laos alone). As a comparison, the U.S dropped a mere two million tons' worth during the entirety of World War II. The bombs dropped on Indochina had an explosive force about the equivalent of 640 Little Boy Hiroshima bombs — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

1

Slavery wasn't limited to the South Slavery took place in all 13 British Colonies. In New York, until 1827, 50% of the workers who built and maintained the city, and 20% of its total population, were slaves. CRACKED COM — **Source:** **18 Perspective-Shifting Historical Statistics**

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