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35 Counterintuitive Facts About History That Have No Business Being This True

Excuse me, Napoleon, what’s a ‘zig-zag?’

35 Counterintuitive Facts About History That Have No Business Being This True

February 15, 2024

History’s always trying to hide its sneaky little secrets. But the sands of time are no match for these image macros!

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35

THE U.S. CONSTITUTION IS RIDDLED WITH MISTAKES. We domestic the People L light Hyprovide de Articl All Power We're not talking here about stuff such as not giving everyone the right to vote- we mean the many misspellings contained in the Constitution. Just ask the delegate from Pensylvania. GRACKED.COM — Source

34

BARELY ANYONE SMOKED POT IN THE 1960s. Ah, the '60s. Flower power, peace and love, everyone was high... Except that by 1969, only 4% of Americans had ever tried marijuana, and a whopping 34% didn't even know what its effects were. CRACKED.COM — Source

33

35 Counterintuitive Facts About History That Have No Business Being This True — Source

32

TYRANNOSAURUS REX IS CLOSER TO YOU IN TIME THAN TO STEGOSAURUS. T. rex went extinct 65 million years ago. By then, Stegosaurus had been dead for 85 million years. CRACKED.COM — Source

31

CRACKED.COM THE UNITED STATES BANNED INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE FOR LONGER THAN SOUTH AFRICA. Famously racist South Africa banned people of different races from getting married between 1949 and 1985, or 36 years. The U.S. banned it from 1776 to 1967-a grand total of 191 years. — Source

30

NAPOLEON WASN'T SHORT. At 5 feet 6.5 inches, he'd be barely an inch shorter than the average Frenchman today. CRACKED.COM — Source

29

A MAN TRIED TO BLOW UP GEORGE W. BUSH. Do you think a shoe was the worst thing anyone threw at President Bush? In 2005, Georgian national Vladimir Arutyunian tossed a hand grenade at him. It didn't explode, as you can probably guess. CRACKED.COM — Source

28

CRACKED.COM WE DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING IN NIXON'S TAPES. Nixon's White House tapes contain over 3,500 hours of recordings. About 200 make reference to Watergate. By the time of Nixon's death in 1994, only 63 hours had been made public. — Source

27

CRACKED.COM WE KNOW EXACTLY WHERE LEWIS AND CLARK CRAPPED. The Lewis and Clark expedition carried mercury pills that were used to treat pretty much everything (including, ahem, syphilis). The location of the latrines in their Lolo, Montana campsite is known because of the mercury in the soil. — Source

26

DURING WORLD WAR II, THE USSR TOOK THE BRUNT OF THE FIGHTING - AND OF THE DYING. You see very heroic Americans fighting the Reich in movies. And while that is true, you're not told that for every American killed in action, about 21 Soviets died. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

THE ROMAN EMPIRE DIDN'T JUST FALL OVERNIGHT. Yes, Rome was taken by Germanic invaders in 479-which had happened other times, SO not much changed that day. The Eastern Roman Empire-which was more important by then- lasted another 1,000 years. CRACKED.COM — Source

24

Warner Bros.

CRACKED.COM WARNER BROS. WAS FOUNDED AS THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE WAS ENDING. The empire existed from the 14th century until the Republic of Turkey was established in October 1923. By then, Warner Bros. had been operating for several months. WARNER BROS. PI — Source

23

THE WITCHES OF SALEM WEREN'T BURNED. While burning alleged witches was common in Europe, those found guilty of witchcraft during the Salem trials were hanged. Which, OK, wasn't much better. GRACKED.COM

22

The Pony Express

CRACKED.COM THE PONY EXPRESS WAS VERY SHORT-LIVED. Despite the huge role it plays PONY EXPRESS in the lore of the Old West, the Pony Express operated for only a year and a half, from DOLLAR, March 1860 to October 1861. WELLSFARCO & CO — Source

21

CRACKED.COM THE CURRENT U.S. FLAG WAS DESIGNED BY A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT. 17-year-old Robert G. Heft made a 50-star flag for a school assignment when Alaska and Hawaii were given statehood. Не got a B-, which was changed to an A when the government adopted his flag. — Source

20

CRACKED.COM THE GOVERNMENT IS STILL PAYING CIVIL WAR PENSIONS. A veteran's daughter, born in 1930 when her father was in his 80s, still gets her paycheck every month. The last Civil War widow died in 2008. — Source

19

THE STRONGEST OPPOSITION TO THE VIETNAM WAR CAME FROM OLDER AMERICANS. - STER HT UND AGRESSION INVETNA WORLD NIKENOSTEN 11 . COME EST THAMESISCHEN VIEW - ... - 12th CUT April LA DANK COMINE WITH VIETIVA GET THE HELL Yes, visible protestors tended to COPTERS OUT OF be young. But according to polls of the time, young people were VIETNAM more likely to support the war than older citizens- particularly those over 50. CRACKED.COM — Source

18

CRACKED.COM BRITISH TANKS HAVE LONG INCLUDED TEA- MAKING FACILITIES. CORT S ST 07 59 С - 66 Before 1945, Brits had to stop and climb out of their tanks for their tea breaks. Since that time, they've been able to remain safely and cozily (or cosily) secluded, thanks to a built-in boiling vessel. — Source

17

THE ROMAN EMPIRE WAS BIG. JUST NOT THAT BIG. Rome, the biggest empire that ever was... Except that, by surface area, it was more like the 25th, with about two million square miles at its height. GRACKED COM — Source

16

John Tyler's son Lyon was born when his father was 63. Lyon had two sons, Lyon Jr. and Harrison, when he was in his 70s. Both are still around. A 19TH-CENTURY PRESIDENT HAS LIVING GRANDCHILDREN. CRACKED.COM — Source

15

The Pyramids

THE PYRAMIDS WEREN'T BUILT BY SLAVES. Despite what you've seen in movies, the Egyptian pyramids were the work of paid laborers working on three-month shifts. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

CRACKED.COM 97% OF HUMAN HISTORY HAS BEEN LOST. Humans appeared 200,000 years ago. Writing is about 6,000 years old. This means that only 3% of our species' history has been recorded. — Source

13

The Ballad of the Green Berets

AN AMERICAN PATROTIC SONG TOPPED THE CHARTS AT THE HEIGHT OF THE BRITISH INVASION. Do you think the '60s were all about The Beatles? Nope! The Ballad of the Green Berets, . by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler, was the #1 song on the Billboard chart for 1966. CRACKED.COM — Source

12

THE NORMANDY LANDINGS WERE AMERICA'S FINEST DAY-EVEN IF AMERICANS WERE IN THE MINORITY. There were over 83,000 men in the British Second Army that stormed the French beaches, compared with 73,000 in the First United States Army. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

SEVEN OF HISTORY'S TEN DEADLIEST WARS WERE FOUGHT IN CHINA. It comes with having a historically high population. A couple of wars in the region had a higher body count than World War I. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

Ohio and Michigan once went to war - over Toledo. N Est L MICHIGAN Maumee Toledo Bay Disputed Toledo Strip Perrysburg OHIO Maumee River Aniwage From 1835-36, the two states argued over a thin strip of land at their border. It escalated to a brawl wherein someone was stabbed with a pen knife, but that was the only casualty. CRACKED.COM — Source

9

The 1767 expedition of the HMS Dolphin had to be cut short due to accidental horny mutiny. Captain Samuel Wallis noticed his crew were dismantling the ship for iron parts, which were traded for sex with locals. CRACKED.COM — Source

8

An astronaut pooped and puked all over Apollo 8 in mid-orbit. Frank Borman got briefly but violently ill, to the extent that it overwhelmed the waste system. Meaning: poo and spew orbs floating around the cabin. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

Pepsi was once the 6th largest navy in the world. L'Est CHIN Y VIII MITH IN IV . F WIL HE VI VII - IV - XI VII WILL ... es hwep ПЕПСИ-КОЛ ПЕПСИ ПЕПСИ-КОЛА - ЗОВАРНЫЙ E ПЕПСИ-КОЛА SPAR RANBER ТОВАРНЫЙ il AOR - - NET НИ the - DE 13 11 17 .. 33 : DE 12 ЛЬНИЙ 179 11 21 = 37 27 13 15 17 10 The USSR had restrictions on transporting rubles outside of their territory, so they made good on a $3 billion contract in 1990 with 17 submarines, a frigate, a cruiser and a — Source

6

The Wanggongchang Explosion killed 20,000 people in the capital of the Ming Dynasty in 1626. THE CHINI AN OCEAN No one knows what caused it, but it killed several government officials and the emperor's only heir. The only guard who remained calm enough to protect the emperor was killed by a falling ceiling tile. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

The largest bell ever made was lost by a greedy governor. Est Portugese warlord Filipe de Brito e Nicote was granted a governorship, then promptly declared independence. Не tried to melt the Shwedagon Pagoda's 23-ton bell to make cannons, then dropped it in a river. De Brito was executed at the stake. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

In WWI, the German ship SMS Cap Trafalgar was disguised to look like British ocean liner RMS Carmania in order to raise hell behind enemy lines. But the first ship the Trafalgar encountered was the real Carmania, which laid waste to the imposter. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

Napoleon's first wife performed a sex act that baffles modern historians. NNEst ft. S S They exchanged tons of extremely dirty letters, which mentioned, but never explained, something called a zig-zag. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

The Shortest War

The Anglo-Zanzibar War was the shortest war in recorded history. N Est The 1896 skirmish between Aniward the British Empire and the Zanzibar Sultanate lasted 45 minutes, tops. The British managed to kill 500 soldiers in that time, while losing only 1 of their own. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

Yang Kyoungjong was a Korean soldier in WWII who was forced to fight on 3 sides of the war. V Не was conscripted into the من Japanese army, captured and forced to fight by the Soviet army, then again by the German army, over the course of 5 years. CRACKED.COM — Source

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