History is a lot. It’s what we feel like just duty at school, but growing we more easily understand the importance behind this subject. By knowing better what happened in the past we can read better the present and figure out better the future. If almost all human history is great and solemn and logical and important, some historic facts are simply not. They’re just incredibly ridiculous or non-sense. Here are the 15 most strange historic facts ever, check this list out and comment these weirdos!
1. PEPSI: Not a Walter Mitty, Real Fleet, Twelve O’Clock.
In the early 90s, Pepsi-Cola owned the sixth-largest “fleet” of military submarines (demilitarized though). How could even a soft drink company get to that point? It was just a way for it to do business with Moscow! Pepsi was trading with the Soviet Union, but had some problems with the currency: in fact, the Soviet Ruble was worthless abroad. So, after a few commercial attempts, they come to a surprising deal: Pepsi drinks in exchange for 17 submarines, a cruiser, a frigate, and a destroyer. Jackpot? Nah, Pepsi had no naval ambition and resold them for scrap.
2. HANS ISLAND: yo-ho-ho and a bottle of whiskey.
There is a remote and barren island in the Nares Strait: it’s called Hans Island and it’s in the middle of the 22-miles wide strait. So, according to international law, the island is in both Canada’s and Greenland’s territorial waters. The two countries have so started a war(ish) over Hans Island status: no fatalities, except the liver. As a matter of fact, Denmark’s and Canada’s government officials use to leave a bottle of their country’s liquor any time they visit the island in order to make a mark. This funny battle drags on since 1984.
3. US PRESIDENT’S PARROT WENT MAD
Andrew Jackson was the seventh US President and, as far as we know, he was quite temperamental. Maybe we have to thank his attitude for one of the greatest US president’s funeral story. Jackson, indeed, owned a parrot named Poll (originally meant for Jackson’s wife, Rachel, but become his after she passed away). When in 1845 Jackson died from unknown complications, thousands of people showed up to pay respect to the President, including Poll the Parrot. Maybe excited by the crowd, Poll began cursing and swearing so loud that it had to be carried out from the White House. A memorable farewell speech or just a bird’s lack of reverence?
4. Pepi the Pharaoh: a cruel flies hater
Who is not afraid of flies? Ok, they’re not dangerous, they have no strings or poison and they don’t bite, but they’re definitely gross. This must have been clear to the Egyptian Pharaoh Pepi II. He disliked flies so much that he decided to have always around him (but not close) some naked slaves covered with honey, so that flies would fly just over them rather than over him. Global recognition of human rights was far from come, at the time, but this was certainly an abuse of power! Anyway…who knows if it would work on bears too…
5. Ronald Reagan is the name, lifesaving is the game
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the fortieth US President and he boasts several records. He was the oldest president to be elected (he was 69 years-old at the election time) and also the first actor entering the White House. But did you know that, before acting or being the most powerful man on Earth, Ronald Reagan was a lifeguard? In his six years career as a lifeguard in Illinois he saved 77 people from drowning! Only long after, he declared that no one ever thanked him for the rescue!
6. Dystopic inception: a Ukrainian story
This historic fact is almost as dystopic as a Black Mirror’s episode. And yes, it concerns tv series. So, Volodymyr Zelensky was a tv star of the Ukrainian series Sluha Narodu (literally Servant of the People) in which his character wins the presidential election after a viral video of him exposing the Ukraine government as corrupt. Following the success, Volodymyr Zelensky started a presidential campaign mostly online. On 21 April 2019 Zelensky is elected President of Ukraine, defeating Petro Poroshenko with 73.22% of the vote! Insane, uh? It’s a democracy!
7. Go to the zoo, they say, it’s safe, they say
As retaliation of a by-mistake Nazi bombing on London, on the night of 25 August 1940 for the first time Berlin had an air-raid. The Royal Air Force’s attack ordered by Churchill was a military disaster, but the psychological impact on Hitler and on German people was huge. The anti-aircraft fire was strangely ineffective and so they knew that enemy planes could indeed break through the outer and inner rings of the capital’s defense. But, in the end, little damage was done: a woodshed destroyed, two German slightly injured and… one real casualty. Who? An elephant in the Berlin Zoo.
8. Classic white? It couldn’t be more untruthful8. As the world natural heritage
We’re all used to admire the marble majesty of the ancient Greek and Roman statues: life-size and white sculptures that witness the artistic talent of those times. But you would be shocked to see a real representation of these statues back then. They were, in fact, all painted! These bright and colorful statues result quite garish! Of course, the paint faded away over centuries (or it was removed by people). Well, now you know something more!
9. Just a perfect Sunday?
The American civil war was rough: more than 200 thousand people died and it did last 5 years. But in its earlier phases, nobody thought it was going to last long. So, expecting an easy and fast win for the Union, the Washington D.C. civilian elites had come to picnic on the first major battle’s sidelines. That’s the reason why the Battle of Bull Run is also called “the Picnic Battle”. And you know what? Not only it was a Confederate victory, but the panicking civilian presence created also difficulties for the Union army to retreat.
10. 44 minutes of fame?
If the American civil war wasn’t as short as expected, here’s the shortest war ever occurred in history. The protagonists of this incredibly short story are the British Empire and the Zanzibar Sultanate. The Anglo-Zanzibar war started on 27 August 1896 at 9.02 am and ceased the same day at 9.46 am. There were 500 Zanzibar casualties and only one Brit DIA. But let’s focus on the time: what can you do in 44 minutes? Watching an episode on Netflix? Eat a meal? Take a bath? Dress up for the night? They warred, instead!
11. Silent (?) night, holy (?) night / All is calm… is it?
Christmas is all about loving each other and being good, right? Nope! In the 17th century, there was someone on earth that would have said quite the opposite, like the Puritan Governor of New England. As a matter of fact, he outlawed Christmas celebrations because people usually became drunk, mocked the authorities, begged too aggressively (and threating of doing harm if not heard), and even trespassed wealthy houses. Did you also know that Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” really helped reshape this holiday into a family-focused one?
12. A true “unicum” in WWII
Castle Itter is in Austria: it’s big, it’s beautiful and it’s something else. It was indeed also the theater of something that not many people know. Answer the question: the truth of false, the Americans and the Germans fought side-by-side during World War II? It’s ok if you picked false, weren’t they archenemies? Yes they were, but in the last days of the war there was a bigger enemy. In Caste Itter, in fact, Americans and other Wermacht soldiers fought against the SS and it was the first and only time they did it!
13. William, come on, be reasonable.
William Henry Harrison was the ninth US president and he was certainly stubborn. The day he took the oath of office, 4th March 1841, was a cold and damp one. They offered him a closed carriage to get to the ceremony, but he refused. Instead, he went riding a horse, not wearing overcoat, hat or gloves. Despite one of friends suggested him to short his inaugural speech, he delivered the longest one in US history: 8,455 words for a total of two hours of speeches. In the end, he braved the cold weather and lost. Two weeks later he developed pneumonia and eventually died for its complications on April 4. His presidency was the shortest in American history.
14. Eighteenth-century marketing strategies
Antoine-Augustin Parmentier was an agronomist and nutritionist and he’s probably the reason why in France people eat potatoes nowadays. The French population, in his time, didn’t love potatoes. But Antoine-Augustin tried to promote this tuber as a food source in the country. How? He used a mental trick. During the day he surrounded his potatoe field with guards, in order to let people think that something valuable was growing there. Then, during the night, he removed the guards, in order to let the people steal the potatoes. Smart, indeed!
15. “Strange ways to die”
Last but not least, let’s add a new item in the “strange ways to die” long list! The Roman Emperor Claudius had several children. The first two, by the first wife, were Claudius Drusus and Claudia. They were born before the father ascended to the throne and this wasn’t the only bad luck. As a matter of fact, the elder, Claudius Drusus, chocked to death while throwing pears on his mouth. You have to remember that fruits and vegetables, in general, were way smaller in ancient times, still, we can say out loud that’s a dumb way to die!