Historical ‘Facts’ That Are Inaccurate Or Completely Untrue

The sinking of the Lusitania garnered immediate US public support for WWI, and the US entered WWI shortly after.

In fact, the ship was sunk 7 May 1915, and Wilson didn't request a declaration of war until 2 April 1917 -- nearly two years later.

No ancient source exists that says the Romans, under Scipio Aemilianus Africanus, p***** over and sowed the city of Carthage with salt after sacking it.

The salting of the earth at Carthage was invented in later stories strongly suggesting it never happened. Also, given that salt was a precious commodity during the Roman Republic/Empire it seems very unlikely that it would be used in such a way.

There were only 300 Spartans at the Thermopylae, for each Spartan warrior there was about 8 Helots (Slaves) accompanying them, providing maintenance on equipment and acting as axillary. Also with them were several hundred Thespians and Thebans, the former chose to stay voluntarily with the Spartans whilst the latter were forced to stay as they were assumed traitors. So in all there were actually around 4000 Greeks left to fight the Persians in the final stand at Thermopylae, after the main Greek Force retreated.

Actually, archers did use quivers, but they would stick the arrow in the ground during battle.

The Spartans didn't fight for freedom and equality. they had slaves and they often used them as target practice.

Edit: As an aside, Xerxes the 1st, who is depicted as the villain in the movie '300' and his Jewish wife queen Esther, provided sanction and equal rights to jewish minorities in Persia (which was a zoroastrian empire at that time). Hence, you could go argue that he was far more tolerant of cultural diversity and freedom than the spartans.

George Washington Carver did not invent peanut butter. The Aztecs were roasting peanuts before the colonists arrived and a Canadian guy was the first man to patent peanut butter.

European Settlers bought Manhattan NY for beads from the Indians.
Christopher Columbus Discovered America.

There is a good book called "Lies my Teacher told me", though it is USA Centric, It is still a good book.

The circumstances under which the Church of England was founded during the English Reformation was much more complicated than and not as related to Henry VIII seeking divorce as people claim.

The Royal Air Force apparently made their incredible strides in destroying German planes at night because of all the carrots they ate...(methinks it was the radar, not the carrots)
Most people where I live are convinced this is true because 'it's historically proven to work' and so they eat a lot of carrots. Nothing wrong with eating veggies of course.

Napoleon was a warmonger (he never started a war, the monarchies of Europe simply didn't like the idea of a Republic), the Sphinx's nose was shot off by Napoleon (it was pried off for not being muslimy enough in the 14th century). There are very few mysteries involving the pyramids of Egypt, and those that do exist surround Sneferu's not the famous pyramids at Giza. Swords weren't heavy, they were about 3 lbs on average (perhaps heavy for urbanite redditors). European martial arts were every bit as refined and advanced as Asian examples.

That the residents of people's temple committed s*****e by drinking poisoned Kool Aid. Whether or not they committed s*****e, it was flavor-aid.

That cinco de mayo is the Mexican independence day.

The first shots of the Civil War were not during the Siege of Fort Sumter, but rather many days before that when a battery along the shore approach to Charleston harbor, manned by Citadel cadets, opened fire on the Union steamer Star of the West, which had been dispatched to provide supplies and reinforcements to Fort Sumter. The cannonfire hit the ship but did no signicant damge, however the steamer turned and retreated. It's possible that if the ship had continued, it would have been fired on further, or if it had completed its mission, the Union soldiers in the Fort might have attempted to hold out for more time, which might have resulted in casualties on both sides. In reality, there were zero casualties during the fight and the fort was turned over to the South with a complete ceremony.

Contrary to popular belief, the US never imposed an oil embargo against Japan prior to Pearl Harbor.

FDR was under a lot of pressure to apply an embargo. In a July 1941 cabinet meeting, he worried about how to explain oil rationing in California while still supplying Japan with oil. He insisted on this course of action, because he foresaw that an oil embargo could only lead to war. (The League of Nations had ruled that an oil embargo was a valid *cassus belli* when several nations tried to apply one against Italy for her invasion of Abyssinia/Ethiopia.)

What the US did instead was insist that Japan pay for her oil with "new" money, rather than from Imperial accounts which had been frozen. This demand seemed to confuse Japan, but they sent a single ship to test this new arrangement. The *Tatuta Maru* had been promised that it could come to the US without fear of seizure.

Once the *Tatuta Maru* docked, private parties filed suit in US courts, claiming ownership of her cargo. They filed a lien against the ship, holding it in harbor.

Japan released the cargo, and the ship was allowed to sail. But Japan never attempted to purchase any further oil from the US.

JFK's "Ich bin ein Berliner" does not mean "I am a doughnut" any more than Angela Merkel saying "I am a New Yorker" would mean "I am a magazine".

Gladiators didn't fight each other to death in the Colosseum.

Truman didn't specifically approve the bombing of Nagasaki, and when he found out about it, he halted further bombings on Japan to allow the country time to process the damage and offer a surrender.

In other words, the second bombing came simply because the b**b was ready to go. It was an automatic decision made by the military.

Germany starting World War 1. This was caused by man factors. First being the assassination of the Austrian-Hungary empire. After this happened Austria demanded reparations from Serbia as it was believe it was government sponsored. When Serbia refused Austria declared war. After this point it was a domino effect of rapid militarization.

How George Washington was our first president when in fact our first president was John Hanson. Washington was our first under our current constitution. Hanson was the first president of the Continental Congress following the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.

Moses was not found in the bullrushes.

Egyptian Kingship had most of the Pharaohs associated with being found in bullrushes.

The significance lies in the Nile association and the bringing of crop prosperity, water, fecundity etc.