Historical Events That Are Hard To Believe Happened
Reddit user ThrowAwayMyLife2341 asked: 'What are some events in recorded history that are extremely hard to believe, but without a doubt actually happened?'
While we may not all enjoy studying history, we all have certain types of stories that interest us, and one that seems to catch everyone's attention are the hard-to-believe, almost far-fetched tales.
Interestingly enough, history is full of these stories, leaving many to believe that reality is truly stranger than fiction.
Redditor ThrowAwayMyLife2341 asked:
"What are some events in recorded history that are extremely hard to believe, but without a doubt actually happened?"
Second Chance Flight
"My colleague was on the plane to Hawaii where the entire top of the plane ripped off… they flew the rest of the way without any overhead."
"They landed and everyone walked off. It's absolutely insane to see the pictures. Talk about being given a second chance."
- SkydivingSquid
Running Late for the Olympics
"In 1908, Russia showed up 12 days late to the Olympics because the world switched calendars while they did not."
- drailCA
"To accommodate the Russian team, some events were rescheduled so that the Russian athletes could participate. This led to a longer duration for those Olympics, which lasted from April 27 to October 31, making it the longest Olympic Games in history."
- parkerjh
An Inescapable War
"The Battle of Bull Run, one of the first battles of the US Civil War, occurred on and around Wilmer McClean's farm in Northern Virginia. Not wanting to live surrounded by war, McClean and his family moved to Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia."
"The Battle of Appomattox Courthouse was the last significant battle between Union and Confederate forces. The Confederates signed the surrender order in Wilmer's sitting room."
"It is said that the Civil War started on Wilmer's farm and ended in his sitting room."
- csudebate
History of Bombings
"There was a Japanese man called Tsutomu Yamaguchi who was on his way to work in Hiroshima in 1945, when he saw falling through the sky, two miles from where he stood, what ultimately turned out to be the atomic bomb."
"He had just enough time to take cover in a ditch as the bomb detonated and miraculously he survived. Somehow the Hiroshima train station was still operational and so Yamaguchi, battered, bombed and bruised, decided to board a train to his family home so he could recover... in Nagasaki."
"Three days later, Yamaguchi was called into work to explain what he saw, which he did. At work, as he began to tell the story of what happened, the second bomb dropped."
"It was the reinforced concrete walls around him that saved him this time, and Yamaguchi quickly ran to find his wife and son. Ground temperatures in the city reached 4,000°C and radioactive rain poured down."
"The family's home was destroyed, but Yamaguchi's wife and son had thankfully been out shopping - looking for burn ointment for Yamaguchi, when the bomb fell, and they'd survived."
"Despite this ordeal of having survived two nuclear explosions and subsequent radiation exposure, Yamaguchi went on to live till 93 yrs of age. He died in 2010 after being recognized by the Japanese government as a 'nijyuu hibakusha,' or 'twice-bombed person.'"
- Voodizzy_
A Monumental Fall
"Nicholas Alkemade fell 18,000 feet without a parachute from a burning plane in 1944 and suffered no serious injury."
- hazps
"I see how the snow cover helped but how he didn’t get skewered by pine trees or break a single bone is shocking."
- switchbladeeatworld
"Imagine what he was thinking when he got up from that fall. What kind of crazy thoughts were running through his head."
- Lankey_Craig
"'Yeah, no one is gonna believe this one.'"
- Pennywise626
"Germans almost didn't, after finding him in just a flight suit but no parachute. They initially pegged him as a spy who'd been dropped behind their lines and had stashed his chute and gear. As such, he was likely to be executed."
"Except Alkemade was so insistent his captors went and found the wreckage of his aircraft, with the burnt remains of his chute stashed behind his gun position. Germans told him the news and shared vodka with him to celebrate."
- JohnnyJohnCowboyMan
Mass Dance in France
"That time everyone died of a dancing sickness where they danced themselves to death in France. Mass hysteria."
- DavinaCole
"St. Vitus’ Dance, as it is called, still doesn’t have a definitely known cause."
"New research as of 2021 shows Sydenham chorea as the most likely cause."
- ENFJPLinguaphile
The Return of the Sun
"The Battle of Halys."
"In roughly 6th century BC, the Medes and the Lydians were at war. The war had lasted for six years and climaxed at the Battle of Halys."
"During the battle, a solar eclipse began. Both sides believed that the Gods were angry at their long and bloody war, and were taking the sun away from them."
"They declared peace that day, and the sun was returned. But yeah, a war ended because of a solar eclipse."
- TheRogueBear
A Spicy Battle
"The Nutmeg Wars. The Dutch and the English went to war THREE times over nutmeg, which at the time was only known to grow on one South Pacific island."
- missoularedhead
Entertaining Prisoners
"Theodore Roosevelt found his boat was stolen. So he built a new boat, tracked the thieves down, and arrested them."
"He then proceeded to walk them multiple days, without sleeping, so they could receive a trial instead of just shooting them on the spot."
"It was in the middle of a harsh winter so he didn’t handcuff them (for fear they’d get frostbite), so instead, he just kept himself awake by reading Tolstoy with a gun trained on them the whole trek."
- Another_Road
"That's only the twenty-second most Teddy thing I've ever read, but a new one, which makes me love it."
- Beard_of_Valor
"I am always half convinced that Teddy Roosevelt was not a real person. No one could have been that absolutely wild and done that many things, but there is just too much overwhelming proof."
- LeSilverKitsune
Christmas Day 1914
"Christmas day 1914. The truce on the WW1 battlefields."
"It shows the humanity inside everyone, but they were able to wake up the next day and go straight back to war, kill the men that they’d spent a sincere day with."
- PotterWhoLock01
Honoring Everyone's Dead
"I can't remember where I saw/heard the story of Christmas Day 1914 (I think from the BBC), but I believe from one of the last-living Tommys, who said that whilst they were forced to start shooting at each other, the majority of shots intentionally missed, from both sides of no man's land."
"I believe it was also the same man who said, in reference to Remembrance Day, to also remember the Germans. That stuck with me. They were like our lads; sent out to fight a war for war's sake, forced to do unspeakable things to other men because some higher-up told them they had to."
- The_Gene_Genie
"Australia is a bit like this with regard to the Turks on ANZAC Day."
"One of the main ceremonies is reading the letter from Turkish commander and later founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Atatürk:"
"'Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives... you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore, rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours...'"
"'You, the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons, as well.'"
- Zebidee
The Medical Church
"In 1944, during the allied invasion of France, 2 American paramedics, Ken Moore and Robert Wright, 101st Airborne, saved around 80 soldiers of both sides, allied and axis. They set themselves up in a church, had only what was in their first aid kits and medic bags, and had a strict no-gun policy."
"The church was almost destroyed by a mortar shell, but it didn’t go off. It was almost destroyed again, due to friendly fire. Ken Moore would risk his life by venturing out of the church and finding injured soldiers, and both medics stayed behind at the church, even though the rest of their forces had to retreat. Wright took on the responsibility of looking after the soldiers."
"The church still stands in Angoville-au-Plain, France, the blood-stained pews are still there, and a broken tile from the mortar shell was never fixed, to honor the legacy of these men."
"This is very simplified, and probably inaccurate in a few ways, but it is still an incredible story."
- JustACanadianGuy07
A Lack of Perspective
"In 1903, The New York Times published an article about flying machines. They stated that it would take the combined efforts of all Mathematicians and mechanics 1-to-10 million years for powered flight to be achieved."
"Anyway, about nine weeks later, the Wright brothers achieved powered flight for the first time."
"They were also overly cynical after. In 1910 they said that flight would only ever be for billionaires, of course, we had commercial flights by around the 60s achievable for many."
- Joe_PM2804
The Year Without Summer
"1816, The Year Without Summer."
- theassassintherapist
"I'm a big classic horror fan, so I'm kinda glad this happened. Indirectly lead to Mary Shelley writing 'Frankenstein.'"
- UniversalHammer71
An Astronomical Life Cycle
"Halley's Comet appeared in the sky when Mark Twain was born in 1835."
"The comet moves in a seventy-five or seventy-six-year orbit, and, as it neared Earth once again, Twain said, 'I came in with Halley’s Comet and I expect to go out with it.'"
"Sure enough, he died on April 21, 1910, just as the comet made its next pass within sight of Earth."
- SuvenPan
While history may not be everyone's favorite subject, it'd be really hard to believe if someone didn't find at least one of these hard-to-believe occurrences interesting.
Historical Facts That Seem Unbelievable But Are Actually 100% True
History is one of those subjects that often gets a bad wrap because of all the dates and cities we had to memorize to pass a test in high school. But when we actually take a look at what our history entails, it's pretty interesting.
Some historical details are so interesting, in fact, it's hard to believe they aren't made up.
Fascinated by this, Redditor jdward01 asked:
"What is a historical fact that seems unbelievable?"
Lost Records
"The first 200,000 years or so of being highly sentient human beings are lost in history. We only know the last circa 2000-4000 years from texts."
"The first recorded joke, a fart joke that is 4000 years old, uses the term 'since time immemorial' (or the Sumerian version). Even though one should not take that literally, it suggests that you could travel back in time to find people who consider their civilization ancient already."
"And it was. When that joke was written down in cuneiform, the Pyramid of Djoser had already been standing for 700 years. And when that pyramid was built, the city of Catal Höyuk was 3000-5000 years old!"
"And still, that was built during the latest 2.5% of human history."
"We have lost so godd**n much history, it hurts to think of it."
- Derpygoras
Scaly Perspective
"We live closer in time to the T-Rex than the T-Rex did to the Stegosaurus. Dinosaurs were here forever."
- TDeath21
Only in Ohio?
"In 1895, the entire state of Ohio had only two cars."
"Both cars managed to still smash into each other."
- Mkaooa
The Space-Stegasaurus Continuum
"The rings of Saturn are younger than Stegosauruses."
"Stegosauruses roamed the earth approximately 150-180 million years ago. Saturn's rings have only existed for approximately 100 million years."
- Illustrious-Sit6135
Not-So-Ancient Methods
"The last execution by guillotine was in the 70s."
- UnconstrictedEmu
History Keeps Going and Going
"There were archaeologists in Ancient Egypt studying about even more ancient Egypt."
- GNTB3996
The Irony
"Bobby Leach was the second person to ever go over Niagara Falls in a barrel. He survived, but his injuries kept him hospitalized for six months."
"He died 15 years later from injuries sustained after he slipped on an orange peel."
- TClark626
A Long-Held Position
"Elizabeth II was on the throne for over a quarter of the United States' existence."
- ScrollWithTheTimes
A Shrinking Population
"In 90 years from 1841 to 1930, Ireland's population halved, from 8.4 million to about 4 million."
"The Famine started the decline, but emigration sustained it. Ireland's population didn't start growing again until the 1960s, and there are still about 2 million fewer people living there (Eire and NI) than in 1841."
- mordenty
No Invitation Necessary
"Abraham Lincoln's son (Robert Todd Lincoln) was present at three different presidential assassinations."
"After McKinley, he decided not to accept any more invitations."
- MakennaTalia
A Bittersweet Ending
"There was a molasses flood in Boston in 1919 that was 25 feet high that killed 21 people."
- Almadel1970
Whose Weather Station Is This?
"In 1943, a group of German sailors on a U-Boat emplaced a weather station on the Canadian coast (Labrador) so the Germans could more accurately predict the weather for military operations (since the weather in the Northern hemisphere generally moves west-to-east)."
"The weather station was marked with fake signs, indicating that it was a Canadian military facility and for unauthorized personnel to keep out."
"The weather station was eventually discovered by the Canadians..."
"...in 1977."
- UJM
Storm of the Century
"In 1972, as much as 26 feet of snow fell on small towns in Iran, killing 4,000 people."
- Ennion
They Finally Got Off His Lawn
"The first battle of the American Civil War was fought on land owned by Mr. Wilber McLean."
"After the battle, he decided to move further out in the country to avoid the war... where four years later, General Lee surrendered to General Grant in Mr. McLean's house."
"The war started and ended on his property."
- rgrtom
Who Came First
"The University of Oxford is older than the Aztec Empire."
- AverageJoeDynamo
Some of these are so hard to believe, but they truly put history and its chronology into perspective.
So often, we think of an event occurring in another decade or another lifetime, and we fail to realize just how closely connected some of these events are.
A long time ago, in a land far, far away (AKA Ancient Greece), it was believed that redheads turned into vampires when they died. This was because redheads are naturally pale and sensitive to sunlight, both of which are characteristics of fabled vampires.
This is known as a ridiculous historical fact. I only know it because of research I did for a paper back in high school.
Apparently, there are a lot of ridiculous historical facts, and Reddit users know a lot of them!
Curious to find out exactly what facts they know, Redditor yeet42021 asked:
“What are some ridiculous history facts?”
Car Accidents Can Never Be Avoided
"In 1895, the entire state of Ohio had only 2 cars."
"Both cars managed to still smash into each other"
– cannedrex2406
"And apparently no one here has learned how to drive better since."
– Supringsinglyawesome
Never Forgot The Scolding
"When Alexander the Great was a child he was reprimanded by a teacher for wastefully throwing two whole fistfuls of rare incense into a sacrificial fire. When he was an adult and captured Gaza, which happened to be the prime agricultural source of the incense he wasted, he sent home 18 tons of it home to the same teacher as a gift."
– oh_its_him_again
"Was that a "Have some of this valuable incense!", or a "It's not so rare after all, is it?""
– ThisIsUrIAmUr
"More like a “F*ck you, I’m Alexander. I’m so great I added it to my name.”"
– Smayteeh
Shoot Me Twice, Shame On You
"Former US President Andrew Jackson was approached by a man who pulled a gun on him.(smaller history fact this was the first assassination attempt on a US President). The man pulled the trigger and the cap went off but the gunpowder failed to light. The man pulled a second gun and fired, but the gunpowder again failed to light. The assassin tried to get away, but not before Andrew Jackson got him and beat the sh*t out of him with a cane."
– nkonkleksp
Mistaken Prediction
"Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same day."
"July 4th, 1826. The 50th Anniversary of them both signing the declaration of Independence."
"Adams's last words were: “Thomas Jefferson survives.”"
"He was wrong by about 5 hours."
– MiataCory
Never Forget
"The first bomb dropped on Berlin by the British during WW2 claimed no human casualties. But it did kill an elephant."
– Dapianoman
So Many Interesting Tidbits Here
"When the romans laid siege to Themyscera, a real place weirdly enough, they attempted to tunnel into the city. The Themyscerans released bears into the tunnels."
– OnionsHaveLairAction
"RELEASE THE BEARS OF WAR"
– __xor__
Royal Heritage
"When the Netherlands was occupied by rhe Nazis in 1940 many people fled to Canada, including Princess Juliana of the Netherlands and her husband Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. Their daughter, Princess Margriet was born in Ottawa."
"Not knowing if the baby would be male, and hence the heir to the throne, Canada declared the maternity ward of the Ottawa hospital extraterritorial, which means it became an international territory. This meant that the baby would derive its nationality only from its mother, making it 100% Dutch."
– SlothOfDoom
"I'm writing a paper on this for Uni right now."
"The Dutch still send thousands of tulip bulbs to Ottawa as a thank you every year, and as a result, Ottawa has its own tulip festival."
– PegBundysBonBons
Winter Is Evil
"The longest ever US presidential inauguration speech was made by William Henry Harrison on March 4th, 1841. The day had terrible weather, yet Harrison chose to deliver his speech nonetheless, running 8445 words."
"In fact the speech was so long, and the weather so terrible, that Harrison caught pneumonia and died on April 4th, making him the shortest reigning US president ever"
– TiBiDi
Well, That Tracks
"The only Japanese passenger on the Titanic, Masabumi Hosono, survived the disaster, only to loose his job for "Not dying honorably like the others.""
– Compens8ing
Repeated Trauma
"Abraham Lincoln's son (Robert Todd Lincoln) was present at three different presidential assassinations. After McKinley, he decided not to accept any more invitations."
– m_sporkboy
Malta
"The entire country of Malta was awarded the George Cross for its efforts in WWII. It's still on their flag."
PotentBeverage
"Interestingly enough, it sounds like the conditions for the awarding of the cross are kind of similar to how the Knights Hospitallier operated back in the sword and shield days. If you're unfamiliar, they were more or less a precursor to the red cross and the first real paramedics."
Graawwrr·
Potato Propoganda
"Potatoes were not very popular as a food in France. Like they were seen as fit only for animals. Not only that but they were considered generally not digestible by humans. So a pharmacist named Parmentier knew they were good food and wanted to popularize them among the working class. So he got a 2 acre farm to grow potatoes and placed armed guards around it at all times. People assumed armed guards meant something very valuable was growing there so they began to steal the potatoes."
"That's how potatoes became popular in france's working class."
burningmanonacid
Forgot to claim peace
"Montenegro technically was in war with Japan for 101 years and they signed a peace treaty in 2006. Montenegro was alligned with Russia in Russo-Japanese War and they declared war on Japan but they forgot to peace."
Erlichten
Spies
"Once FDR died, Truman didn’t know about the Manhattan Project, but when he found out he subtly tried to tell Stalin they were working on something big. Stalin was like “yeah dude, I knew before you did.” Since he had so many spies in America."
Lafuffa
Seclusion
"Henry Cavendish. The man who was vital in the discovery of gases and discovered hydrogen. He inherited a ton of money from his uncle, and built a special castle, I think. He was incredibly introverted, so it was designed so that he never had to meet or see any of his servants. He communicated with them through notes only. He did, however, appreciate other scientists coming to visit and talk. His works mostly came after his death of course, but I found this guy interesting."
Warden_2102
The Rules of Battle
"During the Viking era, there was a leader named Sigurd. He allied with a Viking warlord named Thorstein. He wanted to conquer more land and expand his territory. He had already been very successful in doing so. This was until he feuded with another leader called Máel Bucktoothed or Máel Tusk, as his front two teeth were abnormally large and bucktoothed."
"They decided to settle their matters on the battle field and both agreed on bringing 40 men each for the battle. However, Sigurd ignored the terms and brought 80 men. Bucktoothed had realised he had been betrayed but did not give up. They killed a number of Sigurd’s men, but alas, they were overpowered and were all killed."
"Here’s the catch; after the battle, Sigurd ordered his men to behead all the enemies and tie them to their saddles as trophies. However, as Sigurd rode home in victory, the severed head of Bucktoothed pierced his leg, which lead to an infection, killing him soon after."
sourcec0de1010
Yeah, I would’ve done the same thing.
Do you have any juicy historical tidbits to add? Let us know in the comments below.
We are in a cultural reset.
And it's not going as well as hoped.
It takes time to relearn.
And it takes a complete unplug and start over to accept that everything you've been told has mostly been fiction.
History has been woven by the those who needed us to see it a certain way.
That's called indoctrination.
We don't have time to get into to all of it.
We probably never will.
But let's scratch the surface.
Redditor Vo_Lair wanted to compare notes about whose been handling the truth about history. And maybe why it's time to re-examine a few things.
"What are some scary examples of 'history is written by the victors?'"
I think we're about to do a lot of learning. History has been riddled with fraud up until now.
Burn it All
homer simpson evidence GIFGiphy"There is a bunch of Chinese history that is pretty much speculation because whenever a new King would conquer places, pretty much the first move was always to burn all the records and kill the historians to establish dominance."
SMG329
Romans won...
"Carthaginian Civilization existed for well over 600 years. They controlled large parts of North Africa, Spain, Mediterranean Islands, and had trade networks going All over the Mediterranean and even explored the African coast. They were powerful enough to bring Rome to the brink of defeat in two massive wars. Romans won, and as a result, not a single Carthaginian primary source exists."
DaemonT5544
Bad Guys
"WW1. Germany especially are always seen as the bad guys and in western films like Wonder Woman for example, that’s especially the case. But in truth the war was far, far more complex than that and so there wasn’t a clearly defined 'good vs bad' like WW2."
Pow67
"People in general view WW1 with less clear good guy-bad guy lines, but this leads to people thinking Imperial Germany was entirely clean of shitty acts."
Armored-Potato-Chip
Potato Issues
"In the UK, it is not taught that the famine in Ireland was a genocide committed by Britain. Our population still has not recovered. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Charles_Trevelyan,_1st_Baronet#Role_in_the_Irish_Famine"
d3pd
"Born in England, all i was taught was that Ireland had some potato disease and all they had where potatoes so they all either starved or moved to the USA."
yfrryrjrriurirgr
Knowledge
Food Vintage GIF by Archives of Ontario | Archives publiques de l'OntarioGiphy"After the Paraguay war, there were no losers left to write history… I guess Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina was what was left."
Much_Committee_9355
"If it helps any, they don't glorify this war when they teach us about it here in Brazil. They make sure to teach how ruthless it was and all the consequences to the Paraguayan people."
_Biaa_-
I have no idea of any of these stories. I am so behind.
Crushed
Thor Ragnarok GIF by Marvel StudiosGiphy"Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, Astor, Mellon, Morgan, Schwab, Stanford. They were called robber barons for a reason. All those schools and music halls and community centers are all built on the backs of crushed men and named after the men who crushed them."
ForsakenPercentage53
In 1899
"The Philippine-American war. Because of WWII the Americans were portrayed as heroes who had the Philippines’ best interest at heart. But few people know about the genocide during the Philippine-American war that started in 1899. Almost 200,000 civilians dead, with civilians dying to disease, famine and US troops wiping out villages."
cerulean200
1916
"The Kyrgyz genocide. In 1916 when Kyrgyz families of the north (tired of oppression) refused to join Russia’s army in WWI, Russian soldiers massacred around 30% of population of the northern tribes. Now they present it as an uprising, which happened because of German-Turkish spies."
sultana_of_jazz
'they couldn't have known'
"Anytime someone says 'Well, by the standards of the time, it was okay.' When talking about an atrocity or horrific practice. It usually means 'By the standards of the people doing the atrocity.' For example, Slaves knew the Slave trade was evil."
"But when we say 'People thought it was okay' we aren't counting the slaves as being people. The victims of history are voiceless, even if our sensibilities have evolved over time. We try to justify things by saying 'they couldn't have known' and almost always ignore a large group of people who certainly did know."
Kenobi_01
The Gauls
"Surprised to see no one mention the massacres of Caesar during the Gaulic wars. He deliberately targeted certain Gaulic tribes to make them cease to exist, which straight up is genocide. Almost every time I hear someone speak of the Gaulic wars I see them either side lining them to the civil war that followed it or it is a heroic struggle from both sides. The Gauls are trying to remain free while Rome is trying to expand and civilize. Almost every time I read about it the atrocities are omitted which I find to be really bad."
Thubbe42
Guilty!
Embarrassed Shame GIFGiphy"Pretty much any indigenous population that got in the way of any colonial power. No single country has a monopoly on the violence and oppression that was done worldwide as the colonial powers expanded. ALL were guilty of it."
crockett5
'nothing bad ever happened'
"I knew when I saw this thread stuff like this would come up. I'm a Japanese person, and I would never defend any of the horrific things Japan did in the past. But I'd like to defend the majority of our citizens who are sick and tired of the revisionist fascist government we currently are stuck with. I sentiment I was so sick of I left. If you know anything about Japanese politics you know that the current party doesn't have a serious contender party and hasn't for a while."
"Racist boomers rally around the 'nothing bad ever happened' party, while the rest of us can't rally around a credible threat. I was a teenager when I learnt what our country really did, and it was horrifying. I wish I could do more than just post a reddit comment, I'm sorry I don't know what to say anymore."
toastybunbun
Aloha
"I mean, the US technically stole Hawaii from a legitimate government. But we have just normalized it as a state."
thedrakeequator
"And banned Hawaiians from naming their children in their native tongue until the 1980s."
jasper426
"The war on the Maori language and its revitalization despite, is honestly super inspiring. The same linguistic revitalization model has since been adapted for many other endangered (many of them Indigenous) languages as well. IIRC Maori is one of the most successful examples of language revitalization in the field."
overly_emoti0nal
Fire Bombs
"During WW2, the British firebombed German cities such as Hamburg (Operation Gomorrah) and Dresden with the express purpose of killing civilians. Mass-scale firebombing is especially dangerous for civilians, as it massively depletes the oxygen in a given area, causing many people to choke to death. Operation Gomorrah alone killed 37,000 civilians and injured another 180,000 over just 8 days."
"These fire-bombings were war crimes, but because the UK was on the winning side, no one was ever punished for it and now its never taught or mentioned here. I even remember my grandparents coming back from Cologne and commenting that they were disappointed there wasn't much of the old town to see, apparently unaware that that's because the British deliberately levelled the city. The Germans definitely do not forget it though. But they didn't win, so who cares right?"
tristanjff
Thieves
Will Smith Smh GIF by The Academy AwardsGiphy"The UK's affect on India, and the 45 trillion dollars worth of material they stole from India."
Aromatic-Car-824
Damages
"The Bangladesh genocide caused by the fascist Pakistani army generals in 1971. It’s the reason why Pakistan and Bangladesh relations are bad. 3.000.000 Bengalis got killed and 300.000 got raped."
KebabSahab
"Thanks ZA Bhutto for permanently damaging Pakistan and Bangladesh and still having PPP continue to be relevant to this day. Can't have any stable society in South Asia smh."
1creeperbomb
The Receipts
"Notice that everything people are pointing out is well documented. 'People don't care' is not the same as history being erased. It's a nonsensical thing people say. We have MANY records of people that lost conflicts. 'History is written by the literate' is a more apt statement. If history was only written by the victors we would have zero historical context for Jews even existing."
Time_Card_4095
The Monster
"Robespierre, one of the main figure of french revolution has been killed by political opponent, they tried to delete his name from history, accused him of all the kills during the Terror (3 years where a lot of people got killed because of a fear of a royalty return), they even used the body of a very ugly man to make ppl believe it was him (ppl still think its him except historian) and basically now he is seen as a monster by some ppl."
Agitated-Zebra-1764
The Army Card
soldiers falling GIFGiphy"How Spain always claimed to have conquered the Americas by killing and fighting millions of native Americans. They did not. Most died of sickness but they played the bada** army card for quiet some decades. By today's standards it would be embarrassing to tell about how good of a genocide job you did."
SnooComics8268
“area bombing”
"In WW2, the American/British bomber command killed some 600,000 German civvies. The US Bomber command encouraged something called 'area bombing' in large civilian centers with firebombs which they supplied to British Bomber command."
"Many of the pilots were informed that they were bombing important railways/roads/military/industrial targets, and felt 'something wasn’t right' when bombing cities like Dresden. America didn’t lose a single civilian to German bombers, and Britain lost 60,000. Thats 1/10 the amount they killed in their combined bombing campaign."
SkyHighTigre75
Negatives
"Not really a scary one, but I've always found it interesting that the word 'barbarians' is used in such a negative way. It simply means people of different language and culture. But if you're the one writing history it gets a very negative connotation."
-The-Oracle-
Time to do some rewrites people.
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
There are over 190 countries around the world today and each one has its own fascinating history. Many people love to travel to far off lands to learn more about these places. But are they always getting the full picture, especially if that country has a sordid past?
Many of us know about the genocide that took place in Rwanda nearly 30 years ago just as we know about the way that Chile's leader, Pinochet, would disappear his opponents. But that's just scratching the surface.
People told us some creepy facts about their countries after Redditor Dantehasabig_ asked the online community,
"What are creepy facts about your country that most foreigners wouldn’t know?"
Portugal
"Portugal basically started the transatlantic slave trade and sold and enslaved millions of African people. There were far more slaves in Portuguese Brazil than there ever were in the USA, but people only talk about the Americans being the slave monsters."
No_Brilliant5576
Portugal was also the first European country to attack Japan. It enslaved so many Japanese people that the Emperor of Japan threatened to declare war against Portugal.
History is wild.
Spain
"When Spain abolished slavery, instead of freeing the slaves they sold them to Morocco. It's disgusting."
UnbearableHuman
The history of human beings being sold for profit is horrifying, as it should be.
Australia
"In Australia, we had a Prime Minister who went swimming and just never came back. To this day no one knows what happened to him."
YUNGBLOOD5897aus
Ah, yes, that would be Harold Holt. He is now remembered more for the circumstances of his death than for his political achievements.
United States
"Nearly 100 workers died during the construction of the Hoover Dam. This has caused some urban legends about people still being entombed in the concrete, which is false, but there were in fact cases where people got buried by concrete and they had to extract the bodies because human bodies would compromise the structural integrity."
DawgCheck2
I love that the reason wasn't humane, but structural.
Mexico
"In my country we have a place where there are many creepy and authentic dolls everywhere you go. Up in the trees, down staring at you. Possibly one you are going to step on…."
MotherofCreepypasta
Yes, this is a definitely a place I have no interest in visiting. I've seen enough movies about creepy dolls to last me a lifetime.
South Korea
"This isn't creepy, but in the most militarized border in the world, the DMZ, wildlife has actually been flourishing there. Untouched and unvisited by people for several decades."
TheDashingPigeon
I'd say the circumstances of life beyond that border (and everything that led up to the creation of that border) is definitely creepy.
Belgium
"On top of subjugating and plundering the Congo, Belgium also sold the chains and shackles to slave traders in West Africa, shipped African people to America as slaves, and returned with butt loads of money back to Ostend. What one would call the original Devil's Triangle."
rjalxldr
In case any of you were wondering, King Leopold II of Belgium was a horrible person.
Ireland
"Ireland. We used to have “mother and baby homes” run by nuns where unmarried women were forced to go and work in commercial laundries to pay for their upkeep because having a baby out of wedlock was so unacceptable. This was done with the full support of the state. The last one only closed in 1998."
TheGratedCornholio
Anyone who reads about the Magdalene Laundries is in for some some depressing reading.
Canada
"Indigenous Canadian children were sent to residential schools to be abused and killed. This was approved and funded by the Canadian government and we still don’t know how many kids actually died."
EddTheMetalHead
The details to come out of Canada in the last year are horrifying, but learning about these things and acknowleding them is hopefully the first step to reparations.
Algeria
"Remember the thing Pinochet did to political opponents? You know, throwing them out off helicopters into the ocean? Yeah, we did that too during our war in Algeria. When they noticed that bodies would resurface, they'd attach concrete blocks to the victims' feet."
O-Alexis
Nooope. Talk about horrifying.
Every country out there has some skeletons in its closet, and some of those are more well known than others.
Have some stories of your own? Feel free to tell us more in the comments below!
Want to "know" more?
Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again.