Category
Category of curiosities about history.
42 facts
History
2 min read
The unusual military campaign that ended without firing a shot, with zero casualties, and with a new friend in the ranks.
History
2 min read
Hidden behind a false wall in a high-security German fortress, a group of British officers built a functional aircraft using bed slats and millet porridge.
History
2 min read
Strychnine doping, car-riding impostors, wild dog attacks, and an impromptu nap in the middle of the race.
History
2 min read
Five days before the end of World War II in Europe, US troops, Wehrmacht soldiers, and French prisoners joined forces to repel a Waffen-SS siege.
History
2 min read
The daring 1943 British stratagem that used a false identity attached to a body at sea to conceal the invasion of Sicily.
History
2 min read
For twenty-one years, an entire metropolis played along with a throneless monarch who issued his own banknotes and decreed works ahead of his time.
History
2 min read
In 332 BC, the Macedonian conqueror built a one-kilometer causeway across the Mediterranean that transformed an island fortress into an enduring peninsula.
History
2 min read
In 1803, before refrigeration, a medical expedition transported the live smallpox vaccine across two oceans through bodily relays in children.
History
2 min read
In the year 897, the Roman basilica of Saint John Lateran hosted one of the most macabre and bizarre legal episodes in medieval history.
History
2 min read
In 1932, soldiers armed with heavy machine guns were defeated by the chaotic guerrilla tactics of 20,000 fast emus.
History
2 min read
In 52 BC, Roman legions built more than 35 kilometers of concentric fortifications to fight on two fronts simultaneously.
History
2 min read
For nearly fifty years, soldiers from both countries 'invaded' a deserted Arctic rock to replace the rival flag and leave a bottle of their national spirit.