Learning about history is an important part of understanding the world around us, but it can be daunting to know where to begin. Wouldn’t it be great if someone else curated historical facts in bite sized pieces to give to you every day? Look no further than the History Defined Instagram account! This page shares facts, stories and videos, so followers can “learn weird things about history” every single day just by logging onto Instagram. We’ve gathered some of the most interesting posts from History Defined, so you can have some historical fun facts in your back pocket to share with others. Then if you’re still hungry for more history lessons, we’ve got another Bored Panda piece featuring a similar Instagram page for you to check out next right here
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#21 The 15 Year Old Girl Who Remained Frozen On Top Of A Mountain For 500 Years, 2007
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Our brains also register images incredibly fast. After seeing a picture for only 13 milliseconds, our brains can understand what we saw. 90% of information transmitted to the brain is also visual. When we see these interesting photos and videos on History Defined, we have a greater chance of remembering what we read than if someone had only told us the same information or if we had seen it in a book without any visual components.
#22 Shirley Slade Was One Of More Than 1000 Women Who Had Been Solicited By The U.S. Government To Enter An Intensive Seven-Month Training Course That Would Make Them The First Female Pilots To Enter The Air Force
Severe pilot shortages of World War II led to the recruitment of women into the Air Force. By recruiting women, the Air Force could maintain delivery of aircraft, ferry supplies, and perform other non-combative functions that fueled the war efforts.
Collectively, the group would become known as WASPs: Women Airforce Service Pilots.
As the war wound down, men returning from combat took the WASPs' places as active-duty pilots.
Slade was trained to fly the B-26 and B-39.
Photo of Casey Drabble for Men’s File Magazine.
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#23 A Lighter Depicting The Tough Circumstances Of The Vietnam War. The Voting Age During This Time In America Was 21, While The Age To Enlist (Or Get Drafted) Was 18. In 1971, President Nixon Passed The 26th Amendment Which Lowered The Voting Age To 18
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#24 Portrait Of A “Mestiza De Sangley," Philippines, 1875. Photo By Francisco Van Camp
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Learning about history makes us more informed about our world and all the people in it. History Defined does a great job of finding some of the most fun facts from history and passing them along to wider audiences. We all know who Abraham Lincoln is, but seeing a photo of him is exciting. And how many people have seen a picture of teenagers swooning over Elvis Presley at one of his concerts in 1957? It may seem like a simple photo, but it provides us insight into the culture at that time. And it’s a reminder that teenagers have always and will always love going to see their favorite musicians live. History Defined is full of fun images providing us insight into specific moments in the past.
#25 The 4000-Year-Old Skeletons Of A Mother Who Was Trying To Shield Her Child From A Massive Earthquake That Struck China In 2000 Bc And Triggered Massive Floods, In An Event That Is Sometimes Referred To As ‘China’s Pompeii’. Now Located At The Lajia Ruins Museum In Northwest China
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#26 Two Young Soldiers Pose For A Candid Photo In Austria, 1945
In 1945, these two soldiers had hiked up into the Austrian Alps and a friend took their picture as they embraced in the snow.
One soldier kept these snapshots hidden in a shoebox until the early 1990s when he handed them to a relative, along with the ring that he was wearing in the Alps photo, with the request: “Please keep these safe for me.”
According to the relative, the soldier, nearing the end of his life, wanted to preserve the one thing that meant more to him than anything else. He passed away two years later.
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#27 Mountain Chief Listening To A Song Being Played On A Phonograph And Interpreting It In Plains Native American Sign Language To Ethnomusicologist Frances Densmore In 1916
Densmore’s aim was to preserve Native languages and cultures for future generations. Currently, only 75 people in the world are reported to use the Plains Native American Sign language.
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I think this list is a perfect example of how great learning about history can be, especially when we're not in middle school being forced to memorize information just for exams. We hope you enjoy the rest of these fascinating stories and images and that you learn at least a few fun facts from it. Don’t forget to upvote the posts you found most interesting, and let us know in the comments what little-known history facts you think should be featured on the page. And if you'd like to continue your journey of learning about history, be sure to go follow History Defined on Instagram.
#28 U.S. Army Technician Alvin Harley Of The 9th Armored Division Receives A Kiss From A Liberated French Girl On Saint Valentine’s Day. Abancourt, Oise, Picardy, France. February 14, 1945
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#29 Jenny Joseph Modeling For The Columbia Pictures Logo, 1992. She Had Never Modeled Before, And Never Did Again
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#31 Goofing Around Before Going To The Ww1 Front, 1914
"My great grandfather goofing around before he headed to the front. He died on his first day of combat, just four days after he was mobilized” via reddit u/enraged-elephant.
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#32 Undine Rising From The Waters (1880) By Chauncey Bradley Ives
"According to medieval lore, undines were Mediterranean sea spirits who lived as soulless mortals. In the nineteenth century, this story gained prominence through Baron Heinrich Karl de la Motte Fouqué’s popular novel Undine, in which a water spirit gains a human form and soul by marrying the mortal knight she loves. When her husband proves unfaithful, the laws of the water spirits force her to kill him. Chauncey Bradley Ives depicts the moment when the mournful Undine, cloaked in a white veil, rises like a fountain to claim her husband’s life. Exquisitely rendered, the diaphanous wet drapery is a masterful example of illusionistic carving." - Yale University Art Gallery
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#33 Belgian Coal Miners Crammed In An Elevator At The End Of A Long Day Of Work. 1900
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#35 Woman Going Through An Attitude Adjustment Program, 1930s
Women suffering from depression or demonstrating signs of “misbehavior”, such as not “taking proper care of her husband” were legally encouraged to submit into a psychiatric ward.
Here, the narrow-minded 1930s would offer a smiling treatment used to condition a woman into always wearing a smile. Experts believed that if a woman saw herself smiling, it would become natural practice and she would be “cured.” This often went along with shock therapy.
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#36 Corporal Jackie Was A Baboon In The South African Army During World War I. He Was The Official Mascot Of The 3rd Transvaal Regimen When His Owner, Albert Marr Was Drafted Into War, And Would Not Leave Jackie At Home. He Asked His Superiors If Jackie, Too, Could Join The Army And They Said Yes
So Jackie was given an official style uniform with a cap, a ration set, and his own pay book. Jackie would salute to superior officers and light soldiers' cigarettes. He would even stand at ease in the style of a trained soldier.
Due to his heightened senses, Jackie was useful to sentries on duty at night. The baboon would be the first to know when an attack was coming or enemy soldiers were moving around nearby.
Jackie and Marr survived a battle where the casualty rate was 80%, in Delville Wood, early in the Somme Campaign.
When Marr was serving in Egypt he was shot in the shoulder at the Battle of Agagia, 26 February 1916, while Jackie was with him, licking the wound as they awaited help.
Jackie was given his own rations while with the army, and ate them with his own knife and fork, as well as his own washing basin.
When the regiment was drilled and marched, Jackie would be with them.
Jackie spent time in the trenches in France where he tried to build a wall around himself during extreme enemy fire, but a piece of shrapnel from an explosion flew over the wall hitting Jackie in the leg and arm.
When stretcher bearers tried to take Jackie away he refused, desperate to finish his wall and hide. Doctors treated Jackie's wounds, but they decided his leg had to be amputated and were surprised that he even survived.
Jackie was awarded a Medal of Valor for the event of his injuries, and promoted from private to corporal. After the war was over, Jackie was discharged with papers and went back to South Africa. He tragically died in a house fire in 1921.
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#38 A Young Boy Takes A Final Puff Of His Cigarette Before Facing The Consequences After He Stole His Father's Car And Crashed It, 1974
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#39 Michelangelo's Moses Is A Marble Sculpture Made In 1513–15
One of the many details of this masterpiece is one very small muscle in the forearms that contracts only when lifting the pinky, otherwise it is invisible. Moses is lifting the pinky, therefore that tiny muscle is contracted.
Giorgio Vasari in the Life of Michelangelo wrote: "Michelangelo finished the Moses in marble, a statue of five braccia, unequaled by any modern or ancient work. Seated in a serious attitude, he rests with one arm on the tables, and with the other holds his long glossy beard, the hairs, so difficult to render in sculpture, being so soft and downy that it seems as if the iron chisel must have become a brush. The beautiful face, like that of a saint and mighty prince, seems as one regards it to need the veil to cover it, so splendid and shining does it appear, and so well has the artist presented in the marble the divinity with which God had endowed that holy countenance. The draperies fall in graceful folds, the muscles of the arms and bones of the hands are of such beauty and perfection, as are the legs and knees, the feet were adorned with excellent shoes, that Moses may now be called the friend of God more than ever, since God has permitted his body to be prepared for the resurrection before the others by the hand of Michelangelo. The Jews still go every Saturday in troops to visit and adore it as a divine, not a human thing."
The English translation of Sigmund Freud's "The Moses of Michelangelo" also provides a basic description of the sculpture: "The Moses of Michelangelo is represented as seated; his body faces forward, his head with its mighty beard looks to the left, his right foot rests on the ground, and his left leg is raised so that only the toes touch the ground. His right arm links the Tables of the Law with something that looks like a book in the right palm of his hand with a portion of his beard; his left arm lies in his lap."
The attention to detail is impeccable.
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#40 Jewish German Army Soldiers Celebrate Hanukkah On The Eastern Front, 1916
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