Depending on how closely you paid attention during history class, you might be a treasure trove of historical facts, or you might know almost nothing about the past. But even if you remember every single story that your teachers ever told you, there are hundreds more that you may not have heard.
And if you’re interested in expanding your knowledge about the past, we’ve got a list of fascinating yet often overlooked stories right here. History buffs on Reddit have been sharing tidbits of information that sound too wild to be true, so we’ve compiled our favorites below. Enjoy reading through these tales full of fun facts to share with friends, and be sure to upvote the stories that prove that reality really is stranger than fiction!
#1
That time Liechtenstein sent 80 soldiers to war and they made a friend so they returned with 81.
Report
44points
#2
The Winter War of Finland, where Finland held out against USSR with a fraction of the forces. In the end Finland lost more tanks than they started with as they captured and used Soviet tanks.
32points
#3
The Hawaiian Kingdom, especially King Kamehameha The Great and King Kalakaua. I sadly know many that believe that the Hawaiian Islands were never a nation.
When in fact one has to wonder where they would be today if the united States didn't annex them. Kalakaua was the first King to circumnavigate the globe, and the iolani palace had electric lighting, and plumbing before the White House. There was even a point where hawaii boasted a higher literacy rate than the united States and Europe.
But, we'll never know now.
When in fact one has to wonder where they would be today if the united States didn't annex them. Kalakaua was the first King to circumnavigate the globe, and the iolani palace had electric lighting, and plumbing before the White House. There was even a point where hawaii boasted a higher literacy rate than the united States and Europe.
But, we'll never know now.
Report
31points
#4
I'm so surprised I haven't seen anything about one of my favorite lesser-known historical figures, Julie d'Aubigny, because boy oh boy was her life interesting.
So when Julie was born in 1673 in France, her dear old dad was one of the guys who trained court pages, and so of course as Julie grew up she trained right along side them, dressing as a boy and learning fencing. When she was 14 she got married off, but pretty soon after the wedding her husband got called to go work down in southern France, but Julie stayed in Paris, so that got him out of the picture for a while.
Around 1687 Julie got together with this dude who was an assistant to a fencing master, but then the dude accidentally [unalived] his opponent in a duel, and so the couple fled the city. As they made their way south, the two earned money by giving fencing exhibitions and singing in taverns, and Julie dressed in guy's clothes while doing this but didn't pretend to be a guy, she just like men's clothing. Eventually though, Julie got bored of her current beau and became infatuated with a young woman. But this young women's parents became concerned for her and sent her away to live in a convent with nuns, so naturally Julie followed her and entered the convent herself, pretending to be interested in becoming a nun. Then, once inside the convent, Julie put her escape plan into action. One night, an older nun passed away and so Julie broke her girlfriend out of her room, hid the nun's body in the girl's bed, and set the room on fire.
Yep. She set a convent on fire.
The two were together for about three months before the girl returned to her family, and Julie went to go back to Paris and earned money by singing. During this time on the road, one night this dude insulted her, so she challenged him to a duel and won by driving her sword through his shoulder. The next day though she felt kinda about it, and asked how he was doing. He sent one of his buddies to apologize to her and she went to visit him, and they ended up 'doing the do'. (after their affair ended they became lifelong friends). After he healed though he returned to his post in the military, and Julie continued to Paris where she met another man and had another affair.
(in the meantime she contacted a Count and the guy managed to get her a pardon from the king for her many, many crimes, like setting a convent on fire for example)
After this she joined the Opera in Paris and stayed with them for a while, having several relationships (with both men and women) until one day at a ball, she kissed a young woman in front of everyone (again she never tried to conceal her gender) and was promptly challenged to a duel by three separate dudes.
She beat them all, but had kinda forgotten that duels weren't allowed in Paris.
She fled to Brussels for a while and waited for things to calm down, and then returned to the Opera and continued her career for several years more. Eventually, the woman she was in a relationship with passed away and left her inconsolable, and soon retired and took refuge in a convent. She passed away at the age of 33, and has no known grave.
So when Julie was born in 1673 in France, her dear old dad was one of the guys who trained court pages, and so of course as Julie grew up she trained right along side them, dressing as a boy and learning fencing. When she was 14 she got married off, but pretty soon after the wedding her husband got called to go work down in southern France, but Julie stayed in Paris, so that got him out of the picture for a while.
Around 1687 Julie got together with this dude who was an assistant to a fencing master, but then the dude accidentally [unalived] his opponent in a duel, and so the couple fled the city. As they made their way south, the two earned money by giving fencing exhibitions and singing in taverns, and Julie dressed in guy's clothes while doing this but didn't pretend to be a guy, she just like men's clothing. Eventually though, Julie got bored of her current beau and became infatuated with a young woman. But this young women's parents became concerned for her and sent her away to live in a convent with nuns, so naturally Julie followed her and entered the convent herself, pretending to be interested in becoming a nun. Then, once inside the convent, Julie put her escape plan into action. One night, an older nun passed away and so Julie broke her girlfriend out of her room, hid the nun's body in the girl's bed, and set the room on fire.
Yep. She set a convent on fire.
The two were together for about three months before the girl returned to her family, and Julie went to go back to Paris and earned money by singing. During this time on the road, one night this dude insulted her, so she challenged him to a duel and won by driving her sword through his shoulder. The next day though she felt kinda about it, and asked how he was doing. He sent one of his buddies to apologize to her and she went to visit him, and they ended up 'doing the do'. (after their affair ended they became lifelong friends). After he healed though he returned to his post in the military, and Julie continued to Paris where she met another man and had another affair.
(in the meantime she contacted a Count and the guy managed to get her a pardon from the king for her many, many crimes, like setting a convent on fire for example)
After this she joined the Opera in Paris and stayed with them for a while, having several relationships (with both men and women) until one day at a ball, she kissed a young woman in front of everyone (again she never tried to conceal her gender) and was promptly challenged to a duel by three separate dudes.
She beat them all, but had kinda forgotten that duels weren't allowed in Paris.
She fled to Brussels for a while and waited for things to calm down, and then returned to the Opera and continued her career for several years more. Eventually, the woman she was in a relationship with passed away and left her inconsolable, and soon retired and took refuge in a convent. She passed away at the age of 33, and has no known grave.
26points
#5
When Plato gave Socrates's definition of man as "featherless bipeds" and was much praised for the definition, Diogenes plucked a chicken and brought it into Plato's Academy, saying, "Behold! I've brought you a man." After this incident, "with broad flat nails" was added to Plato's definition.
Report
25points
#6
The American hippo bill. During a meat crisis in 1910, some American legislators wanted to introduce African hippos to the southern wetlands so we could all enjoy "lake cow bacon." Obviously, the bill never passed.
ThirdMoonOfJupiter:
This type of thing actually happened in Australia. In Queensland, they were suffering from an infestation of cane beetles in the sugar cane crops. They introduced the cane toad, a natural predator of cane beetles, to fix the problem. Instead, cane toads became more of a pest than cane beetles and are still a problem today.
ThirdMoonOfJupiter:
This type of thing actually happened in Australia. In Queensland, they were suffering from an infestation of cane beetles in the sugar cane crops. They introduced the cane toad, a natural predator of cane beetles, to fix the problem. Instead, cane toads became more of a pest than cane beetles and are still a problem today.
Report
23points
#7
World war 2 Ghost Army Regiment. Allied force who recruited from art schools and theatre. Used deception tricks such as inflatable tanks to deflect attention and deceive the enemy.
Both insane and genius at the same time.
Jurnis_:
The germans did this as well.
Some less successful then others.
They put a massive effort into building a fake wooden military base to made the British think their main forces were further North(i think, maybe south).
They built fake building fronts with wood, wooden trucks, wooden planes, even a wooden train and scarecrow guards in uniforms.
The British 'bombed' it with fake wooden bombs. One of which (reportedly) had "It was only polite to let you finish building" written on it.
Both insane and genius at the same time.
Jurnis_:
The germans did this as well.
Some less successful then others.
They put a massive effort into building a fake wooden military base to made the British think their main forces were further North(i think, maybe south).
They built fake building fronts with wood, wooden trucks, wooden planes, even a wooden train and scarecrow guards in uniforms.
The British 'bombed' it with fake wooden bombs. One of which (reportedly) had "It was only polite to let you finish building" written on it.
23points
#8
Romans believed in other peoples gods/goddess. So when they would attack a city they would pray to the god/gods of said city to abandon the occupants and support the Romans instead. If they won they would give the god a special place in Rome or completely incorporate it into the state religion.
Also the Ancient Greeks did not view [anything] as gay or straight, they saw it as dominant and submissive. In short they had no concept of being gay.
Also the Ancient Greeks did not view [anything] as gay or straight, they saw it as dominant and submissive. In short they had no concept of being gay.
Report
20points
#9
Robert Liston, for whom Listerine is named if memory serves, is the only person in history to have performed a surgery with a 300% mortality rate, meaning that three people passed away from one operation. The patient passed away of gangrene, Liston cut the fingers of his assistant who also passed away from gangrene, and he literally scared an onlooker to d**th by cutting his coattails. This was back when anesthetics were non-existent and speed made a bigger difference.
20points
#10
Margery Kempe! 14-15th century self appointed holy woman of King's Lynn. No one wanted to write a book about her and she couldn't write herself, so she dictated it to someone because she was very holy and deserved to have a book written about her! The end result is that you get all her, ahem, quirks and 'unique' theology without it being watered down by someone trying to make her fit a mould.
All of it is gold, but a couple of my favourite bits:
The time she went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and the other pilgrims she was travelling with ditched her because she was getting too into it and ruining their holiday.
The time a piece of the church roof fell in during a service and landed just on her. She was knocked out but goes on to describe the incident as proof that Jesus loved her the most because it didn't actually end her.
The multiple times she was accused of heresy for being just a little too much into Jesus.
I love her so much.
All of it is gold, but a couple of my favourite bits:
The time she went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and the other pilgrims she was travelling with ditched her because she was getting too into it and ruining their holiday.
The time a piece of the church roof fell in during a service and landed just on her. She was knocked out but goes on to describe the incident as proof that Jesus loved her the most because it didn't actually end her.
The multiple times she was accused of heresy for being just a little too much into Jesus.
I love her so much.
Report
19points
#11
Caligula, former Roman emperor, once declared war on Neptune, commanding his armies to go to the beach and just start stabbing the water.
Report
19points
#12
Alboin, King of the Lombards, took his wife Rosamund as a spoil of war after he [unalived] her father in the Lombard-Gepid War. Then at one point he made her drink from her father's skull, which he kept as a trophy and fashioned into a mug, telling her to "drink merrily with your father." She had him [unalived].
18points
#13
The time a pope dug up another pope's skeleton, put it on trial, found it guilty, had it reburied, dug it up again, and chucked it into the river.
**Edit**: Well people seem interested so here's an abridged version of the Cadaver Synod. Crazy time in papal history.
So... Pope Stephen VI really hated the guy that was pope before the guy that was pope before him, aka Pope Formosus. I believe their relationship would be called "pope twice removed". That line will work on two levels in just a second.
Anyways, so Steph super hated him. It was pretty much all because of powerful families and politics and grudges. Still, Pope is a literally life long gig, and that means the guy he hated had been gone for a bit by the time Stu became Pope. So what did Steven do? Why he dug up the ultra deceased previous pontiff and put his skeleton on trial of course!
He was found guilty, striped of his garments, had three fingers removed (they were his blessin' fingers), was redressed in peasant garb, and reburied in a pauper's grave.
This didn't feel like enough for Ol' Stevie Vi, so he dug him up again and had him chucked into the Tiber River.
Stephen VI was then imprisoned for the whole thing and later strangled. History!
**Edit**: Well people seem interested so here's an abridged version of the Cadaver Synod. Crazy time in papal history.
So... Pope Stephen VI really hated the guy that was pope before the guy that was pope before him, aka Pope Formosus. I believe their relationship would be called "pope twice removed". That line will work on two levels in just a second.
Anyways, so Steph super hated him. It was pretty much all because of powerful families and politics and grudges. Still, Pope is a literally life long gig, and that means the guy he hated had been gone for a bit by the time Stu became Pope. So what did Steven do? Why he dug up the ultra deceased previous pontiff and put his skeleton on trial of course!
He was found guilty, striped of his garments, had three fingers removed (they were his blessin' fingers), was redressed in peasant garb, and reburied in a pauper's grave.
This didn't feel like enough for Ol' Stevie Vi, so he dug him up again and had him chucked into the Tiber River.
Stephen VI was then imprisoned for the whole thing and later strangled. History!
18points
#14
President Andrew Jackson was so vulgar his parrot was ejected from his funeral for profanity and vulgar language.
Report
18points
#15
I think the Great Schism is overlooked a lot, and really funny. It starts with a single pope, then two others saying, "what the hell" declaring themselves pope, and all the while excommunicating each other.
Report
18points
#16
Hundreds of U.S. communities started using their own currencies during the Great Depression in order to bypass economic downfall. Of course there was the Dust Bowl and other factors at play, but it generally worked. Sometimes, it's as simple as stepping outside the systems that are in place. Some of our problems really only exist on paper.
Report
17points
#17
Pink wasn’t always a girl’s color and blue a boy’s color — in fact, it was once the other way around.
The distinction of blue for boys and pink for girls didn’t take full hold until the middle of the 20th century.
The distinction of blue for boys and pink for girls didn’t take full hold until the middle of the 20th century.
Report
16points
#18
During WW2 there was a bear named Wotjek in the Polish military. He was with a refugee and got they put him in the army. He was taught to salute and liked beer. Basically just a mascot but he helped carry ammo a few times.
Report
15points
#19
The Great Pig War:
A border war between the US and Canada (at the beginning still a British colony), which was triggered by the slaughtering of an American farmer's pig by a Canadian farmer who found it snacking on his potatoes. It is a conflict that involved several thousand armed men, including for a time the notorious Southern hothead George E. Pickett (later of Pickett's Charge), and which lasted for thirteen long years - yet which is rarely mentioned in the history books of any of those nations.
No shots were fired. Nobody was hurt. Shortly after its began, a lone Royal Marine was whacked in the eye by a rock hurled from the American position. He was shipped to Fort Victoria for treatment, lived to return to his station with sight intact, and is the only documented casualty of the entire conflict. For most of the time, the two sides spent their hours smoking, playing cards, and sneaking out to visit the other sides' lines, to swap navy rum purloined from the British Quartermaster, for tobacco and fresh American produce, which was scarce on the opposite side.
The site of the British main position, which today lies within the US' San Juan National Historical Park, is the only bit of non-diplomatic soil in America, over which the Union Jack is flown daily.
Easily qualifies as *The. Best. War. Ever.*
A border war between the US and Canada (at the beginning still a British colony), which was triggered by the slaughtering of an American farmer's pig by a Canadian farmer who found it snacking on his potatoes. It is a conflict that involved several thousand armed men, including for a time the notorious Southern hothead George E. Pickett (later of Pickett's Charge), and which lasted for thirteen long years - yet which is rarely mentioned in the history books of any of those nations.
No shots were fired. Nobody was hurt. Shortly after its began, a lone Royal Marine was whacked in the eye by a rock hurled from the American position. He was shipped to Fort Victoria for treatment, lived to return to his station with sight intact, and is the only documented casualty of the entire conflict. For most of the time, the two sides spent their hours smoking, playing cards, and sneaking out to visit the other sides' lines, to swap navy rum purloined from the British Quartermaster, for tobacco and fresh American produce, which was scarce on the opposite side.
The site of the British main position, which today lies within the US' San Juan National Historical Park, is the only bit of non-diplomatic soil in America, over which the Union Jack is flown daily.
Easily qualifies as *The. Best. War. Ever.*
Report
15points
#20
My favorite story which I love to tell people is during the battle of Verdun (WWI), the Germans outfits would get ruined I.e helmet spikes falling off. So fast forward to some high up German commanders coming to visit them. The soldiers are scrambling to look good for them but alas, their helmets are ruined. So what do they do? They carve potatos into a spike and stick it on their heads. Always makes me laugh.
14points