The world watched this past weekend as U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his military had totally "obliterated" three of Iran's nuclear sites. Depending on what happens next, the current events could go down as some of the most important in history. Or they could be glossed over and long-forgotten in years to come.
History loves a headline. But while we often remember the big ones, many remain overshadowed. Almost like a great movie scene that just didn't end up making the final cut for whatever reason. That's not to say these events didn't have a massive impact on the world. Many of them did. They just somehow became footnotes, buried under the weight of more famous stories.
Bored Panda has dug up a list of epic historical events that we believe deserve to be remembered. Keep scrolling, and don't forget the details... on the off-chance they come up during your next trivia quiz. We also tell you the forgotten story of how Australia's army declared war on thousands of flightless birds, and lost. You'll find that between the images.
#1 Nellie Bly - Around The World In Seventy-Two Days
Inspired by Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days, journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, writing under the name Nellie Bly, set out in November 1889 to make the fictional journey a reality, aiming to circle the globe in 75 days. Despite some rough weather on the Pacific crossing that put her two days behind schedule when she reached San Francisco, her employer at the New York World, Joseph Pulitzer, arranged a private train to speed her home. Ultimately, Nellie Bly completed her groundbreaking trip around the world in an astonishing 72 days, arriving back in New Jersey in January 1890, a feat she chronicled in her book.
62points
We've heard of World War I and World War II, and many of the others fought on either side. But did you know that in 1932, Australia declared war on a group of birds? Quite literally...
The government ordered the Royal Australian Artillery to go to battle, armed with light machine weapons and 10,000 rounds of ammunition. They were to successfully "obliterate" around 20,000 emus that had shacked up on land reserved for farming. The giant flightless birds were destroying fences and causing chaos for anyone attempting to grow wheat in already difficult circumstances.
One would think that the military had it all figured out. But after 6 days of soldiers pulling out all the stops, the emus won the war. Yes, really.
#2 Angel's Glow
During the American Civil War, specifically after the Battle of Shiloh, some soldiers' wounds were observed to emit a faint glow, a phenomenon that became known as "Angel's Glow." It is now believed that this glow was caused by infection with the bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens. Interestingly, this particular bacterium produces antibiotics, which likely aided in the survival of these soldiers by preventing more dangerous infections in their wounds.
49points
#3 Harlem Hellfighters' Heroics
The Harlem Hellfighters, an African American regiment, earned their fierce nickname from their German adversaries due to their incredible bravery and fighting spirit during World War I; they were also known as the "Black Rattlers" and the French called them "Men of Bronze." This unit distinguished itself by spending an astounding 191 consecutive days in front-line trenches, more continuous combat time than any other American unit of comparable size. Tragically, their valor came at a high cost, as they also endured more casualties than any other American regiment, with over 1,400 losses.
46points
The emus had responded to the ambush by breaking up into small groups and scattering in all directions. The army was taken aback, and their plan to take out all the birds at once ground to an abrupt halt. After regrouping, the soldiers tried again...
This time, creeping up to a thousand-strong flock, and holding fire until the birds were too close to miss. The God of birds must have intervened, because as a former veterinary nurse reports, one of the weapons jammed and many of the emus escaped. Efforts to target the birds from the backs of moving trucks also failed.
#4 Canadian Indian Residential School System
The explicit goal of Canada's Indian residential school system was to assimilate Indigenous children, a process that involved isolating them from their families, cultural heritage, and spiritual traditions. Over the system's more than 160-year existence, around 150,000 children were taken from their homes and placed in these institutions, which operated across most provinces and territories. These boarding schools were predominantly administered by various Christian churches, with funding provided by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs, especially after the Indian Act of 1876, and attendance was made compulsory in 1894; the last federally-funded school did not close until 1997.
35points
#5 Morocco Was One Of The First Country To Recognize The US
Soon after the American Revolution began, Morocco extended a significant early gesture of recognition to the fledgling United States by allowing American ships access to its ports in 1777. This act made Morocco one of the very first countries to acknowledge the new American republic. This early relationship eventually led to the signing of the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship in 1786, one of the longest unbroken friendship treaties in U.S. history.
33points
#6 The Sultana Explosion
The worst maritime disaster in United States history occurred on April 27, 1865, when the commercial side-wheel steamboat Sultana exploded and sank on the Mississippi River. This tragic event resulted in an estimated 1,864 casualties. The steamboat was severely overcrowded at the time, carrying many Union soldiers recently released from Confederate prisoner-of-war camps, which contributed significantly to the immense loss of life.
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30points
"The emu command had evidently ordered guerrilla tactics, and its unwieldy army soon split up into innumerable small units that made use of the military equipment uneconomic," wrote ornithologist DL Serventy, quite tongue-in-beak. "A crestfallen field force therefore withdrew from the combat area after about a month.”
While something worthy of a Netflix drama/comedy, this is just one of the many great events that many people aren't taught about in history class. But, in a nod to nature, we felt it worthy to share with you!
#7 Claudette Colvin
Nine months before Rosa Parks' famous act of defiance, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 2, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus. This brave act by Colvin, a pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement who later became a retired nurse aide, was an early challenge to segregation laws, though Rosa Parks' subsequent action, supported by the NAACP, ultimately sparked the pivotal 1955 Montgomery bus boycott.
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29points
#8 Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion, a period of violent protest in the United States from 1791 to 1794, occurred during George Washington's presidency. Farmers on the western frontier strongly opposed the "whiskey tax," the first tax levied by the new federal government on a domestic product, which was intended to help pay off Revolutionary War debts. These farmers, accustomed to distilling surplus grains into whiskey, resisted the tax, leading to a significant challenge for the young nation's authority
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28points
#9 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
One of the deadliest industrial disasters in U.S. history occurred on March 25, 1911, when a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. The tragedy claimed the lives of 146 garment workers – 123 women and girls, and 23 men – who perished from the fire itself, smoke inhalation, or by falling or jumping from the building. Many of the victims were young, recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women and girls, with ages ranging from as young as 14, like Kate Leone and Rosaria "Sara" Maltese, up to 43-year-old Providenza Panno. This horrific event became a pivotal moment in labor history, highlighting the dangerous working conditions many faced and leading to significant reforms in workplace safety.
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26points
#10 Japanese Balloon Bombs
During World War II, between November 1944 and April 1945, Japan launched about 9,300 "Fu-Go" balloon bombs towards North America, hoping to cause widespread panic and forest fires. These weapons were large paper balloons, 33 feet in diameter, filled with hydrogen and carried across the Pacific by high-altitude air currents, now known as the jet stream. Each balloon carried incendiary devices and an anti-personnel bomb, using a clever sandbag system to maintain altitude, though only about 300 were ever found or seen in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
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25points
#11 The Gaspee Affair
Things really started heating up between American colonists and British officials after a group of locals, led by folks like Abraham Whipple and John Brown I, decided to take matters into their own hands in June 1772. The British ship HMS Gaspee, which had been a real pain enforcing unpopular trade laws (the Navigation Acts) around Newport, Rhode Island, got stuck in shallow water while chasing another boat, the Hannah. This gave the colonists their chance; they rowed out, attacked, and burned the Gaspee right down to the waterline. Coming just a couple of years after the Boston M******e, this bold move definitely pushed everyone closer to the brink of the American Revolution.
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24points
#12 Bonus Army March
In mid-1932, a large group of around 43,000 people, including 17,000 World War I veterans and their families, converged on Washington, D.C. This demonstration, known as the Bonus Army March, saw about 15,000 of these veterans set up camps in the capital. Their demand was for the early cash payment of service bonus certificates they had been promised for their wartime service, a payment not scheduled to mature for several more years. This event occurred during the depths of the Great Depression, adding urgency to the veterans' plight.
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24points
#13 The Battle Of Athens
In August 1946, a rebellion known as the Battle of Athens (or the McMinn County War) erupted in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, as citizens, including some returning World War II veterans, rose up against their local government. The residents leveled serious accusations against local officials, including claims of predatory policing, instances of police brutality, widespread political corruption, and voter intimidation. This armed confrontation was a direct response by the community to what they perceived as an entrenched and abusive local power structure.
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24points
#14 1957–1958 Influenza Pandemic
Originating in Guizhou, Southern China, the 1957–1958 Asian flu pandemic, caused by an influenza A virus subtype H2N2, spread globally. This worldwide health crisis is estimated to have caused between 1 and 4 million excess deaths, ranking it among the most lethal pandemics in history. Just a decade later, a related viral strain, H3N2, would trigger the Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968–1970.
24points
#15 FBI Investigation Of The Song 'Louie Louie' By The Kingsmen
Due to the song's popularity and the garbled, hard-to-understand lyrics of the Kingsmen's 1963 recording of "Louie Louie," some people became convinced the song contained obscene content. This suspicion led to an FBI investigation between February and May 1964 to determine if the song violated laws against transporting obscene material across state lines. Ultimately, the FBI's limited inquiry found no evidence of obscenity in the famous rock and roll track.
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23points
#16 The Toba Eruption
Approximately 74,000 years ago in Sumatra, Indonesia, a colossal supervolcanic event known as the Toba eruption took place, forming what is now Lake Toba. This was the most recent and by far the largest of at least four caldera-forming eruptions at that site, with an estimated volcanic explosivity index of 8. It ranks as the largest known explosive volcanic eruption in the Quaternary period and one of the most powerful in Earth's entire geological history.
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21points
#17 Stono Rebellion
On September 9, 1739, the largest slave rebellion in the Southern Colonial era, known as the Stono Rebellion (or Cato's Conspiracy), erupted in the colony of South Carolina. The uprising resulted in the deaths of 25 colonists and between 35 and 50 enslaved Africans. Evidence suggests the leaders of the revolt were likely from the Kingdom of Kongo in Central Africa, as indicated by their Catholic faith and, in some cases, their ability to speak Portuguese.
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20points
#18 The Pancho Villa Expedition
From March 1916 to February 1917, the United States Army conducted a military operation known as the Pancho Villa Expedition (officially the Mexican Expedition, but initially called the "Punitive Expedition"). This incursion into Mexico aimed to capture or disperse the paramilitary forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa. The expedition was a direct response to Villa's earlier raid on the American town of Columbus, New Mexico, which itself was part of the broader series of conflicts known as the Mexican Border War.
19points
#19 Coal Wars
Between roughly 1890 and 1930, a series of intense and often violent labor disputes known as the Coal Wars took place in the United States. These armed conflicts primarily occurred in the eastern part of the country, especially within the Appalachian region, as coal miners fought for better wages and working conditions. However, significant violence related to these labor struggles also erupted in Colorado, particularly after the beginning of the 20th century.
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19points
#20 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
Though ultimately unsuccessful in its primary goal of achieving the first land crossing of the Antarctic continent, Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914–1917 became legendary as an incredible story of survival and endurance. This journey, considered the last major expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, was Shackleton's vision after Roald Amundsen had already reached the South Pole in 1911, leaving the trans-continental crossing as, in Shackleton's view, the "one great main object" remaining. Shackleton, who had first led an Antarctic expedition at age 33 aiming for the South Pole, faced unimaginable challenges when his ship was crushed by ice, leading to a remarkable fight for survival by his crew.
18points