People Break Down Historical Facts That May Sound Fake But Are Absolutely True

Guess It Wasn't Meant To Happen

"The fact that two times the Mongols attempted to invade Japan and both times a storm sunk the invasion fleet."

-SirFelsenAxt

"Same happened both times caesar went to Britain."

-Jack1715

Even Kings Draw Phalluses, Apparently

"King Karl XIII of Sweden doodled penises all over his private diaries in 1785, when he was 37 years old."

-Ineversaid

"Clearly he was the inspiration for Superbad."

-Obwyn

Christmas Spirit

"The Christmas Truce of WW1."

"It honestly sounds to good to be true, so I'm glad that it was real. It just goes to show you that deep down none of them were the 'bad guys' in the war, no matter what flag or country they fought for. They were all just soldier's that had to follow orders from their COs. It really sucks that it only lasted once & has become banned ever since."

-AnonWriter99

Prime Ministers Don't Just Disappear, Do They?

"An Australian Prime Minister went missing while swimming at a beach."

"In his honour the US named a warship after him while in Australia his local electorate named a swim centre after him."

-The_Thunder_Child

"There's a few Harold Holt memorial swimming pools around. I laugh every time I see one."

-gedda800

Operation Acoustic Kitty

"Operation Acoustic Kitty. A $20 million CIA project in the 1960s which implanted a microphone, radio transmitter, and wire into a cat, for the purpose of spying."

"The first mission involved releasing the cat near a Soviet compound in Washington to spy on two men. The cat was released and hit by a taxi almost immediately, and the project was discontinued."

-manlikerealities

"Sounds about right for a government project"

-Weak_Carpenter_7060

Wojtek

"There was a corporal in the Polish army during world war 2 who was a beer drinking, cigarette smoking bear."

-B**ch_Tuna

"He didn't smoke he ate the damn lit cigarettes."

-Fit-Arrival-2231

Who Needs An Enemy?

"Legend has it that the army of the Habsburg Empire lost about 10,000 people in the battle of Karánsebes in 1788 before the enemy (the Ottomans) even arrived. Basically they were drunk and thought the enemy had arrived and started fighting between themselves."

"The legend part is just the casualties. The event itself did actually happen, it's just debated whether it was anywhere close to 10,000 people lost or just a few hundreds killed and thousands injured."

-szofter

But How Did They Open Them?

"The can opener (1858) was patented 48 years after the tin can (1810)"

-theWildBore

"Did they just squeeze em til the tops popped open before that?"

-this_guy_here_says

"Cans used to be thicker. They were opened using a chisel and hammer"

"Also cans were significantly less common than jarring"

-The_Great_Scruff

"Australian troops during ww1 went into no-man's land and dug out/recovered an abandoned german tank that was stuck in mud, pretty much because they were bored and the tank was there."

-Pinky2110

"The A7V Mephisto. Went and visited it a few months ago."

-The_Thunder_Child

"As of 2020 at least, President John Tyler's grandson was still alive. That's 10th President if the US, John Tyler, who was born in 1790."

"I haven't seen any stories about his grandson dying so I assume he's still alive. It would be an interesting enough story that it'd be one of the top stories for a day or two."

"Tyler's grandson"

-Obwyn

It's commonly said that studying history will sometimes make you upset or uncomfortable, but most folks probably don't expect it to make them incredulous. Sometimes, though, fact really is stranger than fiction.

Want to "know" more?

Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.

Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.